Our film is going to be set in a school. Our story plan is all based around a strange school life so obviously this would fit.
We chose a school because it sets a different kind of story. Most thrillers are based around kidnap or stalking or theft but we wanted ours to be a bit different and concentrate on a mystery of what is going on involving childern and adults workling together. We thought there was something about the way that children can be that can adapt to being freaky or estranged and it gives it a bit of a different twist. They focus on the adult (teacher) trapped in a world with these kids.
We will set it in our school (nfgs) and we will mainly be shooting in a block and e block as they have the best c o r r i d o o r s . I think that A block will be better as the corridoors (especially upstairs) as the light is darker and if we are going to be using dim lights this will work out perfectly.
In our film i think we should use a dark type of lighting. It will add to the theme of thriller and the errieness of the school setting.
If we shoot it bright on the outside shots but as you get closer up the path and nearer to the school the light dims. Especially as the new teacher is walking through the corridoor i think we should get emphasis on the darkness of the place.
There are 2 Main characters and a whole class of deranged children.
The first teacher is the sane teacher Mr Freddie brown, and as it is his first day at the new school, he is in very formal wear wearing a suit. The other teacher Mr Swash is also
Characters : Freddie Brown, Mr Swash and the classroom of deranged children
Freddie brown: He will be dressed smartly/formally, in a suit and carrying a briefcase. He printed out a map of the school, and is carrying info on where he needs to be.
Mr Swash: Also dressed Smartly - This will help with making this seem a less suspicious character. He is standing up in front of the blank whiteboard until he leaves the room. He seems to be an ordinary kind of man.
The class: The aim of the class is to have every single character identical in their behavior. They will all be dressed in uniform, and will all have a pen and plain piece of paper. None of the children write anything on the paper except their name.. They all have the same name. They all sit in the same way as well, straight upright, with expressionless faces until they see Freddie when they give him squinting looks.
'The most anticipated thriller of 2011.'
You thought your first day at school was hard, just wait until you see what awaits when you enter the grounds of Newport Free Grammar.
Nothing is as it seems, or as it should be, behind the walls and through the corridors of NFGS, E3.
How can Freddie brown single-handedly convince the parents of students that the school is cursed? and can he escape 'the Trance' ?
Enter into the secret walls of NFGS.
We created a Prezi account to use for our presentation. it is an easy, effective way of jotting own all of our notes and new ideas as a presentation. it is easy to use, and we have got a lot written down, including the changes in our storyline, and our new, changed character.
We spent the lesson working on our Thriller pitch. We had to change several of our ideas, as we decided that having a boy as a lead character would not make a good thriller. We have decided that instead of having a new boy, we would have a new teacher. The teacher will not be under 'the trance', and he will take it as his own responsibility/duty, to help the children. Little does he know that by releasing these children he is only trapping himself further under the trance!
We had some continuity issues, Mrs Mapp was only in some of the shots, at the start, in the rest of the filming she was gone.
We also had one of our actors laughing quite a bit in serious parts, so we need to work on that.
We also had a Jump cut in the totally wrong place, and only just had enough footage (by chance) to sort it out. We need to make sure we have more than enough footage in future, because otherwise we would have to start filming all over again. we resolved the problem this time, by just cutting to the other character.
I thought that it was rather easy to do the filming We included the 180 degree rule, as well as a match cut. It was easy to use the camera with the tripod too. I think our final piece will be good, just so long as we remember to get more than enough footage. Me and Gemma are confident in filming. We also found Final Cut express quite straight forward to use when we got into it. So finalising our piece shouldn't be a problem.
We have also decided to have a crescendo when Freddie is about to enter the classroom. When he steps into the classroom, everything will suddenly become deadly silent.
This will be an important part of the story to get a good reaction shot, (when Freddie sees the classroom.)
New boy (Freddie) standing by front school gates
Tilt from boy up to NFGS sign
Freddie walking up front path - jump cut x3
BLEND
Picture of weird class- kids all sat down, arms folded or on table
Close up on a strange kids pale face and body language.
