This movie is of a similar style to our future project, mostly based on the psycological trauma of the character and the life in snapshots.
Joe, Laura, Tom, Lily, Esther
Friday 28 January 2011
12P2 31 Extra Work - One Hour Photo trailer, Pictures.
This movie is of a similar style to our future project, mostly based on the psycological trauma of the character and the life in snapshots.
Joe, Laura, Tom, Lily, Esther
Wednesday 26 January 2011
12-P2-31 - Constructive Criticism From Our Presentation
Following the presentation of our planning we we're given a lot of constructive feedback, one of which being, the successful choice of music style in our production, for example "Mad World by Gary Jules" These sorts of songs will directly contrast the narrative and be "Contrapuntal", Another piece of feedback we received is that although we knew exactly what we wanted to portray verbally, in our blog work we used basic descriptions and lacked detail, we intend to fix the blogs we feel that we're applicable to this feedback. We we're also told to consider a production title for our opening sequence, after group discussions we have concluded on "Retribution" this instantly gives a potential viewer an insight into the films narrative, Finally we were told to consider in more depth the location of our filming, we knew we required a simple, box room, however had not discussed factors such as lighting control or availability.
In Conclusion, we have taken a lot of constructive criticism and aim to use it to build upon our existing work and hopefully improve overall grading.
Joe, Laura, Lily, Esther,Tom
In Conclusion, we have taken a lot of constructive criticism and aim to use it to build upon our existing work and hopefully improve overall grading.
Joe, Laura, Lily, Esther,Tom
Tuesday 25 January 2011
12-P2-31 Final Production Plan
PITCH:
Starts in an empty room.
There are pictures, maps and post-it notes all over the room.
There's a table in the middle
Production team's names (credits) on various objects, like the post-it notes. The character circles then names in order to relate them to the narrative.
Contrapuntal sound which directly contrasts the narrative. For example: Resevoir Dogs (skip to 1:26)
SUB GENRES
Our thriller genre will be a Psychological crime thriller. Film examples of this are:
Memento
Psycho
No Country For Old Men
A film similar to ours in narrative and theme is "One Hour Photo"
The way that the photos are featured as a main aspect to the narrative is similar to ours.
Our Location was not going to be somewhere in which the general public would be able to access. It would be a private room in someone's house as it would feel more personal. We were thinking of using Lily's front room as there is enough space on the walls to put up post-it notes, maps, letters etc. to convey the setting the main character looking for someone else.
As the main character circles names on the notes, or puts pins in the map, there will be a sudden flashback. This would leave questions for the audience and would be the only time in the entire sequence where we would show different characters who would be explained later on in the film.
Set Plan:
Starts in an empty room.
There are pictures, maps and post-it notes all over the room.
There's a table in the middle
Production team's names (credits) on various objects, like the post-it notes. The character circles then names in order to relate them to the narrative.
Contrapuntal sound which directly contrasts the narrative. For example: Resevoir Dogs (skip to 1:26)
SUB GENRES
Our thriller genre will be a Psychological crime thriller. Film examples of this are:
Memento
Psycho
No Country For Old Men
A film similar to ours in narrative and theme is "One Hour Photo"
The way that the photos are featured as a main aspect to the narrative is similar to ours.
Our Location was not going to be somewhere in which the general public would be able to access. It would be a private room in someone's house as it would feel more personal. We were thinking of using Lily's front room as there is enough space on the walls to put up post-it notes, maps, letters etc. to convey the setting the main character looking for someone else.
As the main character circles names on the notes, or puts pins in the map, there will be a sudden flashback. This would leave questions for the audience and would be the only time in the entire sequence where we would show different characters who would be explained later on in the film.
Set Plan:
12-P2-31 BBFC Classification Analysis
For our thriller opening, we have decided to classify it as a 15, we considered it as an 18 however, by doing so our audience size will reduce greatly, and also without a true need for the conventions of 18 classified film we decided to use the conventions of a 15, these include:
Discrimination
The work as a whole would not endorse discrimination, like racism, as it would encourage 15+ to use it.
The work as a whole would not endorse discrimination, like racism, as it would encourage 15+ to use it.
Drugs
Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not
promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily
accessible and highly dangerous substances would not be acceptable, for instance, aerosols and solvents.
Language
There may be frequent use of strong language (for example,
‘fuck’). The strongest terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be
acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated
use of the strongest language would not be allowed.
Nudity
Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without
strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a
non-sexual or educational context.
