Friday 19 December 2008
Tuesday 16 December 2008
Newspaper Thriller Evaluation
The newspaper video clip
For our 'thriller' project, we were given the task of taking a standard newspaper and using it to create a short thriller movie based on it. We first constructed our storyline of exact what was going to happen in the short clip, and my our group came up with the idea that one person ( a fan) would be sitting and reading a newspaper in a public area, and would then spot the famous face on the newspaper in real life.
The objective of the task was to create a clip that could build intense suspense, and we had to try and achieve this through the use of a range of diffrent camera angles, 'mise-en-scene', sound and other effects. To begin, we had 'subject a' walk into the set building that the scene was to take place in. Throughout the whole thing, he does not say anything, and simple walks around. The lack of speech was used to create a form of suspense and make the person seem a lot more mysterious since we do not know nything about him.
We used diffrent camera skills that we had learned in pervious lessons, such as a 'long shot' of him walking across a hall inside. The long shot was used to show the large size of the setting and to show that he was the only person there. We then used a medium shot when (Eni) was buying a cup of tea in the hall to show in a little bit of detail exact what he was doing. He then goes to sit down at a table and starts reading the newspaper. At this point, we switched it to an 'over the shoulder' shot which gave the effect that the viewer was sitting next to him reading it aswell.
Suspense
Straight away, we switch to a 'first person view' of what Eni is reading to show in detail the image of the famous person that he is looking at, so that when the person does appear in real life later on, the viewer can make out the resemblence and connection between the newsppaer and the scene. Not to long after, the star (Derek) is about to walk into the same hall that Eni is in, and we switch to an 'over the shoulder shot' and follow Derek into the hall. Once he was in the hall, we then used a 'low angle' shot from Eni's side against Derek. This was done to emphasis the difference in status between the two; Derek being a famous star, and Eni being a standard individual. We also did the opposite from Dereks point of view, and did a 'high angle' shot against Eni to make him appear more timid, smaller and less powerful than Derek.
Those were the major shots that we used in our clip.
Editing
Editing was reasonably easy to do as we had done it in pervious lessons, so it wasn't very hard to get used to again. The software we used on the Macs was called 'Final Cut Pro'; a proffessional editing tool. In editing, we had to connect the video camera and basically run the entire clip onto the hard drive so it was one big file. We then began to 'cut' the file into diffrent parts; about 18 of them. After that, we took them one by one, ran them and cut out the irrelevant parts with errors or overlappings. It was pretty straightfoward as there weren't many parts that were unuseable or done incorrectly.
Our editing was successful because it came out relatively smooth and the viewer could make sense of exactly what was going in each scene. Obviously it was not perfect and there were a few minor mistakes, but nothing significant. we also added a soundtrack to give it a more cinematic feel to it, and to increase the effect of the clip. The was no digetic sound apart from Eni shouting Derek's name at the very end of the clip when he spots him and recognises who he is. The clip wasn't exactly the typical thriller but it made sense.
There were no conventions used is our thriller as were trying to make it as orignal as we possibly could.
Mise-en-scene
We used mise-en-scene to show the viewer various aspects of the clip. For instance, the building that it was set in was a very modern design (City And Islington College) which showed the viewer that the timer setting of it is modern. Inside also showed that it was possibly a formal environment. The way in which Eni was dressed was casual cothing which identified the time setting as well as his social class as an individual. Props used such as the newspaper and drank gave an impression of what the clip was about and also what type of chaarcter Eni was in the scene. The outcome of the clip proved that mise-en-secne has a huge impact on how the viewer first approaches the film mentally. If it was dark and gloomy, the viewer would take it more seriously than if it was bright, loud 'fun'-looking.
Conclusion
Things that could have been improved are:
For our 'thriller' project, we were given the task of taking a standard newspaper and using it to create a short thriller movie based on it. We first constructed our storyline of exact what was going to happen in the short clip, and my our group came up with the idea that one person ( a fan) would be sitting and reading a newspaper in a public area, and would then spot the famous face on the newspaper in real life.
The objective of the task was to create a clip that could build intense suspense, and we had to try and achieve this through the use of a range of diffrent camera angles, 'mise-en-scene', sound and other effects. To begin, we had 'subject a' walk into the set building that the scene was to take place in. Throughout the whole thing, he does not say anything, and simple walks around. The lack of speech was used to create a form of suspense and make the person seem a lot more mysterious since we do not know nything about him.
