Character - Hurtwood

As i've explained previously, it is incredibly important that our MES and decoration is as realistic as possible to ensure that the final outcome is as affective as possible. This area does include the character's costume and appearence and according to our story line she has been struggling to live in these living conditions for a while now. Additional to this she is trying to escape from our desolayed and isolated area so we have to make her look as if she's really had it rough.

We have just casted a friend of ours, Emma Hodgson as our young 17/18 year old. She looks the part and is also in acting company here at the school so she has experience of acting. Additional to this she is a model so she has futher experience of what it is like to be in front of a camera so all of these aspects possitively inforce our decision to cast her for our Thriller.

The costume that she will be dressed in will be quite modern and casual, also very simplistic as she has just emerged from this wreckage. So, she of course will be overly dirty and messed up to emphasize the pain that she has gone through.

Our group has discussed the possiblity of her being in a hospital gown, implying that she has been tested on or 'infected' as such but this quallity is explained in our original storyline. However we do like the idea of her being in a floaty, loss top of through over; possibly a wrap or shawl that she can have wrapped around her for extra warmth. On the bottom half we plan to have either jeans or leggins that are ripped so imply she has struggled through something or done something that is particularly damaging.

The costume itself gives away so much evidence in itself let alone the location, so focusing on the effectiveness of this element should make the location seem much more in the background making it slightly easier for us to put in effort into the costume.

Script Draft - Hurtwood

We have begun to produce a basic script to use as an overlay for our Thriller.
The idea is that it was going to be a radio annoucer delivering a message to the nation, in addition to this we intend to include some white noice affects to create an element of emergancy. This would give the impression of a long wave radio which isn't as clear as an FM radio, so this would conote the impression that this is an emergancy.

Script:

(Dying, struggling voice, sickly coughs, monotone news reporter's voice)


"I am sure those of you left are aware of the recent events taken place. I regretfully inform you that this is our final broadcast to date. Fortunately today's list is shorter than usual. These are the names confirmed: Amelia Duncan...Darran James...Georgina Woolcombe...Anna and James Smith...Emma Hodgeson...Alison Winter...Eve Cowley...Erica Wilson...Amanda, Terry and Josephine Fellows reported missing in the early hours of this morning. Henry Cable, Lindsay Taylor, Matthew Pull, Jack and Lisa Simon, Albert Ross and Maria Lorenzo reported dead!


Those of you still out there. Good luck." (*white noise* ... Titles)

Shot list - Hurtwood

Here is a list of the shots that we intenbd to use on our shoot day. This is done so that we are well organised and can film them in an effective order; This will help us avoid continuity errors.

1. Establishing shot of Hurtwood House (time shot)
2. Zoom in to shot of door,
3. Panning shot of a Hurtwood bedroom - objects in the way, destructtion, bed tipped over, clothes scattered, etc. Shot reaches Emma huddled in a ball in the corner.
4. Sounds of laughter are heard (inside her head - distance, remevering what it was once like)
5. Suddenly back to the bedroom, Emma's head shoots up and she opens her eyes, clear signs of a disease which has afftected her, (different coloured eyes?)
6. Possibility of having the lostr shot we see of Emma she is being wacked around the head. Creates the thrilling, suspense amongst the audience, but could also implied that she has been kidnapped.

CLose ups of:
posters, showing tips for survival,
anti-bacterial bottles,
cleaning products,
masks

Storyboard and set up for our Thriller - Hurtwood

Below I have drafted up some quick sketches and idea's for my Thriller set up and how we intend on the way of some clips working. Also it includes details such as the camera shot type, timing, sound and lighting plus other information that is needed to be prepped before shooting.
By doing this it enables us to have an idea of what to expect and the way that it'll work.

Thriller Update - Hurtwood

Below is a short synopsis and overview of how our Thriller idea has progressed:

There has been an outbreak of some kind of flu or virus that has infected our area/country. As a result humans have become majorly ill and in most cases dying. However, in our opening scene it is clear that there has been a survivor or a living. She has discovered that she is immune to this epidemic and had to cope and survive with this change.

