Sams Evaluation Blog

This essay will be of the opening of my Thriller movie called ‘The Wanderer’. The media that my team and I produced was based on a climax of thriller to emphasise something bad happening. To help me and my team to develop ideas and plans, we firstly watched openings of other thriller/horror movies for example, ‘The Shining’ and ‘Omen’ this gave us a base of ideas which was very helpful such as the type of thrilling music we should have, the camera effects high, medium and low and other effects it produces. We picked out a few points from each thriller/horror movie then reconstructed those ideas into our own form. From watching these opening documentary’s I have learn to not start of with something over exaggerated or scenes where characters jump into position without the audience knowing what he/she role is. By saying role, I mean each of us individually as a group, had a specific task/job to do. For instance Benedict was the main character in the thriller he had to act all throughout, whereas the girls were the producers of the thriller doing the camera works etc. This is to make sure that everything is placed in chronological order to make the thriller opening flow in place.

Firstly, ‘The Wanderers’ only consisted of two main characters who is a friendly guy (Benny Andallo) and an innocent child (Leon). The main male role is in his early 20s, who is in middle class and is a typical Filipino guy. He begins in a very identifiable scene of gravestones, with bushes surrounded to convey the scene as a sense of dead people lying beneath. On the other hand, the little youngster is in his age range of 5 to 8 portraying as an innocent possessed child who has a mysterious mind. The youngster is representing a vulnerable child who uses a happy teddy bear from the well known cartoon called ‘Sponge bob square pants’, to bring across the idea of child vulnerability though the child is portrayed as evil breaking with conventions, however children are usually normally innocent. Patrick being used as an iconography throughout the thriller every now and again.

‘The Wanderers’ would be a low budget working title because it is a British film production company, based in London, England. It will suit this institution as it is not some kind of big or large scale production. In addition, the Warp production could also produce this thriller, as it is also based on creating low budget films and it already has an established distribution network within its own music industry.

The idea type of audience who would fit into my media product is people who are enthusiastic, enjoys watching thrillers and has a good sense of humour. It is mainly open to all types of age ranges, from as young as 12 and over. Since the movie has frightening moments, younger children should not be allowed to watch. The audience’s ethnic background does not need to be for a particular type, this is because the thriller is not aimed at one type of audience it needs to fit everybody’s purpose and meet their criteria. Therefore, class does matter as to whether a person is lower, middle or upper class. An ideal type of audience could be for example, Harry, 23, currently studying films at university and loves watching the latest horror/thriller movies.

The film has a strong dominant male role which fits the genre of ‘thriller’. Usually when a person or the audience thinks about a genre being thriller, it tends to be a stereotype of a guy being the bad person or there could be a feeling of climax building. In able to advertise this film successfully, I would use spin-offs to help me show the audience through TV adverts’ (trailers), some areas around the UK on billboards and through the internet. Appealing parts of the film would be the main character – he is the bad guy and this grabs the attention of something dangerous happening but also the camera effects can change the audiences reaction to the thriller, this could be either a cliff hanger, shocking moments, romantic parts and so on.

Firstly, I have learnt to use the media equipments with careful instructions from the media staff. I have become familiar with the equipments after our first practice session at the very start. Using the knowledge that I have learnt, my group and I started filming in a park around Islington near the gravestones. It was a pretty hard job because not only we had to use the camera on stand but there were also minor moments where we handheld the camera to film. After doing many shots of each part of the thriller, we used a programme called the Final Cut pro to edit, cut and improve the shots we had done. It was very helpful because not only we done cutting and editing parts but also we added suitable music to make sure it fitted in well with the thriller genre. To use the camera we had to remove the black lid in front, fix the focus without any blur and press record.

I have learnt many things when I first started with this task. The time when my group and I drew up ideas for our filming and what our thriller was going to be based on, we had no definite idea. We had a few rejections on each other’s ideas but we took a careful yet safe choice to go for the basic gravestone idea. Although, I had some doubts about how the idea might turn out wrong, we managed to pull it together and productively make it into a thriller opening. Besides all this, we did a storyboard to help us picture what our thriller might be – I must say, it did help quite a bit. The annotations and drawings on the storyboard was like another version of our actual filming. In addition, editing was not so easy, my group and I had to go through each and every part of the filming we took, to pick out the ones we wanted. Then we edited it to do match cuts, effects, sound etc… after combining above all we came out with the end result, which was the thriller opening.

