Anamatic - Draft 1

textual analysis

  
This was quite a good font but as a group we decided it did not fit in with our childish immature theme, but the scary side to it would have looked quite good.

As this font only came in caps lock, we decided that it would be too in your face and it was not the best for our film, although we did like the background to this font.

This is our chosen font as it is childlike and fits with our film because be portrayed to be very sadistic given the music portraying a hate feeling or a revenge feeling.

This text seemed a little too innocent for the begging of our film. The childlike writing was good for fitting with our film but it did not have a scary side to it.


Looking at different fonts helped me because i had to decide on a font for our film, so researching different fonts helped us see what was suitable for our film. For example we could not have a font like kristen is to feminine for a thriller. We decided to go with a different font than imagend after putting the font with music and after experimenting.

Planning

Schedule for filming-
November
24th-Individual planning
25th-Show initial ideas
26th-Blog ideas
27th-Blog ideas
28th-Day off
29th-Lesson
30th-Lesson
December
1st-Put pictures of props on blog
2nd -Day off
3rd-Lesson-Talk about filming etc
4th-Day off
5th-Blog
6th-Lesson
7th-Lesson- look at storyboard make final adjustmnets , scan it to computer
8th-Set up filming
9th-Day off
10th-Get camera and start setting up
11th-Film at 8-9am at black park
12th-Day off
13th-Lesson
14th-Lesson- look @ footage
15th-Blog wat we did
16th-Day off
17th- Make sure blogging is complete
18th and onwards - Christmas Holidays after we return we will edit and put in the soundtrack to the footagge and make sure it is good enough to be presented to examiners.

Storyboard of our idea

This was an establishing long shot showing the setting at the beginning of our animatic.

The camera then zooms into the location, showing the locket on the floor.

The next scene is a long shot of luke finding the locket on the floor and picking it up. The camera from behind at a high shot.

The camera then turns to the side of him, still at a high angle so we can see his body language picking up the locket.

The camera then went to over the shoulder. This shows the locket in luke's hand clearly open, and in perfect focus, whereas luke's head is not in focus. This automatically makes you focus on the locket.

The camera then goes to a low angle looking up at luke, so we can see his reaction when he opens the locket.

The camera zooms into luke's face (close up) to make his reaction more clear to the viewer.

It then zooms into and establishing extreme close up to show the inside of the locket again to show an extreme close up of the person inside the locket.

It then shows a long shot of the locket on the floor, with luke backing away from it with a shocked expression. The camera in the same angle as what he is.

It then shows the locket dropped on the floor ( establishing extreme close up) in the leaves.

It then shows an extreme long shot of luke running away with a shocked expression.

Me and luke decided to take pictures as a rough idea of what our animatic is going to look like. We have taken various shot's with various scene's so when we make our animatic we know exactly what were doing and we are organized. 

Continuity Task

planning for continuity task

This is our storyboard for what we would be filming for the continuity task. Before we mapped it out we went to look at our setting to make sure we could film there, that it wasnt too busy and finally that there were classrooms free so that we could film inside them for a number of our shots.
In our continuity task we had to use he following checklist:
-Shot reverse shot
-Two shot
-DON'T BREAK THE 180' ANGLE !
-Walking through a door
-Sitting down
-Walkning out the door

Our first lot of filming we did was good and we acted well and the camera was steady and smooth as we tracked and panned, however we had a squeaky tripod which thorugh the sound off a bit, then when we came to edit our work we found out we had broken the 180' rule , so we had to start again and start from scratch since when we went back to filming the rooms we initially thought of using were being used and had classes taking place. We then kept to the same storyboard but worked around the mishap. We managed to get all the shots perfectly with a few dodgy camera work with a slight bump here and there, however we didnt have enough time to perfect the shots and edit them accuratley.

