Update of today's lesson!

Sooo in todays lesson I got to work on editing!

I have never used Imovie before, so I practised using basic tools and doing basic things to some video we had taken a few weeks ago in class, after I felt I understood how to use it, I imported the film and began watching through our clips to figure out which clips were useable and which ones we wouldn't be able to use.

After I cut all the clips we weren't using and had finalised the clips we would use, I got to work on shortening them to appropriate times, this assured we would be within the time limit and also would create a good pace and atmosphere for our opening!

By then end of the lesson I was really pleased with how far I have come with editing, I have shortened what we have down to 2:15 now, so we need to make it slightly shorter and still add in a few more clips!

I'm really happy with how our opening is coming along and just need to make sure we continue editing it!!

:D

Second filming!

So on Saturday we filmed the rest of our film yaaaay!!!

We forgot to pick up the camera from school so we were rushing around Friday evening to figure out an alternative way to film - luckily in the end we were able to borrow a similar camera from our friend Molly!! Ruby and I had organised everything beforehand so we felt really confident with the filming.

So Saturday morning we met at my house to film all the shots in the house - this went really smoothly and was finished in a short amount of time.

We had booked out a friend of mines barn to use between 12 and 1 so we had to keep to a strict time schedule regarding that.

For the driving shots we decided a really good idea would be to use another camera from a different angle the whole way there - so that we could cut together shots from inside the car and also from the car infront filming behind the back as we thought this would ensure a wider range of shots!

The whole filming process went really really well and I'm extremely happy with the outcome, now we just need to start editing and keeping up to date on all our blogging!! :D

Filming!

Hello all :)

We have all of our filming done totally now :) On saturday we had a mission of filming all morning and getting everything done! We stuck to it and managed it all!

Now we have to edit our footage. Can't wait to start editing! We're using imovie to edit in so it should be great!

Anyway that was just a quick update, til next time bye!

x

Shot lists!

Hellooooo!

This is our final shot list! Knew i'd get it up here eventually, at the moment we're using the shot list to film our opening, so it's fully in use! Editing is to start soon, so watch this space!

Shot no.	Shot/Framing etc.	Action	Info (costumes, props, locations, personnel etc)
1	Establishing shot of family home	Focus pull (fuzzy to focused)	Bright, sunny, early morning
2	mid shot of dad in bed	Camera pans with him as he sits up.	Dark room, early morning
3	Extreme close-up of dad’s face	Confused facial expression	Dark room, early morning
4	Match-on-action, over the shoulder	Walking through door	Dark room, early morning
5	Match-on-action, long shot	Just walked through the door, looked round room	Dark room, early morning
6	Pan. Dad’s POV.	Dad looking from one bed to the other, no children!	Dark room, early morning
7	High angle, still shot.	Dad half-runs downstairs and through doorway	More light, no curtains on windows, near stairs
8	Pan, slight high angle.	Dad is still looking round kitchen, sees note	Light, bright coloured kitchen
9	Moves from high to low angle, pan.	Dad reads note, realises his family is gone	Light, bright coloured kitchen
11	High angle, still shot.	Dad’s hand comes into view, takes keys, leaves	Light, bright coloured kitchen
12	Slight high angle.	Car drives off, dad is driving	Outside, bright morning.
14	Over-the-shoulder mid-shot.	Dad is frantically driving	Grey, inside a car, muted sound.
15	mid-shot.	Worried facial expression, driving.	Grey, inside a car, muted sound.

17	Extreme close-up, still shot	dad’s scared facial expression	Silence, faint tick of clock.
18	POV from dad’s eyes.	turns steering wheel	grey, inside car, muted sound.
21	mid-shot from backseat	dads driving	grey, inside a car, muted sound
22	Pan, mid-shot	car stops in the drive	Birds, outdoor noises
23	Long shot, pan	protagonist gets out of car, searches.	birds, outdoor noises
24	Long-shot	dad walks round confused	Silence
26	long/mid shot, pan	running to get back in the car	Natural, outdoor sounds
27	Close-up	worried expression	Heavy breathing
28	Close-up, over the shoulder shot, POV.	shot of dad’s watch	muted, inside car.
29	mid-shot	anger, frustrated facial expression	muted, inside car.
10	close-up on hostage	Mum’s scared facial expression	Hostages whimpering and footsteps.
13	Slight zoom, mid-shot	Hostages are struggling	Hostages whimpering
16	POV from antagonist, pan.	Hostages are struggling	Hostages whimpering and footsteps.
19	POV of hostage from antagonist’s eyes.	hostage’s face is being stroked by antagonist	hostages struggling, no footsteps
30	over the shoulder, mid-shot	family struggling	hostages struggling, no footsteps
20	CGI image of clock	n/a	The time will be 00:45
25	CgI image of clock	n/a	The time will be 00:17

Okay thanks bye! x

Update!