Evaluation

My media product develops and challenges forms and conventions of real media products as I have used the technical elements of camerawork, mise en scene, editing and sound/music to develop and construct an opening sequence. By analysing various thrilling media products under these technical elements, this has influenced my development to show similarities to real opening sequences.

Real media products I have analysed and referred from are Horror Thrillers (Chillers) that use a child as a key role for thrilling aspects. Films I have studied and focused on are ‘The Shining’ and ‘The Omen’. From these media products, I have learned how the change in sudden pace and camera shots can create a thrilling climax to shock an audience.

The camerawork in these films varies during a climaxing scene as it begins with slow paced shots and develops into short fast paced shots and ending with a climaxed ‘big bang’. I have used these convention by starting my film with slow paced long shots and gradually developing into faster paced close up shots. This gives the effect, with the combination of sound to shock my audience with a climax.

The mise en scene in these films portrays a sense of darkness and being alone, with an unnatural life form being present. I have used these conventions in my sequence by setting my locations in an empty graveyard leading to an empty park. This gives a sense of darkness and being alone, perhaps even being watched by an unnatural life form.

The editing of shots in these films in a climaxing scene flow from slow paced long shots, usually setting the scene and explains the general feel of the plot gradually building up to more fast paced close up shots, to give adrenaline and suspense to the plot that leads to the climax. I have used this convention by editing a variety of slow paced shots to set the scene of a man in a graveyard placing a toy by his deceased child’s gravestone. This leads to faster paced shots of the man’s interaction to the ghost of his son, leading to his death.

The non-diagetic sound effects in these films during a climaxing scene relates to the camerawork and the editing of shots. The sounds flow according to the flow of the slow paced shots leading to the fast paced shots. This shows a base of quiet soothing music that gradually get louder and louder, in order to reveal a sense of danger. Sometimes before a sound reaches its last ‘big bang’ for its climax, there’s a pause of silence which lowers an audiences expectations, but eventually shocks
them with the ‘big bang’. I have applied this convention to my sequence by creating a sorrowful string instrumental that relates to the atmosphere of being in a graveyard. This tone reveals the man’s mood and emotions and shows empathy for him. As the man makes his way to the bench, the sound changes to a more dramatic thumping noise to reveal a sense of danger is upon him. The dramatic thumping noise varies in tone and volume when the child is seen and makes his way to the man. As the child makes his way, the sound gradually lowers volume but unexpectedly a loud high pitched noise appears when the child’s face is revealed with an extreme close up. This is the climaxing shot of the sequence.

My media product only has two characters portrayed but represents various social groups.

The man in my sequence portrays a young father figure who has recently lost their child or relative. He is a young Asian man dressed smartly in a long black jacket and black trousers. He is most likely to be religious as he is visiting a gravestone.

The connotations of the man being young relates to teenage pregnancy and parents. The man dressing smartly reveals he is intelligent, most likely working class. His black clothing represents death.

The man can relate to people of the working class or possibly higher, teenage fathers and those who have lost love ones. He shows the background of a person who had a child at a very young age but still succeeds through life, with the downfall of a death.

The child in my sequence portrays a diseased family member that is revealed from a man visiting a grave and placing a cherished toy of the child. The child is then portrayed as a ghost that confronts the man with the toy, and leads him to his death. He is a young child that died at the age of 5. He once was of an Asian-Jamaican background but has features of a pale white face. He wears a hooded jacket, jeans and canvas trainers.

The toy laid on the gravestone relates to the child as it resembles a child’s happiness and prised possession. The placement of the toy shows where it best belonged and that it was the child’s favourite.


The connotations of the child having a ghostly appearance can relate to death and monstrous. His youthful costume can relate to rebels, danger or crime. This has twisted the representation of childhood innocence.

The child can also represent the youthful social groups from the trend of the hooded jacket.

Different media institutions could distribute my media product. My movie could start off as apart of a small independent UK release distributed around a small number of UK ‘art-house’ cinemas because of the low budget and lack of popularity. It is probably also most suited for a ‘made for TV’ of ‘Cable rental’ film because it is most likely to have a weak amount of publicity to promote the film for it to distribute around the world since it lacks actors with any celebrity status, the amount of action and effects, and could show a boring and depressing side to film. If popularity grows upon the film from the small independent UK releases or shown on TV, it could be replaced to try break into becoming big Hollywood Blockbuster. Without any type of appeal or maybe even famous actors, it is rare it would be fairly successful as a big Hollywood Blockbuster. Everything about the product would need to be constructed well with well-known distributors, an excellent production team and a high funding facility, as well as an excellent pitch.