As this was just a task to get us into the real thing with less mistakes i think we did okay, we now know what to do and what not to do and leave us with plenty of time to correct mistakes if neccasry and to put in our soundtrack and edit more smoothly

This is going to help me because i now know what exactly i will be doing and i will be organized

StoryBoard for Continuity Task

We storyboarded our idea for the continuity task. This involved us sitting round at a table together and deciding on the theme, the type of shots, angles and how we were going to include the tasks we were given. I have included here our first draft of our storyboard.

After we began filming we soon realised we needed to change a lot of different aspects of the storyboards, such as the shot angles and the actual storyline. We also changed the setting from a hallwall to stairs, and an office instead of a class as we could not find a class to do this in. This is therefore not what the continuity task ended up looking like, but is just our initial planning. We wrote up the type of shots we wanted to use and also drew how we wanted each shot to look. This helped us when filming so we all had a clear picture  of what each scene should look like and what we were aiming for, even if we didnt completely stick to it.

In our continuity task we had to use he following checklist:
-Shot reverse shot
-Dont brake the 180 degree rule
-Walking through a door
-Sitting down
-Walking out the door
- Two shot

Evaluating Other Students Work

We marked the other student’s continuity-editing task in our groups, we broke down the work and this is the order, best to worst, we felt was suitable when examining there technical ability.


Group 1- Alexandra, Demi, Stephanie and Sareena
We gave this group a high Level 3, Mark 40 as we felt they were evident in a proficient level of technical skills and ability.  They showed a variety of different shots,and  the shooting material was appropriate for the task set. Sound was clear and understandable. To improve we felt there music could have merged out into dialogue better and that the background sound at the beginning was too loud. Overall a well filmed piece which followed the criteria set for the task. 

Group 2- Heather, Laura, Brogan and Sam
We gave this group a level 3, Mark 38, as we felt the technical ability was proficient. 

They showed a variety of different shots, the shooting material was appropriate for the task set and holding a shot steady. The sounds disappears at the end of the video which makes it difficult to understand and some cuts are too sudden and do not flow into the next shot well enough.

Group 3- Ellie, Tom, and Callum

We gave this group a level 3, Mark 36 as we felt that they used a proficient level of technical skills and ability. The shots they used were steady and clear. 

My Group- Jessica, Luke, Hannah and Serena

I gave my group a Level 2, Mark 32, as i felt there piece showed a basic level of technical ability. The sound was too quiet and not clear enough to understand what was going on. The editing was rushed and the ending was unfinished it was not clear whether it had ended or not. Also what stopped this group from achieving the higher grade was there was no sound to add to the suspense . There was also a few mistakes we forgot to edit out.

Questionnaire Analysis

My group and i handed out 20 questionnaires to our piers. Each questionnaire i handed out came back with the same age range with 15-17. When i got the questionnaires back and looked over them we had an equal amount of males and females. The questionnaire asked the question "Do you prefer 15 or 18 rated movies?" and the overall answer was 15 rated. This could be because the age range that filled in our questionnaires was 15-17, so they fit in with the 15 age range, or it could be because 18 is too grown up for them and could in some cases be too scary for them.
We asked the audience what there favorite sub genres were. Here are the results.

Action- 14
Crime- 9
Film noir- 0
Gangster- 4
Physiological- 12
Religious- 1
Western- 0

As we can see Action and Physiological were the most popular. This is important information because we can fit our film to be the criteria that the audience like, however we will change it around so it is our own, yet still engaging to the audience.

The next question we asked was what film they liked the most. The options were...

Dark Knight- 14
Godfather- 4
Inception- 10
Jaws- 8
Memento- 0
Paranormal Activity- 14
Physco- 2
Pulp Fiction- 1
Se7en- 2
Silence of the lambs- 4

From this we can see that the most popular movies were Dark Knight and Paranormal Activity. These two movies are completely different. Dark Knight is about batman trying to bring piece, and save gotham city against the Joker. Paranormal Activity however is about poltergeist activity, and possession of another human being. Some evil could also be included in this. In Dark knight there is a goody and baddy, and there will be slightly scary bits but more thrilling than anything.

