Monday, 30 April 2012
Evaluation Question 7: Preliminary Task
The preliminary task was exceedingly helpful towards my understanding of putting together a short film as it taught me the logistics behind direction of a crew and also camerawork, which we later implemented in our short film 'South of Heaven'. We adhered to the 180 degree rule which we learnt prior to filming the preliminary video and we also used match-on-action shots to create a clear flow of events. Our preliminary task taught us about insert shorts which we also used in our film to give the character Tom a clear incentive (to the audience) to carry on with the film. When developing the preliminary task, we had much less creative freedom than in the short film, which in turn made it a lot easier to film and piece together. The preliminary task served as a constructive outline to our film-making careers and things we were taught about in lessons were made clear to us when we actually had to put them to use.
Sunday, 29 April 2012
Evaluation Question 4: Audience Research
This is Steve, who is a 18 year old KFC employee and he loves horror-thriller films because they excite him and grab his attention. Steve prefers psychological horror films because they linger in his mind after watching them and frighten him more than other horror films because they hit closer to home. Steve is representational of a large portion of our audience as it is predominantly teenage males who will watch our film, because of it's content. Steve's favorite movies are The Shining, Donnie Darko, Rosemary's Baby and Mulholland Drive, which are not dissimilar to our film in terms of psychological content.
Saturday, 28 April 2012
Evaluation Question 2: Character Comparison
Monday, 9 April 2012
Sunday, 8 April 2012
Thursday, 29 March 2012
Evaluation Activity - Question 6
What have we have learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product
Final Cut Pro
Using Final Cut Pro taught me a lot about continuity editing and the
importance of this for the overall quality and outcome of our film.
Tripod
Using a tripod taught me about the importance of a
steady camera and the differences in effect and quality
when using a tripod compared to handheld cam.
Redhead & Liliput - Lighting
When using these pieces of lighting equipment
we learned that they create a much brighter and
colourfull effect through the camera, whereas
natural lighting was very dull when filming.
Friday, 16 March 2012
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Evaluation Activity - Question 4
Audience For Our Media Project
This is Chris Lee. He is 19 years old, and he lives in Hackney, London. He is at college and is hoping to go to University to study psychology. He dresses casual in jeans and tops and enjoys cycling, going to the gym and going to the cinemas with friends. Chris doesn't smoke or drink and eats healthily - salads, vegetables. His favourite movies are The Shining, Batman and War of The Worlds. The latest film he saw was A Dangerous Method in cinemas, he enjoyed this as he is fond of Psychological Thrillers. Chris also likes to collect DVD's of scary movies to watch with his friends on the weekend, some of his favorites are The Orphan, Ichi The Killer and IT. He listens to a large range of music and doesn't stick to specific genres, but the main music he listens to is Indie music. Chris is a stereotypical guy who enjoys Thrills and adrenaline rushes. This is why he would be the audience for our film as our film would appeal to him and friends of his as it is similar to the other films he enjoys.
This is Chris Lee. He is 19 years old, and he lives in Hackney, London. He is at college and is hoping to go to University to study psychology. He dresses casual in jeans and tops and enjoys cycling, going to the gym and going to the cinemas with friends. Chris doesn't smoke or drink and eats healthily - salads, vegetables. His favourite movies are The Shining, Batman and War of The Worlds. The latest film he saw was A Dangerous Method in cinemas, he enjoyed this as he is fond of Psychological Thrillers. Chris also likes to collect DVD's of scary movies to watch with his friends on the weekend, some of his favorites are The Orphan, Ichi The Killer and IT. He listens to a large range of music and doesn't stick to specific genres, but the main music he listens to is Indie music. Chris is a stereotypical guy who enjoys Thrills and adrenaline rushes. This is why he would be the audience for our film as our film would appeal to him and friends of his as it is similar to the other films he enjoys.
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
Question 7
Looking back on my preliminary task, I feel as though I have learnt a lot in the progression from it to the full product. I am now able to understand what continuity editing means and I was able to demonstrate it. Whilst we were doing the preliminary task I was able to learn about the different techniques therefore when we started to shoot the final film we were able to apply them. It was very hard when we had to use the 180 degree rule because there was more space that use therefore it was harder to stick to a certain angle however since we used the rule in our preliminary task it was easier because we were able to plan before what side/angle it would be best use when we where planning it. We where able to develop a good sense of match on match action because we had tested this out before in our preliminary task.
