Filming - Continue

In today's lesson we had to carry on filming our thriller but due to the rain we couldn't film at all and plus the Cafe was not opened yet. We then decided to do the scene another time because when we filmed it on Monday it was a bit later and darker so to even the scene out with had to try make it the same timings when filming outside.

We decided to upload our recordings on to the hard-drive and check what we're missing to film later. We reviewed our little clip and I thought it was good what we have so far. We then tried to match the clips together to see how it look like as a draft.

Since we finish uploading we was told to blog and review it with the AS Thriller checklist.

Wednesday 28th January;; Filming Lesson!x

For today's lesson we were supposed to go out and film. We collected our stuff we needed; the tri-pod, camera and props which we had left in school and went to meet Lauren to go to our filming destination. When we got there we could see that we were in trouble as the toilet in the cafe which we were filming in were both closed until 12. 

We couldn't film the other scenes which we needed as it was too light out and as we filmed on Monday in a darker light at 3/4 we couldn't risk the error of how our film would look if we changed the times as it would change the whole atmosphere of our film and make it look amateurish. 

The way in which we are going to overcome this is we are going to meet again today at 3 and film up until 5, this should enable us to shoot most of the footage we need for our sequence and hopefully allow us to start editing as soon as possible.

We took the camera and the tri-pod back to the college and started to log and capture the footage we had already shot which will make our editing that much quicker as we would have already done a bit. When watching the clips back we could see that we had shot some really nice pieces and that our framing was good as was the mise - en - scene but we also saw what we need to improve and the various different angles and shots we need to produce during the part of the sequence we had already filmed.

So far i feel confident that we have shot a few good shots but we still need to produce a whole lot more if we want our film opening to have an impact on its audience.

Monday 26th Jan. Filming

Last week i was not able to come in due to my illness but i was inform by m group what we was going to do for our thriller. On Monday lesson me and my group went out filming in the N1 Centre but when we got there the scenery was not what we had in mind so we went searching for another suitable toilet which we found at the last minute in a Cafe. The Cafe is located in a small alley way path which is hidden.

We started filming our main character played by "Lauren". We had her walking towards the Cafe a couple of times to get the perfect shot angle when editing. "Lauren" was prepared and dressed or the part with the make-up on to make it more effective. We got some great shots of Lauren walking to the Cafe, with long shots and some match cuts shots of her boots. The lighting of the "Angel Square" makes the scene have a interesting look and timing because its orange and the lights were sort of dimmed.

Wednesday 7th January

In Today's lesson we started off by doing a quick starter where we had a description of a man and what he was doing. Our task was to show we could film match cut properly. After we had written down our idea of how we thought it should look we watched the real version of what was filmed so we could compare our work to professional work. 

After the Starter we went on to our main task, which was to film a piece of work of someone walking into a room, sit down opposite another character and share a few lines of dialogue. In our film clip we had to include match cuts shot and a reverse shot, to show we could understand the 180 degree rule.

Our First Filmimg Session;; Monday 26/1/09

In today's lesson we went out and started filming parts of our opening sequence for our thriller film.

We first had to hire out the camera and tri-pod from the technicians and then we were off!

The first thing which we thought would be best to do is go down to the N1 centre and look for possible toilets which we could shoot the sequence in. After a long search we found one that would work perfect for us in a little side street tucked away. A advantage to this little place is that it seems eerie so it should be easy for us to build up tension.

We then started to film a part of the sequence where the girl (Lauren) is walking through the arch to get to the place where the toilet is. We used various different shots for this part including long shots, low angle shots and tracking shots; all of these will make it easier for us to edit our sequence when it comes to it and also use match cuts during our sequence. Whilst the others were filming i ran to Tescos to get some food colouring for a part of the sequence. This is one of the props which our opening REALLY need! Also Lauren came dressed in a 'going out' outfit which helps build a part of our narrative.

We didnt get to shoot all of our film in the short period of time we had but on wednesday we are ready to go and start asap!

Wednesday 21st January!x

Today's lesson was another planning lesson which by the end of we had to make our pitch to Tony, Andrew, Mickey & Marisa.

We started to go over the scenarios which we had thought of last lesson and picked the one which we fort was best, the toilet one. We then started to create a stronger narrative for this idea, We then story boarded the sequence of events which were to happen in the order which we wanted. After we done this we made a shot list to record which shot types and angles which we wanted to use.

