Sunday 29 March 2009

Evaluation


Our media thriller challenges and develops media film conventions as it uses a broad range of shots to create a tense yet fast paced atmosphere. Starting with an establishing shot, you can automatically tell it is set in England due to the gloomy dark weather and the iconography such as bus stops and road signs. The quick cuts from extreme long shots to long shots make the film snappy and sharp which instantly shows it’s a thriller as it is snappy. The girl is walking at a mid pace which helps add to the momentum and build up.
As research we the film ‘The Shining’. This is a very famous thriller which uses shots to portray its genre. I learnt that to have a successful thriller you have to have a lot of long shots. This is to not only show the mise-en-scene but so you can capture what is going on behind the character on screen. This definitely creates a tense, Nail biting feeling.
Also as another source of research for our thriller film we looked at clips from Crime watch because we wanted to understand the shots they used to capture someone being followed. This was helpful as it showed thriller conventions such as short snappy shot lengths to build suspense. I learnt that to build suspense you needed to have the right music for the piece as this changes the mood of the scene; we applied this to our film as we had a fast paced soundtrack to help set the overall pace of the film.

Our thriller opening represents women as passive and vulnerable, as the young girl is being followed by a hooded boy. It also shows that women are more prone to being followed or attacked. The hooded person represents the youth of today, it shows that stereotypes of young men are not safe. It also connotes that men are more dangerous and powerful as they have more intimidation. The media social groups contrast dramatically as women and young girls are often in situations such as being followed so this represents them as the victim’s, whereas the males are represented as untrustworthy and dangerous.

Our product would be distributed to a small independent UK institution as it is very simple. The lack of different sets and mise-en-scene’s and simple story line wouldn’t attract to a worldwide audience as only English people would be able to relate to it. Also because the story line is a very common factor in today’s social society, so many English women would be able to relate to the lack of safety and trust between strange men on London’s streets today. It would not be a Hollywood hit as people from different countries might not be able to relate to it so it would be seen as unrealistic to them and perhaps boring. To create a worldwide realise you need a storyline that is more exciting and capturing.

The audience for our media product would be of a wide variety of ages. As although it does represent young women more it is does not have strong elements of youth in it. The language is understandable for all and the storyline can target men and women of different ages. Although it could appeal to both sex’s I think women would appeal to it more as they are being targeted and victimised so they would be able to relate more to it then men. They would also be working class people that tend to walk and use public transport more. In my opinion any normal working class or middle class person would watch this, for example ‘Rachel, 25, works in an office in central London’.

I would attract my audience by having as much advertising as I could afford. I would put my advertisements on buses and tube stations as the product has high elements of public transport. So people using public transport would be attracted and intrigued to see it. I would also advertise on billboards and TV adverts to get a more diverse and bigger audience. Myspace/facebook advertisements would be used as well as a lot of people use these sites and it would definitely attract a wider variety of ages and races. I would market the film using the storyline itself as I feel it would intrigue people to watch it and find out what happens.

During the process of filming I learnt to use many technical products such as camera work and working with sound and final cut pro. I found filming hard as I could not get a steady hand or good shots, but I enjoyed editing. This was because I found it easy and also fun to piece the product together. The end result was a team effort but I feel that my editing skills progressed highly in the making of this thriller. We used the internet and blogger to capture a daily diary of what we were doing, weather it was filming or editing. This increased my skills of evaluating as it helped me go over the process of each thing one by one.

From our preliminary film I learnt that the story line makes a big difference in creating a tense atmosphere. Our preliminary film was very intriguing and exciting where as I felt our final product lacked the certain element of suspense. I have also learnt that planning properly makes a big difference to your final piece and also to your group performance. The preliminary film was very well planned using a story board to mark each shot and what was supposed to be happening, this gave a clear outline of what we had to film. Whereas the thriller filming was not planned neatly meaning that we did not create a clear enough story board let alone a storyline that everyone agreed on. This meant that most of our shots when filming were decided on the day, which made everyone feel unorganised. It also affected us as a group as we did not all agree on the same things due to it not being planned properly.

Friday 27 March 2009

Adverse Whether

It was snowing today, so we were unable to finish filming outside - instead, we jumped forward ahead of schedual and filmed our office scenes. I learnt a lot about the importance of camera angles, and the use of lighting.

