30th Jan Retake Of The Previous Lesson

Today we done a clean and a smoother run of the first take, it came out muc better because i took the effort of cleaning my car so it looks that much more presentable, we came back too packington square where the shooting of derek getting out of the car is shot we re did all the shots again making them much sharper, and out of sunlight so you can see much more detail we reshot the establishing shot which has changed the whole scene and how we are going to film the rest of our film, we are also discussing property of where we are going to do the main scene of kat laying on the floor. The only problem i came across was that because my car was so clean it was causing some very shiny reflections, and you could see the camer and the person next to itm so we had to do some shots a good distance away from the car and then zoom into the car. But other than that the retake went very successful, and we was happy with what we had produced.

Thriller Video

FILMING THE THRILLER: TAKE ONE


After finally completeing our final shot plan we decided that we were ready so went off to film our thriller. The plan for the thriller changed every lesson but we finally decied on Michaels idea. An idea in which explores different types of camera shots while at the same time creates suspense, all of this without any sound effects. But of course we decided to also add sound effects to give the thriller greater suspense. Our location was in Ec1, Pembury a deserted area where hardly any cars pass by. This was decided as a reasonable place for the thriller as it's not in a obvious area of London but the postcode is going to reveal that it is set in London. Our main corps for the opening 20 seconds is Derick's car. The opening 20 seonds is going to be split proportionally in half of external and internal shots, so 10 seconds will aply for the internal shots and 10 seconds for the external shots. We went to film the opening 20 seconds and when we arrived at the place we realised that Dericks car wasn't washed and still dirty. As Dereck is playing the role of a detective we decided that a dirty car wasn't suitable but still went ahead with the shooting for practice. Mainly the external shots were focused on Detective Derick rolling into the scene with the car, the follow shot was a tilt of Derick coming out of the car which imiadetely signaled authority. The internal shots mainly focused on corps in which Detective Derick had inside the car, corps such as: a watch, car keys, detective badge etc. All of these corps showed that Dereck was a man of authority. The focus turned to filming outside of the car. We had several shots of Dereck walking out of his car and also a tilt of Deredck. The tilt also shows that Dereck is a man of authority. Furthermore, authority is also portrayed by the clothes in which Dereck is in. Smartly dressed, a shirt, shoes and trousers. After the filming we headed of to the editting room and wanted to finish the introduction of the clip. Here we came to a problem, the shots in which we had taken were inaffective as in nearly all the shots the reflection of me and Michael could be seen. As these were major mistakes we decided that on thursday we were going to film the opening scene again.

Analysing clips 18th of Dec

In our last lesson before we broke up for christmas, we watched four clips of four different movies this was so that we get the jist of it before we break up for a couple weeks we analysed movies such as, 28 days later, The Shining, and what lies beneath, we then analysed the different types of thrillers and what thriller consists off, The Thriller shining was a superrnatural thriller, and we analysed that collateral was a political thriller, we was givena sheet where we had to to fill in all the spaces like camera angles, the lighting, and also the editing. We also had to describe the soundtrack and lighting for the scenes.

Monday 26, January 2009

Today, we began the first part of filming for our thriller coursework. We began by going to a suitable location, and filming the opening scenes of the detective. He had Derek smartly dressed in formal wear, and used his car as the opener for the clip. By using different angles, such as low-angle shots, followed by a slow pan upwards of him, we were able to establish a sense of high status and authority; something we were trying to achieve. We also had the car coming into the frame, and several different possible match cuts were filmed i.e. Derek pulling the car handbrake, followed by him stepping out of the vehicle.

Throughout filming, we ensured that we didn't reveal the face of the detective. This was done to create a sense of mystery about the protagonist, as well as incorporate the 'slick' demeanor of such law enforcement positions; putting him higher than the typical police officer. We managed to capture a lot of useful shots in a relatively short period of time, as everyone was co-operative with one another, and able to work efficiently.

