7 - Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back at the Priminary task that i created i have learnt that working in a group is a good idea, as you are able to share things out so there isn't as much work to do, also it helps as there are a lot more ideas to bring to the table. When we were told what we had to do for our final piece i thought that creating a two minute sequence really wouldn't be that hard after making the Priliminary as that took no time at all, however, i realised it was a lot harder. In the priliminary task we have a far amount of issue that we needed to adress in our final piece these being,
- Making sure everyting was the same in each shot ?
- Have a various of shots been used?
- Has a tripod been used properly ?

So in the opening sequence none of these accured. Due to the Primliminary only being 10/15 seconds the narrative was really easy to come up with, whereas to come up with a narrative for a 2 minute squence was a lot harder.
When it came to the shooting as a group we tried to get everything done on the same day, however, this didn't seem to work. We got to the place we were originally filming the whole sequence, Ferry Meadows, but it ended up that we could not because of many reason. One being that we didn't think the forrest was really good enough for what we wanted but the park however was very good and met our critiera exactly. Another issue we had was that the camera died so we didn't actually get to finish the filming, but in the end this happened to go in our favour. Compared to the Priliminary this was alot different due to the fact that the camera didn't get used that much for so long as it was a short amount of footage.

During th filming of the Priliminary the Storyboard was used but it wasn't needed that much as not many shots were needed to be filmed, whereas when it came to the final piece the storyboard was used a fair bit in the start of the filming, however, when we changed our idea we just wrote down on a scrap piece of paper what shots we wanted and how we wanted it to look so everything would be filmed and nothing would be forgotten. This was a good idea as it didn't take up filming and editing time byt re-doing the whole storyboard in the such small time scale we had, but it also meant that nothing was forgotten when filming and it meant all the editing was great. All in all i am very happy of my groups final piece i believed that we all worked well together and it meant that we had a very interesting final opening sequence and the hard work paid off.

6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?

Throughout the process of creating the opening sequence i have learnt a lot about several different technologies that i have come across and had to use. During the process of shooting the sequence i developed my knowledge in the equipment used, although i am quite confident about cameras, video cameras and tripods as i have a job in John Lewis, Peterborough in the Audio and TV department working on mainly the camera section. Within the opening sequence a Canon MV500 was used which is an old video camera that runs on tapes also a Panasonic SD200 was used later on in the filming, this was because the Canon ran out of battery and we needed a camera quick fast. During the filming of the Preliminary task a basic range of camera shots and editing was used, due to it being a Preliminary task the need to spend a mass amount of time on it didn't see necessary therefore a quick edit was done. It was a short and simple task yet a fun one. It was a good starting point that allowed me and my group to get familiar with what was available to us and what we would be able to use again. When it came to the opening sequence we knew what we needed to use and how we needed to use it. We used both the Canon and Panasonic Video cameras, but before any of the filming could take place we had to plan and research this meant deciding what genre we wanted and what films we could look at for ideas. As a group we decided to take up the genre "Thriller" but we wanted to go into more depth therefore we decided to use "Physocolgical Thriller" this meant doing individual research, i researched about "Schindler's List" and "The Blair Witch Project" to research about these i looked on the Internet to get the basic information the i suggested that we should watch the film, luckily one person had it in the group so we got together and watched it through once and then we watched the opening sequence a few more times on its own. This allowed us to fully understand what we needed to do to achieve the standard we wanted. It then came to the planning, this is the moment we all sat in the library and collected all the information we could in books, the Internet and just from general knowledge. Then after this we went into the filming.

The technology that i believed i learnt about the most was the editing software, we were able to use SonyVegasPro at school. When we first used it in our priliminary we weren't sure as a whole group how to use it, but the person who got use to it fastest was Olly Aird, so he sat down and taught me the basics. As a system it is very easy to use, easier than i first thought. It was as simple as adding the footage you wanted and then either editing it in colour, or speed. Then you could overplap footage to give it a double effect.

I believe that the technologies used throughout were all very useful, books, DVDs, and the Internet. The most useful was probably the Internet as everything that was needed was right there, but having the access to books enabled me to find out more information that was definitely reliable.

5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

This questionnaire was created to see what the audience we showed it too really thought about the opening sequence. In total 50 people were asked. Under neither there are many charts and graphs to show the results.
The questions on this questionnaire are as follows:
1) So you understand the narrative?
2) What genre would you say this piece falls under?
3)Under the guidance of the BBFC what age restriction would you say this film falls under?


After getting all the feedback we needed from people, we wanted to ask them one more simple question this was "Would you carry on watching from this opening sequence?" In reply over a 2 thirds of the views said that they would as the sequence was an enjoyable experience, and it was also intriging. They also stated that they wanted to know why that happened to the girl and how she got into that situation. This shows us that the opening sequence did what i should of, it brought the view in and made them want to carry on.

This graph is for the first question, "Do you understand the narrative?", as you can see from the results of the graph more than half said that they did understand the narrative, this is helpful to shows us that we have create the final piece correctly to get the narrative across to the audience.

This is the pie chart that i created to show the results to question 2 "what genre would you say this piece falls under?" The results are clear that most believed that is was a thriller, but some people thought it was a horror and a few others, this may of been because they either got the conventions of our opening sequences crossed with the conventions with a horror. Or it may be that they aren't that clear on what conventions are actually involved in what genre.

This is a chart for question 3 "What age restriction would you put this under? as you can see from the results most people who watched the opening sequenced believed that it suits the age restriction of 15. This means that as a group we have aged the film correctly as other people agree.

