location

                                                    

 We have had many ideas for our film such as, internet dating gone wrong, mental asylum/museum and then the idea that we decided to go with ‘the abandoned shed with a hand, the reason why we decided to go with this idea was it is a very unique idea that we can adapt with ease if needed, this was not the idea we originally wanted to go with, our first idea was the internet dating gone wrong, the reason why we decided not to go with that idea was because the internet stalker idea sounded a bit cliché and we wanted to try something different e.g. the shed in the woods idea.

·         We have had many ideas for a location, one idea that we had was to film it in a wooded area.

·         Some of the negative sounds of that would be the lighting may not be on our side as it could be too dark and we would not see anything that we had filmed  

·         There could be some very bright patches of sunlight that come through the trees that may make some of our shots barely visible.

·         We had a look at different wooded areas around Bourne and Thurlby and we couldn’t find any old sheds that we could use but we couldn’t find anything that we could uses that fits the thriller genre.

·         We then had a look on Google maps to see if we could find any old farms with sheds and or barns in abandoned areas

·         We found one on south fen road which if located just off the back of cherry holt road (behind the big Tesco’s)

·         We still need to ask about using the barn but it may cause some difficulties as there is no one around the area and also  no houses so we wouldn’t know who to ask about the use of this location  

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Se7en

I have chosen to do my first evaluation on the opening to Se7en, as you can see in this first shot there are several items placed on a table in a very uniformed manner, these include papers and a paper weight, the fact that these items are placed like this could suggest that the person responsible for it is a very tidy person who likes things to be in a certain order, it could also suggest that the This shot is a medium shot of a dead body, the fact that we are not given any clues as to what has happened is very typical of the thriller genre as they like to get you asking questions to keep you watching the film, the lighting in this shot is mostly natural which is used to just slightly illuminate the outline of the body this adds tension to the scene ad we can’t see a face or any injuries so again we are asking question about how this man died.

This shot is a mid to long shot and as you can see they have now moved outside, you would normally expect it to be a bit brighter outside than in but this is not the case this is also shot in a very dark gritty setting in what looks like downtown New York, we can see the yellow police tape in the background of this shot is a bright yellow, this could suggest that the police and the only hope left for the people in the city as yellow is a bright happy colour.

This is a mid shot used to show one of the two detectives that we see in the opening, we can see in many way that he is not similar to his partner as he is shown to be the more laid back of the two this could suggest that he is the new guy in town and has little experience as to the experience of these  cases, we can also see that he is the more casually dressed of the two, this could suggest that he may take things a little less serious than the other detective, we can also see that he is shot in a brighter light than the other detective, this could suggest that detective number two has seen some disturbing things which have changed him completely.

This is a mid shot of detective number two, like I said in the previous paragraph he is filmed in a slightly darker light, he is also wearing the typical detective outfit E.G. the long brownish coat and hat this could suggest that this guy has been in the job a lot longer than the first detective therefore has more experience.

This is a mid shot of the two detectives walking out of the building together and here we can see a clear difference between the two characters age and clothing, there is not much team work displayed which could suggest that they have been newly partnered together or don’t like each other, in many of the outside shot there seems to be rain, this could suggest that this is a very unhappy city, this is an example of pathetic fallacy.

This is a close up of a metronome which they have decided to make a focus point, as the scene progresses we can see that this is the bedroom of the second detective; him playing the metronome as he is trying to sleep could suggest that he has trouble sleeping due to the stresses of what he has had to deal with in his job it could be away of blocking out painful memories from his past.

 

This is a shot from the beginning of the credits, we are looking at the killers preparation techniques, we can see that they have added some obscure elements to these credits such as the use of blood, the credits leave you asking a lot of questions about what is going on as it is not made clear what it is showing until the end of the film.

This is the shot following the credits ad it is an establishing shot of the city showing how dark and gloomy the area is backs up how depressing the city is as they inhibiters struggle to stay out of trouble and try to stay safe.

