Story boarding

Storyboarding

Graphic visualizing process (storyboarding) is when directors begin to think about bringing their ideas to life. Thinking about the story, character development and meaning.

Why are storyboards important?

• pitching an idea
• links planning to film process
• visualizing images and ideas
• visualize links between shots, action/graphic matches
• timings,continuity and pace
• technical awareness and understanding
• revise narrative sequences
• chance to make decisions and revise

Graphic Mask is a part of an editing process. Matching a graphic of a similar shape and size, and matching it to another one in another shot.

Cutting is linked with t.v soaps etc. This can be over used and lose detail, meaning and the tone of the scene. Therefore some directors don't cut too much and in fact use the camera to tell the story instead of editing more cuts in post production. This is to hold the verisimilitude and the audiences attention. Therefore creating a completely different feel and making it more of a movie or real life rather than just some edited t.v programme.

How to storyboard:

• photocopying a set of storyboards sheets
• use small frames
• draw in pencil
• number the shots
• make short notes
• note down the camera position
• little annotations on the storyboard with arrows

The storyboard is generally about already knowing what the scene is going to look like so it therefore is easier for the process.

Horror Research - Guidelines and Women

GROUP MEMBERS WORK

BBFC guidelines on horror:

U- should be mild should take account of the presence of young audiences. The outcome should be reassuring.

PG- can be frightening but shouldn't be too intense.

12- sustained threat with occasional gory moments only.

15- sustained or detailed infliction of pain or injury is not acceptable.

18- no constraints at this level on theme, language, nudity or horror.

My group have decided we are most likely going to do a 15 mainly because we are around the same age so we have an idea of what we would normally see in a 15 horror film, but also because it doesn't give us too strict boundaries so we don't have to restrict our ideas.

Representing women:
In films during the ... women were represented as the 'damsel in distress' who were always the victim and never the culprit. They wore dresses, had beautiful hair and looked stereotypically feminine. This is because at the time women were seen to be the weaker sex and didn't do bad or horrific things. However, across the course of the 20th century many changes have taken place to how women are represented on screen. For example, the Dracula story offers an interesting take on that change, as the different screen versions remain true to the original novel in making women broadly passive figures. The film began to show good women vs bad women through Count Dracula's success lies in his seduction of women from good to evil. In today's films women are shown that they can be just as powerful, violent and evil as male characters which could be argued to be a positive and negative thing for representing women.

Evaluation
From this work i understand how films are classified in terms of age restrictions. When looking at our opening we will be creating we have to think about our target audience and the age restriction we will be using to market our opening. The ideas of women will also help us when thinking about how we would present women if we included a female character within our opening. Now days women can be just as powerful and men.

Brainstorming

First of all for our main project we had to choose as a group what type of thriller we would do as there are so many sub-genres of thriller. Therefore we looked to our survey we previously made. In our survey the majority of the answers to "What is your favourite type of thriller? And Why?" were action thriller and secondly horror. Therefore we decided to take these two answers as was these would be the best genre for our task as they are most popular.

We then started to brainstorm on the two genres and discuss what is stereotypical of these horrors within camera & editing, setting, sound, characters and costume/make up. By doing this we would be able to see what would what have to be included within our opening, by looking at these we can also see which one we would like best 

After looking at both of these we decided to choose a Thriller-Horror. This was because we looked at previous media thriller tasks and the high majority of responses were action-thriller, therefore we wanted to do something different and not stereotypical of the thriller task. Furthermore we wanted to do something that hasn't already been done. As well as this we decided on Horror as action-thriller was a high majority of the choice to our questionnaire question and horror was second. Therefore we want to instead target a niche audience and target them more specifically instead of aiming at an audience so broad. Consequently we are now going to make a second survey asking specifically
about Horror-Thrillers and see the response to help us with our research and planning for our project of the horror-thriller genre.We then brain stormed ideas of what we thought would be include in a Horror Thriller, we thought of scene ideas and opening plots, by doing this it enables us to visualise in our heads the ideas we thought of, this allowed us as a group reflect on what we brainstormed which will help us pick our final idea.

Continuity Task - First Cut & Analysis

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


First cut feedback

Things that need to be improved:

- in the opening, our actor was ready in the shot
- in every shot the camera zoomed into the actors when not necessary
- audio and dialogue
- camera work and framing


Points we have met:

- shot reverse shot
- 180 degree rule
- match on action

When we were making our film for the task we faced a lot of problem. As a group we decided that this would be our first cut, meaning we would have to go out and re-film the entire clip. By doing this it would help us establish our strengths and weaknesses within the first cut which will help us improve and build on them in our second clip enabling us to reach our full potential grades.

