Costume for two minute production:

In our two-minute film we only had two characters who were going to be filmed and therefore we did not need to do much thinking about the costume. We wanted the costume to be casual clothing and to look like something that would be worn to go on a walk through the park with a friend. Therefore we let the characters decide for themselves on the day to keep it simple and as realistic as if it was an actual situation. They wore a coat, boots, jeans, plain tops and scarves. This kept it very basic. The clothing was also made up with dark colours which looked really effective when the lights from the traffic lit up the characters when walking down the dark road. The darkness also made the atmosphere more mysterious as you were not able to see where they were in comparison to the person following them. We did not necessarily want the costume to give an impression as to the personalities of the characters as this was not what we were trying to focus on throughout the film.

Planning for 2 minute task

    In our two-minute task we needed to do a lot of planning in order to help us prepare for it. Here are some notes that we did as a group in our media books.

These notes were very simplistic and just basic ideas of what location we could film at. I feel that as a group we could have done a lot more planning in order to make sure the final outcome was a lot better than what we did do. However we struggled to sort it out and talk amongst ourselves which meant one person of the group would have to take control and dominate what was going to happen.

Storyboard for 2 minute task

 

Here is the storyboard that I created for my two-minute task. All of us in the group made an individual one which in turn were all very similar so we combined the ideas.

 

 The first section of the storyboard is the first shot that we would use in our film. This is to capture swings moving in the wind with the sound of the chains creaking, aswell as a round about spinning by itself. We could not use the idea of a round about because there wasnt one in the park that we filmed at, however we did use the idea of the swings and this worked really well as a result of creating tension and grabbing the audience.

The next camera shot is a zoom in on the swings, as the swing gets higher in the air and moves quicker, but it is unknown as to what is causing it. We simplified this idea as it was very hard to achieve it and make it look realistic without filming any unnecessary objects such as a person pushing the swing with force and getting in the video. We also wanted the swing to stop suddenly and for footprints to appear in the sand. This was very difficult to do and therefore we decided to leave it out but try to work with this idea as best we could.

This part was not then possible as we changed our idea when we were filming in order to improve the overall film. We originally wanted to follow the footprints across the sand and into the grass, soon followed by an establishing shot of the park. However we did this panning shot at the very beginning of the film which I felt looked a lot better than what it would have done if we had included it after the shots of the footprints in the sand.

The camera shot then disappears into some trees to create some mystery and anxiety. We did include this shot and it worked really well along some new ideas that we thought of whilst we were filming.

     This storyboard really helped us to plan our production as we found it difficult to gather our ideas and know what to do. Therefore by individually creating a storyboard we were all able to draw out our own ideas of what we felt would work well in a thriller film and then we were able to combine the best ones in order to make our film. It also helped us to figure out the type of shots we were going use and which ones would be more suitable. If we were to improve our storyboards we would make them a lot more detailed and make certain of the ideas. Although we changed our ideas when we were filming our storyboards still stayed relevant and were very useful.The ideas that we all had were included in the film as we found that they were the strongest ideas. It was very easy to adapt our original idea, this is because we had left plenty of room to improve on it and we were not definite on what we were to do until we went out and filmed. Our target audience is teenagers as we felt this film was perfectly suitable because of the suspense and tension that is built throughout it. This film is a 15 classification. We chose this because later on in the film there may be use of strong language and scenes of violence and a terrifying nature.

Prezi presentation – Evaluation:

This is my evaluation:

 http://prezi.com/qrxttop_u48e/edit/

Here is my prezi Powerpoint presentation that I made in order to make a detailed evaluation of my two-minute production task.

This part of my prezi presentation talks about a continuity error that we realised we had made after filming and how we managed to fix it by rearranging the clips so that it was all in a good and realistic sequence.

This section discusses how well we thought we worked together as a group and what we could have done to make a better team, and the problems we had during our production and how we overcame them.

In this part of my presentation I talk about the different parts of the film and why we chose to do what we did as well as how we went about deciding the location we were to use.

