Final Project Editing

Today in class we have started the editing of our final project for our opening Lucid. We are using Final Cut Pro to edit our work and we have taken some screen shots of us editing. Our editing is a slow pace as the camera work was handheld so the shots are quite long therefore the editing does not have many cuts in some sequence. The effects that we have added at this point are quite basic such as dissolve in and fade out  because we are trying to focus on creating a good sequence first before adding more effects. We have used cross cutting at the end of the sequence so we can alternate between two scenes of the killing and of the man writing the information down. To establish the location we used various different shots of the front of the house in order to set the scene for the audience.

The screen shots above are the ones that we have taken while we have started editing, in the first screen shot you can see a shot of the location where the story is taking place. This looks like an ordinary house from the outside which may lead the audience to believe that an ordinary person lives there which they will soon be shown that this is not true. The second screen shot is of all the thumbnails of the footage that we have taken, we had a lot of footage to choose from but we have chosen the best ones to use in our editing. The final screen shot featured here is of the main character (Mark) acting, it is important to introduce the main character here in the opening sequence so the audience can get to know the character and know from who's perspective the film will revolve around. Overall we believe that it is very important to take screen shots of our work so we can document what we do incase we need to look back for future reference.

ADDING TITLES

We have know begun to add titles to our film opening while we are editing. We have continued to use Final Cut Pro throughout our whole editing which has been good for our group because we have all learnt about how to use the program. In the first screen shot you can see the title of the film, "LUCID" appear in big clear black font over a white wall. The whiteness here reflects the innocence of the characters however the black font on top also reflects the dark acts the man commits. In the second screen shot we see Mark coming through the font door and we  then see his name appear next to him as he walks through. This is a good timing to put the actors name in as we can see who the actor protrays in this film so we can be clear in our heads about this.
The third screen shot shows the titles that say "An Amber Ryder Production" over the as shot of all the bloody knives layed out across the kitchen counter. It is very important to feature the production company/ producers in the title sequence as these are very important for the making of the film. The whiteness of the font here sits nicely against the blue back ground which makes it stand out clearly.
In the final screen shot we see the killer holding the knife beginning to walk towards the lady to kill her and here the directors name appears on the right hand side. Again we use the white clear font that we have used for all the other titles. The directors name appears here because the most important scene is about to take place and the director is the most important person for the creation of any film.
We have now finished putting on the titles which means that we have finished our editing. The editing was a fun process although it could be quite tedious at times because it takes a lot of effort to make it perfect. Due to the fact that we took numrous amounts of footage whilst filming, this meant that we had lots and lots of footage to play with while editing which gave us a good advantage because we could chose the very best clips that we had so we didnt have to go and film anymore.
Editing was a fun process and with the hard work from some group members we were able to get it done on time.

Cinematography

As a director and camera-man in "Lucid" I have planned to experiment with handheld in our opening but also having some classic shots as MCU and CU. The opening of "Lucid" needs to give enough information to catch the audience into the story and create intrigue but also has to be interesting in the way is tell. As a director I want to give life to objects as the main character follows the orders of a mobile it is important to create that connection between objects and audience. To to this I have been looking at the work of Pedro Almodovar; Spanish director who is famous for his romantic and dramatic stories based on a woman as a main character. The use of the ECU in objects with panning in his films is very effective to create that connection between object-audience and even when is totally different genre I will like to experiment this technique.

Todo sobre mi Madre
(All about my mother)

This kind of shots are very interesting for the audience and as I believe can be very effective in a thriller. This technique was used in "The stepfather" just once.

The stepfather

This technique will be definitely something that I will experiment with during the filming, I will try to do the most of the filming in handheld, to accomplished a better views for the audience and be different from the other openings.

Audience

Be aware of the target audience is one, or the most important pre-production issue. The target audience, sets the mood and the way how the story is going to be tell. The audience has a direct connection in the way how the story is tell as an example is the sequel of Shrek. Shrek is an huge ogre that does not like anyone but for situations of life he has to save a princess; during this adventure he has to fight soldiers and different kind of monsters, as the target audience is children, we do not see blood in any of the sequence including in huge fights of soldiers, the use of personification make soft the idea of the main job of the animal, for example an ass is just use to carry thing but in the film does not. If the target audience were adults the story will be the same but the way that is tell will change drastically. In the fighting scene will be more realistic battles with blood and injure people and the animals will have the real purpose.

