Overall thoughts

i think overall we were much better than before at planning our project as we knew what we wanted to do and how we were going to do it. Before any footage was shot we planned what we were going to do on each shoot and what was needed like like props and setting and also who was needed each day so the actors knew what they were doing.

Things i have learnt from this

I am now more confident using the programmes to edit and photoshop. I found it hard working out how to get things to fade in and out and how to cut things down at first. But now i feel more confident and can do it really easily. The titles were much easyer after i made a template on photoshop and used that to keep the house style the same. Ive also learnt that having dark parts in the footage and just having speaking have benfited the titles and given me alot more room to put them in. Last lesson i also found out how to smooth down footage and sound so there was no bumps or crackles in the footage.

Secret Shadow !

lotte

Possible Locations

First of all we thought that the forest would be a good location as it'd be eerie and atmospheric, however after considering it, we thought that it wouldn't fit within our theme of stalking as the vast majority of your shots were based within a house. 

We did, however decide to use the road as the trees created a daunting effect and we were lucky that on the day of our filming the sky was grey and unwelcoming representing our overall feeling of the film.

16/3/10 Lunch

Due to worrying about the amount of time we had left. I decided to come in and spend some extra time on the titles and the footage. I ended up finishing my titles and also managed to spend some time sorting out the sound which didn't flow.  This ended up going into the lesson to. Having the extra time made it not be rushed and end up a mess.

16/3/10 Lesson Plan

We have now in our minds think we have finished. We didnt use all the titles made due to us thinking we didnt need any more on because it would have over crowded the film. We smoothed out the music to make sure there was no bumps and checked all the titles were working. We have also played it through to make sure all the footage was smooth and working. Over all we our happy with our final peace and think given the time we had we have something good to show for it.

15th March 2011

We changed the music and the sounds volume so it faded in and out so it didnt have a bump in it. We then added some more titles onto it which took longer than planned. We didnt realise it took 10-15 minutes per title to put them onto our film. However we had a lot of space to put our titles due to the black areas. Tomorrow will be our last lesson so we will have to try to aim to finish it.

Pros

• good variety of shots
• Good opening credits
• Establishment of location
• effective storyline
• Good understanding of thriller genre
• Nice sense of ambience through heavy breathing

Cons

• Not a rough cut
• Music needs to be tidied up and some bits need to be louder
• The sound needs ti be changed because the volume is bad in some parts of the footage - In the dark footage we need to make sure that its obvious there is music and have it louder to create a more tense atmosphere
• In the last shot of jaelle sitting down, we need to have the actual sound of the TV to show that this person is invading her homely environment.
• In the daytime shots it needs to edited to be made less brighter so it flows better with the darker shots previously
• need more titles to fit in the darker spaces of the footage
• We need to shorten the opening a little bit so it doesn't drag on

Overview of filming

I think our filming has been successful to a certain extent and we have shot some good footage. Our first lot of footage was shot in the dark.

Filming - Thursday 3rd march

Jaelle+Katie

Today me and jaelle were filming in the grand arcade. I filmed jaelle walking into the entrance of the shopping centre and going into shops ( Topshop.) Also when filming i filmed her talking a friend which was unplanned and was an advantage to us as it makes our footage more affective and real life. We see him walking off from the conversation which gives off to the audience that she was meeting up with a friend and gives an insight into what the character likes doing and shows her friend. Towards the end of the filming session i filmed jaelle walking out of the grand arcade and having other people walking past it looks more suspicous and creates a risky atmosphere.

Overall view of the thriller so far

So far it is looking rather well, i was a little worried at the start about the footage we got back because it was so dark and you could only hear voices. However after speaking to tom he said it would seem alot scaryer if you didnt see alot and just heard things. This also gave us an advantage of lots of areas to put titles. The ending part is also looking really well and the ending leaves at a cliff hanger which makes you want to see the rest.

However we still have no middle part to our film which at this point isnt a worry because we have most of the footage. On fridays lesson i hope me and the group can put the middle part together and have what we would like to think is our thriller sequence. If i have enough time id also like to add some more of the titles i have spent ages making. It has taken a long time to get the hang of using the programme we are using along with photo shop and trying to get the text to move.

