Final Result: Feedback

After finishing the sequence we watched all the other groups projects in our class. We then got one good point and one constructive criticism back from each individual.

Good:

• Voiceover good
• Good effects used
• Sound effects well linked with the genre
• Handheld shots
• Good use of POV shots
• Was entertaining
• Good range of shots
• Music was weird but effective
• Good production logo

Bad:

• Sound messy
• Sound didn't flow between the scenes
• Speech is unclear
• Story-line was confusing at times - but this was the aim of the genre
• Wind is distracting
• Clever editing

Final Result

Above is the final video of the sequence. Now that we have completed the editing stage of our thriller project, we have exported the sequence using the settings in the screenshot below. 

Plan For The Next Two Days

We are going to working on the final editing of the who film. We will tighten up the soundtrack, making the video noise quieter so it does not interfere with the music and music. We will also make our transactions better. We will all contribute to the work on the two days to make sure we are all happy with the final result.

Response to Feedback

Our rough cut has been viewed by the other groups in our class and they have left useful constructive criticism on our blog. One of the main issues brought up is the audio problems i.e. diegetic sound getting in the way of dialogue, For this we can try and level out as much we can with the non-diegetic soundtrack.
Another issue raised is that we haven't included many transitions, for this we plan to add more in the coming days. Also they suggested that we included our production logo in our sequence which we shall add in the coming days of final editing.

Soundtrack: Static Section

We also need to produce some music for our scene when Charlie (the evil character) flicks around the screen. The music need to be fast and confusing. We made the decision that radio static was a good way of doing this. We wrote our own drum track on garage band.

Screenshot of a our static scene music 

Soundtrack: Main Theme

We have been working on the main theme to our thriller. We decided that seeing as our thriller is called "Life After Death" the music should link into the idea of death. This is the reason we have a heart beat monitor in the background. We also felt that it should be creepy and mysterious, we did this through the use of slow piano.

Screenshot of our music in Garage Band.

Editing: Day 3

On editing day 3 we have worked on superimposing, so that we can remove the jumping around of cars over the bridge. We have done this the section of clips you can see in the screenshot, the cars have been removed as best as possible, but in some clips we have been unable to because we might cut out some of our character. After working on this complex editing skill, we worked on creating an intense climax to the scene put making the kidnapper move increasingly fast around the field. Combined with some screeching and static sound effects/soundtrack will give a disturbing/confusing atmosphere for the audience.

Thriller Music

The music within a thriller film is usually dark and ominous with a fast drumbeat. This helps to build up tension with the fast drumbeat and makes the audience think something bad will happen because of the ominous tones.

The music generally fits in with what is happening on screen, this will help build the tension and can sometimes hint to the audience that something is bad is about to happen. However there are occasions where the music seems like nothing about to happen and then there is a crescendo of the music that is very loud and will often make the audience jump, along with the actual screenplay.

Donnie Darko (Psychological Thriller)

Donnie Darko is a psychological thriller. The story line is deliberately woven together to confuse the audience and make them think about each element of the film. It is a psychological thriller because it tries to make the audience think the main character (Donnie Darko) is going insane, when in fact he has a bigger concept on reality than the rest of the characters.

Scene from Donnie Darko

There is little violence in the film, however, the violence which is portrayed in the film is directly linked to the story.

The costumes and sets to the film are all generally dark and mysterious to reflect the story line and the personality of the main character. For example, the costume of the character that you originally think is Donnie's imaginary friend has a very disturbing rabbit costume. this creates fear and suspense in the audience.

Target Audience

Our thriller project will be aimed at teenagers and young adults, this is because of it's psychological and kidnap themes, it would be a threat to young audiences and uninteresting. The planned certification of 12/12A indicates that the themes and content will be more suitable for this audience, and is another reason for our target audience. The dark uncertainty of the opening sequence would put the audience on the edge of there seat and would is the kind of non-horrific thrill that audience want.

The target audience will have some interest in kidnap and psychological issues, particularly with death and the cotard syndrome mentioned by one of our characters. The film is increasingly appealing in today's media as we see more and more stories of kidnapping, this would further the size of our audience.

Children's Film: Reflection & Improvement

We were all generally happy with our children's film. However, there are defiantly some improvements we would like to make:

• Opening Credits: we want to improve our opening credits. we didn't spend much time on our ones in the children's film and they did not look as professional as we would like. 
• Dialog: our dialog was also unprofessional in our children's film. We will look to improve this in our thriller.
• Transitions: our transitions in our children's film were not very clean and seemed amateur. We are going to spend more time on these to make them look better. 
• Range of long/mid/close up shots: we will make sure we get a lot more shot types in our film to make it more professional. 

