3rd production meeting

 Today the group got together for the third time, to discuss our project. For the first few minutes of the lesson, we talked about the different things we could include in the story board then we split up to work on different tasks.

Jake worked on the shot list, making sure it went along with the story board that Ryan was drawing. By the time we have another production meeting, we will hopefully all have the shot list on our blogs and the story board will be ready for us to start creating the animatic.

While the guys were discussing those aspects of the film opening, me and Afsana worked on the blog posts. I completed the 3rd production meeting blog post. Afsana done the Location worksheet and made sure all the other blogs required are up to date.

Titles Sequences

Title sequences have a certain order in which they present the information about the movie. Even though there is a certain structure that is commonly used it can sometimes vary.

The structure looks like this:

• Production Company Presents
• Film by ... director
• Main Stars
• Title
• Other major cast members
• Sound, editing, make up, costume, lighting, cinematography
• Producer
• Director

I looked at a few different example of movies:


Se7en

Production meeting 2

Today we have gathered together for our groups, second production meeting. We have all worked on the story board and developing the plot for the opening of the thriller. The main task we have set ourselves, was to have a complete list of the shots to match the story line and the conventions of the thriller.

Introducing the group

The group members:
Afsana Begum
Jake Cook
Beata Rumian
Ryan Sellstrom
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Today in our media lesson, we were told to get into groups with people we want to work with, on the thriller opening video. Me and Jake were going to work together since the first exercise we have done in the AS Media class. Then we decided to get Ryan and Afsana to join our group because I feel like we work well together.

What we are good at:

My strength is the editing which will be my role in the group as well as possibly acting. Afsana is good at acting and she may also be in charge of recording our ideas down. Ryan is good at filming as well as coming up with interesting shots which will be useful to create a succesfull thriller opening. Jake is good at filming and is also good at time managememt, recording information (on a blog etc) and the mise en scene in general.

Initial Plan

We got together as a group of four today, to brainstorm our ideas on the opening of the thriller. We also discussed what kind of roles each of the members will take on, which we chose based on our strengths presented in previous assessments. The group talked about the characters, who would fit what type of character and how would that fit in woth our ideas. 

We had to talk about the different problems we may face with our ideas, like for example where would we get a car from and what place would be the best to film at. Afsana also took down a note of the dofferent shots we have talked about using in our thriller opening. 

When it comes to the dialogue, we are not proffesional actors and so it would be difficult to learn long lines and make it all seem natural. Therefore we focused more on the ideas and the mise en scene, agreeing that we will have as little dialogue as possible.

1st production meeting

First production meeting

Today we had our first production meeting with the group to discuss our ideas for the final task: a thriller opening. We worked together to gather ideas and choose the best one. 

Everyone contributed equally sharing ideas with each other. We had an A3 piece of paper on which Afsana wrote down everything that we have discussed, which can help us pick the best idea later on in the preparation for the filming. 

We looked at different aspects of the opening and I checked back with a list of the conventions of a thriller, to make sure the ideas would work and fit in with the desired effect.

North By North West

                                    

                                                   North by North West 1959

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writer: Ernest Lehman
Main Stars: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason

Storyline
It is film about an ordinary man called Roger Thornhill, who gets mistaken for a man called George Kaplan. Philip Vandamm who is a foreign spy and his henchman Leonard both try to get rid of Roger Thornhill and before Roger has time to make sense of the situation, he is framed for murder. 

Sub-genres
North by Northwest is a thriller but just like many other films, has more than one sub-genre attached to it.

The different sub-genres are: 

• Romance
• Crime Fiction
• Spy
• Adventure
• Action

"A thriller is a villain driven plot, whereby he presents obstacles the hero must overcome"
This is true in north by north west because Roger Thornhill had to overcome various different obstacles that Vandamm throws at him. Roger is a resourceful hero and uses his surroundings to his advantage.

Romance In the film, there is romance shown between Roger Thornhill and Eve Kendall. The women in the film are used as hostages, which has more of an effect on the hero if he has some sort of feelings for the woman, therefore the romance aspect was introduced.