After we produced what we thought would be our "final edit" we added it onto facebook (a social networking site) this was so we got get feedback on it and so people could share their views and say what they think we could improve. On the left was th feedback we recieved. Many pepole said that they really enjoyed it, and that it was really good. However, a few of the people that gave us feedback suggested that we should keep the music playing in the background when the girl is singing "ring a ring a roses" We took up this suggestion and tried it out on the editing software "sonyvegas" and as a group we did think that it was so much better than before. This made us very thankful for the feedback that we recieved.

All in all i believe that this feedback allows us as a group to know that we have done what we set out to do, create an opening sequence to draws the viewer in and makes them want to watch on.

4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

My target audience is both genders of the younger generation 15+, however, i do believe that other age ranges will be interested in this film but it was particularly aimed at the younger generations. I do believe that women would be a lot more interested in my film as it is a Physocological Thriller. This means that there is alot of thinking involved, not saying that men don't like to think but it is typical for men to like action movies that have blood, gore and are fast paced throughout. Whereas, my opening sequence is fast paced but if i were to created the whole movie it wouldn't be fast paced throughout just tiny little sections the rest would be a thinking film where the audience would have to think about everything that is happening. Both genders may like this film, but typically i would think it is alot more focused at women. The audience would have to have an obscure film taste to enjoy this film as it is very up and down, it would aslo appeal to an audience that watch films to watch movies for the storyline and not for the mass amount of publicity it has recieved.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

My opening sequence was made on a very low budget which means that it is an independent British film instead of a Hollywood film where they would have millions of pounds to spend on their films. Film4 often distributes high quality films that have been created on a low budget. On their website they state that "revitalise the British Film Industry". Film4 have produced succesful films such as "Slumdog Millionare" this was a very low budget film that was directed by Danny Boyle. Although it was a low budget film it ended up getting "Best motion Picture" and the profit that was created from it was outstanding. This is what Film4 try to do, the support the low budget films but they are still looking at making a profit. This is why i am confident for them to disribute my film.

2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups ?

My film focuses on the younger generation/young adults, but it can also interest people of the older generation/middle aged adults. But it was mainly focused on the younger generation. Personally i believe that my film doesn't really focus on a social group in particular but if i were to chose i would say it would represent the working class. Kourtney Haw was cast for the role of the protagonist this was because my group and I had a picture of what we wanted "The Girl" took look like, outrageous in body and mind with hair that looks mental she fit the role perfectly as she is able to act this character well. I knew this because i have seen her play this role and many others in many of her shows for KYT and other theatre groups. This meant the Kourtney was able to represent the character really well, and relate back to the audience that would watch as the understand how to get across to the audience in more ways than one. When it came to the man in the trench coat, as a group we decided that Ollie Arid would be the best at this character, not only would it be easier for us as he was in the group but he is also a A-level theatre student and is very good at acting different roles. He dressed in a black coat with a trilby hat, this made sure that the camera didn't really show a lot of his face so the character he played wasn't given away to much. Originally, there were many characters involved in the opening sequence including, a clown, a nun, two children from the 1940's period as well as "The Girl", "The man" and the person who chases the girl. After the first filming we decided that the earlier characters didn't fit into our final edit, so they are in their briefly but not as much as our original storyboard suggested. The reason we changed the original edited to the final edit was because when we first asked for feedback people didn't really understand what was going on, and they also stated that was very slow. That was when we thought, as a group, that we should make the pace speed up after the setting had been set. This is when the chase seen was added in with the man in a balaclava, Jon Orrell was cast for this character, as the characters face wasn't being seen this meant it didn't really matter who it was. Also Jon is a very healthy person so was able to run for quite a while. His body structure is very built which made the character a lot more interesting and scary as it made him seem like he was the "hitman" for "The man" so it worked out well. As all the actors/actresses were aged between 16-17-18 it allows the audience of the "yonger generation" feel connected to them as they would be around the same age. If i had to give the opening sequence an specific age i would give it a 15 due to the contents although there isn't much in the opening sequence the rest of the film would contiain a lot more violence.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

An opening sequence is really vital to a film as it sets the setting, genre and narrative as well as visual style and ideology (whose side are the audience on). The opening sequence should draw the audience in without giving away too much of the plot. My opening sequence goes by the forms and conventions of an existing opening sequence by: establishing the narrative, introducing the audience to the protagonist and drawing the audience in. Immolation is based on the genre of Psychological Thriller.
The film was inspired by "Schindler's List" as well as "The Blair Witch Project", my opening sequence gives visual reference to the film "The Blair Witch Project". Although my opening sequence follows most of the typical forms and conventions to a Psychological Thriller, i also believe that it has its own sort of style with the way it has been edited, with the fades in and out, as well as the over lapping of two different pieces of footage i think it makes it a little bit weirder than it normally would be. Within my opening sequence there are common themes of identity, perception, mind and death.
The point of view shot worked really well in my opening sequence i think as it shows destress in the character, the method is common in many different Psychological Thrillers including "The Blair Witch Project".













These two photos are both screengrabs, the one on the left is from "The Blair Witch Project" and the one on the right is from the opening sequence i help create. I have placed them both together to show how we have taken up the conventions of a thriller. In this sequence in "The Blair Witch Project" the people are running away and the person behind is showing their point of view through the camera, thats what we have tried to achieve, whilst the girl is running from the man the camera is from the point of view from the man, to show the audience the girl running away into the forest, just like "The Blair Witch Project".


(Screenshot for "The Blair Witch Project" is taken from the website, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CZldyEIW5s&feature=related)

Editing.

