This blog has been marked. SJA 08/05/11

My Final Thriller Opening 'ENVY'

preliminary task

THRILLER OPENING SEQUENCE SHOTS.

Our thriller film 'ENVY' we became more stable with the camera and confident with using the technology within the classroom, for example looking back on the Preliminary Task my shots have become more stable and easier to pan. Also the match on action is alot more clearer, the 180' shots have been reduced to show that they ar easier to understand also within cutting shots has become a lot easier as now everything flows a lot better between each shot. Were as if you look at the preliminary task our shots are a bit robotic at times this could cause distraction in the viewers eyes and could loose what we are trying to portay.

Throughout the whole of this year i now understand the concepts on all media terminolgy and how to edit certain clips, how to combine to pieces of imformation and also how the key words used in media and how to evaulate and communicate in teams to clarify and come to a conclusion how we can improve on making ideas better and intial thoughts.

Since starting media i have realised that i am a practical learner, as when it came down to writiting notes down it was not staying in my head, the first task we had to do was the preliminary task, i got to hold the camera and direct on where i would like people to stand, this helped my understanding on using the camera also by doing inturpretations of other clips and drama series my understanding of using the equipment was getting much better, my confidence improved and my understanding in using quotes and classifing which camera angles to switch to, for example the 180 degree rule and also match on action is all in the key concepts of aduidence reaction camera shota, i now have a great understanding of all camera shots and key teminologly in media.

PRELIMINARY TASK SHOTS.

6) What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of creating your product?

As I did not study media for GCSE it was hard for me to come intoA level without knowing how to use the Macs,Cameras,Livetype,Final Cut and everything else but in a slow process by using the equipment every lesson i got more confident inusing them.

In the starting line in creating our opening to the thriller we started to go into more depth into using Livetype and Final Cut which was good as we learnt new things on how to create voice overs and also how to pan images and merge them into one another, it was much easier in live type to set the mis-en-sene and also the shot angles on how the audience would re-act to each shot.As the lessons went on i discovered how to use all the equipment for examplein the Preliminary Task i used the video camera and also uploaded to the computer this improved my confidence in using the Mac. In using the mac is very different to using any other computer as the key board and the computer in general, in using the Imac in every media lesson i got more confident in discovering new things on it and became aware on how to use the different technologies in which are built in for example. live type and final Cut.
Also when filming we used the video camera in which was new this was a challenge for me but i think i coped really well and learnt quickly on how to zoom in and out and pan the shots in using the Tri-pod. By using the video camera i learnt how to use it properly and also i learnt how to change the effects and the different angle shots by using the tripod and just having a go on it, by doing this it gave me more confidence when it came to filming the thriller as i new the different angle shots in which the tripod could do and how the video camera would work and the effects on it.
We used Blogger which is the image above, this is were we uploaded our photos and planning and research on what we have discovered and all of our opening shots and coursework, this shows how we have developed our skills in using blogger and became more confident in uploading photos and editing camera shots to give an idea on how we have improved our use in blogger, also when uploading the photos in which we have to describe and edit to show how we have developed our skills in editing and planning the shots. I also embeded a few short thriller opening sequences that gave me an idea for our thriller opening and how there composition and mis-en-scene is all connected and how the shots flowed together.

5)How did you attract/address your audience?

I put my film of the opening of the thriller 'ENVY'on my social network site;Facebook. I got all my friends from roughly the same age group to comment on it and get them to say a few words on why they enjoyed it and if it fitted with the age group we classifed it to. By doing this it shows i have a good understanding on using youtube and uploading the film onto it. Also it shows that i am able to show my work to other people without being embarrassed and am proud of my work in which i have completed. Its also good to get people opinions as in the future it may help us improve if we ever have to do another opening sequence and can just help us in general.

4) Who would be the audience for your product?

The certificate for our film is a 15, this means that it is focused on teenagers from 15-18 year olds, we have chosen this as we think our film is based around teenage lives and friendship and relationships, however we are hoping that we attract as many people as possible, for example we hope that the older generation would enjoy our film as it my show a contrast on how ther life used to be in their childhood.

Also by using both sexes; Male and Female, shows that both men and women could be interested in our film, however the age may differ in the sexes as older men may enjoyt it better than older woemen.