So, in this lesson, we got given our marks and some advice on what we need to post on. As you can see, we have both posted about target audience and we've got our newest video blog uploaded :)

Also, I've started work on the shot lists, so typing them up and in the right order for our next set of filming which is on saturday morning. They will be up here shortly!

As for filming, it went brilliantly! Even though it was fantastically cold, we managed to get all the shots we needed and all in a space of about twenty minutes which was excellent for lights purposes. We uploaded the clips to imovie but we're not able to edit any of them today because we haven't filmed any of the other footage, so there's nothing to cut it between! So filming should be done and editing should be well on the way next week, WATCH THIS SPACE.

Bye bye now!

Target audience

Hello!

This is just a quick post about our target audience and what we are aiming to give our target audience. Firstly, we're aiming to reach ages of about 14+. This includes teenagers and adults of any age. We chose to have our target audience as this age because the 'thriller' genre is not really a stereotypical genre for children to watch as they usually will not understand the complicated plots and characters. Teenagers are the generations that watch the most films in society, so we thought it best to go for a broad variation of ages, ranging from young teenager to OAP. This is mainly because the adults will understand the plot twists and will not question the confusion in the film, but will wait for the outcome whereas a child would be confused from the outset.

We hope to produce a clear opening which adults and teenagers will enjoy, but it will also intrigue them so they want to watch on. We also want to produce a film that will be appropriate for a thriller film and will also stick to the narrative and technical conventions of the thriller genre so that the audience will relate it and understand it clearly.

Thanks :)

Update January 24th!

From now on I will be writing a quick update after each lesson just to keep track of exactly what we are doing and how everything is going!!

In today's lesson Ruby and I uploaded the clips that we filmed on Sunday onto a mac, and looked through them all - we discussed how they looked and the audio in each one to determine if we could definitely use them or not and we are really really pleased with how they all turned out. The clips came out fantastically, the actors worked brilliantly and we got the filming done much quicker than we expected!

We can't edit any clips until we've done the rest of our filming due to the fact that these hostage clips slot into other clips so we were unable to edit those today - instead we had a meeting with our teacher who has looked over our blogs and noted down things that we can improve on and how we are getting on so far. I'm really happy with how she thinks I am getting on and I feel really confident with how the project is coming along so far!

I now need to keep updating my blog, and just make sure we are organised for this Saturday filming. After that we can begin to edit the clips and put our film together!! :D

Our target audience

So I thought I would post a blog about our target audience slightly more in depth, and how our film relates and draws in our target audience!!

Our target audience is teenagers up to the age of young adults - we feel this is a good age for our target audience as when I researched it, it seemed to be this age group that watched and enjoyed thrillers the most. Our film is aimed at either gender - and I don't feel it will appeal to one gender more than the other at all. Our film is not aimed at any particular class of people, there isn't anything specifically in the film that higher or lower class audience members will relate to - therefore I don't feel it's aimed at any certain status or class.

We decided that in order to allow our target audience to relate to our thriller opening - we should use some teenage actors, therefore teenagers can relate to their age! I have put the children actors in average clothes that will make them come across to the audience like typical children from average working class families.

Also the family in the film have no mother or so it seems from the opening (of course this was not our initial intention however we worked around the actress playing the mum not being able to film and changed the plot slightly to make it work) however they still seem to be a close family who care for one another - our audience will be able to relate to this is as they can put themselves in one of the characters places in the situation that they are in and think how they would feel. This can relate to any age as there are various aged characters in our opening.

Overall I think our film will appeal to our target age extremely well as there are various aspects that can appeal to different people!

First day of filming!!!!

Oky Doky - today was our first day of filming!

After about a trillion setbacks (well thats what it felt like) such as actors contacting us saying they can't do the date, or one of our group being unable to make it, we finally got some stuff filmed!

Our main actor (Ruby's dad) was unable to do today, so we thought we would shoot all the hostage shots instead!! We have been planning for the day for a few weeks and I was so excited to film it, however this morning we got a phonecall saying due to unseen family problems, a friends mum who was going to act as the mum was now unable to act for us today - Ruby and I discussed what we could do for this, and we came up with the idea that instead we could scrap the character of the mum from the story, and instead have 3 children - so we called our lovely friend Ryan (we were filming in his barn and his brother was acting in it already) and asked him to help out; luckily he said yes so we went ahead with this idea!!

