A2 Media Studies Blog

Rather than using this blog for my A2 work I have created another one seeing as I am not going to be working with my partner any more due to the fact he has moved from my class.

You can view my new A2 Media Studies blog here: http://danrossellmedia.blogspot.com/

Thanks

Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Our preliminary task was very sloppy in how we filmed it, edited it and how it was placed on YouTube. I do agree that one of the shots, which was an arc, was done very badly and the camera wobbled about a lot. We didn't use as many different camera shots as we used in our final film. This is because we started experimenting with other camera shots when we had already finished our preliminary task.

On both occasions we used matches on action. They both happened when the person came through a door so that you could see the other side of the door. Both were very well edited together so that the cut seems non existent.
Also the use of the 180 degree rule in both films was very handy. It was our main focus in our preliminary task and so we knew how we could do it in our final film.

Using the editing software was quite hard to get used to but over time it got easyer. This was the main thing that we used to create our final film and our preliminary task. Using it for our preliminary task was hard seeing that we havent used it before but for our final film we knew what we were doing and could edit it better than our preliminary task.

Overall i think that we have done very well as a group for making Pursuer. I think we learnt a lot from our preliminary task and was able to apply some of this to our final film which was much better.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

A camera (Canon MD255) - The camera we used was very nice and we could easily take the media from the tape to the computer in order to start on the next step which was editing.

• A tripod (Jessops TP327) - The tripod was very useful so that we could do the tilted, low angle and high angle shots. Without the tripod this would have looked not as proffessional.

• A microphone - This was used to keep out any of the backround sounds that we didnt want in the scene. Unfortunatly we had some problems with it when we tryed to film and somtimes the end of the microphone would get in the shot. Other than this the microphone was a very handy tool.

• Adobe Premiere Element 7.0 – Part of the Adobe CS4 package. We used this to edit the clips together, cut out unnecessary footage, add sound/sound effects, and complete our final film. This was a very useful thing to use when editing our film and putting in sound ect. It was very easy to use and made editing simple.

• Windows Movie Maker was used to help create the Pursuer title, to enable it to flash up letter by letter.

• Paint and Microsoft Office Picture Manager was used for editing and pasting pictures together.

• Free Play Music (www.freeplaymusic.com) is where we found the music for Pursuer; we used this as it is non-copyright and worked very well with our final edited film.

• We used YouTube (www.youtube.com) for inspiration and to get an idea of what other films were out there and to help give us an idea of our target audience, our Pathé clip was also found here. We were allowed to use this in out film as it is such a short clip and it does not break the Copyright Protection act.

• Blogger (www.blogger.com) was used as our main area whereby we could upload our research and planning, videos, trailers evaluations and anything else related to our AS Media Studies course

How did you attract/address your audiance?

To attract the audience that we wanted we used a lot of different styles of filming and editing. Firstly we had Pathe films. They were our production and distribution company and they can bring in a audience that appeals to people who have a good idea of the quality of pathe films.

At the beginning we used a certain font and style that are used in other horror/thriller films that we have seen. The classic red black and white are connetating blood on skin. Also the way the title comes up on screen letter by letter which starts building tension.

We then starting using the correct camera shots and angles like over the shoulder shots, mid shots, close ups, tilt shots and of course POV shots. These are all used to crate the right atmosphere that we needed to make the film more believable.

We used music and sound to our advantange having the non diagetic sound building tension in the scene and diagetic sound in the scene to make the movie more believable which incuded car sounds and mabye rain droping on the floor. Especially when Paul enters his house the music changes and gets slower but it doesnt give away the danger that could still be comming.

We used props in our films like knifes for our killer and a bag and computer for our collage student. This easily gives the audience a clear views of who is the good person and who is the bad person in the scene.
Then adding the correct clothing for both actors so that they fitted their characters roles in the film gave a very authentic look.

Our unique selling point of our film is the storyline, which is very different and eye catching. To the right audiance, who like horror/thriller films, this would be a perfect thing for them to see.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Vitor Rato is a 17 year old guy from Leatherhead. He enjoys listening to rap and hip hop music and has a keen interest in sports such as football, tennis and rugby.

He liked watching Pursuer because he enjoys watching films like Scream. He also likes the comedy, action and thriller genres. He likes films like Mall Cop, Scary Movie and Kick Ass which come under the comedy genre.

He also likes watching Tv programmes and dramas including Supernatural, Skins and Shameless. These are all very good examples of Teen drama and show what Vitor likes.

He watched our film with quite anticipation as he told us that the film was very good at building tention while not giving away too much about the film. He liked the ending of our film and how it left you on the edge of your seat. This, he said, was what made him think that he wanted to know what happened next to Paul.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

We picked Pathe to be our production and distribution company and they are known for helping make a number of film successful including The Queen and films made by Danny Boyle such as Millions, Chicken Run and the popular Slumdog Millionaire. These films could all be called 'British' films because of the people involved with their films. This would also help Pursuer get into a British audeance.

We created our own production company called JD productions to produce the film and to aim at a British audience

Pathe would help fund our film is because without the help of a professional, long running company we would not be able to finish the production of pursuer. Without their help it would be almost impossible to create a noticeable distribution scheme to help get the film to the general public.

The titles have been shown on our two main characters to introduce them into the film so that the audience know who they are. It also gives a clean idea to the audience who is the typical 'Good' guy and 'Bad' guy.
We didn't include the director or editor because we thought that as new film producers our names wouldn't be the thing associated with the film. More likely people would focus on our production/distribution company and our actors.

A couple of films that you could compare to Pursuer is the beginning of the film Scream with the actor Skeet Ulrich. This is because of how our titles and filming was used. With our main character unaware of their danger and the Killer being in control.
Another film that could be compared to ours is some of the 'Saw' films. These films normally have a very slow and quite creepy beginning leaving the Audience not knowing what to think. We wanted to do this in our film so that the audience wasn't ready for the climax

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Billy Loomis - Skeet Ulrich
Unknown Character - Alana Shaw


I have chosen these two characters because of the way they are shown in our movie.
Billy loomis is the killer in the movie Scream. This is compared to the Unknown character in our movie.
The way their are both filmed in the movie are the same but we didn't use the voice of our unknown character so that we didn't give away the identity of them. Unlike Scream, where the killer's voice is used lots to create tension, it still worked for us not using dialog. The only dialog we had was from our main character, Paul.

The way that we had our unknown character dressed was quite similar to Scream's Billy Loomis, with his dark robe and knife. Our killer was wearing mainly black clothes so that the audience could easily identify the good and bad characters.
The way that the storyline goes is kind of similar to Scream's opening scene that the main character is being harassed/followed and the killer finally catches up with them with bad consequences

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

This is a picture of 9 different screenshots of our film, called pursuer. These screenshots all show different areas of how we made our film look more authentic.

