Tuesday 27 January 2009
Monday 26th January
In this lesson with Rebecca we all decided that instead of filming anymore that we would edit together what we already had. Myself and Ursula did the log and capture part as we both work together really quickly to do that and then Solone and Georgina put the clips together but we were all involved in deciding where the in and out point should be. We found that our clips fitted together quite well and to begin with everything was flowing together quite well. When we got to adding in the clip where Solone is walking out of the room we noticed that the lighting looked completely different and didn't match at all.
Sunday 25th January
Today the girls came to mine so that we could finish off the filming that we didn't quite get to finish on Thursday. This consisted of a close up of the mobile phone and Solone walking out of the room and down the stairs. The close up was quite quick and easy to film, we found it easier to do this holding the camera rather than on the tripod. However we had to film Solone walking out of the room quite a few times. This was because we couldn't keep up with the movement of Solone's feet so it didn't look right. Eventually though we got a shot that was better than any of the others that we had done. Because we still had time left we decided to film the very end of our opening which is where the camera pans across a lot of images of one particular girl. We all agreed that this shot worked really well and looked so effective when watched back. Once we'd got that done it started to get quite dark so we couldn't film anymore.
At times we kept forgetting that we'd left things out that shouldn't be in the shot and had to re-film but that only happened once. We also needed to have Solone picking up the camera of a side table as she walks out of the room. However we didnt have a side table and spent ages trying to make a laundry basket look like one. In the end we stopped that and I went and got a stool from my living room that worked quite well.
Overall this filming session was quite successful as we filmed everything that we needed to get done and even our ending.
At times we kept forgetting that we'd left things out that shouldn't be in the shot and had to re-film but that only happened once. We also needed to have Solone picking up the camera of a side table as she walks out of the room. However we didnt have a side table and spent ages trying to make a laundry basket look like one. In the end we stopped that and I went and got a stool from my living room that worked quite well.
Overall this filming session was quite successful as we filmed everything that we needed to get done and even our ending.
Sunday 25 January 2009
We started off by looking at T.V drama sheets and analysing them to get an idea as a class what T.V drama were and what sub genre were in TV drama. We gathered the key factors that explain the popularity of T.V drama is that people find stories enjoyable and satisfying to watch.
Sub genre T.V drama
Soap E.G Eastenders
One off dramas
Dead set
Legal
Ally Mc Beal
Action E.G lost
Science fiction
Dr who
Cop shows/crime
The Bill
Risqué
Diary of a call girl
Hotel Babylon
Medical dramas
· house
We looked at lots of different crime drama’s the n labelled which one was which to see how well we knew our crime dramas. There was another sheet for teen dramas and we watched an extract from skins and had to construct our own representation in groups.
Then we looked at narrative, structure, production, target audience, viewing pleasures and mise-en-scene. We watched an extract from life on mars to analyse the mise-en scene on a big A3 paper.
In the next lesson we started to look at representation and we watched extracts from shameless. We filled in sheets about location, community and regional identity of the soap extracts including shameless so we could get a better idea of representation. In pairs we had to write down soap stereotypes of characters
Ethnicity E.G. black or white
Religion
Aggressive men
Old person
Strong mature women/ sexy man
Teenagers
Sluttish mother
Villain man etc.
Soap visual techniques
Soaps have their own particular style of camera work. We identified what camera shots were and how to establish when it is being used and why.
Some camera shots
Close up to show emotion, tension, drama and true feelings
Two shot is used to see characters relations with each other
Long shot is used to establish a scene, such as the front of a café or character’s house
During conversations over the shoulder shot is often used and gives the audience a sense of realism.
Point of view shots are used so the audience get to see what a specific charater is looking at
To show power relations between characters or to empathise people’s feeling, high and low angle shots are used
There are also other shots such as big close up. Extreme close up, medium shot, medium long shot, long shot, extreme long shot and medium close up.
After looking at camera shots we talked about editing in T.V drama. We analysed shot extracts from soaps and thought about
What pace is the editing? How does this effect the viewer
How does the editing a show communication between characters?
How does the editing help the audience to focus on a particular character?
In another lesson we wrote a short essay on how all the aspects of the mise-en-scene create mood, atmosphere, place and time on life on mars?
All this was a warm up to prepare us for our thrillers. In the next lesson we talked about cinema audiences and we were given a list with films and if male or female predominantly go and watch the film to see the importance of audiences. we then brainstormed what thrillers were with sub genre.