My main audience for my media product are my piers, classmates, students, teachers and those who use it for an educational use. It is aimed to a mainstream audience of teenagers and students of both genders who enjoy Horror Thrillers (Chillers) that use a child as a key role for thrilling aspects. A typical person who fits into my target audience could be:

‘Benny, 21, Graphics Design student, works in Starbucks and loves going cinema most Friday’s with his girlfriend to watch scary movies to scare her. Shops in American Apparel and likes old fashion American dinner food.’

The theme of my film is a Horror Thriller and the most thrilling and scariest aspect of my film the child. I could market my film by making the lead role of the child a ‘star’ and attract audiences with his frightening appeal. I would advertise the child’s terrifying face or his toy or both or even the effect he has on people around him (death, shock, reactions) on billboards, bus posters, bus stops, trailers, television advertisements and internet website and campaigns. I think my attracting/addressing my film to popular restaurants like McDonalds would be inappropriate because restaurants promote families, fun and happiness while I promote the opposite of death, horror and shock.

From the process of constructing my media product, I have learned that technology plays a big part for it to be successful.

On a practical hands-on level, I have learned that using modern high quality up-to date digital cameras and using computers with up-to-date software’s allows filming and editing become easier and quicker to produce a film. Using modern cameras allows the visual and hearing aspects of film much clearer to watch and hear. Software’s like Final Cut Pro allow clips to be manipulated and have effects that can not be recorded through the camera lens. It allows the entering of text onto a clip to allow credits and subtitles the software.

Soundtrack Pro allows music to do anything it wants. You can create sounds that relate to the film and easily edit back and forth from different software’s if you are unhappy with outcomes with shot editing or sound editing. Soundtrack Pro has a variety of short sounds that constructed together can make a really good piece of film.

There are no boundaries when using these software’s. They help contribute towards the films plot and story through effects. It expands the genres of film and allows the impossible possible.

Other technologies I have used throughout this media project is the internet, both to record the filming process on a ‘blog’ and to research thrillers on sites like ‘Youtube.com’.

The internet has allowed me to do online blogging rather than developing a written diary, which has made the process of writing it far quicker and the quality of my writing better. The internet allows me to show my blogs clearly. The blogs allow me to present straight links and photos that I can upload that relates to what I am writing about. It is easy to access from any computer around the world and for teachers to view it and comment upon. You can edit any blog if necessary and it can not be lost like a book.

Also, the internet helps me for my research and analysis as I can access information and clips related to my work. Sites like ‘Youtube.com’ allow me to view mostly any clip I want for free at a fast rate. In addition, the internet allows me to upload my film on my blog and any video site including ‘Youtube.com’, which widens my potential audience for my product.

Cinema Visit - Preview of entire years Media Product

The entire media year had to visit the Vue cinema in Angel to view every groups media product in order to get feed back on other peoples reactions.

Once again, me and my groups reactions of our film were similar to those of my classmates who had previewed mine already. People in the cinema were shocked when the climax of the close up of the child's face had appeared. Me and my group had achieved to make our film thrilling.

Preview of Classes Media Products

The lesson following the final deadline to hand in the final media product, me and my group, and the other groups in my class watched each others opening sequence. My teacher Andrew had commented and analyzed upon each film.

The reactions and comments on our film were all positive. Me and my group had achieved to thrill our audience with a climax. When our classmates had watched our product, they where shocked when the climax of the child's face had reached.

Andrew had many comments about our film and seemed to be please without final outcome. He said he liked how we had twisted the connotations of an innocent child.