Throughout the sequence us the viewer are shown the remains of the environment that has been affected by this issue. At the moment we have 7 definite locations to shoot in, these are all in shooting distance:

1. Hurtwood Main House

2. Theatre

3. Tennis Courts

4. Studio

5. Canteen

6. Canteen Bathrooms

7. Media block classrooms

Our aim is to create an effective and most realistic MES as possible, and most importantly to make it look as if this has been a problem for a while (approximately a month+).

Some Props that we need to have to create this look are the following:

1.

-          Tarpaulin

-          Large White sheets

-          Caution/Danger/Warning tape

-          Possible mud

-          Cars

-          Blood? (<- possible, not yet decided if needed for story line)

2.

- Script paper

- wet floor signs

- blood

            - dust/cobwebs dirt

3.

            - Large Chain (rusty)

            - Padlock  (rusty)

            - Leaves, dirt

4.

            - Large Sheets

            -Tarpaulin

            - Padding to build up and have a couple of bodies on to make it look like they is a mass of bodies.

            - Fan

            - Dust/dirt cobwebs

5.

            - Dirt/dust cobwebs

            - Rotting food

            - Plates and Cutlery

6.

            - x8 mops

            - x8 Hospital masks

            - x8 coats, hospital/lab coats?

            - x3 pairs of army-like boots

            - x7 Brooms

            - x3 Buckets

            - box of rubber gloves

            - Bottles of disinfectant

            - Rag clothes, dirty and grubby

            - Blood, Dried blood

7.

            - Tarpaulin

            - Borading wood – ply wood?

            - dirt/mud

            - holes

           

Thriller idea Changes - Hurtwood

In our lesson today myself and the group spoke with Matt and Luke (Two people who are going to help us to produce our final pieces) about how our Thriller idea and how we are going to film and create it.

To elaborate on our idea we were planning to use 'Ye'Old Cock Tavern' on fleet street as a main location and scene within our short sequence. From this we were then going to work around this area and and explore further locations to film on.

However after talking today we have realised that the pub scene alone would be difficult for many reasons:

1. For us to go to London would mean getting up early and arriving there in good time.
2. Then we would have to set up the the scene in the pub, and to do this properly we would need at least 2hours minimum.
3. Then a further hour or so to get the correct lighting and wind etc..
4. After we would film for approximately an hour and this would all be for just one scene.

So in a realistic world for us to produce one scene it would take us almost 6 hours and only leave us a short amount of time to film all our other shots which involve us moving around to various places in London. Obviously time is always going to be an issue but we have to work this time given to the full and so we've decided that we were to find a more realistic location.
By doing this of course all our other London based scenes would need to be scrapped.

Also another point made was that if we were to do 'abandoned streets' shots then to make it look realistic enough and to have been deserted for a number of days the scenes would have to be shot perfectly and of course we don't have the power to close streets or manipulate things a way that we would like because we don't have a big enough budget.

So as a result of these 'major' points we have had to rethink our Thriller idea quite majorly.

Of course we are still sticking to our original story line of the 'major country spread epidemic' but our location shots are going to change to a more realistic and furtherly more available location. This would be the school.

The school gives us a variety of different areas that we can work with - for example the main building, classrooms, theatre, sports courts, canteen, toilets etc... all places that can easily be made to look 'abondonded'. We will have to ensure that our decoration and MES elements are made to look as realistic as possible for there to be the best final effect on the Audience.

So, unlike before where we planned to keep the shots very simple and empty we've decided that now with our new concept we are going to have to focus massively on the scenes and the use of props within these particular scenes.

Considering the small amount of time we now have it is very important to remain organised and to focus on the particular points that we want to emphasise to ensure that we produce the best possible Thriller opening that we can.

Title Sequence - Hurtwood

In every film there is a title sequence that introduces the audience to the 'behind the scenes' people and also actors/actresses that role in the particular film.

With most films there is a particular order to the sequence in which elements are shown. This is the most common order:

1. Logo of Production Company
2. Logo of Distribrution Company
3. Title Sequence
4. Distribution Company Name
5. Production Company Name

There is a variety of different styles that can be used when introducing a film, 4 of the main ones are listed below:

Discreet title sequences -  This is where the titles are completely sperated from the rest of the film. They generally are filmed and edited in a differnt style, this is often a montage.

