Murder Scene

Saturday night was the big night for filming the murder scene. It went really well even though it got dark quicker than expected.
I explained to my friend who had taken part in my filming which camera angles I'd like to use and what the characters would be doing.
We took off first with taking shots of the surroundings including the full moon and a long shot to show where the characters were. Next, we shot the two characters staggering into the distance along with close ups of the characters giggling.

Quick update with uses of props and characters.
This is due to the group taking individual projects recently.

Characters
Victim - Julianna Hernandez - Melissa
Witness - - Mollie Cotton - Mollie
Murderer - Jake Sycs - Ian

Locations
Exterior -Park
Interior - Home - Study area (for detective shots)

Mise-en-scene

Clothing
Skirts
Leggings
Sleeveless tops
Long tops
Heels

Lighting
Natural
Dark
Eerie
Moonlight

Camera Angles
Long shots
Close ups

Camera movements
Zooms out

Sound Effects
Twisted uneven sound
Wind sweeps, fading in and out

Wednesday 5th December - Detective Shots

The aim for today was to film my detective scenes showing props that the character would be using, such as, stationary of pens, folders and papers.
I used my morning to film this and everything went to plan. Although, When it came to uploading my footage, I had trouble because from my camera I usually use it on a Windows computer,this makes my videos convert to Windows Media Player. As I uploaded this to the Macs, the programme was unavailable to use. But I was lucky as the technician was able to convert all of my videos.
So, I've uploaded the clips, arranged some and cut them to the places I need.
For next lesson I am hoping to upload some more scenes and locations to fit in the empty spaces. The main scene to record is the murder which takes place with the two girls staggering home from a party.

Friday 25th November 2011

Today was for the group and I to decide and figure out our meetings for filming. The weekend is the chosen time period for filming but Connor and I are uncertain whether or not we can go.
I've annotated some DVD covers, including




Jaws,

Alien,

and the black swan;

I included the terms of what the titles represented, the contrasts inside of colour and objects, and also describing the characters appearance.

We've decided to make or find, if it’s possible, some police reports for the opening; this will be shown in effect and in inspiration from 'Se7en' the movie.

Wednesday 23rd November 2011

Proposal

Our proposals were started today to advertise and explain the method and the ideas for our Thriller opening.
We used Powerpoint Presentation to organise our information. Separately, we finished different sections of the proposal, such as, what is the aim of a proposal , defining who would what to watch our thriller, the existing films we based it on and also the features of Mise-En-Scene.
We have finished our proposal slides and now all we've got to do it to link and organise all of them onto one presentation.

Friday 11th November 2011

Researching & Planning


This lessons aim today was to make sure that our story boards are accurate and that everything is the way we'd like so when we film, we can organise time and follow the story board exactly.

Plans & Ideas

Mell Saunders -Victim - Name - Julianna Hernandez
Clothing- Dress or skirt. Hand bag. Heels. Drink. Jewellery.

Connor Sams - Villain - Name - Jacob Dean
Clothing- Jeans. Hoodie. Mask. Black shoes.

Connor Sams - Policeman -Name- Seth Dean
Clothing- Police hat. Police coat. Fake gun. Badge. Shirt.

Zoe Farrell - Witness- Name - Nicole Henley
Clothing- Skirt. Handbag. Heels. Make-up. Keys. Drink.

Abby Mayes - Detective Chief Inspector - Name - Elizabeth Shaw
Clothing- Long coat. Gloves. Trousers. Straight skirt. Shirt. Torch. Badge.

Character Types
Hero - E. Shaw.
Villain - J. Dean
False Hero/Helper - S. Dean
Princess - J. Hernandez
Princess' Father - N/A
Dispatcher - N/A
Donor - N/A
Narrative Of Our Story -

Two girls, Julianna Hernandez and Nicole Henley are staggering home from a Hen Night. Nicole tells tispy Julianna she has to grab the car. Whilst leaving Julianna falling over her own two feet, Nicole finds her keys and grabs the car, Although when she arrives back to the spot to meet her, she discovers her body scrunched on the floor dripping in blood with deep stab wounds. Nicole immediatley phones the police and a detective joins to the scene too.

Wednesday 9th November 2011

Our Choices

The choice of our genre is Thriller because the subject can be thrown in so many directions i.e A family argument that turns chaotic and dangerous, a murder in a villiage that becomes more vicious with the next killing or even a bizarre unknown world with a twist of unimaginable threatning events.
Our discussed and chosen story is of an insane killer that kills one of our main characters in the opening. This will help the viewers to understand the ways of the villian and what he is able to do.
Choosing this genre will help express our ideas, imaginative and visiual thoughts and also our skills using final cut pro.