Before the film is release and even when the filmaker knows which one is the target audience, the film has to be classified and this process in the UK is made by BBFC (british board of film classification)

The process of classifying


In most cases the decision is ratified by a Senior Examiner, but if the Examiners are in any doubt or fail to agree, or if important policy issues are involved, the work may be seen by other members of the Board up to, and including, the Director and Presidential team. The BBFC has published guidelines to know more or less what is the path to classified a film.


Examiners look at issues such as discrimination, drugs, horror, imitable behaviour, language, nudity, sex, sexual violence, theme and violence when making decisions. They also consider context, the tone and impact of a work (eg how it makes the audience feel) and even the release format (for example, as DVDs are watched in the home, there is a higher risk of under-age viewing).


The categories


The BBFC endeavours to classify submitted works in one of the following categories:

The following pages set out guidance on how the main issues (for example, sex and violence) are specifically applied from ‘U’ through to ‘R18’. The criteria should be read in the light of the general approach set out earlier under ‘General Principles’, ‘Overarching Factors’ and ‘Main Issues’.

Because works from time to time present issues in ways which cannot be anticipated, these criteria will not be applied in an over-literal way if such an interpretation would lead to an outcome which would confound audience expectations.

Research into film audiences

All media is made with an audience in mind and in film this is one of the most vital things to think about as if there is no audience to watch the film then there is no point making it because the producers are not going to make any money or get their message across from it. All potential audiences are categorised by a method known as demographics where the producers want to know the age, status, gender, race and location of their potential audience. Producers may do audience research to find out their chosen target audience's preferences in a number of different ways such as questionnaires, focus groups and comparing their product to existing ones of a similar context. Now the producers may begin to shape their product to appeal to there chosen audience by  fitting in with their current known viewing habits. 

Getting prepared

Here is an old facebook conversation between Amber and I about getting the props ready for filming.

Further analysis into sub genres of thriller

After having looked into sub genres of thriller films, I thought that I should analyse them further as this may help me to decide what kind of genre I might like my film opening to fit into. As listed before some of the sub genres of thriller can be action, physiological, crime, drama, horror, swashbuckler ect. Below are two film covers of two thriller films however they are of two different sub genres, one action and the other physiological.

This is the cover to the film "Predator" a 1987 film directed by John McTiernan. I believe that the sub genre of this thriller film is action. Some clues from the cover that suggest this are; that the man is holding a gun which shows there may be violence in this film  which is a common aspect to action films. The mans body language and the way that his eyes are looking around lead me to believe that he is on guard and aspecting and ready for something to happen. The man looks worried and wary and like he is uncertain of what is happening and he is not in full control of what is going on. The title is written in a clear legible font which stands out as the colour of this is red. The colour red connotes danger and warning which further reflects the mood of the man being worried and on guard as he knows some danger may be approaching. The main image of this cover is based on a black background; the colour black connotes fear and perhaps even death. This could be used to infer to us that even though the man in the image is putting on a brave face and looking tough, he may have an underlying fear inside that he may come to harm. Underneath the title is a small caption which says "Soon the hunt will begin" this links to the title of the film as it is called "Predator" and predators hunt weaker untenable creatures. However, over the main image we see a rifle target pointing directly at the man in the centre which suggests that he may be the one who is being hunted down.

This next cover is to the film "Orphan" a 2009 film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. I believe that the sub genre of this thriller film is physiological. I have chosen a different sub genre to "Predator" so that I can look into two different types of sub genres so I will have an understanding of multiple sub genres of thrillers. This will help me to be able to understand the conventions of more than one sub genre which will broaden my knowledge and help me to decide which sub genre I like best. 
In this cover, like "Predator" there is one character featured directly in the centre of the image, however here we see a young girl. The girls body language shows she is calm and comfortable as she is facing straight on with a neutral calm expression on her face; which contrasts with the man in "Predator" as he is worried and alert. I believe that the eye contact here is very important as she looks directly straight ahead like she is confident and in control. This directly contrasts with the man in "Predator" as he is looking around uncertainly like he is worried and not in control of the situation at all. This seems odd as a full grown man is worried whereas a young girl is calm and comfortable with the situation, it is almost like this should be the other way round. What has been done here is the use of counter-types; as the man is portrayed in a way that is not stereotypical of his gender as he is shown to be vulnerable. This is also a counter-type of the girl as normally a child would be the vulnerable one however here this is not the case as she is powerful and in control. The use of counter-types may be a good way to attract a audience, as if they see someone portrayed in a way that is different and unusual to the way they are normally portrayed, this may lead them to have questions about why this is and make them want to watch the film to have their questions answered. 
In this cover the title is featured in a legible font, the colour of which is white. The colour white reflects innocence and purity which we would associate with a young girl immediately as she seems vulnerable and innocent when you first see the image of her. However, underneath the title there is a caption which says "can you keep a secret?" This could suggest that her innocence is being questioned and shows that there must be something else going on with her that we do not know about yet which may lead the audience to want to watch the film to know what this 'secret' might be about this girl. This caption is written in the colour red which connotes fear, danger and warning. This suggests that she is not as innocent as she seems and that we should be warned that there may be something underlying and different about her that we do not know about. 