EVALUATION

My media product uses forms and conventions of real media products. The first convention that is used is the music used in the beginning. This is because the music is very quiet and you cant really hear much then suddenly the music goes harder and louder which makes the audiences hearts race because they know that something is going to happen but they don’t know what. So it keeps the audience engaged which will make them watch the whole film instead of getting bored. For example when we done a close-up shot of the child’s face we put the pitch of the music up and we also put a screaming voice in so it stuns the audience when they least expect it. Another element that we used which is usually used in real thrillers is the camera shots. The camera shots we used were mostly point of view shots to show what Ben was looking at. We also used close-up shots to show emphasis on a character or an object. Ben was dressed formally to show that he is a much older and sophisticated person; on the other hand we dressed Leon in dark clothes and a hoody as these clothes represent evil or a dark side. we also put my gloves on Leon which made him look inhuman. The location we chose was Priory Park, which is set near a few gravestones. This gave the park a sinister look which made the location perfect to film in. The devilish graffiti on the walls behind the swings worked well to create a scary atmosphere.

My media product represents people that are interested in spooky mysterious things. my media product will attract these people because my film is very mysterious and you never know what is going to happen. The characters are also very mysterious as the audience don’t know who Leon (the ghost) is, the only thing that they know is that he is a mysterious inhuman creature. There are only two characters in my film which is Ben (the man) and Leon (the ghost).

I would want my movie to be a big Hollywood blockbuster and get lots of media attention. it should be distributed across the world not just England. my film should be first released in cinemas like ‘CineWorld’, it should be later released on DVD and blue ray.

The audience for my media product would be middle class young adults or teenagers aged between 15 and 25. A typical person that would fit the characteristics of my target audience is ‘Jack aged 17 who goes to college and loves watching horror and thriller films. In his free time he goes to the cinemas with his friends to watch a movie’.

My film should be a big Hollywood blockbuster so I would attract my audience by having a well known actor starring in the film. I would advertise my film on channels such as film four, sky movies etc. The trailer should be shown every 30 minutes so that my film gets as many viewers as possible. I will also advertise on billboards and put promotions on McDonalds such as two tickets for the price of one with every Big Mac.

I have learnt a lot about technologies from the process of constructing my thriller trailer. Firstly on the hands-on-level, i experienced how to use a camera and film from different angles. I also learnt how to use the different functions on the camera such as the on and off button also the forward/rewind functions. We were also taught how to use different effects such as black and white, sepia etc. I also learnt how to use Final cut pro which is a programme that we used in order to edit our film. I learnt how to log and capture my footage and upload it onto the computer. After logging and capturing i put all the clips together and it started to look more and more like a real thriller opening. I also tried out some transitions even though we didn’t use it in the opening because we thought that transitions would make the opening look more like a music video. We added titles and credits using Final Cut pro. We also put soundtrack into the film. For example we created footsteps noises when a character was walking and a dropping noise when the man drops the teddy on the floor.

I also learnt how to use blogger to leave a blog of what we covered/done every day of the filming process. For this i had to use the internet so most of the evaluating process was done on the internet. I was taught how to upload our film onto the internet (blogger). We had to upload our videos onto our blog so that we could talk about the film while it could be viewed at the same time. The internet allowed my film to have more viewers as the internet is accessible by everyone.

We did match cutting exercises on the computer where we had to put a few clips together in chronological order showing one movement from lots of different angles. This helped me because we had to do match cutting in our thriller opening in order to get more marks and make the thriller look more exciting. I learnt that making a storyboard before making the film is really important so that we know exactly what to film and where to film. During our practice videos we had to do a storyboard before we started filming, which helped a lot because we didn’t know what we were doing half the time so we just went back to the storyboard to see what we were missing. I’ve learnt that it is best to plan before filming as i have learnt from my mistakes because my group lost our storyboard and we found it very hard to film as we didn’t know what we were doing.

Problems we faced while filming

We faced a few problems while we were filming:

* A close up shot of the Teddy could not be found in the footage.

* Tripod and someone's shoe could be seen at one point in a clip.

* Shadows seen after the actor walks off!

* The direction of the car was at the wrong side. (180 degree rule)

Locations

We had a few locations in our minds where we wanted to shoot our thriller.
The locations we had in mind were:

1. Regent Park- we were not allowed to film there

2. Angel Park- another group were filming there

3. GraveYard- another group were filming there

4. Chose Piory Park as it had the right setting which would crreate the right atmosphere that we wanted

Music

We needed music in order to make our thriller film sound more like a real thriller. for example we put footsteps sounds on when the characters were walking. We also put a high pitched scream when the close up of the boys face showed.

in the beggining we used slow music becuase it makes the audience think that everything is going ok but then the music builds and tense music is used throughout the clip so that it keeps the audience engaged and so that they dont expect anything to happen then suddenly the boy comes out of knowhere.

