The other day I was walking my dog and I walked through our field and past what will be the villages new play ground. The metal fences around the outside of it made me think about what I am going to do for my coursework. Although it hasn't made me decide which genre i am going to go with it did make me think about it. If i were to do Horror, where would I film it? And if I do social realism, what could be my location?
I know the metal fences won't be there when I come to my filming but something like that could work for either genres? It could look quite scary in the dark for horror, or it could make the be used to show quite a run down place for social realism.
Anyway it was just a thought that crossed my mind and I thought I had better blog about it!
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Saturday, 23 October 2010
Scream (1997)
Scream is a film produced in 1997 by Wes Craven. I hated this opening sequence. It was very effective as it built lots and lots of suspense making the experience very scary. The first time I watched it was threw the gaps in my hands as they covered my face!
Scream begins one year after the death of Sidney Prescott's (Campbell) mother. Two students turn up gutted. When a serial killer appears, Sidney begins to suspect whether her mother's death and the two new deaths are related. No one is safe, as the killer begins to pick everyone off one by one. Everyone's a suspect in this case.
The mise-en-scene couldn't be more scary! A house in the middle of nowhere, at night. A young girl is on her own in this house, it's dark outside and the lights are on inside. This creates an atmosphere as it exaggerates the reflections in the windows and makes it more scary as it builds more of a suspense while you wait thinking something is going to jump out at you! The house is also very big with open spaces which gives you the sense that the girl has nowhere to hide.
For the whole of the opening sequence the lighting in Scream is very dim which adds to the atmosphere and makes it a very scary watch! The lighting is so dim because the house is lit by lamps only and outside is pitch black. As i said earlier having the difference in the lighting inside and out creates the spooky reflections which build on the suspense. As the young vulnerable girl goes into smaller, more cramped spaces, the lighting becomes dimmer and there is less of it. This makes the viewer feel more on edge as there is less light which obviously makes the viewer feel uneasy but also there is a sense of being trapped as she walks through the smaller spaces. When the camera shows you the outside from the girls point of you the garden is lit up with blue lights showing a light covering of fog or mist. This makes the atmosphere very eery.
The shot types during this opening sequence seem to vary quite a lot. This makes the audience feel uneasy because the shot types keep flicking which seem uneasy. There are lots of long shot which show the young girl on her own in the big house making her look more vulnerable. When she is on the phone and the voice on the other end seems to become more intense and keeps ringing even after she had said to stop the close-up shots begin. They are quite consistent and they show the audience the worry and fright on the young girls face which makes you as a viewer feel more frightened for her as you can how scared she is. The camera follows her down the small, dark corridor which makes the audience feel uneasy because it makes them feel like they are following the action like the bad guy! There are a number of zooms as well. The shot type will start off as a long shot and then quickly zooming in on the girl to a close-up shot. This happens quickly and not very steadily which also makes the audience feel very uneasy as it was so unsteady.
All of the editing within the opening sequence of Scream are straight, sharp cuts. This makes the editing clean and the opening sequence move more steadily and quickly which builds on the suspense.
Most of the sound used is diegetic sound. We can hear everything that the people within the film can hear which makes us feel more of a part of it, which makes it more scary for us as we feel like we are there. We can hear the phone ringing and we can hear the voice on the other side of the phone line. The non-diegetic sound we hear that the characters can't is the eery, ominous tones, or music, playing behind the dialogue! This music creates tension and builds a suspense.
The character we meet straight away is a young, blonde, vulnerable girl. This immediately makes us feel on edge because it is clear that something is going to happen to her as she is seen as an 'easy target'. The telephone constantly ringing builds a tension for both us and the character within the film.
This is the opening sequence of Scream (1997)
Scream begins one year after the death of Sidney Prescott's (Campbell) mother. Two students turn up gutted. When a serial killer appears, Sidney begins to suspect whether her mother's death and the two new deaths are related. No one is safe, as the killer begins to pick everyone off one by one. Everyone's a suspect in this case.
The mise-en-scene couldn't be more scary! A house in the middle of nowhere, at night. A young girl is on her own in this house, it's dark outside and the lights are on inside. This creates an atmosphere as it exaggerates the reflections in the windows and makes it more scary as it builds more of a suspense while you wait thinking something is going to jump out at you! The house is also very big with open spaces which gives you the sense that the girl has nowhere to hide. 
For the whole of the opening sequence the lighting in Scream is very dim which adds to the atmosphere and makes it a very scary watch! The lighting is so dim because the house is lit by lamps only and outside is pitch black. As i said earlier having the difference in the lighting inside and out creates the spooky reflections which build on the suspense. As the young vulnerable girl goes into smaller, more cramped spaces, the lighting becomes dimmer and there is less of it. This makes the viewer feel more on edge as there is less light which obviously makes the viewer feel uneasy but also there is a sense of being trapped as she walks through the smaller spaces. When the camera shows you the outside from the girls point of you the garden is lit up with blue lights showing a light covering of fog or mist. This makes the atmosphere very eery. 
