Our Media Film

We have now filmed our final media course-work. We completed it on Sunday morning in the woods. We did it out of school time so we could spend as long as we liked on it with no time limintions apart from the light. As we choose to set our film in the woods we were sure to be careful and not scare/disrupt any walker. For example, we always let people pass and made sure all of our props were at the edge of the path so no-one would trip over them. We stuck to our script and story-board and found them very useful as we knew exactly what to do. The weather was awful when we shot it but we decided to carry on as we thought the rain might add to dramatic realism and make it seem more scary. We took many different shots and takes from different angles to ensure that we had enough footage to complete all of the shots for our film. We now have to edit the clips to make it look more professional.

evaluation of first preliminary course work (2 posts below)

Evalutaion of our first attempt at filming

We chose to have the black and white ....5...4...3...2..1... at the begining to set the tone for the film and show the audience that it would be in black and white and in an 'old' style.

We wanted the tiltle to appear after this and then to have it fade into the first shot of Jenny. We ask Jenny and Aaron to be in this film so a BIG thank you to them for helping us out. We chose to have other people acting in our film as we wanted to focus on the filming.

We wanted no dialogue in our film so to keep in with the old fashioned theme. However we had a problem with this as we thought that we cut out all the sound when we added in the soundtrack, we hadnt, so now we have a soundtrack and backing noice. We have learnt from this mistake as you can see from our other film.

We have various shots of Aaron running down the corridor and there is one shot of Aaron through a window which we thought would be very effective, however there is sun's glare on the window so you can't really see Aaron's face.

A problem with the film being in black and white was that our film looked very dark at a couple of points.

We chose to have two different soundtrack, one for Jenny and one for Aaron. For Aaron we have a very dramatic and frantic soundtrack as he looked for Jenny. For Jenny's soundtrack we have very 'lovey dovey' music as she waited for Aaron. The music was very cliche and cheesy but this is the effect we wante to give....slighty comical.

We have used lots of various different shots including and long shot, areail shot, and a slow mo shot of Jenny dropping the book, again for dramitic effect. This is when the sound slowed too giving the 'hulk' effect. This was only one problem we had with the sound, the other was that we thought that we had got rid of the background talking, but we hadnt so we had that mixed with the soundtrack. We learnt from this and in our other film we have no soundtrack.

In the end we have a fade to black to show the end of the film, we also have an 'end' sequence with the same style as the ...5...4...3...2...1 sequence, it is alsoin black and white to keep in with the theme.

Overall we are very pleased with our FIRST EVER FILM and we are very proud of it. We do have things we would like to change but we can learn from our mistakes and make our other films better because we have had the experience of doing this one.

evaluation of DECEMBER (posted then) preliminary course work

This is an evaluation of our preliminary coursework which was posted in decemeber (please go look?)

We like that the filming went well and we managed to get various shots and we were pleased with the way our film turned out.

We asked two of our friends to help us with the acting so THANK YOU to Lucy Dove and Simone Smith. We did this so we could focus on the filming and not have to waste time acting it out.

We would of liked to add in more shots of Lucy looking afraid and a long shot of the door, we would have also liked to add more dialogue to make our film longer. We failed to add most of these in as everytime we went to our location were we filmed our coursework it either had a class in it or it was full of tables. We did however manage to get a longer shot of the door, we managed this my pushing some of the tables back and trying to make the room look how it did when we first filmed.

From this problem we have learnt to film out of school in a location where we can go back and it will be the same. We have also learnt to spend a whole day filming so we can add in more shots there and then instead of having to go back.

In editing we added two fade to blacks, we did this for dramatic effect and are pleased with the way it turned out.

A problem with our course is that one second Simone has her hood down and the other second she has her hood up, we would of made sure Simone had her hood up the whole time if we could get back into the location. Another problem with filming over two days was that Simone and Lucy would of had to wear the exact same clothes twice which was a problem as they kept on forgetting what they had wore. This is another reason why we filmed over one day.

