Review of filming day 1

Yesterday i went out to film the landscape shots that we will use in our thriller, i was able to be driven round to film, which gave me a strong advantage as to where i could go. I experimented with lots of different camera angles, and i got some good shots.

Weather Forecast

The weather forecast for this weekend is of importance because in order to get our shots we need good weather, as it has to look beautiful and picturesque.
However we decided that rain could look good as it will fit in well with the idea of death and we could make it look beautiful, the only issue is using the camera equipment in the rain which we will be able to overcome by using umbrellas to protect the camera.

Music Ideas

We want the music to start of subtle and slowly become more disturbing and tense as the opening goes on. i think the opening part of this track would be a good starting point because its sounds beautiful but sad at the same time (starting shot will be off the charter being dead) this track has helped me to realise that it can be simple still but still emotional.

Tips on Filming at night

We are going to film a shot of the dead girl at night, as this fits with our script, so we decided to watch some videos with useful hints and tips to help us use the correct lighting

http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-shoot-film-night-202614/

Music Testing

We have been experimenting with different sounds and tones in garage band to help created the right atmosphere. we need to create something that compliments the beauty of the scenic shot but also something that will go well with the panic and chase shots.

Test Shots 2

Make-up testing

This lesson we are trying to make realistic looking bruising using make-up. we got ideas from videos we previously posted.

test shots

Filming

The mojority of our shots are set in the village of Orwell, so this being a rather small village with little transport links, we've found it hard to arrange a time for us to film. However, we have managed to book the camera out for the 27th and 28th in which we will try to film as much as we can in the little time we have.

Ident video

our final ident in animation with music

Making our Ident

We first made our ident using photoshop ( there is a post further down describing what we did)
After this we then put it into final cut express to animate it. We used the earthquake effect to make our ident shake.
I created a soundtrack for our ident on garage band, using synthesizers to give it a cool edge.
We then rendered this with our animated ident and the we converted it to quicktime.
We can now use our ident at the beginning of our thriller opening.

Test Shots

This lesson we are going to do some test shots of our running scene, we will do this so we have practice with the cameras and can plan how we are going to film this scene and what angles work well to build tension through out the scene.We are going to try different things to try and get the effect we want, so we are going to try running with the camera after her (to try and put across her fear), we also are going to try to do a far off shot to see how that would look, we are also going to try to do it so she runs past the camera in a messy fashion. We will post up our attempts afterward so we can evaluate and chose which effect we want.

Location

mise en scene

For Josie's characters hair and makeup -
We decided that her hair should be natural and not tied up or in any style as she will have been running so it will need to look messy. We will accessorize it with twigs and leaves in the ends of the hair, as if they have caught there when she has been running.
Her makeup will be fairly natural around her face, maybe some dark eye-makeup to hilight her eyes. She wont be wearing blusher as shes meant to look dead. To carry on the dead look she will be wearing pale foundation and we can enhance her paleness with a filter in final cut. She will also have bruises on her arms and maybe her face created with eyeshadows and streaks of mud.

Here is a video tutorial that we watched to inspire us on how to create a bruised look.

John Carpenter's Halloween opening and John Carpenter's The Thing opening analysis (thriller/horror)

The opening to Halloween is incredibly simple but is just as effective as any thing else. All it dose is play music and show a pumpkin getting closer and closer as each credit comes up in time with what the music is doing. The combination of the tention building music and pumpkin getting closer is another to keep you on the edge of your seet waiting to see whats going to happen after the credits ares shown, it forces you to ask whats going to happen after this.



The opening to The thing is another one that just asks a lot of qeations in one go, why are these people shooting a dog? who are they? why was the a space ship at the the start? and were is it now? it just gets you interested in what the story might be and the charters involved in the event that takes place at the start and what the consequences of there actions might be.
It uses scenic shots to start of as our group is planning to do.
i know this also more of a horror film but both films take elemts of thrillers.

List of equipment we will need

• Camera
• Tripod
• Flowing Dress
  
• Make up
• Jewellery (Dangling Earrings)
  
• twigs and dirt for hair
  
• Spare Battery - for camera
  
• Mains adapter - for camera
• Tape - for camera

This is the type of dress we have in mind, hopefully we will be able to find something similar.

Blue Velvet Analysis

Blue Velvet inspired us in our attempt to make the opening of a thriller.
The trailer itself shows a beautiful 'American Dream' community and town, and then shows the dark truth about it. It is filmed to show beauty the whole way through, but then towards the end this beauty is corrupted by death. That is the idea that we liked so much.
It is also filmed in vivid colours which looks great.
This works well as an opening to a thriller because it makes you wonder what other secrets this 'perfect' community has to offer.

Credit Font

We've been looking at fonts to use for our credits and title for our opening we got some examples form the website www.dafont.com
these are the ones we are considering:

planning locations

Locations

• The forest in Long Road College
• Orwell, the Clunch Pit/ Leden Hill field
• The stream in Orwell rec
  

Permission?

