Filming Schedule- Miss Georgiou

A filming schedule is important to have, as it keeps everything organised in your group to do with your filming, such as when and where we will meet too film and also what we will need in each scene. Withput a filming schedule, scene filming would be un-organised and it would be hard to check and remember everything you need, by following the schedule, you know when and where to meet and also what you will need and what shots you will be filming, which is helpful as everything is organised so filming can run smoothly.

Group Storyboard- Miss Miller

Group Storyboard

It is important to have a group storyboard, because it allows you and your group members to see and know the overall narrative of your scene and also the order you are filming in and your order of shots, which gives you an organised plan and is vital in planning the production. In our group, Me, Molly and Claire all compared eachothers ideas from our own individual storyboards, and decided that Molly's drawings were best, which was why we let her illustrate the storyboard and also Molly took ideas from mine and claire's features of editing and sound such as silence and slow editing to include in our group storyboard.

We included silence in the beginning of the sequence to create tension, the audience are unaware of what's going to happen next and are made uneasy by the silence and also unsettled by the eery squeek of a dragging chair and a closing door. Low key lighting was also important to include, which was featured in all of our individual storyboards as it sets the tone for the audience and is conventional to a thriller as it dimmens the mood, creating tension.

 From Molly's storyboard, we also included a lot of the camera angles from the end scene, such as over the shoulder shots and a P.O.V which are conventional to the thriller genre and also allows the audience to connect with the character as the see things from their perspective. 

I believe our storyboard is well organised and effective, as we clearly include everything in our narrative and also the key elements in each shot such as sound, editing, characters and lighting. We did well to incorporate all 3 of our ideas into our joint group storyboard, making sure all of our ideas were considered but also making sure we used the most appropriate to the scenes and shots to make the most effective it could possibly be.

Individual Storyboard - Miss Miller

Storyboard

The purpose of a storyboard is to help better plan a scene and to also plan each part of the scene and what happens inside of it. It paints a picture for the scenery in a shot and also the overall imagery. It also allows you to plan the sounds, editing and camera angles of what you plan to film and also the order you plan to film it in.

In our groups, we created individual storyboards to share ideas with eachother about our opening sequence and also show each other what we think the scene should plan out like. It also allows us to compare our ideas and what we think is best for the group as a whole for our production, which is why we are creating a group storyboard afterwards.

My individual post will help will help when we are group planning as it will allow us to compare ideas and use the best possible ideas for our group, which means I could possibly have a better idea than the other two people in my group. I have included the general outline of the plot in my storyboard, but also included the sound and editing featured in each shot and also the narrative of what's happening in the scene, which is vital to planning as our group need to understand what is going on. For example, I included low key lighting in some shots, such as the suicide scene at the beginning to create an enigma and also suspense as the audience are awaiting to see what will happen to the character and fear for him, which is how I made this conventional to a thriller and also set the tone for the audience. I expect the audience to be drawn in to my sequence, as suspense is created by slow timing and also various points of silence throughout some shots, such as the dinner scene to create tension and an eery atmosphere for the audience, making them feel uneasy and on edge and also low key lighting dimming in the mood and the overall plot of the sequence, creating suspense and tension throughout.

I have taken inspirations for my sequence from the Alfred Hitchcock classic, Psycho, which is set in low key lighting but also creates suspense for the audience very well for the audience such as the shower scene, which I incorporate into my beginning shots. In conclusion, I believe my storyboard is well laid out and clearly shows what's needed in each scene such as editing, sound and costumes. From my storyboard, I hope my group incorporate my ideas about sound in the first few shots and also the camera angles during the dinner scene as I believe it is best for the scene and creates suspense and tension for the audience well. Doing this individually and sharing back to our group allows us to compare ideas and also decide what frames and overall storyboard slots are best for the group and our final storyboard.

