Scrapping an idea,and finding a new one...

We have decided to scrap the lift idea and have moved on to a completely different idea. We have decided  to do this because it was to predictable and we thought people wouldn't be intrigued by it. We also thought that is was sterile and the audience wouldn't be in the characters at all because we hadn't developed on them much at all.

Miners’

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Thriller ideas PP

Level 5’

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Elevator scene from The Eye



What is a thriller?

Something that thrills, especially a suspenseful, sensational genre of story. These pictures below have been denoted and connotated to weather they are a thriller or a horror.

Denotation and Connotation

Image	Denotation	Connotation
Still from Scream	A blonde girl, holding a phone to her ear looking at something/somebody through a window who is holding a knife and is wearing a white mask and a black cloak. She is dressed in a cream jumper, juxtaposition in clothes.	Innocent blonde girl in danger, is going to be killed by the person in the mask, they are dangerous.
Still from Psycho	A lady in a shower, wet, looking at something with a shocked expression on her face.	Something is scaring her/shocking her, signifying that danger is nearing.
Still from Gothika	A girl facing writing that is written on the wall, saying “Not One” in red writing. She is dressed in normal, plain clothing.	There is a message written in red which signifies blood, and danger suggesting death and murder.
Still from  Friday 13th	A blonde woman dressed in dark clothes stood in an empty car park, facing a man who is far away and blurred from our vision.	The man who is unclear seems mysterious as we cannot see who he is. The open space and the man suggest to us that there is danger ahead.
Still from The Exorcist	A girl with cuts all over her face, long red her, blood dripping from her mouth and eyes wide open that are just white and black with no colour. She is dressed in a white blouse.	The cuts on her face signify violence and blood. Her long red her suggests she is dangerous. Although she is dressed in the colour white which represents purity and innocence, there is a juxtaposition.
Still from The Ring	A young girl sat on a chair in an empty room, looks clinical. She has long black hair that covers her pale face. Wearing a very white, clean dress and little girls shoes. A wire is near her.	The young girl looking pale, suggests that she is ill, signifying that she could be possessed by something evil. Again there is a juxtaposition between this and her innocent clothing.

Still from Omen	A young boy stood in a black and white suit stood in between white crosses in a grassy field. He is wearing a black hat on his head, and he has his hands on his hips looking up towards this camera.	The stance that he is stood in shows us that he has confidence and power. There is a juxtaposition between the boys clothing and the white colours of the cross, signifying that he is evil, as white signifies purity.
Still from It	A person with a painted face and fang like teeth. Red hair and green eyes. Placed on a black background.	The painting on the face signifies the figure of a clown, there is a dominant use of the colour red signifying blood and danger. They have their mouth open looking as if they are ready to bite something.
Still from Halloween	A man looking over a staircase shot from a low angle, holding a knife and wearing a pale mask.	Him looking over the balcony and being shot from a low angle shows us that he is looking down at something and that he has the power and is superior. The knife suggests danger, and violence signifying that he is going to kill someone.
Still from H2O	A man with a very white, pale face who is looking through a hole/porthole and a woman with a terrified expression on her face. There is a blue colouring within the shot.	His pale face suggests to us that he is ill or dead, as it is juxtaposed with her rosy coloured face looking alive. The use of blue colouring and a porthole reinforces the fact that they are on a boat.

 Still From the film 'Scream

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Still from the film 'Psycho'

Still from the film 'Gothica'

Still from the film 'Friday the 13th'

Still from the film the 'Exorcist'

Still from the film 'The Ring"

Still from the film 'Omen'

Still from the film 'IT'

Still from the film 'Halloween'

Still from the film 'H20'

Mood Board...

I have created a list of things which I am afraid of  and this is what they are:

My car breaking down in the middle of the woods

Children in horro films- this is scary because children in horror films are usually evil and you would find that children are usually good therefore they are more scary.


Sharks- sharks are scary because they a known to be able to eat humans and also this was re- enforced by the film that was made...'Jaws'


Deep Sea- The deep sea is scary because there is a common fobia of people being scared of the open sea... this is backed up by the film 'open water'


Terrorists- people are scared of terrorists because they put your live to risk and everyone know what depressing things they can do.

Creepy houses- people are scared of creepy houses because something always bad happens in horror films hence why people are scared. 

 

Prelim Post production...

