Cinematography Planning - Miss Miller

Cinematography planning  

The purpose of cinematography in thriller films is to help the audience as it allows them to identify the different characters status's for example, a high angle shot would make the character look smaller and therefore inferior with a low status. Cinematography communicates vital information to the audience about different characters emotions and feelings, for example an extreme close up of a characters face would show what they're feeling at the time, making the audience feel like they can relate to what's happening more as they will have been guided to feel the same emotions as shown.

One of the camera angles we are going to include in our thriller is a long shot of the train carriage, this will show the audience the setting of the train and introduce the main characters in the film and other standbys on the train. This will build the atmosphere for the scene and therefore the audience will be aware of the characters involved in the scene. This will build a relationship with the audience as it will make them aware of where the scene it set, the characters involved and the atmosphere created. This is conventional to a thriller as the setting should be quickly established to the audience so the audience can be aware of the situation the characters are set in. This would make the audience automatically relate to what is happening as they will have already established the setting.

We are also going to include an over the shoulder shot of the girls getting on the train, this will create the illusion that someone is following them as the audience will get the viewpoint of the killer looking over their shoulder. This will create suspense and fear as the Audience will know that the characters are in danger. This is conventional to a thriller as it puts the audience in the killers position and therefore shows them their point of view of whats happening, this could be deemed as conventional as it makes the audience feel more frightened for the characters as the audience knows that someone is following them and therefore foreshadows that something bad is going to happen to them.

The third camera angle we are going to include is a close up of the girls face when the main blond female victim see's the killer properly for the first time. The close up will show her emotions to the audience of being scared, frightened and venerable. This will help the audience know how to feel at this particular time of the clip, it will enhance sympathy for the character as the audience will feel guilty as before they are watching from the viewpoint of the killer, this will then make the audience feel more involved with whats happening as they will have a better understanding the reason for particular emotions portrayed at the time this will have build an emotional relationship with the character. This is conventional to a thriller as it guides the audience in feeling the same emotions as the character and therefore builds the tension and suspense waiting for something to happen.

The next camera angle we are going to use is a high angle from the train bridge looking down on the main characters below at the beginning of the clip. This angle will create the illusion that the killer is looking down on them and thus the idea that he is stalking them. This will make the audience feel like frightened as they know that something bad is going to happen to the characters as someone is constantly watching them. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it portrays the idea that the characters are being stalked bringing the concept of danger, mystery and fear of the unknown (identity of the killer) it also shows the different characters status's as it shows that the killer has more authority over the victims as it makes them look smaller and thus the killer looking bigger.

Overall the few different cinematography techniques we have mentioned are going to contribute to making our thriller as enjoyable as possible to watch for our audience. We hope that the audience feels more involved in whats happening as it will make them concentrate more on whats happening and therefore enjoying the clip more. The different techniques used will help the audience feel scared, worried and frightened for whats going to happen in the upcoming clip. We have chosen the different camera angles especially as we want to portray our clip to be as conventional to a thriller as possible by, the long shot creating an emotional distance from the audience therefore building suspense, the over the shoulder shot making the audience feel uncomfortable as they know that the characters are being stalked and therefore feel guilt, the close up shot will have an emotional impact on the audience as it shows what the character is feeling and makes the audience feel the same emotions and lastly the high angle is conventional as it shows that the antagonist has more power and authority over the protagonist.

Group Narrative - Miss Georgiou

Group narrative

The purpose of a narrative is to have a clear explanation of the plot so they understand what is happening. The narrative is very important to a thriller as it sets the scene for the audience and tells the story of what is happening. It is very important in thrillers to make sure that the narrative is clear otherwise the audience will have a false understanding of what is occurring and loose interest. 

My idea

My individual narrative consists of a young blond girl who is alone in her house she recently moved in to. The house is old fashioned and has a creepy atmosphere as there is low key lighting and close up shots. She starts to hear doors slamming and other noises in her house, when she realizes something is wrong a creepy eery soundtrack starts to play, when she realizes she is not alone in the house a more upbeat faced paced music is introduced. When she is investigating the house, the masked killer appears behind her and she see's his reflection in the window and a non diagetic disturbing loud sound is played to shock the audience and grab their attention. By the end of the clip she wakes up in her bed and realizes it was a dream the soundtrack is more calm, so she goes back to sleep and there is a heartbeat sound building the suspense. When she is asleep there is a extreme close up of the killers face. The audience is left in suspense of a cliff hanger.   

