Location of our thriller task

Are group went location scouting to find a suitable place to film and to show the atmosphere we want our thriller opening to express.

Here is was we came up with.

A Wasteland full of mysterious objects, we decided this place as it shows the place isn't looked after and suggest it being abandoned and give the audience a reason to think why is the protagonist there to begin with and to show us that nothing good can come from this place .

This place is also flat and big giving us the space needed for all the scenes.

 

 

This puddle is the thing needed to use in the scene in which the antagonist looks at his reflection to reveal his inner self and to reminisce over the murder he just committed . 



The second Photo shows how exactly the puddle would be used in

 our thriller .

 

 

 

 

 

    The following last 2 photos was just to show how much fun we had there and not really helpful to our thriller.

 

This is a group photo in which we took at the end of the session to congratulate ourselves. (Attempting to look serious)

This photo is of a plant which we commonly saw in this area so we thought it deserved some respect to our day there .

 

 





Storyboard for our thriller task

Side 1

Side 1: the first side includes all up to the scene where the victim(Me) gets attacked by the antagonist.

The shots used are wide shot, over-shoulder shot and two shot , the wide shot is technically our establishing shot as it is setting the mood and theme as the location is mysterious and dark. The over shoulder shot is used to show the action of the victim and the camera shot can suggest someone is behind him (In which there is).The two shot shows the comparison between both characters and that they are binary opposites as one is evil while the other isn't.  

Side 2

Side 2:Is the scene in which the victim has fell to the floor and trying to crawl away while multiple kinds of shots are used to create different effects. On the second tile the victim is crawling passed the camera while its on a fixed position just to show how fast the victim is moving and that its just fast enough to escape the victim however the murderer is doing the cliché slow walk while the victim tries to escape. Over the shoulder shot is used this time to show the height distance between the two characters and that  the murderer is in control of the situation and has overall more power .    

Side 3

Side 3:in this scene the witness (Brad) has seen the murder take place and the murder looks at his own reflection and the notices the witness in which he  turns to and then it ends to insinuate that isn't the only murder to happen or that murder is going to get caught. In the last two tiles we use shot/reverse shot to show the emotion on both the murders face and thee witnesses face and the next action they are going to take.  

 

This is our storyboard for our thriller.

 

Disabilities in tv dramas

Disabled people are represented in many ways through media some are seen as a role model and some are seen as a negative stereotype towards them and mostly the disability shown in media is a physical one and not mentally as that's hard to express as there's no way to be certain about that type of disability as some symptoms are faint compared to a psychical one.

 

The type of disabled person used is the "Super cripple" which makes them seem to be better than most other disabled people and despite their condition they can achieve anything and hope any disabled will follow them and also be the strong person represented . Here are some examples of this representation: Stephen Hawking , Ellie Simmonds

 

 

On the other hand they can be represented as someone to sympathise over as they need constant attention when looked after and that every day is a struggle to them and cant do anything and everything is a challenge in which they cant do themselves.

 

Or even worse they can be shown as laughing stock in which people see them as freaks as they aren't seen physically identical to everyone else and was also not seen as equals to non-disabled to people in which it wasn't till the mid 1970s in which they realised that disabled people contribute to society still and that changes have to be made.  

 

Source used for some of the information.

This blog is relevant to our thriller task because our murderer has a mental disability and we tried to make the person not appear to be one of the stereotypes and overall cant be stereotyped.

Lighting Practise

In this picture we used the natural light in the background to show that something can happening in the background as well as the foreground at the light is behind him.

 

In this picture we used the natural light to show focus on my face to make it stand out from the background and to make hair much brighter to show the strong contrast of colours .

 

 

In this picture we used artificial lighting to make me appear sad and in despair and I am intently looking at the camera to express this emotion .

 

 

 

In this picture we used multiple lighting to emphasis the emotion of him being happy, as one light shining the light from a low angle and one from the right, showing him to be smiling and overjoyed of what's happening in the view hidden by the camera .

 

In this picture we used the artificial lighting and concentrated it on one side of brad face to cast a dark shadow on the part with no light to emphasise the aggression brad has towards what's happening behind the camera.

 

In this picture we used the same lighting as the previous one but its less concentrated to express a much more relaxed situation yet the disperse of light suggests brad is plotting something evil of mischievous.

Paramount Pictures

Today, we begun our case study on the company 'Paramount Pictures', and what kind of films they produce in which are popular.


 Paramount Pictures was founded by Adolph Zukor, Jessie L. Laskey and W.W. Hodkinson in 1914. The film company has made many famous franchises' films, such as Transformers and G.I. Joe. It is seen as one of the 'Big Six' of Hollywood, producing entertaining films, often more-so aimed at males. They aim to make much more action oriented films using digital effects to maximize their special effects and potential realism; not producing an animated film yet. Many of the films are fictional, but have a base that has been worked off, such as the Transformers' films and Titanic being based off the true story.

