Meetings- Miss Georgiou

Meetings

Why are meetings important to a production?

Meetings are vital in the production process because the whole group have to have an understanding of what is best for the group. The best way to do this is through sharing ideas in meetings. Meetings helped every group member get their opinion through. It also allows a group to be organised and keep track of time.


Overall do you think your group worked well together?

I think that worked very well as a group because we all worked with same objective in mind (to create a successful, conventional thriller). After every meeting that took place, we knew exactly what we wanted to achieve when we carried out tasks. This was an advantage because it meant that no time was wasted when we carried out tasks. When we created our credits, we knew what we were going to write because we had decided in a group meeting. When we chose the soundtrack, we decided that we would all look on a different website. This helped us save time.

Date	Action	To be done by	By whom	Discussions
05.11.2012	Review individual storyboards	07.11.2012	Whole group	We discussed ideas and concepts that we have, and we reflected on the ideas and then created a group storyboard.
12.11.2012	Planning the cinematography	14.11.2012	Whole group	We started to plan what camera shots, lighting, costume, setting and iconography we wanted to use in our opening.
14.11.2012	Creating the Questionnaire	19.11.2012	Individual then as a group	We each created a questionnaire and then we joined the questions together that we thought were better.
19.11.2012	Recording the results from the questionnaire	21.11.2012	Whole group	We gave our questionnaire to 32 pupils in our school and recorded the results.
21.11.2012	Risk Assessment Planning the day we can film	21.11.2012	Whole group	We decided as a group what we thought would be a potential hazard and how we can prevent it. We also decided that we would film on the Friday and Sunday.
23.11.2012	Filming our thriller opening	25.11.2012	Whole group	We filmed our thriller using the group storyboards as guidance. Also we followed the group risk assessment so there would be less of a chance that an injury would occur.
26.11.2012	Editing our thriller	19.12.2012	Whole group	We discussed ideas on how we should edit our scenes and what transitions we should add. Also we were looking for as soundtrack, which would go well with our thriller.

Audience Feedback- Miss Georgiou

Audience Feedback

Why is audience feedback essential to carry out?

Audience feedback is essential to carry out because it helps me reflect on the success of my film by receiving positive and constructive comments from an audience that represents my target audience. By screening our production to people who weren't involved in the production, elements of our film may be identified as good or bad that we had different opinions on. Also, audience feedback will help us identify what was good and what was not so good or what was missing. This will help us with future productions.

Where did you screen your production?

Firstly, we uploaded our thriller opening onto YouTube. Then, we screened our production to 6 people who were all aged 16 or 17 during a Media lesson and asked for a brief written response from each viewer. We also received feedback from users from around the world via the comments section on YouTube.

How did YouTube help?

YouTube is a video sharing website and is where we uploaded our thriller film. If we didn't have access to YouTube then we would not have been able to screen our production to an audience. We also received feedback from the comments section of YouTube which enabled us to receive feedback from people who we did not know. This is important because if we know everyone that that gives us feedback, then there may be biased opinions with some comments.

What feedback did you receive? 

We received good feedback as well as constructive criticisms which is a good thing because we knew that our production wasn't flawless, so we could see what people didn't like or did like. One person said that the camera quality was not good enough which is a fair point to make, but because we only made the opening to the film, we did not feel that it was necessary to purchase a superior camera. This was because we were on a small budget. If we were to make the whole film, then we would have bought ,or loaned, a camera of better quality.

Another criticism of my film was that if we were to make the whole film, then it would be too short because there is a murder at the start of the film and that there would be no meaning for the rest of the film. However, they did not understand that if we were to make the rest of the film, we would use the beginning as the ending and the film would consist of what happened prior to that scene to solve the enigma.

We also received a large amount of good feedback. One person said that they were impressed with the different camera shots we used for the murder scene which was something my group had already recognised as a strong positive of our production.

Reflection

If I was going to create another thriller opening, then I would keep a large proportion of what we did the same as I feel that it was a successful production. I would only make minor adjustments such as filming each scene multiple times so that we would be able to choose what scene had the best lighting, sound and if there were any human errors involved.

I would also check the weather prior to filming because we had to film on a Sunday rather than the Saturday because of heavy rain which created a background noise and got the camera lens wet. This required good improvisation skills that we wouldn't have had to use if we planned what days we were going to film on.

Preliminary Task- Miss Georgiou

Preliminary Task

In a group of three we had to create a short scene. Firstly we organised where we were going to film, then we spent about 45 minutes getting all of the footage and finally, we edited the footage using Final Cut Express.


What was the purpose of the task?
One purpose of this task was to experiment with the filming equipment. For example how long would the tripod legs need to be for a close-up, a medium shot or a long shot and how to use zoom. Another purpose of this task was to get used to the editing software e.g. how to get our footage on to the editing software and how to save our work.

What did you learn to do?
Some things we learnt were basic such as: how to rotate the camera effectively and getting to know where the buttons were on the camera. Other things we learnt were more complex, such as: how to film difficult shots such as a panning shot or how to use zoom without the camera becoming unfocused. We also learnt how and hwere to position the tripod depending on what and where we were filming.