Genre and Subgenre

Genre is defined as the term of any category of literature and can be used to group things based on their similar conventions which can change over time. In the case of film, the genre can be determined by the similarities in narrative elements. There are many different genres in which a film can fall into and certain genres can have different aspects to them which lead to different branches of any one genre which are called sub genres. Some examples of film genres can be: comedy, thriller, horror, romance, science-fiction, action-adventure ect. When a film company is going to make a film they will chose which genre they would like their film to fit into because different genres of films attract different types of audiences, therefore deciding the genre of a film is a very vital thing and should be chosen carefully.

Most films will clearly fit into a particular genre; however, some other films may be hard to classify as they may seem to fit into more than one genre, this is called a hybrid film. An example of a hybrid film would be James Cameron's 'Avatar' as it falls into many categories or genres. Just a few of the genres 'Avatar' could be put into are science-fiction, romance, action-adventure or thriller. Therefore as 'Avatar' is a hybrid and covers many genres this will give the film an advantage as it has a wider audience and many people would be interested in it if it covers the type of film genre they usually like to watch.

Sub genres are like different branches of a genre of film. For example, thriller is a genre but there are numerous sub genres of this which are all classified under the title of thriller. The sub genres of thriller will share similar narrative elements, however each sub genre will contain slightly different conventions which lead them to be different from the next sub genre of thriller. Some examples of sub genres of thrillers can be action, physiological, crime, drama, horror, swashbuckler ect. These can all be classified as thriller films, however each of them have slightly different conventions which lead them to  have their own sub genre.

Timeline of a title sequence

The embedded video above is the title sequence to "Panic Room" a 2002 film. The first thing we see is an ident which is the logo of the production/distribution company Colombia Pictures and as the film begins we see the name "Colombia Pictures" written in a clear legible font. We see an establishing shot here of tall high rise buildings which sets the scene of a busy cityscape. This can also show us that this may be a Traditional opening sequence as a typical convention of this type of opening is to start with an establishing shot. Soon after we see a number of names appear on screen as well as other companies names involved in the making of the film. These names all appear in the same clear legible font so everyone can clearly read it. The colour of the font used is white which connotes purity or innocence which reflects how innocent the viewer is as they do not know what will happen in the movie. From this title sequence not much information about the film is given to us which may lead the audience to want to watch more so they can find out what it is about.  There are a number of different shots of high rise buildings with many rooms, as the title of the film is "Panic Room" this could be setting the location of where the main action will happen. As the credits end we are then introduced to some characters which is also a key conventions of  a Traditional film opening. There are numerous ways characters can be introduced but here they are introduced as they are walking along a busy road which also helps set the scene of a lively diligent city.

Here is the timeline of exactly how the credits appear:

1) Production/distribution company ident

2) Production/distribution company name

3) Type of picture (An Indelible picture)

4) Names of four cast members which may be the most famous ones

5) Film title

6) Names of other cast members

7) Casting

8) Costume designer

9) Music

10) Film editors

11) Production designer

12) Director of photography

13) Producers

14) Writer

15) Director

My thoughts:
Studying a timeline of a title sequence has been very interesting as I have observed in which order the credits come in. For this particular film I can see that they have put the credits in some sort of order of importance as they put the most famous cast members before the rest of the cast members. This may be essential to do because the most important people in the production of the film should be named first as they were key to the making of the film. Analysing this will be helpful for me when I come to editing our opening as I now understand that the titles aren't just put in any order, the order has been carefully thought about before hand. I will now be able to refer back to this time line when I need to so I can remember what order credits should come in which will be very beneficial for myself and my group.

