Filming Session 4 Report

This filming session consisted of the scenes in Ben's house, which was easy to get to from school, however I could not do the original day we were supposed to film, so we had to move the filming back a day and only me and Ben could film because Amelia was unable to get there on that day. This could have been more convenient if more of us could drive as none of us had passed our driving test at the time I had to go to Ben's house, so one of Ben's friends had to drive and if we had filmed somewhere like my house which is slightly easier to get to, but I wasn't to keen on using my house at the time of deciding where to film.
However, they were the only main criticisms as the filming itself went really well and we managed to film in just over an hour. I filmed Ben making a cup of tea and then walking into the living room to watch the news report, which is what we wanted originally and then we decided to film an establishing shot for Ben's house, to set the scene.

Filming Session 3 Report

In this scene, we managed to get one of Ben's friends to act as the part of an army officer. Obviously, we had to go through a few takes first, but this was made less difficult due to the fact that we didn't need any sound as this would be a 5 second clip in the finished result. We were well equipped in terms of costume as our actor goes to army cadets, so this was all easy to film. However, in terms of location, we didn't have a lot of time to plan where we would be filming, so we had to settle for a car park and our actor, instead of marching on an airfield or an army barracks, was in fact marching on a pedestrianised footpath, therefore in the future, we would need to plan our location better, so somewhere like nearby Carver Barracks.

Evaluation

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Here are some examples of shots from our media product and real media products, in this case thriller films, and how we have challenged the conventions of real media products:

Our main character is shown here pouring the milk into his tea in our thriller film. We have challenged the thriller conventions here because this is not usual for a thriller film as it can be a usual ritual of life at home, however, it gives an insight of what the lifestyle of our main character is like, therefore making it more unusual.

In comparison, this is a picture from the TV series "Dexter", where, similarly, the main character called Dexter is in the process of making coffee, which also challenges the thriller convention.  The problem with this comparison, however, is that our media product is a film and Dexter is a TV series, so the two prospects should be very different, but they are similar in this case.

This scene is where we used food colourings to make it look like blood, which is typical in a thriller film.

As mentioned above, blood is an important feature of thriller films, especially in this iconic image from the famous Alfred Hitchcock thriller "Psycho" which shows the blood of the woman who has just been murdered in the shower going down the plughole

Here are two pairs of frames in which we have developed the forms and conventions of real media products:

This is a scene from a real media product, the military film, "Saving Private Ryan". Films which involve the army have made an impact on the media, mainly after Vietnam and especially in the 1980's and 1990's with films like "Saving Private Ryan" (1998) and "Platoon" (1986).

 Similarly, we have used an army scene and have developed it by using an effect called "Desaturation". This gives the feel to the viewer that this scene is set in the past tense, and this should help establish that our main character's work in the army was in the past, as well as the scenes with him watching the news and making coffee.

In the film "Children of Men" (2006), there is a news report at the beginning like our film, helping establish the current events of when the film is set. This makes the viewer aware of what is going on without too much confusion.

We have developed our news report from this by making it appear on the whole screen, therefore the viewer will see just the news report and not the television that our character is watching the news report on. We considered the latter originally, but as it was difficult to film the news report on the television in the same shot, we decided realistically that it would be better to cut straight to the full screen shot of the news report.

In a lot of cases, many parts of our thriller film can be compared to the American hit TV series "Dexter", however, Dexter is the same genre as our film, thriller.

We have challenged the forms and conventions of real media products.

2. How does your media product represent particlar social groups?

http://prezi.com/rtpgcnujd85x/how-does-your-media-product-represent-particular-social-groups/

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

http://nfgsmedia.wikispaces.com/Hyperion

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

1. An example of the sort of person who would be the audience for our film is a 38 year old male named Simon.


2. He has no children
3. He has a girlfriend he has been with for 3 months


4. He frequently goes to Sci-Fi conventions


5. He enjoys films like "The Matrix", and he has seen the trilogy 68 times. He is also into all the Simon Pegg films like Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Paul.

6. He is middle class and lives in a small town near London, like Bishop's Stortford.


7. He is right wing and votes conservative because they tax richer people less and he is well off.
8. He likes the idea of our film because it was filmed and set nearby to where he lives.
9. In terms of money, he is doing well, because he stayed single most of the time and he likes to save his money.
10. He doesn't keep himself fit but is quite skinny and tall.
11. He moved out of his parents house when he was 25 years old.
12. He listens to 1970's progressive rock because that is the music he grew up with and doesn't understand the music of today.
13. His parents also had quite a bit of money and were middle class, therefore they paid for his university fees.
14. He went to a modest university doing a computer science bachelors degree.
15. He works as a IT technician in an office and has worked there since he graduated from University.
16. His favourite hobby is painting army figurines and his girlfriend doesn't understand why he does it.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

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

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

This is an image of the camera we used to film our material. We have learnt a lot with this camera, as, when we did the preliminary task, we were unsure what the buttons meant and the camerawork was shaky at times, however, now, we know most of the buttons and our film is in focus.

