Thriller
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Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Friday, 20 November 2009
Things that Scare People in Scary Movies
There are many things that can scare people in scary movies such as:
What we can see but the cast cannot - Some of the scariest footage in scary movies can be when we see the psycho, monster, killer... etc creeping up on thier victim and there is nothing as a viewer you can do about it.
Ideas To Achieve This - Zoom in on the victims face and have the scary character some distance in the background out of focus and have them slowly come forward and perhaps come more into focus as they approach. Have the scary character crawl across the ceiling right above the victim, this would be effective if you used a low camera angle then the viewers would be able to see the scary character and the victim would not. Another technique you could use would be to film as if you where looking through the scary characters eyes, this is effective as the audience knows the scary character is creeping up on the victim but there is nothing they can do.
Disgusting can be scary - Some of our worst nightmares can involve mutilation and while in some movies it seems a bit random it is never the less scary to watch. Limb loss, impalement, dismemberment etc are all scary and freaky to watch. It is important in a movie not to do this to much otherwise it gets to disgusting to watch.
Ideas to Achieve This – Have the character open a door to somebody standing there with a severed body part. The person the character is talking to or is standing next has been murdered (decapitated) and they do not realise.
What we can’t see but can hear – With the good sound systems in most cinemas the use of sound is usually extremely effective. The eerie music that builds tension is extremely effective especially when nothing overly scary is happening. By adding scary music to an innocent scene it can completely transform the meaning of the scene. Also sound effects of what is happening off screen can also be very effective, for example when a character is being brutally murdered it is sometimes very effective to just hear it as apposed to seeing it as it is still just as brutally but keeps the film from being to gross
Ideas to Achieve This – Have the scary character grab someone and you see the action of killing (for example an axe being swung down at somebody) and just have the noise of it. This would mean the viewers would still know exactly what is going on but doesn’t have to view the gore and blood. Also another effective technique is to have a victim hiding in a closet or behind a door and just to hear the scary characters footsteps coming towards the victim, not only is this scary it also builds extreme tension.
What we can see but the cast cannot - Some of the scariest footage in scary movies can be when we see the psycho, monster, killer... etc creeping up on thier victim and there is nothing as a viewer you can do about it.
Ideas To Achieve This - Zoom in on the victims face and have the scary character some distance in the background out of focus and have them slowly come forward and perhaps come more into focus as they approach. Have the scary character crawl across the ceiling right above the victim, this would be effective if you used a low camera angle then the viewers would be able to see the scary character and the victim would not. Another technique you could use would be to film as if you where looking through the scary characters eyes, this is effective as the audience knows the scary character is creeping up on the victim but there is nothing they can do.
Disgusting can be scary - Some of our worst nightmares can involve mutilation and while in some movies it seems a bit random it is never the less scary to watch. Limb loss, impalement, dismemberment etc are all scary and freaky to watch. It is important in a movie not to do this to much otherwise it gets to disgusting to watch.
Ideas to Achieve This – Have the character open a door to somebody standing there with a severed body part. The person the character is talking to or is standing next has been murdered (decapitated) and they do not realise.
What we can’t see but can hear – With the good sound systems in most cinemas the use of sound is usually extremely effective. The eerie music that builds tension is extremely effective especially when nothing overly scary is happening. By adding scary music to an innocent scene it can completely transform the meaning of the scene. Also sound effects of what is happening off screen can also be very effective, for example when a character is being brutally murdered it is sometimes very effective to just hear it as apposed to seeing it as it is still just as brutally but keeps the film from being to gross
Ideas to Achieve This – Have the scary character grab someone and you see the action of killing (for example an axe being swung down at somebody) and just have the noise of it. This would mean the viewers would still know exactly what is going on but doesn’t have to view the gore and blood. Also another effective technique is to have a victim hiding in a closet or behind a door and just to hear the scary characters footsteps coming towards the victim, not only is this scary it also builds extreme tension.
What Is a Horror Film?
A Horror film serves many purposes:
Personal
The audiences’ own identification with the fears or threats of the narrative – tapping into primal fears of: The Creature/Other in darkness, Body being ripped/mutilated, Emergence of terror but from a safe (vicarious) distance.
