Roles and Responsibility

Roles and reponsiblities during production:

When we first began our research we made sure that we each knew what our roles would be, to avoid confusion or conflict with in the group. We had decided that Issy and I, would take more of a role in the editing side, Martha would work the camera, and Sophie would focus on pre-production. However, we have all mixed roles and helped out with different sections of the production, so responsibilities were evenly spread.

Storyboard

This is the story board that Issy created using help from the group. We did this by first writing out the order of events that were going to be put into the storyboard, and as Issy was assigned this job within the group, she drew it up.

Camera Shots By Genre

This should have been uploaded weeks ago but was still on my drafts..

Thrillers:

• Commonly used a lot of close up shots to allow the audience to purely focus on the face of the (mostly) protagonist, to recognise their facial expressions and maybe even a specific detail about their character?
• Another frequently used shot is an over-the-shoulder shot. This is usually used to create dramatic irony, when we as an audience can see that there is the killer/'baddy' character stood directly behind the protagonist, which they themselves are unaware of.
• This isnt so common but is still used in thrillers to create a dramiatic effect. Extreme closeups of the face (usually on the eyes or mouth) add a sense of mystery if we dont know who the character is, but also makes the audience feel uneasy in a way as to get too close into their 'personal space'.Extreme clos ups can also be used on a particular prop thats important to the story line to highlight its importance, even if the audience dont know it yet. 

 

Social Realism:

• Establishing shot or long shots are used to set a particular scene or to introduce the characters in a less invasive way. .
• -Social realism is soley dependant on the setting to make the film convincing ior otherwise. So many shots do highlight the surroundings to make the audience aware of the characters background and therefore, the way the live their life.
• Point of view shots, allows us to see through the characters eyes, and so makes the audience feel more comfortable with the character and maybe even warm to the character.It allows the audience to feel as if they are there in the scene with the character
• Finally, close ups are often used to focus on the emotion of the characters, especially if they are angry or upset. 

Horror:

• Wide shots are used in horrors more often than in other genres, as the character is often not the main thing happening in the scene for example in the Paranormal Activity series.
• The setting is introduced to us to make use feel more comfortable with the environment, so it is even more effective when something unusual or strange happens.
• It could also highlight the stillness or isolation of a setting; creats a foreboding feel, or suspension. And as noone is in sight the inevitable feeling of helplessness or uselessness is intoduced.
• Wide shots are useful in horrors so the audience can recognise a strange figure but cannot see the face of the intruder- this may be crucial to the plot of the film.
• On the otherhand, close ups are used on the protagonists as it allows us to empathise with them, and see the emotions on their faces. It also builds suspense as we (the audience) cannot see and are not aware of the surroundings.
• Also in some horrors hand held cameras may be used, to give the effect of reality, which therefore makes it more frightening for the viewer as it 'could happen to them'. An example of this would be in the Blair Witch Project.

 

 

 

Similar Films

Our opening we have decided is going to be of a thriller horror genre. We have researched similar films of the same genre and also with similar characters or even of the same time period, to help us with our film opening.
We have found many of these including:

• From Hell
• Jack the Ripper documentaries
• Perfume
• Pride and Prejudice- to help us with costume and makeup
• Sherlock Holmes (same era)

We will use these as a source for the types of costumes to provide for our actors, typical camera shots/effects we could use, and the type of setting we need to make sure we follow the conventions of the genre.

Costume, Hair and Makeup

Due to the voxpop we had created, we felt alot more certain with what we should do with means to costume and hair/makeup. As our film opening is in a gothic era, we ahve to make the costume/ make up mise en scene as realistic as possible, but still within the brief of gothic/victorian. It is crucial that the audience believe in the story and we get the miss en scene spot on. So we researched the kind of hairstyles and dresses, and makeup that they would have worn in that era. We researched by watching some clips of movies from the same era and took down notes on the costumes, and also simple searched the internet for ideas.

HAIRSTYLES-

The actor we are using for the role of the girl in our opening has quit short hair, so this in turn affected the desicions we made on hairstyles. We thought that we should have her hair in an undo, as it would be eaiser to handle with her hair length, and was also very popular at the time we are trying to portray.
We will try and mimic the hairstyles below as we agreed that these would look the best.

MAKEUP-

As in the victorian era, make up wasn't so common, we thought that simple makeup was the way to go. Also if we did use dark makeup, her feature wouldn't  have picked up as well on camera. Because the girl is the victim in the opening, we wanted her to seem pure and innocent so that the audience would empathise with her even more. And again, examples below..