Thursday 26 March 2009

Media Film Evaluation

Media Film Evaluation

In this evaluation, I will be examining the ways in which I feel my group was successful in creating our opening to a thriller. I will also be looking at aspects that could've been done better, and giving a general overview of the project.

From the start, we tried hard to convey certain forms and conventions seen commonly in media, whilst staying away from others. From day one we wanted to avoid the very cliche 'horror thriller' scenario. Instead, we took a different approach, giving our production a more 'urban' feel, we decided to focus on grabbing the audiences attention through mystery, rather than suspense.

Another focus of ours was to maintain a broad audience appeal, whilst we decided to focus slightly on a younger audience, it was important to us that the film be accessible to a wide range of ages, genders, races and classes. Using both a male and female lead was one way we attempted to convey this. We also played on popular stereotypes, such as using a vulnerable woman as the 'victim', and a hooded male as the main 'villain'.

Our film seems to contain characteristics often found in less well known areas of the media. Whilst still being able to maintain a solid fan base, we did not intend for our thriller to be shown as a 'big Hollywood blockbuster', rather, more suited towards a smaller 'cult' following. More obvious reasons for this choice were around budget, ie. we would be able to produce the film without too many financial worries. Costs aside however, we also felt that on a more personal level we would rather create a more middle sized project, a main reason being that we would be more freely able to decide which direction we wanted to take things, without obsessing over what would pull in the most sales at the box office.

A typical audience member would most likely be between the ages of 15-29, focused away from the mainstream. I can visualize the rest of the thriller as ending up fairly complicated, so viewers should be able to stay focused for a fairly long stretch of time. As far as marketing goes, we would probably try to aim our media campaign at a middle/upper class, although this would in no way prevent others from taking enjoyment from it.

Our marketing campaign would most likely be directed specifically towards our target audience, so, rather than having random billboards or mainstream adverts, we would mix advertisement in with magazines popular with our target audience, or perhaps at the beginning of a DVD that mirrors our genre. Another big intention would be to use the Internet as a medium to advertise through - as long as we were careful, selecting exactly how to reach our target audience, while maintaining a fairly low cost would be easy. Using these techniques, advertising is cheaper, and is directed instantly towards who we will be aiming our thriller at anyway. Of coarse, advertising this way, whilst cost-effective, carries with it downsides; we would potentially be inadvertently cutting out what might have ended up as a significant portion of our audience by approaching advertising in a selective manner. In the end though, despite the risks, I believe that we would ultimately end up saving more money than we would otherwise make.

Throughout this element of coursework, I have learnt a lot about both the filming, editing processes, and even quite a bit surrounding Internet media. For example, I was previously unaware of how widely used 'blogger' is, having never really dealt with it before. I feel it is safe to say that I was able to learn the most whilst editing - having never before dealt with Final Cut pro, or any sort of editing software really, my eyes were opened as to how much can be accomplished simply in the editing stage, and also to how time consuming it could be. Interestingly enough, editing was also the part of production I most enjoyed, I think partly because I seemed to be constantly learning new techniques to experiment with; ironically, there were points where this set me back in a way; I almost found myself veering off my task on several occasions, simply because I ended up getting carried away with all the effects and functions available.

Looking back at my first exercise with filming, I feel I have learnt a great deal about how to convey subtle elements through clever techniques. I realize now the necessity for good camera work, but also the sheer amount of work that needs to go into editing all the footage captured. I find myself frequently watching television as I normally would have, only continuously identifying different elements of camera work and editing, I enjoy this, as I feel it helps me identify a lot more with what I am watching, and also allows me to appreciate the work that is put in to produce even the most common and simple shows. If we had more time, I would have liked to be able to gain permission to film at an underground train station, and also perhaps pay a little more attention to the editing process.

Tuesday 24 March 2009

Big Filming lesson

Today we decided to try to knock out most of our filming in one go - in my opinion we are really lucky with our setting, as Angel has quite a large variety of scenery. Whilst perhaps we started to lack in focus towards the end, in the the grand scheme of things we got a lot done, in fact, a large portion of the footage we need has been done in one go. Now all we need to do is get the footage onto final cut pro, do a ton of editing, and shoot our final scenes.

The Soundtrack

Not being completely happy with the soundtrack we had, we decided to have a go at making a new one - it came out alright, but still feels a bit like something is missing. Similarly to using Final Cut pro, Soundtrack pro also takes some getting used to, but looking at the tools we have at our disposal, I think it should turn out pretty nicely. Overall I feel we were pretty efficient with the time given to us this lesson, and hopefully in our next sessions using soundtrack pro we'll get even more done.