Tilts up to clock pauses on clock, tick tocking
Boy walking up corridor ( looking at planner) and in to the class room ( matched cut)
Opens door and we see his reaction (reaction and motivated cut combined)
Weird teacher walks over and shakes his hand ( doesnt speak)
Pause on hand shake
Close up on hand shake
Freddie letting go (close up)
Zoom in on strange childs pale face again - shows staring at freddie (eye squint)
Flashes to clock again tick tocking
Flashes to bell ringing (with sound)
and then black screen
In todays lesson i also learnt how to use the HD video camera and tripod. It sounds simple and i thought it would be but i found that there are alot of things to take in to consideration when filming a shot or shot sequence.
For example when to p...ause the camera to change positions. I was filming our "Actor" and i didnt take in to consideration that you can edit off areas of a shot on the computer after filming so i p...aused the film just slightly too early in one shot ( as he sat down)
Also i am now not so worried about filming our opening sequence as i am aware of all the cuts and editing that can be done and all the changes that can be made.
Another thing i am happy about is using the tripod as it makes filming a whole lot easier. The camera is really steady and it means i can focus more on what is going on rather than worrying about how steady my hand is.
After doing this i am more confident in getting started on the the opening sequence of our Thriller Film.
Today i learnt how to use the Apple Macs in which i uploaded our preliminary task and worked out how to edit all the shots taken.
It was interesting and i eventually worked out and understood how to compile all the s e p a r a t e shots together to create a shot sequence. I learnt how to cut certain shots taken due to unwanted areas of footage and this also linked in to making all shots run smoothly on to one and other. I cut areas of the shots using the razor blade tool and i became aware of the different sections of the programme e.g the viewing, audio and film line and preview. I am now more confident for when it comes to editing our opening sequence.
Today we filmed our preliminary task.
It includes a matched cut and a dialogue scene using the 180 degree rule.
We uploaded it on to the Apple Macs and then edited it so the cuts merged together well.
we have been thinking about different fonts we could use for our opening credits. obviously we have our production logo -------->
We want to use fonts that are simple but effective. We obviously want to use a font that will go well with our logo font but we want them to stand out from each other so they catch the audiences eye and they can separately recognize our logo.
here are some of our ideas:
"butterfly" from DaFont.com
These are only a few and we got the from DaFont.com
I like these because they link in the theme of thriller and mystery. They also link well with our production logo without taking the attention away. I think there fonts compliment the logo fonts.
.Home video
.Fuzzing on screen- Interference
.*scene being set in* (grave yard, deserted school etc..)
.Screwed up paper - photo?
.Note ( possibly screwed up, possibly stuck on the wall or painted on wall)
.Edited (cuts and cutting rate) -- Photo-- Black screen- Photo- Black screen etc ... each time getting close on photo.
.Heart beat with every cut change
.Starts slow cutting rate then increases with each flash/change
.Camera turning round frantically .Interference
.Camera dropped on side so all we can see is feet running away
We created a youtube account too, so we can upload any videos we make, and get feedback.
User name: Artemis1132. (Couldnt get a better username).
For our preliminary task we are going to have an interrogation scene. We will have a match cut of a door, as the interrogater walks in and then we will have the 180 degree rule (over the shoulder) when he has sat down.
We will flick from each character, using the 180 degree rule, with everyline of dialogue. Dialogue:
'I know you did it'
'You Cant Prove anything'
'You know you did it, why are you lying to yourself?'
'You dont know me'
'Just own up, admit it'
'I dont know what you're talking about.'
We will probably just film this in a classroom, but we could do something with lighting to make it more scary, and more sincere.
In todays lesson we learnt how to add links on to our blog.
I created a Facebook account for our Media group. Seeing as our company name is Satellite Productions i called our selves "Satel lite"
This means we can add people and get them to do things like questionnaires that we will post on using Survey monkey.
1. Props are also a very important part of Thrillers. For example in the opening of the film The Usual Suspects, there are a lot of dead bodies lying on the floor.
[ insert screen shot of dead bodies lying on the floor ]
The minute we see dead bodies we are able to connect that there is some sort of crime scene, or some way that people have been killed, or died, and therefore we can automatically tell that the film is a thriller film. Having such important props in the opening of the films is important because it immediately sets the scene.
