During the final day (Friday 27th February 2009) their was chaos as everybody was in a rush to get their thrillers finished and in prestige condition. I had come in early in the morning to get our group a computer to work on as I knew their would be a lot of people doing the same thing.
When I came in the morning I was the only member of our group their as the rest of my group had lessons that morning. After Henok had finished his lesson he immediately came up to join me in the media department.
Prior to Henok arriving to join me I had been doing some blogging and also taken the hard drive to watch our groups ‘almost’ finished work to see if their was any areas that we needed to change or adjust. As I was watching I found that the sound in the second half of our video did not match what was on-screen and this posed a very big problem for our group.
After trying to figure out what the problem with the sound was we found that it was because their had been a small gap in between the clips on the timeline and so this problem was cleared up. Though we was previously told that we may have to create the whole soundtrack again; this had me extremely worried as the soundtrack we had already made took us two days to make and we did not have long before the deadline.
After this small problem we then came across another problem, though this time it was with the credits. The credits had been created wrongly and it was too late to start again so this meant we had a huge dilemma to overcome. At first we was told that we would need to re-do our credits, but then with the assistance of Micky he found another method to join up the credits with the video. The credits made previously had been made for a previous version of our thriller and did not match with the new and improved version. Micky turn the credits into individual clips and this meant that all we had to do was put in the ‘in’ and ‘out’ points then put it on the timeline. The problem with the credits was now fixed and now all we had to do was create the title ‘Dis-Connected’.
We decided to make the title on the software ‘LiveType’ and very quickly found a title design that we liked and thought would work well. The hard part was now to get the title design to work on the timeline, we had to slow it down and move it along the timeline to create the affect that we wanted. After not long this task was also completed, and the moment I had been waiting for had arrived… I could now write finished next to our group name!
After we had finished we saved the file as all of our names with ‘final edit’ at the end and then informed Sevin as she had a lesson that we had finished. Also in order for our group to finish on time I decided not to attend the first half of my lesson as I was determined to finish our thriller before I went anywhere else.
Saturday 28 February 2009
Thursday 26th February (Overcoming Major Problems)
During today’s media lesson (Thursday 26th February 2009) our group continued editing our thriller by making sure it ran smoothly and that all the match cuts are actually matching. After we watched our thriller and made all the necessary changes we then found that in order for us to add in an effect from the software ‘LiveType’ we would need to have a zoom in into Selma’s eye during the last scene. At first we contemplated filming again but then though about the amount of time that would be taken doing so. We then decided to ask Micky for assistance as to whether or not we can zoom into Selma’s eye through ‘LiveType’. Fortunately Micky said we could do this but the bad side is that the quality of the image shown reduces dramatically. After being shown this we decided it was the best option for our group as we did not have enough time to film once again.
We used Micky’s technique (zooming into Selma’s eye) showed to us on the computer as this would save us a lot of time, thus allowing us to move unto making the credits.
Sevin got started on the credits and as she was doing so I was given her title ideas e.g. make-up artist, and lighting. Sevin went through the credits very swiftly and before long all the credits were done.
After we had finished the credits we then added the special affect that Henok had found on ‘LiveType’. We was now very close to finishing our thriller opening but despite staying behind after lesson we could not finish all of it today, as their were still loads of little parts that needed adjustments.
We used Micky’s technique (zooming into Selma’s eye) showed to us on the computer as this would save us a lot of time, thus allowing us to move unto making the credits.
Sevin got started on the credits and as she was doing so I was given her title ideas e.g. make-up artist, and lighting. Sevin went through the credits very swiftly and before long all the credits were done.
After we had finished the credits we then added the special affect that Henok had found on ‘LiveType’. We was now very close to finishing our thriller opening but despite staying behind after lesson we could not finish all of it today, as their were still loads of little parts that needed adjustments.
Doing Our Soundtrack During Enrichment
Today (Wednesday 25th February 2009) everybody in our group came back to do our thriller opening during enrichment time and so we started were myself and Henok left, regarding the soundtrack. I took out the list of sounds that myself and Henok had compiled and we got down to seeing where each sound fitted in best. Then Selma had to leave as she had made previous commitments, leaving myself, Henok, and Sevin.
As we were searching for sounds we came across some different sounds that together with the video looked and sounded very good. So we added these sounds in and before we new it we had done three quarters of the sound already. Making the soundtrack was probably the first thing we had done in which we had not really come against any real problems. At about 4:45pm I had to leave, but was later informed by Henok later on during the day that himself and Sevin had stayed till about 6:00pm and I was amazed at their dedication.
As we were searching for sounds we came across some different sounds that together with the video looked and sounded very good. So we added these sounds in and before we new it we had done three quarters of the sound already. Making the soundtrack was probably the first thing we had done in which we had not really come against any real problems. At about 4:45pm I had to leave, but was later informed by Henok later on during the day that himself and Sevin had stayed till about 6:00pm and I was amazed at their dedication.
Starting the Soundtrack and Searching For Sounds For The Soundtrack
Today (Tuesday 24th February 2009) myself and Henok came in during the morning (10:00A.M.) as we had a free period and so we decided to start compiling a list of different diagetic sounds from the software ‘Soundtrack Pro’. We went through different all the sounds in ‘weapons’, ‘foley’, ‘work/home’ etc… This process was very timely but enjoyable at the same time as we had each other listening to different potential sounds that could be used for the soundtrack and discussing where each sound could be put in.
After compiling the list of potential sounds we could use we then decided to have a brief look over the thriller video, and as we watched it we realised that some parts did not really flow when going into the next part of the scene; so we decided to put in a few more transitions. We watched the video again and so that the transitions were now much more smooth.
At first we hesitated to get started with the soundtrack and wanted to leave it for Sevin to do but then suddenly Henok got started with the soundtrack for a joke and it sounded really good, so we decided to get started on the real soundtrack. I told Henok were some of the sounds were to go in and he put them into order. This is were the list that we had compiled came in helpful as we no longer needed to search for sounds, thus saving us time.
After compiling the list of potential sounds we could use we then decided to have a brief look over the thriller video, and as we watched it we realised that some parts did not really flow when going into the next part of the scene; so we decided to put in a few more transitions. We watched the video again and so that the transitions were now much more smooth.
At first we hesitated to get started with the soundtrack and wanted to leave it for Sevin to do but then suddenly Henok got started with the soundtrack for a joke and it sounded really good, so we decided to get started on the real soundtrack. I told Henok were some of the sounds were to go in and he put them into order. This is were the list that we had compiled came in helpful as we no longer needed to search for sounds, thus saving us time.
Filming Again!
In today’s lesson (Monday 23rd February 2009) we had to stop editing for a while as we needed to film the very ending of our thriller opening again. When we had filmed previously we left this part out as we had not yet obtained the contact lenses for Selma when she opened her eyes.
As we went to film again we had to try and get everything in the room exactly the way it was in the previous shots. This was very challenging as we no longer had the fake blood for Selma’s face and also she was not wearing the same clothes that she was wearing the same clothes that she wore previously.
To overcome this problem we decided that when we were filming we would only show one side of Selma’s face and we would not show her clothes at all.
Whilst filming we took the same shot but using a variety of techniques for example a point of view shot and a high angle shot. We found that the high angle shot worked better, as the point of view shot often blocked the lighting and showed both Selma’s clothing and lack of blood on her face.
After filming we logged and captured what we had just filmed and then watch all of them to see which clip was most suitable. After we found the suitable clip we added it unto the timeline and watched all of the thriller only to find that the lighting in the last shot (what we had just filmed) was completely different to the lighting prior to this scene. The red lighting I had adjusted on Selma’s face was too strong, so we once again went back to film. By now I was feeling under pressure as this required me getting my costume back on (lab coat and gloves). Another reason I felt a lot of pressure is because we was using up a lot of time by filming several times, so this time I was determined to get the lighting adjusted just right. Before we left I watched our thriller to see exactly what the lighting was like, thus allowing me to duplicate this again.
As we went to film again I moved the lights about so we could get that right balance of white and red lighting, in order for it to match with the lighting in the previous shots. We filmed again using all the shots that we used previously, then went back to log and capture it. This time the new clip fitted perfectly with the rest of the thriller so went unto putting in transitions in between shots.
As we went to film again we had to try and get everything in the room exactly the way it was in the previous shots. This was very challenging as we no longer had the fake blood for Selma’s face and also she was not wearing the same clothes that she was wearing the same clothes that she wore previously.
To overcome this problem we decided that when we were filming we would only show one side of Selma’s face and we would not show her clothes at all.
Whilst filming we took the same shot but using a variety of techniques for example a point of view shot and a high angle shot. We found that the high angle shot worked better, as the point of view shot often blocked the lighting and showed both Selma’s clothing and lack of blood on her face.
After filming we logged and captured what we had just filmed and then watch all of them to see which clip was most suitable. After we found the suitable clip we added it unto the timeline and watched all of the thriller only to find that the lighting in the last shot (what we had just filmed) was completely different to the lighting prior to this scene. The red lighting I had adjusted on Selma’s face was too strong, so we once again went back to film. By now I was feeling under pressure as this required me getting my costume back on (lab coat and gloves). Another reason I felt a lot of pressure is because we was using up a lot of time by filming several times, so this time I was determined to get the lighting adjusted just right. Before we left I watched our thriller to see exactly what the lighting was like, thus allowing me to duplicate this again.
As we went to film again I moved the lights about so we could get that right balance of white and red lighting, in order for it to match with the lighting in the previous shots. We filmed again using all the shots that we used previously, then went back to log and capture it. This time the new clip fitted perfectly with the rest of the thriller so went unto putting in transitions in between shots.
Thursday 26 February 2009
Our first filming lesson
In this lesson we finally started our filming session. We planned everything out we new what our props were, our characters, our camera shots etc. we decide to film our thriller in a media room next doors to ours because it was the perfect setting there was a black curtain to make it dark and different kinds of lighting on the ceiling which we could manipulate to our advantage .
We set out all the tables and put two tables together and covered it in a black cloth, that is wear the “alien” is meant to lye and another table to put a case on top of it for the “doctor” to use. We used red lighting and in contrast with the white lighting. The red lighting indicated blood, danger, fear etc. which is what we needed for our thriller film. In this filming session we only started to film Ola because we still hadn’t decided about what we should do with the alien yet, who should play the role and didn’t have the props for it either. So we decided to film it next lesson we would be more ready then, it would have been better to film the alien on that day because we could have done a lot of scenes in just one day.
We done shots of Ola waiting outside the door and entering but to do this and also build up tension we needed to have close ups of him opening the door and a close up of him locking the door we wanted to use match cuts for this scene so we had to do a lot of different shots to have a variety to choose from. As we see Ola enter the door we notice that we don’t see his identity which we done on purpose to keep the audience guessing who this mysterious person is, we only show his outline and hands but that’s all we reveal at the moment to build the tension needed in out thriller film.
After entering the door we done a couple of different shots of Ola walking up to the table where the case is. To follow Ola going to the table we done a low-level shot of Ola feet walking towards his destination. Then there’s a pan up of him still not revealing his face, then there’s an over the shoulder shot showing what actions he’s doing but keeping the audience guessing on what he’s going to do. There’s also a close up of Ola opening the case which creates high levels of tension, the audience want to know what’s in the case and wait with anxiety. At this moment of the over the shoulder shot Ola opens the case and reveals what’s inside by putting on latex gloves which is a key significance to the audience. The lesson was coming to an end even though we filmed quite a few good shots and it seemed we had done a lot we didn’t film as much as expected because of all the preparation needed and all the interruptions from other college students entering the room which ruined some of the shots. Our group were now used the whole idea of filming and now had the experience of it so it should be much easier to film in our next lesson.
