Friday 18 February 2011

Sonic mood board


We chose the first shot of a girl running because the first shot in our real film is of a girl jogging down the road. The picture we chose is similar to what ours will be like in our film as the girl in this picture is running down a country road. Our next shot is of an old caravan as this is also another place that our film will be set. After that shot, we have a shot of a man with his hood up because one of our shots is of Nick standing at window with his hood up looking very intimidating and scary. after that, the next two shots is of a box of needles and also hooks because during our two minute clip, we have paper being scratched and hooks and needles lying about. We got that idea from the film Seven after we saw it during the opening clip right at the start.

Our new Location

Our backup plan for the abandoned house, was to film in another abandoned house, however this has now been bought by people. therefore we have decided that an abandonded house may not be possible to film in. Even though this means that we will have to slightly change our plot, we have decided to film in an abandonded caravan in the village where Daisy lives, we are quite sure that the caravan will not be moved or become lived in because it is very run down and has been for years.
Also, on the way to the caravan, you have to go along a lane which has trees over head and is quite creepy, we are going to now film the girl running along this lane instead of the road. She will then trip over something when the caravan is in site and then she will look at the caravan and then run away.
We have decided that an abandoned caravan in a rural area, is much more unlikely to have a person in it, making it a lot more creepy that there is someone in there.
Here is an image from google maps of the location where we will film, the red arrow shows the lane which the girl will run down and the yellow circle shows the caravan we will film in.

Picture 2

Tuesday 15 February 2011

Target audience for our film

The target audience for our film will most likely be people over the age of 15 which is obvious because because of our classification which is a 15. The film can be watched by both genders as there is no sexism or does not aim at one thing a boy or a girl can firmly relate to. Also it will suit and attract people that like to be on the edge of their seat and also people who like to think about what could be the outcome at the end of the film. Because our film also is a bit gory and a bit scary, people watching it should hopefully be able to watch through with out screaming or feeling scared and worried after watching the opening sequence. If people watch it and cant take the scary and worrying bits, it may ruin it for the other viewers who like watching those type of films.
gothika-1723-poster-large



Gothika poster shows us that the woman has sort of lost her mind because in the photo on the poster, she looks very confused and sort of shocked. She also looks trapped inside somewhere with no way out which could make her feel  lonely. We can also see a massive scar on her arm which says NOT ALONE which is a bit ironic because when people go  mad, they tend to never have any friends or talk to anyone. She also becomes more paranoid because of the fact that nobody believes that the girl she is seeing is still alive. The poster shows that she might be outside and is trying to get in but nobody is there to help her or keep her safe from the paranoia.

Our top ten filming tips

  1. Always make sure that the tripod is out of the shot.
  2. Always think about your lighting.
  3. If you are using a dolly, always find out what the surface is like that you will be filming on as it may be a bumpy surface.
  4. Make sure that you have planned out your film to the best of your ability, e.g do test shots, a 10-second breakdown,
  5. Always make sure you know where the nearest power source is, to prevent the camera from running out of battery.
  6. Add in extra filming at the  beginning and end of each clip so that you can ensure you haven't missed anything.
  7. Make sure the film has good continuity e.g. same costumes.
  8. Check the weather report so you know if camera will get wet and what preparations need to be made.
  9. Repeat shots to make sure you get the correct shot with no mistakes.
  10. Make sure you know what is going on in the background of the shot so that there isn't a person in the background making a funny face.

Crime thriller analysis (Hitman)

hitman_5 

Hitman is your typical crime thriller because it is about one guy, who is a trained assassin, who is given jobs to do all around the world and gets paid to kill people who are a threat to the business he works for.  The story is about a job he is given which is to kill the president of Russia and runs into some trouble on the way. Hitman in this film is the protagonist fighting against the antagonist who would be the police and also the people who are trying to assassinate him. At time Hitman has to be ruthless by killing other people. These people include people such as his fellow agents and trained assassins who he was brought up and trained with when he was a child. During the film, we found out that he was never given a name by the people and business that raised him but instead was given a number which was 47. This is an indicator that he was brought up to do one thing and that was kill people.

Monday 14 February 2011

Problems which have arised

We have encountered a problem, when Nick was driving past our location recently yesterday, it appeared that our location has now got a steel fence around it, meaning that it is now unaccessable.
We now need to find a new location as soon as possible, and make sure that it will be suitable for the plot of our thriller film. However if the house does not suit our plot then we may need to adapt the plot. For example, at the beginning of our thriller the girl will be running past the house and she will trip, then she will look at the house and she will need to be able to see the house when she looks down the drive. Also the drive would need to be reasonably long because one of our shots is a pan down the driveway. We have been looking for houses on google earth and there is a house in the village Daisy lives in which we are going to investigate tonight to see if this could be a possible filming location.

