Reflection on our filming process

Before our filming process we had to research the thriller genres. It taught us about the different thriller conventions and it's sub genres. We looked into detail to sub genres, as a group we decided to look into film noir thrillers, we liked the the concept to a film noir thriller as it is shot in black and white, we had to research its conventions, camera angles, shots, lighting and more. The research stage is important because it gathers our information together and we can adapt it making it better.

After our research stage, we started our planning process. There were many difficulties to this stage, this is because as a group we all had to decide what our storyline was going to be, we changed our storyboard numerous of times, however we eventually all agreed to one. Our planning process included mind mapping, spider diagrams and storyboarding. Our original ideas was originally filmed at a cinema as our narrative for our opening however we didn't stick to this plan as the narrative changed a lot throughout the process to suit our setting. Storyboarding was important, by planning each shot before hand, we can understand what we are aiming to achieve and have something to build on, also we wrote on the back of each shot what camera angles and shots we were going to use so we wouldn't forget to film them, whether the angles should be a upwards angles or a downward angle,whether the actors she be positioned in a close-up, medium or long shot. However we planned out the storyboard quite well we didn't use it much as it slowed down our filming process, we were making up what we were doing more than looking at the storyboard.

Evaluation- Forever

Timetable

This is our filming schedule we will be filming in the school's drama studio. The schedule tells us when the studio is free to use, this helps us as then know for definite when we can film in there and we wont be wasting time asking when we can use it and we know when everyone is free.

Filming Day 1

Our first day of filming was during our media lessons, our actors were in lesson so we decided to film a scene in which non of the actors were required. The first shoot we filmed was of me playing on the piano, involving me playing moonlight sonata, the music is very dark and evil which fits into our title sequence, after playing the piano Prada immediately closes the curtains, the closing curtains indicate an interval at which point the storyline became twisted. After putting this on and editing it, we decided to re-shoot it again but extend throughout some of our film adding to the intensity of the murder.

Re-Shooting

There were a numerous of times when we had to re-shoot the scenes over again. We had to re-shoot many of Jack and Simran's scene when they are in the car, this is because we couldn't figure out what shots would look best. However after a numerous attempts the shoots went better as we now knew what shots to do and we have a wide range to choose from, eliminating the chances of having to re-shoot it.

Detailed StoryBoard

Jade has redone our storyboard in more detail as we thought our first storyboard was lacking detail so we re did another one and improved it. our new storyboard shows the shots in more detail and how we are going to film it with the camera angles.

This is each step of the storyboard explained:

-Introduction- the logo of our production company (Hoyile Production)

- showing the audiences feet walking into the theatre

- Long shot of theatre with people scattered around

- Connie and Roy sitting next to each other in the theatre

- Curtains close for the intervals of the play.

- Roy glances down at this watch

- he assures connie that he will back and leaves the theatre.

- Women dressed in red (Rose) waiting in the lobby

- They walk closely together silently, and exchange money

- Roy departs her, walking towards the electricity supply

- The theatre is pitch black and we hear Connie screaming

- Connie is dead, with banknotes scattered around of with blood

- Roy exits the theatre, whilst wiping blood of the knife

- He gets in his car and drives away into a distance

Titles

This is the logo Jade created for our production company for 'Forever'. Prada came up with the idea that we should use 'Hoyile' as our production name. Hoyile is my name in Chinese, the whole group really like this name as it is unique and nobody else has this name

This is the logo Jade created for the studio that distributes 'Forever'. P.E.J stands for Prada, Emily and Jade. All the names are included in it except mine this is because we used my Chinese name for the production company.

Sound

At the start we had planned that I would be playing on the piano for 2 minutes long. It is non copyright as we recorded it ourselves, we decided this as a group and we all agreed, it is non copyright, we did not get any of the audio online, this includes the scream Jade did.