Crime FictionCrime is a part of the film, due to the fact that the hero and the villain both use guns and other weapons. The choice of weapons informs the audience on what type of people the characters are, and that crime is a part of their lifestyle.

SpyIn the movie there are characters that are spies who plot against each other. This is why the film has spy as a sub genre.

AdventureThis film can be considered as an adventure thriller, due to the fact that all of the events in the film take place in different locations and the story progresses following the perspective of Roger Thornhill. 

ActionThis film consists of multiple scenes that contain action events, used to keep the audience entertained and help the story progress.

The crop duster scene

I will examine the crop duster scene from the film and focus on the use of the editing, mise-en-scene and the sound.

Sound - The sound throughout the entirety of the scene is very quiet and kept to minimum. This is because the silence is more effective than music, when the goal is to create tension and build up suspense, due to the audience being more vulnerable to the different suspense building techniques. Nearing the end of the scene background music can be heard which is non diagetic. The music is used to implement the action within the scene. 


Mise en scene -The setting of the scene is very important and it is crucial that it doesn't give away too much information about what may happen. This setting was chosen by Alfred Hitchcock because although it is quite unusual, for a secret meeting of two people to occur in a desert-like area. This makes it slightly harder for the audience to predict what will happen next, since it is taken out of the traditional way those scenes are filmed in thrillers ex.: in a dark alley at midnight. Which is also a perfect time to use red-herrings, which would confuse the audience even more making them more unaware of the direction the film will go next. The crop duster is a suitable prop to use as it sends us a message that the hero is at a disadvantage.

Editing -The editing in this scene starts slow, to show that there is no action happening. This helps to build up suspense and tension, while also creating an aura of mystery. This allows there to be more red-herrings because when something does suddenly happen, the audience will be driven away by a false clue. At the end of the scene there is a shot-reverse-shot of a truck coming towards Roger, the camera switches back and forth and zooms towards Rogers face, so that it looks as if the truck is coming straight at him. Towards the end the editing becomes faster and that helps to make the audience become more engaged with the action.

Camera Shots -The shots in the film are usually medium shots or long shots. The medium shots are used to show Roger, while the long shots are mostly of the crop duster to show the good and the bad. 

Sound Exercise Task 1

I was told to create a video to practice the use of sound techniques we have learnt in a film, so that when we record the final task it comes out the way we want it to. I believe that if we as a group focused more on filming techniques rather than the dialogue, then this would have looked better. We made a lot of mistakes regarding the cinematography and we ran out of time due to technical difficulties with the microphone. Afsana did not quite know how to use it properly and the first time we tried to record the encounter of two friends and the dialogue it came out well, however Afsana was not made aware by Sirhan that the microphone was not switched on during the recording. Since we had to repeat that whole scene it did not quite work out because we tried to do everything within the short time we had.

There was a part in the video at the end where me and Afsana were in the shot of Manjit walking down the stairs which was a technical mistake.

Preliminary Exercise Video and Evaluation

We were told to create a video using all the things we have learnt so far. We completed two other tasks presented to us in hope that we will learn how to effectively manipulate the sound and camera techniques. We were then told to evaluate those videos and figure out what were the mistakes that we made and how we can improve them or what precautions can we take so that our final piece is flawless.

For the other two videos the group I was in consisted of me, Jake, Afsana, Ryan, Manjit and Sirhan. However, I believe we did not work well as a group and the result would not have been as I envisioned it to be. Therefore me and Jake decided to work on the preliminary task by ourself as we have similar visions and work ethics which means the final result will be the way we both wanted it to be.

We spent a over an hour preparing the storyboard and discussing the different camera angles we can include, what would match the story well and preserve the ideas in our minds conveying our point across to the viewers. Once we settled on a short story line, we went out to film what we came up with and recorded each shot from more than one perspective so that when it comes to editing we have lots of material to choose from. Jake was the one doing the filming while I was in charge of the editing. During the editing we have talked about the different ways we could improve the way we organise everything in the final piece. As Jake was recording he made sure to keep the recording baggy, what I mean by this is that he started recording and waited a few seconds before telling me to start acting. This makes it easy to edit later as it ensures that none of the valuable material gets cut off during recording.

