Time Management Update

This is an example of our group's time management. We decided to use Google Calender to keep our tasks up to date, and so we can keep a record of what has been completed and what is still outstanding.

Organisation, Props and Costumes

Thomas: Normal teenage clothes - hoody, jeans, shirt, trainers (Casual) - Nobody needs to be in charge because most of us will have these kind of clothes


Kieren: Dark clothes to create sinister atmosphere - Black hoody/coat, dark trousers, boots - George

Update

Tuesday 14th Dec - We now need to book a camera and agree a collection and return date.

Risk Assesment

Risk	How to avoid it
Household injuries (we are filming in a house) – falling etc.	Be really careful around the house and make sure care is taken whilst shooting movement – as we are filming downstairs, there shouldn’t be a problem.
Tripping over equipment	Don’t leave camera/props/costumes in any ridiculous place (middle of floor/in the middle of a shooting area)
Electricity	Don’t go near a live switch at any time.

animatic

This is the animatic that our group has created, it was not filmed with the correct props, clothing or at the correct location.

Shot List

As a group we drew up a story board covering the shot type, duration of the shot, the angle and whether there is audio place over the top of the sequence to create a sense of mystery and suspense.

shot 2 was a extreme close up of kieren Barr tying his shoe lace with a duration of 3 seconds with creepy music played over the top.

Shot 3 was Mid shot/Over the shoulder shot of tom evans looking in the mirror.

Shot 4. Close up/P.O.V of Kieren putting his glove on as music is played over the top.

Shot 5. Also a Mid shot of Tom doing his hair in the mirror.

Shot 6. Extreme close up of Kieren opening a door, he then walks towards the camera and blocks the shot so the main title can appear, the shot then cuts to the living room of Tom's house, using Kieren as the cut method.

Shot 7.  this is a shot showing the murderer in the Room, but how did he get there?

Shot 8. Close up of tom, focusing on his facial expressions.

Shot 9. its a Pan shot of the curtains blowing on the room to create suspense.

Shot 10. Long shot of the murderer walking towards the door.

Shot 11. Mid shot of tom looking around.

Shot 12. High angle shot of the hall way focusing on Tom looking around suspiciously.

Shot 13. Mid shot and P.O.V of Tom walking towards the kitchen. Also there is a focus on the Knife holder as one is missing.

Shot 14. Mid shot of Tom looking through a gap in the door.

Shot 15. Also a Mid shot of Tom stood, staring in front of him to show his confusion and the fact he's nervous and scared. Also Kieren shoots across the back of tom.

Shot 16. Mid shot of Tom twisting, trying to figure out what's going on, as he turns in confusion. It then jumps to a Close up of of Toms face to show expressions.

Shot 17. Lower angled close up of Kieren looking down on Tom to show he's the bigger persona and the main Focus of the clip.

Planning: story board

This is the storyboard that we are using to help us film our opening.

Synopsis

As the film opens, the audience are shown the preparations of a sinister and mysterious figure through a series of fast cuts and shots. As time goes on, it becomes apparent that the figure is preparing for murder. At the same time, someone else is also seen to be getting ready to go out. The killer then appears at the victims house, and the victim looks around the house suspiciously. As the victim is about to leave the house, the killer attacks. 

We have managed to find the cast for our video, We have casted Thomas Evans (right) as the victim and Kieren Barr (left) as the murderer.

Genre research Summary

After reviewing our research we have found that there are many different sub-genres of horror, and each of those are different in many ways.

1. What do the titles tend to look like?

In general titles tend to contrast highly with the background. Colours such as red, white and black are most commonly used. The font in which the titles are written can vary between different styles of horror movie. Movies such as "a nightmare on elm street" uses a normal font, but it is uneven and wonky. Whereas in "Halloween" the titles are written in a font with sharp edges and points, this could relate to the knifes featured in the movie, or the teeth on the jack-o-lantern. 

2. What kind of sounds feature in the opening?

In general, sounds tend to be of heavy breathing/gurgling. The source of the noises is usually not shown so the audience is unsure as to what is making them. Music is usually high pitched and slow paced, this takes the audience out of their comfort zone as the sounds are unfamiliar and strange. The opening to "a nightmare on elm street" is a good example of this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQrZMoWaAZQ. 

3. What types of character do we usually see?

In horror movie openings a character is not usually identified. Sometimes victims and less significant people feature in the beginning, but the killer/villain almost never is. In the opening to "halloween" a murder is witnessed from the point of view of the killer, this adds a sense of enigma as the audience does not know who commited the murder even though they were so close to it. 

