Hi to all followers and worshippers, this is the first blog in which I will introduce myself. Hola, I am Oscar (known to most religions as Pablo). This blog will be taking you through the media project which (in groups) we will work on during the next two months.
Currently, we have not made a start on our projects; although for now it seems we may be working on the horror genre as it appears to be the most popular amongst most of the people in my group. I'm not too sure on what I would like to do though!
This is Pablo signing off. Until next time!
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Monday, 29 March 2010
on a more serious note
our coursework is basically to create an opening (roughly 2 minutes of length) of a fictional 'film'. We are to decide on what genre we will base our opening on (horror, crime, etc.) and will add elements that we have learned so far (camera shots/angles, mise-en-scene, etc.)
Sunday, 28 March 2010
a crime thriller..ish
In the lesson on monday we came up with the idea of going for the crime thriller drama sort of genre (although it was just three of us, Chelsea wasn't in but she seemed to be cool with it today). We also thought it would be good to approach it as if it were an Arthouse film, as these films are more creative and original than those of Multiplex.
Eve suggested the idea of an interrogation scene, which we then decided to include flashbacks as the accused dude is talking (the flashbacks would show the interrogatee getting ready for doing what he is accused of, or they would hint at what he's done or something like that..we had not fully decided)
This would be using the method of reverse chronology (similar to the style of the film The Usual Suspects, as that had the scenario of a man being interrogated and the film played out in 'flashbacks')
We thought the target audience would probably be men aged 20-50 (ish) - the crime/thriller genre is mostly dominated by males. We were also given the task to devise a questionnaire with questions regarding our chosen genre, which will hopefully give us some helpful information on typical conventions of crime/thrillers/drama.
Eve suggested the idea of an interrogation scene, which we then decided to include flashbacks as the accused dude is talking (the flashbacks would show the interrogatee getting ready for doing what he is accused of, or they would hint at what he's done or something like that..we had not fully decided)
This would be using the method of reverse chronology (similar to the style of the film The Usual Suspects, as that had the scenario of a man being interrogated and the film played out in 'flashbacks')
We thought the target audience would probably be men aged 20-50 (ish) - the crime/thriller genre is mostly dominated by males. We were also given the task to devise a questionnaire with questions regarding our chosen genre, which will hopefully give us some helpful information on typical conventions of crime/thrillers/drama.
Saturday, 27 March 2010
The Questionnaire
And so here is a sample of the questionnaire we handed out to several unsuspecting students in school for them to fill out
1. Do you enjoy watching crime thrillers?
If yes, why?
2. Name your favourite films of the genre?
3. What do you like about them?
4. Are there any particular crime cliches you like?
5. Are there any particular actors/actresses you like which star in films of this genre?
6. What is a favourite 'twist' of yours from a film you have seen?
7. What kind of setting do you like?
8. What sort of music do you like in a film of this genre?
9. What kind of opening would grab your attention?
10. Do you prefer being shocked/surprise by a film, or knowing what's going to happen?
1. Do you enjoy watching crime thrillers?
If yes, why?
2. Name your favourite films of the genre?
3. What do you like about them?
4. Are there any particular crime cliches you like?
5. Are there any particular actors/actresses you like which star in films of this genre?
6. What is a favourite 'twist' of yours from a film you have seen?
7. What kind of setting do you like?
8. What sort of music do you like in a film of this genre?
9. What kind of opening would grab your attention?
10. Do you prefer being shocked/surprise by a film, or knowing what's going to happen?
Friday, 26 March 2010
Pablo & The Gang
oh ya my group consists of Sophie, Chelsea D, Eve and me of course the Mighty Pablo
a picture of the group
Chelsea, Eve, Sophie and me
a picture of the group
Chelsea, Eve, Sophie and me
Thursday, 25 March 2010
continuity exercise - what's it all about man?
Yo tis been a long time since the great me has posted anything so I have many things to update on.
Hola mi gente!!
Starting with the continuity exercise then.
Each group had to obey the 180 degree rule - a rule which states that a camera should be placed somewhere inside 180 degrees on a particular side of an 'invisible line' of a shot containing two people filmed in sequence - and insert a use of a match-on action.
Picture illustrating it
The story of this very short film is as follows:
Myself and Eve are in a mad asylum of some kind. She is a crazy person and I was an analysist dude or doctor or someone of that kind taking notes. Anyway, we are both sat opposite each other and here is a script which is pretty much what happens (may be some difference in what we actually said):
EVE: The elephants flew out of the window over there.
