First ideas for Thriller/horror sequences

Our group had numerous ideas for our thriller opening sequence.

1.) We surrounded our first idea around the concept of clowns. A mother would be leading her eight-year-old son around a park, the boy saw a clown but when he directed his mother’s attention towards the clown, it had disappeared. This would happen in a few different locations, such as in a grocery shop/bus stop/café.  The last scene would be in the boy’s home. The parents would be asleep upstairs, the boy would casually go downstairs for a drink of water and then see the clown staring at him through the window. The clown would then point at the door and the boy would open it. The camera would then follow the boy and the clown up the stairs, about to go into the parent’s bedroom. This would set the narrative for the story, being based around a clown killer.

I suggested to the group that this idea might be too predictable.  I convinced the group that instead of the scene ending at the parents bedroom door, we should show the boy and the clown going into the room, but then only having the boy come out with a bloody knife. This would suggest that the boy subconscious side is killing. The boy believes it to be a clown but the reality is that it is he. This brings a whole new narrative to film. It tells us that the film will continue to be about this boy and his parallel mind.

2.) Our second idea was surrounded around the workings towards the black market. The black market consists of people selling kidneys and other human organs that were taken unwillingly.

The first shot would be of a man in a bath filled with ice cubes. He would wake up in a nervoce frenzy to find a note saying ‘sorry’. The shot would track around to the mans side to find a stitched up cut.  The shot would then turn to the man’s P.O.V (point of view) looking at the cut moving around and then fainting, The next seen is still on the man’s P.O.V of him opening his eyes.  The camera has a hazy view of him looking up at the nurses. The doctor is talking to a federal agent. The dialogue is roughly between the two men discussing how it happened. The federal agent will say something around, ‘Why would he cut out his kidney and then have the moral to call 911?’

3.) Our second idea led us into our final idea. The stealing of organs led us into this sacrificial element. The idea was that there would be a 1000-year-old scarecrow that people deliver human organs in sacrifice to.

The first shot would be the scarecrows P.O.V of a girl in a red cape walking towards him with basket of meat. The shot would switch between this shot and an over the shoulder shot of the girl. The shot would be post edited into sepia at this stage, showing the same sacrifice 100’s of years ago by another person in a red cape, with people holding candles around the scarecrow in a circle, chanting. Changing the shot back to the scarecrows P.O.V, we are establishing a sense of time, with the hooded girl’s clothes and face changing. This implies the length of this scarecrow tradition.

Mood Board

Mood board sl

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Prelim Post Production

 We chose shots that linked fluidly into the sequence. Some shots were too differently angled to use because it would look out of sync if placed together. Logging the shot was my job, we checked all the appropriate shot angles were used and that they fit correctly into sequence. Organising shot, refers back to our story board( which you can find on one of my earlier blogs) . We would chose shots to explain what was happening, for instance, when man A was walking to the door we would do a wide, then a close up on the door handle. on the next scene when we see him walking towards man A, the door slams behind him showing his entry. Character A had the most screen time because he had the privilege of having close ups, showing attention to detail of the character. The shot order came quite easily after organising. We had to remember to stay infront of the 180 degree line. we would switch between the actors in mid shots and over the shoulder shots to show conversation. In one of the shots we had realised we moved the papers on the table, we fixed this by shooting it all without, to save us from a bad continuity error. I edited the beginning making the door creek, when it shuts to allow for pause.

Prelim task Evaluation

We shot our film location in the studios, which worked in a good spacial way for our task, however we had to improvize the sound effect of a door being opened and shut, aswell an exterior location shot since we were not filming in an actual room. This challenged us to work in a manner which we havent before, to create what visibly was not there.
        My active role was to identify which angles we have shot from, making the continuity correct and to make sure all shots were completed. We had to accomplish the exterior location,over the shoulder, close up, extreame close up, (if there was time) wide shot, (for both characters). My story board is shown below.

