Preliminary Task

Brief

For our preliminary task the directions were to create a 1 minute video. We had to make sure we included:

-A variety of camera angles and shots including 180* rule and shot reverse shot.

-Somebody entering a room using a door, this could use close up of handle...

-Two people having a conversation using shot reverse shot.

Planning

Idea's.

- Our group got together and we began planning our preliminary. Because we are free to do whatever we want, we found it difficult to start thinking of a main idea, we started with locations and thought it would be appropriate to do it in a church. We began thinking of possible story lines for the opening and several different ideas were put across, we finally came up with a simple storyline that only required two actors.

Location/Setting.

We went with the Church idea, this meant we could also use the graveyard next to it, but this meant we had to ask permission from our local church, St James' in Weybridge. Together our group went along to talk to the priest, he agreed to let us use the church and we organised a suitable time and date. We wanted to do it early evening so the setting would be dark so we decided  4:30 was a perfect time, however he was only going to  allow us to have the church for an hour and he was leaving us responsible of the keys!

We chose to use the church because it had everything we needed, special lighting and a big enough area to film, it had doors and windows. It was also a local option that we all knew well.

Storyline.

The time limit for the video is 1 minute, this means we have to keep the story line simple, and obviously short. After discussing 3 possible ideas, we finalised these ideas and asked people in the class what they thought was best. Once we had our idea finally set we made a story board to help us when we filmed. Along with the story board we made a brief plan of shots and how effective these would be. The story we came up with was about a girl who lived/spent time in the church, she is slightly haunted. Then another girl enters the church and discovers the strange girl and they begin to have a conversation, this strange girl then gets up and walks towards the stained glass window and then it ends. This storyline gave us the opportunity to use a range of different camera angles and shots, however we did not use a stand. 

Filming and Acting.

We had the option to use our friends as actors but to avoid confusion we decided to do the whole thing within the group meaning we were all going to have to contribute with filming and acting.

Target Audience

For our preliminary the target audience would probably be teenagers and above the age of 12 but under the age of 30. This age group is easy for us to aim for because being old teens ourselves what we find interesting would be what others of similar ages find interesting. We will also aim it at both male and female. i did some research on this website http://www.bbfc.co.uk/ and for a 12 or 12A cetificate the classification for the horror theming of films states "Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained." This told me that our target audience was well set and our video would classify for a 12 and above.

Mise-en-Scene

Costume-None of us concentrated on costume for the preliminary, however we will when it comes to the real task.

Lighting-In the church there was a light control box in a small room on the side, we could have had it bright light or dim, we chose dim... we also could select what parts of the church would be lit up. This was extremely helpful and created a really good atmosphere.

Acting-The acting was not important for the preliminary, but we did do our best. The story and characters seemed to fit in well enough to make a good video.

Make-up-Again, we didn't use make up because it wasn't important.

Props-We didn't have any props, only the church keys that are featured in some scenes.

Setting-The St.James Church in Weybridge.

Filming

As a group Amelia, Meg, Jo and I took it in turns to film parts of our preliminary task. I was the main 'character' of the video so I had to film the clips that did not have me in it. Meg and Jo took it in turns to film the parts with both me and Amelia in it, and Amelia filmed parts that she was not in. We decided not to have actors from outside the group to avoid confusion and as a group we wanted to create the whole thing just involving ourselves.

Editing

After filming clip by clip, we had to put the clips we had taken together, remove the ones that went wrong and adjust the clips that we needed to use. By editing our piece, it add's skill to our work, editing is also important because you can add or take away things such as the audio (sound) to make the video better and more effective to the audience.

We use iMovie on the apple mac's at school, this program allows flexible editing, but it takes some getting used to. Here are some screen shots from our editing of the final piece using this program.

This is just an over view of the iMovie program, here it shows all of the clips we took: at the bottom of the screen, the clips we are using to create the preliminary task at the top left and then the main video view on the top right. Having the main video view helps us to edit because you can see the clip properly and experiment with what effects work and
what doesn't.

The green lines below the clips represent the sound that has been added to the clips. There are many different sound effects you can add that are provided in iMovie, adding sound  is a good way of improving a video, it will often add more tension, or depending on what sound effects you use it will intensify whatever atmosphere is being created.

