In June my group and I started to think of ideas for our open few minutes of a horror film. We all contributed many great suggestions, but finally came up with a base of an idea after a few lessons of configuration.
Thursday 8th of September
In this lesson we started to write our treatment. This took a few lessons because we had loads of ideas to contribute to it. Once our treatment was completed we had it checked through by our teacher then we were done with that.
Tuesday 15th of September
Today in lesson I watched the movie "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" directed by Nils Abden Opliv, he framed various shots, for example the opening of the film has an extreme close-up of a man's hands opening a parcel made of paper at a side. This is emphasise mystery and tension because we didn't seeing his until latter on.
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| This is a picture of the film "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" |
Thursday 22nd of September
Today in lesson we watched the movie Knight and Day staring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. We watched the first 15 minutes of the movie to help us think of ideas to contribute to our opening sequence. There were lots of camera shots that our group liked such as the one behind Tom Cruise as he is walking to add suspense. We also watched a bit of the movie Don't Look Now. This also had lots good camera angles that we liked and may use in our final piece.
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| This is the movie "Knight and Day" |
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| This is the movie "Don't Look Now" |
Thursday 29th of September
Today in lesson my group and I worked on our story board on sticky notes. We drew out each scene and wrote in note form the camera angles on each sticky note. In the lesson we didn't have time to finish our story board so we will finish that another lesson. We followed our treatment to work out what picture to draw in each note.
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| This our story board |
Tuesday the 4th of October
Today I created a blog that will help me record all my research and planning online. I am linked to my Twitter page as well, but at the moment the gadget was broken so I will link it when it is fixed. I am linked to my class blog and my friends. It will be very useful to be in touch with the rest of my group when I'm not in class, as I will be able to see what they have done online.
My teacher will check my blogs every so often.
Monday the 10th of October
Today we finished our story board and numbered them all so we know which order to put them in. On each sticky note we have a rough picture of the scene and we also have the camera angle. Today we also wrote what props we would need and the people we were going to ask to play each role. We decided we were going to film some of our scenes on the school grounds and some at a friends house.
Tuesday the 11th of October
Today we did some research on idents. We are making our own ident therefore thought it was necessary to do some research on other previous idents that may be similar to our own ones. Our favourite one that we researched was the Twisted production, this features in all the Saw movies, so we thought it tied in well with our final product. We decided to make our own ident in Adobe After Effects.
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| This is a screen shot of the Twisted ident that we used to research. |
Thursday the 13th of October
Today in lesson we wrote about our characters, and what they would be like.
Our firsts character is the main girl,Grace, played by Abigail Turner-Neal, will look like this-
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| This is the girl playing the character Grace, the main character. |
She will be wearing a short tight dress with with black heels. Grace will have lots of make-up on with her hair down. She is roughly 16 and plays a passed out girl that doesn't have any clue on what is going on.
Monday the 17th of October
Today in lesson I took responsibility for creating a call sheet for the first shot which will be at the party. Here it is-
GCSE B3214: Production Portfolio in media studies, Call sheet 1
FILM- Unauthorised16
LENGTH- 2 MINUTES
SHOOT DATE-
LOCATION-many places
WHO IS NEEDED-
-Abigail Turner-Neal:
-Joe Farmer
-Eydie Angel
-Emily Mcpherson
-Lisa Dewar
-Molly Helman
CAMERA EQUIPMENT-
-Camera
-Camera stand
LIGHTING-
-Fairy lights
-Dim lighting
PROPS-
-Cup
-Speaker
-Ipod
-Sofa
-Strobe light
-Powder
COSTUME-
-Leopard print dress
-Heels
-Casual clothes for the boys
GCSE B3214: Production Portfolio in media studies, Call sheet 2
FILM- Unauthorised16
LENGTH- 1 MINUTE
SHOOT DATE-
LOCATION- A car
WHO IS NEEDED-
Abigail Turner-Neal:
LIGHTING-
-Dim lighting
PROPS-
-A car
-A mobile phone
GCSE B3214: Production Portfolio in media
studies, Call sheet 3
studies, Call sheet 3
FILM- Unauthorised16
LENGTH- 2 MINUTES
SHOOT DATE-
LOCATION- At school, in the mansion tunnel
WHO IS NEEDED-
Abigail Turner-Neal:
CAMERA EQUIPMENT-
-Camera
-Camera stand
LIGHTING-
-Candels
-Dim lighting
PROPS-
-Knife
-Science coat
-Gloves
-Table
-Strobe light
-Chains
-Fake blood
-Fake liver
-Medical equipment
-Mask
COSTUME-
-Lab coat
COSTUME-
-Lab coat
- -Medical mask and gloves
- -Plain normal trousers and top
Tuesday the 18th of October
Today in lesson we talked about the art of the title, in my group we looked at three film introductions and analysed how they introduced their titles to help us get ideas for our own title and where about in the scene we should introduce it.
