Our Storyboard

We decided to create a story board so we could plan our idea properly. This was useful as it helped us work out what equipment we need when we film, for example our first shot involves the camera will pointing up through the trees and spinning, to disorientate the audience and reflect how Chloe feels as she has escaped into a world she doesn't recognise.  For this shot we're going to need a glidecam to spin the camera steadily. We're also going to need either a small tripod or a large one that has legs that can be shortened because we are going to include some low angle shots. 

Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg is one of the most influential and well known director's in Hollywood. His is also one of the wealthiest and has numerous big-grossing, critically acclaimed works to his name, both as a director, writer, and producer.
Spielberg was praised massively on his work in both Jurassic park and Jaws, and in a career spanning more than four decades, his films have covered many genres. More recently he has began to address more humanist issues such as the holocaust in his Film Schindler's list. This won Spielberg the Academy Award for best director, along with 126 awards from 231 nominations, including 3 Oscars, 7 Golden Globes and 11 Emmys.

Age Restrictions For Our Thriller

I think that our thriller would be a 15 rated film.

Although our opening won't contain any violent scenes, swearing or sexual references it would be fitting for the rest of our film (if we were to create it) to.

These are some of the things to expect in a 15 rated film:

• " strong violence
•  frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***').
•   portrayals of sexual activity
•   strong verbal references to sex
•   sexual nudity
•   brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
•   discriminatory language or behaviour
•   drug taking"

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/15

Location Scouting

We decided to search the school grounds for a suitable place to film and we took these pictures:

We liked the pond because it was grim and the water looked very dirty.  However we decided it was too exposed and filming near water can be dangerous especially if the water banks are muddy and slippy, which they are at this time of year. 

 We liked the gnarly branches of the tree in this picture but the space is too clear, meaning that if we stick to our original plan then there won't be enough trees for the ghost to hide behind. 









I didn't like this picture because it looks too tame and the grass is not long and wild enough. After taking these elements into consideration we have decided not to film in this location.

New Information

Whilst doing dome research into disability in the media I found this very interesting and informing chart from Disability Planet

Initial Ideas- Thriller Opening

During today's lesson we discussed the plot for our thriller and we have decided that we would like to base our thriller opening in the woods. It is going to be a Horror thriller and there will be two main characters, a girl walking home through the woods listening to music and a ghost of a girl dressed in a white dress.
So far we have half a story; A girl, (possibly played by Charlotte) is walking home through the woods and she hears a noise from behind a tree so she turns around and looks but she doesn't see anything so she continues to walk. we have a very definite image in our head for the next part and we don't know if we'll be able to pull it off; through the use of good editing we want to cut extremely quickly to a shot of the ghost looking around the edge of a tree. Then it will cut to Charlotte walking again, putting her headphones in and the music will start to play, so the audience can hear the music rather than the noise of the woods and footsteps. We then want to use an over the shoulder shot of Charlotte showing the earphone in her ear, then use focus pulls to show the ghost stood behind her, an extreme close up of the ghost's eye and then the music in the iPod to go really high pitched or make a loud snap and fizzle out. However we haven't decided how to finish it yet although we do have a couple of ideas in mind. 

These are some of the shots we found on the internet that influenced our ideas: 

I liked these woods because the trees are twisty and old, creating an eerie atmosphere, and they are also a mile from my house. However they lead to a public park and golf course which means they would be very busy and therefore an impractical location to film in.

This is the type of image we want to create, however we want the hair to be straighter and possibly wet and the sleeves to be less puffy.  I do not like the steam because although it is atmospheric it distracts from the girl and is technically impossible for us to recreate.  

Audience Theories

Culmination/ Cultivation Theories 

There are two categories in the Cultivation theory; "heavy viewers" and "light viewers". "Heavy viewers" are people that watch television for 4 hours or more per day and "light viewers" are people who watch television for 4 hours or less per day. "Heavy viewers" can be affected by the Mean World Syndrome, this means that because they've watched so much television they are led to believe that the world is nastier than it actually is. For example, if a person watches too much violence on TV, they can be influenced by it and believe that that amount of violence is acceptable in the real world. 


