Cinematography is essential in film because different tyes of camera angles and movements have different
interpretations and can create different emotions and atmospheres. It
is important to think about cinematography, especially in thriller
films because the different camera angles can alter the atmosphere or even create tension within the
scene. Without Cinematography we wouldn't be able to have the same impact on the audience or the impact we desire from watching the film ourselves.
cinematography i plan to use...
For our first scene we're going to use a pan/medium to
show the introduction of the characters.We're going to use this camera
angle as it gives the audience a better understanding of the characters
as its close up and you can see their costume and also their body langauge at the same time. By using the medium shot it helps define each character so straight away the audience will know what they're like as a character. the pan shot will be to simply move from one character to the other and to show that theyre in one location.
Our next shot will be the over the shoulder shot. This
is also during the time of the introduction of the characters however,
its used to show a person in the distance watching the other members of
the group 'Antagonist'. This creates suspense and tension for the
audience as they want to find our whats going out. By using an over the shoulder shot on this specific character it keeps this characters identity hidden so therefore the audience will only see a man in a hoodie and they'll be left on the edge of their seat wanting to find out who that character is.
Moreover the point of view will be used when the
'antagonist' is aproaching the other characters.This will allow the
audience to feel a part of the thriller and like they're the character. At this point the same character still have not been revealed, therefore it builds even more tension as the audience are still left waiting to see who that person is.
A
pan shot will be used again to show the movement of
the characters and they try and find a better location. This provides
the audience with a better view of the surrounding/ environment that the
characters are located in. The pan shot also show the direction they're heading in and the speed they're moving at for example if they were moving at a fast pace the camera would be moving fast to keep up showing that the group are running away or trying to escape something building more tension onto the opening thriller
In addition, the reaction
shot will be used when the couple find the dead body of the nerd on the
floor. The reaction shot will enthatsise the fact that something has happened and therefore its cause someone else reaction to change. This captures the emotion on the
characters faces in detail helping the audience understanding of the
relationship between the characters.
Lastly the last shot will be a tilt shot when the last victim is tied to a chair with torture equipment’s Which makes the character look inferior to
the audience, also it will show the surrounding of the room to show the
audience where they’re located.
Tuesday, 17 December 2013
Planning: character representation
Character representation is extremely vital within films simply because it allows the audience to understand the narrative of the film better. In addition relationships between the audience and the characters can be built.
In order for a film to become conventional to its genre, its important to have a variety of characters with different characteristic and personalities so that it meets the audiences expectations and they're able to connect with certain types of characters.
Main characters within my thriller...
Name: Cindy White
Character role: Girlfriend
Age: 17
Gender stereotype of role: Girly girl
Costume: white tights with a colourful skirt and a white cardigan
Hair and makeup: Hair untied, casual make-up – eyeliner and foundation etc.
Body language and facial expression:
Body language – flirty
Facial expression – happy
Represented as a victim who always wants her boyfriend around and o do everything for her
Role within the narrative: Constantly with the boyfriend and a part of the group who go to record a thriller
Name: Josh Stevenson
Character role : Boyfriend
Age: 17
Gender stereotype of role: Mature boyfriend
Costume: Jeans and a winter coat
Hair and makeup: short hair no makeup.
Body language and facial expression:
Body language - straight posture, slightly build
Facial expression - happy
Represented as a typical young man who thinks he knows it all
Role within the narrative : he’s part of the group who go to record the thriller. However, he doesn’t do anything but follow the group and flirt with his girlfriend ensuring she’s safe.
With the analysis of the character representations, it enables me and the rest of my group to understand the importance of the each of them and how they relate to the narrative. by using this we can also develop our characters better and ensure that the audience know what type of character they are.
In order for a film to become conventional to its genre, its important to have a variety of characters with different characteristic and personalities so that it meets the audiences expectations and they're able to connect with certain types of characters.
Main characters within my thriller...
Name: Cindy White
Character role: Girlfriend
Age: 17
Gender stereotype of role: Girly girl
Costume: white tights with a colourful skirt and a white cardigan
Hair and makeup: Hair untied, casual make-up – eyeliner and foundation etc.
Body language and facial expression:
Body language – flirty
Facial expression – happy
Represented as a victim who always wants her boyfriend around and o do everything for her
Role within the narrative: Constantly with the boyfriend and a part of the group who go to record a thriller
Name: Josh Stevenson
Character role : Boyfriend
Age: 17
Gender stereotype of role: Mature boyfriend
Costume: Jeans and a winter coat
Hair and makeup: short hair no makeup.