3)What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

We could use alot of institutions that would suit our thriller opening sequence but the two main ones would be, Hollywood Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment we have selected these two as they are the three that fit to your thriller the best. By suggesting to use these we feel our film fits into hollywood catergory. we feel as a group that our film would have that sort of potential, also our film is directed at a big audience group 15 ages upwards that is a lot of people that may be intrested in our film the bigger the film company the more audience members you will be getting.

Hollywood Pictures: Is one of the Walt Disney Company's they produce films more for the mature adult rather than Walt Disney Pictures

Spyglass Entertainment- Is an American Production film complany, they have been involved with the films "The sixth sense" and "Prime Evil"

2)How does your media product represent particular social groups?

This is Me laying in the river this shot was helped created by the film "Brick" when she is laying in the river.

Here are some characters that influanced us.

In our media is represents teenage social groups, they were best friends the killer and the victim. There social group background was a normal life style going out shopping partying, living the normal life, Jack the boyfriend of Charlotte used to hang around with Amy and Charlotte, but Charlotte was avery jealous person and got the wrong impression as Amy and Jack used to date and Charlotte thought Jack still liked Amy, this is were the normal teenage paranoia kicked in, this shows the original ideas created in our media, we all discussed the different ways we could inturpet the way the felt towards eachother but came to a conclusion which it would be better that Charlotte kills Amy and leave her ina river, this leaves the audience thinking why in the river? why did she do that and no have a conversation with Amy and try and sort it out with Jack.

1) In what ways does your media product use develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In this photo we have been influanced by brick with the water, we chose a low angle shot close to the water, to show a eyeline match of what the girl in the water is seeing.

Many films have influanced us in the run up to the opening of our thriller. for example Wallander and Brick have helped us alot with the setting and story line. Brick has influanced with the water were she is laying in the river, we chose the idea of this because it is different and could mean a lot of things and get the audience thinking why is she laying in the river, Wallander also influanced us as when the two girls are walking away form the car were they are holding the knife and drop it, the killer charlotte after leaving me the girl laying in the river, she drops the knife when she walks away up the bank, i think our thriller opening is original and shows alot of suggestments from both films but have been merged to make the audience think on what is going on and are they friends as nothing is reveled quickly its all reveled in a slow process to get the audience on the edge of their seats, we wanted them to feel uncomfortable in this situation as we didnt want our thriller to be a obvious killing situation.

Costume and Props

PROPS

1) One of the props that we use in the opening of the thriller is a sharp kitchen knife, which Charlotte holds in her hand after she has killed Amy. We decided to use this to show how she killed Amy and how she is feelings at the time. The audience would feel shocked and wanting to no more on how she died and why she has killed her. We had to ensure it was wrapped up carefully, and no one in the public area saw us holding the knife, as the general public may get the wrong idea of what we are trying to achieve. As it's a thriller we wanted to make it frightening therefore the knife is quite threatening and gives Charlotte power within her character, as this is a weapon she could use on anyone that gets in her way.
2) Another prop is a lighter and a picture of Charlotte and Amy together. Charlotte burns the picture when she gets home, to represent her jealousy against Amy.

COSTUMES

1) Amy: This is very contrasting to Charlotte's, as Amy is wearing a black netted dress, black blazor, black tights, and grey boots. However these boots are the same as Charlotte's suggesting they were friends and had the same fashion sense together. The formal clothing hints that she was either going out somewhere or was coming back from an event, in which the audience may think something between them has gone wrong and why she had killed her friend.

2)Charlotte: She wears a plain white tank top, black leggings, and a grey old hoody. We chose to put her in a white top so the blood and dirt would stand out the most as they're contrasting colours. Also these casual clothes will disguise the murder she did, in comparison to if she was wearing a baraclava etc. that would immediately indicate to a member of the public that someone was in danger or she is a criminal. Also she is a girl and a average teenager so she dressed as if she was totally normal.

3) Jack: He is the only male in the opening sequence, however his clothing was very different, and neat compared to the other two characters. This is to show/suggest he was not physically involved in the murder however he may have helped her plan it and hide the evidence after. Jack's costume is a red nylon jacket, a polo and casual dark trousers. This emphasises the layed back attidude presented by these two characters and how strange that is. Maybe it could hint, they are usual murderers and this wasnt the first time this has happened.