Editing of the prelim.

To edit our opening we had a couple of training lessons using  "Final Cut pro"

This is the program that we will be using to edit our final project. To see our footage and finally edit it we have to follow some steps. First we have to import the shots from the memory card to the video drive through final cut pro then we choose our favourites shots from the video drive and we drag them into the timeline of final cut.

Time line

Importing files

After we having our shots in the timeline this would be call "sequence 1". We can manipulate sequence 1 as we want, cutting shots and adding some effects to make look the sequence nicer.

As we are getting familiar with the program and the tools we can add titles as well looking forward for a more professional final cut. 

Adding titles

 To add tittles we look for a big "A" below the screen were the shots are being projected, then we choose the "text" option and then we write what we want; we can change the font the size and the colours.

The text will going to be in the timeline on the shot that we want it to appear. To drag the titles into the timeline we have to be careful and be aware of the arrow direction, if the arrow is pointing to the right it will move the whole sequence so we want the arrow pointing down to make the tittles appear on the shot that we want.

Preliminary Excercise.

On the 23 rd of January 2012 our media studies teacher Daniel Lowe introduced us into what was called a preliminary exercise, within this lesson we had to film a sequence about “ a character opens a door, walks into a room, sits down opposite another character and they share a few lines of dialogue”, at the same time while filming this sequence we were given rules:

1.       Make sure you use at least one match cut, which makes the action appear more seamless, time is meant to be continues.

2.       An example of a reverse shot, cuts from one person speaking to another, this is very useful in our sequence as it consist of a dialogue.

3.       Show your understanding of the 180 degree rule,

What is the 180 degree rule?

One of the first things we need to cover in making a movie is orientating the viewer, once you establish the scene, you have technically established the 180 degree rule for example if there are two people sitting opposite each other talking, then the viewer can easily establish were the man is sitting either on the left or the right and were the women is sitting, so anytime the camera shows these two people the man should be on the side he supposed to be ( left or right)  and also were the women is positioned( left or right). When the camera is place above their heads the placement of the camera can only go on the line that should be straight with both ends opposite each other meaning 180 degrees.

Within the task that we were set to do we had to figure what type of style our thriller should be and we were given options, it was either psychological, supernatural or action , and my group decided to choose supernatural  to emphasise unearthly, weird and the miraculous events to come. To plan our prelim film, we had to use story boards of our sequence then make it into a short “dramatic storyboard”, this was a bit difficult as group 6 are all terrible drawers but we got there in the end. Once the storyboard was out of the way then starting filming, we had to film quiet a number of times because I found it difficult to stop laughing.

The plot

Well our thriller is called paranoia and stars(Gustavo, mark and amber) and is about a young man who is paranoid , he hears “voices “ in his head and feel like someone is “ chasing him” and tries to seek help, form a professional before things start to escalate.

Opening Plot

The plot of our film "LUCID" is about a killer who has a peculiar way of organising his life, and thus his kills. The title is called LUCID because it is ironic - lucid means when something is clear and easily understandable, but the killer's coding and organisation seems complex and confusing, however for him it makes perfect sense.

The storyline follows the reasons for his madness. Every so often he receives a text with an alphanumeric code, which he then writes down on a sticky note and pastes on his wall. The viewer can see that there are many notes already on his will, crossed out in blood, which leaves the suspicion that he has done this before. To raise this suspicion, there is a line of various "murder tools" that are covered in blood in his kitchen.

The scene opens with the killer outside, covered in blood with a bloody knife in his hand. He seems angry, so the viewer can assume he has just killed someone. He then returns home, and takes off his shirt, putting it in a bin bag that has obviously been placed there in advance. He then moves over to the sink where there are knives soaking in a bowl and drops the bloody knife in. The water turns red as the blood comes off. The killer wipes the blood on his hands off onto a sticky note on the wall in front of him. He leans over the sink, showing he is tired. Suddenly, a loud buzz is heard and he looks around. A phone is vibrating on the table. He goes over and picks it up, looking at the message he just received. He then sits down, and begins to decode the message onto a new sticky note. The message reads "Sarah Williams". He then puts it up on his wall. The scene then jumps to a woman doing her gardening. All of a sudden, the killer appears, and kills her. He returns home, and the scene somewhat repeats itself.

