A thriller is a film which is designed to keep the veiwer on the edge of their seat throughout the duration of the film. Typically a thriller steriotypically envolves a crime such as murder or some sort of supernatural creature or being(s). there is often a complex storyline often contanining the following:
twists.
chases.
murders.
Identity crisis.
Fascination of death.
Fast pased storylines.
The twists and the Identity crisis are used to confuse the veiwer and keep them thinking how is the villian and who is the victim. In some cases the such as the film 'Se7en' the villians face is never shown until right at the end of the film and when it is we see that this man has been seen many times as diffrent roles throughout the film and has often interacted with the two detectives who are attempting to track him down.
In some Thrillers the villian will outsmart the potential 'Hero' figure and we often see that there was an underlying plan throughout the film.
Another exarmple of a thriller when the evil (semi) wins over the 'hero' figure is; 'I Am Legend' when towards the end of the film the lead role played by Will Smith blows himself up in order to destroy some the the 'zombie' type creatures. But he also semi succeds in the end as the cure he is developed is saved by the woman who he saves by blowing up some of the zombies. This is a typical exarmple of the type of thriller in which the Hero figure has to sacrifce something,in this case his life and in se7en's case jail time in order to succed or to ensure justice.
other exarmples of thrillers are:
Inception (2010)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Fight Club (1999)
Rear Window (1954)
The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)
Jaws (1975)
Sin City (2005)
Thursday 9 December 2010
Wednesday 24 November 2010
What Is A Thriller
In order to help us to organise our ideas for our thriller opening sequance we composed a mood board of typical thriller conventions to base our ideas on.
Wednesday 20 October 2010
Prelim Post Production
In order to edit our prelim task we used Final Cut Pro and the way in which we did this was by accessing the sever and then when we had located our work and then check it out of the server in order to edit the peace and then check it back in so that it can be safely stored.
Logging shots.
we had to filter through all of our shots which were stored in the rushers bin in order to select the best shots that we need ed to tell the story and the way in which we did this was to create a log bin and then when we had found our desired take for a certain shot we had to slide it over into the log bin. We did this for all of our desired shots so that when we came to editing the shots we had all of the good useable takes in one place and did not have to filter through all of the shots that we did not need or want to use.
Organising our shots.
Using the story board as a general guide line for the shot order we had to select our desired shot and slide it down onto the story line however the shot would have the entire scene in that one shot as that was the way in which it was filmed so then using the cursor we had to crop the shot to the desired length and then we would drag down the next shot and would once again have to crop it down to size and fit it in so that the story was continued.
Shot order.
The order of the shots and the way in which it was shown was important as it needed to make sense so for example you could not start the scene with a close up you would be better off using a wide establishing shot so that the audience are immediately aware of the setting in which the scene in which is taking place. Also the type of editing used is also important in order to give thes scene a smooth apperance. exarmples of this are match on action which is when you change the camera shot in at the same time as an action occors matching this action in the other shot. This happens twice in our scene once where she throws the gun onto the table and we cut from her throwing te gun to it hitting the table and another we have a close up of her turning away to leave and mid-turn we cut to a wide shot of her leaving and this match on actionhelps to hide the fact that we have changed shot. Another important technique used is an eyeline match and this is used along side with juxtaposition in order to add a connection between two objects or people this happens in our scene when we have the point of veiw shot and we see herr looking directally into the camera and that cut to a shot of the man in the chair and this straight away tells us that this is who she was looking at in the prevoious shot.
how it worked and errors that we made.
overall the scene worked very well it was clear to me that we are in support of the female character in this scene the main shot that supports this and this was the hero shot of her walking in and this is shown by the camera shot being lower than her. the one problem that we had was the 180 rule wher in one shot we could not use as it had crossed the line.
Wednesday 13 October 2010
Prelim Task Evaluation
Location.