LOCATIONS

1) Beddington park river:

2) Charlottes house

Titles

As a team we discussed what of fonts we would prefer in the opening of the sequence, we all worked together and came to a conclusion that we shall be using the last effected title as it matches with our thriller and shows the effect of scribbled writing almost like the killer hurried to get away, it also has a sense of a park feel with the letters looking as if they intwined with leaves.

Location Shots

The shots in these photos are the acutal shots we have used in our film, some are establishing shots were others are just shots to contrast the way the killer and the victim see through out the opening of the thriller. The location of these shots were taken in Bedington Park or Charlottes house. Some of the shots are river shots to reinforce that the victim is in the river.

Synopsis

Beginning
The beginning of the film will start with the camera showing a female character murdered, who is lying in a river. The cause of this will be due to Charlotte another character, killing her because of jelously. This part of the film is very important and an array of cleverly composed shots will be made, to show the emotion and the struggle which she went through. The opening sequence of the film will be located in a lonely and deserted park, surrounded by trees and grey skys. This setting will hopefully add to the mood, and make the audience feel apprehensive but also interested to see whats next. The camera shots will be used effectivelly to show the victims appearance and current emotion, such as the blood and bruising.

Middle
In the moddle of the film, this is where they the audience use their clues and ideas in the begginning of the film and start to join them together. For instacen we understand why the female had gone to all the effort of killing the girl in the first place, but also what part the boy male character has to play. The clever compsosed shots and eerie atmosphere will remain throughout, constantly keeping the audience intreged to whats going to happen next.

End
The end of the film is just as important, as it allows the audience to what the characters are really like. In this case, the male character 'Jack' decides that he couldnt take it anymore, and the stress of knowing that hes freind had been murdered, which drives him to the edge of also killing Charlotte who was the original killer of the girl.

As a team we wrote this synopsis together.

Sound

These are a few experimental sounds or pieces of music we may use in our thriller opening. We have talked about the different types of climaxes in the opening sequence and were they music/voices may match in.

This is a scream we may use at the end when it goes into blackout and the boyfriend murders her- http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/soundfx/scary_halloween_sounds/Screams/hal-scream.wav

I've been looking at music/ soundtracks from other thrillers and this could be a possibility- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6rrkYPaG4A&feature=related

Another diegetic sound we could use as the murderer is walking, to emphasise the sound of wind and the fast speed she's trying to walk at- http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/ambience_sounds/air_hum.wav

Another wind breeze-

http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/ambience_sounds/wind-breeze-1.mp3

Water stream in case the sound of the stream needs enhancing- http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/ambience_sounds/water-stream-1.mp3

Windy forest, as the murderer is leaving her victim and walking out of the park- http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/ambience_sounds/windy-forest-1.mp3

Script

We don't have that much dialogue in our opening of our thriller as we feel that it has much more of an effect on the audience if they are not talking and just either heavy breathing or just the natural sound.

charlottes character

she have chosen, which she think will be the best shots from our story board and drawn them again on a contact sheet. This is what we think our thriller would look like if other people were to create their own contact sheet, as we hope these shots will convey our idea the best through the characters, surroundings and the type of shot.

The angles may not be clear as she drew them out of imagery, also by just dotting ideas you just sketch what you think would look good on the story board and when you begin to film you can being to play around with it and change the angles of the shots and how they will appear on the camera.

planning

This is a brainstorm of our original ideas, locations, and plots for our thriller.

Our idea has changed three times however now we are definate on our decision and are sticking to the synopsis we've imagined.

Feedback on Research & Planning

Hi Amy,

I have just been right back through all posts in your blog to check to see whether you have responded to the last set of feedback and advice I gave you about how and where your posts need to improve. I can see that you have made some good effort to improve posts on Brick and Wallander. This is good to see you investing time in improving your A Level grade - but more effort is needed before I mark the blog for a final time.

Your blog is disorganised, and you need to make sure you have set up all the correct labels and clearly titled each post as per the checklist we gave you (it's also on Frog) - You need to follow this checklist carefully. I really don't need to see any additional posts that we haven't set - stick to making sure you complete ALL of the posts we set out for you in the checklist - and completing them properly.