Ideology
The implicit (hidden) or explicit (obvious) message embedded in the narrative. Themes of punishment/redemption and/or revulsion at any subject which deviates from ‘correct’ thinking. Beginning with ‘basic’ textual messages. (The virgin ‘good girl’ surviving at the expense of the ‘slutty’ rebellious friend) and developing into more nuanced, subtle ‘fears’ of strangers/hitchhikers/different religious beliefs/power of science to ‘conquer’ the darkness – new faith at the expense of ‘old’ religion.
Financial/Industrial
Without a doubt one of the most lucrative genres to continually re-invert and exploit. Horror franchises regularly stretch beyond other genres in terms of sequels, spin off or re-makes because of the profit.
Personal
The audiences’ own identification with the fears or threats of the narrative – tapping into primal fears of: The Creature/Other in darkness, Body being ripped/mutilated, Emergence of terror but from a safe (vicarious) distance.
Ideology
The implicit (hidden) or explicit (obvious) message embedded in the narrative. Themes of punishment/redemption and/or revulsion at any subject which deviates from ‘correct’ thinking. Beginning with ‘basic’ textual messages. (The virgin ‘good girl’ surviving at the expense of the ‘slutty’ rebellious friend) and developing into more nuanced, subtle ‘fears’ of strangers/hitchhikers/different religious beliefs/power of science to ‘conquer’ the darkness – new faith at the expense of ‘old’ religion.
Financial/Industrial
Without a doubt one of the most lucrative genres to continually re-invert and exploit. Horror franchises regularly stretch beyond other genres in terms of sequels, spin off or re-makes because of the profit.
Friday, 6 November 2009
Monday, 19 October 2009
Prelim Post Production
When finished with filming, our footage was loaded onto the computer. We accessed this footage on the programme ‘Final Cut Server’. We checked out the Edit Proxy and not the raw footage to edit in our editing exercise. An Edit Proxy is a digital copy of the footage so that we are not actually editing the real footage.
Logging the Shots:
To log our shots we created a log bin to keep the shots separate from our full footage. The purpose of logging the shots is to separate the rubbish shots from the good ones. So seen as we had many of the same shots from the same angle we just had to pick the best shot, for example we did not use ones where the actors messed up their lines. We used the ‘I’ for in and ‘O’ for out to select the shot we wanted and then clicked Modify, then modify clip. This saves the clip to the clip bin at the side of your screen where you then re-name the clip and drag and drop it into the log bin. We had to go through all the shots of each angle and pick the best one that would be the best fit for our overall clip.
Organising your shots:
Once we had logged all the shots we then looked at the storyboard to compare the shots we had to get them into roughly the right order. We then had to look at how we were going to edit our footage, as in whose side is the audience on. Depending on whose side the audience on depends on who gets the most close ups and others shots.
Shot Order:
The shot order is very important in editing as it is essential to continuity. If the angle shot changes right after an action happens it will break the flow of action and will look far to edited. The whole point of editing is so that the sequence will be flowing and so there is good match on action and it doesn’t look like its been edited.
Editing in Final Cut:
Using Final Cut was an interesting experience as I had never looked at any editing program before. It was interesting to plan how to link in different shots to make different characters appear in different ways and to make different things appear harsher or softer. For example when character A said “Do it” he is more powerful than character B and is being quite harsh so we had and extreme close up of his mouth. This draws all the viewers’ attention to his mouth and what he is saying so it seems a lot harsher. Also when character B is left sitting in the room by herself after the whole discussion is finished we cut to an extreme close up of her eyes to show her sad eyes. This once again draws the audience in to what we want them to see and makes them see the sadness and confusion in character Bs eyes.
Logging the Shots:
To log our shots we created a log bin to keep the shots separate from our full footage. The purpose of logging the shots is to separate the rubbish shots from the good ones. So seen as we had many of the same shots from the same angle we just had to pick the best shot, for example we did not use ones where the actors messed up their lines. We used the ‘I’ for in and ‘O’ for out to select the shot we wanted and then clicked Modify, then modify clip. This saves the clip to the clip bin at the side of your screen where you then re-name the clip and drag and drop it into the log bin. We had to go through all the shots of each angle and pick the best one that would be the best fit for our overall clip.
