evaluation activity 7

The preliminary task was to produce a short video which showcased the skill we had at the time. We had to use various techniques such as shot reverse shot, 180 degree rule and match on action. Firstly it is important to understand that we used a basic handy cam to shoot the preliminary task and we used a mini dv camera and a tripod for our thriller opening. The shots on the preliminary task were very shaky and clumsy where as the shots taken in our thriller opening were smooth and professional because we had more time to do the task and we had better equipment. we also edited the two videos on separate programs. the preliminary task was edited in windows movie maker which is a very basic level of editing program and was therefore harder to acheive a high level of finish.For the editing of our media video we decided to use an industry level of editing software that would give a degree of professionalism to our video. The Problem with this is that none of us knew how to use the software and therfore it was a steap learning curve. We had help from online tutorials which allowed us to use the complex program. The program I keep mentioning is called adobe premier pro cs4. It allowed us to acheive complex effects with black and white and introducing bits of colour, as can be seen on the left.
For the editing of our media video we decided to use an industry level of editing software that would give a degree of professionalism to our video. The Problem with this is that none of us knew how to use the software and therfore it was a steap learning curve. We had help from online tutorials which allowed us to use the complex program. The program I keep mentioning is called adobe premier pro cs4. It allowed us to acheive complex effects with black and white and introducing bits of colour, as can be seen on the left.For the editing of our media video we decided to use an industry level of editing software that would give a degree of professionalism to our video. The Problem with this is that none of us knew how to use the software and therfore it was a steap learning curve. We had help from online tutorials which allowed us to use the complex program. The program I keep mentioning is called adobe premier pro cs4. It allowed us to acheive complex effects with black and white and introducing bits of colour, as can be seen on the left.

Our camera work has improved a lot since the preliminary task, for example, we are now better at holding a handheld camera and making our hand steady, also we know where to place the camera in order to have the characters positioned in the frame well. For our thriller opening, because we used a Mini DV (digital video) camera, which is very heacy, so instead of us to hold, we used a tripod for some of the scenes to catch a steady effect.

Because this camera was of industry standard we could use special effects, for example, bluring out the backgroud to emphasise the object in the foreground and vise versa.



To emphasise the specific sounds we have, the burning fire, the zippo lighter, striking of a match, burning of tobacco, we used a seperate mic to record them whilst we was filming. This made these specific noises louder and more noticable. It also adds an effect to the piece.



To get a different type of shot, a birds eye view. We put the tripod on the table, to make a birds eye view shot of Andreas looking into the briefcase because the point of view shot was too hard to achieve using a large heavy camera. We had to spread the legs of the tripods out so that we wouldn't get it in the shot.

evaluatiom activity 6

Here we have made a collage of all the computer programs we have used for this whole Thriller Opening Project:

GOOGLE - has been used to search and collect information we have needed such as pictures for example.
IMDB - is a film database. So we have used this to find information on Thriller movies.
BLOGGER - is where we updated our Group blogs and Individual blogs.
YOUTUBE - is where we've uploaded our tasks and our final video.
PHOTOSHOP - is where we've edited our company logo and other pictures we've needed.
ADOBE PREMIERE - is the video editing programme we used to edit our final video.
APPLE - we used Macs at school on certain tasks we completed.
PICSEARCH - is a website specifically used to search for images which we used.
MICROSOFT OFFICE - we have used Microsoft programmes such as Microsoft Word.
WINDOWS MOVIE MAKER - at school the video editing programme we used was Windows Movie Maker.

The most important program on this list was adobe premier pro. This is an industry standard video editing software. Premiere Pro supports high quality video editing at up to 4K x 4K resolution, at up to 32-bits per channel color, in both RGB and YUV. Audio sample-level editing, VST audio plug-in support, and 5.1 surround sound mixing are available for high audio fidelity. Premier pro has a large number of special effects which can be added to your video which have a higher quality than the standard effects in windows media player. These affects can be seen in my work. I have made bursts of colour show through the black and white. I started to learn this program from scratch, it was quite difficult to use but I used youtube tutorials and the internet to help me. I also used photoshop to design the logo for my production company

evaluation activity 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCMJtyoN-Wg Here my thriller opening has been annotated. I have made comment on how we created certain aspects of the video, they are in regard to music, camera shots and editing,

evaluation activity 4

This is Jack Williams. He is 19 years old and lives in England, North London in Islington. He is currently doing a degree in Economics at the Queen Mary University. As a typical student, he spends his time socialising with friends and attending parties.