The shot types during this opening sequence seem to vary quite a lot. This makes the audience feel uneasy because the shot types keep flicking which seem uneasy. There are lots of long shot which show the young girl on her own in the big house making her look more vulnerable. When she is on the phone and the voice on the other end seems to become more intense and keeps ringing even after she had said to stop the close-up shots begin. They are quite consistent and they show the audience the worry and fright on the young girls face which makes you as a viewer feel more frightened for her as you can how scared she is. The camera follows her down the small, dark corridor which makes the audience feel uneasy because it makes them feel like they are following the action like the bad guy! There are a number of zooms as well. The shot type will start off as a long shot and then quickly zooming in on the girl to a close-up shot. This happens quickly and not very steadily which also makes the audience feel very uneasy as it was so unsteady. All of the editing within the opening sequence of Scream are straight, sharp cuts. This makes the editing clean and the opening sequence move more steadily and quickly which builds on the suspense.
Most of the sound used is diegetic sound. We can hear everything that the people within the film can hear which makes us feel more of a part of it, which makes it more scary for us as we feel like we are there. We can hear the phone ringing and we can hear the voice on the other side of the phone line. The non-diegetic sound we hear that the characters can't is the eery, ominous tones, or music, playing behind the dialogue! This music creates tension and builds a suspense.
The character we meet straight away is a young, blonde, vulnerable girl. This immediately makes us feel on edge because it is clear that something is going to happen to her as she is seen as an 'easy target'. The telephone constantly ringing builds a tension for both us and the character within the film.
This is the opening sequence of Scream (1997)
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
Dog Soldiers (2002)
Dog Soldiers is a film produced in 2002 and directed by Neil Marshall. I am not a fan of horror movies and so watching this opening sequence was good for me as it wasn't too jumpy or gory within the opening sequence.
Dog Soldiers is about a British Squad who have been sent on a training mission in the Highlands of Scotland against a Special Operations squad. Ignoring the childish "campfire" stories heard about the area, they continue with their mission and come across the bloody remains of the Special Ops Squad. With two mortally wounded men, they make an escape, running into a zoologist by the name of Megan - who knows exactly what hunts them. What began as what they thought was a training mission turns into a battle for their lives against the most unlikely enemies they would have expected - werewolves.
The mise-en-scene for Dog Soldiers is quite typical to a conventional horror film. They are on a training mission in a forest in the dead of the night. They then move so that they have the 'shelter' of an abandoned house. The opening sequence starts with two campers in the forest which raises questions in the viewers minds asking what the significance of the forest is. The first shot we see is an establishing shot which shows a calm lake in between two forests. The audience ask themselves why this shot is shown and what it's importance is?
During the first few shots of the opening sequence the lighting is subtle. It uses a dark daylight to reassure the audience that nothing will happen as yet but it also lets you know that the forest is going to become scary. When the action moves into a more claustrophobic space, the tent, the lighting is very dim. There are lanterns which create the atmosphere for the characters but they also highlight the expressions on the characters faces when the werewolf attacks. Whilst the zip of the tent is being opened it is pitch black apart from the circular torch light which follows the zip. This is important as it builds a suspense for the audience whilst we watch and wait for something to happen.
After the establishing shots I spoke about earlier there is a series of medium close-ups and close-ups to show the characters facial expressions throughout their conversation. There is then a close-up of the knife that is given as a gift. This helps to show to the audience the significance of this knife and also raises more questions in their minds. As soon as the location changes so do the shots. When the characters are in the tent the shots move from medium close-ups and close-ups to extreme close-ups which really show to the audience the emotions and expressions of the characters. There is also an extreme close-up when showing the knife again, this reinforces the importance of this knife. Also whilst in the tent the camera is on slight tilt making it a high angled shot, the characters are also laying down which shows them to be vulnerable and less important than the creature which is opening their tent.
The first piece of editing we see is a cross-dissolve. This is between the calm lake in the middle of two forests and one of the campers taking water from the lake. This cross-dissolve is quite slow which gives the viewer a sense of calmness. The next few shots are plain cuts which use the 180° rule in continuity editing. This allow the audience to follow the conversation at ease without confusing you as to where the camera is. Match-on-action is also used during the opening sequence to show the character opening the box containing the knife.
All of the sound is diegetic sound. The characters in the shots can hear everything which makes the audience feel more part of it rather than feeling as though they are watching it at home. As the sound builds the tension does too which creates more suspense and makes the audience feel more uneasy. It also gives more of an 'on the edge of your sofa' watch.
