Schedule

This is our schedule for the week after half term to film our film opening.

DAY                                    WHERE                          ACTORS                          TIME
Monday                           

Tuesday

Wednesday                       Rosy's house/garage           Mia, Rosy,                         All day half term

Thursday                           Garden behind Mias           Izzy(Mias sister)                 1.30 - Aslong as it takes
                                          house.                               Mias mum.
Friday                                Editing at school                Rosy, Mia and Gwen          Lesson and afterschool

Preliminary task - day 3

21st October 2011

we came across a problem when we went back to edit our movie further, so we decided to make our movie again using movie maker, we found this was easier to do and much quick than using the macs which we are not used to. we finished our final film and i am please with the outcome, like the mac version we all contributed towards the making of the film, and I'm pleased with our first time using this soft wear.

Preliminary task - day 2

Monday 17th October 2011

Today we started to edit the videos from the flip camera that we shot for our Preliminary task. we all worked together to produce a old professional looking Preliminary task. we put together a series of clips that could be understandable to the audience. we took it in turns to edit the clips into a sequence but all helped each other out to make it as good as we could. we used the mac's at school to do this as it gave us the best possible software we had available to us, as none of us had used this software before we came across a few problems that we didn't understand so we used google and you tube to help us understand the software step by step, this helped us a lot.
although we still have some editing to do i am happy with our short film so far.

Preliminary task - day 1

Friday 14th october 2011

today we used the flip up camera to film out preliminary task within the school, rosy and i were the actors in this task and Gwen did the majority of the filming although we all had a go at different parts of filming, we all came up with the ideas and how we wold film the shots and the dialogue.
our first shot was of me running through doors into another set of doors changing the camera shots as this happened then Rosy's feet walking after me, as part of this shot we did a low angle shot so this makes the audience feel intimidated . Then there was a close up of my face running into the toilets, and going into the cubicles this was to show the emotion and fear on my face, the there was a shot of rosy coming in after me we had a discussion and she pulled me into the toilet, the shot then flickered between rosy and i sitting in a cubical showing that i and been possessed by her.
we used the match on action shot as rosy walked into the toilets
we used the shot reverse shot as rosy and i was talking
and we used the 180 degree rule while rosy and i were talking as well.
we then uploaded the videos onto a memory pen so we could later edit them on the mac's.

initial ideas - horror film opening

The name of out our initial idea for our horror film opening is 'The social experiment'.

We thought instead of doing the usual, sterotypical zombies, murderers and scary monsters it would be more creepy and interesting but also easier to do with the budget/equipment to create a film that is phycologically scary where the death occur between the charcter to make it more chilling.
The basic storyline for the film is a man whos wife and daughter get killed by four people who were drink driving. He wants to get revenge on them so he sets up a social experiment and invites them to join in for 2 months and they will each get a reward of £1,000 if they do and complete it. Each of the four people, ellie, charlotte, dom and alex agree to do it and go along. Little do they know that the man is going to drive them crazy and torture them and eventually going to kill them or they will go so mad and loose the plot that they end up killing themselves.

Analyses of Film Openings

This film is a action crime film, with the typical conventions of swearing , smoking, lots of different camera shots and guns. the opening of this film starts off with a definition of pulp, this is unlikely within a film opening but works well to describe the narrative of the film. the opening scene starts off with a man and a woman drinking coffee in a stereotypical American diner, they start to discuss their past robberies in places such as Conner shops, then then proceed to ask for another cup of coffee kiss then, burst their characters into the film and rob the diner, the scene freeze frames then goes on to show the title pulp fiction along with all the actors producers and the film institution. the swearing throughout the scene confirms the film to be a 18 and the genre in which it is. the lighting in this scene illuminates the faces well so you can see the focus is on the two character and you know to watch them.

the film the dark knight starts by showing the names of the 3 intuitions that produced this film(Warner bro. pictures, legendary pictures, dc comics). the film then goes on straight into the action typical for a action film, this helps you discover the action within the film straight away. the action starts by men robbing a bank with the expected conventions of masks guns dressed in black, and a highly regarded American bank. the men then go on to rob the bank but have been instructed by the "joker" to kill one another, there is a lot of violence in the opening scene, but no blood or gore this is what gives the film its 12 rating, the later reveled "joker" then escapes by driving a yellow American bus out of the building blending in with the rest of the yellow buses on the street.

the opening scene to final destination 3 is mainly focused on showing the credits of the people who were involved in this film, the names are written in a old fashioned circus/ fairground font that you would see on a poster, blending into the background of old fashioned cirrus stereotypes, like fortune tellers boxes, tarot card etc. the film then proceeds to go onto a group of kids at the fair where you can see numerous amounts of potential danger. the opening does not give you a very good idea of what is to come but you can sense the tension with the screams from the fairground rides and the old fashioned spooky circus freaks. the music adds to the atmosphere by creating a spooky sense to the genre of horror/thriller.

