Tuesday 26 October 2010
Monday 25 October 2010
What is a Thriller/Horror?
Thriller/Horror is a genre that follow certain codes and conventions in order create a frightened/scared reaction from an audience. Suspence, tension, and excitement are the main elements in Thrillers. A genuine, standalone thriller is a film that provide thrills and keeps the audience cliff-hanging at the "edge of their seats" as the plot builds towards a climax. The tension usually arises when the characters are placed in a menacing situation, a mystery, or a trap from which escaping seems impossible. Life is threatened, usually because the principal character is unsuspectingly or unknowingly involved in a dangerous or potentially deadly situation. The victim of the danger is usually made to look vulnerable so the audience therefore sympathise.
There are many sub genres to Thrillers such as mystery thriller, crime thriller and psychological thriller.
The Thriller convetions used are:
There are many sub genres to Thrillers such as mystery thriller, crime thriller and psychological thriller.
The Thriller convetions used are:
- Twists to the end of a film
- Mystery elements (enigma codes)
- Tension/suspense
- Eerines/creepiness
- Darkness/ Flawed Heroes / Violence
- Complex Characters (in depth)
- Moral Ambiguity.
Wednesday 20 October 2010
Preliminary Task post-production
First we had to acccess our footage in the Final Cut Server.
Then we tried to use Continuity editing.
Continuity Editing
Continuity editing is the most commonly used stlye of editing in the media world. This is editing that moves from each shot smoothly and makes sense to the audience. So if someone is moving then continuity editing would make that person move smoothly from two different shots. There is temporal continuity and spatial continuity each type involves different techniques that either promote or work against a sense of continuity.
Logging our shots
First we set up a log bin by clicking on File, New File and name is Log Bin. We then dragged our shots we wanted to use from the Rushes to the Log Bin. Then we watched all our shots and talked in our group about what shots to keep and reject. There were quite a lot of shots that we had to reject as our actors had mucked up their lines or something went wrong.
Oganising Shots
This caused our group great stress as we couldn't really decide what to use. We dicided to give priority to our actress Libby as she is the victim in the film and we want the audience to be on her side. To capture the anxiety and nervousness of the film we started by showing close ups of hands shaking, feet tapping and eyes darting. We used shots looking down on Libby to make appear as the victim and shots looking up at Ellie to make her appear menicing and scary. Then a wide shot to establish the scene.
Shot Order
We put into order the victims's story. So the majority of the shots were on the victim , while the minority were on the attacker. We set the shots in order to display the story to make sence, using shots that made libby look like the victim and Ellie as the "bad guy".
Editing in Final Cut
From the chosen scenes we thought that could have been of best use, we edited them to cut out the unwanted things, which might have been that an action we directed the actors to do was prolonged in order to choose the best bits and cut them our for later use. We also had to cut out the call for "Standby" and "action" which was a dilema at first but in the end, was finally dealt with.
Then we tried to use Continuity editing.
Continuity Editing
Continuity editing is the most commonly used stlye of editing in the media world. This is editing that moves from each shot smoothly and makes sense to the audience. So if someone is moving then continuity editing would make that person move smoothly from two different shots. There is temporal continuity and spatial continuity each type involves different techniques that either promote or work against a sense of continuity.
Logging our shots
First we set up a log bin by clicking on File, New File and name is Log Bin. We then dragged our shots we wanted to use from the Rushes to the Log Bin. Then we watched all our shots and talked in our group about what shots to keep and reject. There were quite a lot of shots that we had to reject as our actors had mucked up their lines or something went wrong.
Oganising Shots
This caused our group great stress as we couldn't really decide what to use. We dicided to give priority to our actress Libby as she is the victim in the film and we want the audience to be on her side. To capture the anxiety and nervousness of the film we started by showing close ups of hands shaking, feet tapping and eyes darting. We used shots looking down on Libby to make appear as the victim and shots looking up at Ellie to make her appear menicing and scary. Then a wide shot to establish the scene.
Shot Order
We put into order the victims's story. So the majority of the shots were on the victim , while the minority were on the attacker. We set the shots in order to display the story to make sence, using shots that made libby look like the victim and Ellie as the "bad guy".