We were relatively happy with the music in our children's film. We will try really hard to try and make our music as good as it was in the children's film. However, we do think it will be harder to write thriller music because it much more subtle.  

Filming Evaluation

We filmed our project on February 8th at Jesus Green, after college. The filming process was a mostly a success, we followed the schedule to start at 15:30, and we finished at an earlier time of roughly 17:30. We decided to film scene two first as this is the lighter day-light scene, which went really well and we have all the shots needed. The only problem we had was that it was a busy time, there were many pedestrians and cyclists which caused the filming to be disturbed, overall this has corrupted the overall atmosphere of the the piece. Another problem which we had is that the Dolly wheels were not suited to the terrain of Jesus Green, to overcome this problem we decided not to use the Dolly as it would have effected the quality of our sequence but instead we held the camera whilst moving backwards. Although we finished earlier we didn't spend enough time on filming specific scenes, we will need to book the camera for another filming day.

Scene one takes place during a dusk period and we did film at this time, although we found that it quickly got dark we the lighting is insufficient as we watch the footage back. This is obviously a major problem and so we are planning to re-film this short scene at some later date and with more time. Until then, however, we will be continuing to work on the editing of the other scene, the ident, the soundtrack and sound effects amongst other tasks.

The footpath that we filmed down

Schedule

This is our Schedule for the day of filming. We will be filming on the Tuesday 8th February. It is important to have a filiming schedule so that we are able to effectively film everything thing we need and not to waste time. It also helps us know where we are all supposed to be and what we are supposed to be doing.

14:40 - 14:50 = Arrive at media lesson to collect equipment (camera, tripod, dolly)
14:50 - 15:05 = Bus 7 to Jesus Green
15:05 - 15:30 = Get off bus/arrive at set location
15:30 - 15:45 = Set up equipment and costumes etc. Prepare for filming.
15:45 - 16:15 = Finalize ideas and adjust for changes.
16:15 - 17:20 = Film scene 2 (More daylight needed)
17:20 - 17:55 = Film scene 1 (The darker scene which will require dusk lighting)
17:55 - 18:10 = Pack away equipment (George Adamson will be taking the equipment and will be returning it to College the next moring.)


Changes may be made to the schedule closer to the day of filming.

Script

Here is a script that we have created, it will help us during the filming process, and also the editing process.

Scene 1:

This scene will be entirely based on the actions of the main character, and the voiceover of the kidnapper. A student is running away frantically from something, the audience doesn't know who or what it is.(ext. switch between mid-shot and close up of him running. Shaky camera work.) The audience then sees through the eyes of the kidnapper, and we begin to hear a voiceover. The scene cuts as the climax, just before we expect the student to be grabbed.

Shot 6 -7, near the end of the scene

Voiceover: He's got no chance. Let me take you back to the beginning.

Scene 2:

This scene follows the students as they are walking and talking through the same area of the park (ext. long-mid shot). There is an equilibrium here, which conflicts with the mood of scene one. They walk past the kidnapper, or 'shady' man who they make a comment on (ext. mid shot/over the shoulder shot of  man on bench). One of the students in the group has disappeared so they begin to look around for him. (ext. shaky camera work to show panic) They become worried and so start walking away from the scene, quickly (ext. long-mid shot zooming out as they get further away). The kidnapper appears as an illusion in different places in the park, and we can hear the voiceover of the kidnapper has he talks to the two remaining students (ext. mid shots, 180 degree rule, moving left and right quickly)

(Students walking through Jesus Green - Shot 8)
(Ext. Establishing/long shot)

Student 1: Did you go to the Dr Jeremy's lecture the other day?

Student 2: Yeah I did. He was talking about neuropsychiatric disorders, and was focusing on one called Cotard Syndrome.

Student 3: What's that? (Ext. Mid-shot - characters continue to talk.)

Student 2: Well, it's when someone believes that they are either dead or just immortal. It's really rare though.
Student 1: Oh, sounds confusing to me. Got some notes for it?
Student 2: Yeah, I'll email them to you tonight.

(Look down at 'shady' man  - Shot 10)
(Ext. Over the shoulder shot - looking at man on bench)
(Ext. Close up - two characters looking at each other shocked)
Student 1: He looked a bit weird.  (Ext. 180 degree rule)
Student 2: Yeah...yeah he did. Don't you think 'Student 3'?...'Student 3'?! (Ext. Mid-shot - one character has disappeared.)
Student 1: Where is he?! (Ext. 180 Degree rule/ Reaction shots)
Student 2: I don't know, he's gone.

