Final task pitches

Idea 1

I came up with this idea, there are three people in our group so we all came up with our own individual ideas. Mine was about a solicitor who has a client who was convicted of murder in the court room. When the noise of the people viewing show their appreciation of the courts final decision, this will be used as both diegetic and non diegetic when the solicitor has flash back of the day when the court case happens. Sometimes it will be just the sound so this is when the sound will be non diegetic, as well as that we will also use flash back and see the whole court room and the sound at the same time. This would be diegetic, as the actors can hear the noise whilst it's been filmed.

When the non-diegetic noise is being used the convicted murderer will be pacing around outside the room, with the solicitor being completely oblivious of actor being outside. We will use different editing techinques to aquire tension e.g. quick cuts, also using various sounds as mentioned above.

I thought that we could use the Magestrates court in Bourne for the setting, as this would increase the reality of the Mise-en-scene. As the court room would be set out as though it's a normal case. This will be an integeral part of the thriller opening the reason for this is because, it would be hard to make the stage at school look like a court room. Also I have thought about the costumes and props which will be required, for the judge I could borrow the law teachers wig and gown. The graffle that the actor will use when deciding the sentence will be borrowed from the local auction room in Bourne. The defendant will wear a suite which shows how formal the process is, whilst the jury will just wear normal clothes as they are normally people from the public.

Then after the sentence has been served by the defendant he will come back to where the solicitor is based and whilst he is working on a different case, he will come in and abduct him. But this is where it will end just as the solicitor realises whats happening the reason I thought this was because it leaves you on a cliff hanger and could so easily lead on to a separate narrative later on in the film.


Audience reaction

I received a positive reaction to my pitch from both my mentors and class peers. The overall comment is the idea has been carefully planned, with a good location in mind (magestrates court). But the mise-en-scene is very important if I couldn't oragnise to use the court it would be very hard to portray the correct shots.
Also a comment of accurate planning is essential so that all the right camera angles will be used this will have a positive effect on the final outcome, as the editing will be made far easier if there are a variation of shots. As there isn't going to be much dialog its important that the non diagetic sounds have been edited correctly, to increase the tention aswell.
Ligthing could be the hardest part of the whole filming as we haven't got professional equipment which will light up the shot in the best possible way.
With all these comments in mind the audience thought the idea would be a very interesting and possibily successful opening.

Idea 2

This was Jack's idea this is kind of a lead on from my idea of which we would see what the defendant actually did, to deserve the punishment which he acquired. This would consist of someone chained up in a chair whilst being beaten by the attacker. But this was quickly disapproved as it would be too violent for a 15, not only that we haven't got professional actors which will prove far to difficult.
This would work better for a scene half way through a thriller movie, showing a flash of the past this would bring in a non-chronological order. Which on its own creates tension within the audience as they have think about the narrative.

Also the lighting would be a problem in this scene because we want to make it suspicious, without giving away to much about both the characters. Also the shadows in a small room will be hard to avoid, as we need to be recording at the same time. So this idea would be good if we were to make a couple of scenes of the movie, but because its only a 2 minute opening this will be hard to fit in.

Audience Reaction

The audience thought that this would be hard to make into a thriller opening, as there isn't much of a story line involved. But this would be useful if the story was made into a full movie as it could easily be a whole scene on its own. As the actions of the muderer are being revealed, the audience have no idea who this charactor is so as a consequence there is little relevance too the audience.

Idea 3

This idea was Dean's, the main theme was around the grave yard and and someone who was killed and has a grave gets visited by his murderer. Then he keeps on seeing his face in the grave stones

Audience Reaction

This might be hard to achieve with the graveyard as you will need permission to use the grave yard, also the mise-en-scene would be hard as everyone would have to be wearing black. From the pitch idea some people were confused about how this opening will work, as a result we didnt choose this idea.

Prelim evaluation

During the process of our preliminary we encountered various problems whilst filming our production. I think that this was a valuable experiance as we have learnt how long it takes to actually film a successful peice of camera work. We frequently had to cut parts of our filming as there would be mistakes for example the actor may starts to laugh as they have lack of concentration. Or even something as simple as somebody who isn't acting accidenly walking past the camera.
Now I understand how for each film there are masses of outcuts, for our prelim which was only supposed to last less than 2 minutes. The filming time was well over 2 hours, the hardest part of the actual filming is making sure that the continuity is always present. So we will have learnt from our mistakes of continuity and carefully plan out each and every shot for our make task.

