Thursday, 1 April 2010
end of project
well this is my last post. my groups film opening and continuity exercise is finished and burned to disk. all i can say at this point is i hope whoever sees the finished product enjoys it and that be fair and objective in how you grade it.
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
question 5
How did you attract/address your audience?
genre conventions- in the case of similar films the only one i can think of that is in anyway similar to my groups film opening is Memento. this is seen in how our main character is an antagonist as well as a protagonist meaning he may have committed a crime but he was provoked into it. our atmosphere also gives the impression that the story of the crime is still only part told or something similar to that or that there is something sinister at work. as for the conventional narrative order of the crime at the end of the film in the case of our film it is flipped to the front making our story a reverse narrative. this serves to catch the audiences interest in an unconventional manner
use of music/sound- in the case of music we used the theme from Schindlers list for our flashbacks and film ending because it gives the right kind of sad atmosphere to our film. Whereas for sound somewhat like in Memento the sound in the background are unnaturally loud or non-diagenic. this serves to make our audience pay more attention to the events surrounding the sounds
use of mise-en-scene- the main mise-en-scene we used for our film were rather typical of a crime thriller. that is to say we used a prison uniform, a knife, brandy, a tape recorder, a cudgel, and a file folder. this served to give our audience a clue to what type of film they are watching and gives them some comfort in the predictable which would have made our film more attractive to them because not everybody likes to see unconventional things in a film.
editing- for editing we slowed down our music in some places to fit the pace of our film which goes at a somewhat moderate pace. we also rearranged the clips slightly right up until the end of the project deadline to make the timing of the film fit the continuity we needed. the effect of this is to make our audience see a neat and ordered film
the USP of our film-
genre conventions- in the case of similar films the only one i can think of that is in anyway similar to my groups film opening is Memento. this is seen in how our main character is an antagonist as well as a protagonist meaning he may have committed a crime but he was provoked into it. our atmosphere also gives the impression that the story of the crime is still only part told or something similar to that or that there is something sinister at work. as for the conventional narrative order of the crime at the end of the film in the case of our film it is flipped to the front making our story a reverse narrative. this serves to catch the audiences interest in an unconventional manner
use of music/sound- in the case of music we used the theme from Schindlers list for our flashbacks and film ending because it gives the right kind of sad atmosphere to our film. Whereas for sound somewhat like in Memento the sound in the background are unnaturally loud or non-diagenic. this serves to make our audience pay more attention to the events surrounding the sounds
use of mise-en-scene- the main mise-en-scene we used for our film were rather typical of a crime thriller. that is to say we used a prison uniform, a knife, brandy, a tape recorder, a cudgel, and a file folder. this served to give our audience a clue to what type of film they are watching and gives them some comfort in the predictable which would have made our film more attractive to them because not everybody likes to see unconventional things in a film.
editing- for editing we slowed down our music in some places to fit the pace of our film which goes at a somewhat moderate pace. we also rearranged the clips slightly right up until the end of the project deadline to make the timing of the film fit the continuity we needed. the effect of this is to make our audience see a neat and ordered film
the USP of our film-
question 4 audience reactions
My group and i showed our finished film opening to two members of a potential "typical" audience. We filmed their reactions and then asked them three questions on what they thought about our film opening. these questions were "what did you like about our film opening?", "Was there anything you didn't like about it?", and if this were actually made into a full film would you watch it?". their answers were 100% yes for if this were actually made into a full film would you watch it? Both said that they liked the music we used for the film opening. one said that they liked the sound of the typewriter for our credits. the other one said that they thought we could have made our flashbacks a little more obvious.
Thursday, 25 March 2010
evaluation question 4 continued
4. Who would be the audience for your media product
though i also think a "typical" audience member for our product might think the context of the murder was too tame for a thriller in this day and age where alot of people like slasher or horror films. a typical fan of our film might also like to eat lots of spicy or strong flavoured food.
though i also think a "typical" audience member for our product might think the context of the murder was too tame for a thriller in this day and age where alot of people like slasher or horror films. a typical fan of our film might also like to eat lots of spicy or strong flavoured food.
