Planning Mise En Scene - Miss G

Planning Mise En Scene.

 Opening scene Mise En Scene

The setting: for where the beginning of our opening will be in our stalkers office which is an unknown location but the audience will get the idea that the location has got something to do with the stalker. 

In the opening scene we have used low key lighting to help create a shadow which is conventional to a thriller as it represents the inner darkness of the stalker, this creates tension between the audience as they can sense that this character has not got a good vibe and it leaves the audience questioning who this character is. 

The iconography: used in the opening scene is match sticks as we believe that the fire affect created helps emphasize that the stalker isn't a safe character as his tools are all related to death/harm in some way.  We decided to use low-key lighting in our thriller because it is easy to create shadows which keeps the audience in suspense. It also helps conceal the identity of the stalker which keeps the enigma of who is it.  

Costume, hair and make up: The stalker will wear a black hoody to highlight to the audience the character they play. This is conventional because the colour black connotes bad and death. To show the audience which character is the victim she is going to wear a item of white. This connotes her innocence highlighting that she is the victim in the situation

The middle of the opening

Settings:  We decided to use a dark abandoned room because when the girl wakes up it helps create an enigma to our story line. It hides the details of the surrounding making the victim and audience unaware of where abouts she is.  

Iconography: the iconography used in this scene is ropes and duck tape, we have used the ropes to tie the victim up and the duck tape to stop Dipika from talking, this is conventional to a thriller as the audience is aware that the vicitm is tied up and is in pain and the audience can undertake the emotions the victim is going through.

 Costume, hair and make up:

In this scene dipika will be wearing normal casual clothes, but her shirt she is wearing is white, we have chosen this as the colour white is conventional to a thriller movie as it symbolizes innocence, in our thriller opening Dipika is innocent. Dipika's hair for this scene will be very messy as if she had just been isolated in a room for 24 hours, we have also used mascara and have applied wet tissues to the mascara on Dipika to make the audience think that Dipika is crying, this is conventional to a thriller movie as this will create a relationship with the audience and the victim as Dipika's facial expressions will help build sympathy and emotion.

  

Lighting and colour: The colour used in this scene is very minimum as we are trying to show the victim trapped in a room, we have used low key lighting but a torch in the back to help us create a shadow of the victim. This lighting is conventional to a thriller as it connotes that the victim is trapped in a small dark room, it enables the audience to help understand the narrative.

 Positioning of characters/objects within the frame.

Contingent the analysis from this scene, we have positioned the victim tied up laying on the floor as she has just been kidnapped from the stalker. This is conventional to a thriller as the camera angle is on the floor showing a close up of the victim, this shows that the character lying on the floor is a victim. We will zoom out of the victim to show the audience the surrounding of the room. We will first zoom into Dipika's face so the audience thinks that the face is a normal ordinary character who is sleeping, but as the camera zooms out, the audience are shocked to see that the character is actually tied up.

  

Ending of the thriller opening.

Settings and iconography: The setting for the ending will be in a forest as it is the most suitable setting for us to portray a chase for when the victim runs from the stalker, also this is a good setting for our thriller opening as the stalker will be hidden under trees in most scenes in the forest so this will be conventional to a thriller as the audience will unexpect the stalker coming out unexpectedly.

 Costume, hair and make up: The victim will be wearing white to symbolize her innocence and the villain will be wearing black to connote his mysteriousness and an evil hidden character.

Facial expressions: The victim will be screaming when she see's the stalker walking towards her following her, when she see's this her eyes will open widely as she is scared and terrified and her mouth will drop open speechless.

Overall, i think our groups mise-en-scene is conventional because all five areas have been displayed in our thriller to help keep the audience in suspense. The audience will be able to tell who the antagonist and protagonist is due to the colours they are dressed in and can build a relationship with the victims through their facial expressions. Each code and convention help contribute to the suspense making the film a good thriller. 

Preliminary Task - Miss G

Preliminary Task - Ayesha, Lauren & Dipika.

Our preliminary task was to plan, edit and record a 1-2 minute diaglog to help understand the use of equipment. Our group had recorded a scene that included two girls (Ayesha and Dipika) walking in the same direction but then bumping into each other without realising. 