There was more camera work in the full product because we were able to have more time to try different techniques and the film itself was longer. We where able to experiment with the final product because we where able to back and re-shoot if we weren't happy with the filming. Looking back at the preliminary task I feel that I have learnt a lot about the camera work and I have progressed from it to the full because now I realise that when you shoot one scene, you must shoot it again from another angle and when you go to edit the scene you can see what works well with it.
In the preliminarily we used shot reverse shot however not on the final product because we only had one character starring in it so we weren't able to use this particular technique however when we did use it in the preliminarily I was able to see how good it works and I can use it in my next projects.
One of the most important things that I learnt and helped me progress from the preliminary task to the final product was when I saw how the easily the camera picked up sound.
We where given more creative freedom for our final product compared to the preliminary task, this made our final more real because we didn’t have any ‘rules’ to it. There was more variety to choose from; we where able to change our story board if we didn’t fit in furthermore if we didn’t like the some scenes we shot we could back and re-shot them.
Question 6
Question 4
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This is Fred Colins and last week he turned 17 years old. He is from a working class background and works on the weekend so that he can provided for himself when he goes out with his friends. Fred and his friends like to seek out thrillers such as going to theme parks, they also like trying new things e.g. go karting and paintballing. As he is into the latest fashion , he shops in places like top shop and american appeal . He watches shows like supernatural and CSI and when he goes to the movie with his friends he watches films that are similar to saw and se7en. The type of music he would listen to is quite a range from; r ‘n’ b to Rock to dub step. In his free he likes to go out with his friends to the local park, on a night out he would wear casual clothes like chinos, plain white top and some converses.
Question 2
Both images are similar because they are close-ups of the two characters. They are both the stars of their own movies, they also represent the same social group; both are male who are roughly 16-19 years old, white with dark hair and are both typical looking teenage boys who are from middle class backgrounds. Although they are establishing their facial expressions; Toms face seems to be looking into the camera as though he is not afraid of what's going to happen whereas Shia is looking away from the camera because he is to scared of what he might see. The lighting in both images are different, one shows it to be very bright and almost colourful however the other image is dull and we can guess that it using only light from which the torch gives off. They have similar hair styles ; dark and longish. Overall I think that both images show us a normal representation of the social group however I feel that they are represented in stereotypical way as well; the classic teenage boy gets up to mischief and finds himself in a trick situation that he cant get out of. Shia and Toms appearance is also stereotypical in a sense that when we think of teenage boys they are what would automatically come to our head.
Monday, 12 March 2012
Evaluation Activity - Question 2
Representing Social Groups
The gender group represented from both characters is male. This follows stereotypes as in the media men are seen to be more powerful than women, this gives the can give audiences a sense of fear they may not have from a psychotic female protagonist. Both characters share the same serious expression as they stare straight into the camera, this could indicate that they are both dangerous, confident and in control. The characters have similarities in the form of their posture, expression and attitudes, however there are many differences between both characters, firstly the character Tom from our opening sequence is a teenager whereas the character from the movie Ichi The Killer is an adult. This represents stereotype of age as teenagers and adult males are predominantly used in thriller films as they portray danger more convincingly than a young child or an elderly man. Both characters have similar hairstyles (long, wavy) but the character in our film (Tom) has darker hair and the character from Ichi The Killer has light blonde hair. Also our character has his face semi-hidden in a mask whereas the character from Ichi The Killer has his face and scars on show - both portray dangerous, extreme and unstable characters.
The gender group represented from both characters is male. This follows stereotypes as in the media men are seen to be more powerful than women, this gives the can give audiences a sense of fear they may not have from a psychotic female protagonist. Both characters share the same serious expression as they stare straight into the camera, this could indicate that they are both dangerous, confident and in control. The characters have similarities in the form of their posture, expression and attitudes, however there are many differences between both characters, firstly the character Tom from our opening sequence is a teenager whereas the character from the movie Ichi The Killer is an adult. This represents stereotype of age as teenagers and adult males are predominantly used in thriller films as they portray danger more convincingly than a young child or an elderly man. Both characters have similar hairstyles (long, wavy) but the character in our film (Tom) has darker hair and the character from Ichi The Killer has light blonde hair. Also our character has his face semi-hidden in a mask whereas the character from Ichi The Killer has his face and scars on show - both portray dangerous, extreme and unstable characters.
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
Construction
Changes to Storyboard -
During filming we mainly stuck to the original storyboard and added extra shots where we thought they would be necessary. Due to difficulty in getting an extra actor the Director decided to change the last scene so that our character Tom wouldn't be attacked by a man dressed in black, but instead a puppet would appear. After careful consideration we decided to remove the scene with the puppet and found an actor willing to play the man in black.