Improving Camera Shots

In our title sequence there were a few shots we didn't put in, one of them was the establishing shot. However we had difficulties with this as we left it till last minute and we only had the chance to film it once, the shot was not of good quality, therefore we did not use this shot, however we have included several different shots.

final media as level coursework - forever

This is our final and finished Title Sequence, I hope you enjoy.

Please could you fill our survey below once you have finished watching it, thank you.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/D6MM3XT

Progression

Throughout the media course a lot of progress has been made by me and the group. Individually I think I have learnt a lot of new skills and techniques, from using the camera (angle) and editing, I think I have gained a lot of confidence as now I am not afraid to tell the group what doesn't look good. As I haven't used Adobe Premier Pro before it took me a while to get used to it, eventually me and my group got the hang of it, there were still areas where we weren't sure how to use but our teachers helped us and we learnt how to improve it. I'v learnt that it wasn't as easy as I expected. There were many times where we had to re-shoot the scene again, this was very difficult as we also needed to think about our actors as well, as timing was an issue. As we were filming at school we had to fit filming around lesson and after school so it has been hard getting the actors available.
We wanted to create an affect where our footage is black and white but not Jack's red tie, we have major difficulty doing this as it took us ages how to figure it out how to do this on Adobe Premier Pro. However it took us a while to do this, we finally got around doing it, I think it is because as a group we work well together and we all feel comfortable putting our ideas forward.
Since the start of the project there have been a lot of changes but all these changes have definitely made our footage a lot better. Some shots have proved difficulty, as a group we wanted to put as many different shots and angles as we could. As a group we have worked very well, we have all put our inputs in and have done what were suppose to do, however I wished our group worked harder at the start of the project as we have left some parts last minute when our deadline is next week, this means that we don't have as much time to edit our footage.

Props

There are different varies of props for each of our actors, the props show more interest for the audience and also what the character is like. Such as Shauna wears an elegant floral white dress which shows purity and innocence.
We got majority of these props from the drama cupboard as there was a wide range of choice, also some of the props used were borrowed from our friends as it is very important we get all the props correct.

Jack:
-White Shirt
-Blue Suit
-Smart Shoes
-Red Tie

Simran:
-Red Smart Top
-Black Skirt
-Black Fur Coat
-Black Tights
-Black Heels

Shauna:
-White Fur Coat
-White Floral Dress
-Skin Coloured Tights
-Kitten Heels

Others:
-Piano
-Briefcase
-Car
-Knife
-Fake Blood
-Red Lipstick

Our Locations

Here are some of the locations we are filming in:

The first location we used was the halls stage at school, we are using the stage as it fits in well with our first couple of scenes. The location is going to show me playing on the piano and the curtains gradually closing. The music I will be playing will sound very sinister and on edge as it will fit into the thriller genre. I think this location will be great for the scene as the lights will be turned off and shown in black and white, this will have a sense of danger to the scene.

                                       

We will be using the Chikara Centre's drama room as the room is very spacious, they also have the equipment we need. Such as lighting, we need spotlights as it will make the scene look dramatic and evil. The drama room also has black curtains and flooring this will fit in well with the scene at the theatre.

Non-Copyright Music By Emily Hardy

This is a website we can get the non copyright music for our film from:
http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/

We need to work as a group and decided what soundtracks we want to use in our film. It would probably be something from jazz or silent film as they would fit most into our film noir genre.

Final Continuity Task

Continuity Task- First Cut

Feedback:

Here is the first cut of our continuity task, there are many issues filming it and we need to improve on it. Mr Ford gave us some feedback and gave us possible improvements we could do. We had difficulty filming it as we could not find the time to film that suited all of us. We tried to find the best location filming our continuity task however you can see in 0.40 there are posters on the wall, however we couldn't do anything about it as it is school property. Mr Ford gave us a list of shots that we had to include however we had broke some of these rules. Such as a shot reverse shot, 180 degree rule, top of her head was cut off and needed more varied angles. The 180 degree rule is when two characters should always have the same left and right relationship to each other. We had difficulties filming this as we weren't confident however this is one of the aspects of the task we need to improve on. When Simran informs Prada she is pregnant there is an extreme close up shot of Prada however this didn't go to well as her chin and her forehead was cut off this made the shot look unprofessional, this is another improvement we need to re shoot for out final cut.