 

This part of the Powerpoint presentation talks about the costume that was chosen and how we kept it simple and casual in order to fit in perfectly with our film and also how we did our planning and what we did to help us plan.

Here are some evaluation questions that I have answered in as much detail as possible in order to discuss why we made certain decisions and who we target in terms of our audience.

Video Clips of 3 relevant Thriller films:

The Crazies. This film is a really good film and I thought it would be good to use. This film is interesting, different but also very predictable in terms of the plot. You can easily guess what is going to happen at the end of the film. For example you can predict that everyone dies because of the chemicals in the water pipes that they were drinking from but the two main characters would survive and live to tell the tale. This is what I don’t like in a film because I want to be surprised by the ending. It was also very unrealistic. The storyline was very exaggerated and by all means you would know that this would never happen. By watching this film we realised that we do not want our film to portray such a predictable and unreal manner, what I mean by this is that the film we make has to be very believable and a potential real life event. Therefore we used this film as a base to achieve the look and effect that we wanted. We tried to make our film as realistic as possible but also leaving suspense and not making the story obvious in terms of what was going to happen in the line of events. The graphics are clever in this film creating an effective explosion and so real settings in which the film took place in. The use of special effects to show a character being hung in the car wash as they were trying to escape worked really well.

Awake. The realism in this film is true and effective. This is what we liked about the film. The events that were shown in this film were true and could be a major possibility in actual daily situations. We based the realism of this film in our own film, making the events eligible to happen in a daily routine. For instance a patient being awake during a very risky operation. Although this is very unlikely to happen on a regular basis, it is still a  major possibility that it could happen. The film was very cleverly made with good actors and clearly put together well as a film. It was the type of thriller that kept you on the edge of your seats whilst wondering what is going to happen. This type of suspense worked really well as everyone is curious as to what the possibilities could be, and will they be what they are expected to?

Shutter Island. As a film of reality this film isn’t the best of choices, but when being a film of thriller this film was amazing. The drama involved in it was not very predictable as there were many unexpected twists, the graphics were clever and the amount of tension that was purely built through the amazing acting skills and the tension music in the background. For example the main character walking through a long dark corridor looking for something but didn’t quite know what he should expect. This meant that the audience is in the same vote and they also did not know what they should expect or how bad the consequences of his actions would be.

Images from two minute production:

 

The beginning of our film started with a panning shot around the local park in order to establish the full setting for the audience to see.

The camera then captured the swings moving in the wind.

We then zoomed in order to create more suspense and tension as if something or someone was lurking there, and not necessarily just the wind.

 

We then moved in closer towards the sand and followed it across and out of the sand pit for the extra suspense and mystery.

 

The two characters in our film then casually walked across the park and infront of the cameras on purpose. We thought this would create realism and look effective.

The characters then walked through into another section of the park. This shot was taken to make a clear variation. It was shot from the ground so that only the legs and feet could be caught on camera. This worked really well and looked good.

 

The camera filmed from inside the park looking out through the trees. This looked really effective and almost although someone was running through the park and following the two characters.

This was a shot that was used to break up repetition of running and captured the cars driving along the main road and as they disappeared up the road.

 Here is a shot of the characters running from what they thought was someone following at the sound of footsteps.

 

The camera cut to infront of the characters. Here was a continuity error as in this shot they weren’t running still, they were walking and therefore we had to move this clip forward so that we could still use it. This worked equally as well.

 Here is the end shot in which the camera moves towards the car as we hear the characters screaming. We did this so that the audience is left in suspense and doesn’t know what quite has happened down the dark pathway.

