inspirations post. Miss Miller

The definition of inspiration is "the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative." My idea of inspiration is to gain ideas and this is exactly what our group has done. We have all taken inspirations from many films. Mine include jaws, saw, the shinning, Texas chainsaw massacre and v for vendetta. The inspirations I have taken for our film is sound, conventions, cinematography, mise-en-scene and editing.

The first inspiration I got was from the film jaws. This is where i have taken the idea of an off screen sound from. In the clip I looked at, non-diagetic sound was the key to building tension and excitement amongst the audience. This is when the shark was approaching and the backing track was placed over the top. In our scene we are going to be using this sound technique however we will add a breathing effect. This is conventional as this is an easy way of creating tension in the audience as heavy breathing can cause panic or unease.

My second inspiration came from the film saw. This was their use of low key light under the frame of conventions. Most of the film was low key light and it kept the audience in suspense or it kept them guessing. We are going to use low key light in our scene when me and Lucy are in the building. This creates a sense of enigma and holds the audience suspense.

Another inspiration is cinematography and looking even deeper into that, the handheld shot. This was used in the film the shinning,. Where the camera is jerky and made to look like you are there to entice you further. We hope to use this handheld technique when the killer is behind me in our scene. The unbalanced and jumpy camera angle can send the audience into panic created through confusion. This can lead them into a bigger shock When they actually realise the danger on the screen.

The next inspiration is taken from Texas chainsaw massacre. I am looking at the costume and makeup used which comes under mise-en-scene. The makeup used for gore in this film was realistic. We hope to reenact this for our thriller film. This is when i am found dead hung over a tree. The more realistic it is, the better it is for the audience as this connotes the fact that this could actually be real provoking further emotions.

The final inspiration is taken from the film v for vendetta. I have looked at the editing styles in this film and particularly the jump cut. This is where the scene quickly changes angles or shots to create urgency or danger. In our thriller, the moment I leave Lucy will have this. This connotes tension amongst the audience and can really show both mine and Lucy's prospectives.

I feel without these inspirations our group wouldn't of got far. I think everyone needs a starting point taking ideas from award winning thrillers isn't a bad place to start. We will now take all these ideas and incorporate them all into our own thriller. Hopefully these points will really give our film an edge and will help portray stereotypical audience characteristics and emotions while watching the film.

Planning opening credits. Miss Georgiou

The start of our thriller will have an opening credits scene. Credits are important as they set the audience up for the film. Sometimes it can even set the scene in a location. It is also in the name 'credits' it is when a group of people are taking 'credit' for what they have produced or been apart of. In an opening credits sequence, I will be looking at the colours, styles, conventions and appearance.

The scene the class analysed was se7en. The colours are inconsistent as they change in fade and add an element of confusion amongst the audience. There is also the colour red which connotes blood, murder and death. The style is Jumpy and has a flicker effect. This could entice the audience and scare them as they are curious about the unknown or mysteriousness. A main convention is the unnatural noise. This is something out of place or something that doesn't belong. This can unease the audience which can keep them on the edge of their seat. The order of appearance is also important. The order was production company, director, actors, title of the film, actors, costumes, cameras, producer, writer and then director again. This is a very common order and will take inspirations from this for my thriller.

 The opening sequence I personally analysed is from the omen. The colours in this clip are very basic and clear to understand. The black and the red with cross on the floor could connote unholiness as we usually associate lighter colours with God. The style is very consistent and gives the audience a good insight to the films main plot with is a unholy boy. This keeps the audiences ready for when we see him but until then the director can use suspense. The conventions are simple but are very stereotypical of a thriller film. Everything is spaced out allowing the audience to survey the screen. The black and red along with the sound almost set up the audience for what they are in for. The titles itself are very clearly laid out and are bold which allows you to really acknowledge them. The order goes production company, actors, title, actors, camera, music, editor, producer, writer, director. This is very similar to se7en and are group will take a similar approach.