Sex
Sexual activity may be portrayed, but without strong detail.
There might be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour,
but the strongest references would have to be justified by the context. Films whose main purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.
Theme
No theme is prohibited. However it must be appropriate for 15 year olds.
Violence
Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also
unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence
but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification. Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic
or sexualised. Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and
self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be
copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.
Friday 21 January 2011
12-P2-31 Production logo research
LIONSGATE's Production logo
The Lionsgate logo is placed in the centre of the image, which is a sky fill of clouds. where the logo is placed, there is a gap in the clouds, as if it is reaching out to heaven, or "greater places". It fits almost every genre as film as it can be interpreted in many ways. For example, the clouds can represent a fantasy theme, or a supernatural theme. It could mean life, or it could mean death.
Hammer are mostly known for their films being that of horror, thriller and gore. Their logo fits this quite well as the red can represent blood, and the blackness can represent mystery. Their logo is quite Gothic, but new. This logo was introduced in 2007, whereas, before that, it was different
The colours where the same, red and black, but the style was old, unfashionable and look more like Gothic horror. The newer logo can fit the genre of Thriller as well as Horror.
By Lily, Tom, Joe, Laura and Esther
By Lily, Tom, Joe, Laura and Esther
Wednesday 19 January 2011
12P2-31 Music Sequence Evaluation
To evaluate, we constructed our music sequence in this way because we we're inspired by the theme tune to 'The Exorcist", it has an eerie atmosphere yet a memorable tune which audiences can relate even years down the line, we feel in our sequence we acheived a similar effect, using a piano focus track and building tension upon it with very quiet background sounds, hard to notice individually but subconsciously noticeable to the listener in the overall project.
Video: Exorcist Theme Tune
In conclusion, we feel our tune was successful in creating the tense theme needed to convey the thriller genre effectively, we also feel by having a quieter end with a 'Lonely Piano' the listener will become 'engulfed' by the piece.
Joe, Esther,Laura,Tom,Lilly
Analysis of sound in thriller opening
Catch me if you can:
The music contained only non diegetic sound. The background music is in time to various visuals occurring through the opening sequence. The music changes tempo quite a lot, for example, it would change from calm, to fast. It would also change from a "swinging" mood, to a fats, chase mood. The music fits with the style, more than what is going on. There are many instruments used to help create different genres of music used in the opening sequence.
Vertigo:
This sequence contained diegetic and non diegetic sounds. An example of diegetic is when the policeman shouts out to the man dangling from a pipe, "GIVE ME YOUR HAND" but as he did this, he fell to his death, while screaming. An example of non diegetic is the background music. It was very dramatic, loud but simple. This works with the visuals as it is a very dramatic scene where the detective has fallen down off the roof and is holding onto a pipe so he does not fall down to his death. There are also gun shots which helped set the mood of the scene.
Face Off:
The music in this sequence is very calm, but eventually turns very loud and fast. The only diegetic sound is the noise of the train. There is a very disturbing feeling while watching this as the music is being played while the visuals of a father with his son on a merry-go-round are being shown.
Joe, Esther, Lilly,Tom,Laura
The music contained only non diegetic sound. The background music is in time to various visuals occurring through the opening sequence. The music changes tempo quite a lot, for example, it would change from calm, to fast. It would also change from a "swinging" mood, to a fats, chase mood. The music fits with the style, more than what is going on. There are many instruments used to help create different genres of music used in the opening sequence.
Vertigo:
This sequence contained diegetic and non diegetic sounds. An example of diegetic is when the policeman shouts out to the man dangling from a pipe, "GIVE ME YOUR HAND" but as he did this, he fell to his death, while screaming. An example of non diegetic is the background music. It was very dramatic, loud but simple. This works with the visuals as it is a very dramatic scene where the detective has fallen down off the roof and is holding onto a pipe so he does not fall down to his death. There are also gun shots which helped set the mood of the scene.
Face Off:
The music in this sequence is very calm, but eventually turns very loud and fast. The only diegetic sound is the noise of the train. There is a very disturbing feeling while watching this as the music is being played while the visuals of a father with his son on a merry-go-round are being shown.
Joe, Esther, Lilly,Tom,Laura
Tuesday 18 January 2011
Blog analysis: Group Q1 - 12
We have analysed a group from two years ago (2008-9) and have decided that their video is between a level two and a three. There are aspects from each criteria as to why we think this. For one, in level two, they show a basic level of ability in the creative use of some technical skills. For example, they can hold a shot steady, where appropriate, e.g the pan shot for the building, and when one of the characters is running down the path towards the camera.