Screenshot 1 - Title/Name of film:

This first screenshot is of the title of the film. I think that this was a very good opening of our film because of the way it came up on the screen, letter by letter to bring suspense. The font and colouring of the title is also very good. As the red font connotates blood and violence. For example other films like Scream and Shawn of the Dead which use a mixture of red,black and white for their title screens. The music that is played over the title already gives the audience an idea of what may be coming in the film.

Screenshot 2 - Title Font and Style:

This second screenshot is of the font that we used for our movie. As you can see the colours we used were red, white and black. The red and the white connotates skin and blood which would give a clue to the audience what might happen in the film. The font size was also very good as it isn't too large to fill the whole screen but isn't too small so that the audience can read it easily.


Screenshot 3 - How characters are introduced:

The third screenshot shows the audience both main characters in the clip. The way we have done it though, is so that it is an over the shoulders shot of the unknown character looking at Paul but this shot is done so that you only see the unknown persons clothing and not their face. This suggests that their identity is to be shown later in the clip but not until the climax. This also gives the effect that Paul and the unknown character are all alone and there is no help for Paul.
You see this method used in quite a few horror films to make the killer apparent to the audience but not to the victim.


Screenshot 4 - Camera Work and Editing:

This screen shot shows our main character, Paul getting followed by the unknown person. The way we have shot this is so that we can see both people but the rails from the bridge covers up the unknown person's face. This is very useful because it keeps the audience interested in the film to try and figure out who the Unknown person may be.


Screenshot 5 - Setting/Location:

This is the establishing shot of Paul's house and him walking into the house. This was a useful thing to do because it made sure that the audience knew where Paul was after the cut from white. This keeps the audience interested in the film because people could think that Paul is safe because he is home or that he may still be in danger. What the audience don't know is that Paul is still being watched by our unknown character.

Screenshot 6 - Costumes and Props:

In this screenshot we used a POV shot of the laptop with the words "I'm watching you". We used this prop well as it was a way of telling Paul that someone was after him. We also used specific clothing. For Paul we had quite casual clothes like he had just come back from school or collage. This is also known by the school bag he has on his back. For our Unknown character we had her in very dark clothes with dark shoes to make her seem more mysterious.

Screenshot 7 – Genre and how the opening suggests it:

The screenshot is the close-up of the phone calling 999. This suggests a Horror/Thriller film because most of these films pay great attention to small things like phones, hand movents and objects etc. This also shows it could be a Horror/Thriller because of the number that the phone is calling. You normally phone 999 if you are in trouble and need help. The opening scene also give a clear idea to the audience who the good and evil characters are. Paul being good and the Killer being evil.

Screenshot 8 – Story and how the opening sets it up:

This screenshot is of the main character called Paul, who the movie is centered around. The plot in the opening sequence is quite straight forward, Paul who is a college student is on his way home from college and he starts to be followed by someone. He does not realise this as yet. He is followed all the way home. Paul goes into his house to start his homework; he is interrupted by a message that appears on his laptop. It says “I’m watching you!” he is freaked out and goes to grab the phone; he dials ‘999’ and calls the police. You then see him put the phone to his face and as this happens his facial expression changes to become very alert and aware. He has noticed someone standing in his garden, it switches to a POV shot and he sees the ‘unknown’ character just standing there next to a bin, playing with a large kitchen knife which is unidentifiable until he starts turning it round and playing with it. This brief opening sets up the plot for the whole film which is based around Paul and there will also be another story running alongside this one, based on the same scenario.


Screenshot 9 - Special Effects:

Because of how the film was made we didn't have an opportunity to do any really good special effects although we used the camera to create a blurry effect in the last scene of the film. This gives the POV effect of Paul, showing that he is confused and scared of this strange person who is wielding a knife outside his window.


In conclusion i think that we did quite well in making a believable Horror/Thriller Film opening scene.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

In my preliminary task, I used very basic camera work and editing skills. It was the first time I used a camera and the editing software. In our preliminary task we used mainly mid shots and over the shoulder shots (OTS). The main reason of the preliminary task is to show continuity and the skills that we have learnt in the forst few weeks of the course. We had to follow the 180 degree rule when the characters had their conversation. Since taking part in the preliminary task I have learnt so many more skills that all relate to the subject. These range from the types of shots used to working with the editing suite. When filming the final task we still followed the basic rules such as 180 degree rule and match on action. We were more creative with the types of shots we used and i have also improved on matching the sound up to make it all flow. I experimented on my film with different style titles and fonts. I then chose a font that I liked. When putting in titles I chose ones that suited well with the filmn and made sure all the fonts and colours whre continued throughout the entirety of my project. I feel I have improved since the preliminary task as I used a title template and for the final film I learnt the skills to enable me to create my own template. Also when I added transitions I chose them to suit the film and to make them look more authentic. Overall I feel that I have improved a great deal since the preliminary task, on things such as editing techniques and camera work. I think that since doing media I have been able to use many of these skills in producing my final product.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

We used different technologies and different pieces of equipment to make our final media product, some of these that we used are:

• A camera (Canon MD255) and a DV tape to film the footage for our final product.
• A tripod (Jessops TP327) to keep the camera steady and help us in shots such as pan, tilt and high/low angle shots.
• A microphone to record the small amount of sound and block out any background noise so we could clearly hear the dialogue.
• Adobe Premiere Element 7.0 – Part of the Adobe CS4 package. We used this to edit the clips together, cut out unnecessary footage, add sound/sound effects, and complete our final film.
• Windows Movie Maker was used to help create the Pursuer title, to enable it to flash up letter by letter.
• Paint and Microsoft Office Picture Manager was used for editing and pasting pictures together.
• Free Play Music (www.freeplaymusic.com) is where we found the music for Pursuer; we used this as it is non-copyright and worked very well with our final edited film.
• We used YouTube (www.youtube.com) for inspiration and to get an idea of what other films were out there and to help give us an idea of our target audience, our Pathé clip was also found here. We were allowed to use this in out film as it is such a short clip and it does not break the Copyright Protection act.
• Blogger (www.blogger.com) was used as our main area whereby we could upload our research and planning, videos, trailers evaluations and anything else related to our AS Media Studies course.

When using the camera we found it hard to get the right angles but after a few attempts of filming each scene we managed to find a suitable angle. Also we had to experiment using the tripod to get the right angle. When we used the microphone we plugged it into the camera we only used this to block out the background noise when filming the scene insde the house.