Thrillers
Murderous passions
supernatrual
action
spy
crime
Sci-fi
Acquired identity
Innocent on the run
Psychological thriller
kidnapping
We watched short extracts from thrillers in the U.K and USA including 28 days later, Arlington road, what lies beneath, the shining and collateral. For homework we had to pick one of the several clips and analyse one of them looking at all the things we looked at in previous lessons but mainly the way the director uses sounds and camera angles to create suspense, I picked collateral because i felt it was not necessarily scary but created fear and suspense for the audience.
Collateral clip
The next lesson we analysed previous student work on thrillers looking at setting and location, camerawork, editing, diegectic and non diegetic sound and lighting. By doing this we were looking at mistakes we should not make in our thrillers and taking ideas from the professional thrillers to student thrillers.
In the three hour lesson we watched Bourne supremacy which is acquired identity thriller, innocent on the run, psychological, crime, action thriller. The lesson after that we started planning for our practice thrillers. We were given two task to make someone reading a newspaper look interesting and character A is sitting a room then character B comes in and sits opposite character A and they exchange a few lines of dialogue so we planned in groups how to do this. My group decided our plot was a women; whose face was never shown in full, walking from outside a building in a room with the newspaper always in camera view for the first task. Then keep the storyline for the second task. We were given a film storyboard to help plan the character A/B synopsis.
When we finished gathering all the footage we started editing to minimize it to the bits we need to accomplish the tasks.
Editing for me at the moment is one of my weaknesses so I found that part of the task harder to do but the group helped me to edit and I think the final pieces were good but could have been better with more time but we were given time from our first task to the second and by the second practice film I felt more confident with filming and editing because I learned from my mistakes in the first task. The lighting was quite bright for the second one because we had to do it in a classroom wheras the first task had a mixture of lighting from bright to dime. I felt it was slightly more easier doing all the filming n just one room which is what we did fort he second task because we mainly had to think jus about the camera angles/work and editing afterwards. The first one was outside and in a lift and various other places so it was a lot more load. we kept the idea of the classroom with book and bags around so it didn’t jus seem like we didn’t think whether bag were there or not. For the first task we tried to use the stereotype of a mysterious sexy woman with the way we moved the camera up and down her body and the way she crossed her legs when she sat down.
We did not fully finish the character A/B situation but I felt it was slightly more of a success. With the practice filming it gave us all a chance to see what our strengths and weaknesses were so we can help each other get stronger and so we know what each person would e allocated to do for the thrillers. We tried to do too many match cuts in the second task but not all of them worked, I think the over the shoulder shot was the most successful when the two characters exchanged words which we didn’t get round to and when character A was waling over to character B. We attempted a point of view shot but it didn’t really work and didn’t look as professional as we would of liked it to look.
On Monday we started to think of ideas for our thrillers and plan them out to make a pitch for the class on Thursday lesson. We did a shot list exercise to warm us up. Then we started to think of what to do and say in our pitch. At the end of the lesson we thought about what each person would be best at to talk about in the pitch. I wanted to plan and talk about music and lighting. We meet up as a group out of media time and started to plan for next day lessons because we were doing the pitch.
On Thursday’s lesson we had one hour to finish off or start talking about what we would say in our pitches but my group had already done that so we just practiced and spoke about target market as a group. Then we starting having doubt about our storyline because we were told its too complicated and long for the limited time we have. We decided as a group to take a few bits out and make the storyline more simply. We kept the main idea but changed it to suit time. When presenting our pitch we kept the storyboard and other ideas but changed it to suit the new shorter storyline. We were also given a filming schedule to talk about in our pitch.
in mondays lesson we did a soundtrack tutorial to familiarise us on how to use sound in our thrillers. we listened to the soundtrack editors of casino royale and watched short clips from casino royale and used our own different sounds over the clips, then we went back to our character A and character B short opening and put sound over it E.G a door opening for someone entering the room. i found this really helpful becasue we need sound for our thrillers.
Thursaday lesson my group used the three hours to start filming our thrillers.
Sub genre T.V drama
Soap E.G Eastenders
One off dramas
Dead set
Legal
Ally Mc Beal
Action E.G lost
Science fiction
Dr who
Cop shows/crime
The Bill
Risqué
Diary of a call girl
Hotel Babylon
Medical dramas
· house
We looked at lots of different crime drama’s the n labelled which one was which to see how well we knew our crime dramas. There was another sheet for teen dramas and we watched an extract from skins and had to construct our own representation in groups.
Then we looked at narrative, structure, production, target audience, viewing pleasures and mise-en-scene. We watched an extract from life on mars to analyse the mise-en scene on a big A3 paper.