We used diffrent camera skills that we had learned in pervious lessons, such as a 'long shot' of him walking across a hall inside. The long shot was used to show the large size of the setting and to show that he was the only person there. We then used a medium shot when (Eni) was buying a cup of tea in the hall to show in a little bit of detail exact what he was doing. He then goes to sit down at a table and starts reading the newspaper. At this point, we switched it to an 'over the shoulder' shot which gave the effect that the viewer was sitting next to him reading it aswell.
Suspense
Straight away, we switch to a 'first person view' of what Eni is reading to show in detail the image of the famous person that he is looking at, so that when the person does appear in real life later on, the viewer can make out the resemblence and connection between the newsppaer and the scene. Not to long after, the star (Derek) is about to walk into the same hall that Eni is in, and we switch to an 'over the shoulder shot' and follow Derek into the hall. Once he was in the hall, we then used a 'low angle' shot from Eni's side against Derek. This was done to emphasis the difference in status between the two; Derek being a famous star, and Eni being a standard individual. We also did the opposite from Dereks point of view, and did a 'high angle' shot against Eni to make him appear more timid, smaller and less powerful than Derek.
Those were the major shots that we used in our clip.
Editing
Editing was reasonably easy to do as we had done it in pervious lessons, so it wasn't very hard to get used to again. The software we used on the Macs was called 'Final Cut Pro'; a proffessional editing tool. In editing, we had to connect the video camera and basically run the entire clip onto the hard drive so it was one big file. We then began to 'cut' the file into diffrent parts; about 18 of them. After that, we took them one by one, ran them and cut out the irrelevant parts with errors or overlappings. It was pretty straightfoward as there weren't many parts that were unuseable or done incorrectly.
Our editing was successful because it came out relatively smooth and the viewer could make sense of exactly what was going in each scene. Obviously it was not perfect and there were a few minor mistakes, but nothing significant. we also added a soundtrack to give it a more cinematic feel to it, and to increase the effect of the clip. The was no digetic sound apart from Eni shouting Derek's name at the very end of the clip when he spots him and recognises who he is. The clip wasn't exactly the typical thriller but it made sense.
There were no conventions used is our thriller as were trying to make it as orignal as we possibly could.
Mise-en-scene
We used mise-en-scene to show the viewer various aspects of the clip. For instance, the building that it was set in was a very modern design (City And Islington College) which showed the viewer that the timer setting of it is modern. Inside also showed that it was possibly a formal environment. The way in which Eni was dressed was casual cothing which identified the time setting as well as his social class as an individual. Props used such as the newspaper and drank gave an impression of what the clip was about and also what type of chaarcter Eni was in the scene. The outcome of the clip proved that mise-en-secne has a huge impact on how the viewer first approaches the film mentally. If it was dark and gloomy, the viewer would take it more seriously than if it was bright, loud 'fun'-looking.
Conclusion
Things that could have been improved are:
1) We could have left a 5 second gap for each scene as we only did this for a couple. this might have made editing easier and less 'tight' when putting scenes together.
2) We could have also added more camera angles for more important scenes to capture its affect from every angle.
3) Better camera handling - There were some scenes in which the camera was either too focused or wobbling.
However, on a whole, I believe the project was successful and I am pleased with the outcome. It was easy to work with the members of my group and we didnt waste the time we had. I was able to see understand how exactly the video camera worked and how the footage is transfered to computer for editing. This experience wil be very useful in the future for larger filming tasks in which we can apply our gained skills.
Monday 15 December 2008
Notes for derek & Eni.! faggs
- The maze tracking shots
- Don't no whats round the corner which builds tension , as for the corridors as well.
- 237 room where the family was murdered by the dad/husband
- Jacks "limp" He slows down which creates suspense, throws the ball hard and catches it.
The type writer closeup -" all work no play makes jack a dull boy"
- Chef, suspenseful when he is walking around saying "hello anyone there?" we don't no whats around the corner
-Danny playing with the car and train tracks, then a ball roles in the scene, bird eye view, then high shot (not knowing whose there)
-Initial stories about cabin fever signal to the audience where the plot is going. The fact that the audience knows the story makes us more engaged, were waiting for him to go mad and kill.
-Location huge house and is empty
by catherin.
- Don't no whats round the corner which builds tension , as for the corridors as well.
- 237 room where the family was murdered by the dad/husband
- Jacks "limp" He slows down which creates suspense, throws the ball hard and catches it.