evaluation questions 3/4 continued
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
in the question of cast for our film i think we would try to find new people in the acting industry or use people who have only been in acting for a few films. the reason for this would be to give them a chance to either do something new or to give them a chance to possibly distinguish themselves. this might be the same in the case of the production company my group chose in reverse meaning they would probably be giving us the chance to distinguish ourselves. i think that we might qualify for the new cinema fund in the case of working title films. for a distribution company for our film we chose to use Optimum Releasing which has released films that are kind of gritty and low brow meaning some swearing and violence something which quite a few young people like to watch in films.
in the question of cast for our film i think we would try to find new people in the acting industry or use people who have only been in acting for a few films. the reason for this would be to give them a chance to either do something new or to give them a chance to possibly distinguish themselves. this might be the same in the case of the production company my group chose in reverse meaning they would probably be giving us the chance to distinguish ourselves. i think that we might qualify for the new cinema fund in the case of working title films. for a distribution company for our film we chose to use Optimum Releasing which has released films that are kind of gritty and low brow meaning some swearing and violence something which quite a few young people like to watch in films.
Monday, 22 March 2010
evaluation questions 3/4
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
my group and i discussed possibly having shane meadows as a possible director for our film because he does some stuff involving mostly horror but our thriller has some content that might be his sort of thing. we weren't really sure about it. as for a production company we all agreed upon possibly using working title films because they usually do low budget stuff like our film opening. though they mostly specialise in romantic comedys. for our marketing campaign we think with our budget which we think if this were actually a film being made would be in the low thousands or somewhere around £5000 we could only afford to do internet or email ad campaigns for our film. as for the release of our film i think it would be released in fall somewhere around halloween or thanksgiving. as for location we all thought it would be arthouses that would show our films because of the montage scene in our film.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
a "typical" target audience member for our film would be as follows. age 15 to late thirties. have some friends. possibly like rock and hiphop music. their taste in clothing will be eccentric or somewhat wild. they would shop at vintage clothing shops. their favourite tv programmes would be reality shows. they would watch our film because of the murder scene, the background music, and the context of the murder.
my group and i discussed possibly having shane meadows as a possible director for our film because he does some stuff involving mostly horror but our thriller has some content that might be his sort of thing. we weren't really sure about it. as for a production company we all agreed upon possibly using working title films because they usually do low budget stuff like our film opening. though they mostly specialise in romantic comedys. for our marketing campaign we think with our budget which we think if this were actually a film being made would be in the low thousands or somewhere around £5000 we could only afford to do internet or email ad campaigns for our film. as for the release of our film i think it would be released in fall somewhere around halloween or thanksgiving. as for location we all thought it would be arthouses that would show our films because of the montage scene in our film.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
a "typical" target audience member for our film would be as follows. age 15 to late thirties. have some friends. possibly like rock and hiphop music. their taste in clothing will be eccentric or somewhat wild. they would shop at vintage clothing shops. their favourite tv programmes would be reality shows. they would watch our film because of the murder scene, the background music, and the context of the murder.
Friday, 19 March 2010
evaluation questions that i can do by myself
6.What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
use= filming and looking at what we filmed. it was useful because we couldn't make our project without any film.
problems/limitations= lost tape at one point. at another lost battery power in the middle of filming. we overcame these problems by finding a second tape, and recharging the camera and redoing our filming.
use= elevating camera for high angle shots or cctv extreme high angle shot. useful for 2 reasons we needed high angle shots for the cctv effect for our prison/interrogation room scenes.
problems/limitations= had to stand on chair for full effect with tripod and camera= had trouble keeping balance. fixed this by keeping shots to short takes.
use= editing footage. useful because only a computer could handle all the data of the film openings we made as well as the changes made during editing.
problems/limitations= i find the use of the editing software awkward but do enjoy moving the clips around.
all the online computer programs i used and found useful are as follows. google images for the pictures on this blog. microsoft office online for storing documents. blogger for helping me write this blog. imovie for helping with the editing of the film.
as for low tech we used a flashlight/torch for lighting during the flashback scenes, and during the killing of ben scene we used the streetlamps as lighting. we also used chairs as extra elevation for the high angle shot we needed during the flashback scenes.
7. Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the procession from it to the full product?
in our continuity exercise we got the framing wrong on one of our shots and avoided this by doing several of the same shot during the full product. in our continuity exercise our match on action wasn't obvious at first in our final product we didn't really use one. in our final product just like in the continuity exercise we used the 180 degree rule in moderation somewhat in the fact that we shot the scene of cat and ben running up the stairs at our location from two separate angles but unlike the rule we used in the continuity exercise we shot from the side and above the scene we were shooting. in the continuity exercise we had trouble keeping our faces straight during some of our more serious scenes which is something which we see in the final product as well. in the final product our main shot seems to closeups or midshots, and our main camera movement seems to be following the action. we also like in the continuity exercise ended up cutting alot out of the film during editing. we are also planning on using a montage going up to the killing of ben. most of our sounds are natural sound apart from the groan of ben when he is stabbed. we have added a few sound effects such as a typewriter and ticking clock to give our film more personality perhaps.
evaluation questions continued
as for the title of our film personally i think it is rather cliche but appropiate considering what happens in our film opening. the camerawork and editing is typical of a thriller that is to say lots of closeups and arranged to give a shock when the audience sees it or at least give them chills up their spine. our opening suggests our genre of thriller through the acts of our main character in his flashbacks more specifically how he just goes up to his friend and stabs him. as for how our characters are introduced i think we followed the set standards for thrillers of having policemen introduced during the interrogation scenes and the main character introduced right at the beginning along with his victim. though i think our title font and style was quite original in the fact that we used typewriter font and used the soundeffect of a typewriter. this is supposed to give the impression that the film is being seeen from the point of view of a policeman possibly typing up a report on the events that transpired during the case.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups
the social group present in our genre is middle class. in this film opening the race is white, the age is early adulthood/20's, and gender is male and female.
as for similarities and differences between our main character and the main character in the film memento there are several.
the first difference is that the main character in memento had a plan for his crime meaning his murder was premeditated. Louis acted on anger and spur of the moment drunkenness. the second difference is that the main character in memento was probably in his early 30's or late 20's in this film and Louis is acting as a guy in his early 20's or somewhere around there in our film opening. the third difference is that Louis changes his costume in the film opening and the main character in memento wears the same outfit throughout the opening.
the first similarity in between our main character and the main character in memento is their gender. the second similarity in between them is that they commit their crimes in someplace that is similar to home or is home to them. the final similarity between them is that both of them are almost stereotypical men meaning they are temperamental, and think that they won't be caught.
the messages and values they represent are caring for ones family, and sometimes our tempers get the better of us. this is seen in their gender, age, and actions.
we chose these characters and actions because they are what is most seen in thrillers and of what else i'm not sure.
Thursday, 18 March 2010
evaluation questions
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
our film opening uses and develops the forms and conventions of real film openings in several ways. first of all we used a reverse chronological setup for our narrative meaning our audience will see the result of the crime or heist at the beginning instead of at the end which is seen in quite a few modern movies such as the movie memento which we watched in class. second of all our main character killed his friend over a trivial argument which is also something seen in relatively recent movies. third of all we used flashback scenes to show the buildup to where we see our main character in the beginning. This is also something we saw in memento. fourth of all we used an urban setting for our movie which is something you sort of expect of the thriller genre because cities or urban landscapes give the impression of being dangerous. fifth of all our main character is wearing a prison uniform in the beginning and ending scenes and is wearing normal clothing in the flashbacks which is expected of this sort of thing since flashbacks and reality occur at different times from each other. the only thing that was different from a normal thriller is that he was dressed in a prison uniform at the beginning instead of still in his normal clothing.
our film opening uses and develops the forms and conventions of real film openings in several ways. first of all we used a reverse chronological setup for our narrative meaning our audience will see the result of the crime or heist at the beginning instead of at the end which is seen in quite a few modern movies such as the movie memento which we watched in class. second of all our main character killed his friend over a trivial argument which is also something seen in relatively recent movies. third of all we used flashback scenes to show the buildup to where we see our main character in the beginning. This is also something we saw in memento. fourth of all we used an urban setting for our movie which is something you sort of expect of the thriller genre because cities or urban landscapes give the impression of being dangerous. fifth of all our main character is wearing a prison uniform in the beginning and ending scenes and is wearing normal clothing in the flashbacks which is expected of this sort of thing since flashbacks and reality occur at different times from each other. the only thing that was different from a normal thriller is that he was dressed in a prison uniform at the beginning instead of still in his normal clothing.
suspense builder clips
my group recently looked at all the footage we have and discovered from the timing of each of our clips that we are 30 seconds short of the 2 minutes we need for our film opening. we plan to fill this gap with clips that will build up the suspense to the moment when our main character played by louis stabs ben and kills him. some of the clips my group thinks will be useful are louis preparing to stab ben i.e. grabbing the knife, getting madder after drinking alcohol. miss also suggested that we make this a montage with music that gets louder or more rhythmic as louis gets more and more mad. i thought the sound effect of a heart beat might work for this. especially if the heartbeat gets faster the more angry louis gets.
