Name: Matthew Cornes
Centre Number: 55235
Candidate Number: 8533
Final Project: Opening Titles for a Thriller
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSvhCud_x0Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSvhCud_x0Y
Thursday, 1 May 2014
Wednesday, 26 March 2014
Thriller Research Evaluation Question 7
7)Looking at the Preliminary Task, what do you feel you have learnt in progression from the
Preliminary Task to full product (opening titles)?
From the Preliminary Task, we have realized what how much continuity matters in making a decent piece, but with the 1st task, we usually filmed a chunk of the 2 minute sequence all in one go, as moat of it involved an interrogation scene in one room. With the full product however, that was almost complete in one day, as we found it was best to get the piece done without breaks, or several day gaps in our daily timetable.
For the final products' sake, we definitely learnt from the preliminary task we we rendered out the piece incorrectly in lower quality.
We learnt the obvious of taking off the microphone on the cameras in order to not record audio during the preliminary task where we were laying around with the equipment; testing what different camera buttons/ switches did e.g. the auto/ manual focusing, shutter speed, viewing of videos menu etc.
With our brilliant idea of using my enthusiasm in creating simple synthesized sound/ tracks, we decided to do a silent thriller with the mic out the cameras to add to the eeriness and scope of the piece, so that anyone can guess it is a thriller by the spooky silence and the thriller-sounding electric piano track.
We have all learnt and done our bit with the editing stage of the products, and have developed an creative concept of when it is right to use hard cuts or fade transitions with the shots, and for what we did in the final product.
*The stuff we have learnt within software like Adobe Premiere is talked about in the Editing Stage blog
In the final product, there isn't as much mise-en-scene as we could of put in, but this is a concept we definitely improved on from the Preliminary, as in the final product, the case is a more obvious focus in the piece, and is the only object in the environment that has any significance (with more planning, we would of created more references in the piece in the settings e.g. more emphasis with wet, dark weather from the windows). The clothing is definitely an contribute towards the whole mise-en-scene as mentioned before in previous blogs, the black and white clothing fits in with the thriller theme.
Preliminary Task to full product (opening titles)?
From the Preliminary Task, we have realized what how much continuity matters in making a decent piece, but with the 1st task, we usually filmed a chunk of the 2 minute sequence all in one go, as moat of it involved an interrogation scene in one room. With the full product however, that was almost complete in one day, as we found it was best to get the piece done without breaks, or several day gaps in our daily timetable.
For the final products' sake, we definitely learnt from the preliminary task we we rendered out the piece incorrectly in lower quality.
We learnt the obvious of taking off the microphone on the cameras in order to not record audio during the preliminary task where we were laying around with the equipment; testing what different camera buttons/ switches did e.g. the auto/ manual focusing, shutter speed, viewing of videos menu etc.
With our brilliant idea of using my enthusiasm in creating simple synthesized sound/ tracks, we decided to do a silent thriller with the mic out the cameras to add to the eeriness and scope of the piece, so that anyone can guess it is a thriller by the spooky silence and the thriller-sounding electric piano track.
We have all learnt and done our bit with the editing stage of the products, and have developed an creative concept of when it is right to use hard cuts or fade transitions with the shots, and for what we did in the final product.
*The stuff we have learnt within software like Adobe Premiere is talked about in the Editing Stage blog
In the final product, there isn't as much mise-en-scene as we could of put in, but this is a concept we definitely improved on from the Preliminary, as in the final product, the case is a more obvious focus in the piece, and is the only object in the environment that has any significance (with more planning, we would of created more references in the piece in the settings e.g. more emphasis with wet, dark weather from the windows). The clothing is definitely an contribute towards the whole mise-en-scene as mentioned before in previous blogs, the black and white clothing fits in with the thriller theme.
Thriller Research Evaluation Question 6
6)What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Adobe Premier
Even though this software is more advanced than the basic Windows Movie Maker, my peers & I found this software easy to use, and in some cases used some of the special editing function like the artificial lightning/ brightness adjustments for scenes that were much lighter than others.
(More is mentioned in an earlier blog of mine on my experience with this software)
FL Studio
In my personal free time, I have used this software to generate basic synthesized/ electrical music for the fun of making tunes & tracks that relate to my taste in video games. In creating an original 2 minute piece for the opening, I took effort in getting advice from m
y peers and friends outside of school who know more musical theory than me especially piano-based, and practicing a few chords and note combinations on a set of pianos in my school's music department. Eventually, me and my peers agreed on an eerie fitting tune based around a the D minor scale.
Decent HD Camera + Tripod + Lighting equipment
After using cameras outside of school with my friend's filming projects, I'm used to how to attach a tripod to the camera etc. It was also important I remembered to attach a mic to the camera for recording sound of which we detached when filming the opening titles, as we planned to have my music run in the background.
IMDb
I have come across and have learnt to use this website for the researching of thriller films that have helped me develop my understanding of thriller film concepts, as well as my peer research. This site was also a good start for looking at film reviews, and has generally made me more aware of the different films present, past and upcoming, and actor's filmography (other films they have been in).