Although it seems long, when condensed, the film time should not be too much. We may cut some things to shorten the scene. We'll have to see when we get to editing.

Mise En Scene and Set design.

As my house was the shooting location, I took up the role of set design and Mise En Scene. Here are some pictures of what I did.

 I set cleared up the area where we were filming, and added a few props like a fruit bowl to make it seem more "homely"

I added fake blood to a selection of "killer knives" that I found in the kitchen.

I got some post-it notes to stick up on the wall. These notes create context about the killer, and show he is organised.

I added a  bloody effect with knives and hot water to a bowl in the sink. 

 

I bought some bin bags to give the set a little extra context...where the killer keeps his stained clothes!

I improved a "blood pouch" for Mark to conceal in his hand for the stabbing scene.

I added some special lighting by using a lamp to reflect off a white surface.

Filming!

Over the last two days, we've been hard at work with the process of filming our opening for our film, LUCID. To document our experience, we've been taking lots of on set pictures. Overall, I think the one thing was can say was we had the most fun playing with the fake blood!

 

 Location filming in the street, this was very ideal especially for this sort of thriller movie because it tells the audience a story in a way, just by looking at the setting.

Adding the fake blood for our Mise En Scene

to emphasise how crazy and twisted this man really is. also how far he is willing to go just to kill someone

fake blood is very cheap and we were able to collect allot of it from stores.

Our Camera man out in the wild. just testing the camera and the lightning as we are going to be filming the death scene there.

Opening up the bin bag, this is the bag that the murderer is going to hide his bloody clothes in.

 Caught red handed! always great to have fun when in production and work as a team

Improvising a blood-pouch for the stabbing section.

Mark conceals the pouch in his hand. so when the knife is dropped into the sink the pouch is squezzed and fake blood comes out.

Amber is fixing a stool so we can have the proper angle for a certain shot.

Gustavo is trying to avoid getting his shadow in the shot. in the end we got there although this was very difficult.

Trying to get the necessary lighting via reflection.

Overall our last day of filming turned out very well as we had fun doing it which is always an important part that you enjoy what you are doing. We also decide to take lots and lots of footage of various different shots and angles of the same scene so that when we come to the actual editing we have have a lot of footage to play with and to work from. We spent about 5/6 hours filming so it was a long day and we were all tired out afterwards but we are glad that we got everything done. The most fun was to film the stabbing scene, Jayne is a very good actress and she made the stabbing look really realistic. Also Mark was a good actor too as he portrayed the character of a murderer very well. We are sad that filming is over now but we are happy with the footage we have. Today we also recorded foley sounds like phone vibration and the gasps so that we can add them over the footage in the lessons coming up.

Clothing options

Since we haven't really given it any thought, I was thinking about what clothing the characters should wear.

The one who gets murdered (myself) should be wearing plain clothing, as she's at home and it's not an important day for her, but how about the killer? I understand everyone's idea that he should be in normal clothing because it raises more suspicion about his motives, but perhaps he'd seem like more of a killer if we gave him a specific "killing costume" ? Here are some ideas.

Perhaps the traditional "overalls" ? (minus the mask of course). 

Or it could just be casual clothing. Or perhaps something a bit more out-there.

Either way, we can play around with it. So many options, really.

Opening?

So, in terms of an opening, it seems we're still undecided, so I'll just write my thoughts.

Credits over a blank screen - as the name suggests, this is just links. I highly doubt we would get any marks for this, but either way, its far too boring! a no go, we all agree!

Traditional - A normal,clip to clip opening that sets up the  movie, with titles flowing throughout the opening over the footage.

Gustavo thinks that this is a good idea, but Amber and I would like to discuss it as we sometimes find this gets a little boring, and we're more adventurous!

Stylised - This is a sequence of images and and pictures to immediately give the movie a plot. The quick movement makes it more action-packed and creates more suspense.

We quite liked this idea, as well as....

Discrete - Discrete openings don't give too much information to the viewers, yet still manage to hold the suspense, perhaps more so than Stylised.

Because of this, Amber and I liked the idea of having a mixture of discrete and stylised, so we'll discuss it when the group come over.

Mise en scene and set design.

As the shooting will be taking place at my house, I've arranged the areas that we will be filming in, strategically for the video.