A good example of this is - Se7en

Bog Standard (Old school) - When titles are over a black screen then the film follows. By doing this structure the soundtrack is emphasised.

An example of this is taken from - The Mothman Prophecies

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/04/11/the-mothman-prophecies/

Stylised editing - The film starts but during the title sequence an elaborate style of editing is used to introduce the text - in amongst the action. By doing this it deliberately draws attention to the style of editing.

A good example of this is shown in - Taking of Pelham 123

Animated -  Using animated design to introduce the film

An example of this is shown in - Casino Royal

Representation of Ethnicity - Hurtwood

In our lesson the other day we spoke about how race and ethnicity is represented within TV drama in particular, however this made me recognise how we should be aware of how race is considered in our Thriller.

Its an important area of casting and role, that you are aware of how the people are placed and how different audiences understand things differently - because of their background and beliefs. This can obviously be very difficult as there is such a wide variety of people to please equally.

Racial issues are very diverse and often completely misrepresented and negatively stereotyped as I discovered when reviewing a variety of TV dramas. As the UK is an increasingly multicultural society and things brings huge benefits as well as tensions.
Some examples of positives are:
> Cultural richness ie.food, music ...
> Beliefs
> Harmony
> Learning
> Language

However of cause there are downsides, for example:
> Conflicts between different religious beliefs
> Discrimination
> Overcrowding (in some areas) of one particular religious follows - can lead to conflict and     unfriendliness if not part of that society

The News and Media constantly stir up racial tensions by reinforcing negative stereotypes of Muslims, asylum seekers, young black youth etc..... As a result of this racial tensions are easy to stereotype and are misunderstood by onlookers.

In our Thriller we will consider all races and ethnicity's and make sure all our characters aren't perceived negatively. This is to ensure that our film can be related to by all people - in hope to create a more diverse film and as a result a wider viewing audience.

Sound used in Thriller - Hurtwood

As a group we were coming up with how we could sequence the clips together effectively and of course what sound should accompany the sequence.

We've decided that like our scenes, the more simple the more affective. So taking this into consideration we thought that the less sound the more affective as well. For the time being we feel that silence throughout the majority of the clip will build an element of tension and anticipation.

However we would like to included a small amount of sound and we found a perfect way of including this into our title opening without ruining the affect that we hope to create.

One of the scenes that we are going to have is a petrol station abandoned, looking as if people have just left quickly, forgetting everything else buy themselves -this includes their cars. So this image we are hoping to convey will also include sound b y using the radio from one of these cars and also the use of an editing technique known as a 'Sound Bridge'

A perfect example of this we found in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYo9BXGQyDM

The way the radio sound overlays on the different clips is the kind of idea that we'd like to do with our clips. So we'd first hear of the radio when we view the petrol station scene then the sound will continue over the top of the other scenes and finally when we view our main scene in the pub the sound will link up with the news playing on the TV (that is placed in the pub/bar). This is yet another indication that there is something serious wrong and also lets the viewers have another perspective.

Thriller progress - Hurtwood

We have finally decided that we are going to continue with our idea of the supermarket however there have been some complications with how we are able to find a supermarket or a mini market that we are able to film in.

To do this we would have to close down the store so we could create the scene which involves trashing some areas and making it look a bit like a wreckage. As a result of this the owner of the building would loose his sales and unfortunately no one that we know of owns a market or knows anyone who owns a mini market.


So as a result of this we have had to come up with a different location and setting for our Thriller.
Together we have produced a spider diagram or some areas that we could film in to create a similar atmosphere.




---(spider diagram embedded) ---




As we decided that a lot of these we thought could really work and so we've decided to pick a couple of really efficient and realistic options that we can use.


One location that we discovered that could definitely work would be the pub, as one of my group members Georgina has an uncle who owns a pub in 'Fleet Street' which is perfect as it is very central and built up, however on a Sunday morning in particular it will hopefully be quite which would be a prime time to film a variety of areas like the street view, park and other area's that we are yet to find around there. This would be possible as the pub is closed on both a Saturday and Sunday giving us two possible days to work on if there are any issues.