When we got there I decided to take a few pictures of the setting we had chosen, and i've also taken some pictures of the actors in costume so you can see exactly how our planning relates to the actual filming!
Heres a few pictures of the part of the barn we used;

And once we got the actors set up (in their pyjamas... in the freezing cold!) I took some pictures of them so show how we set it all up and also their costumes along with hostage props etc.

I was also going to show our use of lighting in these pictures, however Kath didn't actually turn up to filming even after we organised the filming date well in advance and made sure everyone was sure of when and where it was going on. One of Kath's roles was lighting, and for this shot we were going to use huge lights around the hostages however due to Kath not turning up we had to improvise and so used natural light instead.

So heres a picture of our actors in costume on set :D

As you can see, their costumes reflect age, gender and the fact that they are protagonists - I'm really happy with the outcome of the costumes, and also with the props I used to show that they are beign held hostage!

:D

STORYBOARD!!!

Sorry for the huuuge delay!!!

Basically we finished our storyboard and so transferred it into a digital format, then we realised on the computer you couldn't actually see the writing very well and all the faint lines were very hard to see. So I decided to re-do each page in photoshop, where I typed up all the writing, and went over all the colours in pictures!

We will bring the storyboard with us to film, therefore hopefully we can easily see what we need to be filming and what we still have to do!!

Here we gooo;

:D:D

Video update!

Hello, so this is just a quick update in video form to let you know how we're getting on :) Enjoy!

Analysis of previous students work - ImaginaryBeard productions

Hello! So this is my analysis of previous students work. Its a thriller opening called 'The puppeteer's playhouse', and the opens the story with a saw-esque plot. It features one main protagonist and he is portrayed as a dominant male. The other character it features is a controlling antagonist who the protagonist sees only through a screen. This gives the antagonist superiority in this opening, but also it gives him the aura of a 'mysterious character' which is a main feature of thriller films. I'm now going to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the film and what we can learn from it. Here is the film:

Strengths

-The lighting is used very effectively. The main light is a floodlight in the corner of the small room. This creates the atmosphere of isolation and enclosure for the protagonist. The main light is also directly above the non-moving puppet who we later find out is the apprentice of the antagonist. Because the main light is directly above the apprentice, it casts the apprentice in shadow which makes him another 'mysterious character' to involve into the plot. This involves the audience further because it makes them question the identity of this character.

-The camerawork is very good. They used a lot of handheld shots when the protagonist is getting more tense when trying to escape. This causes the audience to be on the edge of their seat a lot more. Also, a POV shot from the puppet (we don't know he is the apprentice yet) influences the fact of the 'supernatural' and the fact that something is amiss. It also makes the audience very uneasy and excited for the rest of the film. This good for a thriller audience because they go to the film expecting to be interested and involved in the storyline.

-The music is excellent. The main strength in terms of music is the fact that it builds up when the protagonist is trying to escape. This is very effective for viewing pleasure because it contributes heavily to the tense atmosphere. It also increases the audiences interest in the plot and characters because the audience realise that the music is building up towards a big event, which draws their attention.

Weaknesses:

-I think the actual plot isn't very good at all. The fact that they decided to do a saw-like film is just a complete copy of a franchise which is not what the task. It doesn't seem original, especially with the 'puppet' characters because they are a complete copy from the Saw franchise. Also the plot of saw films rely heavily on gore and are based more around the horror genre than the thriller genre. This opening fits into the thriller genre but sets up the rest of the film to be a horror type film, not a thriller.

-The character of the puppet master's costume is not very effective. It is almost comical. It is not the kind of thing that thrills audiences, it scares them. The point of a thriller film is not to scare its audience, it is to make them use their imagination instead if being a passive watcher. Also, the pupeteer character looks extremely fake and unrealistic. This storyline may not be completely realistic but that character makes the whole opening seem fake and shatters the suspension of disbelief. I don't think the use of this character is very effective.

-The editing is not very good. All shots are either very short as in half a second, or very long as in ten to fifteen seconds. This makes the film drag on a bit. Even when the plot and the protagonist is becoming more tense and the music is building up, the editing does not which makes the sequence drag a lot. It makes it slow for the viewer because when the sequence is building up, and creates the an only partially tense atmosphere.

Points to take from this:

-Firstly, we know to make our plot interesting, but also to make it as realistic as possible.

-Secondly, our characters need to be as intriguing as they can because the aura of the 'mysterious character is very intriguing for an audience member.

-Also, the use of music and lighting can be very effective in a thriller opening. It creates atmosphere but also influences the personalities of the characters and highlights them for the audience.

-We need to consider music and sound a lot more because the use of sound is used very effectively in this opening, and contributes a lot to the main bulk of the plot and story. It also reflects the entirety of the situation and what the atmosphere is like.