We then made a plan of the props which we will need for our sequence this included red food die and a severed hand ?

During the second half of the lesson we were getting prepared to make our pitch to the rest of the class. The four judges then told us what were the good parts of our ideas and which parts may need to be changed. This constructive criticism was very helpful as although you don't want to be told your idea is bad, an outsiders view can help you to improve your idea and result in a better film opening.

Mondays Lesson 19th January!x

In today's lesson we carried on planning our openings. So far my group have come up with around 5/6 different scenarios all which are good but haven't got that spec of excellence.

The first sequence which we thought up was about a mother and child in a park. whilst the mother is pushing her child on a swing her phone rings so she turns around to pick it up. After her conversation on the phone she turns back around to see the child out of the swing and standing in the middle dazed. We liked this scenario as it has a air of suspense and suspicion but we were a bit stuck as we haven't got an actor who could play the child.

The second sequence was about a toilet tap that dripped out blood or sucked people up. we were not shore about this idea for various reasons but as discussing it expanded it to a toilet which once flushed has blood down it which means there is something in the system.

Another idea we had was to take short sharp clips of newspaper headlines and news reports of missing teenage girls, then cut to a woman laying down to go to sleep and as soon as her eyes close cut to a young girls face which is scared and shes crying. we all particularly liked this idea but for it to work properly it needs perfect camera work and we were all a bit hesitant in case we mess it up.

Overall i like all the ideas but am not sure they wouldn't work to create the atmostphere which we would like to achieve.

Wednesday 14th January 2009!x

Today's lesson was the last one that we had to polish our Preliminary Task. We started by watching our short film through to see if any areas could be edit for the final result. We decided that the middle part didn't seem to right so we used Soundtrack Pro to create an ideal sound for this part. Once we were happy with the way our short film was, we compressed it, ready to put on our blog. the outcome of our sequence was enjoyable and i think we mastered the 'match-cut' task which we had set out to do.

For the second half of our lesson we were given our final project brief; to make a 2minute opening to a 'Thriller Film'. As a group we brainstormed possible ideas for our opening and firstly stated that our film would be an 18+. The reason we decided this is because it gives us endless possibilities of what we can do and gives us a wider range of issues which we can touch on. All thriller movies are usually 15+ which allows some violence and moderately strong language, taking this into account helped us to make our decision. We then started to think of possible narratives as we thought this would help us develop our opening easier.

The Preliminary Film and Planning Thriller

In today's lesson we overview our film to check what else is missing. We watched the film a couple of time and noticed that in the middle it seemed to be too quiet because all the other bits had a soundtrack and just not the middle bit, therefore we added a small soundtrack in the middle and adjusted the volume so that you can hear the actors voices.

After we finished we converted the film into a reasonable size and added it to our blog. I am particularly really pleased with the outcome that me and my group had done. It was very sucessful and fun to put together.

In the second half of the lesson we started planning our real thriller practical. We had to discuss simple extensions that will be in our opening. My group decided that our age group should be for 18 and over. So far our draft story line is basically about a renevated house, which a woman just was going to move in and she finds a room but the door is kind of stuck and then it creaks open with the scary soundtrack on. After a hand touches her shoulder and it turns out to be her friend or neighbour.

Monday 5th January

In today's lesson we watched a documentary called 'watching'. it showed us different openings to some classic thrillers including The Shining, Seven, Casino and A touch of Evil. This was to help us create ideas on what we could later produce. 

There were many different ways in which we could open our thriller. We could do it like seven with short clips not showing allot of information about the film but just enough to stay interested. We could also start at the end and work the way back to the start finding out why it ends in that way like Casino. 

After we watched the documentary we watched a couple of thrillers that were produced a couple of years back. We were able to see the ones that were given A so we knew what we had to aim towards. This gave me some confidence that our group could produce some good work.

Monday 12th Jan.

On Monday's lesson our task was to edit our clip and try to make the match cuts work. As usually you use the "in and out" key to take out the sections we want to add in. We had to remember the "180 degree" rule which is about camera angels and making sure once you film the character from one angle you can't film the character from the other side because the character would then look like the person has changed side on the screen. We also added cross transition in the clip to make everything flow nicely together. We snipped some bits that we didn't need and extended some bits to make it work with all the other scenes (match cut). After editing the clip we added different types of soundtrack to test out what works best with our film.