props

To create a ghost effect we put baby powder and eyeliner on the kids face which made him look reali scary.

we also used other props such as: a bag, a teddy and a newspaper

Evaluation

Evaluation

My thriller opening explores the thrilling aspect of a man being followed by a mysterious boy. This idea was given to me and my group after we looked at the film, 'The Omen'. I liked the way the child played such a key role in the thrilling side of the film, so I wanted our child actor to be the main focal point of our opening. The opening shows a man being watched from behind a tree as he puts down a teddy onto a gravestone. The camera follows this unknown figure throughout the opening, the audience are suddenly introduced to a boy. This boy shows clearly he is unusual because of the facial expressions; he is holding the same teddy which was put onto the gravestone. From watching 'The Omen' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv2CQ4ljvDM my group and I noticed that the camera used close-ups when a scene reached its climax. The editing I did shows a change in pace from slow to fast, this adds anticipation which makes the audience want to watch more.

I have two main characters both boys but from different age groups. The man who is being followed is in his early twenty's, the connotations tied to him from his clothes; which are a black trench coat and trousers, is that he is someone who has responsibilities. There is a contrast from him and the younger boy who is dressed completely different from him. The boy has a hoody on which straight away gives the audience a feeling that he will be trouble. This is due to the representation of younger children in society today who dress in hoody's. My group and I wanted the audience to see the difference between both; I made sure of this through the props which were used.

My thriller would be distributed in small number of UK 'arthouse' cinemas. This is because my thriller would not have the features that a Hollywood blockbuster has. These are extravagant props and the setting would be more professional. Hollywood Blockbusters would have access to better facilities. The audience for my thriller would be from a range of age groups. My opening shows some thrilling clips this would mean the film cannot be watched by youngsters; making my thriller an eighteen plus would ensure this. A typical person who would fit into my audience would be a girl/boy preferably a student who likes to go cinemas in the weekends. They study media studies or have an interest in the media world.

I would have trailers to advertise my thriller; I would like the thriller to be shown on channels such as the BBC, ITV and Film Four. These would get my low budget film noticed more; it would appeal to the ages I want it to appeal to. Another idea would be for the title of my thriller to be mentioned in a soap or a programme like 'Ant and Dec', this would show the high interest in the thriller. Internet sites like Myspace can help me promote the film, interviews with cast members and behind the scenes footage on the site will give people more information about the film. Sites like http://www.channel4.com/film/cinemadvd/cinema_newreleases.html would have my thriller on it. The genre being thrilling would mean my thriller would not be shown on channels such as 'Disney Channel'.

Filming was very difficult to what I had in mind. The weather made filming very difficult at times like when it was raining; I needed to make sure the camera didn't get wet this meant half the group holding umbrellas over the camera. Using final cut pro was a very long process; as me and my group members had to cut the footage and then had to decide how long we wanted the clips. The soundtrack I found very hard as some of the sounds just didn't go with our thriller, the beginning of the opening just consisted of the man looking at the grave and then walking into the park. I needed something slow and thrilling which me and my group eventually found. We worked with the pitch which made the music high and low at certain points in the thriller opening. This helped my group and I finally find the right music. The internet helped me look at 'the omen' which is what inspired my opening to be made. The internet was a very good source for research and helped a lot. http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/omen/ sites such as this had reviews on ‘The Omen’, I looked at these and gathered information. I have learnt a lot of things that I never understood about the film- making industry. I've learnt how to: film appropriately, log and capture footage, put effects on footage, do match cuts which I did not know existed. I now know how to make a whole soundtrack of my own and be able to use the iMac’s efficiently. Editing was hard as my group and I had done a lot of filming, so we had a lot of footage to go through. My group and I took it in turns to log and capture and it was much faster this way. The editing involved putting credits on which I did after I had our final opening sequence, this was an easy process which didn’t take long but I had to think about the font as it couldn’t be to bright or too dull.

I have learnt that it is always best to plan before filming, my group and I had many ideas but realised that many were impossible to film. When planning and making the storyboard you have to think about what would work and what would not work. My group at the beginning did not have a clear plan this caused problems, we had little time and took a very long time finding a suitable location. Working as a team is very important because if a group does not work well together it will show clearly on their thriller. My group and I worked together and made sure everyone knew what they were doing; we wanted to produce the best and knew only this could be done if we put all our ideas together. Overall, I think that my thriller does what me and my group wanted it to do. My audience would be attracted to the opening; my ideas on how to address them would also work. There are many connotations tied to certain aspects in our opening which will be understood by the viewers. The mise-en-scence of our thriller opening works well, the location, actors, props and lighting all played a key role in making our thriller reach its best.