One of the main type of films that Paramount have made that is popular is psychological thrillers. Examples of these are 'Shutter Island', 'The Conversion' and 'Rosemary's Baby'. These are all popular as they have induced their audience within the films, and made them enjoyable overall. I have looked into reviews from the following websites.Rosemary's Baby Review
Shutter Island Review
The Conversation Review
These reviews all have some things in common that they talk about. One of which is an interesting protagonist. This is done by giving them a niche feature, such as in 'The Conversation' where the protagonist is bad at their job, but is quite an important job. This is important as the protagonist has to be interesting to watch, or the audience may not enjoy the film.
It was also common to hear about an interesting plot. The plots of each are well written and, while not all original,(Rosemary's' Baby is quite similar to Psycho), it still has a reason to watch. In the case of 'Rosemary's' Baby' it was still different to 'Psycho', even if both protagonists were widows.
One complaint I saw from 'Shutter Island' was that is was too 'classy' for it's setting. This is important as the props and background had to be considered, but quite new and classy furniture was around on an isolated island full of mental people. The use of mise-en-scene is key to thrillers, and wasn't used as effectively as others.
There were also many other thrillers that I looked into as well.


The Film "Zodiac" was based on a true story that revolves around the "Zodiac Killer". The people that are more aware of the Zodiac Killer will already be more aware of the real life event and so will be a little harder to impress but for the newer audience you need to feed the story in a way that everyone would enjoy.
"The whole story is very chilling and kept you going.
The Zodiac Killer is a case that forever will remain a mystery and it was a
great idea for a film" one public reviewer stated on the IMDb website, and
the film gained an overall rating of 7.7 on the same website.It seems as though the film was a very effective thriller and
was received very well by critics. The look of the film was largely revolved
around the real 1970's case, so it is filmed in an aspect that would be similar
to the movies seen in the 70's. This helped to create more of an atmosphere
because you were made to feel as though you were looking into the past.
 Psycho (1998) is a fictional remake of a horror thriller of
the same name about a woman who is murdered in a motel and her sister, boyfriend
and a private investigator try to find her (because they don't know she was
murdered).The film received a review score of 4.6 on IMDB and many or
the reviews question why the remake was actually made because the original
Psycho was a classic film."My biggest question is "Why did they re-make a
classic Hitchcock movie?" It's a "no-win" situation", one
person said.The film did not receive very high review scores wherever you
look and thus was a very unpopular movie.

Textual analysis on the se7en opening

I made a Prezi of the opening to Se7en about the editing and the Mise-en-scene, etc. used .

Director/Producer case study

In the link is are presentation of a director/producer of our choice and we decided to do J-J Abrams link to Glog

Thriller opening task , planing and ideas

This is a mind map of our ideas we considered our thrillers opening to have, however all the ideas on this mind map are not fully finalised .

Preliminary task evaluation

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to the video on YouTube  

 

 

 This is the link to my evaluation piece .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

proof of the shot reverse shot

 

 

proof of the 180 degree rule

 

 

How I used Barthes code in my preliminary task

There are 5 codes Barthes came up with ; Semic, action, enigma, cultural and the opposition.

Semic code: the Semic code is something in the production which symbolises something e.g. in our preliminary task we used a gun which symbolises murder and violence which happens in our narrative. Therefore watching the gun you can see the protagonist going to shoot the antagonist and kill them for something they did wrong.

Action code :  Action code is where you do something and then has a result e.g. in our task we reloaded the gun and then raised it for the result to shoot it .

Enigma code: The enigma code is something that creates mystery for effect and in our task we did that at the end being the last lines 'it's over' giving a false ending as you don't know what happens next .

Cultural code:  is the props used in the production and there meaning of how they are used socially and culturally . e.g. for a rich person in a film they would wear a suit and have a expensive car. In our task we wore hoodies to show that socially we are rebels to society .

The code oppositions: This code is where binary opposites are used e.g. black v white and hot v cold .

Main conventions of a thriller

A thriller is a broad genre of literature ranging from film to gaming and is on television.

They are often fast passed with a lot of action and usually consist of a protagonist who has to overthrow the antagonist who has a lot of power and money compared to one man who has nothing.

The climax of thrillers is when the protagonist beats the antagonist.

there are many different types of thrillers too, for instance;

Spy thriller - which the plot of the thriller is pretty much the protagonist trying to beat the government or organisation single handily with high tech gear, James bond is a typical film of this type of genre.

Political thrillers- they are quite the opposite to spy thrillers as the plot is to stabilise the government and to overcome political issues standing in the way.

Military thrillers- these thrillers are both historical and have a lot of action as they try to mimic real time wars or something similar with the same effect and are unpredictable of a good or bad ending .
saving private Ryan falls under this genre.

Conspiracy thrillers- There just like the spy thrillers but the protagonist has nothing and not one in the public or close believe him as they are brainwashed by the government ideological views.
The TV show utopia falls under this genre.

Medical thrillers- This type of thriller is uncommon as the story is based around a hospital with cases of a patient who needs saving and the doctors encounter problems in the way.

Forensic thrillers- usually consist of crimes which need to be solved and there are a lot of questions to be answered.

Psychological thrillers- this type of thriller is quite strange as it doesn't follow the same trend of a protagonist and a antagonist as the story is about a main character who has a mental conflict with themselves and the whole story could be to stop this or to understand it.

some thrillers utilise the false ending to put people on edge ; its when the film appears to be over yet questions are still unanswered.