After talking in our group and taking ideas from are individual clips and a joint clip. We have decided to follow the same basis of the se7en clip where the images on screen are moving. However we may use the bold and clear lettering used from the omen clip. These ideas may change in the editing stage depending on what we have filmed. This is because our group has not fully looked into depth of what we actually want the audience to see in terms of the start of the film. I personally feel it should be like the omen as it really connotes a thriller film however a moving image will properly have to be used in our thriller. We will stick with the theme of darkness and curiosity as these can provoke the audience and can create tension.

In our thriller, the order of the title sequence will be:

Production company: LAN production
Actors: Noah Lown and Lucy Mumford
Camera: Alex
Music: Heather
Editor: Noah, Lucy and Alex
Producer: Noah
Writer: Lucy
Director: Alex
The film title: The woods

The style of the writing will be a dull font witch looks rushed. The colours will be dark and red. The colour red can connote blood and will entice the audience. The whole credit sequence will be dark slow and obscure.

These are just two quick ideas that I will present to the group.

Planning cinematography. Miss Miller

Cinematography is important in thriller films as camera angles and movements allow you to control what the audience see and how they feel. Planning is required so we can test and see the best angles for the narrative. The main shots we are using are mid-shot, low angle, handheld, high angle and canted angle. Hopefully these techniques will entice and scare the audience.

The first technique is the high angle shot. This is when the camera is pointing down at me and Lucy as we are walking in the forest. The camera would be placed in the trees. This shot is used to portray a sense of insecurity and apprehension. This is from the start of the scene, so this shot is almost letting the audience know that these characters are in danger or they are unimportant, it is a set up for the next scene. This angle can give the audience a sense of foreboding that they are being watched, in a similar scenario, from above.

The second angle I am analysing is the low angle. This is used when Lucy is looking up at the building.  The camera will be placed on the floor facing the building. The purpose of this technique is to show intimidation, making the viewer feel as through the building is looming over them, adding to the sense of fear and anticipation felt. This connection means that a tension will build when Lucy and I walk up to the building. This is a conventional angle in a thriller, as the tension creates a greater shock.


The next angle that our group are using is the canted angle. This angle uses a tilted camera. We are using this angle when Lucy discovers me dead. The camera will be canted, looking at Lucy from behind. This angle is used to show imbalance. Imbalance can cause confusion and panic within the audience. This can hopefully create a greater reaction to what’s going on, on the screen. This is conventional of a thriller film as most directors don’t want to let the audience know what is going on. They want to keep the sense of anticipation.

Our group also used a handheld point of view shot. This is used when the killer is behind Lucy and me, before hiding behind a tree. A handheld shot is when the camera gives a jerky and gives the viewer a personal feeling of being in the scene. It is shot in the first person. This makes the shot realistic and could make the audience feel that they are there. This is another conventional technique to bring the audience closer to the film and allow them to immerse themselves.

The last camera technique used by us is the mid shot. This is when I and Lucy are walking down to the path. The mid shot technique is when you can see half of the person’s body and the location behind. This allows the audience to get a wider perspective of the whole scene, whilst feeling a connection to the characters. The audience can also understand emotions through facial expressions. This is another traditional angle in a thriller film as a better connected audience will gain more from the viewing experience and leave feeling more shocked.

I feel that by using these shots, our thriller will be very successful in capturing our viewer’s fears and heighten their emotions. These techniques are all regularly used in thriller films are they make the viewer feel involved in the film and build and relationship with the characters. The viewers have an emotional investment and care about what happens to the characters in the film and are therefore left feeling more shocked when the unexpected happens. The planning is very helpful as it ensures that everyone knows what they are doing and achieves the overall end result that everyone was aiming for.