To get in to our footage we had to check into final cut server and our group had to make a name for it. Then we had to name every clip so we knew which one we wanted to use and not use. At the end of using final cut sever we had to save and then sign out of the sever to allow other users to sign in.

The purpose of the continuity editing is to make the film more believable and so we don’t notice the editing. It is important to follow a specific film language because it ensures that only the relevant story points are shown, to manipulate time and space in the narrative, to force the audience to identify with the right characters and to make sure the story makes sense to the audience.

 When logging our shots we choose a shot from every angle we have filmed to make it clear to make that scene as clear as possible to the audience. For example it could be a conversation between two people and showing all of these shot makes it clear where they are standing in the scene, and it also show what their reaction is to what the other person is saying. However it is not only to do with this, it is also to put the right shot in to get the right point across to the audience therefore making it the best fit.

We also needed to organise the shots to make it look like a story. This is why we have a thing called a storyboard. This could also make a decision on what side you want the audience want to be on. This will help by giving the person you want to be the most important in the scene, by giving them the most of the screen time and also giving them the privilege of close-ups.

Linking to organising the shots, choosing which shots you put in front of another helps with the flow of the film because it makes it look more continuous by lets say for example, if someone is walking through a door you want to film them walking in from outside and then you want a shot of the walking in form the inside. This helps when it comes to editing because it creates a smoother flow of the film. You would put a cut in-between the first clip and then link it onto the second so it looks like it is shot all at once.

When editing in final cut we cut from the MS of both characters speaking to the EUC of A’s mouth to create a dramatic build up on what they are saying rather than the action. By using an ECU on the mouth all focus is drawn to it rather that other actions in the room.

 Story Board

Today we started filming our first draft storyboard of which we practiced the shots that were in the storyboard. When we looked thought them we found out that we had broken the 180-degree rule and that we had got most of the shots wrong. It was quite annoying but it made us learn for next time.

The location we decided to film in was in a classroom. We filmed it in there because we felt like the Mise-en – scene suited the point we were trying to get across. The room worked really well because when we used the correct lighting with the two tier lighting system, it created the verisimilitude of a classroom.

Our roles in the task were rotated through our group. I was the cameraman, director and I also helped set up the scene. All of this will help me when I do my thriller later on in the course

Lighting and other important things we had to do.

We though about the lighting and we made it soft because it was the most effective. This was important to the scene because it made the room look more realistic. It was effective because it made the shot what we wanted it to be.

We also used all of the techniques and knowledge that we learnt on the blog below. We also needed to choose which shots we were going to do.

Opening sequence of shutter island...

In class we looked at the opening sequence of Shutter Island to establish how the genre was portrayed, and how we have an idea of the narrative through just the opening sequence.

How do we know what genre of film this is? What visual, aural signifiers are there to indicate this? We know from the opening sequence that this film is going to be within the genre of a thriller because of different reasons. Aurally the music throughout is very tenion building/suspernsory music, a common genre of music used in thrillers to evoke fear and suspense, this is done through the use of Contrepuntal, non-diegetic music, this lets us know that we are going to be thrilled by this film, reinforcing the thriller genre. Visually the lighting is quite dark and slightly sepia toned to provide and eeryiness to again avoke the emotion of fear. Also we know it is going to be a thriller as we see men dressed as police men holing weapons/guns, this signifies violence and crime a common factor of all thrillers. This is again reinforced when we see the prisoners tied with chains around the ankles. Use of the different camera shots helps us to solve the enigma.

How does the opening sequence establish the narrative of the film? How are we introduced to the characters, and in what way? What does this tell us about them?

The opening sequence of the film establishes the narrative, by showing us the characters surroundings, we know that the characters are in a mental prison, through the setting of the secluded building. The actors movements and gestures help establish what sort of characters they are which gives us more information into the narrative, for example, when we see the character played by Leonardo Dicaprio, taking out his gun, we see that his partner has difficulty taking his out, this suggests to us that he is probably not infact a real detective, which later on in the film is a vital part of the narrative. The use of status helps us to identify the characters and the narrative, as when we are introduced to the police men we see that they are in charge of the people through the gates of the secluded building, this lets us know that it is probably in prison, as the police men are in charge of every one else. From the begining we see that they are even in charge of the two detectives as he tells them to give them their guns. This suggests that they have higher status than the two detectives and they are in charge, and this would not usually be the case. This is infact a hidden piece of information, as we establish later on in the film, that the police men really are in charge of the two detectives for certain resons which are soon revealed.

