Final Stretch

After finishing our final piece of filming on Tuesday, we have now moved onto our final stage of editing and making the film look presentable by adding a few final touches. Amoung all of this, we have also started to look through our evaluation booklets and occasionally discussing the outcome of the evaluation.

Final Piece of Filming

After filming on Friday the 27th of February, we have decided to finish all filming by the end of Friday the 6th. 

This will be the final time filming before editing and then finishing. 

 

Friday the 27th

On Friday the 27th of February we have decided to go to our location and start organising the first location, then filming the second shot.

Backstory which motivates what happens in our film

The main characters mother saw thirteen different psychiatrists with mental health problems, they were all unable to help her because the illness was so severe. This led her to commit suicide, the main character has never got over this and seeks revenge on all thirteen psychiatrists. Prior to the start of the film he has killed off the first twelve psychiatrists and now he is after the thirteenth.  

Sin City - Mise en scene

In the opening sequence of Sin City, I notice that the movements of the characters is minimal. There is hardly any movement of the face in or the upper body in the conversation between the woman and the man. there is hardly any movement in the eyes of the characters either. This creates a mood that makes the audience feel a little uneasy.

The movement of the camera and camera angles is also limited. There is a push in at the line from the woman, 'What do you see in my eyes?'. This shows, as the camera is moving forward, the expressions on the woman's face as he describes what he sees. It shows the audience that she stars to become twitchy and starts to move more whereas before, she was almost completely static. As the push in turns into a medium two-shot, it shows her breathing beginning to get heavier, Ie; her chest moving noticeably more than before.

As the characters kiss, the camera shot turns into a long shot that is in black and white with the view of the city behind them. This gives off the impression of a cartoon strip. This gives another perspective to the audience will open up their minds a little more. It also give emphasis on that it is now raining. The audience may not have seen this before. It also shows emphasis on the wind. This is shown more clearly now than before. You can now see the wind through the movement of her dress, the movement from the front of his trousers and you can also see the wind through the direction of the rain.

As the commentary is going on, and they are kissing, the things that the commentator is saying, is being acted out in the scene. For example, at the line, 'I tell her, I love her', you can see that actors mouth saying, 'I love you' before the flash of the gun going off. and when the commentator mentions the silencer, the charcter shows the gun with the silencer on it.


NOT QUITE FINISHED

Today we have decided that we are going to watch the beginning of the film Sin City.

 We are going to break it up into section for analysis:

• camerawork-Colin
• Lighting and sound-Jasmine
• Mise en Scene-Charlie
• Editing- Adam

Each person will analyse the beginning and then we will put our notes together and update the blog.  

Questonaire results

we have put all of our results together and this is what we have found:

Only 2 out of 20 people we asked don't like thrillers.

We asked people what their favourite thriller film was, these are the one that are most common:

• Da vinci Code 
  
• Sin city
  
• sixth sense
  
• The mummy
  

We then asked, what makes you want to see a thriller?

• Excitment
• suspense
• The thrill
• The plot
• Action
• Death
• Mystery

We then asked what you expect to see in the film?

• Blood
• Death
• Car chases
• Gun fights
• Storylines-suspence
• Explosions

My analysis of Se7en.

Throughout the opening sequence of Se7en, i noticed that the was a lot of low key lighting used to create an effect which make the sequence more mystical because you cannot see clearly what is happening in the shot. Another feature that i thought had mystery was the fact the the character, (played by Morgan Freeman), had a metronome beside his bed. This makes the audience think about why he has it and what he uses it for. I could represent time ticking away. or a heartbeat of some description.

Lots of quick cuts and extreme close ups were used in the sequence. This added suspense and mystery. This got the audience thinking about what he is doing and why is he doing it. i also notice the way that the picture was sometimes distorted with a few frames missing here and there. I believe the creators of 'Snatch' and 'Fight Club' did the same sort of thing.

The last thing i noticed was the use of focus pulls. these didtrot the image for the audience and create more suspense and more mystery because it is unclear what is happing during the sequence.

Plot and Character Motifs

The plot motif for our piece is something bad happening to what appears to be an ordinary person. In the whole film it might result in murder but the audience don't know this from just the opening. 

There is an Antagonist, he is in the first scene, although you can not see his facial features so can not recognise him, the audience know he is the antagonist because he is doing strange things. Such as sitting in a dark room surrounded by pictures that have been cut up and crossed out. There will also be many other strange things about them that make it more obvious to the audience that he is the antagonist from the beginning.

The Protagonist is the victim. They appear to be a normal person out for a run, but they then get hit on the head and a sack put over their head. is there more to them than meets the eye.

From the opening the audience don't know if there is going to be a perticular Hero or not. In the whole film there would be, someone who discovers what is happening and who the antagonist is.

27th Jan. 2nd group blog

Colin, unfortunately, is absent due to a Geography trip.

This is what we have come up with as our plot idea so far. 

Shot 1

Location: Dark, cold and erie room for example a garage or shed.

Characters: Man, although you can't see any of his facial features, so he is not recognised.

Lighting: Low key lighting, one single swinging light, no lamp shade to create shadows.

Sound: Diagetic sound from video tape or non diagetic erie music, depending on what turns out best.

Rough plot outline: Starts with panning of room showing darkness and pictures in the walls and tables and floor, dirt and blood smears. Crossing out of pictures, and scribbling, cutting and sticking paper. Video playing on repeat of victim. Credits appearing every now and then, intergrating with his actions.

Shot 2: 

Location: Road or track, very quiet, no houses and few cars.

Characters: The victim, the antagonist/mystery person from first shot. 

Lighting: To be decided.

Sound: Music from runners ipod, also general diagetic sounds e.g, birds, cars and wind and footsteps.

Rough plot outline: Victim is running down the road or path, some shots are point of view, and some other. car draws up behind we hear this, peer round, then a blackout.

Hello, 

This is our first blog regarding the first three lessons of our Media Studies coursework on a thrillers. We have thought about a few plot ideas, these include:

•  A Kidnapping
  
• A shooting 
• A bombing

After conducting our research on what people like and expect in thrillers, we decided the kidnapping was the best idea. We chose this because in our research we discovered that people like suspense, action and the thrill of the plot unfolding.

Our idea is to have a man alone in his room crossing out pictures of girls. There are many pictures of his victims, but they are all crossed out. There is soft light with the TV playing, of  what seems to be a future target. While this scene is in progress credits are displayed at various times. The next blog will be udated