Planning sound. Miss miller

Sound is important within a thriller film as it is one of the key aspects of mise-en-scene. Sound can really engage the audience with what is on the screen and connects all your senses together so you can immerse yourself within the film. Planning sound is important as we always want to know what each frame is going to contain. Even if it is a silent moment, it needs to be documented so we can edit it in. I will be going over four sounds which we will be using in our thriller.

The first is a digetic sound. A diegetic sound is a sound that belongs within a frame and can be considered to be a natural part of the narrative. This is not always visible on screen. In our seen, we are using the sound of birds. We are doing this to pull the audience into a false sense of security. We are making the audience hear a sound which they can relate to making them feel slightly more relaxed. This allows them to be more venerable when it comes to a scene with tension or suspense.

 

The second sound technique is a parallel sound. This is when the sound and the images on the screen complement each other.  The sound used here is Lucy’s scream when she finds me dead over a tree.  The scream connotes the scene well as she has just realised this dead body. The audience can see this and would not only be in fear after seeing what has happened but they would also sympathise with Lucy as they can see and hear her screaming.

Another sound technique is an off screen sound. This is when you can hear the sound but cannot see the source, yet it still makes sense with the film dynamic. For example in our film he is using heavy breathing. We will not be able to see the breathing itself but we can hear it. This makes the audience feel tense as in thrillers heavy breathing connotes the fact that something bad is going to happen. The audience have a foreboding feeling that when the breathing stops, death is round the corner. All this builds up a great deal of suspense amongst all the audience.

The final sound technique is a non diagetic sound. This is a sound or music that is added after, such as in the editing stage. The diagetic sound we are using is a hum. The reason we are doing this is because is conventional thriller films, we always hear unnatural sounds. Something that will take us out of our comfort zone. This is exactly what we are doing here.  A hum will once again leave the audience in suspense as an unnatural noise normally leads to an unnatural event. Nothing is normal or as it seems anymore, the situation has changed and the non diagetic sound will connote that.

I feel that with these four features and others, our group will really effectively be able to capture the key things needed in order for this to be an effective thriller. We can now incorporate each one of these features thanks to the planning stage and we can determine how effective each technique is to make sure we enhance the audiences fear to their full potential.

 The following sounds are ideas we have taken from freesound.com, a non copyrighted sound site. These are all non-diagetic sounds. we will implement these into our editing program and overlay the sounds with the picture on the screen. This first sound is a piano which draws suspense.

http://www.freesound.org/people/Erokia/sounds/209552/

These two sounds next are breathing. We will decide what breathing we want for our killer.

http://www.freesound.org/people/zogmachine/sounds/202606/

http://www.freesound.org/people/Erdie/sounds/48512/  

The final two are just further suspense clips. One is with a heartbeat and by using the heartbeat, it can create a closer personal and emotional connection between the character in the scene and the audience.

http://www.freesound.org/people/Setuniman/sounds/170207/

http://www.freesound.org/people/Batsumaru/sounds/203249/

Planning editing styles. Miss Georgiou

This post will be looking the different editing styles my group has used in order to create our thriller film. Editing styles are important as the editing allows you to create how the audience feels. If you want to give them a sense of panic then the editing will be fast and jumpy. However if you were creating something clear and continuous you would us continuity editing.

The first editing style is the fast fade away to blackout which we use at the end of the scene. This is when the frame just fades into nothing. We are using this technique as a cliff hanger as a sudden end always keeps the audience guessing. This also adds to the overall suspense that the audience are feeling. If your thriller gets people talking after it has ended, its means people are thinking about it and you want that long lasting effect that a cliff hanger created by fade gives you. Films like saw tend to do this often.

The next technique I would like to talk about is shallow focus. This is when the camera focuses from one single point in a frame to another. This is used to show importance. For the audience, this allows them to only focus on one object or character without actually being able to see what is going on in the background. This can provoke fear within the audience as they could anticipate something is going to happen. This is used in many thriller films.