In the next lesson we started to look at representation and we watched extracts from shameless. We filled in sheets about location, community and regional identity of the soap extracts including shameless so we could get a better idea of representation. In pairs we had to write down soap stereotypes of characters
Ethnicity E.G. black or white
Religion
Aggressive men
Old person
Strong mature women/ sexy man
Teenagers
Sluttish mother
Villain man etc.
Soap visual techniques
Soaps have their own particular style of camera work. We identified what camera shots were and how to establish when it is being used and why.
Some camera shots
Close up to show emotion, tension, drama and true feelings
Two shot is used to see characters relations with each other
Long shot is used to establish a scene, such as the front of a café or character’s house
During conversations over the shoulder shot is often used and gives the audience a sense of realism.
Point of view shots are used so the audience get to see what a specific charater is looking at
To show power relations between characters or to empathise people’s feeling, high and low angle shots are used
There are also other shots such as big close up. Extreme close up, medium shot, medium long shot, long shot, extreme long shot and medium close up.
After looking at camera shots we talked about editing in T.V drama. We analysed shot extracts from soaps and thought about
What pace is the editing? How does this effect the viewer
How does the editing a show communication between characters?
How does the editing help the audience to focus on a particular character?
In another lesson we wrote a short essay on how all the aspects of the mise-en-scene create mood, atmosphere, place and time on life on mars?
All this was a warm up to prepare us for our thrillers. In the next lesson we talked about cinema audiences and we were given a list with films and if male or female predominantly go and watch the film to see the importance of audiences. we then brainstormed what thrillers were with sub genre.
Thrillers
Murderous passions
supernatrual
action
spy
crime
Sci-fi
Acquired identity
Innocent on the run
Psychological thriller
kidnapping
We watched short extracts from thrillers in the U.K and USA including 28 days later, Arlington road, what lies beneath, the shining and collateral. For homework we had to pick one of the several clips and analyse one of them looking at all the things we looked at in previous lessons but mainly the way the director uses sounds and camera angles to create suspense, I picked collateral because i felt it was not necessarily scary but created fear and suspense for the audience.
Collateral clip
The next lesson we analysed previous student work on thrillers looking at setting and location, camerawork, editing, diegectic and non diegetic sound and lighting. By doing this we were looking at mistakes we should not make in our thrillers and taking ideas from the professional thrillers to student thrillers.
In the three hour lesson we watched Bourne supremacy which is acquired identity thriller, innocent on the run, psychological, crime, action thriller. The lesson after that we started planning for our practice thrillers. We were given two task to make someone reading a newspaper look interesting and character A is sitting a room then character B comes in and sits opposite character A and they exchange a few lines of dialogue so we planned in groups how to do this. My group decided our plot was a women; whose face was never shown in full, walking from outside a building in a room with the newspaper always in camera view for the first task. Then keep the storyline for the second task. We were given a film storyboard to help plan the character A/B synopsis.
When we finished gathering all the footage we started editing to minimize it to the bits we need to accomplish the tasks.
Editing for me at the moment is one of my weaknesses so I found that part of the task harder to do but the group helped me to edit and I think the final pieces were good but could have been better with more time but we were given time from our first task to the second and by the second practice film I felt more confident with filming and editing because I learned from my mistakes in the first task. The lighting was quite bright for the second one because we had to do it in a classroom wheras the first task had a mixture of lighting from bright to dime. I felt it was slightly more easier doing all the filming n just one room which is what we did fort he second task because we mainly had to think jus about the camera angles/work and editing afterwards. The first one was outside and in a lift and various other places so it was a lot more load. we kept the idea of the classroom with book and bags around so it didn’t jus seem like we didn’t think whether bag were there or not. For the first task we tried to use the stereotype of a mysterious sexy woman with the way we moved the camera up and down her body and the way she crossed her legs when she sat down.
We did not fully finish the character A/B situation but I felt it was slightly more of a success. With the practice filming it gave us all a chance to see what our strengths and weaknesses were so we can help each other get stronger and so we know what each person would e allocated to do for the thrillers. We tried to do too many match cuts in the second task but not all of them worked, I think the over the shoulder shot was the most successful when the two characters exchanged words which we didn’t get round to and when character A was waling over to character B. We attempted a point of view shot but it didn’t really work and didn’t look as professional as we would of liked it to look.
On Monday we started to think of ideas for our thrillers and plan them out to make a pitch for the class on Thursday lesson. We did a shot list exercise to warm us up. Then we started to think of what to do and say in our pitch. At the end of the lesson we thought about what each person would be best at to talk about in the pitch. I wanted to plan and talk about music and lighting. We meet up as a group out of media time and started to plan for next day lessons because we were doing the pitch.