Inspirations-Miss Georgiou

                                           Inspirations

Before we create work, watch a film or even take part in an activity, we need to be inspired inspiration requires interest, but also motivation and we can take inspiration from personal experience and also interest from something we'd seen. If someone had never tried or seen something before and were talked or pressured into something, they would not be inspired and they would need to hear and more importantly see good things from that partially field to be inspired and motivated to take part or do something. For example, with our production, we have taken inspirations from various thriller films and also clips from these films.

Psycho
An Alfred Hitchcock classic was one of our main inspirations for our film for a number of reasons. Mainly for the low key lighting used throughout the film to create suspense and darken the mood, adding tension as the audience do not know what is around the corner. It is essential to use low key lighting in our production, as it is a thriller and is conventional to the genre. The film is also directed very well by hitchcock, who is known very well for building suspense, tension, shock and surprise very well in his films, particularly in this example by using the shower scene to mix all elements into one scene. We use this as an inspiration for our thriller by building suspense throughout, but also shock and surprise when Cameron kills himself and then his mother.

Se7en- From our opening sequence, we took many inspirations from the opening sequence of se7en. It is mainly a dark scene, with low key lighting throughout to dimmen the mood for the audience and also not reveal very much about the plot. The mysterious use of sound throughout also creates suspense and tension for the audience, drawing them into the story, which is vital for us to repeat as we want people to be interested by our sequence and feel emotions towards it.

Human Centipede- Editing is significant in the Human Centipede, elements of slow editing, reaction shots and straight cuts. It is used to slow the action to create suspense for the audience and leave them further waiting to see what will happen next, the reaction shots are used to show facial expressions, allowing the audience to connect with the character and see their emotions. We use this in our sequence for the main character cameron, using reaction shots in his suicide scene or when he kills his mother, which also includes slow editing followed by a straight cut to his frantic girlfriend on the phone. 

Overall, our inspirations have inspired us to include key elements at various points of our filming and also gave us ideas on how we could make our production better and more suspenseful.

Planning opening credits

Planning Opening Credits

Opening credits are used at the start of films for a number of reasons. It is mainly used to let the audience know the different roles that will feature in the film and also the film title. Usually the roles should appear on-screen in the order that they do in the film, also having the directors name featured near the very beginning. It lets the audience know who stars in the film. It is essential to make these credits stand out and look interesting to get the audience drawn into the film and also relate it to the genre, e.g you wouldn't have creepy mysterious writing for a comedy film. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEq-4fua3lM

An example of a well produced starting credits is from the film Se7en. The font and style of credits used is fuzzy scwigly white writing always against a black background. The fuzzy writing could show the mental state of the antagonist being twisted and that he is an evil character and also the colours set the tone of the film with white always being on a black background, showing how a sense of danger may be looming and also the white and black colours could suggest the innocent (white) being killed by the evil (black). This is effective and builds suspense as the audience do not know who may possibly be murdered. The credits of the sequence is a title with the production company name to show the audience who made the film and also to introduce the film showing them the title, followed by the main actors that they will see in the film in order of appearance. Low key lighting is used to show myterious things early on that could really to the film, such as hand prints and a character writing and the audience also feel shocked as there is a part where someone is cutting the skin on their thumb, also creating suspense as the audience want to know why this is happening and also why the previous shots are there too. Tension is built throughout but the upbeat and mysterious music from bass and a piano, keeping the audience on edge and feeling un-easy. 

For my credits, I generally want to use a black and white or dark theme to set the tone for the audience and film as our opening sequence is quite dark and covers dark themes such as murder and suicide. The director and main actors names should come up on screen as well as the name of our production to show to the audience. Below are all example of mine and my fellow group members font and colour ideas, the first being mine, second being molly's and third being Claire's. For my design, I chose the colours as white on black, typical for a thriller film and also made the font big, bolg and in capitals to stand out. Although this is effective as it relates to a thriller, it seems a bit basic and also not gripping enough, which is why our group decided not to go with this. Molly's style featured a mix of red, black and white with bold and almost depressing writing. This is clearly conventional to a thriller as dark colours are used and also the use of red could connote blood or danger and it is overall the best presented and looking out of ours so our group decided to go with this. Although Claire's idea is good with the colours and presentation, I do not agree with the font and layout as for me it looks too much like a sci-fi style font, which is why overall it was best to go with Molly's style. 