The type writer closeup -" all work no play makes jack a dull boy"
- Chef, suspenseful when he is walking around saying "hello anyone there?" we don't no whats around the corner
-Danny playing with the car and train tracks, then a ball roles in the scene, bird eye view, then high shot (not knowing whose there)
-Initial stories about cabin fever signal to the audience where the plot is going. The fact that the audience knows the story makes us more engaged, were waiting for him to go mad and kill.
-Location huge house and is empty
by catherin.
The Shining
Today in our media lesson, we watched a film called The Shining which is a quite old horror movie, what made this movie very interesting is that, it contained a great deal and also a huge amount of suspense, which keeps the viewer glued to there seat, and it keeps them wanting more, and to see what the great deal od suspense is about. The film's main storyline is about a caretaker that has moved into a hotel that has ghosts and is meant to be haunted with his family. Us the audience get to play god, and therefore we get to know what is happeniong in the story before any of the other characters have a clue, such as we know that the main character is going mad before anyone else like his family knows. The suspense used throughout the whole film is what makes it so good for the viewers also high pitched screeches and high soundtracks are used to keep the viewers on alert for any grusome occurances, low droning sounds and also extrordinary lengths of camera angles and shots are used when intense scenes are happening this is mainly used to engage the viewers into further viewing.
I enjoyed this film because it is really old, but can still be used now to scare the viewers, and still covers all the conventions of a thriller, and it keeps it viewers on the edge of there seat just like a thriller from todays time would, it also uses soundtracks to show scary scenes and it also to show intensity.
1st practice video
Today (Monday), we were fixed into groups and had to create a practice thriller. My group consisted of Eni, Derick, Michael and Cathrin. Mick showed us a tutorial of ‘’how to use the camera and the tripod’’. During the tutorial Mick paused the video and gave us each a couple of minutes for a practice of the instructions. Than we were asked to create our videos with our group. We decided that only Derick and I were going to be in the video and Catherin and Michael were going to give instructions. Our Video was set in the college, mainly on the ground floor and in the entrance. We asked to make our clip a thriller so decided that Derick was going to be a famous footballer by the name of Heskey and that I was going to be a fan that happens to see him at the college and reacts in a dramatic way. Michael was in charge of the recordings while we were all involved with the camera angles which we were going to use. The first shot was outside of the college and consisted of a zoom out of the college. The next shot was me walking into the college with a newspaper on my hand. We decided that there was going to be a pan of me walking into the college, the reason behind this was to show where I was coming from and where I was going. The shot after this was a pan which showed me entering the college, whilst walking I am reading the newspaper. The reason for the long shot is to show where I am (Inside the college). Here we thought about the type off transition we were going to have. The reason for the transition was that we wanted me (Eni) to go back in time to a time that I saw Dereck in the college corridor. As we found it hard to think of anything, we decided that we were going to use the editing effects for the transition. We carried on the filming and had a long shot of the canteen where I bought a cup of tea. There was a slow zoom on the tea whilst I was pouring the sugar. This allowed us to create suspense, as it was the only Zoom of me walking. Furthermore, we decided that suspense was going to be created from me walking from the entrance to the canteen; we were going to do this by editing footsteps to the walking. The main part of the clip is the reminiscence of Emile Heskey in the corridor. Here we went into my thoughts and to a time where I was sitting down in the canteen, again drinking tea, but this time I see Emile Heskey and react with a shock. When I sat down to drink the tea there is a zoom of the newspaper I am reading. In the newspaper we can see Derick and straight after that shot we have a low angle shot of Eni sitting down reading the newspaper and have Derick walk in. We thought this would be an effective shot as it shows that Eni is clearly focused on the newspaper whilst acknowledging Dericks image. Here we had low angle shot of Eni reading the newspaper, We thought that the low angle would be effective as in this shot we see the entrance of Derick. Here, suspense is created with the soundtrack. We warm the mood up with a slow soundtrack,calm; than as soon as the door opens; Derek walks in, we hear a change in tempo which reveals tension and suspense
'The Shining'
In today's lesson, we watched a DVD called 'The Shining' in our media lesson. It was a thriller about a caretaker who lives in a huge empty hotel with his wife and son. However, he slowly starts to go crazy. At the start of the film, we the audience are informed of what is going to happen throughout the film.
I enjoyed the film for a variety of reasons; most predominantly because of the large inclusion of suspense the whole time. The film used different sounds such as high pitched screeches and low droning tones to build suspense for the viewer, and it also used different camera angles such as first person view and bird's eye view to keep the viewers engaged and interested.