The editing process

So today we started editing - i'd used final cut pro before but hadn't really explored it properly - I was surprised with the extent at which it was possible to completely change the feel and mood of our film. Whilst being so new to the software set us back a bit, I feel that we made the most of our session and the time given, and am confident that from now things will run smoother.

Media evaluation

Thriller Evaluation

In this evaluation, I am going to discuss my thriller opening and how it fits typical conventions. I got the idea for my opening by seeing a video of a young girl being followed on Youtube called “Be my victim” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl4JcmfSn3s . In many ways my thriller opening follows similar conventions of a traditional thriller. A thriller creates suspense, has a number of false plateau ‘s which builds expectation without reaching a climax. There is usually a naïve female character, who fails to detect problems which lead to scary or unusual events. This clip is from the shining, the female character is hysterical with fear while the man is breaking down the door. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TVooUHN7j4. For example our lead actor is a vulnerable female. This idea came from the Shining, were the female actress was very isolated and had to deal with horrifying events.
We have a male character that follows the young female. Using the stereotype associated with boys who wear hoods, I managed to create tension and fear. This is evident when he begins to follow her and the music changes. In other ways our opening challenged real thriller openings. Unlike the Shining, our locations were very public, and the main action didn’t make the audience jump, or increase heart rate. The opening was very subtle to leave room for a further storyline. It also makes the audience question the male character identity, as he drugs her from the beginning.

My thriller opening portrays women in a position of weakness. It is also focuses on young adults. For example the phone distracts the young female. Although the audience cannot hear the conversation they assume she is talking about going out later, or something equally trivial instead of paying attention to her surroundings. Young women are so often seen as irresponsible. This made is easier to show her character, and the audience would aspect something bad to happen to her.







For many years Britain have portrayed young people negatively in the media. Boys who wear hoods have been seen as anti social, and a threat to society. Knowing that these stereotypes would be thought of as soon as the audience saw this character, made it easy to set up the plot. The end of the opening challenged conventions. He went into an office and sat at a desk. This shows that he has a job and doesn’t want to cause trouble. It also leaves the audience wondering who he is and why he would want to drug a young woman.



My film would be released in cinemas around Britain. Due to the growing popularity of British films I think people would be interested in watching it. Young people go to the cinema a lot so it will reach its target audience. I would also release the film internationally. This will make it more likely that the film will make money. It will also give people in different countries a chance to see British culture, and some of the problems our society face.

My Target audience are men and women. They would be in education or in a job. There is no set race as all young people can suffer from the issues addressed in the film. I also think that the realistic characters will appeal to the audience. Young people will be more likely to watch a film if they feel they can relate to the characters. For example 18 year old Sarah goes to college and enjoys going out on the weekend.

The actors will attract my audience. I would have billboards all around London. I would also make digital flyers that could be posted on Facebook and Myspace. On them I would have both the actors and a catchy headline that would make people think. I would also get people to write positive reviews about the film When people see the actors they will be able to relate to them because they look like their audience. I would also hold an official promotion party with some of the most known Dj’s and give out lots of freebies. Young people love a good party and they love getting things for free so that would insure a large turn out. As it is a local film a lot of promotion will be done through word of mouth. People in schools and colleges will be talking about the film they saw.

My thriller starts of with an establishing shot that shows mise en scene. There is a series of close ups that start to focus on the girl. Showing the audience this is who is going to be vulnerable. There is then a medium shot showing her walking out of the gate. As she walks down the road it shows the male beginning to follow her. He then follows her in a café. While she is distracted on the phone he puts a pill in her drink. He then goes back to an office and sends an email.



I have learned a lot from filming this thriller opening. Using a camera was a big challenge as I’m not usually good with that kind of equipment. I have gone from not being able to turn it on, to editing on the Apple Macs. Filming is much more then just being able to use the camera. Its about knowing how to frame a shot and making sure that you remember to allow 5 second either side of the shot. Throughout filming we had to battle bad weather conditions such as snow and heavy rain. While filming sometimes people walk through the shot or they stare into the camera. I found using final cut pro hard in the beginning. With help from other members in my group I learned to Log and capture, cut scenes and add credits. Soundtrack was the hardest to use because you have to create the music yourself. Lucky a group member does music and he composed our soundtrack. This created a lot of problems because the finished song didn’t fit the opening. We then had to discuss were the music needed to be more dramatic, and places were it needed to be softer and fade out.