On Thursday’s lesson we had one hour to finish off or start talking about what we would say in our pitches but my group had already done that so we just practiced and spoke about target market as a group. Then we starting having doubt about our storyline because we were told its too complicated and long for the limited time we have. We decided as a group to take a few bits out and make the storyline more simply. We kept the main idea but changed it to suit time. When presenting our pitch we kept the storyboard and other ideas but changed it to suit the new shorter storyline. We were also given a filming schedule to talk about in our pitch.
in mondays lesson we did a soundtrack tutorial to familiarise us on how to use sound in our thrillers. we listened to the soundtrack editors of casino royale and watched short clips from casino royale and used our own different sounds over the clips, then we went back to our character A and character B short opening and put sound over it E.G a door opening for someone entering the room. i found this really helpful becasue we need sound for our thrillers.
Thursaday lesson my group used the three hours to start filming our thrillers.
Friday 23 January 2009
Thursday 22nd January
For this three hour lesson we decided as a group that it would be more effective to film our attic scene. We had to take out the camera equipment the night before(wednesday) so that it was all set up and ready to film on Thursday. The girls came to mine between 9, 9.30ish and we filmed for two hours solid. I feel that this is one of the best filming sessions that we've ever done. We got straight on with it and didn't waste any time. We started from the beginning of our thriller so that way we didn't get confused. A particular shot that we found quite difficult was the over the shoulder. This was because we were trying to film a picture on a mobile phone but the screen was too bright and we found it near enough impossible to do. The picture was coming up as part of an alarm and I think this is why it was so bright. When we opened the picture up in the gallery it was much larger and easier to see, so we decided to film it this way. We had hoped to complete the filming of the first part where the boy is getting ready before leaving the house but we had about 2-3 more shots left. Because we wanted to have all of this done and ready for Monday's lesson we all decided that we will go to my house on Sunday. That way we can edit and put together the first few shots.
Wednesday 21 January 2009
my preliminary film
On monday 19th January we went straight to the computer room to have a tutorial on how to use the sound on the computers. For a practice and for a better understanding we took certain clips from the James Bond film ,Casino Royal, and had to watch and then add the sound to it after. We then got the chance to add diegetic and non-diegetic sound to our past filming we did in the classroom. It was quite difficult but it can be very easy to understand once getting used to. I had a reasonable footage of added sound to my short film but it wouldn't upload to the blog. But it doesn't really matter because we still have an example of Kat's one on the blog to represent our groups work.
On thursday lesson the group started filming at Kat's house, because she has the write setting. We thought that we could get the scene's in the attic first and out of the way so that it would be much easier. As we haven't got enough time in total we planned to film in order of the storyboard so that we can edit as we go along. Filming was quite difficult because we had to clear out the attic to think about the mis-en-scene. Doing the filming with the group was fun. Because it's abit more easier when you don't have a time limit. It was also interesting because as i am the protagonist i got the chance to dress and act like a boy. Which was good because the character is a boy and it's one of those things that has to be done.
On the friday we took out the equiptment to use for sunday. This included the camera, the battery, the tri-pod, the light and the light stand. Filming on the sunday was just finishing off the routine with the boy in the attic. This time we was racing against time, because we started later than thursday. Because we started later it started to get darker outside so we then had to use the light which was quite difficult because we kept thinking about if the lighting would match from the previous day. Compared to the natural lighting that we used before the lighting that we used looked too orangey and before we could see shaddows. But overall we did end up finishing the first part of our thriller.
On thursday lesson the group started filming at Kat's house, because she has the write setting. We thought that we could get the scene's in the attic first and out of the way so that it would be much easier. As we haven't got enough time in total we planned to film in order of the storyboard so that we can edit as we go along. Filming was quite difficult because we had to clear out the attic to think about the mis-en-scene. Doing the filming with the group was fun. Because it's abit more easier when you don't have a time limit. It was also interesting because as i am the protagonist i got the chance to dress and act like a boy. Which was good because the character is a boy and it's one of those things that has to be done.
On the friday we took out the equiptment to use for sunday. This included the camera, the battery, the tri-pod, the light and the light stand. Filming on the sunday was just finishing off the routine with the boy in the attic. This time we was racing against time, because we started later than thursday. Because we started later it started to get darker outside so we then had to use the light which was quite difficult because we kept thinking about if the lighting would match from the previous day. Compared to the natural lighting that we used before the lighting that we used looked too orangey and before we could see shaddows. But overall we did end up finishing the first part of our thriller.