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
update on current status of continuity editing
i think the continuity editing will be finished after the editing for the film opening but i would like to take this opportunity to remind my readers that this particular project is unfinished. i currently think the continuity editing leaves much to be desired. it is sloppy with a whole lot of bits cut out. we also got the framing wrong on the part of the scene where i run offscreen which i think we may be able to remedy after all the work we've done on the film opening. we also have to do some more work on our clip order which is somewhat messed up and doesn't make alot of sense to me. will provide screengrabs once i am shown how to do that.
inspiration for the third time
both of these are posters for the movie memento which again we watched in class for the purposes of analysis and inspiration. this movie is one i think my group used alot of for our opening. first this film uses a reverse chronological order to its narrative meaning it shows what is usually supposed to be the ending at the beginning which is what our film is doing. case in point in memento we see the criminal after the crime is done right at the beginning then we go on to see how he got to that point. another example is our main character just like the main character in memento kills a person who is supposedly their friend. i guess this movie really stuck out to me. maybe because of the violence in it, or maybe just because the main character of the film has a mental disability like me. we also use quite a few closeups like in memento but the difference between my groups film and this one is that our killer uses a knife not a gun and is not mental disabled. we also use a different reason for the fight between our main character and his friend.inspiration again
this is the poster to a movie called seven who's opening we watched in class for the purposes of inspiring us for our movie openings and analysing for tables in the project books miss gave us. i think what sticks out in my mind about this opening is the fact that it is mostly the sound effect of a tape recorder running backwards which sounds hauntingly like a scream. i think my group could use that for the flashback scene in my movie but in our case only once.
this is the poster to one of the movies i analysed earlier in this blog called the changeling. i thought it might be interesting for the purposes of inspiration for the film opening we were doing but it turns out no elements of this movie seem to stick out in my mind enough for use in the film my group is doing apart from the mise en scene. more specifically the props used for the old mansion house that the main character of the film lives in after he moves.things that need fixing with blog and editing
this is an update of my groups progress with our editing and an update about whats missing from this blog. first for the editing. we are missing some sound effects and background music. in a few bits with the clips there is discontinuity or no continuity. we also need to add some clips of things that will build the suspense to the conclusion that ben is dead. some of these things might be birds flying out of a tree, blood, shooting bens death from a different angle, or possibly louis preparation to kill ben. in the case of things missing from my blog i had some trouble getting clips from youtube onto my blog. i tried that twice and the clips didn't upload though i did get the embed code on the page. also i need to add images for the changeling, memento, and seven. as well as some analysis of the results of the graphs sent to me by sophie which i will look at at home. possibly some of these i will add tonight.
Sunday, 14 March 2010
storyboard
if you would like to see my storyboard go to Microsoftofficeonline.
you should be able to find it if you look under username nekoeyes30 my real name eve schofield. i hope i have this right. if i do there should be two things names storyboard with numbers 1 and 2 after them.
you should be able to find it if you look under username nekoeyes30 my real name eve schofield. i hope i have this right. if i do there should be two things names storyboard with numbers 1 and 2 after them.
thriller generics
things usually found in a thriller
. cliff hanger endings
. the "hero"
. the "villain"
. car chases
. murders
. sometimes scary things
. cliff hanger endings
. the "hero"
. the "villain"
. car chases
. murders
. sometimes scary things
thriller openings table
this is one of the things miss told me to put into this blog. a table of genre film openings. in this case thrillers we watched the openings of in class.
