Filming 27/02

Today, our group meet up at the S.S Great Britain empty building in Bedminster to start filming. Our filming location is an old empty warehouse.

We went straight away into filming all the scenes that had to be shot in the warehouse. We started filming at about 1pm so we had the right amount of natural lighting when we shot scenes outside.  


We all had different roles in filming. Communication was the most important. understanding what each person envision of the film was important in shooting so we can get the best possible shots. Rebecca and Alistair were doing the acting while I did most of the filming.
The start shot sees Rebecca climb into the old building holding her rounders bat. she then walks into the building and stands in front of the camera which zooms into her eye and take her the audience to a flash back of the girl's life as a child. 
The next filming was done inside the building by the window. that was the brightest part in the building which could reflect natural lighting. we filmed a scene of Alistair (the killing) walking and limping to stand in front of Rebbecca. Rebecca then walks to Alistair and says "do you remember me?" This takes us to the end of the scene. 
We filmed another scene where Alistair (the killing) was walking outside the building with a crouches acting suspicious. 
The last filming we did was on the steps. Alistair filmed Rebecca walking up the steps into a room full of planks and broken bottles.

Problems we had filming

• Location: The building is owned by the government which meant we had to be careful of miss handling it.
• Health and Safety: Because it is owned by the health and safety issues, the building has been locked down which means there wasn't any proper way in getting into the building. We had to enter the building through a small hole which most of us ended up hurting our self. Inside the building, they were broken glasses which led to wounds because people step on it and cut themselves without noticing.
• Lighting: Because the location was locked up, inside the building was very dark making it almost impossible to film with natural lighting. we used touch light from our phones to get brightness in particular scenes. 

Filming Schedule

        Crew:                            Props:                           Timing:

•  Rebecca: acting/filming                       mask                                filming started at 1pm.

• Alistair: acting/ filming                          crouches

• Linda: filming                                bat                          

Bart was not available for the filming.

Filming :24/10/12

Cast:
Rebbecca: acting
Alistair: camera man
Bart :cameraman
Linda: cameraman

Props:
 Rounders bat

On Friday, we went out and started filming. We had to shot just one shot because that wasn't our filming location. This shot was filmed in front of the church yard near the school.
Rebecca was doing the acting while the rest of filmed. The shot saw Rebecca, a young girl in her teens walked towards the gate of a building and bash in.

I thought filming was going to be easy to do. However, I found difficulties as in working with different people because everyone had a different idea of where and what direction the cameras should be.So as a group, the most important skill we all needed was communication and listening to each other. It was very important that we listen to each other because then the idea was fluent "two heads are better than one."

Other problems we had when filming was avoiding distractions around us. The first shot was done near a pub which means we had a lot of drunken people around us shouting and screaming. We got through this by focusing on the task on at hand and trying different shot ideas. We however got inspiration from a man who wanted to act in the film as well.

The 180 Degree Rule

The 180 degree rule is a very important aspect in a film production. It is an imaginary line which cut through the middle of a scene from side to side to make the scene realistic.

 If the passes over the imagery line, it creates confusion for the viewers to understand what direction the character is supposed to be looking.

 In the example of a dialogue between two actors, if Susan (orange shirt in the diagram) is on the left and Drew (blue shirt) is on the right, then Susan should be facing right at all times, even when Drew is off the edge of the frame, and Drew should always be facing left.

Another aspect of the 180 degree axis is that the closer to the axis the camera is, the more the viewer's point of view resembles the characters, and thus the feel connected to the character.

Hypothetical Film Production

 Haxan Films

 

If our psychological thriller was to be produced by a film production company, the likely production company to produce it would be Haxan Films.

 Also known as “the Haxan five” Haxan Films production company was founded by five graduates of the University of Central Florida Film Program. The company is run by Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Robin Cowie and Michael Monello.

The films they have made include;

• Curse of the Blaire witch (1999)
• The Blaire Witch Project (1999). Their most famous production of all time.
• Freakylinks (2000)
• Books of Shadow: Blaire Witch 2 (2000)
• Say Yes quickly (2004)
• Altered (2006)
• Seventh Moon (2008)
• Paranormal activity (2009)
• Lovely Molly (2011)
• Exists (2012)

Their film budgets range from $15,000 to a maximum of $1000, 000. Haxan films best ever production is “The Blaire Witch Project”. The distribution strategy for The Blair Witch Project was created and implemented by Artisan studio executive Steven Rothenberg. The movie was positively received by critics and went on to gross over $248 million worldwide, making it one of the most successful independent films of all time. 

