Planning: Preliminary task - Miss Begum

  Preliminary task

 

*Link to my preliminary task*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFvg0tbN6V0

The purpose of preliminary task:

- The purpose of preliminary task was to introduce us on how to operate the camera to give us an opportunity to learn how to operate the tripod effectively. We also looked at different camera angels and sizes to help us practicing our cinematography filming techniques and have the basic understanding of  filming and editing.
- During the preliminary task, the whole group had a go at filming and editing to try out and to nominate the best person at each section to devide up the roles to gain the best marks for ourselves for the final production.

 The scenario:

- Our group decided that the scenario for our preliminary task was to film a short conversation between two people. We filmed two people having a short conversation at the beginning focusing on camera angles and sizes and then we focused on the camera movements whilst filming them walking. We also filmed our scenes in a few different locations and then edited the clips in order to delivered a clear narrative structure.
 

Group roles:

- Through discussion within our group, we have decided to have different people to do different roles.

Ken Nguyen: Camera man / Co-director / Editor
Javel Robinson: Director / Sound Technician / Location Manager / Actor
Abdullah: Producer / Storyboard Manager
Rex: Camera assistant / Sound assistant

Difficulties you encountered whilst filming

- The difficulties we had whilst filming were to ensure that we capture good shots from different angels and camera movements. We had a bit of trouble trying to use the camera and operate the tripod effectively. Filming with the tripod to perform tilt shot and panning was quite difficult when trying to keep track with the characters movements within a scene. To be able to overcome this difficulty, myself as the camera man has been practicing my filming skills from different aspects of the camera and practice to move the camera cleverly and smoothly with the tripod.

Difficulties you encountered whilst editing

- The difficulties we had whilst editing were how to use Final Cut Pro fluently and effectively. This was quite challenging as we were only introduced to editing and haven't had any basic skills and understanding whilst edit. We found it quite challenging to cut the different shots at the right moment and to puts all the scenes together. To be able to overcome this difficulty, myself as the editor has been doing research online on how to use Final Cut Pro fluently and seeks for help from people that experienced this editing program.

What have you leaned ?

- Through filming and editing our preliminary task, I have now learnt how to use the camera and operate the tripod effectively and to able to capture the right shots at the right angles and sizes. And also keeping track with the character's movement with the tripod.

Conclusion

I have identified the purpose of the preliminary task, our group roles, narrative and difficulties we encountered whilst filming and editing. Although I am still a beginner with the equipment that we are using but through preliminary task, I have now gained a better understanding of filming and editing and how to use them effectively. I intend on improving my filming skills by practicing my skills with the camera to capture the right shots at the right sizes and angles. Also improving my editing skills by learning more about Final Cut Pro to use it fluently whilst editing my thriller opening scene.

Planning: Mise En Scene - Miss Begum

  Mise en Scene

The Mise en Scene I plan to use in my thriller:

- Lighting:

Low key lighting will be used throughout our thriller opening and during the scene when the female victim is being attacked. I have chosen to use this because it is conventional to thriller as everything happens at night time. It also helps to builds up a tense atmosphere and create fear towards the audience as it will creates different connotations within the viewers.

- Setting:

 In our thriller opening, the first setting will be outside the street where the female victim is walking home alone. I have chosen to use this as a start-up point for our thriller to builds up slowly as the scenes goes on. As the female victim is walking home alone in the street at night time, this will makes the audience to anticipates that she could be in danger and could be followed.
The main setting will be at home. I have chosen to use this because it is conventional to thriller as it reminds the audience that the safest place can turns to be the most dangerous place where there's no escape. This will helps to creates different connotations towards the audience and to create a fearful atmosphere and builds up tension within the scene.

- Iconography:

The iconography we plan to use in our thriller will be a knife as a weapon which is used to attack the female victim. And the make-up is used to make her wounds/injuries look more real and believable. I have chosen to use this because it is conventional to the thriller genre and helps to creates different connotations and intentions towards the audience.