Another sound effects that aided this effect was the intro soundtrack. It was a 'heart beat'-like sound. At the same time on-screen, there was a bird's eye view and the camera was following a car in a predator's style. This established isolation and remoteness. Later on in the film, the child is playing with toy trucks. Again, it is a bird's eye view shot and then you slowly see a ball roll into the frame. You re unaware of who threw the ball, and so when the camera pans upwards from the POV of the child, suspense is created.
I enjoyed the film for a variety of reasons; most predominantly because of the large inclusion of suspense the whole time. The film used different sounds such as high pitched screeches and low droning tones to build suspense for the viewer, and it also used different camera angles such as first person view and bird's eye view to keep the viewers engaged and interested.
Another sound effects that aided this effect was the intro soundtrack. It was a 'heart beat'-like sound. At the same time on-screen, there was a bird's eye view and the camera was following a car in a predator's style. This established isolation and remoteness. Later on in the film, the child is playing with toy trucks. Again, it is a bird's eye view shot and then you slowly see a ball roll into the frame. You re unaware of who threw the ball, and so when the camera pans upwards from the POV of the child, suspense is created.
The Shinning
On todays lesson on monday we was told by our teacher to watch particular clips to notice the suspence of the different types of films. We had to concentrate on lighting, use off camera, music, editing and the location that it was set at. Out teacher set us a homework to explain in detail a certain clip that i was most interested in and i choose to do the shining.
There is tension straight away from the clip, with the camera following the boy behind him, whilst he was riding his bike with the sound affect of the wheels rolling and a low steady beat, not knowing what could be in front of him and at the back, which shows suspense by being clueless on what could be around the corner. As the little boy continued riding his bike around the hotel the music starts to slowly build with a squeaky sound and piano notes. Then the boy suddenly stops, and it shows a low angle behind a head and shoulder shot of the boy looking at the room number, the camera goes back and forth showing the boys emotions which makes the audience feel tension . Then a medium shot of the hallway and the boy, the boy slowly gets up from his bike as he does, the music rises and gets louder. As the camera tracks the boy walking to the door the sound changes into a very deep and high pitch rhythm. Then the camera cuts shots of these two girls for 3 seconds then the boy gets back on to his bike and he rides off fast.
By Catherin
There is tension straight away from the clip, with the camera following the boy behind him, whilst he was riding his bike with the sound affect of the wheels rolling and a low steady beat, not knowing what could be in front of him and at the back, which shows suspense by being clueless on what could be around the corner. As the little boy continued riding his bike around the hotel the music starts to slowly build with a squeaky sound and piano notes. Then the boy suddenly stops, and it shows a low angle behind a head and shoulder shot of the boy looking at the room number, the camera goes back and forth showing the boys emotions which makes the audience feel tension . Then a medium shot of the hallway and the boy, the boy slowly gets up from his bike as he does, the music rises and gets louder. As the camera tracks the boy walking to the door the sound changes into a very deep and high pitch rhythm. Then the camera cuts shots of these two girls for 3 seconds then the boy gets back on to his bike and he rides off fast.
By Catherin
Newspaper Thriler
For the opening thriller, we was given a task of using a newspaper to create a scene of intense and to use this to gain experience and to use our different camera angles and shots, which we have acquired during our lessons, we also used the different sets and locations to help us to make our short film as realistic as possible.
We used the camera work, which we learnt from previous practical lessons, this enabled us to make our clip that much more interesting and therefore we was very happy with the over the shoulder shots, and also the point of view shot we used with eni when he was approaching derek, these shots made it much more realistic making the audience feel like they where actually there thats the effects these shots gave us, all of our intended shots worked so there was no unsuccessful ones, the ones we did decide to use where compatibable with our storyline and camera angle/shots.
Editing the opening thriller was quite simple, and easy to adjust and cut etc.. this is mainly because we knew the positioning of the scenes and we did not have a lot of outakes and un useable scenes, and also because of my past experiences with using final cut pro, so therefore it made it much easier for me and my group to edit our clips, and also add a soundtrack such as music and effects which gives it a better effect. Our continuity editing was succesful because it helped enable the viewer to know what is happening in the clip, and also what the thriller clip is about. The film we produced made sense it wasn't really scary but you could follow it, because of the continual editing used.
We use mis en scence to what was going on such as props such as the tea, being drank, the newspaper that was used which is the main item used to tell us what the clip is about, and also we consider the setting we used and also the location where most of the action, took place such as the canteen.I learned that mis en scene can have a big impact on the clip, it can have an effect on what the characters look like and also what the set looks like, this can have a great effect on how the clip is produced.