Body language and facial expression:
Body language - straight posture, slightly build
Facial expression - happy
Represented as a typical young man who thinks he knows it all
Role within the narrative : he’s part of the group who go to record the thriller. However, he doesn’t do anything but follow the group and flirt with his girlfriend ensuring she’s safe.
Name: Leo
Toretto
Character role: Leader of the group of boys
Age: 17
Gender stereotype of role: boastful, smug
Costume: shirt, jeans
Hair and makeup: normal, scruffy hair
Body language and facial expression:
Body language – high posture
Facial expression - sarcastic smiles
Represented as another victim who doesn’t care and wants it to be over so he can go home
Role within the narrative: Acts like he doesn’t care about the project
Character role: Leader of the group of boys
Age: 17
Gender stereotype of role: boastful, smug
Costume: shirt, jeans
Hair and makeup: normal, scruffy hair
Body language and facial expression:
Body language – high posture
Facial expression - sarcastic smiles
Represented as another victim who doesn’t care and wants it to be over so he can go home
Role within the narrative: Acts like he doesn’t care about the project
Name: Sam
Character role: Nerd
Age: 17
Gender stereotype of role: typical male nerd into technology and getting work done
Costume: chinos ( tack ups) cheeked shirt
Hair and makeup: neat hair, combed
Body language and facial expression:
Body language - stiff posture to show he is nervous
Facial expression - straight face
Represented as a typical nerd who is focused on his studies and seen as an easy target
Role within the narrative : the group make fun of him whilst he records the forest. Sam is the reason the group split up as he ran away
Character role: Nerd
Age: 17
Gender stereotype of role: typical male nerd into technology and getting work done
Costume: chinos ( tack ups) cheeked shirt
Hair and makeup: neat hair, combed
Body language and facial expression:
Body language - stiff posture to show he is nervous
Facial expression - straight face
Represented as a typical nerd who is focused on his studies and seen as an easy target
Role within the narrative : the group make fun of him whilst he records the forest. Sam is the reason the group split up as he ran away
Name: Jack
Character role: ‘’Antagonist’’
Age: 16
Gender stereotype of role: immature teenager
Costume: all black jumper and bottoms
Hair and makeup: normal hair
Body language and facial expression:
Body language - jumpy, crazy etc.
Facial expression - constantly smiling
Represented as a victim who doesn’t care about anything that is going on around him. All fun and games
Role within the narrative : Turns up late to the meeting point and scares everyone.
Character role: ‘’Antagonist’’
Age: 16
Gender stereotype of role: immature teenager
Costume: all black jumper and bottoms
Hair and makeup: normal hair
Body language and facial expression:
Body language - jumpy, crazy etc.
Facial expression - constantly smiling
Represented as a victim who doesn’t care about anything that is going on around him. All fun and games
Role within the narrative : Turns up late to the meeting point and scares everyone.
With the analysis of the character representations, it enables me and the rest of my group to understand the importance of the each of them and how they relate to the narrative. by using this we can also develop our characters better and ensure that the audience know what type of character they are.
Planning: storyboarding
what is a storyboard?
A story board is a representation of a narrative that has been created, within the storyboard it shows each movement of each character shot by shot. Storyboards are used in order to make filming less stressful and it also means that the actors, directors, camera operators etc. know what to do and when to do it without having to stop and talk about how they will plan out the next scene saving more time to filming and focus on other element of the films.
Its extremely vital that a storyboard contains the following: cinematography, iconography, lighting, actors, sound, narrative, location, duration and the Number of shots.
Including all of these in a storyboard will make producing the scene a lot easier as the producer and the director can work with and around the information they have on the storyboard. Storyboards also ensure that you don't forget any shots/ scenes by accident or other production crew members need to step in change something for e.g. change i light, change in sound etc.
A story board is a representation of a narrative that has been created, within the storyboard it shows each movement of each character shot by shot. Storyboards are used in order to make filming less stressful and it also means that the actors, directors, camera operators etc. know what to do and when to do it without having to stop and talk about how they will plan out the next scene saving more time to filming and focus on other element of the films.
Its extremely vital that a storyboard contains the following: cinematography, iconography, lighting, actors, sound, narrative, location, duration and the Number of shots.
Including all of these in a storyboard will make producing the scene a lot easier as the producer and the director can work with and around the information they have on the storyboard. Storyboards also ensure that you don't forget any shots/ scenes by accident or other production crew members need to step in change something for e.g. change i light, change in sound etc.
Sunday, 1 December 2013
planning: opening scene narration
The unknown massacre
The scene begin with medium shots for the introduction of characters and opening credits. The use of a medium shot will show each characters body language and costume so the audience have a better understanding of their characteristics and personalities. A panning will be used to go from one character to the next in slow motion as they will be frozen. In addition music will cued as this happens when the first character is shown.