Organising your shots:
Once we had logged all the shots we then looked at the storyboard to compare the shots we had to get them into roughly the right order. We then had to look at how we were going to edit our footage, as in whose side is the audience on. Depending on whose side the audience on depends on who gets the most close ups and others shots.
Shot Order:
The shot order is very important in editing as it is essential to continuity. If the angle shot changes right after an action happens it will break the flow of action and will look far to edited. The whole point of editing is so that the sequence will be flowing and so there is good match on action and it doesn’t look like its been edited.
Editing in Final Cut:
Using Final Cut was an interesting experience as I had never looked at any editing program before. It was interesting to plan how to link in different shots to make different characters appear in different ways and to make different things appear harsher or softer. For example when character A said “Do it” he is more powerful than character B and is being quite harsh so we had and extreme close up of his mouth. This draws all the viewers’ attention to his mouth and what he is saying so it seems a lot harsher. Also when character B is left sitting in the room by herself after the whole discussion is finished we cut to an extreme close up of her eyes to show her sad eyes. This once again draws the audience in to what we want them to see and makes them see the sadness and confusion in character Bs eyes.
Monday, 12 October 2009
Prelim Task Evaluation
My group filmed in a classroom in the school for our media preliminary task. This location worked for us as it had enough room to film in and we had the door of the classroom which functioned well as we had to have one of the characters going in and out of a door in the piece. In filming each of our group members had a turn in operating the camera, directing and holding the rifle mic. We rotated around so we each got to experience all the different types of filming. I really enjoyed directing as you get to call out the commands and make sure everything was okay and I also enjoyed operating the camera as you got to help set up the shot and do the actual filming.
For our lighting we decided to go for a more sinister, darker feel with the lighting and have a back light on character B as they were being victimized and a key light on the main area. The back light would make character B appear more vulnerable and also prettier. Unfortunately we were unable to use the back light as the only back light that we could have used was a desk lamp and it was very ineffective so we ended up not using it. The key light created cast shadow of character B on the wall behind her creating a creepy atmosphere and it also gave an attached shadow on her face which made her look very vulnerable. The lighting was important to the scene as it set the right mood. It was effective as it helped portray character A as more powerful and scary and character B as more vulnerable and helpless.
When filming we remembered to set up the camera by bubbling it to make sure the shot would be level each time. We also made sure to film colour bars so that when it comes to editing we know where our piece starts. Also colour bars are useful as if the colour bars are distorted or if there is anything wrong with them, when recording you will know there will be something wrong with your shot. We made sure that each time after moving the camera to make sure it was bubbled, the shot was level and that there was no pieces of equipment such as lighting in the shot. We also made sure that when doing the over the shoulder shots we never crossed the 180 degree rule. We ran through the sequence several times in each different angle and each time we changed the camera angle we ran the sequence through the whole time through. For example we set up the wide shot and filmed the whole things through, then the close ups and then the over the shoulder shots. This ensures that when editing we didn’t just have little clips of different angles here and there but that if we want a clip of a bit from that angle later on we have it incase we need it. When thinking about angles we filmed at a high angle to film some of character Bs close-ups. This is so that the audience is looking down on character B making her appear more inferior and vulnerable. Also when shooting character A we shot some bits at a low angle, this means that character A looks more superior and powerful. When filming on set we made sure that each person who was directing used the right terminology to make sure everybody knew what was going on. This ensured that everybody was all working as a team and knew what was happening.
I thought that during the preliminary task our group worked well together and I felt that the filming and planning both went very well. I have learnt that filming is not as simple as just shooting the shots you need or running through a sequence in one angle. It is all about shooting the same thing over and over again in different angles and views in order to stick them together in editing to make an interesting scene.
For our lighting we decided to go for a more sinister, darker feel with the lighting and have a back light on character B as they were being victimized and a key light on the main area. The back light would make character B appear more vulnerable and also prettier. Unfortunately we were unable to use the back light as the only back light that we could have used was a desk lamp and it was very ineffective so we ended up not using it. The key light created cast shadow of character B on the wall behind her creating a creepy atmosphere and it also gave an attached shadow on her face which made her look very vulnerable. The lighting was important to the scene as it set the right mood. It was effective as it helped portray character A as more powerful and scary and character B as more vulnerable and helpless.