Styles of Editing

Styles of Editing

The movement from one shot to the next is called a transition.

In this post i will talk about the following transitions:

• Straight cut
• Dissolves
• Fades
• Wipes
• Jump Cut
• Graphic Match
• Eye-line Match
• Match on Action

Another thing I will mention in this post is the 180° rule as it is an important factor to consider while filming or editing.

Straight cut
Most common and an invisible form of transition, one shot moves instantly to the next without catching the audiences attention. The straight cuts help retain reality and do not break the viewers suspension of disbelief.

DissolvesIt fades one shot off the screen while another shot fades in. At the mid point of the dissolve you are able to see both shots on screen overlapping. It can help show a connection between two characters or places

FadesFade is when there is a gradual darkening or lightening of an image or scene, up until the screen becomes black (darkening) or white (lightening). One shot will fade until only a black or white screen can be seen. This transition can be used to indicate the end of a particular section of time within the narrative. It can also show the passing of time.  

WipesWipe is when one image is pushed off the screen by another. The images can be pushed left or right, although it is more common for the image to be pushed from the left hand side, as this movement is more consistent representing the time moving forward. It can be used to signal a movement between different locations that have events happening at the same time.

Jump CutA jump cut is where the audiences attention is redirected to focus on something very abruptly. It occurs by breaking the continuity of editing. This is also known as discontinuity. It appears as if a piece of the original sequence has been removed and it seems as if there is a few second jump.

Graphic MatchA graphic match is when the film maker can choose to place shots in a certain order 

Media Theorists

Media Theorists

There are many different theories about construction of the media, the three main ones that are narrative theories are: Todorov's theory "Todorov's Narrative Theory", Barthes theory "Enigma Code Theory" and Levi's theory "Strauss Binary Opposites Theory" These are the three theories that i will be focusing on in this blog post.

Barthes: Enigma Code theory

The enigma code theory consists of 5 different codes:

• The Hermeneutic Code (HER)
• The Enigma/ Proairetic Code (ACT)
• The Symbolic Code (SYM)
• The Cultural Code (REF)
• The Semantic Code (SEM)

The Hermeneutic Code (HER) is the way the story avoids being honest and instead of being straight forward rather drops clues to hint at the truth throughout the movie to create more mystery.

The Enigma/ Proairetic Code (ACT) is the way the tension is built up making the audience guessing what will happen next
 
The Symbolic Code (SYM)  
 is similar to the semantic code, but at a deeper level. This code organizes meanings into deeper and broader groups of meanings. 

The Cultural Code (REF) 
looks at the audiences wider cultural knowledge, morality and ideology

The Semantic Code (SEM) is what points to any element in a text that is ambiguous. This allows people to have different ideas about how the story will go.

Levi Strauss: Binary oppositesStrauss believed that when we think of something our brains also think of the opposite. These two things were called binary opposites. Most of the films consist of a positive (good) guy fighting the negative (bad) person, or the hero trying to ruin the bad plans of the villain. Any characters who are opposite can be called binary opposites. 

A few examples of binary opposites in films could be:

Harry Potter and Voldemort (Harry potter)
Frodo Baggins and Sauron (Lord Of The Rings)
Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader (Original Star Wars)
Gandalf and Saruman (Lord Of The Rings)

Todorov's Narrative Theory 1969

Todorov believed that all films follow the same narrative pattern, through 5 different stages.

Stage 1: A state of equilibrium

In this stage everything is as it should be. We are shown what the life of the characters was like before anything happened. Their day to day lifes usually free of problems and happy.

Stage 2: A disruption of that order by an event

In this stage the peace that we see in stage 1 is disrupted by something. There is more action introduced into the film and we are exposed to the problems that occur due to an event.

Stage 3: A recognition that the disorder has occured

In this stage the characters are made aware that the disruption happened and are forced to face the consequences of the event.

Stage 4: An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption

In this stage the main character attempts to confront whatever consequences he is being faced with caused by the disruption. He/she has to overcome the things that try to stop him/her from achieving the equilibrium once again.

Stage 5: A return or restoration of a new equilibrium

In this stage while we are in fact back to an equilibrium state and things go back to being fine, nothing is the same as it was in stage 1. There is always something different about the new found peace.