We set out all the tables and put two tables together and covered it in a black cloth, that is wear the “alien” is meant to lye and another table to put a case on top of it for the “doctor” to use. We used red lighting and in contrast with the white lighting. The red lighting indicated blood, danger, fear etc. which is what we needed for our thriller film. In this filming session we only started to film Ola because we still hadn’t decided about what we should do with the alien yet, who should play the role and didn’t have the props for it either. So we decided to film it next lesson we would be more ready then, it would have been better to film the alien on that day because we could have done a lot of scenes in just one day.
We done shots of Ola waiting outside the door and entering but to do this and also build up tension we needed to have close ups of him opening the door and a close up of him locking the door we wanted to use match cuts for this scene so we had to do a lot of different shots to have a variety to choose from. As we see Ola enter the door we notice that we don’t see his identity which we done on purpose to keep the audience guessing who this mysterious person is, we only show his outline and hands but that’s all we reveal at the moment to build the tension needed in out thriller film.
After entering the door we done a couple of different shots of Ola walking up to the table where the case is. To follow Ola going to the table we done a low-level shot of Ola feet walking towards his destination. Then there’s a pan up of him still not revealing his face, then there’s an over the shoulder shot showing what actions he’s doing but keeping the audience guessing on what he’s going to do. There’s also a close up of Ola opening the case which creates high levels of tension, the audience want to know what’s in the case and wait with anxiety. At this moment of the over the shoulder shot Ola opens the case and reveals what’s inside by putting on latex gloves which is a key significance to the audience. The lesson was coming to an end even though we filmed quite a few good shots and it seemed we had done a lot we didn’t film as much as expected because of all the preparation needed and all the interruptions from other college students entering the room which ruined some of the shots. Our group were now used the whole idea of filming and now had the experience of it so it should be much easier to film in our next lesson.
Props
Props needed for this thriller film
-brief case
-lab coat
-red contact lenses
-rope
-blind fold
-black sheet
-three tables
-knife/scissors
-red flashing light(bike light)
-latex gloves
-red top ripped trousers
-mud/dirt
-blood
-brief case
-lab coat
-red contact lenses
-rope
-blind fold
-black sheet
-three tables
-knife/scissors
-red flashing light(bike light)
-latex gloves
-red top ripped trousers
-mud/dirt
-blood
thriller title DIS-CONNECTED
during a Monday's lesson our group had finished plotting our ideas for our thriller clip and now we had to make up a title for it, we thought about the storyline the whole idea and the purpose, then one of my group member came up with a name, i think it was Ola and he suggested we call it DIS-CONNECTED because it links to the plot and how the alien character has been separated from an important device it was meant to protect and it had a kind of link/connection to this device and so therefore it has been disconnected from it. it was the perfect title for this film.
choosing the right idea
In one of my media lesson me n my group had trouble deciding on what our idea should be for our thriller clip even though we had a lot of ideas to choose from, they were either to complicated to do or similar to the other groups idea. That day was the day we should have started to film the other groups started filming we were behind and had a lot to do. We wanted our idea to be unique and different. We even had a vote to choose an idea but still couldn’t choose then we had advice from an ex a-level student who came to our lesson to help out and he said all these ideas where to similar to all the other media classes, then he said he like our old idea about a supernatural thriller which we didn’t carry on with because it was a bit rough , but we tweaked it up a bit and we decided to go ahead with the supernatural thriller. We had some ideas from the ex student Rushan and we developed more ideas and had a full storyline. We started thinking of the locations, props camera shots etc. our first location idea was to film in kings cross at the gas-o-meter which is an industrial site. Firstly we searched for images of the gas-o-meter to be sure we wanted to film there, we all liked the location it was perfect for our clip, after finding out location we started out storyboard and then decided on the props actors etc.
Wednesday 25 February 2009
Tuesday 24th February - Free Period to Carry on with our Thriller
Yesterday, we decided we would come in on Tuesday morning to carry on with our thriller project but Selma was unable to make an appearance because she had lesson at this time. We chose this time because three of us, Sevin, Ola and me, were all free this period. We decided to start at 9am but everyone arrived at 9:30 but Sevin was absent because she had an important piece of English coursework to hand in the same day, in the afternoon, so me and Ola were the only ones there.
Because Selma could not be present, we got on with the soundtrack and went through all the appropriate sounds we could use. We wrote down all the sounds that were an option for us and came across some amazing sounds we could use which we did not expect to see or use. The soundtrack software was very astonishing as it stored so many sounds and had the same sort of sound in a different way, e.g. the door opening squeak had like five different types. This was an advantage for us, as some would fit in with the timing of our shots.
When we had gone over most of the sounds, we transported our thriller sequence on to soundtrack and started to add sound to it. It came along smoothly and sounded better as we went along. I believe this was very exciting as we could explore all the different sounds to put in and that we could put sounds over sounds making the film look better. However, this was a long process as it took a very long to keep going back to the sounds we liked. We could have easily done it from the beginning but we decided to go through all the sounds first so that we could choose the best sound possible.
Me and Ola have shown how dedicated we are to this project by using our own time to carry on work with this. We have been doing this since the start of the project in order to make the best opening film production we can. Selma and Sevin have also shown their dedication by coming in the holiday with us and they were going to come today but something came up. Ola and I decided to use our college enrichment time to finish this project off, or hope to. Our last lesson for this project is on Thursday 26th February and we hope to have everything done and dusted.
Because Selma could not be present, we got on with the soundtrack and went through all the appropriate sounds we could use. We wrote down all the sounds that were an option for us and came across some amazing sounds we could use which we did not expect to see or use. The soundtrack software was very astonishing as it stored so many sounds and had the same sort of sound in a different way, e.g. the door opening squeak had like five different types. This was an advantage for us, as some would fit in with the timing of our shots.
When we had gone over most of the sounds, we transported our thriller sequence on to soundtrack and started to add sound to it. It came along smoothly and sounded better as we went along. I believe this was very exciting as we could explore all the different sounds to put in and that we could put sounds over sounds making the film look better. However, this was a long process as it took a very long to keep going back to the sounds we liked. We could have easily done it from the beginning but we decided to go through all the sounds first so that we could choose the best sound possible.
Me and Ola have shown how dedicated we are to this project by using our own time to carry on work with this. We have been doing this since the start of the project in order to make the best opening film production we can. Selma and Sevin have also shown their dedication by coming in the holiday with us and they were going to come today but something came up. Ola and I decided to use our college enrichment time to finish this project off, or hope to. Our last lesson for this project is on Thursday 26th February and we hope to have everything done and dusted.
Monday 23rd February - Trying to Finish Editing
This was our last 3 hour lesson we had for the production of the thriller sequence film, which meant that we had to make the most out of it. Because Selma and Sevin had to leave early in our half-term session, we showed them the editing me and Ola had got up to. Both of them was pleased of the amount of work we had done and thought certain effects we used were good.
There was still a piece to the puzzle what was still missing. This was the shot with Selma with her eyes open with the alien looking contacts in. we still had to do this part as it the most crucial part of our thriller. Therefore, we had collected the camera equipment again and set up the room so we could film that part. We decided on two camera shots to use for this part, it was out of a point of view shot or a close up birds eye view shot. We tried both and whichever one looked better and more effective and presentable, we would use that shot.
When we came back to the editing room, we logged and captured our new piece of film and added it to our thriller. We recognised that the lighting was too dark and the contact lenses did not stand out. When we showed this to our teacher, she did not even realise Selma had the contacts in during the film. The contacts colour was violet meaning that we needed to give her a certain type of lighting for it to clear on film. Our teacher suggested to film this part again with the spotlight lighter. Because we had to do this, again this messed up our schedule for the lesson.
We went back to the filming room and filmed this part again. We made sure the lighting was right and covered around five shots of the shot of her opening her eyes. We then went back to the editing room again and logged and captured. Once we deleted the old shot and added the new one, we seamed satisfied with the way it fitted it.
However, we thought there was a way that we could zoom into her eye for it to link into our next shot. Our teacher said that we should have zoomed into her eye on the camera. We were all frustrated at this because it meant we had to do this again even though there was a way on the computer that it could zoom into her eye but the quality would be terrible, as it would look very fuzzy and look bad on film, especially on the a cinema screen.
We did not have time to film this part again because the lesson was over by this time. We were very disappointed with this lesson because we were on a high and we had just, basically, wasted a lesson because we did not go any further in our thriller production this meant that we definitely had to use time out of lesson to carry on with our thriller. However, the lesson was did not turn out so bad because while me, Ola and Selma were filming, Sevin was making sure the editing was fitted correctly and looking through soundtracks for us to use when we add sound. This was very clever from Sevin and she had saved us a lot of time as she put together some sounds that our group likes.
There was still a piece to the puzzle what was still missing. This was the shot with Selma with her eyes open with the alien looking contacts in. we still had to do this part as it the most crucial part of our thriller. Therefore, we had collected the camera equipment again and set up the room so we could film that part. We decided on two camera shots to use for this part, it was out of a point of view shot or a close up birds eye view shot. We tried both and whichever one looked better and more effective and presentable, we would use that shot.
When we came back to the editing room, we logged and captured our new piece of film and added it to our thriller. We recognised that the lighting was too dark and the contact lenses did not stand out. When we showed this to our teacher, she did not even realise Selma had the contacts in during the film. The contacts colour was violet meaning that we needed to give her a certain type of lighting for it to clear on film. Our teacher suggested to film this part again with the spotlight lighter. Because we had to do this, again this messed up our schedule for the lesson.
We went back to the filming room and filmed this part again. We made sure the lighting was right and covered around five shots of the shot of her opening her eyes. We then went back to the editing room again and logged and captured. Once we deleted the old shot and added the new one, we seamed satisfied with the way it fitted it.
However, we thought there was a way that we could zoom into her eye for it to link into our next shot. Our teacher said that we should have zoomed into her eye on the camera. We were all frustrated at this because it meant we had to do this again even though there was a way on the computer that it could zoom into her eye but the quality would be terrible, as it would look very fuzzy and look bad on film, especially on the a cinema screen.
We did not have time to film this part again because the lesson was over by this time. We were very disappointed with this lesson because we were on a high and we had just, basically, wasted a lesson because we did not go any further in our thriller production this meant that we definitely had to use time out of lesson to carry on with our thriller. However, the lesson was did not turn out so bad because while me, Ola and Selma were filming, Sevin was making sure the editing was fitted correctly and looking through soundtracks for us to use when we add sound. This was very clever from Sevin and she had saved us a lot of time as she put together some sounds that our group likes.
Tuesday 24 February 2009
First Lesson- Back from Half-Term
During our first media lesson back from half-term, our group didn't waste any time got straight on and carried on where they had left off from the lesson from half-term. As I was slightly late for the lesson, when I had arrived I was very proud to see that my group members were all sitting around their tables with their heads down and concentrated with the work that they were trying to produce and make even better. They were now fully editing each shot, every shots duration and making sure they're all in its rellevant order.
