Tuesday 29 March 2011

Pitch & Opening

Monday 8th November 2010
Opening Idea 1:

A man leaving a court after being proved innocent even though they are guilty of murder and then when he's trying to leave he gets mobbed by paparazzi and as he talks to them the daughter of the mother killed who was also the murderer's friend walks past angry that she has recieved no justice from the courts (could have an extreme close up on the daughter's face as she walks past the murderer.) Later on the daughter is returning home after drinking by herself to try and forget but this only makes her situation worse when the murderer decides to chase her and try to attack. Luckily the daughter makes it home and grabs a weapon (knife) which she then stabs the attacker with. But is then distraught about what she has just done.

Location: Weekley Glebe Field, filmed afternoon or evening.
Pros: Lots of trees for the chase scene
      Big Space

Cons: People walking dogs
      No lighting

Opening Idea 2:

A successful man is waiting in his big house for a delivery he has ordered. This man is in a wheelchair from a past accident. When the delivery comes he recognises the delivery man as the person who used to make his life hell at school... as soon as they look into eachothers eyes there is a flash back and the audience get to see how the man ended up in a wheelchair, it shows how it was the delivery mans fault and therefore explains why the successful man is shocked and angry when he opens the door. When the flashback stops it goes back to the delivery man and the successful man on the doorstep just staring at eachother, the successful man will then be polite and take his parcel and close the door, but then plots his revenge orders something else and requests that delivery man and when he comes to the door he is waiting to torture the man.

Location: My House
Pros: Easy to use various camera shots
      Good lighting

Cons: Space issue because I have 2 dogs
      Children in the house.

We have decided to use Opening Idea 1 because it seems more interesting and easier to do such as location adn access. There could be difficulties if people are walking their dogs, we would just have to pick a time where not many people would be out. However, we would be using a range of different camera shots so our opening would be creative and interesting. We already have ideas for our cast, thinking about who would be suitable playing the characters in our opening.


Wednesday 3rd November 2010

We delievered our significally changed pitch to Mr Henton who then accepted it, thanks to hid advice before we were able to create a better pitch without giving to much away.

Monday 1st November 2010

Today we delivered our pitch to Mr. Henton who unfortunately said that we could not make it because we had already selected actors which we were not supposed to do until our pitch had beeen accepted, we had also gone into to much detail with our overview. So we had to work on our pitch and then do it again another day.

29th October 2010

We spent a a lesson planning the opening for our film, which went well and we got together the idea for our film. These are the 2 ideas we came up with for our films:
A girl who's mother has been killed by a friend, the daughter was angry after she was unable to replace her.
A man see's a person who bullied him as a child, then decides to get his revenge.

Wednesday 2 February 2011

Horror Film Openings: Wrong Turn

Monday 18th October,

Having recently completed the preliminary task, our group and I thought showered ideas for our horror movie. The group had to come up with an idea that would be used for a whole feature length horror movie, and pitch it to the Chief Executive Officer of another 'production company' (Henton Horror Films). Our group came up with the concept of our feature length movie, with the working title, "Take My Scars." Our film idea was pitched, including basic storyline details, and was accepted and our group have now entered the pre-production process of film making, with a budget of whatever our group are willing to spend. Now our group must find locations and storyboard and film footage for the opening 2 minutes of "Take My Scars."

Wednesday 13th October,

After editing the footage with sounds and titles, our group's final product (video) was shown to our class teacher and has now been completed and our group's empitus can now be switched to looking towards our horror movie
Monday 11th October,

We had a double lesson. In the first hour, we went to film our Preliminary Task using different camera shots and movements, giving us a variety of shots to choose from when it comes to editing. After filming, we downloaded our footage from the camera to the Macs so it would be ready to be edited next time.

Wednesday 6th October,

We looked at the article about the opening of 'The Shining', a classic horror film starring Jack Nicholson. We then watched the opening first few minutes of the horror film 'Wrong Turn' (2003). Whilst watching the opening, we made notes about the use of visual and audio elements.

There are a wide range of visual elements in the opening of 'Wrong Turn'. Some of these include shots like bird's eye view, establishing shot, and point of view shot. These are needed to create the feeling of fear, tension and suspense that are expected to keep the audience on edge.

The bird's eye view shot at the beginning shows how isolated the location is. This is important as it shows that the victims are in the middle of nowhere which hints the danger. The establishing shot of the cliffs and the woman also shows how isolated and helpless the victims are, intentionally making it hard for them to get out and escape the danger when it comes. The point of view shot of the woman in the chase scene actually makes it look like the woman is running away as the camera is hand-held. It shows the audience how fearful the woman is as the camera is shaking which reflects her panting and panicking. Also it would bring tension and suspense to the audience as they don't know what is chasing the woman.

The editing is faster to create the 'false scare' to the audience to keep them feeling the tension before the actual danger and horror comes. The example of this editing is the scene where the woman nearly falls down after losing her grip of the rope. This would make the audience jump as the start of the opening would have kept them on edge.

The audio elements in the opening are just as important as the visual elements in creating the tension and suspense. The audio elements include the music in the background and also additional sounds. 

At the beginning of the opening, the tempo of the music increases to suggest the sense of danger is nearby. Also there are drumming over the top which emphasizes and pinpoints the danger. The music is orchestrial which includes stringed instruments which is significant in creating the feeling of fear.

The enhanced sounds are louder so the audience would feel the suspense as they wait and expect for the danger to happen. One of the sounds that is enhanced is when blood drips on the woman's face which for the audience is the beginning of the horror.

Thursday 2 December 2010

Horror Film Openings

Monday 4th October

Today we discussed the conventions of horror films such as narratives, characters and settings. We then watched the opening of 'Jeepers Creepers' (2001),  'Dead Wood' (2007) and 'Jeepers Creepers 2' (2003).  From these openings, we noticed that they included young characters, set in isolated locations which caused a sense of threat.

Introduction To Horror Genre

Wednesday 20 October 2010

Downloading from Camera to Mac and Transition and Effects

Monday 27th September
We had a two hour lesson in the first hour me and my group got to do some filming for our Preliminary Task, we tried to do as many different camera angles/shots as possible.  Then we went into the Mac Suite where we were taught how to get our footage from the camera into Final Cut Express. We were also shown how to use transitions and effects whilst editing so we can make our footage look more presentable.

Using the Cameras and Introduction to Final Cut Express

Monday 20th September

We finished storyboarding and were taught how to use the camera and the tripod after a demonstration by our teacher. There are many different camera angles we were shown such as the crane shot, extreme long shot and close up.

Wednesday 22nd September

We were showed the basics of Final Cut Express to learn how to edit footage. We then tried using Final Cut Express on some example footage to get used to editing with FCE and also going on the Macs.

:)

Planning Our Preliminary Task

Today we looked at different camera shots and then started storyboarding our Preliminary Task, deciding the best camera shot and angle for each shot. :)