After every filming session I wrote a blog on what happened. Writing these blogs gave me time to reflect on what went well, what didn’t go so well, and how the next session could be better. Having the Internet has even us an unlimited audience. I have learned a lot since the preliminary task. Learning how to match cut was useful because it was used a lot in the thriller opening. Looking back on that film I don’t think that the music was right and the framework could have been better.

Sunday 15 March 2009

Evaluation

Our media product develops and challenges different forms and conventions of real media products. For example we used camera techniques to show me being followed by somebody in our media product, such as over the shoulder shots and a high angel, extreme long, establishing shot, which we used in the opening of our film to show somebody was watching me from a high angel. As this shot was an establishing shot, not only did it show i was being followed, but also established the mise en scene of our film, showing clearly the environment our film was set it, which was the streets of London, outside our college. Our audience are immediently aware that our film is set in London as in our establishing shot, you can see red London buses on the roads, and British road signs, as well as British gloomy, dull weather.

The majority of other real media products also use high angel, establishing shots to show the mise en scene of their film, for example in the film 'The Shining' there is various high angel, extreme long, establishing shots showing the snowy mountains and beautiful scenery of the mise en scene, the high angel shots in 'The Shining' are also used when the actors are running outside, making them appear to look more venerable and isolated, which was the same affect on the girl in our high angel, establishing shot. the reason why we wanted to make the girl in our thriller look venerable, isolated and alone is to give the impression that she was being followed by someone and was in a dangerous situation.

The media social groups our media product represents are specifically teenage girls, and young women, aged between 13-25. This is because the main character in our film is around this age and is a female in a very common situation that many females find them selves in, which is being followed by a male stranger. Our film also represents some males as being dangerous and perhaps untrustworthy. The social class our media product represents is standard working class, this was conveyed through the mise en scene, as the area the girl was filmed in was not a high class, posh area and the clothes she was wearing were normal clothes, whereas if she was wearing an expensive designer suit, high heels and sunglasses, and walking in the streets of central London our character would have represented the high class social group.

The kind of media institution who might distribute our media product would be a small independent UK film company or our film would be realised over the Internet. This is because the story line for our film is quite simple, and our setting is fairly dull and boring, whereas if our film had a more exiting, dramatic story-line and was set in an interesting place, it would be more likely for it to be distributed around the world and be a big Hollywood blockbuster.

The audience for our media product would be teenagers/young adults, this is because in our film the two main characters are young, so therefore our film is more likely to attract young people, although, our film is quite versatile and can be watched by anyone, as it is not specifically aimed at young people, and does not have any overpowering elements of the youth of today, for example our film does not contain any colloquial language, that some adults would not understand or be able to relate too. A typical person who would fit into our target audience would be..'Sarah, 18, at university, and loves going to the cinema'

I would attract/adress my audience by making sure i have plenty of advertisments around the UK. I would do this by advertising my film through billboards, trailers in the cinema, tv trailers, bus stops, internet campaignes etc. I would also assure there is atleast one famouse, well known, actor/actress starring in my film, to attract people to watch it and also so people can assume the film is going to be succsessful as they know the actor/actress in my film is succsesful.

Wednesday 4 March 2009

sountrack

Today we added a soundtrack to our clip. We tried to find a soundtrack that would help build tension and create an atmosphere. A boy in our group called nick made a soundtrack at home for our clip. I wasnt happy with the soundtrack as it was flat and didnt dramatise our clip or make it more interesting. 

Monday 2 March 2009

Editing

All we had left to do was to thoroughly edit what we had filmed. We edited the different scenes and locations but we didn't know how it could all tie together. We then realised we didn't have any credits, which helped a lot as we used the credits to fill the change of scene.
We had 3 soundtracks that we wanted to use, but they all didn't fit or suit our film. So we had to edit the best soundtrack to fit the piece properly.

Cafe Filming

Due to the bad weather conditions and college play we missed out on a whole 2 weeks worth of filming. So during this time we edited the footage we had so far to perfection.
When we had got this sorted we realised we did not have time to go to Highbury and film in a cafe, so we decided to use the corner of the college canteen. At first i thought it would not work and would look tacky, but we didn't have a choice as we were running out of time.
When we had finished the cafe scene we decided to look at our footage to see if it was successful, to my surprise it was. It did not look obvious it was filmed in college which was good as we did not have anything left to film. The shots were very effective and ranged widely.