I will be marking the Research & planning sections for a FINAL time from monday 7th feb. So, you need to be busy between now and them completing the following:

Research Section:

Post 1 - check this is done and proffread

3 ? Missing

4 - read my comment about this - you spent a lesson with JIN going through the job roles in films - you need to take your notes and sort this post out properly

5-6 - Memento analysis is not up to standard to gain a C grade. It's brief and vague. Fix this

8 - brick - read my comment and make an effort to address this feedback to improve

14 - Conventions of your genre - make this a visual post by creating a collage of screen shots of a range of films from your genre. Use the BLOG to SHOW rather than tell about the conventions.

16 - Read my comments about this post

17 - Questionnaire - read my comments and upload the proper questionnaire

18 - Good to see you have done the graphs, but they don't really say much?? Explain HOW you intend to use the feedback.

Planning:

Too many posts missing (we have spent 3 weeks working on this now). I have a feeling that you are simply not investing enough time at home or in frees working on completing your blog posts.

You need to complete ALL planning posts by Monday 7th

Post 5 - Storyboards - I can see you have tried to upload - double check this as they are not appearing on your blog - you need to sort this out

8 - Shooting scedule - looks good so far - but I doubt that you only went out to shoot twice?

9-10 - Needs photos and also a description of Charlotte's character for post 10

The other posts I have not mentioned need to be completed also.

You and your group should have a lot of potential. You are all capable, and have come up with a great idea. The main advice I would suggest is that you are not working hard enough on your blog. it's your coursework Amy. Each hour in class should really generate an hours's worth of additional work either at home, or in free periods. You are not investing this at the moment, and it shows in your blog.

SJA Feb 4th

SJA Feb 4th

A Few brainstormed ideas of the first shot in the opening sequence for our thriller

This are some shot types and ideas in which we came up with for the opening of our thriller, we used the hand in water to get an idea of what it would look like as if she was in water and it was a eyeline match, as you can see we used a puddle for our initial idea as we could get an idea of what it would look like.

Characters

Character Profiles

Amy Martin

Amy will play the character that is a victim of a murder. During the beginning of the film we don’t know much about her and why she has died, but as the film progresses we pick up on key information that explains why someone has gone to this extreme. Amy a young adult who looks like she was going somewhere nice, we suggest this as she is wearing dress and high heals, but ends her night with something that she didn’t expect.

Charlotte Hannah

Charlotte is the murderer of Amy. Charlotte is also a young adult, who has gone to some effort to commit murder. During the opening sequence we don’t know why she killed Amy, but as time moves on we find out that it is because of jealously.

Jack Devonport

Jack doesn’t appear much through the opening sequence, but understand that he has something to do with the murder. Charlotte kills Amy because she is jealous of him and Amy, but as the film goes on Jack kills Charlotte as he cant take the stress.

shot schedule

SHOT SCDULE

Storyboard

We have created a storyboard in order to guide us through the filming process helping us to stay organised and ensure we waste no time remembering which shot or part of the plot comes next. Also by laying it out separately with each angle and shot type noted down, with all the sound camera movement and dialogue within that specific shot, it will help prevent missing any crucial elements which will make our film as good as possible. The small drawings will also indicate to us a composition we may consider using for example where each character is standing or placed in comparison to another. Through the planning process so far our ideas have changed continuously after realising something may not be appropriate or unaccessibleCAJ 1 CAJ3 caj4

My Character,Charlotte and Jack's

These are what my character will be wearing in the opening sequence of the thriller. I have used a black dress to show death and no life as black suggest death, it is also is quiet a wavy dress so when laying in the water it would flow through the stream and this could suggest that her life is flowing away with the water, the purse suggest identity and gives the audience information on the girl and what she had in her life.We're planning on dirtying her body by putting mud and dirt in her hair and on her skin. This will show the torturous events she's gone through before this point which the audience see. Without actually allowing the audience to see what has happened to her before the first shot it gives them a good indication about what could have happened.

This is Charlotte she will be playing the first killer, she is killing her best friend as she found her and her boyfriend were getting close, she suffers from paranoia and decided to kill her best friend and burn the pictures in which they have been through great memories together, she kills her best friend at a park in the river, she leaves her laying in the river with her money and purse scattered around her, she is covered in blood and walks off casually.

This is Jack and I who are going to be the killers in the thriller. This will not be our costumes so this is just the character identification of who will be who. I am the character who kills amy- the victim, and jack is the serial killer who ends up killing me- his own girlfriend.