Film4 production.

Film4 Productions is a British film production company owned by Channel 4. The company has been responsible for backing a large number of films made in the United Kingdom. The company's first production was Walter, directed by Stephen Frears, which was released in 1982.

Film 4 is a vertical integration company; they make and show their own films. Film4 develops and co-finances films and is known for working with the most innovative talent in the UK, whether new or established.  Film4 production and releases includes:

• The Eagle
• Submarine
• usual suspect
• Bound
• Transformers
• Watchmen
• X-men
• Blue ( which was co-produced by BBC Radio 3)
• The insider

According to The Guardian, Channel 4 has increased the budget of its film financing division, Film4, to £15 million per annum for the next 5 years.                                                                                                                

 The new budget, effective from 2011 onwards, represents a 50% increase on Film4's current spend on film development and financing. This injection of fresh investment into the UK film industry reflects a deepening commitment towards film and drama as being central to the creative renewal process launched by Channel 4 earlier this year.

Questionnaire Results

These are the results gathered from the questionnaire.

 The result shows that there is a similarity between both sexes who watch thrillers with the majority of the people who answered the questions been female. This could just be that more female than male were asked to fill in the questions.

People of different age were asked to fill in the questionnaire. According to the result, thriller movies are particularly popular amongst teenagers (16-20). This could be due to the fact that more teenagers were asked to fill in the questions than any other age group.

 

3) What is the name of the last thriller you watched? (We listed the 5 most popular ones which people have recently watched)

a) Woman in black

b) Taken

c) Fight club.

d) American Beauty

e) Se7en

The most popular thriller in the filled in questionnaire was Woman in Black. This shows that teenagers are more interested in the most recent thrillers rather than the old thrillers.

 Results shows that even though thriller is very popular among teenagers, people minimise the amount of thrillers in which they watch each month with someone stating that the watch a maximum of (2 thrillers each month).

 The results shows that people who took part in the questionnaire were more interested in action thriller even though some participants were choosing about 3 sub-genres as their favourite type of thrillers.

 6) What do you like most about this genre? (We listed the most popular answers from which people said)

a) Messes with your head

b) The plot

c) Fast pace

d) Normally hot guys

e) Adrenaline rush

f) Suspense

g) Its exciting

h) Making you question things

i) Having to work out the possible motives of the criminals

j) Thrills you

We decided to select the most popular answers which participants wrote. The results shows that people who like thrillers watch it for similar reasons.

7) What do you dislike about this genre?  (We listed the most popular answers from which people said)

a) Scary

b) A bit boyish.

c) The killing parts

d) Can predict what will happen

e) Lack of story line

f) Lack of plot

g) How long it takes to get into the story

h) Can be hard to understand

i) Some are very bad
The result shows that no matter how interesting  people might like thrillers, they still see the imperfection and boring sides to it.

8) What emotions do you experience whilst watching this genre? (We listed the most popular answers from which people said)

a) Excited

b) Tension

c) Anxiety

d) Adrenaline

e) Anticipation

f) Thrill

g) Shock

h) Panic

i) Suspense

The results shows that participants who took part in this questionnaire have similar feelings when watching a thriller.

9) How does the sound/music effect you whilst watching this genre? (We listed the most popular answers from which people said)

a) Frightening

b) Scary

c) Adds to the emotion and suspense

d) Makes it more realistic

e) Makes the film flow better

f) The sound emphasises the genre

g) Adds to the mood

h) Tension
 The results shows that sound/ music effect is a big part of a thriller.

The result shows that Inception was the most seen film. This could be because of the character in the film (Leonardo DiCaprio) or because people are more familiar with it because it is a recent film  (2010).

Questionnaire

We made a question for people of all ages to fill out to gain more knowledge of our choosen genre. Below is an example of a filled in questionnaire.