The element of suspense that is created would just be when eni, is purchasing and drinking his tea, the audience is just guessing what is going on, or what is about to occur, so it is causing suspense because everyone wants something to happen, and upbeat tempo is used when i(derek) enter the screen this is to signify that this is what the suspense was for, and that im also the main character, that is why a soundtrack is used to portray this.
The things we may have forgot whilst filming this would be leaving a 5secs gap at the end for editing purposes, but we didnt require this anyway so it didnt affect our editing,we also lacked different angles from certain screnes, where we could made the scene seem that much better and much more proffesional if we had lots of various angles of the same scene.
We did not use any conventions of a thriller because, we were trying our best to make it as unique and as original as we can, without using scenes or affiliating it with other thrillers.
My Feelings about the task is that, it was alright and it was valid, so that we get use to the functions of the camcorder and also filming our own footage, and being able to edit the footage and also add soundtracks and what ever is required. this will be much more useful when we are told to do bigger tasks, where the footage has to be longer, and requires lots of different locations so my personal feelings is that the task was useful for me and my group.
We used the camera work, which we learnt from previous practical lessons, this enabled us to make our clip that much more interesting and therefore we was very happy with the over the shoulder shots, and also the point of view shot we used with eni when he was approaching derek, these shots made it much more realistic making the audience feel like they where actually there thats the effects these shots gave us, all of our intended shots worked so there was no unsuccessful ones, the ones we did decide to use where compatibable with our storyline and camera angle/shots.
Editing the opening thriller was quite simple, and easy to adjust and cut etc.. this is mainly because we knew the positioning of the scenes and we did not have a lot of outakes and un useable scenes, and also because of my past experiences with using final cut pro, so therefore it made it much easier for me and my group to edit our clips, and also add a soundtrack such as music and effects which gives it a better effect. Our continuity editing was succesful because it helped enable the viewer to know what is happening in the clip, and also what the thriller clip is about. The film we produced made sense it wasn't really scary but you could follow it, because of the continual editing used.
We use mis en scence to what was going on such as props such as the tea, being drank, the newspaper that was used which is the main item used to tell us what the clip is about, and also we consider the setting we used and also the location where most of the action, took place such as the canteen.I learned that mis en scene can have a big impact on the clip, it can have an effect on what the characters look like and also what the set looks like, this can have a great effect on how the clip is produced.
The element of suspense that is created would just be when eni, is purchasing and drinking his tea, the audience is just guessing what is going on, or what is about to occur, so it is causing suspense because everyone wants something to happen, and upbeat tempo is used when i(derek) enter the screen this is to signify that this is what the suspense was for, and that im also the main character, that is why a soundtrack is used to portray this.
The things we may have forgot whilst filming this would be leaving a 5secs gap at the end for editing purposes, but we didnt require this anyway so it didnt affect our editing,we also lacked different angles from certain screnes, where we could made the scene seem that much better and much more proffesional if we had lots of various angles of the same scene.
We did not use any conventions of a thriller because, we were trying our best to make it as unique and as original as we can, without using scenes or affiliating it with other thrillers.
My Feelings about the task is that, it was alright and it was valid, so that we get use to the functions of the camcorder and also filming our own footage, and being able to edit the footage and also add soundtracks and what ever is required. this will be much more useful when we are told to do bigger tasks, where the footage has to be longer, and requires lots of different locations so my personal feelings is that the task was useful for me and my group.
editing our clips
In this lesson, it was only me and Eni and the other two members of ours weren’t in. We continued editing our video clips which Eni has done, which means placing different clips that we filmed together and creating an intense vibe of our video. We decided to edit the clips as if one of the characters in the video is fantasising about a football player he sees on the newspaper, so Eni gave the video a dreamy affect.
As for me, I edited the sound affects on the videos, the first thing I done was looked through a file of sound clips that the college had. I decided to insert a sound clip when eni is walking into the college, by putting in a sound affect of footsteps, including the part where he went to sit down with to drink his tea, I put a sound affect of him drinking his tea and screaming, because he was fantasising about the footballer.
By Catherin Truong
As for me, I edited the sound affects on the videos, the first thing I done was looked through a file of sound clips that the college had. I decided to insert a sound clip when eni is walking into the college, by putting in a sound affect of footsteps, including the part where he went to sit down with to drink his tea, I put a sound affect of him drinking his tea and screaming, because he was fantasising about the footballer.
By Catherin Truong
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