Location-Christmas work

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.

Lighting- Christmas work

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.

Practice Print Screening

 

Costume - Christmas work

We don't have very many costumes in this film.

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

Props - Christmas Homework

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.

List of actual props:

• Pen
• Paper
• Tables 
• Chairs 
• Whiteboard
• Briefcase
• Map/Info

Summary of Pitch ideas.

'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.

New Prezi Account

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.

Advance in presentation pitch ideas

This is our change in ideas for our pitch.

This is both out pitches together. old and new.

Thriller Pitch Planning

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!

Jelly Baby Story Board

fight

close up 

Extreme close up

Two shot

two shot fight

Close up 

L o n g shot

close up on killed jelly baby

normal shot focussing on murderer but showing the others in the scene.

high angle

High angle

different camera perspective with murderer now in background not in foreground

Close up

extreme high angle

high angle

slight high angle

Close up birds eye view

High angle

Preliminary Filming

Problems with our Preliminary filming:

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.

Credits Planning.

Main Actor:

Main Actor:

Film Title: ‘The Trance’

Main Actor:

Written by:

Produced by:

Music by:

Casting by:

Costumes designed by:

Distributed by:

Executive Producers:

Directed by:

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.)

More Substantial opening plan

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

Finalizing opening ideas

Brain Storm

preliminary task

Filming Preliminary

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.

Macs

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.

Preliminary

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.

Video will be going up soon- very funny must see 

180 degree rule