Vlogs

To explore the different kinds of camera angles and shots in a thriller, Calum and I made a video to show the audience why different shots and angles are used. This video can be seen on Calum's blog under 'Research into Camera angles and 180 degree rule', as the file would not upload onto my blog.

The whole group was involved in making the 2nd video in which we tried to find an interesting and amusing way to teach the audience about the 180 degree rule and why it's used. This video can also be seen on Calum's blog under 'Research into Camera angles and 180 degree rule', as the file would not upload onto my blog.


http://calumbowenheathsidemedia.blogspot.com/

Director's Commentary

We also decided to do a directors commentary where we were able to pick out our favourite aspects of our main task and explain them to the audience. This can be found below:

Evaluation Evidence

Finally we filmed ourselves presenting the evaluation and giving the first screening of the main task. We then received audience feedback and edited the sequence, the final product can be found on the coursework disk as it was too big to upload onto the blog.

The Evaluation

Below is our groups evaluation. In it, we explore how we made our film fit with the conventions of thrillers and compare it to other films of the same genre. Each of us took a separate section of the evaluation to research. Everyone then sent me the work that they had done and I made it into a powerpoint, changing their research into bullet points and adding pictures, sounds and videos where appropriate.

Media evaluation finished

View more presentations from guestfab44c.

Main Task

Actors:

Charlie Lesley can be seen above, she played the dead girl in our thriller as she is a teenager who is almost 19, so fits the role of the dead 19 year old girl perfectly. Charlie has experience in acting as she takes drama and therefore she found it easy to act out her murder and keep still whilst we filmed her lying dead on the floor with her eyes open.

Jack Higgs can be seen above. He played the protagonist in our media project, the dead girl's father. We chose Jack for this part as his deep voice fitted the role perfectly especially for the threatening phone call which was the main basis of the sinister atmosphere of our thriller.

Michael Scorer can be seen above. He plays the main police detective in our thriller. We chose Michael as he looks a lot older then the other actors making him seem more distinguished and therefore fit the role of the detective perfectly. Although Michael has had no previous acting skills, he did feature in our preliminary task and we were impressed at how well he did.

Mike Elsayed can be seen above. He played the part of our second police detective as he looks mature yet younger than michael. This made it seem like Michael was the older and wiser police detective who was more knowledgeable. This is typical of thrillers and for these reasons we felt Mike fitted this role perfectly.

Stephen Chinnadorai can be seen above. He was the murderer in our thriller. He is tall with dark features and we felt that this fitted the conventions of a killer perfectly. Killers typically wear black and dark colours as this connotations of the colour black are negative. As Stephen has dark features, this us enhanced. Furthermore, as Stephen is tall, it makes him seem more dominant and therefore Charlie seem more vulnerable.

Voice Overs:

Calum Bowen can be seen above. We chose Calum as Jack's boss. A lot of this was down to the fact that we only decided to add the part of a boss firing Jack in at the last minute. We chose Calum because his voice again sounds sympathetic and reluctant to let Jack go as well as sounding old enough to be the boss of the protagonist.

George Nicholls can be seen above. We chose him as our other voice over as George has a sympathetic voice that doesn't sound too young, so could fit the role of a police officer that has to deliver bad news to a family. The sympathy he expresses helps the audience to also feel more sympathetic towards the family of the dead girl.

Tilly Guess can be seen above. We chose Tilly to be the voice of the dead girl's room mate as her voice sounds like the voice of a teenager rather than a mother. Her experience of drama helped her to sound convincingly distressed which was perfect in making the audience feel disturbed at her room mates death.

Lauren Anthony can be seen above. Lauren had a voice that sounds more mature and therefore fitted the role of the mother perfectly. Furthermore, Lauren's previous experience with drama also enabled her to sound distressed and devastated at the news of her daughters death again giving the flashback a more sinister and engaging atmosphere.

Main Task Evidence

Letter of Permission:

As we wanted to use 'How d'ya like your eggs in the morning?' By Dean Martin, we needed to get permission as we did not create the song ourselves. I wrote the letter to get the permission from the producers of the song. This letter can be found below:

Main Task Evidence

Costume and Make up Evidence:

As seen here, we had Mike in more casual smart wear for his part in our thriller. We did this so that it was clear to the audience that he was not as high in his profession as Michael is however he still takes his jobs seriously as he is wearing a smart shirt and a smart black jacket and trousers.