We used the Hurtwood TV studio. This location worked well for our task as it was an easily controlled environment this was good because: we could arrange the set in any positioning or set up that we wanted. We could also block out any exterior light and have the artificial lighting in any way that we wanted. We could also block out any exterior sounds despite one passing aeroplane. This allowed us to set up the scene in the way in which we wanted more easily.
The role which I took:
I took various roles in the scene and these were the director and the camera operator. When I took the role of director my job was to direct those working on set and this was done by starting and ending the scene this was done by various commands these were; stand by, to which those working on set in this case the camera operator would reply standing by, then I would say role it and then the camera operator would reply rolling then you would leave a few seconds for editing and then say action, then when the scene ends I had to leave a few seconds at the end for editing then would say cut to end the scene. As camera operator my job was to set up the camera by bubbling and then set up the desired shot and then role the camera and then stop rolling when cut was called.
Lighting:
The lighting which we used was designed using studio lights to be quite dark in places around the set with a lot of shadows in order to help to make the scene have an ominous and tense feel to it. Therefore it was quite a hard light used as there was a sharp contrast between the light in the scene and the dark in the scene. Whereas soft lighting would have been a smoother transition between the two.
This was important to the scene as it added a lot of atmosphere to the scene as without these lights the scene would have even soft lighting and this would have taken away from the scene in terms of suspense and drama.
This was effective as when looking back at the scene it was apparent that the desired atmosphere was being given to the audience and this would not have been as affective if the lighting was even and soft.
Filming:
The first thing that you had to do before filming was you had to set up the camera correctly this was done by setting up the tripod evenly and then bubbling the tripod by twisting the screw underneath the camera between the tripods legs and then moving the camera so that the bubble is in the centre of the level indicating an even shot then we had to do white balance and the aperture to ensure that the brightness and the colour balance in the scene is correct.
Then we had to check before each shot that the camera was set up correctly and was level otherwise when it came to editing the cuts would be very obvious.
The next thing to do was to ensure that the frame was set up correctly this concerned the rule of thirds and other factors such as head space and also in the wide shots the general spacing around the characters.
We then had to check that the lighting equipment and other equipment such as wires was not in shot as this would have added a messy and non professional feel to the scene. This was a main issue when the cameras were moved as in some cases the lights would also have to be moved and this meant that the lighting would have to be adjusted so that the lighting looked the same on camera.
We used the story board to give us a guide to the best shots to be used in order to tell the story but we also added other various shots and this added extra drama to the scene. Examples of this are; starting the scene with a wide shot to establish the audience with the setting in which the scene is taking place and a close up in order to show emotion on somebody’s face clearly.
The 180 degree rule is important for the scene so that the angles of the scene are familiar to the audience.
What I have learnt:
I have learnt the appropriate terminology to use on a set in order to successfully shot. Also I have learnt which are the best shot to use in order to successfully tell a story.
Story Board:
We used the Hurtwood TV studio. This location worked well for our task as it was an easily controlled environment this was good because: we could arrange the set in any positioning or set up that we wanted. We could also block out any exterior light and have the artificial lighting in any way that we wanted. We could also block out any exterior sounds despite one passing aeroplane. This allowed us to set up the scene in the way in which we wanted more easily.
The role which I took:
I took various roles in the scene and these were the director and the camera operator. When I took the role of director my job was to direct those working on set and this was done by starting and ending the scene this was done by various commands these were; stand by, to which those working on set in this case the camera operator would reply standing by, then I would say role it and then the camera operator would reply rolling then you would leave a few seconds for editing and then say action, then when the scene ends I had to leave a few seconds at the end for editing then would say cut to end the scene. As camera operator my job was to set up the camera by bubbling and then set up the desired shot and then role the camera and then stop rolling when cut was called.
Lighting:
The lighting which we used was designed using studio lights to be quite dark in places around the set with a lot of shadows in order to help to make the scene have an ominous and tense feel to it. Therefore it was quite a hard light used as there was a sharp contrast between the light in the scene and the dark in the scene. Whereas soft lighting would have been a smoother transition between the two.