When we started editing we had a plan of how it was all going to look with the slight change to the storyboard with the additional chase scene added. BUT, as we continued to edit we decided that the opening sequence wasn't up to it's full potential. So as a group we sat down and discussed what our next plan of action should be. We all agreed that the storyline/plot had to change therefore going against our original storyboard, however, we all agreed that it would be for the best. At first as a group we thought that we could have the opening sequence edited so that it was a mix matched idea and that the audience saw random clips of the girl being chased, but when we came round to editing it like this it didn't work, therefore, not giving us the effect we wanted. That's when we sat down and had a talk with our media teacher and we came back to the original idea but add in a lot more pace, so we started off with the girl in the park but took out a lot of the shots we took of the past victims and we also edited the girl so she slowed down when she was swinging on the swing. We also decided that we should make the beginning seem like a memory so we made it "sepia" and added grain to it. Then with the chase seen we played around with many different effects the best effect we had was to just leave it running so the audience knew who was who and what was going on, but the only problem we had with this was that it was way to long and boring. This is when we started overlapping clips and two clips were shown in one so the time was not only cut down but it also gave it a better effect and made it seem a lot more interesting.
Another reason we decided to cancel out a lot of the different, abnormal characters in our opening sequence was not only because we changed our minds on the editing but when we did watch it with them in, it didn't make sense. It made sense to us as we created the idea and we had all the background information but the audience who would be watching wouldn't have that so we thought it would be for the best.
The first idea we had when we started editing was that the film was going to be in black and white and all you could see was the red of the girls dress (like our researched film Schindler's list), but we asked someone who helps us in media and he said that it would talk along time, and this just wasn't good for us as we had a deadline and it was getting close. So that's when we came up with the idea of playing around with different effects and it was also when we found the "sepia" effect with grain on the top which was really affective.
The programe we used for editing, was sony vegas. The screen that was shown whilst editing was this..

This programme allowed us to edit in the way we wanted, it allowed us to slow down certain clips, speed others up. It also allowed us to change the colouring of the film with a click of a button which was very handy.

This was our original edit, however once we uploaded it onto a social networking site (facebook) people said that we should change the part whre the girl in singing onto the bridge so the music was still playing over and wasn't faded out totally.

This was the second edit, we decided to change it after we uploaded our original up onto a social networking site (facebook) to see what responces people had for us, as shown above. As group w much prefered this edit, it was something we discussed to start with but we weren't that sure about it so we left it, however, when we got feedback from people saying the would think it would be better if we had the music playing over the top it made us think that we should do it.

Filming.

When we avvired at ferry meadows, we decided to take a variety of risks which would drasticaly change our final piece. This was because we felt that it would result in great benefit as it would add a variety of new shots and increase the pace of the film dramatically. We also chose the option to shoot frames a lot longer than we intended to as we felt it was much better to have too much and simply shorten the frames, than to not have enough.

Things we have decided to change.
After we had finished all the filming we started to edit our peice to create the opening sequence, but as agroup we thought that the pace of it just wasn't fast enough to make the audience feel uncomfotable and that it did not grab the audiences attention. Therefore, we decided to return to the woods and refilm some in more of a "chase" aspect. Unfortunatley the first time that we went to do this it was very dark and we did not realise how dark. This meant that the recording did not show on the camera, and it looked like this only if we had torches on and close up, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CvLa7K2vS8. So we decided to go back a third time to make sure we had everything filmed, when we returned for the third time it enabled us to be able to involve shots such as close-ups of the mans face in a puddle with the girl running through it to disturb the image a little, it also adds in extra pace. Also, to create a bit more pace and make it seem alot more chasey like, we decided that we would involve a point of view shot, or 'handheld camera' to create a shakey feel. As the weather was bad on the day of filming, the red ribbon that we planned to include was ruined, this didn't make the filming lose its affect so we decided to just carry on as normal, as a group we thought that we could possible go back and film again but because we had a strict time to do all the filming and editing in we decided that it wouldn't be the best idea and see what happened with the filming, as it may not effect anything that much. Whilst filming we recorded shots that we didn't have in our storyboard but that we thought may look good, again as we had a strict filming and editing time we thought we may as well have shots there that we may not use but could use if we chose to and not have the pressure of having to go back and film again. We came up with such shots as: high angles, unusually tilts and a mixture of shots underneath and behind objects.

Obstructions and Difficulties.
The weather was a difficulty whilst filming, flooding occurred in the park with we were worried about jeopardised our use of the park, however, we soon overcame this and came up with a route which meant we could avoid the flooded area so we could carry on like normal. The weather also became a problem for our equipment as at one moment through the filming there was a moment of torrential rain which meant we had to cover the camera (as that was the most important) alothough the heavy rain stopped there was still a little bit of drizzle around so we came up with a great idea of using the umbreallas to cover the camera instead of ourselves as the camera was more important that the way we looked. The battery life on the camera was a big issue in filming twice, the first time was when we filmed on the first go, this was because we used a very old camera and the battery ran out just before we finished filming the wood scenes, however when we walked over to the Ferry medows restaurant to warm up we asked if we could borrow one of their plugs in the seating area, and the allowed it so we over came a problem. Obviously one of the main problems we occured was when we filmed for the second time and it was very dark, we thought we could atleast try the nightmode but the problem with using that was that alothough it means the lens becomes bigger to allow more light to come in, on the camera we used it didnt have a light (unlike high tech cameras now days) so the recordings were very slow and it just didnt give us the effect we wanted.

Pictures of Charcters involved.

THE GIRL!