Adobe Premier
Even though this software is more advanced than the basic Windows Movie Maker, my peers & I found this software easy to use, and in some cases used some of the special editing function like the artificial lightning/ brightness adjustments for scenes that were much lighter than others.(More is mentioned in an earlier blog of mine on my experience with this software)
FL Studio
In my personal free time, I have used this software to generate basic synthesized/ electrical music for the fun of making tunes & tracks that relate to my taste in video games. In creating an original 2 minute piece for the opening, I took effort in getting advice from m
y peers and friends outside of school who know more musical theory than me especially piano-based, and practicing a few chords and note combinations on a set of pianos in my school's music department. Eventually, me and my peers agreed on an eerie fitting tune based around a the D minor scale.Decent HD Camera + Tripod + Lighting equipment
After using cameras outside of school with my friend's filming projects, I'm used to how to attach a tripod to the camera etc. It was also important I remembered to attach a mic to the camera for recording sound of which we detached when filming the opening titles, as we planned to have my music run in the background.
IMDb
I have come across and have learnt to use this website for the researching of thriller films that have helped me develop my understanding of thriller film concepts, as well as my peer research. This site was also a good start for looking at film reviews, and has generally made me more aware of the different films present, past and upcoming, and actor's filmography (other films they have been in).
Thriller Research Evaluation Question 5
5)How did you attract your audience?
We interviewed a friend, and I asked my parents in person what they would expect from a thriller (these are all on previous blogs).
Various shots throughout the opening titles help the audience become attracted to the enigma which is the briefcase by close up shots and long, birds-eye shots to give a sense of its surrounding and how it stands in importance. The isolation of the characters, and the blank surroundings e.g. the white corridors lead to focused primarily on the case which is being passed from peer to peer.
The change of pace in our main task was important at the end of the opening titles, as a way of keeping the viewer on edge when the screen cuts to blank to reveal the title of the film after the assassin reaches for the businessman who is trying to open up the briefcase. The change of pace is the amount of hard shot cuts to another shot like when the assassin's shadow flies across the floor to when it immediately shows the businessman turn his head in anxiety that hopefully makes the viewer a bit nervous as well or "on the edge of their seats".
From our research on thrillers with our peers, we definitely incorporated a thriller theme well with our black and white costume variation, and we hope that the end of the opening titles brought that anxiety feeling to the audience regardless of the setting we picked to film that had a green screen in the background by accident, but we can easily get away with simple, lazy mistakes like this, and state that it is a filming studio in the actual fictional setting if the film continued in production.
We interviewed a friend, and I asked my parents in person what they would expect from a thriller (these are all on previous blogs).
Various shots throughout the opening titles help the audience become attracted to the enigma which is the briefcase by close up shots and long, birds-eye shots to give a sense of its surrounding and how it stands in importance. The isolation of the characters, and the blank surroundings e.g. the white corridors lead to focused primarily on the case which is being passed from peer to peer.The change of pace in our main task was important at the end of the opening titles, as a way of keeping the viewer on edge when the screen cuts to blank to reveal the title of the film after the assassin reaches for the businessman who is trying to open up the briefcase. The change of pace is the amount of hard shot cuts to another shot like when the assassin's shadow flies across the floor to when it immediately shows the businessman turn his head in anxiety that hopefully makes the viewer a bit nervous as well or "on the edge of their seats".
From our research on thrillers with our peers, we definitely incorporated a thriller theme well with our black and white costume variation, and we hope that the end of the opening titles brought that anxiety feeling to the audience regardless of the setting we picked to film that had a green screen in the background by accident, but we can easily get away with simple, lazy mistakes like this, and state that it is a filming studio in the actual fictional setting if the film continued in production.
Thriller Research Evaluation Question 4
4)What would be the audience of your media product?
From watching films such as Psycho and knowing what my friends are like and our general male social group, the audience our product should target is a generic male and female teenage audience, as this involves us (the cast) who are obviously teenagers although if we got successful from pitching our film, we would get actual older adults to play our roles. From common knowledge, we all though that our age group if the most likely to visit the cinema on a weekly basis compared to an older individual who works and cannot find much time to visit the cinema as much.
This audience are used to anticipating to see 'scary' films that can fall into a horror or a thriller of some sort/ sub-genre; of recent years, films like the Women in Black and Skyfall have been seen and gossiped about in our age group for how 'scary' or 'cool' the film is. In some ways it's similar to the reason for teenager love for theme park roller coasters; the thrill and the suspense of it all which Resonance should deliver.
From watching films such as Psycho and knowing what my friends are like and our general male social group, the audience our product should target is a generic male and female teenage audience, as this involves us (the cast) who are obviously teenagers although if we got successful from pitching our film, we would get actual older adults to play our roles. From common knowledge, we all though that our age group if the most likely to visit the cinema on a weekly basis compared to an older individual who works and cannot find much time to visit the cinema as much.
This audience are used to anticipating to see 'scary' films that can fall into a horror or a thriller of some sort/ sub-genre; of recent years, films like the Women in Black and Skyfall have been seen and gossiped about in our age group for how 'scary' or 'cool' the film is. In some ways it's similar to the reason for teenager love for theme park roller coasters; the thrill and the suspense of it all which Resonance should deliver.
Thriller Research Evaluation Question 3
3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product?
Unless some film company/ conglomeration/ director got interested in our opening titles for the film idea 'Resonance' with a good contract such as Universal or anything of potentially american influence, I would try applying for a sum of money through some company like the UK Film Council (set up in 2000 by the Labour party to promote the UK filming industry) that may be interested in financing a unique concept film with a assassin pianist, or even a high end independent filming company would do, but distribution would depend on their connections with cinema chain
s and all. With the success of thriller films like the Woman in Black, it wouldn't be a bad idea to promote an idea like ours to boost the impression of thriller films and general films in the British industry.