This is the costume of Michael. As you can see we put him in a suit to make him look more professional. As you can see, Michael's hair is not normally slicked back however we felt that this was more appropriate as it made him look older and again, more professional. We put no make up on Michael as he was meant to be a police detective and stereotypically they are quite masculine so do not wear make up.

This is the costume and make up of Charlie as the dead girl we chose these clothes as they are a typical inexpensive high street brand that would be affordable to A 19 year old girl. Furthermore the pale make up and the dark circles around her eyes make her look as if she has been dead for a few hours. The red marks around her neck make her look as if she has been strangled and the nose bleed also enhances this. The bruise helps to indicate that there has been a struggle.

These Pictures were taken by Lauren on the day of the filming of the investigation.

Main Task - Finished product

After finishing our editing of the new section, we had finally finished our media project and were ready to receive feedback on ways in which we could improve.

Main Task - Music

We decided that the music that Jack listened to on the radio should be 'How d'ya like your eggs in the morning?' By Dean Martin. We made this decision based on the thriller Vanilla Sky in which Tom Cruise suffers from a mental breakdown to the song 'Good Vibrations'. We felt that this created a dramatic irony that created a sinister atmosphere typical of thrillers. For this reason we felt that 'How d'ya like your eggs in the morning?' would be perfect as it is a cheerful song that would contrast to the father's disturbing dream and threatening phone call, making these scenes seem more sinister.


The drones used in our media piece helped to add suspense, engaging the viewer. We used two drones: 'Drone Dark Suspense 1' and 'Drone Dark Suspense 2'. We also used 'Pulsing Sweep' as we felt that this added a sinister atmosphere to the title of our movie, enhancing the action that is about to take place through out the film.

Main Task - Filming

Location
We decided to film the last part of our sequence at Calum's house. We decided this as his house is a typical family home, one in which we imagine a Father living with his family. It is quite a big house with a lot of space enabling us to take good shots for our main task as well as enhancing the loneliness of Jack as he now lives alone after the effects of his daughter's death.

Actors

We chose Jack as our actor as he has quite a strong, deep voice that would be perfect for the end of the sequence as the father threatens his daughter's murderer. With only 2 weeks left to film and edit our main task, Jack was one of the few options available at such short notice, this was another factor in choosing Jack as our protagonist.

We chose Lauren and Tilly as voice overs for the beginning sequence as Lauren took drama at GCSE and Tilly takes A Level drama. Tilly had a voice suitable to be a room mate as it sounds like the voice of a teenager rather than a mother. Her experience of drama helped her to sound convincingly distressed which was perfect in making the audience feel disturbed at her room mates death. Lauren has a voice that sounds more mature and therefore fitted the role of the mother perfectly. Furthermore, Lauren's previous experience with drama also enabled her to sound distressed and devastated at the news of her daughters death again giving the flashback a more sinister and engaging atmosphere.

We chose Calum and George as our other voice overs as George has a sympathetic voice that doesn't sound too young, so could fit the role of a police officer that has to deliver bad news to a family. The sympathy he expresses helps the audience to also feel more sympathetic towards the family of the dead girl. Finally, we chose Calum as Jack's boss. A lot of this was down to the fact that we only decided to add the part of a boss firing Jack in at the last minute. We chose Calum because his voice again sounds sympathetic and reluctant to let Jack go as well as sounding old enough to be the boss of the protagonist. Information on all our actors can be found in the actors section.

Mise-en-scene

We asked Jack to wear a shirt and jeans for the shoot as this made him look like a typical father with a high status. This also implies that he has efficient and intelligent methods of dealing with his daughter's murderer. This was important as we wanted our thriller to be quite psychological in order to engage our audience.

We decided we wanted Jack to be an alcoholic as this shows the effects of his daughter's death and is typical of a male who has been through a traumatic experience in a thriller. For this reason Jack is seen asleep on the sofa with a half empty bottle and glass of whiskey. This indicates that he is a strong drinker.More mise-en-scene can be found in the Costume and Make up section.

Roles

As with every section of our thriller, we all took part in every aspect of creating the film to make sure that every one had a say in the mise-en-scene, actors, filming and editing.

Camera Shots and Angles

All of the camera shots and angles we used, were filmed to portray Jack's character as an alcoholic who has had his life ruined by the death of his daughter and to explore the aggression he uses in his threatening phone call in an effective and engaging way. We also tried to make shots flow smoothly by going from one shot to another with the use of fade to blacks improving our continuity. The shot where the camera is in the fridge and Jack opens the door was an idea we had taken from Ellen Crane's group as we felt that this was a very effective and interesting shot to engage the viewer.