From the image of Jack, we can see that he dresses quite casual yet still cares about his appearance. When he does shop, he would normally shop in Topman, River Island and occasionally sports shops such as JD Sports for trainers and bags.

When Jack does have time to watch television, his favourite programmes are, Match of The Day, Lost, CSI: Miami and Heroes. As well as his favourite films which as, Taken, The Bourne Identity and Speed.

The music Jack would listen to would vary from heavy rock to indie pop. Groups such as Coldplay, Paramore and Green Day are his favourites.

I think Jack Williams would watch our film because he is an average teenager who would be interested in Thriller movies, and his favourite movies are similar to our movie synopsis.

Evaluation activity 3

The image pictured on the right is the logo for our production company. The reason we chose the name fatboy production company was to appeal to the humour of ou young male audiences. The logo is funny and therefore memorable. So what is a production company? Production companies are firms which create their own media, music, television and film are all possible types of media which could be produced. Examples of large production comapnies could be universal pictures, Warner brothers, 20th centuary fox and even disney. So the production company is responsible for creating the film but they are not responsible for the distribution, who is? Ironically the film distribution companies are responsible for this. Thei job is to take the films from the production companies and get the media into the market and into the film exibitors such as cinemas. The Distributors I would want to distribute our film would be universal pictures. The reason for this is they succesfully distribute the Bourne trilogy, films which share the same audiences as our film will attract. Click here for universals website. This would be a British film and therfore we would seek the funding for the production from the UK film council and the national lottery.

Evaluation activity 2

Here I will be analysing the differences and similarities between the our main character and the main character in a similar thriller to ours. The character we are using to compare our character with is Jason Bourne from the Bourne trilogy, directed by Doug Liman. Similarities starting with appearance. Both of our characters wear dark unsophisticated clothing, jeans, jumper and a jacket. his clothing allows them to blend in with the public. Both characters are male and have a constant look of seriousness. There are also differences in appearance, this is governed by difference in the personality of the characters. Nathan (my character) is a protaganist, and so is Jason Bourne, yet they are both so different. Nathan is a very dark character, he has a rough stuble on his face and unkept hair, He smokes cigar which is sterotypically the "evil" characters choice of pleasure and he also drinks whisky, these are all signs that he is a fallen hero who has lost grace. Jason Bourne is a more clean cut character. He has a clean shaven face and short hair, he doesnt smoke or drink.

Evaluation activity 1

The first image shows the bible extract that gave us the inspiration for the title of our thriller, we used this extract because it is in relation to revenge. The font is very basic and is simply white type on a black background, this is so that the viewer concentrates on the message we are trying to convey and also gives a sense of seriousness.
- The titles of my thriller opening can be seen in image 2. The Title can be clearly seen because of the strong font and the contrast in colours. The blue flames in the background ignite as the titles come up on the screen. The flames give drama and importance to the title.
-Image 3 shows the establishing shot. This sets the time and location and allows the viewers to understand the position of the characters. The time and atmosphere is typical of the thriller genre. The characters are in a dark room, their faces are dimly lit leaving parts of their faces in the shadows.This, along with the black and white theme gives an edgey feel to the video.
- Image 4 is a demonstration of how we used camerawork and editing to fit our video in with the conventions of a thriller. In this scene the camera switches focus from the whisky bottle to the glass. This is another little touch which gives the opening a dark feel. The shot also shows the continued theme of black and white. Image 5 is another deomnstration of how we used editing to make our video adhere to the conventions of a thriller. The image shows the embers of the cigar in colour and the rest of the scene in black and white. This continues the theme of highlighting flames in our video, the match lighting up, the cigar, and the fire lighting the titles. Fire has the conotation of being evil.
- Image 6 shows how we have concealed the face of our main character through the video, we either show part of the face or the whole face with only some parts liten up. This gives the opening an element of mystery, who is he? is he good or bad?
- Image 7 shows a character being tortured or heald hostage. She is boung and gagged with blood on her clothing. This is a shot taken from the flashback which is now in colour to draw attention to this part of the video. The flashback is very sudden and has some hevy sound effects, all of these things are in line with thriller conventions.
- Finally image 8 shows how we have used the camera to shift shots in and out of focus. this shot is a cut away during a conversation. Tight shots, and switching focus are often used in thrillers, they give an eerie unsettled feel to the video because they are not giving the viewer the whole picture, these effects therfore provide tension.