- Costume:

Our female victim will be wearing a white jumper, light blue jean and a jacket whilst walking home. She will then get change into her pyjamas which is a red jumper and short. I have chosen for her to wear this because the light colour shows that she is innocent and vulnerable which will makes the audience to feel sympathy towards her.
Our antagonist will be wearing a black jean, black hoody and black jacket. I have chosen for him to wear this because the dark colour shows that he is secretive, mysterious and scary which will makes the audience to feel scared towards his character.

- Body Language / Facial expression:

The antagonist will be presented as the evil character, his body language will be tough, strong and threatening. His facial expression will be cold-blooded with no emotions, eyes gazing towards the victim.
The female victim will be presented as an innocent character, her body language will look vulnerable, petite and weak. Her facial expression will be sweet, pretty/girly as a typical white/blonde girl.

Conclusion

- These are the Mise en Scene that I plan to use within my thriller opening. By planning all of this, this would benefit my group to save more time and go through the process of filming quicker which would also helps us to have more time to edit our production. Furthermore this helps us to be more organize in term of knowing our own roles and get our job done properly to a high standard.

Planning: Character Representations - Miss Begum

Character Representations

- Character's representation are how each character is being presented in a film production towards the audience. It is important because having the right actors to play the roles that are suitable based on how they look and their acting skills can create a lot of different meanings and will be based on the audience to judge on the characters. It is also includes different personalities within the characters in a film as the audience will have their own connotations and view points on each of the characters. This will helps the viewers to decide whether he or she is a good character or if they like them or not. 

- Character's representation can be shown through body language, facial expressions, voice tone and appearance that need to be relatable towards the narrative

Female Victim

Character Analysis:

- This is a character from my thriller, she plays the role of the female victim. She is white, attractive and innocent looking which is conventional and stereotypical to the thriller genre. She is not very tall, small, physically weak and looks inferior. Her body language looks relax and comfortable within her own zone and her facial expression looks normal and enjoyable with what she's doing. Furthermore, her clothes is in white colour which portray her as innocent and vulnerable. This will helps the audience to easily identify her as the female victim based on the stereotypical of the female victim, she is also attractive which will persuade the viewers to watch and feel more sympathy towards her character. I have chosen to use her because she is perfect for this role as we imagined our female victim to have her figure and looks like her and is also conventional to the thriller genre as the victim roles are normally for female. It is important because the victims are usually weak and innocent which portray this role more to make the audience feel pitiful towards the character who play this role.

Male Antagonist

Character Analysis:

- This is a character from my thriller, he plays the role of the antagonist. I have chosen to use him because he is perfect for this role due to  his outstanding acting skills and also fits with our imagination of how we wants our antagonist to look like and is conventional to the thriller genre. It is important because this role requires actors who have strong figure and look superior which portray this role more to make the viewers feel frightened towards the character who play this role. He is tall, violent and looks superior which is conventional to the thriller genre. His body language looks mysterious and secretive, his facial expression looks scary and confident which shown that he is ready to kill. This also shown as the iconography that he's holding which is a knife to create fear and builds up tension. Furthermore, his clothes is in dark colour and hooded up to cover his face which makes his character looks more scary and more mysterious and makes the audience wants to find out more about him. This will helps the audience to easily identify him as the evil character as they will be scared towards him and anticipates bad intentions coming from his character.

Steoreotypical gender roles within the thriller genre

- The thriller genre tends to have stereotype for each of their own characters purposely to create different connotations and emotions towards the audience that are attracted to this genre. For instant, the main victim role is mostly play by female, this is because the thriller audience normally don't want to see the female to get discriminate, abuse or attack which is a advantage to this genre as it will make the audience feel more sympathy and pitiful towards this character and leaving them questioning themselves in their minds. On the other hand, the main antagonist role is mostly play by male, this is because male have stronger figure and look more powerful towards the female gender. Having this gender as a villain chasing after the female gender which is the victim makes the antagonist looks superior and creates fear and build up tension towards the audience as they would be curious to see what would happen to the victim and be afraid of the antagonist at the same time.