 I feel more confident now about using the programme we are using even though it has taken a while.I found trying to get the text to move really hard but once i got the hang of it everything went fine. Due to losing out on next tuesdays lesson it means we only have about 3 hours to get together what we think be the finishing thing ready to present it to everyone friday. If we dont manage to get the footage at least together and most the titles on by friday we will see if the group and myself will go in wednesday before the lesson starts to get more done.

While one/two of us is sorting out the footage and putting the titles on. The rest of the group could be thinking of the title of the thriller. Along with re-doing katies breathing and also starting to put music together if we are to put any on there. We also need to add in the productions logo we have finished which shouldnt take very long.

From my point of view everything is going really well and the group seems to be working with everyone playing a part in the filiming/editing. It will be good to get feedback from the others to know how to improve and make the sequence better so we can get the best out of what we have done.

4th March Lesson Plan

Charlotte- All the footage thats been done needs to have been croped down and into place. Along with at least most the titles in place.

Katie & Jaelle- Need to come up with a name for the thriller, also to do the breathing we are going to use throughout the sequence.

2nd March Lesson Plan

Charlotte- to start putting on the titles that we made. We had to change the colour tone on alot the writing due to us using a white back ground at first but decided to change it to go over the footage. Starting to have a really nice opening sequence and end. However the middle is still empty and still needs footage to be added and cut down.

Katie & Jaelle- Went to the grand arcade to film some more footage, which was then upload to the computer at the end of the lesson. Next lesson will start on the breathing & music? we also need some more footage, however by friday we should have all the footage we need. Just a case of putting it all together.

18th Feb plan for lesson

Charlotte- to work on using the footage we shot over the 2 night period and edit it to put something together. We now have what we would like to think of as a star and finish to our thriller. Theres alot of blank areas to put titles in which we will start next lesson. We will have to re-do the breathing as it doesnt sound very good through using the camera. We also need to get some more footage.

Katie & Jaelle- went out and filmed some more footage we can use in the thriller. There was shots of actually talking to the man and walking of, also walking along the road. We will still need extra footage however there was some nice shots we are able to use.

Titles test

Here shows a test for our titles that we may use in are thriller sequence. 

Location problems

We have emailed Grand arcade and The Grafton centre to see whether or not we will be able to get permission being able to film there on weekends.

script for conversation on the bus between the two girls

girl being stalked- so are you looking forward to that party this weekend?
friend- yea! i cant believe how amazing my dress is
girl being stalked- what? the one you just got ?
friend-no, its another one i got couple weeks back
girl being stalked- best get up you know what this bus drivers like

conversation once of the bus

girl being stalked- well i best go! ill ring you later for a chat
friend- ok

''hugs friend''

Names for our film

Ideas

• Espy
• Vigilance
• Peek
• The unknown
• lookout

Story board

the plot and step by step guide to our story board

1.We will start of with are vision productions logo.

2.It will then come up with a man cutting up pictures and surrounded by pictures of a girl.

3It will then do several long and short shorts out and go black.

4.And have the title.

5.Then it will come up with the girl running into her house after a night out and saying goodbye to her friends.

6.Then we will show the grand arcade with the man leaning over the second floor or the balcony and he will then zoom in on the girl walking into topshop

7. then from the corner near the the esclators he will film her walking out of the shop.

8.Then on the bus he will film her sitting there with her friends.

9.hugs the girl goodbye.

10.walks back into her house again.

11. view of the house before he knocks at the door.

12.she will be cooking

13. here the gate shut

14. she hears a knock at the door.

15 ends with a close up of her face

times we are free for filming

Charlotte-
monday 1 on woulds
wednesday before 1.00 and after 4.30
thursday after 1.00
saturday and possibly sunday

Katie-
tuesday from 12.30 on woulds
friday - 2.40 on woulds
saturday and sunday

Jaelle-
monday
thursday
saturday and sunday

friday the 11th to monday morning 14th

Props

-a number of photos of the girl he is stalking
-gloves for his hands
-a pen
-note book that he can draw in
-camera which he will be holding
-picture frame of the girl
-the girl could have bags from after shes been shopping
-shower gel etc
-handbag for the girl
-phone for the girl
-ipod

Make up

We will only need to focus on one of the main chracters make up as we dont see the other chracters face, However we will see parts of him so we need to get across a to the audience that theres something about him not quite right. For example having cuts on his hands and dirt to show that hes done something

We will show the girl wearing simple makeup e.g. Mascara, Foundation, eye shadow

Sound affects

• Gate opening & shutting
• Footsteps
• Knock on the door/ Doorbell
• tv in the background playing when she is cooking
• a tune that will play throughout 
• laughing 

Costumes

Boy- As we will only see parts of his body we have to make it mysterious so we will have this main character wearing muddy boots, black gloves, a long coat.               

