On Wednesday’s lesson, The weather was dreadful. We were supposed to go to the library to start filming however, we realised after reaching there, that it was closed. How irritating. So whilst we were outside in the pouring rain, we decided to skip the library scene and shoot the killing scene were the victim is being followed by the killer (the son of the mother).
The shots we had taken went well, even though we had to keep shooting the same shots repetitively to get the filming more accurate as possible. The setting of this scene (outside) looked very disturbing as we walked through a park. The fact that it was raining, created more of a chilling effect, even I was scared of the area. What was even worse was that we had to step into so much mud in order to create a precise shot and generate suspense for the audiences. It had taken us two and a half hours to film, but it was worthwhile plus the shooting went well.
Friday 30 January 2009
Monday’s Lesson
During throughout the whole of Monday’s lesson we were planning how and when we were going to shoot the thriller, who will be looking out for locations and which ones to recommend, plus who will be the main character in the film. The storyline to our film is about a girl (played by Aiko) whose searching for the person who was responsible for her mother’s death to get revenge. However what this person does not know is that the blameworthy man is in prison, so whilst she’s looking for the killer, she is killing the ones closest to him which includes his wife (played by Dominique).
Last Wednesday’s Lesson - 21.01.2009
On Wednesday’s lesson, we continued planning our thriller from the last lesson then, unexpectedly as groups, we were given five minutes to present our work to the class and judges Mickey, Marisa, Andrew and Tony.
It was our turn. We explained to the judges on how we would shoot our thriller, use the lighting, and what locations we would possibly use, also how we would produce the music to create a chilling effect, etc to see whether we would receive the camera from them or not. The judges commented in what they thought about our presentation and gave us positive feedback. They all agreed and so we were given the camera by them.
It was our turn. We explained to the judges on how we would shoot our thriller, use the lighting, and what locations we would possibly use, also how we would produce the music to create a chilling effect, etc to see whether we would receive the camera from them or not. The judges commented in what they thought about our presentation and gave us positive feedback. They all agreed and so we were given the camera by them.
Last Monday’s Lesson - 19.01.2009
At the start of Monday’s lesson with Tony, we watched a few examples of thriller clips made by the previous AS’s. As a class, we commented on the differences between the high graded clips and the low graded ones along with why we thought it was interesting and created atmosphere or boring and dull.
After that we were told as a group to do a brainstorm for our real thriller, giving some ideas of what storyline we would create, what title to give, the effects, etc in order to generate atmosphere and did it throughout the rest of the lesson.
After that we were told as a group to do a brainstorm for our real thriller, giving some ideas of what storyline we would create, what title to give, the effects, etc in order to generate atmosphere and did it throughout the rest of the lesson.
Saturday 24 January 2009
Final Idea ?
This lesson we decided to move on to actualy thinking of a final idea for our thriller, this wasent as easy as the last lesson were we had to do the random brian storm. This was because, this time we had to stick to one idea that had a proper ending and a proper start. I spent alot of time thinking about what kind of story would be good to use, at the same time i was looking at the different types of ideas that where on the brainstorm. After spending a conciderably long amount of time thinking about a idea i realised that the brainstorm that we had made wasent as usefull as i had hoped it would have been. All it looked like to me now was a load of words and locations that we could use but no definate or good ideas that we could develop on. Which was a bit dissapointing concidering that we had spent all lesson doing this brain storm and i had thought it was going to be usefull. some one my group members looked like they had given up thinking for a while untill i asked them what they had in mind or what they was thinking about our situation at the time.
Despite us not being able to think of an idea in the first half of the lesson. We was able to at least think of two basic ideas that we could use ... proper ideas that were like stories with characters in them. later on we figured out that the idea that we started to like and develop wasent any use because we dident have a proper location that we could use as a setting for the story. which was pretty annoying to find out just before the end of the lesson. So then we had to think of another idea ( third idea) to try and use for our thriller. This new idea wasent all that good but i figured that if we had got in intresting shots in and good framing in it would get a good over all mark. Also just incase we all decided to find another idea at home as a back up idea.