As a group by talking and analysing our first cut it allowed us to realise where we went wrong and how we can improve our techniques, ideas, camera work and editing. We knew that the first cut wouldn't be to our full potential as it was our first time using the camera and tripods, however on our re-take we are going to be more experienced with the equipment so we knew next time it we will improve.



Analysis of First Cut - Problems & What we're going to do:

Some of the main problems we faced when looking back on our first cut was the fact how we didn't include low or high angles shots to show the dominance and the protagonist in the shots. This is a very important part of filming as if you don't have high or low angles in the clip then you cannot establish who the main protagonist or whether someone is superior or inferior to someone else in the scene. Furthermore we also realised that our recording quality was very bad as the camera was never perfectly still and every now and then was slightly nudged or it wasn't completely level. This made our clip look extremely tacky and home made because it just looked as if it was taken on a home recorder by a friend at Christmas as to say. This is no the look we want. We want professional still shots that are level and composed well. As well as this we made a stupid mistake of crossing the 180 degree rule after studying this rule for a long time. This was a very idiotic mistake that we should be getting right. This crossing of the 180 degree rule happens when Hannah runs into the cafe and is seen seating on the right hand side of Georgia. However when filming the shot reverse shot Hannah is then seen on the left hand side of Georgia which ruins the atmosphere of the film as well as the scenes of the audience as they are now seeing the actors from a different angle that shouldn't be shown as it ruins the viewers understanding of positioning on the scene. On the other hand we also had a seen of one girl (Sarah) walking into the cafe which takes way too long and makes the seen boring. This is because nothing really happens and we're just seen watching her walk in and then sit down. We then realised that this should have been broken down into a match on action shot, breaking it down into 3 separate shots of walking in, maybe using high angles to show how she is inferior t the two other girls. This should be presented with a contrasting shot of the girls laughing with a low angle shot to show how they are superior to the girl walking in, with a cut back shot to her going to sit on her own as she is depressed and lonely. This would have improved the clip considerably and made it much more professional as well as making it clearer to the audience what is actually happening in the sound. Sound was also a problem as we realised we could hear others in the background and the noise of cafe, however there wasn't much we could do about this. Therefore we now realise we need to be more careful planning when and where to film as the surrounding sound or lighting cold ruin a scene. Furthermore our teacher then picked out a very important aspect of our filming that we needed to change. We were recording each of the shots but when we were recording we kept trying to zoom in and out of the scene to try and track the character and keep them as the main focus. This looked incredibly tacky and unprofessional, not only because you shouldn't do this, but also because it was done terribly with it jolting and not a smooth gradient zoom. As well as this zooming made the clip very unprofessional and lazy as we should have positioned the camera correctly first and therefore having no need to zoom in or out. We tried to zoom in to keep the character as the main focus, however we now realise we just need to get our margins of the shooting area that is seen on screen as well as where we should place the camera. Finally I noticed that some of the scenes were very jumpy and didn't run smoothly into each other to create a real time clip that looked legitimate. this is something that need to be sorted in the editing stages.


After analysing the first and looking at what was wrong with it as well as what we can and will do to improve; this therefore allows us a group to highlight our weaknesses and stay away from them. As well as this we can now see what not to do and what we should've done and now that we will go and re shoot the shots again we can stay away from these errors and make sure we make a better clip with all the things we need to do in mind and therefore make sure it is acceptable for viewers. By analysing this I have also learnt how hard filming and editng is of a clip especially because this is not even 1 minute and films are hours long so it just shows how magnified it really is and how hard it is. As well as this I now know more technical terms and shots that I can incorporate within our clip to make it more professional. This task has helped a lot with the understanding of editing and what we need to do to improve. Which we will show our improvements in or re shoot of our continuity task.

Continuity task - Day 2

Day 2 - Re-Filming:

Today we went out to re-film scenes that weren't up to a good enough quality whether it be bad filming, sound or acting to put into our 60 second clip. As well as this we still had some scenes we had to shoot to add into the clip as it wasn't long enough. This session of filming went very well and we got the shots we needed. We then went back to the class and put these shots on to the computer adding to our Premiere Pro saved file. This was a much more efficient day with more progress and better quality shots. I think this time we were able to get out shots quicker and better shots because we knew what we had to do and how to do it as well as knowing how to use the equipment correctly.

