Story Boards...

Today we finished the storyboards and uploaded them, unfortunately some of the writing is not visable on here as we wrote it in pencil on the actualy boards, but we will go over the actuall ones in black pen before they are submitted to the exam board. There are around 6 boards in total. It is not so clear on here but the shots are numbered 1- about 30. However there were ones which we missed like some establishing shots and close-ups so we drew them on a seperate storyboard and wrote for example: 25.5 or 7.5 in the appropritae box. Hense why it looks like there are gaps.

Here are the storyboards:

This one describes the initial setting in the house, where she is plotting, putting lipstick on and looking at her shrine

Here she is placing the weapons in in her bag and there is the morph from our inside setting to our outside setting.

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Here is the body of the boys new girlfriend, forshadowed in the film with the weapon covered in blood. (future shot)

Here is the Ex , making her way to her ex boyfiend and his new girlfriend while the camera forshadows the new girlfriends death.  

As you can vaguely see it says 'extrashots which we need to include' therefore we have placed some establishing shots and the extra narrative of the hospital which branches off.

Here is the Ex , destroying her shrine and drawing all over his new girlfriends face in red pen.

Here is our final board with some last minute shots that we wish to include like some closeups of the cheat shrine, closeupof the telephone and mobile phone and of a Pyciatric profile of the killer (Ex).

 

 

Making Our Story Boards.

Today we have been drawing up our Story Boards, for the plot we decided to go with. Here is the template, similar to the  of the boards we are using.

Similar Story Board.

When we draw a picture in the box, we also have to include, brief notes about it and what is actually happening. The shot-type, the mise-en-scene involved, the sound which will go with it and the duration, how long this will be visabke for. Of course we know that our final product probably wont resemble what we have on our story board as will pick, select and change things which look good or not so good while filming. However it is good and less confusing that we have a nice accurate tightly woven plan unfolding!

Our Final Plot. The One We Plan To Use.

After being creative thinking up idea's about what we could have as a plot, we were initially going to use Idea A, but we realised this is far to complex and complicated for a 2 minute opening and when thinking what we would use in our script and opening sequence we decided to simplify things so why not do the same with our plot. As we liked the idea of fast cuts which moved from one area to another we came up with this:

Overall, (Background and Context) There is a Girl and a Boy who used to be a couple, the boy cheated on the girl and now has a new girlfriend. His Ex was left distraught and went off the rails, she began stalking them, taking pictures of them and making a shrine on her wall of them together. The two minute opening is the Ex plotting to go out and kill them.

We will begin in the Ex's house. Looking in the mirror in her bedroom, putting red lip stick on, aligning weapons on her bed and staring at her shrine, then placing them in her bag ready to go out.

The camera will zoom into her bag with the knife in, then when it zooms out she will be out side with the bag on her shoulder, with the knife inside.

This setting will be in Towneley Park, Burnley. Where there is plenty of woodland and paths. There will be a series of shots of her walking and cuts of the shrine inbetween.

We will also cut away to Burnley General Hospital, where a women will ring the Ex. When she looks at her phone while walking it will say Hospital (shrink).

Then she comes to the couple, with the boy who she is in love with and his new girlfriend.

The film will cut back to her in her bedroom scribling with red marker on the shrine, all over the face of his new girlfriend. She will then Tear it down and we will cut back to his new girlfriend lead dead on the floor, with the murder, his ex walking away from the scene.

It can be argued that what is left for the rest of the film however, the fact that the love of her life, her Ex boyfriend is not to be seen and the Psychiatrist (shrink) knows that the girl didn't answer her phone for an important appointment shows that... there is still a storyline to go down. Also will she be caught? is what the audience can wonder....

Planning / Writing our script.

We had to start thinking about speech and dialect in our film which we would like to include. We started to write up huge chunks of dialogue between characters for example: There was going to a scene where the Main Actor and his new girl friend had been out for a romantic day and were coming back home while being watched by his EX who was planning to kill them both. The dialogue between the Main character and Girlfriend was things like

"oh I had a great day to day!"
"Thanks for a lovely time, ive really enjoyed myself"
"We will definately have to do this again sometime"
"yeah sure I really like spending time with you"

Then, of course we realised how "cheesy" and Cliche it sounded and decided to completely SCAP the idea.
We came to the conclusion that we wanted no dialogue what so ever. We just wanted pure, finely edited, tight cuts with a clear narrative put together to create an opening sequence.

Planning our Opening Sequence.

In Todays lesson, After watching the title sequence to Trauma and looking back at some of the media AS Examples from YouTube...we found it easy to create our own title sequence.

We decided we wanted to simplify things, make the shots quick, choppy and yet effective. We listed the shots we wanted, as sort of a rough first draft idea.