We kept the 180 rule throughout filming to make sure the auidence didnt get confused about where they were. Our favourite shot was a Point Of View shot of Simone looking around the room and then focusing on Lucy. We also liked how when the camera first see Simone you can't see her face then its her POV shot, this creates mystery and shows the audience that she is dangerous by the reactions you see Lucy give.

We chose not to have non diegectic sound in this coursework as in our last film it went wrong as when we had a slow mo shot the music slowed too and gave a 'hulk' effect. We learned from this and so chose not to have a soundtrack, also we chose not to have it as we wanted our film to seem realistic whereas the last one was more 'dramitic over the top old fashioned' movie.

At the end we have another fade to black to show that the film has ended.

Overall we are very pleased with the way our film turned out though there are things we would change if we could.

preliminary coursework

Here is preliminary coursework, 'The Day Callum Wasn't There'.

Script

Script for our movie


Girl walking through the woods
Starts to look scared, starts to run
Shot of her feet running
Point of view shot, sound of her breathing
Camera behind the trees, point of view shot of her follower

She looks over her shoulder and sees nothing
Trips over a tree root
Looks up, low angle shot of him standing over her
Scream
High angle shot of her
Girl: What do you want? Who are you? Why are you following me? Etc
Evil man: *LAUGH*/ also will say ‘you where chosen’ ‘they picked you’ etc

Evil man stands in front of her (can’t really see her any more) holding (weapon, cricket bat, baseball bat etc) hits her to death sound of screaming, girl flinching, blood on bat, screaming stops, very quiet.
Shot of girl, evil man kicks girl over the edge.
Shot of girl falling etc
Photo over the shoulder shot, cross out face
Throws photo down
CU of face
(Various other shots also)
Evil man walks away humming or whistling tune – freaky….. very casual

Day Before – street

Girl walking, on phone, talks about the day, friends etc
Someone watching her behind trees, POV see photo of girl (the same photo that he drew a cross through)
She looks round, no one by trees.
Tracking shot of girl
POV shot from evil man point of view- see phone rings someone ‘found her’ etc

Our Planning For Our Final Piece

Genre

We have considered all the different genre to base our film on : including rom-com, horror, sci-fi , drama, and period drama. We have decided to make our film a horror with an element of supernatural and sci-fi. We think that a horror film will be really fun to make and we will be able to include a wide variety of shots and create tension through sound.

Plot Summary

The plot line is going to be quite complicated with the plot opening in a nutshell being innocent girl gets killed by an unknown figure in the woods. If we were to continue to film the rest of the movie the basic plot would be the figure man turned serial killer killing other people and trying t0 find out who it is. We would like the rest of the film to be very scary and gory with many tense moments.

Target Audience

As we are producing a horror our target audience is not children as it is ment to be scary however I think that it would be suitable for everyone else. I think that although the biggest group of people that it will appeal to is teenagers because they enjoy blood and gore. Also as the main characters are teenagers it will apeal to them more and they might be able to connect to them and put themselves in that situation.

Setting

Our setting is going to be based in a mainly in woods that will make the lighting scary and add drama. Also the noises in the would might add to dramatic tension. Although we are going to film the beginning in an ordinary street which will add realism. We are going to film it in the day as well so hopefully it won't be that dark.

Analysis of Prom Night

Prom Night starts with a close-up of the characters face expressions in the car and shows the audience that she looks kind of sad and quiet. The camera is then static as the car pulls into the side of the road outside the main characters house where she gets out of the car and walks over to the front window. There is a series of two shots and shot/reverse shots used in this scene to show the dialogue of the conversation between the girl and the two people sitting in the front of the car. After she has said thank you for the life to the movies there is then an establishing long shot of her house with her walking down the path towards the front door. We can also tell it is night as it is dark outside from using the natural lighting to create realism.

Once inside there is a medium shot of the girl putting down her bag and keys and she then walks into her lounge looking for her parents. There is diagetic sound coming from the T.V which is playing in a dark room only lite by a few lamps. The darkness creates an eerie mood showing the audience that this is a horror genre. As there is a long shot of her walking out of the room the camera tilts into a mid-close up of her father daed on the floor.