The Hypodermic Needle Theory

The Hypodermic Needle theory (also known as the Hypodermic Syringe Theory) suggests that viewers absorb information from the media without attempting to process or give the information context and it has a immediate and powerful impact on them, without their consent or knowing it.




Uses and Gratification Theory

This theory states that each individual viewer will use media texts for different reasons. Here are some example reasons:

• Personal Identity- A person who uses the media as a way to identify with someone else or a character.
• Surveillance - Documentaries and News programmes are most common in this type of usage. Surveillance relates to the idea of using the media to receive information. 
• Diversion- This is the idea that a person will regularly use a media text to escape reality, most commonly through the use of soap operas as an audience can momentarily forget about their own issues and lose themselves in the characters' stresses. 
• Entertainment - This is the most widely used connection with media. Many people use media texts as a way of entertaining themselves whilst relaxing. This is the reason behind why shows such as: The X Factor, I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here and The Chase have such large viewing rates. 
• Personal Relationships - Using media texts for social interaction and to enjoy a specific area of the media with others. Many people enjoy to watch programs with others so they can discuss them with others. This is common with programs like Big Brother or The X Factor.

For our thriller opener we want most people to view it for Entertainment. We don not want people to be able to identify with the characters as we plan for the film to be very dark and the main protagonist has had a very traumatic life. 

Conventions of a Thriller

What is a Thriller?

A thriller usually consists of a conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist, where the protagonist has to stop the antagonist from doing something that would threaten the safety of others. the antagonist's motives are usually to ruin or disrupt the protagonist's intentions. In a typical thriller there is usually a happy ending where the protagonist conquers his enemy and everyone lives. 

 Some of the conventions used when creating a thriller film:

camera angles/shots 
lighting
black and white shots
non-diegetic music to create tension

It is common for the storyline of thrillers to be realistic, as if they could actually come true. This is because it hooks the audience and makes them want to watch it.

In regard to the characters within a thriller, stereotypically there is a male playing the role of the protagonist. He is very brave and courageous, it is his job to restore justice. The antagonist's identity is very usually anonymous until towards the end of the film. This draws the audience in and makes them want to watch more to see what happens. The antagonist is usually out to seek revenge on events that have happened in the past.

The camera shots in a thriller are very  stereotypical. They use a lot of close up and extreme close up shots to show the emotions of both the protagonist and the antagonist. Furthermore close up shots can also encourage the narrative of the story.  Shots of the antagonist are short, over the shoulder, or just a shadow. This is to protect their identity and provoke a sense of mystery. 

Having the right music is vital when creating a thriller, because it helps the audience understand the mood of a scene, it can build up the climax and also add suspense. 

Mise-en-scene is a very important aspect of a thriller film because it helps to set the scene and create a mood. It is vital to have the correct type of location so the audience can establish the genre, it uses dim lighting and the make-up and hair styles have to show what kind of people they are and their background. Thrillers are famous for using black and white or grainy effects for their movies and they also use costumes to distinguish between the protagonist and the antagonist characters.

Barthes Narrative Codes

Roland Barthes invented 5 narrative codes:

Action Code

The audience will recognise an action code in a media text as it is used to indicate what is the next logical step.  It advances the narrative e.g. the buckling of a gun belt in a western film signifies the start of a gun fight.

mystery code or enigma code:

This is where the audience is meant to think that if they carry on watching they will find out the answer to something. For example seeing a blood splattered suitcase being loaded into a car and then at the end finding out who was in it.

The semic code

Semic codes are signs and meanings in a text or program that are used to tell us about its narrative and characters. e.g. in a horror movie the supernatural would be signified by garlic or a cross.

The cultural code

This code is used in order for the narrative to make sense to a culturally and socially aware audience. it makes reference to elements from the real world that the audience will recognise.  e.g.  trainers and tracksuits in a soap opera.

code of opposites

This code refers to a narrative that relies on binary opposites e.g. black v white, hot v cold, male v female, nature v civilisation.


Our Preliminary Task

In our preliminary task we used Code of Opposite because I was wearing a pink blouse whereas Charlotte was wearing a dark blue jumper showing the contrast from bad to good.



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we also used Action Code when I walked up to the door showing she would be going through which in the next shot I did.



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Cultural code, the weather was cloudy showing the typical weather in England, we are white and spoke in a  British accent, showing our ethnicity.  We wore stereotypical western clothes, hinting we were English.