       We initiated the lighting to have full beem floodlights, which created a bright exposed setting. My thoughts on this lighting, was that it gave a good effect and it gave the notion that it was either a midday shot. However we did have to re-angle a few times because the camera mans figure was shadowed on the scene which made it diegetically invalid. This was important to the scene because we would hense be showing the audience that it isnt a real circumstance. The floodlights were effective because it hightend the drama in our continuity sequence.
        We had to bubble the camera when we were filming our exterior location shot which was outside on the gravel. This was because the ground was uneven and hence would make the camera angle uneven and unprofessional as a shot. A professional shot consists of quality of camera work, having the frame perfectly level unlesss it is intended to not be. We had this scene shot outdoors with natural which, meaning that we did not need to use any other artificial light. The angles for this were over the shoulder to show the direction of where one of the characters was enetering from. We also managed to have time to do a hand held point of view shot, where showed the angle of the character opening the door handle.  We did conform to the 180 degree rule by always watching our camera movements.
        This exercise helped me establish an understanding of angles and to watch the 180 degree line. I am now much more aware and capable of doing this correctly without breaking any rules that categorize the film industry.

Introduction to video camera

We have learned differents techniques to do with the video camera that we will be operating. The more you increase the shutter speed, the blurrier and less sharp something will be, it also gives the effect of freezing movement temoraily. The wider the aperture is the more light is able to come into the shot. White balance is pointed towards a blank white wall to alow the camera to get a solid balance on all the other colours of the spectrum. If you are aiming to focus on a specific object which you are planning to close up on, you need to previously have zoomed in and focused on that object first, then you can zoom back out and film you sequence.
Different types of shot
extreame wide angle shot: is often reffered to as an establishing show. It shows the viewer the setting of the scene, which gives information and insight as to where a character is.
wide shot:   the shubject take sup most of the frame, so you can see their full figure.
Mid shot: seeing the subject from the waist upwards.
over the shoulder shot: Shows primarliy two people having a convosation but only having one in focus and showing a portion of the back of the head of the other character, and keep being focused on the main subject.
close-up: The main feature of what the is being shot, or an ideal expression that the director wants to identify, is being coomed in on.
point of view shot: The angle is spaced from the point of view of where the subject is looking.

Continuity editing is to make the story make sense, and by putting different types of shots together, they lead eyeline well which create rythmn and a nice flow. The rule of thirds enables you to divide up the screen to see you four main hotspots in which your focal point consists. The rule of thirds helps you adjust your composition of where your informatio lyes.

Introduction to photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is a graphic and picture editing tool. It enables the user to alter, manipulate and create images either from existing photos or found images. Different tools create different actions.
The basic tools : The Crop tool enables you to decrease the image down, only leaving the desired information and size. The text tool alows you to type. You can create a gradient, warp, drop shadow to the text, as well as placing an image in the text itself or changing the color. The zoom tool alows you to tempoarily get closer to the image to get more of an attention to detail. The clone tool alows you to gather imformation from around the similar area,suchas different colors and tones, and lets you move it.
By fixing and inhancing photos, you can do a many number different ellements , such as; contrasting, sharpening, touches up spot, wrinkles and scatches. You can darken or lighten pictures with the dodge and burn tool. You can remove a color cast with Auto Color. You can also fix any red eye and create a photo frame.

basic skills camera work and composition

Composition:
Photography brings a visual language that is universal in understanding. We must then understand its vocabulary which consists of shapes, textures, patterns, lines, colours, shade of light to dark and sharp to blurry images. Just as we must learn to arrange words in a coherent order in order to make sense when we write or speak, so too must we put visual elements together in an organized manner if our photographs are to convey their meaning clearly and vividly.
Composition means arrangement: the orderly putting together of parts to make a unified whole; composition through a personal, intuitive act. However, there are basic principles that govern the way visual elements behave and interact when you combine them inside the four borders of a photograph. Once we have sharpened our vision and grasped these basic ideas of principles, then we will have the potential for making our photographs more exciting and effective than ever before.

Rule of thirds

if you have a relitively still image, you should visulize a diagram of the horizontal and vertical lines used to create the game'knots and crosses' . The important ellement of the image should be centerly places. By aligning the subject in this equal way, you are making the image more intense and not sloppy, which makes the composition better.

doc who trailer

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/trailermaker/view/7iaeh4