Here is another image of the camera we used to film.

This is the computer our group used in our blog work, and the website in this image is our blog on the Blogger website.

This is a picture of me and the tripod we used to make sure our filming was not wobbly.

This is another image of the tripod we have used. We have progressed with using this tripod because, at first, we found it difficult to use, a good example is the filming in our preliminary task.

This is another picture of the computer we did most of our work on.

This is an image of Ben's computer screen where, on the Music software "Logic", Ben created a thriller sound for the opening of our Thriller film.

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back at our preliminary task, we have learnt about how to film in a better way, an example of this is in the preliminary task, we have a low angle shot of Amelia compared to the high angle shot of me. Also, the camerawork was quite shaky and, at point, when cutting from Amelia opening a door to her entering a room as the camera angle changes, the screen goes black for a split second and it is still noticeable.
However, we have improved because now the camerawork is less shaky and, when cutting between shots, the screen doesn't go black for a split second anymore. Also, we have included the use of a reaction shot from Ben during the news report, to show the mood of our character.

A screenshot from our preliminary task

Progress report on doing the evaluation 1

So far we have done most of number 1 getting the images to compare to our film. We have done most of number 3 and 4. We are have done number 5 and 7.

Filming Session 2 Report

This part of the filming went well; we filmed a news report in the same Science room as the scene with the food colourings and test tubes, which made the location aspect of the filming easy. What we did was we filmed the news reporter in front of the whiteboard and we created a background with Earth and the words "London Network News" to make it look like an actual news report
We managed to get someone not in our group to act, which was useful, especially as it would be noticed if the only actors were me, Ben and Amelia! However, we did have to film lots of takes as Josh (our actor/news reporter) forgot his lines a few times. Instead of Josh reading the lines for the news report from the table, which was clearly visible by the camera, it looked more professional if Josh was looking at the camera most of the time (and for him not to misread his lines!) and we achieved this by Amelia holding the lines next to the camera, and this proved to be successful.

Filming Session 1 Report

The first part of the Thriller film that we filmed was in one of the rooms in the Science Block at school. Amelia and I wore white coats as we were acting as scientists, and we were pouring liquid (we used food colourings) into test tubes. Thankfully, unlike in the preliminary task, both Amelia and myself were grateful that we didn't have any lines!
We were lucky to have the food colouring and to use the Science room, and, as we were pouring the food colouring away, we saw that the red food colouring looked like blood all over the sink, therefore we had to get a shot of that and put it into the film.
I think this was an excellent filming session, and was a lot more interesting and thought requiring then previous tasks.

Sound For News Report

We have noticed that when we filmed our news report, the camera picked up lots of background sounds. So we have been looking at ways to get rid of it. We have been trying out using a noise gate on the sound which gets rid of the background noise, when our news reporter is not speaking. We have been experimenting with the use of the parametric EQ to try and get rid of the background sound when our character is speaking. So far, we aren't very successful, because it sounds quite robotic. But the hope is that if we play background music, then the unwanted background sounds will be inaudible.

Results of Font choice survey

We have chosen font number 3 which is the most popular one on our survey and is our favourite.

Questionnaire for the font choice for our title sequence

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Film Name and Fonts used in title sequence

After much deliberation, we have decided to call the film: 'Unfortunate Incidents'. We have been researching different fonts to use for the title sequence using a website called www.dafont.com, which lets the user look through a variety of different fonts, and then download the chosen font. Here are a few we have been looking at:-

News Report

We have been preparing to do our news report for a quick scene in our main task. To give a sense of authenticity, we have made a background that looks like it could be real.

Our news reporter will be sitting in the lower middle area to give the news report.

Certification by the BBFC guidelines

We believe that our film will be rated 15 by the BBFC, and here is why.

Discrimination

The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour - We will adhere to this as there will be not endorsement of any discriminatory language and with behaviour, our main killer, is brought to justice and therefore there is no endorsement of any bad behaviour.

Drugs

Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable - We will adhere to this as as there will only be drugs that are affecting our character in a very bad way. Therefore, there is no encouragement.

Horror

Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised - We will adhere to this as there will be no sadistic or sexualised menace or threat.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised - This is adhered to because there will be no dwelling detail that could be copied and easily accessible weapons will not be sexualised.

Language

There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’). The strongest  terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable - There will be no aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language, so this rule is adhered to.

Nudity

Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context - There will be no nudity, therefore the rules are more than adhered to. 

Sex

Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely  to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable - This is adhered to as there is no sexual activity in the film.

Theme

No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds - Adhered to as the film is appropriate to 15 year olds.

Violence

Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification - There will be no dwelling of infliction of pain/injury, it will be not very gory as it will just focus on quickly killing without any strong, gory content. No sexual violence.