There will be a a straight cut after the introduction of characters where we show an over the shoulder shot of one of the friends watching the other friends whilst they're filming from a distance. He will be wearing all black and will be breathing heavily giving the audiences first impression that he's will be that he's an antagonist. The next camera shot will be from the point of view of the ' antagonist' which will show him walking towards the group of friends; this will be conventional to the thriller genre as the audience still don't know that he's really just a friend going to scare them in addition building tension at the same time. The sounds will be the crushing off the twigs on the floor, birds and owls howling as the forest comes to life at night and the heavy breathing from the mysterious friend.
Furthermore the next shot will be of the group laughing and joking about untill you slowly see the mysterious friend appearing in the background within the frame of this shot and scare them as a joke this will make the feel audience relieved for the fact that it wasn't the actual antagonist. The only dialogue would be the girls screaming "oh my god" and everyone else shouting showing that they were frightened. As the scene goes on panning shots will be use to show movement and wipe cuts to skip some of the walking as the opening scene duration will only be 2 minutes long. As they're walking to find a better spot to film they begin to make fun of the nerds clothes and it doesn't get any better, the nerd then trips over a log/or a piece of wood where you'll hear even more laughter from the group. A medium shot will then show him running away from the group.
A dissolve cut to go into the next shot will be introduced showing that time has passed and the group are in the same place waiting for him, unfortunately he doesn't the group decide to split up and search for him. As they're out in the forest to record a thriller its the nerd who has possession of the camera in addition he always recording and capturing things on camera and whilst doing this he gets killed by the antagonist. However before he died he managed to capture evidence on his camera of him being attacked as the couple will later on find it when they see the nerds dead body with blood all other him and the camera still on his neck.
Near the end of the opening scene the couple and the group of friends end up not trusting each other as one member of the boys also go disappearing so each side thinks that its them. Furthermore as they all go out running extreme long shots will be introduced to show their surroundings and screaming for help, this results in them becoming targets as it makes it easier for the antagonist to locate where they are and in the mean time the speed of editing will increase to represent the fact that tension is building.
At the end of the opening everyone is killed apart from the boy who came late earlier in the scene, who the audience thought was the antagonist, is then tied to a chair. We will see a blackout and a point of view shot from the antagonist looking down at him to show that hes weak and hopeless and that will be the end of the opening scene. The result of this is that it will leave the audience asking themselves many questions such as who was the antagonist? whats going to happening to the boy? etc making them wanting to continue watching the rest of the movie which is why this opening is conventional to the thriller opening.
The scene begin with medium shots for the introduction of characters and opening credits. The use of a medium shot will show each characters body language and costume so the audience have a better understanding of their characteristics and personalities. A panning will be used to go from one character to the next in slow motion as they will be frozen. In addition music will cued as this happens when the first character is shown.
There will be a a straight cut after the introduction of characters where we show an over the shoulder shot of one of the friends watching the other friends whilst they're filming from a distance. He will be wearing all black and will be breathing heavily giving the audiences first impression that he's will be that he's an antagonist. The next camera shot will be from the point of view of the ' antagonist' which will show him walking towards the group of friends; this will be conventional to the thriller genre as the audience still don't know that he's really just a friend going to scare them in addition building tension at the same time. The sounds will be the crushing off the twigs on the floor, birds and owls howling as the forest comes to life at night and the heavy breathing from the mysterious friend.
Furthermore the next shot will be of the group laughing and joking about untill you slowly see the mysterious friend appearing in the background within the frame of this shot and scare them as a joke this will make the feel audience relieved for the fact that it wasn't the actual antagonist. The only dialogue would be the girls screaming "oh my god" and everyone else shouting showing that they were frightened. As the scene goes on panning shots will be use to show movement and wipe cuts to skip some of the walking as the opening scene duration will only be 2 minutes long. As they're walking to find a better spot to film they begin to make fun of the nerds clothes and it doesn't get any better, the nerd then trips over a log/or a piece of wood where you'll hear even more laughter from the group. A medium shot will then show him running away from the group.
A dissolve cut to go into the next shot will be introduced showing that time has passed and the group are in the same place waiting for him, unfortunately he doesn't the group decide to split up and search for him. As they're out in the forest to record a thriller its the nerd who has possession of the camera in addition he always recording and capturing things on camera and whilst doing this he gets killed by the antagonist. However before he died he managed to capture evidence on his camera of him being attacked as the couple will later on find it when they see the nerds dead body with blood all other him and the camera still on his neck.