Conclusion

- These are the character that we wants to have for our original thriller production.

Planning: Production Schedule/Risk Assessment/Location Recce/Release & Consent Agreement/Location Release

Production Schedule

- This is a summary of exactly what is going to happen in our filming schedule. This document should be given to everyone in our filming team and cast so they have all the information they need to know about our thriller production for example date and times.

Risk Assessment

- This is an analysis of our location, and we need to identify what risks might arise and how we would plan to overcome them. This document should be given to everyone in our filming team so they have all the information they need to know about our location and risks.

Location Recce

- This is a summary of the location that we have decided to use for our thriller production. This document should be given to everyone in our filming tam so they all have the information they need to know about our location.

Release & Consent Agreement

- This is a legal document that discusses the terms and agreements for any actors in our thriller production. This document should be given to everyone who will be a part of our cast.

Location Release

- This is a legal document that discusses the terms & agreements for the company/council/people that are allowing us to film in their location. This document should be given to company/council/people to show that they have agreed to the terms and conditions.

Conclusion

- These consent forms above has helped us to gain permissions from those who we needed to starts filming our thriller production.

Planning: Storyboard - Miss Begum

Storyboard

In our groups, we have discussed and created the storyboard for our thriller opening. It contains all the key scenes that we planned to use within our thriller. This storyboard main features are:
- Camera shot
- Location
- Props
- Lighting
- Actor
- Sound
- Editing
- Narrative Description

 These pictures below are evidence of how we wants our thriller to be programmed :

Conclusion

- These images have been taken from the storyboard that we created by each members of our group and we have all agreed to apply this into our thriller. This has been beneficial as it gave us all a vision of how we wants our thriller opening to look like and also helps us to know what to do instead of improvising.This has also helps us to plan which scenes should follow after one another and helps us to select which MES, sound and editing will be used for each scene.

Planning: Cinematography/Sound/Editing - Miss Begum

Cinematography

- Cinematography is one of the most significant features within a movie. It allows the audience to witness the scenes and creates meaning/connotations towards the audience and reflects them in certain ways.

The cinematography I plan to use in my thriller:

- A mid-long shot will be used in the beginning to introduce the female character walking home alone at night time. I have chosen to use this because it allows the audience to see the character from head to toes and to see her surrounding. This is effective and conventional to thriller because it allows the audience to have a first sight of how the female victim looks like and will also allows them to anticipates that she could be in danger.

- A close up shot will be used when she's texting her boyfriend to show the audience some of their conversation and what she's writing. I have chosen to use this because it will make the audience feel suspicious as they don't know much about the character yet. This is conventional to thriller because it makes the audience to have different connotations right from the beginning of the scene.

- A long shot will be used from the back when the female victim enters her house. I have chosen to use this because it allows the audience to see the female character's house. This is conventional to thriller because a lot of thriller film tends to use house as the location, also it shows that she's out of the danger zone for now and will be safer inside her home.

- A zoom camera movement will be used when the female victim in the shower. I have chosen to use this because it shows the character's silhouette. This is conventional to thriller because it recommends that she's comfortable within her own home and also connotates that she's innocent and physically weak.

- A pan camera movement will be used when the female is asleep showing the time in the scene from the clock that's being placed on her table next to her bed. I have chosen to use this to shows the audience the time in the scene. This is conventional to thriller as this would makes the audience to anticipates something bad to happen based on what they see.