Ye Olde Cock Tavern

22 Fleet Street

London EC4Y 1AA

Some images that I found off of Google give us an idea of what the pub looks like from the outside and in:

As you can see from the image, the pub feels very warm and homely and also people who have been there have said that 'you can almost taste that it is old' which is the kind of atmosphere that we want and this will effectively work to our advantage of getting a musty, uncomfortable feel when filming.

Personally I hope to be able to get the chance to go up to Fleet Street some time soon so that I can get a better visual understanding of the pub and also see what it is really like early on a Sunday morning.

Target Audience Research - Hurtwood

This week, one of our tasks is to discuss who it is that would want to watch our film and from this we can learn what it is they like and how we can develop our opening sequence to benefit them in the best way possible.

From doing my research and asking the public their opinion, I've discovered that typically the people who are most interested in watching thrillers tends to be people in their late teens and early 20's. This is because the majority of thriller movies have at least a certificate 15 on them because of violent scenes and elements unnecessary for younger children.
Gender wise, there seemed to be a mixed response -- some people said men where more into Thrillers because of the darkness and violence that was included in scenes, yet some people argued that woman watch more thrillers than men as they seek the rush and thrill that they get from these movies a lot more than men; therefore getting more out of the film itself.

A way in which we discovered peoples opinions on films that they have seen and what it is they enjoyed was to do a questionnaire. We surveyed a variety of people of ages 15 and above and of both genders - this was so we could get an overall idea of what a range of people like and consequently hope to broaden the typical type of people who go to watch these films.

This is a wordle I created using a montage of attributes taken from my survey that I did. It is a satisfying, visual way of viewing certain things.

The questionnaires enabled us to get a clearer idea of what kinds of people like what and from this we were able to take the positive things people like a build from it. For example the feelings that people get when they watch a film and how this is created. A woman of 22 said that she liked how Thrillers made her feel tense and uncomfortable and she thought this could be as a result of the diegetic music that accompanied the scene; here she refereed to Jaws.  This element signifies how important the sound is in a film, so this is an aspect that I'd like to focus on when producing our own thriller.

Another result that I found predictable was what a 15year old male said about the thrillers he likes. He enjoys Thrillers that are quite violent and scary in a gory way. By the way that he explained it I would say that he was referring to Horror more so but he insisted that there was a big difference in his opinion towards thrillers and horrors. I personally don't think that I want to use too much gore type scenes in my Thriller opening for a few reasons. Firstly to produce something of a high, realistic quality is extremely difficult. Also this is an opening sequence and I think this would too much of an 'aggressive' start to a film, and it may make the audience feel uncomfortable in a negative way.

My conclusion based on this research is that our disaster thriller would appeal to an audience aged between 15-30 of both men and women.

Anaylisis on wating the documentary 'Watching' - Hurtwood

During one of our Media lessons last week we watched a documentary called 'Watching' which was all about how significant the opening sequence in a film is and how important it is that it is done well and effectively.  It looked at the title sequence of films such as: The Shinning, Seven and A Touch of Evil. Also the opinions of some people were expressed to us, these included Thomas Sutcliffe, Director Jean Jacques Beineix, Stanley Kauffmann, Kyle Cooper and Orson Welles - All very important people within filming industry.

<-- Seven is a very good example of a successful and effective opening sequence. They do this by drawing the audience in and grasping their audience well - it tells us a lot about the theme of the film and the tone that goes throughout.

From examples like this, I've understood that the beginning of films need to 'Seduce their audinece into long term commitment' (as Thomas Sutcliffe told us) and this has indicated and stressed to me just how important the first 2-3 minutes of a film really is; its when people are at the height of excitment and expectation and its important to forfil that feeling as positively as possible.

"A good beginning must make the audience feel that it doesn't know nearly enough yet, and at the same time make sure that it doesn't know too little" This means, that first impressions are everything to an audience. Therefore, a good beginning should capture us and then draw us in to make us feel as though we "Want to see more".

Critic Stanley Kauffmann describes the classic opening as: beginning with an establishing shot, then a close up of a building, then zooming into a window etc.... This works very well because it "teaches us how to know its suroundings" which draws us in and lets us feel as though we are in the characters world. This is an element that I now would definitly consider to use in my Thriller!