Next we asked our audience to rate 8 fields that a thriller genre could cover:
Suspence- 80/160
Fast paced music- 79/160
Plot twists- 87/160
Action- 90/160
Gore- 98/160
Science: 62/160
A sense of reality- 82/160
Clever Storyline- 120/160

Questionnaire

we decided to carry out a questionnaire using specific questions to find out about what the audience expect, what they enjoy and what we should focus on. this will help shape our final piece using the audience's views, as viewers opinions are the most important thing. we decided it was important to ask whether they were male or female, so we can see if there are any differences or patterns in what either gender prefer. The age categories were split so that we have the opinions of those unable to watch an 18+ film in a cinema seperate from those who can, so we can easily seperate the questionnaires when they come back. we also asked if the audience preferred 15+ or 18+ films, including those who are under 18, as often they can watch them when they come out on dvd, so may still prefer them. we wanted to know what sub genres are most enjoyed, as we will have to base our opening on a sub genre and this will influence our decision. it is also important to know what thriller films they have previously enjoyed, i will then analyse the openings of the top films so i can see for myself what they have enjoyed, and what is succesful about them. we then asked a question on what viewers find most important in thrillers, so we can see what we need to think about including. lastly, we asked whether they like credits in the opening, as some opening just start the film, and some build up into the beginning with an intro, this includes credits and some information about the film. personally, i prefer openings without credits, but the audiences views are most important.

Are you male or female?

Tick the age category that you fit in to –

15 – 17 □     18 – 25   □   26 – 35 □     36 - 45 □     46 – 55  □   55+ □

do you prefer 15+ or 18+ thriller films usually, if you are under 18 you may still vote for 18+

15+  □

18+  □

What type of sub genre within thrillers do you enjoy? Tick as many as apply

Action- thriller □

Western-thriller □

Crime-thriller □

Film noir – thriller □

Religious thriller – such as Da Vinci code □

Gangster thriller □

Psychological thriller   □

Please tick the thriller films that you have really enjoyed from the list below – as many as apply

Jaws □

Paranormal activity □

The godfather □

Inception □

Pulp fiction □

The Dark Knight □

Psycho □

Se7en □

Die hard □

Memento □

Silence of the lambs □

What do you feel is very important in a thriller film? Rank from one to eight with one being least important and eight being most

A feeling of suspense □

Fast paced music □

A plot twist □

Action □

Gore □

Science  □

A sense of reality – not too farfetched □

A clever storyline  □

Do you like to see credits in the opening of the film?

Yes □

No □

Don’t mind □

What is Genre?

I am doing some research on genre and how it has changed so i have a better understanding of the part genre plays in a film opening and so i understand it more thoroughly. I am also doing some research on the thriller genre so i have a better understanding of that and this will help me when analysing my 5 thrillers.

Genre
A genre is a set of codes and conventions that make it fit a certain label - this is then labelled as a certain genre. an example of this is if a film has a boy meets girl situation, a plot involving love, complications of love and romantic situations it will be labelled a romance. Other things can be part of these conventions such as sound, editing, mis-en-scene, that make a film fit a perticular genre. in recent years, regenrification has happened, and films tend be a mix of more than one genre ( this is called hybridisation), such as a romantic comedy or a sci fi horror. this often appeals to a wider range of people and means that films can still be new and interesting rather than sticking to a simple genre convention.