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Preliminary task Evaluation

Now my preliminary task has been completed I have written an evaluation.
 

As preliminary evaluation from RachaelMedia

What was effective about the opening of Utopia, Season 2, Episode 6?

2 weeks ago we were set a homework task to write an answer to the following question: What was effective about the opening of Utopia, season 2 episode 6?

We have now been asked to upload it onto our  blog; here was my response:

The makers of Utopia were very brave to start the episode with such a  casual approach to violence towards a child.  Discussing slitting a child's throat is an emotionally disturbing subject and featuring it in the first five minutes was a risk because it could drive away viewers, particularly parents.  However, this opening was also very gripping and could make people at home who were just skimming through the channels stop and watch it. 

Right from the beginning the man is presented as very over powering and dominating.  We see this when a point of view shot from the little boy is used. This shot could also be called a low angle shot as the boy is small so the camera is low down pointing up. This highlights the size difference between the two characters and the power the man could potentially have over him.  Furthermore this foreshadows what happens later in the scene where he threatens to kill the boy. 
 The creators of 'Utopia'could have decided to use the environment as one of the man's motives because people are extremely worried about the environment and we are constantly bombarded by images in the media of ice caps melting and deforestation.  Therefore this scene reflects the time in which it was set (the Zeitgeist). 

my target for my next piece of written work is to comment on how the makers used sound and mise- en- scene.

preliminary task: story boarding

As part of our preliminary task, we have made a storyboard to show the sequence of our shots for our two minute clip. Our group came up with the idea of one friend confiding in another about a worrying situation. we chose this because it should be a tense situation and creating this atmosphere will be good practice for our thriller opening. Our storyboard shows a girl walking towards a door, going threw it and sitting next to her friend where she begins to tell her friend that she is pregnant.  
                                                           
 As you can probably neither myself nor Charlotte are artists 
but we have tries our best to make the story board as 
detailed as possible. Charlotte and I shared the 
(extremely difficult) job of drawing each shot and then 
wrote in the type of shot we will be doing at the side. 

This story board will help us keep track of what shots we have filmed so far and help us not miss any out by accident. it should make filming quicker and easier because we will not have to stop and discuss what we are doing next because we can just look at our storyboard. 

Preliminary Task

Here is my preliminary task video:

Framing a shot: Practice with Stills

Last week myself, Charlotte and Jess were given a camera and unleashed into the school.

Our task was to shoot a series of images of figures, objects and buildings using LS (long shot), CU (close up) using rule of thirds, a long shot and medium shot using leading lines, a low angle shot and an establishing shot. The pictures had to represent a antagonist and a protagonist. 

These were the results;

This was our LS using rule of three.
as you can see it is not perfect, but
as a first attempt we are quite
pleased with this.

This was our LS using leading lines.
We thought this was effective because
it looked quite eerie and as if she was
being watched.




This is the first of our three different view points, showing the antagonist waiting for the protagonist.







 this is our second one which we thought showed that the antagonist was stopping the protagonist from getting away because she could be seen from every angle.

And this showed that she looked away for a moment and the protagonist escaped

This is our establishing shot which looks very bleak and lonely- reflecting how the protagonist feels. We chose this open field because we thought it showed that the protagonist had nowhere to hide.













 

In our media class we have been set a task to create a short video which features a person entering a room, walking across it and talking to a person in the room. This is our first time using the cameras to film something, it will be useful for us to practice using different shots and one of the requirements is that we use shot reverse shots. The scene has to be continuous and flowing, Therefore we will be using match on action, and 180 degree rule.

Shot Reverse Shot

Shot reverse shot is a film technique where
 one character is shown looking at another
 character and then the other character is
 shown looking back at the first character.
Because the characters are shown facing in
opposite directions the audience assumes
that they are looking at each other. It is a
feature of continuity editing.




Match on action

Match on action is when the camera follows
each action or movement of the character 
cutting from one action to the other- giving
a continuation to the scene.






180 degree rule


The 180 degree rule is the rule that states
that two characters or objects in a scene
should have the same right/ left relationship
to each other. the camera must stay on the same
side of the axis (imaginary line) to make these shots
work.