How to prepare for a film shoot

Different creative processes:

1. Script writing
2. Storyboarding
3. Test shooting
4. Shooting
5. Editing

1) Script - Always write a script down and never do it by memory. also keep the script simple by using actions and emotions instead of complicating it with talking about shots and angles.

2) Walk through the script - Always do this so that everyone is comfortble with how it is sounding and also give people ideas of how it might look.

3) Location recce - Always do one of these to give you an idea of when the best time to film would be and also take a lot of detailed notes of what you see and hear when you are there. 

4) Digital storyboard - Us different angles, frames and also shot types and also go on to Google earth to get a birds eye view of your location and where you think would be best to film it.

5) Shot list - Always make sure you have on of these because it keeps you organised when it comes to filming and also is good when you maybe want to annotate your script a bit.

6) Test shots - Always good to go out of college to your location to take a few test shots to give you an idea of what will look good and also what wont work very well. also helps to get to know who and what is about at that time which will help you sort out what time we will film.

7) Make shooting schedule - This is crucial because you need this to stay organised and on schedule which will help us get a better mark when it comes to final shooting.

 

Things we still need to do for our thriller film

Location recce-Test location for problems

Storyboarding-Show ideas in a visual way

Test Shooting-Test ideas like types of camera shots   

Shooting- Shoot the ideas we have come up with for our film

Editing-Edit the shots after doing the filming

Questions asked on our Pitch for our Thriller

What music are you hoping to use?

We are hoping to use some fast, up beat music to the start when the girl is jogging, diegetic.

Who will be acting out each character role?

One of Daisy's friends is the girl jogging past the creepy house and then Nick is the guy looking out the window with his hood up.

Will the runner appear again later on in the film?

No, the runner will not be linked to anything after her appearence at the start.

Will we make an ident for our production logo?

Yes if we get enough time to. We will put a lightning bolt going through the cloud and also some thunger noise.

What animations will we use?

10 Second Breakdown of the Plot

Setting: Early evening in a derelict village on a small foresty road.

0 - 10 Seconds - Young girl on a jog running down the road.

10 - 20 seconds - Girl runs past a house, stops to look, carries on running but keeps looking back at entrance of the house.

20- 30  Seconds - Camera pans down the driveway up to a creepy house then stops. (no characters involved at this point) Then the camera looks up at a window where a man is standing, looking out.

30 - 40 Seconds - Camera zooms into the man standing at a window (slowly). Then half way,  the screen scratches out and when the shot comes back on, the man is gone. But the camera continues to zoom.

40 - 1.40 Seconds - For a minute, whilst the credits are shown, we will film things like paper being scratched, needles threaded lots of writing, photos, books etc. Gives audience an idea that the house has something about it because it is being investigated.

1.40 - 1.50 Minutes -Back to house, but man standing in entrance with his head down. Camera slowly zooms into the man, half way - scratches screen again and title comes up.

1.50 - 2 Minutes -  Camera goes back on house and keeps zooming until extreme close up of man's head, then he lifts up his head - scary face.

Cast and Crew for our Thriller film

Crew:

Will Conlon, Daisy Cookson, Nick Griggs

Cast:

TO BE CONSIDERED

Moodboard for our Thriller

This is our Moodboard for our Thriller opening sequence. We included some influential images and we also included some films and top producers of thriller films who we have researched. Also on the moodboard, we experimented with different fonts for the thriller film.

Mise-En-Scene (THE FORGOTTEN)

Props

• Torch                    
• Paper
• Hooks
• needles

Costume

• Running Outfit- The girl- high visibility?
• Dark clothing-Bad person-Hooded

Lighting

• Dark Lighting- Ominous, mysterious, scary, Gloomy

Colour

• Lots of dark colours to show that it is mysterious.
• The dark colours also show that the main character (the runner) has low visibility and cannot clearly see what is going on.

Set 

• Abandoned house, accessible and appropriate to the film we are making due to the overhanging trees and the impact we are planning to make.

Classification of our Thriller

Suitable only for 15 years and over

No one younger than 15 can watch this film in the cinema, buy or rent this film.

Discrimination

The film should not contain discrimination towards anyone or anything.

Drugs

The use of drugs may be shown, but only in an extremely negative way, to prevent the promotion of them.

Horror

Horror, mean Strong threat and menace are allowed to be used unless it is sadistic or sexualised.

Imitable behaviour

Behaviour shown in the film which is dangerous should not be easily copied by everyday people.

Language

Strong language may be used frequently in the right context.

Nudity

There may be scenes of nudity but it must not go into detail

Sex

There may be sexual activity but the film should not focus or go into detail about this.

Theme

Any theme can be used as long as it is appropriate for a 15 year old

Violence

There may be violence in the film as long as the film does not promote causing pain or being violent in a good light.