TASNIMA CHOUDHURY Y60946

Props

To make the child look scary, powder and eyeliner was added. Other props include: Newspaper, Bag, and Teddy.

Music

We needed music to go with the footsteps the characters were making, the extreme close up of the younger boys face and the title comming up onto the screen.
The beginning had nothing much happening as it is just the man visiting a grave, we needed slow music to go with this, but the music also had to alert the audience something was going to happen.

Locations

Locations we wanted to do:

*Regent Park

*Angel Park

*GraveYard

Chose Piory Park as it had the right settings for our opening.

Problems while editing

While editing we had a few problems:

* A close up shot of the Teddy could not be found in the footage.

* Tripod and someone's shoe could be seen at one point in a clip.

* Shadows seen after the actor walks off!

* The direction of the car was at the wrong side.

Deadline for Media Product - Editing & Sound

Editing

Logging & Capturing 124 CLIPS!

Me and my group planned to begin editing our shots together but first had to separate each shot by the process of logging and capturing.

This involved playing the entire tape and manually logging when the shot begins and capturing the shot until it ends. I had to do this process for each shot. This process had continued until nearly the end of the lesson and had added up to 124 shots. As there were so many shots, I was unable to rename them as there was not enough time, which made it harder for me to identify each shot without looking at each shot individually. This would cause problem as I would waste time looking back and forth at shots trying to preview each one.

Filming on a quiet Sunny Thursday - 'Mans Parts'

First day Filming (REALLY!) on a Sunny Saturday - 'Child Parts'

Booked a camera for the weekend

Me and my group booked a camera out for the weekend because I was able to get access to use my nephew for the Saturday to film him as the child.

We planned to film all parts of the child when he watches the man, the child's reaction shots and shot of when he walks up to the man and gives the toy.

We planned to leave all the equipment at Tasnima's house because she lives the closest to the college and the location.

Lost Tape!

After the unexpected effects of snow that had delayed filming, the weather and frost had cleared and we had planned to continue filming more shots of the man, but our tape seemed to have been misplaced and missing. We were unable to retrieve it back and was given a new tape.

Even though we had logged and captured the scenes on the tape we had lost, we planned to film all the shots again because the mise en scene of our location had changed because of the snow and thought the sudden change in the mise en scene would appear strangely.

We had filmed again some shots of the man at the gravestone.

The effects of Snow

On my next long session, me and my group were unable to film because of the sudden havok of snow upon London. The weather had left the streets unsafe for anyone in my group to film and the scenary of white snow would complelety change the mise en scene. The weather made it unsafe to film, a caution for the equiptment and a difficulty to make shots filmed on different days to make sense.

Editing the shots we had

On my short lesson, me and my group planned to log and capture the shots we had taken and edit them together to recap on what shots we had taken, see if they were useful and to see if they made sense together.

The shots I edited together sets the scene of me placing a toy by a grave stone, then walking away. The next scene I edited together sets the scene of me making my way to a bench.

First day filming - AGAIN!

On my longer lesson, me and my group packed up our equipment and took it for a 10 minute walk down the road to our new and better location, Piory Park!

Me and my group had planned to film scenes of the man at a graveyard placing a toy on a gravestone and him making his way to a bench.

We choose to shoot these scenes because we could only film parts of me as the man on days where we had lessons and parts of my nephew as the child on a weekend, so it made scene to film these scenes of the man without the child present.

Titles for our first thriller opening idea..

Child Abduction Agency
Vamos Nino (Lets Go Children) --- IN SPANISH.
Abduction
The Snatcher
The Watcher
Child's Play

TAPE GOT LOST!

While we were filming our thriller, we had to film on a lesson day, suddenly the tape was gone It wasnt in our drawer, we were lucky as we hadn't filmed much. We searched and searched bt couldnt find it. So Dan had to give us a new tape. Things didnt look good.




The tape was then found a week or so after, when we had done pretty much all the filming!!!!

First editing session to see what it looke dlike so far

single session, not enough time to film

Filming Child's part on a Sunny Saturday

booked camera out to film leon on teh weekend

Slightly changing the Plot - AGAIN!