film title: Memento
year: 2000
director: Christopher Nolan
Representation: Gender= typical men, disability= atypical
Mise- en- scene: photographs and camera= mans disability is memory loss, darkness in house, black & white= mans memories, outside the house= natural lighting
Use of Camera: close up on picture at start, close up on dangerous things, weird angles and long shot give impression that viewer is seeing from the point of view of someone watching man
Sound: starts with sad quiet music as mood setter, then narrates from main character called Leonards point of view, sound of leonard shaking photograph louder than anything else at beginning, music becomes threatening during the murder scene, leonards friend teddys voice is quieter than the radio during the drive to the murder scene
Unrestricted/Restricted Narration: restricted narration= Leonard
Film title: Usual Suspects
Year: 1995
Director: Bryan Singher
Representation: men, drugs, and ethnicity
Mise- en- scene: guns, men dressed as gangsters= black hats, and coats, smoking cigarettes, are onboard a ship at port which is on fire, dead body on ground nearby
Use of Camera: close up on fire starting, close up on man in dark suit= can only see chest, hands, and arm, close up on feet and legs of dead man in flames
Sound: dark music in background, gunshot is loudest noise
film title: Seven
year: 1995
director: Kyle Cooper
representation: criminals
Mise en scene: photographs, pens, drawings, scissors, books, newspaper clippings
Use of Camera: close up of objects, and hand using some of them
Sound: screams, or music that sounds like screams
film title: memento
year: 2000
director: Christopher Nolan
form: reverse chronological with one line of action
multi- generic element/sub- genres: Crime Thriller
target audience and reason: men and adults because the film has gore in it unsuitable for children
Titles= why interesting: white on black= attention attracting/ unconventional
film title: Usual Suspects
year: 1995
director: Bryan Singher
form: chronological
multi- generic elements/ sub- genres: crime thriller
target audience and why: men and adults because of the gore in the film
film title: seven
year: 1995
director: Kyle Cooper
form: don't know
multi- generic elements/ sub- genres: crime/ horror thriller
Monday, 8 March 2010
storyboards
at this point i would have liked to upload my storyboards for this project but for some reason the computer won't let me upload from the format of a pdf document or a word document even with lauras help. this is really frustrating but i'll figure it out eventually. do you know what format the stupid site will accept for such images? because i don't
film shoot photos
These are pictures from the shooting of the prison and flashback footage. the flashback footage photographs are blurry and involves more movement and colour whereas the prison footage photos are more bland colours with central lighting so they are clear. the effect of this is to give me the impression that the footage from the prison cell was more calm than the footage from the flashbacks.
Thursday, 4 March 2010
this is the poster of a movie who's opening i analysed earlier in this project called urban legend. it is one of my all time favourite films and i briefly considered using it for inspiration in my groups film opening but it never came up in thriller genre since this is a horror and crime film. the words on the poster are "it happened to someone who knows. someone you know. you're next." really creepy but i like it. the image of the eye peering out from the cracked mirror or window glass image with people looking scared peering from it is extremely cool in my opinion.
music ideas and more genre analysis
i had a few ideas for music to put in the background of the two separate distinct scenes. for the prison scene i am thinking possibly use some of the same type of music that is heard in the new sherlock holmes movie. my father called the type of music spaghetti western and i think it suits a prison scene perfectly though the rhythm may be slower than the action time we need. in the case of the flashback scene i think the instrumental smooth criminal by david garrett might work because it sort of gives the impression of bad deeds being done and going unpunished which might give the prison scene some irony for effect. i also think for the killing scene a creepy kind of music box like sound would work but i am not sure about this. now for some more genre analysis.
Usual suspects
Camera shots, angles, and composition
Usual suspects
Camera shots, angles, and composition
- starts with closeup of fire on boat
- goes to closeup of man in dark coat, and hat as well as dead man
- man in coat and hat are in centre of screen with fire behind them= focus point
Sound
- dark sounding music in background at soft volume gives menacing feel to scene
- loudest sound is gunshot and crackle of fire
Mise en scene
- both men dressed as 1920's gangsters in dark coats and hats as well as suits
- have guns
- smoking cigarettes
- onboard a ship= typical 1920's gangster rival disposal method
Representation
- gender=men
- disability
- ethnicity= possibly italian
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
scene filming
we filmed several shots at main school on tuesday afterschool. in my opinion it went really well. though i think doing three takes of a guy sitting in a chair with his face in his hands is sort of excessive and i spotted no differences in any of the shots. i was kind of nervous about using the camera again and chelsea had to find the camera angle for me. i guess i need more practice. we are refilming the flashback scenes at oscars house on friday and hopefully will be done sooner than last time. will upload copies of the photos sophie took on tuesday when i get them. also we thought that we would put our opening credits in typewriter letter form which should be good.
