Practice: PRELIM - Filming

I found the filming process of the Match Cut Exercise to be both challenging and interesting at the same time. Using a storyboard definitely helped us to be organised with our shots, as we had a clear plan of what we had to film. Therefore, we didn't waste much time.
I also learned how to create different effects just by changing the lighting. To make it seem thrilling - as we were filming a hostage and her kidnapper - we turned off all the lights. However, so we could still pick up the action on the camera, we attached a light to the top of it. This still showed that the room was dark, as there was black rim around the person on screen.
What I did find difficult was filming the match cuts. We had to make sure all the shots we filmed would fit together when we edited them.

Student Thriller: four walls

Group 31. Czarina Baticos, Dennetta McKain, Kim Nguyen, Thao Ngo from 283goswell on Vimeo.

In this opening i really like the different camera shots and the music. The Fonts suit the style of genre and add to the freaky psychologiercal thriller and i really like some of the movements the actor is making however i dont like all the focus itself being on her in a sense that this isn't and everyday thing we would all do. I think the music used in this thriller is defiantly something i will consider for my Thriller but I prefer more realistic openings.

I really like the Angel Dust opening She makes a little movie about herself everday and this is a realistic thing that has a twist that's why i think i enjoyed it. I really like the way they filmed this and its an idea i haven't seen before.

Thriller Opening Genre Ideas

My preference in Thrillers has to be those with the sub-genre of Sci-Fi or Supernatural, as these are the ones that seem to appeal to me more. Therefore, I have been watching films and trailers that come under this category to help me generate ideas for our opening. Below are some of the films I have looked at:

Here is the trailer for The Hunger Games, a film that although has not been released yet, has still caught my attention:

The reason I found this film to be particularly interesting is because it is not technically a thriller, but the story has quite a chilling theme to it. By watching this trailer, I have gained ideas for my opening, such as a government that has a strong control over the country. And people who go against it get kidnapped, tortured or even killed.

Another film I found interesting is I Am Legend:



I have always been a fan of this film because of the interesting and gripping story line. Similar to the ideas that The Hunger Games gave me, I Am Legend has made me think of an opening where it is suggested that many people are going missing. However, instead of it being the government taking the people, it's mutations.

One part that stood out to me was:


This is because although it's very simple, it's also very powerful. I like that as he closes the shutters, the whole screen fades to black. By playing with the lighting, it reinforces how alone the protagonist is. This would be very simple to replicate in our own thriller. Also, the clip reminded me of the "locking sequence" from the student film opening The Rushes.

Preliminary Match Cut Exercise - Preparation

The first 10 shots of our storyboard

Here is our storyboard, planning the shots we will film in this match cut exercise. Our brief was to "Film the following sequence, making sure to use at least one Match Cut, an example of Shot/Reverse Shot and showing your understanding of the 180 Degree Rule (by not breaking it)" This sequence has to show "A Character opening a door, walking into a room, sitting down opposite another character, then they share a few lines of dialogue." We have decided to make this a horror-thriller to make it more interesting than just a person just walking into a room.

The last 5 shots

We also prepared for this exercise by creating a script for the dialogue in the sequence. We decided to make this pretty simple so we wouldn't have to film many elaborate camera shots. Below is a picture of the script we created.

Making the soundtrack for Arlington Road

We were taught to create our own music using Soundtrack pro. This enabled us to have some experience of not only creating soundtracks but also how to import and export them to and from other programmes eg. final cut pro. We will now be able to easily create our soundtrack when we come to making our own film.

This screenshot shows us adding foley sounds of the boy's footsteps and heavy breathing to the clip in Final Cut Pro. Unfortunately, in the final video, these noises cannot be heard as the soundtrack is too loud. This has taught us that next time, we need to make sure there is an even balance of each sounds.

These are some screen grabs to show how we made our soundtrack in Soundtrack Pro. In the program, we were able to find a lot of music and special effects to compliment our clip. We chose quite tense music because the audience are not shown why this little boy is walking down the road alone, as he is clearly bleeding heavily and appears to be very drowsy.

Here is our finished interpretation of Arlington Road, complete with our soundtrack and foley sounds

Student film opening - The Rushes

The first thing that stood out to me in The Rushes was the music. Automatically, the audience is told that it is going to be a thriller and sets a chilling mood. This is also reinforce in their choice of setting and the full moon shining through the branches.