OSCAR: (sarcastically) Yes of course, I saw them the other week.
EVE: (getting angry) Are you patronising me?
OSCAR: No. *gives her random puffy toy to calm her down*
OSCAR: Look, there's one now
EVE: Are you sure?
OSCAR: Yes..
EVE: *gets up, screams loudly and runs off*
Yer it's plain whack but you know, whatever! The simple handing of the toy will be the match-on action.
Hola mi gente!!
Starting with the continuity exercise then.
Each group had to obey the 180 degree rule - a rule which states that a camera should be placed somewhere inside 180 degrees on a particular side of an 'invisible line' of a shot containing two people filmed in sequence - and insert a use of a match-on action.
Picture illustrating it
The story of this very short film is as follows:
Myself and Eve are in a mad asylum of some kind. She is a crazy person and I was an analysist dude or doctor or someone of that kind taking notes. Anyway, we are both sat opposite each other and here is a script which is pretty much what happens (may be some difference in what we actually said):
EVE: The elephants flew out of the window over there.
OSCAR: (sarcastically) Yes of course, I saw them the other week.
EVE: (getting angry) Are you patronising me?
OSCAR: No. *gives her random puffy toy to calm her down*
OSCAR: Look, there's one now
EVE: Are you sure?
OSCAR: Yes..
EVE: *gets up, screams loudly and runs off*
Yer it's plain whack but you know, whatever! The simple handing of the toy will be the match-on action.
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
continuity exercise - filming it maaayne
We set up the scene with two chairs for us to sit on and a table in between. We had three cameras to use: one used for low angle, another for high angle, the other for a normal angle (and also used for the match on action shot). Close-ups also used on me and Eve.
We filmed it two times roughly, and then doing the match on action part. Eve did her scream twice, each of which were louder than an 808 bass pumping its loudest out of a set of all-surround fat speakers. Despite the rest of us nearly dying from heart-attacks in reaction to Eve's screams, the whole process seemed to go fairly standard!
We filmed it two times roughly, and then doing the match on action part. Eve did her scream twice, each of which were louder than an 808 bass pumping its loudest out of a set of all-surround fat speakers. Despite the rest of us nearly dying from heart-attacks in reaction to Eve's screams, the whole process seemed to go fairly standard!
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
continuity exercise - editing it meng! mexican
Two lessons we spent on editing which I personally thought was quite tricky! The setting for editing wasn't ideal either: it was rather cramped so only one and a half (..?) people could be sat by the actual computer and also as it was quite loud in the room, it was hard to hear us speaking from the speaker which made it harder to see when we had to cut clips.
an editing programme (though not the one we used)
It was quite confusing sorting out all the clips and putting them in order, we haven't even finished that yet. We also have to add in sound effects/music to give a more kinda trippy atmosphere to it. We noticed a continuity error in that the cute toy thing I pass over to Eve isn't on the table at the start which is our mistake. We are also unlucky that there are quite a few seagulls flying around in the background, though they are natural they are also funny for some reason and that does ruin the clip slightly.
an editing programme (though not the one we used)
It was quite confusing sorting out all the clips and putting them in order, we haven't even finished that yet. We also have to add in sound effects/music to give a more kinda trippy atmosphere to it. We noticed a continuity error in that the cute toy thing I pass over to Eve isn't on the table at the start which is our mistake. We are also unlucky that there are quite a few seagulls flying around in the background, though they are natural they are also funny for some reason and that does ruin the clip slightly.
Monday, 22 March 2010
some more info on the actual two-minute opening
Here is how our opening is gonna be...for now!
We will have a man sat in a jail cell (we thought of the first shot being from the POV of a surveillance camera) and he is sat there all sad and lonely and reflective and looking at a picture of his lay-deh. We will have a series of quick 'flashbacks' intercutting. These will reveal what landed this dude in custody: what happened is basically he arrived home one night and discovered that his girlfriend had an affair with a friend of his. In a moment of impulsive anger, he fatally stabbed the friend.
After this, he will be led to an interrogation room where he is introduced to his interrogator (who will remain faceless - this will give this character a sense of mysterious/intimidating authority. This is also good because the lad who will play the interrogator is Kurt and looks like a happy bear which would not pull off well with a serious interrogator). It will end there (we are unsure of the actual 'end part' i.e. what will be said.
This opening falls under the crime drama genre now as there aren't any thriller aspects to it.