Advantages of this idea: 

• The narrative is clear and easy to display to the audience
• Easy place to film without any disturbances
• Easy to re create the scene for more filming time
• Good place to film, as everyone in the group can easily get there
• different camera angles and sound used
• the audience will be able to relate to the scene well as its set in a house

Disadvantages of this idea:

• Simple, predictable scene for a thriller film
• parts of the plot may not grab the audiences attention 
• may be hard to add the effects in such as the doors slamming

Charley's idea

My idea for my narrative consists of a car crash taking place and a young girl being killed. A young, blond, female driver is the reason for this and is then haunted by the young girl she killed in the chase who is out to get revenge. The scene is vaguely shown but, we mostly see her getting haunted and the crash is the background story to this. She gets haunted in a series of events and we witness within the opening scene these occurring to her. For example: door's slamming, strong gusts of wind following this and objects unexpectedly falling off of shelves. The setting would be in a house to add to the realism of the event, and small glimpse of the girl will be shown to the audience but, not the victim (dramatic irony). When the girl is shown to the audience, creepy music is played that will then thus create an atmosphere and a suspense for the audience. 

Advantages of this idea: 
falls into the thriller genre and obtains many thriller conventions such as, the female victim, the un-expected killer, a murder being taken place and the conventional setting of night-time in a isolated area.

Disadvantages of this idea: 
The car crash, the death, and the chase for revenge are quite long winded and although, would be a good idea for a whole thriller sequence, perhaps is too much for a short snip-it of one. 

Guneet's idea

My individual narrative consists of an extremely vain girl who keeps looking at herself at every mirror or surface with a reflection once the eerie music comes in she realizes someone has been following her and eventually gets killed after sprinting through the retail shop floors from the psychotic killer.

Advantages of this idea:

The main character is conventional to the thriller genre and the use of music will add suspense and tension to it

Disadvantages of this idea:

It will be hard to film this without people getting in the way meaning, there will be a lot of disruptions taking place when filming

Overall idea

Our overall idea consists of a small group of people on their way to a party with the main character being a teenage blond girl. The train has a maximum of 15 people on and is in the middle of the day. There is a panning shot so the audience can be aware of the surroundings and the number of people in the train, there is also a mid shot of the girl and her group of friends so the audience can understand that she is not alone and be prepared for what is going to happen next. As the train goes through a dark tunnel the soundtrack changes from happy laughter and upbeat music to creepy sinister music with a heartbeat sound in the background. As the train comes out of the tunnel everyone in the train has disappeared and the girl is left alone, the time of day has changed as well to late evening as it is dark, this sets the scene for what is about to happen for the audience and there is a loud eerie sound as the train comes out of the tunnel. The girl starts to look around and pressing the 'open' button trying to open the doors but nothing happens, as she looks up she See's a masked man looking back at her and she falls back. The train door noise is exaggerated as the masked man now enters the train. As the masked killer goes to kill the young girl, she is transported back to when she is on the train before it goes in the tunnel with her friends and in the middle of the day, as the train pulls up to the next station the masked killer is standing in front of her at the next station and the clip ends. The audience is left in suspense and on a cliff hanger. This will grab their attention to find out what will happen and leave them wanting more.The car crash, the death, and the chase for revenge are quite long winded and although, would be a good idea for a whole thriller sequence, perhaps is too much for a short snip-it of one. 

Different narrative theories include theories from Vladimir Proop, a Russian critic, Tzvetan Todorov and Aristotle. Vladamir's idea was that the characters were the main part of the film which provide a structure for the audience which help them understand the narrative better. The main characters which are included in films are: the hero, the villain, the donor, the dispatcher, the false hero, the helper, the princess and her farther. Tzvetan todorov's theory consists if a simplified narrative whilst also allowing a more complex interpretation with his theory of equilibrium or disequilibrium. A fictional environment begins with a state of equilibrium where everything is calm and normal and then a disruption happens to create a disequilibrium and then goes into a new equilibrium. Aristotle's idea consists of time, place and action and goes along the order of an incident happening, dramatic question, character goal, antagonist/protagonist, stakes, resolution and sympathy/empathy. Our group narrative follows the theory of Tzvetan Todorov as when the girl and her group of friends are on the train everything is normal which is the equilibrium, and then when she comes out of the tunnel and realises she is in danger that's when the disruption happens and gives the disequilibrium. Finally when she gets out of danger and realizes she is alright again, there is a new equilibrium as everything is normal and there is no disruption. By following a particular  narrative theory, it will allow us  to follow a  specific order and idea, this will hopefully help our narrative flow better and allow the audience to have a better understanding of what is happening and make  it more  conventional to a  thriller.