Preliminary Film
This is the final outcome of my groups preliminary film, which includes match cutting and a sound track. I don't think that this is a very good piece of work but for a first attempt it's not bad. Even though when we were filming Georgina didn't knock on the door, whilst adding sound effects I thought a knock fitted it quite well. The only effect that didn't work was the sound of footsteps as Georgina was walking in. The reason why it didn't work was because she was walking on carpet but it sounded like she was walking on concrete. There was no sound of footsteps in the sound bank that fitted in with our video. This was noted down because it could have been a problem when coming to film our main thriller.
Tuesday 20 January 2009
Monday 19th January
This lesson was quite different to our other lessons because we got to learn all about soundtrack pro and adding music onto a film and the effects it has. We started off with a Casino Royale exercise, by watching the trailer and carrying out a sequence of tasks. There were three sections that we had to look at they were, sound layers, soundscapes and sound sequences. I learnt that there are three different areas to sound layers, there's dialogue, music and effects. We had to work our way through the three sections reading carefully what was there and also listening to advice of professionals.
The first task was in sound layers. We were given a sequence from the film and we had to control the sound by turning on and off different tracks and seeing what effect they have on the final outcome. What I found very effective was being able to hear the footsteps of the woman as she was walking. When I switched off this effect it didn't sound right at all, as though something was missing. Also the background noise of the tropical setting with the sounds of birds ect, needed to be there, when taken away you almost question where the setting is. It doesn't seem real.
The second task was to create our own soundscape from some of the still images provided from the film. It was a good exercise because it got you to think about what sounds are really necessary and where they should be placed. This task did get a bit confusing because as you were putting down one sound you could still hear the previous one so trying to get the volume just right was a bit tricky.
The third and final task was to create our own soundtrack for one of the sequences provided for us from Casino Royale. I think this was probably the most trickiest out of all three tasks because there was so much going on so you had to really pay attention. I found this hard because the scene I chose, the stairwell fight, is quite quick so knowing when to put things in was confusing because everything was so fast. I did enjoy it however and felt a great sense of achievement once i had finished it.
These exercises made you realize just how important music is in any film and how much effect the music can create on an audience.
Once we had completed the Casino Royale exercise we then went onto adding music and effects onto the short practice film that we had all done. This bit was really fun because we got to use soundtrack pro and there was such a variety of music and effects. The short film that we had done was actually extremely short and didn't look very good. However as i began adding effects to it, such as a door knock, the handle moving, footsteps and a heart beat, it immediately made it look miles better.
The first task was in sound layers. We were given a sequence from the film and we had to control the sound by turning on and off different tracks and seeing what effect they have on the final outcome. What I found very effective was being able to hear the footsteps of the woman as she was walking. When I switched off this effect it didn't sound right at all, as though something was missing. Also the background noise of the tropical setting with the sounds of birds ect, needed to be there, when taken away you almost question where the setting is. It doesn't seem real.
The second task was to create our own soundscape from some of the still images provided from the film. It was a good exercise because it got you to think about what sounds are really necessary and where they should be placed. This task did get a bit confusing because as you were putting down one sound you could still hear the previous one so trying to get the volume just right was a bit tricky.
The third and final task was to create our own soundtrack for one of the sequences provided for us from Casino Royale. I think this was probably the most trickiest out of all three tasks because there was so much going on so you had to really pay attention. I found this hard because the scene I chose, the stairwell fight, is quite quick so knowing when to put things in was confusing because everything was so fast. I did enjoy it however and felt a great sense of achievement once i had finished it.
These exercises made you realize just how important music is in any film and how much effect the music can create on an audience.
Once we had completed the Casino Royale exercise we then went onto adding music and effects onto the short practice film that we had all done. This bit was really fun because we got to use soundtrack pro and there was such a variety of music and effects. The short film that we had done was actually extremely short and didn't look very good. However as i began adding effects to it, such as a door knock, the handle moving, footsteps and a heart beat, it immediately made it look miles better.
Saturday 17 January 2009
Monday 12th January
On monday we were given the task as a group to think about our pitch idea for our thriller. As a group we have to be ready to pitch our idea to the rest of our class members, our teachers and the technitions.But before this happened we were given a sheet by Rebecca to think about key features we should think about. This included mise-en-scene, editing, sound, lighting, camera-shots, setting/location, audience, a story board and a production schedule. As a group we also had to know ourselves key icons in a thriller that we should include in the opening of the thriller. In the lesson we had already thought of a very brief idea of the begining of a thriller. But because we ran out of time as a group we decided get together on wednesday to be at the workshop, so that we would be ready for thursday's lesson.