The red line in the bottom right corner is the indicator of time, wherever the red line is, the clip it is moving over is what is coming up on the screen. This helps us too edit because we can add the effects we want more accurately than of we didn't have an indication of time.

The yellow line that surrounds the clip appears when you click and drag, you can make it bigger and smaller and it allows you to delete parts of a clip, on the video view it will show you in large what you are about to delete and when you drag either the beginning or ending of the yellow line, it will follow your moves on the larger view.

When you right click on the clips it brings up a list of options, most significantly it will allot you to choose play options, cut, copy and deleting options, trim, split and detachment of audio. We detached audio from most clips and trimmed many of them.

Transition options are useful and used for flowing to the next scene. For a lot of the clips we did not use any transitions, I feel this was a mistake because it doesn't add any fluidity throughout, however we did use it on some, we used blur between certain clips.

This menu appears when you click on the settings button at the corner of every clip. The first thing you can do is edit the clip itself using durations and changing speeds, there are various options of speed going from extremely slow to slightly slow and extremely fast to not so fast, obviously the faster you make the clip the more time it will cut off the duration. Video effects are also an option, we used effect on a lot of our clips, including *****.

In the video section you can change the appearance of the video, this includes the exposure, brightness, contrast and saturation. By changing the appearance of the video it can make it more effective and it can also work with sound effects to create a more dramatic atmosphere. The white point will also alter the appearance, but changing the appearance isn't always necessary if you are happy with the way the clips are to begin with.

Audio is a very important part of editing. This section allows you to organise the sound in terms of volume and how it fades in and out of the clip. By making the volume zero, you are basically detaching audio. Ducking allows you to change the contrast between the audio in the clip already with the sounds you have added.

Final Video

Evaluation

In some ways I am proud of our creation. I enjoy the way we have used audio and I think we grasped the concept well. We created everything that the brief stated and completed the task on time. I am happy with the camera angles and editing that we did and the way it slows down at parts and makes the sound echo. The lighting in our preliminary was really well done, we used the controls in a small room to set the lights to certain brightness and place in the church, and this built a really good atmosphere as you can see. We chose to do it at about 5pm, this meant it was dark and misty and we still had time to film before it got too late, I was pleased with this outcome. However, there are many things I personally would change… we didn’t use a camera stand because we mistakenly forgot to bring it with us, this reflected badly in our piece because the quality of filming was ruined. I would also try and plan more towards it because the story in my eyes doesn’t make much sense and isn’t a clear introduction to something, it is quite random. We tried but couldn’t cut the shots down to make the piece 1 minute long, this was due to the lack of planning about the scenes, once we started filming we changed the way we would have done things. Next time I would prefer to do more filming than acting, but it depends on how we work things out. The church as a location was a good idea and we were lucky to have permission to use it, however it is quite typical and predictable, and more gothic/horror than thriller. Next time we will consider costumes in detail, it will help towards the final task. Props were not included too well so next time we will use more and make them significant to the storyline. All of the things I do not like come together as a huge learning curve and should help my group and I to create a much better, well planned and detailed final piece.

My Group

To produce a preliminary task and also a final task for this media project, we were put in groups of 4. The teacher chose who would be with who and once we knew our group, we could begin discussing ideas and thinking about what we could do. My group consists of Amelia Stewart, Meg Ledger, Joanne Cowley and myself. Together we will all produce and complete all tasks set to complete out media studies project.

Possible Camera Shots/Angles

Some camera shots and angles are quite difficult to do when you don't have the advanced equipment so with basic equipment for A Level, these are the possible rang or camera angles or shots we can use with a standard camera and tripod.

Close Up: 
This is often used on objects of significance to the narrative to show that is has an importance to a certain story, could be a book of some kind or a letter (if it is done with a close up the audience can read the words and then understand). If it is used as a facial close up, it can focus on emotion of characters and this will intensify how the audience feel towards certain people.

Establishing Shot: 
This is a simple shot often outside, that indicates where action will take place, so if it is outside a shop then before the action in the shop happens to open up the scene there will be an establishing shot of the shops name/logo.

