Friday 26 November 2010

Note:

Since the feedback I got from my animatic I have decided to change part 2. I will hopefully be getting rid of it completely by adding in more shots in the first part. This will look better in the long. Its a minor change which I will edit with in my animatic later in the week.

The change of shots include:

  • Instead of the Rose wearing the wedding dress it will be the night before the wedding and she is in a party dress. Her husband downstairs. She will go over and touch the wedding dress and look at it, as she touches the dress blood stains it. It makes her jump and she is confused to how she cut herself but soon forgets it.
  • If there is still time she will unwrap a present which is a necklace and as she puts it on the child laughs. She turns around to look out the door towards the laugh and when she looks back a message on the mirror 'He's not here.'
So the change will fit in better with my genre

Wednesday 24 November 2010

Storyboarding and Animatic Process

Storyboarding:

First of all we had to complete our storyboarding process. This process was admittedly worring me before hand as I have never really storyboarded to such a large scale. First of all I read through my plot synopsis (my original idea) and made notes on what shot types and edits I wanted for each. I then began to draw.

Throughout my storyboarding I forgot to add in what may have been one of the most important aspects - the titles and an establishing shot of the locations. Luckily I noticed this in time and managed to add them in when I re-drew my storyboard. I went over it in pen before I took the pictures to add on to iMovie.

When I was taking the pictures of my storyboard I had noticed my shaddow was in many of the pictures. Due to the poor lighting I hadn't noticed before I had uploaded them to the computer. I then had to re-take all of the pictures to ensure they had no shaddow.


Animatic:

When I had loaded the pictures onto the computer I moved them to iMovie to edit the storyboard and to add sound and music.
Making sure I had turned Ken Burns off, I put my pictures onto iMovie ensuring they were all in the correct order. I then changed all the timings to fit in with the timings on my drawn storyboard.
After editing the timings I decided to record my voiceover. To do this I went in another room where it was silent to avoid background noise and recorded the speech I had written on my storyboard.
After that I decided I needed sound effects on my animatic. I went on Garage Band and found some music I thought fitted in well with the horror and romance in my film. I saved it to iTunes and then imported it to iMovie onto my animatic. I then got the sound effect of a phone ringing to fit in with the second part of my opening sequence.

Animatic Evaluation - Audience assessment





Audience assessment
So that the audience understood the animatic and understood how to analyze it we decided to do our audience assessment in out Media class. We each loaded up our animatic on a computer and and took it in turns to analyze each others.

We had a sheet with the following headings:

  • Range of shot types and editing transitions     /10
  • Appropriate pace and content of genre     /10
  • Position and order of titles     /10
  • Introduction of characters     /10
  • Introduction of story-line     /10
  • Clearly an opening sequence     /10
  • Use of sound     /10



They then gave us an overall score followed by comments and targets to help us improve our animatic to make it clearer and more interesting for our target audience. 

From the comments I have received about my first animatic I have decided to change the following things:
  1. Make a clear link and transition between part 1 and part 2. As it goes back in time to before the incident I need to make it clear that is what has happened so the audience are not confused. I will make the black screen longer (possibly 4 seconds?) so the change is clear.
  2. I will fade out the sound when voiceover comes in and fade it back in.
  3. I might change my film name so its clear about the change between the two parts. Possible something like 4 days before... 
  4. I will add in the radio sound of the radio tuning itself first so there is sound throughout.
  5. I may change my music to make it more horror like to build more suspense.



From the audience assessment I did get many good points which helped me see in my own work what I did well at and what doesn't need improvement.

Some of these things included:
  • The genre of my film was clear
  • Good pacing and shot types
  • The voice over and use of sound was generally good and fitted in with my genre
  • It doesn't look like a trailer at all
  • The idea of the ribbon linking in with part one and two was good
  • The child's laugh was effective

Wednesday 17 November 2010

Blood Ribbon - My film script

During the process of writing my script I found some parts very hard to write. Written language can differ dramatically from written language. The problem I felt I had was trying to make the lexis seem more realistic and not melodramatic. I want my films speech to be noticeable but also more realistic. During my filming I may change some of the dialogue if it doesn't feel right to me.




Blood Ribbon

Tuesday 16 November 2010

Storyboarding so far...

I am most of the way through my storyboarding now and coming to an end.

I have found it quite hard as new ideas which will fit into my plot keep arising and I want to add them in to make it more exciting and believable. I'm finding predicting the timings of my shots hard but all in all I am enjoying the process.