Blood is used for the gore factor in the opening sequence however not too much blood is used. It breaks the audience in gently and only gives them a snippet of whats to come.
This is the opening sequence of Dog Soldiers (2002)
The mise-en-scene for Dog Soldiers is quite typical to a conventional horror film. They are on a training mission in a forest in the dead of the night. They then move so that they have the 'shelter' of an abandoned house. The opening sequence starts with two campers in the forest which raises questions in the viewers minds asking what the significance of the forest is. The first shot we see is an establishing shot which shows a calm lake in between two forests. The audience ask themselves why this shot is shown and what it's importance is?
During the first few shots of the opening sequence the lighting is subtle. It uses a dark daylight to reassure the audience that nothing will happen as yet but it also lets you know that the forest is going to become scary. When the action moves into a more claustrophobic space, the tent, the lighting is very dim. There are lanterns which create the atmosphere for the characters but they also highlight the expressions on the characters faces when the werewolf attacks. Whilst the zip of the tent is being opened it is pitch black apart from the circular torch light which follows the zip. This is important as it builds a suspense for the audience whilst we watch and wait for something to happen. 
After the establishing shots I spoke about earlier there is a series of medium close-ups and close-ups to show the characters facial expressions throughout their conversation. There is then a close-up of the knife that is given as a gift. This helps to show to the audience the significance of this knife and also raises more questions in their minds. As soon as the location changes so do the shots. When the characters are in the tent the shots move from medium close-ups and close-ups to extreme close-ups which really show to the audience the emotions and expressions of the characters. There is also an extreme close-up when showing the knife again, this reinforces the importance of this knife. Also whilst in the tent the camera is on slight tilt making it a high angled shot, the characters are also laying down which shows them to be vulnerable and less important than the creature which is opening their tent.
The first piece of editing we see is a cross-dissolve. This is between the calm lake in the middle of two forests and one of the campers taking water from the lake. This cross-dissolve is quite slow which gives the viewer a sense of calmness. The next few shots are plain cuts which use the 180° rule in continuity editing. This allow the audience to follow the conversation at ease without confusing you as to where the camera is. Match-on-action is also used during the opening sequence to show the character opening the box containing the knife. All of the sound is diegetic sound. The characters in the shots can hear everything which makes the audience feel more part of it rather than feeling as though they are watching it at home. As the sound builds the tension does too which creates more suspense and makes the audience feel more uneasy. It also gives more of an 'on the edge of your sofa' watch.
Blood is used for the gore factor in the opening sequence however not too much blood is used. It breaks the audience in gently and only gives them a snippet of whats to come.
This is the opening sequence of Dog Soldiers (2002)
Sunday, 17 October 2010
The finished product
This is mine and Holly's finished preliminary task. Filmed, edited, completed.
This has been a bit of strange process as Holly and I have had some successes and some failures. And although some of the product is OK overall I am not overly pleased with the finished piece. There are small things that I think definitely could be improved and I think that with slightly more time they could have been perfect. I think that because Holly and I rushed our filming due to certain things that went wrong our finished film has suffered as some of the shots look messy and just aren't quite as clean as they could have or should have been. On a more positive note I feel that this has definitely been a learning curve for both me and Holly and i know that next time all of the things that went wrong for our preliminary task wont go wrong again!
The editing process
After Holly and I had filmed all of our footage we had to edit it all together. It started very slowly and it was a very tedious task. Whilst putting all of the footage together Holly and I decided that a few of the shots we had originally planned to be in our preliminary task weren't quite up to scratch and so we cut them out. We didn't use any effects and all of our edits are simply straight cuts. We did this as we felt it was simple yet effective. We met many problems whilst putting our shots together and so this has made me feel quite unhappy with the end product. In only one of our shots Kim is wearing a jacket and so it looks very odd. We could've cut this shot out completely however we left it in because we felt it was quite an important and necessary shot which established that Kim was going into a room and it made the shots flow slightly better. Also, because we had to share our location unfortunately in a few of our shots we had the other group in the background which Holly and I didn't notice whilst filming so we removed these shots from our preliminary task completely. Despite all of these problems we still did manage to have a few successes. Our match-on-action shot went surprisingly well and didn't take us very long to edit together. I think that it has been edited quite well as the shots flow nicely and the cuts are sharp but almost un-noticed.
After we had edited the visuals we needed to put in our sound. I spent ages editing snippets of sound together and listening to it over and over again to make sure it was right but it just didn't seem to work no matter what I did. I just felt that the music went from slow to fast far too quickly and so i made the transition longer. However by doing this the music lasted too long and i couldn't cut it where i wanted for the speaking to be heard. So, i asked Alex to listen to it so he could give me his opinion. He agreed. The tempo of the music was far too quick and upbeat for the story and the length of shots. In the end I decided to have another look on Garageband and found some newer, slower, and some what cheesier music to edit in. Although the track I used in the end does make our preliminary task slightly cheesier i think that it fits with the shot speeds and the overall narrative a lot better and so overall i think it makes our preliminary task a lot better.