Our Thriller Presentation, using Powerpoint - Hurtwood

Power Point on Thriller Ideas




Here is the powerpoint that we created. The picture/collage pages are some of the images that we chose to represent our thiller idea the majority of them are simliar to the kind that we had in mind - however there are a couple that are ONLY similar as we weren't able to find the exact thing we were after.
It's only to get an Idea.

Overall the presentation went well. I feel like we managed to explain of idea's clearly to the class and teacher and that they understood what it was we had in mind. During the presentation it was clear that the group and I had put a lot more effort into our 'The New Born' idea as we seemed to present this with much more effort and interest. However, this wasn't intended but it has made it clear for us now that this idea obviously shouted out to us; hence the better decription.

Overall our feedback was positive on all our ideas, the main issue that we had was how we were able to fund for the destination of all of them. We were thinking Very 'BIG' location wise, likke for example the one set in America or 'The Hole'; we would need to be somewhere with snow. We ere told that it's good to think biug to start with but then obviously we have to be realistic when it finally comes to filming and plotting in particular. Of course our budget fund does not stretch far enough for us to fly to Italy to film in thye snow - unfortunately.

Development of Thriller Ideas - Hurtwood

Over the past week myself and my group have been producing a wide variety of different ideas that have been influenced by some news articles that we have looked at recently.

To start with we picked out an individual article and produced a spider diagram with as many, different ideas that we could think of revolving around the event. By doing this we then had a range of catagories and genres to play with - giving us a more orginal idea.

So from this, we created 4 main ideas and we are now currenlty producing a powerpoint to present to the class so they have a visual understanding of what it is we want to do. We have included some photos that we have taken from the internet that we feel represent our idea's in the best way possible and also included basic information like 'sub-genre', 'Location' and a quick 'analysis'. By doing this it enabaled us to communicate our ideas more clearly to other people and also it broadens our visual picture of our film idea, from looking at the wide variety of images on the internet with were inspired by some of the photos that we saw; therefore progessing our Thriller idea even further.

Research for Thriller Ideas - Hurtwood

Inspiration

Great idea's come from reality, you're influenced by events that are happening in your own life, ideas don't just come from inside your head.

Taking this into account I decided to look at some of the news and events that are happening throughout the world at this current time.

So at this particular point of time it is in fact Halloween. In America this particular holiday is massive and surprizingly for me a lot of money and effort is put into this. One thing I discovered was that people are infact pay a large amount to go into a 'Hauted House' to be scared. They are neither haunted nor, in most cases, houses but large hangars in which visitors walk through a series of horror film-style scenarios, while actors in zombie or vampire costumes attempt to scare the living daylights out of them.

This whole idea actually appeals to me, more physical scaring and is obviously much more affective. A way in which this could be turned into a Thriller may be that the actors actually do become murders or some kind of supernatural killers/scarers. People may start to disapear and nobody can answer for it.

Another thing I found in the news was 'Cyber Attacks' and cyber crime. The use of electrical equipment and 'not knowing whose behind the computer' kind of idea. Possibly also the misuse of computers and electrical products.

Paranormal Activity 3 - Hurtwood

The other day I went to go and see the new 'Paranormal Activity 3' film that is currently viewing in the cinemas.

I have seen the previous 2 films and also liked how they're filmed through the use of handheld cameras as I feel like I can relate to it more personally and almost includes the audience in the events that are happening. By doing this we are able to see what is happening through the characters perspective and understand it as they would.

I did think that it was an affective film and people around me felt on edge throughout, this was created by the use of suspense that continued throughout and finally climaxed at the end of the film. However personally I didn't feel very scared by this production.

There was a large amount of 'jump'ing moments which gave people, and myselff, a short scare. These were in fact quite affective as these points are remembered afterwards and then referred back too after viewing.

The ending of the film wasn't very memorable, I became slightly bored and uninterested towards the end which is a shame. I think it must have just dragged on a little longer than it maybe could have done or lacked in gripping elements. Additionally the overall response from my friends was fairly average, no one seemed to be overly impressed.

Despite this though I do think that the way that all 3 films have been constructed is cool. Each film is a prequel, showing what happened before the previous. Also I'd definitely consider including the camera shots and angles of home footage in my thriller as I feel like this is an affective way of scaring and helping the viewer to understand events that are happening.