Some of the content on this page was recieved from the BBFC website.

Script for News Report in main task

The News report will have a screen in the background with, in large text, 'London Network News'.

The News reporter will be wearing a smart suit.

For the background of our news report, we found this stock photo, which we could use:

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Communications_and_N_g263-Digital_Earth_p25978.html

To ensure that our news reporter will be always looking towards the camera, and not towards a script, we will have on large sheets, the entire script, that will be held next to the camera, so that our news reporter looks like they are looking at the camera.

'Turns on TV'
News Reporter:- 'At least 5 women between the ages of 18 and 25 have been reported missing in the area of North London. Images have been caught on CCTV of a suspect that is, male, believed to be aged between 18 and 23 that appears to be around 6 foot.'

Credits of our main task

At the start, we will have our main logo come up.

It will then come up with 'Presents, in association with 'Big films limited'

An 'Awesome film production'

Ben Smith

Sam Ruparelia

Amelia Quinn
Alex Pleasance
Josh Beaumont
Chloe Phillips

'Film Name'

Casting by Joey Josephson

Music by Will Hamilton

Edited by Bob Charlick, Imogen Heath and Eva Bobworthy

Produced by Matt Newby, Anthony Govey and Marisa Debarso

Written by Charlie McKendry

Directed by Teresa Green

Storyboard of main Task Version 2

Lighting

As mentioned before in the Conventions post, we could consider the use of the shadow for dramatic effect, and to do this, we will need to think about the lighting.

This is set during the night, so as mentioned before in the Props post, we may need to have characters using their phones or torches as lights to see if the characters are outside.

When the characters are in the house, we could use dim lights to tie in with the mood being conveyed, or a night vision mode on the camera.

Location

For the scenes that are in the house, we are considering filming in Ben's house, as it is the most convenient from the school and a house is needed for the opening scene. The main part of the house that we will be using is the shots of one of the characters watching the news report on the television.

We may need to use another building as well for the scene with the main character and the science experiments and conveniently, the best location for this will be the science laboratories in the school.

We also need some outside locations to convey a mysterious mood, so for the exterior shots of the house, we will either use the outside of Ben's house or perhaps a forest or another leafy area.

For the scenes with the news report that is being watched in the house on television, we may have to use somewhere in the school like a large cupboard or small room but there are problems with that because there will need to be a lot of editing behind the news reporter as news reporters are not usually reporting from cupboards!

Props

For the character's props, clearly weaponary will be needed, as the main character is in the army. The characters may be seen with phones as well, so the main army character could have an iPhone. As there are other characters as well, some may be rich and others perhaps not as wealthy, so the phones could range from the iPhone to a basic £2 phone from Tesco if we decide to explore this area in further detail.
If this is set at night time, it may be necessary to include the character's with torches, if they are in a location such as a forest to help make the mood more mysterious and convey a dark mood. As the characters may not be prepared for any mysterious events, instead of having their torches, they can use the light from their phones in the night to explore the area.

Costume

As a group, we have decided that the main character will be in the army, so this will be what the character will be mainly wearing. This tells us what connotations he carries, so from his uniform we can tell that his background is military and his badges will show experience and rewards.

 This image is typical of what army officers wear, however, this is a US army uniform, so we might have a slightly different costume.

Conventions

Convention 1


One of the main conventions used in the thriller genre are cliffhangers: in Alfred Hitchcock's films, cliffhangers played a dominant role. In Saboteur, they had a literal cliffhanger:

The man on the Statue of Liberty was very good for its time, which was 1942.

Also there was the scene in Mount Rushmore in North by Northwest in 1959, in which there are 2 people hanging from the top of Mount Rushmore.
These two scenes show that cliffhangers/scenes that are very high above the ground are common in major Hitchcock films.

Convention 2

The use of music and suspense are very important conventions in thriller films. This is because they keep the viewer watching and is done well in the Hitchcock film Psycho, where the use of music keeps us watching when the woman gets killed at the beginning but the killer is not revealed and there is a feeling of suspense.

Convention 3

The use of blood, obviously, has a dramatic effect and is a key characteristic for this style of film. In the famous shower scene in Psycho, you can see the blood falling into the plug of the shower, and even though it is black and white, you can still tell that it is blood, which must have been difficult to do as it was made over 50 years ago. Also, you see the motion of the killer stabbing but you do not see it going into the victim's body.

This scene may have influenced other film directors to use blood as Hitchcock was one of the first thriller film makers, and it set the boundaries for thriller films, until over the years films became more graphic and you do see actual people being stabbed.

Convention 4

A very powerful way of keeping the viewer watching and making them know a murder is about to happen is the use of the shadow. The viewer knows that someone could be killed or is being watched, keeping the tension and making the viewer wanting to know what will happen next. When focusing on filming when we are considering the lighting, we could think about using a shadow for a dramatic effect on the viewer.