Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?



This picture above shows the preliminary task we have learnt how to edit a video and new camera shot techniques. During this task we have learnt the following: 180 degree rule, match on action and short/reverse shot. The image above is images that have been screen grabed from our preliminary task showing the 3 camera work tasks. The image below shows 9 frames from the opening to our thriller "Hit and Run" and the type of shot that was used to create meaning and attract the audience.


As a group and individually we learnt a lot about editing and filming before our first preliminary task and our end product. Although we did not use any of the 3 shots used in our preliminary we did consider using them as we grasped how to film them in the continuity editing task. We did use a wide range of different shot types and camera movements as you can see in the image above. As a group we all felt much more confident in filming after our first preliminary task as we all had a go at using the camera, this made it much easier for us to film our actual thriller as we had previous experiences with using the cameras and equipment.

The continuity editing task was the first time that we as a group edited a piece of work, we found this very challenging as it was vital that we did not edit out any of the 3 tasks set such as 180 degree rule, match on action or shot reverse shot. I feel that Saul has become much more confident with using the iMovie software and we as a group have found it much easier to work with each other as we listen to each others views and opinions and then edit the task with all the input received from each group member.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

(starts at 1 from top left across and down to 10 at bottom right)


1. Main prop
2. Saul setting up tripod.
3. Sinthuja holding the tripod and camera steady.
4. Saul and Kate in the driving seat, figuring out how to film effectively.
5. Saul and Maria in the car filming.
6. Kate looking at footage.
7. Saul filming the car.
8. Maria and Saul using the tripod.
9. Maria filming, using the tripod and camera.
10. Saul editing the footage using iMovie.

Youtube

Youtube was used to attract our audiences for our thriller opening. We posted our thriller opening onto youtube and made annotations to our video stating how our opening links to other similar films by the use of music and the unique selling point of our film. We monitor the amount of views and comments that have been made on our video as it is important to understand what the viewers think of our project and helpful tips to help us in the future. Once putting our video on youtube we have learnt what typical conventions attract our audience along with what they feel went well about our thriller opening and what we can improve on in the future.

Facebook & Twitter

Facebook and Twitter were both used for the same purpose which was to gain the audiences feedback on what they thought of the opening to our thriller. The video was posted on these social networking sites to get the attention of Facebook and twitter users. From using these social networking sites we have learnt that it is a very quick and easy way to gain the attention of many people. Using these sites also allowed us to gain constructive criticism on our thriller which will help us in the future when producing more videos.

Photoshop

Photoshop was used in many different ways when producing the opening to our thriller. Photoshop was used to make our production logo and allowed it to be placed in our thriller. Photoshop was also used to edit pictures of the characters appearing in our movie especially our protagonist character Betty Smith. From using this program we learnt that it can be very difficult to produce what we wanted however Saul in our group was able to use the program effectively and produce great images. We also learnt that once being able to use the software the features available are great and can help to produce an amazing final image.

Imovie & Apple Mac

Imovie was used to edit the whole of our product. Once we finished filming our movie we uploaded it onto imovie(mac software) using a firewire. Then we edited our movie as a group making decisions as to what the best shots were and what transformations we wanted to use. Saul was familiar with the program which allowed us to edit smoothly. It was important to work as a group as we wanted to ensure that we all had a certain input to the finial product. Imovie was also used to transfer music onto our thriller along with the voice over that was used to explain the story. By using this software we learnt that there about the great transformations and editing facilities that were available on this program which we then used which allowed our movie to look its best. We also learnt that once working in a group it is important to gain input from each member before making final editing decisions.

Audio network PLC

Audio network PLC was used when producing our product because it allowed us to put music in. When making your own movie it is important that you use copyright free music unless you have bought the rights to play existing music. This website allowed us to pick the music we felt best for our thriller and transfer it onto our thriller through Imovie. We sat as a group and went through many tracks before we found the music we felt best for our thriller. By using this website we learnt that under no circumstances are you allowed to use existing music without paying copyright fees, along with this we learnt that it takes time to find the correct piece of music to fit in with the genre of your movie.

How did you attract/address your audience?

How did you attract/address your audience?

We as a group carried out research into the ways in which we could use the internet in order converge with our target audiences and also establish the ways in which our films could attract our target audiences.