The camera once again is static as she walks up the stairs and along the landing towards it and the cupboard. She puts her coat inside the cupboard where the audiences view is facing her as if they are inside the cupboard. Here there is diagetic sound of her movements of the coat- hanger. As she moves around the house the camera tracks behind her and sometimes jumps ahead of her so we can see where she is going to walk to and as she walks past it. As she enters another room there is a close-up of a bat she slips on. As she yells at her brother for leaving it there there is a meduim shot of him as she turns him over and a cut to her facial expressions of horror to find him dead. There's then a long shot of her backing out of the room only to hear the tourture of her mother being attacked. As hides under the bed where there is a close-up of her face to show here scared expressions and the murder attack of her mother right in front of her eyes. In this scene there is alot of extream close-ups of her eyes to show the tears streaming down her face.

There is then a jump cut to another location of the girl talking to a councillor about her terrifying dreams of that night.

Here is a link of the movie: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dlJIhsPrO0c&feature=related

Blood and Chocolate

Blood and Chocolate starts with a voilin sound track and an areail shot of a little girl twirling around on the shot, she is also in a wood and its snowing, the camera moves downwards closer towards the girl, then its starts turning as well (clockwise). The screen then fades to black as some credits appear. Then the film shows the girl still spinning around but this time in a mid shot, a voice over starts (female voice, asume lead girl) she talks about when she was little and magic the screen fades to black again as more credits appear, when the screen cuts back to the girl it is another areail shot but this time the little girl is making snow angels, the voice over continues, talks about believing in legends and destinys. Camera cuts to other children(brothers sisters?) and you can see that behind then is a house, they throw snow balls at the little girl, cuts back to the girl as she gets up and throws snow balls back, cuts back to a long shot as the children laugh and have a snowball fight, there is anouther fade to black as the music becomes slightly more eary, cuts to little boy throwing snowball then cuts to areial shot of the snow angel the little girl left and her leaving it (she runs off camera). Voice over continues. Then the camera cuts to the three children runing towards the camera, the camera then cuts to what the children are looking at which is a light shinning in the woods (like a torch or car headlight), camera cutsback to children, they look slightly worried and confused, an adult (there father) steps out infront of them and puts his arm out protectivly, the little girl tells him someone is there and so he tells them to get inside the house. This gives the audience the impression that they are hidding from something/someone and by the look on the father's faced you can tell that they are afraid. The camera then cuts to inside the house and there is an over the shoulder shot of a women (the mother) quickly closing the door, the camera cuts quickly to various places around the house and shows the family members franticly throwing items into suitcases, cuting is fasts and the camera almost swerves from shot to shot, this shows the frantic and panic situation the family is in. There is a flash and the screen goes dark for a second,the camera cuts back to the woods and the light shines again, this time it seems closer. The camera cuts to the little girl and the cuts the her mother leading two of the children off camera. there is an extreme close up on a gun the father is holding, that goes to a mid shot of the father holding the gun and leaning against the door. The is a close up of the fathers face, he looks like he is preparing himself for something, there is a close up of him opening the door, as the door opens you can see another man holding a gun and pointing it at the father, as the father steps out he is shot by the other man. The camera cuts to the terrified looks on the childrens faces. there is a fast cut to the mother as she slams a door so the children can no longer see what is going on, There is another fast cut to the closed front door, bullets brake through the wooden door. Ther is then a low angle shot of a stair case leading to a celler? it shows the family (without the father) running down the steps, once the camera shows one family member the screen fades to black and then it shows another one ect as they make there way down the stairs. The mother is last and as she turns the corner she is shotin the arm. the camera cuts to a floorboard as fire comes through it. The children run and open a small door (like a safe opening), the camera cuts the the other side of the door as the little girl lifts herself up into the tunnel and cralls through it, you can see the other children following her. The camera cuts to the to the house as flames ingolf the house. The camera cuts back to the children crawling through the tunnel. Cuts back to house as smoke fills it. Then cuts outside as a trap door opens and the little girl steps out, she starts running but the turns back to see her family. You see her mother reach to get out, behind her it is all yellow and orange (the fire has court up with them) she shouts at her daughter to run. so the little girl turns around and runs into the woods, the camera tracks after her as she runs (from behind her) then there is a mid shot of her running( from the front) you can see tears on her face and she looks horrified but she doesnt stop. The camers cuts to her siblingg climbing out of the trap door, two men are waiting for thenm and hold up there guns, behind thenm the house is burning. The camera cuts back to the little girl running, there is a flash and then two shots, the little girl stops running and turns around. she stands very still and just stairs straight ahead. the camera cuts to what she is looking at, her whole house is on fire and there is a silhoutte of three men holding guns and there is also dogs with them, the men are not looking at the little girl, they are watching the house burn, the dogs starts running towards the little girl. this is when the camera cuts back to her as she she looks are the dogs, she steps backwards, it shows she dogs getting closer (slow mo) she turns around and starts running again. The camera tracks along side her and she runs through the woods, the camera cuts back to the dogs chasing her (no longer in slow mo) and this goes on back and foreth for a couple of seconds. Sounds track of violins in still on going.