Monday 12th January Lesson!x

In Today's lesson, we edited the clips which my group shot on Wednesday (unfortunately i was not in to participate in the shooting due to health issues.) We synced together the clips to produce another practice short 'film'; The Preliminary Film.

From what i could tell by the clips produced by the rest of my group (Lauren, Bien & Vikki) they kept to the conventions of film, which we learnt e.g. the thirds rule, not leaving to much room above a chosen subject, the 5 second rule etc. I also feel that the match cuts which they produced were excellent, the way that they shot the same piece of the film in many different angles made editing so much easier. The only problem which we had which Mickey pointed out to us was, one of the clips was a different light to the other clips which made the film as a whole not work. So instead of using this clip we used snippets of other's to even out the scene and overall produce a good concise short film.

We used transitions to help create an essence of passing time. By doing this it helped give the film a tens-ish kind of atmosphere. We also started to edit the audio by adding certain sounds which we felt helped build up an eerie kind of tension which we think reflects a thriller.

Although we didn't finish off all the tweaking with the editing and audio, we are planning to attend a workshop Wednesday lunchtime to finish this film and have it uploaded onto our blog.

Practice Practical Filming

Today our starter was to fill in a work sheet which was about a person who is a smoking addict and he was transferring confidential files to a CD, then sending it off. We had to figure out how to start the scene off, such as; what type of camera shot it is, any specific angles and directions. We had to try and put a lot of match cuts to show we know how to use them properly.

After our main task was to practice our camera work and try to get some match cut shots. The task was to have "a character opening the door, walks into a room, sits down opposite another character and they share a few lines of dialogue." We had to include a Reverse shot to show understanding of the 180 Degree Rule.

Monday 15th Blogging Lesson

In today's lesson we caught up with all the blogging we had missed out on. It was a good chance for me to catch up as i was quite behind but it had brought me up to date with all the work. While we were blogging the technicians, Micky and Marissa, put our short films on the blogger.

After we finished blogging we went back into the classroom were we watched two title sequences. 

Thriller Opening Research!x Monday 5th Jan

In today's lesson we watched a 30 minute long documentary called 'watching.' It included various different opening extracts to films including: Seven, The Shining, A Touch of Evil and Casino. The reason we watched this was to give us ideas on the type of opening we could produce.

We could start our sequence like Casino; Start at the end, this gives an interesting yet exciting air of tension, the audience are left wanting answers. We see that we could also open our film like the way Seven is opened; short, sharp quick images into the life of a character, the starting credits placed on a black background gives an eerie feeling which shows the audience the film is going to be of dark events.

The documentory helped spark ideas of what we could do for our opening and left us wuth some potentially good creations which we want to use.

Once we watched the documentory we were shown a couple of thriller openings which were produced last year to guve ys a clearer incite to what we should be aiming towards. Both pieces we witnessed were A grades and both were very different which gives me confidence that my group could do a good piece which is of a high mark.

Monday 5th 09

In today's lesson we watched a documentary about film openings and we were given a sheet with questions that we had to answer while watching. We watched a few film opening which were very different and discussed what worked and how they created the emotion that the film makers were aiming. The program included directors and people who worked in making the opening to the films and explained how they worked to seduce the audience and keep them in suspense and interested but not revealing too much. 

Some film openings start with the end at the beginning which is called ''a favourite trick trick of film noir''.  some directors talked about how they prefer to have a slow start unlike others who prefer a big bang which would catch the viewers attention but even thought by doing this you get a great opening i might be the only big thing that happens in the whole movie which to some might be a disappointment. 

"Watching" Film Openings

Today's lesson was basically about viewing different type of film openings. We had to watch a documentary which was 30 minutes long and it was about directors and critics saying what film opening they prefer and how they start an opening of a film. During the film we had to fill in the sheet, answering the questions.

Thomas Sutcliffe says: "Films need to seduce their audience into long term commitment. While there are many types of seduction, the temptation to go for instant arousal is almost irresistible." This means that you have to grab the audience's attention at the beginning of the film first, to give them an excitement and craving.

However, director Jean Jacques Beineix believe that if you start strong then you have to build it up the standard of the film therefore starting averagely and building up suspense to the film is a better idea according to Jean Jacques.