What were your strengths?
We worked well as a group. We bounced ideas off of each ther to come up with the best camera shots and we al contributed towards our preliminary task. We had to work in a short space of time which can be difficult due to pressure. We were also able to film many different shots with the camera and edit them together smoothly to create a realisitic preliminary task.


What problems did you have and how did you overcome them?
In the two early shots that show Daniel walking through the door and him walking towards the camera, the door was still closing in the first shot and it was closed in the second shot. To overcome this, we had to use all of the footage in the first shot and cut a lot of footage at the beginning of the second shot to enable the clips to run smoothly together. During the shots that show me and Daniel talking to each other, we moved out of our original positions so we had to judge where to stand by watching the clips back on the camera. Also, we did not finish in the given time so we had to film for an extra 15 minutes or so during another lesson.


How will this task assist you with creating your thriller?

Our preliminary task will assist us when making our thriller film because it has helped us learn how to use the equipment properly, which reduces safety hazards and means that the filming process for our thriller will take a shorter amount of time. We also learnt that we should allow time at the beginning and ending of each shot. This will stop us from cutting to early and enable the shots to run smoothly when put together.

Also, we now have good knowledge when it comes to knowing how suitable  different camera shots are for different scenes. We have also learnt that we will need the background to be silent because in one shot of our preliminary task music can be vaguely heard.

Planning Editing Styles- Miss Georgiou

Planning Editing Styles

The importance of editing

Editing ensures that each shot smoothly flows into the next one and that a film has a flowing rhythm. Editing also ensures that when filming, you do not have to start filing from the point that you need (you can start filming earlier so that you do not cut too much off of the beginning). It also shows the audience when the pace of a scene increases or decreases. Editing also means that a sequence of shots that may not make sense can be rearranged to look like a normal scene. Editing is needed to cut the beginnings and endings of each shot if they are too long so that only the best bit of the shot is used. Good editing improves the quality of the film even if the footage is mediocre.

The editing types of editing styles I will include in my thriller

I will use the fade editing style because it will show a decrease in pace which shows that the main idea of the scene has changed.

I will also use the dissolve editing style to allow me to put different angles of the same scene into one shot. This would be suitable and effective for the murder scene because we filmed 3 or 4 different angles of the murder itself including a birds eye view shot, a close-up and a medium-shot. By using the dissolve editing technique, the angles will all be syncronised when putting the shots together.

I will also use the jump cut editing style to show different angles of the killer (Liam) chasing the victim (Daniel) because it can show two short clips and have the same effect as showing one long clip. They are not noticeable which makes the film more look more authentic.

How these editing styles will help to make my thriller more conventional

The fade cut effect will ensure that each cut flows smoothly into the next. For example, the killer chasing the victim would show them in different parts of the road.

The dissolve effect allows the audience to see how the victim is murdered by showing different angles of the killing which is often a common feature when showing a murder scene in a thriller film.

The jump cut effect will help to make my thriller conventional because it will enable

Thriller Screenshots

Group Storyboards- Miss Georgiou

Group Storyboards

Each member of the group contributed towards the creation of our storyboards. Daniel created the images drawn by using our narrative description which was wrote by Liam. The remainder of our storyboards were wrote by me as I am the storyboard organisor. These storyboards will be essential in the making of our thriller film.

All of the shots in our storyboards were filmed but we had to add more shots because there were not enough for a 2 minute opening sequence.

Planning mise-en-scene- Miss Georgiou

Planning mise-en-scene

Settings & Iconography

Set in a house at the end of the road (my house) because it allows Daniel to run around the corner and for him to appear in a different location but the inside filming is inside Liam's house because it is easier to make the room dark.There will only be one person in the house at the time to show isolation. The iconography used will be the laptop or computer that the victim will be using which fits in with the theme of technology. Also, a hidden camera is found by Daniel's character which leads to him running away in shock which leads to a key convention of a thriller film, a chase scene.

Costumes, Hair & Make-up

The killer will wear a red mask to hide their identity to leave the audience puzzled. The mask has one eye hole in it and covers the whole of the killer's face. This means that the audience do not have any clues as to who the killer is. The killer will also wear dark plain clothes because dark clothing connotes the idea of a dark and evil character. The killer will also wear boots because they infer that he is dominant which is a convention for an antagonist in the thriller genre. The victim will wear normal/casual clothing and trainers because it makes him look comfortable before the equilibrium is disrupted.

Lighting and Colour

Black and red will be used throughout where possible as they are common colours in thriller films.

The main room in the scene will be dark with the light from the screen of the laptop. This is a key convention of thriller films called low key lighting. The sequence that is filmed outside will have street lamps on so that the characters can be identified, but it is still dark due to the time of day that we filmed (18:00 onwards).

Facial Expressions and Body Language

The victim will be shocked, frightened and confused to show that he is worried. The victim's body language will indicate to the audience that he is scared and helpless. The killer would have his facial expressions hidden due to the mask. However, the killer's body language would suggest to the audience that he cannot be stopped, he is dominant and that he has a lot of willpower.

Positioning

The victim will be central in a lot of the shots to show that he is the main focus at the beginning of the film. The killer is shown in the corner of many shots to show that he can see and he is chasing the victim. The killer will not be central until the final few shots of the opening (which show the murder and suggest a rise in his power/dominance).