This was important to the scene as it added a lot of atmosphere to the scene as without these lights the scene would have even soft lighting and this would have taken away from the scene in terms of suspense and drama.
This was effective as when looking back at the scene it was apparent that the desired atmosphere was being given to the audience and this would not have been as affective if the lighting was even and soft.
Filming:
The first thing that you had to do before filming was you had to set up the camera correctly this was done by setting up the tripod evenly and then bubbling the tripod by twisting the screw underneath the camera between the tripods legs and then moving the camera so that the bubble is in the centre of the level indicating an even shot then we had to do white balance and the aperture to ensure that the brightness and the colour balance in the scene is correct.
Then we had to check before each shot that the camera was set up correctly and was level otherwise when it came to editing the cuts would be very obvious.
The next thing to do was to ensure that the frame was set up correctly this concerned the rule of thirds and other factors such as head space and also in the wide shots the general spacing around the characters.
We then had to check that the lighting equipment and other equipment such as wires was not in shot as this would have added a messy and non professional feel to the scene. This was a main issue when the cameras were moved as in some cases the lights would also have to be moved and this meant that the lighting would have to be adjusted so that the lighting looked the same on camera.
We used the story board to give us a guide to the best shots to be used in order to tell the story but we also added other various shots and this added extra drama to the scene. Examples of this are; starting the scene with a wide shot to establish the audience with the setting in which the scene is taking place and a close up in order to show emotion on somebody’s face clearly.
The 180 degree rule is important for the scene so that the angles of the scene are familiar to the audience.
What I have learnt:
I have learnt the appropriate terminology to use on a set in order to successfully shot. Also I have learnt which are the best shot to use in order to successfully tell a story.
Story Board:
Wednesday 6 October 2010
Introduction To Video Camera.
There are several diffrent functions of the camera that we learnt to use and these are:
the time code.-this has the minutes second and frames per second being used in the current film.
white-Balancing.-this is used so that the colours are the correct shade/tone
this is done by holding a peice of white paper or some other plain white object up to the camera and useing either the A B or Defult settings so that the paper is the closest shade to plain whit that you can get it.
Aputure.- this is the amount of light let throught the lens (the size of the hole) and this makes the shot lighter or darker. this is indicated by Zebra pattens on objects with to much or not enough light.
focussing.- this is used to focus the image and is located on the neck of the camera next to the zoom and can be used to manually zoom to bring objects at diffrent distances from the camera.
Bubbling.- this is used to level the tripod so that when you shoot the camera is not off at an angle and so the shot looks smooth and straight.
setting up the tipod.-the tripod is set up by the sets of ajusting Knobs
which allow you to extend and callopse the legs of the tipod to ajust what height the camera will be at when it is put on to the tipod. The way in which this is done is you side the camera onto the tripod shoe on top of the tripod you then and ajust it so that you can have the camera steady.
Basic camera shots:
we where told how to use and set up a series of basic shots. these shot are:
The Extreme Wide Shot- this is where the shot is very far away from th subject. often used as an establishing shot.
Very Wide Shot- the subject is visable but places it in its environment.
Wide Shot-where the subject takes up the entire frame.
Mid shot- shows waist to head of the subject.
Medim close up- show the head and shoulders of the subject.
Extreme Close up- Shows the detail Very Clearly.
POV - point of veiw shot
Over the Shoulder shot- a shot from over the shoulder of one person facing another.
Mistakes I made: the main mistake that I made was that my shots were not
composed correctly and this can be rectified by applying the rule of thirds
to help to set up the shot so that there is the correct amount of head space
and room around each subject on screen.
Terminology:
Stand By: this readys everyone and tells them that the shoot is about to
begin.
Turing Over: This is when the director tells the Camera To start rolling and Enables a lead in so that the shot can be successfully edited. The
Camera man will then reply rolling to say that he is now filming.
