For this coursework I have decided to produce a 2-5 minute film introduction, to do this we have been introduced to programmes that we will use in the final editing.
To start off we were given a small task to use a little video camera to film a few of the same shots from different angles, this was so the small piece of film looked more interesting and not too boring, we then uploaded them onto the Mac, we were also introduced to a programme called iMovie HD which we used to edit our shots, add things called transitions which are effects, and this makes it look more varied. It was hard at the start, but gradually gets much easier to use once you have been on it a few times.
My first piece of filming was posted on my blog on Monday, 22 September 2008, I then made some more shots to make it look better and added some titles and posted it on Wednesday, 1 October 2008.
After completing that small task, we started on our preliminary task this was posted on Wednesday, 24 September 2008; instead of using the small video camera we used the “Canon XL2”. By using the Canon XL2 is considerably different to the little video camera we were first given because, the little camera picked up every bit of motion, but the Canon XL2 runs very smooth with no jumps in it because the quality is so precise.
To give me ideas, I looked on clips of different films on Youtube and posted each one on my blog.
I posted a Youtube clip about the film Hostel on Tuesday, 9 September 2008 because I watched it during my media lesson.
I decided to post this because I liked how the camera went blurry for most of the beginning part but then focused on one thing - maybe a weapon of some kind. I thought it was an interesting way to represent things when the background is blurred but you can still see people moving around, but you maybe uncertain of what is going on.
I like the effect the blood has, because you are left thinking what may have happened or what is happening.
I posted a clip I found quite interesting on Tuesday, 9 September 2008 it was created by students that had done media in the year just passed.
I thought that the film they made was really good, I liked the titles they used it was a brilliant effect, I like how they used the dark background with simple things, and how the text is seen at a distance but then is zoomed in and floats about, it is a cool effect, I also like at the end how they used a text which looks like they are typing and use a different sound it gets the point across and is good to understand what was going on.
I posted on Monday, 8 September 2008 something about Saw; it is the second clip down. I like how they use the pig’s head as a killer or to use for each task someone is assigned. The use of the clown is very effective, because it is scary but it keeps you looking because you want to know what will happen next. I think that the uses flashing on and off to different scenes, and the use of music is very appropriate. I find how they go to the person being tortured and spin around them really quickly it makes it look much more interesting than just showing the person sitting wherever they are.
I thought that my partner’s film and mine needed a specific audience, so I looked up a few things that I knew would help me in categorizing my film. On Thursday, 11 September 2008, I looked up the history of age certificates just to get a general idea on how the times have changed in the cinemas, and what people used to class as a 15 or an 18, it gave me a look into how much things have actually changed. Before looking those things up, I researched into the history of horror movies and where they originate from and how they were first created; this gave me a better outlook on how they actually started out. On Monday, 15 September 2008 I thought I would further my research by going on to the “BBFC” official site, to find out the criteria to a film rated “15”, this will set me precise guidelines to stick to when making my movie. Therefore by knowing this information, I can create a film just to the standards of a rating “15”.
I had quite a few initial ideas about this 2-5 minute movie intro, so I posted them on Thursday, 11 September I took this off my blog,
- Flash backs of events happened before hand. I think using these will represent to the audience of what has happened in the young girls past to show why she is like she is and why she does what she does.
- Weird scary writing on the screen to introduce the names and the title of the film, this might introduce the film as creepy.
- Camera shots like they use in Saw.
- Using “Paramount Vantage” or “Twisted Pictures” logo on our movie because they are creepy.
- Using weird/scary/creepy music to set the right mood for anyone watching it.
- Speeding up and slowing down things going on in the shot, by doing this it may impact on what the audiences think a bit differently.
- Using ways when they focused and unfocused effects on people or things on the camera to give a better effect.
My partner and I also got together to discuss ideas on how we would like the film to go, I am going to take some of the ideas out of my blog, I posted them on Monday 15, September
- Flashing of newspaper cuttings on the screen – This will directly strike the audience and get them wandering.
- Flashing of the young persons face. We would possibly do this at the beginning of the film and flash on her then go look onto something else then go back to her, just to show the audience who is committing such a thing, I think the audience could be a bit confused, maybe a tiny bit scared and confused seeing a little child
committing murder. I had an idea of maybe doing flashes similar to the girl in the grudge.
My partner and I have discussed everything very carefully as we would like this introduction to look as realistic as possible. So to make the film as realistic as possible, I researched killers that were children; I found two examples, which are both vulgar and obscene. I researched these and posted it onto my blog on Monday 15, September 2008, I think looking into these killings has given me ideas of which I don’t want to use and ones that I will use in other areas of my blog and not in my movie. By researching into these murders, I thought it just wouldn’t look good to act out on screen; I want something that is scary to watch, because these killings are just sick.
On Friday 19 and Saturday 20 September 2008, my partner and I chose a location to make our movie, we both decided to make it at Portlet Common since it is quite a baron place where not many people go.
We took a varied amount of pictures of the area so that we could decide where we would like to film and why; we also took videos of ourselves, which are also on my blog on that same post. This comes from my blog I think that Portlet Common is perfect for our location because it is quite, not many people are around there only a few people wondering about, there are lots of hidden places which we thought that Vanessa could "live" but we could make it look realistic. We found a place on a path that had a cardigan and some beer cans around it, which we could make it look like someone, could have or does live there.