Near the end of the opening scene the couple and the group of friends end up not trusting each other as one member of the boys also go disappearing so each side thinks that its them. Furthermore as they all go out running extreme long shots will be introduced to show their surroundings and screaming for help, this results in them becoming targets as it makes it easier for the antagonist to locate where they are and in the mean time the speed of editing will increase to represent the fact that tension is building.
At the end of the opening everyone is killed apart from the boy who came late earlier in the scene, who the audience thought was the antagonist, is then tied to a chair. We will see a blackout and a point of view shot from the antagonist looking down at him to show that hes weak and hopeless and that will be the end of the opening scene. The result of this is that it will leave the audience asking themselves many questions such as who was the antagonist? whats going to happening to the boy? etc making them wanting to continue watching the rest of the movie which is why this opening is conventional to the thriller opening.
planning: final idea
Within my group there is four of us and we all came up with 4 independent ideas of a short thriller movie.
Mise en scene
Why is the opening conventional to a thriller?
The opening is conventional to a thriller because most thrillers are partly located in a forest which gives the audience the understanding that the characters are trapped and have no escape route. Also the the iconography is also typically used for torture or killing uses. Furthermore the audience thinking about who the antagonist is keeps them on the edge of their seat at all times especially for the fact that they have to survive making the audience wonder who will actually stay alive.
Jades thriller opening scene idea was called 'The escape'. The narrative was a group of people who just arrived back from a recent holiday and are on their way back home however they get lost and start looking for help. They come across a male who looks like he could help out however, he turns out to be an antagonist and holds them hostage in a forest and therefore they fight their way to find their freedom again.
Advantages: In a realist setting , a small amount of actors needed and also was quite simple to produce as it didn't need to go into a lot of detail.
Disadvantages : If the weather is bad it may effect filming as it isn't located indoors for example rain, fog etc. Another key one was the time of day in a forest as darkness falls quicker in the forest because of the lack of lighting getting in from the tall and crowded trees and therefore we wouldn't be able to get the right effects of light that we wanted.
Benjimina's thriller idea was called 'knock knock'. Its about a female ( victim ) who has a house located in a forest. One day the female finds a child on her doorstep crying, she picks up the child and goes into her home. After she closes the door she sees the antagonist standing in front of her who used the child to distract the female victim to get into the house which then ends up getting attacked.
Advantages: Conventional to a thriller , simple story line that could easily be produced.
Disadvantages: Finding a child and being able to handle the child.
Sezer's thriller idea was a big group of people; some close, some annoying. They are off to record a thriller in the foggy woods. People are trying to joke around by scaring each other however; they start to go missing/dying. The group starts to get smaller and everyone wonders who it is and therefore they start to not trust each other. At the end everyone apart from one person dies so the audience think it’s that person who is still alive so the audience think it’s them. A straight/fade cut will be introduced and the person they though it was, is tied to a chair in blood and torture equipment around him.
Advantages: In a realist setting , a small amount of actors needed and also was quite simple to produce as it didn't need to go into a lot of detail.
Disadvantages : If the weather is bad it may effect filming as it isn't located indoors for example rain, fog etc. Another key one was the time of day in a forest as darkness falls quicker in the forest because of the lack of lighting getting in from the tall and crowded trees and therefore we wouldn't be able to get the right effects of light that we wanted.
Benjimina's thriller idea was called 'knock knock'. Its about a female ( victim ) who has a house located in a forest. One day the female finds a child on her doorstep crying, she picks up the child and goes into her home. After she closes the door she sees the antagonist standing in front of her who used the child to distract the female victim to get into the house which then ends up getting attacked.
Advantages: Conventional to a thriller , simple story line that could easily be produced.
Disadvantages: Finding a child and being able to handle the child.
Sezer's thriller idea was a big group of people; some close, some annoying. They are off to record a thriller in the foggy woods. People are trying to joke around by scaring each other however; they start to go missing/dying. The group starts to get smaller and everyone wonders who it is and therefore they start to not trust each other. At the end everyone apart from one person dies so the audience think it’s that person who is still alive so the audience think it’s them. A straight/fade cut will be introduced and the person they though it was, is tied to a chair in blood and torture equipment around him.
Advantages: The setting is a public area as we can film as long as its not for promotion purposes.
Disadvantages: As its winter it could snow or rain at any point, making it more difficult to film
My groups final idea...