COSTUME-

The character is the film opening are both upper class, and we needed to portray this through the outfits as there is limited speech in the script. We wanted them to look as authentic as possible as use quite dark colours, as it would seem more 'gothic-y'

Woman:


Man:

Film Schedule

 This is the film schedule we created, and will had to all involved before filming to let them know the timings we are following during the day of filming.

Script

KEY:-   DS - diegetic sound                    
            POV - point of view                   
            SRS - shot reverse shot            
            LS - long shot
            MS - mid-shot
            WS - wide shot
            CU - close-up
            ECU - extreme close-up
            TS - tracking shot
 (DS) Music begins to play - fades in from titles to the man opening doors - view of party scene in the background. The time of day is at dusk.
MAN:- (POV) he opens doors.
          - (SRS / LS) party scene in background - man walks through the doors.
          - (MS) he continues walking outside then stops.
          - (WS) he reaches into his pocket and takes out his cigarettes.
          - (CU) he brings cigarette up to his mouth.
          - (ECU / CU) he lights cigarette then inhales.
          - (MS) he exhales and the billing shows up, emerging from the smoke.
(DS) footsteps of the girl is heard by the man.
          - (CU) side of his face looks up and the eyes are fixed on the girl.
GIRL:- (MS) from the waist down the girls skirt is seen walking around the corner of a street.
MAN:- (LS) he drops his cigarette on the floor.
          - (CU) cigarette falls into shot and his feet slowly stubs out the ciggerette and he turns to walk away.
      
GIRL:- (LS / TS from side) she walks down the street and stands under a street lamp, leanig against it.
          - (MS) she starts to warm herself up by rubbing both her arms, whilst looking around impatiently at the clock.
MAN:- (LS) he starts to walk down the street then suddenly stops and reaches into his pocket and pulls out a piece of rough paper.
          - (CU) on the paper that has pictures of girls faces on it, each crossed out apart from one, which he gently puts his finger on.
          - (LS) he puts the paper back in his pocket and continues walking.
          - (TS from front) he continues walking and reaches the corner of the street.
          - (CU) half of his face is behind he  corner of the wall and the other half is shown, looking towards the girl.
GIRL:- (MS) she looks into her hand-mirror to powder her nose.
          - (CU) she tilts the mirror slightly to one side and sees the man behind her.
          - (MS) out of fright she drops the mirror.
(CU / TS) mirror falls to the ground. (slow motion)
(BLACKOUT)
(FADES IN)

*This is an extra section in preparation for if after editing the script above comes up short of time*

MAN 2:  - (LS) he is on a horse and is looking for his wife and calling her name, 'Beatrice'.
             - (CU) of his face looking worried.
             - (LS) he looks over and sees the mirror lying on the floor, then suddenly jumps off the horse.
             - (CU) of mirror on the floor, then his hand moves into shot to pick it up.
             - (CU) of his face in the broken mirror.
             - (LS) of him jumping back on his horse and galloping into the distance.
(BLACKOUT)

Music

 We have been searching for some non-diagetic sound to place on top of the scene to create tension, and emphasise the conventions of the genre.
We firstly searched copy right free sources mostly eg. freeplaymusic.com

From this source we have found many potential music choices to use in our film opening.
Such as: Abandoned Infirmary.
http://www.freeplaymusic.com/search.aspx?q=horror

We have also looked at classical/romantic pieces and symphonies to use as they were of the era we have set our film opening. However we decided that these were almost too well known, so could be off putting to the audience, and become a more focal part of the scenes rather than a subconcious way to create an atmosphere.

We also discussed using more modern sounding music instead- but as this music was not played at the same time as in the film opening we decided against it as they are of two completely different genres.

We decided we wanted our music to be collective of proper intruments (no synth or effects eg. reverb), and as if they were of the time set. We decided that we liked the eerie-ness and mystery of the violin, so are still looking for a hopefully copyright clip we could use that fufils these needs.

Filming Times

In our groups we have decided the timing and order that we we film in. They run as;

4:30-5:00    Costume/Hair/Make-up

5:00-5:30    Rough run through of scene (as to get actors comfortable with positioning, and to finalise            

 camera angles etc.

5:30-6:30   Filming commences

*A filming schedule to follow
               

Voxpop

After deciding in our group that we wanted to create a horror/thriller. We put together a voxpop, asking questions based around the genre of horror/thriller. This voxpop has helped us with the creation of our film opening, and we have taken the answers given to us into account whilst planning the plot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQxS1reAgPA - This is our finished voxpop we had created, and has proved very useful with our ideas for the film opening.