Sound for Titles

We used a sound effect to accompany our title for Adrenaline Productions. This sound effect is futuristic and fits the title really well. We edited it in premiere pro to make it fit when the writing explodes and when the gravity brings it back. It was off a website which has royalty free downloads.

This is a screenshot of the sound effect and the website that we downloaded it from.

Hunted First Cut

This is the first cut of mine and Mitchell's film "Hunted".

After Effects Progress

We chose our film production company to be called Adrenaline Productions. We wanted our title animation to really stand out over any other title sequence. Before taking Media i did not know how to use Adobe After Effects to make animations that look really professional and can be added straight into our film very easily. I learned in after effects how to use different effects. I used YouTube to look for tutorials on how to create title animations that were a hard difficulty. Me and mitchell worked really well together as a team. One of us would watch the tutorial and relay information tot he other who was after effects. This made it much easier to get it done. We did not encounter any problems because we chose a tutorial which did not require any pug-ins. Like using the gravity feature which allows your to change the gravity on the animation to go from 0 to full. This makes the animation explode and then the 100 gravity brings it back to show the text in a new and different way. This is a picture of the title in after effects.

This is also the video tutorial we used to make our titles look the way they do. This really helped us learn more on after effects and now I feel much more confident to do more and bigger editing on after effects. The tutorial was split up into two parts and took us a whole 2 hour lesson to complete. However me and Mitchell are very happy with the finished product.

Script

The idea of our film was to create suspense and for the character to enter a dream state where everything was happening in his sleep and was not in reality. This means that trying to add dialogue in the right scenes was very hard. The start of the film was designed to be dark and eerie so me and Mitchell decided not to put dialogue in this part of the film.

When the character enters the dream we see the female character (Katie). This is where we believed the dialogue would be most appropriate. When the female character hears the doorbell ring she goes to answer the door. However when the doorbell rings again she stops on the stairs and says

"alright, i'm coming now"

This shows that the female character is totally unaware of what is about to happen to her. This changes the audiences view on the film and keeps them on the edge of their seat. This is the only dialogue that we put into the opening of the film. This in unusual for the opening of a Thriller and goes against the conventions for the Thriller genre.

If we were to do the script next time we would think out the plot of the film more and look more closely at where we could add dialogue in.

Feedback - Miss Spencer

First Cut Feedback

The narrative is a little difficult to follow, but once we get into the 'dream' and back out again it becomes clear. You have used some variety on camera shots, movement etc, and built up good sequences with match on action etc. You have also clearly managed to learn a lot about After Effects in a very short time, your logo is particularly impressive.   
The pace of the dream is a little slow, but some sound effects etc. should help this along. Perhaps think of adding flash transitions or some colour correction to make this more obvious.
Nice blur effect on the dream sequence (but reduce it on the reply from the girl, as we can't read her text)
In order to help you improve this you could think about the following:
The logo needs a sound effect under it
create the link into the dream sequence
Sound effects in the dream sequence
sort out the sound under the dream sequence - use effects, not music (this shouldn't have the conventions of a trailer)
Add your titles
possibly re-record the second reply - the light shining on it makes it impossible to read.
Fix the 'all right I'm coming with a sound bridge, this will make it more realistic,

Well done, and keep improving, this cold be a good solid film.

Miss Spencer

Production Schedule

Production Schedule - Hunted

Filming Dates: 20/10/14
                         16/11/14

                         19/11/14

Meeting Time: From 12 PM - 4 PM

Address for cast and crew to meet at:

165 Sycamore

Wilnecote

Tamworth

Staffordshire

B775HF

22 Whiting 
Dosthill 
Tamworth
Staffordshire
B771HP

List of crew and cast contacts

Mitchell = 07749274019

Cory = 07447439276

Stuart = 07587177857

Katie = 07891581493


Props:  Laptop
            Mobile Phone
            Chocolate Box
            Computer
            Toys

Equipment : Tripod 
                     Sony 1080p Camcorder
                     Steady Cam
                              

Time	Location	Scene	Shots needed	Cast/props etc.
1 PM - 3 PM	165 Sycamore	Walk up stairs and bedroom scene	Shots 1-10	Mitchell Toys on bedroom floor
2 PM	22 Whiting	Kidnapping Scene.	Shots 11-25	Katie Stuart Laptop Chocolate Mobile phone
12 PM	Landau Forte Sixth Form	Messaging on Phone Scene	Shots 26-30	Mitchell Mobile phone Computer

Storyboard

The Pitch

To prepare for our pitch to the class we made a PowerPoint presentation on the Mac. It consisted of the names of the people in my group. It then went on to explain the plot of the film and the name that we came up with after research of conventional Thriller Film.