This second option is probably better as it feels better to produce a British Film with only British financing I think, but this is becoming more and more rare and shouldn't be expected to happen with the money that can be made through a global conglomerate.
On the other side of the course where I've been studying the British Filming industry, I became aware of MultiStory which is a local micro-budget company that I believe would take on a film idea like ours that could possible reach the typically high concept values of popular, more mainstream British films in the cinema chain. A small advantage with making a micro-budget film is that we would be outside the mainstream cinema chain like Empire cinemas, and will be still able to show our product at indie theaters that would allow the production companies with actors to have a Q&A session afterwards with the audience, so they can talk to the audience in person.
Thanks to the world we live in, we could even post our film on YouTube as a way of distributing the product for free, unless it came to a point where you can get paid for how many times a viewer clicks YouTube advertisements from if our videos actually starting to catch on. The use of the tag function and posting information/ updates/ advertisements on social media sites like Facebook would be a great way of trying to get our product out there.
If we had the expense and begun a micro-budget company, we would start by buying a domain name for a site, so that we could post what our company does, the films we do, have done, and are coming, list of cast members etc.
An alternative to making a bit of money from efforts made with producing the product would be to join a streaming service online (Distrify for example) like what the micro-budget company MulitStory has done with films such as Verity's Summer where you have a choice to rent or buy the film, which won't make a lot of money, but then in our realistic cases, it is better than nothing, and anyhow, it seems to be catching on recently with making small films viral so it would be worth a shot.
Unless some film company/ conglomeration/ director got interested in our opening titles for the film idea 'Resonance' with a good contract such as Universal or anything of potentially american influence, I would try applying for a sum of money through some company like the UK Film Council (set up in 2000 by the Labour party to promote the UK filming industry) that may be interested in financing a unique concept film with a assassin pianist, or even a high end independent filming company would do, but distribution would depend on their connections with cinema chain
s and all. With the success of thriller films like the Woman in Black, it wouldn't be a bad idea to promote an idea like ours to boost the impression of thriller films and general films in the British industry.This second option is probably better as it feels better to produce a British Film with only British financing I think, but this is becoming more and more rare and shouldn't be expected to happen with the money that can be made through a global conglomerate.
Thanks to the world we live in, we could even post our film on YouTube as a way of distributing the product for free, unless it came to a point where you can get paid for how many times a viewer clicks YouTube advertisements from if our videos actually starting to catch on. The use of the tag function and posting information/ updates/ advertisements on social media sites like Facebook would be a great way of trying to get our product out there. If we had the expense and begun a micro-budget company, we would start by buying a domain name for a site, so that we could post what our company does, the films we do, have done, and are coming, list of cast members etc.An alternative to making a bit of money from efforts made with producing the product would be to join a streaming service online (Distrify for example) like what the micro-budget company MulitStory has done with films such as Verity's Summer where you have a choice to rent or buy the film, which won't make a lot of money, but then in our realistic cases, it is better than nothing, and anyhow, it seems to be catching on recently with making small films viral so it would be worth a shot.
Thriller Research Evaluation Question 2
2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our products such as Resonance probably represent killers/ psychopaths in the light that they aren't as mad/ cold as you think, as we tried to get into the opening titles that the pianist was the killer. We also definitely represent businessmen as having an identical dress sense, and waiting around with patience in their posture and movement- a quite neutral representation.
We represented the businessmen as equals in their clothing, as a way of implying their potential insignificance to the case, that could hint at the reason for the assassin killing the guy for the case.
Overall, the characters in our opening titles aren't obviously developed yet to a grand extent hence the opening titles /very bland, so relating them further with a social group is tricky besides your stereotypical businessman in black and white, and an assassin that contradicts the cold blooded stereotype, but at the same time sort of represents psychopath.
Our products such as Resonance probably represent killers/ psychopaths in the light that they aren't as mad/ cold as you think, as we tried to get into the opening titles that the pianist was the killer. We also definitely represent businessmen as having an identical dress sense, and waiting around with patience in their posture and movement- a quite neutral representation.
We represented the businessmen as equals in their clothing, as a way of implying their potential insignificance to the case, that could hint at the reason for the assassin killing the guy for the case.Overall, the characters in our opening titles aren't obviously developed yet to a grand extent hence the opening titles /very bland, so relating them further with a social group is tricky besides your stereotypical businessman in black and white, and an assassin that contradicts the cold blooded stereotype, but at the same time sort of represents psychopath.
Tuesday, 18 March 2014
Thriller Research Evaluation Question 1
1) What ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions?
In both tasks, we've used the the concept of dim/ dark lighting very well to fit in with the stressful, eerie environment, as well a very contrasting choice of clothing in Resonance where the assassin (the supposed villain) is in black whilst the seemingly good guys are in white shirts and black ties- a formal businessmen look.
A way we have probably challenged a form in a typical thriller which is to have a character die in the opening titles, which I believe isn't too much of an issue, as how the potential film continues from that is unknown; maybe it focuses on around the character before he dies- we cannot be certain hence why we can get away with this, even if it looks like we've tried to space a whole th
riller film into the space of 2 minutes by killing something from the start.
*UPDATE- We recently re-filmed the opening titles, & made the titles appear before the assassin seemingly runs in to kill the businessman.