The final piece to the preliminary task

This is the video that our group worked on .

Roles in the project

Me/Andreas : I was the cameraman for most of the shot in the entire video and edited the last scene when max enter the room and also was the victim in the video

Max Br : he was in charge of sound and in the final piece I made a huge difference and also was the antagonist in the video ; shooting me .

Max Bi : he was in charge of the props and mise-en-scene and edited the hallway scene and chose the effects overall e.g.. the transitions and the mixed saturation of colour to give it that old mood

extra notes: I was putting on an accent as max bi thought it would be a good idea to.

Link to the video on youtube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTAkJzSejSc&list=UUht5fxUjha19_XNfG0mi2EA

development of the preliminary task

 These are some clips we have, so far towards our final video .

 

 

 

These are some photos of our development as well.

              These are shots in which I am using the camera filming the videos above

 

 

Rules in filming

 

In this blog I will be talking about the 180 degree rule , match on match action and reverse shot

 

 

180 degree rule- the 180 degree rule is used for special awareness and to keep continuity .e.g. a character would look to the left and the other character was to look to the right and when it cuts between the two it gives the sense they are facing each other .

 

picture of the 180 degree rule

 

match on action-Its an editing technique used between shots for continuity, even though they where filmed many hours apart . e.g. all shots filmed outside first then the inside shots are filmed second and then match on action is used to make it appear to be filmed in the order as the final production.

 

 

reverse shot-its a filming technique when the camera is focused on one character with another characters back facing the camera ,then the camera switches focusing the camera on the second character with the first ones back facing the camera . this technique is used to show the characters emotions individually

 picture of reverse shot

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preliminary task

In the following task I will be working in a group to make a short feature, of an antagonist (Max Br) walking into a room  and shooting the protagonist (me) and then exchanging some lines with the other character (Max Bi) and then walking away . The aim of this task is to show how comfortable we are with cameras and all different angles and getting used to the editing software .

Side 1

 

  This side of the storyboard is the build up to the main event when I get shot by the antagonist .

Side 2

This side is the event in which I get shot and the last three sides show different camera angles of me being shot .

Camera shots in school

In this blog I will put up some shots I took with my friend .
The narrative in the pictures is about a student lost in school and trying to find his way around without help.

 

This picture is the establishing shot, the aim of it was to set the mood of someone being lost, as the trees in the foreground cover the school and it metaphorically resembles a forest which are known for getting lost in.

 

 

This picture is my longshot with guidelines and the lines being the path and protagonist turning towards the camera having a sense of misdirection because the protagonist is appearing to  walk in the opposite direction .

 

 

This picture is a close-up and the shot was positioned as it is because the view of the  protagonist's face looks in distress and lost . However the background shows another side , as the background is creative , and has a fantasy theme which suggests the thoughts of the protagonist because he's lost and could be day dreaming .

 

 

These three pictures are different shots of the protagonist showing different emotions and effects .

 

Picture 1: This shot is from over the shoulder, to show the distance in front of him and that him staring into that space with nothing being there,  and the fence in front of the trees take away any sense of freedom. 

Picture 2 : This picture shows more of the room compared to the protagonist , the reason I took this with a canted angle is because the angle is supposed to be used on fast moving objects however in this case I used it to show that time has passed and nothing has happened meaning no progress has been made and the protagonist has made no effort to find out his surroundings .

Picture 3 : This picture tries to make the protagonist appear to be the one in charge and make him look important and that he is in control of his current situation . 

 

 

 

 This shot is the mid-shot with guidelines, this time the banisters being the guidelines and the protagonist appear to be moving towards the camera .

 

 

 

  

Extra notes : In all the pictures took you can see there was not antagonist that was because we forgot to add one, if we did it wouldn't really help the narrative because no one can make the protagonists situation any worse than it already is  .     

 

The following shots wasn't taken in the group and where taken off the internet .

 

This picture is a lowed angled shot and makes both characters appear to dominant in the current situation as the angle makes them look big. Their emotion on their faces looks as if they are plotting something.

 

 

This long shot has a background of a work/construction place as it has a lot of fencing and a van . It also appears that the protagonist is being watched/stalked by the antagonist .

 

In this close up the rule of thirds was used to make the character positioned on the left and the building is emerging on the right . The picture has a sense of direction meaning the character appears to be moving left as the building is on the right and the character is currently on the left .

 

In this long shot the rule of thirds is used to show the alignment of the castle turret and the fact its not in the centre but on the right makes room for the vast emptiness of the sky to be revealed

 

Introduction

Hello, I am Andreas and my main interest in Media is how films are made,  especially the editing side for instance how you get all the video footage and put it all together cutting the video and make the final footage flow without error and perfection .

 

I use YouTube and make my own videos for my own entertainment and most of the videos consist of gaming walkthroughs and the occasional videos with friends playing games (Channel  link)  .

 My favourite genre for entertainment like films and games is horror as I like how they psychologically scare you ; the Japanese films are the best for that .

 

I also love anime and spend most my time watching it .