I watched how further we had come and happy to say was proud of my group and the work we had produced. Seeing all the clips in a perfect order and flow, made the idea of our thriller looking professional was starting to become more real to us. As we were the first students to create a supernatural thriller, we were quite shakey about how it come out and we started doubting how good we could make it look. Nevertheless, we were know believing in our selves even more now after seeing how much we had produced considering what situations and problems we had experienced on our path to making our thriller look very professional and also going by our rule of 'simple but effective'.
Also we finally filmed the closing scene of Character B's coloured eyes being exposed, now things were starting to look even brighter for our group. Whiel Henok, Ola and Selma were filming the closing scene, I stayed in the editing suite to link more clips together and make sure there isn't any flaws in the flow of the squence. After I had completing checking for any errors, I muted all the background sounds on our squence and started to listen to a variety of sound effects which we could use for our thriller opening. I had chosen a couple of different sounds to give us a wide range that we could chose from, I had all of these sounds ready so when they rest of my group returned from filming the closing squence we could go straight onto chosing the perfect sound effects for our thriller.
After the rest of my group returned we quickly logged and captured what they filmed, we got straight onto editing the clips onto our thriller squence, we were now trying to chose the sound effects for our scenes but unfortunately time had beaten us again and adding the sounds were left to the next lesson.
I watched how further we had come and happy to say was proud of my group and the work we had produced. Seeing all the clips in a perfect order and flow, made the idea of our thriller looking professional was starting to become more real to us. As we were the first students to create a supernatural thriller, we were quite shakey about how it come out and we started doubting how good we could make it look. Nevertheless, we were know believing in our selves even more now after seeing how much we had produced considering what situations and problems we had experienced on our path to making our thriller look very professional and also going by our rule of 'simple but effective'.
Also we finally filmed the closing scene of Character B's coloured eyes being exposed, now things were starting to look even brighter for our group. Whiel Henok, Ola and Selma were filming the closing scene, I stayed in the editing suite to link more clips together and make sure there isn't any flaws in the flow of the squence. After I had completing checking for any errors, I muted all the background sounds on our squence and started to listen to a variety of sound effects which we could use for our thriller opening. I had chosen a couple of different sounds to give us a wide range that we could chose from, I had all of these sounds ready so when they rest of my group returned from filming the closing squence we could go straight onto chosing the perfect sound effects for our thriller.
After the rest of my group returned we quickly logged and captured what they filmed, we got straight onto editing the clips onto our thriller squence, we were now trying to chose the sound effects for our scenes but unfortunately time had beaten us again and adding the sounds were left to the next lesson.
Half-Term Editing our Thriller
During our half-term lesson in college, we used this extra time to cover the loss of the lesson which was cancellation due to poor weather conditions. We used this time to do as much editing as we can. As all the group members arrived, I helped Selma put on her contact lenses so we can film the last scene where Character B's blindfold is taken off by Character A. However, as it was my birthday and due to time loss I had to leave the half-term workshop at about 12pm, leaving Henok, Ola and Selma to film and log and capture the closing scene.
However, after I had left Selma couldn't stay much longer either as she had brought her little sister along with her because there was noone else to look after in her family at that time. Because of this the closing scene couldn't be filmed on that day and now Henok and Ola were left to continue with logging and capturing.
They both successfully finished logging and capturing and made a quick start on editing the many clips we had taken, putting them in order and combining the rellevant ones together to help make the clips flow smoothly from one clip to another.
As a whole, Henok and Ola made a great job of logging and capturing all the clips and making a start on editing the thriller, they also wanted to go onto adding sound to the squence but unfortunately ran out of time and had to leave college.
However, after I had left Selma couldn't stay much longer either as she had brought her little sister along with her because there was noone else to look after in her family at that time. Because of this the closing scene couldn't be filmed on that day and now Henok and Ola were left to continue with logging and capturing.
They both successfully finished logging and capturing and made a quick start on editing the many clips we had taken, putting them in order and combining the rellevant ones together to help make the clips flow smoothly from one clip to another.
As a whole, Henok and Ola made a great job of logging and capturing all the clips and making a start on editing the thriller, they also wanted to go onto adding sound to the squence but unfortunately ran out of time and had to leave college.
Logging and Capturing our Thriller
During our Thursday lesson before we broke up for half term we started to edit our work but we needed to divide our group as we hadn't filmed Character B's blindfold being taken off and the audience seeing the abnormally coloured eyes. For this reason, Selma and I had to go Finsbury Park to purchase the red coloured lenses to complete our thriller sequence while Henok and Ola stayed at college to log and capture all of our footage.
While Selma and I were absent, Henok and Ola had started to log and capture all of our work, however, they were not aware of how much filming we had done and were trying to find the first scenes of when we had started to film, they had to rewind right to the beginning of the tape to get all our work and assume where to stop the tape.
To our horror when we arrived at the chemist to purchase the coloured contact lenses we saw that they didn't sell red coloured lenses. This changed everything for our thriller as red was the main colour and representation of our theme of supernatural. Not know what colour we should purchase I decided to consult Henok and Ola on the phone. We finally came to a decision that the most effective colour to use was to used purple coloured lenses.
While Selma and I were trying to make it back to college in time with the contact lenses, both Henok and Ola had logged and captured the most of what we had filmed for the rest of the lesson, this was quite difficult and time consuming as we had done so much filming. By the end of the lesson they had done most but not all of the logging and capturing.
While Selma and I were absent, Henok and Ola had started to log and capture all of our work, however, they were not aware of how much filming we had done and were trying to find the first scenes of when we had started to film, they had to rewind right to the beginning of the tape to get all our work and assume where to stop the tape.
To our horror when we arrived at the chemist to purchase the coloured contact lenses we saw that they didn't sell red coloured lenses. This changed everything for our thriller as red was the main colour and representation of our theme of supernatural. Not know what colour we should purchase I decided to consult Henok and Ola on the phone. We finally came to a decision that the most effective colour to use was to used purple coloured lenses.
While Selma and I were trying to make it back to college in time with the contact lenses, both Henok and Ola had logged and captured the most of what we had filmed for the rest of the lesson, this was quite difficult and time consuming as we had done so much filming. By the end of the lesson they had done most but not all of the logging and capturing.
Last Session of Filming
During our Monday lesson with Mary, the ex student; Rushan stayed with our group to help and see how much we have progressed since the last time he had seen our work. As we were gettin ready to film our last sequence, everyone in the group took different roles. I, (Sevin) took the role of costume design, make-up, props and helping to set the scene. Henok took the role of the cameraman and Henok and I helped each other out when directing the actors. Ola and Selma took the role of the two characters, Ola was Character A and Selma was Character B. Ola also helped trying to get the lighting right for filming and made sure it suited the tension we wanted to created.
Since we had already filmed the majority of the scenes of Character A, we decided to make a start on filming Character B inside the room/laboratory as it was the most crucial part of our thriller opening. While I was doing Character B's make-up and preparing her props ( tying her up on the table with the rope), my other group members were trying to get the lighting perfect for filming. After I added the finishing touches, we were once again ready to film. Henok, as the cameraman was preparing to shoot while Ola and I were advising on which shots he should use and shoot from which angles. We took a varietry of different shots to make sure we get the perfect shot for our thriller, we were also told by Mary that the more diverse and larger variety of shots we had meant we would be gaining more marks, this was also a reason why we took so many shots.
Character B's scene showed her tied to a table with her eyes covered, there were close up’s that show her struggling and moving her hands and feet to try and break free. This scene was one of the most time consuming scenes to film. This is because, as Character B was really trying to show the frustration of being tied up, and for this the rope kept coming undone as it wasn't such a secure rope. After we finished Characyer B’s scene we then started to work on finishing Character A's scene.However he realised something, he had had pens in his pocket but because we had already filmed so much and gone so further, we decided to film that whole scene again. On the other hand, filming Character A's scene over again wasn't all negative, as we were filming we all got different ideas for type of shots and angles, everyone paid their contribution and our moods were lifted and we started to believe that we could finish our project in time for our deadline. Also with the help of Ola's funny and sometimes not so funny jokes our spirits were lifted.
At the end of our last filming lesson we were very pleased on how much our group had progessed putting into consideration how many negative times we had had and we belive that we have now made up for the time we had lost when our lesson had been cancelled and when we had to make changes with our ideas.
Since we had already filmed the majority of the scenes of Character A, we decided to make a start on filming Character B inside the room/laboratory as it was the most crucial part of our thriller opening. While I was doing Character B's make-up and preparing her props ( tying her up on the table with the rope), my other group members were trying to get the lighting perfect for filming. After I added the finishing touches, we were once again ready to film. Henok, as the cameraman was preparing to shoot while Ola and I were advising on which shots he should use and shoot from which angles. We took a varietry of different shots to make sure we get the perfect shot for our thriller, we were also told by Mary that the more diverse and larger variety of shots we had meant we would be gaining more marks, this was also a reason why we took so many shots.
Character B's scene showed her tied to a table with her eyes covered, there were close up’s that show her struggling and moving her hands and feet to try and break free. This scene was one of the most time consuming scenes to film. This is because, as Character B was really trying to show the frustration of being tied up, and for this the rope kept coming undone as it wasn't such a secure rope. After we finished Characyer B’s scene we then started to work on finishing Character A's scene.However he realised something, he had had pens in his pocket but because we had already filmed so much and gone so further, we decided to film that whole scene again. On the other hand, filming Character A's scene over again wasn't all negative, as we were filming we all got different ideas for type of shots and angles, everyone paid their contribution and our moods were lifted and we started to believe that we could finish our project in time for our deadline. Also with the help of Ola's funny and sometimes not so funny jokes our spirits were lifted.
At the end of our last filming lesson we were very pleased on how much our group had progessed putting into consideration how many negative times we had had and we belive that we have now made up for the time we had lost when our lesson had been cancelled and when we had to make changes with our ideas.
Our Second Filming Lesson
During our Thursday lesson after the cancellation of our Monday lesson, our group members were back in college and were very nervous on how we were going to make up for the 3 hours' of filming and editing we had missed out on, apart from one group member; Ola as he was ill due to having the flu. This was devastating for our group as he was one of the two main characters in our thriller. However, we such minimal time we didn't even have any time to be put down by the absence of our main character, we had to think hard and very fast on the spot. We finally decided to go ahead and film in King's Cross as this was the only scene where Character A was not in. We were glad to see that there was still some snow left fromt the heavy snowfall on Monday and that we could use the snow in the background to add effect.
We only had 1 hour and 30 minutes to get to King's Cross, film the scene and be back in time before the end of the lesson so we had to quickly get our filming equipment and head off to our filming location.
Once we arrived at our location at King's Cross, we were met with a problem which we hadn't thought so much about; being able to film next to the gas-o-meter. I had gone to ask permission from the guard that was on duty, he radioed his boss and asked if we could film there but the answer was no, as it was a health and safety hazard as there were trucks coming in and out. We asked if we could film next to the monument on the other side of the fence and they said that it was fine as we would be filming on the pavement and it would be their responsibilty. Annoying as it was, not being about to film right next to the monument, we were also grateful that we were this close up to it.