We have try developing on the character of the killer by making him not seem cold- blooded, and that there is a sense of morality and reason in this person, such as with the assassin in the titles for Resonance who we originally planned to reveal that the pianist was actually the assassin at the end by having the pianist leave the room with the assassin's hooded gear on the floor. Similar can be said for the detective who is shown walking to the interrogation with some form of emotion/ struggle before he enters the door with a cold sounding persona.
We've challenged the idea of a dark, spooky setting in the main task, as the settings are in bright white stairways and corridors, but keeps the tone of a thriller intact with the briefcase being of the only black objects in the area- hence visually targeted by audience throughout the piece as the enigma. The music I made also hints to a dark atmosphere under all the light in the setting.
In both tasks, we've used the the concept of dim/ dark lighting very well to fit in with the stressful, eerie environment, as well a very contrasting choice of clothing in Resonance where the assassin (the supposed villain) is in black whilst the seemingly good guys are in white shirts and black ties- a formal businessmen look.
A way we have probably challenged a form in a typical thriller which is to have a character die in the opening titles, which I believe isn't too much of an issue, as how the potential film continues from that is unknown; maybe it focuses on around the character before he dies- we cannot be certain hence why we can get away with this, even if it looks like we've tried to space a whole thriller film into the space of 2 minutes by killing something from the start.
*UPDATE- We recently re-filmed the opening titles, & made the titles appear before the assassin seemingly runs in to kill the businessman.
We've challenged the idea of a dark, spooky setting in the main task, as the settings are in bright white stairways and corridors, but keeps the tone of a thriller intact with the briefcase being of the only black objects in the area- hence visually targeted by audience throughout the piece as the enigma. The music I made also hints to a dark atmosphere under all the light in the setting.
Tuesday, 11 February 2014
Opening Titles Finished
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okhFfY_rJ3Y
Uploaded to my Youtube Channel
Uploaded to my Youtube Channel
2nd version of Opening Titles which is improved from the original after peer to peer feedback on the lack of mise-en-scene, and the likelihood an audience member won't understand what is going on at all, as the case is meant to be the whole focus.
Opening Titles: Filming Vlog
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzsjfZqvzE0&feature=youtu.be
Uploaded to my Youtube Channel
Uploaded to my Youtube Channel
Friday, 7 February 2014
Opening Titles Editing Stage
What we have collected from our research into general Thriller films is that the opening are often very simple, repetitive scene like the lift descent at the start of Speed , or begin as if its any old romance/ dull or boring, or even a happy/ light-hearted film such as the psychological thrillers The Birds, Pyscho, and even the more modern ones such as Malice (which I intend to review some time soon- after fining out my parents were recently watching it after I interviewed them on paper).
I did my job in doing the building blocks of the editing for my other 2 peers whilst Sam got on with the vlog. When I imported that shots, it seemed to not take up the whole screen on the preview, so I did the thing of enlarging each shot to fit the screen which wasn't a big deal (Ctrl + Drag).
It became quite a challenge at one point, as when I walk into the office, there's shots of Sam hiding behind the door which involves having to cut shots and switch back and forth- where we decided to do a series of hard cuts (no fades) to keep the viewer focused on the screen whereas the rest of the piece involves tonnes of swift/ soft fades to each shot.
For the piano shots, I had made 2 versions of my piano track; a simpler 2 handed version that Sam could easily mimic when we filmed him on the piano. In this piece we plan to keep this new version of the track, so it fits with the shots we've taken regardless if the viewer knows a lot of music theory or not.
We collectively added in a 'film/ cross dissolve' video transition on Adobe Premiere to make the whole opening feel smooth with the soft, dark music rather than a bunch of hard cuts to each shot; the only time we use hard shots is the part I am walking into my office where it constantly switches to Sam who is hiding behind a door for the right time to pounce.
My peer Bradley took on the editing from the building blocks I had left which was all the scenes in the preferred order all the way to the end. With this we both worked on the scene I get my neck broken by Sam and agreed the lightning was too light on my face, so he got my face darkened to make it realistic to the dim light scene I was in.
My peer Jack took control of laying out and creating the credits for us (including made up names for roles such as Executive Producer and Costumer Designer that would be legitimate in the actually film industry (but not necessary at our stage).
I did my job in doing the building blocks of the editing for my other 2 peers whilst Sam got on with the vlog. When I imported that shots, it seemed to not take up the whole screen on the preview, so I did the thing of enlarging each shot to fit the screen which wasn't a big deal (Ctrl + Drag).
It became quite a challenge at one point, as when I walk into the office, there's shots of Sam hiding behind the door which involves having to cut shots and switch back and forth- where we decided to do a series of hard cuts (no fades) to keep the viewer focused on the screen whereas the rest of the piece involves tonnes of swift/ soft fades to each shot.
For the piano shots, I had made 2 versions of my piano track; a simpler 2 handed version that Sam could easily mimic when we filmed him on the piano. In this piece we plan to keep this new version of the track, so it fits with the shots we've taken regardless if the viewer knows a lot of music theory or not.