The pictures above are the characters that we used in our filming, we took them the day that we filmed after knowing what we wanted everyone to wear. The girl is wearing a red dress that is in the style of a prom dress and army style boots. The reason why we decided to make her wear this outfit, is because although it makes her look niceish, it makes her look a little bit wacky and out of control. The second picture is of a man in a trench coat, he is the murderer in out opening sequence, therefore we wanted to make him very dark and so you couldn't see his face that well. The third picture is of the nun that the audience see for a very short while in the background behind the girl swinging. The reason we added in this character and the other three characters (the two children and the clown) was to add effect and show the audience pass victims of the murderer. The only problem with doing that is that the audience may be unable to understand who they are without being told, but as it is only the opening the audience would be aware at a later time in the actual film. The picture at the bottom is of the assistant killer, he is all in black and his head is covered this is so we never know his identity later on in the film the audience may know who the character actually is and it may be a total suprise to them!

Final Idea

After we sat down and spoke about ideas, for the next few media lessons we decided to come to a final idea that we can write down. We all gathered around a board and discussed everything that we all wanted to include in the film. As a group we have thought about many different areas that we could film such as, Werrington park and woods, Tallington lakes etc.. But as a group we thought the best place was ferry meadows as it was a perfect location for what we wanted to do.

Location Report:
Nene Park (Ferry Meadows) stretches for 10 km along the valley of the 'River Nene' just a few miles from our school location. Ferry Meadows Country Park entails a variety of lakes, meadows, woodlands, and parks. The location allowed us to expand on ideas following research on 'The Blair Witch Project' of running through woods using a hand-held camera. There were a variety of play parks within the area and the idea of using one in our final piece came about. We decided to explore the area and found the ideal spot. A large play park is situated at the heart of the country park with a large woods directly behind it. Within the park was a set of swings, climbing frames and other objects, with the lake situated behind it. Because of the popularity of Nene Park Country Park from tourists, we needed to find a time that would show the setting to be deserted, this meant we had to find out exactly when this was and the brief time frame we had to film. We found that this was around one o'clock on a week day and therefore, we set out to film exactly then. The main reason for the choice to use Ferry Meadows as our setting was because it fit our potential storyline perfectly. The two combined to make a very effective psychological thriller. The park could be used to show mystery with swings swinging indepedently, and the lake showing desertion and lonliness in the background.
Risk assesment:
After we decided where we were going to film our opening sequence we had to think of the possible risks that could occur, so as a group we created a risk assesment table.
This is the table of risks. As we have decided to film at ferry meadows, there are many risks that may occur when fiming some worse than others. For example: the highest risk that may occur when filming is drowning, we aren't silly enough to mess around near water let alone deep water so the risk is still very low for us but if anything does happen the water is very dangerous. One risk that is very low is injury to widlife or injury to self from the widlife.

The storyline itself:
We have decided that we are going to have the start of the opening sequence (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNoQNEYVxcQ) with an establishing shot of the swings in the park swinging on their own. We will then go into a shot of the young girl in red swinging on the swing in a very abnormal way. This will hopefully make the audience understand that this girl isn't all with it, and has a few issues. Throughtout the opening sequence you will see random characters appear either in the backgroud of the shots, or have a close up of these random characters. The random characters consit of:
-A clown
-A nun
-Two younger children
There will also be a man in a trenchcoat and a hat, but he has alot more significance to these random characters. The whole idea of having this man is that he is a murderer that has been around for a long time, and he was the man who killed these other people (the clown, the nun and the two younger children) and although you never see the girl actually looking at these people, you are able to see that she knows they are there. As if she feels them, and its like they are there but she isn't sure. This is the effect we want to establish when filming, to get it like that we just need to make sure that the girl is aware of what is around her but as she has a few issues and isn't totally with it, the audeince won't know if it is her seeing these people or if they are actually there.

The man in the trenchcoat - He is very important within our filming. Altough you don't see him that much, it is important where and when he appears as he is meant to have a creepy feel to him. When he appears on screen the shots are always close ups or over the shoulder shots. This is so you never see the full person, only he eyes, sections of his face and the back of his head. Also you will only see part of his body at one part of time.

Where and when will see you see the :
CLOWN - The audience will see the clown appear behind the swing for a split second as the swing goes up and then will be gone when the swing goes down. As if he was never there.

NUN - The audience will see the nun walk past the swings from the otherside of the fence, so the nun isn't actually in the park itself. Whilst the nun walks past the girl will be happily swinging on the swing as if everything is how it should be.

TWO YOUNGER CHILDREN - The audience will see the two younger children on the see-saw laughing and having a good time, as if the girl can see them in the corner of her eye but she isn't sure if they are there or not. We will hopefully add in some shots of close-ups of the children playing on the see-saw aswell. .


'The Unknown' will also crucial in our opening sequence as a variety of aspects such as the girls pycological state, the man in the trench coat. This is because we are changing the chronolocial order of a typical film, showing the ending of the film, at the start. Therfore, our opening sequence will finish with the titles of the film and the text '2 years earlier'. The opening will be quick and effective, grasping the audiences attention, drawing them in, and wanting them to watch the whole film.