The editing showing the boy locking the doors behind him. By having close ups of each process emphasises the thrilling theme, as there is a need to keep someone, or something securely out.

I also found the way they displayed their credits incredibly creative. Instead of showing them just on the screen, they printed them on a manuscript-type document. At first, I did not understand why they were showing these pieces of paper, but after I realised, I thought it was very effective.

From Donna

Hi Girls

this is good and your blogs are up to date.

Could you please produce a 'talk to camera' on your phone as this will demonstrate your use of a range of mediums.
You can produce this for the titles or sound Arlington Road practical.

Please could you do this by Thursday.

Thanks

Donna

Adding sound to Arlington Road

Our next task was to add foley sound our Thriller opening. We learned that in making films, every diegetic noise that is heard has been re-recorded and edited in seperately. Therefore, our job was to find the noises we thought would be needed to make our opening as realistic as possible.



There is a little boy walking down the street in the clip, so therefore we decided to include the sound of his footsteps. This makes it sounds as realistic as possible. We realised after we had recorded them that the sound of the footsteps did not go in time with the clip. From this, we have learned that next time we should watch the clip while the person walks so the timing is perfect.

We also decided that we should include heavy breathing to the clip, as we expected this is what he would be doing. This is the recording we took of Hanna breathing in to the microphone.  

In our clip, we decided that we should add the sound of the trees rustling in the background as the little boy is walking around outside. We replicated this noise by shaking a bush found near our college.

Here, we are adding the sound of Hanna's footsteps into the clip in Final Cut Pro. We tried to make this as in sync with the boy's footsteps as possible, which is a lot more difficult than we expected. 

Structures of Film openings

In the lesson, we also learned about different film opening styles. The first was: Discrete Title Sequences.


These are sperately edited sequences that stand apart from the film. Discrete Title Sequences are heavily edited + stylised and have no relevance to the actual film. An example of this is Se7en. The audience is shown a number of random clips and images.  
Narrative Openings



These openings appear over the setting, introducing it to the audience. In the opening to Panic Room, the credits are edited into the clip to make it seem like they are apart of the buildings.
And finally, credits over a black screen



This opening is very simple, as the white titles appear over a black background. It is a commonly used way to begin a movie.

Talking about the editing process of Arlington Road

Another thing I found difficult in editing Arlington Road is making sure there are no mistakes. After finishing, I realised that in one shot the boy has blood on his shoes, and in the next he does not. As this is quite a large mistake, it makes the clip look more unprofessional. This has taught me that we should definitely get a second opinion on our work to ensure that it's faultless.   

Arlington Road - Practice Title Sequence

In todays lesson we practiced our editing skills using the thriller 'Arlington Road'. We learned how to make titles and add them to the opening. This has made it easier for us for when we start editing our own thriller opening.

Intertextualality

Intertextuality is whan a film literally 'borrows' from another. The audience may recognise certain, aspects of mise en scene, camera angles, sound snippets or methods or editiing that they may have seen in another film.

The film Psycho is a very famous film, many directors have taken certain aspects of this film to also try and make their film as successful for example many films borrow the Psycho knife.

Fatal AttractionThis Movie has ovbiously borrowed aspects from Phsycho. The white bath, shower curtain, tiles and bathrobe. The shower head has also been borrowed, the psycho knife and the woman sliding down the wall when dying.

Some of the same shots in Fatal Attraction have been borrowed. the shot of the hand reaching out and falling to shot death bas borrowed. In fatal attraction there is the shot of the womants hand with the knife in it which has the same effect. the mid shot of when she slides down the wall was also borrowed some shots where the woman is with the knife moving it up and down some point of view shot from the victims point was also taken, it adds to the intensity because the veiwer can see the knife comming at them like the victim would.

Audiences

Audiences are very essential because it composes the film's falure or success. The producer needs to think about the age group, weather the film will be directly aimed at the age group that particularay enjoy thillers. However most thirllers are not aimed at one age group because if it has some subgenres than it would help appeal to different types of ages.

Most ppeople say men like thrillers more than women.


However this depends on the sub genre of the thiller. For example Romance Thiller might appeal to a woman more that a Action Thiller. This chart doesnt fufill the steotype people have of men going to watch a thriller to be tough amd manly and wouman being to scared because there is too much violence. This is good because the reality is Women like thrillers and so do men, this widens the film's audience.