Action: Cue for tha actors to perform the take, and for the actors to
start acting and for the crew to start to do their role. The film is often
kept running after the action stops so editing can be done this is known as
a lead out.
Cut: this is used to tell the camera to stop filming and the scene is over.
I found the transpher between the still to video quite a large step as focus
white balance and apature all come into it as factors which we did not have
to take into account when we were doing stills.
the time code.-this has the minutes second and frames per second being used in the current film.
white-Balancing.-this is used so that the colours are the correct shade/tone
this is done by holding a peice of white paper or some other plain white object up to the camera and useing either the A B or Defult settings so that the paper is the closest shade to plain whit that you can get it.
Aputure.- this is the amount of light let throught the lens (the size of the hole) and this makes the shot lighter or darker. this is indicated by Zebra pattens on objects with to much or not enough light.
focussing.- this is used to focus the image and is located on the neck of the camera next to the zoom and can be used to manually zoom to bring objects at diffrent distances from the camera.
Bubbling.- this is used to level the tripod so that when you shoot the camera is not off at an angle and so the shot looks smooth and straight.
setting up the tipod.-the tripod is set up by the sets of ajusting Knobs
which allow you to extend and callopse the legs of the tipod to ajust what height the camera will be at when it is put on to the tipod. The way in which this is done is you side the camera onto the tripod shoe on top of the tripod you then and ajust it so that you can have the camera steady.
Basic camera shots:
we where told how to use and set up a series of basic shots. these shot are:
The Extreme Wide Shot- this is where the shot is very far away from th subject. often used as an establishing shot.
Very Wide Shot- the subject is visable but places it in its environment.
Wide Shot-where the subject takes up the entire frame.
Mid shot- shows waist to head of the subject.
Medim close up- show the head and shoulders of the subject.
Extreme Close up- Shows the detail Very Clearly.
POV - point of veiw shot
Over the Shoulder shot- a shot from over the shoulder of one person facing another.
Mistakes I made: the main mistake that I made was that my shots were not
composed correctly and this can be rectified by applying the rule of thirds
to help to set up the shot so that there is the correct amount of head space
and room around each subject on screen.
Terminology:
Stand By: this readys everyone and tells them that the shoot is about to
begin.
Turing Over: This is when the director tells the Camera To start rolling and Enables a lead in so that the shot can be successfully edited. The
Camera man will then reply rolling to say that he is now filming.
Action: Cue for tha actors to perform the take, and for the actors to
start acting and for the crew to start to do their role. The film is often
kept running after the action stops so editing can be done this is known as
a lead out.
Cut: this is used to tell the camera to stop filming and the scene is over.
I found the transpher between the still to video quite a large step as focus
white balance and apature all come into it as factors which we did not have
to take into account when we were doing stills.
Wednesday 29 September 2010
Intro To Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a graphic and picture editing tool. It enables the user to alter, manipulate and create images either from existing photos or found images.
what we used:
Marquee Tool - cuts box shapes around a part of the image
Clone stamp tool - makes a perfect copy of a highlighted part of the image
the burn tool - allows us to cause a part of a photo to be darker
lasso tool - allows us to gut out more accurately than the marquee tool
smudge tool - allows us to blur images together
blur tool - allows us to make the edges less sharp
the dodge tool - allows us to make some parts of a picture lighter
the sponge tool - allows us to saturate and desaturate images
when you use photoshop every time you do anything to a photo you create a new layer and this causes alot of problem as then you have to return to the main background layer on the right of the screen before editing again.
the higher the number of the layer/the newer the layer the further forward the section of image will be in the foreground.