What will the video consist of:
Firstly the film is going to be in Black and White;
1- Establishing shot of Empty Park
2- Slighty smaller width of park with swings swinging
3- Mid-shot; girl appears of swing
4- High-angle shot from on top of climbing frame
5- Low-angle shot almost underneath girl
6- Return to mid-shot of girl on swing
7-Pans around to see man in background facing girl
8-Over-the-Shoulder Shot from man looking at girl
9- Close-up of lighter being struck and cigarette lit
10- Low-angle shot of girl on swing; swing goes up and clown appears, swing goes down and clown dissapears
11- Point-of-View shot from girl on swing; nun appears in front and then dissappears
12- Mid-shot of girl on swings; two children appear on see-saw in background
13- Low-angle of gil jumping off swing (from the veiw of the swings)
14- Low-angle of girl landing and running (oppisite veiw from the swings)
15- Point-of-View from child chasing girl
16- Same shot to establishing shot; girl runs towards black hat and out of park
17- Pans around to see girl walk towards woods
18- Over-the-Shoulder shot from man looking at the now empty park
19-Low-angle shot, man walking towards park (away from camera) and throwing cigarette in front of camera
20- Jump cut moves to mid-shot of girl now entering woods
21- Mid-shot from inside of woods seeing girl enter and run
23- Point-of-View shot from girl srunning in woods; Whip-panning from side to side
23- Close-up of mans eyes blinks and colour flashes in;
24- High-angle close-up of girls hands and mans feet walking up to them

With these 24 shots we have created a storyboard which consists of exactly what we are going to do. (add in video of the storyboard)

Props and Costume:
There were a variety of props and costumes that we needed for our sequence;
The Girl;
- Red evening dress
- Black tights
- Black army style boots
The man;
- A Black Trilby - A black Trench coat
- Black army style boots
- A Zippo Lighter
The Clown;
- A Clown costume
The Nun;
-A Nun costume
The two children;
The younger Girl
- Long white socks
- Grey dess - Pigtails
- The younger boy:
- Grey Shorts
-White shirt with red bow-tie
- Black Waist-coat

Problems that may occur when filming:
Something we need to take in to consideration is the weather, if there is any rain it will not only ruin the effect that we are going for but it will also make the filming of the opening sequence alot more difficult.

Ideas!

As a group we have sat down and discussed things we wanted to do. We have thought about places in particular places such as : Ferry Meadows and Werrington. We wanted to find somewhere that had very interesting backgrounds, we also wanted to included things such as, run down house/barns, parks, woods, fields anything that is spooky. Now we have researched we have been able to discuss where we would definitely like to shoot and what we would like to include. We still only have a rough idea as we haven't yet created our storyboard and gone through it shot by shot.


The rough idea that the group has come up with is:
There is a girl on a swing in a park, and she is all in red and she See's ghost of the past walking around. In the background the audience are able to see a man in a trench coat. The thing about this man in a trench coat is that we know he is there and we can see him but for some unknown reason to the audience the girl cannot see him and is therefore unable to acknowledge him.
We have also thought about why the ghost are there, and who/what the ghost will be. So far we have thought of:
- Two Nuns
- A clown
- An old fashioned teacher with a Cain
- Charlie Chaplin
- Children playing
So far this is all we have, but as for why they are in the opening sequence? Well we have decided that we are going to make is creepy, we have been talking about different things but the only thing that really made us excited about the filming and our ideas was the idea of having ghost from the past or 'hallucinations'. We discussed it as a group and the man in a trench coat is a murderer and throughout the past he has picked victims to kill and left his signature mark, "the red ribbon".

When we were researching certain films, one film took the whole groups eye this being. 'Schindler's list' we all liked the idea of the film being in black and white and having significant things in colour. We have discussed it as a group and decided that the girl's dress will be red and this will be shown to the audience, also the audience will be able to see the red ribbon that is the signature mark of the man in the trench coat. We have been thinking of certain things that we could do that are significant to the piece of filming. One idea is that maybe at one part the camera is on the Man in a trench coats face and you see him light a cigarette and you see the flash of the matched and the end butt of the cigarette in colour as well, maybe to represent 'danger'

Thriller

As a group we have all sat down and thought about things that we could do. We have decided on the genre of "Thriller"

Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film and television that includes numerous and often overlapping sub-genres. Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action, and resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more powerful and better equipped villains. Literary devices such as suspense, red herrings and cliffhangers are used extensively. A thriller is villain driven plot, whereby he presents obstacles the hero must overcome.

The Sub-genres:

A thriller can include the following sub-genres, which may also include elements of other genres.

Action thriller: This often features a race against the clock, it also contains la lot of violence, and an obvious antagonist (bad guy). These sort of films do usually contain large amounts of guns, explosions, and large elaborate set pieces for the action to take place. They also have elements of mystery films and crime films but these elements take a backseat to action. Examples of these kind of films are things such as "James Bond", "The Transporter", " The Jason Bourne" both the novels and the fims.
Conspiracy thriller: This type of film is when a hero/heroine confronts a large, powerful group of enemies whose true extent only he/she recognizes. Examples of such films are, "Three Days of the Condor", "Capricorn One", and "JFK".
Crime thriller: This particular genre is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime/rimes. These films often focus on the criminal(s) rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasize action over psychological aspects. Things that mainly happen in these films include such things as murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, and double-crosses are central ingredients.
Some examples of these kind of films include "The Killing", "Seven", and "Inside man"
Disaster thriller: In which the main conflict is due to some sort of natural or artificial disaster, such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes, etc., or nuclear disasters as an artificial disaster. Examples include "Tremor" by Winston Graham, and the 1974 film "Earthquake".
Drama thriller: In which the story consists of the elements of a thriller and drama film. These films are usually slower paced and involves a great deal of character development along with plot twists. Examples include "The Illusionist", "The Interpreter" and "The Prestige".
Erotic thriller: This is when a film consists of both erotica and thriller. It has become popular since the 1980s and the rise of VCR market penetration. The genre includes such films as "Basic Instinct", "Dressed to Kill", "Fatal Attraction" and "Obsessed"
Legal thriller: In which the lawyer-heroes/heroines confront enemies outside, as well as inside, the courtroom and are in danger of losing not only their cases but their lives. "The Innocent Man" by John Grisham is a well known example of the type.
Psychological thriller: In which the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical. The Alfred Hitchcock films "Suspicion" "Shadow of a Doubt", and "Strangers on a Train" are notable examples of the type.
Spy thriller (also a subgenre of spy fiction): When the hero is generally a government agent who must take violent action against agents of a rival government or (in recent years) terrorists. Examples of this genre include "From Russia, with Love" by Ian Fleming, "The Bourne Identity" by Robert Ludlum, and television series such as "Mission: Impossible" and "24"
Techno-thriller: In which technology is described in detail and made essential to the reader's/viewer's understanding of the plot. Tom Clancy defined and popularized the genre with his The Hunt for Red October, and is considered to be the "Father of the Techno thriller".