At last minute we decided to slightly change our plot again for these reasons:

• Another group in my class were doing a similar plot about a kidnap in a park
• We could not find someone to play as the mother
• We had better ideas because of the scenery of our new location
• We thought the part with the child and the mother entering the park did not make sense if the child ends up disappearing, leaving the mother alone in the park
  

Changes to our plot:

• Remove child and mother entering park
• Start scene with the man at a gravestone placing a toy on it, then makes his way to the bench
• Replace the drawing with a toy, to show relation to the placement on the gravestone
• Child gives man the toy instead of the old prop of a drawing
• After Child gives toy to the man, he runs out the park and the man follows the child, but leads him to his death by getting run over by a car

Descriptive Development on plot/Main Storyboard


Key images


Icons

• Park: Location - Place where children like to play
• Toy: Reveals the dead child's dearest pocession
  

Lighting

• Natural Light - Sunny weather

Camerawork


Setting and Locations

• Park - Needs Swings and a Bench
• Natural Lighting
• Weather not bothered but rainy gloomy day preferred but dry sunny day is best for filming
  
• Location: Pyrey Park near Pentonville road (10 min walk)
  

Music

• Climaxing
• Heartbeats
• Bangs
• Slow and quiet leading to fast and loud
• Wind noises

Props

1. Newspaper
2. TOY!

...but found a better loaction!

On our way back to return the equipment to college because of the problems that had risen when we reached our initial location at Regents Park, we had stopped by at Pentonville road to preview another location we had planned to use. We went to Piory Park and saw that it was better!

This new location we went to view was better because:

• It is a 10 minutes walk from college
• It is located behind where my nephew lives, so it would be easy to travel for him
• It had a playground with a swings, benches and other activities.
• It unusually had gravestones near the playground!

This location is definatly where we are going to film as it was suitable, easily accessible and no one was hardly using the area.

First day filming? - Denied permission to film at Regents park playground...

On our short lesson on Monday, we packed up the equipment and took the bus to Regents Park. We planned to film some parts of me entering the scene and reaction shots but there was a problem.

We went to our location and saw the gate of the playground was closed. I saw the notice board and rang the playground officers number.

I asked if we were able to film in the playground and we were denied for these reasons:

• The playground did not permit people without children to enter.
• The playground is closed during this period because of the weather.

We had to leave and find another location. On the way back to return the equipment to college, our other planned location was on the way, so we stopped by to see if it was suitable and had no problems.

Production Schedule

Me and my group planned to film my parts as 'the man who dies' on days when we had lessons and film parts with my nephew playing as 'the child' and 'his mother' on a weekend when he is free. This means I need to and research when the weather is good so that I can schedule a day on a weekend to borrow my nephew . A soon as I have researched the weather, me and my group can book a camera.

When we book a camera, we plan to leave all the equipment at Tasnima's house because she lives the nearest from the college.

As me and my group are filming different parts on different days, we realized that the mise en scene (weather, surroundings etc.) , costumes and props needs to be exactly or similarly the same, so that the film does not appear strange or have out of place shots.

I need to research the weather as a change in weather could change the mise en scene.

Costumes

Man - Smart, Casual, Black, preferably suit or long jacket and black trousers and shoes

Child - Rebel, Hoodie

Mother - Youthful, Feminine

Props

Newspaper

Drawing

Casting

Me and my group had to decide on the casting of the characters in our plot. We needed people to play the man, the child and the mother. I took the role as the man as everyone else in my group was female and I was able to use my nephew to play as the child, but he was only available on the weekends and for only a few hours as he may get board or tired. This meant as a group we had to commit into filming outside lesson time. We lastly needed to find a woman to play the mother, but no one in my group wanted to play the role. We were unable to find some one to cast the mother, which resulted us to tweak and change parts of the plot again.

Possible Titles for initial Pitch

• Child Abduction Agency
• Vamos Nino (Lets Go Children)
• Abduction
• The Snatcher
• The Watcher
• Child's Play
  

New Pitch - Change in Plot and Storyboard

Me and my group were under discussions of scraping our initial pitch as we found out that another group in our class were developing the same plot about a child being kidnapped in a park. Also, we agreed that the story of a child being stalked was very cliche and predictable in the relation to the theme of thrillers.