The genius of all Thrilers....ALFRED HITCHCOCK - Hurtwood

'Always make the audience suffer as much as possible'

Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock is one of the biggest names known in Hollywood. Even to this day his name is a calling for all 'Wanna-be' directors or film producers, especially in the 'Thriller' category he is known as a 'god'.

He lived from the 13 August 1899 - 29 April 1980, in England he lived untill after his great successful career he decided to pack up and move to Hollywood (1956) where he became an Amercian citizen. It was here where he produced some of the best known Thrillers of all history:
> Vertigo
> Psycho
> The Birds
and many more...

“There is no terror in a bang, only in the anticipation of it”

What is Genre? - Hurtwood

A Genre is the way in which films are catagorized, based on what theme/topic they cover, the setting, mood or format.

Codes and Convections are also included in this and they are seperated into 3 distinct areas:
  - Symbloic (clothing, colours, settin...)
  - Technical (camera shots and techniques)
  - Written and Audio (dialouge, music..)

These give the overall text meaning and also determines the response of the viewer.

Additionally, there are also 'Sub-Genre', this is includes:
  - Characters
  - Locations
  - Plot / Events
This is in place so the audience have an expectation over what they will find.

So why is this Important?

 

>Well if you're an institution (film group) it enables you to choose a suitable target audience.

>When it comes to marketing the film and advertising you are aware of what qualities to include.

>It enables the public to recognise the plot and the ingrediants of the film.

>Therefore the audience are able to choose what type of film they want to see.

>From this we then get successful audience pleasure

What really is a THRILLER? - Hurtwood

A thriller is a movie that creates a feeling of suspense and mystery, as the famous ‘Alfred Hitchcock’ said ‘There is an intellectual process and an emotional process’ both of which are very separate. There is a BIG DIFFERENCE between these two. Intellectual process is the ‘Who Dun It’, it’s the rational rather than the emotional, it’s appealing and engaging. Unlike the Emotional process where it’s the viewers reaction to the film.

When I asked some people what they thought a Thriller was, I had a mixture of responses however many of them used the same describing words.
Some of these are:
• Scary
• Worried
• Anxious
• Anticipation
• Tension
• Dramatic
• ………

As you can see they are all similar in a particular way. None of them are feelings that someone would necessarily choose to have on a day-to-day basis, even if they did they would soon adjust to these feelings and in turn not find particular things 'thrilling' which of course is my aim when it comes to creating our own clips.

In my thriller I Want the audience to feel those feelings, I'd like my viewer to feel like its had an impact on them in a particular way. Maybe it can impact different people in different ways for different reasons. It needs to be dynamic so that a range of people enjoy it, however of course sticking to my target audience is key.

Soon I will be thinking about incorporating these elements and points in more depth and hopefully produce a successful scene that people will enjoy watching!

Study of 'Grave Encounters' Trailer - Hurtwood

http://youtu.be/g8FBRATbJoA

Grave Encounters is a film directed by 'The Vicious Brothers', set inside an abandoned Psychiatric Hospital where an unexplained phenomena has been reported for years.


This type of Thriller is the kind that really gives me the 'Heebie-Jeebies' (also known as the chills) and I think its truly down to the non-diagetic music, sound effects and emphasised dialogue that really adds to the suspense. For example the blood-curdling scream and crashes of props are all very sudden and put the viewers on edge. Additionally the random airy sound affects and simplistic music all adds to the tension, and this is again emphasised by the rising speed in tempo and increasing volume.


In addition, significant and informative phrases help the viewer to recognise the importance of the events that are happening. 

These are obvious and powerful ways of showing key points.

Another way in which this trailer is affective is how the majority of the shots are filmed by hand, giving us a more personal view of the events and therefore making the viewer feel more involved and consequently more scared.

 

This trailer, I feel is very effective in the way that it captures the viewers attention by the lack of hightened sound. Personally, since watching this I now want to see the film and this proves that this trailer is a success.

'Let the Right One In' Swedish Movie Trailer Analysis - Hurtwood

Okay, so for my first 'Forgien' movie clip analysis I chose to look at 'Let the Right One in'. This is a Swedish film made in 2008, directed by Tomas Alfredson and is about a overlooked and bullied boy called Oscar who finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl who turns out to be a vampire.