I helped Selma get ready into her costume and make up, I also had to cover her costume in mud and dirt to convey the suspision of what had happened to her before she came into the scene. Once that was done we started filming. towards the end of our filming session we decided to watch back what we had filmed. To our horror we discovered that we had not been filming when we were supposed to film and been filming when we didn’t want to like when I was helping Selma get ready and trying to get the setting of the scene ready. We were lucky to have discovered this early and still had some time to film, only in the short period we had left, we couldn't film exactly what we wanted. We tried to capture as many shots as possible to give us alternatives if we weren't happy with some shots or angles.
Overall, this day was very frustrating for us as we had such little time to film almost everything we needed to film and the confusion of not filmin being added on top of it made the situation even tenser. However, we believe that we made a great job of thinking very fast on the spot and despite the absence of our main character, we managed to move forward with our thriller. Hopefully, Ola will recover from his flu so we can film the rest of the scenes, start editing and have our whole thriller porject successfully finished in time for our deadline.
We only had 1 hour and 30 minutes to get to King's Cross, film the scene and be back in time before the end of the lesson so we had to quickly get our filming equipment and head off to our filming location.
Once we arrived at our location at King's Cross, we were met with a problem which we hadn't thought so much about; being able to film next to the gas-o-meter. I had gone to ask permission from the guard that was on duty, he radioed his boss and asked if we could film there but the answer was no, as it was a health and safety hazard as there were trucks coming in and out. We asked if we could film next to the monument on the other side of the fence and they said that it was fine as we would be filming on the pavement and it would be their responsibilty. Annoying as it was, not being about to film right next to the monument, we were also grateful that we were this close up to it.
I helped Selma get ready into her costume and make up, I also had to cover her costume in mud and dirt to convey the suspision of what had happened to her before she came into the scene. Once that was done we started filming. towards the end of our filming session we decided to watch back what we had filmed. To our horror we discovered that we had not been filming when we were supposed to film and been filming when we didn’t want to like when I was helping Selma get ready and trying to get the setting of the scene ready. We were lucky to have discovered this early and still had some time to film, only in the short period we had left, we couldn't film exactly what we wanted. We tried to capture as many shots as possible to give us alternatives if we weren't happy with some shots or angles.
Overall, this day was very frustrating for us as we had such little time to film almost everything we needed to film and the confusion of not filmin being added on top of it made the situation even tenser. However, we believe that we made a great job of thinking very fast on the spot and despite the absence of our main character, we managed to move forward with our thriller. Hopefully, Ola will recover from his flu so we can film the rest of the scenes, start editing and have our whole thriller porject successfully finished in time for our deadline.
Cancellation of Lesson
Due to poor weather conditions, it snowing so deep that all of London's transport had come to a halt, our Monday lesson on the 2nd of February had to be cancelled. Out of our whole media class the cancellation of our 3 hour media lesson, this affected my group the most as we had already fallen behind on our filming and this being added on top of the frustration.
Also another reason why it was so frustrating for our group that our 3 hour media lesson was cancelled that we could have taken advantage of the snow.
The idea of filming in the snow came from watching 'The Shining' to us as we were trying to find a way on how we could use the snow to its advantage, and we remembered how Hitchcock also used snow to convey tension and mystery. However this also didn't go as we had planned, as I tried to film the red lighted device with my own digital camera but as my camera wasn't as professional as the ones we used in college, the resolution of the shots were not as of high quality and appealing enough to use for our thriller.
Overall, on the day of the cancellation of college all of our group members kept in contact and were thinking of ways which we can use this 'day off' for our advantage. We decided that we should use this period of time to think about how we can make our thriller look even better and professional. We thought of different camera shots and angles and we would have our new ideas gathered together and ready for our Thursday lesson with Rebecca.
Also another reason why it was so frustrating for our group that our 3 hour media lesson was cancelled that we could have taken advantage of the snow.
The idea of filming in the snow came from watching 'The Shining' to us as we were trying to find a way on how we could use the snow to its advantage, and we remembered how Hitchcock also used snow to convey tension and mystery. However this also didn't go as we had planned, as I tried to film the red lighted device with my own digital camera but as my camera wasn't as professional as the ones we used in college, the resolution of the shots were not as of high quality and appealing enough to use for our thriller.
Overall, on the day of the cancellation of college all of our group members kept in contact and were thinking of ways which we can use this 'day off' for our advantage. We decided that we should use this period of time to think about how we can make our thriller look even better and professional. We thought of different camera shots and angles and we would have our new ideas gathered together and ready for our Thursday lesson with Rebecca.
Filming Location
As our thriller was decided to be a supernatural thriller, we decided that we needed to find a location that nobody would have known what it is and none of the othere groups would be filming there. The ideal location for this description was next to the gas-o-meter in King's Cross next to the train station. This was the ideal location as it was an industrial setting and looked like it related to our thriller title and our storyline. We also thought this was a good choice of location as it was only about 15 mintues distance from our college, this helped as the less time it took us to get there, the more time we had to film. Also, as the area where the monument is based isn't a path which many padestrian's use, it was even better because this meant that we wouldn't be experiencing the problem of having irrelevant people in footage unlike when filming in college.
Our First Filming Lesson
On our Thursday lesson with Laura, our group was finally ready to start filming. We had gathered all the props we needed to start filming and were waiting for the rest of the class to empty the room as we were going to be filming in the studio class in the college. After al the groups had left the classroom, we were able to start filmin our thriller. As a group we were all pleased with the amount of work we had done in such limited time and despite having to keep changing our ideas, we were all still very positive and enthusiastic.
As we still hadn't decided who was going to take the role of Character B, (the character wearing the contact lenses) so we decided to start filming the beginning of our thriller where Character B isn't in the scene yet. We started to film the first scenes of our thriller where there was an extreme close up of the door handle and Ola reaching out to open the door. We also filmed the second scene where Ola is walking in the room towards a brief case. After this there is a close up on the brief case and an over the shoulder shot so Character A is enabling the audience to see was lies in his suitcase. After this we allow the audience to see Character A slowly putting on rubber gloves. When filing these scenes, we made sure that each scene was acted with the slightest movement. We believe that by using minimal movement it would add onto the tension created by hiding Character A's identity from the audience.
After our first lesson of filming we were trying to think of different type of shots and camera angles which we should use that would help the audience interpret the relationship between the two characters and importance of status. We decided to use all kinds of shots and select the best ones to use when logging and capturing. We believe that this is the best way to get the perfect shots combined together.
Title For Our Thriller
During Monday's lesson with Mary and the ex student, Rushan after we had completey constructed our ideas for our thriller, one of our group members; Ola came up with a title for our thriller: DIS-CONNECTED. He thought: as the story is about an abnormal person who need to get back to its alien technology mechanism, and the two things are no longer together they have been disconnected thus leading to the title DIS-CONNECTED. He also used the hyphen to help convey a sense of seperation.
Props for our thriller
Props needed for our supernatural thriller
-Two tables
-White overall
-Dirt/Mud
-Contact lenses (red)
-Black blindfold
-Ropes
-Zip ties
-Knife/Machete
-Bike light(red)
-Ripped clothing (trousers and shirt)
-Plastic gloves
Synopsis
Our synopsis of our final supernatural thriller idea
1. We start with a shot of just black; this is a close up of the floor.
2. Tilt up to show the feet of person 1.
3. Go around person; close up of person 1’s hands.
4. Close up of person 1’s face and they are blindfolded.
5. Show the blood on the face of person 1.
6. Close up of person 2’s feet at door.
7. Then close up of door handle, person 2 opens door.
8. Match cut, we see person 2 coming in from point of view shot of person 1.
9. Point of view shot looking slightly through blindfold at person 2.
10. Point of view and over the shoulder shot of person 2 walking towards person 1.
11. Close up of scalpels being cleaned.
12. Point of view shot as he takes off person 1’s blindfold, this is in slow motion.
13. Close up of person 1’s eyes.
14. Flashback in black and white showing a flashing light, this is filmed at a Kings Cross Industrial site.
15. Person 2 walks up to this object and picks it up then scene ends.
1. We start with a shot of just black; this is a close up of the floor.
2. Tilt up to show the feet of person 1.
3. Go around person; close up of person 1’s hands.
4. Close up of person 1’s face and they are blindfolded.
5. Show the blood on the face of person 1.
6. Close up of person 2’s feet at door.
7. Then close up of door handle, person 2 opens door.
8. Match cut, we see person 2 coming in from point of view shot of person 1.
9. Point of view shot looking slightly through blindfold at person 2.
10. Point of view and over the shoulder shot of person 2 walking towards person 1.
11. Close up of scalpels being cleaned.
12. Point of view shot as he takes off person 1’s blindfold, this is in slow motion.
13. Close up of person 1’s eyes.
14. Flashback in black and white showing a flashing light, this is filmed at a Kings Cross Industrial site.
15. Person 2 walks up to this object and picks it up then scene ends.
Saturday 21 February 2009
Half-Term Editing
On Monday (16/02/09) during our half term myself, Henok, Selma, and Sevin all came in to do some more editing. I was first to turn up, I came in at 9:30am thinking I was late and the rest of my group would have been their working already but I was wrong, I had to wait for some other members of my group to turn up. After about ten minutes members of my group started to turn up and so we started editing.
We started logging and capturing while Sevin put the contact lenses in Selma’s eyes. Due to it being Sevin’s birthday she had to leave early, leaving myself, Henok and Selma. But Selma brought her little sister and had to leave to take her back home. This meant that the filming of the last scene was no longer possible as it was only myself and Henok left in college.
We decided to just go ahead with the editing, we finally finished the logging and capturing and went straight unto putting the clips together. This was also another lengthy process as we had so many clips to choose from. We started putting clips together and then watched over it to see if it made sense and also to see if their were any other clips that would be better in that area. After we had completed this task and watched over it we came over some faults. Transitions between some shots were not good enough and so we asked Rebecca for some help and she showed us some transitions on the editing software that made the transitions much better.
After this problem had been resolved we were to go unto sound but their was no time left and so we decided to leave.
We started logging and capturing while Sevin put the contact lenses in Selma’s eyes. Due to it being Sevin’s birthday she had to leave early, leaving myself, Henok and Selma. But Selma brought her little sister and had to leave to take her back home. This meant that the filming of the last scene was no longer possible as it was only myself and Henok left in college.
We decided to just go ahead with the editing, we finally finished the logging and capturing and went straight unto putting the clips together. This was also another lengthy process as we had so many clips to choose from. We started putting clips together and then watched over it to see if it made sense and also to see if their were any other clips that would be better in that area. After we had completed this task and watched over it we came over some faults. Transitions between some shots were not good enough and so we asked Rebecca for some help and she showed us some transitions on the editing software that made the transitions much better.
After this problem had been resolved we were to go unto sound but their was no time left and so we decided to leave.
Logging and Capturing our Thriller
During Thursday’s lesson (12/02/09) we started editing our work. But first we had to divided our group as we needed to buy the contact lenses for the last shot of Selma. Sevin and Selma went to Finsbury park to go and buy the contact lenses and myself and Henok stayed behind in college to start logging and capturing all of our work.
Unaware of the amount of filming that we had done me and Henok put the tape in and started rewinding it to get to the beginning of our thriller. This was very difficult and time consuming as we could not see the rewinding and we had to guess where to stop it. We finally got close to the beginning and so we let the tape play so that we could start the logging and capturing as soon as our thriller had started.
Both me and Henok logged and captured the most of what we had filmed for the rest of the lesson, this was very time consuming as we had done so much filming. By the end of the lesson we had done most but not all of the logging and capturing.