Problems We Faced
Some of the problems we faced:

• We realised that a lot of scenes were miss-shot with heads being cut off in shots and the camera shaking at certain points.
• We also realised some scenes were shot with the actors wearing different clothes
• Furthermore we realised the overall quality of the previous shots and clips were not good enough

Solutions
Our solutions to our problems:

• To resolve these problems we then go the actors and team together to re-shoot the scenes as then fit them into our timeline of editing.
• We also took more time into planning how we were going to shoot scenes and spent more time on the shooting.

Continuity Task - Day 1

After we had done our planning and decided on what we was going to do we had to start filming our 60 second piece. Our teacher gave us a brief introduction of the equipment we were going to be using, this included: 


Tripod:                                                                  Camera:

We picked our camera and tripod so we could start filming and get to grips with the equipment. This was because none of us knew how to set-up the camera or the tri-pod at first so we needed practice before we went ahead. 

After this we then went on to filming our scenes using what we know about editing and filming. We followed the plans from our brainstorm and shot list however we did face some problems on location. 

Furthermore after we finished filming we then had to be shown how to take the raw footage off the camera and put on to the computer ready to edit in Premiere Pro. When we started to go through our footage we noticed we would have to re-take some scenes as even though we thought we had everything we need some of the shots have errors in them such as top of the heads cut off, or camera jolts. This made us realise how hard it really was and how much effort we would have to put into completing this task at a high standard to meet the target grades.

Problems We Faced
Some of the problems we faced during our first shoot were:

• availability of actors and location - this was hard as we had to film our scenes in the school and we wanted to base our scene in the cafe, however this was a very busy place and luckily it wasn't too busy at the time and we luckily manages to acquire some willing actors to take part.
• gathering of actors - we had to find people willing to take part in our filming as some people were shy and some people were busy at the time.
• lighting, due to our time schedule in the day - for example on the day it was especially bright and we had our scene based by one of the tables which was by the window and we then had to put down the blinds to stop the sun from getting in to our shots, however this still didn't provide the best lighting
• noise, because was set in a busy cafe in our school - this was extremely annoying and impossible to control as it was a public cafe in the school where there were other people in their leisure talking etc. and this was leaked into the clips.
• our knowledge of use of the equipment- e.g. zooming, positioning, tripod set up etc. - this we found hard as we didn't have any knowledge on the use of any of the technology

Solutions

Some of the ways we got past our problems:

• We managed to find willing actors that were free and could participate in our task, and we managed to re-shoot scenes that we needed around their schedule and meet up when they were free to get the shots we needed.
• For the lighting we decided to put the blinds down to reduce the light which helped the lighting however we couldn't control it well.
• Noise level was impossible to control and we couldn't do much about it but we tried to film at times when there wasn't much talking.
• We then found out how to use the equipment properly and slowly learnt what was the proper things to do by getting shown and getting used to the technology.

Planning

In media we started to plan for our continuity editing task. To begin the continuity editing task  we had to come up with a plan on what our idea was and create a shot list showing the different scenes and shots we were going to use - we are aiming for a completed piece approximately 60 seconds in length.
On the first day we started to come up with ideas, the plot, characters, and settings by brainstorming. Furthermore we then started to add these ideas into a shot list to create the story and how we would film it.





Our idea consisted of a group of girls talking about another girl.
We thought of locations on where we could do this, we decided to choose the café.

This is our shot list containing each scene we are going to film, and what camera angle/shoot we are going to use.

When writing the shot list up I found it quite hard visualising how we were going to film it and deciding what camera angle to use.

Continuity Task

This task was set to our group and focuses on camera angles and techniques. This task will take us next few weeks to complete. Our group will have to have to make a 60 second clip, that has to include the all the wanted requirements on the sheet, such as camera shots. This task will give us a understanding of all the camera angles and techniques that will help us in the making of our thriller opening sequence

 

• You must not break the 180 degree rule
• You must include a shot reverse shot
• You must include a variety of appropriate camera angles
• You must edit so that the continuity is apparent and clear
• You must include more than one location
• You must include some interaction between characters
• You must include some non-diegetic sounds

The 180 degree rule
When I first read the task list I didn't know what a 180 degree rule was. Therefor I looked online and found this picture and definition.

In film making the 180-degree rule is a basic guideline regarding the on-screen spatial relationship between a character and another character or object within a scene. An imaginary line called the axis connects the characters and by keeping the camera on one side of this axis for every shot in the scene, the first character will always be framed right of the second character, who is then always framed on the left.



From this picture I now understand how a 180 degree works. If the camera crossed the axis it would disorient the audience who are watching.

Group members work

What is the Thriller Genre?

The thriller genre is the type of films that use intense excitement, suspense, high level of anticipation, anxiety and tension. Thriller and suspense films are literally the same types of films with the same features and categorizations as each other.
    The aim of a thriller film is to leave the audience constantly on the edge of their seat in suspense and anxiety with cliff hanging experiences as the plot builds up to a climax. Tension usually arises when the main character is dealing with a mysterious situation from which either he could be in trouble or escaping on some dangerous mission that seems impossible or shocking. When their life itself is threatened and they are in the unknown or not expecting something when in or potentially involved a dangerous situation or atmosphere. Thrillers usually involve characters that come into conflict with each other or with outside force.

Thrillers are often sub-genres of the genre ‘thriller’ as there are so many varieties that also fit into other genres. For example:

action-thrillers (Kill Bill - 2003)
sci-fi-thrillers (Donnie Darko - 2001)
psycho-thrillers (se7en - 1995)
romantic-thrillers (Live Flesh - 1997)
political-thrillers (Malcolm X - 1992)
psychological-thrillers (Requiem for a Dream - 2000)
Horrors are commonly closely related to thrillers. As the horror genre are designed in the same type of way - to provide the audience with intense suspension or tension, however horrors take their audiences through agony and fear. Suspense-thrillers come in many different ways: there are murder mysteries, chase thrillers, women-in-danger films, courtroom and atmospheric, plot-twisting psychodramas. Thrillers tend to stay away from crime, gangster and detective related plots and rather focus more on the suspense and thrill of the film.

Thrillers include such characters as convicts, criminals, stalkers, assassin, innocent victims, characters with dark pasts, psychotic individuals, terrorists, cops and more. The themes of thrillers frequently include conflict, terrorism, conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder or danger.
      The reason there are so many different sub-genres of thriller is because within one thriller there may be other aspects of say a romance, horror, sci-fi or any others. This may be because of different directors intentions or their target audiences; furthermore even down to the evolution of genre or thrillers to be exact in which films are now being changed to set to the current time in which they are made or evolving to the new likes and dislikes of the mass.


Evolution:

The first thriller was made in the 1920’s with a film called ‘The Lodger’ by Alfred Hitchcock which was made in Britain. This therefore brought a new type of film to the world. HItchcock took influences from German expressionist techniques as well as murders by “Jack the Ripper”.
        Thrillers then in the 1940’s changed when director George Cukor in 1944 created a psychological thriller called ‘Gaslight’ which gave insight into the different sub-genres within the thriller genre itself. This film was about a scheming husband planning on making her wife go insane to gain the inheritance. Then in 1946 Robert Siodmak directed the film ‘The Spiral Staircase’, which was also a psychological thriller about a serial killer murdering disabled-young women in the local community.
       In the 1950’s Hitchcock went on to adding Technicolour to his films, which led to the classic film ‘Strangers on a Train’ in 1951, where two passengers join in a battle of wits and exchanged murders with one another.
       Cape Fear was then made in 1962 by director J.Lee Thompson which is a psychological thriller about an ex con seeking revenge on his attorney who holds responsible for his convictions. However this film had aspects of crime too which made it a crime-thriller and therefore emphasised the use in sub-genres within the thriller genre.
      The 1970’s of film were very different as Hitchcock hadn’t released anything for 2 decades. where he released the violent film ‘Frenzy’ which came about when films were now containing R rated scenes with viscous and explicit footage which Hitchcock therefore used in ‘Frenzy’.
      In the 1980’s Stanley Kubrick directed the film The Shining made in 1980 which was a psychological thriller as well as a horror, mystery and drama. This therefore emphasises the mix of genres and how thrillers evolved over time due to the change of other genres and audiences enjoying psychological films. The Shining is about a family going to an isolated hotel where the father gets influenced by a spiritual presence, while his psychic son sees horrific and violent memories of the past and future. This film can be debatebly a horror or a thriller.