Within the films industry the ways in which a film is Marketed and distributed can have a major impact on the sucess of the film. It is important for the film company to establish what type of things thier particular audiences would like to see within films in order to ensure that thier they are attracted to thier films.

We have regularly been updating our Blog and also posting youtube links to our films on our facebook and twitter profiles this is so that our audiences are able to feel as if they are a part of the process of our film production and also give them a regular taster of the potential things that are to come from our production Company.

As a group we then annotated the opening to our thriller on Youtube highlighting the ways in which the opening to our thriller "Hit and Run" links to other similar films in order to attract the particular audience that we have previously identified. Our annotations refer to the genre conventions, use of music, similarities with other movies and what we have identified as our unique selling point of our film.

The link below shows our annotated opening to our thriller.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po2IHju0rUQ

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Who would be the audience for your media product?

A prime example of our target audience is shown above, although with thriller films, it harder to distinguish a certain type of people that enjoy to watch them. Lucinda, shown above is a stereptypical 'goth' or 'emo' girl at 19 years of age.

Her favourite television programmes include 'LOST', 'Supernatural' and 'Prison Break' and she often tunes into the television channels 'syfy', 'sky movies sci-fi/thriller' and 'MTV2'. Lucinda listens to mainly rock music, with her favourite artists including 'Linkin' Park', 'Evanescence' and 'Rage against the Machine'. She shops at places such as 'HMV', 'H&M' and 'Topshop', dressing in attire and with accesories considered 'emo' or 'grunger' - the classic rock chick look. She enjoys socialising with her friends, going for a drink at the pub, hanging out at the skatepark and reading her sci-fi thriller novels.

Although Lucinda is an example of the type of people we will be targeting our film at, we realise that thriller films are generally watched and enjoyed by a huge variety of people at different ages and with different interests, appearances and personalities.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

As a group established that a production company is the main company who held accountable for creating a film. This could be through :-

* creating title sequences
* creating storyboards
* Editing the Film
* filming the film
A main example of a production Company is the British films company DNA films which was established by Duncan Kenworthy and Andrew Mcdonald. DNA produced the 2003 hit "28 weeks Later"
Sometimes Production companies seek finance from other companies this could be in order build enough finance in order to distribute their films this is evident by the way in which DNA films combined forces with Fox searchlight a subsidiary of 20th century fox in order to distribute the 2003 film "28 weeks Later."

Above: This is the logo of our Production company for our thriller we have chosen to name it Cranium productions due to the fact that it is symbolic of danger and also the use of the word cranium enables us to relate our films to the mind and the way in which our heads can be twisted within a psychological manor.

Also the skull red eyes and heart within our logo helps the audience to establish that our film contains themes of an evil nature.

When carrying out research on many Indepent Production Companies within the UK it was very evident that they were very reliant upon the large scale production comanies Within the US in order to Distribute there films these companies include:-

* 20th century fox

*Warner Bros/Time Warner

*New-Line Cinema

* Universal

As an independent film company it was very important to insure that we carried out research in order to establish which distribution companies would be most suitable to distribute our films this is to ensure that our films appeal to our targeted markets and also to ensure that our films are viewed by our targeted markets.

During our findings we came across 3 different distributing companys.

MIRAMAX

www.miramax.com/
One of these companies included Miramax Distribution company we found this found that this was relevant to our thriller due to the fact that it has previously distribute films of the thriller Genre with themes of revenge and vengeance. for e.g. Within Kill Bill there are themes of vengeance. However after researching more into this distributing company it was clear that they distribute many main stream high budget films, as Hit and Run is an British independent film it was clear that it would not be in our best interests to use Miramax as our distributing company.

NEW-LINE CINEMA

http://www.newline.com/

Although New-Line cinema have distributed many films of the Thriller Genre including the hit that was released in the year 2005 "Birth."we feel that this distribution company would be most inappropriate for distribution of our films. This is due to the fact that we are a small-scale production company and if by any chance we are unsuccessful in securing specific markets with our films we would loose More money through payment of these distribution comanies than we would have gained selling our films.

Fox Searchlight
www.foxsearchlight.com/

It was clear that as a production company we shared many similarities in comparison to DNA films Due to the fact that DNA is an British independent films company that produces many of its films on fairly low budgets. DNA also seek finances from exterior resources in order to gain capital in order to produce and Distribute their films. Considering this we found that DNA had previously partnered with the well established American production company Fox searchlight (a Subsidary of 20th century fox).

in order to distribute its 2001 film "28 days later." and also its sequel "28 weeks later." This Particular Fact helped us to decide that fox searchlight would be most suited to distribute our Films.

Also considering the wide range of countries in which 20th century fox have been able to dominate by allowing them to distribute our films we would be able to ensure that our films would be seen by a range of markets throughout the world. After many thought we decided to choose fox search light as our distributing company because they have worked with many British independent films which is most similar to our thriller "Hit and Run." so we feel that we have the best chance of being successful if we choose Fox Searchlight.

When comparing ourselves to other British films companies specifically the indepedent companies like DNA It becomes evident that many of thier films are funded and sponsered by a wide range of companies like the British Films Council, The National lottery and in the case of 2003 released "28 weeks later." larger american franchises like Fox Atomic. By going into partnership with fox atomic it enabled them to inhance the ways in which they converged with thier target markets for e.g. they were able to upgrade thier cameras to high definition cameras in order to improve the quality of thier films. However there is a downside to this due to the fact that out of the revenue in which DNA make for thier films a certain percentage has to be payed back to Fox Atomic for thier assistance.

For our production company we had to consider places in which we would seek finance from due to the fact that it was our first film and we as a production company did not want to be held liable for any outstanding cost if for some reason our films were not as successful amoungst our targeted markets.

We finally came to a decisions due to the fact that we are a small scale independent production company it would be best for us to seek finance in a similar way to DNA Films which is through the Brtitish films council and the national lottery. This is because we think that it would be best to use low Budgets similar to the one used for "28 days later." which was made on a budget of £5,000,000 which is a considerably low budget in comparison to most of the Hollywood Blockbusters like 2009 film "Avatar." which was distributed by 20th century fox and produced on a budget of 237 million. By using such a low budget this will enable us to put ourselves in a considerably stable condition and prevent us from falling into a position where more money is flowing out of the company than into the company.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The main character within our Thriller is a 25 year old Mother Named Betty smith Who is drived by the Ambition to seek reveange for her five year old daughter who was killed by careless drunken teenagers During a Hit and Run car inccident. we feel as if our character can be most compared to Uma Thurmans' Beatrix Kiddo a.k.a The Bride within the film Kill Bill. These characters have many similarities but also some very crucial key differences.

Both Betty and Beatrix are young women in their late 20's although they do have quite different physical appearances, Betty having long dark hair with Beatrix's being blonde. Another difference is that in Kill Bill, Beatrix wears a trademark yellow and black tracksuit, suited for combat and always carries a sword. Betty Smith from our film is wearing casual clothing which is black in colour, which we chose to symbolise the death and destruction of our plot.

In Kill Bill, a main part of the plot surrounds Beatrix exacting her revenge on the people she believes were involved in not only attempting to kill her but doing so while she was pregnant, leading her to believe her unborn daughter is dead. This is very similar to the plot of our film, with Betty exacting her revenge on the people who killed her daughter in a hit and run crash. This shows how similar our characters are, both of them commiting serious acts of violence in the name of vengence for their children, although, in Kill Bill, Beatrix is very heavily invovlved in a life of violence already, once being a member of an assassination squad named The Deadly Vipers and also having been trained by a kung fu master for years in preperation for a life as an assassinator.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?(ie of film openings)

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?(ie of film openings)

We have print screened nine distinct frames from the opening to our thriller project.

The first shot, showing the title of our film, is a typical name for a thriller genre film and allows the audience to automatically become aware that both the film will be a thriller, but it also gives a small insight into the narrative of the film.

The second shot shows the location of our opening scene - a cemetery. A cemetery is a typical setting for thriller films due to its' connection with death, ghosts and other dark goings on. Due to this setting there can be no confusion to the genre of our film, and we consciously chose this location as one which fit in with our narrative but was also typical of the genre of our film.

The third shot shows a car, which is our main prop, driving away. The car is a main feature in our film opening, with the narrative heavily revolving around it, although it was very difficult to film and get the right shots as the roads were somewhat busy. It is difficult to say that using a car as a prop is typical of only a thriller genre as they do feature regularly in all genres of film, however, when looking at our title, you can see that it is obvious a car will be prominently featured.

The fourth shot shows group member Saul at a computer using editing programs. We used iMac computers and the main program we used was iMovie, but photoshop was also used to edit photos. We considered the typical conventions of the thriller genre when editing, and we used a lot of quick cuts, adding in eerie, dark music and we also used video effects such as one named 'bloom' to create a blurry effect to symbolise the characters' past.

The fifth shot shows the title of our film once again, displaying the type of font and style we decided to use. We chose to use the standard arial font in block capitals and make it quite large to emphasise our title. We used a black background, which is seen commonly in thrillers, with black being a dark, ominous colour. We also used a special effect whereby our film is shown through the words in our title allowing the audience to preview our establishing shot of the cemetery through the words.

The sixth shot shows a scene from a flashback in our opening, in which our main character, who is also our antagonist, is in a cemetery, visiting her young daughters grave. We chose to create our opening this way as we believed that it was a simple and interesting way to attract the audience and set up the narrative. This is a very typical opening of a thriller film, due to our creative decisions such as the flashbacks (commonly used in thriller films), the quick camera cuts and close-ups and the overall narrative.

The seventh frame is also a shot from a flashback section of our opening, establishing the setting of the cemetery, once again portraying the 'bloom' effect used in our flashback scenes. This is typical of the thriller genre as mentioned before. Also, establishing shots in thriller films regularly feature nature, which we consciously took into account and included in our film, making our opening a conventional thriller.

The eighth shot introduces the main character in our thriller, who is crying at a gravestone. This is once again a flashback scene and due to the connection with graves and cemeteries, and the thriller genre, this makes our opening a conventional one. A medium shot was used to express the characters emotions and feelings towards what the audience will know as the death of her young daughter.

The last shot shows another character from our film in a close-up in the midst of a number of quick-cuts to give effect to the car accident at this point. We were able to include special effects with the use of iMovie included a 'flash effect' which is shown in picture above, allowing us to make our production more realistic and effective at attracting audiences. This is once again typical of the thriller genre.

Hit and Run Opening Thriller Final Product

The video above is the finial product, it is the opening to our Thriller Hit and Run.
The thriller was filmed by , Saul , Sinthuja and Kate. They all filmed at different stages along the production process. As a group we viewed each filmed piece and chose the best filming done for each scene however in our final product pieces filmed by Saul , Sinthuja and Kate were all used.

Myself and Saul were acting in our thriller, I was the main character i.e Betty Smith who wanted revenge after her 5 year old daughter had been killed in a hit and run incident. Saul was also acting in the thriller as he was one of the three teenagers who was involved in the killing of Bettys Child. Betty had already killed one of the teenagers as you can see from the crossing out on the picture . The rest of the film will involve Betty seeking vengeance from Sinthuja.

The opening sequence to Hit and Run was directed by each group member at different stages (Myself,Saul,Kate and Sinthuja) This is because we all had different opinions as to how we wanted the Thriller to look, we all put our thoughts together and combined them to reach our final product.


You can also view our video annotation free on :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8HtQH4gXu0.

We felt it was important to post our thriller on Youtube without any annotations to get feedback on what we did well and what we can improve on next time round.


As a group we then annotated the opening to our thriller on Youtube highlighting the ways in which the opening to our thriller "Hit and Run" links to other similar films in order to attract the particular audience that we have previously identified. Our annotations refer to the genre conventions, use of music, similarities with other movies and what we have identified as our unique selling point of our film.

The link below shows our annotated opening to our thriller.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po2IHju0rUQ

Editing The Opening To Our Thriler Hit and Run

The editing of our Thriller Hit and Run was very important, this is because it sets the narrative and makes the audience aware of the genre of the film along with obvious convections. First we uploaded the video onto the iMac and Imovie which is the software application that allowed us to edit our thriller. Although only Saul knew how to use Imovie it was vital we sat as a group to discuss the way in which we were going to edit our opening, this was because we all had different ideas as to how we wanted the thriller to look so we put all the ideas together and came up with the best possible solutions.

As a group we watched each clip that had be filmed and decided which clips were to long or to short or could not be used. We also asked other members in our class what they thought of particular frames and what we could improve on before the finished product, this helped us produce our thriller because the opinions of our audience is the most important factor of our Thriller. We previewed many different transitions before choosing the correct ones as it found it very tricky to find what we to use for the flash back scene.

Once we finished editing the scenes we had to add music and a voice over to finish the production of our thriller. Also as a group we went onto the website of Audio Network PLC were we found hundreds of copyright free musics to choose from for out thriller. We filtered the website down to dark,horror and gothic music to try and find what we wanted easier. After listening to over 30 different tracks we finally found the music that we felt went best with the genre of the thriller and would entice the audience straight away. After adding the music track i had to record the voice over. I practiced many times saying the speech to ensure it was clear and easy to understand, we could have written a lot more to say in the voice over however we felt the speech was best if it was straight to the point to not bore the viewers and take the attention away from the scenes.

The finial product of our Thriller HIT AND RUN is shown in the video below.

2nd Day of fimling Hit and Run- Opening to our Thriller

On Friday the 16th of April we finished our filming of the opening to our Thriller Hit and Run. We changed location as we were finished with the car crash scene, the next piece of filming we had to do was the cemetery scene.

It was important that we were as quick as possible in the cemetery as many people visit the grave yard everyday however we found the quiest and most deserted space to film our thriller. Whilst Saul filmed we felt it was important that we took many shots of the same scene to ensure that we have enough material and do not have to return back to the cemetery at any point. Once filming this scene we were finished with this location and only had one more shot to film before we were finished with the filming.

Next we had to film the scene when myself, Maria am crossing out the other characters faces inside the car i killed Saul in. I took the photograph of Saul,Kate and Sinthuja the previous filming day and had it printed out to use as a prop. Saul sat in the car with me and filmed along side me as i crossed out his face to show that i have done the job and on to the next face which was Sinthuja. The rest of our thriller will involve Better chasing and killing Sinthuja who is the last teenager still alive who was involved in the hit and run incident.

After filming the end scene we ensured we saved all the filming onto the tape. Next we had to input all the filming onto the iMac and edit it effectively to ensure the audience understand the conventions of our thriller.

Acted By - Maria
Filmed By - Kate, Sinthuja and Saul
Directed By - Saul , Sinthuja, Kate and Maria

1st day filming Hit and Run- Opening to our Thriller.

On Tuesday the 13th of April as a group we began filming the opening to our thriller. It was important that we assigned each member of our group a task so that we could work effectively and not waste time. We had previously made a story board and video shoot shot list which we used to guide is through each shot and where the camera would be placed at each different shot.

For our 1st day of filming Hit and Run we used a quite road in Winchmore Hill. We used an establishing shot to set the scene and show the area. We filmed the trickiest part of our thriller on this day which was the car crash. As a group we made sure the area was safe in which we choose to film the car crash. Sithuja filmed the crash as fast as possible to avoid any incidents. It was important that the car stopped far away from Saul and he was instructed by the director myself to fall against the car which we can then edit to make it look like he had been involved in a hit and run incident. The main filming we did on Tuesday was the car incident and Saul leaving the school gates, we filmed this first because we felt it was more important to film the hardest part first and work our way backwards.

Acted by - Maria, Saul and Kate
Filmed by - Sinthuja , Kate and Saul
Directed by - Kate, Maria, Saul and Sinthuja

Dialogue

In lesson today we were taught about Dialogue and why it is so important in letting a story and setting the narrative. I now understand that dialogue is meaningful, i should not assume that the audience is stupid, many feelings should be clear. Body language is important as it backs up the message being sent by the dialogue, the audience can tell and understand a lot about a character by their body language. Dialogue can express the relationship between two people. However the dialogue between a young girl and her father will be different from two teenagers. A characters personality is able to be shown by the use of dialogue as they can express themselves in many different ways. Dialogue also pushes the story and plot forward as the audience are able to follow the narrative more clearly when the characters conversate with each other.

I will now choose a scenario and write a short scene of dialogue in which characters negotiate with each other.

Scenario - A women tries to break up with her boyfriend.

Gemma: Hiya Tom, i feel like we haven't spoken properly in ages. How was college today? Boring?

Tom: Erm, it was ok.

Gemma: How were your lessons? Good?

Tom: Bad.

Gemma: Tom, i have something i need to tell you. I no your going to be upset and its not been easy and i really have thought it through many times. I'm really sorry but I just don't think our relationship is working out.

Tom: Yeah, same.

Gemma: Really? You mean you don't mind?

Tom: No, i no our relationship is over.

Gemma: Oh i thought you would be really upset, i'm glad your not.

Tom: No i'm fine. Ive got to go home now.

Gemma: Bye, i'll miss you.

Tom: Bye.

Fact File Character Profile

I will now make a Character fact file for the protagonist character in my thriller.

Name - Betty Smith
Age- 25
Nationality - Spanish
Occupation - Former teacher, left teaching after major family issues. Is currently unemployed.
Family - Single, her only child Lucy was killed in a hit and run incident last year. She does not speak to the rest of her family or the father of her child as he hasn't been seen since the death of his child.
Interests/Hobbies - Betty enjoys reading books, watching documentaries on television and sewing children's clothes.
Likes/Dislikes - Betty likes staying in doors mostly in darkness. She dislikes being around people as they bring back to many memories.

Character re-do

After reading through my work with my teacher we found some changes that need to be made in order to improve. I will now edit my previous post on introducing a character with the improvements that need to be made.

INT. BEDROOM NIGHT

BettySmith, aged 25, hard , your ordinary loner. She is plain looking, nothing special about her. She wears a black t-shirt black jeans with black boots. By taking one look at her you can see the ominous strains caused by a life of private fear , sadness, empitness and loneliness. The glum expression on her face never changes always still, her deep dark sunken eyes stay fixed on a photograph of a child, her own child. Tears drop from her eyes but her gloomy expression never changes she stays very still.

Maria moves towards her dusty dresser drawer which she opens, hundreds of images of the same child drop the floor. Maria drops to the dirty floor where she lies down. Tears uncontrollably fall from her eyes. The room has many toys cluttering it. Maria grabs a blue soft teddy and rips it apart.

Analyze Opening Sequence To A Thriller - Leon

I have been set the task to analyze the opening sequences to a thriller. I chose to analyze the thriller Leon because i have seen this film and i feel that this opening relates to the narrative in a big way.

The opening to Leon creates tension and creates meaning which relates to the narrative. As the film opens you can hear non- diagetic music been played, the music is orchestral which builds up tension before any picture is being shown in the frame. The orchestral music makes the audience aware of the genre of the film as this type of music is generally played in Thrillers. An establishing shot is used to set the scene. The establishing shot expresses the setting to the audience which is a field of trees. The camera is titled downwards and is tracking fast through trees. The tilt shot gives the audience perspective of the surroundings below. The shot is then quickly reversed and titled upwards this immediately changes the audiences view as they see many buildings which the audience is able to identify as New York. The title of the film Leon then fills out the entire frame.

The scene is then jump cut and transforms into a long shot which is used to show the change of setting, the camera is till panning but now it seems to be panning through the streets of New York. The makes the audience aware of the setting and sets the narrative. Yellow taxi cars are shown in the frame which also familiarizes the audience that the setting is New York. The non-diagetic orchestral music is still being played throughout the opening sequence which builds up tension as it becomes louder as the camera tracks. Zoom is now used to make the audience aware of the sigh post that says "Welcome To Little Italy" this suggests to the audience that the characters or protagonist maybe be Italian. The camera movment then changes in the left direction into a zoom which zooms inside a shop the creates the audiences attention as they want to see whats inside. No characters have been shown yet and no dialogue has been used but the audience is already gripped and interested. The silence in this opening is used to create suspense, this familiarizes the audience with the particular genre of the film as many thrillers use silence to grip the audience.

A close up shot is used to introduce the fist character into the opening sequence. Mise-en-scene is used to create meaning and narrative into the opening, for example a glass of milk is placed on a table with the characters hands. This suggests to the audience that the character is strong because they drink milk. The non-diegetic music has stopped being placed making the scene intense. A extreme close up shot is used to show the glasses worn by the character, this allows the facial expressions to be hidden by the character as glasses can be seen as a shield. Dialogue is now used as the two characters exchange words, the characters are speaking in Italian which suggests they are from Italy. Shot reverse shot is now used to bring tension into the conversation as the audience can now see the characters relation to one and other. The lighting is very dark in the frame suggesting something illegal is taking place. The lighting used in this scene makes the thriller genre clear to the audience as the setting is now very dark and dull with very few props on show. Dialogue is then used to set the narrative, for example the character says "lets get to business" which suggests the male works for him.

Mise-en-scene is now used to introduce the protagonist character, for example a photograph of a male is now shown to the protagonist. Shot reverse shot is still used between the two characters to show their current relationship. The protagonist's expressions and feelings are still hidden by the glasses which makes the other character uneasy as he is unaware of the answer he will receive when asking "are you free next Tuesday" suggesting to the audience a job needs to be done. The protagonist accepts he is free on Tuesday. The glass of milk is then drunk by the character suggesting the character needs to build hes strength up which builds up the narrative. A close up show of the photograph is shown to the audience just before it is taken and the character leaves. This makes the audience aware that the character is a hitman and has been set a job to complete. This then makes the audience aware of the genre of the film as the narrative has now been set and explained to the audience.

Structuring The Story

It is important to use the correct structure when planning your story. The Three Act Structure represents a screenplay. You must already know :

• What and who your story is about
• How it ends

The model below can be used to design the structure of your story.

Act 1 - Set up Act ll - Confrontation Act lll - Resolution

The third column is used to summarise the ending of the story.

Media Assignment: Recreating an opening sequence of a thriller (silence of the lamb)

We were assigned to create our own adaptation to the Opening Sequence of a film which fell under the thriller genre. As a group we all decided to recreate the opening sequence to the 1992 film Silence of the lamb this was because we felt as if this closely related to the idea of building

tension within a scene. We recreated the shot types that were shown in the original opening sequences to this thriller such as an Establishing shot , Close up, Long shot and Medium shot. It was important we timed the shots to ensure they were exactly the same length as the ones from the original version. Once we shoot the scene we were able to edit it on the Mac computers. We ensured all the shots flowed in well with each other. We used voice overs to create the same sounds that were used in the original.

After taking out this task i learn't how to direct a scene effectively For example we drew out a video shoot shot list for this task before filming any of the sequence. We had to analyse the original opening sequence as a group and record specific times for each shot that was shown. After completing our video shoot shot list i was able to direct Kate and Saul when filming, this included deciding where each shot will take place and ensuring the timing and type of shot was correct. It was important for us to capture the same shoots as in the original opening sequence in order to make the re-make as realistic as possible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X4owjfOrCo

Above we have posted a link to the original opening sequence to the 1992 thriller of Silence of the Lambs In order
to show the comparison between our Version and the original and establish the shot types between the two.

Actress -Sinthuja

Filmed by - Kate and Saul

Edited by - Saul

Directed by - Maria

Preliminary Task - Short Scene

As a group we were set the task to produce a small scene. The scene and to have the following shots, Match on action , 180 degree rule and shot reverse shot. The scene also had to have the following dialogue

A - I'm sorry
B- Really
A- You know you can trust me
B- Thanks

As a group we interrupted the scene in our own way. We choose to use a girl (Maria) and boy (Saul) acting in this scene. The way in which we choose to interpret this was that the couple had previously had an argument which Maria was sorry about. Saul enters the room and sits opposite Maria. You can see from his facial expressions that he is upset with Maria. After shooting this scene we edited it to fit the task. We learn't how to edit on the Mac computers after carrying out this task. We were able to use and add in transformations to our project along with how to adjust the sound to make it more clearer to the audience. It is important we are able to edit as we will have to edit our main opening sequence when we finish shooting it.

The end result of our Preliminary Task is shown below.

Actor and Actress - Maria and Saul
Recorded by - Sinthuja and Kate
Edited by Saul

Story board and Video sheet shot list - first draft

After our group discussion on the narrative of our thriller we we made a story board and video sheet shot list which shows which shoots we intend to use for each scene. This is our first draft of a story board and video sheet shot list as we may change some factors as we progress and begin shooting the opening to our thriller.

Screenplay

I was instructed to construct a short screenplay based on the story making sure that i use standard screenplay format :

• More than one scene
• Screen directions
• Dialogue

A girl and her father were driving along a country road on their way home when they saw a young girl hitchhiking. They stopped and picked her up and she got in the back seat. She told the girl and her father that she lived in a house about 5 meters up the road. She didn't say anything after that but just turned to watch at the window. When the father saw the house, he drove up to it and turned around to tell the girl they had arrived but she wasn't there. Both him and his daughter were mystified and decided to knock on the door. They told him that they once had a daughter who answered the description but she had disappeared years ago. Today would have been her birthday.