The male gaze theory 

This theory states that we see the movie through the eyes of a man. What I mean by this is that we see the women viewed as objects of male erotic desire. When we are presented with a woman, the camera follows the gaze of the man to reveal the attributes of her figure.

While most feminists are opposed to the cinema portraying women in this way and objectifying them, I don't see a big problem with it as it brings the majority of the audience what they want to see and more of men are likely to watch it. This is the point of the industry, you want to get as many people to watch the film.

The men are presented as more active and are usually the heroes while the women are more passive and are there to accompany the hero while he is on a mission. The audience is forced to identify with the male gaze, since this is the way the movie was recorded and we cant see it in any other way.

The cinema reflects the patriarchal society that we live in today. The films are filled with symbolism linked to phallocentrism. Phallous is a symbol of male power.

The Conventions Of a Thriller

                          The Conventions Of a Thriller

Thriller - Thrills - Fearful excitement

Thriller is a broad genre. Thrillers are fast pacing and there is frequent action.
There is always a hero and a villain but unlike in mystery a thriller is a villain driven plot and we know who the villain is from the start. The villain and the hero are binary opposites. The hero is always resourceful and he/she has to thwart the plans of more powerful and usually better equipped villain.

Thrillers use different devices to create an effect on the audience, such as: suspense, red herrings, cliff hangers etc.

Danger and violent confrontations are standard plot elements of a thriller.

 The climax of a mystery is when the mystery is solved, a thriller climaxes when the hero finally defeats the villain, saving his own life and often the lives of others.

Sub Genre 
Thriller is a flexible genre  that includes various sometimes overlapping sub genres. They can vary from each other while still keeping the main structure.


                                  Action thriller: ex. The Bourne Ultimatum


This is an action thriller film because there is a lot of action involved while Bourne is being searched by CIA, due to the deputy director thinking Jason Bourne can still be dangerous to them and should be eliminated. There is lots of fast paced scenes of action that have fast editing in place to keep the audiences attention. This makes it an action thriller.

                                   Political thriller: ex. V for Vendetta

                                 
This is a political thriller film as the story is based on the Guy Fawkes story that is remembered on the 5th of november as bonfire night. V tries to overcome the government with the help of a girl, he fights for the freedom using terroristic tactics to fight the oppressive society.








                                           Crime thriller: ex. Breaking Bad

 
Breaking Bad is a series not a film, but it fits the thriller genre and it is on of my favourite shows of all time so i wanted to include it. It fits the crime thriller sub genre because the main story is that Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, cook and sell meth which is illegal. They work with criminals that distribute their product so that they can get as much money as possible from manufacturing meth-amphetamine.






                             
                                   Drama thriller:ex. The Silence Of The Lambs

                             
This is a drama thriller film because there are lots of dramatic scenes included and the plot of the movie is based around a psychopathic killer, who skins his victims. This means there are a lot of drastic and dramatic scenes.










                                   Medical thriller: ex Pathology


This is a medical thriller film because the action takes place in some sort of a hospital and the general plot is that a medical school graduate arrives at a pathology program, where he meets people that let him into their group. Later on he meets a doctor who shows him a secluded part of the hospital where they try to find a way to commit the perfect murder.

Techniques

Thrillers use various techniques. Some examples are:

• Red Herrings - These are used to to confuse the audience, so that they are more likely to question what they see. Also red herrings help create a more effective plot twist
• Suspense - The suspense is used through out the thriller film and is an important component that created the thrill. It is usually created by building up to action and using various things to slightly confuse the audience so they are less likely to figure out how it will end.
• Cliff Hangers - Sometimes at the end of a scene we are presented with an unresolved action that takes place. This is a technique used to keep people watching, since we are intrigued to find the answers to our questions regarding what has happened. 

Genre

                                          Genre

"Genre - a style or category of art, music, or literature."

There are various movie genres, directed at different types of people. The genres help people get an insight into what the movie may be about and it is important for the directors and the media to know what type of movies people enjoy watching because they can use that information to gain money from production of movies that suit the bigger audience.