When filming i thought we abided by the 180 degree rule very well, as when I personally made the plan of where the camera shots will be from I carefully thought out where the shots where from before. I also feel that we used a wide range of camera shots and angles, but we could have improved apon this if we know exactly what location we were to be shooting at. During the prelim we used the following shots

1) Establishing shot
2) Mid shot
3) Close up
4) Extreme close up
5) Low angled shots
6) High angled shots
7) Two shot

When the two shot was used over the shoulder of the angry character, this will show the reaction of the defandant. Whilst having the angry character in the same shot so as the audience you felt as though you were personally at the event. But on the follow through of the this shot we went to and extreme close up of the opposing character, but the camera work wasn't exectuted very well as the zoom in was shaky. When I was editing we could bypass this factor as I accurately cut off the point at which the shaking occurs.

Our maing weakness of the whole team was that the eliment of team work was only present from two of the three team workers. As a consqeunce me and jack had to all of the prelim ourselves which seemed a bit unfair, what we have learnt from this experiance of Dean is that he doesn't show any intention of working nor helping with any aspect of media work. So we will need to either make sure he is pulling his weight, or he will be left to do his main task on his own.

The editing of our prelim took us about 2 or 3 weeks the reason for this is because the mac which our group was using had an unkown software error, which each time you had finished a lessons worth of editing and you save the project and shut down. The next time you opened our file all the editing of which we had done in previous lessons was lost, we have learnt not to use that mac. We took the appriate steps to ensure thatthis wouldn't occur to any other group, we informed our teacher also the IT staff at school.

I conclude that prelims are very worth while as we have learnt that filming takes at least 10 times longer than expected. Also all the formalities which you are expected to have achieved are integeral to ensure that our main tasks will run smoothly. All the mistakes and problems we have encountered during this will all help when planning our main task for dates of which we are doing each part of our production.

Questionnaie and results

1) What age group do you fall into
5-9 10-15 16-20 20+

All 10 people i asked were in the age groups 10-15 and 16-20, so from this i guess i have the most research for these age groups.

2) Gender
Male Female

5 male 6 female

3) What genre do you usually watch

horror=1 comedy=4 romcom=2 Sci-fi=3 Action= 1

4) Where do you watch the newest films ( e.g Cinema)

Cinema=5 Online=2 DvD= 4

5) Are you offended by swearing?
Yes No
No= 11 Yes= 0

6) Do you like having the obvious Heoros/Villains
Yes No
Yes= 6 No=5

7) Are you effected by epilepsy
Yes No
No=11 Yes=0

8) What thriller films have you watched in the last 12 months?

2012 Mirrors Scream=2 Hancock=2 Taken=3 I am legend=2 Thank you for not smoking

9) In films do you enjoy it when the audience are left in suspense?
Yes=8 No=3

10) Have you watched any film which have an age certificate that is too old for you?
Yes No
Yes=11 No=0

11) Whats your opinion on chase scenes?

6 people said as long as they aren't to long and confusing
5 people thought that you can always use other techniques to create the same atmosphere

12) What is important to whether you will watch the film
Critics recommendations Adverts Previews Genre
Critics= 3 Adverts= 2 Previews 5 Genre= 1

13) Do you like fast and slick camera editing to change the tension
Yes= 11 No= 0

14) Do you watch any soap operas
Yes= 8 No= 3

15) Who's your favourite director e.g Quentin Tarantino
Don't know any= 6 Steven Speilsberg=3 Quentin Tarantino= 3

16) From your thriller experience what is your favourite thriller movie?
Undecided= 9 Die Hard=1 Shawshank Redemption

I conclude from my personal questionnaire, that I will be aiming my thriller opening at the ages of 15 and over. The reason for this is because i have the most research of this age group even though people have said that they think that the age restrictions are stupid and watch ages which are too old for them. I will also make sure that the edits which will be made on the computer. I will also be using various non-diagetic sounds to make the tension higher, also i will be attempting to make the sequence as a hybrid genre between the horror and thriller. I would also try and make my editing style around Quentin Tarantino as i think he is an exellent director.

I have personally chosen to research Universal Studios as it's a huge production/distrubution company. I have recently watched various movies which have been linked with Universal Studios most memorable one will be Inglorious Basterds. Which was directed by my favourite director Quentin Tarantino, as they have a god reputation they have the capability to produce world class movies.

Universal Studios, a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is one of the six big movie production. Its main motion picture production/distribution arm is called Universal Pictures.
In 1945, the British entrepreneur J.Arthur Rank, hoping to expand his American presence, bought into a four-way merger with Universal, the independent company International Pictures, and producer Kenneth Young. The new combine, United World Pictures, was a failure and was dissolved within one year. Rank and International remained interested in Universal, however, culminating in the studio's reorganization as Universal-International.

