Risk assesment and First session filming

Risk assessment sheet, this is used to analyse the dangers and possible hazards that might happen while we are out filming our opening sequence. We have included possible damages such as filming the close up, point of view shot where a branch needs to come close toward the camera and how we need to be careful about doing this. It also includes emergency contact numbers, incase any accidents where to occur.

Story Board!

Planning

We created a storyboard displaying shot by shot the plan of our opening sequence, it needs to be catchy and able to grab the audience’s attention so we took this into consideration. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Writing the sub heading to each shot, saying the type of shot, where it will be/show and its impact on the story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Talking and editing the shots to see if it fits in ok and if another angle would make a bigger impact, e.g. Our first shot was going to be someone reading the news paper but having it on the floor instead makes it seem more grungy and set the moody/dodgy setting.

Costume

Costume:

The costume will be the first impressions of the characters, and will determine their status and view to the audience immediately so it needs to be well planned:

For the stalker:

He will be dressed in all black, to show he is the antagonist. He needs to look like he is the baddy and we don’t want the audience to relate and feel sorry for him. Black hoddie, trousers and shoes.

For the Girl/victim:

She will need to be dressed in party clothes, but also to look young and innocent. We need the audience to relate and feel that she is vulnerable. using a dress that isnt very revealing just makes her look more vunrable and cute.

Props

We will need to use some props to make our story more clear these will include:

the car- borrowed from a friend to be used as the victims own car-

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the ring- the thing that the stalker is after, worn by the victim-

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the keys- the victims keys to her car, stolen by the stalker- they are very femin and stereotypically female.

Initial Idea

Basic Idea

The Story:

our first shot will be of a  hung over (still slightly drunk) female woman is walking home alone from a night out to find her car, she steps over a newspaper that says “man steals family jewels”. She will try to open her car with her left hand reveal a large expensive looking ring, she will fumble around with the keys struggling to open the car door, she struggles and begins to be aggravated so decides to walk home instead. The route home takes her from the pub to a path surrounded by trees; she then goes through a park/forest. We saw her ring as she is being followed by a stalker who is after expensive jewelry. He will hide and move from different objects such as trees to follower her; this action will be accompanied by “slapstick style” cartoon music to make it comedic. To finish our opening sequence, the female will be walking through the woods and she will pull back a branch to make a path for herself, but as this happens the stalker will try to jump toward her, to steal the ring, but the branch will fling back in his face and the action will black out.

Location:

We need a classic area for our comedy/thriller opening sequence as it needs to be able to create the right atmosphere and effect of a comedy/thriller.

After brainstorming some areas to film we have decided to use:

• Outside ‘The Dragon Pub’ (for the effect that she has been out that night)
• Forested areas (Werrington park)
• Path leading between Glinton and Werrington that has trees either side for the stalker to hide behind.

Lights:

All the lighting in our piece needs to be natural as we want it to seem tense and realistic. It needs to be a blank canvas for the comedic aspect, so the lighting doesn’t distract from the main story line. We wanted to film at dusk, to use the moonlight to create an eerie atmosphere, but this was impractical as we could not film at this time as we were never free. It also didn’t seem very realistic that she would awake at dusk; the harsh daylight could awake her instead.

Risk Assessment:

Another disadvantage of filming at dusk would have been that it possibly that it’s dangerous, and would have limited our film locations. We will also have to be very careful when filming the branch snapping in the stalkers face so the actor does not get hurt and we don’t damage the camera.

New York Film Master Class

In media, we went on a trip to New York, whilst we were there we took part in a media film workshop/master class. This taught us many skills about the film industry and it also taught how to create a film both pre and post production as well as during the actual film. We were taught about different positioning of the camera to capture the action as well as lighting and how to create natural or different emotions and moods based on the lighting.

E.g. if we were filming an early evening scene, where the sun would be quite low it would create a warm, cozy atmosphere. But if there was no sun and so we would have to use lighting effects and bounce boards to shine light on the actors faces helping to make everything feel warm and create the early evening setting.

Basic editing skills were also taught and how to choose the best shots as well as using different parts from each shot to make the sequence better.

E.g. in one take, the audio sounded really good as the actors made the dialogue really effective and realistic but the video and scene itself wasn’t filmed well and so I learnt how you can use the audio from this scene and put it into the action from a different take, this helps to make the sequence more professional and create a generally better film.

Initial Camera Angles and Shot ideas for Opening Scene

Initial Camera Angles and Shot ideas for Opening Scene

 

1. Most of the shots done with a tripod will have the camera slightly tilted to create a creepy and scary atmosphere.

2.The first shot is a point of view shot of a man/woman holding a news paper. On the news paper it will have a picture that it slowly zooms in on the start the scene. There will be text above the picture that says “Jewel thief lose in Peterborough”

 3.The next shot consists of a hand held camera hidden in a bush showing a drunk woman trying to get in the her car door, as she tries to open the car door it goes to a close up shot of her trying to put the key in the car door, then goes back the mid shot of her walking off.