Editing in Final Cut
From the chosen scenes we thought that could have been of best use, we edited them to cut out the unwanted things, which might have been that an action we directed the actors to do was prolonged in order to choose the best bits and cut them our for later use. We also had to cut out the call for "Standby" and "action" which was a dilema at first but in the end, was finally dealt with.
Tuesday 12 October 2010
Prelim Account of Shoot Day
We shot the scene in a spare classroom with our actresses Ellie and Libby wearing their own clothes. Blonde lighting was set up to help create the atmosphere, this meant that we had to check the white balance on our camera, we did this by putting a piece of paper in front of it and then adjusting the camera settings until the lighting looked normal.
The calssroom was a good location as it had lots of available props for us to use such as desks, chairs and books.
We started out with a Wide establishing shot to set the scene. The recorded the sound of them walking in and out the doors. We then raised the level of the tripod so that Ellie was looking down on Libby making her appear weak and vulnerable, we then did the opposite for Ellie by loweering the tripod so that the camera was looking up at Ellie. This made her appear ominous and threatening. we also did close ups of libby's eyes moving left and right appearing nervous and anxious. we then did over the shoulder shots aswell.
We also changed the location shooting Ellie walking in and out of the classroom from outside. All together we took lots of different various shots which will give us lots of different options when editing.
When filming, we had to continuously be aware of the 180 degree rule because if we broke it than it would mean that the person whom I am filming at that time, would suddenly appear in a different position than they were before and this could confuse the audience.
Overall i thought the preliminary task went really well and was a really good learning experience for us all.
The calssroom was a good location as it had lots of available props for us to use such as desks, chairs and books.
We started out with a Wide establishing shot to set the scene. The recorded the sound of them walking in and out the doors. We then raised the level of the tripod so that Ellie was looking down on Libby making her appear weak and vulnerable, we then did the opposite for Ellie by loweering the tripod so that the camera was looking up at Ellie. This made her appear ominous and threatening. we also did close ups of libby's eyes moving left and right appearing nervous and anxious. we then did over the shoulder shots aswell.
We also changed the location shooting Ellie walking in and out of the classroom from outside. All together we took lots of different various shots which will give us lots of different options when editing.
When filming, we had to continuously be aware of the 180 degree rule because if we broke it than it would mean that the person whom I am filming at that time, would suddenly appear in a different position than they were before and this could confuse the audience.
Overall i thought the preliminary task went really well and was a really good learning experience for us all.
Monday 11 October 2010
Video Camera lessons
recently we had some video camera lessons where we learned about camera shots and how to operate the equipment.
Camera settings:
Date/Time imprint - This will appear on your screen as the time and date of your shooting, and it cannot be removed. First is the hours, then the minuets and then the seconds. And last bit of the time code is the frames. the maximum frames is 25 and then it will restart at zero.
White Balance - This is a button located on the side of the camera and helps the camera adjust to the light in the enviorment it is shot in. It's best to focus on a white surface when adjusting the light so the colour is clearer.
Zoom - There is a zoom control on the side of the camera that allows you to zoom in and out on objects.
If you want an object to be in focus far away, simply zoom in on it so it can focus and then zoom out.
Focus: there is a focus control on the camera that allows you to keep the object in your view finder sharp and clear. You can focus automatically or manually. Whilst in auto-focus the camera will automatically focus on what is in the view finder. But doing it manually allows you to focus on whatever you want according to your prefference.
Tripod - When using a camera you can use a tripod in order to keep the camera still, the shot smooth and the continuity much better. To set up the Tripod you must unhook the three legs so that they are at the right level. Then slide the camera into place on top of the tripod and secure it. To make sure it is level with the groud make sure the bubble is directly in the middle of the circle. This is called Bubbling. There is also a panning handle that allows you to pan across a scene smoothly.
Handheld - Or you can just hold the camera, for a dramatic effect. If you want the camera work to be jerky and move. This also allows you to shoot from more interesting angles rather than using a tripod.
Using the Camera:
There are many different camera shots that you can use for different effects such as...