-Lastly, we need to plan costume and props a lot better because we don't want our characters to look unrealistic and we want to suspend their disbelief and make them interested in our story.

Thanks for reading :) x

Final final final idea!

Before we put our storyboard on here, I thought we should tell you exactly what is happening in our thriller opening, the plot line has changed slightly since the beginning of this project, however overall it's the same idea!

So it begins with a shot of a stereotypical family house, then cuts to a man asleep in bed. He's wearing light coloured pyjamas (showing he's the protagonist). He then wakes up, looks to where his wife should be and realises she's not there, he doesn't seem to be panicking at this moment, but gets up, puts on his dressing gown and leaves his room. We then see him looking into his childrens rooms - looking round the rooms in search of his children (the audience will know they are his childrens rooms due to the colours, props, mise-en-scene. The audience will also know that he is searching because by this time he will be beginning to look slightly worried as it seems his family is gone.

By this time he is becoming panicked and runs down the stairs into the kitchen - shouting for his wife and children (therefore we know that they are missing, and we understand that he is becoming extremely worried). He looks round the kitchen frantically, and finds a note, the audience will be able to see this note from the camera angles - and we see that it's a ransom note stating that someone has taken his wife and children, and he must find them from a clue within a deadline (hence the title 'deadline') From this moment a clock begins ticking in the right corner of the screen, showing he only has about 5:00 to find his family. From this point there are random short clips around 1/2 seconds but getting longer each time of his family being held hostage in what looks like an old barn.

Immediately it seems as if he knows where he's going, he runs to the car and drives away - we then have shots from inside the car of the dad driving to this place. The tense music has faded in by now and is slowly getting more and more tense - adding to the suspense of the audience. The dad arrives at what also looks like an old barn, he gets out of the car (the shots will be much shorter now to add to the suspense of the scene) and begins shouting his wife and childrens name whilst running around searching for them... after looking around for a while he realises he has obviously come to the wrong place, all the while we can still see the countdown clock in the corner counting down to 00:00. He looks at his clock and realises he is about to run out of time - this obviously makes him break down as he thinks his family will die, although he still gets in his car and drives away in the hope he can still get to his family in time.

The last shot we see is the antagonist shaking his head and walking towards the family who are still tied up.

We feel this ending is extremely climatic and shows enough to hook the audience, therefore making them want to watch the rest of the film. Although it shows a lot we think it conceals a majority of the information about the situation, again making the audience ask questions and wanting to watch on. We think this plot sounds like a stereotypical hostage thriller opening, whilst still being original and different to any we've seen, it includes a huge variety of conventional thriller shots, codes and conventions, and storylines.

Our storyboard will be up later today for you to look at, and hopefully be able to match the shots with this plot line!!

:D:D:D

Planning for filming!

So I thought I could do some planning to get ready for filming, we decided on 2 days for filming and we thoroughly discussed what scenes and shots we need to film at what times.

Our film is set in the morning, and in 'real time' it would only span across about 5 minutes, therefore the time of day needs to look like it hasn't changed at all - this is going to be extremely difficult because obviously filming each scene will take quite a long time. To solve this problem we thought about the lighting we are going to have in each shot - the only scenes that need natural lighting are when the dad is in the house waking up, when he's driving and when he is searching for the family in the 'fake' barn. The hostage shot wont use any natural lighting as we will be using halogen lights in the hostage shots as we believe this will create a certain atmosphere. So the hostage shots don't actually need to look like it's in the morning - therefore we will film these shots last as it wont matter if it's become slightly darker!

We will film the shots of the dad waking up and all shots in the house first thing when we film - as these definitely need natural light for these shots and it needs to look like it's in the morning.

We will then film the shots of the dad driving to where he thinks his family are being held hostage - as these also need to use natural lighting which looks like it's straight after being in the house!

Thirdly we will film the shots of the dad at the 'fake' barn where he thinks his family are, as once again these shots need to have natural lighting and needs to look about 2 minutes after the dad leaving the house.

Finally we will film the hostage clips, as like I said this does not require natural lighting therefore it doesn't matter if this is slightly later on in the day!!

I think this plan for filming will make it easier for us to film, and as we are so organised we will be able to inform our actors of this information once again meaning the filming process will go smoothly and with less mistakes and troubles.

:D:D:D:D:D:D

Juuuust a little update!

Oooo blueee...
So just thought I would write a little update of whats going on and where we're at and how i'm feeling about the process in general!