Me and my groups new plot was influenced by our past analysis on the film 'The Shining' and on our own knowledge of the film 'The Omen'. Our new plot involved the opposite of our initial one, instead we had the child stalking the adult, creating the child to be the dangerous 'baddie' and the adult to be the innocent 'goodie'.

Descriptive Development on plot/Main Storyboard

1. Man sitting down on bench reading newspaper
2. Mother and child come into the area, child goes on swing and mother walks around the area
3. Child sits on swing and turns his head looking at the man
4. Man constantly looks at child
5. Child and man stair at each other
   
6. Man looks down back at newspaper and turns pages
7. Man looks up to see child but they have seem to have disappeared
   
8. Man turns his head looking for child
9. Man turns to see the child is sitting next to him
10. Child gives him a piece of paper
11. Child disappears again as man looks back up
12. Man looks at paper given by child
    
13. Flashback of child drawing picture
14. Man has a fit and blood pours out his eyes
15. Man dyes dropping the paper showing a drawing of the man dead on a bench

Key images

• Mother and child walking into park
• Man watching child and walking towards him
• Child giving man piece of paper
• Man dying
• Flashback of child drawing
  
• Drawing on the paper
  

Icons

• Park: Location - Place where children like to play
• Drawing: Reveals the child drew the mans future and end
  

Lighting

• Natural Light - Sunny weather
• Black and white editing when child is drawing to show that time has gone backwards to show a flashback
  

Camerawork

• Over the shoulder of man showing child on the swing in the distance - Shows the view in front of the man
  

• Close up of child sitting down on swing looking at man - Shows that child is watching man in the distance
• Close ups of shot/reverse shots of man and child's faces - Shows tension when staring at each other
• Low angle tilt behind piece of paper when man looks at it - Gives suspense on what the child gave to the man as the content of the paper is not revealed
• Point of view shot of child drawing - Shows process of creating the content of the paper
• Close up of man having a a fit and blood pour from his eyes - Shows grotesque imagery
• Close up of dropping of the paper and revealing the drawing on the paper - Reveals the suspense of the content of the piece of paper
  

Setting and Locations

• Park - Needs Swings and a Bench
• Natural Lighting
• Weather not bothered but rainy gloomy day preferred but dry sunny day is best for filming
  
• Possible Locations:
  

1. Regents Park Playground (15 min on bus)
   
2. Park near Angel by Sainsbury's (10 min walk)
   
3. Piory Park near Pentonville road (10 min walk)
   

Music

• Climaxing
• Heartbeats
• Bangs
• Slow and quiet leading to fast and loud
• Wind noises

Props

1. Newspaper
2. Drawing
   

Preparation for pitch

Me and my group had discussed various ideas for our thriller opening and had decided to develop on a plot about a child being kidnapped in a park.

Descriptive Development on plot/Main Storyboard

1. A Shaky secret shot behind a bush of a mother and child walking into a park in a distance.
2. The child resides itself to the swings while the mother strolls around the area.
3. The child sitting on the swing, kicking their legs and singing while holding a lollipop.
4. In the corner of a shot of the child, you see a man standing watching the child in a distance.
5. Interesting slow pace shots of man walking to child.
6. Shot/Reverse shots of child and man while he walks over to child.
7. Shot of man putting his hand on child's shoulder
8. Child looks straight at man smiling
9. Shot of mother turning around calling child, finding her child is not at the swings anymore. She runs to the swing finding a card saying the title of the film.

Key images

• Mother and child walking into park
• Man watching child and walking towards him
• Mother sees no sight of child and finds the lollipop and card

Icons

• Park: Location - Place where children like to play
• Lollipop: Sweet enjoyed by children - Shows identity
  
• Business Card: Profession of a person - Shows kidnappers plans and intelligence and finds his abduction a game or a joke

Setting and Locations

• Park - Needs Swings and a Bench
• Natural Lighting
• Weather not bothered but rainy gloomy day preferred but dry sunny day is best for filming
  
• Possible Locations:
  

1. Regents Park Playground (15 min on bus)
   
2. Park near Angel by Sainsbury's (10 min walk)
   
3. Pyrey Park near Pentonville road (10 min walk)
   

Music

• Climaxing
• Heartbeats
• Bangs
• Slow and quiet leading to fast and loud
• Wind noises

Props

1. Lollipop
2. Business Card

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