Most phsycological Thrillers mainly 18+ but Thrillers in general are mainly 15+. That is the age we are going to aim for in out own Thriller opening.

Genre and Subgenre

A genre is a category a movie is put into for example comedy, Romance, horror, thriller etc. A subgenre is a sub category within another genre for example romantic comedy, family conedy etc.

This is one of my favourite Romance thrillers. Its called Next and it is about a man who is a magician and can see into the future. The FBI seek his help so a nuclear terrorist attack can be stopped, but he has found true love so now does he stay with his true love ro help the FBI.

I really like the story line of Next and i think i might put some of it in my Thriller like the seeing into the future, the whole zoom into the eye and annother scene starts from there but when comming back to present a fast zoom out. This will maybe used in my thriller because it makes the movie more exciting and more interesting, it will also add a supernatural tist because the veiwer wont know what is acctually happening and what isnt.

Thriller: Uknown

Uknown is a thriller about a man who went to berlin and ended up in a coma. The world he wakes up to is a completely backwards place. His identity and his wife are dont seem to remember him, nobody believes he is who he says he is. with the help of a few people he tries to claim back his identity by force .

The intensity in this clip is griping. It literally gets your adrenaline pumping. The fast editing really helps bring across the feeling of ergancy of needing to excape paired with the diegeticI look to the left and feelt the collision. sound. The diferent shots that show you what is going on really makes you feel as if you are acctually watching the car chase as it is happening. when you see the yellow truck hit the white car you feel as if you are driving as the camera sometimes pans to creat this afffect. I think the best part out of this scene is the when the car skids and other car is nowhere to be seen untill it is close comming to run them down. The other bsest part to this clip is also the tram is comming and the car has to squeeze infront, that part litterally has you comming out of your seat. the music used mixed with the sound of the cars colliding the fact that it is dark, their car is white  The director want us to see that they are the protagonists and the dark car that seems to be dark with tinted window hints that whoever is in the car is the antagonist. 


                                                                                                                           

The front of the dvd straight away gives away that its a thriller. The darkness shows that some parts od the movie are going to be very dark and he is holding a Gun which definately signifies that there is going to be action in the  movie. the quote'Take your life' signifies that something has been taken abd by the expression on Liam neeson's face he isnt very happy about it so he will take it all back weather you like it or not.Just by looking at the cover you can tell it will be an exciting movie.









The main characters are:

Liam Neeson whos been in Wrath of the titans, untitled taken sequel and battleship. January Jones who was indont worry we will think of a title, quick before it melts and Looking for love. Diane Kruger was also one of the main characters who was in fly me to the moon, fairwell my queen and Lily sometimes.

These are very famous well known actors. This would automatically draw fans to watch this movie as they might have seen the other movies ther were in and really liked it.


 

Intertextuality

Intertextuality is the term to describe the visual referencing between films. This is when films 'borrow' certain aspects from each other, such as camera angles, mise en scene, snippets of sound or methods of editing. The audience often recognise these certain things from other films they have seen before.

This here is a scene from the film Psycho. This scene has been replicated in many different Thrillers since it's release.  



This scene was copied in the film What Lies Beneath



When the scene first begins, the same sound of the shower can be heard in the background. The mise en scene is also very similar, as the bathroom, bathtub and tiles are all white, just like in Psycho. The shower head is the same as well. In addition to this, there is a female victim.

It was also copied in Fatal Attraction




Again, there is a white theme throughout, from the women's bathrobes to the bathtub and the tiles. Also, the knife is a key prop that is repeated in this film. The shower head is another key prop. After the lady is shot, she slides down the tiles. This is the same as what happens in Psycho. Breaking the white shower curtains has also been included in this film.

The Stepfather is another film that has copies this specific scene.



The scene starts 8:29.

This scene has also included the same knife, white tiles and a shot of the curtain getting pulled down. There is a similar shot of him coming coming into the bathroom as well. However, The Stepfather has borrowed a shot from What Lies Beneath too. The birds eye shot of the protagonist running up the stairs is the same as in What Lies Beneath.