The New Idea and Script

During the half term, our group met up to try to gather some new, simple ideas for how to adapt what we had filmed so far. We decided on a vengeful father and searched through the internet for inspiration. In the end, we came across the opening of a well known thriller, Taken.

The scene we watched was one where the father is on the phone to his daughter's captors. We felt that the speech made by the father was chilling and gave a sinister atmosphere that is typical of the thriller genre. For these reasons we started to make a new script in which there is a flashback of the murder of a girl and the investigation into her death. The girls father then wakes up and goes into the kitchen to make his breakfast. His phone rings once and he then dials the number of his daughter's murderer telling him that he will kill him. This is the end of the opening and prepares the audience for the rest of the film.

After making our decision, we decided to start scripting it. This script can be found below:

Beginning of Flashback:

'Phone rings'

Girl's Room Mate: It's my room mate, please help, I don't know what to do. She's not breathing!

Police Officer: Mr and Mrs Watson, I'm sorry to have to inform you but, we've found a body and we believe it's your daughter.

Girl's Mother: Oh God. No!

[old script used in the investigation used]

End of Flashback:

Girl's Father: Have you found out who did this to my daughter?

Police Officer: I'm sorry Mr Watson, but we can't find him, we're going to have to drop the case.

Girl's Father: You can't do this!

Father's Boss: I'm sorry Mr Watson but I don't think you're cut out for this work line anymore

Girl's Mother: You've got to stop drinking Jack, I need you.

Girl's Father: I will find out who did this

Girl's Mother: It's been 4 years, can't you just let it go?

Girl's Father: It's our daughter! How can you say that?!

Girl's Mother: I'm sorry Jack, I just can't do this anymore, I'm leaving

The script did not get ordered in this way until we started editing. We asked the actors to do voice overs for us and then experimented with which order was most effective. We decided on the order above that features in our film.

More Changes

After this section had been filmed, I tried again to edit the video. After starting to edit the new thriller video, I started to realise that the changes from past to present were slightly confusing and that some audience members may not be able to understand them as the dead girl, the flashback of her murder and the police investigation would all need to have different effects. Furthermore, I felt that we didn't have enough camera shots to make a smooth and flowing police investigation and that the whole atmosphere of the film was not sinister and dark enough to be considered a thriller. I showed the film to my group and they also agreed that something more needed to be done. For this reason, we decided to yet again change our storyline only 2 weeks before the deadline. The second edit of the main task, can be seen below:

Letter Evidence

Before we let anyone film, we had to give them a letter asking for permission from their parents as they were under 18 years of age. For our main character, Charlie, this did not apply as she was already 18. For Michael and Mike however we had to make sure that these letters were signed before filming.

Storyboard of the Flashback Evidence

Because we had decided to add to our sequence with flashbacks, we needed to make storyboards so that we knew where these shots would go within the sequence and which shots and timings we would need.

All of the below storyboards are in order. The first storyboard page will go in the first fade to white flash, the second storyboard page will go in the second fade to white flash and so on.

I did all of the pictures and timings for these storyboards and Calum filled in the shot description and sound details.

Video - First Edit

This was our first try at editing the film. As I was the only member of the group with editing equipment, I edited the sequence and then received feed back from my group on how to improve it. By this point we had not filmed the second part of our Thriller in which a man will be watching the police on his screen. This was simply an edit that gave us an idea of the footage we had, how it could be used, and what else was needed to complete the sequence.

Good Points:

I was extremely happy with the opening of this sequence as, with the flash of the camera, the fades to white worked and flowed well. We had enough footage to make some good transitions and the most of the sequence flowed well with only a few jumping edits. Unlike last time, the sound was much better which meant that our sequence would not need subtitles again. Finally I am very happy with the mise-en-scene as the use of crime scene tape and the way in which we dressed and did the make up of the actors enhanced the storyline making it look more professional.

Bad Points:

As just a rough draft, the transitions, as mentioned before, are not all flowing - some jump making the sequence look unprofessional and the last shot of the webcam is slightly shaky. We had not tried to add any music but clearly this would be needed to increase tension and suspencse. The main problem that we found was that the scene was not interesting enough. Because of this we decided that where the titles are now (as the camera flashes and fades to white), we would put a flash back of the girl's death. This would engage the audience more and also give our group the chance to use a wider variety of shots.