Analysis of 28 Weeks Later

28 Weeks Later is the sequal to 28 Days Later and is even more scary.

It starts of in pitch black, then one of the characters lights a match to light a candel. We then see two characters talking and the man conforting his wife. There is lots of close-ups used in the opening scenes to show the characters facial expressions. These come across as very scared and lonely as when the camera zooms to a close-up shot of a picture of a family the characters start talking about their worry and how they mos their children. As they turn to face eachother to talk there is a use of over the shoulder shots to show their expressions to the dialogue used.

Next there is a master shot from the top of the stairs, which shows the rest of the characters which are stuck in this candel lite house, sitting at the table about to eat dinner. As they have their conversation the camera is hand held and has lots of quick cuts with medium close-ups of each character talking. This shows their emotions which are all scared from their current situation. Throughout there is dialogue and diagetic sound used.

All of a sudden there is a bang on the door and a little kid screaming for them to let him in. The camera is then hand-held and the shots move very quickly to show the tension between the characters and what they should do. as the man and women move to open the door the music starts to help build the tension and the hand-held camera makes the audience feel part of the action and as they can't clearly see what is happening in makes the situation very realistic and beliavable.

Analysis of Secret Window

Secret window starts with Johnny Depp in a mid-shot, sitting in a car staring wide-eyed at the audience not moving a muscle, with only the windscreen wipers moving across the camera. His facial expression shows he is upset abput something and thinking about it deeply. Then a narrators voice starts which says what the character is thinking (non-diagetic sound) and he starts doing what the narrator is saying. There is digetic sound of the car moving and the wheels screeching as he does tight turns with the camera moving with the car but focused on the characters face. There is then a long shot of this character steeling some motel rooms keys an the owner comes out seeing him walking out and yells at him. The camera tracks along side the character and follows him into the motel room where there is an establishing shot of the room to show two people having an affair in there. Here the character walks over to the bed, screams at them and then the camera tracks backwards out of the room as police run into it, and then cuts into a long shot so the audience can see the whole situation.

Then there is an aerial shot which flys over a lake to establish the location and it moves towards a forest with a house situated in the middle of it. The camera then moves through the open window into the house and tracks around the rooms to familiarise the audience with the setting. It then cuts to a shot of the man sleeping on the sofa. A soundtrack starts which give an eerie and lonely mood which may reflect how the character is feeling. There is then diagetic soound of him waking up and a knock at the door.

Analysis of Swimfan

I have analysed Swimfan as it is a pychological thriller and as we are making a horror movie we need to be able to create the same type of tension to make it believable. I think the movie does this very well as the shots along with the music can make the audience feel part of the action and feel the same emotions as the characters do; uncomfortable, scared.

Swimfan opens with a soundtrack playing eerie music to set the mood and create a high tension as they introduce the characters and the settings of the film, (non-diagetic sound). There is a close-up shot of a cello being played by a girl. It then cuts to a different location showing two more of the main characters at night in a car in the middle of a valley. There is yet another cut back to the cello showing lots of medals and tropheys with some pictures of teenagers stuck on the wall. All of a sudden the soundtrack changes into happier music and the boy is in his house eating breakfast and gives some to his dog. There is dialogue over the top of the soundtrack as the boy and his mother talk about feeding the dog. The camera then tracks with the boy when he is driving in his car and has a mid-shot of him so the audience can see his relaxed movements (dancing along to music) and his facial expressions.

Once he is at school the camera tracks along with him showing the interaction between him and his friends he passes in the corridor. There is then a cut to the swimming pool with shots of people diving in a swimming and we then have a long shot of the boy walking to meet his coach. There is then close-ups of their face expressions throughout their conversation and a series of shot/reverse, shots and over the shoulder shots to show the interaction between the characters.

Then once again, in the corridor two characters are talking whilst sitting next to eachother and as the camera cuts to different shots it uses the 180 degree rule so the audience doesn't get confused about which side they are on. It works very effectively so we can see the conversation between them.

Covenant

Covenant starts with words apearing on the screen talking about 'a great power, ipswich families being chased from england and europe(witch hunt) covenant keeping them safe - until now.' This is when the music starts up, it is rock music which suggests danger and anger. there are lots of flashing images of different words, books, signs, people (shows four school pictures of the main for guys), pictures etc as the credits apear on the screen. Once the credits have finished the screen goes very dark as it is night and the camera tracks up a cliff face where you can see three teenage guys looking down, the sound track is still on going and you can also hear shouts from below, they hear a voice behind them saying 'what's up fella's?', they turn and the camera moves behind the person who spoken ( a blonde male of the same age) and tracks after him as he walks towards the other guys. The others ask where he was as the blonde guys now joins them and looks down the cliff, he just replys causal that he had things to do, he then asks how the party is, (that is the shouting from below), the sound track is still on going. They reply that they dont know and they themselves just got there, the blonde guy then says 'well hell boys....' the camera then gos just underneath the top of the cliff as the blonde guy kicks some stones of it, the camera does a quick zoom to a close up of the blonde guys face, this is so you can see his eyes turn black as he says '...lets drop in'. There is an areial shot of him as he steps over the cliff and disappears into the mist. The only lighting on the guys is moonlight which makes then seem very mysterious and the fact that they are looking down on the party from above adds to this. One of the guys laughs and follows the blonde guy. One of the two remaining guys shouts after him but the other one says that they wont die..yet. they jump after the others, the guy who shouted jumped last. When the camera turns to were they are looking before and as they jump you can see a circle of light which the audience will pressume is the party. The camera follows him as he falls first from above and the the camera catches up with him and then films him falling from bellow, he lands effortlessly and re-joins the others. The camera cuts the the party and teenagers dancing, there is also a fire which gives off the light along with the moon. the camera cuts to a mid shot of people dancing and then to a long shot of the four guys walking towards the party, you can not see there faces as they are in Silhouette, this adds even more so to their mystery.

Twilight

Twilight starts with a woodland scene, the camera tracks up over a log and looks down on a deer that is eating, the deer looks up and turns it head around then starts eating again. There is a voice over were Bella Swan is saying that a good way to die would be in place of a person she loved. There is then a close up of the deer eating, the voice over stops. The camera changes to another close up of the deer but this time it is filmed through leaves and is hand held, this makes the audience feel as is someone is watching the deer or like they them selves are. The camera cuts to the sky and you can see the tree tops, it then tracks back down quite fast. It is very clear the camera is hand held now as the person (who's point of view we are seeing from) runs through the branches and towards the deer. The deer runs and the camera runs after it, there are a lots of fast cuts here as you see the deer leaping over things and then the camera goes back to handheld and the person following the deer. There is diegetic sound throughout this and the music suggests panic, urgency but also danger, this could be for the deer or the person/thing chasing it. This makes the audience feel already as if something supernatural or strange is going on as there are no suggestions that the thing following the deer is another animal so we are left to asume that it is a human, of sorts, the music contributes to this also. The shots of the deer running increase which makes you think that there is more than one person following it, the deer makes a leap over a log and you see, only for a second, a person, wearing normal clothes (jeans, hoodie) and probably male grabs the deer. This confirms thoughts of something super natural as what normal human would chase a deer in the woods and be able to catch it with their bare hands, hunters use guns so the audience realises that these people are not 'normal'. The screen then flashes white and then goes and a grey/blue colour as the voice over of Bella Swan starts up again. The camera then tracks down and you see a young girl, who we presumme is the girl talking in the voice over as she talks about leaving home. the sound track is still playing but the frantic music fades into peaceful but sad sounding guitars. The voice over continues and the begining of the film ends and the main story starts.

Murder Mysteries~ Agatha Christy

Most Murder mysteries begin with the murder itself, their murderer hidden by some item of clothing covering their face or even without their face being shown at all. This leaves the audience knowing slightly more than the detectives themselves as they have seen the murder take place. This helps to emphasize to the audience how intelligent the detective is, by illustrating at the start that he has less knowledge of the situation than the audience does, however still solves the mystery first.
By opening with the most dramatic scene the creators of the film successfully draw the audience into the film and leave them desperate to know what is going to happen and why it took place. After this first scene you are normally taken to the very beginning of the story, either to show you what happened before the murder, or to show the body being discovered, and the case investigated.

Poirot ~ archaeological dig
In this particular episode it opens with an establishing shot of a ruin. Once inside it becomes clear to the audience that some sort of illegal trading is taking place. The subtle but tense music adds to the suspense more than anything and keeps the watcher on the edge of their seat.
The lighting is used effectively to create shadowy and deceiving images of the inside of the temple and the characters themselves.

Poirot ~ Neighbor murdered
This episode opens with Poirot moving down a dark corridor, as he moves towards the camera, a police officer walks in front of him, turning the lights on as they walk. This could represent Poirot’s journey through discovering the murder behind this mystery, as the facts are illuminated and the truth uncovered.
A voiceover is played as Poirot empties a small metal draw which is unlocked for him, and we discover as he removes a journal from its dusty interior, that it was kept by a murderer. He speaks of how the journal describes the bitterness and jealousy which lead to a cruel and unexpected murder.

Poirot ~ Devon Hotel
The first scene opens with a forbidding sermon given by the priest of a village. He stands before his congregation and speaks of death and betrayal, which automatically puts the audience on edge.
There is then a sound bridge in which the piercing screams of a woman drowns out his voice. The shot then cuts to a woman running through a wood and, still screaming, climb onto her bike and cycle away as fast as she can.
As the voice over of the sermon continues the camera follows a car through a village and back into the woods, where two police cars are parked at the side of the road and the same woman is being interviewed. The men speak of a body being found and the camera follows the policemen down into the trees as they set off in search of it.

I believe murder mysteries have developed clever way of gripping the audience from start to finish, urging them to figure out the mystery before the detective can by stealing the imagination from the very pages of Agatha Christy’s books and projecting it onto the screen.

Hancock

This movie starts of witha car chase and lots of quick shots. There is non-digetic sound of country/cowboy music that contrasts with the scene. I found it very different when I first watched it as that is not what I normally expect in a film with the thriller genre. It then switches shot to 'Hancock' lying asleep on a bench - this is a big contrast between the car chase then someone asleep. The music also changes with it going slower and it has the digetic sound of him snoring whereas before it was cars beeping and screeching. We see empty bottles rolling away from him which leads the audience to assume that he is/a drunk. The scene then switches back to the car chase with the comedic music still going on and the so called badies shooting the police. The pace of the film here is really quick with lots of zoom and pans giving the effect of movement and that makes it feel tense, however when we see ' hancock' again sleeping on the bench the pace has slowed back down again. I found this bit quite funny and also very interesting as it leaves the audience feeling slightly baffled and not knowing what/is going to happen in the rest of the film.

He then gets woken up by a little boy. It takes Hancock quite awhile to wake up but when he does the boy knows his name so we can assume he is the superheroe. This is the first 2 minutes of the film.

I really enjoyed and thought it was very funny with a very clever opening. I think that it has quite a wide target audience because I watched it with my mum,dad and brother and they all enjoyed it.

Here is a link for the first part on you tube http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=f0gIOaK29ps