There are many improvement we have to do, this includes:

-A shot reverse shot

-180 degree rule was broken

-More varied angles need to be used 

-The top of her head was cut off

Order of the opening credits

In a Motion Picture, television program, or video game, the opening credits are shown at the very beginning and list the most important members of the production. They are now usually shown as text superimposed on a blank screen or static pictures, or sometimes on top of action in the show. There may or may not be accompanying music. Where opening credits are built into a separate sequence of their own, the correct term is title sequence (such as the familiar James Bond).


Common opening order credits:

• (NAME OF THE STUDIO)

Name of the Studio that is distributing the film and may or may not have produced it (Walt Disney Pictures, Columbia, Lions Gate, Universal, Marvel Studios, Dimension, Miramax etc.).

• (NAME OF THE PRODUCTION COMPANY)

Name of the production company that actually made the film or name of the investment groups or companies that financed a substantial part of the film (usually credited as "in association with" or "A (studio name) production.").

• (PRODUCER NAME) PRODUCTION or/and (director only) A FILM BY (DIRECTOR NAME)

• Director's cut  first credit, often "a film by XY or "a XY film".

• STARRING

Principal actors, (Sometimes the stars' and director's credits will be reversed, depending on the star's deal with the studio; sometimes, as in the Rodger;s and Hammerstein films, or as in all three film versions of Show Boat, or, as in many of Disney's films, the title of the film will be shown before the names of its actors; sometimes, as in many of Cannon's films, the name of the principal actor will be shown before the names of the producer, i.e. "The Canon group presents X in a Golan-Globus production of a Y film").

• (FILM'S TITLE)

Name of the film.

• FEATURING

Featured actors

• CASTING or CASTING BY

Casting director.

• MUSIC or MUSIC COMPOSED BY or ORIGINAL SCORE BY

Composer of music.

• PRODUCTION DESIGN or PRODUCTION DESIGNER

This research is very important to our film because when editing we will know what order to put our opening credits in. 

Our Chosen Actors

We have chosen 3 main actors to cast in our thriller title sequence:

Jack Hull:We have chose Jack as the Antagonist in our thriller this is because he represents a stereotypical man in the 1950's with blond hair, blue eyes. Jack is additionally white British reflective of out target audience.

                                              

Shauna Gormley: We have chosen Shauna to feature as the protagonist in our crime thriller, this is because Shauna has a elegant unique look which represents stereotypically white British women in the 1950's. Shauna has features that stand out such as, Blue bold eyes, pale skin and a sweet and innocent look. Shauna suits our target audience of any gender ages 15 years and above.

                                             

Simran Kalsi: We have chosen Simran as the role of the tempter to the antagonist. This is because Simran has sharp features such as her eyes, we also thought she would be good at this role because she has great acting skills and seen in our continuity task. We also wanted to show varied ethnicity's in our thriller title sequence.

Dutch Tilt By Emily Hardy

These are my attempts at a dutch tilt:

This is just a normal straight shot of a candle:

This is the same object using the dutch tilt:

 Other objects I practised the dutch tilt on:

The dutch tilts create a subtle sense of unease which is a good thing for a thriller film. They are a common technique used in Film Noir so it is important we have a good understanding of what it is and how to do it before we go and start filming. 

Emily's attempt on practising Dutch tilt has a massive advantage and is very helpful for our production.The Dutch Tilt is commonly used in film Noir films,therefore it will be taken in consideration using this particular shot in our production, this will be very beneficial for us when filming.

Storyboarding

Storyboarding- Graphic visualizing process

Storyboard are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture,animation, motion graphic,or interactive media sequence.