Despite us not being able to think of an idea in the first half of the lesson. We was able to at least think of two basic ideas that we could use ... proper ideas that were like stories with characters in them. later on we figured out that the idea that we started to like and develop wasent any use because we dident have a proper location that we could use as a setting for the story. which was pretty annoying to find out just before the end of the lesson. So then we had to think of another idea ( third idea) to try and use for our thriller. This new idea wasent all that good but i figured that if we had got in intresting shots in and good framing in it would get a good over all mark. Also just incase we all decided to find another idea at home as a back up idea.
Ideas
Today we had to think of ideas for our short thriller film, we got into our groups and started to brain storm what kind of ideas we could make our thriller film from. I think that this was helpful because it allowed us to look at different kinds of ideas for our thriller.
On our brain storm we had the word thriller in the middle, then we had all the basic ideas that stemed from this word. Location as one which we had written on some random locations that we could use. Theme as another and so on these kinds of words allowed us to think about more ideas that we could use as a final idea.
Later on in the lesson our teacher Andrew came around to check our progress. he said that, the way we had brainstormed our ideas all together was a good way of doing it for this stage. Overall i think that the time that we was given in this lesson to think of ideas was well spent and that the brianstorm that we had come up with was really usefull to get our heads working and thinking of actual ideas that we could use as the final idea.
On our brain storm we had the word thriller in the middle, then we had all the basic ideas that stemed from this word. Location as one which we had written on some random locations that we could use. Theme as another and so on these kinds of words allowed us to think about more ideas that we could use as a final idea.
Later on in the lesson our teacher Andrew came around to check our progress. he said that, the way we had brainstormed our ideas all together was a good way of doing it for this stage. Overall i think that the time that we was given in this lesson to think of ideas was well spent and that the brianstorm that we had come up with was really usefull to get our heads working and thinking of actual ideas that we could use as the final idea.
Wednesday 14 January 2009
Editing.
Last lesson we saw our finished footage and was able to cut it in to use able clips and start editing, we sat down in our groups and watched it through a few times to make sure we could see what we could match cut then we started to use final cut pro for the proper editing.
We used the camera outside and inside but with match cut pro we used them both together which looked more dramatic and created tension because it looked like the character was walking towards something dangerous. We used the handheld technique to capture the two meeting and panning to show them meeting too.
We didn't want to use the shots of just the characters eyes at first because we didn't think it look serious enough but when we put the wound track to the film and made it a sort of comedy and it made the film really funny.
We only used one effect which was cross dissolve, we didn't want to make it look to cheesy with lots of effects so we kept them minimal.
When it came to us putting music to it we wanted the music to make the story line of our film clear so we put serious music over the top of the the beginning part of the film then when the people turned around we put light hearted music over it to show we went being to serious,
Because we ran out of time to carry on filming we left the film on a cliffhanger so the audience wouldn't know who won and we put a funny scream over the end for a final light hearted take on the film.
We used the camera outside and inside but with match cut pro we used them both together which looked more dramatic and created tension because it looked like the character was walking towards something dangerous. We used the handheld technique to capture the two meeting and panning to show them meeting too.
We didn't want to use the shots of just the characters eyes at first because we didn't think it look serious enough but when we put the wound track to the film and made it a sort of comedy and it made the film really funny.
We only used one effect which was cross dissolve, we didn't want to make it look to cheesy with lots of effects so we kept them minimal.
When it came to us putting music to it we wanted the music to make the story line of our film clear so we put serious music over the top of the the beginning part of the film then when the people turned around we put light hearted music over it to show we went being to serious,
Because we ran out of time to carry on filming we left the film on a cliffhanger so the audience wouldn't know who won and we put a funny scream over the end for a final light hearted take on the film.
preliminary match cut
the second practice film for media studies, this practice match cut film was over all good and i was pleased with the end results.
At first the filming part didn't go well because of the amount of time that we had, the amount of time we spent practising to shoot some shots took up most of our time. So when it came to logging and caputring our footage that we had taken the last lesson, we realised that we dident have as much footage as we thought we had. This was a problem but we still carried on with making a start to our editing, we knew that eventrually we would think of a good way to make up a ending with what we had already. I think the way we just got on with editing anyways was good because in the end we finished before anyone else and had our short film posted on to our blog. So we decided that to add more meaning to the short film we would need music to creat some kind of theme for the audience to try and understand what is going on.