Planning Characters - Miss Miller

Planning Characters

 

The purpose of characters within a film is for the audience to build relationships with, this will make the audience more involved in what is happening in the clip as they will feel more emotions towards what is happening. This is because they will have built relationships with the characters therefore caring more about what happens to them and if they are in any danger/happy/sad etc. Different characters are also very important within a thriller as it helps the audience identify different characters status by displaying their background/age and role in the film.

 

Victim: In our thriller clip we have chosen carefully what characters we are going to include so that the audience can relate to them more. Our main character is a sterotypical blonde female school girl from a middle class background, aged around 16/17. This is will help engage the audience as she is the same age as our target audience and therefore make them more interested in whats happening, as they will create a relationship with the her. The audience will feel more fear as they will be able to put themselves in the same situation as the character as its a ordinary day to day situation.

 

Victim's friends: The next character we are going to include are the main characters friends (roughly 3) they are going to help display that the main character is a sterotypical teenager and on a night out with her friends. They are going to be from a middle class family background as this will appeal to the target audience the most as its most relateable. They are going to be the same age as the main character (16/17) and have brown or blonde hair. This is to make it relateable to other audience's who have different hair colour. This is relatable to the audience as the group of friends are not to specific making it relatable to as many people as possible.

 

Killer/Villan: The killer's age is going to be unknown, and still irellevant as he will be wearing a mask hiding his identity. Although his identity will be hidden, his age will be around 16/17 also this is to appeal to the target audience who will be watching and they would be more interested in whats happening if they are the same as themselves. His background will be that he has been stalking the main character for a long time as he is a mental patient. The fact that we don't know his background fully will add to the enigma of the film and therefore make it appealing to the audience to find out about him and what happens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Planning Editing styles - Miss Georgiou

Planning Editing Styles

Editing styles are important within a thriller film as it allows the film to flow better as it connects different scenes together. It also creates suspense for the audience as different timings of shots create tension and enigma. 

 

The editing styles we are going to include in our thriller clip are different timings of shots, we are going to use this the most at the beginning and the end of the clip, this is going to highlight the contrast between the slow shots when the victim is safe and faster shots when the victim is in danger and there is suspense. This will create tension for the audience as when there are faster shots it will portray that there is danger and therefore make the audience feel scared especially as faster shots are harder to make out what is happening in the scene, creating mystery.

 

The second editing style we are going to use are is a reaction shot, this is to show to the audience what the character is feeling and to show what they're reacting to. This makes the audience focus on a particular element and therefore think more about what is happening. We are going to include this editing style when the main character realises she is unsafe and there is a killer trying to attack her. This will be effective as it will show to the audience what she is feeling at this time and why she is reacting in a certain way.

 

The third editing style we are going to include are jump cuts, these are when the camera suddenly focus's on something, therefore making the audience focus on a particular element. We are going to include this shot when the main character is in danger, focusing on her face showing her different emotions to the audience therefore creating a relationship with the audience. We are also going to include this when she has woken up back on the train and sees the killer once again, it will focus on the killer therefore making the audience think about what has happened more.

 

The editing styles we are going to include are conventional to the thriller genre as they all make the audience think about what is happening more, for example when the reaction shot shows the characters emotion and the thing they are reacting to, will make the audience focus on what is happening in the scene meaning they are going to concentrate more as they are interested in whats happening. Reaction shots are also conventional to a thriller in my clip as they show what the blond female victim is feeling, showing her vunerability to the killer and making the killer look like he has more authority and power over her. Different timings of shots are conventional to a thriller as when the shots are fast, it creates suspense and mystery for the audience as it creates the illusion that something bad is going to happen as it focus's the audience's attention more on whats happening as the shots are fast making is unclear what is happening. Jump cuts are also conventional in this way as it jumps from different places and focus's on something important, making the audience think about it more, creating more mystery and suspense.