They are also capable of using a variety of shot types, some of which being, over the shoulder shots, mid shots, two shots, pan shots, close ups and zooms. In their production, we noticed a usage of appropriate material to the task set. Their task was to shoot an opening sequence to a thriller. Further to this, they have used a variety of mise en scene techniques to achieve a thriller theme. These include the use of black and white, like the film "Memento", to emphasise the blacks in the darkness and to instill a sense of mystery. In addition to this, lighting has been kept minimal to enhance the previous black and white effect. Their setting is established within the town area. this allows the viewer to see the character in an encapsulated surrounding, giving a sense of entrapment. To conclude, use of Mise - en - scene, we believe that the overall level of the work on the video is good.
The only sound used within the media product was non diegetic background music. It adds to the intensity of the chase occuring throughout the video. However, the music kept changing, from one that would suit the scene well, to one which did not. This distracted us, as an audience, which could have led to missing vital parts of the clip if happened throughout the film. Overall, we feel that the choice of music was adequate but not exceptional.
The use of titles was simple. They were in red, over the black and white image, however, they did not stand out as well as they could have done. They were spaced far apart from eachother, therefore interrupted the viewing of the opening sequence as it would have been forgotten that there were any credits.
In conclusion, the overall mark we would give the video would be a level 3 as they have shown evidence of understanding the conventions of a thriller opening sequence in a creative manner.
Tom, Laura, Joe, Esther and Lily
They are also capable of using a variety of shot types, some of which being, over the shoulder shots, mid shots, two shots, pan shots, close ups and zooms. In their production, we noticed a usage of appropriate material to the task set. Their task was to shoot an opening sequence to a thriller. Further to this, they have used a variety of mise en scene techniques to achieve a thriller theme. These include the use of black and white, like the film "Memento", to emphasise the blacks in the darkness and to instill a sense of mystery. In addition to this, lighting has been kept minimal to enhance the previous black and white effect. Their setting is established within the town area. this allows the viewer to see the character in an encapsulated surrounding, giving a sense of entrapment. To conclude, use of Mise - en - scene, we believe that the overall level of the work on the video is good.
The only sound used within the media product was non diegetic background music. It adds to the intensity of the chase occuring throughout the video. However, the music kept changing, from one that would suit the scene well, to one which did not. This distracted us, as an audience, which could have led to missing vital parts of the clip if happened throughout the film. Overall, we feel that the choice of music was adequate but not exceptional.
The use of titles was simple. They were in red, over the black and white image, however, they did not stand out as well as they could have done. They were spaced far apart from eachother, therefore interrupted the viewing of the opening sequence as it would have been forgotten that there were any credits.
In conclusion, the overall mark we would give the video would be a level 3 as they have shown evidence of understanding the conventions of a thriller opening sequence in a creative manner.
Tom, Laura, Joe, Esther and Lily
Friday 14 January 2011
Neon Genesis Evangelion [Series/Films] - Psychological Thriller - Research
Neon Genesis Evangelion is a original Japanese animation series released in 1995 set in a futureistic post apocolyptic Earth, the majority of the series takes place in Tokyo-3 a fortress city created to defend earth against angels, beings sent to earth to reclaim the body of Lilith the second angel that is seccured below Tokyo-3 if allowed to occur it would wipe out all of the human life on earth.
Although this is the back story to the series its based mainly around 3 children Shinji Ikari, Rei Ayanami and Asuka Soryu who must pilot giant cyborg type beings called Evangelions used to fight and kill the attacking angels and were created from the DNA of the first angel Adam. Each child however suffer from a range of Psychological issues that the series explores and develops, as they are pushed headfirst into traumatic experiences which they must deal with each of them must find a reason to keep on going as the fate of all humanity rests on there will to keep on fighting.
Below I have upload several clips from the series and films showing different parts of the film and the way in which psychological conventions are used to portray the mental anguish each child faces.
Shinji Ikari
Shinji Ikari
Shinji is the main child out of the 3 and revolves more around his Psychological issues than the other two children, left by his father at a young age he is called for to pilot EVA Unit-1 by his father out of the blue and is suddenly has the responsibility of protecting humanity thrust upon him, during his first time piloting he is paralyzed by fear and nearly killed before his EVA goes berserk and kills the angel itself. After his first experience he refuses to pilot it again but when his protests are ignored and he is forced again to fight off and angel he realizes that no one cares for him or his feelings, deciding that he is nothing more than a tool to pilot EVA he runs away but his conscience brings him back and after managing to defeat the next angel he is praised by a lot of people for saving them and manages to befriend two other boys at his school. This helps develops his personality as before he was never praised for anything and he decided to continue to pilot EVA if people value him for it, this unfortunaley later leads to further downfall when he realizes that without EVA he has no identity and this soon causes further deterioration in is mental state causing him to become rather unstable and question why he is even alive.
