Location Permission

 
These two letters which my group have sent off to the respected owners/caretakers of the place which we want to film on and take shots. We wrote these letters to inquire and make sure we can shoot there without and problems being caused. We also explained in the letters the reasons for my group wanting to use the premises. As we have said that we are from Glenthorne school which is in the Sutton borough. Also that we are A level students doing it for an A level project, i think that will give us a better chance of being able to film there as it will be for our future. This will also help our group stick to our original idea of where we are wanting to film. So if able to film in these specific locations it will help us. 

props and costume

 

Picture of the shoes which Tom is going to wear whilst he is on the floor after being attacked. These shoes are smart shoes which will show that he may have come from school or college because he is having to dress smartly. 

 

This is a close up shot of the side of the shoes which Tom will be wearing.

 

The two images of the phone represents the flashback when Tom wakes up the morning on the day which he gets attacked. This is because we show Tom laying on the floor fighting for his life and then cutting back to when he wakes up preparing for the day ahead not knowing the consequences.

The 4 images of the sinks are practice images and making sure that this is the correct sink in which we can film what we need. For example we need to make sure we can get the correct angle for the shot and that we can make the blood drip and make it effective.

Casting

 

Casting

For our sequence to work well we need the correct characters tor for fill those roles and with the actors/actresses that we have got we have done that. As our target audience for the film is 16-20 years old we need actors to relate to that and be around that age. 

The Girls

The first 3 characters which i am going to talk about are the girls which are Sophie, Ellie and Zoe. The girls are at a similar height and build so this will help us to hide there identity because our film is all about the audience not knowing who attacked Tom and with the girls all being at a similar build we can do this. so throughout the sequence the audience want know exactly who each character is.When we film all of the girls will be wearing the same costume to show that they all go to school together and that they are friends. 

Main Actor

The main Actor will be getting played by myself Daniel. In the extract my characters name will be called Tom. I am the main actor because i represent the correct build and height needed to have to fit my characters role. I will be wearing everything which i am wearing in my picture above apart form the blue t-shirt which will be swapped for a white shirt. This will not giver any clues to the audience about my character because i will be wearing casual colours and i will be hiding my identity.

Animatics

Animatic

This is our group animatic which we have produced to give us a greater idea on what we can expect when finishing off our final draft for our opening sequence. To make it work we drew out pictures for each individual shot which we are going to take and then put them in order to make the animatic video. We drew them as storyboards so we know exactly how long we want each shot to stay on the screen for, if we want any titles to overlap the shot. We came to the conclusion that we might keep some of the more important titles on screen for longer as we felt they weren't on there for long enough. We also were able to test the music which we wanted to use to see if it sounded right with each shot/scene. However the music which we put in isn't the final music which we are going to use as we still wasn't sure as a group what music we wanted to use. The font which my group decided to use was 'CharparralPro-Regular', we choose to use this font because it is a very simple font but also bold as well so it will draw the audiences attention. This links well with our piece of work because the bold writing shows that it is going to be something serious which links in with the thriller theme and not a joke which would be a comedy theme.
   We also included our distribution and production company. For our production company we have gone with a name called 'Final Cut Productions'. We made this name ourselves and thought the title is effective. Our distribution company is called 'Lionsgate' we chose this because it has got history with distributing thriller films. 

Storyboard

 

Sound

Chosen sound


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Key frames

This is my first image showing the camera shot that I am going to be taking. This shot is an over the shoulder shot, myself and my group chose to use this because it clearly shows the audience that this person is washing blood of their hands and it makes the audience question what has happened and if this is someone else's blood. As well as emphasies the blood it is also withholding information from the audience as it is not showing the identity of this person which is effective as it keeps the audience interested.

This is a wide shot of the whole body. This shot will come after the montage of shots of the parts of the body because they will be the clues leading up to this shot which finally reveals the identity of the person. We felt this shot would be good because it conveys how the person has been injured and reveals the approximate age and gender of the character as well as portraying a bit of the location.