The first film we looked at was called
Buried
Buried
http://www.artofthetitle.com/?s thriller
The title sow in this particular film in the third box. The film opening in this film doesn't particularly reveal anything in the film so it gives it a very aery atmosphere.
Buried is a 2010 Spanish thriller film directed by Rodrigo Cortes. It stars Ryan Reynolds, and was written by Chris Spalding. This film revolves around an Iraq-based American truck driver, Paul Conroy (Reynolds) who, after being attacked, finds himself buried alive in a wooden coffin, with only a lighter, flask, torch, knife, glow sticks, a pencil and a mobile phone to help him escape before the oxygen in the coffin runs out. Since its premier at the Sundance Film Festival, the film has received a positive critical reception. The scene has many extreme close ups to capture the audience’s attention.
The second film we looked at was called
The Pacific
http://www.artofthetitle.com/2010/06/14/the-pacific/#more-5539The Pacific
The pacific is a 2010 television series produced by HBO, Seven Network Australia, Sky movies, Playtone and dream works that premiered in the US on March the 14th, 2010.
The colours used in the introduction are very dark colours such as greys, blacks and red, this is used because the film is all about the time of war and the colours represent the feeling of the soldiers. The colour red also represents the sense of death which you can tell is constant throughout the film.
The introduction uses a variety of sketches because the soldiers sketched to show their feelings, some of the sketches turned into real people, which was clever. In this film introduction the title is shown in the first scene, it is shown very small to add detail to what is happening in the background where the charcoal is writing on the paper.
The third opening we looked at was called
Dexter
The film opening has loads of extreme close ups which keep the audience gripped, the title is shown and blood drips beside it, it’s well done how they made the same scene later on but the blood is actually ketchup from a sandwich.
Dexter is a show time television series, so the title is in the first block compared to a film where the title is normally showed later. The font of the title is very distinctive and it stands out well against the paper. Dexter is an American drama series.
In class we made our own Art Of the Title for our opening scene of the horror.
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| Our own Art Of The Title |
Thersday the 20th of October
Today in lesson we put our thoughts tgether and tried to come up with a title for our own opening scene to our horror. We brain stormed and we knew wanted a title that related to the theme of our scene wich is horror/thriller, so we thought hard to think of one that fitted in with the genre. We looked around the room we were in to find inspiration for the title and after seeing a sign all agreed that Unauthorised would be the name of our film opening becasue it had a lot of mesteryous connotations. We added the number 16 to the end becasue the age of the main girl is 16 also the date of the party was on the 16th. So our finale title was Unauthorised 16.
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| This is the sign where we got our inspiration. |
Thursday the 3th of November
In lesson today we filmed the footage that we were able to do at school on our grounds. this was done really successfully as we got a lot done. for this scene we only need two actors the main girl Abi Turner-Neil and the dad/operator Alex Pery-Adlum. We filmed the scene were she gets operated on. After filming we started editing the footage we had. Tjhis lesson went really well as we got a lot done. One example of the editing that we did was using Adobe Premiere to overlap the same shot but played one of the a second after the other so it looked blured.
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| Here is a picutre showing us overlaping the shot, after we did that we edited the lighting to make it look more eary. |
Tuesday the 15th of October
Today in lesson we edited more footage that we had filmed on the weekend. We use imovie to edit most of the footage but occasionally we will use adobe premier. On the weekend we filmed scenc three, at the party. I thought that the filming was done productively and we all worked well and efficiently. So in the lesson we edited all the footage and our opening scene was looking really good. In imovie we adjust the lighting and the clip size.  |
| This is us working in imovie. |
November the 15th- December 1st
In the lessons between the 15th of November to the 1st of December we just edited and adjusted all the footage that we had filmed. By these dates we had filmed almost everything that we needed and all we need to now is to edit the footage. Scene three is the hardest scene I edited as it contains loads of scenes that we used adobe premier and because we hadn't done used that before we found it challenging.
Thursday the 12th of January
Today in lesson we exported our film opening, Unauthorised16, and put it onto to youtube. We ask for as much feedback as we could and got some really good comments about the clip. We also put the film opening onto facebook, this then encourage peoplen to view it on youtube and leave feedback either on facebook or youtube. This is the link to watch the clip on youtube, all of the feedback was made on facebook- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxjI4XuoN-Y.
Tuesday the 17th of January
Today in lesson we looked at all the feedback we got from the viewers that watched it and then changed a few of things that the viewers didnt quite understand. We added a voice over in the end scene (the flash back of her making the party invite, before the part and kidnap happens). The voice over makes it clearer and shows the viewer that the girl is trying to remember how she got kidnaped and where it all started.
Wednesday the 18th of January
Today in lesson we made the voices clearer by making them louder over the background music. We did this so that the viewer could clearly hear what the character was saying. In our feedback we realised that it wasnt clear enough to leave how it was.