Overall the shot film we did involved all of the shots that were required and our group was pleased with the end result of all of our hard work that had gone into to the editing and the shooting of the film.
At first the filming part didn't go well because of the amount of time that we had, the amount of time we spent practising to shoot some shots took up most of our time. So when it came to logging and caputring our footage that we had taken the last lesson, we realised that we dident have as much footage as we thought we had. This was a problem but we still carried on with making a start to our editing, we knew that eventrually we would think of a good way to make up a ending with what we had already. I think the way we just got on with editing anyways was good because in the end we finished before anyone else and had our short film posted on to our blog. So we decided that to add more meaning to the short film we would need music to creat some kind of theme for the audience to try and understand what is going on.
Overall the shot film we did involved all of the shots that were required and our group was pleased with the end result of all of our hard work that had gone into to the editing and the shooting of the film.
Second Practice Film
On Wednesday 7th January, we were introduced to the second practice film. The first task was to, plan the storyboard and dialogue before filming.
I'm not able to say much about the actual filming because I have missed the practice lesson, however I think that it was pretty the same as the previous practice in terms of filming and editing.
In my opinion, the clip is very good. I have seen it today for the first time and my impression is really good. It starts very seriously and then becomes very funny.
I think that my group, followed the forms of conventions of real films because from the very beginning, the clip looks professional.
I'm not able to say much about the actual filming because I have missed the practice lesson, however I think that it was pretty the same as the previous practice in terms of filming and editing.
In my opinion, the clip is very good. I have seen it today for the first time and my impression is really good. It starts very seriously and then becomes very funny.
I think that my group, followed the forms of conventions of real films because from the very beginning, the clip looks professional.
Filming.
We we're given a brief to film a meeting point. A character meeting another, they walk through the doors and sit down with the person they meet.
We came up with the idea that we should make our film look as serious as possible when our character walks through the door carrying a bag with them, they sit down and look determined and angry, then they turn around and start to play thumb wars so the film becomes light hearted and not serious at all.
Because we had to use a door for the character to come through, we wanted to use a door that other people might not thing of using so we used big double doors that opened on its own to make it look more professional and serious. We used many camera techniques to make our film look good like panning, hand held etc we also stayed with the 180 degree rule all the time.
One thing i would change would be the fact that we wasted a lot of time and didn't get to finish filming so the audience wont know who won, but we could use that to out advantage to create suspense.
We came up with the idea that we should make our film look as serious as possible when our character walks through the door carrying a bag with them, they sit down and look determined and angry, then they turn around and start to play thumb wars so the film becomes light hearted and not serious at all.
Because we had to use a door for the character to come through, we wanted to use a door that other people might not thing of using so we used big double doors that opened on its own to make it look more professional and serious. We used many camera techniques to make our film look good like panning, hand held etc we also stayed with the 180 degree rule all the time.
One thing i would change would be the fact that we wasted a lot of time and didn't get to finish filming so the audience wont know who won, but we could use that to out advantage to create suspense.
Second practise film!
In the second practice film, we were given a task to film two people meeting. My group decided to film two girls meeting for a thumbs war match. I thought this practical went well and I am happy with the end result.
In this practical I learnt new things as an individual and as a group. The one thing we us a group learnt from this practical is timing, we learnt that it is important to time ourselves well, so we are not rushing when filming shots. When editing we realized we didn’t get enough shots which we thought we did, leaving us with minimum choice of shots when editing. I believed we followed the forms and convention of a real film because we used camera shots well, and music to create a theme for the audience to understand what was going on. We used several shots in our footage like long shots, close up, extreme close, panning and many more to convey an atmospheric mood of two characters. We also edited the footage we shot well, because we match cut shots which made our film flow.
In general my group and I were satisfied with the filming and editing because we worked as a group which made it easy to shoot scenes, also making it fun. Plus the class found our film interesting because of the theme we choose.