Girl- Normal clothing e.g. jeans, Pumps, T-shirt, Coat, Handbag

Vision Productions

<object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jdCG0u_18VI?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jdCG0u_18VI?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object>

Titles

Here shows a template that we will be using for all of are titles throughout the opening sequence.

Ideas for thriller opening

Locations
-Forest
-Woods
-house
-grand arcade/night and day
-along the street
-general places

Characters 
We will have two characters one will be just an average person. We will have a boy who is the stalker he we will quiet old and be into filming. Then we will have a girl who is quiet old to and she wont know who this man is.

Plot
We will have part of ares as home movie where it will show the man holding the camera and following the girl. He will start of just doing it in the day, just girl will start to feel like she is getting watched but she isn't sure. She will then walk back from a night out and the man will carry on stalking her along her travels back. She will then get a knock at the door which will have the man try to talk to her she will start to get worried and will go to shut the door but the man put his foot there. Throughout we wont see this man it will just be parts of his body.

Learning experience from photo shop

Problems
-Tried to use video of eye but found it hard to edit and use.
-First decided to use a circle affect in black and white to create a flash, but it didn't give the affect we wanted
-Had problems with trying to get the back ground go from the blood drop.
-Had to get used to photo shop again to be able to use it to our best ability.
-its difficult to understand tools on photo shop.

What we learnt
-We learnt how to edit it in more depth by editing.
-We got to spend a lot time on getting a logo properly.

Sequence

Pixar Animation Logo

Pixar's production logo is used mainly for children's films and therefore the use of animation makes it fit categorically and also links back to the fact that Pixar is in fact an animation co-oporation.

Production Logo Of Disney Logo

When you see the logo come up it seems magical. It has a castle so it makes you think its going to be a fairy tale of some sort. They also come across as being girly because of the castle and its all pretty. The fire works and all the stars also make it seem really magical and pretty.

5 top tips

• Plan efficiently
• Organise filming and shoot early,  do lots of filming
• Plan titiles and sound
• Keep consistant
• Sound affects
• Don't let the music overpower the sequence
• Have a good setting

The Recruit

This film is a sub genre (e.g crime/thriller, psychological thriller.) The opening sequence of the film uses computer symbols to get the audience thinking they're actually involved with the story. We see one characters reflection making it mysterious  and intriguing. There were quick transistions to make it upbeat and tense.

Michael Caine is Harry Brown

The overall genre of this film is Hybrid(e.g cross with gangster, war and action). The filming is filmed from the characters point of view. Its also really fast and when the titles are put on it just has background noise playing. We like it because he was using his own film camera to film because it makes you feel more involved in the film. Throughout it its really intense.The titles were really good how they faded in and out but we thought the titles could of been a bit bigger.When the lady gets shot we like how it cuts out of it and goes silent then starts talking etc after a second.

screen shots of the secret window

The music indicates an eerie sense which links back to the thriller theme and makes it more atmospheric. It uses a high pitched piano melody that can be similar to the sound of screaming which creates a suspense atmosphere. As well as this the title of the film is shot in red which connotes blood as seen in shot 5. The shots are all very mysterious getting the audience intrigued and wanting to watch more.

Secret window

Preliminary Task

Research definition of continuity editing

The 180° rule is a basic guideline in film making that states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line. 


Match on action technique can preserve temporal continuity where there is a uniform, unrepeated physical motion or change within a passage. A match on action is when some action occurring before the temporally questionable cut is picked up where the cut left it by the shot immediately following. For example, a shot of someone tossing a ball can be edited to show two different views, while maintaining temporal continuity by being sure that the second shot shows the arm of the subject in the same stage of its motion as it was left when cutting from the first shot.


Shot reverse shot (or shot/countershot) is a film technique  where one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other


Thriller is a genre of literature, film and television that uses suspense,tension and excitement as the main elements.


http://www.wikipedia.org/