- A reaction shot mixed with a bird eyes view shot will be used to show the female victim wakes up from a nightmare. I have chosen to use this because it shows the audience the female victim's reaction and from bird eyes view, it shows that the female victim is inferior. This is conventional to thriller because this will show the audience the character's reaction and to create a cliff-hanger.
- An extreme close up shot will be used when she's looking at her cup. I have chosen to use this because it shows the antagonist in a sly way as his identity is not yet to be revealed to the audience. This is conventional to thriller because it allows the audience to see the antagonist through the reflection of the glass, this will be effective as it will creates fear and builds up tension. Also this will makes the audience to prepare to see something disturbing.
- A point of view shot will be used when she's slowly moving back away from the antagonist to protect herself. I have chosen to use this because it allows the audience to see the female character's viewpoints. This is conventional to thriller because it shows that she's terrified and vulnerable. This will also helps to builds up tension and creates fear towards the audience.
- A reaction shot again will be used when the scene changes back to her bed room with her eyes opening from a nightmare, mixed with a point of view shot when she's looking around to comfort herself from an uneasy dream, it then reveals the antagonist existence within her sight holding a knife gazing at her. I have chosen to use this because it helps to create a cliff-hanger as what the audience just witnessed was only a dream but then when the female victim awakes again from her nightmare, it transformed to be real. This is conventional to thriller because fear and different connotations is being created and act as a cliff-hanger towards the audience.

Sound

- Sound plays an essential part within a movie production. It help creates different connotations, emotions, interpretations and expectations towards the audience.

The sounds that I plan to use in my thriller:

- Non diegetic sound will be used when the female victim open her eyes from the first nightmare, this will sound like a loud banging noise mixed with the sound of the horn quite loud to make it sound more eerie and surprising. I have chosen to use this to build up the tension slowly and creates fear towards the audience as they will be affected by the sound. This is conventional to the thriller genre because it helps to creates different connotations and creates a start of the horrific scenes that's being lined up.
- Non diegetic will be used when the female victim found out that the antagonist is standing behinds her, this will sound almost like an explosion mixed with keyboard's other sound effects. I have chosen to use this to builds up tension and raises up the level of fear towards the audience. This is conventional to thriller because it will put the audience to the edge of their seats.
- Diegetic sound of heavy breathing is being used when the female victim is slowly moving back from the antagonist. I have chosen to use this to shows that she's vulnerable and is frightened. This is conventional to thriller because it allows the audience to feel sympathy towards the female character as they expect to see something bad.
- Non diegetic sound will be used again when the female victim open her eyes from the second nightmare, this will sound like the first non diegetic sound. I have chosen to use this to reminds the audience that this is only a dream and to creates a cliff-hanger. This is conventional to thriller because it puts the audience to the climax as they will be shocked to finds out that the antagonist happens to appear for real.

Editing

- Editing take the most responsibilities and are the most important part during the process of a movie in the making. It helps to put all the scene together to creates a strong narrative to be delivered to the viewers.

The editing that I plan to use in my thriller:

- Fast editing will be used when the female victim is being attacked by the antagonist. I have chosen to use this to make the scene happens in a faster paced to builds up tension and puts the audience to the edge of their seats. This is conventional to thriller because tension and suspense is being created towards the audience as they are witnessing the female victim who's being brutally attacked.

- Straight cut and shot reverse shot will also be used when the antagonist is attacking the female victim. I have chosen to use this to creates a sensational action within this scene and puts the audience to their climax. This is conventional to thriller because it helps to creates different connotations within the audience to questions themselves about why is the antagonist have chosen to attack the female victim.

- Slow editing will be used when the female victim falls to the floor. I have chosen to use this to make a dramatic fall of the female victim. This is conventional to thriller as the audience will feel sympathy towards the female character after being continuously stabbed by the antagonist.
- Fade to black will be used in the end of the opening to reveal the title of the thriller production. I have chosen to have the title slowly appear from the dark which is conventional to the thriller genre and makes the film look more mysterious which leads the audience wanting to see the rest of the movie to find out for themselves.

 Conclusion:

- I have identified all the cinematography, sounds and editing that I planned to use in my thriller.