Monday 12 January 2009
Match cutting
Wednesday 7th January
At the start of today’s lesson we was given a quick tutorial on match cutting by Marisa this tutorial was useful. We looked at a short film created by some of the teachers from the college. This short film was about a person downloading some information on to his computer, then taking that information and looking at it then finally posting it into a post box. After we watched this example short film, we was asked by Marisa if we could see the match cuts or not and if we could tell her where they were. Then as a class we all talked about what was good with the short film and how it was showing us what was going on and not telling us as an audience about what was going on.
Then after break we got on to filming our short films, we was all given a sheet saying what kinds of shots we have to include in our short film. After having a quick glance at this sheet while waiting to get our camera, we went down stairs to get started with our filming. We spent a while waiting for our other group member but he didn’t come and we started to get a bit impatient about this. So I went upstairs to ask Andrew our media teacher where he had gone and then found out that he had left the college during brake saying he didn’t feel too well. So with this mystery solved we moved on to start filming, the idea of our short film was that two characters will meet each other, the start of the short film will look serious but then when the two characters meet they will have a thumb war. With the thumb war at the end of the short film will be kind of like a twist, because of how serious the start was and how silly the ending was. Over all we didn’t get much time to shoot our footage but we felt that we had enough to edit it all together to create a short film that made sense.
At the start of today’s lesson we was given a quick tutorial on match cutting by Marisa this tutorial was useful. We looked at a short film created by some of the teachers from the college. This short film was about a person downloading some information on to his computer, then taking that information and looking at it then finally posting it into a post box. After we watched this example short film, we was asked by Marisa if we could see the match cuts or not and if we could tell her where they were. Then as a class we all talked about what was good with the short film and how it was showing us what was going on and not telling us as an audience about what was going on.
Then after break we got on to filming our short films, we was all given a sheet saying what kinds of shots we have to include in our short film. After having a quick glance at this sheet while waiting to get our camera, we went down stairs to get started with our filming. We spent a while waiting for our other group member but he didn’t come and we started to get a bit impatient about this. So I went upstairs to ask Andrew our media teacher where he had gone and then found out that he had left the college during brake saying he didn’t feel too well. So with this mystery solved we moved on to start filming, the idea of our short film was that two characters will meet each other, the start of the short film will look serious but then when the two characters meet they will have a thumb war. With the thumb war at the end of the short film will be kind of like a twist, because of how serious the start was and how silly the ending was. Over all we didn’t get much time to shoot our footage but we felt that we had enough to edit it all together to create a short film that made sense.
Editing the second practice film
The second practice film went well today, we went to the computer room to separate the film clips then collected what clips were suitable for the film and edited it by getting rid of unwanted bits from the shots, adjusting one clip onto another, to make it flow in nicely by the use of effects and adding some major, cheering music to our film to make it more humorous for the audience to watch.
Between the first and second practice films, I’ve learnt how to use the camera and record in different camera angles plus placing it on the tripod. I’ve also learnt how to use input and output when editing clips as well as conforming clips in the order we would like it in and adding effects to it.
I think that we as a group have followed the forms and conventions of real movies because we used matching points mostly throughout our film, the scene was set in the college and the clothes worn by the characters were casual. Also, the props used were the chairs, music was being played at the background and their was a relationship between the two characters.
In my opinion, I am happy with the results we came up with. Based on watching our finished film, I believe that the representation of the film is about having fun and how to enjoy yourself when playing games like these besides other ways of communicating with people.
Between the first and second practice films, I’ve learnt how to use the camera and record in different camera angles plus placing it on the tripod. I’ve also learnt how to use input and output when editing clips as well as conforming clips in the order we would like it in and adding effects to it.
I think that we as a group have followed the forms and conventions of real movies because we used matching points mostly throughout our film, the scene was set in the college and the clothes worn by the characters were casual. Also, the props used were the chairs, music was being played at the background and their was a relationship between the two characters.
In my opinion, I am happy with the results we came up with. Based on watching our finished film, I believe that the representation of the film is about having fun and how to enjoy yourself when playing games like these besides other ways of communicating with people.
