Thursday 17 March 2011

Peer Feedback on final opening sequence

1. Describe the type of camerawork which has been used. Do you think it's effective, and why?

-Good longshot, POV and close-up
-POV shot related the the genre
-good closeup on phone
-phone shot was too long
-good variety

2. What type of sound has been used? Does it work with the visuals? How?

-The soundtrack was tension building
-soundtrack wasn't clear
-music fitted with genre
-non diegetic and diegetic sounds worked together
-the diegetic sounds made story clear

3. How has the mise-en-scene been constructed? does it have an impact on the thriller genre?

-could have used better lighting. The narrative shows it is a thriller but the mise-en-scene isn't clear
-could have had better poles (props)
-good casual costume

Wednesday 16 March 2011

Final product evaluation.

Our final thriller opening sequence is slightly different to how we first planned.
in our plan we did not have the running scene and the protagonist shouting at the antagonist. we added this so the excitement in our opening sequence was higher.

16th March

Today is our last editing lesson in which to finish tweaking any footage, and to add our logo in and the 15 certificate. We finished added transitions to the credits so they fade in and out, and also made sure the soundtrack was in sync with the footage.

At the end of the lesson we uploaded the video onto youtube and then put the URL into a new blog, which we named "The Watched. Final thriller production".

Production Logo

Picture 15
This is our production logo, we feel it relates to a thriller as the image is of blood. we wanted something quite simple but very effective. We came up with the name after we had seen others for inspiration and gained ideas from viewing others. Examples we looked at are 'New Line Cinema' which is a still image which is quite simple as well. The logo we used and looked at for help were all still images, a lot of production logos now include a short clip which contains movement. To keep things simple and down to basics we opted for the still image as it works well with our piece.
The most famous production image is 'Dreamworks'. The logo of dream works only used two different colours and has thriller conventions about it, for example the darkness. Although this is a still image of dream works, they now have a moving image and the logo changes depending on what type of film they are producing. We tried to combine the best features of both of these images to create ours.
Picture 16
Picture 17

The Watched. Final Thriller Production.

Credits.

The credits in our opening sequence are over the top of the video. They fade in and out, we used this transition as we thought that it fits with the thriller genre. The credits include, 'starring', 'edited by', 'music by', 'director', 'producer', 'filmed by' and 'actors'.
Our credits are in red as this relates to the gory, bloody side of our thriller.

Monday 14 March 2011

BBFC

Guidelines
Ratings are based on how much bad language, discrimination, violence, sex and drugs in films. The more, the higher rating the film will receive. the guidelines are updated every four years.


The classifications are either a 'U', 'PG', '12/12a', '15', '18', 'R18'.


For thriller films, its highly unlikely a film will be rated under a 15 due to the footage in it. 


15
A thriller film rated 15 will contain a certain amount of criteria which the BBFC will allow children under the age of 15 to watch it. No one younger than 15 may see a '15' in the cinema. Also, they cannot rent a '15' rated film.


18
If a film is rated an 18, no one under 18 can view the film within a cinema or rent/buy an '18' rated video.  most thriller films are rated 18 because of the amount of violence and bad language used within the film. 


Within our thriller film, we feel the rating for our film should be a 15. this is because it contains certain features such as violence. The violence in or clip is limited and there is only one scene which contains this. although this restricts the amount of thriller conventions we can apply to our film, we feel as if by classifying our film as '15' it will appeal to a greater audience. 


Picture 14


Thursday 10 March 2011

Software Used

During producing our thriller we used software on computers sch as Final cut express, photo shop and garage band. Each of these was used for a different purpose.
Final cut was used to put all the different footage together and dd the sound to it.
Photo shop was used to make the company logo.
Garage band was used to make the soundtrack which will last the duration of the piece.

Equipment used during filming

We used many differant types of equipment, some you see within the film but others are used to help create the film.

Production
The cameras used to film were HD Sony digital camera which after some practice filming become a lot easier to use. these cameras give the video a much clearer image and allows the audience to see small details a lot better. Also, to go with the camera a trip-pod was used. this was to ensure when filming the camera had a smooth turn and kept still when needed. without this the camera would be shaky and would make the video look very poor. However, when filming POV or handheld we decided the shot would be more effective without the tri-pod.