Screenplay

Scene 1

EXT.COUNTRY ROAD-DAY

Katerine and her father Tom driving along a country road. They approach Jenny the hitchhiker. The car stops and allows Jenny to enter.

JENNY

(Enters the car)

Thank you very much for the lift. It is appreciated. My house is about 5 Metres up the road.

TOM
(Smiles)
That's fine I expect your family will be woundering where you are.

SILENCE

Jenny no longer speaks. She stares out the window.

EXT. OUTSIDE HOUSE-DAY

TOM

We are here Jenny.

Tom turns around to see Jenny's reaction but is surprised to stop she is missing. Tom and daughter Katerine raised there eyebrows.

EXT. AT THE DOOR OF HOUSE- DAY

Marisa

(Raised eyebrows)

Hello? How can i help you?

Tom

Hello my name is Tom, I picked your daughter Jenny up and promised to bring her here, but as I told her we have arrived she was nowhere to be found. I'm really confused as to what was happened.

Marisa

My daugher? Jenny? I'm sure you must be mistaken.

Tom
(Insistent)

No I definitely had her in my car I am sure of it.

Marisa

I'm sorry but she disappeared years ago. We haven't seen her. It is a very upsetting for us.

Tom

I am very sorry to disturb you. I had no idea but i saw her today i am sure of it.

Marisa

Ok please come inside, both of you.

Tom and Katerine enter the house.

INT. INSIDE THE HOUSE

Marisa

Please take a seat.

Tom and Katerina take a seat in Marisa's living room. The room is full of pictures of Jenny.

Tom

That's the girl! That's Jenny. Thats who I had in my car. I'm sure of it.

Marisa

Maybe you just recognised her from the pictures, her photograph was shown regularly on the news at the time of her disappearance.

Katerine

No it was her today.

A tear drops from Marisa's eye, Tom stands up and places his hand onto of Marisa's for comfort.

Tom

Maybe she is still around, maybe she's just around the corner. We could go and look for her!

Marisa

Maybe it was her ghost.

All three characters look at one another with there jaws dropped.

Character

I will now create and introduce a character that appears in our group thriller project.

INT. BEDROOM NIGHT

MARIA SMITH, aged 30, hard , alone your ordinary loner. She appears plain looking nothing directly special about her. She wears a black t-shirt with black jeans with black boots. By taking one look at her you can she the ominous strains caused by a life of private fear , sadness, empitness and loneliness. The expression on her face never changes always still, her deep dark eyes stay fixed on a image of a child, tears drop from her eyes but her expression never changes she stays very still.

Maria now moves towards her dusty dresser which she opens, hundreds of images of the same child drop the floor. Maria now drops to the dirty floor where she lies down. Tears uncontrollably fall from her eyes once again as she holds on to a photograph of a young boy, a child.

The bedroom Maria lays in is covered in dust, dirt and photographs, photographs on the floor , on the wall and on the door .These photography are all of the same young child. The room has many toys cluttering it. Maria grabs a blue soft teddy and rips it apart, she is now moving towards violence.

40 Mins.

Group Meeting

All members of the group had a meeting to brain storm ideas for the opening to our thriller. We have been considering the characters, sets and props for each narrative. Our ideas include :

• A psychotic stalker preying on a young girl.
• A teacher with an obsession of a student.
• A man with a deep secret which causes him to murder.
• A young girl being dragged into a car -kidnapping.
• A car crash, hit and run situation.

After considering each idea we have decided he narrative we are going to choose. Our opening narrative is going to be a hit and run car crash and it is going to be a psychological-type thriller.
We chose this storyline because we felt that we could portray this idea best.

As a gorup talked of what sort of props, sets and characters that we will need. We have decided that our thriller project will be set in Winchmore Hill, however we still need to discuss the final details. We have brainstormed and come up with the possibilities of a forest/woods, a side street and a cemetery, but we are still deciding on other factors of our film.

As a group we have now been making story boards which explain what will happening in each shot and how the camera will be placed in each shot.

09.30-09.52