SFX make-up

I wanted to try to put a scar on the face of our main character but I was unsure about how real it would look, i wanted it to be suttle so i bought some sfx wax and fake blood and researched methods of applying them. Here you can see the results. I was happy with the effect but i was unsure how significant it would look in black and white, it also took very long to apply and for this reason I did not use them.

Day before shoot

The night before the shoot I have decided to set up all the equipment and the set to save time on shoot day. The hardest part of the preparation was blacking out all the windows to make the room pitch black. This was so we could control the light artificially using lamps and candles. I prepared all the props I was responsible for and this meant blacking out the logo on the whiskey bottle. The kit we were using was a sony DV camera and two directional microphones. This camera has a manual focus and therfore allowed us to gain complex shots by shifiting focus from foreground to background.

Meeting

We decided to meet at a coffee shop in order to ensure everybody understood the story, script, shot types and how to achieve them and every bodies individual job. We had discussions after reading through the summary I had written up and decided on names for the character, this was because I was unsure myself as to what to call them. We then went through the list of props we had previously written up and decided who would be responsible for each prop. We agreed the time and day of the shoot and then departed, i felt the meeting was successful.

---PROPS LIST-----

- Photo of me and daniella ---- Daniella + Katie
- Money stacks ---- Me
- Passport ---- Me
- Gun ---- Katie
- Briefcase ---- Andreas
- Whisky ---- Andreas
- Whisky Glass ---- Andreas
- Cigar ---- Katie
- Fake blood ---- Katie
- Make up ---- Daniella
- matches ---- Andreas
- ripped tshirt ---- Daniella

Full plan of action

I have decided to create a summary of the script, shot types and storyline to give to the rest of the group so they understand my thoughts and vision for the project. We had planned to meet at a coffee shop in order to discuss the shoot. This summary will make the meeting much easier, I have printed off a copy for everybody.
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Opening shot is a black screen, after one or two seconds the title Leviticus 19:18 fades in, followed by the actual bible extract itself, both title and extract are in white font, they slowly turn red. We hear the sound of cold echoing footsteps slowly getting closer to us (louder and louder). We then fade out of the Leviticus scene into a black and white shot of the wall under the bridge with the company logo and name in red, it is night, (footsteps are still approaching) a man then walks past, his leg wiping the logo off the screen. The shot is only the lower part of his body. He is wearing boots and dark jeans or trousers, a long dark jacket. (footstep sound continues) we have a shot of the words Andreas C in red font on a puddle, the footsteps get closer and then a boot steps into the puddle, when the boot is lifted the words are gone. The next shots are first person, All first person shots are dazed and have the sound of heavy breathing. we go first person so we can tell that our character is disorientated. We have a shot of him stumbling as he walks down the street (first person).Long shot of him walking under a bridge wiping a name off the side of the bridge wall as he stumbles past it. We have a first person shot of the man approaching his front door and struggling to find his keys and open it; eventually he opens it and enters. We change to a shot from inside the house, the camera sits on a table behind frame aimed towards the door, behind the door the final name is written vertically down the wall, as the door swings open it covers the name and the shadowy figure is left standing in the open door, casting a shadow on the floor in front of him, he leans against the frame for a moment then steps in and shuts the door, he then walks over to the table the camera is on and places a gun in front of the camera. The next shot is a tight shot of a bottle of whisky with a glass next to it sitting on a table. The man walks into the shot and begins to pour himself a glass of whisky, we then have a frontal shot of an armchair which the figure falls back into. He groans and in pain as he falls back, takes a second to compose himself and places his glass on the table beside him, and pulls a cigar and matches out of his inside jacket pocket. He places the cigar in his mouth. We now get a close up of the cigar, we hear an intense striking of a match (recorded separately) we see the lit match come up into shot and start to light the cigar,( all of this will be recorded separately with a mic to give really sharp sounds of puffing of the cigar and the crackle of the burning tobacco). We then have a shot of (my character) sitting in his arm chair, in the bottom right corner of shot with the rest of the room in darkness behind him. My character takes a casual puff of his cigar and calls out the name of the second character in the room. “What do you want _______”. The second character is in a shot of total darkness, we hardly see them till they light a cigarette, they flick open a Zippo lighter and light their cigarette, the lighter flame illuminates their face. (the sound of the lighter opening and being struck is recorded separately so it is loud and clear)
Character 1: You look like crap, what are you up to these days _________
Me: getting pissed and smoking myself into an early grave, (puffs cigar and lets the smoke role slowly out of his mouth) cut the crap _______ what do you want. (Puffs cigar)
Character 1: (small laugh) we know what you’ve been doing _________, and let’s just say her majesty secret service is no longer willing to turn a blind eye. We have a problem that needs solving and we think you’re the right man for the job.
Me: I’m finished with the service, why don’t you do your own dirty work.
Character 1: Normally we would, but we thought you’d be interested in this particular problem. We have intel on the guys that kidnapped you and Maria.
Close up on my character, silent
Character 1: iv got to go ________, you know how it is. (Places briefcase on the table) everything you need is in here
First person shot of my character sifting through the contents of the case, he leans back in his chair and grabs a picture of his girlfriend, first person shot of him looking at the picture and stroking her face, the shot is a close up of her face in the picture which then flashes to a new shot of the same girl distressed, crying and gagged, there is a loud scream, then we flash back into the room, the character sits up takes the gun out of the case on the table and chucks the gun.

