Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Filming
We are in the process of filming and will continue to do so and edit all next , to ensure we finish within our deadline.
Filming Thriller
After a discussion in our group we come to the conclusion that we should change our location to 'Robert Clack School' as it would be very convenient for our filming. However it caused issues with our main plot so we have had to make some changes.
Monday, 20 February 2012
Art Of The Title
'A compendium and leading web resource of film and television title design from around the world. We honor the artists who design excellent title sequences. We discuss and display their work with a desire to foster more of it, via stills and video links, interviews, creator notes, and user comments.'
Friday, 10 February 2012
Survey Monkey Responses
I had previously created a survey on www.surveymonkey.com . I asked a total of nine questions , hoping that people's answers would help me to understand target audience and maybe different aspects I should use within my own thriller. The responses were :
From these responses, the information we can gather is that; we should be aiming our ideas for our thriller within the 16-20 range. That on average people go to the cinema once or twice a week, which works out to roughly 4-8 times a month. We can also see that from the replies, these partiuclar people enjoy to watch thrillers. The fears people had were - 3 for spiders, 1 for clowns, 1 for sharp things, 1 for enclosed spaces and 1 for hospitals, from this we can see that the fear of spiders is fairly common. It seemed that Alfred Hitchcock was popular among the answers for peoples favourite thrillers. We can also see that people enjoy to watch thrillers that have enigmas, that keep you on the edge of your seat to see what happens next and the mystery within them. It seemed that more of the vote was 'Psychological', for being peoples favourite type of thriller, with conspiracy being second. And finally it was a fairly even vote for whether people would rather play a villian or hero in a thriller, with 'hero' just scraping by with an extra vote.
Thursday, 9 February 2012
Storyboard
This is our storyboard for our thriller 'Phonecall'
The story is based around three girls who are friends, and are all getting ready to go to a party. They each recieve a phonecall, but the audience are unaware as to who each girl is talking to. Meanwhile there is a man who is pretending to be one of the girls friends and is actually on the phone to ONE of these girls. Will the girl realise his not who he says he is before its too late? And will the audience ever find out exactly which girl he was talking to?
Friday, 27 January 2012
Analysis of past students work
This is an AS 2011 Media Studies Thriller by the former year 12 students.
SENT
- The beginning of the thriller shows them stating their school, course number, names and their individual candidate numbers.
- We then see 'Panda Productions', this is their ident that they would have likely created on the program LiveType. I think they have made this well, as the effects are simple but effective.
- They then start to used music as the thriller begins. The music is from www.mobygratis.co.uk . This is a well known site that allows people to ask for permission to use artists music, as non-copyright music has to be used for this project.
- As we continue on through the scenes, they then mention who stars within their thriller.
Treatment For Thriller
Our Thriller is Called - Phonecall!
Outline of our ideas:
1 man - He is the killer/murderer
3 girls - 2 Innocent, 1 not
1 phone call, only made to one girl
The resources we will need:
4 mobile phones
1 male, 3 female actors
3 bedroom settings
3 front door settings
Justification of ideas in relation to the genre:
Mystery
Mysterious phone call
Young naive protagonist
Outline of our ideas:
1 man - He is the killer/murderer
3 girls - 2 Innocent, 1 not
1 phone call, only made to one girl
The resources we will need:
4 mobile phones
1 male, 3 female actors
3 bedroom settings
3 front door settings
Justification of ideas in relation to the genre:
Mystery
Mysterious phone call
Young naive protagonist
Survey
Here I have created a survey on 'Survey Monkey' to gather information on audience's for thriller, if you could, please take two minutes to fill in this survey . Thank you! - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XR6PGWW
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Titles
'In the cut'
- Daunting Music
- Establishing Shot
- White font
- Out of focus
- One name and job title at a time
- Title only appears 3minutes in( Different text to actors,directors etc)
- Just sound effects
- Haunting
- Colour starts to change to red
- One name/job at a time
- Establishing shot
- Titles are 3D & imposed into the shots
- Sound effects - ticking
Film Openings
Memento
Conventions - Weapon, blood
Camera - Steady cam, Use of close ups
Editing - Black and white
Sound - Depressing music
Mise-en-scene - black and white; dream/flashback, setting is dank and dreary.