Third day of filming/Editing

On our next filming day we decided to start filming the end of the opening. We used an office in college as you can not see that its in college. Our plan was to film Nick walking into the office and writing an email saying he had got her, this didn't take long to film as we had planned out clearly the shots we wanted and the camera angles and movement. Which was different to our second day of filming as we had not planned out properly the shots we wanted, it worked out better having it planned as it was al lot quicker and the footage was a better quality.
After we had finished that section we decided to start editing this, this took longer then expected as some of the shots were wobbly.
We then planned our next day of filming which was set to be in a cafe in Highbury.

Second day of filming

We started our filming for the opening, we decided to do the start of it which meant we had to film around angel and in the college. We tried to get a variation of shots so that it would look interesting in our final produce, we ended up filming 5 minutes of footage. This was good as we had a wide variety of shots which was easier when editing as we did all we could. It then got very cold and rainy so we decided to head back to the editing suit and start editing what we had filmed so far. I felt this was a good idea as it made the editing process easier as we could vary it between filming. What we had filmed was successful as we had many shots to use although some were a bit dodgy. At the end of the lesson we decided to plan what we were going to do in the next lesson, this was so we didn't fall behind schedule.

Wednesday 25 February 2009

Editing monday+wednesday

We have put the credits onto our film. We also added a soundtrack. This is still be edited because it doesn't fit the opening. We thought that the music was a bit slow and need more drums to add tension in certain scenes. We have also been cutting scenes down that were to long. The opening will be finished once the edited soundtrack goes on.

Sunday 22 February 2009

Filming

On wednesday's lesson we done more filming. We decided that using a cafe in highbury would be to far, so we used the college caneen. We had larni sitting in the background to make it look realistic. We filmed various shots from lots of angles. This is so that it would be good to work with in editing. We have one more scene to shoot, and that is the one were she is going into the cafe. After that we can begin to edit and add soundtrack.

Monday 9 February 2009

Editing-monday

Today we couldn't do an filming becaus nick wasn't in. Instead i log and captured the footage we had from last week. I also edited previous footage. We then hope to film the rest on wednesday's lesson .

Editing

Last week due to bad weather conditions we missed out on filming. We used the time to edit and also filmed some footage inside. We then also planned what we were going to do next lesson.

Wednesday 4 February 2009

First day of filming

Our first day of filming didnt go straight to plan, so instead of wasting vailuable time we decided as a group to get some establishing shots. This helped in our planning process as we became clearer of what we were exactly going to film the next lesson. We also came up with a plan for the next lesson and set targets of what we wanted to film during the next plan.

First day of filming

Today we done our first day of filming. We filmed outside the college on the streets. The camera was following me as i walked down the street at different angels, using different filming techniques. In our scenes we wanted to show me being watched by someone, and we also showed a nick following, who was wearing a hooded jumper. Unfortunatley we did not receive a reply from essex road or angel underground stations giving us permission to film there, therefore we cannot do any of our filming underground. 

Notes on target audiencw

Wednesday 28 January 2009

Second day of filming

Today we filmed at the college and in angel. We did the establishing shot again with the actress. We then did various medium shots, long shots, and over the shoulder shots. In the end we got over 5 minutes worth of footage which we began editing down when we came back. It was had filming because we had the rain and the amount of passersby constantly against us. We also had to wait for the roads to be clear each time we did a shot. When we want back to college to edit, we started to combine the scenes with cutting in and out at different places. Like in the first scene we gradually cut so it looked like we were zooming in a bit more each time. At the end of the lesson we planned what we would be filming next week. Filming is going well . 

Tuesday 27 January 2009

First day of filming

The first day of filming didn’t go exactly to plan. Our actor wasn’t in so we couldn’t do all the filming of the beginning. We did film inside the college from a window, which will be a nice establishing shot. We also shot outside but didn’t get much footage because of police disruption. We did get a good shot of Nick in front of a street sign. While we was filming we also took pictures of each shot, which will make a nice storyboard. On Wednesday we will go further into angel and continue filming.

Monday 26 January 2009

First day of filming

Our first day of filming didn't go completely as planned - we had hoped to be able to use the time to film various shots around the local area, but were disrupted by police activity. Eventually, filming was pretty much out of the question, so we took a few small shots, then went back to the classroom to decide exactly what needed to be done in our next session.