1. Establishing shot of our chosen setting

2. Extreme close-up on main character’s face looking into a mirror (Antagonist)

3. Mid shot of character in setting looking into mirror from behind.

4. Cutaway to murder

5. Back to character assembling weapons

6. Close-up on hand stroking over weapons

7. Foreshadowing suture shot to same weapon covered in blood

8.  Another establishing shot with glimpse of victim

9 . Close-up of victim

10. Back to close-up of Murderer looking in the mirror.

Idea For Narrative (C)

Idea C

Visual Style: Happy Times, Extremely bright and colourful, Scared and tormented becomes Black and white, dark, dull and dingy.

Characters: Katie, Stacy and Leah. Best friends, since little.

 
Location: Flashbacks in various settings: Shopping, at school, eating out, one of their birthdays’s ect...the rest setting of from one of their house’s and going into a forest.

Narrative: The three girls setting off to forest, all hyped up about camping. They reach the forest and pitch their tent, get in and get food + Alcohol out, getting to dusk by now. Begin telling stories with torch. Series of creepy noises outside, suspense building... Tent moves. One gets out assuming it is one of their boyfriends messing around and doesn’t return. Then it cuts to dead body, blood and hair. It ends one of the other girls getting physically dragged out of tent.

Idea For Narrative (B)

Idea B

Visual Style: Colour, normal tone.

Characters: Two best friends. Hannah-Laura -Jade-Melissa-Murderer- A Man (AR)

Location: A Bedroom, with laptop. A Park/woods where she goes to meet murderer (unknowingly)

Narrative: The two best friends are on the internet, talking about typical teenager things i.e. boys and looking at ones they know on the internet. Then Jade says she has been talking to this one in particular who she does not know but his picture looks 'hot' so she talks to him, asking Hannah for advise as she goes along. He admits that he lives nearby and would like to meet her, Hannah encourages her to go. As she is walking there is flashes or a creepy man, Picture on face book to picture in real life (completely different) . He then murders her, Cuts to Hannah at home waiting... She receives a text, of Jades phone, saying: " Come meet us, he's brought his friend.

Idea For Narrative (A)

Idea A
Visual Style:
Happy Times, in Colour. Bad Times, in Black and White and eerie.

Characters:
Myra, physcho killer. (Laura Whitaker)
Lucy, lady cheat,seductive. (Melissa Little)
Tony, Cheating boyfriend. (Arron Cawtherley)
Jennifer, Naive, housewife. (Hayley Ried)

Location:
Nicole's House + (The Delph Fields)- Nightime
Towneley Park, Daytime.

Narrative:
Tony and jennifer are portraying all the signs of a happy couple, in love and optomistic. They have been out for a lovely day, come and ate a romantic meal. Tony gets a text (from Lucy) message from another girl. FLASH to Myra ( pictures of tony on picture board, with cheat in red writing written across. Tony goes out to go and meet Lucy, pretending to walk the dog. FLASH to Myra, who is following a girl, (Lucy) with evil look in her eye. FLASH to Myra's house and pictures of Lucy and Tony together with giant "X"'s through. CUT forward, Lucy dead in forrest. Myra Follwing Tony, shows Murder scene. While cutting back to Jennifer at home, waiting drinking red wine. Myra goes and knocks on Jennifers door, She answers and drops glass of wine. END.

Deciding on our narrative...

 

In Today’s lesson it was time to start thinking about a narrative which we could use in our films, we were told to plan three as a sort of plan A B C sort of thing, if one doesn’t work we can go on to the next, and so on. In the Plans we included Visual style of our film, characters within it, the location and the narrative. 

They are ranked in the order of the favourite and the one which we are probably going to attempt, idea A being the best. However these ideas are not set in stone and we will probably develop, change or elaborate on them when drawing up story boards and even in film production.  I Have Posted the Ides as separate blogs, to keep confusion to a minimal.

Generic Conventions of Horror Films.

As we have chosen to do a Horror/Thriller opening, this lesson we have been researching the generic conventions of Horror and Thriller films, so we have an idea about what to include so we can fulfil the criteria of a good horror/thriller and make it easy for the audience to understand and know the genre instantly.

Generic conventions of a Horror Film:

A Horror aims to create a combination of fear and fascination for its audience. This genre can include the supernatural medical or psychological ideologies, in order to create the perfect sequence.

History of Horror Films: It seemed to stem from the gothic tradition in literature, in the 18^th and 19^th century which included dark settings, gross descriptions and brooding menace- inspirations were: Mary Shelly , HG Wells and Edgar Allen Poe and many more.

Characters:   A Killer (Usually identity is hidden or there is a twist),Victims –Male & Female, Innocent Child/ children, A possessed/disturbed child, A Suspicious Hotel/property owner, Detective characters.

Mise-en-scene: A Knife, Blood, Forest/ Wood, Shack, Derelict properties, Fire, weapons.

Visual Style: Low Key Lighting, Shadows, Close-Ups, Low Angle Shots, Medium Shots, Shots Of Characters, Reflection In One Or More Mirrors, Usually Dark (Set At Night), Location Shooting & Studio Shooting.

Themes: Violence, Gore, Suspense, Thriller and there can be some Comedy/ Humour, Hysteria.