The table has been moved lengthways accross the kitchen to for easier access to certain areas, I've moved a small desk into place for the "comupter table" and because the character is supposedly  good with gadets, i've moved some high-end electronics into the shots, to make him look more tech-savvy.

As far as the garden goes, I've been shovelling snow! Hopefully we can get some good shots, we had to push a few benches and take down a washing like in order to make space for the camera, but it should be fine.

I bought an old tshirt for the stabbing/murder scene, and some gloves for the gardening section. I also managed to find a selection of weird tools for a "murder weapon" shot, if the rest of the group want them.

We'll be filming in a few hours so any other changements the group want can be discussed then. Good luck to us!

sounds that will be used in "LUCID"

 On the 9^th February 2012 group 6(me, amber, Jayne and Gustavo) were supposed to be filming but due to lack of attendance on Monday it had an impact in today’s lesson, in other words we didn’t film. Instead of filming us as a group assorted ourselves to having roles during the planning, so Jayne and amber were in charge of presentation as we decided that we don’t like our previous presentation, so we wanted to do it again, while Gustavo and I (mark) were in charge of sound which we used sound pro editing for. Me and Gustavo came across many sounds that we would like to employ for “LUCID” with the use of sound pro editing , sound pro editing lets you make and edit music, voice and other audio recording. These are the four main types of sounds that we think that are the most important to use as it will have a big affect on the film “LUCID” and the audience they are: Balalaika loop 08 which is a music that creates suspense and builds tension, this would be portrayed in the film when Jayne’s character is about to get killed by the murderer. The ship-creep music will also be vey useful especially when the camera is panning Jayne’s characters house as it has this sort of deceptive and suspicious sounds , this would be used at the beginning of the thriller as the base. This will help capture the audience attention as they will be sucked into the movie as the audience will get emotions from it whether it is melancholy or downtrodden, in fact excited. On sound pro editor we also looked at what is called environmental sounds, now environmental sounds are sounds from the environment such as the sound of the wind from a window view, the environmental sound we chose to use for “LUCID” was an air-conditioned sound to simulate the sounds of the wind when Jayne’s character opens the window to get some fresh air because it is to hot or something. The booming reverse sound was another sound that we wanted to use during the actual stabbing as it has got that “BOOM” noise to emphasise the hatred and the connection between the knife and the human body. Last but not least ship-ambience which I think is ideal for when Jayne’s character is in the garden doing some pottery before she dies as it all builds up to suspense and gets the audience anticipating and excited at the same time.

We are still going to be using Foley sounds as sound pro editor does not have a particular sound that we need for example the sounds of a knife being taken from a cupboard.

To sum up everything, here is a list of sounds and music that “LUCID” will feature:

1.    Balalaika loop 08

2.    Ship-creep

3.    Environmental sound(air conditioner)

4.    Booming reverse

5.    Ship-ambience

limitations that are taking place

This week has been a very difficult week in terms of production because no one in my group has turned up so it is difficult for us to really get on with the filming if no one is here, so I was hoping that we could start on the 9^th as the cameras have been booked for us on Thursday, so it would be ideal if we use the cameras then, but Jayne is still ill and Gustavo has got a play to do(he will be inactive for the whole week), this is very difficult as he is the camera man and Jayne is one of the main characters of “LUCID”.

camera shots and angles that we will use in "LUCID"

There are many camera shots that my group would be willing to exploit in our thriller movie “LUCID”, it is important that we use a range of camera shots, so that the audience do not get bored too quickly, for example if I was watching a horror film I would want to see lots of close-ups shots to emphasise the emotions that victims are going through and also allot of long shots to emphasise the carnage and destruction in different places, by having these sort of camera shots it will interest the audience more and will engage them to an extent. Camera shots combine to make a sequence of an image, just like words and punctuation combine to make the meaning of a sentence. The camera shots i think would be the most important ones to get done and over with first should be that would be suitable for “LUCID” would be:

Close ups of when the man looks at the device and walks towards it, this shot will take us into the mind of the character, he has this pristine understanding of what the device is telling him to do. This will also make the audience feel really uncomfortable about this specific character.
we will also use another closeup of but this time showing the mans hand holding the knife, with a firm grip walking towards the sink to drop the knife in the there.

Followed by an extreme close-up of the man’s eyes, to show that there is a contrast, of loving and caring man that always smile but now when the device goes on he turns to this beast, so it is best if we have the camera extremely close to his eyes, so that the audience will know what is going on, they will get the picture in other words. this would be vey usefull for when the man is writing the codes on a peace of paper before he goes and kills the girl.

