Filming Main Task - Evaluation

Evaluation

As Media Studies Coursework

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Filming Main Task - Production

Our filming took us two days to film our thriller thoroughly. However our editing took us around 3 - 4 days because it was much more specific and detailed.

Filming Day 1

We began day 1 with myself meeting Ryan to go to his house to film. Unfortunately Mitchell was at work and Andrew was unavailable so it was just us two. We decided that

we probably wouldn't get much done so we went about arranging our setting, moving our props and drawing a risk assessment. Unfortunately we left our storyboard at home and we couldn't stick to our original plan. Once we set up our setting Mitchell arrived and we sat down and discussed how we were going to go about filming. We discussed that we needed to put in more of an effort and to make sure we have everything next time. We started to film our establishing shot at a long shot and using a panning movement while holding the camera steady to make sure the audience can see the room clearly. Also we shot a few other scenes such as our extreme close ups with an over the shoulder view of the killer cutting out newspapers. the effect of the mise-en-scene is to create a powerful menacing image of the killer so that he is represented as a formidable antagonist in the film. After a few hours we decided to call it a day and to buckle down for our second day of filming. To summarise what we achieve in day 1 we:

• Arranged our setting (moving furniture etc.)
• Created and moved props (placing weapons and cutting out newspaper clips)
• Drew risk assessment
• Thought out possible shots & angles
• Discussed what we planned to do the next day

Filming Day 2

Day 2 was much more promising everybody was present, we had everything we needed and we managed to finish all of our work. Once we managed to film every scene we wanted inside of our location we wanted to go and film at a cemetery in co ordinance to our storyboard. The only one we could think of that was local was Romford Cemetery. However we reviewed our filming and discovered that we had more than enough film, which was about 4 minutes of film to edit for our thriller and we decided we didn't need to film that particular scene and felt that it was inappropriate to the story we thought it would be best to leave it out. After alot of necessary changes to our setting such as covering up and changing the lighting as well as muffling the sounds from outside we managed to get the desired "look" for our film. Each shot went smoothly and we didn't have too many mistakes even though we went through the filming with a fine tooth comb to make sure there wasn't any shaking or jolts to make the film unrealistic. At the end of our filming we were all very pleased with our work and couldn't wait to edit it and see our finished product.

Editing

Once we uploaded our film onto the computers and the editing programme we began immediately. At first we had fun looking at what we could do with the different edits and then moved onto serious work. We wanted to look at each shot and consider the framing and the mise-en-scene and work out how we could edit some aspects of these shots to emphasize the tension and suspense. We thought that certain shot edits were inappropriate for our film such as wipe cuts and montages. We stuck to simple yet effective edits like, normal cuts, jump cuts, dissoles and fade outs. Once we eventually edited down our entire film we wanted to add music to really terrify our target audience. The music we chose came from http://www.newgrounds.com/ in the music section and we fell in love with it once we heard it. The track was just the right length for our film but we still needed to cut down certain parts so that the nondiegetic music was related to what was being seen. However we needed to include some diegetic sound which meant that we needed another scene at the end of our film to finish it all off. Fortunately we already shot this scene and the slam of the hand on the window really creeps the audience out and finishes our film spectacularly. We noticed that in some of the extreme close up shots the camera frame was not steady. We felt that this would be an advantage for us because the jolty, disorientated movements suggests a distorted psychological state from the point of view of this character. Once we had finished our film we needed to input our names to finish our production off. We decided to put these in the establishing shot and throughout certain shots in the film that were appropriate.

Filming Main Task - Risk Assessment

To ensure our health and safety is secure we needed to create a risk assessment. By looking at certain features of our settings and the props we use in our thriller we needed to access how dangerous they were and the potential hazards that surrounded us.


I have drawn a graph to highlight the risks and the risk level.

This graph represents my risk assessment for our filming task. I split the risks into four areas which are; the furniture, this includes all chairs tables and worktops within the location. Also the paint we used for one of our main scenes, the props we used in our film and lastly the camera equipment and how much of a risk they were.