My thriller idea was a group of classmates that went out to a conventional thriller location ( the forest ) to record a short thriller for their media project. I wanted to involve different types of people with different characteristics and therefore i chose; a nerd , a couple , and a group of 3 friends. The group of 3 friends would try and scare the other members of the group in the forest by making up jokes about how people disappear and get killed, Ironically they were right. Firstly the nerd gets bullied and storms off into the dark woods, after they group waited for a while but he never returned and therefore they decided to split up and find him in order to continue with their filming . The couple find the dead body off the nerd on the floor and start to freak out completely and start to storm off trying to find the other members of the group. Once they found the other members of the group and told them about what they saw mistrust started to rise between the group as they thought the couple was lying and killed the nerd and the group of friends thought that the couple killed them . However as they look around them they realise they ended somewhere they have no clue about. Towards the end they start to go missing one by one . Finally one person from the group has been left alive and therefore the audience think that he done all the killing however the twist at the end shows that member of the group tied to a chair in blood and typical torture equipment around him such as knives , ropes , guns and a chainsaw covered in blood. This consequently ends in the audience feeling uncomfortable and worried as they have no idea who the antagonist was in the first place.
Narrative structure: Todorov
Characters:
Characters:
-Nerd ( Sam)
-Couple female ( Cindy white )
-Male ( Josh stievenson)
-3 Boys - Jack, Leo, Mark
Mise en scene
- Location would be a forest as its conventional to a thriller and creates suspense.
- Costume would be casual light coloured clothing for the victims and a dark coloured dress wear for the antagonist.
- Lighting will be low key lighting, natural lighting during the day time before sunset.
- Iconography will be blood, rope and knives, chainsaw, torches, gun
- Film influences will be Nightmare on elm street
- Themes will be friendship , murder , crime and physiological and survival
- Iconography will be blood, rope and knives, chainsaw, torches, gun
- Film influences will be Nightmare on elm street
- Themes will be friendship , murder , crime and physiological and survival
Why is the opening conventional to a thriller?
The opening is conventional to a thriller because most thrillers are partly located in a forest which gives the audience the understanding that the characters are trapped and have no escape route. Also the the iconography is also typically used for torture or killing uses. Furthermore the audience thinking about who the antagonist is keeps them on the edge of their seat at all times especially for the fact that they have to survive making the audience wonder who will actually stay alive.
Planning: initial ideas
My idea
Narrative: a group of teen go out fora night as they find a large tree with red ribbons tied to it, Timothy educates the fools about the red ribbon tree until he is forced to no longer speak about it.Timothy gets really angry and drifts off in another direction. The whole group gets lost and decide to split up, one by one they go missing and the ending is completely unexpected.
Title- the unknown massacre
sub genre-crime
characters
-timothy (nerd)
-couple
-3 close friends (all boys)
narrative structure-Todorov
MES
clothes...
casual
bright clothes
setting...
forest
dark room
advantages
location
finding characters
disadvantages
weather
Jade's idea
Narrative: a male and 3 females are on their way from the airport after their recent holidays. They become lost and exit the car towards a forest to find help for directions. The sun sets quickly and the fear sets in as the victims become aware of the darkness. They come across a man who looks as though he may help however turns out to be the antagonist. He holds the victims hostage in the abandoned forest. The hostages break free and make the big escape into the world of the unknown.
Title-The escape
Sub genre- crime
characters
-male victim
-3 female victim
-1 male antagonist
MES
Costume...
-typical light clothes for victims
-dark colours for the antagonist
lighting...
-natural lighting in the forest
-top lighting
iconography...
-blood
-rope
-knives
Advantages
-setting
-few actors required
Disadvantages
-weather
Benjamima's idea
Narrative: female victim is at home in the middle of the forest
someone knocks the doors and there's no one there, some one knocks again and she opens the door and finds a child on the door step crying . she closes the door behind, the antagonist appears behind and attacks the female victims.
title- knock knock
sub genre- phycological
characters
-female victim
-child
-antagonist
characters
-female victim
-child
-antagonist
Advantages
–the realistic of the setting in the location
Disadvantages
–Will be the child
Narrative Structure
–Aristotle structure
Sezer’s idea
Narrative: a big group
of people; some close, some annoying. They are off to record a
thriller in the foggy woods. People are trying to joke around by
scaring each other however; they start to go missing/dying. The group
starts to get smaller and everyone wonders who it is and therefore
they start to not trust each other. At the end everyone apart from
one person dies so the audience think it’s that person who is still
alive so the audience think it’s them. A straight/fade cut will be
introduced and the person they though it was, is tied to a chair in
blood and torture equipment around him.
Title- wanted/lost
Sub genre- crime
Characters
-nerd
-couple
-annoying bunch of friends
-a suspicious quiet person
Advantages
-weather
-setting
Disadvantages
-Weather
narrative structure-Todorov
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