Tracking  we can use this when the man goes into the kitchen with a knife, this will make the audience feel as if they are a part of the film because the camera is moving and following him everywhere he goes, obviously were are not going to use it for the whole  thriller.

These are all the other camera shots that my group would be willing to employ.

Pans (when the is exploring his surrounding trying to look for his target)

Long shot (Jayne’s house, to show that this man (this murderer) has found his target that the device wants him to kill).

The planning

in today’s media studies lesson we started to plan our thriller films, there were many ideas that came to play in our group discussions for example the title that we choose, which is called “LUCID”, we choose this name to be our title because the word is obviously known for being a clear perception and understanding of something which links to our plot as it is very deceptive. The plot is about a man who reads numbers off a device (mobile phone) and they indicate who he is supposed to kill. In the opening the audience will establish a house, prop which is the device and the characters. He is pleasant to his family, until the device goes off, at which the point he leaves promptly, taking a knife from the kitchen and kills a young innocent girl.

Well genre means any category of literature and sub genre is a category that is a sub division of a larger genre, so in a way it is a combination of two types. Our thriller film is a thriller action as it uses violence, knives and blood. The film that inspires us to do such a sub genre was the movie step father as the man (step father) was a sweet, polite and kind-hearted man to society but to his own family he is a monster.

Mice en scene is the expression used to describe the design aspects of theatre production and film production. The props that we are going to use were fake blood when the lady gets stabbed and a knife. We were also going to use the device which will light up and give signal for the man to take action. The clothes that the characters will be wearing will be regular clothing especially for the murderer as we did not want to make this character seem suspicious to the people around him and to the audience, we want the audience to be surprised. the body language may vary between characters for example the young women would look sweet and innocent while the murderer himself to his family would portray this cool, carm and collected body language but once the device lights up you will notice a switch in the man’s head and this aggressive body language will emerge and he will afflict it on others. The setting will take place in Jayne’s house as the inferior (which means inside) as her house has bigger space and the exterior would be in the garden (which means outside). We expect the audience to react to these microelements in a shocked way especially to the man who they will think that he is a carm and a cool guy but they are wrong.

Our schedule times will be quiet tight due to Jayne who is one of the members and characters that will be portraying a role in the movie, is currently ill and Gustavo who is the camera man and producer of LUCID will not be hear from the 13^th to the 17^th of February, which means that there will only be two members of the group that will possibly be shooting instead of 4, that is if Jayne’s makes her return. we start production of the filming on the 12th febuary 2012.

There are many risks when we are using the cameras outside school premises for example if the weather is bad and it is raining the cameras could get wet and could break down. As Jayne’s house destination is far we may get lost or confused in which direction we should take to get there. Fake blood consists of many things that can cause a skin reaction especially for those who have sensitive skin therefore we should be careful the way we use it. The battery plays an important part because if the battery was supposed to die then this could have a bad effect on us especially if we are far away from the school; this means that we will have to travel back to school which will consume most of our filming time

We have learnt many skills on this course for example we have learnt how Foleys have benefited films in the long run therefore making them successful and how producers have used it. We as a group know how to blog regularly on a daily basis on things that has inspired our thriller film. We have also learnt how to use the cameras such as inserting batteries and using the camera itself this was the most crucial part. The 180 degree rule was another thing that we know how to do and when to use it. Last but not least the hidden curriculum (learning things that you do not know that you are learning) for example doing blogs and meeting deadlines.

The audience that we are going to target this film would be 15 yrs and above due to the violence, blood and the use of destructive weaponry such a knives. The audience will watch this sort of films in the cinema were it is dark; it’s for those who like getting shivers down there spine like a “crippled finger”. It’s for those who love films that are suspicious and scary.

The preliminary ideas about sound is that we well be using allot of Foleys, Foleys are sounds added by editing for example the sound of knives being taken form a cupboard or the noise a knives makes when it connects to a human body, the way we will make this sound is by using a knife and stabbing an apple to make the Gnostic sloshing noise. This will help emphasise that particular movement. This will benefit us as the cast and producers because we are able to hear it much better, so the audnece will get an idea of what is going on.


the production scedualle will now be changed to 9th of febuary as my group is currently unavailable