Thursday, 25 February 2010
shot plan
made changes to our original shot plan today. change 1 we added two shots to our flashback scene. change 2 we decided to have the cctv shot in the jail cell as a high angle. we are also deciding how we are going to do this. we discussed using a ladder or standing on a chair. we eventually decided to just see which works better. tomorrow sophie and chelsea are going to make sure we can use the meeting room or someplace similar possibly one of the soundproof rooms in the music room over at the main school for our jail cell and interrogation room. will upload shot plan once i get a copy of it and work out how to use a scanner from laura my lsa. will also try to find some thrillers that i can analyse for some editing inspiration.
Monday, 22 February 2010
flashback scene filming during half-term
well filming was interesting even if i am slightly nervous using a video camera. we had to shoot the scene where our criminal finds a reason to be angry with his best friend about five times though and i felt more awkward each time until i just couldn't watch anymore of the acting or content of the scene. we didn't get done until roundabout 8:00 or something roundabout there. i filmed the flashback scene where our felon in jail stabs his friend after meeting him in the street. i had a hard time doing it since we were filming outside in full darkness with minimal lighting from streetlamps. i could barely distinguish anything through the camera lens.
Friday, 12 February 2010
apologies and continuity editing
hey sorry that i haven't written in a while. it seems i might have created another blog on my home computer or something like that. these things are completely confusing to say the least of things. well anyway so updates on the latest in this project. a couple of lessons back we started doing the editing for the continuity exercise i talked of in earlier entries. so far somewhat confusing but its getting to the point that i think i can take chunks out of a movie without breaking the scene or taking out something important. now all we have to do in the exercise is get it so that the continuity is actually there and redub the dialogue. also my group checked out a couple of locations for the interrogation room shots we need. we think that if we block out the rooms in a first or second floor meeting room we may be able to use it if we get the schools permission to. we all plan to meet up at oscars house over halfterm and shoot the flashback scenes we need in the alleys around the back of his house. which i am quite excited about. though i still need to talk to my dad about getting back from hornby crescent after dark. we also need to finalise the schedule meaning finding out what days each of us is free. personally i am free everyday of halfterm but chelsea has work, and the other two most likely have plans. will write more after next friday when we might possibly be meeting again to film the flashback scenes.
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
last lesson we started working on our storyboards. my group thought to open with closeup shot of a prison cell or cell- like room with whoever is playing our criminal inside it. then we go to two or three shots involving flashbacks to his crime or preparation/events leading up to the crime which we decided was a shooting a friend or work colleague over a stereotypical thriller conflict like money or somesuch thing. we thought to end with our suspect or criminal in an interrogation room. one problem we are having though is finding locations to do these shots in. one of my ideas was possibly using one of those soundproof recording rooms people normally use for practicing/recording music. we have yet to check whether the school has one we can use for our interrogation room and whether it is suited for our prison film opening. will write more when my group has checked out that sort of thing.
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Filming the continuity exercise
today in class we filmed the continuity exercise part of the coursework. we filmed a conversation between Oscar and myself. We were acting as mental patients sitting across a table from each other. our dialogue consisted of me telling Oscar that there was an elephant climbing out the window. Oscar then telling me that he had seen it as well. i then asked whether he was patronizing me. he tells me he isn't and that there is one right by the window now. then i look over and scream. i have to say i really enjoyed screaming because it really shocked everyone in the group as well as Miss. it was so much fun. though it was somewhat annoying that my hair was loose in front of my face during the performance. I can hardly wait to do the editing. we did three separate shooting of the same scene and changed the action match. i was also told not to do anymore screaming until editing in which we would record my scream when everyone left the room. i found this somewhat annoying as well because it denies me the chance to shock my group again. which is so awww why can't i?
Questions for a target audience
so a couple lessons back we designed ten questions to ask potential target audiences for our film opening. These questions were
Do you enjoy watching crime or thriller movies? If yes why?
Name four of your favourite crime thriller movies?
What do you like about these films?
Are there any particular cliches in crime thrillers that you like, and wouldn't mind seeing in other films?
Are there any particular actors that you like that have been in crime thrillers?