The type of camera shots we had included were: close ups, mid shots, point of view shots. While using these shots within our task we had come to a conclusion to use most of these cinematography for our own thriller opening as we thought it would create a very effective sequence. We had learnt to use variety of shorts for our thriller, this will leave an effect on the audience and will follow the conventions of a thriller film more strongly.

Overall the preliminary task helped me with planning my thriller film as i had experienced different camera angles, lengths of certain frames, and how to use the camera equipment. We had a few difficulties with which type of shots to use, but eventually after placing the tripod and changing the camera directions we had a good practice with the camera, the preliminary task helped us to gain experience and skill for the future planning of our thriller opening. 

In terms of the camera, as a group we now have a basic idea to who will be in charge of recording as we had found who had recorded the task the best.

As this task was a preparation in my planning, this did mean that the task does not have to be perfect but as a group we tried getting the best shots and hopefully no mistakes. However, there were a few difficulties we had found, the first dificulty we had was with the tripod, we was not able to get most of our shots right due to the tripod not being able to move in the directions we would want it to so we would have to make do with what we had and try to change the camera around to capture a different shot.

What is a thriller film? Miss G & H

What is a thriller film?

1. Define and explain what the codes and conventions are? Thriller films focus mainly on editing and sound. Editing in thriller tend to be fast paced and quick cuts. This is to create a sense of tension and suspense. Tension is very important when it comes to a thriller. The colours black and white are also conventions of a thriller, as they bring a more dark and sister feel  to the movie. Shadows and lighting are also conventions, they are exxagerated by the use of the colours black and white. In thrillers, mirrors and stairs are used quite often, mostly used in psychological thrillers. This all relates to the iconography of thrillers such as: shadows, and confined spaces, bars on windows and street lamps.

The codes generally are fast paced and the camera angle changes whihc reinforces that extra tension and mystery to the thriller. Thrillers usually have a great deal of action, for example in 'HITHCOCKS 'PSYCHO'. Thrillers can be very dramtic even when they focus on someones mind, mainly in the psychological thriller.

A thriller is Something that thrills, especially a suspenseful, sensational genre of film a fast-paced, high stakes crime story in which the protagonist is generally in danger at every turn, with the most danger coming in the final confrontation with the antagonist.

There are certain elements to a thriller that help distinguish them from other similar genres such as surprises and twist anything that is able to engage the audience and plays with their mind. Music is always essential it helps to build up tension and the use of lighting helps to create shadows which gives the thriller that mystery.

We normally see a huge part of the thriller from the killer’s point of view which allows the thriller to be more menacing. There is also a lot of continuity editing and montage sequencing to help pass time and not elongate the storyline. There are so a lot of flashbacks to help clarify and develop the story. These are all use to keep the audience interested and constantly make them think.

Mise-en-Scène contains a few important elements which help add thriller to films and also help to add suspense as well. Lighting such as colour design has to be dark to help give the film a gloomy mood and helps to make the audience feel more suspense towards the film. Another thing which also makes the opening off a thriller stick to its thrilling genre is props, as in thriller films there is a lot of sharp objects and weapons like glass, knives, guns etc….In films such as Train-spotting, they use props such as drugs, needles and fags, to show that the characters are druggies and to show the audience what type of personality each character has.


2. How does the opening sequence help to define the genre?

Saw is a conventional thriller film as it follows the codes and conventions of a typical thriller. In the clip the two characters are forced to cut themselves and who ever cuts themselves more, stays alive. The iconography used in the scene highlights to the audience how tense the situation is, as there are knives and axes, this shows the audience that the characters are in a difficult situation and makes the audience feel sorry for the characters. We see the female character seconds away from dying but then she cuts her arm of and puts it on the weighing scale, this results in the man dieing and shocks the audience as the bolts on his head are pierced into his head.



Analysis of opening credits - Miss H

What are opening credits?

