Sunday, 24 January 2010

Week Update 5 (Thibaut Nyemba)

After careful consideration we thought it best to change the the story all together. We would've of found it difficult to transport the equipment from the college to Canning Town as it would've been time consuming and the equipment might get damaged transporting it all that distance. Thus we decided to change the story. Changing the story meant changing the location of the film, as a group we thought about a new location. We decided to shoot it in college.

A 2 Minute Synopsis of Our Film (Thibaut Nyemba)

John is getting chased by a hooded man. He quickly goes in a nearby business building and hides from his pursuer. The hooded man follows him looking through every room while John is crouching down to minimize his presence behind a door. He makes a run for it as soon as the man's back is turned. He runs down a set a set of stairs but once again he is chased. As he gets to the bottom he thinks that he is safe but is attacked by one of hooded man's associates. He is left knocked out on the floor.
He wakes up in an a dark room tied up.

Synopsis for Feature Film (Thibaut Nyemba)

John is your average college student who against his will gets involved in a matter of national security. It was an normal day for John coming back from a long day at college. On his way home he hears a sound in the nearby bushes. His curiosity gets the better of him as he goes to investigate. He stumbles upon a man in a fatal state as he is coughing up blood and surrounded by his own puddle of blood. John rushes over to help, the man is clutching a small brown bag and tells him the importance of the contents inside and is crucial that he must protect the bag from anyone who tries to apprehend it. John is left confused but is interrupted by a loud bang. His instinct tell him the person who killed this man is not far and may want the brown bag he just received.

Storyboad The Package (Thibaut Nyemba)

Test

The Package Script [Thibaut Nyemba]

The Package Script

Location Notes (Thibaut Nyemba)


The location where we filmed our film was A Block in Havering College.
The location provides suitable credibility to our story, with obstacles, long corridor and stairs which makes it more exciting. The protagonist will be running getting chased by a hooded pursuer. These scenes will be filmed during the day as it is more convenient as the lighting would benefit our film.

Even though it was shot inside a college it is not really obvious to the audience as we made sure not to give it away. The colour scheme of the location is a neutral which gives a gritty feel. In post production we will be darkening the scenes.

Brainstorm for Opening Sequence [Hayley Male]



Saturday, 23 January 2010

Todorov's Narative Structure (Thibaut Nyemba)


For a successful narrative Bulgarian philosopher came out with a theory which can be applied to our story line and all others. He set out these five easy steps which he studied and which can be followed if someone wishes to create one. These steps are:

• A state of equilibrium
• A disruption of that order by an event
• A recognition that the disorder has occurred
• An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption
• Reinstatement of equilibrium (not necessarily back to the original equilibrium)
Notice that it has a clear begginning, middle and an ending.

Thursday, 21 January 2010

Character Profiles (Thibaut Nyemba/Hayley Male)


Antagonist; John Campbell

Gender; Male

Age: Late teens (roughly 17/18)

Character Info:  John is a normal teenager but involuntary gets involved in the criminal underworld. His duty is to protect a package at all costs.   

Mise-en-scene; John is a tall boy wearing casual clothing ie. jeans, trainers, top with jacket on top. He will be carrying a small package

Monday, 18 January 2010

Week 4 Update ( Thibaut Nyemba)

In this week we went to take location pictures of the park. We took pictures of the swings where the scene would take place. The pictures that we took was for the storyboard and Location pictures. The pictures that we took we was going to use for our storyboard as it would be easier than drawing it out. We acted out what would happened amongst ourselves as we didn't have our actors there at that time.

180 Degree Rule [Hayley Male]

The 180 degree rule is a simple rule, but can be easily broken. It's a technique used in filming that states that the camera must stay on one side of an 'invisible' line which should be perpendicular to the camera.




This picture helps you to understand as you can see that the camera must stay on one side of the line to prevent confusion for the audience otherwise both characters would appear to be on the same side of the screen.

Week Update 3 (Thibaut Nyemba)

In this week we came up with an idea of a film of a child getting kidnapped while being looked after in the park. This was good idea as it would look good as thriller. Next we had to find a suitable location to shoot the film. We came up with a park in Canning Town, Thames Barrier Park which had an exciting look because it had a maze of tree hedges. We thought that this would be a good place for a child to get lost.

We also shot our preliminary task which is a test run for our actual opening sequence.