Settings: Woods/ Forest, Trapped In A Maze, in the Street, at a School, within a town or City, Horror Can Usually Be Set Anywhere, as long as the other factors like visual style, themes and characters all match the genre.

Extra Research.

As Part of more reseach, when watching TV myself and other group members have been looking out for things we could use for inspiration. On an episode of Hollyoaks a young girl 'india' was kidnapped and murdered, we thought that the screenplay of not actually showing the murder but seeing the events before it and the after math of her death worked really well. As we are on a minscule budget creating a muder scene is very diffucult and tends not to look very effective and more on the 'tacky' side. Henseforth here is the clip:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Nicolestephenson94?feature=mhum#p/c/B5519A75CF7B8237/6/sQYKbUPdDrI

INCLUDE SCREEN SHOT AND BASIC SUMMARY.

Choosing our Genre.

Choosing a Genre is difficult, however me and Laura instantly new we wanted to go down the Horror/Thriller route with a chilling black and white video. We decided this because they always tend to look more effective than trying to create a low-budget Rom-com, Drama or Action sequence.

We researched some thriller/Horror sequences we liked the look of on YouTube, then we wrote what we liked about them and what we could use out of them in our own film. This is what we basically did in today’s lesson, but really enjoyed viewing other people’s films as it was giving us lots of ideas. They are all AS Media Studies Examples from YouTube, they all have similar conventions, themes, plots and the same sort of gritty look, and here they are:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Nicolestephenson94?feature=mhum#p/a/B5519A75CF7B8237/0/tODtjmGzo7k

(screenshot)- (A summary sentence about what we like and what we could use in our own)

http://www.youtube.com/user/Nicolestephenson94?feature=mhum#p/a/B5519A75CF7B8237/1/C1xx2oZy-Nk

(Screen Shot)- (A summary sentence about what we like and what we could use in our own)

http://www.youtube.com/user/Nicolestephenson94?feature=mhum#p/a/B5519A75CF7B8237/2/RRHFRCU-S8Q

(Screen Shot)- (A summary sentence about what we like and what we could use in our own)

http://www.youtube.com/user/Nicolestephenson94?feature=mhum#p/c/B5519A75CF7B8237/3/lbNwU6nfJfw

(Screen Shot)- (A summary sentence about what we like and what we could use in our own)

http://www.youtube.com/user/Nicolestephenson94?feature=mhum#p/c/B5519A75CF7B8237/4/VFHnkKpQof0

(Screen Shot)- (A summary sentence about what we like and what we could use in our own)

http://www.youtube.com/user/Nicolestephenson94?feature=mhum#p/c/B5519A75CF7B8237/5/TzsoU254zBU

(Screen Shot)- (A summary sentence about what we like and what we could use in our own)

Group Deciding and Assigning Roles.

In today’s lesson we began to choose groups to be with people who we wished to work with for our project. I chose to work in a Two/Pair with my Friend, Laura. Between the Two of us e assigned our selves roles:

Researcher- Both – This includes finding out about the filming process and the generic conventions of our chosen genre.

 Planner- Laura-Planning the storyline, beginning middle and end plot.

Story Boarder- Nicole (me)-I will be responsible for drawing up our plot onto our story board and writing the appropriate camera shots; mise-en-scene; lighting and sound next to them.

Scriptwriter- Laura-Writing down all the dialogue we plan to use in the film.  

Location- Both-This includes Choosing and organising where we will set our film.

Props- Both- We will both be responsible for making the props which will be in our film.

Actors-Laura- She will select the people we want in our film and ask them to be in it.

Camera Op- Nicole (me) - I will get most of the shots and control the Camera.

Director- Nicole (me) Also, I will tell people where to stand and generally direct them.

Editor- Both- Editing will be a joint responsibility for both of us to do.

These job roles will probably change and we will both help each other with them making sure we both make equal contribution.

Priliminary Task

Here is the first very basic video, we created as apart of our research and planning. It was just to practice editing techniques and different camera techniques. we were not at all pleased with it, it was done very roughly in a short amount of time, in college and we were just coming to terms with usung the camera i.e. the zoom button was very difficult to use and this is shown the the rough film through the tromboning and backwards zooms, which dont look very smooth cut at all.

Screen grab:

We also decided not to spend alot of time editing but to leave it basic and concentrate on our real, film opening sequence.

Video: (We Had problems Uploading this)

Becoming Familar with Camera Equipment + Terms...

The Camera Equipment, as mentioned in my first Blog entry was difficult to get used to. We have already Practically set it up and played about testing out the different buttons on the Camera and adjusting the tri-pod so instead to day I tried a theory based approached by looking at pictures of the Camera and The Tri-pod with labelled descriptions of  all the different parts with what they are called and what they do. This will help us when we start filming our project as it will help us remember where everything is and what it is used for.

 

These were Very usefull and many of the names of the buttons and devices on the Tri-pod have been rememberd well by Myself and other group members due to these images... which will hopefully be usefull when filming.