Extreme wide shot - Often used as an establishing shot, where the subject is so far away it's hardly visable.
Very wide shot - A bit closer than EW shot but still far away
Wide shot - Even closer than VW shot where subject take up the whole frame
Mid shot - Where the only half of the subject is shown and even closer.
Medium close up - even closer Mid shot, usually head and shoulders of the subject
Close up - Just the face of subject shown
Extreme Close up - Only a feature on the subject is shown, such as the eye or mouth
Cut away shot - a shot of something other than the subject
Over the shoulder shot - where the camera is positioned over someones shoulder usually while two people are having a conversation.
Two shot - a comfortable shot of two people
Industry Termonology:
My personal experience:
I really enjoyed using the video camera, although i am more comfortaable using the still camera as i love being able to capture just a moment.
Althought the video camera has the ability to tell a story more than a still camera, which allows the camera man to be more creative.
I feel i can operate the video camera to an acceptable ability, but my talents really lie with the still camera.
Camera settings:
Date/Time imprint - This will appear on your screen as the time and date of your shooting, and it cannot be removed. First is the hours, then the minuets and then the seconds. And last bit of the time code is the frames. the maximum frames is 25 and then it will restart at zero.
White Balance - This is a button located on the side of the camera and helps the camera adjust to the light in the enviorment it is shot in. It's best to focus on a white surface when adjusting the light so the colour is clearer.
Zoom - There is a zoom control on the side of the camera that allows you to zoom in and out on objects.
If you want an object to be in focus far away, simply zoom in on it so it can focus and then zoom out.
Focus: there is a focus control on the camera that allows you to keep the object in your view finder sharp and clear. You can focus automatically or manually. Whilst in auto-focus the camera will automatically focus on what is in the view finder. But doing it manually allows you to focus on whatever you want according to your prefference.
Tripod - When using a camera you can use a tripod in order to keep the camera still, the shot smooth and the continuity much better. To set up the Tripod you must unhook the three legs so that they are at the right level. Then slide the camera into place on top of the tripod and secure it. To make sure it is level with the groud make sure the bubble is directly in the middle of the circle. This is called Bubbling. There is also a panning handle that allows you to pan across a scene smoothly.
Handheld - Or you can just hold the camera, for a dramatic effect. If you want the camera work to be jerky and move. This also allows you to shoot from more interesting angles rather than using a tripod.
Using the Camera:
There are many different camera shots that you can use for different effects such as...
Extreme wide shot - Often used as an establishing shot, where the subject is so far away it's hardly visable.
Very wide shot - A bit closer than EW shot but still far away
Wide shot - Even closer than VW shot where subject take up the whole frame
Mid shot - Where the only half of the subject is shown and even closer.
Medium close up - even closer Mid shot, usually head and shoulders of the subject
Close up - Just the face of subject shown
Extreme Close up - Only a feature on the subject is shown, such as the eye or mouth
Cut away shot - a shot of something other than the subject
Over the shoulder shot - where the camera is positioned over someones shoulder usually while two people are having a conversation.
Two shot - a comfortable shot of two people
Industry Termonology:
STAND BY / STANDING BY - readys everyone into position for the take. The AD calls STAND BY and the response tells them that everyone is prepped
TURN OVER / TURNING OVER (Roll film/Rolling etc) The director tells the camera operator to start filming - a few seconds of film is then run as the camera gets up to speed - this is often referred to as LEAD IN. Once done the Camera operator will respond TURNING OVER or ROLLING (etc) to indicate being up to speed
ACTION! - Cue for the actors to perform the take, and the crew to do their jobs. It is good practice for the Director to let the film run on a further few seconds after the take is completed before cutting - this is referred to as LEAD OUT
CUT! - Cue for the camera to stop running film. Industry practice expects that the camera operator does not CUT before being told
My personal experience:
I really enjoyed using the video camera, although i am more comfortaable using the still camera as i love being able to capture just a moment.
Althought the video camera has the ability to tell a story more than a still camera, which allows the camera man to be more creative.
I feel i can operate the video camera to an acceptable ability, but my talents really lie with the still camera.
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