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.
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Monday, 5 January 2009
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, 4 January 2009
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.
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.
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.
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