Unaware of the amount of filming that we had done me and Henok put the tape in and started rewinding it to get to the beginning of our thriller. This was very difficult and time consuming as we could not see the rewinding and we had to guess where to stop it. We finally got close to the beginning and so we let the tape play so that we could start the logging and capturing as soon as our thriller had started.
Both me and Henok logged and captured the most of what we had filmed for the rest of the lesson, this was very time consuming as we had done so much filming. By the end of the lesson we had done most but not all of the logging and capturing.
2nd Filming Session for Thriller
During Mondays lesson (09/02/09) we had our second filming session and Rushan was on-call for assistance. Henok took on the role of the camera man and setting up the set, Sevin done all of the make-up, props and costume design, Selma was an actor, and I (Ola) done the lighting, setting up the set and was also an actor.
Since we had already filmed the majority of my scenes we thought we should get started on Selma’s scene as it was the most crucial part of our thriller opening. Henok done all the filming and as we went along Rushan, Sevin and myself gave Henok ideas of where to place the camera e.g. high angle shot, low angle shot, close up or long shot. This meant that every new scene that we filmed took very long to film as we took different types of shots to see how it would work when we came to editing and also to create diversity so that all our scene did not loo the same. Also whilst we was watching the thriller openings of the previous AS students I remembered that Mary told us you get more marks for wide use of camera shots, this is the main reason why we took so many different shots of individual scenes.
Selma’s scene showed her tied to a table with her eyes covered, and there were close up’s that show her struggling and moving her hands and feet to try and break free. After we finished Selma’s scene we then started to work on finishing my scene but as we were filming I realised that I had pens in my pocket but because we had already done so much filming we just decided to film the whole thing again.
The groups dedication and commitment was really shown as even when it was break time the whole group stayed and carried on working, this motivated me to work harder and do less joking; though during frustrating times I saw it as my job to tell a rubbish joke or do something stupid to try and get everybody to laugh, which could lift the mood and help us get on with our work.
At the end of this lesson I felt very satisfied about the volume of work we had managed to do in one lesson and the fact that we had now closed the gap between our group and the rest of the class.
Since we had already filmed the majority of my scenes we thought we should get started on Selma’s scene as it was the most crucial part of our thriller opening. Henok done all the filming and as we went along Rushan, Sevin and myself gave Henok ideas of where to place the camera e.g. high angle shot, low angle shot, close up or long shot. This meant that every new scene that we filmed took very long to film as we took different types of shots to see how it would work when we came to editing and also to create diversity so that all our scene did not loo the same. Also whilst we was watching the thriller openings of the previous AS students I remembered that Mary told us you get more marks for wide use of camera shots, this is the main reason why we took so many different shots of individual scenes.
Selma’s scene showed her tied to a table with her eyes covered, and there were close up’s that show her struggling and moving her hands and feet to try and break free. After we finished Selma’s scene we then started to work on finishing my scene but as we were filming I realised that I had pens in my pocket but because we had already done so much filming we just decided to film the whole thing again.
The groups dedication and commitment was really shown as even when it was break time the whole group stayed and carried on working, this motivated me to work harder and do less joking; though during frustrating times I saw it as my job to tell a rubbish joke or do something stupid to try and get everybody to laugh, which could lift the mood and help us get on with our work.
At the end of this lesson I felt very satisfied about the volume of work we had managed to do in one lesson and the fact that we had now closed the gap between our group and the rest of the class.
Thursday 19 February 2009
Monday 16th February - Coming in Half-Term to Edit
My group and other groups made the effort of coming into college on Monday 16th February during the Half-term holiday. We all came in at 9:30am to carry on with our project and hoped to finish the editing of putting and fitting all we wanted together in a two minute thriller.
When I arrived, Ola was the first person from my group in college so me and him got our tape and carried on logging and capturing. A few minutes later, Selma arrived but with her younger sister because she had to look after her while her parents were at work. This meant that she would have to leave early because her younger sister would get bored. Sevin arrived with her relative and informed us that she had to leave at 12 because she had to get ready and set up her birthday party later that day.
Sevin decided that she should finish logging and capturing because she would be the first one to leave. Selma brought the contact lenses in so we could have filmed the finishing part to our thriller but it would take too long to set up everything like how it was set up the previous Monday so we decided to do it next Monday.
When the logging and capturing was over we started to put our sequence together. Whilst doing this we found out that we could not use some shots because they wouldn’t flow well when putting the production together. We had at least three different shots of action being carried out so we had options of which one to use. This did take quite a lot of time because we had a lot of shots to choose from and we all wanted each shot to emphasis or symbolise something.
During this process, it was time for Sevin and Selma to leave and when they went leaving me and Ola to carry on with developing the film. After we had finished the rough sequence we had to use some fades because some shots were not able to flow together and we decided not to film those particular parts again because we would have to go through a long process which we didn’t have time for.
It was looking very good when we had finished our rough copy. I then showed Ola the Live Type software on the computer and which element I wanted to use in our thriller. Once I showed him, he loved it and said that it was great because it has the supernatural feel to it. We agreed to use it but this meant that we had to cut little parts out of our rough copy in order to fit this part in because two minutes is a very short time.
Overall, this period was a very hopeful time as we accomplished what we wanted during this time. The most challenging part of editing is trying to fit everything in the time space available. This meant that we had to cut scenes and shots shorter and ditch some irrelevant parts. This was hard and very frustrating at times but we got through it allowing us to move on to adding sound. Ola then left and I were going to stay a little bit more to start on the soundtrack but my teacher said that there was no point because the session was going to close in 20 minutes.
When I arrived, Ola was the first person from my group in college so me and him got our tape and carried on logging and capturing. A few minutes later, Selma arrived but with her younger sister because she had to look after her while her parents were at work. This meant that she would have to leave early because her younger sister would get bored. Sevin arrived with her relative and informed us that she had to leave at 12 because she had to get ready and set up her birthday party later that day.
Sevin decided that she should finish logging and capturing because she would be the first one to leave. Selma brought the contact lenses in so we could have filmed the finishing part to our thriller but it would take too long to set up everything like how it was set up the previous Monday so we decided to do it next Monday.
When the logging and capturing was over we started to put our sequence together. Whilst doing this we found out that we could not use some shots because they wouldn’t flow well when putting the production together. We had at least three different shots of action being carried out so we had options of which one to use. This did take quite a lot of time because we had a lot of shots to choose from and we all wanted each shot to emphasis or symbolise something.
During this process, it was time for Sevin and Selma to leave and when they went leaving me and Ola to carry on with developing the film. After we had finished the rough sequence we had to use some fades because some shots were not able to flow together and we decided not to film those particular parts again because we would have to go through a long process which we didn’t have time for.
It was looking very good when we had finished our rough copy. I then showed Ola the Live Type software on the computer and which element I wanted to use in our thriller. Once I showed him, he loved it and said that it was great because it has the supernatural feel to it. We agreed to use it but this meant that we had to cut little parts out of our rough copy in order to fit this part in because two minutes is a very short time.
Overall, this period was a very hopeful time as we accomplished what we wanted during this time. The most challenging part of editing is trying to fit everything in the time space available. This meant that we had to cut scenes and shots shorter and ditch some irrelevant parts. This was hard and very frustrating at times but we got through it allowing us to move on to adding sound. Ola then left and I were going to stay a little bit more to start on the soundtrack but my teacher said that there was no point because the session was going to close in 20 minutes.
Thursday 12th Febuary - First Editing Session
We had finished filming and it was now on to the editing. We know editing is very tricky when want something to turn out a particular way but doesn’t. This makes people frustrated as many people realise all the shots they missed out and really needed to flow well. Hopefully this will not affect us as we all wish not to go back to the filming, however if this does happen then at least we will have time to go back and film the missed parts.
Because this was our short lesson we decided to go to editing instead of filming our very last bit of Selma with the alien coloured contacts. We did this because we will not have enough time to buy the contacts and set the room up exactly how it was set up on Monday just to film for 10 minutes. We decided to split the group up so that each of us had a task to do so that we wouldn’t waste anytime. Ola and me, Henok, were going to start the editing by logging and capturing and Selma and Sevin would go out and buy the freaky contact lenses for when we film the scene with them in Selma’s eye.
Logging and capture was a very long and boring process but it gave us the chance to see all the filming we had done and gave us ideas of how we should order it when putting it together. We realised that we had filmed a lot which was a good and bad thing. The good thing is that we had a variety of shots to choose from but the bad thing was that we will find it difficult to fit it in two minutes. Me and Ola took turns of logging and capturing and naming the shots. By going through the shots we named to the shots we were not going to use because we could see the error we made, for example, the viewer would see the person filming shadow making it look very unprofessional. This was good that we realised these minor mistakes so that it will speed up the editing process of putting the film together as we know which shots are not going to make the final cut.
Me and Ola were wondering why it was taking Selma and Sevin so long to buy the contact lenses but when they came back they told us that the place in Angel didn’t have the particular contacts we wanted so they went Finsbury Park to buy them. The colour they brought was violet because none of the places that sell contact lenses sold red ones, which was our first choice.
By the end of the lesson, we had almost finished logging and capturing all of our filming. Our teacher announced to the class that college would be open on Monday of the half-term to all media students. Our group decided that we would be attending so we booked a computer for that day. We have been progressing very quickly recently as everyone is putting the effort in. We are all satisfied with the amount of work we have all done.
Because this was our short lesson we decided to go to editing instead of filming our very last bit of Selma with the alien coloured contacts. We did this because we will not have enough time to buy the contacts and set the room up exactly how it was set up on Monday just to film for 10 minutes. We decided to split the group up so that each of us had a task to do so that we wouldn’t waste anytime. Ola and me, Henok, were going to start the editing by logging and capturing and Selma and Sevin would go out and buy the freaky contact lenses for when we film the scene with them in Selma’s eye.
Logging and capture was a very long and boring process but it gave us the chance to see all the filming we had done and gave us ideas of how we should order it when putting it together. We realised that we had filmed a lot which was a good and bad thing. The good thing is that we had a variety of shots to choose from but the bad thing was that we will find it difficult to fit it in two minutes. Me and Ola took turns of logging and capturing and naming the shots. By going through the shots we named to the shots we were not going to use because we could see the error we made, for example, the viewer would see the person filming shadow making it look very unprofessional. This was good that we realised these minor mistakes so that it will speed up the editing process of putting the film together as we know which shots are not going to make the final cut.
Me and Ola were wondering why it was taking Selma and Sevin so long to buy the contact lenses but when they came back they told us that the place in Angel didn’t have the particular contacts we wanted so they went Finsbury Park to buy them. The colour they brought was violet because none of the places that sell contact lenses sold red ones, which was our first choice.
By the end of the lesson, we had almost finished logging and capturing all of our filming. Our teacher announced to the class that college would be open on Monday of the half-term to all media students. Our group decided that we would be attending so we booked a computer for that day. We have been progressing very quickly recently as everyone is putting the effort in. We are all satisfied with the amount of work we have all done.
Monday 9th February - Last Filming Session
This was a crucial lesson for our group. We had to film all of our indoor filming or at least most of it otherwise our production will not meet the deadline. We wanted to make the most of this session and take as much as we can from it. The first thing we did was setting up the set and made sure the mise en scene illustrated a connection with what our thriller was about. Setting up the room took around 45 minutes as we had to move many things and bring in a lot of equipment. We also committed ourselves to try and get equipment we thought we couldn’t get like the red spot light we used. All these little things added to the quality of how it will look on film.