However, we did run into some expected and unexpected difficulties. For one, the car itself was quite dirty, and so it didn't have a crisp, professional feel when we saw it later on the Macs. Secondly, some factors of Derek's outfit were not as sophisticated as we had hoped i.e. the Kickers and cartoon socks. Nevertheless, we were able to film what we wanted to film, and will likely re-do some of the shot during our next lesson. Also, we need to find a house in which we can film the rest of our thriller.

Finalising Our Thriller Idea

In our lesson today we had to produce our final idea and get it ready for pitching in the following mondays lesson, we had assistance from laura, which she tryed to help us to visualise our idea, and the type of setting tha twe will require, we were brainstorming lots of ideas some dramtic some irrelevant, the first objective was that the type of thriller that is going to be and how we was going to produce how we want the audience to see it, after we decided that we was going to do a mystery murder type thriller. Summary of our plot, was that basically there is a crazed axeman killing everyone for no particular reason. We had different tasks to do in order for our thriller to work and be successful, we assigned people with tasks such as a props list, different types of shots for the different types of scenes the types of music etc...

Pitch Lesson 22nd January

In todays lesson, we had to pitch our thriller ideas to mary, to see if she was going to grant us permiossion to film and give us money, we had a ocky path as we had a few ideas, and we couldnt decide as group whic one would be the most suitable and gain the most marks, so we had a bit of a dilemma, until when micheal came in and we remixed together our story and then we had a even better story, that mary and rebbecca approved off, so we pitched it to the classed and we was approved so then we planned out a new storboard put it together to get ready to start filming

First Filming on 26 jan 09

Today we took out the cameras, and all the equipment and set of to our to set location, to the first scene, as we do not have a designated house we have to do most of the external shots before everything else, we went of to packington square to do our scenes of when the detective is stepping out of the car to investigate what is going on, all our shots went according plan and all our angles which we planned to use went very well e.g he handbrake shot the establishung shot, when the camera pans up to show the status of the detective. During the filming we made sure that the identity of the detective was not revealedm because we want to create suspensem and also show the audience that this is not your ordinary bobby he has a much bigger status and he does his things his own way, but unfortunately after all that effort when we came back to college to review our shots, you could see in the reflection of the carthe camera man and also the director which is not a very good look when being played on a big screen, and also because my car is very very dirty it also made the scene not as crisp as it can be, so i am going to make the car clean so that the status of the detective is shown to be very clean and crisp and on point. so we have decided to do all the car and main shots again and pick up on the bits which can be improved and it can be much better visually because of the state of the car and the sharper shots.

second practice video. walking through door

In class we were asked to produce another clip but this time we had to walk through a door. Before we began shooting we had a lesson in which we learnt about shot types and during the lesson we created a shot list. Internal and external are words which identify whether the specific shot is going to be shot inside or outside.In the shot list we also had to give descriptions of the shot. For example,if we were to use a tilt in the shot we had to describe why the tilt was relavent and what the tilt would portray. Moving on we decided that our clip was going to consist of eleven shots. The first shot being a pan of me (Eni) walking in the corridor. We had problems getting this pan right as there wasn't much space to work with.Here the assistant Mick helped us to get an apropriate angle.Also, it was a difficult shot as we had to find a preciese speed in which to pan the camera and had to link this with the movement of the target, all of this in very littlesace. After six shots we finally had a shot worthy of being art of the clip. The second shot was a medium shot of me walking into the dorr. The place in which the camera wasplaced made the traget looked like he was walking into the camera but the third shot allowsfor the audience to understand that the target is walking into the door. The second shot sees the target turning from a corner and walking into the cameras direction. Here we could analyse that hes worried as the targets way of walking reveals little confiddenceand gives the audience a chance to ponder on what the next shot is going to reveal.Furthermore,This allows for audience to identify the target walking towards them.

Past Work Observation (Lessons on Thriller Openings)

In class, we had to watch a compilation of thriller opening clips that had been created by students from last year's AS Media course. The diffrent clips all had their own strengths and weaknesses; some better than others. We were instructed to take notes on how mise-en-scene, audio, visual effects, and camera angles were used to convey a thrillign sense of tension, mystery and anticipation.