In the documentary Stanley Kauffmann describes how a classic opening is like. A classical opening first establish shots of the location then a shot of a building, through a window, in to a reception then to a office, and finally the camera will probably follow a character. This works often because everything is all in order and neatly structured out.

Kyle Cooper's title sequence to the film "Seven" is extremely effective because it creates a lot tension, and this makes the audience want to find out more about the film just by seeing the opening. In the title sequence there were shots of blade cutting, sewing using a needle, and pieces of things teared apart. There were many close-up shots and many transitions putted in. This opening gives out the message to the audience that the person is a Psycho.

After watching the documentary we started to blog for a bit, making sure everything is up to date. A while later we go to watch the previous AS student's "Thriller" opening. There was one in particular that stood out for me the most, the film opening was inspired by "Seven", title sequence. It was neatly structured and it tempted me to crave for more. There were many smooth transitions and just a great film opening.

Monday 15th December Blogging Lesson!x

Today we were asked to go down to the ICT suit to finish off our blogs and to add the ones we hadn't produced. We were also asked to write up an evaluation of what we learned from the practise filming session. Our 'film' was also uploaded onto our blog enabling us to watch it at any time.

Once we had finished our blogging we were asked to go back to the classroom where we were to watch to mini extracts from two different genre thriller fims; One was a kind of horror- thriller (Arlington Road) and the other an action-thriller (Collateral). In groups we were asked to make notes whilst watching, focusing mainly on the lighting, camera angles/shots, soundtracks/sound effects, the editing and the setting of each one. After analysing each of these short clips we had a better incite of how different types of thrillers build up suspense and keep their viewers on edge.

Evaluation!x (complete)

Over the last couple of lessons, as groups, we produced our practice - filming project. The task, which we were given, was to create tension in a scene involving a card game.

We first set out and started planning our story by brainstorming ideas and then storyboarding. We were then sent out to start filming clips, which made up our narrative. As a group, we made sure that we shot various different angles of the same scene so as to be able to edit scenes and have different angles and views.

The shot which I particularly like was the ones where Bien had her glasses pulled down a bit so we could see her eyes and in the reflection of the glasses you could see her poker hand which is quite a good hand which helps mislead the viewers. The reason I liked this shot is because it wasn’t deliberate but seems to be, it’s a very precise angle that helps connote a lot to people.

There were a few shots that weren’t particularly the best due to the audio; the background sounds didn’t go with the mood, which we were trying to create. The solution to this problem was final cut pro as you can cut out the background sounds. Although you can do this whilst we were editing our footage we didn’t concentrate on doing it that much and ended up leaving it in which stopped the overall atmosphere being as tense as we would have liked. This is something we can and will improve in future projects.

The editing of our short scene went particularly well as we had a lot of clips of the same scene that actually fitted together quite nicely. Our editing was continuous and smooth, which helps viewing immensely. The films editing overall was completed to a standard, which I am very pleased with.

Although this practice was for filming practice, we still included elements of mise – en – scene such as props and costume. When we first brainstormed our ideas in the first lesson, we wrote down objects which could help us to set the scene and build up the suspense, these included sunglasses, a bow tie, a throw for the table, cards (which were provided by our teacher), boots and so on. This helped give us a greater incite of mise - en- scene as we could see that without props or costume the story is portrayed in a different light and can be harder to understand.


The part of our film that created the most suspense i would have to say is the part were it flicks back and forth from the two main characters. This creates suspense as you can see the fear in each of the characters eyes and you want to know who the winner is. This is a vital part of a thriller film and i am actually very happy of how effective it actually is.

As a group we tried to use conventions from real thriller films such as Alfred Hitchcokes 'The Shining'. We used low angle shots at the begining to just show the characterts boots to build tention as you wouldnt know who they were. After that we used very eye-level shots to enable the viewer to think that both characters had a shot to win this tatical game.

Once we had all finished editing we were shown all of our classes' short films. All were very good, some even funny! As a class we were all appreciative of eachothers work which was less nerve racking. Once my groups film was shown we got positive feedback from both the rest of the class and Andrew the only thing that we were told we could improve our short film by putting sound effects into it.

Overal I had great fun making the short film and my group were fantastic at being in, being on time and just being on point all the time. I am really pleased with the way that we produced our film and the process leading up to the final piece.