At first we were going to run with a Horror genre film but then we thought again about how easy it would be for us to get the right cast and be able to get all the shots to put the film together. Due to these aspects we changed the idea of the film to a Thriller and this is what we pitched to the class. 

We looked our presentation explained all this in good detail. It then went onto explain who our dream director would be. We chose James Wann to be our dream director. He is mostly known for his Horror Genre films but we believe that he could add this into a Thriller genre and make it a one of a kind thriller film. A sub genre in thriller is supernatural occurrences and this is what James Wann specializes in when filming his films. 

We chose the target audience to be from 16-18. This is because at this age people are more mature and can deal with watching films that contain both physical and entail violence. If we created the same film and looked at advertising to any lower age group I think it would be a mistake because they would not get the film.

Unfortunately I was ill on the day we had to present our pitch. Despite this the rest of my group still carried on with the presentation. When i returned the week after they gave me some feedback about what was good and what could have been improved. This shows good teamwork and communication with my group.       

Film Schedule

Filming at Mitchell's house - 18th of October

Filming at my house - 15th November

Filming at Landau Sixth Form - 20th November

Our filming schedule changed considerably throughout the making of our film. Our first filming date was the 18th of October. This was already in our filming schedule and we managed to stick to this. In order to run with the schedule we went into the Landau on the 18th of October. We picked up the camera we were going to use and went back to Mitchell's house to start filming the up the stairs and bedroom scene.

We then returned the camera because it had ran out of charge. On the 15th of November we took the camera back out and filmed the female character and her scene. This was actually filmed on the 16th of November because the female actor was not available on the 15th. 

The filming at Landau was not actually planned for. This filming was needed to fill some gaps that Miss Spencer had brought up when looking at our film during lesson. We then added this into our filming schedule and filmed it on the 20th of November.

Overall I think that me and Mitchell maybe could have use dour time better and filmed some more shots but we still managed to get different shots and the first cut of our film we believe is up to standard we want it to be.

Mind Maps

To start ideas for our film we thought about a wide variety of options. I personally found this really helpful because it allowed me to look at what the conventions were for different genres of films and look at which one looked the most interesting to go in more depth with and learn more about. My group looked at Horror, Thriller and Rom-Com. We then used a spider diagram technique to branch the genre out into its smaller sub-genres. We then branched out more and looked at what conventions each sub genre had.

This is the spider diagram we did. We looked closely at the Horror genre during our lessons. This meant that me and my partner in my group decided we wanted to do a different genre to learn more about differences in the film industry.












This is the spider diagram we did for the Thriller genre. The little sections we did on the spider diagram got us really interested in the genre. This is why we finally decided to use Thriller as our film genre. With further research I fount out that there were many sub genres under the Thriller Genre which made me more interested.










This is the first quick draft I did for the conventions that are normally in a romantic comedy film. We did not decide to research this genre any further because me and Mitchell believed that we did not want to make a romantic comedy film. We were more interested in the Thriller genre of film.

Logo's and Opening Titles

Sky fall Titles = When i first saw these titles i instantly thought they would fit our Thriller Genre film perfectly. I really like the font of the text and also the colour fill. The colour of the text is white but with dust and mud over it. It gives it an off look and a mystery behind the writing. This is exactly what i want our titles to represent in our film. In the title sequence the text is quite small but still big enough to read easily. This allows the audience to carry on watching action in the background whilst reading the titles. The text fades in and then fades out. This gave me some good ideas of how we can change the entry of the text and differ it from the exit of text. 

Taking the Sky fall titles as and idea to create our titles we looked at the way the title could be presented. This meant we needed to go onto after effects and use the software to our advantage to create a title opening that people had never seen before. We used YouTube to look at tutorials on how to make opening titles look good and different. We found one that made the title explode out on the screen then has an animation that looks like the explosion gets pulled back in by gravity to spell out the title. Me and Mitchell looked at other ideas but believed this was the best effect to use. The reason for this was because we did not have to install any extra plug ins to make the opening title sequence. Furthermore we feel like the explosion represents the story line of our film how everything goes wrong. However when the explosion gets pulled back it represents how the film gets solved later on. The audience may not recognize this when they watch it but we like how it will represent what the film is about.

We have not yet made a logo for our film production company name. This will be done soon after we see how the title fits into the film and how well the effect works. We used Adobe importing link between after effects and premiere pro to transfer it over. It worked fine however we set the wrong dimensions which meant when we imported to premiere pro it was the wrong size. We fixed this by stretching it out. However if we were to do this again we would make sure we got set the right parameters before doing anything.

Risk Assessment

Risk assessment

Research what a risk assessment is? Who uses them? What do they include? What do they look like?