Wednesday 14th January we all attended the workshop like we planned and worked on our preparation for thursday's lesson. We used our brief idea and then we then just worked mainly on the editing, sound, lighting,camera work, setting/location and the storyboard. Doing this we listed numbers from 1-18 which was the number of shots we were using. We went through the story slowly and bit by bit so that we can go through and write down what is happening in each shot (mis-en-scene). We did it like that in that format so that i can take it home and draw out a storyboard that we all agree on. We spoke about the lighting, it being a natural light as the original thriller idea was going to be mainly set outside. In the workshop we also decided on our production schedule, we spoke about what days we can all work together out of lessons. As a group we gave each other homework to write in neat and with more detail on the key media conventions. I was given the task to draw out the storyboard so that we have something to follow when it comes to the filming and the editing, as we decided to write down and draw out how it may possibly look but in 2D. So that for the next day we will be ready for our pitch.
Thursday 15th January the group was slightly nervous on talking to the whole class. But i was confident because we had all our ideas sorted out from the previous day. But then one of the technitions entered the room to see about every groups idea. He then got to our group and then said to us that our idea sounds to complicated. As a group we did dissagree with him, but he then explained and said that some of the best AS oppening to a thriller coursework are the ones that seem very simple. So we thought about it and decided to keep the same concept of the idea but to just change the camera shots and to take out varius shots at the begining. In the end we still liked our final opening to a thriller idea but the group and I found it quite frustrating because we whent through all that work and spending ages drawing out a storyboard for it to be scrapped. It was also very annoying because it made us more nervous to pitch our idea to the class because it seemed like we wasn't ready because we didn't have a story board written down we just had it written down mentally. But before that we spoke to our teacher Annabel so that she has a better understanding of our idea than the rest of the class.
Wednesday 14th January we all attended the workshop like we planned and worked on our preparation for thursday's lesson. We used our brief idea and then we then just worked mainly on the editing, sound, lighting,camera work, setting/location and the storyboard. Doing this we listed numbers from 1-18 which was the number of shots we were using. We went through the story slowly and bit by bit so that we can go through and write down what is happening in each shot (mis-en-scene). We did it like that in that format so that i can take it home and draw out a storyboard that we all agree on. We spoke about the lighting, it being a natural light as the original thriller idea was going to be mainly set outside. In the workshop we also decided on our production schedule, we spoke about what days we can all work together out of lessons. As a group we gave each other homework to write in neat and with more detail on the key media conventions. I was given the task to draw out the storyboard so that we have something to follow when it comes to the filming and the editing, as we decided to write down and draw out how it may possibly look but in 2D. So that for the next day we will be ready for our pitch.
Thursday 15th January the group was slightly nervous on talking to the whole class. But i was confident because we had all our ideas sorted out from the previous day. But then one of the technitions entered the room to see about every groups idea. He then got to our group and then said to us that our idea sounds to complicated. As a group we did dissagree with him, but he then explained and said that some of the best AS oppening to a thriller coursework are the ones that seem very simple. So we thought about it and decided to keep the same concept of the idea but to just change the camera shots and to take out varius shots at the begining. In the end we still liked our final opening to a thriller idea but the group and I found it quite frustrating because we whent through all that work and spending ages drawing out a storyboard for it to be scrapped. It was also very annoying because it made us more nervous to pitch our idea to the class because it seemed like we wasn't ready because we didn't have a story board written down we just had it written down mentally. But before that we spoke to our teacher Annabel so that she has a better understanding of our idea than the rest of the class.
Friday 16 January 2009
Thursday 15th January
In this lesson we had to pitch our thriller idea to the whole class. We were given the first hour and half to finish up on any planning that we had left so that in the second half we were all ready. While we were running through our pitch one of the technicians was looking at our idea and thought that it might be a bit complicated. He showed us examples sent from the exam board and how simple yet effective they were. He then presented us with a new idea, it was interesting and as a group we took it on board. We had worked so hard preparing for our original idea that we had become attached to it. When it came to presenting our thriller opening we went with the idea that the technician had told us. It didnt go too well as we weren't prepared at all. However we done our best and just about pulled it off. After the lesson though we were all talking about our idea with one of our teachers and we all feel more comfortable goign with our original idea. I think we would just make some slight adjustments to make it that bit more simple but apart from that the main idea will stay the same.
Wednesday 14 January 2009
Wednesday 14th January
Today the whole group decided to come to media workshop so that we could complete our planning and organising for the pitch. We began by completing a shot list to the opening of our thriller so that it would be easier when story boarding. It’s also a lot easier to see what might or might not work when everything is written in a shot list. This took us pretty much the whole hour because we kept changing things when realising certain shots would not work. It was also the first time we fully ran through the whole of our opening talking about each individual shot. In total we had about 17/18 shots but that could change when we begin filming and realise that some things may not work. For example, when we see the two teenagers getting on the bus will be easy to film however, we feel that filming them getting off might be a bit tricky.