Low Angle Shot: 
The camera will be placed below the actor looking up on them, this can make an object, person or building seem a lot larger than it actually is, this has the effect of letting the audience know how powerful, intimidating, strong or imposing the certain thing is.

High Angle Shot:

Taken from above a person, object or anything else to make it look less significance, often represents withering authority and can draw attention to the setting and shows importance of the environment that surrounds the insignificant object.

Wide Angle Shot:

Showing a wider view of a scene, this allows people to take in a setting and things in the setting usually have some representation towards the narrative, the wide angle shot means more characters can be involved in one and it often shows people as a team.

Framing Shot:

Using a piece of set or scenery to frame a shot, corridors, windows, doors and many other things can be used to frame and if things like this aren't used then the scenery will often surround a certain object to frame it, this shows significance and individuality of either a person or an object.

Point of View Shot:

The camera shot is set as if through the eyes of the protagonist or character, it follows movement of a person and it see's things as if being looked at from someone eyes, this establishes what they are seeing and when it is switched to the next shot as a close up showing the reaction, we can then understand why they react in such a way.

Two-Shot:

When the camera involves two people in a shot. This doesn't really add an effect it just allows the audience to see two people and what they are doing and if there is a contrast or similarity between then each character can emphasise the opposite characters look or being.

Amelia and myself had some spare time, with this spare time we thought we could do something useful and create a video of us experimenting with the camera shots and angles. We used parts of the school to create them all and I feel that it really helped me to learn and understand the techniques properly. This should help us with our final task and if i need reminding, i can watch this video back and refresh my memory.

Sound

There are a number of sound key terms used in filming, some are involved in filming others are added in during the editing process.

Diegetic

Sound that exists within the world of film.

Non-diegetic

Sound that emerges from outside the world of TV, for example: fiml sound tracks.

Selective Sound

Emphasises key sound elements within a sequence.

Ambient Sound

Sound or Music used to create a particular atmosphere or a sense of place.

Synchronous

Sound caused by some event on the screen-this means the sound matches the action.

Asynchronous

Sound that is seperate from the visuals, such as a voice over or dialogue from another scene.

Sound Bridges

The use of sound to help transitions between sequences pass more fluidly, for example: the editor may cut to a completely new scene, but allow sound from the preceding scene to run for a short time. Alternativelty, we may hear the sound of the next scene before we see it.

Sound Effects

Sound created and placed within a scene or emphasised.

Music

This can be diegetic or non diegetic - it creates a more intense atmosphere for the audience.

Beginning to think of ideas

+Because time is going quickly i thought it was time to begin to think of ideas such as locations and themes.

Location:

- Church, this would be a typically scary setting because it relates to funerals and perhaps spirits and typical things like that, they are old buildings and are often very creepy at night.

- Cemetery, this is also an obvious setting for something scary because of the atmosphere and gravestones representing death, they are scary in the daytime as well as the night time and often they are used in films or television programmes and they represent and hint that bad things are going to happen.

- Lake/Lock/River, at night these places are extremely isolated, rivers and locks can often be places where horrible things happen. Bodies are often found at the bottom of such places and there is a definite sense of danger around these sort of places, especially in winter months.

- Forest/Woods, Obviously these places are extremely creepy because when you are in a woods anything could be hiding in, over, around or underneath you and they are quite untouched places. Harry Potter is a good example of a scary forest setting and when it is dark you definitely need a torch to see where you are going.

- Shops, these aren't typically scary or thrilling but if a good storyline was put along side it, then that would make it more interesting because people would be less likely knowing what to expect and it would be an original idea.

- House, when people are home alone often people get scared easily. The feeling of vulnerability in your own home is actually extremely common, but yet again it is quite different to the typical scary setting - it doesn't give anything away. 

- Train Station, trains are fast moving and always active and a lot of the time they are used in films when people are escaping or doing anything to do with thrilling action. It would be a good place to film something scary too because it is less typical, apart from when people find trains an easy way to commit suicide... it isn't typically a place for bad things to happen.

Filming Techniques

In class we were taught some common filming techniques, i looked for some examples on line and put them together here, it has increased my understanding of each three basic rules/techniques.