Whilst obviously the circumstances weren't ideal, I feel that, as a group, we were able to efficiently adapt to the issues that arose, and still make the most of our time.

Wednesday 21 January 2009

Making a pitch- futher planning

Today we continued discussing our thriller opening. Then we watched some openings that had been made by other students. Many of these were made interesting by the use of lighting, mise en scene and editing. This gave us more ideas and ways to make what we had better. We realised that our idea was simple and needed a twist in the plot to make it more interesting. We then came up with changing the story from being a stalker, to it being a secret investigator who looked like a stalker. As part of the opening involves filming in an underground station we need to get permission. This will not be possible to get by Monday so we are going to concentrate on filming the bits on the college site and near it. Our straight forward planning of one shot type needs to be edited so that we are using a range of shots in each scene. It’s important that we remember to film each scene at least twice to give room for editing later. Finally we presented the pitch to the class. This outlined the story, some of the shot types, and what affect we wanted to create. After this we want back to planning and should be ready to start on Monday.

Pitch

In todays lesson we pitched our idea for our opening of a thriller to the class, we done this by presenting an a3 sheet of paper with all our ideas on it to the class, and talking through it. During our pitch we explained to the class what type of music we would be using, what camera techniques we are going to be use, the different places we are setting our opening in, and the basic story-line of our thriller.

We have decided the story-line of our opening of a thriller is going to be, a girl is on her way home and is being followed, she gets on the train and is still unaware she is being followed untill she gets off the train and sences somebody behind her as she is walking down the street, she quickly turns around and see's noone there, we then cut to the man who was following her entering an office building on a mobile phone, after this we cut to a shot of the man in an office, the man takes off his 'hoody' he was wearing whilst following the girl and reveals he's wearing a smart suit, we then see an 'over the shoulder shot' of the man typing into an email on his laptop..'WE FOUND HER'

The only thing we are worrying about is being able to get permission from a tube station nearby to film inside the station, but hopefully there will be no problem with getting permission.

Monday 19 January 2009

Group pitch

Today, we started the planning process for our thriller. After brainstorming, we were able to agree upon a solid story line, and sequence of events with which we will film. Next, we jotted everything out into a short list, and edited a few concepts that we felt needed altering. Once we were happy with the layout, we put it into the form of a storyboard; this really helped us see what would work, and what might be a bit out of place, after some small edits, everything seemed to look like it would run smooth. Next, we looked at each 'scene' in further detail (deciding on shot types/distances/whether conditions we would need etc.) And after agreeing on our decisions, added our choices to the storyboard.

To sum up, I would say we had an extremely productive planning session, we were able to use our time constructively, and make a solid plan for how we would later film our scenes, something I am confident will help us greatly in the weeks to come.

Group Pitch

In todays lesson we had to plan our thriller on a story board ready to present to the class for next lesson, we also brain stormed the different ideas and conventions we are going to use in our opening of a thriller, we also wrote down the different camera techniques we are going to use, and what affect they would have on the audience.

Group Pitch

In this lesson we had to plan our ideas for our opening to our thriller film. We came up with a narrative which we wrote out in stages and also drew on a storyboard. Our opening is about a young girl who is getting followed by a mysterious man, the man is dressed all in black and you can not see his eyes as they are covered by his hood.
We planned out our shots and scenes on a story board. We also made a brainstorm which showed the different conventions of our film. As a group we decided that we wanted to use a fast drum beat, this was to build up tension in the scene. The audience for our film after young women, this is so they know the dangers of the street.
We decided that the lighting was going to be a dark gloomy day and will also be naturalistic. although we wanted it to be dark it wasn't convenient for ny of us to film in the night so we decided on filming in the day.
The settings and locations of our piece is firstly at the train station then moves from the street to into her house. This is to keep it simple yet effective.
We also had to plan out how we were going to present it to the class in a persuasive manner, which made the film look and seem interesting.

Making a pitch

Today in class we got into our group and planned the opening of our thriller opening. We began by discussing our different ideas. Then we decided what would work best and started planning the shots. We choose a shot type for example close up, and thought about the effect it would have. This is an important part of planning because it helps build tension. This will help us stick to the traditional conventions of a thriller film. We also used a storyboard to plan each shot, and next to that an illustration. This helps us visualise what each shot will look like. While planning we decided to use two main locations, overground station and a house. This helped us to plan when we was going to film and at what time of day. I think that having this planning lesson was crucial as everyone know knows what we are going to do over the next few weeks. It also gives us mini targets so we can meet the final deadline.