From making our opening sequence, I have realised how difficult it is to use a piece of software such as Adobe. We only started using this software in November. And since then, we have progressed very well for example at first we did not know how to cut, edit or add transition, effects and titles in and after learning the basics of Adobe Premiere Elements we became more able to add these features in and use the software correctly in order to create a good opening sequence. The quality of the footage/film we have had problems with, we had to save each file in a different format and try and upload it to YouTube however when doing this it proved to be extremely unsuccessful as it kept degrading the quality of our footage/film. Finally we found a good format to save it as (MPEG) and it uploaded successfully and at a good level of quality. Overall we have learnt about different technologies and different pieces of equipment to make Pursuer.

How did you attract/address your audience?

Here is my 'directors commentary' style voice over video however I have added annotations to to use for my evaluation. These annotations highlight the ways in which your Film Opening links to other similar films in order to attract the particular Audience you we previously identified. The annotations refer to genre conventions, use of music, similarities with other movies and what we have identified as the Unique Selling Point of our opening sequence.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

This is an audience member I have chosen, his name is Max he is 17 years old. I chose Max because he likes watching horror/thriller films and this is the same genre film as ours. His age range is renowned for watching horror films. Max likes listening DnB, Hip-Hop, Alternative Rock, and Mainstream. This suites our films as we have used fast upbeat music to create suspense and tension. He likes to wear casual clothes when he goes out with his mates but when he is at work he dresses well, he buys most of his clothes from stores such as River Island, Topman, House of Fraser, Urban Outfitters etc. He likes to watch Films/TV programmes with a sort of horror/thriller aspect whereby a lot happens and it all leads up to one big climax. The main reason he likes watching these is because he get gripped by an interesting story and it makes him watch to continue watching the programme/series. Some of the programmes he watches are Skins, Shameless and Murder mystery type shows. He doesn’t like being bored so that is why he watches these types of films/TV programmes. I think Max would like to watch our film because it has a gripping story and it would make him want to continue watching it. He likes the feeling where you know something bad is going to happen and this is the main reason why I think he would like to watch our film. Also in the opening two minutes quite a bit happens to make him want to continue watching because he will want to know what happens to our main character (Paul).

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Here is the video of my 'directors commentary' style voiceover explaining some of the key features of our opening sequence, I uploaded this to ' YouTube' so others could view this and comment on my work.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I have chosen Paul (Charlie Surey) from our opening sequence this being because he is the main character and there are quite a few similarities and differences between him and other characters in films for example Scream. The only difference being that the main character there was a female.

I have chosen to look at Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) in Scream; she is similar to Paul because of her attire and appearance. She is quite similar to Charlie because she is wearing casual clothes that she may also wear to college just like Charlie’s character does in Pursuer. A difference between Charlie and Neve is that obviously as i mentioned earlier they are the opposite sex however this does not alter the fact they have a lot in common and this is represented by the social group that each character may belong to. Another similarity is that they are both the main character in each film and they both have the same experiences of being harassed, followed or watched.

These two characters have some similarities and some differences to Paul but they are both of the similar role type in both horror and thriller films.

Mise-en-scene and the costume is very important at showing a particular character. This is an area that we could have improved on. Especially for the dark and mysterious character (the ‘unknown’).

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

These are my nine screen grabs from our final opening piece that I have chosen to evaluate and write about in order to answer the following question “In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?”.

Frame 1 – Title/Name of Film: This screen grab is of our title of the film it is quite similar to other horror and thriller films I have looked at and analysed over the last few months. Most other horror/thriller films have a title that makes the audience attracted to the film; they will keep the font consistent throughout the whole film and print media (posters, trailers, titles etc.). It is simple but very bold and it stands out as the background is red and the name is in a darker blood red. It is a typical horror/thriller title as quite often the titles to this particular genre film roll on letter by letter which is what we have done so I think we have done this quite well. The music plays over the top of the title this is to start making the viewer suspicious about something as we have chosen quite fast eerie music.

Frame 2 - Title Font and Style: I chose this screen shot to show what font/colours etc we have used for our titles, as you can see we have used a deep blood red colour and quite a plain font. Our titles also have a hint of white in the top right hand corned, this is due to the connotation of red being blood and the white being skin colour. I think this works well in our opening sequence. Also as you can see we have chosen not to have our titles too large as so they don’t dominate the whole screen however they are still visible and clearly readable.

Frame 3 - How characters are introduced: This screenshot is of our two characters as you can see we can only see the main character (Paul) full and the ‘unknown’ character is not visible as it is an over the shoulder POV shot. We used this shot to show that Paul was actually being watched by someone. The main reason we chose an over the shoulder shot was so you could see the ‘unknown’ was wearing dark clothing and was also wearing a hooded black top this was to hide the identity of the character. This is quite a common feature in horror/thriller films whereby the identity of one character is hidden and not shown until after the death of the main character. I believe our characters are quite similar to other films within our chosen genre. In our opening you do not find out the main characters name this is mainly due to the lack of dialogue from this character.

Frame 4 - Camera Work and Editing: I have chosen this shot from our opening sequence because in this shot we can clearly see both characters in shot, however due to the editing of the clip and the camera work we are not able to see the ‘unknown’ characters face. It is one of my favourite shots within the opening and I like it because we are still unable to find out the identity of our character and we will not do so until the end of the film. I have also used match on action in frame 5, this is when Paul walks up the drive to his door then we switch to be inside the house, this matches up well. In our opening we used a variety of shots and camera movements, we used handheld and tripod shots to show the characters from a mix of different angles. As other horror/thriller films we used a mixture of shots ranging from high and low angle, pan and zoom. I think the camera work and editing of our opening sequence was key to making all our shots successful and similar to other films in the horror/thriller genre. We used the camera effectively and the editing was quick and in time with everything else.

Frame 5 - Setting/Location: This screenshot is of Paul our main character walking into his house, before this shot we see Paul walking home from college. Know we see him in his own familiar surrounding, I chose this screenshot because it shows that the setting has changed from being outside to someone’s house. In the horror genre it is common for films to be based around one of the main characters home, for example in Scream where the young lady is being harassed and phoned. I think we have used a typical setting/location for a film in the horror/thriller genre.

Frame 6 - Costumes and Props: I have used this image as it shows one of the props being used, this being the Apple Laptop it is key to the film because it shows the message that provokes the main character (Paul) to phone for the police and then look outside into his garden and then he realises that there is actually someone there playing with a knife. If we did not have the laptop showing this message the storyline would not work this is why it was such a big part to the opening. As you would not know what would have provoked him to call for help. At first we where going to have it appear on screen halfway through a piece of work he was doing, however due to time constraints we were unable to do this. Again in the text on the screen we chose to use the colour red which as you can see has become increasingly popular throughout our opening, the main reason we have done this is due to the fact the colour connotates blood.