Rushan, our teacher’s assistant, was available today so he worked with our group because the other entire groups were filming offsite. He watched us prepare and add little comments for us to think about and maybe consider whilst filming. When we started, I took the role of the director and camera man, Sevin took control with the props, make up artist for Selma and costume designer, Selma was the official alien actor with the biggest acting role and Ola was the second actor (the doctor) and all so helped with setting up the set and making sure the lighting was in place. It was also my job to see if certain props were in the right place and that the lighting was good for the film to capture because our first filming session had poor quality lighting when we saw it played back.
There were some let downs when starting this session as we did not have everything we wanted. One example is that we wanted to use the computer screen as a life support machine. We searched on youtube.com if it had a video of the image of the lines of a life support machine. This was not available and we decided not to bother with it because it was time consuming. I believe this would have made our production look better as the communication the life support machine gives the audience is very suspenseful in my opinion but we had to scrap the idea because we couldn’t find it anywhere on the internet, even when we asked our teacher if she knew where we could find it.
The previous lesson we had filmed most of Ola’s appearing scenes because Selma was not ready in terms of costume wise. This meant that we had to get right of to her parts as she is the main character. It was my job to think of all the camera shots we should use so the previous night I thought of some camera shots we should definitely use. Whilst filming, Rushan, Sevin and Ola gave me tips and expressed what they thought I should add. This was helpful as fresh ideas proved to be impactful because of the various camera shot we used. This way we had many different camera shots of one action, which was good because we had a variety to choose from and also had the option to use them as match cuts. The most use of camera shots were the high angle shot, low angle shot, close up or long shot just for one action. This was done for future purposes like when we start editing.
Sevin did a great job in preparing Selma’s individual scenes as she showed her dedication by searching for fake blood in the media department, placing Selma in a certain position to make it look more realistic and somehow got good strong rope from the textiles department. We were happy with Sevin’s preparation very much because it showed her passion for this project and because everyone showed their desire for us to make an outstanding piece of work.
We proceeded with the filming on Selma. This scene showed her tied to a table with rope and her eyes blindfolded. The first shots were various camera shots, but mostly close ups, of her struggling to get out and moving her body to escape free. After this we finally started filming the parts where Ola and Selma are both shown in the same picture. I came up with the opening shot of me holding the camera behind the fan and walking around the fan towards Selma ending up with a horizontal pan of her body whilst she is struggling to escape. After we realised that all our lighting was different from our previous filming session so then decided to film all Ola’s parts again because the old footage wouldn’t look professional with our new footage. Also because Ola had pens in his doctor coat’s pocket and did not have the pens during this session.
One scene what was very difficult was Ola’s scene of him putting on his surgery gloves. We had many outtakes because they did slip into Ola’s hands smoothly. This was frustrating at times because we really wanted to have this shot but was also very humorous at the same time. Eventually he got it right and we then were able to proceed. All the other shots came out well, especially our high angle long shot which wanted to use as a CCTV shot of Selma. These came out better than expected.
We knew time was always going to be an issue so our group stayed in at break to carry on. This pleased me as everyone showed the same amount of dedication towards this project and this proved it. There were no interruptions during our filming allowing us to work faster and our motivation was shown as we had nearly finished all the filming. This resulted in us catching up with all the other groups.
Overall, his was our most successful session and everyone left with a high level of satisfaction because of the incredible amount of work we fitted in during one lesson. We had met the aims of using as many different camera shots which was good as I could recall that Mary, our teacher, said this was crucial in order to gain many marks.
We were all interviewed individually by an A2 student because he was making a documentary about AS thrillers. He sounded very interested in our thriller as he spent most of his time watching us film. he asked us how we thought we were going and what our thriller was about. He only had positive feedback and responses from him and he said that he can’t wait to see ours when we finish our project.
Rushan, our teacher’s assistant, was available today so he worked with our group because the other entire groups were filming offsite. He watched us prepare and add little comments for us to think about and maybe consider whilst filming. When we started, I took the role of the director and camera man, Sevin took control with the props, make up artist for Selma and costume designer, Selma was the official alien actor with the biggest acting role and Ola was the second actor (the doctor) and all so helped with setting up the set and making sure the lighting was in place. It was also my job to see if certain props were in the right place and that the lighting was good for the film to capture because our first filming session had poor quality lighting when we saw it played back.
There were some let downs when starting this session as we did not have everything we wanted. One example is that we wanted to use the computer screen as a life support machine. We searched on youtube.com if it had a video of the image of the lines of a life support machine. This was not available and we decided not to bother with it because it was time consuming. I believe this would have made our production look better as the communication the life support machine gives the audience is very suspenseful in my opinion but we had to scrap the idea because we couldn’t find it anywhere on the internet, even when we asked our teacher if she knew where we could find it.
The previous lesson we had filmed most of Ola’s appearing scenes because Selma was not ready in terms of costume wise. This meant that we had to get right of to her parts as she is the main character. It was my job to think of all the camera shots we should use so the previous night I thought of some camera shots we should definitely use. Whilst filming, Rushan, Sevin and Ola gave me tips and expressed what they thought I should add. This was helpful as fresh ideas proved to be impactful because of the various camera shot we used. This way we had many different camera shots of one action, which was good because we had a variety to choose from and also had the option to use them as match cuts. The most use of camera shots were the high angle shot, low angle shot, close up or long shot just for one action. This was done for future purposes like when we start editing.
Sevin did a great job in preparing Selma’s individual scenes as she showed her dedication by searching for fake blood in the media department, placing Selma in a certain position to make it look more realistic and somehow got good strong rope from the textiles department. We were happy with Sevin’s preparation very much because it showed her passion for this project and because everyone showed their desire for us to make an outstanding piece of work.
We proceeded with the filming on Selma. This scene showed her tied to a table with rope and her eyes blindfolded. The first shots were various camera shots, but mostly close ups, of her struggling to get out and moving her body to escape free. After this we finally started filming the parts where Ola and Selma are both shown in the same picture. I came up with the opening shot of me holding the camera behind the fan and walking around the fan towards Selma ending up with a horizontal pan of her body whilst she is struggling to escape. After we realised that all our lighting was different from our previous filming session so then decided to film all Ola’s parts again because the old footage wouldn’t look professional with our new footage. Also because Ola had pens in his doctor coat’s pocket and did not have the pens during this session.
One scene what was very difficult was Ola’s scene of him putting on his surgery gloves. We had many outtakes because they did slip into Ola’s hands smoothly. This was frustrating at times because we really wanted to have this shot but was also very humorous at the same time. Eventually he got it right and we then were able to proceed. All the other shots came out well, especially our high angle long shot which wanted to use as a CCTV shot of Selma. These came out better than expected.
We knew time was always going to be an issue so our group stayed in at break to carry on. This pleased me as everyone showed the same amount of dedication towards this project and this proved it. There were no interruptions during our filming allowing us to work faster and our motivation was shown as we had nearly finished all the filming. This resulted in us catching up with all the other groups.
Overall, his was our most successful session and everyone left with a high level of satisfaction because of the incredible amount of work we fitted in during one lesson. We had met the aims of using as many different camera shots which was good as I could recall that Mary, our teacher, said this was crucial in order to gain many marks.
We were all interviewed individually by an A2 student because he was making a documentary about AS thrillers. He sounded very interested in our thriller as he spent most of his time watching us film. he asked us how we thought we were going and what our thriller was about. He only had positive feedback and responses from him and he said that he can’t wait to see ours when we finish our project.
Sunday 8 February 2009
Thursday 5th February - King's Cross Filming
We went King’s Cross to film this lesson. We were supposed to do our indoor filming this session but because of the absences of one our group members, Ola, who acts in out thriller, we were not able to. So we decided not to waste time and do our short scene at King’s Cross. On this day the weather conditions of the snow effect we wanted to add was still present as it was only three days after the heavy snow. This meant we could still get the snow effect we wanted but most of it was gone with only some ice patches.
This was our 1 hour and 40 minutes lesson so we had to travel to King’s Cross quickly and film as much as we can and return just before the lesson was over. So we went to get our equipment from the media office and went straight away.
When we got there we realised we only had 30 minutes to film and then make our way back to college. Because there was construction work at the location going on at the time, we asked if we had permission to film inside of the construction site so we could be as near as possible to the gas-o-meter. The construction worker asked his boss but the answer was no. So we had to film on the pavement outside the construction site. We were not happy with decision because we planned to film as close as possible to the gas-o-meter and filming on the pavement will be interrupted many times as many people will be wailing pass the camera making us having to repeat filming the scene.
We couldn’t do anything about it so we had to deal with filming on the pavement. Sevin helped Selma get ready into her costume and make up. Once that was done we started filming. Near the end of our session we looked at we filmed at and discovered that we had not been filming when we were supposed to film and been filming when we didn’t want to like when Sevin was helping Selma get ready. Luckily we discovered this early and were still able to film, only in the short period we had left, what we wanted. We tried to capture as many shots as possible. When we played it back, it was not what we expected but there was not any time left so we had to pack up and go back to college.
Overall, I was pleased that we were able to film that short scene and get it out the way and that we filmed when there was still a little bit of snow left. However I was not so pleased how the outcome of the captured film had come out. Lots of time was wasted because we didn’t realise that we were not actually filming when we thought we was. Hopefully, Ola will recover from his illness so we can film the rest of our indoor filming in college and completely finish the project on time
This was our 1 hour and 40 minutes lesson so we had to travel to King’s Cross quickly and film as much as we can and return just before the lesson was over. So we went to get our equipment from the media office and went straight away.
When we got there we realised we only had 30 minutes to film and then make our way back to college. Because there was construction work at the location going on at the time, we asked if we had permission to film inside of the construction site so we could be as near as possible to the gas-o-meter. The construction worker asked his boss but the answer was no. So we had to film on the pavement outside the construction site. We were not happy with decision because we planned to film as close as possible to the gas-o-meter and filming on the pavement will be interrupted many times as many people will be wailing pass the camera making us having to repeat filming the scene.
We couldn’t do anything about it so we had to deal with filming on the pavement. Sevin helped Selma get ready into her costume and make up. Once that was done we started filming. Near the end of our session we looked at we filmed at and discovered that we had not been filming when we were supposed to film and been filming when we didn’t want to like when Sevin was helping Selma get ready. Luckily we discovered this early and were still able to film, only in the short period we had left, what we wanted. We tried to capture as many shots as possible. When we played it back, it was not what we expected but there was not any time left so we had to pack up and go back to college.
Overall, I was pleased that we were able to film that short scene and get it out the way and that we filmed when there was still a little bit of snow left. However I was not so pleased how the outcome of the captured film had come out. Lots of time was wasted because we didn’t realise that we were not actually filming when we thought we was. Hopefully, Ola will recover from his illness so we can film the rest of our indoor filming in college and completely finish the project on time
Monday 2nd February - Snow Day
The poor weather conditions of this day caused college to be cancelled. This was due to heavy snow down pour. The snow was very deep making it impossible for the transport system to operate in the conditions, as it was very dangerous. This means that it was very difficult for anyone to travel and attend college on this day so college was forced to close. This affected my class the most out of all the other media classes as we had a crucial 3-hour lesson where we could have finished all our filming and then move onto editing by the next 3-hour lesson.