Friday, 24 January 2014
Opening Titles Filming Stage
Me (white shirt guy in the middle)- focused on the electrical music , acting, and a large proportion of the 1st version of the opening
Sam (Hooded guy on the right)- did the final piece of editing for the 2nd revamped version of the opening titles, as well as playing the assassin
Bradley (white shirt guy to the left)- cameraman as well as minor acting and editing towards the 2nd version of the opening
Jack (white shirt guy to the right)- main cameraman and guy behind the typography/ credits of both tasks, and actor
Last week, we begun the majority of the filming; making sure we kept the continuity in our hairstyles & outfits. A picture of me, Jack & Bradley (my peers) at the top shows us as typical-looking
businessmen in a black & white clothing to set the thriller scene with the white corridor/ window scenes (quite area of the school; especially during lessons) we were going to have in the top of level of our school.
My friend Sam on the left is equip with his dark hooded Assassin look to contrast the other characters who are working with each other in some way, and as we've decided this opening should be recorded without a mic, and left with my made- up thriller music/ theme (that runs for 2 minutes), it's a good idea to have this contrast, so that the viewer can distinguish possibly who's the bad guy/ opposing side.
We will be probably uploading 1/2 video blogs soon about us explaining, as a group, our different roles, and what we have done to make the opening in a nutshell to these blogs.
After talking a lot between ourselves, we got my peer Jack primarily to guide/ direct what was happening in the opening, and regardless of planning a story before, we did make up what we were going to do on the spot, as we feel this works so much better for us if we plan what is going to happen and worry about the location on the day by mutually agreeing.
We planned and we have filmed a death scene to go in our titles, but if we come to the editing, and find that after a bit of research, not many other thriller opening have death scenes e.g. breaking of necks, we will probably scrap the strangling and leave the opening unclear as opening should be to an extent i.e. the hint that the assassin is probably going to kill the businessman (I).
Without planning exactly for any particular weather, it turned out to be raining outside by the window/ staircase we were going to film with me, Jack and Bradley (guys focusing on directing and filming this piece) meet up with a briefcase and move to our work stations whilst the Assassin is following us. If the rain is noticeable in the shot of the final opening, that would go well with a miserable, dark, black & white mood.
The filming studio, which is right next to the staircase (where the Assassin will come in to kill me whilst working at a desk) has got a lot of empty boxes and lightning dotted around which involved us having to move this stuff to the other end of the room away from the filming- specialized computer; the Tricast, so that nothing unnecessary was in shot of me walking to the desk, sitting down, and having my neck broken whilst working.
During filming the staircase/ window scene, we filmed a medium a shot of me in a smart/ broad posture gazing out of the window at the poring rain; waiting for Bradley to come up a staircase to hand me a case- and then with a silent, gestured discussion, Jack comes into shot and instructs us to follow him out of the shot down a corridor- leading me to singly go into the studio (my workplace to be unknowingly killed). With the staircase, the other camera filmed a shot of the Assassin in the corner of the shot looking up from the bottom the staircase; watching us 3 interact and walk off (pretty much a POV shot).
These shots where a lot of the characters and surroundings are still should make putting in the opening credits simple enough of a job in terms of similar colour, layout etc. etc.
Whilst filming in the studio, we noticed with all the lightning and other equipment was a health and safety hazard with their wires going across the floor, and likely to trip us up, so when we were moving all the stuff to one end of the studio, we made sure the odd wire was tucked/ put somewhere away from where I would be walking into the room and sitting down briskly.For the studio, we turned the room light off and replaced it with a dim lighting facing me at the computer to make the screen's brightness stand out more, and the focus of the shot to the audience.
With my friend Sam's creativity, we got the 2 HD Cameras to film my death scene, by one of the cameras being hidden underneath of the 2 monitors looking up at me, as well as a medium shot of seeing me side on; having my neck broken by Sam- that way, when it comes to the editing, we have more choice in shots available.
We collectively set up dim lit lightning onto me whilst i'm working at the desk to give that dark/ eerie feel, and even a sense of insensitivity.
For the editing, my peer Bradley and I plan to share a role in the editing of the film, an fortunately I have the software adobe Premiere at home which should come in good use when working outside of lessons with my peers/ individually- with obviously coming to a general mutual agreement on what to include and how we should do it.
Tuesday, 7 January 2014
Opening Titles Development 7; Music & Costumes
For the opening, we will be having 2 characters; an assassin and 2 guys/ men who look like they are in a business (simple black and white dress code which hints at the deathly/ thriller theme of the opening). The main work came to thinking up of a good costume for the assassin and between us 3, we came up with the best ideas shown in these pictures of my friend Sam. Sam came up with a choice that we either cover his whole face, under the hoodie, in his buff to look very mysterious and that the killer could be anyone/ anonymous, or bring it down a bit to reveal his eyes only to look mysteriously creepy to the viewer.
For thriller it would seem strange to have a pianist who is also an assassin, and that way I think we can create a really good opneing.
For thriller it would seem strange to have a pianist who is also an assassin, and that way I think we can create a really good opneing.
I personally have been making an electrical piece on the music software, FL Studio, which is an eerie/ thriller theme that last just over 2 minutes. The software used a virtual keyboard to visually place notes and their lengths.
For this piece, me and my friend Sam worked practically on a keyboard with another friend called Toby who takes Music,and found the D minor scale would be best suited to this opening.
Doing this will mean more originality and issues with finding/ sourcing music that isn't copyrighted.
After a play-through with Sam on a piano in a music room in which all 4 of us agree to film the piano scene, for his sake (regardless of small takes rather than a long cut of Sam playing the whole song) he asked me to make the piece easier to play with 2 hands and possibility ridding the little quick improvisation parts that are across the piece.