A risk assessment is a procedure that is enforced by the law, it is an operation where a company for a film will have to go to the area that they shooting the film beforehand and look around the area for any hazards or dangers that could possibly occur whilst shooting the film. If this is not done and someone is injured then this can be taken to court and it can cost the company and considerable amount of money to pay of the charges accused against them.

A risk assessment is used by governing bodies at by the company who will tell the film producers before they film to go and check the scene for any risks however if this is not implemented by the producer and the risk assessment is no complete then he or she themselves will be sued and charged for the hazards that have happened.

In a risk assessment you need to check and consider the other people that are involved with producing and filming the film. We should involve in our risk assessment the consideration of other people, that safety precautions are in place, all risks have been assessed and the remaining risk is at an all-time minimum.

This is what they look like above where you have a hazard or a risk but next o it you have the action or solution in order to either prevent the risk or show them what to do if the risk was to happen to someone on the set that is part of the cast, this includes actors, camera people, director, the runner (directors assistant)

 Why have risk assessments? How important is it when making a film?

It is very important to carry out a risk assessment before going onto set to film your movie. First of all filming is a job and the set of a scene can be called a workplace. This means The Health and Safety At Work Act 1974 covers it. This states that all employers or responsible persons on the workplace must carry out a detailed risk assessment to assess the hazards and risk of the hazard harming any person on that workplace in open hours. This makes it a criminal offence and against the law to not carry out a risk assessment. If a risk assessment is not carried out before going onto to set, if an accident happened to any one on set then you would be liable. This means it would not be the company’s fault and all the responsibility would be put on the management of the set.

Although it seems like a boring task before filming it is mighty important. Different sets have lots of different hazards. For example if you are filming a set from height then there is the hazard of falling. If you are filming a scene underwater there is a hazard of the person drowning. All these hazards might seem very unlikely but they all have to be taken into account. A risk assessment is used so that if something happens you can show the court that you did your risk assessment and looked at the hazard. You can then show them that you decided to go ahead with the filming after doing a risk assessment because you felt the likelihood of the hazard causing harm was very unlikely. By doing a risk assessment you are then also insured under the company. This means if something did happen then they would be liable and have to go to go to court instead of you because you have done your job and carried out a risk assessment.

What types of dangers might you come across during a shoot? How would ensure everyone on site is as safe as possible?

Whilst shooting, you will come across a few health and safety hazards and you will need to assess the risk of the hazard. When shooting outside, there could be major tripping hazards, for example you could see that there is a tree root sticking out of the ground which one of the actors could trip on. To avoid this hazard either move where you are shooting to an area where there are no tree roots coming out of the ground. An example of an inside hazard could be sharp objects, for example you could have a bannister at the top of your stairs which is sharp and to avoid the hazard of hurting yourself on it you could put a foam bumper around it to avoid the risk. 

Casting

Our film opening is a very unique idea and needs the right cast to fit each part perfectly. We chose the cast on how we think they would perform in front of the camera.

The main part of the film opening is that the child of the two parents goes from being young to older. To do this we used my friend Mitchell who is also in my group and is a big part of the film making. He will act as the older child in its teenage age. 16-17 is what we want the audience to believe. Mitchell has got a smaller brother that we can film as the younger him. We believe this is the best way of representing the two different ages in people.

The storyline to our film requires a female character that can look and act about the same age as the younger (Mitchell). We used Katie Lester as the actor for this role. We believed that she suited the part perfectly because she is small in size and very pretty. This is the idea me and my partner in my group was looking for from the start.

The last cast member we needed was the kid napper. I decided to use myself in this role. We wanted some one who was male and tall. This is because you do not get to see the face of the kidnapper. This means the audience has to get information of the character just from their stance and presence on screen. As well as this Mitchell who is my filming and editing partner was also starring in the film. I wanted to see what it was like to be infront of the camera as well as being behind the camera.

  

The Storyline

My story board has changed over the past couple of weeks. This is due to problems with filming and our cast member not being able to make the days organised between all of us. This meant that we had to do 3 separate days of filming. This meant that by the time we were onto the 3rd filming slot we had other ideas on what story to take.

We finally decided that this will be the story we are going to run:

We will start with the young version of the character (Aiden). He will be in bed and it will be late at night. We will get some still shots of him and then he will become restless in his sleep. The camera will then pan into his face so we can edit the shot to go into darkness then come back out into the title sequence.

The story will then cut to his girlfriend at the time. This will be a flash back which he is seeing in his dream. The female character (Katie) will be sitting on her laptop and relaxing in her room. She is going through a break up with (Aiden) and it brings her to tears when she is in her room. Suddenly the door bell rings and she goes to answer the door. She gets half way down the stairs and the doorbell rings again.This is to build tension. However the slow build up changes pace when she answers the door and the kid napper who remains unknown pulls her out the door by her neck. This keeps the audience on the edge of their seat because the tempo has changed so quickly. She will then be carried round the corner and that scene will end.

