14/01/09- begining of our main course work peice

On Wednesday’s lesson on the 14th we started the 1st half of the lesson making the finishing touches to our short clip about the two people divulging into conversation. To improve our film we added cross fades between certain scenes so that the clips flow along together well. Also we edited parts of our match-cut scenes to ensure that they do not look obvious and that the match cut movements are more accurate in the time they occur. Also we added slow motion effects on the scene where one character attacks the other and the gum being spat into the bit to give the scenes a more dramatic effect and also so that the action can be seen clearly as normally they would be fast paced. Furthermore we added background music so that tense and suspense can further be elaborated and also to bring the audience into the mood the film is in. also we used sound effects to emphasize certain aspects of the clip such as the recoil of the character being hit.

In the second half of the lesson we went onto a talk of our core task of creating the opening to a thriller film. We were handed the brief of producing the opening to a thriller up to 2 minutes long including titles. We went on to watch finished production of the practical that was carried out by last years as media classes. The first video we watch was one of a teacher going to her class and being given a “help” sign by a ghost child who is reported missing. I feel that this video was well as an opening as firstly we are introduced to the film with news reports about a missing child so we get a feel of what to expect and then introduced to a new character who we don’t know has any connection. I felt that the various shot types and angles worked extremely well in this film as they showed us her movement to the unknown location as if she is being watch. I especially thought that the low angle shot of her from a wheelie bin was effective as it showed that she is not aware of something and also is not very commonly used in the other films we have watch previously. As the video progresses we see that the location is a school and that she is a teacher, we are illustrated this when the character enters a class room and starts to write on the white board. Another piece of camera work that also grabbed my attention was one where we are shown her writing on the board from behind and then matched cut into a scene where the camera is positioned as if it was behind the white board as the character writes on the board. Also the use of the perspective shot of when the charter turns around as she is disturbed by a noise was another piece of camera shot that caught my eye. This is because the use having it shot hand held and in quick movement illustrated to us that she is unnerved and full of adrenalin. And to finish the film off we see the writing “help” written on the board by a invisible person (ghost), we were explained how this was done by continuously pausing the camera and writing each part of the writing and playing it again and carrying that on until the word was on the board.

The next film we watch was a film were are shown a detective of some sought working on a case. We are then shown a reconstruction of the events on the case thought the imagination or dream of the detective. I thought that when the camera zooms into the detective’s eyes when he closes it and we r shown the reconstruction was very effective as it show us the transition between the real world and his thoughts. Furthermore I believe that the use of flashes in between the thoughts, to evidence bags that relate to the part of the reconstruction of the case was effective in showing us the connection between the detective and the case he is trying to solve.

We then watch another film about a school student being shown as lost in the news but seeing that she is lost in a forest. I found this film very ineffective as the constant use of the child running around gave us no ideas of what is going on and also did not perceive any meaning so we were left confused about what was actually going on. One shot that was well done in this film was one were we are shown the camera behind the charter and also some what hidden behind a tree. This was affective as if gave the impression that she was being watch and followed.

Finally we watched a scene from a real thriller called “what lies beneath” in this scene we follow a female charter through a steamed up bath room, she looks over to the bath tub and we see her reflection and then suddenly a reflection of a deformed person appears. This scene is made more suspenseful due to the slow movement of the character up to the bath tub and also with camera constantly being behind her and being moved in a way that showed to me that she looked like she was being followed. Further more to make the scene even more thrilling we r slowly shown the deformed person but the actual thrilling music comes after in a way that we understand it once we recognise the deformed figure.

For the last 20 minutes of that lesson we started to discuss our own thriller which we have to make and what we were going to base our one about. We had numerous ideas about what we want to do with every one in our group contributing to at least one idea. Overall we had not established the outline to our thriller opening but had all agreed our main purpose would be to use various shot types and angles to crate tension and suspense that we want the audience to feel rather than having a well thought out story line to our opening. We all thought this as from watching the films from the previous year we found that it was not as much of the content that created the thriller but more of the camera styles they used. So to conclude we want a variety of simple but effective camera styles and a scene for the opening were we can shows them to the audience.