During filming we mainly stuck to the original storyboard and added extra shots where we thought they would be necessary. Due to difficulty in getting an extra actor the Director decided to change the last scene so that our character Tom wouldn't be attacked by a man dressed in black, but instead a puppet would appear. After careful consideration we decided to remove the scene with the puppet and found an actor willing to play the man in black.
Thursday, 1 March 2012
Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Technical diificulties
There were many technical difficulties whilst filming but we managed to overcome it. One of the biggest problems was that when we tried to use the red head it produced too much light so tried using a lily-put however that also was producing too much light for the shots we were trying film, we decide to use external light source so that it could create a low dim lightning. Also while we were filming the electricity went off therefore we had to re-schedule and come back another day to shoot the final scene.
We had to change the camera because the one we were original using was not available anymore therefore we had to film some part again so that the story could flow more.
Sunday, 26 February 2012
Saturday, 25 February 2012
Friday, 24 February 2012
MoodBoard
This moodboard was designed so that we can express our feelings towards what we feel when we think of the word 'thriller'. We found pictures of different thriller films and things we ususally associate with them.Subject Matter Research
Themes of the opening
Some themes of our opening include:
Teenagers - The theme of teenagers is used in our film as there are mainly negative stereotypes within tv and movies associated with teenagers, for example the media portrays teenagers as violent, lazy, irrational, moody, substance abusing, dependant and unmotivated. In our film these stereotypes will be emphasized and exaggerated especially in the stereotypes of violence correlated with teenagers.
Violence - Violence is a theme we will be using in our film as violence is almost always associated within the thriller/ horror genre. Also violence adds suspence and gives a reason for the audience to root for a character or against a character and creates an atmosphere of tension throughout the film, as there is something (physical harm) to be afraid of and motivated to get away from.
Murder - Murder is a theme we will be using in our film as the antagonist is a murderer, but does not know that yet, and also because murder, like violence, is strongly associated within the thriller genre and again creates an atmosphere of danger throughout the film as the characters could be facing death.
Some themes of our opening include:
Teenagers - The theme of teenagers is used in our film as there are mainly negative stereotypes within tv and movies associated with teenagers, for example the media portrays teenagers as violent, lazy, irrational, moody, substance abusing, dependant and unmotivated. In our film these stereotypes will be emphasized and exaggerated especially in the stereotypes of violence correlated with teenagers.
Violence - Violence is a theme we will be using in our film as violence is almost always associated within the thriller/ horror genre. Also violence adds suspence and gives a reason for the audience to root for a character or against a character and creates an atmosphere of tension throughout the film, as there is something (physical harm) to be afraid of and motivated to get away from.
Murder - Murder is a theme we will be using in our film as the antagonist is a murderer, but does not know that yet, and also because murder, like violence, is strongly associated within the thriller genre and again creates an atmosphere of danger throughout the film as the characters could be facing death.
Pre-production
Synopsis of complete film
After bearing witness to a horrific nightmare, in which he is visited by a haunting apparition, Thomas develops schizophrenia in which his alter ego is active during the night time when he has supposedly fallen asleep. This alter ego preys on his family and friends in a manic and vicious fashion. Thomas believes these murders are just a figment of his imagination, but in waking life, he realises his friends are being picked off one by one, night by night, in coersion with the dreams he is having. The film follows Thomas coming to terms with his mental illness and the loss of his friends and family.
After bearing witness to a horrific nightmare, in which he is visited by a haunting apparition, Thomas develops schizophrenia in which his alter ego is active during the night time when he has supposedly fallen asleep. This alter ego preys on his family and friends in a manic and vicious fashion. Thomas believes these murders are just a figment of his imagination, but in waking life, he realises his friends are being picked off one by one, night by night, in coersion with the dreams he is having. The film follows Thomas coming to terms with his mental illness and the loss of his friends and family.
Friday, 17 February 2012
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Monday, 13 February 2012
Title Sequence Research
Analysis of Thriller Film Openings -
Title Sequence - Dawn Of The Dead - Kyle Cooper Kelly Morris
The genre in the title sequence from the movie Dawn Of The Dead is thriller/horror. This is established when the opening title washes away like blood. As the red font begins to wash away it separates and begins to look like it’s spreading, indicating enigma codes and possible storylines to the audience.
The narrative establishes possible storylines, for example, a journalist asks the president “Are they alive or dead?”. This continues to point out the horror genre and, along with the scary flashing images of zombies with blood coming out of their mouths, shows the audience that the storyline and main theme of the movie is zombies. There are also images of social conflict as images of rioting and police horses are used to help. We then cut to and image of the House Of Representatives this is to indicate to the audience that not even the rich and powerful can stop the problem or save themselves. The news clips show the audience that the disease is a worldwide problem and emphasizes their helplessness.
