Storyboards

We looked at storyboards and how to make it shot by shot. We then had to make our own storyboard inlcuding photos we took. When we were taking the photos, we had to keep in to include every single shot we are planning to use in our opening sequence. For example, we had to use both over the shoulder shots rather than just one photo with two people talking to each other. The photos are rough ideas of what we are planning on doing, so it the final product might not turn out exactly like the moodboard or the script. The storyboard really helps because it gives us an idea of what each scene will look like and it will be helpful when we start filming.

Here is our storyboard:
Film Storyboard

summary.

From the survey we found out that...

Here is a graph:

Survey.

For our survey we went on surveymonkey.com, which is a website where you can carry out a survey and people can fill it out for you. We went on it and our survey got a lot of responses.

Using final cut pro.

So far, we learned how to use final cut pro to edit and enhance our videos. We learned about the different effects you can use for different purposes. For example, you can turn a scene into night time without having to film it at night time. This will be useful for my group because we are planning to use some dusk/evening scenes and we can just film those scenes in the daytime and edit it later using Final Cut. We were shown a tutorial video on how to use final cut. I'm interested in using some of the text effects during the opening credits, without making look to much like a happy teen/romantic/comedy film. We also looked at colouring effects, i think we will make our opening sequence slightly blue-ish to make it look cold and eery so that the viewers instantly know it's not going to be a happy teen film. Also they showed a duplicating effect which looked really cool, but it wouldn't really fit anywhere in our plot. Since our opening sequence has a lot of dialog, i don't think we will use too many effects or it will look forced. This gave me an understanding of what kind of effects there are and how to use them.

The genre we chose for our opening sequence is thriller. Past thriller films include Inception, Sin City, Se7en etc. Initially, the genre of our opening sequence was going to be horror, but then after reading the script and seeing the footage I suggested we should change it to thriller instead because it didn't feel like a horror film at all and most the other groups were doing the same genre.

The conventions of thriller films are:
- The antagonist who is could be a stalker, murderer, criminal etc.
- The protagonist who is usually a normal citizen so that the audience identifies with them.
- They usually take place in a major city like New York or Chicago.
- There is a lot of suspense and viewers are sitting at the edge of their seat.
- Someone usually dies at the end, it can be the antagonist or the protagonist. Or sometimes both.


Here is our moodboard:
thrillermoodboard

Scriptwriting

We learnt about a scriptwriting software called Celtx and how to use it. We looked at what certain words in film scripts mean e.g EXT means the scene is outside (exterior) and INT means its set inside (interior). We also looked at a professional script of a film ( Thelma and Louise) and analysed it. I learnt that in the very first scene when we are introducing a character, we have to give the audience a clear idea of who character is (name, age, occupation etc.). Another things that i have learnt is that a script is important for actors and crew to know what they are doing, but they don't necessarily have to do everything that's in the script. This software helped me because it's a professional script software and it formats everything for you. It's really easy and straightforward to use. We never really had a problem using Celtx, we finished our script quite quickly.

Here is the script:
Film Script

Looking at other student's work

We looked at other student's work and looked at what worked and what didn't. Sometimes the sound might be too low so you can't really hear the dialog properly. This isn't a good idea as the viewers obviously need to hear the dialog to understand what is going on (you could do a voice-over but it might be too obvious). But the music they chose was very fitting and suspenseful and they used a variety of different shots. Looking at this, i learned that you need to make sure that the mic is working properly and shouln't focus and the visuals only.

Looking at Professional opening sequences

We have been watching and analysing professional opening sequences. We looked at opening scenes from Fight Club, Scream, Knocked Up and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

In Scream's (horror) opening scene we are introduced to a young blonde woman getting a phone call. The audience can immediately tell that the caller is not trustworthy , but she doesn't know that yet as she continues to chat to him. At this point we don't even know her name, but the man then asks for her name and she refuses to tell him. She then asks him why he want's to know her name, and he tells her he wants to know her name to see who he's looking at. This is when she finally comes to her senses and ends the conversation. What i liked about this opening sequence it that it went straight to the point, they didn't take too long to set the scene and it didn't feel like it dragged for too long. In knocked up's (comedy) opening sequence, we see a bunch of immature 20-something year olds messing about and smoking weed. We then see a woman who looks like she works and seems organised. She walks out of her small house and into another bigger house. It turns out she lives in her sister's pool house. We see the rest of the family and it shows a woman, her husband and their two kids. The husband and wife are arguing about who is going to pick up the kids from school and the audience can tell that they have some problems. In Fight Club, we first see a flashback sequence where the main character (and narrator) recalls what happened. We see shots of him being pointed at with a gun, and then we see him suffering from insomnia. Then we see him in his office. We are introduced to the character, who is not named,
as soons as the credits end. The credits were at the start of the film and it goes on for quite a while. In Ferris Bueller's Day Off, It opens with a teacher doing the register and calling out Ferris Bueller's name, but he's not there. We then see him in his bed, pretending to be sick so that his parents let him have a day off school. His sister then complains about them favouring him. In this opening sequence, we are introduced to him, his parents and his sister. I like this because they introduced 4 characters in 2 minutes to quickly introduce them.

So far we shot our preliminary task as a group. We tried to use a variety of different shots and angles. I was filming so i had to try to keep the camera steady and make sure the pans were smooth and npt shaky. We then edited the footage using Final Cut Pro on the mac. The editing was a lengthy and frustrating process (because none of us knew how to edit), but we managed to get it finished by the end of the lesson. Although it had one small error, which was a two second clip being played twice, the final product was great. During this task, I learned that continuity is very important and a lack of it can completely ruin a scene.

On Monday 4th/10/10, I had to do a PowerPoint presentation to the class. We had to do a PowerPoint presentation about a genre and film of our choice. The genre i chose to talk about was the thriller genre and the film i picked was ' V for Vendetta'. In my presentation, had to talk about the conventions of the thriller genre and general facts about V for Vendetta. What I learnt about the thriller genre is that Alfred Hitchcock was one of the first film makers to actually explore the thriller genre.

Here is my presentation:
Thriller Genre

One Hour Photo

For the past week or so, we have been watching and analysing the film ' One Hour Photo'. We've been discussing in depth about the shot types, mise-ens scene, camera angles, camera movements, editing and sound. I have learnt that even the smallest things ( mise en scene ) are chosen for a reason. For example, there are a lot of extreme long shots where only Sy is in the shot. This is to show that he is lonely. Also, the pans are used to show the scale of the scene. When it comes to mise-en-scene, the family are always dresses in neutral, warm colours. Even their home is the same. In contrast, Sy is always dressed in light, grey colours and his apartment doesn't look like a home. It looks a hospital or some kind of work place. The voice over is provided by Sy, who is the antagonist/protagonist. It's a bit personal because it seems as if we are his dairy and he is talking to us, which adds to the mystery and suspense of the film. Also, the music throughout the whole film is slightly depressing.

When the photo wall is revealed, the camera is on a canted angle and  it rotates to show it's a disturbing image. Close up shots of Sy's face are used throughout the film so that the viewers can understand his emotions. Slow motion is used at the boy's birthday party to focus on nostalgic family moments.