Ideas for our Thriller

Title of the film - The Forgotten.

Classification - 15

• We will be filming at an old mansion house in Shelford. (see above) 
• Young girl running past the entrance of an abandoned house, you see she senses something weird and stops to look at the house.
• As she carries on running, she looks back, showing that she senses something weird.
• When the runner has gone, the camera zooms down the drive upto the house.
• The camera stops and then zooms into  window where there is a silhouette of a man standing and watching.
• The zoom continues and then the screen scratches out, and then the camera continues to zoom on the window but the man has gone.

Making a Production Logo

We were set the task of creating a production logo for our thriller opening sequence. Using photoshop, an image from the internet and our own title and font we created a production logo called 'Stormwork productions'. We chose a picture of some storm clouds because it matches with the production title, the font of the writing is also quite creepy which goes with the thriller genre. If we have enough time, we hope to make an ident to go with the production logo to make, the opening sequence more authentic.

Production Companies

Paramount Home Entertainment

The specific version of Paramount's i-dent which we watched was modified for high definition films. Starting with the normal viewing of the clip and then turning into HD, to show the difference. The production logo is of a mountain above the clouds, with the paramount name spread across the mountain, surrounded by stars. Being high up, above the clouds, could represent the company's 'high status'. We also thought that maybe the 'mount' part of Paramount could be why there's a mountain in the production logo.

Evaluation of group R1-13

This group has used sound very well in this clip as it is slow and mysterious, which enables the viewer to see that the film is going to be a thriller. Also the titles are used effectively and stand out as they fade in and out and use a different colour font to the background. Also the use of black and white in the film makes it also seem more mysterious as nothing is revealed. This group also uses a variety of camera shits like close ups to create tension in the clip. The use of the clock at the start of the clip is very suitable to the name of the clip 'Time is up'

Group R2 - 53 2008/09 - Evaluation of task

This groups blog posts are very good because of the amount of detail they go into on each one which helps you understand their thinking behind the film more. They talk about everything from the different mise en scene techniques, to how they came to choose their location for the opening. They used a mixture of hand held and also tripod shots which is better for the viewer because it mixes it up a bit. They also used a lot of different shot distances such as close up and also a long way a way. The material that was used was very well suited to the task because it used dark lighting, filmed during the night, well suited music etc. The editing was not that good because there were hardly any transitions through out the film and the opening credits are very basic ( simple white writing on black in a plain font). The music is quite well made however there is a lack of continuity through out. 

Marking Criteria

Video is marked out of 60

• Level 1 is anything up to 23
• Level 2 24-35-Basic
• Level 3 36-47- Proficient
• Level 4 48-60-Excellent

CRITERIA:

• Holding a shot steady where appropriate
• Framing a shot including and excluding elements
• Using a variety of shot distances
• Shooting material appropriate to the task
• Select mise-en-scene
• Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer
• Using varied shot transitions and effects
• Using sound with images
• Using titles appropriately

Action thriller-Opening Sequence Evaluation

A) From the clip build ideas on what you think the conventions of this sub-genre are.

We watched the film 'Leon' and the conventions of an action-thriller which we found within the film was that the film is very fast pace right from the beginning, the film starts by a brief conversation to give the audience an idea of the characters and then it goes straight into the action. Also, the film is quite gory for a thriller film because thrillers don't usually show a large amount of actual killings but in this film within the first half an hour there is at least nine or ten people killed. We believe this could be because the film is a certified 18. Another convention is that there is a protagonist (Leon) and an antagonist (Stan), which is quite typical for thriller films. Another convention which we discovered from this film is that there is a character who you don't quite fully understand, in this case Leon. Most thriller films have a twist in them which is not revealed until the end of the film, we predict that secrets about Leon will not be exposed until the end of the film.

B) Which characters are introduced and what do we learn about them?

The first character we are introduced to is the protagonist, Leon. From this first conversation we learn that he has quite a highly regarded reputation for assassinating people. there is also an element of a split personality within the character because he goes off and kills lots of people, then goes and buys some milk and is quite calmly sitting at home.   The second protagonist appears to be the little girl. Matilda. The camera firstly shows her outfit which is quite fun and vibrant reflecting her inner personality, when Leon walks past her she appears quite confident because she speaks to him without really knowing him.

An exemple of a Psychological Thriller - Momento

The main character in Momento (Guy Pearce) is a schizophreniac, and this makes his character very isolated from other characters because he feels someone is trying to kill him, so he doesn't know who to trust. Therefore he pushes everyone away, and isolates himself which is a convention of most thriller films.

The flashbacks throughout the film are also a common convention of thriller films, the time changes give the audience an idea of the confusion felt by the character because it is difficult to know what time is the present, this could represent the main character's memory loss and confusion.