These are some of the titles of which they have distributed in the years 2009

The Unborn
Coraline
Duplicity
Fast & Furious State of Play
Drag Me to Hell
Land of the Lost
Public Enemies
Brüno
Funny People
Inglourious Basterds
9
Love Happens
Couples Retreat
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
The Fourth Kind
Pirate Radio
Pokémon

BBFC research

The British Board of Film Classification is an independent, non-governmental body, which has classified cinema films since it was set up in 1912, and videos since the passing of the Video Recordings Act in 1984.

The bbfc has various age restrictions they use the following to ensure they allow the right aged people see the right amount of explicit movies;

U - Universal.
PG - Parental Guidance.
12 - Suitable for 12 and over.
12a - Means the someone under the age of 12 can watch the film whilst accompanied by persons over 18
15 - Suitable for 15 and over.
18 - Suitable for adults.
R18 - Suitable for adults, only sold in certain places.


My thriller film may be affected by the age restrictions as followed;

I will make my film for the age group between 12a-15a the reason for this is because i am aiming for this audience because it's a wide range of customers. I will also be making my film within the guidelines for example mild swearing, otherwise it will offend the viewers.
It will also be too hard to make our movie to aimed at a lower age group because U's are normally cartoons which we can't possibly record ourselves.

When we are deciding what we are going to film will be from my questionnaire that i have asked 10 people to fill out. The results of this will be published on my blog.

Preliminary Shot List

1. The actor walks down the hallway, whilst walking away from the camera, medium shot.
2. Camera is on floor level watching the actors feet/legs, we watch the actor walk away down towards the classroom, medium shot
3. The next shot is from the opposite side of the hallway recording the actor walking towards the camera. We used this to ensure that continuity was in the correct order, medium shot.
4. The next shot angle is slightly to the left of the last so that we have a direct view of the door opening.
5. This camera watches the person walk through the door, and then zooms in to create a extreme close up of the actors face.
6. On this camera shot we are using a 2 shot, also over the shoulder on the attacker. Then zooming into the defendant.
7. High angled shot so that both the actors are included in the shot, you can also see all the descriptive details of the consultation.

Preliminary Camera Shots

Outside the classroom

Shot one will be from outside the double doors, this is at eye level so that we have most of the actors body and also you can see the whole door which he will be pushing. The affect of this will be the audience seeing the sour mood that the character is in.

From the second camera shot its a low angle shot aiming at the actors feet, this method shows the noise that a stressed person would make. The other reason we did this was because this is the prodominat part of the shot as he's walking.

The 3rd shot is then from the same angle but a further down the corridor and it's also facing the opposite direction so that the continuity of the clip will work. This shot follows the actor all the way up to the door.

Then the 4th camera shot is a close up of the actor opening the door, this fluent movement shows how angry he is.

Inside the classroom

Shot 5 is from the centre of the classroom at a 80 degree angle from the centre of the door this shows the actor coming into a extreme close up of the facial expressions.

Shot 6 changes to a 2 shot from over the shoulder of the stressed character, this shows the defendant and how he reacts to the outburst. After we zoomed in to make an extreme close up of his face.

Shot 7 is the final shot which is a high angled shot, its looking down appon the to characters as the consolation begins. This shot was used as the audience can see all of the movement of both people, it is also as though its a cctv recording.

Preliminary storyboard

This is the storyboard of which shows all the different shots we will be taking in the process of making our clip. The first one is of the actors back showing him walking through a door this is showing his anger from the way he opens the door. Then it will be a close up of the actors leg area. This is using an low angle shot whilst still adressing the audience about what's happening. Then the 3rd shot is a medium shot as he see more of the actors body walking towards to door, this is still showing the use of low angled shot. We then skip into a medium shot of the actor opening the door, and when he is moving towards the door handle we zoom in to show the effect of tension to the audience.
For the 5th shot we will see the actor walk through the door in full action, and then the camera will zoom into their face. So it involves an extreme cole up aswell, the effect of this increases tension as the audience will see how the character is feeling.
For the 6th shot we will be using a 2 shot, over the shoulder of the angry actor. This is a way of the directors showing what the defendants reaction to the outburst is. The shot starts as an medium, then develops into a extreme close up. This will all create tension, for shot 6 its a high angled shot looking down on the angry approaching actor, and then see the consultation of the two characters.