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
My top tips...
- Communicate with everyone involved and not just your partner.
- Use reliable actors!
- Make your storyboards as clear and as detailed as possible.
- Teamwork. Work with each other and don't leave everything to one person or until the last minute. It won't work!
- Vary your shot types.
- Be creative when storyboarding and when filming.
- Be organised! Organisation is key when it comes to anything, especially filming. You need to manage your time and make sure everything is ready to go when you need it to be!
Simple really!
Lessons learnt
So i guess the main lesson learnt is to make sure you're completely prepared and even if you think you are you're probably not! You must check, check and check again!
Communication. Communication is so important, i've learnt that everyone needs to know everything before hand, it's best this way because then everyone is clear on what they doing and when they are doing it. At least this way theres no confusion!
Take extra shots and use more variety when filming. Stick to your storyboard but also add and try new things when filming - it wont kill you!
Communication. Communication is so important, i've learnt that everyone needs to know everything before hand, it's best this way because then everyone is clear on what they doing and when they are doing it. At least this way theres no confusion!
Take extra shots and use more variety when filming. Stick to your storyboard but also add and try new things when filming - it wont kill you!
The filming process
How successful did I find the filming process? Well, unfortunately our filming didn't go very well. Holly and I had to share our location with another group which meant we were limited with space and what we could do within the location. Also, the actors we had planned to use had dropped out at the last minute but luckily two other people stepped in and saved the day! I am also not so pleased with the footage we have as i don't think we shot enough of it and i feel that the footage we did get could have been more diverse however the footage does include the different types of continuity editing and the shots are clear enough for Holly and I to work with.
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
The storyboarding process
Before any filming is done it is always best to create a storyboard which can then be made into an animatic, but why? Animatics allow you to see the basis of your finished product before you've started it. To start with Holly and I drew all the shots we wanted onto paper. Next was to add shot types, timings, edit types and a very brief explanation of what is going to happen in each shot. Once the shots had been put onto the computer we could then go through with a fine comb and iron out the creases making sure all the timings were correct and adding both diegetic and non-diegetic sound. We wanted a score that created tension for the audience.
Our animatic uses a range of shot types which makes it more exciting for the audience and we have also included our continuity editing techniques which helps build the story and create the sense of tension we had hoped for. We added our non-diegetic sound from Garageband whereas we recorded our diegetic sound straight onto Imovie which is the programme we used to create our animatic.
Our animatic uses a range of shot types which makes it more exciting for the audience and we have also included our continuity editing techniques which helps build the story and create the sense of tension we had hoped for. We added our non-diegetic sound from Garageband whereas we recorded our diegetic sound straight onto Imovie which is the programme we used to create our animatic.
Monday, 4 October 2010
My interpretation of the brief
Our brief focus's on us using continuity editing so my partner and I decided that the narrative for our story is a young student receiving her GCSE results. The main character walks into a room and sits opposite another character and two lines are exchanged related to the results. Because we have chosen a simple narrative we can stick to the brief but we can also experiment with our shots and we can show the different techniques of continuity editing.
Different types of continuity editing include...
180° rule
When using the 180° rule your must create an imaginary line. The camera must always stay on the same side of this line and if you do want to change sides you must show this happening. This orientates the viewer and helps to create a sense of geography.
Shot/reverse shot
When using the shot/reverse shot you would show one character looking, often off-screen, at another character, and then the other character is shown looking 'back' at the first character. Because the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer unconsciously assumes that they are looking at one another.
Eye line match
The eye line match technique is based on the premise that the audience will want to see what the character on-screen is seeing,
The eye line match begins with the character looking at something off-screen, there will then be a cut to the object or person at which he is looking at.
Match-on-action
When using match-on-action you cut from one shot to another that matches the first shot. This gives a sense of continuity and is a visual bridge for the viewer.
Different types of continuity editing include...
180° rule
When using the 180° rule your must create an imaginary line. The camera must always stay on the same side of this line and if you do want to change sides you must show this happening. This orientates the viewer and helps to create a sense of geography.
Shot/reverse shot
When using the shot/reverse shot you would show one character looking, often off-screen, at another character, and then the other character is shown looking 'back' at the first character. Because the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer unconsciously assumes that they are looking at one another.
Eye line match
The eye line match technique is based on the premise that the audience will want to see what the character on-screen is seeing,
The eye line match begins with the character looking at something off-screen, there will then be a cut to the object or person at which he is looking at.
Match-on-action
When using match-on-action you cut from one shot to another that matches the first shot. This gives a sense of continuity and is a visual bridge for the viewer.
Friday, 1 October 2010
Previous filming experience
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