We will have a man sat in a jail cell (we thought of the first shot being from the POV of a surveillance camera) and he is sat there all sad and lonely and reflective and looking at a picture of his lay-deh. We will have a series of quick 'flashbacks' intercutting. These will reveal what landed this dude in custody: what happened is basically he arrived home one night and discovered that his girlfriend had an affair with a friend of his. In a moment of impulsive anger, he fatally stabbed the friend.
After this, he will be led to an interrogation room where he is introduced to his interrogator (who will remain faceless - this will give this character a sense of mysterious/intimidating authority. This is also good because the lad who will play the interrogator is Kurt and looks like a happy bear which would not pull off well with a serious interrogator). It will end there (we are unsure of the actual 'end part' i.e. what will be said.
This opening falls under the crime drama genre now as there aren't any thriller aspects to it.
Sunday, 21 March 2010
cast and characters!...for now...
The prisoner (lead character) is being played by Louis Owen. Originally, he was gonna be the friend who gets killed and after having no-one available who could look threatening enough, we were gonna have me as the prisoner (yours truly baby!) but then we had him and another guy turn up at my house for filming (one spare) so we just had louis owen play the main guy. We ended up naming the character Jay. This character is the type you get in many films - the hard man who is emotionally vulnerable and has to redeem himself by the end of the film for something bad he did.
The unfaithful gally is played by catherine and the friend who gets killed is ben.
Bunyamin, who plays the role of 'Wasteman Who Gets Shanked'
The unfaithful gally is played by catherine and the friend who gets killed is ben.
Bunyamin, who plays the role of 'Wasteman Who Gets Shanked'
Saturday, 20 March 2010
Results from the questionnaire (thanks sophie)
Here are the results we got from the questionnaires we handed out to people. Firstly, here is a sample answered questionnaire:
1. Do you enjoy watching crime thrillers?
Yes
If yes, why?
...
2. Name your favourite films of the genre?
The Bone Collector; The Book of Eli; Midsomer Murders
3. What do you like about them?
They are tense
4. Are there any particular crime cliches you like?
No I hate cliches
5. Are there any particular actors/actresses you like which star in films of this genre?
Samuel L. Jackson
6. What is a favourite 'twist' of yours from a film you have seen?
?
7. What kind of setting do you like?
Forests - they're scary
8. What sort of music do you like in a film of this genre?
Classical - it sets the scene
9. What kind of opening would grab your attention?
A death
10. Do you prefer being shocked/surprise by a film, or knowing what's going to happen?
Figure it out first
Sophie took the questionnaires home and processed them into these charts below. Well done Sophie! I got these from hers, though unfortunately not all questions were answered properly or answered at all, not to mention one which talked about Poirot throughout the whole thing. grr!
Though we meant what crime drama FILM was their favourite, people answered with what crime drama TELEVISION SHOW was. Hmm, it seems the block with the largest proportion isn't actually listed on the right, so I'll have to ask sophie about that..
So the setting of a city is the most popular, could be that a more modern/urban setting/style is the most preferred (unless it's a period film)
It seems most people prefer a film to be free of cliches (me too), they enjoy twists (makes sense) and prefer a murder to take place in the opening (fair enough)
All in all, the type of results weren't unusual, kind of expected (apart from the poirot one)
1. Do you enjoy watching crime thrillers?
Yes
If yes, why?
...
2. Name your favourite films of the genre?
The Bone Collector; The Book of Eli; Midsomer Murders
3. What do you like about them?
They are tense
4. Are there any particular crime cliches you like?
No I hate cliches
5. Are there any particular actors/actresses you like which star in films of this genre?
Samuel L. Jackson
6. What is a favourite 'twist' of yours from a film you have seen?
?
7. What kind of setting do you like?
Forests - they're scary
8. What sort of music do you like in a film of this genre?
Classical - it sets the scene
9. What kind of opening would grab your attention?
A death
10. Do you prefer being shocked/surprise by a film, or knowing what's going to happen?
Figure it out first
Sophie took the questionnaires home and processed them into these charts below. Well done Sophie! I got these from hers, though unfortunately not all questions were answered properly or answered at all, not to mention one which talked about Poirot throughout the whole thing. grr!
Though we meant what crime drama FILM was their favourite, people answered with what crime drama TELEVISION SHOW was. Hmm, it seems the block with the largest proportion isn't actually listed on the right, so I'll have to ask sophie about that..
So the setting of a city is the most popular, could be that a more modern/urban setting/style is the most preferred (unless it's a period film)
It seems most people prefer a film to be free of cliches (me too), they enjoy twists (makes sense) and prefer a murder to take place in the opening (fair enough)
All in all, the type of results weren't unusual, kind of expected (apart from the poirot one)
Friday, 19 March 2010
Storyboard
Here are the two storyboards, which sophie scanned through. oh and don't be fooled by the artistic drawings, we didn't hire a professional it was actually me
As you can see, the first shot is of Louis sat at the interrogation table and it is from a surveillance camera point of view. We then mix the flashbacks with shots of him in the room waiting to be seen (in these two storyboards we have him walking about and with a guard in the background, but when it came to doing the filming we saw the room was too small and we couldn't show too much of the room or you'd see a bunch of school shelves and other things which would look unrealistic so we just had it all from the surveillance pov).
The flashbacks on this one show him entering the house, seeing his gally and his mate running upstairs, and him looking in on the room and seeing them go at it.
Unfortunately, the second storyboard sheet got lost. But it showed shots of him sat some more in the room, and the flashbacks of him stood by the mirror depressed, and the vital part when he kills his friend. The last one shows the interrogator entering the room, about to start.
When it came to a quick discussion of possible titles, I suggested Lethal Affair and the others seemed to like it so it could end up being called that
As you can see, the first shot is of Louis sat at the interrogation table and it is from a surveillance camera point of view. We then mix the flashbacks with shots of him in the room waiting to be seen (in these two storyboards we have him walking about and with a guard in the background, but when it came to doing the filming we saw the room was too small and we couldn't show too much of the room or you'd see a bunch of school shelves and other things which would look unrealistic so we just had it all from the surveillance pov).
The flashbacks on this one show him entering the house, seeing his gally and his mate running upstairs, and him looking in on the room and seeing them go at it.
Unfortunately, the second storyboard sheet got lost. But it showed shots of him sat some more in the room, and the flashbacks of him stood by the mirror depressed, and the vital part when he kills his friend. The last one shows the interrogator entering the room, about to start.
When it came to a quick discussion of possible titles, I suggested Lethal Affair and the others seemed to like it so it could end up being called that
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Filming at school - interrogation/jail room
Hola mi gente!!
Well on tuesday we went to the music department in the secondary school of redcliffe where they had a couple of rooms which looked good enough for the interrogation room. So we chose the one without the window and had to move a whole load of things out including drums, tables, keyboards and speakers. We then realised the room was quite small and there were some fat shelves packed with books and files and stuff that we weren't going to move. So we decided we were gonna have the whole sequence when Louis is sat on his own shot from the pov of a surveillance camera, as there was no room for him to be walking around and then the fat shelves were behind the camera too.
I borrowed a prisoner outfit (orange jumpsuit) from a friend of mine for Louis to wear, as well as shirt/shoes/trousers for police interrogator. I also went on amazon to order some handcuffs and a police badge, and brought in a (squeaky) truncheon for the police interrogator, I guess make it kind of realistic. We were equipped with two cameras: one from school and Sophie's.
We placed the tripod camera on top of a table so that it was high and obviously looking down at Louis as a surveillance camera would. Chelsea came up with the idea that whoever would be filming (stood up on a chair) should shine a torch at Louis as a spotlight - this seemed like a good idea as it really put Louis in the spotlight and gave a representation of him being surrounded by darkness (you know, cos his character's future looks pretty dark/bleak, as well as the ). It's also good it was dark because there were quite a lot of holes on the wall, and the floor was dirty every here and there (needed a hoover)
About four or five shots of Louis on his own were filmed, and then we switched cameras for when the interrogator dude enters. Now, the lad who was gonna be the interrogator had to go somewhere so I stepped in for that role (get in!). We had Chelsea kneel down behind Louis I think or by him, and filming me entering the room and telling Louis to talk, without showing my face. Then we had an over-the shoulder of him about to start and a final surveillance pov showing the two of us.
Here is Chelsea filming the over-the-shoulder
shot. Now I look at this it's kinda funny I look
more like a prisoner than him with that haircut haha
It took an amount of surprisingly short time to do all this, about half an hour. Though perhaps because it took a couple of hours to do the filming at my house (to be re-done), we were expecting this to take longer. Anyway, we moved everything back in but then I had to take the school camera back to mine which was awkward cos of the danger of dropping the tripods and camera.
Well on tuesday we went to the music department in the secondary school of redcliffe where they had a couple of rooms which looked good enough for the interrogation room. So we chose the one without the window and had to move a whole load of things out including drums, tables, keyboards and speakers. We then realised the room was quite small and there were some fat shelves packed with books and files and stuff that we weren't going to move. So we decided we were gonna have the whole sequence when Louis is sat on his own shot from the pov of a surveillance camera, as there was no room for him to be walking around and then the fat shelves were behind the camera too.
I borrowed a prisoner outfit (orange jumpsuit) from a friend of mine for Louis to wear, as well as shirt/shoes/trousers for police interrogator. I also went on amazon to order some handcuffs and a police badge, and brought in a (squeaky) truncheon for the police interrogator, I guess make it kind of realistic. We were equipped with two cameras: one from school and Sophie's.
We placed the tripod camera on top of a table so that it was high and obviously looking down at Louis as a surveillance camera would. Chelsea came up with the idea that whoever would be filming (stood up on a chair) should shine a torch at Louis as a spotlight - this seemed like a good idea as it really put Louis in the spotlight and gave a representation of him being surrounded by darkness (you know, cos his character's future looks pretty dark/bleak, as well as the ). It's also good it was dark because there were quite a lot of holes on the wall, and the floor was dirty every here and there (needed a hoover)
About four or five shots of Louis on his own were filmed, and then we switched cameras for when the interrogator dude enters. Now, the lad who was gonna be the interrogator had to go somewhere so I stepped in for that role (get in!). We had Chelsea kneel down behind Louis I think or by him, and filming me entering the room and telling Louis to talk, without showing my face. Then we had an over-the shoulder of him about to start and a final surveillance pov showing the two of us.
Here is Chelsea filming the over-the-shoulder
shot. Now I look at this it's kinda funny I look
more like a prisoner than him with that haircut haha
It took an amount of surprisingly short time to do all this, about half an hour. Though perhaps because it took a couple of hours to do the filming at my house (to be re-done), we were expecting this to take longer. Anyway, we moved everything back in but then I had to take the school camera back to mine which was awkward cos of the danger of dropping the tripods and camera.
a note on the filming we did at mine
Hi there
The filming we did at my house for the flashbacks is completely gone as it seems the tape we filmed on got eaten (by camera). We are going to re-film all of it tomorrow evening which I think will actually improve the material, so I'll write up a detailed account of the filming for flashbacks after tomorrow.
The filming we did at my house for the flashbacks is completely gone as it seems the tape we filmed on got eaten (by camera). We are going to re-film all of it tomorrow evening which I think will actually improve the material, so I'll write up a detailed account of the filming for flashbacks after tomorrow.
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
results of tuesday's filming - editing and re-filming (it all)
After uploading the footage from the camera to the computer, some clips were shuffled around until it was pointed out that the shots from the surveillance camera pov which were to be edited into black and white colour, didn't work with the spotlight (the torch light) we had used. It didn't look effective in black white (I guess we had not thought about that) it looked odd and was not good, so it was decided to re-film the shots of Louis on his own (all the shots that had the torch light shining on him)
So today after school me Sophie and Louis (Chelsea was working and Eve was also unavailable) and also Sophie's friend Cat (who had a picture camera) went back to the music room place in the secondary school. Once in, we decided to re-film the whole thing as we realised we could change the table that Louis is sat at because the last time he was sat next to a fat double-socket which we noticed during editing was distracting and made the setting look unrealistic. So changing the location of the table also meant having to re-film the bits with me which was cool enough.
I definitely think we did better today than on tuesday so I'm glad we made the mistake of the torch light (well it did seem like a good idea at the time!). Also when in the room, I came up with the idea that Louis could tell me (me as the interrogator) that his girlfriend was having a lethal affair, and then that would cut inmediately to the title: Lethal Affair. DUN DUN DUUUNNN!!
Oh ya cos in the last weeks we've been struggling to come up with a title and we thought maybe 'lethal affair' because the main guy kills his friend for having an affair with his girlfriend so it was lethal...and an affair...lethal affair..
But the problem with this title is it sounds kind of hard to take serious and sounds more like an erotic thriller rather than crime drama oh well we shall see..
For now, we are going to re-film the flashbacks tonight in about half an hour so hopefully that will be all filming done wooo!! Oh no we still have to film the title sequence with the typewriter but oh well that will be done quite quickly.
So today after school me Sophie and Louis (Chelsea was working and Eve was also unavailable) and also Sophie's friend Cat (who had a picture camera) went back to the music room place in the secondary school. Once in, we decided to re-film the whole thing as we realised we could change the table that Louis is sat at because the last time he was sat next to a fat double-socket which we noticed during editing was distracting and made the setting look unrealistic. So changing the location of the table also meant having to re-film the bits with me which was cool enough.
I definitely think we did better today than on tuesday so I'm glad we made the mistake of the torch light (well it did seem like a good idea at the time!). Also when in the room, I came up with the idea that Louis could tell me (me as the interrogator) that his girlfriend was having a lethal affair, and then that would cut inmediately to the title: Lethal Affair. DUN DUN DUUUNNN!!
Oh ya cos in the last weeks we've been struggling to come up with a title and we thought maybe 'lethal affair' because the main guy kills his friend for having an affair with his girlfriend so it was lethal...and an affair...lethal affair..
But the problem with this title is it sounds kind of hard to take serious and sounds more like an erotic thriller rather than crime drama oh well we shall see..
For now, we are going to re-film the flashbacks tonight in about half an hour so hopefully that will be all filming done wooo!! Oh no we still have to film the title sequence with the typewriter but oh well that will be done quite quickly.
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
flashback filming at my house
Hola mi gente!!
Well, on friday evening the group came to my house along with our actors Louis, Bunyamin and Catherine.
We pretty much kicked it straight into action, starting with Chelsea doing a few takes of Louis entering the house and looking up the stairs from different angles. We then did about three different angles of Cat and Ben running up the stairs with wine. I could tell Ben would blatantly spill red wine all over the floor if his cup was too full so I didn't put much in and thankfully he didn't spill any this time.
We were able to run through the process quite smoothly as we knew what we were doing this time, and when filming the part in which Louis is drinking in front of the mirror, we achieved the lighting of the room to make Louis as a figure all in black which looked quite good.
I was pleased with how the filming of the stabbing went. Firstly, we were relieved that we could actually see through the camera outside as we feared it would be too dark and that we'd need to shine a torch. We have two different angles of the stabbing, as well as a high-angle shot of Louis stood over the dying/dead Ben, which looked quite good. One problem was ensuring that Ben stayed in the same dead position, I'm not sure its entirely 100% accurate throughout. Also there were a lot of cars passing which meant we couldn't film (the noise ruined the scene, and also the character wouldn't murder someone whilst being seen)
All in all, I think the whole group was happy with how it went. Also, I have been impressed with Louis' performance. Now lets do some editing baby!
Well, on friday evening the group came to my house along with our actors Louis, Bunyamin and Catherine.
We pretty much kicked it straight into action, starting with Chelsea doing a few takes of Louis entering the house and looking up the stairs from different angles. We then did about three different angles of Cat and Ben running up the stairs with wine. I could tell Ben would blatantly spill red wine all over the floor if his cup was too full so I didn't put much in and thankfully he didn't spill any this time.
We were able to run through the process quite smoothly as we knew what we were doing this time, and when filming the part in which Louis is drinking in front of the mirror, we achieved the lighting of the room to make Louis as a figure all in black which looked quite good.
I was pleased with how the filming of the stabbing went. Firstly, we were relieved that we could actually see through the camera outside as we feared it would be too dark and that we'd need to shine a torch. We have two different angles of the stabbing, as well as a high-angle shot of Louis stood over the dying/dead Ben, which looked quite good. One problem was ensuring that Ben stayed in the same dead position, I'm not sure its entirely 100% accurate throughout. Also there were a lot of cars passing which meant we couldn't film (the noise ruined the scene, and also the character wouldn't murder someone whilst being seen)
All in all, I think the whole group was happy with how it went. Also, I have been impressed with Louis' performance. Now lets do some editing baby!
Monday, 15 March 2010
thriller opening table from lesson
Film: Se7en
Year: 1995
Director: David Fincher
Representation:
crime/criminal
Mise-en-scene:
photos, pens, papers, book, drawing, newspaper clippings, needle. brown/black colour on white/beige
Use of camera:
all close-ups of objects and/or hand using them. montage
Sound:
distorted scream, heavy beat maybe heartbeat, could both be diagetic or non-diagetic just to set the tone
Film: Memento
Year: 2000
Director: Christopher Nolan
Representation:
Gender - men only (conventional), one of which kills another (also typical)
Ethnicity - all white
Disability - memory loss, though the character is quite confident (no obvious lower status); the use of a character not remembering his past is also conventional for a thriller
Mise-en-scene:
Camera, photos and tatoos provide a gritty feel to the main character. Teddy's clothe, hairstyle and attitude have the air of a typical con/untrustworthy kinda guy. Black and white lighting during scene in random motel room clearly shows its a different timeline
Use of camera:
Veery long close-up of photo at the start (long shots usually used to reveal something or for intense scenes, here it introduces the whole backwards structure of the film)
Also close-ups of gun, bullets, blood, cuts
Sound:
Voice-over which informs us of what the man is thinking
non-diagetic sound is a kind of sad/hopeless music at the start (maybe to reflect on his situation) and threatening during murder build-up.
Restricted narration
Year: 1995
Director: David Fincher
Representation:
crime/criminal
Mise-en-scene:
photos, pens, papers, book, drawing, newspaper clippings, needle. brown/black colour on white/beige
Use of camera:
all close-ups of objects and/or hand using them. montage
Sound:
distorted scream, heavy beat maybe heartbeat, could both be diagetic or non-diagetic just to set the tone
Film: Memento
Year: 2000
Director: Christopher Nolan
Representation:
Gender - men only (conventional), one of which kills another (also typical)
Ethnicity - all white
Disability - memory loss, though the character is quite confident (no obvious lower status); the use of a character not remembering his past is also conventional for a thriller
Mise-en-scene:
Camera, photos and tatoos provide a gritty feel to the main character. Teddy's clothe, hairstyle and attitude have the air of a typical con/untrustworthy kinda guy. Black and white lighting during scene in random motel room clearly shows its a different timeline
Use of camera:
Veery long close-up of photo at the start (long shots usually used to reveal something or for intense scenes, here it introduces the whole backwards structure of the film)
Also close-ups of gun, bullets, blood, cuts
Sound:
Voice-over which informs us of what the man is thinking
non-diagetic sound is a kind of sad/hopeless music at the start (maybe to reflect on his situation) and threatening during murder build-up.
Restricted narration
Sunday, 14 March 2010
Context of the genre
A film involving an aspect of crime and the criminal justice system falls under the genre of a crime film. Crime films can be done in the style of a drama, a thriller, a mystery piece or an action piece (or two or more of those put together).
Ours would be under the style of a crime drama, as a crime action requires action-packed scenes and a thriller/mystery requires suspense and intrigue and our opening doesn't include those. Films of the drama genre are about emotional themes, some of which put characters in conflict with themselves or others and that is what our story involves.
Notable crime drama films include:
● American Gangster
● City of God
● The Godfather trilogy
Ours would be under the style of a crime drama, as a crime action requires action-packed scenes and a thriller/mystery requires suspense and intrigue and our opening doesn't include those. Films of the drama genre are about emotional themes, some of which put characters in conflict with themselves or others and that is what our story involves.
Notable crime drama films include:
● American Gangster
● City of God
● The Godfather trilogy
Saturday, 13 March 2010
analysis of a crime drama opening
Film: The Usual Suspects (1995)
This film is known as a neo-noir, and has the genre of a crime mystery drama. The main plot consists of a crippled con-man being interrogated about events leading to a massacre and massive fire that have just taken place on a ship. Through flashbacks and narration, the man explains why he and his partners-in-crime were on the boat.
Well there are a lot of close-ups to make sure the viewer will see certain things, such as the expression on the face of the man who we hear called as Keaton, the lighter and gun that the mysterious man takes out, and also a couple of close-ups of I think two different corpses though it might be the same one as it is important that you see these things (that Keaton looks surprised/angry, that the unknown man offers him a smoke, that it's a scene of a crime). The music is quite low and sinister; it immediately gives a sense of doom or danger - the viewer is aware that Keaton is in danger.
The mise-en-scene of the opening is quite conventional for the genre of crime: the unknown attacker is dressed in typical gangster/mob clothing (all in black, the old bowler hat) and the two men smoke cigarettes, also very typical. They are onboard a ship, which is different from the more common street-setting, but still not unheard of. There isn't any representation of ethnicity or disability in this opening, but it clearly shows that the two are men which isn't anything surprising as the crime/thriller genre is mostly dominated by men.
The narrative of the opening may be confusing to some people. It shows something has happened on this ship as you can see corpses, and Keaton looks worn out and is clearly injured. Most viewers will probably assume he is the sole survivor of a long fight/shoot-out, and the fact that you cannot see the face of the other man suggests he will be the 'man-behind-the-curtain' character. Also, the expression on Keaton's face when he looks up at him and the man knowing his name and offering him light for a quick smoke (sign of friendliness/politeness) suggests that they have been previously acquainted. It ends with seeing a man in custody; most viewers will assume he will be interrogated about this event and have something to do with it.
This film is known as a neo-noir, and has the genre of a crime mystery drama. The main plot consists of a crippled con-man being interrogated about events leading to a massacre and massive fire that have just taken place on a ship. Through flashbacks and narration, the man explains why he and his partners-in-crime were on the boat.