Post-production
 When we had finished each filming session, we uploaded our footage to the computer and used different types of software to bring it all together. we used final cut in order to bring our footage together and edit any clips we didnt needor was not quite right. not only this but to add credits we also used final cut. in order to create a soundtrack for our thriller, we used garage band. this enables you to create the kind of music you want. when we had created our peice for our thriller we then edited it into our thriller using final cut. finally photoshop was used to create our production logo. we then transferred our logo into our video.

Questions and Answers

Q) What classification is your film going to be and why?
Our film will be an 18. This is because of the high level of violence and the nature of a thriller. Anybody under this age may be unable to deal with what is happening whilst watching this film.

Q) Who did you use for your actors?
In our thriller project, a total of four actors were used and each person in our group was involved with filming. Shona Addison played the innocent victim whilst Jake Cotton played the protagonist. Jake Cowie played the antagonist and for one scene Alex Breeze played a friend on the antagonist in helping him attack the victim.

Q) What time of day did you film this and why?
All of our footage was filmed during daylight. Times varied from 9:00-15:25. we done this because all of our footage was outside, we felt we needed the natural light to aid our filming.

Q) Why did you choose your location?
 We had a few different locations but we tried to find quiet locations which were easy to film around. one scene where the victim is attacked is filmed outside the sports hall around the back, because its quiet and we knew no one would interfere. another one of our locations was in the music/dance block also at Long Road, this was because it had the specifications we needed (large window on a door).

Q) What do you feel you have improved on from the last project?
I feel team work has improved massively, everyone is putting forward ideas on ways to improve our video. Not only this, but our filming technique is now at a much higher quality. this is because we have experience problems in the past and now we know to film for that little bit longer so when it comes to editing everything flows and comes together to create the final thriller film.
 

Existing Thriller Advertisement


These all all example of thriller films. each of these examples are dark or shows blood which indicates violence and fear. From just looking at the front of these films, we know exactly what we are going to get and by having an image that appeals to the audience will attract them to watch the film. the audience are looking for a thrill and in each of these films you can tell exactly what the film will contain and whether it is something you will enjoy watching


Picture 10

Picture 13

Picture 12
Picture 11

Wednesday 9 March 2011

Credits.

For the credits there are many area's we have to show.
The director
The music producer
The Producer
Actors
Props manager
Editing Manager
and Sponsered by.

These will be throughout the beginning of our piece.

Things to do from 9th March- 16th March

-transfer production logo into our thriller video
-put credits into our thriller video: Director, editor, producer, music producer, actors etc
-finish transitions
-do any final editing (tweaking)
-upload final version
-peer feedback
-blog peer feedback/mini evaluation

Monday 7 March 2011

Digital Moodboard

A moodboard is a variety of different images/clips which when put together create a picture. the digital moodboard below is a collection of images which relate to our thriller project.
Picture 5
Picture 8
Picture 3
Picture 6
Picture 4
Picture 9

Thursday 3 March 2011

Micro-elements.

Camera work:
We used 6 different camera shots in our thriller opening sequence. These included a long shot, this was used so the audience can see more of the set and surrounding area. we used a POV shot when the antagonists were running away from the victim to portray intensity and fear. We then used a close-up shot when the antagonist was dialing a number on his phone, we used this shot so that the audience can see the phone being dialed. The next shot was also a close up of the receivers phone when an unknown number appeared. We used this to create continuity between the two calls.
We also used a mid-shot when the antagonist walked up to the window. we used this shot


Mise-en-scene:
We used a casual costume for our thriller as we wanted to portray a 'normal' setting. we used natural lighting outside, we chose not to use the standard dark thriller lighting in our opening sequence as it is set at a college during the day. we used very few props in our opening sequence as we did not want to be to detailed and only give away a little bit of what is going on throughout. we used the poles to beat the victim and two mobile phones for communication between the antagonist and the protagonist. 


Sound:
In our opening sequence we have both diagetic and non diagetic sound. The diagetic sound we used was the victims scream first and then the conversation between the antagonist and the protagonist. we kept the scream in as we thought it related to the thriller genre of out opening sequence very well. The conversation is a key part in the opening as we find out a section of the story.
The non-diagetic sound in our opening sequence is very low toned and ominous, with bursts of high pitch synths. We used this mix of high and low sounds to create tension and intrigue. 