Characters often play on the minds of other characters in thrillers however in this film, the main character appears to play on his own mind, he write himself notes and has given himself tattoos to try and remind himself of different things in everyday life. However this seems to confuse him more.

Analysis of Pyscolgical and Political

Frost/Nixon is set in quite a few different settings and locations which shows that they are quite important politicians. Its a typical political film because of the fact two mjor politicians are fighting against each other for power.

 

 Fight club is a typical psychological film because of the fact that there is a protagonist and an antagonist. The fact that one of the main characters also suffers from insomnia also adds to the mystery of the film because the audience never know what he is thinking or what he is planning for his victims.

An example of a political thriller-Valkyrie

Valkyrie

Valkyrie is a film about a group of German soldiers who attempt to overthrow the Nazi leadership and kill Adolf Hitler. This political thriller meets the political thriller conventions as Tom Cruise's character attempts to stop Hitler ruling Germany. Also it meets the conventions as innocent people are drawn into the storyline, in this case Tom Cruise's characters wife and children are drawn into the story line even though they have done nothing wrong. Valkyrie is set in Germany during the second world war and shows that not all of the Germans supported Hitler. Also the helper character is very key in this film as this is who supplies Tom Cruise's character with all of the bombs to attempt to kill Hitler, this is also meets the conventions of a political thriller.

Conventions of a Psychological Thriller

• Twisted/Unusual/clever plot.
• The character is unaware of something we know, e.g they think some one is trying to kill them when we know that they aren't trying to kill them.
• Questions reality.
• Unusual Heroes, this adds to the twisted plot
• The themes are often quite dark
• There is often a focus on a particular theme e.g Dreams or memory.
• Characters often have a fascination with death or other worlds.
• Typical narrative
• Flashbacks are often used 
• Characters playing on each others minds, e.g trying to confuse each other etc.

Differences Between a Horror and a Thriller

THRILLER		HORROR
Tension is built towards a reveal at the end		Tense all the way through
Thriller focuses on solving crime		Focus on violence/gore
More depth to plot and characters		we do not get to know characters well
Mature well known and expensive characters		young cast who are not always known
What/how and why?		Shock

Example of a Horror

Example of a Thriller

Evaluation of 'Seven'

Seven is a typical story line and the events that happen in the film are typical of a good thriller. We know this because first of all we never see anyone getting killed instead we just see them turning up and trying to figure out what happened. If it was a horror we would see the people get killed instead. Also the lighting in the film is mostly artificial which kind of sets the tone and the feeling towards the film. The actors used in this film are well known famous actors which is better because they can make the film more interesting rather than actors who are just starting out who are usually used in horrors to try and make a name for themselves.

Rules of filming

RULES OF FILMING

1. No swearing
2. No kids
3. No weapons in public places
4. No over used narratives
5. Must have own music
6. If filming on sight must be considerate of others-not on roof.

Conventions of a thriller

CONVENTIONS OF A THRILLER

• music is dark-low beat
• lighting-low key. dark/shadows
• Title- gives a clue to Narrative
• takes an ordinary situation makes it extraordinary 
• binary opposite characters
• see protagonist in peril
• false equilibrium
• female objectification
• voyeurism- audience becomes veyeur
• themes of mistaken identity, mirroring, illusion
• protagonist is isolated
• achilles heel weakness

Notes on The Prestige part 1

Mis en - scene

• The lighting right at the start sort of sets the feeling and tone for the film as it is quite dark and dull and the film isn't exactly the happiest storyline therefore i think it sets the tone early
• The sound throughout the film is never upbeat, instead it is always quite echoey and a bit depressing which i think links well with the story and film
• Props used fit well with the characters.

Character roles

• Michael Cane plays his role well because he does not give too much away about anything he does such as when thy are in court, he refuses to give away his secrets about tricks which keeps the audience interested because they will want to find out later on.
• Balden right at the start of the film is made out to look like the enemy because they all believe he killed his enemy magician. Also he is made out to be struggling for money and struggling in life. The audience is unsure whether to feel sorry for him or a bit of anger.
• Mr Angier is completely the opposite because we find out he has alot of money and is not struggling unlike Balden. the settings and props also help us get an idea of how both characters live their lives through out the film.

Narrative roles

• The main characters in the film narrate over parts in which they are mostly involved in so that they can give the audience a first hand account of how they dealt or felt towards a situation which helps the audience understand more.

Preliminary Task

This is will and Nick preparing to film our preliminary task...

This is Nick editing our preliminary footage...

Preliminary Task

  We had to film different shots a couple of times so we could make it as good as we could of. We have taken some pictures of our storyboards and also the work we have completed on final cut so far.