Rough cut. Miss Miller

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85lcHUyUJ7s

Above is the link to our thriller film.
A rough cut is important to consider as it gives you an overview of the plot and the narrative of our Thriller film. The rough cut is an idea of the plot and gives you a clear visual view of everything that  will happen or everything that was filmed in context. The rough cut can or cannot be changed in terms of the film itself however sounds, transitions and credits can be modified.

We are able to collect positive and constructive feedback from showing our thriller film to a small audience. Feedback is important as it allows us to see or pick up on things our group didn't notice and feedback can help us improve problems with editing or narrative. The audience can also see our techniques used in filming and our inspirations used via our presentation we showed before the film. By doing this they may be able to tell us how to elaborate on our points to allow us to really connect with the audience at a greater depth or entice the audience to greater suspense or shock.

We presented the film through you tube and our audience wrote our feedback on forms which included the columns: 'what went well', 'improvements' and 'questions'. We then received these sheets back from our peers and we were able to see what they thought. The feedback mainly contained these constructive points:

.A bit to much dialogue
.Camera is shaky at some points
.Editing at final piece needs to be smother
.Credits could be improved
.Use a knife not scissors
.Not sure on the black and white effect

These also came with good points however here I am only looking to improve my thriller to make it even better. Our group can now take these points and try to build on them or change them to the best of our ability. Improvements we are making straight away will be the editing at the end as we may add a transition in and the font styles and credits were rushed so this extra time before our final piece will be used finalising our credits and font styles to how we like it.

Scenaration. Miss Miller

The scenes I am describing here are from our rough cut and not the story board. This is because some scenes used in the story board were not easy to do or better narrative ideas were found in the editing or filming stage. However the plot remains the same.

The scene starts with me and Lucy walking through the woods chatting about random things. I indicate that I need to talk to Lucy about something important so we find an old building to go sit in. As we walk a number of high angles and straight cuts are used. There is a dark gradient placed over the scene as we walk through the woods. Throughout the first shots a light piano music is played to hopefully build suspense. As we continue to walk, the camera switches to a handheld shot used in the sense of a point of view angle and is shows the camera moving down from a tree to the floor and the stalked hides in the leaves. At this point I turn around to see if anything is there. The audience can really feel that they are in the stalkers shoes at this point.

The music is still playing and the next scene and it is a mid shot of me and Lucy walking into a room. The music lowers and the room is covered in candles. I say "so we can finally have that chat now" and there is a bang on the window. I go outside to check while the camera follows me. A good use of low key light is used here and blurs and fades are used to try and keep continuity as I leave.

I walk into an open forest and say "is anyone there?" The camera angle then cleverly changes to a point of view shot of the stalker who we see hiding as I walk. The stalker follows me walking behind me using a point of view shot and not changing the angles to keep it current and real. We can see a blade of screen as the stalker walks and we do this for quite a while to build up tension among the audience. He then runs up to me and just as he strikes a flash comes across the screen and the camera cuts back to Lucy.

She then continues to follow the same path I did and we keep the light, noise, angles and shots the same as when I walked out to show the similarity of movement to keep the audience engaged. She is now in the forest and a canted angle is used while she shouts "Noah" continuously. She stops suddenly and a panning shot is used as the camera moves around her so the audience can see what she sees. Hopefully at this point the audience are shocked to see me dead over a tree with blood dripping off me.

There is then a jump cut to the front of Lucy and the music suddenly builds and becomes a lot more sharper.  The stalker is seen rushing up behind her and just as he strikes once again the music and film cuts suddenly. Hopefully this cliff hanger will leave the audience in a great deal of suspense.

Fliming schedule. Miss Georgiou

A film schedule is important as it is very important to lay out exactly when and where we are filming. This allows our group to make time for the actual film making. This makes our group efficient and punctual as we always know where we should be at certain times. Without a film schedule, are shooting may be slow and could lead to being rushed.

These is the schedule we will be using for each frame.

Production roles. Miss Miller

The production roles are important as it allows people to know what exactly they are doing. The production roles are shown in the opening credits and also allows the audience to see and acknowledge the people that made the film actually happen. Everyone needs to know what they are doing to we can film and edit our thriller efficently. The roles include:

Actors: The people who you see in the film, also known as the cast
Camera man: The person who films the cast
Sound tecnhinition: This person records the sounds and inputs them in the editing phase
Editor: The people who put all the film scenes and shots together to make sense
Producer: Makes sure the idea has come across and everything is appoaved and ticked off
Writer: This person thinks up of the script and comes up with the idea of the story
Director: This person overviews the film and is in charge of all of the above

These are the roles that we have selected for each other. These are subject to change however because we dont know what will happen in the near future.

Actors: Noah Lown and Lucy Mumford and Micheal John
Camera: Alex
sound: Heather
Editor: Noah, Lucy and Alex
Producer: Noah
Writer: Lucy
Director: Alex

We decided these roles through what we believe are peoples strenghts. If we pick what people are good at then the production should run alot smoother and have a better outcome. Choosing the actors and camera man was quite easy. We needed a girl so lucy would qualify striaght away while me and Alex came to an agreement on the actor and camera man. Micheal is a perfect for his role as he matches the character of the stalker we want and is very good in that area of acting. We brought in Heather as she has had years of expirence in sound and will allow us to really entice the audience in this technique. We have all decied to be editors because as long as we all have a clear outline in our head then we should all be able to work on different stages of our thriller allowing less time spent editing. I have decided to be producer as I feel I know the different criteria needed to present a succesful thriller film. By this I mean that I make sure things like mise-en-scene and different cinematography is ticked off. Lucy is the person who came up with the idea of the woods so she is taken credit for the writing of this good idea. Finally, Alex is the director and can overview the whole scene