4. What kind of mise en scene dominates?

The settings in horror movies can change dramatically depending on the sub genre, but darkness is almost always featured. Large houses, hospitals and woods are used extensively throughout the genre. Although not all openings are intended to scare the audience, some of them put the audience in a sense of security and comfort to make the initial scare more shocking. 

5. What narrative codes are used?

Close ups and cut aways are used to create enigma, tense music and a slow pace of editing can create this, although it can also be done with  fast paced editing. There is usually a large build up to the first killing, this is done using throbbing music and giving the audience a narrow field of vision making them feel claustrophobic. 

6. What types of cinematography and editing styles are used?

Fast and slow editing speeds are both used, to different effects in horror movies. They can create enigma and suspense, or a fast paced exciting opening. The different speeds do not usually change according to the sub-genre. 

Focus Group - Audience Research and Meeting Analysis

After we had created our moodboard, we got our group together to discuss and to comment on it. Admittedly, we had to rush our focus group meeting to meet the deadline, and so our meeting wasn't as smooth as we would have liked, but we did our very best with the circumstances put in front of us and analysed our group's comments as well as we could.


Our Focus Group:


Callum Moore
Isaac Jeeves
George Murphy
David Perkins
James Linsey




These were the comments they made on Facebook...

George Murphy

could you please comment on this moodboard telling me what you think is good, and what needs to be improved.

about an hour ago ·  · Comment · 

• • 
    

    Isaac Jeeves you have a good layout of pictures of various different types all making there own sense of horrific ideals. the eye in the corner makes you read the writing and works well with the black writing and as the main background they all overall create a excellent horror ideas and put them across well with the shady figures and the looks they bring to horror style. they are all horrific and well used images. the only thing i could say to improve is that the red writing distracts from the images and would be better if it was black.
    

    about an hour ago · 
  • 
    

    Callum Andrew William Moore The Lighting and dark colours are good for the theme, pictures are relevant and set the scene for a slasher. Perhaps, to improve, the house may need darker colours to as not to clash with the other colours
    

    about an hour ago · 

We analysed the comments carefully and decided that Callum's point about our "haunted house" idea was a valid one. No one finds a house spooky in the daytime. Therefore, the house, if there is to be one, needs to be filmed at night. We had previously planned on filming the house in the day for practical reasons, but if our audience doesn't agree with that, we have to take that on board and alter our plans.

Target Audience

We, as a group, have decided to target 16-19 year old males, from a C1-C2 background who are individualists and some mainstreamers. This audience is quite large and gives the group some lee-way in terms of the content of our film and we aimed at this audience because those were the people which were able to comment on our ideas. Therefore, we believed we could achieve the most effective outcome if we used this target audience. 

We asked the audience a number of questions as to what their interests and likes were. We then put together a moodboard using photoshop to demonstrate this:

Our target audience's overall preferences (by virtue of majority)

Genre Specific Analysis

In the opening to " a nightmare on elm street" a strange, mysterious character is seen to be crafting a bladed glove,. This creates enigma as you are not sure as to who is creating the glove and why. Darkness also features heavily in this opening as it restricts the viewers field of vision and shrouds the background creating a sense of mysteriousness. The viewer is only shown a small square of video and the rest is surrounded by a black background so we do not see who is making the glove. Clanging tools can also be heard, this connotes a sense of clinical coldness.

The opening of "Halloween" also uses enigma. A point of view shot is also used which restricts the viewers field of vision, a mask is also placed over the camera towards the end setting a trend for the rest of the movie. The viewer can tell what is going to happen before it actually does, this is because the lighting and non-diagetic sounds suggest a sinister event is about to happen.

"A nightmare on elm street" also creates an eery atmosphere with the titles, the plain boring font suggests a normal, safe atmosphere. But the text is distorted, showing something that should be safe and normal has been turned strange and alien.
The titles simply appear giving a plain and raw feel to the opening, this could also create an uneasy feel with the viewer as this is not usually done.




The orange titles in "Halloween" contrast with the black background, this makes them seem slightly sinister and 'edgy'. They give an idea of the plot and they give the audience the time-frame for the movie. The sharp edges in the text remind me of the pumpkins teeth, the colour is also similar to the colour coming from the pumpkin, adding to the sense of eeriness. The titles fade in and out, this could mirror the main character's sense of confusion and the way his character fades in and out and different points in the rest of the movie.