Preliminary Task

The second task we were set was to shot a short film to show of our filming skills. This film must include continuity editing and match on action. the plot of our film is and employee who walks in to work late and drunk. She looks tired, scruffy and she probably hasn't had a bath in weeks. the clip has a few dialogue so we could have a shot-reverse-shot in the film.

The plot of our clip was developed from the scene in "what's your number?" where ally gets fired by her boss.

Settings
The clip would be shot in Mr. Evans office. This would be the boss's office where the employee gets sacked. The employee would walk in to the sit down. She would listen to her boss give her reasons why she isn't a good employee and then asked to leave the premises.

Mise-En-Scene
The film would be shot in a dark room and it will be shot in black and white. some of the props used would be; a clock on the wall, a chair and a table, some papers, a cigarette for the boss to smoke while talking to the employee and a mask. The mask would be use humous. The employee would be kept in suspense as the boss talks to her and would only walked be seen at the end of the clip when she sits down.

Editing
Continuity editing would be shot when the employee walks into the room and sits in front of the boss. The shot-reverse-shot would be seen when the boss fires the employee. This would be used to show both characters emotions. How the employee reacts to information of getting fired from her job. The final editing we would use is match on action. This would be filmed when the employee walks out of the office and slams the door. The door would be shot from three inside the office, outside and when it is slammed from three angles. From a high angle, a mid-low angle and an eye level.



Ally's character getting fired in "what's your number" above and below is my character getting fired in our preliminary task. This is were my group got our inspiration from.

TheDialogue

Boss: Morning, do you know why you are here?
Employee: No
Boss: well, i'm gonna cut the long story short, you are fired.
Emplyee: Why?
Boss: You always turn up late and hang over
emplyee: That was once
Boss: Once is enough for you to fire you
Boss: Please...
Boss: Close the door behind you.

Cast:
Rebecca: Acting
Linda: Acting
Bart: Filming
Ali: Filming

This is a video of our preliminary task.

Conventions of a Psychological Horror

1.    The sound effect- the sound should be intense, eerie, dark, sinister and brooding track.

·       Internal non-diegetci sound should be use to show the mental state of a character.

·       External non diegetic sound should be use to show control and authority.

2.    Editing: editing should have quick cut, match on action, montage, flash backs, and the change of angles (especially high and low angle to show vulnerability and power between characters)

3.    Narrative: the plot should have mystery, drama, be scary, thrilling and confusion of the purpose of the film.

4.    Characters should be involved in mental levels of danger rather than physical.

Keira Knightley in the film dangerous.

5.    Psychological characters should have a fascination with death.

6.    Mise-En-Scene: lighting should be under-exposes; dimed light and shadows.

·       Props should include; mirrors, stairs, phones and killing objects such as knives or bats.

·       Colour: red is a stereotypical colour for danger. However, mixing the colours and adding astonishing colours such as white would make the thriller less predictable and more gripping.

·       Setting: psychological thrillers are usually set in places such as basements, alley ways and old buildings.

·       Costume: Villains usually wear quit predicable clothing such as suits and ties. An interesting way of making the villain connect more with the audience is making him the victim. Making the audience sympathise with the real victim only at the end of a film could be a failure but it’s an interesting idea that not many film director do. The real victim should dress in a suit which could later change at the end when he is dressed in a shirt and a jean trouser.

24/01/12- psychological horror

My name is Linda Forlemu. In this unit, I will be working with Rebecca, Alastair and Bart. We will be filming and editing an opening scene of a clip. The maximum duration of this must be 2 minutes. The genre we have chosen as a group is horror. We choose a horror genre because we thought it would they would involve creative ideas and there would be interesting settings for the clip to be shot in. Making the decision of doing a horror clip wasn't difficult as some members in our group (Bart and Alastair) already had a idea of what a horror film is and had a rough idea of where we will film the clip. Our clip would be shot in an empty warehouse near the school.
After the agreement of where the clip is shot in, we had the difficulty of making the decision of what sub-genre of horror we want to do. We decided to do psychological horror.

What is Psychological horror? 
A psychological thriller is a sub-genre of thriller which heavily relies on the characters fear, eeriness, sound effects and emotional instability to build tension in the plot. For example, in psychological thriller, the reason behind every action is kept inn suspense until mid-way through the movie or possibly the end. The characters are exposed to danger on a mental level rather than a physical one.