Filming 1

We started our filming on thursday. We got four shots of our main character running along a street and down an alley, but we didn't check what we had filmed afterwards. In our lesson, on friday, we noticed that there was something wrong with every shot. So on friday night we went out and filmed those shots again and did a lot more of our opening sequence. We have also checked these shots to make sure they are good and ready to be edited in our next lesson.

Matt and Hannah

Storyboard

Matt and Hannah

Feedback 26/3/09

A very good prelim task Matt and Hannah! Well done!
Now you need to keep blogging on your progress.
Scan and upload your storyboard and discuss what is happening in them and your plans for filming.
Miss McNulty

The USP

From research, we noticed that there isn't many teen thriller films, so that will be our selling point. In one way it will be similar to the average thriller, but it will be different as it is a teen thriller where the protagonist is a teenager. This will attract a teen audience, the biggest age range at the cinema.

Matt and Hannah

The godfather opening analysis

I found it difficult to find a teen thriller clip so I decided to use a crime thriller movie clip instead, to talk about the effective use fo film language.

The use of low key lighting on the mans face creates a mysterious sense for the audience as his features look abstract. a typical generic convention of the thriller genre. This lighting also blacks out the background causing the audience to question where he is, an enigma from an opening sequence used to keep the audience hooked.

There is no music or any sound (diegetic or non diegetic) other than the man talking. The background silence is typical of a thriller, as all is silent before something happens. The man seems to be telling a story and it helps the audience to listen to him and understand what he is saying. This also creates an enigma because the audience are not sure exactly what he's talking about.

As the shot slowly zooms out, it reveals another character, closer to the camera and in silouette. This creates a mysterious sense again as the character is enigmatic because the audience cannot see him properly. This is a typical convention of the thriller genre.

Even though this is a slightly different kind of thriller film to ours, it definitely uses the rules of an opening sequence, such as enigmas and characterisation and genre. These are the rules that our film will follow in order to keep our audience watching. This clip also uses typical generic conventions of the thriller genre, ones in which we will also be using in our film, such as low key lighting.

Hannah

Preliminary task - Room 215

                                                    

• We did the video preliminary task (as you can see above).
  
• Hannah was the cinematographer and Matt acted in it along with Daniel Hodgson.
• The success arose from the conversion of dialogue between the two protagonists. We will be using this technique of point of view shot again, as it is an effective use of film language.
• The low angled shot of Matt's feet, was rather difficult to accomplish. The reason for this is that it was hard for hannah (the cinematographer) to move and keep low.
• We have consolidated our knowledge of camera control and editing skills. An example of this is that we have learned how to connect the camera to the computer and upload the video, successfully. This meant that the editing process was achievable with ease. Along side this we have also learned how to do continuity editing in order to achieve flow within our film allowing the audience to be drawn into the diegesis.

Matt and Hannah

Feedback 12/3/09

A good start Matt and Hannah!
Just some additions needed - what is your USP? How will your film stand out? (Same but different?)
You could also look and analyse some good opening sequences to look at the conventions/rules of opening sequences and whether they follow them or not e.g. use of enigmas, equilibrium - disruption etc...
Miss McNulty

Teen Thriller questionnaire

In order find out if we have given our film the correct age certificate, we created a questionair on teen thrillers. We asked 8 people.

Q1 - Have you seen any of the following teen thrillers: Donnie Darko, Wolf Creek, Eden Lake, Urban Legend?
A - 7/8 said yes.

Q2 - What do you like about the teen thriller genre?
A - 4 people said they are exciting, 2 people said they are interesting, 1 person said they are scary, 1 person said they are funny.

Q3 - Would you go to the cinema to see a film of this genre?
A - 8/8 said yes.

Q4 - On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being a lot and 5 being I hate it) what would you rate the teen thriller genre?
A - 2 people said 3, 2 people said 5, 3 people said 4, 1 person said 0.

Q5 - Do you own any of the above films?
A - 5/8 said yes.

Hannah and Mat

Further research - 'The Joker'

The protagonist in our film is a teenage boy, who has realised that no rule can hold him back from doing whatever he wants to do. After doing some research, I came across the character 'the joker' from 'the dark knight'. I realised that the joker is very much like my protagonist, not in the visual aspect, but from the way that he thinks about the world around him. As you see from the film 'the dark knight', the joker isn't in it for the money, as he burns his half. Instead he creates chaos, simply, just because he can. He does it because he's realised that he can do anything, and that rules are just on paper and can't stop him. The protagonist, in the opening sequence to our film, will reveal his 'joker' side through the use of film language.

Hannah

I'm Not There

This isn't a teen thriller, but I like the style. Specifically, the part where the characters are looking straight at the camera with the white background. This point of view shot gives the film a documentary feel to it, making the audience feel like they are learning something. I would like to use the black and white editing in an interrogation scene in our film. This idea, of the documentary feel, we will achieve in our film. The audience will feel like they are learning about the character being interrogated.

Hannah

This is an example of a teen thriller. The clip contains conventions of the teen thriller genre, for example:

• A Darkened secluded area.
• A protagonist of teenage years.
• The clip also creates enigmas as you are wondering why he is there.
• The non-diegetic music would have been popular with teenagers of the time period.

These are the types of codes and conventions that we will need to consider for our film.

Matt 

Ideas for Project

We have chosen as our project an opening sequence rather than a music magazine. The genre of our film will be a teen thriller. our target audience will be the age range 16 - 24, we are planning for the film to be the certificate 15. The unique selling point of our film is the fact that the genre is not a popular one. 

The research we hope to do is look at the opening sequences from other teen thriller or similar films. Also look at unique styles of film. 

Matt and Hannah.