Wednesday, 29 February 2012

Group: Lesson 1 29/02/2012

In the lesson today, our group started on the animatic storyboard. We managed to complete half of the hand draw slides, as well as deciding on our diagetic and non-diagetic sound.

In are opening a few lines of dialogue will be used, this will mainly be done by the protagonist as the antagonist will stay silent. This paired with the robe not only introduces a fell of noir but also creates an enigma for the 'evil' character as their gender is hidden, creating gender neutrality.

Tuesday, 28 February 2012

Group: Pitch for Green Light.

After presenting our pitch we had a feedback session with other class members. During out concept development stages we were inspired by fairy tales and putting a contemporary spin on them as it is a reoccurring style in the film industry i.e. Red Riding Hood (Hardwicke, 2011) and Snow White and The Huntsman (Saunders, 2012).













We thought that using a visual motif such as a red piece of clothing would stand out, however upon criticism we decided to focus on the fairy tale Hansel + Gretle because the original is still quite sinister enough and we could adapt it with a modern twist. Also, in reference to costume, people instead suggested we could utilise a noir element by using a robe/jacket/hat to obscure the antagonist’s face to evoke the feeling of an enigma.
  















As for our story, people responded to us that it wasn’t particularly clear, so we need to refine our story and reduce the amount of points we aim to include in it. We need to make it clear in what it’s about and what the opening sequence could lead on to.
When listening to other groups ideas we thought that many of them avoided stereotypes of the genre they had chosen and media representations to keep it fresh, we think this is a good idea and we will try to keep it in mind in the development process.

Friday, 24 February 2012

Group: The Pitch - upload


Sunday, 12 February 2012

Group: The Pitch


Having issues, what shall we include in our prezi presentation?

Wednesday, 8 February 2012

Group: Reccie to Wilderness Wood

During the filming trip to Wilderness Wood, our group tested and tried a number of shots. As well as the experience of filming in the open air, we were also able understand the other aspects of filming such as call sheets and risk assessments.The snow added a much larger risk to the equipment but allowed for a more magnificent shot.

The shots taken included:
  • Medium Long shot
  • Canted Angle
  • High & Low Angle
  • POV
  • Dialogue delivery
  • Stills (Montage)

Wilderness Wood Barn cafe

What worked:

The use of POV shots, allowed us to practice capturing a sense of verisimilitude.Medium Long shots were also very successful as they captured the beauty of wilderness woods creating some magnificent shots for all groups that took part.

What didn't work:

We found canted angles difficult as the shot we aimed for lead to the use of tree stumps and logs which in the icy environment were seen as a hazard. The tracking shot can also be improved due again due to the snow causing the track to slip. 


The Reccie Edit


Wednesday, 1 February 2012

HL: Technical analysis

Shrooms (Breathnach, 2007)





 
Number of shots
Shot type
Duration
Mise-en-scene
1
Handi-cam crabbing left
4 seconds
Female running through forest
2
Establishing shot
3 seconds
Rundown building
3
Medium CU
2 seconds
Blood pouring out of a bucket
4
CU
2 seconds
Puddle of blood
5
CU- left of frame
2 seconds
Hand in the puddle
6
Mid shot
1 second
Female running through bush
7
Handi-cam crabbing left
4 seconds
Female running through forest
8
Long shot- low moving steadicam
3 seconds
Dark hallway
9
CU- right of frame
2 seconds
Quivering dirty hand
10
Mid shot
3 seconds
Dark silhouette
11
Long shot
1 second
View of the females feet as she runs
12
Handi-cam crabbing left
4 seconds
Female running through forest
13
CU-placed in the centre
1 second
Moving piece of rope
14
Mid Shot
1 second
Flattened bird
15
Mid Shot
1 second
Figure will a potato sack masking its face
16
Handi-cam crabbing left (Women framed to the right)
4 seconds
Female running through forest
17
BCU
2 seconds
Hand and face shaking viciously
18
CU
2 seconds
Pile of maggots
19
Long shot
2 seconds
Hovering figure
20
CU
3 seconds
Mans battered face, focuses on the eyes


In our film, I think the use of interrcutting images will create a more dramatic impact to our audience as pictures envelop emotions as well as creating a sense of verisimilitude. This will allow us to properly put across our ideas, as well as scaring the audience.

Group: Treatment 1

The shot begins with a glass bowl, skittles are then dropped in it , as the sound will be amplified  for a dramatic effect. The shot will then change to a close up to a single red skittle with the 's' clearly shown, this will act as a visual motif, just like the bracelets used in 'Brick' (Johnson,2005).
This then fades into the title sequence of our title (which is still under discussion) in a font mentioned in our Concept Development post. The shot then focuses on the protagonist and his companion, whom are walking through the forest, to then bind things together, the shot will also contain the visual motif of the red hoodie out of focus in the background. The protagonist then gets a message from his secret admirer (the murderer) so he ushers his companion away, he is now alone. The character then pulls out a packet of skittles which is blown away by the wind. The character then follows the wrapper and notices engravings into the trees, on closer inspection they are arrows, they seem to be directing him somewhere.

Flashback: this shows the creep on a laptop talking to the protagonist as he pretends to be the attractive girl that wants to finally meet him.

The character ends up at a small secluded hut, on inspection it seems abandoned but surprisingly a pigment of light is seen. The hut is unlocked, but the door is closed with the use of a rock/log. As he enters the hut, he is greeted will a dark and odd low key lighting. A bed is present which implies there is a owner. Being nosey he examines more, the hut is covered in letters and other objects which no really link, i.e girl hair brush, axe. A laptop is emitting light, it seems very unfitting for its environment. The laptop is then opened to find the girls social networking site on the screen, this confuses the protagonist and starts to scare him. As this happens the man in the red hood enters the hut, a scream is heard and the clip ends.
Group: Preliminary task- Lesson 3
  • When shooting our preliminary task i learnt that when filming there are many ways of moving and angling the camera to create specific effects for example ,running with the camera (Handy cam ) can emulate a chase scene as seen in many television dramas and films .
  • The best shots that we were able to take were close ups of the protagonist and antagonist's facial expressions when dialogue is being used,these were our best shots because the non-verbal language we captured in these showed the mood and intentions of character's.
  • The main difficulties we encountered when filming were when to start filming a shot and when to end it ,we found this difficult because we tended to give vocal signals which ruined some of our best footage.
  • When editing i learnt that some of the best shots are the shortest,such as when we were trying to continuity edit clips such as a moving through a door scene small 1 second clips can make a huge difference in the realism and can change the tempo of a scene.
  • During post production i learnt that when adding non-digetic sound it is sometimes more effective to add two lines of music ,this beefs up the sound and allows combinations of eerie thriller tracks and suspense tracks to make a more horror like track.
  • The main strengths in our production are the shots of facial close ups and the facial expressions which they show, this non verbal language says more than a lot of dialogue .
  • The main weakness in our production was the digetic sounds that came with our original footage this was because there were other peoples voices in the back ground and subsequently we had to turn down the digetic sound to salvage the footage.
When we film and edit our opening sequence my three main tips would be.
  1. Make sure there are no unwanted digetic sounds such as loud voices or cars etc.
  2. Make sure to take 2-3 takes of each shot so that you have a wider variety of shots.
  3. Plan the sequence ,shots and events that are going to happen even if changes have too be made which is inevitable.