I have now create an easier version of the theme for Sam which should have a lower key range with using both hands separately.
Now it is a case of finding a small music room in our school's music department which is free for playing on a piano (my peer Jack reckons a grand piano would best suit us) to film Sam playing the piano seen in his costume, and then we will do about the corridor scene (an easy place to film right outside our classes) which won't be a problem during lessons when people aren't making lots of noise across the area of the school we usually house in.
Thursday, 19 December 2013
Pier Interview- Thriller Research
Wednesday, 18 December 2013
General Research into Thrillers
In order to understand the genre we are working, I am writing on the Thriller genre in general in this post.
The genre is driven by the main aspects of suspense, excitement, anticipation; the need to get the audience 'on the edge of their seats'/ alert. These films have a tendency to be fast paced especially the action thrillers, and nerving/ increasing the adrenaline in the audience; getting the audience to expect one thing and reveal that it isn't the case and something unexpected occurs to keep the story fresh by reveal.
The thing with Thrillers is that they have a lot of overlapping themes with other genres, and subsequently also due to the variety in which Thrillers come as, they are split into sub- genres of which I've reviewed both psychological thrillers and an action thriller for the coursework, but seeing all the sub- genres that exist, I realize just how many Thrillers I've actually watched generally in my life time including; Crime Thrillers, Legal Thrillers, Science Fiction Thrillers, Religious Thrillers, Action Thrillers, Film Noir & Psychological Thrillers & even Erotic Thrillers.
............................
After accomplishing the Preliminary exercise, I'm wandering whether our short film would fall into the crime- thriller genre as it involves the cold, dark, mysterious killing of a suspect by a detective who could be considered a bit contradictory to what a detective does and seemingly the potential of an anti- hero character in how he seems to be the protagonist except his dark words/ actions seem uncertain between moral and unmoral.
............................
I've begun to questionnaire people I know about their knowledge and comments on Thrillers i.e. my parents.
What comes to your mind when you think of a Thriller film?
-Scary, Tense, exciting
-sitting-on-the-edge-of your seat
-holding hands to love ones
-Suspense, unexpected parts of film (equally expected parts- cliche's, but thrillers can sometimes cleverly bringing you into thinking something else; drawing you away from expecting an upcoming event)
What makes a Thriller good in your opinion?
-good build-up/ story
-good characterization/ familiarization with protagonist from the usual thriller beginning being a normal day-to-day character with a causal/ normal day-to-day routine
-eerie music (psychological thriller)
-isolated, dark/ Gothic places- dark/ sinister
How would you start a Thriller off?
-daily casual opening introducing protagonist
-(action thriller)action/intense opening (007 films are similar but really a genre of themselves)- to catch audience attention
Name a few other sub-genres in the Thriller genre...
-Political thriller- how government works- popular dramas- certain politicians up to business they shouldn't be doing/ corruption- very popular for an older audience (older adults)
I also did a questionnaire which 10 of my colleagues where I developed a pie chart with every response from a person (they were allowed to say more than one thing hence why the pie chart do not add up to 10).
The 1st pie chart deals with my peers' first thoughts on the word thriller, which will help me think up of the direction we want to take for the opening titles e.g. more action packed over scary etc.
This 2nd pie chart shows what my peers expect when they are about to see a thriller- regardless of sub-genre. These are key words worth implementing into the final idea for the opening titles.
Recently, we have decided on taking a similar step to the main task as the preliminary in keeping the opening mysterious e.g. eerie setting/ music, and making the audience slightly nervous right at the end. The only ways we would emphasize or intensify the action concept (action packed being mentioned a quarter of the time from the questionnaire) would be in making jump/ hard cuts from frame to frame to increase audience interest in an increase of pace, as this piece isn't action based e.g. explosions, guns etc.
For the opening titles, we have taken on board aspects from this questionnaire such as dark settings making up a lot of a thriller's environment, but this will probably be challenged in our final piece as we plan to shoot in our school grounds in a couple of empty corridors (although in the editing stage we can dim the lighting if we wanted to).
Hopefully there are other ways of making it intense and exciting after than a dim lit setting e.g. sound; background music or effects.
The genre is driven by the main aspects of suspense, excitement, anticipation; the need to get the audience 'on the edge of their seats'/ alert. These films have a tendency to be fast paced especially the action thrillers, and nerving/ increasing the adrenaline in the audience; getting the audience to expect one thing and reveal that it isn't the case and something unexpected occurs to keep the story fresh by reveal.
The thing with Thrillers is that they have a lot of overlapping themes with other genres, and subsequently also due to the variety in which Thrillers come as, they are split into sub- genres of which I've reviewed both psychological thrillers and an action thriller for the coursework, but seeing all the sub- genres that exist, I realize just how many Thrillers I've actually watched generally in my life time including; Crime Thrillers, Legal Thrillers, Science Fiction Thrillers, Religious Thrillers, Action Thrillers, Film Noir & Psychological Thrillers & even Erotic Thrillers.
............................
After accomplishing the Preliminary exercise, I'm wandering whether our short film would fall into the crime- thriller genre as it involves the cold, dark, mysterious killing of a suspect by a detective who could be considered a bit contradictory to what a detective does and seemingly the potential of an anti- hero character in how he seems to be the protagonist except his dark words/ actions seem uncertain between moral and unmoral.