This shot is a high angle shot of the attacker washing there hands after they have assaulted the victim in the ally. The shot comes at the beginning of the film to show the audience that there has been an incident which has happened. This then sets up the rest of the film because the audience will want to find out why the person has got blood on there hands.

 

This picture is when the attacker is walking away from the scene and has blood dripping of there shoe. This make it an even more horrific attack because the amount of blood which there is. Because there is blood all over the attackers hands already and now loads dripping off his shoe to emphasis the attack which has taken place.

Plot Synopsis

                                                                     Plot Synopsis

The beginning of the scene starts with blood dripping down the drain without the audience being able to see what is going on to withhold the information of the blood going down the drain. When the audience finally get a look at what is going on they see the blood circling around the drain and then shooting down, then the camera suddenly zooms into the drain like it is the blood in a fast motion.

Then the audience finally realise why the blood was there at the beginning when they see a young boy called Tom laying on the floor helpless with blood pouring down from his forehead and with a little bit of life left in him by the little movement of his body.

However when it goes into a shot of the boys alarm going off and then you see him press the body, now he's awake and fine in his bed could confuse the audience. However we are using are going back in time and how his day started to him being assaulted.

During the day whilst at school Tom is fine and well until he faces a task as nobody wants to be friends with him.

Things take a turn for the worst when the boys which were bullying invite him to go to the local park to play football with him. Although he wasn't confident in going, he decided to go which proved a big mistake.

Therefore things take a turn for the worst incident occurs, they change and invited so they can hurt him. So when the reach the park the surround him and attack him.

DOES HE SURVIVE!!!
 

Vox Pops

Planning post 1

Setting
In a alley
Abandoned place where the victim will feel and be isolated
Dark so the person feels scared and this emphasises him being isolated.

Characters
The Characters may be young around 25 so they will seem as a normal working class person.
Be strong so they'll seem like the dominant character
Someone could be dead so the possibility of a murder

Props
Fake blood
Gloves to withheld identity

Titles
Black screen at the beginning to create the tension
Titles to come in when the injured/dead person is on the floor

Sounds
Blood dripping into a sink so we'll hear the sound of the blood dripping
Heavy breathing

Questions

1. What do you expect from a thriller?
2. How do you want the film to make you feel whilst watching it?
3. What do you expect the main character to look like from a thriller?

Audience Research 2

research

from my research I found out that the majority of my people that took the 10 questionnaires where males. 8 out of 10 of the people that took the questionnaire were between the age of 16-20 so a lot of young people have filled in the sheet. This could then potentially make a different on the outcome of the results. On a not so positive note only 4 out of the 10 people said that they watch thriller films so we didn't really pick people which would be able to help us out with our research into making a good opening scene because 6 people don't watch thrillers. Most people say that they watch films at least once a week which is ok for our help but if they don't watch thrillers it won't make to much difference on what films they then watch during that week. 8 out of 10 people said that the opening scene is very important, this will then put more pressure on our group to make ours interesting for an audience and the examiner because it seems everybody finds it important. Most people said there reason why is because they want to find out what the film is about and they will know whether they will like the film and like it in them opening two minutes and if it suits them. 7 out of 10 people said that they have watched a thriller before but the fact that the majority don't watch it on a regular basis wont really benefit our research. Most people said that they like to see characters in the opening two minutes which suggest they may not be media students and know about the titles and the setting which will come in the opening two minutes as well. 3 people said they watch films from pirate copy which isn't healthy because it is illegal and it doesn't make the film any money because you are watching the film for free when you shouldn't be. The other people all said DVD or internet is where they watch films which will help make money for the company who are producing and distributing the film. On question 9 people said they expect the main character to be important and also very scary so this would be something which you would expect with a thriller. Onto the final question people said they expect a thriller to be on a street so just a normal day life but with a twist.

Conventions of your chosen genre

Conventions of a thriller

There are many different things that make a thriller for example:

 Settings
The setting has to be in a place where people are going to be scared and confused. The place has to be scary but still has to link in with the thriller genre and not make it a horror because they are similar but a horror is more graphical. To make a good thriller you wouldn't have it set on a beach where nothing out of the ordinary is going on you want it to be over the top and where people are going to be confused as what is going to happen next.