Wednesday 7th January
Wednesday 7th January
At the beginning of the lesson we were introduced by Marisa to a 'mutch cut' activity. Mutch Cut is when a director cuts from one scene to a totally different one, but has objects in the two scenes "matched," so that they occupy the same place in the shot's frame. After the introduction, we watched a short sample clip made by media technicians where mutch cuts were included.
During the second part of the lesson we were given a task in which we had to make the list of 20 shots for the scenario which was written on the sheet. The task included: shot description, shot type, interior/exterior and action. We had to include a mutch cut as well. After we done that, we had to re group with our previous thriller groups and plan the storyboard for the practical work.
At the beginning of the lesson we were introduced by Marisa to a 'mutch cut' activity. Mutch Cut is when a director cuts from one scene to a totally different one, but has objects in the two scenes "matched," so that they occupy the same place in the shot's frame. After the introduction, we watched a short sample clip made by media technicians where mutch cuts were included.
During the second part of the lesson we were given a task in which we had to make the list of 20 shots for the scenario which was written on the sheet. The task included: shot description, shot type, interior/exterior and action. We had to include a mutch cut as well. After we done that, we had to re group with our previous thriller groups and plan the storyboard for the practical work.
Sunday 11 January 2009
Filming on wednesday!!
Andrew lesson started off by him telling us that Marissa would be coming in the lesson, to do a match cut activity. Shortly Marissa came into the lesson and she asked the class if we remembered the lesson we had on match cutting last year, the majority of class said yes they still remember, so she went on to talk about the a task she setting us, and that is to work into two’s and to match cut the scenario given to us in a sheet of paper, which is ‘A man who is on the computer whilst chain smoking, who then transfers his files from the computer to a CD and posts it in the letter box.’ Me and my partner Vicky decided to use several shots in one action, for example when the man is picking up the envelope, we used a panning shot and using different angle to match cut the action. We found this task difficult because it was hard to keep match cutting every scene. After doing the task Marissa showed us the teacher’s version of the scenario given to us, she showed us the clips twice and then pointing out the match cut used in the scene.
Andrew then gave us another sheet of paper with another task in it; the task asked us to film a scene of two people meeting up. So he asked every group to plan and give different ideas on how we are going to be filming after break. So my group and I came up with several ideas like two lost friends meeting up, blind date and many more, but we decided to do something unusual and different so based our film on a thumb war battle between two people.
After the break we started shooting our film, so we located ourselves downstairs in the hall to film our first shot which was me entering the college, we used several shots like panning and tracking. Also a long shot outside to show where the setting is was. Overall I think the filming went well today because we had fun, also tried to match cut scene in our film.
Andrew then gave us another sheet of paper with another task in it; the task asked us to film a scene of two people meeting up. So he asked every group to plan and give different ideas on how we are going to be filming after break. So my group and I came up with several ideas like two lost friends meeting up, blind date and many more, but we decided to do something unusual and different so based our film on a thumb war battle between two people.
After the break we started shooting our film, so we located ourselves downstairs in the hall to film our first shot which was me entering the college, we used several shots like panning and tracking. Also a long shot outside to show where the setting is was. Overall I think the filming went well today because we had fun, also tried to match cut scene in our film.
Wednesday’s Lesson - Matching Points.
On Wednesday’s lesson with Andrew, we had worked on a worksheet in groups of three’s, writing down ways to create shots without recording it. The storyline we were given was ‘A man who is on the computer whilst chain smoking, who then transfers his files from the computer to a CD and posts it in the letter box. Within our groups, we were figuring out ways of how we would shoot this.
Shortly after that, we watched a DVD made by the media teachers, which matched the description of what the character was doing. Our task was to figure out where the matching points were revealed, which is when you are shooting or recording the same shot but at different camera angles. As well as noticing that, we stated whether our ideas were similar to the ideas on the DVD shown, which some were.
After a while, we were told to produce our own shot (for our practice session) in the same groups as last time when performing our thriller. Our task was to perform our version of a character opening the door, sitting opposite another character, making a few dialogues with them.
As a group we tried to make it look as realistic as possible. For our film, the activity we performed for our dialogue was a thumb fighting game played by two competitive players.