Although this clip has little dialogue the uneasy atmosphere and tension is created by the chilling music that is played over the top. It has a variety of pitches and tempo and where it increases in speed or volume we understand that this is an important and 'scary' area to the film. In addition to this, throughout there are some props used and the sound of these props are emphasised by the music quieting and the action of the prop broughout up in volume. A good example of this is when the boy is stabbing the tree with the knife:

The sound alone is enough to give someone the chills. Sound effects such as the blood being sucked and the body falling etc...puts people off immeadtely, However this is what Thriller's are supposed to do. Scare people.

Also the majority of the images that are shown have only children in and when these characters are mixed in with a variety of violent scenes including blood and dead bodies the audience immeadiately feel uneasy.

The lack of dialogue used in the trailer isn't a bad thing. I think that this helps to emphaise the importance of the words that are used and doesn't over shine the affect that the music has to the viewers.

Overall I think that this is a very successful trailer and I'd also recommend the film to those who havent seen it.

Learning to use 'Final Cut Pro' programme - Hurtwood

So in a previous post I spoke about the Preliminary task that we did which involved us shooting a short piece with two characters. Our next task was to start editing the shots together and create a continuous and flowing clip.

Nobody in our group had had any experience with this editing programme, 'Final Cut Pro' so it was all new and slightly confusing to use to start with, however it wasn't massively difficult to grasp the main features once we got stuck in.

To start with we had to import our video files onto the programme, then we'd be able to manipulate the clips and produce our final clip.

The first tool we where introduced to was 'the bin', which isn't as you would expect a 'trash bin' to use to get rid of unwanted files etc.. but infact it is the name for a 'new folder' - this proved to be slightly mind boggling. 

Cutting the video's shorter was fairly simple, you would just hover over the end or front of the preferred clip and then drag to the area of which you'd like to cut to. All straight forward, however there would be times where the clip wouldn't sit in the correct place, so you'd then have to use the 'snapping'. This made you're cutting more precise and accurate.

Also another main feature which is very useful is the 'Soundbridge'. This is used when you want to seperate the sound from its image, so you are able to overlap other silent clips with a different audio.

There are many other endless feautres on this programme, some more extreme than others, but the above ones mentioned are simple, easy and frequently used because its their common tools.

The Stepfather analysis - Hurtwood

In Media at the moment we are studying a thriller called 'The Stepfather', which I have never seen. We were asked to view the first 3mins of the opening scene and write an essay.
Below I'm going to pin-point some important frames that can express the story.

This is the first clue as to what the location looks like and possibly where it is. It is apparent that the house is well maintained and therefore implying that the family is fairly wealthy, also considering the size of the building we get an idea of how many people live in this household. In addition to these points we can also get a clue as to what time of year this film is set in, considering that there is snow around and also Christmas decorations like the reef and the brightly decorated tree we know that it is Winter time; a time of happiness and family time.

In this above shot we understand the characters personality and possible addictions as shown by the placement of these grooming tools. As we can see they are are placed very accurately and percise which implies that this man is very controlled and maybe even obsessive. This makes us as the viewer question his sanity and makes us concerned about who this strange man really is.

As the man continues to change his appearance and the intensity of the music and clip increases, he unintentionally cuts himself when he is shaving. Despite this action though the man does not flinch at the pain and continues to solve the problem with little frustration, which I find very strange. It suggests that the man is maybe used to pain which in turn implies that he has been in harm often, is he a bad man!?
Of course he is changing his appearance so there is something strange going on with this man.

This Long-shot above is very affective, it is the point of which we see his final transformation. He is a changed man. Also it is a low angle shot which emphasizes his importance and possibly the power he has not only towards other characters but possibly the audience also.

This close-up on the family photo's implies that this house is indeed is a family home however the facial expressions of the people contradict the non-diegetic music that is overplaying. From this shot the audience see the happiness of the people yet they are unable to truly 'feel' the happiness.

Another part that shows contradiction is when the male character turns on his music, the diegetic sound that comes out is a Christmas carol 'Silent Night'. This however does ease the tension in the atmosphere a little, but obviously it is surprising because we've just seen this strange man changing himself, along with uncomfortable music and then suddenly it just changes to this. Everything that is going on is all very odd and unusual.