However if the setting was on a beach like this which looks very stranded and not like a normal beach it would be quite scary to go there. All so the lighting is very dim and dark which makes it an even more intimidating place to go to.




Titles
The titles in a thriller have to make the audience think it a thriller or something excited and not to be plain. This is because if it is plain the audience may not get the scary or something is going happen the audience then won't take a real interest in it. On the other hand if it was more of a thriller themed title the audience will look at it and then it may set up there opinion on the film right from the start.

 For example the title in this opening sequence is out of the ordinary because the background is very dark which makes it a very intimidating atmosphere and the fact that the letters are not in a straight line makes it more odd and that the film is not going to be something easy to understand.




Withholding information from the audience
Withholding information is a very effective technique this is because it helps to keep the audience interested in what they are watching. This is because if you with hold information the audience are then going to have to watch the majority of the film to find out what it is. You also keep the audience on there toes because they don't know when the information will come out so they will always be very aware.

Convention of character
This is when they show the main character but not all in one single shot they will narrow it down and create more tension for the audience until they will introduce the main character they may show the hands first like they do in the film MEMENTO or some of limb or part of there body. So the audience always want to know who the main character is because the story line is built around them so you will have more idea what the story line will be when you meet the main character of a film that you are watching.

Your Genre 1

The opening sequence of the film inception begins with the main actor of the film Leonardo Di Caprio waking up on the shore of the sea. The time of day looks around 9 or 10am this is because there are kids playing around near the shore making sand castles, so it cant be to early in the morning. Once the beginning scene carry's on he opens his eyes but looks in a bad way because they half open, this could mean he is rather very tired or has been beaten up or is drugged up these are the main 3 things which could of happened. However seconds later after he closes his eyes again a policeman or a guard points his gun at him to see what is going on if he is dead or not. However it gives the audience a couple seconds of suspense because we don't find out who is pointing the gun at Leonardo because the gun comes into the shot first with an over the shoulder shot looking down on him. Then once the policeman is trying to wake him up he calls another guard which shows us a long shot of the other guard running into a building or down to help. Meanwhile this is the first indication the audience get that it is in an Asian country because of the language the guard spoke in and the uniform which he is wearing. It looks like the country South Korea because of the complexion on the man. Then the beginning scene takes a twist in which the guards find out what he is carrying and he is carrying a hand gun and what looks like a very small pointy ring which looks very much important because once the boss sees it he turns around and is then is wanting to know what it is. The audience get this vibe from an over the shoulder shot of him turning around. Then Leonardo comes into the room looking very scruffy wearing very cream baggy trousers and top which looks like he is living homeless. He then is given some very ugly looking food but he decides to eat it which suggests that he hasn't eaten for a long time. Then the boss says to him from a long shot reverse shot across a very long table "you tried to kill me" which suggests that the boss doesn't want to be to close to Leonardo because he wanted to kill him. Then the scene goes back in time when Leonardo is dressed very smartly in a black suit and black tie which suggests he was or is a wealthy person. This can confuse the audience because our first opinion on him might change because we are seeing a different side to him.

3 locations of where you can make a film

 

 

ROMANTIC

 

 

 

I choose to pick a bench for a romantic film because it is a romantic place for a couple to meet. for example if two single people were walking there dogs in a park and there dogs started getting along well with each other, this may then make the to owners talk to each other and then maybe sit on the bench to chat to each other and this will make it romantic because this will be where they first met and if they get married it will make it more romantic.

 

 

 

THRILLER

 

 

This picture would make it a very exciting place to shoot a thriller film because of the tunnel and it is very light outside the tunnel but as soon as you enter into the tunnel it is pitch black which makes it an intimidating atmosphere to be in. This would also course there to be a lot of tension because the audience will want to know if the person who enters the tunnel will come out alive or if they will get killed for entering the tunnel.