4.There is then a mid shot of her walking through a forest because she gets the idea to walk home instead of drive as she is to drunk. This is when the creepy music will begin.

5.There is a close up shot of antagonist feet as he steps on a twig and it brakes.

6.It then goes to a close up of her face as she franticly turns round, this will be shot with a hand held camera from many different angles such as over head and right under her face, and then cut away to a mid shot of the scene so you can see her turning around and also see the antagonist hiding in a bush or be hide a tree.

7.The next shot will cut from fist person from the antagonist’s eyes to a mid shot of him changing from tree to tree, while he moves cartoon sounds will be made so this will capture the comedy aspect and show the audience the film will not be a serious horror.

8.The drunken woman will then walk through two trees and pull back two branches as the antagonist gets closer.

9.Then cuts to a point of view shot of the branches hitting against the antagonists face. This will have a wiping noise effect for the branches. Then it cuts to black to show he gets knocked out.

Coursework

Coursework

For our media studies coursework, we will create a three minute opening sequence including titles to a film. For this coursework, we can pick any type of genre, so I have to research and watch films that are inspiration to the style of movie we would like to make. To make our opening sequence, we need include the same techniques and attributes as a real film, so I will look at the stereotypes and features of these films and include them in our film to make them fit our chosen genre. After discussing the possible genres of film we have chosen a combination of comedy and thriller, using a “slapstick” style of comedy but with a danger element to this.

Films-Genre

To help gain knowledge of how to make a comedy/thriller movie I watched some relevant movies in the sane genre and this will enable me to take certain elements from some of the films. These included:

• The Scary Movie’s
• Shaun of the Dead
• Hot Fuzz
• Pink Panther
• Epic Movie

From watching these films I understand that the music used at vital points makes a big impact, from this we have decided to use the cartoon-style music from the Pink Panther films to add to the comedy element in our piece. But as we need to build the tension at the start we are going to take our inspiration from Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz to keep the thriller element involved with creepy music. In Epic movie they use a lot of good slapstick comedy so we can use this in a new way in our opening scene, the parody elements of Epic Movie add an 80′s style comedy to the film so this would be a great idea in ours.

Purpose/Audience

The standard audience to comedy/thrillers tends to be adrenaline junkies, thrill seekers and people who enjoy comedy so we will aim our opening sequence to give them a thrilling, tense experience but still being able to make them laugh, entertaining them whilst being thrilled at the same time through suspense.

Characterisation

From watching films of the same genre we can take their idea of having very stereotypical characters that overplayed role in the film. This will make them clear and show their role easily, we don’t want to confuse an audience with a complex character but focus on the story. For example a victim character is often seen to have these sorts of characteristics:

• vulnerable
• young
• female
• be innocent
• somewhat stupid/obvious
• over-intentional/being very obvious

Whereas our thief character would have characteristics:

• Male
• Strong/ dominant
• Older
• Secretive and hidden/ identity
• mysterious
• stealthy
• creepy

Having a stereotyped character is vital to a comedy/thriller as the characters need to live up to the attributes of the film or it won’t be in the right genre, the characters need to keep the film thrilling yet entertaining.

Plot Devices

To make it a comedy/thriller film we need to make sure we think of a linking plot if not it will not seem to be the right genre. A stereotypical plot is vital, it may seem non-original but it makes it clear and easy to do well.

Some typical plot devices in a comedy/thriller are:

• a crime scene
• criminal incident/activity
• investigation/detective
• metaphorical battle – criminal commits crime, authority battles, criminal wins authority battles again and so on
• super villain – criminal with powers in a metaphorical sense

Mise en Scene

Mise en scene is very stereotypical in the comedy/thriller genre and has very specific attributes such as the following:

• shadows/dark
• natural light
• black or dark clothing
• balaclavas/mask
• bright colours for the victim to make them obvious to the audience and seem innocent
• an item that makes the victim vulnerable such as diamonds or something valuable

 

Editing:

Editing techniques are used a lot and are very important in the genre comedy/thriller. After looking at other films in this genre I have found some techniques that I will include the following in my coursework:

• blurring
• using a picture from a newspaper headline the it becomes a video
• creepy and cartoon music
• blackouts

Camera

I have found that there are various camera shots are used comedy/thrillers that are very common to creating its genre and are used to emphasis on parts of the film. Some typical camera shots are used and some of those shots that I will include are:

• handheld
• one/two shots
• extreme close ups (for expressions)
• point of view
• establishing

Sound

Sound is a very vital part of the comedy/thriller film as it helps to build the tension and create thrill but also create big comedic moments to the film. Some sounds that I will be using and are stereotypical of the genre are:

• some diagetic sounds:
• screams
• twigs snapping
• rustling leaves
• footsteps
• whispers
• some non-diagetic
• creepy music
• and for comedic effects some cartoon music and sound effects