Editing:
The editing in our opening sequence consists of jump cuts, fades and dissolve transitions. we used jump cuts as they are fast paced and precise this relates to the non-diagetic sound track in our opening. we used  fade transitions as they portray  a slow and eerie mood. we used dissolve transitions because they keep the continuity flowing throughout the opening sequence.

Antagonist and protagonist

An antagonist is a group of characters or a particular character who oppose the main character, or the main characters. In the narrative where the action consists of a hero fighting a villain, the two can be regarded as protagonist and antagonist. The antagonist may also represent a major threat or obstacle to the main character by their very existence, without necessarily actively targeting him or her.
in our thriller production we have used an antagonist and protagonist. the antagonist is the killer and the protagonist is the witness. the audience know this because they see the antagonist attack someone and the conversations between characters shows to the audience clearly the protagonist as well.
without either the antagonist or protagonist then there will be little/no conflicts which will mean the story will be harder to create. sometimes the identities of the antagonist and protagonist will be kept hidden in order to create an atmosphere for the audience. occasionally you will only find out the characters true identity at the end of the film. in our thriller we decided it would be clearer if we showed the identities of our characters and this helps the audience understand the moral behind the story.

Picture 1

Target Audience

Our target audience in our thriller film is both male and female aged 18 and above. this is becuase of the high level of violence and innapropriate behaviour for children under the age of 18. 18-30 year olds will have differant interests than for instance ages 30-45. The late teens/young adults will still be enjoying their social life and will like going out to the cinema and having fun with their mates. whereas, older adults will more involved with jobs and family. although the two groups are very differant, we feel as our film will appeal to these groups becuase of the high suspense within the film. we based our film on 'Obsessed' as that was very popular with the age group of 18-45. we hope our psychological thriller is as good as other psychological films and to ensure the audience enjoy it.

Wednesday 2 March 2011

Peer Feedback on Rough Cut

When another group looked at our work,  and they gave us feedback on a rough cut of our opening sequence. they said :


Shots: POV, close-up and handheld.
Mise-en-scene: Lighting: low and natural.

                         Props: poles, phone.

                         Costume: casual, student.
                         Location: field.


Editing transitions: jump cut. Sound is all diagetic.


Improvements:
- Sound effects.
- More thriller conventions.

Tuesday 1 March 2011

Colour scheme for Title Sequence

For our title sequence, the colour scheme plays a big part because it gives the over-all atmosphere of the opening, and can hint to which genre the film is.

Each colour is associated with different emotions. Red is linked to anger, love, and lust. Black is linked to death and emptiness. White is linked to purity. Blue is linked to calmness. Green is linked to jealousy.

Our Thriller has anger, guilt, death, and innocence in it. The best colours that link to this are black, red and white. These will be the colours we use for either background, or alongside a style of font that represents fear, or anxiety. Our logo is mostly red, to show blood, so red will be used sparingly, as not to distract from the logo, or overwhelm with a certain colour.

Titles

When coming up with a title we looked at other thriller films such as; Obsessed, Inception, The hunted. These film titles are all linked to the narrative either by being a state of mind the protagonist is in, or the antagonist. Also, film titles can be linked to the main element or location in the film, such as "The phone booth". When choosing our title we thought about what our film was about and what were the important features. Our short list consisted of:

Framed
The Black-mailer
Wanted
The Watched
Never Alone
Faked
Blame Game

After going through each of these "The Watched" stuck out to us and was the one we all remembered. It relates to our film because our narrative is about a man being watched so that he is forced to take the blame for a crime.

Thriller Music

During thriller opening sequences, the same piece of music tends to be played throughout, and it just fades in and out, and has different sections to it to correspond to the visual action.

Thriller music is distinctive because it often in written in a minor key, using chords, on the main instrument and ornamentation surrounds that chord using other instruments.

Thrillers often have a strong bass and beat which create a build up in suspense or tension. The use of wind instruments can create an eerie feel, like the wind, and can be mysterious, whereas brass sounds are loud and harsh, and can make you feel intimidated.

Thrillers nearly always end on a imperfect cadence so that the music is left hanging much like the narrative, instead of having a pleasing sounding end that sounds final, and gives closure.