Sunday, 1 February 2015

Question 7


As a film maker, I have developed many skills from my prelim final task.

The specific skills we have developed for filming includes sticking to the 180 degree rule and not changing it as it would flip the sides and make the shot look really messy. We never went past 180 degrees even in some difficult shots such as small compact rooms (the bathroom.)  We stuck with continuity editing as a whole as we showed the shots in the correct order and made sure that the main character in the shots flowed smoothly e.g. when walking down the stairs and not have jump cuts very often.

The shot of the tap as we could see our reflection on the metal when we filmed the shot. This is because it ruins the shot as the audience can see the camera in the shot making it unrealistic. This could have been improved by changing the angle of the shot so the camera isn’t visible when filmed.



 

 

 

 

 

Another part that didn’t work so well was the fact that the protagonist didn’t look at the camera very much. This is a problem because it doesn’t engage the audience well as they feel they aren’t in the film but just watching the film like any other they have watched and doesn’t look too realistic.



 

 

 

 
The prelim title was edited on the‘ Macs’. The title is very  minimalistic in the way its presented.We have made our own title using a mix of online websites and Photoshop. We have made it red to connect to the devil and evil and I used the rubber too on Photoshop to make looks to be scratch marks on the text. This isn't shown to be normal and shows danger towards the audience since the scratch marks connote violence of an inhuman.
 



The main strengths of the thriller are that it is realistic as it links to everyday life of ordinary people in their morning routine as they wake up and have breakfast. Also the camera shots flow very smoothly together using continuity editing throughout the introduction.

 

The main weaknesses of our thriller are that the protagonist doesn’t fully engage the audience during the different shots as he doesn’t look directly at the camera and doesn’t show much of a thriller to start off with as his facial expressions, posture and gesture could have been improved.

Question 6


From using a digital camera I learnt a number of different skills for shooting a video. These include:

Using the tripod – We had to use the tripod wisely so we were able to get the exact height and angle for each shot to look effective. We had to make sure when using the tripod that it didn’t shake to disrupt the continuity editing.  Too frame a shot effectively, we made sure that the shots were according to the plan. The shots only include what the plans wanted such as just the victim and not focusing on the background as it could spoil the introduction towards the audience.

Lighting – This was tricky because we had to keep the lighting similar for every shot to add continuity. The lighting creates tension during the thriller as it sets the scene due to the brightness ranging from very light to dark. The lighting was a huge problem during the thriller as it was filmed inside so the sunlight entering the house differed over time and not being consistent. To prevent this we decided to cover the windows but add the indoor lights and during the editing change the brightness of each clip to keep the continuity editing.

Location – The location that we filmed was very important. This is because it is the main place it will be set for the film. The location must be the same such as inside a house for continuity editing. Also there are other factors which could affect the location such as the change in weather ruining the continuity editing between cuts.

 

This is the house we filmed at in a quiet neighbourhood to add vulnerability towards the victim.



Composition and framing – We used the rule of third into the introduction. We decided to include it in the breakfast scene when eating so the audience are directed into the centre of the shot where the victim is eating.

Camera movement - We used a tracking shot because it was used for continuity editing when the victim is walking along the corridor so the audience can clearly see where the victim is going.

Camera shots:

There were a number of camera shots that we included to make the introduction look more effective. These included:

Close up: We used close up shots because it hides out anything behind the camera. This raises mystery because the audience don’t know what’s beyond the frames a they cannot see it. We also used them so the victim’s facial expressions are clearly seen

Medium shot: We used medium shots for when the victim is walking around the house (e.g. towards the kitchen.) We used medium shots so the audience could clearly see what victim walking and the Mise-en-scene behind him and the location he is walking too and from.

Extreme close up: We used extreme close up shots during the breakfast scene where the egg is cut open. This is because we wanted the audience to only focus on the egg as it links in with the future murder about to take place and gives the audience false impressions along the way.

 

Once all of the shots were finished, we then imported them onto the computer for editing. The skills that I learnt for editing include:

IMovie – We used a software programme on the mac to edit the video and found a number of characteristics for editing. These include:

Importing the video- we imported the videos onto IMovie by connecting the camera to the mac and selecting all of the shots we filmed and converted them onto the mac.

Editing structure – Once all of the videos were converted onto the mac, we then selected out the clips we felt were the best and most suitable for our introduction and converted the selected clips onto IMovie. Once done we then dragged each clip at a time in the correct order.

Transitions – Once all the clips were placed, we then added transitions to the clips to add continuity editing. We cut the clips at their suitable spaces and added a few quick transitions that aren’t overused which might ruin the effect of a psychological thriller.

Visual effects – We then added some visual effects. These were in the scenes showing the dead body of the victim as we changed the lighting to look like a flash-forward which is different to the usual lighting. We also did change the brightness on some scenes so the lighting matched adding continuity editing.