Storyboard Evidence

Storyboards for our Main Task

The pictures and timings for these storyboards were done by me, the descriptions and sounds were done by Calum and me

Final Decision

It is clear that Amir's house will not be appropriate; it does not have the right mise-en-scene and is too small for filming our Thriller. My bedroom and living room also don't have the right mise-en-scene or enough space.

For this reason, we have decided to film in Ellie's bedroom; it has the typical mise-en-scene of a student or teenage girl, furthermore there is plenty of space for our actors and for us to film effectively with careful and professional camera shots.

Evidence

Amir's House:

The space in Amir's room was limited, even though we could remove the small desk and the chair Amir is sitting on would be replaced with a desk, the space for a dead girl and inspectors is very limited.

As shown in these pictures Amir's room is too small to have a dead body with tape surrounding it. Furthermore it would be hard to fit the cameras in his bedroom to film the scene effectively. Finally, the colour scheme of his bedroom isn't typical of a girl's bedroom and therefore, when looking at mise-en-scene, Amir's room is again not appropriate for our main task.

Ellie's House:

As these pictures show, Ellie's bedroom was a lot better for both space and mise-en-scene. The posters and pictures on her room show typical teenage and young adult interests such as art music, make up and fashion. Her room also has a large window and white walls making it very bright and therefore easier to film in. Finally as seen above, there is plenty of space for a dead body surrounded with tape and inspectors.

These pictures again show that Ellie's room has a desktop computer which is perfect for our narrative. Furthermore her pink curtains and white walls reflect youth and innocence as does the white rug on her floor. There is also plenty of space next to the computer where the inspectors can stand over the dead body and hold a conversation.

These pictures show the space in Ellie's room. Again, this will be plenty of space for all of the props actors and our equipment. This means we can film an effective and realistic looking film which is more likely to look like a thriller than one filmed in an unrealistic location.

My House:

As these pictures show, my room is too small to have a dead girl surrounded with tapes and inspectors. Furthermore, even though my room has the mise-en-scene of a typical teenage girl's room with books, make up and clothes, there would be limited space to film and to have actors and equipment in my room.

In my living room, we could move the dining room table which is next to the computer giving us plenty of space to have a dead girl with tape and inspectors around her. Despite this, when thinking about mise-en-scene my living room isn't appropriate. The living room of a house is not a very private area and the objects in the living room are not typical of a student at University. For these reasons my living room, much like my room, is not appropriate for filming our Thriller.

Research

Today I visited some locations to take pictures. This would help us to make our decision on where we would like the final location to be, enabling us to arrange the actors, dates and times more precisely.

As we wanted a room with a desk and enough space for a dead body to lay, we needed to research different houses of different sizes. The house we chose must have the correct mise-en-scene for a typical girl's bedroom and must also have enough space to have inspectors taking pictures and crime scene tape surrounding the dead girl's body.

The first place which Amir and myself visited and took pictures of was Amir's house. Pictures and comments can be found in the 'Evidence' section.

The second place was Ellie's house which I visited and took pictures of. Pictures and comments can be found in the 'Evidence' section.

Finally, I took pictures of my own house in both my bedroom and my front living room. Pictures and comments can again be found in the 'Evidence' section.

Research into Movie Making

180 Degree Rule:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdyyuqmCW14

This video helped to show me the 180 degree rule in action and displays the difference between using it and not. Not using this rule could confuse the audience if we were to involve any dialect in our main task, and therefore it is important that we understand and implement this rule when filming our main task.

Camera Shots:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VS2iNhz180&feature=related

This video showed me some camera shots and the effect of using different shots at different times, for example an establishing shot used at the beginning of a sequence helps set the scene, and extreme close ups enable the audience to see the reactions of actors. This video will help us make a sequence that flows and engages the audience effectively without confusing them.

Editing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPK65xG3jFA

This video shows the importance of editing and how it can make a significant difference to the end product; poorly edited movies are not effective even if the shots, mise-en-scene and camera angles are brilliant. It shows how different speeds of editing have a 'profound effect on the viewer' as do a variety of camera shots edited together. The video displays how this needs to be done carefully as the editing helps to set the scene of a movie. The examples given also show the importance of music and sound effects in a scene to engage the audience which we will consider whilst filming and editing our main task.

Making a good movie: (including lighting)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK4kAnPcLSU

This video has given me some helpful tips on making a good movie. These tips include tips on lighting which are important in making the movie look more realistic and therefore be more engaging for the audience. The video also discusses the placings of the camera within a scene to get the most effective result, the rule of thirds is also useful in this and will help us to make a reader that engages the audience; the artistic direction will also do this as the audience will be given an insight into our characters' lives through the mise-en-scene. Finally the video has helped me to think about how we can make the actors understand what we want out of the scene, improving their performance and therefore our main task.