Frame 7 – Genre and how the opening suggests it: I chose this picture because it shows the phone and the numbers ‘999’ being dialled. This is a good representation of horror/thriller as something bad is going on and the person is obviously scared and thinks it is a risky situation so he phones for the police. To suggest the horror and thriller genre in the opening sequence we included a typical scenario whereby someone is being followed by a mysterious person. This consisting of a ‘good’ character (Paul) and a ‘bad’ character (the ‘unknown’). The genre is shown straight away and you can also tell because of the music we have used is typical of a horror/thriller film.

Frame 8 – Story and how the opening sets it up: I chose this picture/screen grab because it shows our main character (Paul) whom which the opening sequence is based upon. The plot in the opening sequence is quite straight forward, Paul who is a college student is on his way home from college and he starts to be followed by someone. He does not realise this as yet. He is followed all the way home. Paul goes into his house to start his homework; he is interrupted by a message that appears on his laptop. It says “I’m watching you!” he is freaked out and goes to grab the phone; he dials ‘999’ and calls the police. You then see him put the phone to his face and as this happens his facial expression changes to become very alert and aware. He has noticed someone standing in his garden, it switches to a POV shot and he sees the ‘unknown’ character just standing there next to a bin, playing with a large kitchen knife which is unidentifiable until he starts turning it round and playing with it. This brief opening sets up the plot for the whole film which is based around Paul and there will also be another story running alongside this one, based on the same scenario.

Frame 9 - Special Effects: We didn’t have many special effects in our opening, however at the end we blurred the shot slightly this was to keep the characters identity under wraps and also this was a good POV shot from Paul, as he has just found out someone is following him/watching him he may well be slightly hazed or have blurred vision due to the shock so I think this works well.

Overall, I believe we have used a variety of media forms very well in our opening which adds up to make our opening sequence similar to one of the horror and thriller genre.

Final Film

This is our final version of our opening sequence. It is a horror/thriler and we have called it Pursuer.

Audience Profiling

I am doing this to show what films of the same genre, attract differnent audiances. This can then give a clear idea of what ages we could be appealing to.

Shutter Island
film cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Michelle Williams, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Patricia Clarkson
4-6 0%
7-11 0%
12-14 0%
15-24 32%
25-34 31%
35-44 11%
45+ 25%

Saw
film cast: Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Leigh Whannell, Monica Potter
4-6 0%
7-11 0%
12-14 0%
15-24 42%
25-34 22%
35-44 21%
45+ 15%

The Grudge
film cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Bill Pullman, Jason Behr, Courtney Webb
4-6 0%
7-11 0%
12-14 0%
15-24 41%
25-34 35%
35-44 19%
45+ 5%

The Killer Inside Me
film cast: Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Simon Baker, Casey Affleck, Liam Aiken
4-6 0%
7-11 0%
12-14 0%
15-24 26%
25-34 28%
35-44 18%
45+ 28%

From Hell
film cast: Johnny Depp, Ian Holm, Robbie Coltrane, Heather Graham
4-6 0%
7-11 0%
12-14 0%
15-24 44%
25-34 34%
35-44 17%
45+ 5%

All these films show that most Thriller's are for 15+ Veiwers.

Deadline!

The deadline for our film/evaluation is in about 2 weeks so we have just about finshed off the film and will have to do the evaluation

Adding Music

Currently I am sitting in media and I am adding the music that Jonny found to our film. We have found two pieces of music from freeplaymusic.com, the first is called Mist and the second one we found is called Personal Demons. The name Mist is a good representation of our opening as when we where filming it was misty and the light was going down so it was getting darker. This works well with our filming and it seems to all be in time and sounds good. The second piece of music we found is called Personal Demons this fits in with the scene and we have had to fade the sound at points so that you are able to hear the dialogue. We used Mist up until when it fades white, we faded it white so that the viewer can see we have moved on in time. We then used the next piece of music Personal Demons when you see the character walk up the driveway and into the house.

Sound

I'm trying to find the right type of music to fit into our film. I looked in Freeplaymusic.com. I have found a few pieces of music that would really go well with the film. These music clips are very slow and mysterious and should create lots of tension all throughout the film towards the climax.

Time Management

So far I think we are working well towards our deadline. We have finally filmed, uploaded and started editing our opening scene. Compared to many other groups in our class who have not as yet started editing or even finished filming.

Editing

So last Friday editing got well underway. To do this we are using the same software as we used for the previous filming we did, it is Adobe Premiere Elements 7.0 which belongs in the Adobe CS4 package. We have actually pretty much edited down 15 minutes of footage into about 2 minutes. Now we have to match everything up and make sure that it all fits. We want to use alot of our footage however it was hard choosing the scen or section that we wanted to keep. We had to do this because we filmed each scene about twice but the angle may have slightly changed or the actor may have moved and we needed to keep continuity throughout the whole opening. I started the editing of Pursuer, I cut out all the out-takes and bad footage. Then I started to get down to the part whereby we have to match everything up and make sure it all fits. This is the bit that takes the time. Because you think you have done it and then you get to a bit whereby you realise that actually you have to cut it there instead of where you cut it previously for example. But I think overall it turned out to be very succesful on Friday seing as it was our first attempt at editing. I think that after we have finished editing we may show it to a few people and see how they think we did. Seeing as we can always go back and make correction/additions as and when needed before the final deadline.

Editing

Editing has been postponed because we cant get the film onto the editing program. :(

Update: We have managed to get the film on the computer and have edited pretty much all of it. All we need to do now is put in the titles,credits and add in sound.

Uploading troubles

During the first few days of the new term, we have had a bit of difficulty with the software and cameras. And as of yet we have been unable to upload our filming that we did. So at the moment the editing will be a bit delayed. We are not that worried about this short delay but we realise that once it is uploaded we really have to get a move on and work very hard. We can however start researching for music and convert the institutions clip into AVI format. Which I will do tonight as at school we have had a slight problem (this was just that the clip was quite bad quality so I will try again later).

Filming

Well during half term me and Jonny started filming for Pursuer. This was the ideal time to start as we were able to use both our actors and location at a time that would suit us instead of rushing to get there or not being able to film due to it getting too dark. We started off by taking footage of Paul (Charlie) walking through the gates of a school close by to my house in Cobham, the main reason for this was the fact we did not have enough time in the opening scenes to get from our school (Therfield)to my house which is where the indoor bit is filmed. We then filmed Paul walking towards a large iron bridge. At this point we introduce another character, 'The UNKNOWN'. The identity of this character is hidden throughout the begining of the opening. As we go over the iron bridge we see that Paul is being follwed. We used a variety of shots during these scenes, this is to create the right effect and for our viewers. As Paul walks over the bridge on the other side of the road it fades out and goes into him walking up his driveway, the camera switched to inside the house to see Paul open the door from inside and then he puts his bag down and goes to start his homework on the computer. When he suddenly becomes scared about something. This is becasue as he opens the computer a window opens and it says "I'm watching you!", at this point Paul says the only bit of dialogue, "What the hell!?". He stands up and the chair behind him falls back n the floor. He then goes to reach for the telephone and he dials in 999. THe operator answers and Paul then says "Police please!". After he says this we see him look outside the window and standing there in the garden is 'The UNKNOWN' playing with a large knife. In this last few scenes we used many shots such as Pan, Zoom, Close up, Extreme close up and Tilt shots. This is also to create the right effect we want and to create more of an immersive viewing experience for the end viewer.

FIlming Equipment

For the filming of Pursuer we will be using a 'Canon Digital Video Camcorder MD235' which can be seen to the left, the main reason we chose this over the other two cameras is this camera had a better zoom function and we would have been restricted with the zoom if we had chosen one of the other camera. We will be able to create the right shots from this camera and it will work very successfuly I think. The Canon camera we will use will perform the tasks required in a high quality format.

We will also be using a microphone that can be plugged into the jack in the camera, we will use this to cut out any background noise that might occur inside the house when we are filming the dialogue. The microphone that we will use can be seen to the right.

The final piece of equipment we will use is a tripod (Jessops TP320) , we will use this to keep the camera steady while filming, this will also enable us to achieve a better effect when we want to pan the camera etc. The tripod we will use can be seen to the right.

First time Filming

Its the first day of half term and the first day of our group filming for our 2 minute film. We managed to get all the scenes that we wanted and it all went really well. We even thanked the heavens for it started snowing for like 10 minutes when we were filming outside even if we didnt want it too. This created a better and a damn colder effect to the outside scenes that we did. Putting together all the camera angles and movements in the scenes we did really paid off because when we watched it through it really did seem like a convincing Horror/Thriller and this was even without the music that we will have to put in! Im sure that by the time half term is over and we go back to school Dan and I will find a problem meaning that we will have to do another scene again but we will see what we can do...

Final Film Institution

Our chosen production company will be Pathe Pictures the main reason being that these companies are well known in the industry for producing and distributing a wide variety of very successful films such as Aardmans 'Chicken Run', Danny Boyles box office hit 'Slumdog Millionaire' and 'The Queen' by Stephen Frears. These films are all 'British Films' because of the actors, plot and location. We would choose Pathe as they would be able to get Pursuer out into the film industry and make our film successful.

Movie ideas...

I have been watching quite a few films recently so that i can get more ideas for camera shots and angles we may want to use for our film. For example the beginning of the film Donnie Darko is very mysterious and the editing that is used is very slow so it kind of makes the audience sleepy too because the main Character is about to wake up and introduce himself but no dialog is used which would confuse the audience. I was thinking of using mid shots, close ups, and extreme close ups. All these camera shots will help give the right effect for the audience. All these shots will built tension and will eventually lead up to a climb axe of seeing the 'Killer' in the window.

Audience Profiling

Audience Profiling - Horror, Thriller and Action

There is a main reason why I have undertaken research into Audience Profiling. This is to give me an idea of other films in the same or similar genre. I have found out many things such as estimated box office totals, the certificate, and the age groups that are going to watch the specific film. As you can see from the films I have reaearched below all of them are rated certificate 12 or 15. However I think our film will be good to have a certificate 12 as the audience that are going to watch the film will be aged 12 and above. This is seeing as our film doesn't have any graphical violence or severe horror scenes.

The Dark Knight
estimated box office: £20,000,000
genre: Action, Horror
director: Christopher Nolan
film cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman
certificate: 12a
distributor: Warner Brothers
gender split: male 67% female 33%
age groups watched by:
4-6 0%
7-11 6%
12-14 9%
15-24 28%
25-34 31%
35-44 15%
45+ 11%

Terminator Salvation
price: B-
estimated box office: £20,000,000
genre(s): Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
director(s): Joseph McGinty Nichol
film cast: Christian Bale, Anton Yelchin, Sam Worthington
certificate: 12a
distributor: Sony Pictures Intl.
gender split: male 62% female 38%
age groups watched by:
4-6 0%
7-11 4%
12-14 6%
15-24 28%
25-34 20%
35-44 18%
45+ 24%

The Strangers
price: C
estimated box office: £3,000,000
genre(s): Thriller, Horror
director(s): Bryan Bentino
film cast: Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman, Gemma Ward
certificate: 15
distributor: Universal Pictures
gender split: male 40% female 60%
age groups watched by:
age gender
4-6 0%
7-11 0%
12-14 0%
15-24 74%
25-34 13%
35-44 0%
45+ 13%

The Unborn
price: D
estimated box office: £1,000,000
genre(s): Horror, Thriller
director(s): David S.Goyer
film cast: Odette Yustman, Gary Oldman, Cam Gigandet
certificate: 15
distributor: Universal Pictures
gender split: male 51% female 49%
age groups watched by:
4-6 0%
7-11 0%
12-14 0%
15-24 54%
25-34 26%
35-44 12%
45+ 8%

Vacancy
price: C
estimated box office: £2,500,000
genre(s): Thriller
director(s): Nimród Antal
film cast: Kate Beckinsale, Andrew Fiscella, Dale Waddington Horowitz, Luke Wilson
certificate: 15
distributor: Sony Pictures Intl.
gender split: male 54% female 46%
age groups watched by:
4-6 0%
7-11 0%
12-14 0%
15-24 60%
25-34 27%
35-44 10%
45+ 3%

Film Music

Currently we are looking into music for our film. We need to make sure we choose the right music otherwise it will not go with our film. It needs to be eerie and mysterious so that we create the right feel/atmosphere within our film. I am looking at a website called Free Play Music as this is not copyright protected.

Six Feet Under Opening Scene.

I liked this opening scene because it has some really good close ups on items that have lots to do with the film. The music is also really good and goes with the mood of the scene. I like the way that the camera does a close up on things and its blurry in the back round. We will use some of these techniques for our film to make it look better.

Film Rating.

We decided to give our film a 12 rating so that it can appeal to most audiences.
This is what the producers who made the Dark Knight did. This was so they could get the biggest audience as possible. Some people did disagree about the Dark Knight's certificate because of the graphic scenes and violence in the movie. Our film wont have much violence but it could scare some younger children.

Filming.

We plan to start filming on Monday the 15th of Feb to the 22nd. We want to do as much filming as we can in Half term when everyone isnt very busy with school and we have the whole days to film.
We will also have lots of time to plan how and where we wanted to.

Animatic Storyboard

Well after seeing Jonny's storyboards that he uploaded, I thought it would be a good idea to create an animatic version of the storyboard. This will enable us to have a rough idea of the length that our opening scene will be. As you can see from the video below it currently lasts approx. 1min 50seconds, I think once we have started filming we may have to add a few shots in to make it slightly longer. I don't think we will need to cut out any parts as it will not be longer than the specified 2minutes. I have included within the 1min 50seconds our film title (Pursuer), a picture of our film institution logo, and whos is starring in our film.