In this clip Shinji is forced to kill Asuka by his father who uses a device called a Dummy Plug to take over control of his EVA, the music used has a shocking contrast to the footage as Shinji's EVA tears apart Asuka's new EVA and at the end crushes the plug she is in with its mouth with the sun sets behind and a rainbow shines over. Creating an ironically picturesque scene that's quite disturbing and shows the way in which the film quickly destroys any real chance of happiness for Shinji.
Here is a small clip of Shinji breaking down after killing Asuka, we see an image of himself as a child questioning him about what he is doing and we are shown him despairing over all that's happened noting that in the end it all the happiness and good times came to nothing.
Asuka Soryu
Is the introduced a little later on in the series after Rei and Shinji she is overbearing, egoistic and even physically violent at times, she directs a lot of her problems and issues at Shinji constantly abusing him verbally this is however a cover to hide her feelings towards him. We discover that when she was still very young her mother took part in the contact experiment with Asuka's EVA this caused her to become insane and she started believing that a small doll was her real daughter and refuses to acknowledge Asuka as her daughter she eventually commits suicide asking Asuka to kill herself with her, however Asuka later discovers her mothers body after she hang herself when she goes to tell her that she had been picked to pilot her EVA.
Most of her development through the series and films is focused around her insecurity and the ways she tries to push everyone away from her. She has an intense hate of dolls and for this reason if often very violent towards Rei who's actions could be described as very doll like following any order she is given and lacking any distinctive personality.
This is the scene where Asuka is taken over by one of the Angels we see many of her past repressed memories.
Here is a small clip of Shinji breaking down after killing Asuka, we see an image of himself as a child questioning him about what he is doing and we are shown him despairing over all that's happened noting that in the end it all the happiness and good times came to nothing.
Asuka Soryu
Is the introduced a little later on in the series after Rei and Shinji she is overbearing, egoistic and even physically violent at times, she directs a lot of her problems and issues at Shinji constantly abusing him verbally this is however a cover to hide her feelings towards him. We discover that when she was still very young her mother took part in the contact experiment with Asuka's EVA this caused her to become insane and she started believing that a small doll was her real daughter and refuses to acknowledge Asuka as her daughter she eventually commits suicide asking Asuka to kill herself with her, however Asuka later discovers her mothers body after she hang herself when she goes to tell her that she had been picked to pilot her EVA.
Most of her development through the series and films is focused around her insecurity and the ways she tries to push everyone away from her. She has an intense hate of dolls and for this reason if often very violent towards Rei who's actions could be described as very doll like following any order she is given and lacking any distinctive personality.
This is the scene where Asuka is taken over by one of the Angels we see many of her past repressed memories.
Wednesday 12 January 2011
12P2 31 Homework - Action and Crime Sub Genres
This particular genre is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of crime(s), whether or not they are successful. These films often focus on the criminal(s) rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasise action over psychological aspects, for example, Resevoir Dogs. Central topics of these films include serial killers/murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, heists and double-crosses.
Some examples of crime thrillers involving murderers include:
Seven
No Country for Old Men
Examples of crime thrillers involving heists or robberies includes:
Ocean's 11
Entrapment
12P2-31 Political Thriller Conventions
Title: Valkyrie
There are various conventions to a political thriller, Valkyrie contains many of these, for example the story being based on political events, in this case the World War 2 Hitler assassination attempt, another key narrative part of this film is the resistances requirement to recruit Nazi soldiers in order to carry out the plan successfully, however these people serve Adolf and so may not share the same 'Political' view that the resistance may have and threaten the entire operation, to achieve its thriller status this film used long suspenseful scenes throughout in order to build the narrative layer by layer and lead up to the 'big plan' finally another part of the narrative includes the transference of power from Nazi leaders to the people and there political views throughout.