Friday 11 February 2011

Crime thriller conventions

  • Crime thrillers are developed around gangsters and criminals
  • Detectives trying to catch the criminals in action or after
  • They are usually set in large crowded cities
  • Cities show the dark side of the city such as the back streets or the night clubs
  • Gangsters show no morals to anyone, and are very street smart and destructive at what they do
  • Often criminals have arguments with other rival criminals in the city
  • People question how the detectives will catch them
  • Criminals tend to want to be rich and famous and have alot of power with in their city

Test footage shots for our Thriller


The first shot which we will be using in our Thriller film is a tracking shot pf the young girl on a jog. we tried out a tracking shot but with the actor walking, the shot did not look very effective but we feel that this is because the floor was very bumpy, where we will be filming the road should be flat and if it isn't we can find a bit of road which is flat.
For the next shot of our thriller we will be using a Mid to Long shot when the girl stumbles as she runs past the house and then continues to run away. We thought that this shot worked well in our practice however we need to decide on how to end the shot as we cannot just wait until she disappears because it will be boring. 
The next shot which we practised was a Zoom to close up which will be of the man standing at the window. We thought this shot worked really well and we will definitely be using this, however halfway through the zoom there will be a scratched out screen.
We also practised another zoom to close up but of nick who will be standing in the doorway of the scary house. We really liked this shot again because it worked well, slowly zooming and then when he lifts up his head, it sort of makes you jump.
we also filmed a few more shots including Track and zoom shot, Over the shoulder shot, 360 Degree shot, zoom and 180 degree shot,  but we don't feel we need these shots in our thriller. We do think that these shot worked very well especially the 180 degree shot of a conversation.

Monday 7 February 2011

Conventions of a Psychological thriller

  • Often include investigations, e.g a murder where the protagonist is the detective trying to find the murderer.
  • They often lead the viewer off in the wrong direction, or make it really difficult for the viewer to guess who the murderer is and then the plot will end with a twist.
  • The antagonist in a psychological thriller often has some sort of mental illness, e.g schizophrenia.
  • The protagonist quite often has personal problems, e.g a death to someone close to them, making them quite odd themselves.
  • characters mentality questioned 
  • Plot may be confusing for the audience
  • Theme based on memories or dreams.
  • Danger on mental level
  • Sense of mystery in films.

Friday 4 February 2011

Script

The Forgotten

Girl Jogging: Running along the pavement, listening to her music, unaware of outside world on a normal weekday afternoon. (Tracking shot of girl)

Girl Jogging - As the girl is jogging she stumbles on a rock and looks up at this abandoned, dark, gloomy house. Then she runs off and the camera follows her as she disappears. (Mid shot when she stops to look and then Long shot as she runs of into the distance.)

Camera then pans down the driveway and stops in front of the house. then looks up at her window. (Panning shot as it goes up driveway)

Camera then zooms into the window where the man is standing,the screen then scratches out and goes back to the zoom shot of the window but the figure is no longer there.  ( Zoom to Close up shot of the figure at the window) 

Montage of photos, letters, needles etc linking to the house. Meanwhile credits are on the screen. (Montage editing of close ups)

Camera goes back to shot of house with a man standing in the front door. Camera slowly zooms into the man, then the screen scratches and the title of the film appears. Then back to shot of the man in the entrance and he lifts his head up with a scary face.  (Zoom to close up)

Health and Safety

  • In the abandoned house, one thing we will need to be careful with would be the house not falling down on us or loose bits of wood falling from the building. To counteract this we will be looking at the location before to see if it is safe.
  • Also the house is near a main road, so we will need to be careful of the traffic when crossing the road.
  • We will make sure that we can see everything around us when filming so we do not step on anything sharp or trip on any objects laying around.
  • We will only do things that will mean we are safe, we will not put ourselves or each other at any risk by filming things that could affect us.
  • We will check for any potential risks before filming so it does not affect us whilst filming.

Tuesday 1 February 2011

Why ''Thrillers'' Thrive Article

In this article, the writer is explaining why thrillers have more viewers than horrors, and why people like to watch horrors. The article says "In order to appreciate what the characters on the stage are going through, we have to project ourselves into their consciousness; we have to receive our thrills vicariously, which is not the most effective method" This shows that the audience has to want to watch the film so we have to make our thriller exciting.

"the cinema can leave the spectator with a subconscious assurances of absolute safety, and yet 
surprise, his imagination into playing tricks on him. Secondary to the type of thrill in which the audience seems to participate is the type of thrill in which the audience seems to participate is the type in some character who has won the audiences sympathy is involved in danger; and here again the screen can be far more effective than the stage, because the screen can produce an impression of great danger where no danger is." This is telling us that the cinema is far more effective in getting the audiences emotions than the theatre.

"On screen he is in no greater actual dangers, yet you look over and see yourself what a terrible height it is; you see the jump, you see the reptiles swimming about; you  not only see the jump, you see him fall, you see him hit the water, you watch him swim desperately from the crocodiles-and you must believe the evidence of your own eyes." This shows that the thriller film grips the audience as the audience is allowed to see the action from a first person view, as if they were actually there. This helps grip the audience and helps build up tension and suspense.

Thrillers tend to thrive as they offer a buzz to the audience, the audience feels the hero's emotions and tension, they audience feel as if they are there. The audience tend to be gripped from the start of the film, which is key in making the audience want to stay and watch the film. Thrillers worry the audience, as the hero seems to be in danger, the audience can sympathise with the hero and they want him to be saved.