Ellis's Media Blog

I did some research into different possible locations in the area. YHA Holmbury is a youth hostel, however it is too modern and too clean for what we're looking for,but it does have the kind of flooring we want and enough space in some rooms to film. It is quite expensive at around £30 for a room big enough so may no be the best option.

    


Another option is YHA Tanner's Hatch. It is slightly cheaper at around £15, however we cannot guarantee that we'll get a room with space under the bed and with a cupboard. It also doesn't have the flooring we want, and may still be too clean.


 



There are benefits to being in the studio:

1. We don't have to pay to use it
2. No time is taken up by travelling to the location
3. We can get the exact set up and look we want with props, colours etc.
4. There are no time constraints where we have to be out by a certain time
5. There are no people around for us to disturb or to disturb us
6. We can make sure there's enough room for us to film

I had a look at different shops that sold the kind of trousers we needed for the Russians to wear as they didn't have any of their own. On Sports Direct I found two pairs of working trousers that would work, and had a look at the prices. If we can't find any others that our cast can use or borrow, we will get these as they're not too expensive.

This is a rough script of what we'd like our characters to say. It eon't have to be followed to the word but is an idea of what we want:

We decided on our full prop list and contacted our cast about what they need to wear:


We also contacted them about a potential test shoot next week to have a run through of the script and to choreograph it roughly.

Our cast members have responded and all of them are available and would like to take part. Here are the replies:

Today my group and I started to finalise ideas, put together our contact sheet, and start on a rough script of how we want the thriller to play out. We also put together a step-by-step page of what happens.

Today we sat down with Matt to talk about our idea and get approval to take it forward.We told him our idea and he said that it would work well, and gave us some suggestions on how to improve it, such as the setting and the reason for the attack. He suggested that because normal English hotels don't normally have spaces under the beds, we should think of another place to set the thriller, such as Siberia or Brazil, where we can create a realistic room with a space under the bed. We decided on our reason of attack to be a wrong-place-wrong-time type of thing, where the couple have been together for a while, which will add to the tension and drama more than a one-night-stand.

This is what we presented to Matt, however our idea has changed slightly since then. This includes the test shoot:

To prepare for the test shoot we wrote up the shots we wanted, decided on a rough storyline and a location - a bedroom in a boarding house.

This test shoot is important because we can actually see if our idea would work well or not, and it also gives us the chance to play around with shots and camera angles before doing the real thing.

We didn't entirely follow the original shot list because our idea had changed slightly after doing it.

As a group we re-told each of our 3 ideas and discussed possible thriller intros that would include elements of all of ours. We really liked Myles' original idea, and decided to expand on that with part of other ideas included. We likes his because it had a good narrative, and could be effectively filmed, and would look original. The initial plot decision was difficult because we had to decide between two different ideas. One way was to have the man save the girl, the other was to have the man not save her, and stay in the cupboard.

Everything in our thriller will be shot from under the bed. The main idea is to have a couple in a hotel room (initially talking, looking for a tie, getting ready to go out etc.), when they hear gunshots and shouts in the distance and question what they are. They start to panic, and the man goes outside briefly to check. He rushes back in, quickly pushing the girl under the bed in order to save her first. He just has enough time to hide in the wardrobe before the door gets kicked in and two men dressed in combat black. One shouts 'room service!', before pulling open the wardrobe door, dragging out the man, throwing him to his knees and asking 'is there anyone else in the room?' (or words to that effect) and shoots the man. He falls to the floor, staring at the girl under the bed. The men begin to leave, but the girl lets out a strangled cry, and a pair of boots stop, and walk back towards the bed, where the scene cuts to black.

We've spoken to other people about our idea and the feedback so far is good and has been constructive and helpful in how we do our thriller.

This week we were put into groups with the people who we'd be working with on our thriller intro. In my group is me, Myles, Elena and Emma. Here are some pictures of us on the test shoot:

1.
Intro outline:
A man sets up a sniper on top of a building or out of a window. We see what he sees through the gun's scope
, with cross hairs on the screen. He's looking at a football match (for example) focusing on different people as if searching for his target. Whilst doing this, he's making sarcastic and sadistic comments about the match, imitating a commentator. He locks on to a target, says 'he shoots' - the screen goes black - 'he scores'. The title comes up and we hear a crown cheering.

Plot:
The film is about match fixing in sport, and when it doesn't turn out the way the fixers want, someone needs to pay the price. The job of the sniper man is to eliminate the people who fail to meet the demands of the fixing, and some people are in need of eliminating.



2.
Intro outline:
An average man is sitting on a sofa in a living room, eating fast food (eg. pizza or burger). The TV is on in the background, with a news report of a series of brutal murders done with a weapon of some sort (eg. a hammer). The light from the TV is shining on the man's face as the lights are off. He hears the front door being unlocked, casually stands up, grabs a bloody hammer that was not shown before and heads towards the noise. The door opens and a thunk is heard as the screen goes black.