Thoughout our sequence, from the beginning until the point where we show the title of the film font, each person involved in our film will feature in the credits in various different shots. The same font will be used to maintain the atmosphere throughout and gloominess of the film, and our title will be shown behind a black background once all the credits have finished, the white font on black background showing the innocent (white) in danger of the dark and evil (black) , like those around Cameron, his mother and his girlfriend. 

Planning Characters - Miss Miller

Characters

Cameron - Main Character and Antagonist

Our main character and antagonist, cameron, is an eighteen year old student who lives alone with his mother. His facial expression is always worn out and depressed, showing to the audience that he is in distress, he is also worn out and emotionless due to the amount of time he spends fighting his split personality disorder. In his suicide sequence, he will be wearing white to convey his real innocence and that he is innocent, he cannot help his problems which all could've started at age 10 when his father was murdered, however he wears black in the murder to scene to convey his darkness and he is a sinister character, being conventional to a thriller as this gives an element of surprise to the audience as they believed he was an innocent person, being a paradox to the previous scene and thoughts to they previously thought of Cameron. He has always naturally been a very quiet person

Harmony- Girlfriend

Harmony is the worried and paranoid girlfriend of the main character Cameron. She is not a villain and does not assist with helping Cameron kill his own mother, she is a nice character who cares about the mental state of her boyfriend. This allows the audience to symphysis with her as she is a nice character but also because she is clearly in distress which makes the audience feel sorry for her.

Grace- Mother

Our third and final character is Grace, the mother of Cameron. Her husband died when Cameron was 10 and it has been a struggle for her bringing Cameron up, it could be one of the main contributors to Cameron's sadness and depression. She is a nice lady and comes across as a warm and loving mother, and the audience feel sorry for her as not only does she have a lot to deal with, she innocently murdered by her own son after already having a stressful life to deal with. 

Planning Sound - Miss Miller

Planning Sound

Parallel
In our production, parallel sound present is of a knife stabbing someone, this shown in the dinner scene where cameron kills his mother. The sound of the knife is used to add emphasis to the pain his mother is feeling and also showing on-screen sound as we see the knife. This leaves the audience being wary and fearful of cameron, leaving them unaware of what he is capable of and always on the alert when he appears in a scene.

Non-Digetic
At the end of our opening sequence piece, we shall play the soundtrack of "tiptoe around the tulips" this is while the credits are being played to play out the scene. This is also a very childlike sounding song, not linking with the violent scene and also the gore in the scene, meaning this also comes as contrapuntal sound. This unsettles the audience and makes them feel uncomfortable, also adding tension to question why the sound is here if it is not related to the scene.

Digetic
During the suicide scene, significant digetic sound occurs such as the chair dragging prior to his suicide, it is an eery sound and creates tension and suspense, the audience are made uncomfortable by the sound and it makes them wary of what may happen next. This prolongs the anticipation of the suicide, it adds another element of mystery as we do not know whether he will kill himself and the audience will find out and shock is created with digetic sound when the chair falls to the ground and the only thing that can be seen are his legs dangling.

Off-Screen
Off-screen sound occurs at various points during our opening sequence, a notable example is when Cameron's girlfriend is on the phone to him and we can hear Cameron's voice but cannot see it, adding a sense of mystery and tension as the audience does not know where the sound is coming from and want to know what Cameron is really up to. This also makes the audience fear for his girlfriend and this adds to the distress of the audience as we see her concerned and almost facial expressions, which are her reactions to what she is hearing but cannot see, just like the audience. This also builds suspense and no one knows where the antagonist is and whether others or himself are in danger.