Title Sequence Analysis - The Stepfather

During this lesson, we had to analyse a thriller to see if the title sequence followed the typical conventions of a film opening. The film we were given was The Stepfather. This film follow all of the normal conventions, such as showing the setting and introducing the audience to the protagonist. By watching this, we have learned that not much action happens in film openings as they are mainly used to get into the story line. They are also largely used to give credit to those that helped to make the the film. This includes the producion/distribution companies, the main actors, title, music supervisors, directors etc. These credits usually go in order of importance, from the most important, to the least, and then back to very important, like a circle.

Title Sequence Analysis on Prezi

Genre and Sub Genre

As I am not a large fan scary + gory films, thrillers with a sub-genre of action or romance appeal to me the most. Therefore, they have inspired me a lot in creating ideas for my thriller opening. One film that had inspired me the most is I Am Number 4. 




This film is about 9 Aliens hiding on earth with their Guardians from intergalactic bounty hunter. They are being killed in numerical order, and Number 4 (John Smith) is next on the list. The film follows John and his attempts to stay alive.

This films inspires me because it's full of action throughout the film, which keeps me interested. I also enjoy it because it's sci-fi and things from "out of this world" fascinate me. I believe that an Action/Sci-fi thriller would be more appealing and interesting to watch, as it's different from ordinary thrillers that are filled with deaths. Even though we won't be able to include many special effects to our thrillers, which is what action's and sci-fi's mainly consist of, I believe we can still edit them in a way to get these genres across to the audience.

The sequence that inspires me from this scene is from 0:06 - 0:15. It shows John running down the corridor of his school away from the monster. In our opening we could do something similar to this without needing many fancy costumes in order to make a realistic looking monster. Instead, we could film a character running away from something the audience cannot see.  This will not on save time and money, but also adds suspense as the audience would really want to know what it is they are running from.

Research into film audiences

How many suspense films were released in 2010?
38 suspense films were released.

In total, how much did these suspense films take, gross, to the nearest million?
Nearly £42 and a half mil.

Which genre of film had the highest gross in 2010?
Action/Adventure had the highest gross, collecting £265mil.

What was the most popular family genre in 2010?
Animation was the most popular family genre, as films such as Toy Story 3 and Despicable Me were released during this time.

Write a short paragraph of about 200 words about how the figures for 'suspense' genre films compare with other film genres in 2010?
The suspense genre was the fourth most popular category in 2010. It came behind Action/Adventures, Comedies and Dramas. Suspense films have become increasingly popular over the years, as more and more  are being made. This is because they have begun targeting teenagers around the age of 16. At this age, teens enjoy going out with their friends to the cinema frequently. Therefore, the producers and distributors will be able to make more money.

Thriller Audiences

Generally, thriller films have a slightly larger male audience. However, this differs with cross genre. By adding a sub-genre to a film, it opens the audience up. Therefore, the producers will be able to make more money. Romance and supernatural thrillers seem to get a more female skew.

Supernatural and psychological thrillers tend to have an older audience of 25 - 45 year olds. This is because these type of films require deep thinking to be able to understand them

Horror and action thrillers attract a younger audience of 16 - 25 year olds because they are more exciting and gripping.

Thriller Analysis: Orphan

ORPHAN

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Characters: Kate - Mum (Vera Farminga)

                     John - Dad (Peter Sarsgaard)

                     Esther - The Orphan/ Adopted daughter (Isabelle Fuhrman)

                     Daniel - Son (Jimmy Bennett)

                     Max - Daughter (Aryana Engineer)

Story: The film is about a woman, Kate, who had a still birth and dealt with her grief through drinking alcohol. Kate and her husband, John, decide to adopt a child. They choose Esther to join their family, however, she is not what she seems. Esther is actually a 30 year old woman, who has a disorder that makes her look like a child. She moves from family to family, trying to seduce the fathers. When she cannot, she kills the fathers and their families out of revenge.

Camera Shots: Throughout the film, the director uses certain camera shots and close ups to reveal to the audience that Esther isn't as innocent as she seems. In this video, the audience is shown that Esther's paintings are actually quite sinister and eerie. Also, the lighting used in this scene helps to show Esther's "dark" side.

This is an example of  a sinister looking
close up of Esther.

This shot also makes Esther look evil.