I am worried, however, about if the film will appear as a horror. The ideas I have in mind to me seem realistic but the audience may find it different and have other thoughts on it. I have got up to 38 shots so far and have 48 seconds of film left to plan. This is great as I can now add in more shots to the main part and really play around with the ending.

My idea changed a bit as I was going to end with a black screen and text saying "7 days later" or something of the sort but I have reconsidered this as it may seem to trailer-like and cliche. Now, at the end of the main bit of film I am going to flick back to some days before the incident to a scene unrealated. This will give the idea of the film continuing and make it less like a trailer.

I have now started to think about music ideas and sound effects in which I want to add in and will certainly play around with it when we begin our anamatics. I want my music to flick from almost radio music (possibly classical) to deeper darker music when the incident is nearer.

Props and Costume

Costume and props are important for my film to help tell the viewer what has happened before the incident and what type of characters I have. It helps show the social class of the characters and sets the scene.



Costume:
I have two characters being introduced in the beginning of my film, Rose and Felicity. As Felicity is 14 months old so I feel her clothing is not as important as Rose's. I wanted Rose to be in a wedding dress with silver shoes which tells you as the audience what has happened previously in the film and to show her social class. This is especially important as at the end of my opening sequence the films skips back in time before her wedding.

For the wedding dress I chose a white one to show purity and expense. It tells the viewer what has previously happened and really helps to set the scene. She will not be wearing the dress herself but shown to the audience.








Props:
Props play an important part in my film as at the end they somewhat predict the future of the young girl. They are used cleverly to foreshadow the future and to raise enigma codes.


The matches and candles are used mainly to create effective lighting but also to introduce the sense of fear through the fire created by the flame. It puts the audience on edge and introduces the film as horror.





Monday 8 November 2010

Character profile

I only have one main character in my film, and that is Rose. Even though we her her call for her faïence Matt we do not meet him at this early point in the film.

Katy.

I chose Katy to play the main character Rose as Katy is a great example of a conventional horror film main character. Katy takes photography at A level so takes an active role and interest in media. Katy also starred in my music video as part of my first piece of actual videoing and would like to take her as an actor through my filming experience with me. Me and Katy get on very well so we will work well together. She is very good at acting and being relaxed as she does so making the film more realistic. Katy is also very creative with make-up so can help with the make-up side of it giving me ideas and producing some samples.

Character profile.
Rose is a beautiful young woman who is shy and timid around new people. When she fell for her fience Matt everyone knew it was love at first sight. She would do anything for him. The night Matt proposed was the most magical night of her life.
Rose has blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She is an attractive young woman with a heart of gold. She loves horse riding and reading. She has just left university and is training to become a teacher. One day she dreams to have children. Being as naive as she is most things tend to unnerve her.

Questionnaire analysis

Media Questionnaire Analysis

Sunday 7 November 2010

Why I want to conduct a questionnaire

I have decided to plan and distribute a questionnaire to people ages 18+ to see what they want to see from a horror film and to get a general idea about what they like and expect to see in one. Hopefully it will help me change or re-create my ideas so more people in the general public will enjoy it.
I will give out 10 questionnaires to people 18 and older to get their views and opinions on it.

I have used open and closed questions to get a wider range of varied answers and to encourage more poeple to pick one up and fill it in.

My questionnaire:
Media Studies Questionnaire

Audience profile

Media Audience Profile


The audience profile - The Girl (Jess)
I chose Jess to be a very smart, outgoing girl. She is 18 which is my target audience and is most likely middle class. I chose her to be middle class as I feel more people will watch them from that social class. I am targeting both Males and Females as I don't feel one or the other watches them more. Her hobbies were chosen to basically fit in with her middle class background and her university lifestyle. I wanted her to be in university as you make more new friends and tend to socialize more. The fact she states she likes scary films and likes watching them with her friends was placed in because its important to me that people will want to gather together to watch a film and I think that's generally typical of girls to want to do rather than watch a scary film on their own. I put that she likes chart music and the cinema as it shows she likes to keep up with the latest trends either in film or music so any new horror film brought out she would be interested in. Her fashion sense shows she is into what people think of her.