However, if college was open and there was some sort of access, my group could have used the snow as an advantage. I was thinking as we could have filmed our thriller in king’s Cross with the snow making it look even more mysterious causing it to be more suspenseful and that nobody else would have filmed in the snow making more different and unique compared to everyone else. Furthermore, the main point I wanted to film in the snow is to cause a sort of effect of the literature term, pathetic fallacy. This would give the impression of how the weather reflects the mood in the thriller. The snow gives to feeling of isolation and loneliness, and this is what we are trying to portray in our alien character. The clearness of the snow could convey emptiness in the scene as it has no particular colour, it is just clear. All these things could show how snow would have been suitable for this scene and by my group experimenting with the snow; I think it could have made our overall production look that extra little bit better.
It would also mean that the mise en scene would have played a huge role in our thriller. I believe this would have been perfect because it would show that we have thought deeply of why we use the weather in our advantage and make full use of our surroundings to make our thriller look better. When I saw the snow that morning, that was the first thing that came to my mind and if we had the filming equipment I would have filmed in the snow for that particular scene but unfortunately I wouldn’t be able to travel all the way to King’s Cross with no busses or trains in service.
Later that day, I was in contact with one of my group members, Sevin, and I asked her to try to film the red light in the snow with her digital camera to see how it would look on camera. She did this the next day but all the snow had turned into ice and also had all the grit over the floor so this did not turn out how we wanted to see it, in the nice clear white snow. It was too late by this time. This was a missed opportunity. The filmed shot she had taken caused visual pollution on camera so we decided not to use it and delete it.
Overall, missing this vital lesson has delayed our class, especially my group be because we were a little behind in filming. However, our group stayed in contact and we all thought of camera shots we would use for our next lesson so we would not be delayed anymore. We also decided that we would be using more time out of lesson to film in order to catch up because of this crucial lesson being cancelled.
However, if college was open and there was some sort of access, my group could have used the snow as an advantage. I was thinking as we could have filmed our thriller in king’s Cross with the snow making it look even more mysterious causing it to be more suspenseful and that nobody else would have filmed in the snow making more different and unique compared to everyone else. Furthermore, the main point I wanted to film in the snow is to cause a sort of effect of the literature term, pathetic fallacy. This would give the impression of how the weather reflects the mood in the thriller. The snow gives to feeling of isolation and loneliness, and this is what we are trying to portray in our alien character. The clearness of the snow could convey emptiness in the scene as it has no particular colour, it is just clear. All these things could show how snow would have been suitable for this scene and by my group experimenting with the snow; I think it could have made our overall production look that extra little bit better.
It would also mean that the mise en scene would have played a huge role in our thriller. I believe this would have been perfect because it would show that we have thought deeply of why we use the weather in our advantage and make full use of our surroundings to make our thriller look better. When I saw the snow that morning, that was the first thing that came to my mind and if we had the filming equipment I would have filmed in the snow for that particular scene but unfortunately I wouldn’t be able to travel all the way to King’s Cross with no busses or trains in service.
Later that day, I was in contact with one of my group members, Sevin, and I asked her to try to film the red light in the snow with her digital camera to see how it would look on camera. She did this the next day but all the snow had turned into ice and also had all the grit over the floor so this did not turn out how we wanted to see it, in the nice clear white snow. It was too late by this time. This was a missed opportunity. The filmed shot she had taken caused visual pollution on camera so we decided not to use it and delete it.
Overall, missing this vital lesson has delayed our class, especially my group be because we were a little behind in filming. However, our group stayed in contact and we all thought of camera shots we would use for our next lesson so we would not be delayed anymore. We also decided that we would be using more time out of lesson to film in order to catch up because of this crucial lesson being cancelled.
Not able to make it to lesson
For the whole week leading up to Thursday 5th February 2009 i had come down with the flu but was determined to come into college and do my filming for media. After an hour of my first lesson i was unnable to stay in college as my illness worsened, i had to go to hospital; therefore missing media. Later on that day i was informed by Henok that the group had done the filming of the bits that were to take place at King's Cross.
Lesson Cancelled
Due to extreme weather conditions (heavy snowfall) on Monday 2nd February 2009 college was canceled and all lessons were cancelled too. This meant that we had lost a crucial 3 hour media lesson that we could have use for a large amount of filming, infact I think we could have actually finished filming most of our thriller during this 3 hour lesson.
Thursday 5 February 2009
Going back to supernatural
After our ‘not so positive’ previous lesson on Thursday, during our lesson with Mary, we seeked advice from an ex A-Level student called Rushan. Although the rest of the groups in our class had gotten ready and gone out to film the opening sequence of their thriller, we had to put our heads down and decide which thriller we were going to create, as we were very far behind from the other groups in our class.
After a long discussion as a group we decided that we were going to use Ola’s idea to create our thriller. We also explained to Rushan what Ola’s idea was and asked for his opinion on our choice. Again, to our horror he told us that he had heard of this idea before and had even tried the same idea himself and that it hadn’t gone as well as he had expected because it was a very complicated idea. He advised us to think of a new and fresh idea. We also rethought about our other group member, Henok’s idea however, we decided not to use it because his idea was also a little too complicated and could confuse the audience.
To our delight, Rushan came up with a completely fresh and original idea in a couple to minutes, which lifted our hopes very much. Rushan’s idea brought us back to our original idea, which was our idea of creating a supernatural thriller. However before deciding to use Ruhan’s idea to create our own thriller, as a group we decided if we should put this idea into action, as it was and original idea and we couldn’t waste anymore time on creating a new pitch and storyboard, we decided to use Ruhan’s idea. We also used our own ideas to elaborate and develop on his idea. We also used a another location which I had thought of. After listening to Ruhan’s idea and visualising it in my own head, I thought that using a few clips of the ‘supernatural’ character in King’s Cross and suggested that we film some clips around the industrial area where the gasometer is based. And after showing where I was talking about on google, my group decided to use my idea and film a few clips there.
As a result, we had finally thought of an idea for our thriller and plot, and now we had the task of making a list and preparing props we would need when filming and what clothing would be worn and creating a storyboard.
After a long discussion as a group we decided that we were going to use Ola’s idea to create our thriller. We also explained to Rushan what Ola’s idea was and asked for his opinion on our choice. Again, to our horror he told us that he had heard of this idea before and had even tried the same idea himself and that it hadn’t gone as well as he had expected because it was a very complicated idea. He advised us to think of a new and fresh idea. We also rethought about our other group member, Henok’s idea however, we decided not to use it because his idea was also a little too complicated and could confuse the audience.
To our delight, Rushan came up with a completely fresh and original idea in a couple to minutes, which lifted our hopes very much. Rushan’s idea brought us back to our original idea, which was our idea of creating a supernatural thriller. However before deciding to use Ruhan’s idea to create our own thriller, as a group we decided if we should put this idea into action, as it was and original idea and we couldn’t waste anymore time on creating a new pitch and storyboard, we decided to use Ruhan’s idea. We also used our own ideas to elaborate and develop on his idea. We also used a another location which I had thought of. After listening to Ruhan’s idea and visualising it in my own head, I thought that using a few clips of the ‘supernatural’ character in King’s Cross and suggested that we film some clips around the industrial area where the gasometer is based. And after showing where I was talking about on google, my group decided to use my idea and film a few clips there.
As a result, we had finally thought of an idea for our thriller and plot, and now we had the task of making a list and preparing props we would need when filming and what clothing would be worn and creating a storyboard.
Scrapping our thriller
After scrapping our political/supernatural idea for our thriller, as it was too similar to a previous students’ work last year, during Thursday’s lesson with Rebecca, our group had to think of a completely new storyline for our thriller. A few group members had a couple of ideas, we listened to each idea carefully while they explained in detail, we finally decided that we should use supernatural as our theme for our thriller opening and now we were trying to think of new ideas which were not in any way too similar to any other students’ work. After consulting Rebecca and asking her views on our new idea of using the theme of supernatural for our thriller opening. To our horror, she told us that we had chosen the hardest theme to use for our thriller, this slightly brought down our hopes of creating ideas for our thriller, as this was the second time we were scrapping our ideas. We analysed the thrillers we liked from the ones we watched clips of and concluded that the reason why they were so effective was that they were simple but also effective. With Rebecca’s help, we created a brainstorm all together and again decided to go home with the ideas we came up with our help from Rebecca and come up with ideas to suit a simple opening, we needed to develop completely new ideas, and this included creating a new plot and storyboard. We also decided that on our Monday’s lesson with Mary we would have our ideas ready, combining them and creating a new pitch.
Pitch lesson
During our lesson with Mary (Monday 19th January 2009), we had to finalise our ideas, as a group we used this opportunity to create and chose who is going to play which character in the film opening and what roles they had. Ola, a member of our group was giving the role of explaining and convince Mary who had taken on the role of the ‘investor’ of our thriller. He explained and elaborated on the main plot and themes of our thriller, variety of different camera angle shots, movements and use of soundtrack and music. However, while explaining our pitch, as a team we realised that some of our ideas had been challenged and that we hadn’t thought enough about our ideas, this resulted to us to have another group discussion about our pitch. We carefully analysed our pitch and plot and came to a conclusion that our idea was too similar to a previous students’ work which would not get us the grade we were aiming for. Therefore this led us to completely crossing out our political and supernatural idea, we gave ourselves a task of going home and coming up with completely new ideas for our completely new thriller. This made us fall very far behind compared to the rest of the groups in the class, where they knew what they were going to be doing.
Final ideas
During our lesson on Thursday with Rebecca and Laura, we had been set the task of brainstorming our ideas about what our real and final thriller film opening was going to be like and what type of thriller it was going to be. Our first task was to decide on what type of thriller it was going to be e.g. political, sci fi, supernatural. After a group discussed we finalised that we wanted to create a political thriller with a hint of supernatural. Our next task was a lot more challenging than deciding on what type of thriller we were going to create, we now needed to create a plot for our them of a blend of political and supernatural.
Summary of our plot:
A ‘business man’ heading down the stairs/escalator.
‘Business man’ walking through the crowd, we use P.O.V shots at this point and Mid-shots.
We then see him heading unto the DLR and once again, we use P.O.V and Mid-shots.
After this, we cut to the next scene showing the city skyline and Canary Wharf in the distance (this shot is going to be filmed from Greenwich Park).
Throughout all the scenes above, we get constant close up at the suitcase.
The ‘business man’ then gets into a lift and we use match cutting again to show him as he gets off the lift. Finally, the suitcase is left on a set of steps.
Whilst doing all of this we also had to incorporate all of these ideas into our pitch that we are going to present next lesson to Mary. We had designated different tasks put to different group members as everybody in the group had to speak during the pitch. A pitch is when directors go and propose their ideas to publishers e.g. Fox Century or Warner Bros.
Summary of our plot:
A ‘business man’ heading down the stairs/escalator.
‘Business man’ walking through the crowd, we use P.O.V shots at this point and Mid-shots.
We then see him heading unto the DLR and once again, we use P.O.V and Mid-shots.
After this, we cut to the next scene showing the city skyline and Canary Wharf in the distance (this shot is going to be filmed from Greenwich Park).
Throughout all the scenes above, we get constant close up at the suitcase.
The ‘business man’ then gets into a lift and we use match cutting again to show him as he gets off the lift. Finally, the suitcase is left on a set of steps.