I've now finished all my planning and research, although I found analysing previous students work and existing film openings really helpful and interesting so I may analyse a few more and blog them! I feel all the research I've done has helped me in every way to get ready to make our own thriller opening including technical codes and conventions of a stereotypical thriller opening, and how to edit, shoot, direct etc well.
Today we had a pretty major setback as we hadn't actually been told that our deadline for filming was the 20th of January so in our group we were discussing that we could film on the 22nd of January when someone pointed out that the deadline was apparently the 20th. This made us all extremely stressed as we hadn't been told this at all and we would have preferably liked to have been informed at the beginning of the project or earlier than today!! After finding this out we had to rediscuss our entire filming process, and after much consideration and debating we have realised the nearest possible date we can film is the morning of the 21st and the day of the 22nd - we realise this is past the deadline date but unfortunately there is no day before this when we would be able to film.
To ensure our filming goes smoothly and we achieve the quality opening that we want, we did lots of planning for the shooting of our film in class today and discussed everything that needed to be done in depth - I contacted people about possible locations and I contacted people that we would initally like to star in our film, therefore I can start organising what times we need to be at what places in the day to make sure our filming is as productive as possible.
In class I also planned where I would get each piece of the characters costumes from so I can collect all the costumes before filming.

I now need to contact the people we want to act in it again and inform them exactly what we want them to do, at what times and where. I will also need to contact certain people to enquire about the use of their locations (for example we will be using my house, so I need to check with my family. We will be using a friend of ours' barn so need to brief him on what we will be doing) Also I need to make sure all of my job roles are complete, and then complete the planning prior to filming!!

Our storyboard will be up in a few days - IT'S AWESOME!! :D
byeeeeeeeeeee x

Analysis of past students work - 'Smile'

I've decided to analyse another past students work as after viewing and analysing the first one I felt it helped me realise just how constricted we are in our technology and time limit - this made me start thinking about our own video and I'm not sure if it's slightly far fetched. After this I have been watching as many previous students work as possible to get a better idea of what other students did.

The thriller opening I have decided to analyse this time is called 'Smile', aaaand here it is;

Strengths:

* I think the use of the voice over worked really well - it's the only form of dialogue in the entire clip so we fully focus on what he is saying. Also the voice over starts as soon as the clip starts, surprising the audience as perhaps we are not expecting it, but it also hooks you by surprising you as you immediately listen to the facts he is saying.

* I thought the use of different shot types in this clip were brilliant, there are a range of close ups, mid shots and long shots, high and low angles and the use of panning is fantastic on the cork board. I thought the shots of the friends sitting together worked well as there were only mid and long shots on them - making it seem as if we are looking at the group of friends from an outsiders point of view, perhaps the antagonists point of view which is stereotypical of a thriller film.

* The cross cutting between the scenes of the friends and scenes of the antagonist reading, and looking at pictures works really well as it creates a mysterious atmosphere as the audience don't understand whats happening.

* One of the best things about this thriller opening is the integration of the credits and titles into the film itself - they are all written on various polaroids, meaning we look at the titles whilst getting an idea of whats going on in the opening still which I think is really intelligent. At the end the antagonist writes 'smile' on a polaroid of what looks like a girl lying on the floor - leaving the audience wondering whats happening, who this man is, who this girl is, and why he is obsessed with her.

Weaknesses:

* I think the main thing that could have been improved was the use of costumes - every character was wearing dark clothes which usually connotes evil and antagonists, therefore the audience may become confused and think that the group of friends are all antagonists, when actually they are supposed to be the protagonists. The costumes should suggest to the audience who each character is and what part they play in the film - meaning the protagonists would usually be wearing bright clothing to connote goodness.

* The lighting was all key lighting in each scene, and for the friend scenes this worked really well as it was meant to be a happy, lighthearted scene - however on the clips of the antagonists hands reading and tearing up paper there is also quite bright lighting, and I think it would have worked better if there were shadows or dark lighting on this scenes as it would show that he was the antagonist therefore the audience can immediately judge him and feel a certain way about him.

* Although the music worked well, I think it could have come in at an earlier point to make the clip more tense, and the music could have become faster and more climatic towards the end to make the ending more of a climax as opposed to the music staying the same throughout.

I think this was a really good thriller opening; the story was really well thought out and it's very clear whats happening, whilst still holding back information for the audience to wonder whats going on. The music fitted well with the story and the acting was really good. The lighting could have been improved and also the use of costume would have made the characters easier to identify with. I also think the integration of credits was brilliant and perhaps this could be something we could think about in our thriller opening.

Storyboards and shot lists

Hello all!

So our storyboard is now complete! It is a wonderful five pages long with pictures AND words! (aren't you lucky?) We should be scanning it into the computer next week, so expect wonders!