The audience profile - The Boy (Matt)
I chose Matt to be a more outgoing, indie guy because I feel they are the type of people who will enjoy and be more tempted to watch a horror film. The fact he likes Facebook and Myspace generally mean he likes to keep up-to-date with technology and the media. As films are part of the media I feel he will be more likely to know when a new film is coming out and want to see it. He studies photography which I think will make him more interested in the lighting or the mise-en-scene of certain films to get ideas for his own work. The fact he is scared of  loud noises in films or things that happen suddenly make him a suitable viewer for my film.

Horror conventions

Many horror films share the same conventions which make the film exciting, scary and enjoyable. The conventions are what makes the film a good film. You always know what direction  horror film will take you and the characters but you still want to watch it to find out what will happen and how it will happen.

  • You expect the music to be scary and either dark and erey or just natural noise such as the radio or TV which foreshadows the future. Either way the music should keep you on edge and predict the future. Sometimes the music is accompanied by a child singing which is seen as a warning sign for trouble in the near future.
A good example of this would be the music from Stephen Kings 'IT'. The music is traditional horror film music and keeps the audience on their seat. Also the young child singing predicts the future and makes you feel on edge.


  • An establishing shot of the location is always traditional in a horror film. Its to introduce the audience to the main location which is seen as scary and dark. It is usually raining in the establishing shot and nearly always shown at night. 
A good example being The Ring which establishes the shot of the house well with all the typical conventions to go with it.


  • The costume is nearly always memorable and plays in the viewers mind continuously throughout the film so you are always looking for them and always on edge waiting for them to strike again.
A good example of this is Scream. The costume is so memorable you will remember it throughout the film.




  • Props are somewhat important as they often foreshadow the future of the film or forecast certain events. Again IT is another great example as the little girl picks up a dolly, a child like toy, and then sees the clown. The two link well together.



  •  Okay the main character? Traditionally a naive and blonde girl unaware of anything dangerous that is going on around her. She always walks into trouble. Typically a sweet and kind girl. An example would be Scream.


  • The plot should be basically outlined and foreshadowed and enigma codes should be created for effect and to keep the viewer watching.

  • Close ups shots of the thing that is meant to scare are particularly useful as they focus the audiences attention on them. This again would be Scream where you focus on the phone after you hear it ringing or the clown from IT when the girl notices it.


 

I came up with list from my analysis of the three horror films I did. I looked at what was relevant and the same to each film and suggested these as possible conventions of a typical horror film. Many things linked together to make them typically known in the genre. I took screen shots from each to show how they linked.

My opening - Final idea.

Okay so I have changed my idea slightly from when I last blogged about it. I know that this is now my final idea.

A girl in in her room after her wedding waiting for her husband to come upstairs. She is lighting candles and laying petals on her bed when she hears a small childs laugh...

She stops and looks around but thinks its in her mind and carries on. She hears the small child laugh again and freezes. She stands up straight and starts to wisper her husbands name...again the laugh is heard and she walks towards the entrance to the stairs. She says her husbands name this time and the laugh again occurs. She hurries down the stairs and at the bottom she asks for her husband. She hears the laugh once more and turns towards the open back door...a red ribbon is floating in the wind is seen and suddenly it dissapears. She walks towards the door and steps out into the dark night. Suddenly a clowns face appears and says 'Hi (characters name here)' The shot goes into complete darkness and you hear her scream.
<end of sequence>

I know this may be hard to fit into 2 minutes but hopefully as the credits are not counted in the time we have this will be manageable.

Saturday 6 November 2010

Conventions of opening sequences - Social Realism #3

Film title: Kidulthood
Genre: Social Realism
Director: Menhaj Huda
Release date: 2006
Part 1 clip:


1) Sound:
The sound throughout the opening sequence is fast paced and jumpy to match with the fast paced editing, action and camera movements. It makes the audience very aware of what is going on and in a way keeps them firmly on the edge of their seats waiting to see what is going to happen. The music is quite intense which sets the scene for the film and foreshadows the future of the film. The music immediately signifies danger and fear which is unusual for a social realism film especially if we compare it with Happy-Go-Lucky. The music is relevant to the date in which the film was made 2006. The genre and beat of the music is popular especially in inner city areas where this genre speaks loudest to most. The music plays over the characters talking which makes the opening seem even more intense. The music fades out when the most important parts arrive of the film such as the bullying of the young shy girl. After the fighting scene the music changes. It becomes more tense and seems to make you wonder what will happen next?