Whilst doing all of this we also had to incorporate all of these ideas into our pitch that we are going to present next lesson to Mary. We had designated different tasks put to different group members as everybody in the group had to speak during the pitch. A pitch is when directors go and propose their ideas to publishers e.g. Fox Century or Warner Bros.
Film practice
Our first practice film, as two other of my group members and I were absent from our media lesson due to an exam, our other group member, Ola had his introductory lesson in match cut and this was his second practice. Although we had missed a lesson on our introduction to matc cut, we believe that everything went quite well as Ola gave us feed back on what match cut was; an editing technique that links two pieces of related action, resulting in a single smooth flow imagery. Also, as most of the group members were absent, Ola had to make decisions for our storyline and debriefed us afterwards on what the storyline was.
After this brief introduction, our task was to have a particular person carrying out a task or doing something specific and other group members to film them from differents angles and shots. As a group, we were working very well with each other enthusiastically, and were quickly catching up on the work we had missed out on the previous lesson.
I believe that as a team we made a great job and successfully following the forms and conventions of a real film, not making things too complicated, keeping it simple but effective.
After this brief introduction, our task was to have a particular person carrying out a task or doing something specific and other group members to film them from differents angles and shots. As a group, we were working very well with each other enthusiastically, and were quickly catching up on the work we had missed out on the previous lesson.
I believe that as a team we made a great job and successfully following the forms and conventions of a real film, not making things too complicated, keeping it simple but effective.
Watching clips
In our last media lesson, before we broke up for the Christmas holidays we watched four clips taken from four different films; Collateral, 28 Days Later, What Lies Beneath and The Shining. But before we started to watch these clips, as a class we made a brainstorm about what a thriller is, how they’re identified and also learnt that there are varieties of different thriller e.g. sci fi, supernatural and political thrillers. We were also given a table which we had to fill in while we were watching the clips from each film, there were many sections which we had to fill out which included; lighting, distance, use of camera movement, angle, soundtrack, sound effects, editing, setting, and location of each thriller.
After watching The Shining we categorised it as a supernatural thriller and Collateral as a political thriller.
After watching The Shining we categorised it as a supernatural thriller and Collateral as a political thriller.
The Shining
In today’s lesson (Monday 15th December 2008), to give us an idea of what a successful and suspenseful thriller consists of and how suspense is created, we watched an ‘edge of your seat’ thriller called ‘The Shining’. After watching ‘The Shining’, the answer was clear. The key element to create a successful thriller was; many suspenseful moments.
‘The Shining’ was a great thriller to watch to help us understand how suspense is conveyed, as it was very suspenseful all throughout the film. During the lesson, we had to make notes on the thriller while watching it, but I must say that there were many moments where it was so suspenseful I was so drawn in that I had forgotten to jot down notes.
A way which suspense was created was by keep on showing the ‘haunted’ hotel room number, 217. This was very suspenseful because the audience wanted to know what was behind the door. The main element which adds more tension to the situation is through music/ soundtrack and background noise.
Right from the beginning of the thriller suspense and tension was created by using a birds eye view shot to show the car travelling through the dark hills further in the distance, this was perfect to convey suspense and tension because it connotated isolation and loneliness. Also, to credit this, the use of droning music was a perfect choice of background music to add to the tension and suspense in the opening credit.
‘The Shining’ was a great thriller to watch to help us understand how suspense is conveyed, as it was very suspenseful all throughout the film. During the lesson, we had to make notes on the thriller while watching it, but I must say that there were many moments where it was so suspenseful I was so drawn in that I had forgotten to jot down notes.
A way which suspense was created was by keep on showing the ‘haunted’ hotel room number, 217. This was very suspenseful because the audience wanted to know what was behind the door. The main element which adds more tension to the situation is through music/ soundtrack and background noise.
Right from the beginning of the thriller suspense and tension was created by using a birds eye view shot to show the car travelling through the dark hills further in the distance, this was perfect to convey suspense and tension because it connotated isolation and loneliness. Also, to credit this, the use of droning music was a perfect choice of background music to add to the tension and suspense in the opening credit.
Tuesday 3 February 2009
Thriller Name: Dis-Connected
This title refers to what our thriller is about. It relates to the plot as we are going to film the alien and this device in two different locations. The audience will identify that this sort of device is connected to the alien by, hopefully, the device being the same colour as the alien’s eyes. We are going to do this be trying to get contact red lenses and a red flashlight so that the audience will recognise the connection between the two. However this maybe a problem if we are not able to get a hold of red contact lenses because they are very hard to find and may not be good quality ones as it may not show properly because everyone’s eye’s in my group are dark and we are filming in a dark location. But we will try our best to get the red eyes as we can easily get a red flashlight, like a bike flashlight.
Dis-Connected seemed as the perfect title as we hope show the audience that the alien figure is connected to this light and needs to be reunited. This will make the audience try to figure out why the two need to be connected. may lead them to confusion which is good because we don’t want to give too much away because it will not be thrilling otherwise as this piece of work is only an opening sequence of a thriller. I also believe that the less the audience know, the more thrilling it is as it will keep them on their toes and this is why we decided to do this and use this name.
I insisted in using the hyphen instead on it being all together as it gets across the message of separation. It could also give the sense of loneliness as if the two needed to be connected in order to survive. This title could illustrate many things which I believe is good because, again, the less the audience know, the more thrilling it is.
This image below is off the internet and is an example of how our group is going to display it in our film after all the production is finished. This is not the exact font or image we are going to use, one reason for this is because it doesn’t have the hyphen and that it is from the internet and not our own creation.
Dis-Connected seemed as the perfect title as we hope show the audience that the alien figure is connected to this light and needs to be reunited. This will make the audience try to figure out why the two need to be connected. may lead them to confusion which is good because we don’t want to give too much away because it will not be thrilling otherwise as this piece of work is only an opening sequence of a thriller. I also believe that the less the audience know, the more thrilling it is as it will keep them on their toes and this is why we decided to do this and use this name.
I insisted in using the hyphen instead on it being all together as it gets across the message of separation. It could also give the sense of loneliness as if the two needed to be connected in order to survive. This title could illustrate many things which I believe is good because, again, the less the audience know, the more thrilling it is.
This image below is off the internet and is an example of how our group is going to display it in our film after all the production is finished. This is not the exact font or image we are going to use, one reason for this is because it doesn’t have the hyphen and that it is from the internet and not our own creation.
Choice Of Location : King's Cross
The filming location of kings cross was ideal for our group, as we wanted to a sort of rural weird kind of background. Behind the King’s Cross station is a huge gas-o-meter which we thought was the perfect place to film as it looks very mysterious and many people would not know what this tall looking monument is, including myself and other members in my group when we first saw it. Therefore, this would be a good location as our thriller is supernatural and the sense of loneliness in the area could illustrate the alien figure as alone. We also chose this location because we have easy access to the location as it is about 15 minutes away from our college and also meaning that if we needed to film there again for any reason, it will not be a problem.
We believe no other group will be filming in this location so that we are the only group filming. This would avoid any distraction from other groups and other groups using or copying the same camera shots as us at this location. This will show a different background compared to everyone else as many groups are filming at London Bridge, our turned down choice of location, which would become boring on film because the majority of the year are probably using this location.
We plan to visit and film this location outside of class time so that we can finish our filming as soon as possible as we are a little behind schedule. We decided as a group that on one day that we all have a free period, we will use this time to film in this location instead of using class time where we could just film our indoor filming during class time. We are yet to know where are limits are in the location like how close to the gas-o-meter we are allowed to film because it is believe to be doing some constructional work during this time. Hopefully, the constructional work will not be a problem and that we can use all of the area we need for our filming in this location.
Sunday 1 February 2009
Thriller title name (DIS-CONNECTED)
During Mondays lesson with Mary and Rushav after we got our main plot together I came up with the title... DIS-CONNECTED as the story is about an abnormal person who need to get back to its alien technology mechanism. So i thought to myself as the two things are no longer together they have been disconnected thus leading to the title DIS-CONNECTED. I also used the hyphen to help convey a sense of seperation.
Using King's Cross as a Location
We decided to use King’s Cross as our second filming location as there is still an industrial site behind the station in which we can utilize. This location can easily convey a sense of isolation and this is why this location was perfect. Also to identify this area we are going to use one of the gasometers in the area. Creating a sense of isolation is typical of supernatural thrillers; which is the thriller genre that we are making.
First Filming Session of Thriller (DIS-CONNECTED)
During the lesson on Thursday with Laura our group finally managed to start filming and I am personally pleased with the amount of work, effort and enthusiasm that was going on during Thursdays lesson. In order to start filming we had to wait for everybody in the class to leave the room and do their own filming; as the class was in the Media studies room that we were to use for filming. We decided to start filming the beginning of our thriller as the person that was to be on the table was not yet decided. The first shot is an extreme close up of a door handle with my hand slowly reaching the handle and opening it, the slowness of my movement was done to create extra tension within the audience. We used this as an opportunity to add in a match cut, showing my character entering from the inside. In the room we switched off the main lights and got a single spotlight from the media departments resources. The use of lighting also helps heighten the sense of unease and fear within the audience as they cannot really see the rest of the room. This first scene took us about 30-45minutes to film as we had loads of retakes due to people walking past etc…
The second scene was another match cut showing me still walking in the room towards a brief case. After this there is a close up on the brief case and an over the shoulder shot so my character is obscuring or impeding the audiences vision of what is in the brief case. After this we finally relieve the audience and show them my character slowly putting on rubber gloves, this was also done very slowly to create tension and an extreme close up was used.
Due to us having to move tables and chairs to get the room fit for filming and waiting for the class to leave the room; precious time was lost. Next lesson we are hoping to get past all of these obstacles swiftly and get straight down to filming.
After this filming session I was thinking about different ways to incorporate different camera angles and shots into our thriller and came to a conclusion that we need to use more different shots such as point of view shots, over the shoulder shots, high and low angle shots to convey status between the characters within the scene. Also when we go to do our filming at King’s Cross I think we need to have a pan across the area to establish where we are and a close up or zoom in of a significant area.
Also in order for our thriller to be the best it can possibly be and reach its full potential we have decided to take the filming equipment out during the week when we don’t have a lesson and we are all free, we will use this filming session to tidy up previous shots we have taken and add new shots where possible.
The second scene was another match cut showing me still walking in the room towards a brief case. After this there is a close up on the brief case and an over the shoulder shot so my character is obscuring or impeding the audiences vision of what is in the brief case. After this we finally relieve the audience and show them my character slowly putting on rubber gloves, this was also done very slowly to create tension and an extreme close up was used.
Due to us having to move tables and chairs to get the room fit for filming and waiting for the class to leave the room; precious time was lost. Next lesson we are hoping to get past all of these obstacles swiftly and get straight down to filming.
After this filming session I was thinking about different ways to incorporate different camera angles and shots into our thriller and came to a conclusion that we need to use more different shots such as point of view shots, over the shoulder shots, high and low angle shots to convey status between the characters within the scene. Also when we go to do our filming at King’s Cross I think we need to have a pan across the area to establish where we are and a close up or zoom in of a significant area.
Also in order for our thriller to be the best it can possibly be and reach its full potential we have decided to take the filming equipment out during the week when we don’t have a lesson and we are all free, we will use this filming session to tidy up previous shots we have taken and add new shots where possible.
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