Also, our shot lists are well and truly on the way, so expect photos and print screens of those as well.

I'm just updating you on the whereabouts of our storyboards and shot lists in case you were woprrying, because I know we were! Anyway, both tasks are completed now, and the evidence should be up shortly!

Thank you and have a lovely evening :)

Some title design ideas...

Hello! So, soon I will be putting up a poll about which font we should use in our title design. But before I do that, I just wanted to post about some of my initial ideas. Well, here we go!

Idea One:

First of all, I thought that after the last shot has faded out, into the blackness our title could fade up. We have included this on our storyboard. The font would be as if it has been on a digital clock, as shown here. This will be happening all the way through in the corners of shots because the main plot of the opening is that there is a deadline. Thihs type of font, you usually see on digital clocks or on bombs and I think it would intrigue our audience and make them want to watch the rest of the film. Also, it relates to the genre of thriller because it creates suspense.

So, for the actual design, the clock showing 00:00, written in this font, would fade out and the word DEADLINE would fade up in the same font.

Strengths are:

-Audience would relate to it because this font is very widely used around the world on clocks etc.
-Audience members would relate it to this film, because in the opening, it would be very prominently featured.

-It creates suspense and makes the audience ask questions, which is exactly what we are aiming for.

Weaknesses:

-It is very same-y, as it is being used through the whole opening, audience might be getting bored of it.

-It is quite difficult to see, as it is so bright.

-It will be difficult to make letters in digital clock font, and if we do, it may be difficult to read.

Idea Two

My second idea is after the 00:00 has faded out, for DEADLINE to fade up but with every letter in a different newpaper clipping. Here is an example:

This font is the typical of ransom letters which is brilliant because our opening involves a ransom letter. Many people would associate it with ransom letters and hostage situations because it is used in many hostage situations, real and imaginary alike. It is also quite suspenseful because it relates to very sensitive subjects for some people, e.g. Kidnapping, murder etc.

Strengths:

-It relates to the plot of our film and to the thriller genre.

-It directly relates to subjects we want to tackle in our film.

-People will link it to the ransom note, and it provokes the audience to use their brains, which is an essential element for the thriller genre.

Weaknesses:

-It is very difficult to decipher and make out, at some points you need to squint to read what it says.

-It may be confused because some people may not relate it to the story and may be confused about the plot.

-It isn't hard-hitting enough.

So those are my two initial ideas for title design! My final idea and design will be up as soon as our filming is done, which may be a few weeks yet! But, do expect print screens, font examples and photos!

Poll is going up very shortly :)

Thank you :D

My individual roles

I thought I'd do a bit of extra research into my individual job roles, so here it is!

Camera operator: The camera operator shoots the individual scenes using the camera. I have to know how to work the camera and use the storyboards to work out how to shoot each scene from the right angle etc. I have to be agile, as I'll be carrying the camera around to different places, but I also have to be very patient, because sometimes the camrea can be slow, or play up etc.

Editing: The editor cuts the scenes to make them precisely what is on the storyboard. The editor works solely on a computer to make changes to and to put the different shots together. The editor also adds music, credits, and any extra features that the group feels is necessary. Editing is a big role, because it is the last job that we have to do. It is what produces the final process. I have to be detailed but not too slow. This process usually takes a very long time, so we need to whittle down the editing time as much as we can. However, I also need to be incredibly detailed because mistakes in a movie always look awful, and we want ours to look brilliant.

Continuity: This job requires a lot of thought because it involves making sure that the cast and company adhere to the conditions of shooting. For instance, part of this job is to make sure we shoot a scene at the same time of day, so that when we cut it together, it doesn't look as if the time suddenly changes in the same scene. Also it relates to props, costume, setting and lighting. It requires me to make sure the actors are wearing exactly what they were wearing the shot before, so the audience can recognise them through their clothes. Also props, because if in one shot an actor is using a gun and in the next shot, he isn't, it looks out of place and often people spot it as a mistake. The main function of a person related to continuity is to make sure that the actors look as realistic as they should from shot to shot.

Title design: Because our film is only a short segement, and it is an opening section, we have t include credits and a title. This job involves designing it relating to the genre and film, so that the editor can insert it into te credits. It is a big job, because it is how most audience members remember their films when they are recommending them to someone else. We want our title to be hard-hitting, but also relevant to the film.

Thanks :)

Planning for costume and make-up!!

So we need to start planning for all our jobs before we can film our thriller opening, and so I've decided to start planning costumes and make-up today.