The characters in the opening sequence of Dawn Of The Dead title sequence are controversial as the first shot is hundreds of Muslims kneeling on the floor praying. This relates to the zombies as Americans and Brits may feel like Muslims are taking over, like the zombies in the movie, and this is controversial as it is very racist. Also the Muslims praying together is like a force (can’t be stopped) indicating the danger of zombies and, subliminally, the danger of Muslims taking over. There are also many shots of zombies eating people and acting crazy this indicates that they are non-human and diseased this shows the audience that the zombies are something different from the norm and something to be afraid of. Another character shown is a black president as he is asked “Are they alive or dead” to which the president answers “I don’t know”. This could be a hint that he is not good enough to be president or that not even the president understands the zombies, making them more dangerous to the audience.
The atmosphere is used in this title sequence through, firstly, the soundtrack. The soundtrack is country music by Johnny Cash the music contrasts to the flashing images of zombies and creates an almost humorous effect. The atmosphere is also established through the shouting and screeching sounds as flashing images of zombies are shown, this creates tension as it indicates to the audience that the zombies are killing humans and the screaming indicates the pain caused by the zombies. The tense atmosphere is also established through the shot of blood cells - indicating the contamination and the virus. Also the disease can’t be seen or stopped and this creates fear of the unknown.
Title Sequence - Dawn Of The Dead - Kyle Cooper Kelly Morris

The genre in the title sequence from the movie Dawn Of The Dead is thriller/horror. This is established when the opening title washes away like blood. As the red font begins to wash away it separates and begins to look like it’s spreading, indicating enigma codes and possible storylines to the audience.
The narrative establishes possible storylines, for example, a journalist asks the president “Are they alive or dead?”. This continues to point out the horror genre and, along with the scary flashing images of zombies with blood coming out of their mouths, shows the audience that the storyline and main theme of the movie is zombies. There are also images of social conflict as images of rioting and police horses are used to help. We then cut to and image of the House Of Representatives this is to indicate to the audience that not even the rich and powerful can stop the problem or save themselves. The news clips show the audience that the disease is a worldwide problem and emphasizes their helplessness.
The characters in the opening sequence of Dawn Of The Dead title sequence are controversial as the first shot is hundreds of Muslims kneeling on the floor praying. This relates to the zombies as Americans and Brits may feel like Muslims are taking over, like the zombies in the movie, and this is controversial as it is very racist. Also the Muslims praying together is like a force (can’t be stopped) indicating the danger of zombies and, subliminally, the danger of Muslims taking over. There are also many shots of zombies eating people and acting crazy this indicates that they are non-human and diseased this shows the audience that the zombies are something different from the norm and something to be afraid of. Another character shown is a black president as he is asked “Are they alive or dead” to which the president answers “I don’t know”. This could be a hint that he is not good enough to be president or that not even the president understands the zombies, making them more dangerous to the audience.
The atmosphere is used in this title sequence through, firstly, the soundtrack. The soundtrack is country music by Johnny Cash the music contrasts to the flashing images of zombies and creates an almost humorous effect. The atmosphere is also established through the shouting and screeching sounds as flashing images of zombies are shown, this creates tension as it indicates to the audience that the zombies are killing humans and the screaming indicates the pain caused by the zombies. The tense atmosphere is also established through the shot of blood cells - indicating the contamination and the virus. Also the disease can’t be seen or stopped and this creates fear of the unknown.
Sunday, 5 February 2012
Typography/Fonts in Title Sequences
James Cameron's 1984 blockbuster smash-hit, The Terminator.
The type characters chosen are representational of themes within the film, the font is very plain albeit effective in conveying a technological essence - The words appear as though they are being typed in as programming language like in .cmd, which instantly presents a familiarity with computing, programming in particular. The main title which is soon revealed is in block capitals and stands out blue within a black background, the font also reminiscent of computer hardware/software and the sort. This all carries a distinctly futuristic feel to it, emphasized by the robotic choice of fonts, and chrome on the title itself.
The type characters chosen are representational of themes within the film, the font is very plain albeit effective in conveying a technological essence - The words appear as though they are being typed in as programming language like in .cmd, which instantly presents a familiarity with computing, programming in particular. The main title which is soon revealed is in block capitals and stands out blue within a black background, the font also reminiscent of computer hardware/software and the sort. This all carries a distinctly futuristic feel to it, emphasized by the robotic choice of fonts, and chrome on the title itself.
Saturday, 4 February 2012
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