The results from the questionaire

After my we asked the questionnaire to 10 people from our target audience we collected our results and put the most important questions into bar graphs to make people's responses clearer. This way we could decide on details we were going to include in the film quicker and with less hassle, for example someone suggested to have a female as the killer which we liked so now we have a female murderer to challenge the stereotype.

What gender would you prefer to be the KILLER?

These show the results of what people of the general public would prefer in the opening of the sequence to our Thriller film. by going out to the general public we got a great understanding of what people really think and how they think differently to other peoples opinions and also taking into consideration that there were other answers they could have chosen but did not, also for example much more people chose "park with a river" for the death scene were the girl gets killed, we asked the general public why they chose this scene and not the other and one of the answers was because it is your average scene that people would use but you can do a lot more and play around with the scene as were in "brighton pier" you have to stay on the pier and would have to set yourself around the pier, also it would be easier to work in a park with a river because you can got all different settings for example the woods or actually in the river in what we have chosen to do, finally by asking the general public about what they prefer, has made me more confident in filming as we now have a good understanding in what people do prefer and would actually like to watch in a opening sequence of a Thriller.

Silient Witness

This is was a series on bbc 1 throughout a couple of days a week it showed 3 murder cases which were based over 2-3 days for 3 weeks, this gave me the idea to blog it as has refence to thriller and gives me the impression that it may help me with ideas for my opening sequence of a thriller film. I have uploaded a couple of photos to help the ideas for my thriller.
These shots are both beautifully composed and they all show the rule of three.

This gave me the idea of uploading it to blog as our thriller is based on murder, and this would help us to create idea around it and get a brainstorm of what we could use and the outline base for our thriller, by seeing this series on BBC made me think about our thriller and how we could improve it and use the body underground or something like that by doing this it encourages the audience to think about why this has happened and who did it, this would be a good idea/use in our thriller as we have a girl on girl kill, we could show after she was killed when she was buried and go back on what happened throughout the opening of the sequence, these are just some idea which may help with the opening of our sequence

Wallander

The shots for the opening show a event which has just taken place the second shot shows the girl leaving the event with there costumes looking drag and almost like they have been up all night and had no sleep this could suggest to the audience that they have been partying and something has happened and they are leaving early in the morning or they are the last ones to leave. The girls walk past a car and shows a man in a car dead, the audience may think the girls have done this or they have been taken by this man and thye have escaped, this gives the impression to the audience that it is a thriller.

Also it suggests that it is a thriller and drills the audience in by showing to extreme close ups of the man in the car the first one being his face smashed onto the stearing wheel and the second being his finers covered in blood hanging over the dashboard, this makes the aduience feel uneasy and on edge as they would like to no why this has happerned and how he got there is there any resembalnce through the girls and him.

The setting gves the impression that its a out of the way place and someone would not normally come across of it. Also the Title of the film does not give much away as it does not claify anything that has happened in the opening of the film. This suggests that there is much more to come and may be flashbacks through the whole of the film to show how the man got there and are the two girls guilty or complety innncent.


wallander

Kiss Me Deadly

The opening sequence of "Kiss Me Deadly" throws the audience straight into action and has them on edge as it shows a women sprinting down the road and this gives the impression that she is being chased or is running away from someone or something also it cuts to a close up shot of her feet to show the audience that she has no shoes on and then cuts to a long shot to show that she is wearing a long coat in which suggests she has nothing underneath, this gives the impression that she has been assaulted or has done something and had to get rid of her belongs. Her feet show that their clean and also the rest of her body this could suggest that she has been inside as if she was outside her feet would be muddy/dirty. A car pulls up and the lady gets into it this makes the audience suggest she does not no this man but wants a lift to get away from what has happened, this could also make the audience feel anxious and nervous as she does not no who this man is and she may be getting herself more into trouble.

Some of the shots show images over and over again being a repeated shots for example when she is running towards the car and trying to get the mans attention this is repeated a couple of times over to show that she is very determined to get his attention and wants to get away from what has happened or what could happen. There is a mid shot when she is standing in the middle of the road this suggest the director of "Kiss Me Deadly" is trying to keep the audience on edge as it is dark at night and the car may swerve and hit her. This gives the impression to the audience that it is a thriller.