The costumes must make the character easily identifiable and show if they are antagonists or protagonists, they must also fit with the scene and the situation, for example if the character has been walking through the woods for days, they would be covered in mud and moss with tears in their clothes - however if they were going to a posh party they would be in expensive, good looking designer clothing. The colours of their costumes must also connote certain things about their characters, for example the protagonists stereotypically wear bright colours as they connote happiness, innocence and goodness.

Likewise the make-up has to show a character in a certain way, making them appear nice/evil, young/old, certain stereotypes (e.g 'chavs' stereotypically wear a lot of make-up, and 'goths' stereotypically wear lots of black make-up). If the scene is supposed to be a natural, casual situation so the make-up has to reflect this, as opposed to for example a fantasy film where the make-up will probably be extremely bright and exaggerated.

So here are some ideas of what our characters will be wearing, I've added pictures for a better idea of what I'm hoping our characters will be wearing.

Dad (male, protagonist - 40): As the opening of our thriller is set in the early morning, and we first see the dad waking up in the morning, he will be wearing pyjamas the whole way through the opening. The pyjamas should be relatively bright in colour, therefore the audience will immediately realise that he is a good guy and they will want him to succeed. He will also put casual shoes one when he goes out to the car, these could be any shoes as he would be in a rush so would put on the first pair he sees. I was also deciding wether or not to make him wear a dressing gown, as before he realises his family are missing he could put it on.

Obviously the dad wont be wearing any make-up as he's a male.

Mum (female, protagonist- 35): Likewise to the dad, the mum will be in pyjamas as she was kidnapped from her bed (even though we don't see this in the opening). However the difference with the mum and dad is that the mums pyjamas will have spots of dirt on them, and perhaps a few rips in them to show that she hasn't been treated nicely. She will not wear any shoes as she was kidnapped and taken straight from her bed. As she is a hostage throughout the opening, she will need a blindfold and her hands and feet will be tied up with rope. This attire will show clearly that she is a hostage and will make the audience sympathise for her which is how we want them to feel!

The mum wont be wearing any visible make-up as she's just got out of bed, so if she was wearing make-up it wouldn't look realistic for the audience. However she may have a cut or some dirt on her face, which connotes violence and rough handling - therefore once again the audience will sympathise with her as she's a stereotypical damsel.

2 children (1 girl, 1 boy, protagonists- 7, 14): The children will be wearing similar costumes; both in pyjamas, and as they are hostages too they will also have their hands and feet tied with rope and they will be blindfolded. The children will also have dirt and mud on them to show they have been handled roughly, meaning the audience will feel sorry them. To show their age I will put them in stereotypical childrens pyjamas to make it simple for the audience to tell how old they are straight away.

The two children will not be wearing any make-up because at their age they would not be wearing make-up, and also they were dragged straight from their beds as well.

Antagonist (male, age unknown, perhaps 20's/30's): The antagonist will be wearing all black clothing - as this is stereotypical of the villains in horror films therefore the audience will identify that he is a bad guy as soon as they see him. He will be wearing thick clothing that shows none of his skin, this makes him seem mysterious and evil. I will also get him to wear black gloves so we can't see his hands - again making him mysterious and unknown.

We don't actually see the antagonists face at all so he does not need any make up, however if we were to see his face I would give him dark eyes and a pale face to make him look stereotypically evil.

Analysis of previous students work!

I'm going to analyse a thriller opening made by three students who are now in the year above me, their thriller is called 'The Killers Kiss' and I'm going to be highlighting some strengths and weaknesses, and seeing how we could avoid the weaknesses and use their strengths in our thriller!
Here's the clip:




Strengths:
* The music fits really well with the opening, the chosen music adds suspense and tension right from the beginning of the clip. It starts as soon as the clip begins, meaning you notice it right away and notice it throughout the clip. We can make sure our music fits with our thriller opening, and one note I will definitely take from this opening is to start the music when we want it to start becoming tense.
* The credits are integrated brilliantly in this opening, they are spread out between the shots of the actual film which I thought added suspense between each shot - we could think about doing this with our film.
* The lighting used in this opening is all natural which makes it seem more realistic for the audience - we should take note of this and perhaps think about the lighting we use in ours to make it realistic. Also the use of candle light is brilliant, it seems to be an enigmatic code in this opening as there are so many candles - however they are used a light source making the antagonist look mysterious and evil.
* The choice of costumes was realistic and therefore hooked the audience in more and made the opening believable. Dark was used for the antagonist and contrastingly light colours were worn by the protagonist.
* The continuity was brilliant in this thriller opening, I didn't notice any point where it didn't work.