In my opinion I think that the filming of the shots went very well.
Shortly after that, we watched a DVD made by the media teachers, which matched the description of what the character was doing. Our task was to figure out where the matching points were revealed, which is when you are shooting or recording the same shot but at different camera angles. As well as noticing that, we stated whether our ideas were similar to the ideas on the DVD shown, which some were.
After a while, we were told to produce our own shot (for our practice session) in the same groups as last time when performing our thriller. Our task was to perform our version of a character opening the door, sitting opposite another character, making a few dialogues with them.
As a group we tried to make it look as realistic as possible. For our film, the activity we performed for our dialogue was a thumb fighting game played by two competitive players.
In my opinion I think that the filming of the shots went very well.
Analysing thriller clips
After writing our film evaluation in the computer room, tony asked the class to go back to his class room, where we would be analysing thriller clips in our groups. Tony then gave the class a piece of paper and asked each group members to pick what part of the film we wanted to analyse ,this involved analysing the lighting, use of camera (movement, angle, distance), music, editing, setting and location. I picked to analyse the editing in the thriller clips, I found this easy to do because I noticed the two thrillers we watched had a lot of editing done to them like special effects to create atmospheric mood.
The first thriller clip we analysed was Arlington road, I didn’t really know anything about this film, but from the title I knew it was going to be a suspenseful story. When the opening to this thriller, I noticed that the directors had played around with the pictures, by using special effects like fades, negative pictures, black and white effect and solarised pictures. Using special effects created nervousness to the audience. After watching the clip twice tony asked the groups to share what they have collected when watching the thriller, my group said they he used a lot effects like flashing lights and dark colours like red and black, also they pointed out that there was a lot of shaky movement in the camera. Plus the use of shots like close ups, mid shots, zooming, panning and many more. In addition we thought the music was abnormal because it had sounds of screaming, mumbling, and heavy breathing. Overall I think this clip was scary because of the special effects used like the sound and flashing lights.
The second clip we watched was Collateral; this was different to Arlington road, because it was set in a different environment which was the airport. The collateral used fewer effects than Arlington road. In this clips the music and the camera movement was the most important. They used heavy based sound like beating music, also created a busy atmosphere by hearing people talk over each other while the music was playing. Furthermore the use of different camera shots like close ups, to see the characters emotion. Also a bird eye view shot to show a busy environment in the airport. I noticed that it was up tempo so the shots were really short and they have used slow motion.
We didn’t have the chance to watch the other three clips because we did not have enough time but they were ‘28 days later’, ‘The shining’ and ‘What lies beneath’.
Monday 5 January 2009
Film Openings
In today’s lesson Tony was absent and so another media teacher took over instead.
At the start of the lesson, we watched a documentary called 'Watching' which implied different film critics and directors informing how an opening of a film should start. Whilst watching, we were filling out a worksheet related to the topic, as part of our ‘Thriller’ research. These gave me different ideas on how I could shoot my opening. During this documentary, it was revealing different techniques that would be more effective or suitable for thrillers to gain the audiences attention, for example, ‘Films need to seduce their audience..’ But how?. According to the documentary, Jean Jacques Beineix indicated that movies in general should start off steadily in stages, leaving the spectators in suspense and then gradually building up to the stage where the excitement is about to happen for them. However, on the other hand, Thomas Sutcliffe suggested that the film should be receive the audience’s attention immediately, precisely moving straight to the situation.
Another example was the classic opening, which is when the camera steadily exposes the atmosphere of the main character to allow the audience to have a clear idea on what is going on in the movie.
Other then that, we had to explain why a good beginning makes the audience feel that they do not know enough yet, at the same time as making sure that they do not know too little. In my opinion I believe that the reason for this is to keep the audience engaged and hooked on to the movie, giving them enough information to help them know what is going on in the story, creating a suspense towards them.
In my views of the film ‘Seven’. The title sequence is effective as it plays different equipment being rubbed together, therefore giving it a chilling effect towards the audience as well as embracing their attention alongside with the small handwriting and sudden flashes. Judging from the fact that its revealing what the character is doing, gave me the impression that the film may be psychotic or that there is a serial killer involved.