Plot:
The man on the sofa is the villain of the plot. He's trying to avenge his family by murdering all of the possible suspects - even though most of them are innocent. The thunk you hear at the end of the intro is him being killed, not him killing another person - but the audience doesn't know that. The person who kills him is the focus of the film, trying to hunt him down.



3.
Intro outline:
Similar to the second, but the news report is about decapitations, or bodies found with missing limbs. The man gets up at one point, goes to the fridge and opens it to find limbs and a head or two. He grabs a can of coke and walks back to the sofa to carry on watching the TV.

Plot: The man on the sofa is again the villain, but the rest of the film is the police trying to figure out who did these murders and why, then tracking him down before he tracks them down.

As obvious as it sounds, a 'thriller' film is meant to thrill its viewers, hence the name. The dictionary definition is 'a film with an exciting plot, typically involving crime or espionage.' and is said to give viewers 'heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety. Alfred Hitchcock is an example of a director well known for his successful thrillers such as Psycho and The Birds.

Other examples of thrillers include:

• The Silence of the Lambs
• Memento
• Shutter Island
• Inception
• The Sixth Sense
• The 'Jaws' films

To edit our preliminary task, we used Adobe Premier Pro again, as used in the previous editing session.

Matt taught us how to separate audio from the video, and to layer it so that it fit with the scene, and you couldn't directly see the person speaking. We tried to make Ollie the focus of the scene by layering Kate's voice on top of shots of him, to give the effect that he's the subject. We also put the shot of him looking at Kate leaving at the end to signify that fact. We used a number of close-ups to get a more personal feel as you can clearly see the actors' expressions.

I really enjoyed doing this task, but I found it difficult to make each shot fit together well, as some of them had continuity errors. I also found that there was not enough space in-between each line, so some of the cuts are slightly jumpy, and don't quite flow unnoticeably. Overall, I think we were successful because we got the story across. Next time, I would be tighter on continuity as we found that in some edits, the door shut twice in the background, which didn't look or sound right.

Last week my group and I shot the preliminary task, where we were given a pre-written script with the camera angles we had to use for each shot.

We shot the scene in an empty classroom, and for each new angle we repeated the scene, starting with the wide shot. Starting with this meant we could get 4 of the 12 shots in 1. We then moved to the over the shoulder shots for each character, then the close ups. After these we went in for some extra shots - an extreme close up, and a shot of the door opening and closing with the exit of a character to add diversity and to make the final product look more professional. We used the previously learned 180 degree rule in this filming, and we found it easy to follow. This rule avoids confusion for the audience, and also eliminates jump cuts.




Whilst filming we used the right terminology:
1. Stand by
2. Standing by
3. Roll camera
4. Camera rolling
5. Action
6. Cut

These were helpful for the actors and director to know when to come in/out or start/stop.

I really enjoyed this process and look forward to doing similar things in the future when creating our thrillers. Next time I would trust my instincts more as to whether a shot is good or not, or in focus, as this wasted a little bit of time during filming. Throughout the process the actors were helpful and willing to repeat or change anything needed.

On Friday we went into the editing suite to look at and edit the footage we'd taken during the previous studio lesson. We used Adobe Premier to put together our shots. This software is used for both small scale and large scale projects, from YouTube videos to huge films such as Deadpool.

Screenshot of Adobe Premier

Matt taught us the correct terminology for the tools, and how the folders containing all of the clips we shot are called bins because back when films were edited manually, they would put the film roll on metal cylinders that looked like bins, and the name stuck. The clips straight out of the camera are called rushes because when film needed to be developed, it would be rushed off at the end of the day, and brought back the next. It's important to keep all the clips in one place so they're easy to access and you know where they all are

To make it look as good as possible, we followed the phrase 'first moment in, first moment out' to get the best cut and make it flow well from one clip into another. We watched the clip and pressed 'i' at the first moment in to shop long bits and make it tight. Matt told us that it was best to cut on movement because it makes the scene as smooth and as natural as possible.

The clip was then cut (if needed) using the razor blade, by pressing the 'c' to get to the tool, and the 'v' button to get back to the normal cursor/arrow after.

We used a variety of clips, and used the trim handles to crop them to the length we wanted, putting them in a sequence that looked diverse and interesting. Not all of the footage we took was used, as we used the best shots that fit together well.



I'm looking forward to using this software in the future because its features are simple to use and I want to further develop my skills to get the best results in editing. I found it difficult to get a crisp, clean flow from one clip into the next, but I think over time with more practice it will get easier. Next time, I would take more footage as there occasionally happens to be someone in the background moving, as well as some smiles that shouldn't have been there. For now this doesn't matter, but in the future, when creating our thriller, we need to make sure that continuity is taken seriously so it looks professional and realistic.