Going up to the location gave me lots of ideas in my head of what we can create. Choosing the actor wasn’t hard at all, we knew who we wanted from the start, so when went up to see her and take some pictures of her and take a video of her just to create something so we can work out what we want her to do and how we want her to do it. On Tuesday, 30 September 2008, I had a look into what I would like the actor to wear, so I took this out of my blog.
We don't want to see her in the movie in jeans and a T-shirt or ripped clothing, it is too typical; we would like a unique movie not something that ends up the same as every other thing produced.
We would prefer Vanessa to look not too rough, but a little scruffy.
So we will continue looking through pictures around and take some pictures and put them on our blogs, which will eventually lead us to what Vanessa shall be wearing.
I have looked at a man call Tzvetan Todorov’s theory and made a post about him on Friday, 10 October 2008, this is so I can include his theory into ideas about what is going to happen in my film, and what could happen after.
These are the five stages of his theory
Stage one – Vanessa is wondering around the cliffs and surrounding area aimlessly, looking innocent. Everything looks as it should be around her, and she looks like any normal 11 year old girl does.
Stage two – Vanessa looks for a victim and waits to get them. Eventually a middle aged man comes along, she lures him to the edge of the cliff, hits him over the head with something close to hand and he falls off the cliff.
Stage three – She realizes what she has done, and keeps on doing it because of what she has suffered in her past (being beaten by a middle aged man who was her father).
Stage four – She tries to look for her family, and finally tells someone what had happened to her in the past and what he father had done to her, but she tells that she has committed these crimes but people don’t believe her they just think that she is mental and has problems psychologically.
Stage five – She does not realize that one of her so called victims survived the push because he wasn’t hit hard enough, and he eventually gives her what she deserves with some sort of punishment, maybe gets pushed off the cliff and dies, or something closer to her.
For music we have looked at many CD’s to get inspiration to what we would like our film to have, we made some and posted it on my blog on Monday, 22 September 2008, we don’t want the typical horror music we want something that will grab the audiences attention. I think that it might be a good idea to include some sounds of the surrounding area in some scenes because we can’t play the same music all the way through it might make the film seem not as good if it carries on.
Introducing the characters will be showing Vanessa from the back and in different shots, since there is only one main character and one victim it will be quite easy to represent who is who, and people will know because we will make it clear who is who. Showing the victim will be simple because we will show him walking on by and doing what he is going to do, and then we will show Vanessa’s reaction and try to represent as well as possible that she has had a bad past and thinks that all men of the same age as her father are bad and will harm her. I took some pictures of the actor, and made a video just to set the scene of who she is and give an idea of how we’d like to portray her; I posted it on Sunday, 21 September 2008.
For costumes, we have had many ideas of what we don’t want our killer to wear because if she was wearing jeans and a jumper it might not make her look as we would like her to look. I thought that she should look innocent but normal at the same time; jeans and a jumper just don’t cut it we thought something plain and maybe white or a pale colour to represent innocence. I posted something about clothing on my blog on Tuesday, 30 September 2008.
I think introducing the surroundings will be good because we can show a few shots of the area to show how plain it is, and how deserted it could be and that there are only a few random people who walk about with their dog or just a family visit. To make my blog more interesting I went to the area with my partner and took pictures and made a video, I posted this on Saturday, 20 September 2008.
The challenges I think we shall have is that we want it to look realistic and not like we made up some stupid story, we want it to go believed and look real for an introduction. I think that it will be difficult to get the flashing effects precise; we will have more practice on iMovie HD which will help improve our skills. I think maybe we will find it hard to stick to a time scale, but it will be good to keep to one because then we won’t get behind in our work and editing things. I believe that we will be able to make this introduction if we stick to the time we give for certain parts, if we don’t get behind in our work and if we motivate ourselves to do the work – but we will do it because we will enjoy making it and will enjoy the final product.
We haven’t yet decided a title for our film, but both my partner Poppy and I have been researching on websites for different title to give us ideas in to what we would like to call our film, obviously we don’t want it too long because that just won’t make people want to see it. By looking into different names of films it has made me think that it is quite hard to think of a good title, but we will make it good and people wanting to watch it. I posted something on my blog about this on Thursday, 16 October 2008.
Props haven’t really come up because we don’t really need a lot of things, we were thinking about getting maybe a mattress or something to make it look like she actually lives rough, and some clothes of our choice to give her that certain look we want her to have. I posted some thing on Friday, 17 October 2008 about it and it has pictures and things included.
For text in the film, I looked up titles on youtube and thought that some were ok but the rest weren’t that good, I then looked up some proper movie titles and it gave me a better idea on what I’d like the text to be like. I also looked up institutions which I will be in charge of, I quite like the institution “Lions Gate “I was thinking about using it. I posted it on my blog on Thursday, 16 October 2008, Monday, 13 October 2008 and Sunday, 5 October 2008.
I hope that we will be able to stick to a time limit on everything, so every few days we have a task and then after those few days we will have to be finished, and we will have to keep to this time and if we get behind it will be our job to keep up and finish all our tasks. I hope that we will be able to finish our filming quite quickly, but obviously in good quality with all the right shots, and slowly edit the film to make it look as good as we need it to look, and make sure that everything looks just right.
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