I have assessed the risks into three areas: severity, danger and resolvability.

The severity means the consequences that may be faced after having an accident with these risks. The furniture has a low rating because they were old, not wanted pieces of furniture and they would not have been missed if broken and they did not pose a threat if we decided to climb on them. The paint had a slightly higher rating because there is alot of risk if the paint spilled or if it managed to get into one of our eyes. Our props have a very high severity rating because dealing with heavy and sharp objects could cause severe cuts or worst case scenario lose a finger. Lastly the camera equipment had a high severity rating because the equipment is not ours and is owned by the school. This means that we are liable for them and would need to pay them back so we took extra care with our equipment.

Danger means how much of a threat to our physical and/or mental health these risks could be. Furniture has a low danger rating because they are not sharp or in a dangerous place. The only major danger risk was when Ryan had to step onto a ladder to paint the wall or when Andrew and myself had to hold the curtains on top of a step. The paint had a slightly higher rating because of the same reasons for severity. The props had the highest rating again because of how hazardous the objects were to our physical bodies. Finally the camera equipment had a high danger rating because of how easily damaged the equipment could get. Also the log legs of the tripod could be dangerous if not folded up properly or not carried properly.

Resolvability is how easily the risk was sorted out and the steps taken necessary to deal with the issue. The furniture and paint had very high resolvability ratings because they could have easily been moved, put away or covered up which would have sorted out the risk. The props were difficult to resolve because they ere needed during filming and some had to even be used while filming. This was resolved by taking extra measures to ensure we were safe and knew what we were doing. Unfortunately the camera equipment was the most difficult to resolve because it took up alot of space and was easily broken.

Filming Main Task - Issues

During our filming we have come across many issues that need to be resolved so that our thriller can be effective.

The issues we have faced are:

• Lighting
• Amount of Space
• Acting skills
• Time and Location

We dealt with these issues individually as we came across them and discussed how we would do this.

Lighting

We discovered that there was not much light in Ryan's shed (where we was located) and found that this was an important problem. We tried to add more light by turning on the lights that were in the room but encountered a problem. The lighting the bulbs gave us was an orange glow that was not realistic to the film and reduced the feel of suspense and tension that is required in a thriller. After attempting to remove the blisteringly hot bulbs we covered the light with a newspaper to reduce the light. This was ineffective as there was still a faint orange glow. We soon discovered that by using the window we could use natural light for our film but unfortunately this was too bright for our sensitive camera so Ryan and myself grabbed a cloth and held it in front of the window which gave us the desired light for our thriller. Another issue with our lighting was the shadows created by the camera man, Ryan and myself so by adjusting the camera and ourselves we got rid of any unnecessary shadows cast.

Space

A less important issue that arose immediately before filming was the lack of space we were able to use inside our location. However looking at our storyboard this was not such a big problem as we were shooting alot of close ups and mid shots. The only long shot we initially intended to use was our establishing shot at the beginning to pan across the setting. To solve this issue we were extra careful when moving around the setting and were careful not to ruin the set.

Acting

Before we even began to plan our thriller we came across an obvious problem. None of our group were A-list Hollywood actors. We didn't feel that we could trust "hired" actors or actresses to be reliable and came to the conclusion that we wanted to have as little acting as possible. This would add terror and the theme of identity by encouraging the audience to ask "Who is this person?" By reducing the acting considerably we didn't want our thriller to be ruined by "cheesey" acting and stupid faces that are trying not to laugh while on camera.

Time and Location

While planning our thriller we decided to find out how long we had to complete our task. The answer was alarming and we found that one particular issue was the amount of time to film and edit our thriller. Also a joined problem is where Ryan's house is located. Unfortunately I live considerably far away and each member of our group have other important commitments to work around. It was difficult for all our group to come together at one time for long enough to film.