Another technique is shot reverse shot. This is when the camera switches from one person to another. This shows the audience that people could be talking to each other but are in different places. In our film, this will be the switching back and forth between me and Lucy. This technique is used to somewhat immerse the audience with the characters. Making them have feelings for the characters leading to a greater shock when something bad happens. A good film this was used in was house on haunted hill. All the characters were in different places however you became to be aware of where each one is thanks to shot reverse shot.

The final technique i would like to talk about is a jump cut. This is where the camera immediately cuts to another frame. This could be used to show panic or importance of the situation that is occurring. This can add a lot of suspense to the audience as constant jump cuts can create panic and tension.  This type of editing can leave people on the edge of their seats. A film this is used a lot in is insidious.

These four editing techniques and more have been incorporated together to make our thriller film. I feel with these now in places we can really lead the audience into thinking they are somewhat part of the whole scene to really give them a fright.

This is a screen shot we have taken from our editing phase:

Risk assessment post. Miss georgiou

This post will be looking at the risk assessment I have created for my group. I have found 5 risks involved with the filming and how we can take measures to avoid potential injury as shown here.

 

 

 

It is important to consider all the risks as we as individuals and a group can educate ourselves and become aware of the potential dangers. Not following our procedure can lead to minor or serious injury which can also hinder the film making process.

 

 It will assist us in the way that when we arrive at our filming location we check around the area to make sure there are no holes, lose leads or water. We can also check our equipment to see if we all have charged mobile phones. We can also ass to the risk assessment if we see further dangers upon arrival.

 

 

 



 

Group storyboard. Miss Miller

The purpose of a group storyboard is the concept of our three combined ideas pieced into one final narrative. Another purpose is that when filming our final piece, we can use the storyboard to portray what we want to see in each frame. There will be a narrative, sounds, shots, locations, lighting, editing, characters and iconography. The story board also makes it a lot easier for us as we don't have to think on the spot as it is all planned out.

We have taken every ones storyboard as we managed to gain a whole range of ideas using this technique and we can take ideas from each other which we as individuals didn't think of.

The rest of my groups ideas however were limited as they didn't bother to make an Individual storyboard at the time. Never the less they still had some ideas to input.

One that popped up straight away was the idea of the jump cut at the end of the film. The idea being that as soon as the audience see the killer behind the girl the film ends. This adds a great deal of suspense and shock to our narrative allowing the the audience to not only be left on the edge of their seats but to draw their own conclusions.

Another key idea we wanted to portray was the low key lighting and background noise. Starting on low key lighting, I feel this is used to keep the audience guessing to what is going on in the scene. The less they see the better as it helps keep up that element of surprise. This is  why many thrillers are set at night as visibility is reduced. Secondly, we found background noise key. Natural noises such as leaves or birds can easily send people into a false sense of security as the audience can relate to those noises and almost feel at home with them. This means when something tense happens, the shock would be enhanced.

To conclude, I feel we all icorparated our ideas well into one storyboard and we are now all clear on what our narritive is and how we will conduct each frame. However one thing we would of liked to include is more iconograohy somehow.

Planning character representation. Miss Georgiou

This post is looking at how the audience portrays certain characters by determining there clothes, mentality, grooming, facial appearance and background. Using these, the audience will take a stereotypical representation of the characters.

Characters

Name: Lucy
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Race: White British
Personality: Vulnerable
role: Naive scared young woman

Name: Noah
Age: 16
Gender: Male
Race: White British
Personality: Brave
Role: The fearless who ends up being the victim.

The purpose of the narrative is that me and Lucy are on a geography field trip to Scotland. We walk in the forest and find a old building. Lucy wanted to walk in the forest to have a talk with me about her parents breaking up with each other. Once inside we hear a noise and I decide to check it out as i come across as the brave character. Lucy stands there alone and afraid. By doing this the audience sympathises with her  as they want to help her. The audience will look at me and will want to be behind me as i am protective and fearless. This means the audience will be shocked to find me dead as i came across as a hero. The killer is seen at the end but all the audience see is a a darkened figure.

