On Wednesday 28/02/09 we had begun our filming for our thriller entry. The location was at Stoke Newington graveyard. On that day we had not completed as much as I wanted to due to the bad weather, it was raining and very muddy on the floor, therfore Nazmin found it difficult to run as that is part of our scene. However we managed to get a few close ups the statues of angels, of Nazmin running and facial expressions when she screams in the scene.
On Friday 30/01/09 we continued to film in the graveyard, but this time we took lots of establishing shots of the gravestones and statues of angels. We also put some of our footage onto the computer so that it will be easier and faster when we start editing. However we do still need to take lots more shots in the graveyard with different angles and begin our editing.
Written By Shahida Choudhury
Friday, 30 January 2009
Saturday, 24 January 2009
Pitch lesson
On friday's lesson we had another planning session in which we had to present our thriller idea to the class. From the previous lesson we had planned out; to carry on with that idea. But there were a few problems as the plan had told a story in which we didnt really want, therefore we had changed our planning of the thriller opening.
Our second idea of a girl getting chase by another dark figure in which we would not see. As we have seen many thrillers which start with this chase we thought that our thriller opening will be different we would have to make it very rich and fancy. This means that we would have to make sure that there are more shots of the setting rather than the girl getting chased. Like for example, have birds flying up to the sky this will create a sense of fear.
We planned our thriller setting to take place in a graveyard where there are a lot of trees and also to make it at day and night lighting. We also chose to add on many close ups, extreme close up, an estbalishing shots to make it look very real.
For the sound we thought to have a non digetic and digetic. this is because it would make our thriller more live and scary in which will keep the audience entertained and also question about why this is happening to her what the reason is behind it all.
Making A Pitch
On Wednesday 21st January, we were told to finalise our idea for our thriller entry. We then had to organise and plan for our pitch. This included making particular detail about our thriller, in terms costume, setting, music, context, camera angles and mise en scene. Our idea for our thriller is basically a girl who is running away from someone that is chasing her, and this would take place in a graveyard. This fits in with the theme of death, which can create an eerie felling for the audience. We will expand this feeling through fast paced music and a variety of camera shots, mainly extreme close ups as this shows emotion. On Friday’s lesson, 23rd January, we presented our idea to our fellow classmates and they seemed to like the idea. During this lesson we had to make a schedule of what days we would book the camera and tripod out, as this enables us to be organised and ready to shoot.
Written By Shahida Choudhury
Written By Shahida Choudhury
Thursday, 22 January 2009
Planning Our Thriller
Last lesson our task was to plan our thrillers. We gave a variety of ideas in which we could join the ideas to come up with one thriller.
We plan our ideas into a brainstorm and finally had come up with one thriller in which we would think that we will be able to accomplish. The setting of our thriller will be in a park where there will be only one or maybe two characters. We also thought to add in special effects as one of our characters would appear as a ghost.
In order to get this effect, we would have to film the shots where the ghost effects will contain twice once with the character in the scene and then again without the character. And this will be then edited together when it comes to editing our thrillers.
Our thriller would be very different as we thought through the whole planning. The thriller will definately include a reflect back from the past as we will have jump cuts with the newspaper cuts at the beginning.
We all thought this will be a very simple idea as it will leave the audience to think why the character had come back in the form of a ghost to that specific place and what for.
The credits will also be added to the thriller in the parts where the ghost effects come up and this will slowly dissolve to a black background with the writing on (credits) and will be repeated again with another shot.
We all thought this will be a very simple idea as it will leave the audience to think why the character had come back in the form of a ghost to that specific place and what for.
The credits will also be added to the thriller in the parts where the ghost effects come up and this will slowly dissolve to a black background with the writing on (credits) and will be repeated again with another shot.
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Sunday, 18 January 2009
Practicing planning, filming, editing and match cuts
During today’s lesson as a group we had to do a practice filming and edit it with the plan that we had done from the previous lesson. This plan consisted all the different types of camera shots that we were going to use and how many times we were going to use each shot for the practice filming. We allocated different things that each member had to do for the practice filming and editing. I had to do the acting, Shahida, Nazmin and Fahmida were doing the camerawork and at the end we all took part in the editing.
The brief of our practice filming was to film and edit a character entering college, and walking into a room where the character sits opposite another character and they share a conversation together. We had to use match cuts in order to put the sequence together.
I thought the camera shots that were taken at the beginning of the sequence came out best as we used the tripod in all shots. However, as I was the main actor in the sequence I often found it hard to walk at a very slow pace. Throughout the sequence in general I thought the camerawork came out quite good as we used the tripod; although at times like the shots that were taken in the lift it did not come out so good. This was because we did not use a tripod as it didn’t fit into the lift, and also Shahida found it quite hard to balance her arm and film at the same time. Also we were not able to tell that the filming shaked a lot at the time, but when we saw it on the computer we realised that we could tell her hand shaked a lot and it looked quite bad. This made us realise that using the tripod is essential and we should try our best to use it at all times when filming our thriller opening. We used different camera shots to show different things. We used low angle shots, over the shoulder shots to create suspense, extreme wide shot to show the mise en scene, close ups to show emotions, and also mid shots to show the characters.
As Shahida was mostly filming, at times she forgot to do the 5 seconds rule before she said ‘action’ and after she said ‘cut’. This made it hard for me to know when to stop as i was the character in the sequence. We learnt that this rule is important as it allows the actor to know what they are doing and it is also beneficial for later in the editing stage when we do the match cutting.