Some examples of genre:

-Comedy: White chicks, Meet the forckers, The house Bunny,
-Horror: Nightmare on elm street,
-Thriller: Batman the dark knight,
-Romantic Comedy: 50 First dates,
-Action: 2012, Twilight,
-Science Fiction: Starwars, Enter the matrix,
-Crime and Gangster: Diehard,
-Musical: Grease, Hairspray, High School Musical,
-War: Saving priavte ryan, Forrest Gump,
-Reality: Slumdog Millioanaire, Angus,thongs and Perfect snogging, Remeber me, Dear john,

When researching genre's it gave me a wide understanding of the type's of genre and sub genre's and what they mean, for example, Comedy :Comedies are light-hearted plots consistently and deliberately designed to amuse and provoke laughter (with one-liners, jokes, etc.) by exaggerating the situation, the language, action, relationships and characters. This section describes various forms of comedy through cinematic history, including slapstick, screwball, spoofs and parodies, romantic comedies, black comedy (dark satirical comedy), and more. There is alot more to genre than i thought and the sub genre headings made me realise this.

Thriller 5: The Sixth Sense

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc5B-ercdKE

The Sixth Sense


Camera:
It starts off with a medium shot of a boy standing in a doorway wich then goes onto being a longshot, whilst he runs to the toilet. It then zoomes in to an extreme close up of the heating dial, to show the temperatue dropping. This represtents in horror movies to do with ghost's that ghost's are around and tepemperature dropping is a sign of this.The camera then cuts the boy again.


Editing:
Jump cuts are used.


Sound:
To begim with it starts off



Mise en scene:
Filmed inside the boy's home.

Thriller 4: The Village

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqtjKzLPltY

The Village

Camera:
Starts off with a meduim shot, of the back of a lady's head standing in a doorway. The camera then focuses onto another lady getting into a underground safety compartment. At this point the camera is at a birds eye veiw looking down at the woman, this could represent the helplessness of the people in the cellar. It is a close up of her face to show she is worried about what is outside of the door. The camera then goes back to the first lady to a medium shot of her facing foward this time, holding out her hand. The camera then goes to the side of her and zoom's in on her hand reaching out. Her husband/ boyfriend then takes her hand and runs inside, the camera has got a medium shot of them and it is taken from worm's eye veiw when they run in. When the man and woman run to the cellar and have opening it up the camera is at level with there feet and is zoomed in on there feet walking into the cellar, then them closing the cellar door. Once there are in the cellar the camera is on the right hand side of the people in the cellar at level with them zoomed in on there faces. It then goes to bird's eye veiw of the people looling up in the cellar with sad/frightend faces.


Editing:
Jump cuts are used, and the slow motion effect it used too.

Sound:
To start off with the only sound it the two women talking to each other. After a bit of descussion the woman standing in the doorway decides she is waiting for her husband and not leaving without him. At the second onwards violin music is played in a spooky way and it gets louder and faster the more time goes on. It then goes silent when she holds out her hand for a minuite and you hear her breathing getting heavier.Once the man takes hold of her hand, the violin music begins to play again but this time its peacefull but it is a very quick pase. This violin music continues until there in the cell, and then you hear the metal knocker on the cell hit against the wood after it has been closed. The violin music continues to play towards the end though loud banging noises happen whilst the violin music is playing so there is a bit of juxtaposition there.



Mise en scene:
It is set in what appears to be someone's home. The lighting is dim, but light enough to see everyones faces and the set. When it is being filmed onto the lady holding out her hand, and you can see outside, it is dark and almost foresty.

Thriller 3: The house of wax

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbCfuFJ30t4

The house of wax

Camera:
The camera goes to an extreme close up of lady's face as she looks up suddenly. The camera then quickly focuses on a few other people with close'ups. Suddenly the camera jumps to a shot of the car, extreme close up. Then a mid shot of the camera lights once the car had stopped moving. It then goes to a mid shot of the people and the camera is at the left, zooming into people. You hear one of the people shouting at the car. It then goes onto a long shot of the car driving away. The camera does a close up of people's faces to show there reaction.


Editing
They use jump cuts.