In the lessons between the 15th of November to the 1st of December we just edited and adjusted all the footage that we had filmed. By these dates we had filmed almost everything that we needed and all we need to now is to edit the footage. Scene three is the hardest scene I edited as it contains loads of scenes that we used adobe premier and because we hadn't done used that before we found it challenging.
Monday the 5th of December
Today in lesson we filmed more snap shots for the final scene and then started to edit them all on Imovie and Adobe Premier . We added effects, changed the lighting, changed the speed and the order of the clips to get them into the right place and get them to what fitted into our film opening.
Tuesday the 6th of December
Today in lesson we made our own ident to go along with the twisted one at the beginning of our film opening. We made this ident on Adobe Premier so that we could get good effects for it. We named it Callous Productions because we thought not only does the word 'callous' sounds quite eerie, it also ties in with the type of film we are doing with the word meaning heartless and un-caring. I did a lot of the editing for it and then we all chose the sounds to play whilst it was going on. We chose a heart beat to create an uneasy and tense atmosphere. We also chose a child's giggle to create mystery, and finally we added a fuzz out at the end because it ties in well with the effect of the ident. This took quite a while to do as it was quite challenging.
Thursday the 8th of December
Today in lesson we made the title of our film opening. We called the film opening Unauthorised 16, we chose this title name because we think it creates mystery as unauthorised means illegal therefore something shouldn't be done or it is prohibited to go into a particular place which leads to the questions- why? and, what is it? This will encourage the audience to watch as they will want to know what is unauthorised. We also added the number 16 onto the the end of the title to add originality and for the audience to guess what its for, it could be there for many reasons for the audience to explore such as, an age, a time, a date, a place ect. I edited and made the title on adobe premier so that we could use the effects on that software. We found a font online that we liked and downloaded it so that we could use it. We think the font is good and connects well with the title.
Thursday the 5th of January
Today in lesson we edited a few more things and almost finished. We added times and dates onto the corner of two scenes to make it clear to the view that at the end its a flash back. We made the time at the beginning scene is ..... we made it this to connect back to the title as the title also includes the number 16, we did this to make a subtle link. The date is also the 16th which we did purposely the subtly connect back to the title. In this lesson we also cut out some of the scenes of dancing because we realised that it was too much and unneeded.
Wednesday the 11th of January
Today in lesson we moved a few of scenes around and put a few of the flashbacks in new places so that our film opening was clearer and made more sence. We put all of the scenes in order so that in the next lesson we were ready to export our horror/thriller film opening to then put it onto youtube and facebook so that wer can get feedback for it.Thursday the 12th of January
Today in lesson we exported our film opening, Unauthorised16, and put it onto to youtube. We ask for as much feedback as we could and got some really good comments about the clip. We also put the film opening onto facebook, this then encourage peoplen to view it on youtube and leave feedback either on facebook or youtube. This is the link to watch the clip on youtube, all of the feedback was made on facebook- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxjI4XuoN-Y.
Tuesday the 17th of January
Today in lesson we looked at all the feedback we got from the viewers that watched it and then changed a few of things that the viewers didnt quite understand. We added a voice over in the end scene (the flash back of her making the party invite, before the part and kidnap happens). The voice over makes it clearer and shows the viewer that the girl is trying to remember how she got kidnaped and where it all started.
Wednesday the 18th of January
Today in lesson we made the voices clearer by making them louder over the background music. We did this so that the viewer could clearly hear what the character was saying. In our feedback we realised that it wasnt clear enough to leave how it was.
Tuesday the 24th of January
In lesson I started planning who our target market is. We planned our viewer profile for Unauthorised16. The target audience is:
In lesson I started planning who our target market is. We planned our viewer profile for Unauthorised16. The target audience is:
-Clothes: Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge, Forever 21, Urban outfitters
-Leisure activities: Wagamama's,
-Music: Mainstream/alternative
-Media: Smart phone, Apple Mac
-Gender: Both
-Age: 15+
- Cinema: Taken, Insidious, Final destination 5, Retreat.
Thursday the 26th of January
In lesson I made the viewer profile. I got a lot of pictures and put them onto one page to make a collage of all the pictures that my target market would be interested in.
Friday the 27th of January
Thursday the 26th of January
In lesson I made the viewer profile. I got a lot of pictures and put them onto one page to make a collage of all the pictures that my target market would be interested in.
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| My viewer profile. |
Friday the 27th of January
Our deadlines for filming were before Christmas and the
editing were by the end of February our group meet all the deadlines and were
very pleased with the outcome. It was a struggle to work in a group and to keep
organised and make sure that everything was up to date. This year I communicated
with my group using my individual blog which was linked to the class blog. This
is the link to my blog- http://www.bethaniecundygcse.blogspot.co.uk/p/production-log.html.
We used it to record all the stages of the planning of our research, it helped
me with my time managements and keep organised, it also helped me t communicate
with the rest of my group. In addition I also used my phone, facebook, youtube
and twitter to communicate with the others in my group.