Filming Main Task - Introduction

To begin with we needed to collaborate our ideas together and decide where, when, and how we were going to film our thriller. My group started our initial filming on the 19th of March. However not all went as planned and one group member forgot to bring the storyboard which led to us not knowing what to do with our film. We needed a newspaper to be used for our props so we could use to cut out specific words that would be appropriate to our story plot. We arranged our set and placed our props to our needs and to improve our mise-en-scene.

Settings:

• Disturbing looking shed
• Disorganised/organised room
• Strange markings on walls
• Almost looks abandoned
• Graveyard setting

Props we want to use:

• Stanley Blade
• Newspaper cut outs
• Cloths
• Paint
• Flick knife
• Screwdriver
• Photos
• Pieces of paper with writing

By attempting to remember the storyboard we drifted away from our initial ideas and ended up coming up with new and improved ideas for different shots and scenes. After a lot of hard work we decided to call it a day without doing much filming. However I think this worked in our favour. This is because this led to us thinking about our film in detail and discussing it even further. We drew a plan of our location and studied areas of filming and possible issues that may crop up during our production.

Target Audience

We discussed that our target audience would be ranged from our own age, who are young adults mostly males. We wanted this target audience because we felt that this would make it easier for us to film something that would reach out to us and our target audience. Being young adults ourselves it gives us an advantage of what our target audience would want in a thriller and what we are expected to deliver. We chose males as our dominant gender in our target audience because this thriller may have gore and violence and this generally appeals more towards males than females. However we felt that we didn't want to just narrow ourselves down into that age group specifically and we felt that our thriller also appeals to slightly older adults. People in their early 20's would be hooked by our thriller and would want to come and see a terrifying, scary and suspenseful thriller.

Planning and Animatic

Planning our thriller

Firstly we had to organise ourselves into groups. Luckily there were four of us in the class that we all knew and got along with and we decided to come together. This meant that each of us would get an equal share of the workload and we would function as a team effectively. Next we would need to decide on how to share out the resources and how to set ourselves time deadlines and targets to reach. After deciding where we wanted to locate our film, who would be in charge of what etc. we needed to approach the issue of if we wanted to use actors or use ourselves and what props we could use etc. We decided to brainstorm our ideas.

Below is our brainstorm on what our basic ideas of what we wanted to do with our film.

To decide on what the title of our film would be was my first idea to give it a sophisticated yet terrifying phrase in the ancient language of Latin. By following this link we looked at famous Latin phrases of war. We looked at these in particular because the killer may have been an old war veteran or just has a particular interest in Latin. http://latin-phrases.co.uk/quotes/military/war/. We wanted to follow this brainstorm as closely as possible to avoid time wasting and conflicts of opinions.

This is our storyboard that has been made into our animatic. This is our idea that we have worked on so we could follow it as much as possible. This is our second attempt at our animatic because the cameras used to take the images became blurred and were not possible to make out. This did not take us long to do and this was not a problem for us.

Silence of the Lambs - Hannibal - Red Dragon

These films or the "Hannibal Lector" films are all spectacular thrillers. These are examples of psychological thrillers because the infamous Dr Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) plays the antagonist who is a psychotic genius who tries to get the upper hand psychologically of the detectives who study him and who require his help to figure out the minds of the other serial killers. Although all three of these have been directed by different people all have been successes. The films have been listed chronologically and the directors are: Jonathan Demme (1991), Brett Ratner (2001) and Ridley Scott (2002).

I feel that these films are masters of suspense and tension. The clip shown above is taken from one of the most famous scenes in film. The simple camera shots of close ups, extreme close ups, over the shoulder shots and mid shots together with the camera movement of panning, tilt shots, tracking shots, low angle shots and Steadicam. All of this camera work gives the impression of a disturbing place to be and that the killers who are behind bars and glass all have the higher status' and are in power mentally because the female detective is afraid and this decreases her psychological state.