thriller opening rsearch

The film opening i will be researching is the hollywood blockbuster hit and all action thriller the bourne identity. The movie starts with shots of the open sea on a cold dark and stormy night, instantly setting the scene and telling us the genre of the movie. We are then shown the shocking imagery of a body floatng in the water, this has caught the attention of the viewer right at the begining of the film. The body is jason bourne and he is still alive. He is pulled aboard a ship and the crew nurse him back to health. Jason remember nothing and the audience are inteligent enough to know that the rest of the film will involve him trying to work out who he is. All he has to guide him on his journey of self discovery is the number of a swiss bank account. So what shots were used? Well the shots of the ocean lashing around during the storm are all very shakey and make you feel as though you are at the scene. We hear the sound of thunder rumbling in the sky. all of these elements help to set the scene and the genre. We also get a shot from inside the water from the view of jason bourne himself to put the viewer in is positin and understand why he is struggling, we later find out he was shot confirming the genre as a thriller. from watching and analysing the opening I have taken ideas for my own project such as the use of lighting and non diagetic sound to create atmosphere snd set the scene and genre.

THRILLER TITLE!

Today we decided to sit down and brainstorm ideas for the title of our thriller, I had the idea of revenge in my mind and was curious at to what the bible had to day on the matter, I was looking for a serious or philisophic style of extract which would bring a proffesional feel to our project, Using the internet we discovered Leviticus 19:18, thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD. This ties in well with the theme of vengance and revenge.

reproducing the leon opening sequence

Today we had four hours to reproduce the opening scene of a thriller. My group chose to do the film leon, the intro can be seen here. By producing this video and trying our best to stay as close to the origional types of shots used we have understood how difficult it is to carry out certain shots and allowed us to see what is possible to shoot for our own thriller. Our efforts can be seen here. The editing process allowed us to understand how we need to shoot our thriller in order for it to be edited appropriatly and also allowed us to understand what was actually possible with the software which allows us to see how far we can go with the project. I feel given the time constraints and no equipment or preparation we succeded in completing the task and understanding why the task was set.

story board

Shown here is the basic storyboard we cam up wiith for are thriller opening. We have just put down what we were imagining it to look like and then we will analyze if this is possible to create and if so, how will we make it? This should have been posted at the very early stages and as you can see by the images, the storyline had changed by this stage.

Practising shots and Techniques

Today we used the cameras to practice the rule of 180, shooting the characters in our sequence from only one side to ensure that the characters are not facing the same way. We also had to shoot a character entering a room. The shot had to start from outside the door following the character in and then a shot from inside the of the room of the character walking through the door. This was difficult because we had to smoothly stitch together the two shots of entering through the door.

Brainstorm

We have created a short brainstorm consisting of various points about possible names and appearances of characters and locations to shoot at. We have also created a short sequence of events showing the basic layout of the storyline why have proposed.

The Group and the task

My media group origionally consisted of four people, now there are three. Katie, Daniella and I must create the introduction to a thriller lasting two minuits