Script

Actor’s Script

A woman is lying dead in the middle of a bedroom surrounded by crime scene tape. There has been a murder. Police and forensics are gathering evidence. A man, Man 1, is crouched next to the dead body inspecting the scene. He is approached by Man 2.

MAN 1 is smartly dressed in a long, dull coat. He is wearing a hat and looks to be in his mid thirties, he is very serious and solemn.

MAN 2 is slightly less professional than MAN 1 and it is clear that he is of a lower status within his profession. He is wearing a white shirt with a tie and smart, black trousers. He is holding a notebook containing notes on the crime scene and victim.

Man 2 approaches Man 1 who is crouched next to the victim, looking on and around her body for evidence. He is very solemn at this time. As man 2 approaches, Man 1 stands, taking the notebook from Man 2 as he does so.

Man 1: (Looking through the notebook and nodding) so, what do we have here?

Man 2: Female, 19, injuries to the head and neck. Bruises indicate self-inflicted wounds.

Man 1: Do we have a time of death yet?

Man 2: Judging by the body temperature, she’s been dead no more than 3 hours.

Man 1: What was she doing at time of death?

Man 2: She was on the computer doing work (camera will leave the conversation, both men continue talking as normal) her roommates were out, said she was fine when they left, they just came up stairs and found her… like this.

Man 1: Why would a perfectly happy 19 year old girl kill herself?

Evaluation

We showed our films to other members of our media class and were given feedback on what they liked about our preliminary task and what could have been improved upon.


The things that they liked were;

• The CU's of the mouths as this added to the mystery behind the characters.
• The variety of camera shots and camera angles used.
• The establishment of the scene in which our Thriller had been set, particularly the opening shot which sets the scene of the Thriller.
• The costumes and props that established the importance of the characters helping them fit the typical conventions of the Thriller genre.
• The way in which the package was followed as it was passed from one character to the next enhancing the importance of the package and it's passing from one character to the next.
• The smooth flowing edits.
• The generic conventions that were followed such as the setting, actors and dialogue.
• The setting of the sequence as it had been filmed outside of school and research had gone into finding the appropriate location.
• The narrative that fitted the Thriller genre and engaged the audience.

The audience did not like:

• The varying subtitle sizes
• The sound and lack of tones and music to enhance the drama of the scene.

To rectify this, I changed the subtitles and made sure that they were of constant size and font. We could not however change the sound as we had found no tones and had too little time to reshoot our film.

If I were to do this task again, I would check the equipment thoroughly before starting the filming; I would definitely make a thorough storyboard and script as this made the filming much easier on the day; I would check the sound of the location making sure that it's volume did not exceed that of our actors; I would make sure that we had plenty of time to film without the daylight hours affecting our continuity; and finally I would make sure that what we wanted to be the final outcome was achievable with the sounds and equipment that we had.

In general, I think that the outcome of our preliminary has proved to be effective in conforming to the typical conventions of a Thriller genre and to the task given to us.

Evidence

1. Visiting our location at the Swan Pub and taking pictures:

We chose these seats as they were in a quiet place away from a bar and had leather chairs and a large fire place to help make the meeting between Alex and Lucy more professional and sophisticated.

In the right had side of this picture you can see the door to the room and the door to the Swan Pub itself. This meant that we could get nice flowing shots of Alex walking into the pub and the room where Lucy would be seated. The space around the table also meant that we could film easily without moving any of the other tables and chairs.

Again, this picture gives an idea of the space around the table to film and also the sophisticated lighting and atmosphere of the pub. Furthermore, the table (seen at the right hand side) where we wanted to film our sequence was slightly secluded from the other tables increasing the characters' seclusion from the events of an average person.

This picture taken outside the Swan Pub would have been where Alex walked up from. As you can see it is a secluded location which meant that we would have been able to film Alex without any interruptions. The river also added to the eerie and mysterious atmosphere which we hoped to achieve in our film.

2. The emails sent to and from the Swan Pub:

This was the first email sent by Calum and Me. The manager who we spoke to then replied on my email account:

When we could not make these dates or times, I replied. The conversation can be seen between the Managers of the Swan Pub and me can be seen below:

3. The video of us filming our first try at the preliminary task can be seen below: