Thriller's that are similar to our chosen idea.

The Mad Magician 
1954
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047200/

The Magician 
1926
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017103/

Our thriller.

Our final decision for our thriller is going to be based on a murdering magician. The reason we chose to do this thriller is because it's quite an unlikely situation therefore people will not of seen it before and ultimately find it scarier. The set is going to be set in the 1950's era giving it a sophisticated atmosphere. We want our set to look like a grand burlesque club with all the guests dressed smartly. There will be small private tables surrounding the stage where the Magician will be presenting his tricks. Our magician is going to be very smartly dressed with a top hat that will shadow his eyes, so it doesn't give to much of his identity away. He will also be with a glamorous assistant, we will be having up closes of his face to represent a creepier and darker side to him. The story line of our 2 minute thriller clip will be the magician getting a member of the audience onto the stage, representing a trick, the trick will go smoothly from the audience's point of view but little do they know he has actually murdered her.


Here is an example of a tracking shot. In our thriller we will be using a continuous tracking shot so its one flowing shot of the magician and what he is going to do. The shot will start off going through the audience and then stop by one table as we watch the magician's assistant picking a woman from the audience. The shot then continues around as we see the woman that has been picked walk up onto the stage and climb into the box. The camera tracks around the back of the box and we again see the audience, the blood pours out of the box and we see the reactions of the audience.

Shot Types and camera movement.

What is a Horror/ Thriller ?

Conventions of a Horror Movie or Horror Iconography

Here I have made a list of things and feelings that we associate with Horror Films that scare us:
Blood
Suspense
Screaming
Death
A Weapon - An Axe
A Fear - Spiders
Contrapuntal Music - Disjointed Music
Usually at night time
Secluded area
Creepy House
Pain
Bad Weather
Psycopath
Horrible noises - screaching
Small confined spaces
Bent trees - no leaves
Someones always alone
Massacre
Black cats
Protagonist
Antagonist
Black magic
Ghost's
Chase sequences
Swamps
Faulty lights
A woman always dies first ( we see this clearly in Scream, when the blond girl is murdered at the beginning)
Inept police
Scary children
Dolls
Clowns
Delapadated buildings
Cars breaking down

Final Thriller ideas on powerpoint

Our final thriller idea

View more presentations from hurtwoodhousemedia5.

Denotation and Connotation

Denotation and Connotation

Mood Board

• My fears
• Spiders - Im scared of spiders because of the way they move.
• Being late- I hate being late because it interruptys everything else.
• My car breaking down in the middle of nowhere- I have a fear of my car breaking down in the middle of nowhere because in lots of horror films thats how many of them start. And also the fear of not knowing what could be lerking out there.
• Something happening when im babysitting- I have a fear of something happening when im babysitting because you are the one in charge and have the responsibility of the person you are caring for. Also again in quite aq few horror films this is the base of the story.
• The sea- I have a fear of the sea because you never know when it can change and how strong & violent it can be.
• Being stranded somewhere- Im scared of being stranded somewhere and not being able to contact anyone, the thought of everyone wondering where i could be and not being able to tell them scares me too.

   










Prelim Post Production Blog

Once we had all the footage from our Prelim task we used Final Cut pro to edit it. We did this by going onto the programme, retrieving all our footage and checking it out. We checked it out in order to edit and and keep it safe.

Logging Shots
Firstly we looked through our footage and decided on which shots we liked the best. We created a log bin, in which we moved the shots to, to keep them safe. We created a log bin so we could access all our footage in one place. Having it in all the same place meant we didnt hace to take time filtering through shots we didn't want.

Organising our shots.
We used the story board as a guide line for the order of shots. We took the shots we wanted and moved it down onto the story line. Because the shots were of the whole scene we used the cursor and cut when necessary, we did this to all our shots then moved them down and fitted them together so the story made sense.

Shot Order and Editing
The order of the shots was important as they had to be placed together so they told a story and made sense. For example you wouldnt use a close up, instead it would be better starting the beginning of the scene with an Establishing shot beacuse it gives the audience a better understanding of the setting of the scene. The editing is very important because you want the scene to run smoothly and in a logical order. For example shots that have to be edited perfectly are ones such as match on action shots. Match on action shots are shots that change at the same time as an action occurs. In our scene the match on action shot was when the actress walked through the door. Another important shot that had to be edited carefully was an eyeline match. An eyeline match is when you have the actor/actress looking straight into the camera and then it cuts to a shot of whatever they are looking at. An eyeline shot shows the connection between the person and an object or two people. An example of when and eyeline match was used in our scene is when she looks at the gun and it cuts to the gun itself.

Overall
Lastly i feel the Prelim task went very well. All our shots went according to plan, although editing proved tough at times it came together nicely.

Preliminary Task Evaluation !

Perliminary Task Evaluation
For our preliminary task we decided to film it in the studio. The reason we chose the studio is because it was a simple and plain set which gave it an eerie feel, this was perfect for the scene we were filming. My main role in our perliminary task was to be in charge of the actors. I arranged where they were to stand and made sure they knew there queues. Although that was my main role i also helped with some of the camera work and lighting.

Lighting
The lighting overall i felt was good, there were times when it was to bright and it would over expose the actors faces. As a group we decided that we wanted the set to be quite bright because then we could have shadows of the characters which added to the eerie and mysterious atmosphere. I feel the choices we made about lighting were very effective and definitely added to the scene.

Filming
To begin before filming we made sure the camera was set up correctly. In every shot we made sure that the tripod was level and that each shot was framed correctly, we also had to continuously check that the camera and lighting equipment was not in the shot. The angles we chose for each shot were appropriate because it covered all aspects of the scene, we took more than one for every different angle. We shot a wide shot, over the shoulder shot and close ups. There were close up of both characters, and the gun they were using a wide shot of all the characters and the shadows of the characters and an over the shoulder shot of both characters.
We stuck to the 180 degree rule and used the correct terminology ( stand by, roll it, action ) on the set so the whole group knew what was happening.

Overall i feel that i learnt a lot from the perliminary task because it allowed us to test out our knowledge and gain an understanding of what we were doing wrong. Our group worked well together and i feel that the tension and suspense in our scene was definitely portrayed through our filming.

Thriller Genre.....

We have been looking at the thriller genre and watched the opening scene of two films that conformed to that Genre. They were 'Children of Men' and 'Usual Suspects'.

We looked at the Mise en-scene of both films. Mise en-scene means everything that is within the scene.
Through looking at both films we have established that a number of different ingredients are featured in the thriller genre.

• Suspence
• Action
• Dramatic Music
• Police and Security
• Expecting to see Guns
• Characters to be double crossed
• Violence
• Contrapuntal Sounds

Photography Composition

Composition:

Photography brings a visual language that is universal in understanding. We must then understand its vocabulary which consists of shapes, textures, patterns, lines, colours, shade of light to dark and sharp to blurry images. Just as we must learn to arrange words in a coherent order in order to make sense when we write or speak, so too must we put visual elements together in an organized manner if our photographs are to convey their meaning clearly and vividly.

Composition means arrangement: the orderly putting together of parts to make a unified whole; composition through a personal, intuitive act. However, there are basic principles that govern the way visual elements behave and interact when you combine them inside the four borders of a photograph. Once we have sharpened our vision and grasped these basic ideas of principles, then we will have the potential for making our photographs more exciting and effective than ever before.

About myself.

Hello Its karis,


Im 17 and come from Brighton. I used to go to St bede's and am now at Hurtwood House.
For Alevels i am taking Media, Theatre and Textiles. My favourite subject out the 3 is Media, i chose to take it because im interested in film and television. Throughout the duration of this course i hope to gain a better understanding of how the film and television industry work and learn how create short films. I would also like to be able to use a camera and know the basics.