2) Mise-en-scene:
The location for this scene is in a school. We can tell this because all of the children are wearing school uniform and are standing on a playground waiting to go inside. This shows how important the costume for this film is. Much of the costume is worn scruffily and inappropriately which shows teens rebelling in the school and the fact no one is trying to solve this problem tells us as the viewer that the school children have some sort of power and intimidation over the teachers and elders.
We also know this is a school as we later on go inside a classroom to view the bullying scene.
The location for this film is somewhat intimidating as a inner city school can be. The film is set in London which we can tell by the strong accents the characters hold.

Props are somewhat important in this film. The young guy holding the games console shows us what it is like in a inner city school. It shows him being bullied and having it taken off him which helps the audience understand and predict the future for this film. Also the second use of technology which is the mobile phone really shows how bullying is carried out with youths and makes the audience aware of the situation.



3) Colour, font and positioning of titles:
The main film title arrives pretty quickly compared to other social realism films I have analysed. The font is bold and white with a serif font type. The font itself seems sharp and intimidating - more like a horror film than social realism. The black background really accentuates the text making it clearer and brighter drawing your attention towards is.
It fades into the main scene sharply which takes us back and scares us slightly. The music over the main film title also makes us feel intimidated and aware of what may happen later in the film.

It is fair to say the opening titles are not like a conventional social realism films titles.


4) Enigma codes:
Many enigma codes become clear in the opening of this film. Here are a few:
  1. What kind of party is the boy holding? Will we see it later in the film?
  2. What is going on between the boy and girl, they always make eye contact?
  3. What did they boy hide in the yellow sand box?
  4. The drill keeps appearing in the opening, what is the boy making? Is it important?
  5. Why do they bully the shy girl, is it just because she is a virgin? or because she is an easy target?
  6. Are all inner city schools like this?


5) Cinematography:
Many shot types are used in this fast paced opening.
 Long shots of the children who play an important part in the film are shown to introduce you to them and to let you know a bit more about what they're like.

A close up of an unrealated shot is effective in the way it stays in your mind and raises enigma codes as to why it is important and why its happening.



A shot reverse shot here allows the auience to know that there is something going on or something has happened between two characters.



Here we see a shot which actually goes against the rules of the 180 degree shot. The camera swaps sides of the characters along with the action taking place. It is actually really effective. It disorientates the audience which makes you feel like you are possibly part of the fight and helps you to feel how the characters are feeling.


This point of view shot makes you feel fear fr the young girl being bullied and allows you to feel the situation from her point of view.

This high angled shot is effective in the way it shows power and domination over one character. It makes them look weak and defenceless against the bully.

Another point of view shot but handled in a very different way. This shot appears to be seeing exactly what she is seeing but the camera is clearly hand held which makes it very conventional of a social realism film.



6) Editing techniques and effects:
The editing techniques in this video are very important for the audience to keep up with the fact paced movement and action.

 Right at the beginning of the film we see a slow motion shot for a fast peice of action. This gives the effect that time is slowed down so the viewer can see what is going on. This happens throughout the opening sequence when you are introduced to the characters.

Between character shots the time is sped up until you get to a shot of the main people. It shows that they are the most important and you need to focus your mind on them.


The match on action shot is edited together to give an effect of continuous time.



7) Character representation and establishing:
We meet each important character by a medium long shot of them with two or three lines of speech. Between meeting the characters we see faced paced action of normal school things such as football. We do not learn much about each character first off but just what kind of person they are at school. No meantion exclusivly of names or who they are and how they are important they are but we can guess by their general ways and accent and by what they talk about in each shot.

8) Target audience:
For this social realism film I would say this target audience is again 15+. I say this because a lot of people 15 and older can in some way relate to this story wether it by the news or in real life. A lot of cultrural and social aspects are brought up in this film that younger viewers may not understand. Many shots and some speech may seem offensive to some younger viewers and many will not like the ammount of swearing shown in the opening.

Conventions of opening sequences - Social Realism #2

Film title: A Room for Romeo Brass
Genre: Social Realism
Director: Shane Meadows
Release date: 1999
Part 1 clip:


1) Sound:
Just before any music starts in the opening sequence there is a scene where the two friends are introduced. Straight after setting the scene, the music starts to play. Its an upbeat and joyful music which, typically of a social realism film, fits in with the action. The music I feel also represents the two boys personalities well. As the characters progress into speaking to each other the music fades out and in allowing us to hear the speaker easier but also allowing the music to play faintly in the background. The music played sets you up for the rest of the film. It makes the viewers feel happy and encourages them to laugh at funny points in the scene. About half way through the opening sequence the music ends and fades out as it cuts to another scene of inside the house. Later on inside the other young boys house the music changes and become more tense. This clearly shows that there is some level of tension in the household. Later we find out this foreshadows the future. As the boys go swimming the music changes once more to a relaxed tempo which, typically of a social realism film, matches the action on screen.