Adding Soundtrack

In this lesson we had to add a soundtrack to our preliminary film. We chose a menacing piece of music that was fast pace so it suited our film. We also added a fast drum beat to it to create and portray suspense, this drumbeat got slower as the dialogue occurred. The menacing music stopped when the dialogue started, as we did not want it to over power what the characters were saying.
I learnt that choosing the right soundtrack was important as it sets the scene and classifies what genre the piece is. If we picked the wrong soundtrack it would change the whole feel and the over all atmosphere of the produce.
I found adding soundtrack hard, as I got confused when adding it to the film, at first it didn’t tie in properly. This meant that the dialogue was echoed. When I got the hang of making the sound track I corrected what I had done wrong before hand so that the final piece could be perfect.

Preliminary Film

As a second filming task, we had to film and edit a preliminary film. We had to film someone walking into a room and having a short dialogue with another character. As our first filming wasn’t interesting and didn’t have enough elements of suspense in it, we decided to make a strong narrative which meant that it would be easier create suspense as we knew what we were doing clearly.
The second practice of filming went very well, we were given two hours to film and we finished filming early. At first, I found it hard to put our piece together whilst filming, but we came together as a group. We knew we had to film the different bits of the piece several times to get the best shots, we decided to film things over 3 times so that when it came to editing we could make the final film perfect.
Between the first filming task and this filming task I have learnt a lot, such as not filming in order, match cutting and filming each clip more then once. You can clearly see this in our final produce of the film, as this time it does not look amateur. There are strong filming conventions and a wide range of camera shots unlike the first filming we did.
I think we used strong conventions of thriller films as the camera shots were very sharp and snappy which built up a lot of suspense. We used many different camera shots for example over the shoulder shots, looking at the other character from different points of view, not filming the whole body. Because we used a range of different shot types, it created anticipation within the scene and made the pace of it fast so it was not boring at any point. The lighting in the scene was naturalistic, which did not really create suspense but kept it natural. The mise en scene followed usual thriller films. Our piece was about a girl locked away and tied up in a room that was messy, this helped create suspense and build up the tension in the audience. This was very unlike our first attempt at filming! The narrative was strong so it was clear what the two characters were doing and created a strong storyline, which could possibly be an idea for our final filming piece.
This practice film portrays women as strong and dominant which goes against usual stereotypes of women. Usually the men have the power in the scene but this time it was different, this made our film interesting as this went against usual conventions of real film. In addition, it would have been better if it was a male tied up, as it would have really created the sense of women being more dominant. Our practice film also has a strong element of status as you could clearly tell who was in charge.
I feel that this filming task went very well, the end produce was very strong unlike our first weak attempt at filming before hand. We also worked very well as a group, as we got straight into filming which meant we finished quickly and was able to start editing sooner then we thought. One thing I personally found hard was the dialogue, as I found it hard to stay in role and not bursting into laughter, but this is not very relevant, as we do not have to use dialogue in our final thriller piece.

First practice filming task – Reading a newspaper

As a practice task, we were given the task of filming someone reading a newspaper in an interesting way that creates suspense. We were set this to get us used to using the camera for our final thriller films.
The camera work was not particularly great, as it was often shaky and unclear. I was also unhappy with the fact that we did not leave space between the person on film and the environment, so when it came to editing it looked very squashed. This made our piece look unprofessional and amateur. The most successful camera technique we used was filming from behind the plant, this worked well as behind the plants we could see a bit of Daniella reading the newspaper. It also looked good as it created a tense atmosphere as we didn’t know exactly what Daniella was doing there and why she was there. Filming behind the plant created suspense as we wanted to know more about the scenario and it conveyed that someone was watching her or even spying on her. This really set the scene and created an interesting effect on the person in the scene.
After we were happy with all the shots we filmed, we then had to edit it. At first, the editing was hard to grasp and get the hang of. However, when I got used to it I found it interesting and fun playing around with the different editing techniques on the computer. Editing the film itself was hard, as some of it did not make sense, this was due to the narrative not being clear. Although most of it ran smoothly some of the shots were jumpy, so this highlighted the bad filming.
I learnt that the mise en scene was very important when it came to filming as it tells the audience where the character is and what they could be doing. The use of mise en scene in our short film made it very boring, as the person we filmed was not placed in an interesting setting so this made the film itself very slow and not at all interesting. The set and scene we chose to use was our own media class itself, so the audience could see desks and tables, which did not look at all exciting. It also did not help us when trying to create suspense. The element of suspense was very little due to where we chose to film it and also because we didn’t use a range of camera shots. The camera shots we used where very repetitive which didn’t help at all when trying to make it interesting. The only time we created an element of suspense was when filming from behind the plants as this created anticipation, but other then that it was a drag to watch.
We hadn’t used conventions from different thriller films, as we had not properly analysed one before this filming task.
Personally, I felt the filming went ok considering it was our first time working together as a group and also with the cameras. The only thing I would change for the next time was to come up with a wider range of settings. After our first time of practice, we all know how to film properly making it look professional rather then amateur.