Preliminary Task - Learning to use the Equipment [Thibaut Nyemba]

In today’s lesson we learned how to use the equipment we will be using to create our short opening sequence of a thriller. This included the camera (turning it on and setting it up to record with sound), the stand (of which the camera will be placed on) and various other parts such as the ‘shot Gun’ (used for capturing sound). This lesson was effective in showing us what to expect. We also did practice filming and rehearsing in setting it up and putting it away.

The Making of The Preliminary Task [Hayley Male]

Our preliminary task. We made a short video in order to prove our skill and knowledge in using the camera and editing program. We had to include match on action, shot reverse shot and the 180 degree rule. At first grasping the use of the camera and having it stable was a struggle. This became easy with practice and soon became fluent. However thinking ahead of the juxta position of shots had to be done carefully as to make a story we had to make sure the shots filmed would make sense by the others. We filmed about 3 times to get all the material we needed at the best quality we could. Editing was the easiest part of the preliminary task but required an equal amount of creative skill as once again it is vital for the juxta position to establish a clear story line.

Preliminary task: Shot List (Thibaut Nyemba)

Preliminary Shot List

Preliminary Task (Thibaut Nyemba)






This is our short preliminary task which we showed we understood the basics of film making. In this short sequence we made sure to include shot reverse shot, match on action and not to break the 180 degree rule. This was done during the night class over a period of a day.

After filming I logged and captured the footage on the computer and used Final Cut Pro program to edit it.

Whilst filming the preliminary task we found out that we had broken the 180 degree thus we had to refilm the part when Mysara opens the door. What we would of improve in this short sequence we would not use props as it was a problem keeping in continuity. Over all I am satisfied with the result.

Thursday, 14 January 2010

Weekly Updates; Week 2 [Hayley Male]

After finally deciding on the genre of our film, it was time to think of a story and write a synopsis of our film. The group had several meetings to discuss ideas we liked and also ideas that wouldn't be ridiculous to film in the time that we have. Also having no budget made some implications on our choice. We finally decided on our story line and wrote a two minute synopsis giving full details on what was going to happen in the film. To conclude our two minute synopsis, a full 90 minute feature film synopsis was also created so our viewers could find out the whole story line. Once this was completed a script was written were the name of the film was also decided. We wanted something short and catchy but also pictured the whole film. It took a few attempts to actually get a decent script and to make it the right length but we got there in the end.

Saturday, 9 January 2010

The BBFC [Thibaut Nyemba]


The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) acts as an independent, non-governmental body, which have been classifying cinema films since it was set up in 1912. Videos have also been classified by the BBFC since passing the Video Recordings Act in 1984.
Within the cinema area the BBFC was set up in 1912 by the film industry as an independent body to bring a degree of uniformity to the classification of film nationally.
Within the video area in 1984 the Parliament passed the video recordings act, this act was made to states that, subject to certain exemptions, video recordings offered for sale or designated by the secretary of state.

The BBFC take many thing in account which overall can determine the age classification outcome. Example, the more blood and gore the more likely the film would be of an eighteen classification. Other media such as video games can also be classified by the BBFC due to content.

The age rating can range from the classification U, which stands for universal anyone is able to watch it. In a U rated film there are many restriction as its normally made for young children from the age of four and always has a happy ending. There must be very mild language, no references and misuse of illegal drugs, mild violence etc. If there are any references to drugs there must be an anti drug message that follows suit.

The next level of classification in the BBFC is the PG rating which rules closely relate U certification, except they are more lenient and other aspects. Example is whereas some U's may have very mild language a PG would have just mild.


The classification 12 and 12 A comes under the same category. Except that when it is classified by 12 A it means no one under twelve is allowed to watch it without the presence of an adult refering to watching it in a cinema. This classification begins have more freedom, as in language which is more moderately allowed such as the word "fuck" can be used but infrequently. Sexual activity maybe breifly portrayed not going beyond what is suitable for young teens.

This certification 15 begins to have more of everything. It may have stong violence, some strong languge, drug taking can be shown but not promoted and many more. My overall film would contain some strong violence and some strong language.

The eighteen classifiation is contains a lot more than the the 15 as it's more explicit, it may contain violence, illegal drug use, dangerous acts. These can be shown without any justification.