Enigma - Polariod going backwards
Brick
Conventions - Mystery, curious character
Camera - Out of focus
Editing - Graphic match(links with the bracelet)
Sound - Calming music
Mise-en-scene - Dull colours, Flashback
Zodiac
Conventions - Weaponm Curious character
Camera - Long shot
Editing - Do not see the murder
Sound - 3 different types used, contrasting, both diegetic and non-diegetic
Mise-en-scene - Town setting
Target Audience
The target age for a thriller would be ranging from sixteen to about twenty-four, as this has been known to be the range that goes to see the most thrillers.
Something else to consider is the gender of your audience. You need to think about what will appeal to both the male and female genders. The general look on it would be that men enjoy watching thriller's that are gory, horror, contains lots of fighting and action scenes. Whilst women are more into psychological thrillers and pay more attension to the story and getting inside the character's head.
Another thing you should consider in a thriller is the actors that star in the film. People are more likely to go and see a film with a big named star rather than someone who has appeared in a film or two. People will also be more likely to be attracted to films that star their favourite actors/idols. Gender also comes into this again, if you were to star someone such as 'Taylor Lautner' then your more likely to get an audience filled with females. And equally if the main actor in your film is 'Angelina Jolie', your likely to have an audeince full of males.
Something else to consider is the gender of your audience. You need to think about what will appeal to both the male and female genders. The general look on it would be that men enjoy watching thriller's that are gory, horror, contains lots of fighting and action scenes. Whilst women are more into psychological thrillers and pay more attension to the story and getting inside the character's head.
Another thing you should consider in a thriller is the actors that star in the film. People are more likely to go and see a film with a big named star rather than someone who has appeared in a film or two. People will also be more likely to be attracted to films that star their favourite actors/idols. Gender also comes into this again, if you were to star someone such as 'Taylor Lautner' then your more likely to get an audience filled with females. And equally if the main actor in your film is 'Angelina Jolie', your likely to have an audeince full of males.
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Rope
This film tells the story of two, young and wealthy men who strangle and murder their friend, just to purely see if they were able to get away with doing it. They then invite other close friends and the murdered man's parents, to a dinner party their hosting , whilst they are hiding the body in a chest that they are using to serve up food. Again just to see if they could get away with it.
Monday, 9 January 2012
Film Language
Camera
Camera Framing - Camera framing is basically looking and focusing on everything that is within that shot, and concentrating on its distance from the camera and which angle the shot is taken from.
Camera Movement - This is similar to camera framing in that with the way we move the camera can affect our attention on a certain character or object.
Mise-en-scene
This is a French term that basically means ' what is in the scene or frame'. If you were to take a simple shot of tree, by adding a deathly bird and and shooting in pitch black, there is a clear feeling or atmosphere you are creating. Contrasting to that by having a shot of a tree and having the sunlight shining and little birds on the branches, gives off a very different feeling and mood.
Settings and props - Settings in a film can be used to manipulate the audience by making them have certain expectations and the action that takes place is a complete contrast. Settings can be built from scratch using the plain walls and floor of a studio set, this is sometimes idea for film makers as they can show exactly what they want in this setting, although it does take a great deal of time to create and build. Props is the name given to objects that play a part in the scene. Rather than just being hidden and merging into the background.
Costume, hair and makeup - Costume plays a major part in films. When we see a character we instantly judge their character by the way they look,so it important the character is dressed appropriately and conveys the personality the filmmaker wants to come across. Make-up played a fair part in the early days of cinema and as it was used to highlight people's facial features as generally in black and white films that didn't register much detail.
Facial expressions and body language - When watching a film we look closely at someones facial expressions it can determine what kind of character that are. Facial expressions can usually show a clear thought or feeling towards something, even the look in someone's eyes can tell a lot about them. Body language can show us as an audience a clear relationship between two characters or even someone's personality. If they are huddled up and cover their face we could interpret that as being scared or shy and if they are standing upright, chest out this can show their confidence.