The main theme throughout the thriller genre in the 1990’s was the psychological kind, of mental themes and character’s escape. For example Rob Reiner’s ‘Misery’ based on the book by Stephen King in which the character Annie whom is a unbalanced fan, terrorizes an immobile author, where in one scene she actually breaks his ankles. This shows just how much the thriller genre had evolved by then as before it would be too horrific for a thriller to even show such scenes let alone any movie.
      In modern day thrillers compared to earlier thrillers tend to divert from the traditions of a classic thriller towards the more horrific and gorey themes. This is because the mass audience have become so desensitized to the classic thriller scenes that they find it boring and therefore need something else to keep them intrigued and ‘on the edge of their seats’ with anticipation like thrillers should do. This is why thrillers and any other genres evolve as they need new aspects and ways of keeping their audience’s happy. Therefore this is why the thriller genre has evolved the way it has and how I have said turning from the classic thriller through psychological to a more horrific theme where it seems to be argued to cross over in cases.


Evaluation 
From my group members work it has developed my understanding of the thriller genre and what it is made up of through its codes and conventions such as: clips that use intense excitement, suspense, high level of anticipation, anxiety and tension. Characters as convicts, criminals, stalkers, assassin, innocent victims, characters with dark pasts, psychotic individuals, terrorists, cops. Alfred hitchcock also played a big part in creating the thriller genre as he created the first Thriller in 1920's with 'The lodger'. My group members research has also helped me see the constant change throughout the years and how thriller genre has evolved over many of years.

Group members work

 Analysis of Donnie Darko

The establishing shot is a dark scene of mountains and trees which fade in to the shot. This could connote to how it is a thriller as the scenery is very mysterious as its situated in the middle of nowhere causing the audience to feel curious and intrigued as to where the scene is. The camera then pans round to a shot of a boy lying in the middle of the road in the distance. The pan shot is used to show how vast the area is and how it is in the middle of nowhere. The long shot is used to emphasize how the boy is lonely. The fact the boy is still and laying there could imply he is hurt or maybe dead. This carries on the idea of curiosity and how this links into the films being a thriller. The camera then starts to get closer and closer to the boy with him constantly remaining in the centre of the screen; this could suggest how he is the main protagonist. We then see the bike in the shot and him struggling to get up which could connote how he has fallen off his bike or had some sort of accident. The camera then pans round the protagonist with a mid shot and him the centre of the screen, capturing the scenery in the background as well. As when it pans round him we see the scenery in the background showing how desolate the area is and how lonely he is. This pan of the protagonist then comes round to his face which reveals the main character that we were so intrigued to see. It then cuts to a POV shot of the scenery again panning around yet again top show how he is the centre of attention and how deserted he is to the rest of the world. yet again to emphasize how in the middle of nowhere he is and as if he the only one there. He then turns around to the camera to face the camera and blocking the scenery which could connote how is of an important role to the film. He then grins and starts smiling at the character and then walks out of the shot for the title of the film to then fade in. The fact that he grins and smiles at the camera could suggest a sinister tone to the film and create more curiosity to film as to what it is about or what is going on in this scene. The typography of the title that comes into the shot has a strong fantasy and magical theme to it with white against the scenery in the background to create a contrast in the light and dark. This typography gives the movie a mysterious and magical tone to it. With the unusual use of serif font in the thriller which goes against my research of typography in thrillers. The lighting of the film suggests the start of it as it is very mellow as if it is dawn and the day is just beginning. The fact the boy is also wearing pyjama like clothes it makes him come across as lazy or a typical adolescent that doesn't care. The bike reinforces this as a bike is something children use whereas men have cars stereo typically. His messy hair and casual appearance reinforces this to the audience. However the scenery juxtaposes this appearance as it is beautiful and something you would have to go out your way to get to or find. Making it a binary opposite. At the beginning of the film violins play quietly in the background which creates a uncertain start to the film with the edgy sound which began when the character came into view which reinforces the fact that he is the main character and is important as he signaled it. When the character starts getting up a piano softly begin to play which could imply a negative or depressing tone to the film.

Evaluation
From this analysis of the film Donnie Darko I have learnt that the directors have used  Pan shots to create a curious and mysterious feel,using the pan shot  allows the audience to see where the action takes place. For instance in this film the shot is  in the middle of nowhere surrounded by trees and mountains creating that eerie feel for the audience.

Within this film opening the producers have used typography to create a mysterious magical tone to it and uses lighting to represent the time of day it its. When thinking about our opening for a thriller film thinking about the titles and typography will help bring a certain atmosphere and idea for the audience.

The music is also important within a Thriller film as it is used to heighten tension which we can see in this analysis where violins are used to create uncertainty for the audience and keep them on edge while what's on screen is in binary opposition with scenery that is seen to be beautiful and peaceful.