When Dr Hannibal Lecter is standing as if waiting for the detective this gives a terrifying impression to the audience because Dr Lecter seemed to have known that she was coming. This gives a chilling feel and this freaks out the audience. This scene is a particularly effective thriller example. The tension is built up when the detective walks past all the other cells and the tracking shot along with the close up of the detectives face. The suspense is created in this scene through the dialogue between Dr Lecter and the detective. The way that the camera cuts between over the shoulder shots and then becomes normal cuts of extreme close ups that emphasize the confrontation between the two people. Eventually Dr. Lecter gets the upper hand psychologically and the audience knows this when the detective sits down and there is a high angle shot to represent the power Dr Lecter has over the detective and how much more superior he is than her.

Se7en

The film "Se7en" (1995) directed by David Fincher who has directed other thrillers such as "Alien 3" and "Panic Room" was nominated for an oscar and has won 19 other awards. The film stars Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman as detectives Mills and Somerset who work in an unspecified American city and are partnered together. They are issued to work on murder cases where the words greed and gluttony are written in each of the victims blood. They both make a theory that this killer is basing his/her murders on the seven deadly sins and try to find the killer before he/she can strike.

I feel that the opening of "Se7en" is an impressive opening titles to the film. During watching this clip I felt disturbed, tense and disturbed. This is most likely the exact reaction the creator of the title sequence wanted to instill into the audience. I particularly enjoy the flickering writing and the effect of the editing where the film looks as though it is scratched. Another aspect of this effective title sequence is the mystery surrounding the person who is doing all these creepy things. There is no view of the person only of his/her hands writing or cutting out things. This gives the impression of the themes of identity because the audience wants to know who this potential killer or criminal is.

After watching and analysing this clip in class, we as a group were impressed and decided that we wanted to do something similar to "Se7en" Our thriller opening will be largely be inspired by this clip but we are not copying this idea.

Our Preliminary Exercise task

For my Preliminary Exercise I got into a group of 4 which include Ryan Honey, Mitchell Din, Andrew Le and myself. We were given a simple story to follow where a character comes into the scene, has a conversation with another character, then the same character that comes in leaves.

Working the camera was Mitchell and Andrew who worked together for two different perspectives on the angles and types of shots in the Mise-en-scene. Ryan and myself were both involved in deciding the shots and what we wanted to film. We were also the two actors in the film.

We had a few slip ups during the filming as we were getting used to the equipment but our end result was extremely satisfying. We felt that we needed to show that we could use a variety of shots and not be afraid to try out difficult shots like the close up of the door handle opening. Although the editing was time-consuming and irritating at times it was thoroughly enjoyable and we felt that our short film was a success.

The whole story, dialogue and amount of shots was all improvisation and purely made up on the spot. We needed to make quick decisions that we all agreed to so that our filming ran smoothly with no conflict between members.

Conventions of a Thriller

Thrillers often contain these basic elements in the story:

• Often there is a crime at the centre or core of the narrative (often murder but not always)
• There is normally a complex narrative structure that includes false trails
• There is a narrative pattern of establishing enigmas that the audience expects to be resolved
• A protagonist is normally systematically dis empowered and drawn into a complex web of mystery by the antagonist
• Extraordinary events happen in ordinary situations
• Protagonist with a "flaw" which is exploited by antagonist
• Titles often reflect an aspect of the protagonist or antagonist's psychological state
• There is often a scene near the end of the film in which the protagonist is in peril
• Mise-en-scene which echoes/mirrors the protagonists plight

The themes that surround thrillers are often:

• Death
• Terrorism
• Political conspiracies
• Pursuit
• Themes of identity
• Themes of mirroring
• Themes of voyeurism (People looking at what they shouldn't be)

We need to consider these elements of film to be used in our thriller:

• Camerawork
• Editing
• Lighting
• Sound/Music

Camerawork

There is alot to consider for camerawork and firstly we need to think about our camera framing. This is looking at hat we see within the frame and concentrating on how far the camera is from the subject and from what angle the shot is taken.

