Shots

In the piece i wanted to include as many different shots as possible. Our idea as a team was to concentrate more on the type of shots and narrative equally. We felt that if s shot we intended to put in the opening was either to difficult or did not have enough effect, then it was to be replaced by something that did. Another tactic was that if we thought a shot would look good visualy, then we would find a way to fit it into the stroy even if was not apart of the original Storyboard.

Some of my best shots include the close of the eye. I felt that having an extreme close up of just one eye was more effective than having a close up of a pair of eyes as it gave the footage more quality and sophistication. Another, was the shot of the killer through the fence. Although this was a group idea, i felt that a slight angle on the camera would make the shot more visually interesting and it would also enhance a sense of realism.

In a shot where the killer was in a lift, we wanted to film him pressing a button. The original group idea was to have the shot from the side, but i thought that a shot directly from the persons point of view would be alot more effective and give the shots in out thriller more variation. Another idea of mine was to split one of the scenes where the killer walks out of the lift and heads towards the gates. My idea was to cut the video into three main sectors whilst editing and change the speed on each section. I thought that something like this would show we had a broad knowlede about skilled shots, and also show that we understood what people would want to see and enjoy watching.

Most of our ideas had started off from things we had seen on tv or in films. However, what i found hard to cope with once i had begun filming was how much harder it was to actualli use the camera and get shots just as i had imagined. My main shooting tactic through out the piece was to use shots that flowed, and looked good. This was based on a theory known as 'continous editing' or 'hollywood editing'. This involved alot of cuts and split shots but i felt it was worth the hassel.


Iqra.

As we near the end of the task, we have managed to keep upto date and overcome some of our earlier problems. Some of our biggest struggles included the actors. Our main actress was due to go on a Spanish exchange, as a part of her AS course. What we failed to realise was the time in which this was to take place. On the last few shots of the opening sequence, we felt that the shots were rushed and not up to our standards. After some hard thinking, we finally thought of some ideas in which we could use. We needed to have some shots without actually having the actress there yet passing it off as the same character.

My team mate, Sanna came up with some good ideas which fitted just what we were looking for. These included some over the shoulder shots, where the frame was to contain just, the characters hands and jacket. Another of the ideas included a shot where the 'killer' crossed out some dates on a calander. The thinking behind this shot was to make the peice more lengthy and to give the film more flow. Right now we are at the stage of shooting our final shot and finishing off the editing and music.


Iqra.

Recently we have been researching different types of sound clips to use in our thriller clip. It has been quite difficult due to the fact we can't use copyright music. However, we have found many websites were we can download music for free. Iqra also has been searching many sound clips from YouTube which we could use. Yet this has caused problems, as it has been my duty to try and find a possible way in which we could convert it to an mp3, allowing us to use it in our thriller sequence
Even though Iqra has found many sound clips I will also be researching even more sound clips to maximise our options.

After writing the previous chapter i have been able to find a programme in which we could convert the soundtrack that we found on YouTube to an mp3 file which could be used in our sequence, due to us not being able to use copyright material we were advised by one of our teachers to not use the sound clips, this meant I had wasted time finding the programme and converting each sound clip as you could only convert 1 at a time within a 45min gap. However as a group we decided it would be beneficial to go forward and find music that was not copyright. We found some music from such websites such as www.soundsnap.com and www.incompetech.com which we were able to use.

Also due to the fact the we needed a male actor which was first a student who was Tom but due to his frees not matching we decided as a group to go on and find a new male character, as group we thought it would be suitable if I was to take the role as it would be very convenient as I would be more reliable as my free's were identical to those in my group, which would reduced the stress on one actors part yet we still had to make sure that our other two females charters are efficient in there

As a group we decided it would be beneficial to prerecord some of the footage from the final piece. We felt that if we recorded some of the harder, more technical shots it would help us see errors and more importantly allow us to correct any mistake and improve the overall quality of the product.
We found that many of the shots we wanted to include were in fact difficult to achieve. As a direct result from this we decided we would change some of our main ideas such as, a split screen. As a part of our story we felt that a split screen of footsteps was constructive as it created a connection between the characters. However as this was not possible we decided to shoot the footsteps, but instead of a split screen we decided to dissolve the shots together as this still created the connection we desired.

During the practise we also struggled with extreme close ups. In the very first scene we wanted to include an extreme close up of an eye. However this was complicated as it was difficult to get focus on the camera. We then decided that we would have to change that idea and use two eyes instead of the one. When we tested this out it was much clearer but it lacked the effect we wanted. We continued to try to find a way to include the shot of the one eye, and after a long period of dead ends we manage to finally get the shot we wanted with the clarity we required.

So far we are still struggling to put all idea into practice due to the materials we are provided with. Although it may be time consuming we continue to find ways around the hurdles and if not find a new way!

Iqra.

What we plan to do today....

We hope to have taken shots with two of our actors as we are finding it difficult to select a time where they are both available. As well as this, we are going to start editing our shots and sequencing some of the scenes of our thriller.

For the scenes where blood will be shown, we have prepared a sample of red dye. We have also arranged to book the cameras during the afternoon.

Furthermore, we have decided to split roles between us. At the moment Iqra is researching music for our thriller, Nabil is finding methods of linking the music to our thriller and I will be editing and finding props.

However, we will all be taking part in filming as well as editing.

This was the shot we were trying to achieve.

what we have achieved so far...

We have built up our storyboard and analysed the variety of shots needed for our thriller.
Today, we experimented with the camera which proved to be very tricky. We found taking the shot of the girl looking in the mirror quite challenging, as we could not frame without Nabil being seen filming. As well as this, trying to get an extreme close-up of the girl's eye as sketched on our storyboard also proved difficult.

Hitchcock

Film Treatment

At sixteen, dealing with the death of a friend is hard to accept. For Lisa Murray, Sophie's death leads to a ground breaking decision. Having witnessed the brutal killing , the only way Lisa sees fit to deal with the event is to try and figure out the circumstances surrounding her friend's death.

A simple discovery leads to the frightening unravelling of the past. Soon Lisa is spiralling out of control, locked into a gruesome chain of events which she can't escape.

Increasingly she goes to treacherous lengths and striving to discover the truth.

Will she succeed or will she fail?

Hitchcock-The Birds

In this film we learnt about the importance of symbolism in a thriller. In this thriller Hitchcock explores the parallel reality between humans and birds. Throughout the film this idea is constantly repeated. For example, in the very first scene where lead female Melanie meets lead male Mitch, the connection immediately begins to build when Mitch says to Melanie, “you should be put behind bars” the bars of course referring to a birds cage. Not long after, in the car scene with Melanie and the birds we see the love birds tilting left and right with the bends of the road just like a normal passenger would. This is another visual hint between the parallel realities between humans and birds. Later we are told a story about Melanie jumping naked into a fountain, slightly odd, something that a bird would more likely do. When the main characters seal themselves in the house for protection from the birds, we find that Mitch is wearing green trousers and Melanie is wearing a green outfit. Being that the love birds are green, this is probably another hint that Mitch and Melanie are the human equivalents of love birds. When we see a shot of the love birds in their cage, we realise that is the same for Mitch and Melanie as they have just caged themselves in the house just like the birds.
This has really helped us because we found out that subtle hints can make a big difference and change the dynamic of a story. Also in this film we learnt that the use of primal fears such as the flapping wings of birds can have a bigger effect than explicit visual tactics such as costumes and gory details. Also Hitchcock’s creativity when it comes to arranging characters in the frame has been very useful. For example he arranged the characters at different angles instead of a straight line. This makes the image more visually interesting and decreases the level mise-en-scene used.