When filming we remembered to set up the camera by bubbling it to make sure the shot would be level each time. We also made sure to film colour bars so that when it comes to editing we know where our piece starts. Also colour bars are useful as if the colour bars are distorted or if there is anything wrong with them, when recording you will know there will be something wrong with your shot. We made sure that each time after moving the camera to make sure it was bubbled, the shot was level and that there was no pieces of equipment such as lighting in the shot. We also made sure that when doing the over the shoulder shots we never crossed the 180 degree rule. We ran through the sequence several times in each different angle and each time we changed the camera angle we ran the sequence through the whole time through. For example we set up the wide shot and filmed the whole things through, then the close ups and then the over the shoulder shots. This ensures that when editing we didn’t just have little clips of different angles here and there but that if we want a clip of a bit from that angle later on we have it incase we need it. When thinking about angles we filmed at a high angle to film some of character Bs close-ups. This is so that the audience is looking down on character B making her appear more inferior and vulnerable. Also when shooting character A we shot some bits at a low angle, this means that character A looks more superior and powerful. When filming on set we made sure that each person who was directing used the right terminology to make sure everybody knew what was going on. This ensured that everybody was all working as a team and knew what was happening.
I thought that during the preliminary task our group worked well together and I felt that the filming and planning both went very well. I have learnt that filming is not as simple as just shooting the shots you need or running through a sequence in one angle. It is all about shooting the same thing over and over again in different angles and views in order to stick them together in editing to make an interesting scene.
Friday, 2 October 2009
Storyboarding
Storyboarding is a great way for people in film production to easily see visually what they have to do. It also means that people funding the film can see what their product might look like instead of waiting till the films release date. Storyboarding helps in film production as when shooting a film it means that the team knows roughly what a shot is supposed to look like and how it is set up and also it means they never forget to film a shot, so they don't have to go back and repeat a days filming.
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Camera Work
On the 25th of Septembre the class learnt all about the video camera and how it works. We learnt about the zoom, the focus, the time code, the aspect code which on our camera was 16:9 (wide screen), dB's, the apeture and also the shutter speed. We also learnt how to set our camera up. We learnt how to put the camera on the tripod, bubble it, put the mic in, put the battery in and turn it on and off. All of these skill will help us when using a camera.The time code is how long left you have to record on your tape. It captures 25 frames per second, but you will only see the frame number go as high as 24 as it then resets to zero. We learnt that when we are out filming never to look back at our work until we get back and put our recordings onto the computer. If we did look at it while we were in the middle of filming, we might end up recording over other material we needed, leave some tape un-used or mess up the time codes. This would be bad.
The shutter speed is how fast the camera captures a frame and the apeture is how large the hole is at the front of the camera. The apeture basically controls how much light is let into the video camera.
Camera work
This shot shows Storm lurking from within the jungle. Because we are at the same level as Storm it makes us feel like we are equal and she is not inferior or superior to us.
This photo of Gabby is whats known as a 'Hero Shot' this is because the audience feels inferior to Gabby as she is shot from below so it seems like she is superior. Also as she is looking off into the distance which makes her look like she is in deep intelligent thought.
This shot that we took portrays Storm as an inferior character. This is done as it was taken from above and because the viewer looks at the picture and almost looks down on Storm it makes them feel superior.
Thriller Poster
This is my thriller poster. I created this by using Photoshop. I used these images to create more of a thrilling picture. For example the two girls running and leaping towards the centre character represents that she is inferior and powerless to the scary girls. I placed her in the middle as it gives the impression that she is being attacked from all angles, once again powerless and inferior to everything around her. I chose the fuzzy stripey background as it represents chaos and craziness which is rather scary. I also chose the red coloured writing for my title as it represents horror and anger. The reason I chose the title of ‘The Descendants’ is because the two scary girls appear to be descending on the middle character also it seems rather appropriate and scary. The fact that the character is in the centre at a lower angle than the other two scary girl’s means that she is shown to be weaker and helpless.
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