Non-diegetic sound – We added a soundtracks to the opening. This had been created by me using music software and converted onto the mac to play in time with the video.

Exporting – We then exported the final video by converting it onto mp4 and onto a memory stick. Then once onto the memory stick, I went onto YouTube and uploaded the final video onto YouTube to access the easiest way and for the public to visit for free. Along with YouTube, I added the link and video onto Blogger which is another ease of access to view the final product.

Here is the final product viewed on YouTube:



 

Question 5


We created our introduction to appeal to the audience by the use of camerawork, editing narrative and sound effects used.

The opening shot engages the audience because it sets the scene of the thriller. The way the victim wakes up in a shock engages the audience because they want to know why and the foreshadowing cuts used keep them eager to know.



The first way was by the use of scenes cut in representing small glimpses of the future and what is going to happen. This attracted the audience because of the way the contrast has been changed from the normal camera shots to represent a jump cut during the introduction and it’s clear for the audience too see something is wrong. We did this by using a special effect on I-Movie to make the colours darker in tone so they differ from the original colours so the audience could tell that this was a cut scene and placed to keep the audience wanting to know more as the thriller progresses.

This scene was effective as it was the biggest way of foreshadowing the victim by receiving an unknown message with a ‘devil’ face saying ‘Im waiting’ which has a very close link to the title through the use of Mise-en-scene.



 

 

 

 

 

 

The next way we attracted our audience was by using items to connote towards the title of our film ‘Devils Waiting’ by using everyday objects to secretly show and predict what will happen through the use of Mise-en-scene. Some examples included the mobile phone text from the killer. We also used props to represent the murderer including the knife used for the killing and the ketchup to connote the blood of the victims death.



 

 

 

 

 

 

The next way we made the introduction effective was by adding different Mise-en-scene into the introduction to show the killing. This included a knife to ‘spread’ the butter on toast and the sound made it effective to connote the knife slicing part of the victim’s body. This gives the audience a lot of false impressions and question the opening before they know what happens.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next way we attracted the audience was taking a few longer shots (5 or more seconds.) We used this because it raises tension especially for the scene where the egg is ‘cut open’ and the yolk ‘seeps out’ slowly which links to other false impressions towards the audience as it connotes the upcoming murder.

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

The final way we attracted the audience was that final scene. This was effective because it finally reveals to the audience the murder scene showing the full dead body of the victim. This attracts the audience because it lets off the built up tension throughout the introduction before it reveals the main title.

 

We fulfilled the audience’s expectations by adding in what they wanted. We added a short scene of violence using jump cuts showing the bloody knife and we added lots of close-up shots adding to the psychological effect that they wanted to see.

 

 

The audience responded to our opening with these comments:

‘The use of the foreshadowing Mise-en-scene was very effective as I could see an upcoming murder about to happen.’

‘I liked how you cannot see the killer during the introduction as I now want to find out who it is.’

 

Our opening links to another opening called ‘Dexter.’ This is due to the fact that the protagonist wakes up and does a similar routine in the morning (shaving, eating breakfast etc..) It attracts a similar target audience to ours as it also contains scenes of violence.

 

 

Question 1


A thriller is a novel, play, or film with an exciting plot, typically involving crime or espionage to create suspense and tension.

There are multiple sub-genres located throughout thrillers. These can include crime, action, psychological and disaster. The sub-genre that we chose was a psychological thriller. We chose this sub-genre of our thriller because it impacts the audience mentally as it can link to real life events.  We also chose this sub-genre because it has the biggest impact on the audience out of all sub-genres as it can be disturbing and messes with the audience’s minds mentally.  

The audience’s expectations of this sub-genre include being mentally scared and expect to see scenes of high amounts of tension and sadistic scenes.

We decided not to include many elements in our opening because we wanted to keep it short and slick and including different ‘suggestions’ of death. These included cutting open the egg yolk to show blood leaking out of a wound giving the audience ‘false’ impressions of what will happen next and if there will be a murder taking place. We developed the clips to connote death throughout the introduction such as having darker lighting to show danger due to the victim being blind because of the darkness to show his vulnerability and give the audience an idea of what time it is set in.

 

The conventions we used included different shot types. These included close up, extreme close ups. We used these to show emotions from the victim and connote chaos because the audience cannot see the victim’s surroundings off the screen. There were a few mid shots that were only used for continuity editing as they can see where the victims goes and to get a rough idea of his surroundings.  The sound we used included consisted of a non-diegetic soundtrack to be played in the background to build up tension and create atmosphere during the scenes. The non-diegetic soundtracks are used in typical thrillers to scare the audience by building up lots of tension over a long period of time as the speed and pitch of the soundtrack increases.  We also used diegetic sounds within the opening because this makes the introduction look a lot more realistic by adding realistic sounds such as the toaster going off or unlocking a door.              