Friday 16 January 2009

Practice film

We were given a task to film a newspaper in an interesting way, by using different camera skills and techniques. I was not particularly happy with the camera work used in our filming, as most of the camera shots were quite shaky and unfocused, which made our filming look amatuer and unprofessional.The shots that were most successful in our peice were the 'over the shoulder shot' which showed the girls veiw of the newspaper as she was reading it. The reason why i think this was the most successful shot is because it was an interesting way of filming the newsapaper for the audience to watch. At first i found the editing confusing, as during our filming we had to retake quite a few of our shots, so it was difficult trying to remember which one we decided to use and what order they were supposed to go in, but after we had cut and organised all the shots into the right order it was fine. The continuity of our editing once all the shots were put together was quite smooth throughout, although some of the cuts were a bit too jumpy and didnt run as smoothly.Our short film didnt really make sence once it was put together. As the narrative we planned didnt really come together. Although you could tell that the girl in our short film was shocked about somthing she was reading in the newspaper by her facial expression., which is what we planned for our narrative. During our filming i learnt mise en scene is extremily important, as i beleive one of the reason's why i found our short film boring and dull is mainly due to the boring mise en scene. The scenery in our short film was in our media class room, whereas the other short films i have seen made by other students in our class that were filmed outside or around the college, i found alot more interesting to watch.We didnt have a lot of suspence in our short film, although there was a shot when the girl in our film was staring at a page in the newspaper she was reading with a shocked and suprised expression on her face, this created suspense and anticipation as we could not see the page in the newspaper the girl was staring at and wanted to know what she was so shocked and suprised at.We didnt forget to do any of the main, important things whilst filming, for example we always rememberd to film the extra 5 seconds before and after each shot.I dont think we used any conventions from real thriller films in our short film

Wednesday 14 January 2009

Soundtrack Lesson 14/1/09

This lesson we added a soundtrack to our film clip. I learnt in the lesson that it is vital that the soundtrack is relevant to the type of filming and the soundtrack is very important. The sound track we used for our filming made our clip more dramatic and built up tension, as the music had quite a fast pace.

We also watched ours, and another groups final finished clip, in front of the whole class. After we watched the two clips we commented on good and bad points.

Monday 12 January 2009

Premliminary film

Last week we had 2 hours to film. It was challenging at first as I had to put many lessons of learning and planning into practice. I found that filming each clip twice helped me improve the angles of the filming. Having alot of each clip also helped, because actors kept laughing and moving to fast to capture the action. After a while i started getting used to filming and not filming in order.
I have learned alot since the first filming. These are things such as not filming in order, filming each clip more then once and using match cuts. I think that the match cut was the most interesting because it really makes a scene look more realistic. It also can give a the audience a better view of the action. I have also found that you can't leave one person to do the filming as it doesn't always have the out come you want. The second time filming i found that i was getting more confident with the camera, and didn't panic when i got something wrong.
I do feel that we followed basic thriller film conventions to a certain extent. When i filmed sophies feet and she was walking slow i thought that it built tension and anticipation for the audience. This anticipation was satisfied when the audience saw the situation and that the out come could be dangerous. The camera work also built tension as we used close ups and medium shots to capture the action.
Our practice film represents women as powerful. Instead of the man being in the position of power we have a female gangster. It would have been better if she had a man tied up, showing that women can be in a position of power. One thing i need to remember is leaving 5 seconds before and after each clip to make space for editing. This was abit of a problem when it came to editing as sometimes we needed a clip to be slightly longer.