Well there are a lot of close-ups to make sure the viewer will see certain things, such as the expression on the face of the man who we hear called as Keaton, the lighter and gun that the mysterious man takes out, and also a couple of close-ups of I think two different corpses though it might be the same one as it is important that you see these things (that Keaton looks surprised/angry, that the unknown man offers him a smoke, that it's a scene of a crime). The music is quite low and sinister; it immediately gives a sense of doom or danger - the viewer is aware that Keaton is in danger.
The mise-en-scene of the opening is quite conventional for the genre of crime: the unknown attacker is dressed in typical gangster/mob clothing (all in black, the old bowler hat) and the two men smoke cigarettes, also very typical. They are onboard a ship, which is different from the more common street-setting, but still not unheard of. There isn't any representation of ethnicity or disability in this opening, but it clearly shows that the two are men which isn't anything surprising as the crime/thriller genre is mostly dominated by men.
The narrative of the opening may be confusing to some people. It shows something has happened on this ship as you can see corpses, and Keaton looks worn out and is clearly injured. Most viewers will probably assume he is the sole survivor of a long fight/shoot-out, and the fact that you cannot see the face of the other man suggests he will be the 'man-behind-the-curtain' character. Also, the expression on Keaton's face when he looks up at him and the man knowing his name and offering him light for a quick smoke (sign of friendliness/politeness) suggests that they have been previously acquainted. It ends with seeing a man in custody; most viewers will assume he will be interrogated about this event and have something to do with it.
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
starting editing of footage. again.
So on monday all the footage from friday was imported to the computer. And we went through it all and either cut or edited, removing bleeps and blunders and any parts that were lingering too long. That actually took all of the lesson, but Chelsea went back at somepoint in the day and for last lesson three of us went into the room. However, it seems we have broken the 180 degree rule towards the very end in the interrogation room part, so something had to be inserted to adapt the little problem there. We also found the right colour and text effect for cctv camera pov. Sophie and Chelsea said they'd go the next day during miday as they had frees but I have not actually spoken to them since to see what went ooooooon and if the 180 degree thing was fixed.
Monday, 1 March 2010
filming on me own!
It came to a point that we ended up with 1 minute and a half worth of footage which was a problem obviously as we need two minutes, so we agreed for me to take the camera home and solo film some shots to add time, and then pass on the camera to someone else if we needed more. The teacher advised that we needed more shots of a build-up to the murder, like a montage. I realised I'd have to film some stuff with me as Louis' character, so I wasn't gonna show my face or too much of me. I found a jacket of my mums that looked like the one Louis wears, which was good. and lucky.
I filmed me taking a bottle of whisky from a collection of alcohol beverages ;) and then of drinking it without showing my face so I had me sat down at table and be filmed 'drinking' from different bottles (as I thought Chelsea was also going to film some stuff of her own, I thought could have a shots of the character drinking from different bottles mixed up throughout the montage).
Then I did me taking the knife out, from three different angles (including a pov shot), and I was going to attempt filming me breaking (or making it look like it was being broken) the whisky bottle but I couldn't come up with how to do it without tyding up loads of glass and probably getting cut by said glass and I tried doing something with shadows of me throwing the bottle (onto the sofa, which couldn't be seen; would have then added a breaking glass sound effect) but it didn't work.
It took a surprisingly long time to do that by myself! It was kinda hard, cos obviously I didn't know if I was in the right position and stuff when filming myself. I was also scared the camera was going to fall off the tripod and break! Here are two screengrabs from the two shots we left in the finished piece
I filmed me taking a bottle of whisky from a collection of alcohol beverages ;) and then of drinking it without showing my face so I had me sat down at table and be filmed 'drinking' from different bottles (as I thought Chelsea was also going to film some stuff of her own, I thought could have a shots of the character drinking from different bottles mixed up throughout the montage).
Then I did me taking the knife out, from three different angles (including a pov shot), and I was going to attempt filming me breaking (or making it look like it was being broken) the whisky bottle but I couldn't come up with how to do it without tyding up loads of glass and probably getting cut by said glass and I tried doing something with shadows of me throwing the bottle (onto the sofa, which couldn't be seen; would have then added a breaking glass sound effect) but it didn't work.
It took a surprisingly long time to do that by myself! It was kinda hard, cos obviously I didn't know if I was in the right position and stuff when filming myself. I was also scared the camera was going to fall off the tripod and break! Here are two screengrabs from the two shots we left in the finished piece
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