 

The title of our thriller is very particular in thrillers. This is because of the colour of the title being red to portray blood which is used a lot in thrillers to raise tension and so the audience can clearly see what type of thriller it is just from the title. The font for the title is messy. This is because it looks unnatural which thrillers tend to be.

 

   The location of our thriller is set in a typical household which isn’t portrayed very commonly in thrillers. This is because they are usually set in remote locations such as an abandoned house or the woods far away from anyone else so we decided to change it to a more uncommon location to be set in a thriller film.

 

The costume we chose for the victim was a simple polo t-shirt and black trousers. This is because it is common dressing for a man in thrillers as he links to ordinary life’s of people and not dressed all fancy in unusual costume unless it’s the killer to stand out.

 

 

 

 

The camerawork contained a lot of close ups for the introduction. This is because it shows facial expressions clearly and to focus on a certain part of the scene. This is very typical as there are a lot of close ups on the victim during thrillers as they panic and look scared most of the time.



The genre of the thriller is meant to be a psychological thriller. This is common because it is used to show fear towards the audience and affect them mentally while watching. A way we showed this included close up shots of Mise-en-Scene being used to falsely predict a murder that’s going to take place.

 

After analysing a range of thrillers, we found that the majority included scenes of action and a lot of mystery to captivate the audience into watching the film further. We could also clearly see that the majority of thrillers contain a lot of jump cuts to add suspension and confusion. The thrillers also contained continuity editing s the film runs smoothly. An example of a thriller we watched was ‘Dexter’



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We chose this thriller because it links very much to our thriller due to the mise-en-scene and the ideas it created inspiring us.

The conventions in Dexter that make it effective include:

The music in Dexter is effective because it is used to set the scene to the opening and it sounds like everyday music an audience member would hear. The beat of the song contains a slow pace to set the tension raise towards the audience by the slow pace it creates. It matches the actions of Dexter as his movements are slow and in time with the tune.

The mise-en-scene is effective because it gives the audience false impressions throughout of murder. An example is the meat slicing where Dexter slices open some pork in a close up shot. This was effective because it looks like a body he is cutting open and not his breakfast.  He cuts open the meat very slowly  which isn’t normal because of the knife he is using which is a lot sharper and smaller than meal knives people would use.

 

 

The opening uses a lot of jump cuts into different scenes showing the different stages of Dexter’s morning. This starts from waking up, shaving and eating breakfast to go out which is effective because it fits in the whole morning with hints of the characters personality into a very short clip.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=85114404&v=YyKMSisO4t4&x-yt-ts=1422579428

Question 2


Representation means portraying a certain person/object in a certain image.

The media use representation to create specific groups of people by portraying the typical person for each group sometimes in a biased or simplified way. This could include magazines designed just for men or women parting the two groups. 

Our thriller protagonist:                                                                          Law Abiding Citizen: Protagonist


 

 

 

 

The similarities of these two characters include:

Both of these characters are victims in the thriller genre. Our protagonist is the victim of murder by a hidden killer while LAC includes a victim of his family being murder in front of him.

Both characters start off the thriller leading ordinary lifestyles such as eating breakfast or talking to family but get disrupted by the killers leading to bad consequences further on.

Both are similar being shown as weak characters, one is stabbed while the other is tied up to watch his family be killed and are shown to be completely helpless to stop it.

Both characters share the same class being ordinary citizens living in an urban neighbourhood with a high status as they are quite wealthy due to their surroundings of the house. This is shown by the props used such as China cutlery and pictures on the walls and the size of the house being bigger than average.

 We used a male as the victim’s role. This is because it represents the male group who are most likely to watch the film and roughly the same age and would have a stronger connection psychologically between the victim and the audience who are watching.

 

For both characters wanted to show the audience the characters daily routine set in an average morning. I also wanted to show the character having normal clothes to be worn on a daily basis which also links to the white shirt showing innocence and purity from the character.

The make-up for the character is minimal only for the murder scene with the bloody chest. This is because he has just woken up and doesn’t need makeup as it wouldn’t look realistic.

We used the Mise-en-scene to create the victim by using every day props and costume. For example a plain white t-shirt to represent his pureness and innocence as a character.  We also represented danger towards the victim using Mise-en-scene such as the kitchen knife which is typically used in thriller films as a close range weapon. We also spilt ketchup onto the victim’s white shirt. This was to take the idea of pureness away from the victim before he is killed.

I made sure that there were close up shots than mid shots to keep the main characters identity hidden towards the audience. Anything in the background could give away something significant to the character and for a thriller opening so we tended to just take shots of the victim himself and not spoil anything else towards the audience.