The different editing styles used are going to make the audience feel more involved in whats happenign as they will create relationships with the audience due to the reaction shots as they are typically going to be feeling the same emotion portrayed from the character. They will also feel surpised as the different timings of shots will build the suspense and therefore make them more focused on whats happening.

Planning mise-en-scene - Miss Miller

Mise-en-scene

Mise en scene is the use of communication of information to the audience by visual effects in front of the camera and how the stuff in a frame is shown and arranged. This is important as it communicates the most recognizable attributes which includes: setting&iconography, costume hair&makeup, facial expressions & body language, positioning of characters and objects within a frame and the colour and lighting. All of these help the audience to establish where the film is set, the main characters their status, and the mood and atmosphere of the film. 

The mise en scene of our thriller includes the setting being in a train station and on a train. We have chosen this as our setting as it is an unusual and unexpected place for a thriller to take place and therefore shock and surprise the audience. Our setting is relate able to our audience as they will be able to put themselves in the characters shoes and therefore feel more involved in what is happening, putting the audience in suspense as they will have built a relationship with the characters.This relates back to the thriller genre as train stations are sometimes known to be quite spooky and mysterious especially when going through a dark tunnel, they create the fear element of surprise and shock through the dramatic and loud sounds trains make on the tracks. 

The costume, hair and makeup used in our clip will be ordinary everyday makeup and casual clothes, this will be so that the audience will be able to relate to the characters more and therefore feel more involved in whats happening and to show the victims status'. This put the audience in suspense as they will be imagining themselves in the characters position making it more tense. The killer will be wearing a scary mask to show to the audience that he is the killer, this will make the audience scared and in shock as it creates the fear of the unknown which relates back to the thriller genre as it creates more of a mystery and hidden meaning.

The facial expressions and body language that we are going to use are at the beginning of the clip the characters are going to look happy and smiling, (this is to show the contrast between moods later on in the scene) this will help the audience in knowing how to feel at certain points of the clip. Later on in the scene the main character will look shocked, scared and frightened when she realizes she is in danger, this is to communicate to the audience how the character is feeling at the time and the mood trying to be portrayed. This relates back to the thriller genre as it highlights the fact that there is a blonde innocent female victim in danger.

The positioning of characters within the frame are at first, the killer is going to be on the bridge that goes over the train station looking down on the victims below him, this is to show that he has more authority and power over them as he is trying to hurt them not the other way around. This will help the audience understand the characters different status's. Throughout the scenes the main blonde victim will be positioned in the middle of her friends to show that she is the main person and that will focus the audience's attention on her more. This is relateable to a thriller as it shows that the killer has more power over his victims as he is looking down on them.

The colour and lighting that were are going to use in our clip are at the beginning its going to be bright and sunny where the characters are going to be happy and smiling, which shows to the audience pathetic fallacy where the weather corresponds to the mood and vise versa. This will show to the audience that the characters aren't in any harm. Later on in the scene when the main character is in danger there is low key lighting which makes the audience feel scared as it makes them think something bad is going to happen. This is conventional to a thriller as low key lighting is used to create an eery atmosphere for something bad to take place, which makes the audience feel uneasy and ready for a shock.

My thriller can help build a relationship with our audience by the fact that our actors are roughly the same age as our target audience, this will make them more interested in what's happening and make the scene more relateable for them and therefore the audience will create a relationship with the characters as they can relate to what is happening more. The audience is going to make a relationship with the characters also by the characters making their emotions and feelings very clear through their facial expressions this will make them feel more attached to the characters and have more emotion in what they are doing throughout the clip, leading them to feel more anxious and increase the suspense. Our location being in a train station and on a train is very relateable to our audience as many teenagers travel on trains and use train stations on a day to day basis, this will therefore make the audience more intrigued in whats happening to the characters and then making a relationship with them as they will be able to put themselves in their shoes.

Preliminary task- Miss Georgiou

Preliminary task

Our preliminary task was to create a short clip of two people having a conversation, we would create this to demonstrate different camera angles and skills that we are going to include in our thriller opening clip. The clip would be no longer than a minute and the aim was to become familiar with the equitment that we would be using for our main overall thriller clip. It also gave us the chance to use an editing programme where we developed our understanding of the technology and become comfortable and more skilled when we come to editing our final task.