We also need to consider the camera movement we could use in our thriller. Unfortunately a few of these are unavailable to us because we simply do not have the resources to achieve these types of movements. The camera movements we are able to do are: panning shots (horizontal movements from a fixed axis), tilt shots (vertical shots from a fixed axis), point of view shots (hand held camera movements to give a realistic view of what the character can see) and lastly rolling shots (camera moves diagonally making the angle askew, gives the impression of being ill or drugged).

Editing

Next we need to think about how to edit and what kinds of edits we want in out thriller. To begin with we need to think about two things. The speed of editing - how long will each shot last? And style of editing - how is each shot joined with the other? By working hard on each we can create a tense - fast paced thriller that emphasizes the terror in our thriller. Once we have decided on how long each shot will last we need to think about the styles of editing and which effects will be best suited to our thriller. We are able to use these different styles of editing: A straight cut (normal transitions between shots), a fade-out/in (where the screen fades to black or the screen starts black and fades into the shot), a dissolve (one image is slowly brought in underneath the existing one), a wipe-cut (where one part of the screen moves to wipe the other) and a jump cut (where the audiences attention is brought into focus on something very suddenly). Lastly a special kind of editing called a graphic match this is where two consecutive shots that are matched in terms of their appearance.

Lighting

Lighting is manipulated in film for several effects some of which are to emphasize the mood of the scene, the personality of a character and what the director wants the audience to see and not see. There are three main light sources that are used in film. Firstly there is the key light this is the brightest and most influential. Next is the back light which counteracts the key light to make the object more "rounded" and lastly the filler light, this softens the shadows that are created by the key and back lights.

There are two types of lighting that manipulates the atmosphere within film. Low-key lighting is created by only using the key and back lights to create a contrast between light and dark to create deep, sharp and distinct shadows, this effect is called chiaroscuro. High-key lighting is where more filler lights are used than normal to give the object a more realistic look.

One technique of lighting used in film is called "Film Noir" which is a term given by French critics in the early 1940's to describe the types of films created in America. This was called "Noir" which means dark in French because of the typical "dark" story plot and the lighting that was used in the film. Low-key lighting was a typical aspect of "Film Noir" to give a sharp look of light and dark contrast.

Music/Sound

The added aspect of music and sound gives another dimension to the mood in films. In this case the added sound and music adds tension and suspense for our thriller. Within the world of film we way we see it in the cinema screens is called the diagetic world. This means that everything the audience sees or hears has been manipulated by the filmmaker so the audience deliberately notices these things. There are two types of diegetic sound called diegetic and nondiegetic sound.

Diegetic sound are sounds that are within the film world, this can be heard by the audience as well as the characters in the film. This could be dialogue between characters or music coming from a source such as a radio. Diegetic sound can appear on and off screen, for example the sound of a police alarm outside of the setting. Nondiegetic sound is sound that is not recognised as part of the film world and can only be heard by the viewing audience. This could be a voice over or narration and background music. To make visual and audio transitions much smoother between shots and scenes filmmakers use sound bridges.

Lastly the audience usually hears a sound that compliments the scene that is being watched. This is called parallel sound. An example of this would be children playing on the beach and a happy up-beat tune would normally be heard. On the other hand if the same scene was showed but the dramatic, sinister sounds of the"dur dur" "Jaws" theme which signals the arrival of the shark, this sound does not match the scene and this is called contrapuntal sound.

No Country For Old Men (2007)

Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen the first half an hour in I learn that this film is about how a hunter who finds an enormous sum of money left after a violent drugs exchange gone wrong. He decides to take the money and soon finds a psychopathic killer after his trail when the hunter finds out the money belongs to him.

I really enjoyed the opening scenes of this film and I noticed typical aspects of a thriller. Such devices as the typical view of the antagonist who is a cold blooded killer and wears black that symbolises evil and a corrupted person. There is also the use of irony because the main character is a hunter but the killer starts to hunt the hunter. Another device used are enigmas where the audience asks questions about whats happened. "Who is this killer?" and "Whats the story about the drugs and money?"

This is a psychological thriller because the way that justice hasn't been served and the audience is not satisfied plays a psychological role on the audience making them think that not all criminals can be caught and found out.