............................
I've begun to questionnaire people I know about their knowledge and comments on Thrillers i.e. my parents.
What comes to your mind when you think of a Thriller film?
-Scary, Tense, exciting
-sitting-on-the-edge-of your seat
-holding hands to love ones
-Suspense, unexpected parts of film (equally expected parts- cliche's, but thrillers can sometimes cleverly bringing you into thinking something else; drawing you away from expecting an upcoming event)
What makes a Thriller good in your opinion?
-good build-up/ story
-good characterization/ familiarization with protagonist from the usual thriller beginning being a normal day-to-day character with a causal/ normal day-to-day routine
-eerie music (psychological thriller)
-isolated, dark/ Gothic places- dark/ sinister
How would you start a Thriller off?
-daily casual opening introducing protagonist
-(action thriller)action/intense opening (007 films are similar but really a genre of themselves)- to catch audience attention
Name a few other sub-genres in the Thriller genre...
-Political thriller- how government works- popular dramas- certain politicians up to business they shouldn't be doing/ corruption- very popular for an older audience (older adults)
I also did a questionnaire which 10 of my colleagues where I developed a pie chart with every response from a person (they were allowed to say more than one thing hence why the pie chart do not add up to 10).
The 1st pie chart deals with my peers' first thoughts on the word thriller, which will help me think up of the direction we want to take for the opening titles e.g. more action packed over scary etc.
This 2nd pie chart shows what my peers expect when they are about to see a thriller- regardless of sub-genre. These are key words worth implementing into the final idea for the opening titles.
Recently, we have decided on taking a similar step to the main task as the preliminary in keeping the opening mysterious e.g. eerie setting/ music, and making the audience slightly nervous right at the end. The only ways we would emphasize or intensify the action concept (action packed being mentioned a quarter of the time from the questionnaire) would be in making jump/ hard cuts from frame to frame to increase audience interest in an increase of pace, as this piece isn't action based e.g. explosions, guns etc.
For the opening titles, we have taken on board aspects from this questionnaire such as dark settings making up a lot of a thriller's environment, but this will probably be challenged in our final piece as we plan to shoot in our school grounds in a couple of empty corridors (although in the editing stage we can dim the lighting if we wanted to).
Hopefully there are other ways of making it intense and exciting after than a dim lit setting e.g. sound; background music or effects.
Monday, 16 December 2013
Opening Titles Development 6; Storyboard Development of new idea
Our New idea involves a simply to shoot opening title scene of an assassin breaking the neck of a victim whilst constantly flicking to another scene of a pianoist who at the end of the opening is revealed to be the killer.
Main Task Names
and Reasoning
Name
|
Reasoning
|
The Whisper
|
The masked murderer says something o the victim before he kills them.
This simple title is not detailed enough to let the viewer’s know what
happens, creating tension, and can be used to pique interest due to its
simple name which gives away minimal spoilers. Since what the murderer says
is inaudible, it can create even more tension with a title like this as you
want to know what he whispers.
|
Sound
|
This can have a double meaning relating to the masked man. It can
firstly relate to the thing he says to the victim, which is inaudible. This title
makes it seem misleading so it could mess around with the viewer. Secondly,
it can relate to the piano scene with the music, which is what the viewer
mostly hears. It hardly gives anything away to prevent spoilers.
|
Drip
|
Refers to the tear on the mask of the murderer, but also the fact
that he has blood on his hands. This title is more revealing but simplistic
and only has implications without giving much of the plot away. It could be
interpreted in sinister ways but other than that it gives away nothing,
building suspense as people want to know the story.
|
Friday, 6 December 2013
Opening Titles Development 5; Script no. 2
New Script
Long shot of the UK police station. (MD1 Filled with students, looking as if working hard and typing fast, using “hackertyper.com”)
Another camera shot of the entrance of the police station, with muffled voices heard of a police chief shouting. Camera follows an IT guy jogging down a corridor with a small cardboard folder, which appears to be full. As we enter behind the man, the Chief shouts.
Over shoulder shots of police on computers and 3rd person shots, combined to create match-on-action.
Police chief: Have you traced the IP yet!? We need that IP tracked immediately; we have no time to waste!
Police: I’m trying sir!
Police chief: Then try harder!
Just as the police chief finishes his sentence all the computers start shutting down and there are gasps of disbelief.
Police chief: (Demanding tone) WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?!
(Silence)
Police Chief: TELL ME!!!
(Short pause before officer pipes up)
Police: (nervously) They’ve shut us down… Sir…
Scene switches to another building of a Hong Kong police station. Scene then changes to inside the station where a Chinese policeman is at a computer with an over shoulder shot. A man is handing him a satellite photograph.
C. Police: (In Cantonese) I’ve printed it off.
C. Police Chief: (In Cantonese) Thank you, I’ll ring them now.
Chinese police chief picks up a phone next to him and starts inputting a phone number.
Phone rings in UK police station and UK police chief is seen picking it up and talking. The Chinese police chief speaks in English and the UK police chief is informed of theobject. As they talk, the conversation is heard, while the camera shows investigators getting into a car. The shots are relevant to what is being said. Conversation ends as the investigators are standing where they were told to go.
Investigator 2: (holding laptop) I am sure, in fact, the signal is coming from… right… above us?”
Camera switches to POV to show investigators as they look up, and just as they see an object the scene cuts to a black screen with the title fading in.