Lighting and colour - Lighting can play a major part in a scene as it can give a realistic look to a scene or even create an atmosphere, show suspicion of a character/object. It's main uses are to; highlight important characters/objects within a scene, making a character appear mysterious or reflecting a characters state of mind. The connotations that each colour has , has an importance to each and every scene its used in. We associate different colours with different moods/feelings and when they are shown in a film, us as an audience automatically suspect mood of the scene.
Positioning of characters and objects within a frame - The positioning of characters can be very important to the shot and can tell the audience alot about the character or create a specific atmosphere or mood. You can choose to place the character in the foreground of the shot and this completley draws your attension to them. Other examples are poisitoning a moving body against a background that appears stationary, or in the background of a shot.
Diegetic - is sound that comes from a source that is within the film world. For example this could be dialogue between characters or maybe a radio playing some music. It is basically sound that both the audience and characters can all hear.
Non-diegetic - is sound that is not part of the film word. For example this could scary, tension building music that plays over a specific scene within a film. It is sound that only the audience can hear, the characters are completley unaware.
Sound Bridges - is where sound that comes from one scene will continue on to play in the next. It is something that joins two scenes together.
Parellel - is sound that matches the action we see happening on the screen. An example of this is, a scene of children playing at a fairground, the music that accopanies this scene would be children laughing, screaming. Music/sounds that are exciting and match the feel of the scene.
Contrapuntal - is when the music or sound completley contrast with what is happening with the scene. For example having a tension building scene of someone opening a door, and the sound is happy and bright. This completley contrdicts the action happening within the scene.
Off- screen - is sound that we can hear but cannot necessarily see. For example if someone was to walk into the kitchen and put the kettle on, but the camera did not follow them into in the kitchen, then the sound made by the kettle would be off-screen sound.
Camera Framing - Camera framing is basically looking and focusing on everything that is within that shot, and concentrating on its distance from the camera and which angle the shot is taken from.
Camera Movement - This is similar to camera framing in that with the way we move the camera can affect our attention on a certain character or object.
- A panning shot - this is where the camera moves from side to side from a fixed axis
- A tilt shot - this is where the camera moves up and down from a fixed axis
- A crane shot - this is where the camera follows the action taking place, and moves along tracks laid out.
- A rolling shot - this is where the camera moves diagonally, this is quite oftenly used to make the characters come across ill or drugged.
Mise-en-scene
This is a French term that basically means ' what is in the scene or frame'. If you were to take a simple shot of tree, by adding a deathly bird and and shooting in pitch black, there is a clear feeling or atmosphere you are creating. Contrasting to that by having a shot of a tree and having the sunlight shining and little birds on the branches, gives off a very different feeling and mood.
Settings and props - Settings in a film can be used to manipulate the audience by making them have certain expectations and the action that takes place is a complete contrast. Settings can be built from scratch using the plain walls and floor of a studio set, this is sometimes idea for film makers as they can show exactly what they want in this setting, although it does take a great deal of time to create and build. Props is the name given to objects that play a part in the scene. Rather than just being hidden and merging into the background.
Costume, hair and makeup - Costume plays a major part in films. When we see a character we instantly judge their character by the way they look,so it important the character is dressed appropriately and conveys the personality the filmmaker wants to come across. Make-up played a fair part in the early days of cinema and as it was used to highlight people's facial features as generally in black and white films that didn't register much detail.
Facial expressions and body language - When watching a film we look closely at someones facial expressions it can determine what kind of character that are. Facial expressions can usually show a clear thought or feeling towards something, even the look in someone's eyes can tell a lot about them. Body language can show us as an audience a clear relationship between two characters or even someone's personality. If they are huddled up and cover their face we could interpret that as being scared or shy and if they are standing upright, chest out this can show their confidence.