2) Mise-en-scene:
 The mise-en-scene is the most important part for a social realism film as it shows you what type of area and what time period the film is set in. It also gives you a sense of what the characters will be like later on in the film depending on what their background is like.


The first minute and a half in we see the local shops in which the boys soon after visit. You can see shops boarded up and windows boarded up. You can also see in this shot how run down the area is shown to be which definantly gives you a sense of lower-working class. This shot establishes the location for the film.

You can tell the time period in which this was filmed as the shops and the clothing they wear look very different to what they look like now.


We also see the inside of Romeos house which shows how working class the family may be by the decoration and the general everyday objects you see on the table such as beers and tomato sauce.


3) Colour, font and positioning of title:
The titles in social realism films are different to those in horror films. The social realism films tend to cut out the action and appear on their own. They have many more names of directors and actors in them and especially try to mention who funded their filming. 

Whereas in horror the titles seemed to fade in and out of the film to give it a more scary and slow feel in social realism the titles cut sharply in and out to fit in with the action going on behind it. 
The title changes from this...

...to this very suddenly. Scenes of titles and action cut very suddenly to give it a homemade feel.

The colours shown for the titles are all black background with white text. This makes the names stand out. The colour complement each other well and draws your eye towards the text. The font is bold and the font type is serif which makes it look more interesting to look at.

The title of the film comes in halfway through the opening sequence which is a typical convention of a social realism film.


4) Enigma codes:
Many question arise in social realism films which make you think more deeply into the film.
Some of these questions from this opening sequence are:
  1. Why are they in a field at the beginning of the sequence?
  2. After Romeo eats the chips why is he so worried about his mother being angry?
  3. When the mother finds out is she angry with Romeo because he reminds her of his dad?
  4. Why is the other boys dad so angry when the little children come to collect their ball?
  5. Why is there an ambulance?

  5) Cinematography:
In  social realism films cinematography is often played around with a lot to make the film more interesting to watch.

An establishing shot of the location gives the audience a sense of geography and shows them what the film is going to be like. It shows you the area in which the boys live in and what it may be like for them.

Close ups and medium shots of the two main characters make it clear to us that these are the most important people so far in the opening sequence. The camera follows the two main characters around making it clear to the audience these are the two you need to focus your attention on.

High angled shots are used to show you more of the scene and location and also to help you distinguish the two boys relationship with one and other.

The over shoulder shot is used to see things from the other boys perspective. It also gives the impression that Romeo has some kind of power over him and is seen as more dominating.



Next we see a shot reverse shot. This is very effective. It allows you to be part of the conversation and allows you also to see from both boys perspectives. This is typically used in social realism films to show both parts of the conversation.


6) Editing techniques and effects: 
In social realism films there is not music smooth editing to be seen it is mainly quick sharp cuts to the next scene.



As shown here you can see that the film cuts from scene to scene sharply and has no real warning of doing so. The two scenes here are not directly related but still cut together and work well.


Also a match on action shot can be seen which is edited to look like there is continuous time and that it is only one singular shot and not two separate ones.


7) Character representation and establishing:
Firstly we meet the two boys who are the main characters in the film. They are in a  field which does not say much about their personality for their general character but the speech spoken again does not give much away but their accent and the language used shows us what social class and what type of character they will turn out to be.

We then meet a character who has no real importance in the film, the chip shop owner. He himself has no real importance but brings out the personality in the boys to allow us to understand their character more.
We next meet the two families.
Romeos family:
We learn that they both have a small dislike for Romeo after he eats their dinner. The mother is shown to be quite angry and nasty towards him telling him to move out and to go live with his father.

The other boys family:

This family seem calmer than Romeos at first but we learn later on that the dad has a temper and can appear intimidating and the mother is rather strict.


8) Target audience:
I think the target audience of this film should be 15+. This is because most, if not every scene contains mild swearing which may not seem appropriate for younger children to be hearing. Also scenes of mild violence are not suitable for younger children as it can scare them or stay on their minds for a while.