Tuesday, 3 December 2013
Opening Titles Development 4; Reserch on web
As a group, we have found a website called http://hackertyper.com/ where you can spam the keyboard/ write anything, and the site (black screen, green text will make you look like you are hacking/ coding) which we could film ourselves doing without audio, as we would want to keep the identity of the hacker a mystery until the hint right at the end of alien intervention.
Opening Titles Development 3; Script no. 1
Simple Script by Sam
Long shot of the UK police station.
Another camera shot of the entrance of the police station, with muffled voices heard of a police chief shouting.
Over shoulder shots of police on computers and 3rd person shots, combined to create match-on-action.
Police chief: Have you traced the IP yet!? We need that IP tracked immediately; we have no time to waste!
Police: I’m trying sir!
Police chief: Then try harder!
Just as the police chief finishes his sentence all the computers start shutting down and there are gasps of disbelief.
Police chief: (Demanding tone) What just happened?!
Police: Sir, they’ve shut us down.
Scene switches to another building of a Hong Kong police station. Scene then changes to inside the station where a Chinese policeman is at a computer with an over shoulder shot. A man is handing him a satellite photograph.
C. Police: (In Cantonese) I’ve printed it off.
C. Police Chief: (In Cantonese) Thank you, I’ll ring them now.
Chinese police chief picks up a phone next to him and starts inputting a phone number.
Phone rings in UK police station and UK police chief is seen picking it up and talking. The Chinese police chief speaks in English and the UK police chief is informed of the object. As they talk, the conversation is heard, while the camera shows investigators getting into a car. The shots are relevant to what is being said. Conversation ends as the investigators are standing where they were told to go.
Investigator 1: It’s here right? I don’t see anything.
Investigator 2: (holding laptop) I am sure, in fact, the signal is coming from… right… above us?”
Camera switches to POV to show investigators as they look up, and just as they see an object the scene cuts to a black screen with the title fading in.
End
We will be altering this simple script to fit an opening e.g. typically barely any dialogue and more of a 'actions speaking louder than words' situation, so that the audience can wok out what's going on by using their heads.
Opening Titles Development 2; title names & storyboard
Final Main Task Idea
Short Summary:
The entire world’s computer systems are being hacked by an unknown source. As data on practically everything is being taken, police forces are struggling to stop it. Shortly, a space satellite picks up something and investigators are sent to the location to find the source. Upon arriving, they are able to pick up a signal… directly above them.
The entire world’s computer systems are being hacked by an unknown source. As data on practically everything is being taken, police forces are struggling to stop it. Shortly, a space satellite picks up something and investigators are sent to the location to find the source. Upon arriving, they are able to pick up a signal… directly above them.
Title Suggestions
|
Reasoning
|
Beyond
|
The hacker is from an alien source up in space, with technology beyond human capabilities and is literally beyond their reach. A title this vague also makes the film seem more mysterious.
|
Hacker
|
So you get the general idea of what the film is about before seeing it- and it is basically simple. The audience and their expectations are going to be surprised to find out what the hacker is/ where it is.
|
Titles and Opening
The film starts off with British police on computers actively working on computers as they are being hacked. A police chief is yelling angrily such as ‘hurry up, track the IP!” and then a scene is shown in Hong Kong as they receive something from a space satellite showing something in Britain. They phone the British police and tell them of this. Investigators are seen walking over to where it is, one carrying a laptop, and a signal is picked up right above them. They camera then cuts to a point-of-view shot of the investigator as they look up, and an object is seen for a split second before cutting to a black screen with a title.
Here's a storyboard I have made to convey me and Sam's Hacker/ Beyond idea. This mainly displays the story and several ideas for the camera shots and the audio (music increasing volume when the scene becomes tense).
I haven't included much on the titles appearing throughout the opening, but we'll be improvising the font/ style and the transition of these titles when we finally come to the editing where we would obviously pick a font to be c
onsistent throughout the 2 minute opening.
Thinking about the task at hand, we considered the fact that this is an opening to a film, and plan to make it start off in an office like room as if nothing out of the norm was happening then with the sudden shutdown and corruption of computers worldwide in an instant the whole atmosphere is going to change. Our idea is that the Hacker hacking worldwide authorities is actually from out of space, but is only slightly implied right at the end before the film title as a police squad notice the signal has taken them into the middle of nowhere and realize there must be something above them...
If the film was ever fully made, it could delve into a very typical alien invasion story, but for our task we don't even need to mention that.
Here's a storyboard I have made to convey me and Sam's Hacker/ Beyond idea. This mainly displays the story and several ideas for the camera shots and the audio (music increasing volume when the scene becomes tense).I haven't included much on the titles appearing throughout the opening, but we'll be improvising the font/ style and the transition of these titles when we finally come to the editing where we would obviously pick a font to be c
onsistent throughout the 2 minute opening.
Thinking about the task at hand, we considered the fact that this is an opening to a film, and plan to make it start off in an office like room as if nothing out of the norm was happening then with the sudden shutdown and corruption of computers worldwide in an instant the whole atmosphere is going to change. Our idea is that the Hacker hacking worldwide authorities is actually from out of space, but is only slightly implied right at the end before the film title as a police squad notice the signal has taken them into the middle of nowhere and realize there must be something above them...
If the film was ever fully made, it could delve into a very typical alien invasion story, but for our task we don't even need to mention that.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)