This is a close up of the detective’s car, it is shown to be very organised in the way that everything has a place and everything is in its place, the shot is showing forensic equipment which could suggest that there has been another murder

This is a close up of the floor in the apartment, as we can see it is very dirty with bugs running around on the floor which could suggest that the place has been abandoned or something has happened making cleaning the apartment impossible, we can only see what they can see as the only light that is being shown is torch light again this leaves us asking more questions as we can only see what the detectives are seeing, which in this case is minimal.

In this shot we see what is thought to be the victim, it is quite a grotesque image as he has clearly been dead for sometime as his skin is starting to lose colour and we can see his veins, this leaves us more questions as we are wanting to know what has happened to the man and who has done this to him.

This is a close up of under the table and as you can see the victim’s hands have been tied together, again the light is minimal as we can only see what is lit up by torch light, which adds drama to the scene as we know as much as the characters in the film, whilst we are discovering more clues to what happened we are getting a running commentary from the two detective about timings and any other clues that they have discovered whilst the camera is still focused on the victims hands.

As we can see in this shot the second detective is looking at the body almost like nothing fazes him anymore as he never shows any facial expression to anything he sees so it’s like he’s seen it all before, this could suggest that the job has forced him to toughen up and not be squeamish about anything he sees else he would not be able to do his job properly.  

person is use to doing this job so know where everything lives and orders these items in this way without thinking about it anymore, we can see that the place that this shot is taken from is very dark, this could suggest that this person like to be in the shadows and not draw attention to themselves, the darkness is typical of the thriller genre.

Preliminary task evaluation

Media Prelim Link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-SRml-sk3s&feature=youtu.be

For our preliminary task we had to film and edit a sequence to show a person entering a room and speaking to someone else. The task should demonstrate:

·        The 180 degree rule

·        Match on action

·        Shot reverse shot

·        Continuity

This is a shot from the opening scenes of our task, I have chosen this shot because of the lighting, as you can see we have turned off the lights and let the natural light flood in, this creates a sense of mystery as the identity of the person is hidden to the audience, in the scenes following this it changes from a well lit room back to this dark corridor, we decided to include this as we could use a variety of shots including extreme long shots and close ups.

This is a close up of the door handle and later following this shot the door is opened, for this shot we used a close up, in the following shot we cut to a shot of me in the office trying to open the cabinets, we included this shot to create tension as the situation is getting more and more tense as the figure approaches.

 

This is the last shot we filmed and although you may not be able to tell from this still this shot is a freeze frame, this shot is a mid shot and we included it to show and also a two shot as there is two people being filmed, this shot creates a relaxed atmosphere as everything is right again and the two characters are sorting out what happened.  

 

 I feel our camera work was pretty good considering it was our first time filming, I feel that we used a good range of shot which included close ups, long shots and over the shoulder shots, I feel that we could have used a wider range of shots in some parts of the of the film to really show of what we could do, I feel that the composition of our film was good because we included all the things we wanted to in the shots also the same with the framing as we managed to include everything that was needed to show what we wanted everyone to see.

I feel that the camera movement wasn’t as good as it could have been but I feel that it may have been down to inexperience, and example of this would been when I dropped they keys on the floor, we could only see from my shoulders down plus we didn’t follow the keys actually falling so the full effect wasn’t created, we didn’t really use any different camera shots as we didn’t know which parts of the film to incorporate them, as our camera was on a tripod throughout filming I would like to say that all our shots are quite stable the only thing I could say would be when moving the camera from side to side it may not have been as smooth as it could have been.   

I feel that the editing went very well and I think we also stuck to 180 degree rule throughout our film, we also tried to include match on action, we attempted shot reverse shot and even though we managed it I do feel that we could have maybe managed to do it a bit better than we did, we included titles on some of our shots, but I feel we could of added them in a better place (E.G at the end of the film instead off shots in the film), we included two transitions (both fade to black) and we also added a freeze frame all of these are shown at the end of the film.

 

We used all natural lighting in our film; I feel this is most effective in the opening shots of the film as it switches from dark to light several times we got the idea from the opening to Skyfall as it starts of blurred and then gradually comes into focus, much like our film.