Monday 12th January
This lesson with Rebecca was an extremely vital part of our thriller coursework because we had to plan for our pitch. We have to pitch our idea for our opening sequence to the whole class, our teacher, and the technicians in our next lesson. We were given an hour and a half in Rebecca’s lesson to come up with our idea and plan how we are going to pitch it. There are eight key areas that have to be included in our pitch, which are, key images and icons, the settings and locations, lighting, camerawork, music, audience, a storyboard and a production schedule. We as a group spent a lot of time discussing what our opening sequence would be and how we would create suspense and tension. To begin with we noted down our ideas and then moved on to the setting and location, lighting ect.
Unfortunately, we ran out of time and were unable to complete the planning for our pitch. We had all taken down notes on all the key areas and agreed to meet during lunch to complete it all.
I think the pitch will be our biggest challenge because most of us in the group myself included are daunted by the idea of standing in a room full of people and having to stand up and give a presentation.
Unfortunately, we ran out of time and were unable to complete the planning for our pitch. We had all taken down notes on all the key areas and agreed to meet during lunch to complete it all.
I think the pitch will be our biggest challenge because most of us in the group myself included are daunted by the idea of standing in a room full of people and having to stand up and give a presentation.
Friday 9 January 2009
Match cut practice session
The task we had to do for thursdays session, was we had to to them. Doing this we had to use a range of camera shots to show this. After we then had to edit all the shots to make a short clip. The task i got given to do was the camera work with another person in the group and telling Georgina how to walk through the door and how to sit down and where to stand. So that it would also be easier when it comes to the editing.
I was happy with the camera work i thought they all worked well. I personally thought that the most successful shot was the hand held over the shoulder shot. It was quite hard to do because i had to walk with the camera and try and keep it still to make sure that it stays as an over the shoulder shot, and try and makse sure that it doesn't become a close-up. There was a couple of wide- shots that didnt work because we thought the camera was at the wrong angle. So we didn't end up putting it in the small clip.
Editing I find is the hard part because its everyone ageering together and getting all the different camera angle shots to mesh together. Starting it off was the quite alright you just start off with a shot you think you want, but it's untill you move onto the next clip trying to make it fit, so you have to go back to the previous shot to make it all fit. After starting you then beggin to get the hang of it and that's when it starts to get easier. In total the short film made sense and because of that i think that it was successful. The only problem is that for a short film our groups clip was way to short it was only 14 seconds. So i think we need to work on our timing for the real thriller so that we can spend a decent amount of time on the filming and on the editing.
I did learn somthing about mise-en-scene, even though we had to film in a classroom that was previously used we had to try and avoid it out of the camera shot. But yet doing that we had to work with what we had in the classroom eventhough we had students dissplay in the background. We still tried to add abit more mise-en-scene through the camera by re-arranging two tables in the classroom and by giving Ursula a magazine to look at with Johny Depp on the cover just in case we see that through the shot. Because its suppose to be two young girls in a room and to also show that we gave her that specific magazine.
The group didn't manage to create any element of suspense because we didn't get to finish our clip. We spent too much time on showing a certain person in the group on how to walk through the door so that it will look certain way when it comes to the match cut. But unfortunately that person wasn't getting it right which then wasted time.
We didn't forget anything when it came to the filming and the editing. For example we always remember the 5 second rule, to wait 5 seconds before and after each shot. And with the editing learning from our previos misstake we remembered to save every 2minutes.
As i said before, because wd didn't get to finish we didn't get to show any tension or conventions of a real thriller film.
The feedback of our teacher Annabel was that we did the match cut very well but it was a bit short. And that for the real thriller that we have to do, to just watch the time so we can get everything done without it being rushed. Which i agree a lot with her I thought we did the match cut very good and that we need to be aware of the time for the next time.
Thursday 8 January 2009
What I Learnt From the Match Cut Practice- Thursday 8th Jan
Today with Annabel we were continuing with what we started with Rebecca. In the first half of the lesson we got our camera's and tripod's and began filming our very short film. The whole idea of this filming session was to practice our match cutting. We were given a very short synopsis of a character entering the room, sitting down and exchanging a few lines of dialogue with another character. The idea was simple so that we could focus on our match cutting.