Opening credits are shown at the very begining of a motion picture, television programme, or a video game. They list the most important members of the production (Major actors) and the crew, the closing credits list an extensive cast and production crew.
Opening credits may or may not be accompanied by music and usually can be shown in the form of text on can be shown on either: a blank screen, static pictures, or a top of action in the show.
There is a correct term for where opening credits are built into a seperate sequence of their own, the correct term for this is a title sequence. For example: James bond and Pink Panther title sequences.

What is the importance of opening credits?

The main title sequence or the opening credits of a movie can be considered the most important piece in a film. Other than trailers and marketing elements, they are the first images the audience sees when the lights go down. The credits outline the filmmaker's intentions and set up the expectations of those watching.

Se7en Opening Credits Analysis.

Se7en analysis:

While watching the 'se7ev' opening credits, it looked very confusing but interesting. In the beginning of the opening scene we would see lots of different camera shots also showing close ups, the audience can hardly see whats going on clearly which made the audience confused but they are still interested in what is going on. The first credit is the production company title, followed by the film name, then the big names and then finally the job roles. The low key lighting used in the scene helps to create confusion withing the audience as the scenes are less clear. The audience is able to see who appears and who creates the film from the information presented, the use of generic conventions of a thriller annotate what message the director is trying to put across. 

 

 Typography:
Typography is the size, colour, order and style of the font used in the opening credits. For example in 'seven' when the production company title appears, its quite small, has an edgy thriller font and it is also in white so it stands out from the dark background and sort of spooks the audience.

By looking at the typography of 'Saw's production name, we can see that there is barbed wire around a needle, this can suggest to the audience that the film will involve some sort of weapon in the film or something involving someone getting tortured. Also the name 'Twisted' also suggest the film is going to be very explicit and it suggests that the film has 'twisted' scenes in it. The bottom of the font shows a bit of shadow aswell, this can show that there is a dark side to the film and there is an element of supprise to it as you cannot always see what is going to happen.

 

 

Character representation - Miss H & G

Character Representation.

Main Character

Name: Hidden identitity
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Race: White british.    
Purpose of the narrative: The stalkers purpose is to find this girl he is obsessed with, he will not stop until he finds and catches this girl and he will make sure nothing will get in his way. He stalks to girl and sends her text messages to try and scare her.
How will the character appeal to the audience?: We think that the audience will not like this character because of his appeal of fear, the audience may hate this character while othey may think otherwise, although their opinions may changed by the way we represent him. We are hoping that the relationship the audience creates with this character is mainly a hate relationship to help us prove this point we have chosen for the stalker to wear black which symbolizes problems or evil (which the character is).

Female victim character.
Name: Dipika Sharma.
Age:16
Gender: Female

Race: Indian  
Purpose of this narrative: The victims purpose is to get along with her life and live a normal ordinary life a teenager would live, Dipika is that victim that is hunted down without her realizing, she has been receiving threatening text messages but she decides to ignore it as she thinks it is a joke being played from one of her friends, she doesn't realise how serious the text messages are until she walks back from her friends house through a forest and looks behind her to find the stalker following her, she then eventually gets grabbed and taken by the stalker.
How will the character appeal to the audience?: We think that the relationship built between the audience and the victim will be a strong sympathy relationship, this is evident from the victims facial expressions. As the victim begins to cry, we are hoping to have the audience placing their lives in the victims position which will help us create a sympathy effect.


The Victims Friend.
Name: Ayesha Ali

Age: 16   
Race: Asian British
Purpose of the narrative: There is no certain narrative for this character to be played, apart from being the victims friend. In our thriller opening Ayesha will be Dipikas friend, and one day after school Dipika will be going to Ayesha's house to collect some books. Once Dipika has collected the books and is on her way home but see's the stalker, Dipika tries to hide from the stalker and rings up Ayesha hoping she will pick up, but she doesn't.
How will the character appeal to the audience?: We don't think that the relationship between the audience and this character will hardly be created or noticeable as this character does not play an important role compared to the other characters.

Group Story Boards - Miss G

Group Storyboards. - Lauren, Ayesha & Dipika.

Storyboards.

Introduction: We had planned out a story board as a group to make it more easy for ourselfs when filming. As we were filming we would relate back to the storyboards to ensure we had not missed out on any scenes or camera shots, iconography etc. the storyboard. We are glad we had created our story board because it helped us have a background image of how our filming would hopefully turn out to look like.