This still is taken from the Storm scene. There is slight low angle on Esther, which makes her appear very powerful. It also makes the sleeping Max look very innocent and vulnerable. The director also used lighting again to add a creepy feel to the thriller. At first, it looks like nobody is in the room with Max, however, the flashes of lightning reveal that Esther is actually standing over her.

Music/Sound: Non-diegetic music has been added in to the background of some scenes to increase the tension and to make the film more frightening. However, in the beginning, calming music is used in the background to give off a homely and loving atmosphere. An example of this is the music used in this clip:

Opening Scene: 

• In the opening, the audience is shown the distributor and producer, Warners Brothers and Dark Castle Entertainment.
• The title is also shown in an eerie looking font, which shows what the film is going to be like.
• It does not follow the all of the typical conventions of film openings, as we are not shown the setting straight away. However, we are introduced to the main character Kate and her husband, John.
• The scene is a dream sequence, and this is obvious because bright white lights are used throughout. 
• The audience is also told about Kate's history and the story of her still birth. 

comment from Donna

can you also upload digital shots of your storyboard.

comments from Donna

Hi Girls

can you

upload your remake? and talk to phone camera about the making of this.
look up some professional blogs sites and come back to me with some styles, fonts and layouts that inspire you.
take of some of the stills i.e. 'these are Natalies feet"?
upload your analysis of your own choice of thriller film with screen grabs.

Thanks Donna

The Killers: Remake

This is our version of a sequence taken from the film, the Killers.

The clip shows two girls sitting at a table having a conversation. One of the girls, Sheena, spots a strange woman staring at her from across the room. The woman has left a note for Sheena, telling her to meet up at a specific location. 

Using our storyboard, we tried to get our shots to look exactly like those from the original film.

It took a lot of precise angling to get these two shots to look almost exactly the same. Therefore, it's clear to the audience what part of the sequence we were recreating.

By choosing this clip to recreate, we learned how to do over the shoulder shots, which will be very helpful in the future, when it comes to filming our own thriller. 

The Making of: The Killers remake

Baris the Director!

Sheena setting up the tripod for the first time since the tutorial.

She did it perfectly!

About to start filming.

Hanna directing

Hanna had to film this a few times, to get the angle perfect

Hanna trying to film a long shot of Natalie

Sheena acting.

Natalie acting!

I didn't set up this shot as well as I could've, so the angle wasn't perfect.

During this remake, we learned how to do two shots, over the shoulder shots and long shots. Through the cinematography process, we learned that planning the pre production stage is essential. In reflection, we realised that our storyboard could have been more detailed in the description of shot types and angles.

Storyboard of The Killers

our storyboard.

Health and Safety tutorial on filming equipment

In the lesson, Mickey gave us an induction on how to use the equipment we will need for the filming of our thriller. The list of equipment used included: a camcorder, battery, memory card and tripod.

 We were shown how to work the camcorder, and how to do many different things, such as turning it on and various camera functions. His tutorial will be very helpful in the future when it comes to filming.

We were also shown how to fit in the memory sticks and how to tell if it had been locked or not.






Here, we were shown how to fit, and replace the camera batteries.







And finally, we were taught how to correctly place the camcorder on the tripod.









As well as teaching us how to work the camcorders we will be using in the future, he showed us different shot types and classic mistakes made when filming.

Forrest Gump Film Opening

This opening follows the typical conventions of a film opening as it begins with the institutional logo for the production company, Paramount. Then, the audience is shown that it is set in a small city. The title of the film, names of the cast and director have also been included. Non-diegetic background music is being played, which sets a very calm mood. And finally, we are introduced to the main character, Forrest Gump.

Introduction to cameras

Close up of Sheena. There was a slight issue with the lighting in this photo. 

Another Close Up, with the lighting problem corrected.

Close up of Natalie 'Vouge'

A Close up of Hanna

Another Close Up of Hanna

Wide shot of Sheena and Natalie

Wide shot of Hanna and Natalie

Interesting shot of feet (reflection)

Sheena's feet against the window.

Natalie's feet.

Hanna's feet.

Broken rule of third. There is too much space behind Sheena.

Now we have corrected the broken rule of third.

Broken the rule of thirds. There is to much space over Natalie's head.

Corrected the rule of thirds. The camera is now positioned correctly.

Over the shoulder shot.

'

Awkward Turtle' over the shoulder shot.

In front of a window. There are no lighting issues.

Wide shot, Welcome to London