Evaluation of Two Minute Task

   In this task we were aiming to create a thriller movie scene. We wanted this scene to be precise what I mean by this is that we wanted the camera angles to be correct and for the lighting to be right and look really effective as well as to create lots of tension and leave the audience curious as to what happened next. We thought that this was the best way of attracting our target audience which was mainly for the younger generation. Younger people and teenagers like films that keep them on edge and keep them wondering. They also like the films to scare them and give them some form of adrenalin rush, as well as portray a good sense of reality. This is why we chose to make a thriller film. The setting of our opening scene was at a local park and the surrounding area. We chose this because at the time of night we filmed it began to get dark and the trees and equipment on the park formed creepy imagery and lots of shadowing and tension. This is typically seen in many thriller or horror films. I felt this location was perfect for our scene, we also had traffic passing by which helped add to the atmosphere as it was extra noise in the background as well as the brightness of the car lights and other existing lights that we could pick up. In this opening scene we did not want to pinpoint particular characters and therefore tried to keep it to a silhouette figure as much as we could. We also felt this helped create some tension as you are not quite sure what to expect from both characters. We used a camera stand in order to get a panning shot of the surroundings; this was a good way to introduce the setting in which the events take place. We varied all of our camera shots as much as we could to make it interesting and as skillful as possible, whilst also making it look as effective as we could. This was the real importance, because without it looking effective and if it looked too precise and staged it would not create the feeling that we are trying to send across to our audience. The main theme was the reality of this actually happening in a day-to-day situation.

We had several problems in our task. Firstly we really struggled to come up with a suitable and interesting idea that we could use. We all created a storyboard which we thought would be the perfect idea and then moulded them together. This was the easiest way in which we could all agree on a specific scene choice. We had further problems when trying to film. In our group none of us are the closest of friends and we all live too far away from each other in order to just meet up and film. Considering we were filming at night we could not find a suitable location safe enough for all of us to travel to. In the end two of us took the task into our hands and filmed, leaving the other two in the group to help edit and make any adjustments and change what they wanted. This meant that everyone could take part in the group. Whilst editing we struggled to adjust the lighting and contrast for the entire film, this was because we filmed as it got dark and therefore some scenes are lighter than others. This looked out-of-place and spoilt the filming. In the end we managed to change it and make it look the same colouring and shade.

In this task there are several things that we could have done better as a team and during the creation of our scene. Firstly I feel that we should have practiced our techniques of filming a lot more so that we were certain about what camera shots we wanted to achieve. Secondly we all needed to work better as a team by fully co-operating and discussing what we needed to do as a group and individually in order to make our film a success. This was one of our weakest points.

In conclusion I am pleased with our final outcome, we tried our best and created a film to the best of our ability even if we did lack enthusiasm. However next time we need to expand our horizon and really think carefully about what we are going to do, who is going to be involved, what props and equipment we will need and most of all the most realistic location.

Problems with two minute film:

When trying to film it became very difficult in the location as it was so dark. It was vital that it was dark so that we could successfully create tension and atmosphere to make it scary and gripping. When trying to capture certain shots such as shadows and car reflections is was difficult on the camera I attempted to use, as it did not pick up any of it. Therefore I became restricted as I had no other camera to use. The weather was also a problem as it was so cold it became hard to concentrate on what was being filmed because we were so focused on how cold our hands were. Also is began to sleet and rain which became a further distraction. As each one of us in our group do not live close enough together to just simply go out and film, this became a struggle.

Ideas for the location:

   

Here is one location idea for our two minute production. This is a local park which would work well and be perfect to shoot our thriller at.

Here is a shot from another local park that we could possibly film at. This park is full of climbing apperators that could be used to create a great deal of tension and atmosphere.

I went out around my local area and got some pictures of two good locatons that we could use. They are quiet areas but tension and atmosphere can easily be created by the use of props and objects in those surroundings.

Importance of Opening Credits

   The opening credits of many films vary. They mainly begin by setting the scene and allowing the audience to start painting a picture of what may happen. This may be done by an establishing shot of the setting or even a birdseye view shot. This then moves to some form of close up whether it is a characters home or the characters facial expression at the time. This is very effective as it is a gradual process which slowly draws the audience in to keep them watching. It is important that the scene it set to make clear of where the action is taking place, and it is also important to introduce the main characters to stop any confusion within the first few seconds. Most film openings will show a clip and then display the title of the film. This is a good idea as the audience’s attention is held for that short period of time and then the title is shown. This makes the audience want to continue watching if they like what they’ve seen.