In this storyboard Lauren had planned out the ideas for the opening scene, as a group we were glad that Lauren had chosen to plan out the opening scene as she was full of ideas and all her ideas were related to a expected thriller movie, but Lauren had made the ideas her own and had contributed them to the group.  The storyboard shows the scenes that we are going to use at the beginning of our thriller film. The stalker is sitting at a desk wearing a black hoody and gloves. This is conventional because the colour black connotes death and it helps conceal the identity of the stalker. We decided that we are going to use low-key lighting because it creates strong, bold shadows on the walls making it seem more mysterious and creepy. One of the camera shots is going to show the stalker writing a diary. The words will highlight threat for the victim showing the audience he has a plan to hurt her. The second camera shot shows the stalker cutting his hand with a knife and dripping the blood on the pages he just wrote on. This is conventional because the iconography is a generic weapon often used in thriller films. We plan to use fake blood which helps make the scene appear more realistic. Another camera shot we are going to use is the stalker lighting a match and burning a picture of his victim. This is effecting because it shows the audience straight away who the victim is. The fire symbolizes danger which is a generic theme in thrillers.Each scene is only going to be a few seconds long as we are using fast-editing. We are going to jumble up the scenes whilst playing loud non-diegetic music to build suspense. We decided this because we believed that because we are using fast editing, the non-diegetic sound would be made to match the speed of the film. It will get louder the quicker the film gets making the audience even more anxious.

Me, Lauren and Dipika as a group had made our individual ideas and had put them into one for this scene. We had joined together Laurens idea of the settings and sound, my idea of the iconography and Dipikas idea for the narrative, and the remaining sections we had all created as a group.

The second storyboard shows the victim being tied up in a dark room where the stalker had kidnapped her. We decided that we want to use low-key lighting because we thought it would help hide the background in the room more making the audience question the location. We also used it because it creates shadows which is conventional to the thriller genre. The camera will start of on a close up on her and gradually zoom out revealing that she is tied up. The iconography we plan to use is rope and duck tape. This is used to stop her speaking/yelling for help and tie her up so that she cannot escape. We plan to use different angles such as high angle, low angle when filming the victim wake up and look around the room. We are going to use straight cut, slow editing in this scene to emphasize the disorientation of the victim when she wake up and because it creates a level of anxiety for the audience. At the end of the scene with the girl waking up the camera is going to zoom in on the victims eye and dissolve into a flashback. The film is then going to show what happened the previous day and how the victim got herself in that predicament. The next scene is going to be the victim walking to her friends house. we are using high key lighting to make it appear like an ordinary day. The victim is going to wear a white jumper to connote her innocence. We are going to do a number of different camera shots such as zoom in/out low angles, long shot to make the film more tense.

 For the third storyboard, i had looked at the different types of camera angles that could be used to create as much tension as possible within the audience, keeping them in their seats. I had thought of the idea of placing the camera at a certain angle with a loud non digetic sound of the stalkers feet walking pass on a road along with the victim creating an enigma.
This storyboard is showing what happened in the flashback. The victim is walking to her friends house to collect some homework. We are going to film her walking towards the house and the two characters exchanging conversation. Whilst the victim is walking to the house we are going to use camera shots such as low angles to show the stalker following her. The camera shot will show the black boots of the stalker. The low angle is conventional to the thriller genre because it hides the identity of the stalker creating an enigma. We are also going to use point of view shot showing the stalker watching the victim from behind. In these scenes we plan to use non-diegetic sound because the deep tone will help build suspense. We are also going to use straight cut editing to show continuity through our thriller film. Once we use the scene where to two characters are talking to each other we are going to use diegetic such as the ringing of the door bell of the conversation. When the friend goes to collect the homework the victim is going to receive a text message from a unknown number. We are going to use birds eye view to show the message.