Characters

The clothing of our Villain will be dressed to camouflage into our location, which will be the parks forest area and/ or pub, to disguise in the dark light we will be filming in. As in all thrillers, the Villain is kept secret and is discrete in movement and hiding. This is definitly keep in our thriller showing how sly the Villian can be.
The Witness and the Victims costume will need to be brightly colored, girly as it is a Hen night and party like i.e a dress and skirt. The characters will be made up with thick make up and will also be presented drunk to show how vulnerable they are. Due to the situation of the night, this will show how unaware the characters were of someone following them.
The Detective that will be shown little of in the opening will presented by wearing a suit with a long coat, equiped with a mobile, a torch, crimanal records and even maps.

Props

Usage of fake blood will be displayed in the opening for the murder of Julianna Hernandez.
Alcohol will be visible with the characters but only the bottle will be empty and safe to use.
The lighting whilst filming will be dusky or placed before the sun sets so there is an eerie uneven amount of light.

Friday, 4 November 2011 Research Task 2

Produce a spider diagram that illustrates an understanding of the typical codes and conventions of a thriller. Areas that I need to consider are:




Use of mise-en-scene

Use of narrative/story features

Use of enigma codes

Use of character types/motivations (Vladimir Propp)

Todorov's stages of equilibrium




With this task it makes us think about our thriller and what kind of structure we want it to have. Getting ideas together will help prepare us for when the task appears and we will be aware of what to do.

Wednesday, 2 November 2011 - Our Thriller

These are some ideas for our thriller opening.

Mise En Scene:


Lighting

dark.
dim/soft
artificial

     Make-up: Dark, Bloody, Creepy
     Blood
     Fake weapons 
     Cars

     Casual clothes for the victim

     Black clothes for the murderer
                             

     

Narratives/scene types: 
           Murder scene

           Crime scene

           Kidnapping scene

           Investigation scene

           Fantasy scene

           Chase scene

           Emotional scene

Sound:           
Shrieks/ Screams                                                                 

           Sirens                       

           Music - classical, dramatic,              

           Ambient sounds         

           Exaggerated               

           Natural background sounds

           Breathing

              

Loaction: 

          Forest

          Alleyway

          Town

          Village

          House

          Streets

          Park / Forest

          Warehouse

Friday, 14 October 2011- The Film - Seven

Due to the fact I dislike thrillers and things that make me jump, I must say that the film 'Seven' was brilliant to focus on and to observe. We observed only the first 2-5 minutes of the opening credits to write down every category of the 'Film Language' such as, lighting, camera angles, genre, editing and much more.
For the sound, during the opening, we discovered:

Police Sirens.

Radio & rain sounds, natural and recorded.

Dialogue between the investigators.

Car noises and effects.

Ticking noise enhanced and presented as a heart beat. -A metronome

Creepy uneven music creating tension.

Scratches, mechanical,wind effects, creaking, echo's, revving sounds

High pitched, ambient sound signifies a scream.

Upbeat, fast paced music

Lyrics

We also looked at the camera angles and movements included in the opening, We found,

Mid shot - To display the characters surroundings.

Close up shots for the characters expressions.

Tracking shot shows the setting and the place the characters are moving to.

Long shot gives an entire view of the person and location.
Extreme close ups were used for props such as, metronome, needles,books.

Friday 8th October - Groups

In class, We've made groups between us all to accomplish several tasks. I am joined with, Zoe Farrell, Abby Mayes and Connor Sams. 


So far in the group, We have made a continuity sequence although I was absent for the filming of this, so the shoot had to be carried on without me. The footage came out really well and we all had chance to edit on Final Cut Pro together as well as using GarageBand. 
The bonds in the group are really good so the filming for our two minute opening of the thriller should be really good.

Friday 8th October 2011 - GarageBand Programme

Throughout this lesson, We used a new programme that I'm not very familiar with, called GarageBand. It contains sound effects and music that can help enhance our continuity sequence. When the group and I started it, We realised it wasn't as simple as it sounds and as the teacher explained. There are layers and tones of choices of music as well as background noises, sound effects, recorded sounds like glass smashing. We picked one and decided to make a beat to fit into our clips, though this was complicated and fairly hard. We managed to make a short track in the end and save to our users. It we hadn't created a song/beat, the movie wouldn't be the same and there would be no tension during dramatic scenes.

Thursday, 6 October 2011 - Sub genres

We've been researching and looking into all of the different sub-genres of thrillers; here are a few:

Horror thriller

Crime thriller

 

Action thriller

Psychological thriller

Comedy thriller

During researching these, we discussed the mise-en-scene and the narratives behind the genres that occur in the film. Lots of different things including the make-up,lighting and props is never really thought about when your watching a movie, But during focusing on some thriller stories you realise how much is behind it all.

Whilst researching these, We had to expand our ideas about whether the stories were good or bad. This helped improve my knowledge of what the films are particularly about. 

Thriller 7th October 2011

The lesson was aimed to evaluate pieces of our printed screen pictures that we discussed and done before.

Media Blog 1

As I was absent for filming our very first group video, I was able to see what my group had filmed and created. They used cut shots when they edited, e.g placing the camera on one side of a door and cutting the character opening the door, to the opposite angle inside the room. They also used the panning effect crossing a room to show characters and props they were using.