After watching a few, you could identify some of the editing qualities that made some of the videos seem far better than the rest, especially the first one we watched. That clip in particular had a very proffesional feel to it, throughout the entire clip, regardless of the fact that there was very, very little physical action by the actors themselves.

There was no diegetic sound in any of the clips, and this is the main restriction that has been given to us when we create our own thriller openings. At first I thought it would be very hard to create an effective thriller without some sort of actual sound coming from characters or objects in the clip itself, but after watching the videos from last year's groups, my view quickly changed.

After that, we then watched a documentary on the importance and effect that openings have on the film interest that they are in. The documentary gave detail of effects ranging from changes in 'traditonal' title sequences, to the way the camera pans to show the landscape / skyline of the city itself. After seeing it, it gave me a few ideas which I can adopt when I start making my own thriller opening. =]

5th & 8th January Lesson

For this lesson, as a whole class we was told to watch thriller clips that students in our college created last year for there exam. We had to jot down notes based on mise en sen and how tension was risen by the music, angles and shots that was used by the students. I find some of the clips that i watch was really good, as some of it was really affective and looked really professional. Our teacher told us that we couldn't talk in our clips and i thought that me and my group will find it hard as we never seen or created a clip without voice, as i also thought it would be impossible to create tension without a loud tone of voice, but after watching them clips i new it was possible to work out with.

Then we had to watch a documentary about film openings, we was also given by our teacher a sheet of paper that had questions on it that we had to answear based on the clips we had to watch. After watching it, it did help me and gave me ideas on my thriller movie that i am going to be making soon.

Filming second pratice 2

The Second Film practice, ran much smoother than the previous this is mainly because we were use to the equipment as a whole group, and it was much easier for us to use and to operate the cameras because of the previous film we done last term, it was also much quicker and easier for us to cut and edit using final cut pro this is also because of our first practice film we done.

I have learned how to operate much quickerm and more time effictevelym this is just due to practising different time brackets, and learning how to make quick films with most of the shots and different camera angles in a matter of a few hours. I have learned different techniques of how to edit much quicker and produce much better cuts using final cut to give my short films that better lookm thats the main thing i would have learned and taken away between the two filming sessions.

I feel like we did follow the the forms and conventions of a real film, because of the way we done the film's storyline and the meeting of the two characters, this is more likely to be used when there is something dodgy going on, We used bright lighting so you could see the expressions of the characters faces and everything that is happenein gand the surroundings of what eni is walking past and the kind of building he is in. We used quick editing to make it look like everything he is doing is being done in a hurry and that it is up to no good, We used mis en scene suhc as a table and a newspaper to show the boss status of Derek in his officem and also because Eni walks into the room and i am already inside it shows that he is making to come and see Derek. We Used Lots of Angles On the Same Scenes to make the scene look much faster and exciting than it actually is e,g, when eni is walking down the corridorm and also when he has the altercation. Quick Editing shows how fast things are happening and how fast enid goes in and out of the building.

The Film allows me to see how Mis En Scene and different camera angles can be used to show a different side of a whole short film, and how it can have a huge impact on the clip, and make it much better.

WICKED. BY CATHERIN =) WELL DONE FELLAS XX

Turotial, Group & Video.

For our thriller project we started off having a tutorial lesson with Mickey, starting off learning how to use to video camera and tripod. Then we was placed in our groups, which was a group of 4 people, myself, Eni, Michael & Derek. Once we finished off learning bout the video camera, our teacher set us a target to begin our project on working with the theme “thriller”, We had to use the video recorder to create a clip and build tension, using a certain item that the teacher set us which was a newspaper.

We started off using different types of angles and shots, firstly with Michael doing a low angle view of where the scene is going to take place, then we introduced the first character which was Eni, tracking him whilst he was walking into the building. Then we did a couple of close-ups of Eni using the lift. Then Michael done a head and shoulder shot of Eni walking out to buy tea, there were a couple of medium shots and close-up while Eni was reading the newspaper. The second character Derek entered the scene; Michael introduced him by doing a high angle shot of him entering the canteen and based on the story line we did, Eni saw a picture of Derek as a famous footballer and Eni as a fan of Derek, Eni decided to chase Derek.

By Catherin Truong