Kate working on the edit

Photo showing the format of the window

On Thursday we went into the studio again with Matt and Paul to learn about the 180° rule (which I previously didn't know about), where the camera should stay within 180° of the subject in frame, as demonstrated in the picture below. An example was if you were filming two people having a conversation, you would imagine a line (the red one on the picture below) and you would only stay on one side of it. This makes continuity better because the details stay the same, and makes the work look professional, as the two actors are always on the same side. A well as this, Matt used a toy motorbike to show us that by not using the 180° rule, it looks like there are two motorbikes going in different directions when you play it back.

We set up the cameras and tripods again, and after a demonstration, filmed our own sequences. I was the 'actor' in it, where I walked onto a marker we set up, took my phone out of my pocket, checked it, put it back, and walked off. Starting with a wide shot, we went in to a mid shot, then a close up to an extreme close up of the phone. Matt told us to film the same scene repeatedly all the way through, even if we're only using a tiny amount of it because it's better to have too much than too little when it comes to footage.

One of the camera angles we used

Whilst filming our sequences, Matt told us that it was important to not watch our footage back because it wastes a lot of time, and if the actors see it they'll most likely want to re-do the scene differently. We has to use the proper language when shooting: 'stand by', 'rolling', 'action' and 'cut'. o keep continuity, we used the same hand to take out the phone, and from the same place on the body. I also walked in from the same direction each time.

Finally, Matt taught us about focus pulling, and how it draws attention from one object to another. It's about twisting the focus on the lens to focus on the object in question, either from foreground to background or vice versa.

Another group doing a wide shot

Semiotics - the study of signs and symbols, looking at how meaning is made and understood.

Anything used for human communication is a sign - gestures, facial expressions, poetry, rituals, clothes, food, music, morse code, marketing, adverts, film etc.

All media texts have 2 layers of meaning and are polysemic (have multiple meanings);

• DENOTATIVE: what we actually see
• CONNOTATIVE: what you associate with the image

Denotation - a red heart Connotation - love, romance, Valentine's

Putting the camera on the tripod

Adjusting the locks

The camera and battery setup

Zooming and focusing on a particular object

'Son of Rambow' is about quiet Will Proudfoot and troublemaker Lee Carter making a film with their borrowed camera and big ambitions. It's set in the 1980's in England, and is a lighthearted comedy about friendship and growing up.

Will is a member of 'The Bretheren' (a religious society) and is living with his mother and sister. As a result of being in this society, he is not allowed to watch TV or listen to popular music, and hasn't wished to until he meets Lee, who introduces him to all of these things, including a pirate copy of Rambo: First Blood. Lee draws him in to be the star of his home made movie to enter in a young filmmaker's competition. Their friendship and filmmaking is pushed to its limits with the introduction of the cool and popular French exchange student - Didier Revol, who, along with others, wants to be a part of the action.


The film was released in 2007 in the UK, and was produced by a few different studios, the main being Hammer & Tongs, Celluloid Dreams and Good Film Productions.
The cast includes: Bill Milner (Will), Will Poulter (Lee), Jessica Hynes, Neil Dudgeon and Ed Westwick.


This is my favourite film because the casting is perfect, and the two young boys fit the roles really well. As well as this, the use of 'footage' from the film within the film is enjoyable as it shows it from their point of view and make it seem all the more real. The variation of camera angles adds to the diversity and interest of it.

This is a piece of group work analysing one of the previous years' thrillers about tension and production.

Hello, my name is Ellis Monk, I'm 16 and I live in Surrey in England. Before coming to Hurtwood I went to St John's School, Leatherhead for 3 years to do my GCSEs. Now I'm in my A1 year I'm studying Accounting, Psychology, Biology, and Media Studies. This is my coursework blog where I'll be posting my progress throughout the year. I'm looking forward to finding out what makes a film interesting, and the difference between large and small scale film companies.

I've always enjoyed going to the cinema and concerts to see bands like Mcfly, Bastille, 5SOS, Nothing But Thieves, Sum 41, Blink 182 - that kind of thing. Some of my favourite film genres are comedy, indie, sci-fi and action, but I tend to watch pretty much anything that interests me.  I like films such as The Benchwarmers, Son of Rambow and The Fundamentals of Caring because of the plots and the way they're filmed. One of my favourite actors is Tom Hanks because of his versatility. I watch quite a lot of TV, both reality and fictional, using Netflix and Sky to watch programmes such as Supernatural, American Horror Story, and for a bit of light relief - the Great British Bake Off. As for other interests, I've played bass guitar for the past 3 years and like performing in concerts.
I hope you enjoy my blog,
Ellis

This is me during the summer on holiday in Greece