Lastly, the documentary referred on what is meant by ‘A favourite trick of Film Noir’ which is a process where it reveals the opening credits starting from the end of the story therefore becoming more understandable to the audience once the same clip is shown again but near the end of the film this time.
For my opening credits, I want it to have a similar effect, creating tension and suspense towards the audience. The main technique about the opening is that I want it to look as professional as in normal thriller movies to captivate the audiences attention.
At the start of the lesson, we watched a documentary called 'Watching' which implied different film critics and directors informing how an opening of a film should start. Whilst watching, we were filling out a worksheet related to the topic, as part of our ‘Thriller’ research. These gave me different ideas on how I could shoot my opening. During this documentary, it was revealing different techniques that would be more effective or suitable for thrillers to gain the audiences attention, for example, ‘Films need to seduce their audience..’ But how?. According to the documentary, Jean Jacques Beineix indicated that movies in general should start off steadily in stages, leaving the spectators in suspense and then gradually building up to the stage where the excitement is about to happen for them. However, on the other hand, Thomas Sutcliffe suggested that the film should be receive the audience’s attention immediately, precisely moving straight to the situation.
Another example was the classic opening, which is when the camera steadily exposes the atmosphere of the main character to allow the audience to have a clear idea on what is going on in the movie.
Other then that, we had to explain why a good beginning makes the audience feel that they do not know enough yet, at the same time as making sure that they do not know too little. In my opinion I believe that the reason for this is to keep the audience engaged and hooked on to the movie, giving them enough information to help them know what is going on in the story, creating a suspense towards them.
In my views of the film ‘Seven’. The title sequence is effective as it plays different equipment being rubbed together, therefore giving it a chilling effect towards the audience as well as embracing their attention alongside with the small handwriting and sudden flashes. Judging from the fact that its revealing what the character is doing, gave me the impression that the film may be psychotic or that there is a serial killer involved.
Lastly, the documentary referred on what is meant by ‘A favourite trick of Film Noir’ which is a process where it reveals the opening credits starting from the end of the story therefore becoming more understandable to the audience once the same clip is shown again but near the end of the film this time.
For my opening credits, I want it to have a similar effect, creating tension and suspense towards the audience. The main technique about the opening is that I want it to look as professional as in normal thriller movies to captivate the audiences attention.
First Media Lesson Back
Monday 5th January 2009, today's lesson.
we watched a documentary about film openings, called "watching".
we was given a sheet with questions to answer while watching the documentary. the people in the documentary where talking about how build ups in a movie should be, either they are slow with little but enough information for the audience to follow up on or if the opening to a film should give a lot of information about the main character and include a lot of action and suspense. Both ways can be used to make the audience satisfied with the film, but the film maker has to make the rest of the film as interesting as the beginning. Then the documentary moved on to talking about how some films started their opening in a very different and unconventional, but yet effective ways. The films that were used as an example was seven, where the opening of the film included the credits and the footage that gave us some clues about the main charcter and the pace and theme of the whole film. this was done by using key images of what is going to be the main point of the film. we also watched the opening sequence to " The shinning". We discussed how the suspence was being held. We also mentioned that the way the camera was on a helicopter looking down on to the tiny car that the main characters where travleing in, made it look like some thing was following the car and the people in the car. The camera was not zoomed in our focused on the car, but it is hard not to notice the car becuase that is actualy what you main focus is ment to be on. aftet about two shots of senery and seeing the car more than 3 times makes us as the audience realise that the camera is actually following the car. which creates the impresstion that the car is being followed by something and it seems as if they are going the wrong way.
After we had watched this we moved on to talking about, how we would make our own thriller openings. I thought about how I would make my own thriller opening but then i quickly moved on to thinking about what else i should write into the first pharagraph of this blog.
Watching a documentary.
Today was our first lesson back from the Christmas holidays. Arriving into my lesson I noticed a woman sitting in front of the class, the woman was called Marry, Marry had told due to Tony not being in she would covering for him today.