Planning editing styles - Miss Georgiou

Planning Editing Styles

Reaction Shot

Reaction shots are shots used that are intended to show an characters facial expressions and emotions about an event. In our scene, we shall use this to cut to a phone conversation to show the characters reaction to her boyfriend killing herself. This therefore creates shock which is usually followed by slow editing that emphasises the point. Using a reaction shot in this scene benefits our audience as they cannot see cameron speaking on the phone to his girlfriend, instead it's effective as we see the on-screen characters distress of what she's hearing elsewhere. This type of shot also creates shock and normally follows slow editing, to emphasise the emotions and drag the effect out, further impacting the audience.

Slow Editing
In our production, our suicide scene includes slow editing, to increase the intensity and the drama of what's happening. This is effective and creates suspense as there is a longer wait until the next shot for the audience, keeping them on edge and drawn into the scene, this is conventional to a thriller as this therefore creates suspense. Using this also slows down the timing of the shots. 

Filters

Dark filters and low key lighting are used a lot throughout our production. The dark lighting effects are used in our scene to add to the mystery and also keep the overall mood mellow, the colours are not bright and cheerful which also dimmens the mood of the audience and adds tension as they are made to feel uneasy by these colours. This filter is also used typically when showing flashbacks to show it's in the past, as is done in our production when Cameron has a flashback, this builds relationship with the audience as they can relate to what he is feeling and his emotions and the audience also get an insight of the character's past, feeling more connected with him, which can create surprise as the audience may find things they did not know before about the character.

Group Planning - Miss Georgiou

Group Planning

In my media group we have Molly Emmerson, Claire Golightly and myself, Jake Butler. For our group to succeed, it is vital for us to have meetings and plan our production to the best quality that it can be.

In the first group meeting that we had together, we all discussed our individual ideas about the production and how we would be able to take each others ideas and work with them to create a good piece and our final group narrative. For example, we mainly used the idea of Molly's plot, however ideas were taken from me and claire about cinematography and possible sound we could use, each incorporating ideas about how elements of the thriller genre could best fit in our piece. For characters, we agreed molly would play the girlfriend, Harmony and her boyfriend would play the role of Cameron and a friend, Grace would play the mother. Me and Claire would help with the scenery and also filming to play a role in this production, whilst the 3 of us worked on our posts in lesson and continued to give each other ideas. 

It is essential to carry out these group meetings because we can tell each other what we are happy with and unhappy with. It allows each group members voice to be heard and so that we can decide on an idea as a group together and also possible changes we can suggest to make things better for our production. I believe our group has worked well together, the work has been very well done, organised and centralised and also the meetings have been productive between us and have produced results.

Planning Cinematography - Miss Miller

Planning Cinematography

Cinematography is important in film for a number of reasons. It is mainly to do with camera shots and what the audience sees and how the director plans to best show shots and scenes to their audience. To best execute these shots, high planning is required to ensure the best effect.

Close up- Close ups are used to focus on facial expressions and show the audience what the character is feeling or the current state of emotion that they are in. The audience can see how the selected character feels and may symphasize with them as they feel their emotions. In our sequence, we shall use this for our main character cameron to show his depressed and empty emotions to convey to the audience how he is feeling and it also get's the audience involved into the story and allows them ti symphasize with the character.

Point of view- P.O.V shots are also used from our main character cameron which allows the audience to see events through his eyes and get his side of things, getting them further interacted and inolved into the story which draws them to the edge of their seat as they feel as though they are part of it. It also adds suspense as the audience are on edge and can't see the characters facial expression or mood, being unaware of what they are capable of and what will happen next.

Low Angle- A low angle shot is used in our production on cameron possibly in the suicide scene to convey his power, as low angle shot's are used to make a character fearful and Cameron murders his mother in our opening sequence, so there is reason for Cameron to be feared by our audience. This is conventional to a thriller as this builds suspense, making the audience fear the superior and dangerous character, making them wonder what they are capable of.

High Angle- A high angle shot is used in our production in the room before Cameron kills himself, showing that he is now vulnerable and death is near. It is used to make the audience fear for the character as they feel he is in danger and is conventional to a thriller as the shock element comes when he suddenly hangs himself. This is conventional to a thriller and it creates tension for the audience, the character in the high angle shot appears vulnerable, making them fear for him and wonder what might happen to him.