I feel that this practice session didn't go as well as our previous one, with the newspaper thriller. We found it quite difficult trying to film everything to match together. At first we thought it would be quite easy but we thought wrong. Our camerawork was actually quite good and I feel that we definitely improved on that area. I think that one of the most successful shots was our over the shoulder shot. Salone balanced the camera on her shoulder and followed Georgina, it went really successful because the camera stayed steady throughout and looked really professional.
Our only down fall during the filming session was that we were quite slow so we didn't get to finish all of our filming, which ruined what we did have when we came to editing. Once again though when we were editing something went wrong with our computer. This time whilst we were doing our log and capture it froze and wouldn't allow us to view our video. We had to unplug our camera and quit final cut pro several times. However though, once we did get going the editing went smoothly. We all took it in turns to do something but two of us started of with the log and capture and then the other two of us took control of the match cutting. We all got to do part of each thing but we found it ran smoother with just two of us in control of the keypad and mouse and the other two putting in their input. That way everyone got a turn and there were no arguments. I feel that one of our match cut's didnt really work, and that was when 'character A' was seen walking through the door and the camera then cutting to another angle of her walking through the room. I dont think it looked very good because of the timing, it didnt fit well together.
Each time we do a practice filming session I always learn something different, and this time it was that when filming we need to be alot quicker. It took us an hour and a half to film 14 seconds of film and we need to produce a film of about 2minutes. I dont think it was so much that we were slow at filming and that we wasted time it was more that we kept filming the scenes again and again because we didn't think they looked right. I'm glad we got this one last practice because now I feel slightly more confident for our thriller.
Tuesday 6 January 2009
Monday 5th January
Today we had a match-cut tutorial with Marisa, which was actually quite fun. To begin with we were given a very brief synopsis, a man at home chain smoking while copying confidential files and plans onto a CD. We then had to create our own short film for it, but not actually film it, we just had to shot list our idea. The main idea behind it was that we had to include at least two obvious match cuts within it. We had about 20 shot to do this in which was surprisingly a bit hard. It wasn't until Marisa told us that we had to literally break down everything that it was easier to do it in 20 shots. I kept making the mistake of putting too much into one shot. That was the first thing I learnt from the tutorial. Once we had all created our own shot list, we watched the one that the media department had made as an example. Rebecca told us that if we were to produce something to that standard then we would get top marks. This made me feel a lot more relaxed because their idea was very simple and still worked. I think that when we come to doing our real thriller match cutting might be the trickiest part of editing. This is because if you don't get it right it could completely ruin the thriller.
Once we had finished that section of the lesson we then moved onto another practice. This time the practice filming actually goes towards our coursework. We were once again given another very short synopsis and had to shot list it. The synopsis was very simple, a character entering a room, with the second character already present, character then sits down and they exchange a few lines of dialogue. We had to do this in the same groups that we are filming our thriller in. Once again we found it quite hard to really break down the different shots to make 16 and in the end we only had 12. I think that in the next lesson on Thursday we're going to try and add in four more shots but if we cant then we'll just concentrate on making what we have look really good.
For homework we had to each storyboard part of the shot list ready for the next lesson because we have to film and edit in that lesson. I think that might be a bit of a challenge for some of us because we're perfectionists and everything always has to be done a certain way.
Sunday 4 January 2009
The Shining Homework
The phycological thriller the Shining uses lighting, use of camera work, music/sound, editing and setting/location to give an unexpected and spooky atmosphere to the audience. The lighting is a bright white light that shows everything in the shot to the audience. The clear light also sets the atmosphere because it sets the scene of the hotel. As hotels always have a clear light on in the corridoor. The setting of the short clip is in a hotel. The hotel shows that its a public place even though there's some behind closed doors, but a hotel can be public or private. There is a range of camera movement and angles in this clip to create suspence. The camera follows the little boy riding through the corridoor which forces the audience to accompany him. The camera does this by tracking behind him as its tracking the motion. When the boy stops the camera shows a mid-shot of the door and the door number. Which shows importance to the audience for later on in the movie. The boy looking at the door shows this through a tilt of the camera. Which makes the audience feel vulnerable as we are looking at the door through at a low angle, which makes us feel like the protagonist in the clip. The music is creepy and slow with the instruments of a piano and a violin. The slow music gradually builds up a bit faster and louder which creates suspence and makes the audience feel anxious with what's about to happen next. The sound is important because without it doesn't give the same effect with whats going to happen next with the audience. The editing shows that its a thriller because it shows the wholebuilding from the outside then it cutes to the inside of the hotel by showing the little boy on his bike. Then the audience sees the boy getting ready to open the door but it then cuts to the little girls for a couple seconds then cuts back to the little boy. This shows that its a thriller because it builds up to make the audience jump.
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