Sound:
The first noise you hear is what seem's like the wind howling. You then go onto hear people's voice's/ talking. A car show's up at the scene and a loud sort of bang sound is used, to make the audeince focus there attention on the car. You then hear the people takling again about the car. One of the men pick up a bottle and throw it at the car. When it hits the car you hear a loud smashing noise and the car rev's it's engine and zooms off, as you hear the tyre's screeching. It then goes onto people talking again but as they are talking the rest of the way through the trailer, a loud pulse noise is played in the background. This goes well with the camera cut scene's and when the actors are running around. Halfway throught the opening it cuts to a scene of a woman running and suddenly the music starts going upbeat.


Mise en scene:
A group of friends in the forest, camping out, with a fire going, and a car is also at the sence. Then a car comes into the scene. All you can really focus on at that point is the headlights as they are so bright. They then decide to leave the area and go to the nearest town and you see them walking through the woods to get to it, and then when they do get there, it is deserted. It is just and empty road with a few small shops on the side, and a few parcked cars. They then come accross, the house of wax. They touch the walls to see if it is really wax when they discover it is. You then see them walk inside, and see the people made out of wax, and realise quickly by looking at the sculptures that eye's move that they are real people.

Thriller 2: se7en

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEZK7mJoPLY&feature=player_embedded

Se7en

-          An American crime thriller in which two police detectives are following a case of sadistic murders.

Camera

-          Mostly close up’s and extreme close up’s. No scene setting or mid shots. Not really a variety of camera angles either, mostly point of view angles used for effect, to give the audience the feel that they are the subject, not looking at them.

Sound

-          Non diagetic – music gives a sense of urgency and suspense as it is fast paced and quickens as the titling comes to an end. It is also high pitched and quite conventional for the thriller genre, but fits well to the titling sequence.

Mise en scene

-          Props that connote the horror and thriller genre are used – such as razor blades, paper cuttings, mug shots. This sets the mood for the film and helps the audience know what to expect, although some of it is quite cliché, such as the paper cuttings. The childlike hand written credits look eerie and scary and also quite rough, not too perfect. Attention to detail is important in setting up the mood, such as the dirt under the antagonists fingernails, which is disgusting, and spots and splats on the pictures, setting the scene as dirty and uncared for, so whilst we don’t know where the subject is or what the room looks like, we can get an idea of what it might be like. the word ‘god’ is cut out of newspaper which relates to the seven deadly sins.

Editing

            The speed of the cuts increases as the titling goes on, creating a sense of suspense. The editing between shots is clever, as there is a lot of fading and dissolves which merge the cuttings and objects together and give it a flow, so whilst the titling shots are jumpy and jerky, the others are smooth as well as jerky, like a camera flash

Thriller 1: The Dark Knight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OYBEquZ_j0

Camera
An extreme long shot is used to begin the extract with the city of america in the background. The camera zoom's into the building slowly, then the camera is on a mid shot of a man who just blew up one of the windows on the building. When you see the glass smash, it smashes in the direction of the audience to engage you.  This is used to show how the narrative will have action/thriller parts embedded within it. The colours throughout the movie are black and dark blue, this connotes darkness, and a sadness about it, maybe with a bit of evil.

Editing
Jump cuts have been used excessively to show the fast paced narrative and the representation of the sub-genre – thriller/action- this is reinforced by the shooting in the movie and images of guns and glass to connotoes the genre thriller.

Sound
The first noise you hear is glass smashing. This engages you with what is going on and add's effect to the movie.


Mise-en-scence
At the beggining it starts with the audience seeing new york city with buildings everywhere and it zoom's in on one room of a buliding. The camera is at a bird's eye veiw. The window then smashes and you get taken to a close up of a man with  mask on. He has a gun in his hand, and there is also another person with a mask behind him. It then goes to a jump cut to another man standing in the highstreet with a mask in his hand and his back to the camera.

Audience Research

'15' – Suitable only for 15 years and over

No-one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video or DVD.

Theme
No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate to 15 year olds.

LanguageThere may be frequent use of strong language But the strongest terms will be acceptable only where justified by the context. Continued aggressive use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.

Nudity
Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.

Sex
Sexual activity may be portrayed but without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour.