2. Motivated cuts can be very effective in Thriller films. A good example of a motivated cut is in the film The Usual Suspects again. We can see a dark figure, but we can’t see the figures face. However the other man in the scene can see his face, and his reaction shot and recognition makes us want to see who the dark figure is. We do not get to see who the man is.
[ insert screen shot of mans reaction shot/ motivated cut ]
The use of motivation cuts keeps us interested, and also helps to ad to a sense of mystery in thriller films.
1. Reaction shots are another important feature in Thriller films. For example in the opening of The Silence of the Lambs, we see the main girl’s reaction when she sees the Billboard of photos. [ Insert screen shot of girls reaction when she sees Billboard ] This helps us to see through her character that the pictures are a negative thing, and it shows us how we should also react to what we are seeing. It also shows us a taster of what might be coming up in the Thriller.
2. Setting and lighting is very important in thriller films. It doesn’t really matter where you set a Thriller, but the other aspects you add to it, like lighting, make it more thriller like. For example in the opening of The Silence of the Lambs, the girl is running in a forest. The forest is full of gloomy, dark colours, and is sort of scary. [ enter screen shot of girl running in dark Forest ] Using darker, greyer lighting adds to the effect of feeing something negative about to happen. It also sets the scene well, because thrillers aren’t happy, joyful films, they usually have a scary storyline.
1. I have noticed that close ups and extreme close-ups are very important in thrillers. A good example of this is in the opening of Deathnote, where there is an extremeclose-up on the notebook.We can see a hand writing on it, and from this we can tell that the notebook is going to be a key prop in the Thriller.
[ Insert screen shot of an extreme close-up of the hand writing on the Notebook ]
From this particular extreme close-up, there is a lot of added mystery in the thriller. We want to see who the hand belongs to, and we want to know why there is the use of a notebook, and what purpose it serves in the film.
2. Getting the cutting rate right in a thriller is very important, to keep the audience interested. This is done well in Deathnote. We have short takes at first then we have a long take of 7 seconds focusing on the notebook, when it is shown for the first time. This shows us that the Notebook is a book of high importance in the Thriller. The cutting rate on the death scenes is very quick. It shows us how quickly they happened, and it keeps audience members on edge, and it also builds tension.
3. Cross-cutting is another important feature of Thriller films. An example of this is in Deathnote. We see somebody, (a hand) writing on the notebook, and then the camera cross-cuts to another place where a victim falls down dead.
[ insert small clip of person writing in the Notebook, and then cross cutting to death ]
Using cross-cutting in a thriller helps us to see how two objects/scenes/people are related, and can show us two or more simultaneously occurring events. It keeps us on edge too.
We designed a Facebook group too, so that we can get any extra feedback or information. It is also easy to add people to a group and ask them questions. This is in addition to our Facebook account for our Group.
For our Preliminary task we watched several previous clips of Preliminary tasks on Youtube. We decided that doing this would help us learn how to embed Youtube links onto our blog, and would give us good practice, as we need to produce a preliminary.
I did another survey on a previous post which is basically the same but less professional and this can be accesed by people on Facebook.
Created Facebook account for our media group called "Satel lite." Our Logo is our profile picture. Add what you want and link it up with the survey monkey account i created.
All detailes have been messaged to you. Makes it easier to create online questionairres etc.
SHOT COMPOSITION AND FRAMING
1) I have noticed the shot composition and framing are very important in this opening scene of The Usual Suspects. A good example showing this is when we see the 'kaiser' as we are only shown his figure and not facial features. This adds to the mystery and grips the audience making them want to carry on watching.
CLOSE UP
2) In The Usual Suspects again a close up is used. This is on the victuims face so the audience can easily concentrate on vital areas, normally depicting important pieces of information needed to observe.
CAMERA TECHNIQUE
3) Again in the usual suspects we are introduced to the technique of hand held cameras. This makes whats going on seem more realistic to an audience thus getting them involved in the film. This is a really successful camera technique to have especially in the first few minutes as it has already gripped the audience, making them want to continue to watch on. It makes the audience feel like they are in the interrogation room with the police.