Most thrillers are formed in some combination of the above, with horror, conspiracy, and psychological tricks used most commonly to heighten tension. Combinations are highly diverse, including:
Science fiction thrillers: Jurassic Park, Sunshine.
Techno/political/conspiracy/military: Robocop, S.M. Stirling's Draka novels.
Legal/forensic/psychological/: Thomas Harris' The Silence of the Lambs novel, Seven.

After looking at all the sub-genres to thriller, we are now able to think of many ideas we now need to sit down and write them all down and expand our ideas.

Watching Blair Witch

As it is the half term, we all decided to get together as a group and sit down and watching the movie that we are most interested in. "The Blair witch project", personally i thought that this film was very interesting, i liked the way it was filmed with the point of view/steady cam shots the whole way through. I also liked the idea of there being two cameras, one in colour and one in BLACK and WHITE. When watching "The Blair witch project" we all looked at the many different camera angles that were used, as the whole film (apart from the parts that were 'documented' were in steady cam the angles weren't very good or they weren't a big mixture. There were a lot of long and medium shots as they are the easiest to use especially if you are running all the time. There were a few close ups, but these close ups where created by zooming the lens in when one of the characters was doing something. This meant that the quality of the picture wasn't that great and it made it seem as if the film was just a random filming, (making the audience feel as if the story that was given to them, that is was all real and that the film was recovered was all true).

Genre

In film theory, genre refers to the method of film categorization based on similarities in the narrative elements from which films are constructed. Most theories of film genre are borrowed from literary genre criticism. As with genre in a literary context, there is a great deal of debate over how to define or categorize genres.Besides the basic distinction in genre between fiction and documentary, film genres can be categorized in several ways.

Types of Genre:

Animation: Animation is the use of computer renderings or drawings (or occasionally photos of representational objects, known as stop-motion animation or claymation) shown in a sequence in order to depict an action or event rather than using the filming of live actors.

• Traditional Animation: Also known as "cel animation", this is one of the oldest animation subgenres. Basically, it is a way of animating a cartoon by drawing and painting pictures by hand. Each drawing or painting is a different frame of animation, and when they are flipped or put in sequence at the right speed, they give the illusion of movement. Examples are Beauty and the Beast and Spirited Away.
• Stop motion: A genre similar to Traditional Animation, however, instead of using hand drawn pictures, stop motion films are made with small figurines or other objects that have their picture taken many times in order to provide the animation frames. Examples are The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, and The Corpse Bride.
• Computer Generated imagery (CGI): A genre of animation that includes animating a cartoon on a computer modeling program. Models of characters or props are created on the computer, and then programmed to do something specific. Then, when the animation is completely programed, the computer can play a completely computer generated movie. CGI is often used for the visual effects in Live Action films as well. Examples are Up or Toy Story.
• Puppetry: Although it is technically live action, puppetry is a different way of "animating" a movie and puppets are often used in lieu of live actors. Usually, there are small figurines or figures (similar to stop motion), but these are controlled and filmed in real time. Like CGI, puppetry can be found in Live Action films as a method of achieving a special effect. Examples are The Muppets and The Dark Crystal.

Live action: Live action uses the filming or videotaping of live actors instead of animation. Essentially, it is filming using real people, props and sets. Many a live action production does feature animation to achieve certain special effects work, but the film still falls under live action so long as at least some characters are played by real people whose physical performance is captured on film or video. Examples are "Citizen Kane" and "The Godfather".

Research into Films...

Reasoning for this research - As a group we are all intrested in the genres of horror and thriller, so we have looked up some films and are planning on watching them to see if it something we would like to do.

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock:

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker and producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in his native United Kingdom in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood. In 1956 he became an American citizen while retaining his British citizenship.

Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades. Often regarded as the greatest British filmmaker, he came first in a 2007 poll of film critics in Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper, which said: "Unquestionably the greatest filmmaker to emerge from these islands, Hitchcock did more than any director to shape modern cinema, which would be utterly different without him. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information (from his characters and from us) and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else"

Blair Witch Project :

The Blair Witch Project is an American horror film released in 1999. It is presented as a documentary pieced together from amateur footage, filmed in real time. The film was produced by the Haxan Films production company. The film relates the story of three young student filmmakers, Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael C. Williams who hike into the Black Hills of Burkittsville, Maryland to film a documentary about a local legend known as the Blair Witch, and subsequently go missing. The audience is told that the three were never found, although their video and sound equipment ,along with most of the footage they shot, was discovered a year later. This "recovered footage" is presented as the film the viewer is watching.