Violence
Violence may be strong but may not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. Scenes of sexual violence must be discreet and brief.

Horror
Strong threat and menace are permitted. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.

Drugs
Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse.

Imitable techniquesDangerous techniques (eg combat, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on imitable detail. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.


'18' – Suitable only for adults

No-one younger than 18 may see an ‘18’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 18 may rent or buy an ‘18’ rated video.

In line with the consistent findings of the BBFC's public consultations, at '18' the BBFC's guideline concerns will not normally override the wish that adults should be free to chose their own entertainment, within the law. Exceptions are most likely in the following areas:

where material or treatment appears to the Board to risk harm to individuals or, through their behaviour, to society – e.g. any detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts, or of illegal drug use, which is likely to promote the activity. The Board may also intervene with portrayals of sexual violence which might, e.g. eroticise or endorse sexual assault.
the more explicit images of sexual activity – unless they can be exceptionally justified by context and the work is not a 'sex work' as defined below.

I found this information from the website: www.bbfc.co.uk

After my researching of the BBFC all the different certificates i found out that thrillers would apply to most people over the age of 15. I also learnt the reasons for the age limit as i never knew this before.

Thriller Research

Thriller is a genre of literature, film and television that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements.The primary subgenres of thrillers are: mystery, crime and psychological thrillers. After the assassination of President Kennedy, political thriller and paranoid thriller films became very popular. The brightest examples of thrillers are the Hitchcock’s movies.
Thrillers are mostly characterised by an atmosphere of menace, violence, crime and murder by showing society as dark, corrupt and dangerous, though they often feature a happy ending in which the villains are killed or arrested. Thrillers heavily promote on literary devices such as plot twists, red herrings and cliffhangers. They also promote on moods, such as a high level of anticipation, adrenaline rush, arousal, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety and sometimes even terror. The tones in thrillers are usually gritty, slick and lurid.
The cover-up of important information from the viewer and fight/chase scenes are common methods in all of the thriller subgenres. Though each subgenre has its own characteristics and methods. Common methods in crime thrillers are mainly ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge, kidnappings and, more common in mystery thrillers are, investigations and the whodunit technique. Common elements in psychological thrillers are mind games, psychological themes, stalking, confinement/deathtraps, horror-of-personality and obsession. While elements such as conspiracy theories, false accusations, paranoia and sometimes action are common in paranoid thrillers.
"Homer's Odyssey is one of the oldest stories in the Western world and is regarded as an early prototype of the thriller."  A thriller is villain-driven plot, whereby he presents obstacles that the hero must overcome.

Conevntions of a thriller:

I am going to look into the conventions of the thriller genre This will help  give me some background research for the thriller opening and the typ.e of things that might be expected to be included in it.

 

- Music that is dramatic to builds tension 

-Quick, choppy camera angle changes

- Strong lighting and the use of darkness and shadow

- A lot of quick paced action to keep it interesting and buzzy

- A feeling of hopelessness or desperation – looking like theres no way out

- Titling – dramatic build up before the movie even starts

- Camera s shoot close and personal distance of the characters to create a feeling of involvement and make it feel like you are there.

- Props and symbols that set the scene and are common to thrillers – guns, weapons, police, time

- Dramatic irony – where the audience know more than the characters

I have thernt that a thriller is a move that causes tensions and suspence but maintains the excitment as the main element in the movie. I have also lernt that there are different sub headings of genre for example crime, mystery, pyschological and paranoid.

Brainstorm of idea.

Camera
- Tracking in chases
- Panning around action
- Over the shoulder
- Fly on the wall
- LS, CU, ELS, ECU

Mise en scene
- high technology
- cheesy cliche
- gadgets
- car chases
- guns

Editing- Jump cuts
- Fast pace
Thrillers- Action
- Horror
- Supernatural
- Sci-fi

This section of information helps me remeber what to write about for each section and helps me evaluate when writing on my blog.