Why is storyboarding important?

-Links planning to filming process
-Visualize image and ideas
-Visualize links between shots and action/graphic matches
-Timing, continuity and pace
-Technical awareness and understanding
-Revise narrative sequencing
-Chance to make decisions and revisions

How to storyboard:
- Have it planned out (script)
- Write the numbers in order next to the scene
- Write a few shots
- Write little annotations
- Camera positions

In thriller films directors don't use much cutting and uses the camera to tell the story than cutting and editing it, this is because it grabs the audiences attention instead of the camera always changing it  to different scenes, cutting is used a lot in t.v programmes such as MTV and Soaps.

Practising camera shots and angles

In class me and Emily went and practiced different camera angles and shots. We thought that we needed more practice on this as when doing the continuity task we struggled on the different angles and shots. Camera angles are used to position the viewer so that they can understand the relationship between the characters. Camera shots are used to demonstrate different aspects of a films setting.

Extreme Close-up (shot)

An extreme close-up contains on part of a characters face. This technique is quite common in horror films. This shot creates an intense mood and provides interaction between the audience and viewer.

Low Angle

A low angle is a camera that looks up at the character. This is the opposite of a high angle and makes a character look more powerful and significant. This can make the audience feel vulnerable and small by looking up at the character. This can help the responder feel empathy if they are viewing he frame from another character's point of view.

High Angle

A high angle is a camera angle that looks down at a character. A character shot with a high angle will look vulnerable or small. These angles are often used to demonstrate to the audience a perspective of a particular character.

Long shot

A long shot contains landscape but gives the viewer a more specific idea of the setting, As we can see the shot was taken place in the cafe, this shot is used a lot in horror films as it  shows where the action will be taken place.

This task has given me a more of a understanding of camera shots and angles, I can use these angles and shots when i'm filming to create different meanings to the film. It has taught me that it can create suspense, different moods, make the character vulnerable, how to make the character more powerful and significant and providing interaction between the character and audience.

Evalution Questions

The following must be answered:

• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

• How does your media product represent particular social groups?

• What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

• Who would be the audience for your media product?

• How did you attract/address your audience?

• What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

• Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

These evaluation questions are very important, as a group we are practicing using the cameras and the filming techniques, as a group we can gain a detailed idea of the criteria to abide by. Also I can do a small evaluation when it comes to the real evaluation and expand it when everything is completed.

Film Noir (continued)

Film Noir consists of for main factors these are:

1. Character roles

2. Narrative themes

3. Iconography + Mise En Scene

4. Technical conventions

(1) Character roles:

Film Noir consists of different characters:

-Cynical Protagonist

Hard heated, cynical, selfless, lonely, physically tough. Usually meets a beautiful femme fatale who draws him into dangerous situations. Is physically or mentally damaged usually due to a past trauma or experience.

-Femme Fatale

An attractive and seductive women, especially one who will ultimately cause distress to a man who becomes involved with her. Often uses her sexuality to manipulate the protagonist into becoming the fall guy

-Corrupt authority figures

A character within a position of authority and trust. This status is often abused for their own personal gain. This role reflects the mistrust and paranoia narrative theme.

(2) Narrative themes

-Mistrust and paranoia

-Bleakness and depression

-Reflection and effects and consequences

(3) Iconography+ Mise En Scene

- Dark sidewalks

-Rain drenched streets

-Flashing neon signs

-Corrupt and hostile urban

-Alcohol/Alcoholics

-Cigarettes

-Guns

(4) Technical Conventions

-Low key lighting 

-Voice over/narration 

-Shadow cast by Venetian blinds

Non linear- First person narrative

Practice shadows/low key lighting by Emily Hardy

These are examples of shadows from films with the film noir genre:

This is my attempt at casting shadows:

When you hold the light down  it makes the shadow bigger making the person seem more intimidating.

When you hold the light up it makes the shadow smaller.