Planning mise-en-scene. Miss Georigou

Mise-en-scene is important within a thriller film because it brings 5 key aspects together to entice the audience and engage them with the film. The 5 aspects are lighting, body language, costumes, props and setting.

Lighting is mainly low key, creating harsh shadows on faces, bodies and props. It sets the scene for thrillers being dark, mysterious and sinister. Low key lighting is usually used during the mysterious and sinister scenes, emphasising the suspense and tension. As well as creating an unsettling atmosphere.

The use of costumes within Thrillers are very important, they must be life like to the audience, as how the characters are presented is how the audience perceive them. Therefore the more life like and believable the characters are the better the storyline for the audience. Typically in Thrillers the murderer, villain etc will wear dark clothes to enhance the mystery and evilness of them, as well creating tension. However the victims usually wear ripped, dirty, blood stained clothes, reinforcing their weakness and vulnerability, as well as connoting that they have been chased, are unable to fight back etc.

The setting is the location, where the scene is taken place or where it is set. Examples of typical Thriller settings would be dark alleys, haunted houses, mental wards, urban city etc. Usually only a small range of colours will be used in the setting, being blacks and greys. This can be used to show how normal and plain life is, contrasting with the villains in the film as they create a dramatic and fearful atmosphere.

Iconography is any movable articles or objects used on the set of a film. In Thriller films props often determine the narrative, identity of the characters and genre. A range of props can be used such as police, mobile phones etc. However typically weapons are used by the villains to knifes, guns etc.reinforce the violence and fear overall, being 

Body language is important as the audience can tell a lot from homebody's posture or facial positions. For example if somebody is in a stance and on edge, you can see that that would fit into the action genre. The same as if you were to see a nervous young woman playing with her hair with a man you would be able to see that it is a romantic film. Same goes for thriller films. The fear on someones face can grip the audience and keeps them on the edge of their seats.

By using these 5 aspects, the audience can start to build a relationship with the characters in the film. By building this relationship, The audience feels more scared when something foreboding is about to happen, this then creates more suspense and tension. 

Individual story board. Miss Miller

The purpose of a story board is to depict and show what is in every frame. I am using 10 frames ranging from 4 to 30 seconds long. The story helps lay out the scene and shows you exactly what you should see and hear. The story board includes elements like camera shot, location, iconography, lighting, actors, sound, editing and a narrative description. The story board explains how Lucy is lost in a forest and runs into a house before discovering me dead. The killer then appears behind her.

We have created individual story boards as we can write and show what we as individuals want to see from are thriller and I think 3 minds coming together to make one really broadens our knowledge and allows us to see aspects we maybe didn't think of before.

In my personal story board i have used quite a lot of hand held and point of view shots. This is done to make the audience feel like they are in her shoes and connotes the idea of fear and maybe loneliness. I have taken inspiration from the thriller 'cloverfield' as the whole film was shot in a hand held point of view angle some elements of that really gripped me personally.

Another style I have used is the lack of sound. The only sound used in the film is natural which could be picked up on by my group as chilling sound effects do help. However here i have not used them. I have used silence twice, rustling leaves, heavy breathing, wind and a water drop sound. I have taken the idea of this from the film 'the happinging' This film used a various array of wind and natural noises to create suspense

Another point I could take to my group to improve is the involvement of iconography. The only prop i have included is a tree. A good thriller normally involves items like knifes or weapons. Films like chainsaw massacre are based on props so I fell I need to bring this up with my group.

A key element I have used is the positioning of the camera, I feel this is very important. In frame 4 I say the camera is at a canted angle as it shows imbalance and could create panic amongst the audience. Another camera position is the low angle in frame 5. This position makes Lucy feel small in comparison to what she is looking at.

Overall I feel my group can  use this effectively and be able to make improvements like filling out the frames.