180 ° Rule

 - This is the term given to the basic film making rule that stops the audience getting confused about the action that is taking place.
- There is a strict line set that the camera must stay on, it should stay on the left or right point of view and it is only able to move within 180°.
- The only way you can exit the 180° boundary is by keeping the camera on and filming the movement so the audience can see where it is being moved to and will not get confused.


This is a good example of the 180° rule being BROKEN


Shot Reverse Shot

 - This is the main filming technique that shows a dialogue sequence where the shots cut between the two speakers showing each persons point of view.
- This is used to show reactions and emotions of each character during conversation, it intensifies the audiences perspective on certain dialogue and helps the audience feel how one character or the other is feeling during conversation.


Here is an extract of a film that includes a lot of Shot Reverse Shot 

Match on Action

 - This is the term given to continuity filming where action takes place in the first shot and is completed in the second.

- For example: in a library scene, shot A might be a medium shot of someone walking in and choosing a book; Shot B would then be a close up of the book being read. (Match on action MUST flow from shot A to shot B)

Here is an example of the Match on Action

Thrille Genre Timeline

Click Here for The Timeline on the Web (View Fully)

Thriller's watched in class

To grasp more interest and knowledge on Thriller films, we watched extracts from 5 different type thriller films. I took notes and here is what i picked out as research.

Psycho (1960)

• Black and White (one of the first famous thriller films)
• Seeing an image (shadow) through the shower curtain.
• Weather is dreary, this sets a creepy mood.
• Some scenes are slow paced, others are fast.
• Slow mysterious music before she enters the shower.
• Ironic that she is so happy to be in the shower she exaggerates her happy mood.
• The fast pacing music while she is being stabbed and the excessive number of times she is stabbed
• Close up of her hand sliding down the tiles as she dies.
• When the camera zooms on the plughole as we watch the water and her blood drain through it, then zooming into her eye and spiralling out
• Anonymous killer comes from nowhere we just see a black outline of the killer an his knife. (mystery)

Kill Bill (2003)

•   The opening scene with the hankechief wiping blood from her with 'Bill' written on it and the voice over, we never actually get to see bill so it is a mystery, also the main character keeps her name anonymous with bleeps over when she says her name.
• The cartoon japanese scene is very different and is also in some ways thrilling.
• The time it shows 4 years before and 13 hours later etc, keep us in the know of what is going on. 
• Waking up in a hospital close up of her face.
• Her narrative voice add's effect.
• In the final chapter it goes black and white in the building and then someone turns the lights off, it gives the effect of it getting darker and darker (in an evil way)
• When she walks in and see's everyone we get a pause and character update from the main character so we know who certain people are.
• The final fight between the bride and O-ren Ishi pacey music in the background.

Collateral (2004)

• Fast pace music and scene changes and action means it is extremely tension building.
• It is mainly set at night so you have to look deeper into the film. The night adds a lot of suspense
• The use of torches that focus on the action.
• Multiple gun shots, a pause then one more to finish that scene off.
• Close up on faces to show emotion.
• Busy street and traffic make it more manic.
• Stereotypical characters help you understand why certain things happen.

 Breif case scene, Gun action.

Perfume (2006)

• Typical main character (psychotic man) for a thriller.
• classic example of thriller is he victimizes females who are innocent and kills them.
• The camera sets focus on the action and not what is going on in the background.
• Dimmed lighting and a lot of redness in the film representing evil.
• Set in olden days where these occurances are not exactly expected or common.
• The strange ways in which he gets the perfume from the women's scent keeps the audience intregued and is also quite mysterious.
•  Classic beautiful red head with pale skin (using traditional old/english woman)

Here is a clip from the film.

The Dark Knight (2008)

• The overall character set out is enough to make a thriller film, the jokers face immediately brings out some evil along with batmans mask.
• The voice of the joker is quite mysterious.
• The main character (Batman) is a hero, typical kind of thriller storyline.
• Clown masks at the beginning are creepy and a lot of people have a fear of clowns so elements of fear are drawn into the film.
• Fast pace action and music.
• Night time scenes including a lot of action.