• Forest - No permission needed
  
• Orwell Clunch Pit / Field - No permission needed
  
• The stream - Orwell rec is a public place so no permission needed
  

planning roles - actors

Actress

• Josie - Girl who is dead
  

Suitability

• Josie will be suitable for this role as she doesn't mind getting muddy and wet in the dirty surroundings and the stream. She also has experience staying still for a long time. As well as having long hair which will look perfect for the shots we have in mind.
  

Deadlines

11th Jan to 15th Jan: Thriller introduction.

18th Jan to 22nd Jan: Analysis of real and student examples/ Production logos.

25th Jan to 29th Jan: Planning and delivery of pitches.

1st Feb to 5th Feb: Storyboarding, shot lists and other planning.

Cameras are available from Friday 5th Feb at 4.10pm until shooting deadline of 9am Monday 8th March. Students can have 2 overnights or one weekend to film. There are three weekend slots available ( 6th & 7th Feb, 27th & 28th Feb and 6th & 7th March).

8th Feb to 12th Feb: Filming.

15th Feb to 19th Feb: HALF TERM. NO CAMERAS OUT.

22nd Feb to 26th Feb: Filming and editing.

1st March to 5th March: Filming and editing.

8th March to 12th March: 8th March Shooting deadline. 2nd lesson of this week is Rough Cut Deadline. Third lesson of week, rough cut feedback.

15th March to 19th March: End of second lesson of the week is Final Cut Deadline. Last lesson of the week, feedback on final cuts and re-introduction to Evaluation questions.

22nd March to 26th March: 9am 22nd March is Interim writing deadline. Lessons this week are for feedback on interim drafts and revisions/writing.

9am 29th March: Final writing deadline.

Microphone

We are planning on trying to get a microphone to use for the non diagetic naration in our opening. as the microphones on the cameras we are using don't have a very good microphone, so we think it will sound better if we record it seperatley and play it over the top of our filming.

music influences

i was thinking because we are going for a scenic style of opening we need a calm gental opening. this bit of music from "my bloody valentine" is on the same type of style i was thinking of, starting of calm and beautiful but creepy in a way. Then for it to build up the tention and go into a fast pace panik tune and then by the end of it to go back to how it stated then fadeing out.

Credits

Credit sequence:

1. A Lucky Boy production
2. Cast- Josephine Lee
   
3. Cast- Carl Lemming
   
4. Cast- Julian Hudson
   
5. Costume design and Art directions- Ceri Hughes
   
6. Production Design- Julia Thomson
   
7. Casting- Jilly smith
   
8. Film editing- Jessica Carlisle
   
9. Cinematography- Christopher Johnson
   
10. Original music- Martin Taylor
    
11. Produced by- Ceri Hughes
    
12. Directed by- Julia Thomson
    
13. Main title- ??? Yet to be decided
    

Filming Tips

We brainstormed filming tips to keep in mind for when we are filming our opening and here are some key ideas we came up with, we will try and make sure we remember them all while filming our opening sequence:
1)Think about different shot types
2)Keep organized - time, using a good shot list
3)Plan ahead
4)Shout out shot number before each shot/take
5)Lights, Camera, Action
6)Organize roles - swap if necessary
7)Think about the distance with camera and sound

Storyboard

Brick

We have studied the opening of the film 'Brick' in depth and it has given us the basis of the subgenre we want to film and ideas as to what we will actually film. Brick has a scene that shows a death as something beautiful and the way it is filmed really makes the viewer overwhelmed and astonished by how beautiful it looks and sounds etc. We really liked this as a group and it has given us many ideas, and this will show throughout the opening.
We decided to film a beautiful death in the style of Brick.

Where we will film

This is where i will film some of the scenic shots that will make up our opening sequence in the Village of Orwell.

A bit about camera shots and the opening.

although most of our shots are of countryside, we aim to make this exciting for the viewer and visually dynamic as we will be using pan shots as well as 360degree turn pan shots to really accentuate the beauty. We also hope to have a fast paced scene in which we will adapt to the documentary genre and have a handheld camera following the girl as she runs and falls and stumbles. This will also add a sense of urgency and panic to our thriller opening

Mise En Scene for our Thriller

Costume - the main character in our filming will be played by Josie and she will be wearing a flowing dress as it will blow in the wind and should hopefully work well if we lay it in the water.
We are planning on using stage make up to give Josie cuts and bruises for the scene when she is laying in the stream to let the audience know she has been hurt and is in danger and to add more questions which thrillers consist of. She will also be wearing pale make up to show that she is dead
The fact that she is wearing a dress represents that she is girly in the sense she dresses and it will accentuate how vulnerable she is, it makes her the damsel in distress.



We researched into how to do cuts and bruises and here is an example of a video we looked at for ideas on how to do stage make up.

Planning the filming

There is dispute as to where we will film our scenic shots as the times we are allowed to take the cameras out of college are limited. We have a few ideas of areas, such as a village called Orwell, but we want to film at twilight and transport to get there after college wont allow this, the only way to film it is if we take out the camera for a weekend.
We have decided to try and take the camera out over the weekend after half-term, whilst we are waiting to film this, we can search for more locations and create the garageband soundtrack as well as recording the dialogue. We can also research into make-up to make the body (Josie) look dead and injured so that when we film this it will look realistic.