UPDATE: When we got around to filming Pursuer we realised that we had far too many shots in our storyboard so we cut out quite a few shots to enable us to fit in the whole plot. We changed a few of the angles etc. so that they would suit the genre of our film. Our final film is now 2min 4seconds. We went over our specified time by 4seconds however we have been informed that there was a 5second leeway.

Film Institutions Research

For film institutions research I investigated Film4 and Pathe Pictures in a bit more detail than I already knew. Here is what I found out:

Film4 Productions is a British and it is a film production company that is owned and operated by Channel 4. Film4 has been responsible for the huge succeses such as Slumdog Millionaire, Four weddings and a Funeral, Brϋno, and East is East. I think the reason for such success is because most of the actors are British and also where the films are set is also British. I have researched Film4 because they mostly produce low budget films and they produce a variety of genres. So I think this will be a good production company to feature in the opening titles to our film as it has quite a good reputation and although it is less well known compared to Warner Brothers or Fox I think it will still do well and it os one of the best for our type of film production.

Pathe Pictures has a major presence within the UK film industry, operating as a fully integrated studio. It is involved in all aspects of film-making, from production and development through to international sales and distribution. Pathe UK's production range from Aardman's 'Chicken Run' to Stephen Frears 'The Queen' to Danny Boyle's box office hit 'Slumdog Millionaire'.

Pursuer Storyboard

This is our main idea for the 2 minute film called 'Pursuer'.

Page 1



Page 2



Page 3




Page 4


All these scenes should hopfully be in the 2 minute limit that is asked for.

Costume Ideas

Paul's 'preppy' look:


'UNKNOWN' characters dark mysterious look:


Recently I have been thinking of what we want our characters to wear, so I have got a few pictures of the type of clothing the actors may be wearing.

For Paul as he is a college student he is going to have a 'preppy' sort of look. He will be wearing the clothes he wears at college such as polo shirt, jumper, jeans, and plimsolls.
Now for the 'UNKNOWN' character they will have to wear dark clothing to seem more mysteriour and unknown. Colours such as black and dark grey, we dont really want to be able to see their face when we are filming so I thought maybe black/dark grey trousers, black/dark grey top, a black jacket with their hood up, and black plimsolls/pumps.

The colours for Paul do not really matter, he doesn't want very bright colours as this does not represent the character and he does not want too dark colours as this will counteract with the 'UNKNOWN' characters clothing. We want to be able to have a clear contrast between the two characters.

Pursuer Vs. Blood Red

Well this evening we finally thought of a name for our film with a little help from our friends, we both shortlisted it down to one name each. Jonny's name was Blood Red and mine was Pursuer. I chose the name Pursuer becuase it is when you follow something in an effort to capture it, and can mean being taunted or afflicted. Jonny chose his because he thought it sounded very rough and violent. He thought it would go with the theme for our movie which is horror. So we posted the two names on the social networking site Facebook and asked friends to comment on it saying which name they prefered for the type of film we are creating. The chosen name was Pursuer as it recieved more votes than Blood Red. Although i still think Blood Red was a very good suggestion by Jonny. So thank you guys for helping us, it was very useful.

The Shot List

These are the shots that i think should be in our film. They will mainly be closeups or medium shots because of the genre of film. This makes the mood much more mysterious.

First Shot: This will be an establishing shot of the school and the student coming from it towards the camera.

Second Shot: Either mid shot or long shot to show where the person is going.

Third Shot: This will be a mid shot but at one side of the person as they go by. This shot wont show their face but will have their legs to chest so not to see their face. The Unknown character will then make themselves apparent in the scene but going down the same path as the Victim.

Fourth Shot: This will be a shot of the person going up the stairs on the bridge. And will have an establishing shot of the person walking down the bridge. With maybe a zoom of the Unknown person behind a bush or tree. Their will then be a low angle shot of the person going across the bridge and walk down the stairs on the other side of the bridge to continue walking. Again, hinting that the person in black is following them.

Fifth Shot: As they are walking down the dark road with overhanging trees the angle will be a tracking shot and then a medium shot of him looking round behind him, to see nothing.

Sixth Shot: This will be an establishing shot of the person going towards their house getting their keys out and stopping at the door. There would be a extreme close up of the man fiddling with their keys in their hand about to open the door.

Seven: This will be a mid shot of the person coming though the door (Maybe pick up post) and will follow them towards the computer which they will turn on and show a message from an Unknown person. This message will say 'I'm Watching You So Keep Your Eyes Open'
This person will then pick up the phone and while they are on the phone the camera will arc around to the window where the Unknown person will be standing!

Character Profiles

So today our final cast has been selected and here are the character profiles. We have asked two friends, Charlie Surey and Alana Shaw to participate in out movie. Alana agreed as we will be/have been helping her group with acting, filming and whatever else they need us to do. Charlie is going to be the college student, his name for the purpose of the movie will be Paul Smith. He is a normal guy with a normal lifestyle he gets on with his college work and goes out with his mates regularly. For the movie Charlie (Paul) will be wearing 'normal' college clothes such as jeans, plimsolls a polo shirt and a jacket. Alana will be playing the 'UNKNOWN' person, the name and identity of this person will not be revealed throughout the movie. This creates tension and suspense for the audience. Alana who throughout the project we will refer to as 'UNKNOWN' will be wearing black clothing and black hooded top with the hood up. We are goiong to try not to show much of 'UNKNOWNS' face during filming.

Places for Filming

We had to give it a little thought but now we have just about decided on where we will have most of the film taken. We will have to think about the weather at the time. For our film most of the film the weather will have to be quite dark and grey. It will look odd if we have one of our scenes with the sun out and it is nice and warm compared to the other darker scenes.

Final Filming Arrangements

Today me and Jonny are thinking about the final arrangements for the filming of our opening. We are in the middle of deciding whether or not to film just our main character walking out of the school gates or the main character with the rest of the school. We are thinking that if we do him on his own it will be more mysterious and creepy. However if we do it with the whole of the school leaving we will have to gain permission from the school and everyone who will be filmed, this will be very time consuming and it will take up valuable filming time.

Research and Planning

Research and Planning

View more presentations from Dan.

For more effect...

We will have to film on a day when it rains or when it is cloudy to make the scene look darker and to make the main character look more in danger.Only the first one or two shots will be near the school and after this all the shots are outside and because of this we will have to organise times to film. The places we have decided to film are very dark and mysterious and because of this we need to film them so that they match the genre we are trying to give to the audience. Adding the music in editing will the give the camera shots and angles an extra touch to the scene and make it that extra bit creepy.