Practicing shadows is important as the are a key feature of film noir. We will have to included shadows to follow the codes and conventions of the genre. It will be quite difficult to create shadows on location I think because it won't be as easy to create complete darkness and then have a light that we can move around to create effective shadows. The shadows create meaning, there is someone there but it is left up to the viewers imaginations to decide who that person is and what they are going to do which creates suspense in the film. 

Emily has practiced how to create shadows and various angles to create different meaning. This will be very beneficial to the group as we can use some of these techniques in our short film. Conventions of a thriller are mirrors, low key lighting, shadows,  flashbacks and etc, this will fit it well with when we film. Shadows are used to represent the inner darkness within beings, and can also add tension and eeriness that is created, it also encourages fear within the audience as they are unaware who the person is and are intrigued by who it is.

Planning-Storyboard

As a group emily and jade went and wrote the script of our short thriller whereas me and prada went and drew the storyboard, as planned videos look the most professional, storyboarding is the process of creating a visual script of the shots and scene changes in a video or film. Storyboarding helps us to think how we want our finished film to look like and what shots convey the story to our audience.
We also included along with the scenes descriptions and notes about the location.

Storyboard:




1. The couple are sitting happily in the theatre.
2. The film stops for an interval, at this point the main protagonist exits the theatre leaving Connie sitting by herself.
3. Roy is then outside the theatre talking to an anonymous women dressed in red, having a brief conversation with Roy. She hands him a wad of cash and quickly departs.
4. Roy then goes to the electric supplies and turns the theatre lights off
5. The audience are confused what is happening
6. We hear a girl scream which is Connie, the girl Roy sat with at the start
7. Roy is then wiping the blood of the knife after killing Connie
8. he slyly walks out of the theatre and comes across a waterfall reminisces memories of him and Connie.

Film Noir- Codes and Conventions

They use certain shots to make the view feel uncomfotable and to create tension:
-high and low angled shots
-extreme close ups
-reflections obscured through objects
-dutch tilts:

  This was used a lot in German films of the 1930s and 1940s.
They use everyday locations to make whats happening seem more real. Normally in dodgy areas to normal locations:
-often rainy on damp streets
-low key lighting
-high contrast (dark blacks and whites)
-urban locations

The sound used reflects the sense of foreboding in the films:
-downbeat jazz music
-heavy breathing
-quiet and silence
-discordant/grating music
-sudden noises
-voice over of protagonist

Editing follows many traditional crime characteristics:
-non linear at the start then tells the story in flashbacks
-generally use continuity editing
-jump cuts


It is important we know all of this as we then know what kind of things we need to included in our film to make sure it follows the typical conventions of a film noir. We will have to include some of these things for it to work effectively.

Planning-Mindmap

This is a mindmap of what two of the members in the group have done where as me and prada went and did the story board.We have discussed a few different film ideas on it, the actors we are going to use and location ideas. We have decided on doing the cinema storyline as we think it will be more appropriate as filming a picnic in black park in febuary wouldn't work very well.

Music and sound in thrillers

In thriller films, the music is to create tension and suspense within the audience and to make them feel scared and frightened. The music helps to build climax when approaching a scary bit of the film. They often include synthesised sounds, this helps to create the mood of the scene in the film. The most commonly used sounds in thrillers are dark, eerie sounds. The music usually starts of in a slow pace at first whilst gradually speeding up the pace helping create the tension and build up climax.


I am now going to analyse Inception title sequence, this will help me as it will give me ideas what to include in the short thriller we are going to film as a group. I will listen carefully to the music and sounds they use in the short opening of Inception

Inception:
Ambient sounds of waves coming in
Slow but loud dramatic music
Sounds of children playing in the background-bringing back the past
Sudden loud music
Dark and eerie sounds
Build up of sounds
Repetition
Fade out of sounds then music gradually getting louder again
Child screaming when the music was peaceful
Sharp sounds
Deep sudden sounds