After looking into the title scenes of both movies I have concluded that they both use enigma to create a sense of uncertainty in the audience, they do this by restricting the field of vision and using darkness to keep the audience on edge. Fast and slow editing speeds create different emotions but both are suitable as they create tension and fear.

Moodboard

This is my moodboard, it gives a general idea of the typical slasher movie components. 

First ideas

Genre: Slasher

Group: Me, James Linsey and David Perkins.

Target audience: Age 18-25 years old, mainstreamer. C1-E.

Narrative ideas: Barthes' enigma code, death at the beginning but unsure of the killer.

Character development: Victim, Detective? suspect/witnesses.

Mood/Tone/Time/Place: Eerie/dark morning investigation.

From Script to Screen: How does the credit sequence from Dexter work?

"Dexter's" opening titles takes a normal, mundane morning routine and shows that they all have an underlying sinisterness, this is shown by zooming in on these tasks. Drops of blood fall in the sink and around the title giving an even more sinister look. The sinister activities are only connoted, but these give the audience a predetermined opinion of the main character, Dexter.

Stabbing and strangling is connoted through clips like cutting up fruit and tying laces. 

The name dexter inspired the creative editor, Eric Anderson. 

"I saw that the letter forms in DEXTER are nearly identical right-side up as they are up-side down, much like DEXTER the character. He doesn’t go through a massive transformation when he becomes the serial killer, he’s exactly the same Dexter except somethings wrong. I really thought that would go somewhere."

The opening title gives a lot of information about Dexter. It shows that even though on the surface he looks like a normal man, his actions have an ulterior motive, and a sinister underlay. It shows that he is very much the same as most people, so it gives him a sense of normality. A shallow depth of field helps to add intensity to an otherwise boring clip. A very good example is when the noir lighting and depth of field come together in the close up shaving clip, these set a dark, moody trend for the rest of the series.

The music plays a key part in this section, the music in the background contrasts the grotesque, violent looking clips. The music changes with Dexter, as the music gets more strange, so do Dexter's actions. A track by 'Exploding Plastix' was going to be used at first, but it did not provide the same effect. Dexter was not seen as a 'normal guy', it gave the impression that he was a killer and completely different to everyone else. 

Research - Analysis of "Juno" Opening

The first thing that I noticed when watching the "Juno" title sequence was the music. The song "All I Want Is You" by Barry Lewis Polistar gives an incredibly childish feel to the opening, this works well with the style of animation. I feel that this was the perfect song for this opening, this song reinforces the idea that Juno is still a child. Something else that reinforces this idea is the orange juice that Juno is drinking in this opening, it goes against the normal teenager stereotype as in most of the media teenagers are seen drinking and smoking.   The way that the background seems sketched and stuck on like a drawing and adds a sense of immaturity and innocence. The drawn background also shows that she lives in a bit of a dream world, apart from everybody else.

The main character, Juno, is also contrasting with the background. Everything else you see in the opening to the movie has a cartoon-ish feel to it, including Juno. This could show that Juno is actually part of that perfect world that she is imagining. The clothing she wears is also representative of her personality, she is wearing a brightly coloured hoodie, this could reflect an upbeat personality. The lack of make-up and the plain clothes once more connote a sense of innocence. As she reaches her destination the coloured background fades away, this shows a sense of realisation.


The font of the text also says a lot about Juno's character. The text looks as if it was written playfully. Throughout the opening the text moves about and shifts colour, this makes it look as if it has been made by a child and gives a sense of fun. The text looks hand drawn and it reminds me of a child's colouring book. The fact that the background is animated, yet she is not could show the struggle to become more adult whilst still being herself.

Key conventions of opening sequences

"Brick" title

We recently had to research film openings, we looked at the openings of "Kick Ass", "In Search of a Midnight Kiss", "Trainspotting", "Brick", "Shifty" and "London to Brighton" from analysing these I have found out that opening title scenes will almost always contain the names of actors, producers ect. They will sometimes use techniques like "Written Exposition". This technique is found in movies such as Star Wars and Gladiator, this technique is when text moves across the screen to set a scene or introduce characters. 

"Shifty"

 Ellipsis is sometimes used to show changes through       time or effects on the character, this is when the time frame is changed. The tone and mood of the movie is usually set within the first minute or so of the movie, so getting the title scene right is crucial. Bathe's Enigma Code is commonly used to hook the reader into the story, this is when a mystery is introduced at the beginning of the movie, this usually involves the main character and gives them more purpose in the story.    

              

Main Task

For our "Main Task", we are supposed to create the titles and opening two minutes of a fictional feature film which we will also create. We will have to write our own dialogue and cast actors to play as our characters, we are not allowed to be in the film ourselves. 


Deadlines:
Research - 01/12/10
Photo-Storyboard - 3/12/10
Filming - 7/1/11
Production - 28/1/11
Evaluation - 11/2/11

3 targets

next time I will use more images in my evaluation, as my lack of pictures brought my grade down.
I will also pick a better cast for my filming, as we could not stop laughing.
Also I must use more technical language in my evaluation.

Evaluation

CONTINUITY EDITING:

Continuity Editing is exactly what it sounds like, a system that focuses on creating a clear continuity for your final video. The goal of this style is to create a very smooth flow between all of your clips so that the narrative story will be obvious without unnecessary interruptions. To maintain this type of non-obvious editing you need to be consistent with certain visual elements of your clips. Make sure that when selecting clips, or choosing which ones should be paired up, that you do not violate the “180 degree rule.
When you have two people looking at each other, where each video clip is a close-up on their face, make sure that the position of the eyes on the screen are the same in both shots. This is called an eyeline match. 

DIGITAL SLR CAMERAS:

I used a digital SLR camera to take the still images for my photo storyboard, they are relatively easy to use but i only knew how to use a few of the functions. The cameras work in much the same way as a normal camera, you just point and take a photo, although the zooming works in a different way to most normal digital cameras. to zoom in and out you must manually turn the lens, but this allows for a much more precise shot. When I came to uploading the pictures I simply removed the SD card from the camera and inserted it into the SD card slot on the computer tower.

ORGANISED FILMING:

When filming I was relatively unorganised and this shows in the video, I picked a bad location to film as I could only film there for a short period of time. This mean that I could not finish all the shots in that location, as a consequence of this some of the shots had to be filmed in a different location. This affected the continuity of the video, as some of the shots do not link together as well as they could have done.

DIGITAL VIDEO CAMERA:

I was confident about using this technology and I already knew how to use it, it was simple and easy to use as it did not have too many functions. The video was recorded onto tape so I had to be careful that I did not tape over previous recordings, which I did on one occasion. This meant that we had to refilm that part.

UPLOADING THE FOOTAGE FROM THE CAMERA:

I used Adobe On-Location to "capture" the footage from the tape to the computer. To do this I had to connect the camera to the computer using a "fire wire" then I played the video using the video camera and recorded the shots that I wanted to keep.

The video that was playing appears in a window in the top left hand side, this allows you to select the best shots.












EDITING:

I used adobe premier bro to edit the movie, it was relatively easy to use once I had gotten used to it. I used the cutting and the slow/fast motion bar. I also used the zoom function to allow me to cut the shots with much more precision. Overall I was relatively pleased with the outcome, the editing went well and most of the shots went together smoothly. Some of the shots would occasionally lose their audio or video, but this could be fixed by re-rendering the video.

Once I had finished editing the video I uploaded it to you-tube, once I had done this I took the embed code and pasted it into a post.

Production

Today we finished filming, although it didn't all go to plan.
we had to film half of the scenes in a different, but similar location to the other half. this will probably show up in the film. This may effect the continuity of the video as there could be a visible "jump" between shots.

Pre-Production

Before I start filming I must do a number of things. The first being a photo storyboard, this consists of a series of pictures to demonstrate the sequence of shots that my video will be made of. I must also write a script to show the actors what they must say, on top of this I need to scout my location. I need to be sure that this location will be suitable for this purpose. Once this is all done I must fill out a health and safety form, this contains all the available risks and what I can do to prevent them.

continuity editing

Continuity Editing is exactly what it sounds like, a system that focuses on creating a clear continuity for your final video. The goal of this style is to create a very smooth flow between all of your clips so that the narrative story will be obvious without unnecessary interruptions. To maintain this type of non-obvious editing you need to be consistent with certain visual elements of your clips. Make sure that when selecting clips, or choosing which ones should be paired up, that you do not violate the “180 degree rule.
When you have two people looking at each other, where each video clip is a close-up on their face, make sure that the position of the eyes on the screen are the same in both shots. This is called an eyeline match. 

Preliminary Task - Video Production

For my first task I must create a short video. This must contain the following:
Cut away
Cut in
Shot/reverse shot
Match on action shot
The subject must be a conversation about anything we want, but it must have someone entering a room, some dialogue and then someone exiting.

Welcome

hi, welcome to my blog.
My name is George Murphy and i am studying AS Media studies, this blog is here to keep track of my progress with corsework.