We will then start with the filming of the older, grown up version of the main character (Aiden). He will be lying in bed just how the younger version of him was at the start of the opening. He will then appear to wake from this flashback and come back into reality. The opening will stop when he wakes up and looks at the camera dead on.


The rest of the film would consist of the older version of (Aiden) finally realizing that what happened to his X girlfriend was not an accident and he will track down the men and women who did it to be with her at all costs. It will fit into the thriller genre through violence mentally and physically. It will hit the audience physiologically and will keep them on the edge of their seats.

Role Allocation

What roles are each of the group members going to take on?

We are deciding what roles to take on we are researching into different roles such as the director, editor etc. we have searched for the jobs and researched what they are:

·         Film director is the person who is in charge of the making of the film.

·         Film producer is the person who overlooks the whole project from different conceptions to the conclusion of the film

·         The film editor is the person who will chop and change the different shots of the film so that it looks its possible best it can, they will be approached by the film director to see if it looks good and correct.

·         The camera guy is the person that films the different shots

·         The sound person will be the person that will put the different sound effects together in order for the audience to catch the emotion and intensity of the film.

·         The actor is the person that is directed by the director and is told what he is needed for and what he has got to do in the film.

We will change roles throughout the filming and making of the film. This is so we can we can get a feel for how each role is different and get a first person view on what each role requires from yourself and others on set.

Feedback - Miss Spencer

Some excellent and detailed research into representation, even touching on reception. I will be doing some more work in lesson on reception theories which will take this blog into a level 4 if you add it at a later date.
I would, however, like to see a little more targeted research based on your genre.

What are the stereotypical representations in thriller?

Representation In Thriller Including Characters In My Film

Representation 

Media representations are the ways in which the media portrays particular groups, communities, experiences, ideas, or topics from a particular ideological or value perspective. Rather than examining media representations as simply reflecting or mirroring “reality,” it is how media representations serve to “re-present” or to actually create a new reality. 

Representation happens in all types of media. For example, beer ads portray drinking beer as something needed to have a party. SUV ads create the impression that driving an SUV as an exciting, outdoor adventure. And, perfume/aftershave ads imply that using perfume/aftershave makes anyone that wears it sexually appealing. These ads all create ideology associated with the uses of these products.

Representation can be used in films as well as being a key thing in television ads. For example The Disney Corporation, one of the major producers of film and television, represents stories and fairy tales in films for children primarily in terms of White, Western, middle-class values.

Stereotypes is something that the media has helped to create. Media like films use stereotypes because the audience will instantly understand them. Think of stereotypes as a sort of visual shortcut. Archetypes are the ultimate stereo types. For example the stereotype of brainless blonde bimbos. A counter type is a representation that challenges tradition stereotypical associations of groups, people or places.


Representations can change over time. It is very rare for a representation of something to stay the same for a long period of time. For example Burberry used to be represented as sophisticated, classy and expensive. Now it is represented differently by the media.


When you are describing the representation of characters in a film, it is important to make specific and detailed reference to how production elements. This can include camera techniques, acting, mise en scene, editing, lighting and sound. These all contribute to character representation.



You can be trying to represent a teenager in a film.This would mean you changing for example the dialogue. A teenager speaks in their own way and have a different language to everyone else. This means in a film you change the style of dialogue so therefore the audience know the character is a teenager. 

In our film we will have a young child who is lay in bed. The character needs to be represented as the innocent child. To do this we need to represent him the right way. He will not have dialogue to show he is not confident. Another character is a Mother that gets kidnapped. This character will be very weak, sacred and small. This will fit the typical woman in distress character in Thriller films. The house the mother lives in is quite large which represents she may have a good job or her husband has a good income. This tells us more about the character without them even speaking. This is a form of representation.






This is a picture of Amy Winehouse that featured in almost every news article in Britain  This is not a film text, however it is the same principal and easier to explain. This picture makes Amy Winehouse stand out as being a drugged up and genrally loosing track of her life.However this is where media representations comes into it. This picture was used everywhere so the audience thinks she is always like she is in the image. 








However there are loads more images of her when she is fine and enjoying life. The media pick this photo because it is an interesting photo to write a story about. It gets the audience more involved and asking questions. If the media picked other, better photos then we would have a completely different view on Amy Winehouse.





This how the media can manipulate the audience in believing in stereotypes. Our film will have all the aspects of representation we need to tell the audience what type of characters are in the film. We will try to stick to the conventions of the Thriller Genre as close as we can so that the audience can tell it is the right genre of film.