Lighting and colour - Lighting can play a major part in a scene as it can give a realistic look to a scene or even create an atmosphere, show suspicion of a character/object. It's main uses are to; highlight important characters/objects within a scene, making a character appear mysterious or reflecting a characters state of mind. The connotations that each colour has , has an importance to each and every scene its used in. We associate different colours with different moods/feelings and when they are shown in a film, us as an audience automatically suspect mood of the scene.
Positioning of characters and objects within a frame - The positioning of characters can be very important to the shot and can tell the audience alot about the character or create a specific atmosphere or mood. You can choose to place the character in the foreground of the shot and this completley draws your attension to them. Other examples are poisitoning a moving body against a background that appears stationary, or in the background of a shot.
Editing -
- Straight cut
- A fade out
- A dissolve
- A wipe cut
- A jump cut
Diegetic - is sound that comes from a source that is within the film world. For example this could be dialogue between characters or maybe a radio playing some music. It is basically sound that both the audience and characters can all hear.
Non-diegetic - is sound that is not part of the film word. For example this could scary, tension building music that plays over a specific scene within a film. It is sound that only the audience can hear, the characters are completley unaware.
Sound Bridges - is where sound that comes from one scene will continue on to play in the next. It is something that joins two scenes together.
Parellel - is sound that matches the action we see happening on the screen. An example of this is, a scene of children playing at a fairground, the music that accopanies this scene would be children laughing, screaming. Music/sounds that are exciting and match the feel of the scene.
Contrapuntal - is when the music or sound completley contrast with what is happening with the scene. For example having a tension building scene of someone opening a door, and the sound is happy and bright. This completley contrdicts the action happening within the scene.
Off- screen - is sound that we can hear but cannot necessarily see. For example if someone was to walk into the kitchen and put the kettle on, but the camera did not follow them into in the kitchen, then the sound made by the kettle would be off-screen sound.
Continuity editing, cause and effect plotting, enigmas, red-herrings and cliffhangers
Continuity Editing - The clear stablishment of 'cause and effect' plotting , which shows a characters motivations and helps to unravel an interesting story that proceeds logically and steadily.
Enigmas - An enigma is something difficult to solve, like a puzzle within the film. It is usually ,in thrillers, something that the main character has to try to figure out to deafeat the villain before the film finishes.
Red-herrings - A Red-herring is something that misleads or distracts us from the truth. For example in North by northwest the red herring in that film is Eve Kendall, she is working as a double agent for the government and misleads us when at first she helps Roger Thornhill. Then it seems to us that she is working with the villains, but in reality she just had to pretend to be working with them to be able to bring them down.
Cliffhangers - A cliffhanger is usually the part of a film where the main character is in a precarious or fdifficult situation or are confronted with a shocking revelation. This is what will keep the audience interested in the film as they want to watch the situation unravel and be resolved.
Enigmas - An enigma is something difficult to solve, like a puzzle within the film. It is usually ,in thrillers, something that the main character has to try to figure out to deafeat the villain before the film finishes.
Red-herrings - A Red-herring is something that misleads or distracts us from the truth. For example in North by northwest the red herring in that film is Eve Kendall, she is working as a double agent for the government and misleads us when at first she helps Roger Thornhill. Then it seems to us that she is working with the villains, but in reality she just had to pretend to be working with them to be able to bring them down.
Cliffhangers - A cliffhanger is usually the part of a film where the main character is in a precarious or fdifficult situation or are confronted with a shocking revelation. This is what will keep the audience interested in the film as they want to watch the situation unravel and be resolved.
Sunday, 8 January 2012
Maguffin
A maguffin is an object, or rarely a person which is the centre of most stories within the film but as the film continues we find that it is not important.
An example of this in the Alfred Hitchcock film 'Psycho' would be the 40,000 that Marion steals. At the start of the film everything is mainly focused on the money, but as the film carries on its importance decreases ad we completely forget about it.
An example of this in the Alfred Hitchcock film 'Psycho' would be the 40,000 that Marion steals. At the start of the film everything is mainly focused on the money, but as the film carries on its importance decreases ad we completely forget about it.
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