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAZXtB80p1I -Here is a link to the

Learning the basics on the camera and other settings...

Today we learnt how to do the basics on the camera and how to set up the tripod professionally. First you make the tripod taller to what height you want it keeping in mind that you do it from the lowest legs and tightening the catches on the legs.

Once you have done that you have to ‘bubble it’ which is where you match the bubble in the middle of the circle. This tells you that the platform is straight and that when you put the camera on the shot isn’t wonky. To make sure this is secured you tighten it by screwing the catch directly beneath the platform.

Now the tripod is steady to put the camera into place, at the bottom of the camera there is a thing which is specially designed to fit into place. You slide the bottom of it into the top of the tripod whilst holding the button on the side which allows it to slide off and on, and it should click into place. Once you have heard the click you tighten the catch on the side so the camera will not fall off. Then just to check, you give the camera a little shake to make sure it won’t come off.

Moving on to the camera side of it, we learnt how to change the white balance. To do this you point the camera on to something white in the room so you are able to capture the lighting and the darkness in the room. This is essential because if you don’t do this all the colours in the shot look strange and not what we are meant to be seeing.

We also learnt how to change how many frames there are per second. A camera is usually set to 50 frames per second, however sometimes this is changed to create and effect in the scenes. The frames are changes to 250 frames per second in the opening of ‘Saving Private Ryan’ where they are coming in on the landing crafts on to the beach.

There is also a sunglasses mode where you can change the setting of the camera that when you are filming outside and it is sunny, it will darken the lens making it adjust to the light.

Also on the screen there is information that tells you how much battery you have left and there is a time code which tells you how much you have filmed it also tells you how much space is taken up. In the bottom right there something that tells you how loud an how much the mics are picking up.

We learnt how to use the zoom and the focus on the camera. There are two wheels on the nose of the camera and the one at the front is the zoom. There is also another way of using the zoom which is located on the top of the camera. It looks and acts like a seesaw, if you push it forwards the camera zooms in and if you push it backwards it zooms out. Anyway to focus your shot you need to zoom all the way into something in the room and hen focus on it, then zoom out.

We also got told why there are two recording buttons, well to be specific more about the one on the top. This is there because you are doing a hand held camera shot or when you are doing a low shot.

Photoshop

The main things I learnt in Photoshop was how to use the main tools in Photoshop. I first learnt about a tool called the Lasso tool which enables you to cut finely around any image within the picture and do cool strange things to the thing in the picture you have selected. What I learned to do was to hold down Alt and click around the image you want to select very accurately.

Another tool I learnt to use was a tool called the dodge tool. This tool allows you to change the colour of the thing you have selected to white. Within this tool there are two more tools which are the burn tool and the sponge tool. . I used this tool when I was turning someone into a zombie. I turned the person’s eyes white on the picture.

 The burn tool allows you to change the image you have selected and subtly darken it and if you keep clicking on the image, it gets darker and darker until you can’t see anything. On the same picture as above I darkened the picture around their eyes giving him a look of scariness.

The other tool is called the sponge tool. This tool brings forward the colour of the picture wherever you are clicking it. I used this tool on the veins of the zombie picture to make him look freaky.

Photography

Photography brings a visual language that is universal in understanding. We must then understand its vocabulary which consists of shapes, textures, patterns, lines, colours, shade of light to dark and sharp to blurry images. Just as we must learn to arrange words in a coherent order in order to make sense when we write or speak, so too must we put visual elements together in an organized manner if our photographs are to convey their meaning clearly and vividly.

Composition means arrangement: the orderly putting together of parts to make a unified whole; composition through a personal, intuitive act. However, there are basic principles that govern the way visual elements behave and interact when you combine them inside the four borders of a photograph. Once we have sharpened our vision and grasped these basic ideas of principles, then we will have the potential for making our photographs more exciting and effective than ever before.

About my self...

Hi im Hector McAlister, I am a media student at Hurtwood House. I chose Meadia because i have made small films and music for a hobby for a long time. My faveroute film is the Business because i like the way the film is directed. I am also really into to dance music and I am a DJ. I have Djed and Ministry of Sound and other clubs abroad.