Joe, Tom, Esther, Laura, Lilly
There are various conventions to a political thriller, Valkyrie contains many of these, for example the story being based on political events, in this case the World War 2 Hitler assassination attempt, another key narrative part of this film is the resistances requirement to recruit Nazi soldiers in order to carry out the plan successfully, however these people serve Adolf and so may not share the same 'Political' view that the resistance may have and threaten the entire operation, to achieve its thriller status this film used long suspenseful scenes throughout in order to build the narrative layer by layer and lead up to the 'big plan' finally another part of the narrative includes the transference of power from Nazi leaders to the people and there political views throughout.
Joe, Tom, Esther, Laura, Lilly
12-P231 Psycological Thriller Conventions
Title 1: Donnie Darko
In this film the narrative surrounds Donnie's psychological state and his imaginary friend, Donnie is also schizophrenic and sees a personified bunny which tells him to do things, finally Donnie must take pills which is an obvious sign of his deteriorating mental state and must change the past
Title 2: Law Abiding Citizen
In this trailer we see the character is loosing control and enters a spiral of revenge, various imagery is used to show the characters mental state, for example at the end he is shown engulfed in powerful flames, possibly representing his 'Inner Rage' additionally the narrative is first person and the character refers to himself as "I" multiple times, for example "I'll bring the system down on your head"
Title 3: Phone Booth
In this trailer the main character is given a chance to repent his sins, he does not choose this however, it is thrust upon him by a deranged killer, the visuals in this title are mostly dark and red which could symbolise blood and an unsettling frame of mind, finally the character is forced to confess everything to the people closet to him and uses a first person narrative.
Tom, Joe, Esther, Laura, Lily
In this film the narrative surrounds Donnie's psychological state and his imaginary friend, Donnie is also schizophrenic and sees a personified bunny which tells him to do things, finally Donnie must take pills which is an obvious sign of his deteriorating mental state and must change the past
Title 2: Law Abiding Citizen
In this trailer we see the character is loosing control and enters a spiral of revenge, various imagery is used to show the characters mental state, for example at the end he is shown engulfed in powerful flames, possibly representing his 'Inner Rage' additionally the narrative is first person and the character refers to himself as "I" multiple times, for example "I'll bring the system down on your head"
Title 3: Phone Booth
In this trailer the main character is given a chance to repent his sins, he does not choose this however, it is thrust upon him by a deranged killer, the visuals in this title are mostly dark and red which could symbolise blood and an unsettling frame of mind, finally the character is forced to confess everything to the people closet to him and uses a first person narrative.
Tuesday 11 January 2011
Sunday 9 January 2011
Friday 7 January 2011
12P2 31 Thriller Preliminary task evaluation
To evaluate, overall making this video has taught us the importance of abiding by the 180 Degree rule, this allows the viewer to easily understand the dialogue without becoming confused, In addition to this we have learnt that although shots may be easy to put down on paper, the actual reality of filming and finding a suitable location is much harder, Lastly we have learnt to plan ahead on future tasks and prepare for any future eventuality's, while filming we found we we're unable to find suitable props and came across multiple locational issues we had not anticipated.
While filming our preliminary task we came across multiple difficulties we had to overcome, one of which would be finding an available class room in advanced to film in, because we had not thought of the difficulty of such a task when it came to filming we we're left stranded, secondly an improvement we would like to make in our final product would be to maintain control over the scene and limit the flow of people in the corridors where ever possible, finally another future improvement we would like to make is to adhere to the original story board more tightly than we previously did in order to maintain sense/direction in our product.
To create our preliminary product we used a wide range of micro elements, one of which being the use of solely digetic sound to give the video a more natural/tense appeal, additionally we used various 'True to life" style camera shots in order to keep the viewer from becoming alienated, shots such as '`over the shoulder shots' and POV shots help accomplish this.
Joe Scott, Laura Gill, Esther North, Tom Brewer and Lily Pettit
While filming our preliminary task we came across multiple difficulties we had to overcome, one of which would be finding an available class room in advanced to film in, because we had not thought of the difficulty of such a task when it came to filming we we're left stranded, secondly an improvement we would like to make in our final product would be to maintain control over the scene and limit the flow of people in the corridors where ever possible, finally another future improvement we would like to make is to adhere to the original story board more tightly than we previously did in order to maintain sense/direction in our product.
To create our preliminary product we used a wide range of micro elements, one of which being the use of solely digetic sound to give the video a more natural/tense appeal, additionally we used various 'True to life" style camera shots in order to keep the viewer from becoming alienated, shots such as '`over the shoulder shots' and POV shots help accomplish this.
Joe Scott, Laura Gill, Esther North, Tom Brewer and Lily Pettit
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