Examples of genres :

Thriller - a genre for people who enjoy fearful excitement an example of a thriller would be the movie: North by Northwest by Alfred Hitchcock

Horror - a genre for people who enjoy being scared and feeling uneasy an example of a horror would be the movie The Exorcist directed by William Friedkin

Romantic Comedy - a genre usually for women who enjoy watching funny romantic relations between the main characters. An example of a romantic comedy would be the movie The Devil Wears Prada directed by David Frankel


Fiction/Fantasy - a genre for people who enjoy being distracted and taken away into a different world where anything can happen. An example of a fiction/fantasy would be the trillogy Lord Of The Rings directed by Peter Jackson

Cinematography Exercise task 1

The video can be found here: http://sirhanali.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/cinematography-exercise-task-1.html  this is a blog post of one of my group members, we had technical difficulties that prevented us from being able to share the video on our blogs. Apologies for any inconvenience.


    The task was to create a short sequence demonstrating different camera techniques. In our group we decided to try and create a story line to go with the project. We started off by filming a short sequence, as a practice for the real assessed piece of filming. We did this to perfect our technique of filming and editing, to ensure that we avoid making mistakes in the final recording of our opening to a thriller. The camera shots we had to include in our cinematography exercise were not all present in the piece we produced however the ones we did include were the long shot, close up, over the shoulder shot, low angle shot and a pan with a point of view shot. The reasons for not including all the extreme close up, rolling shot, tilt and high angle shots, were that me and Jake both joined the media class a few lessons later than others and therefore when we joined this group we had to start over with the filming which caused us to have less time. We were also not quite clear on what we were doing and we didn't really have a story prepared before starting of filming.

At the end of the sequence, Jake decided that we should include a low angle shot of the stalker coming out from a corner of the building. They told me to come out and appear as if I was following the girl. The shot was meant to show that I was a powerful and intimidating character. In the shot that we included in the final video, I walked out from behind the building then moved back as if cautious not to be seen by my victim. On one hand it came out as it was meant to and conveyed our point clearly but on the other hand, from a technical perspective the shot was not recorded like I would have wanted it to be, it should have been more adjusted and steady.

We did a close up of the girls face to show the uncertainty on her face and the tension she feels due to her suspicions that she is being followed. We used the point of view and over the shoulder shots to reveal where she is headed and how she sees the area from her perspective. The point of view shot did not come out well, as Manjit was not cooperating with the rest of the group and was being distracted by her phone therefore she didn't quite follow Jakes instructions rushing to get the shot done. However, over the shoulder shot came out good because we were able to do it with no issues. Most of the shots did not come out the way we desired due to miscommunication of the group, lack of expertise and since this was the first time filming for some of us. In my opinion we do not work out well as a group, therefore for the final piece the members will change.

I am aware that the acting was not the main focus of the task, however I must say we did a terrible job in that field. This is especially visible on the close up of the girls face. Overall, I believe that we have failed to accomplish a piece of work that was high standard and if it was up to me I would have asked for more time to finish recording. The place in which we recorded was also quite unsafe because it was a car park and the cars come from around the corner, which means they do not see us until they get close enough for it to be dangerous. Next time we record we need to plan out the story before hand and figure out which shots match well with the desired effect. Another issue we were faced with was lack of material while editing, this is because we only recorded strictly what we needed for the story and didn't include a variety of different shots of the same action so we had no choice as to what fit in the final edit.

The Brief

The Brief 

I have been asked to produce the titles and opening sequence of a new fiction film in the thriller genre

The sequence should last a maximum of two minutes.

I may choose to work in a group of 2-4 people  

As acting is not assessed i am free to use actors that are not members of my group.

The film is worth 60% of my coursework grade.

The accompanying blog is worth 40% of my coursework grade

Together the Foundation Portfolio is worth 50% of the overall AS Level. 

Welcome To My Blog!

 Welcome!

My name is Beata Rumian and this is my blog,
I will be using this blog for my AS Media course.
I hope to post evaluations of the work that I create during my course, all the research i do and the details of  my work.
One of my favourite movies is the Lord Of The Rings, My favourite genre is Horror but i also enjoy watching romantic comedy's