(Look back at bench. 'Shady' man gone. Students begin to frantically search for him.)
(Ext. POV shot)
(Ext. Low angle/mid shot - characters looking around panicking)
(Ext. Long shot)
(Ext. Static establishing shots)
(Ext. Handheld)
Student 1: We better get out of here. Phone someone. Tell them what's happened.
Voiceover: You wouldn't want to do that. (Ext. Long Shot)
Student 2: Who...what are you? (Ext. Mid-shot)
Voiceover: (patronising tone) Over here...
Student 1: Look it's that man! (Ext. High angle)
Voiceover: (laughing) I am neither here nor there. I am everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I'm meant for this world, and theres nothing you can do about it.

(Students running away. Black screen - shot 24)
(Ext. Tracking Mid-shot)
Voiceover: That was just the beginning though. 

Specific Filming Dates

After finding out what days we are free we managed to set a day (tuesday 8th February) after college where we will. We are all free on this day and can travel to our locations together from college so we can be sure that no one will be late or wont turn up. We will pick the camera up at 2:40pm along with the dolly and return it 9am 9th February

This is also suitable because it will be at a time of day close to the sun going down. This means we will not be waiting for hours for the sun to go down. As it is also during the week, we are more likely to get on with the work and use the time we have appropriately to ensure we get the filming done swiftly.

If we use the time we have appropriately we might be able to complete the filming in one session, this may change as we may have other things that effect our filming i.e weather conditions.

Location Recce

Before we start filming our film we will need to check out the locations. We will need to do this for many reasons:

• To see where we could put the camera and where the actors could stand
• To see what time it will get dark and to see if the visibility would be right for the shots we need to make. 
• To see if there will be any issues with traffic/bus times etc. This could add unwanted noise to our film.
• To make sure that the location provides what is required for the shots.
• To make sure the location is what we expected it to be.

By checking to see if the location is suitable it will save us a lot of time. It will also lead to making a better film as our shot will seem more professional and effective.

 

Whilst on location, we could do a digital storyboard, doing this will enable us to get an idea of what a good idea is when we begin to film. The digital storyboard will allow us to experiment with different angles and views of the location helping us to decide what will and will not work.

Issues with the location

•  The location is near to two busy roads, to avoid the issue of too much background sound we will film further away from the roads near to the centre of Jesus Green.
•  Members of the public will be walking through Jesus Green, these need to be kept out of shot

Agenda for Project

• Script
• Shot-list
• Story-board
• Costume
• Test shoot/Location Recce
• Actors
• Schedule
• Ident Sequence?

Pitch - Evaluation

We delivered our pitched about the concept of our film and how we are going to film/edit the film to the rest of our class. Here are the questions we were asked by other members of our class.


Q) What classification is your film going to be and why?

A)  We chose our film to be a 12 certificate because of the low level of violence. The only real threat shown will be the threat of kidnapping.

Q) Who are you going to use for your actors?

A) At the present moment, We shall be playing the roles in the narrative. We need to decide on a filming date before we can ask our friends if they can help us.

Q) What time of day will you film this and why?

A) We will be filming in the evening so that it would be quite dark and quiet.

Q) What do you want to improve on from the last project?

A) The Titles in our children's film project were at a basic level, in this project we want to make sure our titles are quite advance

Q) Will you use any animation in the project

A) Other than the animation of the scanner in the Ident, No.

Q) why did you choose your location?

A) We chose the Midsummer Common/Jesus Green area because, it is quite isolated and it would be realistic place for a kidnapping to occur. there are also not many street lamps so it will give a low lighting effect that we are looking for.

MoodBoard

The mood board is all images related to Thriller Theme and images that inspired our story line.

Filming Roles

We will all have different roles, varying from actors, director, camera man, costume manager.

The Director:
The Director will have control over the exact location of filming and how certain angles should be shot. Although this maybe decided before the filming process, things may need to be changed for certain reasons.

Professional director of a film

Camera Man:
The Camera Man will make sure the camera is steady, at an appropriate angle and that the camera is safe and that no equipment is left on set and captured on film or broken. The Camera Man will also have a say on how the shots are taken i.e. what angles etc.

Prop and Costume Manager:
The Prop and Costume Manager will be in control and be in charge of the costumes and props and making sure they are appropriate to the story line and theme. They will also make sure no props or costumes are left behind, broken or left in the shot during filming.

The Actors:
Will obviously be following the directions of the Director, Camera Man and Prop Manager in order to make the film look and feel how it is intended to. They will also need to try hard to make their acting seem realistic and as professional as possible.