the happening starts with the opening credits that proceeds to go on for a long time before the film starts the production company 20th century fox, show their title and logo before the credits begin. the background to the credits gives you no indication the plot or story line but later on you would understand why they used this in their opening scene, the clouds gradually become darker and the music playing in the background gets louder, this could sum what show the the film might to to a bad end, but it doesn't show this well. the narrative then starts with a establishing shot of central park and the people in it, that are happily walking around minding their own business, then the characters in the film freeze and begin to commit suicide, this immediately tells you that the film is going to be a horror genre and shows why it is a 15 rating as you can see blood and death. there are many different shot types used within this opening scene, for example a point of view shot when the workers are falling from the building and a aerial shot when it approaches central park in new york.

hammer film productions

I have decided to look at the horror movie producer “hammer film productions” this particular film production company are based in the united kingdom and they were founded in 1934, the company specialise in the typical gothic horror film, but they also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir, and comedies and the further on the line in later years they went on to produce television series. When hammer film productions were most successful they donated the horror film market, they produced films worldwide and became a financial success; this was due to becoming in partnership with major united states studios, such as Warner bros. during the 1960s and the 1970s the demand for horror films fell and the market became more competitive so due to the loss of sales and losing the contracts with the American funding the company decided to cease production, in the mid 1980s and since then the company has been in effect hibernation. In the new millennium the company was brought by a consortium including advertising and art collector Charles Saatchi. Once all the plans went through the company declared that they were going to begin making films again but none were produced. Again in May 2007 the company was sold again but this time it went to a group headed by big brother a Dutch company, consortium cyrte investments, who said that they were going to spend $50m on horror films.

 some of the films they have produced in the past over the last 70 years ..

films that are in production...

i also decided to look at the film institute Pixar, Pixar have been around since 1984 and are an animation film institute that have been producing films mainly for children of a young age.

Featured films -

Toy story

Cars

Finding nemo

Up

Monsters inc

A bugs life

Pixar aims to lease younger children mostly and are one of the most successful film institute’s in the world.

close up

a close up is used when a big part in the scene has happened to show the emotion of the character and the reaction they have toward the event this gives a more dramatic effect, and makes the audience feel more involved in the film.

high angle shot

this type of shot angle is used to make us the audience feel more dominant and be-Little's the characters in the film making them more venerable. this is used in a horror film when the victim is in shot.

mid two shot

this is a shot that is taken when two people are in focus and the background is blurred so it brings more emphasis on the characters conversation or action.

point of view shot

a point of view shot is when the camera angle is taken from someones point of view so from their eyes, this puts the focus on what the character is looking at so you start to see and think exactly what they are looking at.

tilt shot

tilt shot is at an angle "tilted" this can be used mainly on posters and film covers it makes the audience more intimidated and makes the character look more aggressive it can also make then look taller which also gives the audience that the character is dominate over them.  

long shot

this type of shot gives an overview and put the figure or object into context. this can help the audience discover more about the character and who they are. it gives the audience a perspective.

extreme close up

this is used when something important happens in a scene that needs to be highlights to the audience, for example a gun in someones hand, you Will then know there is about to be violence.

establishing shot

this is usually used at the beginning of a movie to give the audience a idea of the scene that the movie is set in, say if the the scene is in new york then they will give a over view of new york.

over the shoulder shot

this can be shown as having a sneak preview into the persons life what they are looking at or what they are reading or even who they are talking to, it makes the audience feel like their in the characters head.

what are the different conventions of a horror/thriller movie?

there are many conventions of horror to make the watcher scared/ thrilled here are some;

• blood
• gore
• knives/ weapons
• bad characters
• victims
• fear
• music that creates tension
• violence
• suspense

and many more, when a horror/ thriller movie is made they put these types of conventions in to make the audience feel tension and get a adrenaline rush from the suspense they build up, all these conventions help make what is a horror/ thriller movie.

What is ‘suspense’?

suspense is when the audience starts to feel uncertainty and anxiety when something happens in a film leading up to a dramatic event. tension is usually felt adding the the suspense leading up to the situation. suspense in a movie/ horror film is usually felt by the audience when the expect something bad is going to happen but tit s not yet in their knowledge. i a horror film suspense is usually found when something is going to happen to a character this makes the audience feel on edge and frightened building up tension but they still want to find out what happens so they carry on viewing.

Write a definition (with textual example) for each of the 3 shot types -

match on action,

a match cut is when two different shots are put together to create a scene but they graphically match sometimes in different scenes. this can often help to establish a strong continuity of action and linking the two shots metaphorically together to create a gripping scene for the audience.

shot/reverse shot

a shot/reverse shot is when a character in a movie is looking and talking to someone off screen and the other character is shown looking back at the orgional character. as the characters are seen by the audience in the oppoaite directions, they presume they are looking at eachother.

180-degree rule

during film making the 180- degree rule is based on the states and position of two characters in the same scene. if the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects its called crossing the line. The new shot, from the opposite side, is known as a reverse angle.