Preliminary Shoot - Hurtwood

Yesterday in my Media class myself and my group did our first practical assignment which involved us to film a short conversation between two characters.

Luckily we were all familiar with the camera's from our lesson a few weeks ago so we were set in that however we just needed to figure out our smaller location - which all worked out brilliantly in the end. 

The script we were given was very simple and straight forward and only involved us needing an entrance door and two willing actresses :) Once we solved this we got started. 

I thought as a group we worked well together, taking it in turns to take part at different roles each time we shot a new sequence. 

The final clip is made up of 5 different shots, a wide shot, 2 close-ups of either character and then 2 over the shoulder shots. As we had enough time at the end of the lesson we decided to also film a close up of the door handle opening and also a low angle shot of one of the character's to emphasise the power of her role. 

How did we do this?

Well we in fact shot the same performance 7 whole times. This is for a few reasons. Firstly when we come to editing we'd definitely have at least some clip for sure, secondly it will be easier to cut in and out of each clip at certain times. Also if there are any problems that we may not have originally been aware of we'd have the option to fix it with various clips that we have. Additionally it quicker and easier to keep rolling through rather then stopping and starting constantly. 

I actually really enjoyed being behind the camera properly for the first time and also learning some new 'command' words. The whole experience has made me more excited  and ready to get stuck into more practical and hands on work. 

VERY IMPORTANT RULE  that I learnt

This is the '180 degree rule'. This is when the two characters/actors have to obey the rule of there being an invisible line between them and the camera must not cross from one side to the other. If this is not followed then it can confuse the audience because it makes the characters suddenly look out of place, or somehow magically moved sided of the room. It realistically will not make sense, so it is extremely important that this rule is followed when filming.

Shot Types - Hurtwood

Part of my work over the past few days has been to get to grips with different camera shots. They seem pretty basic but when you discover that in fact many of them have multiple names that’s when things get a little trickier.

So firstly I’ll start with a Big close-up (CU)

 

This includes the head or even only part of the head. This is used to show emotion and facial detail, which in turn helps the viewer to really read their emotions. This is usually reserved for passion or conflict.

 

Then a Close-up or Close shot (CU)

 

In this shot you see only the head down to the tops of the shoulders. This reveals more of the characters personality therefore more intimate with the viewer and also more powerful. Close shots work to increase the audiences identification with a character.

Medium close-up

 

This shot involves the character revealing their head  to their shoulders. This is a useful ‘all-round’ shot.

 

Mid-Shot

 

The characters head to waist is shown. This provides clothing and body language to be seen by the audience which additionally helps the viewer to understand and relate to the audience much easier.

Medium-Long Shot

 

With this shot the viewer is able to see the characters head to waist. Like before it provides additional physical information however it is less detailed then previous shots. Also you get a better idea of the location of the character too.

Long Shot

 

 

This provides a full image of the character. Maximum information of the character however less detailed then previous. Contextualizes character in their location and this can be used to distance audience from events or even suggest loneliness or isolation.

 

Wide Shot or Establishing Shot

 

This shot tends to be used at the beginning or at the end of a scene. It helps to make clear the location and physical geography of the space; additionally sets up an atmosphere.

Over The Shoulder (O/S)

 

The over the shoulder shot helps to create a dynamic between the character and what they are seeing.  The viewer see’s the perspective of the character. This shot can also be used to suggest that someone is being followed or possibly watched by an unseen presence :S

Two Shot, Threes Shot etc.. (2/S, 3/S)

 

This is where there are multiple characters in a frame.; you get a sense of how they relate to one-another. The opposite to this is to keep characters in separate frames to suggest a lack of common ground or interaction.

 

Point of View (POV)

 

Provides perspective from a particular character’s point of view, looking onto their cast members. The director manipulates whose eye the audience experiences the story from. Also sometimes it can be when the viewer is being spoken to directly; this is used a lot in programs like ‘Peep Show’


High Angle

The camera points down from above eye line, looking down on someone. This affect can indicate low status or vulnerability.

Low Angle

 

When the camera points up from below the eye lone, looking up to someone. It can indicate high status, indicating someone being powerful or intimidating.