Planning and Research

Planning and research list (Once highlighted bold it means it is completed)

- Google (G321 OCR blog) for example blogs
- Story board of our plot
- Mind maps – location, genre, costumes, ideas
- Photos of props
- Location photos
- Photos of clothing
- Photos of actors
- Music for our opening
- PowerPoint presentation for Planning and research
- Script (if any - probably no dialogue though)

Ideas for Camera Shots/Angles

These are a few shots and angles that we could use in our 2 minute film.

I liked the tilt shots because they make the audience want to watch what may come up and it creates tension.

Questionnaire's

Media Studies - Research Questionnaire
The main purpose of producing this questionnaire is to distribute it to round 30 people within different age ranges and social groups to get there opinion on film openings and other important things to do with an opening scene. This will give me an idea as to what genre we want to do and what we want to happen in our opening. Once the results have been collated I will post them on our blog and comment on each question in high detail as to the response given.
Questionnaire:
1. What is your age?
2. What is your sex?
3. What is your favourite genre film to watch?
4. What do you like to see most appear in a movie (E.g. fighting, arguing, romance etc.)?
5. What encourages you to go to the cinema and watch a film?
6. What is so important about the opening two minutes to a film?
7. Do you enjoy the beginning of a film when you watch it?
8. Would you like to watch a film whereby it starts at the end (E.g. recapping over a particular story)?
9. How often do you watch your favourite genre of film?
10. How often do you watch films?

Ideas From Genres of Films

We looked at different genres of film to help us get ideas on how to make our films appear more realistic to the genre that we have chosen. The first genre we looked at was types of gangster film including Kidulthood, Get Carter and Good Fellas.

Kidulthood is a more modern film compared to the other two and has non-diagetic sound of a drum and bass track which appeals to the audience but also shows the mood of the scene. The way that it is edited shows all the main characters and flashes past the people who are more in the back round of the film. This tells the audience that the film will be very fast paced.

The next gangsta film is Get Carter. This is much more sutle and starts with a very slow fade in and a slow zoom. The sound is very quite and creates tension in the scene. There is hardly any dialog in the first 2 minutes of the film and it is only the projector that is amplified so that the audience concentrates in it.

The last gangster film we watched was the beginning of Good Fellas. The titles at the beginning are very plain and simple but the main title with the name of the film on it is in red which relates to blood. The voice - over is an American person and 50s music to try and set the scene.

The two musicals we watched were Hairspray, High School Musical and Grease

Hairspray used blue bubble writing that appeared out of the haze of the spray. The music is very happy and upbeat. The film has sounds of older bikes to set a 60s scene. Old cars and old shops are used to make the film more believable.

High School Musical begins with white titles to show what time of year it is. (In this case white)
The lighting is used to introduce the two main characters.
The music in Grease is slow and romantic to show the genre of the film. It also has cartoon writing to show who it might appeal to.

The last genre we watched was the Horror genre. These included Saw2, Scream and The Village.

Saw's opening scene was very good at creating atmosphere and uses lighting, camera shot/angles and sound to make the audience feel scared.
The light was very dark and only showed a light bulb on its own showing that the person in the scene is on his own by the way that the camera looks around and the breathing that is coming from behind the camera.

Scream's titles are very good showing the title of the film in white then a scream and a knife slash can be heard. The title then goes red representing blood. There were many close ups on things that didn't appear very special in the film. The camera keeps following the girl showing that something might happen to her later on in the scene.

The titles in 'The Village' were in a very Gothic font showing that the film may be set in the past or in a distant place. High pitched music is used a lot and the only thing seen in the beginning of the film is the dark trees of a wood.

Using the things we have seen in the 3 horror films we can try and apply these techniques in our short film to try and make it better.

Opening Scenes

Yesterday we watched eleven different opening two minutes of films from a variety of genres, these included Gangster, Musicals, Horror. Below is a few detailed descriptions of some of the clips we watched.

From watching these we could clearly see that we had chosen the right genre for the type of film we wanted to create. Which is Horror as this would be more realistic for us to re-create.

Gangster:
Kidulthood - this starts of quite dark and the establishing shot is in a stereotypical school setting, the soundtrack that we here at the beginning is up beat and high tempo. The font used for the opening titles of this film are white and they are a small size text. The start of Kidulthood seems quite high paced and it fasts forward then slows down. They use a wide fvariety of camera angles and some of these are pan, zoom, long shot and mid shot.
Get Carter - This is very slow to get into. We dont here many sounds apart from two simple alternating high notes at the very begining and also sounds from the click of the projector which is amplified and the dialogue in the scene. We do not see any titles during this opening two minutes. Again many camera angles used some are mid shot, low angle, close up and high angle.
Good Fellas - this was another film that yet again started very dark, The sounds we hear are of cars driving along a road as the titles flash across the screen, and then we hear a bang from the boot of the car this sound is amplified. The titles are white and red which connotates skin and blood. The music is quite up beat and also high tempo. What is unusual about this film is that as the titles are rolling it will cut to a bit of action e.g. the trees and then cut back to the white credits on a black background.

Musicals:
Hairspray - there is an establishing shot over Baltimore and this starts quite intense. The sounds used are up beat again and high tempo, there is a good use on diagetic and non diagetic sounds in the opening scene. The film title then comes up this says HAIRSPRAY in large bold green bubble writing. It emerges from a foggy cloud of hairspray. After the film titles come up it stereotypically goes straight into a song from the musical.
High School Musical - This starts very bright and it starts with mainly dialogue, the music is up beat and when it switches to the party scene there is diegetic sounds used e.g. stereotypical party noises. It didnt start with a song like Hairspray did and imstead starts intros=ducing the characters straight away.
Grease - This starts on a beach with a couple in the sunset. It starts quite happy but more unusual it starts with what could be percieved as the end of a romantic film. They use bright colours and up beat music. They also use a variety of shots e.g. long shot, two shot, pan, establishing shot and many more. The titles are in a cartoon format and they are a variety of colours, these are centered.

Horror:
Saw II - This starts dark aswell, we hear heavy breathing, not alot happens during the opening scene. It looks more effective as there is lightbulbs flashing and the noises we hear are represented in alot of horror movies. There is point of view shots and extreme close ups used to add even more effect to the horror aspect.