What has been your favourite plot twist in a crime thriller that you have seen?
What sort of setting do you enjoy seeing in a film?
What music/score do you like in a film of this genre? Why?
What kind of movie opening would grab your attention?
Do you enjoy being shocked by the plot of a film or being able to figure out the plot of the film before the hero of the film?
I really found it interesting to help come up with these. It was kind of like trying to look into another persons head to see what makes them tick.
Do you enjoy watching crime or thriller movies? If yes why?
Name four of your favourite crime thriller movies?
What do you like about these films?
Are there any particular cliches in crime thrillers that you like, and wouldn't mind seeing in other films?
Are there any particular actors that you like that have been in crime thrillers?
What has been your favourite plot twist in a crime thriller that you have seen?
What sort of setting do you enjoy seeing in a film?
What music/score do you like in a film of this genre? Why?
What kind of movie opening would grab your attention?
Do you enjoy being shocked by the plot of a film or being able to figure out the plot of the film before the hero of the film?
I really found it interesting to help come up with these. It was kind of like trying to look into another persons head to see what makes them tick.
Sunday, 31 January 2010
film opening example evaluations homework
used two film opening clips. one from artofthetitle.com, the other from youtube. they are the changeling, and urban legend.
Urban Legend
Camera shots, angles, and setup
Editing
Mise en Scene
Sound
The Changeling
Camera shots, angles, composition
Urban Legend
Camera shots, angles, and setup
- names of actors and film are shown in midrange shot
- do panning shot to car driving and almost being hit
- long shot on abandoned gas station
- closeup of person behind girl in car with axe= see outline of person and axe which creates fear
Editing
- observe girl actions through eyes of someone offscreen or to her side
- continuity editing used to make change of location from car driving through countryside to university seem natural
- fade out and size change used on actors name
Mise en Scene
- people dressed casually
- gas attendant dressed in grungy clothing and seems threatening
- setting= abandoned gas station= typical horror setting
- university= typical american horror setting
Sound
- starts off with stereotypical quiet horror movie music which seems part of the rain
- becomes radio in murder victims car
- stammer of gas station attendant makes warning girl impossible and makes inocuous gas station seem creepy
- girls scream is loudest noise in opening ten minutes
- music gets louder when murder is being done
- gender
- age
- disability
- restricted= only sees from one group of peoples ideas
The Changeling
Camera shots, angles, composition
- opens with closeup on names of cast
- establishing shot of snow and background mountains used to tell where you are as well as character dialogue
- mid- range shot used of family pushing car along road
- closeup of father making phonecall
- midshot of carcrash and mother and daughter diving out of the way
- moving shot of man walking from work in city
- closeup of gates to apartment/house
- establishing long shot used when man arrives at mansion in woods
- continuity editing used to make changes between locations seem smooth
- fade out used on names of actors and movie names
- people dressed formally= gives impression of maturity
- props= antiques in manor house
- setting= goes from rural to urban and back to rural again
- starts with voices talking/arguing quietly and gets louder
- loudest sounds are car crash and fathers piano playing
continuity exercise
Hey it's eve again. recently in the project we started planning our continuity exercises in our groups. these continuity exercises have to have the 180 degree rule used in them, as well as shot/reverse shot, and continuity editing. My group came up with three ideas. the first being to have two people onscreen sitting next to each other finishing each others sentences possibly using a poem for this. this idea was mine and we decided not to do it. the second idea proposed which we did do some discussion into doing was a police interrogation with me playing the police woman and oscar playing the accused villain but we got offtrack with this idea and came up with another. the third idea was to one of us playing a mental psychologist and the other an asylum patient but we changed that first role to another mental patient when we started coming up with dialogue. i would show you the notes and diagrams i did but i have no idea how to do scanning from home. i'll talk to Miss about doing it at school. cross your fingers for me on doing this part of the project well won't you?
Thursday, 28 January 2010
greetings
Greetings to those who are looking at this my blog. As this project gets underway I will show you different things that have influenced my group's film opening e.g. clips, pictures, tables. A couple of lessons back the groups for the project were decided and I am in a group with Oscar, Chelsea, and Sophie. We have not decided exactly what genre we are doing but hopefully it will be something involving horror, or mysteries because currently I think that is what will interest me most. More later when I have more information for you.
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