Thursday, 7 January 2010

Weekly Updates; Week One [Hayley Male]

By the end of the first week my group, after creating the group and our individual blogs, had two group discussion which all members attended about our first assignment; to choose between two genres, which were horror and thriller, and then do research on the chosen genre. After weighing up the pros and cons of each genre the group finally decided on the genre thriller as we all found it relatively interesting and had much experience watching thriller films. The second group meeting was about the roles we assigned ourselves for the duration of the coursework. We based our decision on the things we enjoyed and what we have had experience with to make sure we can complete our tasks to the best of our abilities and to make sure that we can make our opening sequence the best it can possibly be.

Monday, 4 January 2010

Genre Decision [Thibaut Nyemba]

We have decided on the the genre 'Thriller'.

The reason for our decision is that a Thriller provides a thrill for the audience it also captivates them much more sooner that most genres. Its the certain elements within a Thriller that have the power to have such an effect such as the codes and conducts of a Thriller.
Aspects of violence, weapons, crimes etc entertain the viewers in a manor of thrilling them. Thrillers must be effective in a way to cause suspense which is the key feature of a thriller ..... tbc

Sunday, 3 January 2010

Genre Research [Mysara Saeed & Hayley Male]

Mysara Updating ...
Our group will be deciding on either 2 genre's (
Horror or Thriller) to base our 2 minute sequence on.

Horror Vs Thriller .... The differences

A Horror is usually associated with, exploitations, graphic scenes, violence, torture and death, sometimes the supernatural and fantasy is used as an element for horror. A horror strives to elicit terror, fear and fright from the viewers. It usually circulates around a main villain and the story line will contain various plots to distract the audience from upcoming effective scenes.

The Genre we are basing our coursework on is 'Thriller'

A Thriller is a genre which is seen in films and television. A thriller would have sub genre's such as The sub genres in thrillers include, action thriller, psychological thriller, crime thriller, horror thriller and supernatural horror.
They are usually based on a victims point of view , the main qualities of a thriller would be fast pace with frequent action the features of which create suspense and tension. A protagonist and antagonist are also a main feature within a thriller which are always shown obvious for the audiences understanding. Heroes within are usually 'tough characters' who are exposed to spies, law enforcement officers, aviators and soldiers on the other hand they may just be ordinary citizens who have been drawn into danger by accident. A thriller often associates with the characteristics of a mystery story, which are easily distinguished by the audience from the structure of their plot. A Thriller is also designed to have influence on the audience, creating a sense of fright, fear, terror or disgust, these features are applied through various plots used to diverse the viewers from the truth so that it has the right affect when they discover the story line. Devices such as suspense, red herrings and cliffhangers are used frequently within Thrillers as they are a vital element in keeping the audience engaged.


Codes&Conventions
The conventions of a thriller are mostly to do with editing; quick cuts, camera angle changes, background music that causes suspense and stresses the situation, lighting which is usually dim and dark to help create mystery and finally props such as mirrors and stairs are conventions of a thriller. The codes and conventions are usually what the audience expect to see within a thriller movie so the producer and director must make sure these are in the film for them to attract their target audience. For example a thriller movie allows for a small female protagonist to be victimised and dominiated by a male antagonist. This allows the audience to be able to identify themselves with the characters as they follow typical stereotypes. Women are always portrayed as vunerable and dependent on the male characters whilst the men are stereotyped as dominant and strong. Thrillers usually take place in an exotic place like foreign cities, polar regions, high seas and deserts. The hero in most thrillers are predominately "hard men" who are often accustom to danger and violence such as ex-spies, soldiers, ex-convicts etc, although they can also be ordinary people who are drawn into danger by accident. The story line within a thriller usually consists of the hero hindering the plan of the enemy rather than uncovering and solving a crime that has already happened. Thrillers also appear on a much larger scale than solving a crime, they mainly have a story line of terrorism or preventing a serial mass murder or assissination. Jeopardy and and violent confrontations are a standard element in a thriller. A thriller climaxes when the hero finally defeats the villan rather when the mystery is solved, saving his life and the life of others. However the life of a compromising hero is usually lost in the process.

Friday, 1 January 2010

Introduction to Coursework [Mysara]

Mysara here to give the first update. (:
We have just been introduced to the coursework we will be beginning, and as a part of the preliminary basis we had to create
1) A Personal Blog
2) A Group Blog
3) Hyper links within the 'Group Blog' to give access to the 'Individual Blogs'.


Completed.

BlogRoll

Welcome, To Our Blog.
This blog is for our AS Media Group Coursework, where we will be submitting our work as well as keeping you updated with our progress through our posts. It is also linked to our personal blogs whereby we will be carrying out various individual tasks.
(:

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About Me

AS Media Coursework Group