North by Northwest (1959)

Directed by the notorious Alfred Hitchcock this perfect example of a thriller has many elements of suspense that make this film one of the most talked about thrillers ever made.

The film is about one man, Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) how he is caught up in a web of mystery and hidden conspiracies. He is mistaken for an unknown man called George Kaplin and must escape the dangerous and notorious Vandamm (James Mason). Thornhill tries to clear his name but his search for answers makes his life more in jeopardy as the story continues.

The film was released on 22nd of November 1959 in the UK and was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by Ernest Lehman. This well known film has been subject to many Pastiches from TV shows such as "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy."

"North by Northwest" is a particularly effective thriller that instills suspense into the audience by making them ask "Will he clear his name?" and "How will he escape?" The endless action endured by Carrie Grant gives a fast-paced and terrible experience for both the audience and the the character Roger Thornhill. The imaginative, elaborate and exotic ways of being assassinated highlights the terror and suspense dealt out by the character Vandamm which symbolises his power and status in the film. Alfred Hitchcock uses a special device called a "Maguffin"or "A magnificent nothing." This is a prop or plot device that drives the film but has no real significance. In this case the Maguffin used is what i referred as a reel f film that is extremely valuable to Vandamm and his associates but the audience is not told what it contains.

Alfred Hitchcock - Introduction

His Life

Alfred Joeseph Hitchcock was born on 13th August 1899 in the town of Leytonstone in London, England. He was brought up in a very strict Roman Catholic enviornment and attended St. Ignatius College. By early 1920's Hitchcock begun his interest into film and joined the Film Industry.
He started his career by drawing sets and met Alma Reville (his future wife) when the director of the film "Always tell your wife" fell ill Hitchcock had to complete the job... thus starting his directing career.
His first film he directed was called "Number 13" which unfortunately stopped production. However he didn't give up and directed another film called "The Pleasure Garden" in 1925 that became very popular.
Hitchcock's true success and fame came around in the 1940's once the "Saboteur" was made and this sparked the film critics to call his names after him. Such as "Alfred Hitchock's Psycho" (1960) and "Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy" (1942).
In late 1979 Hitchcock was knighted as Sir Alfred Hitchcock and on the 29th April 1980 he met his end as possibly the greatest director of thrillers in film and will hold the forever title of "the master of suspence."

Trivia

Often used the "wrong man" or "mistaken identity" theme in his movies.
Blondes were the most famous actresses in his filmography and were mostly in leading roles.
Always formally dressed, wearing a suit on film sets.
According to Hitchcock himself, he was required to stand at the foot of his mother's bed, and tell her what happened to him each day.
When finishing a cup of tea while on the set, he would often non-discriminatingly throw the cup and saucer over his shoulder, letting it fall wherever it may.
Often said that Shadow of a Doubt (1943) was his favorite film that he had directed.
In addition to his fear of the police, Hitchcock possessed one other phobia: eggs.

Genres: Types and Aspects of a thriller

A genre is the type of story that is written in a film or book.
Other Genres:

• Action
• Romance
• Comedy
• Sci-Fi
• Fantacy
• Drama
• Horror
• Western
• Adventure
• Musical

Types of Thrillers

• Spy Thrillers
• Political Thrillers
• Conspiracy Thrillers
• Legal Thrillers
• Psychological Thrillers

Typical Aspects of a Thriller

• Protagonist (Hero or main character) and Antagonist (Villain)
• Elements of suspence and anticipation
• Elements of terror and shock moments
• Possible moral choices for the protagonist to make
• A mystery or conspiracy to be solved by characters and audience
• Time is an enemy to the protagonist
• The antagonist/s are always much better equipped than the antagonist
• Often take place in exotic places and settings
• Protagonists are often "hardmen" who are accustomed to danger and combat
• Often the protagonist and antagonist are males
• The scale of the crimes are large and aimed at large populations (mass murder, terrorism and to overthrow a government)