The Blair Witch Project grossed $248,639,099 worldwide, compared to its final budget which ranged between $500,000 and $750,000. The Rotten Tomatoes website provides links to 127 reviews for the film, with 85% of these reviews being favorable. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times gave the film four stars, calling it "an extraordinarily effective horror film". It was listed on Film critic.com as the 50th best movie ending of all time. Critics in particular praised Donahue's apology to the camera near the end of the movie, saying it would cause "nightmares for years to come", and which Ebert compared to Robert Scott's final journal entries as he froze to death in the Antarctic

Schindler :
Schindler's List is a 1993 American drama film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand Polish Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the novel Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally. It stars Liam Neeson as Schindler, Ralph Fiennes as Schutzstaffel officer Amon Göth, and Ben Kingsley as Schindler's Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern. The film was a box office success and recipient of seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Score, as well as numerous other awards. In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked the film 8th on its list of the 100 best American films of all time. Throughout the whole film everything is in black and white other than the litte girls red dress. I liked this concept and idea personally.

I have collected some information from this blog from, www.wikipedia.org Mainly the dates and the main happenings in the movie. As i have heard of these movies but i have never seen them and i needed to know more about them. Now that i have researched them i think i may either watch both of these movies or one and see what happens in them and see if there is anything that i particularly like that i may be able to share with the rest of the group.

Dirty Harry

We started by just looking at movies and analysing them we decided to look at "Dirty Harry" to start with.......


The opening sequence to Dirty Harry is effective as it covers the aspects of genre, location, characters, our protagonist and antagonist. By doing this the audience are able to understand the basics of what is going on without knowing the actually story. Right at the beginning of the film the audience is able to hear church bells which may symbolize many things such as death or happiness, in the case of the opening sequence to Dirty Harry the church bells symbolize death, as straight after the bells sound the screen shows a list of police officers that have died in the line of duty. The screen then splits into two, overlaying the list of soldiers is the San Francisco Police Badge this happens in a slow dissolve not a quick movement which can give a solemn effect. The screen goes into a very slow dissolve again but this time it shows a man on the screen holding a gun, whilst this is happening the music changes from being bells to high pitched music, this builds suspense and may suggest to the audience that the man is going to do something bad like shot at someone, as well as this the gunman’s face has been covered so it makes him seem more mischievous and interesting. Not only is the gunman’s face hidden but the camera is blurred at a low angle, this could represent that the gunman is very significant to the film and makes the audience think that he is the antagonist. By covering the aspects of the characters the audience are able to understand who is the protagonist and the antagonist in the case of this movie the protagonist is Dirty harry and the antagonist is the person who shoots the girl in the swimming pool.

When the gunman goes to shoot the innocent girl in the swimming pool, the audiences haven’t got any idea why but understand that this is why he is there. The way this is suggested is by the way in the camera is used, instead of just aiming the camera at one and then the other and showing her being shot, the director builds suspense by showing different angels of each character, always having the gunman’s face concealed. One of the most interesting camera shots is when we see the girl through the crosshairs of the gun; this is whilst our antagonist is aiming for a shot. The reason this is interesting is because we now see girl who is swimming as an object and no longer as a human being the audience also pick up on the fact that she hasn’t done anything wrong from what they know. When she gets shot it is very quick you see the gunman pull the trigger but if you look away for a very quick second you would be miss it. Whilst the victim is dying you see it once again through the sniper gun. This suggests to the audience that the gunman is enjoying what he is doing and wants to watch the victim die. Unfortunately all the audience knows about the young girl swimming is that she must be wealthy as she is swimming in a penthouse pool, therefore they do not understand why she has been killed.

When Clint Eastwood enters the film, we automatically know he is the protagonist as he is dressed smart in a full suit when the weather is hot enough to go for a swim, this suggests to the audience that he is not only good at what he does but he is dedicated to his work and helping people. The music also becomes more upbeat when he enters, the camera shot is a close up of him with a very hard and stern face. This could also suggest to the audience that he takes everything seriously when it involves people of San Francisco. By the way in which the camera is used the audience can tell a lot more how good Harry is at his job, when the dead girl is laying on the floor the camera is showing everything from floor level which makes the audience feel as if they were then, whilst this is happening Harry tilts his head up very slightly to a building, the audience may understand straight away that this is the building in which the young girl got shot from. Whilst he makes his way over to the building he walks through the streets and the camera the stops and shows the height of the building by panning up it, This is then when Harry works his way up to the top of the building but going to back way through the industrial ventilation showing the bad side of San Francisco, this reason this he goes up this way is because the gunman would not of got through the building with a gun, These next few shots show how hard it would have been for the gunman to get up to the top of the building. When Harry is finally at the top, you see how big a dived there is between the good and the bad; this is shown by Harry standing on the other side of the wall to the gunman. Whilst our Protagonist is on top of the roof he finds a bullet shell on the floor and puts it into an envelope, when this happens the music turns a lot softer this could suggest that he is able to figure something’s out a little more than before. He then turns around and the camera shows a close up shot of him looking at a note. This is when the first piece of speech is said throughout of the whole of the opening sequence “Jesus” Suggesting that it is something worse that what ha s already happened.

All in all the opening sequence is very effective in many ways, not only does it demonstrate to the audience what may happen throughout the film, but it also covers all the aspects of a great opening sequence by building a lot of suspense and interest into the characters as they all seem mysterious. The way in which the cameras are used displays who is powerful and who is also good and bad.

New York.