Weaknesses:
* The film was extremely short, and I think if it was longer they would have been able to fit in a wider range of camera angles and movements, and also perhaps made it more tense for the audience by putting in more information about the characters. - I feel our film has a huge range of different camera angles and shots, and also we have figured out how long each shot will be and it comes to about 3 minutes.
* I think the antagonist and protagonist could have been made clearer through camera angles and different shots on them, as it did take me a while to figure out that the female was definitely the antagonist. - We should make sure we clearly show the antagonist and protagonist from the first time that we meet them to make it clear for the audience how they should feel about certain characters.
* I noticed that the slow motion shot is quite pixelated making it difficult for the watcher to focus on exactly who is running in the shot and therefore are unable to make a judgement on whats going on in the scene. - To make sure this doesn't happen to us we should shoot each shot a few times to assure we have perfect shots.
* One other thing I would have liked to see in this opening is perhaps another scene of the 2 main characters so that we know exactly what their relationship is - concluding in the audience making more of a harsh judgement on the antagonist. - To make sure this doesn't happen in our film we should make it obvious the realionships between all characters.

I think this is a really good opening of a thriller and I will definitely be trying to achieve the effect that they had with the music in our film, and also I really loved the fact that they used all natural lighting and the use of candles!

:D:D:D

Director Research!

Steven Spielberg!

I thought I’d have a little look at a thriller director, so I decided to choose I’d say one the most famous directors of all time… Steven Spielberg!

His full name is Steven Allan Spielberg and he was born December 18th, 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

He is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, video producer and studio entrepreneur and is worth roughly 3 billion dollars!

He has a career spanning 4 decades and has covered many themes and genres, from Star Wars to Schindler's List making him not only successful, but an extremely diverse director. Spielberg's early science-fiction & adventure films such as Indiana Jones,Back to the Future and E.T were seen as a typical example of Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking. In later years his films addressed more controversial and sensitive issues such as the Holocaust, terrorism, war and slavery e.g. Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List and Munich.

Spielberg's films often deal with several recurring themes. Most of his films deal with ordinary characters searching for or coming in contact with extraordinary beings or finding themselves in extraordinary circumstances. In an AFI interview in August 2000 Spielberg commented on his interest in the possibility of extra terrestrial life and how it has influenced some of his films. Spielberg described himself as feeling like an alien during childhood, and his interest came from his father, a science fiction fan, and his opinion that aliens would not travel light years for conquest, but instead curiosity and sharing of knowledge.

A strong consistent theme in his family-friendly work is a childlike, even naïve, sense of wonder and faith, as attested by works such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Hook, and A.I. Artificial Intelligence. According to Warren Buckland,^[ these themes are portrayed through the use of low height camera tracking shots, which have become one of Spielberg's directing trademarks. In the cases when his films include children (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Empire of the Sun, Jurassic Park, etc.), this type of shot is more apparent, but it is also used in films like Munich, Saving Private Ryan, The Terminal, Minority Report, and Amistad. If one views each of his films, one will see this shot utilized by the director, notably the water scenes in Jaws are filmed from the low-angle perspective of someone swimming.

He is a co-founder of Dreamworks SKG.

He is the godfather of Drew Barrymore and Gwyneth Paltrow!

He often casts new actors based on their performances in other works, he rarely does auditions for major roles.

Is a huge fan of the actors Steve Martin, Bill Murray and Robin Williams. He is also proud to admit they are good friends of his.

When he is asked what films he would like be remembered by he said E.T and Schindler's List.

In terms of casting, Spielberg has a known fondness for working with actors from his previous films.

For example:

Richard Dreyfuss; Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Always.

Frank Welker(voice actor): Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Gremlins 1+2 and The Land Before Time.

Tom Hanks: Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal.

Tom Cruise: Minority Report and War of the Worlds.

Shia LaBeouf: Transformers 1, 2 and 3, Eagle Eye and Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Crystal Skull.

Kathleen Kennedy has served as producer on all his major films from E.T. to Munich.

Michael Kahn has edited every film directed by Spielberg from Close Encounters to Munich (except E.T)

The most famous professional relationships Spielberg has is his long time collaborations with composer John Williams. He has created the musical scores in all of his films since The Sugarland Express (except The Colour Purple and Twilight Zone: The Movie.) One of Spielberg's trademarks is his use of music by John Williams to add to the visual impact of his scenes and to try and create a lasting image and sound of the film in the memories of the audience. Williams has created some of the world's most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T, Hook, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Home Alone and the first 3 Harry Potter films.

So why did i research Spielberg? Although he's the almost stereotypical Hollywood director, his work is incredible, and he has directed some of the most famous films of all time, and certainly some of my favourite films. He is amazing at expressing controversial issues through motion picture, and he is an inspirational director!