As the class settled Marry explained to the class the plans for todays lesson and she saidthe first thing that we would be doing in this lesson with her today is to watcha documentary about film openings, and during this task we will be having a class discussion about the questions in the paper she gave out earlier. She then said after watching the documentary we would go to the computer room to blog about what we had done in the lesson today.
Starting off with a documentary called 'Watching' film openings. In this docemntary we were given different views on film openings by film critics and directors.
For example Thomas sutcliffe who is a film critic believed " films need to seduce their audience into long term commitment.While there are many types of seduction, the tempetation to go for instant arousal is almost irresistible."
So Thomas believed that the first scene in a film should grab the audience attention, which will give a big impact on the audience introductry motion. as it would grab the audiences attention in to the film. Directors such as jean jazques beineix would say their are many risk to an instant arousal because by giving a dramatic opening at the beginning, the standard of the film would already be set to a higher level which the film might not pull through, so he believed that an opening should gradually build the excitement in the film rather than having a big dramatic opening.
As the class settled Marry explained to the class the plans for todays lesson and she saidthe first thing that we would be doing in this lesson with her today is to watcha documentary about film openings, and during this task we will be having a class discussion about the questions in the paper she gave out earlier. She then said after watching the documentary we would go to the computer room to blog about what we had done in the lesson today.
Starting off with a documentary called 'Watching' film openings. In this docemntary we were given different views on film openings by film critics and directors.
For example Thomas sutcliffe who is a film critic believed " films need to seduce their audience into long term commitment.While there are many types of seduction, the tempetation to go for instant arousal is almost irresistible."
So Thomas believed that the first scene in a film should grab the audience attention, which will give a big impact on the audience introductry motion. as it would grab the audiences attention in to the film. Directors such as jean jazques beineix would say their are many risk to an instant arousal because by giving a dramatic opening at the beginning, the standard of the film would already be set to a higher level which the film might not pull through, so he believed that an opening should gradually build the excitement in the film rather than having a big dramatic opening.
Monday 5th 2009 :)
In today's lesson we watched a short program about the importance of making an impact on he audience in the opening credits this helped me research different ways i could possibly shoot my opening.
We were also given a sheet with questions about the program that we had to fill out.
The program included directors opinions of the different techniques that they find most effective and that they think will hold the audiences attention. These included things like being able to seduce the audience and the risks of instant arousal intern keeping the audience wondering what's going to happen next instead of trying to beat the opening credits to keep interest.
Another technique used is the 'classic' opening, where the the camera slowly reveals the surroundings of the main character which then helps the audience understand the plot further.
I found the opening credits to Seven very creative and it made me think about shooting my opening credits in the same way. The opening credits to Seven showed the most important aspect of the main character by showing how obsessive he is and in what ways revealing that he has mental problems etc. It also had the credits in with the scene but they were sudden flashes so the audience really had to focus on the characters personality being shown and this held their attention.
I want to try and include this way of shooting and editing my opening credits but in my own way that creates tension and suspense but also makes it look as professional as possible.
The program also spoke briefly about 'a favorite trick of noir' which is a technique that shows the opening credits but it starts from the end of the story, this only becomes clear to the audience if the film is watched a second time, this enables the audience to see that there is more to be understood then they first thought.
All through the program we we're able to see examples of all the techniques that had been discussed like the opening credits to the Shining and other thriller films that showed clear use of all the techniques.
Sunday 4 January 2009
Watching Thriller Clips
This lesson was based on looking, at bits of actual thrillers to get a general idea, on how these clips where made scary or thrilling.
we was all given a sheet, to fill out while watching the clips. each person on our table chose to fill out one grid box on the table on the sheet, this way we could get as much information into each of the grid boxes with information of how camera work, framing, sound, editing, lighting and mise en sene was used to make the clip thirilling or scary.
this took up most of the lesson and it gave us a general idea of what to do when we came to doing our own thrillers
we was all given a sheet, to fill out while watching the clips. each person on our table chose to fill out one grid box on the table on the sheet, this way we could get as much information into each of the grid boxes with information of how camera work, framing, sound, editing, lighting and mise en sene was used to make the clip thirilling or scary.
this took up most of the lesson and it gave us a general idea of what to do when we came to doing our own thrillers
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