The final storyboard was created as a group, the final scene as shown as above was one of our most liked scenes throughout our opening. There was allot of excitement within the group while coming up with the ideas for the final scene, but as a group, joining our ideas together creating one was one our favorite decisions made.
In the storyboard it shows the final scene where the stalker finally kidnaps the victim. It is going to be set in a forest because it is a generic location in thriller and because it highlights the fact that it is an isolated location and no one will be able to hear the victim scream. We are going natural lighting because it starts of light but graudally gets dark. The stalker is going to be following the victim when you hear diegetic sound if a twig snap. This make the victim look behind where she notices the stalker standing behind her. She screams and begins to run. To make it more effective we are going to use a hand held camera shot. This helps emphasis the chaotic situation and help the audience see it from the victims point of view. Eventually the stalker catches the girl and covers her mouth so she cant call for help. The camera will then zoom back in onto her eye to show that the flashback has ended and she is back in the dark room.

Planning the Production - Miss G

Planning the production.

Task one

Production role post:

Research and define the main roles of the following within a film production

Camera operator:

A camera operator or cameraman is a professional operator of a film or video camera. In film-making, the leading camera operator is usually called a cinematography, while a camera operator in a video production may be known as a television camera operator, video camera operator, or video graph-er, depending on the context and technology involved, usually operating a professional video camera.

Actors:
An actor communicates a character and/or situations to an audience through speech, body language and movement. This usually involves interpreting the work of a writer under the instruction and support of a director, although some work may require the actor to devise a character or improvise the reactions of a character to a situation.
Work varies enormously, from live stage performances of the classics and community theatre to soap operas, radio work and film parts. An actor's role may also involve education, training or therapy, as well as entertainment.

 Sound technician:
Sound technicians are required to assemble, operate and maintain the technical equipment used to record, amplify, enhance, mix or reproduce sound.
They identify the sound requirements for a given task or situation and perform the appropriate actions to produce this sound. Sound technicians of different types are required in a range of industries including film, broadcasting (radio or television), live performance (theatre, music, dance), advertising and audio recordings.

Editors:
The film editor works with the raw footage, selecting shots and combining them into sequences to create a finished motion picture. Film editing is described as an art or skill, the only art that is unique to cinema, separating filmmaking from other art forms that preceded it, although there are close parallels to the editing process in other art forms like poetry or novel writing. Film editing is often referred to as the "invisible art" because when it is well-practiced, the viewer can become so engaged that he or she is not even aware of the editor's work.

Film Directors:
^{A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filming. They control dramatic aspects, while guiding the technical crew and actors.}
 
Location Manager: 
The location manager is responsible for the finding and securing locations to be used and coordinating the logistics involved for the production to successfully complete its necessary work. They are also the face of the production to the community and responsible for addressing the issues that may arise due to the production's impact on the community.

Storyboard Organiser:  
A storyboard manager organizes and manages timelines to ensure work is completed on time. They plan the shots and camera angles that are going to be filmed and provides an overview plot of the story-line.

The link for where i have found most of these definitions are from the following source:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/studentlife/careersandchoices/dreamjobs/mediaandentertainment/camera_operator.shtml

Task two:

As a group decide on which role each group will be taking and why?  

The roles each person in the group is going to play:
Camera Operator (Lauren, Dipika Ayesha)
Actor (Lauren, Dipika, Ayesha)
Editor (Lauren, Dipika, Ayesha)
Location Manager (Lauren and Ayesha)
Sound Technician (Lauren)
Storyboard Manager (Dipika)
Film Director (Ayesha)

The roles we have chosen for each person in the group to play is because we as a team discussed who we would think the suitable person for that particular job would be and who would get the best results. We have chosen for us three to be the camera operators as for most scenes we will have our individual ideas for which camera shot will be suitable for each scenes. We had applied the same rule for our preliminary task and we were all as a team happy with the results, so we will be taking forward this rule and use the same technique when we film our thriller opening. I (Ayesha) have been chosen to take on the role of being the film director as i believe and so do the group believe that i have been creating ideas about each individual  scene, the team had commented on the fact that i am well organised and am good with directing. Lauren was chosen to be the sound technician as we believe she has the most experience with the sound files, so she would be the most reliable source for sound. The storyboard manager is Dipika as she is most aware of the sspecific scenes and angles that we planned to use.