We used Apple Macs to edit our practice film. At first we all found it quite hard to use, although we did get some help in terms of how to edit our camerawork and also how to use match cuts to put the sequence together. By the time we got the hang of it and started editing the sequence, we didn’t have enough time to complete it; therefore we needed to come to workshop in order to complete the editing.
As we filmed in the college it was often hard to get an empty space as there were always people walking in and out of the camera. This made us realise for our thriller sequence we have to film at a time where no one will be present other then us in order for the mise en scene to come out good.
Overall I think practicing filming and editing was extremely beneficial to all members of the group as we learnt new things and we also learnt from the mistakes we made, and now know how to film and edit better. I also realised that planning is essential as it allows everyone to know what they are doing, and also it is unlikely to make mistakes if you plan really well.
The brief of our practice filming was to film and edit a character entering college, and walking into a room where the character sits opposite another character and they share a conversation together. We had to use match cuts in order to put the sequence together.
I thought the camera shots that were taken at the beginning of the sequence came out best as we used the tripod in all shots. However, as I was the main actor in the sequence I often found it hard to walk at a very slow pace. Throughout the sequence in general I thought the camerawork came out quite good as we used the tripod; although at times like the shots that were taken in the lift it did not come out so good. This was because we did not use a tripod as it didn’t fit into the lift, and also Shahida found it quite hard to balance her arm and film at the same time. Also we were not able to tell that the filming shaked a lot at the time, but when we saw it on the computer we realised that we could tell her hand shaked a lot and it looked quite bad. This made us realise that using the tripod is essential and we should try our best to use it at all times when filming our thriller opening. We used different camera shots to show different things. We used low angle shots, over the shoulder shots to create suspense, extreme wide shot to show the mise en scene, close ups to show emotions, and also mid shots to show the characters.
As Shahida was mostly filming, at times she forgot to do the 5 seconds rule before she said ‘action’ and after she said ‘cut’. This made it hard for me to know when to stop as i was the character in the sequence. We learnt that this rule is important as it allows the actor to know what they are doing and it is also beneficial for later in the editing stage when we do the match cutting.
We used Apple Macs to edit our practice film. At first we all found it quite hard to use, although we did get some help in terms of how to edit our camerawork and also how to use match cuts to put the sequence together. By the time we got the hang of it and started editing the sequence, we didn’t have enough time to complete it; therefore we needed to come to workshop in order to complete the editing.
As we filmed in the college it was often hard to get an empty space as there were always people walking in and out of the camera. This made us realise for our thriller sequence we have to film at a time where no one will be present other then us in order for the mise en scene to come out good.
Overall I think practicing filming and editing was extremely beneficial to all members of the group as we learnt new things and we also learnt from the mistakes we made, and now know how to film and edit better. I also realised that planning is essential as it allows everyone to know what they are doing, and also it is unlikely to make mistakes if you plan really well.
Match Cut Lesson
The brief was to film a sequence of a character opening a, walks into a room, sits down opposite another character and they share a few lines of dialogue. We had to make sure we used at least one Match Cut, an example of a Shot/ Reverse shot and showing understanding of the 180 Degree Rule.
In terms of camera work I was happy with it and I did get the hang of it quite quickly. However I did make a few mistakes, in certain scenes the camera was shaking because my hand was wobbling while filming and I didn’t realise until I saw the footage on computer, I have learnt to always use the tripod unless you want the shaky effect.
In terms of editing, it took me a while to get used to using the Apple Macs, however I now know what to do for our real thriller entry when it comes to editing. I do think that our film did make sense however due to lack of time we should have taken more shots so that we could have more variety to choose from to get a better outcome.
As we did film it in the college, our mise en scene was not the best has there were a lot of students and teachers walking by. I think we did create a little bit of suspense even though it wasn’t in our brief. The suspense took place mainly in the shots of the girl being in the lift, the audience may be drawn to her and thinking where she is going. I think we did use conventions from real thriller films by using lots of different angles and close-ups to show expression and emotions.
At times I did forget to shoot the extra 5 seconds after each shot but I did remember to do it before each shot, this is something I need to make sure to do when I shoot my actual thriller entry. Overall I think the outcome was ok but it could be improved, I now know that good planning, organisation and teamwork can enable us to get a good scene.
Written by Shahida Choudhury
In terms of camera work I was happy with it and I did get the hang of it quite quickly. However I did make a few mistakes, in certain scenes the camera was shaking because my hand was wobbling while filming and I didn’t realise until I saw the footage on computer, I have learnt to always use the tripod unless you want the shaky effect.
In terms of editing, it took me a while to get used to using the Apple Macs, however I now know what to do for our real thriller entry when it comes to editing. I do think that our film did make sense however due to lack of time we should have taken more shots so that we could have more variety to choose from to get a better outcome.
As we did film it in the college, our mise en scene was not the best has there were a lot of students and teachers walking by. I think we did create a little bit of suspense even though it wasn’t in our brief. The suspense took place mainly in the shots of the girl being in the lift, the audience may be drawn to her and thinking where she is going. I think we did use conventions from real thriller films by using lots of different angles and close-ups to show expression and emotions.
At times I did forget to shoot the extra 5 seconds after each shot but I did remember to do it before each shot, this is something I need to make sure to do when I shoot my actual thriller entry. Overall I think the outcome was ok but it could be improved, I now know that good planning, organisation and teamwork can enable us to get a good scene.
Written by Shahida Choudhury
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