 

ADVENTURE

 

 

 

This would be a very good place to shoot for an adventure film. This is because it is at a theme park and there are many obstacles to overcome because there are many different rides and mazes that you can do so it will be an adventure for someone to do. So the film could be about someone entering a theme park for example Thorpe park and over coming there fears by going on a ride which they are petrified of but going on it in the end and overcoming there fear.

What titles?

|Titles at the beginning of a film/series

The titles at the beginning of a film are very important because they tell the audience what jobs and roles people are given to do with the film.

For example the first two things that will come up will be the distribution and production companies.

After that the main actor of a film will come up this is because they are the main selling point about the film and help the film make the most money so they deserve to be at the beginning of the titles.

Then the movie titles appears so everybody knows what the are tuning into.

Then the other main actors will come up on the screen but they still have a big role but are not at centre stage in the film.

Then all other actors with smaller roles come up a two or three at a time so then we still know who's in the film but they are not as important to be on there own.

Then other roles will come one after each other these roles tend to come in order of least important to most important unlike the actors which have the most important actor first and then the least last.

These roles can be;

Casting which sort out who is going to act in the film.
Costume so who is going to wear what for a specific scene.
Music so someone who will decide which piece of music will go where.
Editing so the person who will edit the scenes and put the pieces of the film altogether.
Production designer so this person will go and look for places to shoot if its not in the studio.
Director of photography is someone who will set up the shots but the director will still have final say.
Executive producer is someone to be the Directors right hand man.
Director is the person hired from the production company to make the whole film and make sure the film is what it should be like.

P.S Miss it will not let me put pictures onto my blog

The Sixth Sense (Shyamalan, 1999, US)

The first thing that comes into view of the audience is the light bulb hanging above the cellar, this light bulb slowly goes into focus which makes more tension for the audience. When the lady walks down into the room there is a long mid shot of her walking towards the camera which is placed behind the set of draw where the lady walks towards to choose a bottle of wine.The camera then does a crab shot of the lady as she goes down to look at the wines. Once she has picked up her wine she then hears a scary sound which makes the audience know someone is in the room the camera then focuses in on the lady to show her emotions and how scared she actually is. Once she turns around slowly with the wine she then runs quickly up the set of stairs away from the cellar.

The director at the beginning uses serif styled writing which is a more posher type of writing than a non serif styled writing, which also suggests its going to be a film which is going to be serious and this writing helps to indicste that.

Memento (Nolan, 2000, US)

At the start of the clip the music is very low, it makes us feel as an audience that something isn't quite right about the scene. I personally thought listening to the beginning and not actually visually watching it that it was in black and white and it was going back to the past because of the tone of the music, I was pretty close. The music stays very slow paced for the time the killer has the photograph in his hand. However when the killer puts the photograph back into his camera the music changes into a more dominating bit of music which makes me feel that someone is in control. The music then stops and the sound then comes from the pieces of equipment then returning back to the original places. For example the glasses return onto the victims face and the bullet returns in to the gun which is used to kill the victim. There is Hyperbolic sound when the equipment return, this is because the sound is over dramatic and louder than it normally would be in a real life scenario.



At the beginning of the clip it has a long scene of a man holding a picture which shows us the scene of a murder which had took place. We as an audience can tell this by the blood which is splattered up the wall. This suggests that it was a violent confrontation which ended in somebody getting murdered ,  with the amount of blood it shows us that the person who has been shot got shot in in the head because of the direction the blood went. When the killer puts the photograph back into the camera the director doesn't want to show us the killer straight away he wants the tension of not knowing what the killer looked like for a bit longer. When the man then moves the camera away from his face is when we first see what the killer looks like with an extreme close up of his face. We can tell by the killer having cuts on his face that the victim fought back against the killer and that there wasn't only a shooting there was punching and a struggle as well. When the bullet and glasses rewind then us as a audience then realise that the director is playing the scene in reverse, so then we can see what actually happened as an audience. Then there's a medium shot of the man shooting the victim.

brief

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music video

Introting

Introduction 

Yo Guysss, 
I'm taking Media Studies as i am a very intelligent student with the abilities to succeed in the wonderful and beautiful subject which indeed appeals to me.