Media Terminology

SOME REALLY USEFUL MEDIA TERMINOLOGY

CAMERA SHOTS

Aerial Shot – A camera shot taken from an overhead position. Often used as an establishing shot.
Close Up – A head and shoulders shot often used to show expressions/emotions of a character. Also can be a shot of an object, filmed from close to the object or zoomed in to it, that reveals detail.
Extreme Close Up – A shot where a part of a face or body of a character fills the whole frame/dominates the frame. Also can be a shot of an object where only a small part of it dominates the frame.
Establishing Shot – A shot that establishes a scene, often giving ther viewer information about where the scene is set. Can be a close up shot (of a sign etc) but is often a wide/long shot and usually appears at the beginning of a scene.
Medium Shot – the framing of a subject from waist up.
Two Shot – A shot of two characters, possible engaging in conversation. Usually to signify/establish some sort of relationship
Point-Of-View Shot (POV) – Shows a view from the subject’s perspective. This shot is usually edited so that the viewer is aware who’s point of view it is.
Over the Shoulder Shot – looking from behind a character’s shoulder, at a subject. The character facing the subject usually occupies 1/3 of the frame but it depends on what meaning the director wants to create (for example, if the subject is an inferior character, the character facing them may take up more of the frame to emphaise this)
Overhead Shot – a type of camera shot in which the camera is positioned above the character, action or object being filmed.
Reaction Shot – a shot that shows the reaction of a character either to another character or an event within the sequence.


CAMERA ANGLES
Camera Angle – the position of the camera in relation to the subject of a shot. The camera might be at a high angle, a low angle or at eye level with what is being filmed.
High Angle – A camera angle that looks down upon a subject or object. Often used to make the subject or object appear small or vulnerable.
Low Angle – A camera angle that looks up at a subject or object. Often used to make the subject/object appear powerful/dominant.
Canted framing (or oblique) – camera angle that makes what is shot appear to be skewed or tilted.


CAMERA MOVEMENT
Pan – Where the camera pivots horizontally, either from right to left or left to right to reveal a set or setting. This can be used to give the viewer a panoramic view. Sometimes used to establish a scene.
Track - a shot whjere the camera follows a subject/object. The tracking shot can include smooth movements forward, backward, along the side of the subject, or on a curve but cannot include complex movement around a subject. ‘Track’ refers to rails in which a wheeled platform (which has the camera on it) sits on in order to carry out smooth movement.
Crane – A crane shot is sometimes used to signify the end of a scene/ programme /film. The effect is achieved by the camera being put onto a crane that can move upward.
Stedicam - A steadicam is a stabilising mount for a camera which mechanically isolates the operator's movement from the camera, allowing a very smooth shot even when the operator is moving quickly over an uneven surface. Informally, the word may also be used to refer to the combination of the mount and camera.
Tilt - where a camera scans a set or setting vertically (otherwise similar to a pan).
Zoom – Using a zoom lens to appear to be moving closer to (zoom in) or further away from (zoom out) a subject/object when in fact the camera may not move (so, strictly not camera movement). Can be used for dramatic effect.


EDITING
Editing – the stage in the film-making process in which sound and images are organised into an overall narrative.
Continuity Editing – the most common type of editing, which aims to create a sense of reality and time moving forward. Also nick named invisible editing referring to how the technique does not draw attention to the editing process.
Jump Cut – An abrupt, disorientating transitional device in the middle of a continuos shot in which the action is noticeably advanced in time and/or cut between two similar shots, usually done to create discontinuity for artistic effect.
Credits – the information at the beginning and end of a film, which gives details of cast and crew etc.
Cross Cutting – the editing technique of alternating, interweaving, or interspersing one narrative action (scene, sequence or event) with another – usually in different locations or places, thus combining the two: this editing technique usually suggests Parallel action (that takes place simultaneously). Often used to dramatically build tension and/or suspense in chase scenes or to compare two different scenes. Also known as inter-cutting or parallel editing
Cutaways – A brief shot that momentarily interrupts continuous action by briefly inserting another related action. Object, or person (sometimes not part of the principle scene or main action), followed by a cutback to the original shot.
Freeze Frame – the effect of seemingly stopping a film in order to focus in on one event or element.
Eye-line Match – a type of edit which cuts from one character to what that character has been looking at.
Flashback – a scene or moment in a film in which the audience is shown an event that happened earlier in the film’s narrative.
Graphic Match – an edit effect in which two different objects of the same shape are dissolved from one into the other.
Juxtaposition – the placement of two (often opposed) images on either side of an edit to create an effect.
Linear Narrative – a style of storytelling in which events happen chronologically.
Montage Editing – the juxtaposition of seemingly unconnected images in order to create meaning.
Parallel Editing – a type of editing in which events in two locations are cut together, in order to imply a connection between the two sets of events.
Visual Effects - visual effects are usually used to alter previously-filmed elements by adding, removing or enhancing objects within the scene.
Match on Action - A shot that emphasises continuity of space and time by matching the action of the preceding shot with the continuation of the action. (For example a shot of a door opening after a shot of a close up of a character’s hand turning a door handle)


SOUND
Diegetic Sound – sound that can be heard by the characters within a scene/ sound part of the imaginary world.
Non-diegetic Sound – sound that the characters cannot hear and is not part of the imaginary world of the story. This includes a musical soundtrack or a voiceover (however this excludes a narration by a character within the story – referred to as an internal monologue and is diegetic).
Score – The musical component of a programme’s soundtrack, usually composed specifically for the scene.
Sound Effects – sounds that are added to a film during the post-production stage.


OTHER KEY TERMS
Artificial Light – A source of light created by lighting equipment, rather than from natural sources.
Convention – a frequently used element which becomes standard.
Disequilibrium – the period of instability and insecurity in a film’s narrative.
Enigma – the question or mystery that is posed within a film’s narrative.
Equilibrium – a state of peace and calm, which often exists at the beginning of a film’s narrative.
Framing – the selection of elements such as characters, setting and iconography that appear within a shot.
Genre – a system of film identification, in which films that have the same elements are grouped together.
Iconography – the objects within a film that are used to evoke particular meanings
Intertextuality – reference within a film to another film, media product, work of literature or piece of artwork.
Mise en scene – a French term, which literally means ‘put into the frame’. When analysing a sequence the term refers to everything you see in the frame (props, costume, lighting, colour, makeup etc.)
Narrative – a story that is created in a constructed format (eg. A programme) that describes a series of fictional or non-fictional events.

Outlining our final task

Genre

Horror/Thriller

Setting

House / Bridge (road) / Woods (Cobham common)

Cast

Main character / Mysterious person

Special Effects

Rain (would be preferred)

Car noises (next to a busy A road)

Clothing/Props

Costume (main character – normal clothes, follower – long dark jacket and a covered face)

Laptop/computer (to show the message)

College/work bag

Keys (to open the door)

Sound

Non-diagetic

Creepy/mysterious sounds (violin stroke – high pitched)

Owl’s hooting

Diagetic

Rain hitting the floor

Credits

The title of film – big and bold (red/white – this is to represent blood and skin)

The rest of the credits – smaller font in corner of screen while film is beginning (white/red)

The Plot

• Coming home from college/work.

• Hints that they are being followed/watched.

• Walks over bridge, even more suspense.

• Walks up to house still being followed.

• Goes into the house

• Turns on computer and messages appear (email or internet warning).

• Person following looks in from outside through the window.