I have learnt many skills from this task such as how to achieve different things with the camera such as shots and angles and also how to edit, I also learnt how to plan out shots using a shot list, this will help us with our thriller as we will be able to plan it out thoroughly so we don’t miss anything out.

If I could improve anything I think it would be the shots that include talking as there are bits that we missed out and silly little mistakes that we could have easily avoided  

Audience

How do people make sense of and give meaning to cultural products?

 

·         Movie companies aim different films and artists at different target audiences, the do research to help them find out what people want to see and how to market their films and other promotional material.

How?

·         Surveys

·         Polls

·         Focus groups

·         Questionnaires

And more commonly

·         Blogs.

·         Social networking sites.

To share ideas, films and images to gain feedback.

Talking.

·         Researchers also set up test screening to gauge audience reaction to a film.

·         Get initial reactions and show your plans to people and see what they think.

·         Get regular feedback.

When an audience consumes a product, they bring many thing with them E.G.

·         Upbringing

·         Lifestyle

·         Culture

·         Attitudes

·         Education

·         Emotions

·         Knowledge

·         Expectations

Audience’s possible questions  

·         What do they do for a living

·         What videos have they seen

·         What experiences have they had

·         What class do they belong to

·         What is their cultural background

·         What genre of books and films do they like

·         What music stars do they like

·         What books have they read

·         What kind of an education have they had  

Thriller conventions

 

Camera work

•establishing shot (location)

 •mid shots (characters)

 •close ups (disorientation)+(claustrophobic)

 

Use of composition and framing

 

•key props

•creates suspension

 

Use of camera movement and angles

•high/low angle shot to show power/status

•1st person=empathy

 

 

Editing

•use of flash back/dual narrative-shows complex narrative/tension as the story progresses

•editing- straight cut-pace=tension

•flash back key

 

 

Thriller opening conventions

•how do thrillers start? drama, tension, use of music, titles -> name of film- actors, sirectors company indents

•what should happen in the first 2 minutes? confusing, questions?, one significant event

 

 

 

Sound

•diegetic, non-diegetic sound- use ambient sounds -> music

•noises-fade in and out=atmosphere

•dialogue/voice over/music-voice over to create a back story

•AVOID DIALOGUE

 

Mise-en-scene

•typical thriller setting, actors roles gender, costume, props, lighting

 •setting -> realistic/isolated

•costume ->realism

•actors-males-protagonists ->antagonists

•         -women- victims

•weapons- realism

•lighting-shadows etc.

 

 

Narrative

•disorientating-start halfway through an event (audience asking questions)

 •chronological order? flash back/forward?

 •introduce main characters /plot

genre-films

Genre	Western	Gangster	Sci-fi	Horror
What we see	Cacti, horses and saloon	Gangs, violence and hats	Aliens, gadgets and robots	Ghosts, un-dead and violence
What we hear	Gunshot, wind and hooves	Gunshot	Spaceships	Screams
Typical characters	Cowboys, Native American’s and bad guys	Males, villains and hero’s	Good guys, bad guys and aliens	Murderer, victim and mental minds
Themes morals and ideas	Revenge and killing	Violence	Something threatening earth and people being sent out to get rid of it	Someone is being chased or stalked by a person trying to kill or cause them serious harm, or the dead are coming back to life, or haunting someone or something.
Example	True grit	The Godfather	Men in black	Paranormal activity

Genre

Genre

Genre is a type or category of film, it is away to class a film.

 

Types of genre

·       Comedy- we are the millers

·       Romantic comedy (rom-com)- love actually

·       Horror- paranormal activity

·       Sci-fi- men in black (1,2and 3)

·       Tragedy- titanic

·       Thriller- the Bourne trilogy

·       Adventure- Indiana jones

·       Fantasy- Narnia

·       Action- the dark night

·       Western- true grit

·       Musicals- Mama Mia

·       Gangster- the godfather

·       War- pearl harbour

Three main types of genre

·       Major- most dominant genre, obvious and easy to define.

·       Sub-genre-major genre that has sub divided, e.g. romantic+comedy=rom-com.

·       Generic hybrid- combination of major genres, e.g. romantic+zombie+comedy=rom-zom-com.