the uses of photoshop are things such as: airbrushing photos as models and editing film posters and improving general photos. we then went out to make our own posters and the way that I did this was to go out and take a series of photos to use. the first photo that I took was of a portrait picture of a lamp post. then I got someone to stand up against a wall on their toes with their head facing down to give the illusion that they were being hung by their neck. then I got another picture of someone standing outside a wooden building in the woods with his hood up so that his face was obstructed so that we feel seperated by him due to the way in which we cant see his face. I then used the lasso tool to cut out the lampost and then cut out the body I then downloaded a picture of a nouse and a rope and put it on the lamp post then i cut around her face with the lasso tool to move it forward in a layer so that the nouse looked like it was around her neck, then I added the background picture of the shed in the woods and then used the burn tool to give it a darkened effect and then used the smudge tool to give it a warped effect. then I used the color range anf changed the green leaves to red to add a sinister feeling. and added a title on the side of the lamp post so that it follows the line down.
what we used:
Marquee Tool - cuts box shapes around a part of the image
Clone stamp tool - makes a perfect copy of a highlighted part of the image
the burn tool - allows us to cause a part of a photo to be darker
lasso tool - allows us to gut out more accurately than the marquee tool
smudge tool - allows us to blur images together
blur tool - allows us to make the edges less sharp
the dodge tool - allows us to make some parts of a picture lighter
the sponge tool - allows us to saturate and desaturate images
when you use photoshop every time you do anything to a photo you create a new layer and this causes alot of problem as then you have to return to the main background layer on the right of the screen before editing again.
the higher the number of the layer/the newer the layer the further forward the section of image will be in the foreground.
the uses of photoshop are things such as: airbrushing photos as models and editing film posters and improving general photos. we then went out to make our own posters and the way that I did this was to go out and take a series of photos to use. the first photo that I took was of a portrait picture of a lamp post. then I got someone to stand up against a wall on their toes with their head facing down to give the illusion that they were being hung by their neck. then I got another picture of someone standing outside a wooden building in the woods with his hood up so that his face was obstructed so that we feel seperated by him due to the way in which we cant see his face. I then used the lasso tool to cut out the lampost and then cut out the body I then downloaded a picture of a nouse and a rope and put it on the lamp post then i cut around her face with the lasso tool to move it forward in a layer so that the nouse looked like it was around her neck, then I added the background picture of the shed in the woods and then used the burn tool to give it a darkened effect and then used the smudge tool to give it a warped effect. then I used the color range anf changed the green leaves to red to add a sinister feeling. and added a title on the side of the lamp post so that it follows the line down.
Wednesday 22 September 2010
Basic stills and camera work
Composition:
Photography brings a visual language that is universal in understanding. We must then understand its vocabulary which consists of shapes, textures, patterns, lines, colours, shade of light to dark and sharp to blurry images. Just as we must learn to arrange words in a coherent order in order to make sense when we write or speak, so too must we put visual elements together in an organized manner if our photographs are to convey their meaning clearly and vividly.
Composition means arrangement: the orderly putting together of parts to make a unified whole; composition through a personal, intuitive act. However, there are basic principles that govern the way visual elements behave and interact when you combine them inside the four borders of a photograph. Once we have sharpened our vision and grasped these basic ideas of principles, then we will have the potential for making our photographs more exciting and effective than ever before.
the rule of thirds is an important rule of photography which assists the photographer to take his photo in the way he wants it to be veiwed and so he will use the rule of thirds which consists of splitting your page into threes vertically and horisontally and then where the lines cross will be the main focus points of the photo and so the photographer should place the important parts of the photo in these intersect points and this helps to make the photo balanced.
the rule of thirds is an important rule of photography which assists the photographer to take his photo in the way he wants it to be veiwed and so he will use the rule of thirds which consists of splitting your page into threes vertically and horisontally and then where the lines cross will be the main focus points of the photo and so the photographer should place the important parts of the photo in these intersect points and this helps to make the photo balanced.
Introduction To Media
The aim for this year is to develop a knowlage of the media world. This would involve an understanding of the pre and post production work that occors in a production. How a production is marketed
dr who trailer
dr who trailer
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