We had to include in our clip, a character walking in through a door, a door closing, a few lines of dialect between two characters and different camera shots. We made our clip as professional as possible by establishing the genre, setting and characters this would help us practice how we are going to do these things in our final task. Once my group (myself, Guneet and Charley) had decided where we were going to film our clip, we recruited two willing actors to take part. We were told to demonstrate: shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule  and to edit and film an actor walk through a door sit down infront of another actor and exchange a few words of dialouge. This is what we created..

After we finsihed filming, we returned to our classroom and uploaded the footage on the macs. We then went through our clips, deleted the irrelevant ones and put the ones we need in order where it would be easier to edit them. After this we edited the shots together to display different editing techniques and make them flow nicely into one another. We learnt very quickly how to use the editing software and realised it is vital to use the appropriate editing technnique in a scene as it will either make or break the clip.





Individual Storyboard - Miss Miller

Individual Storyboards 

 What is the purpose of a storyboard; why are they used in film planning?

Storyboards are used to help put loads of different ideas together to create a collection of images of what is going to happen in each scene and some text explaining it as well. A storyboard will usually give a rough overview of what is going to happen in the real film, they help people point out any errors or problems that they might come across when they come to creating the real clip.

Why will you be creating individual ones before creating a group one?/How you hope your individual post will help when planning your group one?
we are going to make individual storyboards first before creating a group one as we want to ensure we choose the best possible ideas and creating individual ones first will allow us to choose the ideas that are easiest to portray and to create and the ideas that we all agree on as a group. Creating an individual storyboard before creating a group one will help my group when planning our group storyboard as together we will consider everyone's ideas and it is the most efficient way of contributing and combining everyone's ideas together. It will also help us as in our individual storyboards, we will be able to point out any errors we might have come across in our own ideas and therefore know not to include them in our group storyboard reducing the amount of problems we find whilst filming.

Include a brief summary of what you have included within your storyboard (general idea of sequence). 
 in my storyboard i have included the camera shots that are going to be used, the location of the shot, the iconography in the shot, the lighting being used, the actors that are going to be present at the time, the sound being included, the editing and a narrative description of whats happening. We have included these specific elements for each shot as it allows us to carefully think about how we want our shots to be portrayed by our audience and the effect that they are going to create.

Explain why you have included certain elements (low key lighting, reaction shot editing etc.) and what you hope they will create for the audience. 
 In frame 4 we have made the location a train going through a dark tunnel, this will hopefully create fear of the unknown for the audience and put them in suspense wondering whats going to happen when the train comes out the other side. We have included the sound of the train tracks, train doors opening/closing and other train station sounds emphasized in shots two and three, this will create suspense for the audience as it portrays that something dangerous is going to happen soon, this will therefore make the audience scared and fearful. We have made the lighting high key at the beginning, this is to symbolize that everything is calm and safe and then when there is an element of danger we are using low key lighting. This is to show and highlight to the audience the contrast between the character being safe and un safe.

Identify where you have taken some of your inspirations from in relation to films analyzed for previous posts. 
 We have taken the idea of being at a train station from the film 'Creep' this is where a blond female victim falls asleep whilst waiting for a train and then becomes in a large amount of danger, we thought it would be effective to use this location as its not a commonly used place for a thriller to take place and would therefore shock and surprise the audience. We have also got inspirations from 'The Haunting In Connecticut' as this film includes a large amount of conventional aspects to a thriller such as a lot of non diagetic sound, this is where we got the idea from and we are going to use a heartbeat sound, emphasized train sounds and other non diagetic sounds to create suspense for the audience.

Explain how you will need to incorporate each other’s ideas when creating the group one and which specific ideas you hope they will take on board from yours. 
 We're going to make sure we include everyone's ideas in our group storyboard by taking the best aspects of each of our storyboards. This will ensure that everyone in our group is happy with the final storyboard and therefore making us all eager to carry on and create the best thriller clip we can. I hope my group and i take the idea of the setting and location to be on a train and train station from my individual storyboard as i think its an interesting place to film and we could really make it conventional to a thriller and shock the audience.

How helpful have you found this with regards to filming your sequence.

Creating these storyboards have helped us thoroughly go through our idea and make sure we are all clear of what is going to happen so we don't have any confusions. Creating the storyboards has also made my group and i more aware about what camera angles and editing styles we are going to use during and after filming, this will benefit us as we will be able to make sure our camera angles work with what type of atmosphere we are trying to create and allow us to plan what we are going to do with our work to make it the most effective we can.