As part of our media course we got a chance to go to New York City, so i took the opportunity. We left for New York at 4am on wednesday morning and we returned at midday on the sunday. Whilst we were in New York we did many things, but one of the things we did was a FOUR hour media workshop. In this workshop we did a mixture of different things. We filmed, acted, learnt about lighting, and we also learnt how to edit. There were four groups that made four different videos. I uploaded my groups video onto YOUTUBE, and here is the link... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMTx7l_MoCU, Whilst making this short viedo i was in charge of the camera and filming.

What to do!

Deciding on what to do : On the first day of being set this task we were told to decided groups, the group i am working in includes Myself, along with Ollie Aird, Jon Orrell and Mark Falco. When we decided our groups, we then had to think of a preliminary task we could do. We knew it didn't have to be very long but as a group we had to think of some sort of story line, and what kind of camera angles/shots we could use. As we were talking about what we could do we made a brainstorm and then afterwards we created a storyboard so we knew exactly what we needed to film when we had the camera set up; this was so it didn't take longer than it needed to be!







Canon MV500 : This is the Video camera we used, it was someone in my groups family Camera. The reason we used it was because we found it difficult to get hold of one of the Sony SX30. We did have some difficulties with the Canon Video camera as it was nearly 10 years old and the sound had gone on the camera itself. Even though we were unable to hear the clips we had filmed straight after recording, however, we were able to hear everything once imported onto the computer itself.

This is the Canon MV500 ........ AND ........ This is the Sony SX30











With this camera we were able to do the camera angles and shots we needed to do, with the help of a tripod. Within our preliminary we included such shots as, 'the over the shoulder shot' and 'close up shot' and others these two being the most important within our piece of work. The reason why we used an 'over the shoulder shot' is because we wanted to show the conversation at the beginning of the clip, it was also so the we could have the editing of the clip a lot more interesting instead of just face and face. The audience will be able to see both sides of the conversation. When we used to 'close up shot' we made sure the shot was clear enough and the reason we added it made sense. We included a 'close up shot' when Jon was opening the door within out media clip, we tried to film it from the right hand side but because of in an earlier clip he had only his right hand free it didn't look very effective and it was hard to see him actually open the door, so as a group we decided to see what it looked like from the left hand side.


Filming our Preliminary; When filming our preliminary we all had our own little jobs but at the same time helped out with everything, my main job was the filming, and Mark helped me out, and as a group we deiced that Ollie and Jon were going to star in it. We managed to film what we thought would be all of our preliminary in 2 lessons. During our first session of filming we didn't include any dialogue as we decided that we were going to use a 'VOICE OVER' but after we went through the editing process we decided as a group that this hadn't given the effect we wanted. So we went back to the room we filmed out clip (our old science block) and asked one of our friends, Gregg Sullivan, to be in our work so we could include some dialogue but then not loose the effect of the slap at the end. By deciding to add in more dialogue it meant we had to re-edit our work and re-film some more. Whilst re filming the dialogue we added in a different 180 degrees rule, as the one we did in our first attempt wasn't that brilliant. By filming a preliminary we, as a group, have all be able to understand the work that goes into the filming and how many different things we have to do to make a final piece. We have also understood that the first time we have filmed may not be the only time we have to do it, and that we may have to go back and film some more. As i recorded the most, i have been able to understand how important lighting is in a piece of filming as if the light is too bright or it looks artificial the effect it gives isn't as strong as it would be if it was either natural or done correctly. Only problem i had at the beginning of filming was that when i was filming Jono walking down the corridor through the glass in the door, the audience were able to see my reflection so i suggested that we should turn the light off in the room we were in and leave the light on outside in the corridor and the effect that was given off was very interesting and a lot better than the first effect we started with and al so it had no reflection.

Editing our Preliminary;

To edit our preliminary task, we have used a editing program called 'Sony Vegas Pro'. This editing software is provided by the school but only on certain computers meaning there is a limited accessibility, so if we have wanted to edit we have had to either do it in our free periods or make sure we have a computer free by going in earlier. Jon and Ollie did the main of the editing as the computers were free when they were and when unfortunately Myself and Mark were unavailable. But within lessons we were able to contributed towards The editing. When we finished editing the first time we all believed that not only was something missing but that the voice over didn't sound right. So we had a discussion with one of our media teachers 'Mr Zaidi' and he suggested that we should go back and film some more with dialogue, so this was when we decided to find another actor to make the storyline more interesting. One of our close friends Gregg Sullivan, offered to help us with the re-filming with the dialogue. So we all went back to the room where we filmed the first time and re-filmed adding in dialogue. This consisted of more over the shoulder shots and it also meant that we used the 180degrees rule more within our work.


THIS IS OUR PRELIMINARY..

The You-tube upload of it... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcI5Owy-Yng

Now as a group we are thinking about what we should do for our final media video. we are thinking about what genre we want to use. What movies we could look at for ideas. What sort of shots and angles we can use and maybe if we should or shouldn't have dialogue in it?



Although we have finished our preliminary, as a group we are able to see that there are some things we need to improve on for example; when filming Jon walking down the corridor through the window i saw that if the light was on inside the room then the camera picked up my reflextion and the cameras so i suggested that we had the light turned off in the room and this solved the problem. It was just that the second time we went back to re-film some parts we forgot about the light being off at the start and had it on. It isn't that noticable but it does take away the effect of the film a little bit.

We are not discuss what ideas we have for our main filming task of an opening sequence to a film. We do have some rough ideas but we haven't fully decided. so we are going to sit down and talk about it and write everything down so that we are able to come to a finally idea.