Mid Shot- A mid shot is used in our production after Cameron commits suicide, showing his legs dangling and the chair falling over, to show in a powerful and emotional way that Cameron is now dead and the sudden drop of the chair and his legs comes as shock to the audience.

I believe cinematography plays a big part in our sequence in showing character emotion and really deepening the mood for the audience and at the same time drawing them into the plot. It is convential to a thriller is we create elements of suspense and shock throughout the scene for the audience to keep them drawn in and entertained. This planning has been very helpful as we have been able to use the best possible and most meaningful camera angles for each shot to get accross our point and at the same time we have been successful in making it convential to the thriller genre.

Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene

Setting and iconography
My thriller sequence will take place inside an old remote house a dark bedroom and kitchen, which gives an eery feeling to the audience and questionable of what could happen next, this is conventional to a thriller as tension is built and therefore created for the audience, they will be eager to see what happens inside this room and to why the scene is set inside here.
The dark room for suicide adds suspense as low key lighting is involved, there is not much around the room, giving it a mysterious, eery feeling, and by doing this we clearly convey to the audience that this is a thriller. The knife is the murder weapon and also provides shock for the audience, and the plates in the kitchen are extra iconography added to the scene when his mum is killed, smashing to add tension and shock.

Costumes hair and make-up
Suicide scene, the person; cameron committing suicide wears white, to convey innocence, but then wears black in the killing scene of his mother to show his dark side and that he is also evil, gives the audience a second meaning and creates a paradox. This comes as surprise for the audience, they first believed he was just innocent and troubled in himself, but the next scene surprises them and throws them off, as Cameron commits an unmerciful murder, making the audience question what Cameron is really about. The Mother, Grace, played by a much younger actor than the characters age is in the story will wear make-up such as eye shadow to make her look older in order to match her with the character description of Cameron's mother.

Positioning
There is an awkward distance between the characters, giving an eery feeling across the audience and anxious as to what is going to happen next. This atmosphere creates suspense and tension for the audience, as it is awkward and tense, they want to know what is going to happen next, yet feel uneasy and thrown off by the unwelcoming vibe. Cameron's body language is always passive and awkward, such as folding his arms to keep himself to himself, showing the audience he is uncomfortable, which makes them further question the reasons for him being down and feeling alone, symphasizing with him before he commits the murder where the audiences attitude towards him completely changes.


Lighting and Colour
Low key lighting used in suicide scene to convey a dark theme and the overall mood of the scene, gives a dark feeling to the audience and also fearful of what is going to happen next as a dark scene is not hopeful, meaning this therefore creates suspense for the audience as they are already fearing what is about to happen next. The dinner scene contains bright lighting, to make verything stand out and also seem normal and at peace, however this quickly changes to low key lighting as the theme once again turns dark as cameron murders his own mother. This also comes as surprise for the audience as the mood changes very quickly and throws them off-guard, things all seem calm and normal between the pair, but suddenly take a turn for the worse when Cameron turns into his bad side.

Facial expressions and body language
Cameron's facial expression is often blank and personal, he shows no emotion, which conveys he is an empty and a lonely person. He is clearly depressed, and the audience is left unknown of what he is capable of and also wary of him if he shows no emotion and is a dark character, however the audience could also symphasize with him and feel sorry for him, as he has no one and is lonely and upset. His moods and overall state of emotion create tension for the audience, they are always left feeling on edge as they are unaware of when he is feeling either at peace or down and depressed, leaving them not only to fear for the characters around cameron, but also fear for cameron himself.

Our mis-en-scene included in our opening sequence relates with the audience in a number of ways. We showcast each characters feelings and emotions in each part of the scene itself, getting the audience involved and showing them how each character feels, but at the same time dragging them into the story, constantly on edge and wary of what is going to happen next, as our group builds the thriller conventions in a number of ways using mis-en-scene through our sequence.