Media Studies AS Level, Foundation Portfolio, Main Task

Media Studies AS Level, Foundation Portfolio, Main Task

The Evaluation

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In our media product to ensure our thriller genre was shown to it’s fullest potential we made sure that our final product included all requirements needed to show it’s conventions of a thriller. The conventions of a thriller contain several sub genres Mise en Scene, Camerawork and Editing, Characters, Narrative structure and typical story features, Iconography, Music/Sound and Ideologies. We did this by using some of the ideas from previous thriller based movies.
The thriller genre was by far one of the most strenuous genres to comply to but with a lot of pervious lessons and commitment from the group we were able to abide by the conventions of a thriller and create a great two minuet product which definitely promoted the thriller genre.

In previous lessons we had learnt much convection that we needed to insure our final product was correctly categorized, by watching many different thrillers. As I watched the films I continuously wrote notes on what I liked in the films and what I did not like here’s a list of the thriller movies I watched.
• Memento (The opening 15 minutes)
• Se7en ( Opening 30 minutes)
• Sin City (Whole Movie)
• Panic Room (Whole Movie)
• Lakeview Terrace (Whole Movie)
• Righteous Kill (Whole Movie)
• Hills Have Eyes (Whole Movie)
• 21 (whole Movie)
• Blind Terror (Whole Movie)
• Malice (Whole Movie)
• Fatal Attraction (Whole Movie)
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Whole Movie)
• The Bourne Ultimatum (Whole Movie)

That’s just a few thriller films that I accurately observed plus enjoyed watching.

Narration: In order to fully understand the full use of narration we were able to research previous thriller based films that had used the skill of narration in there movie. From this we learnt that in most thriller production there was always a story, some films needed narration to explain the background of certain characters (Antagonist/Protagonists) lives. Other films used narration to explain what was happening to the characters.

In order to create a good thriller we also needed to use a list of all the convections of a thriller from the Equilibrium to the Enigma code. According to the narrative theory, standard narratives contain three stages. “The three-act structure”. This started with the ‘Equilibrium’ to ‘The Confrontation’ and then the Resolution. In each of the stages, certain types of events take place. The Equilibrium insured that the initial situation of the film was given context. In our final product we did not follow the three-act structure. Instead we went for a different approach instead of starting with the equilibrium we started with the disruption (we wanted to show that the protagonist was in fact having a nightmare and the audience only see this at the end of the two minuets when the main protagonist wakes up from her dream) this showed that the audience would see that something had occurred early in the story to cause a disruption. There was clearly a protagonist is our production as shown.

The main protagonist (Bea Ademujimi) was portrayed as a confused young female, (We were able to show the protagonist as a victim through her pusillanimous body movement and anxious body language used) who had previously suffered because of previous incident where she had been abducted by the main antagonist, whose main aim was to hurt and destroy people’s lives for his own personal pleasure. In our final product the causality was very effective we did this by using great technology and using continuity editing after filming, because our final product was only two minuetes long. Fortunately we were not able to create a resolution; we did in fact focus a lot on our liner sequencing because our final product involved a slight time line to show the effect of the antagonist towards the protagonist. The plot for the final product was defiantly thriller themed, but not quite easy to understand in the beginning that is was on of the faults in our final product, the audience could only truly understand the two minutes sequence after watching the whole two minutes. To create the conventions of a thriller mise en scene was defiantly another big key product needed. We set the location in the suburbs which to our group suggested “loneliness” and “empty” surroundings. For the morning shots we used natural sunlight, but for the evening shots we filmed in the evenings and used low key lighting we also tried out some colour during our test shots to give slight awry looks. We used cool blues which are normally used to portray realism towards it. Production design was used to show the convection in many scenes. In one scene we had to change a male bedroom into the main female protagonists own room, we did this by bringing female props and accessories into the room and using ‘pink’ bed covers and using a picture of the protagonist and her farther to put beside the bedside table which is actually in one of the shots in the two minute product. The set also played a very important part in portraying the conventions of a ‘creepy’ atmosphere; we did this by decorating a wall in a member from our groups home (Abi Black). The location co-coordinator (Abi Black) worked very well in designing the set of the wall. (Abi Black) and the film Director (Alex Lloyd) cut out murder stories from old newspapers, photos of celebrities and magazine clipping to show the previous victims of the antagonist they also used red paint and their hand to cover the walls in red paint ‘messily’ This was useful because it showed the environment of the antagonist.

• In order to characterize our main Antagonist our props manger (Bea Ademujimi) bought a special contact lens which made our antagonist character looked malicious and hateful which was our specific aim for our antagonist.


The use of sound was represented in many ways to show the convention of our final product.
• Diegetic on- screen sound was incorporated into one of our scenes, When Clair (Bea Ademujimi) is seen hearing and answering her phone.
• Ambient Sound which is used in the background while the credits are being shown we here dialogue from one of the other characters (Abi Black); by achieving this we were able to enhance the realism of our product, because we used our own real sounds we did not need to add much sound effects.
• Non diegetic sound was used to enhance the mood and enlighten the audience.
• Parallel sound was also used to support the mood of the images shown.

The filming and editing were by far the most important convections of our product because by using specific shot and angles we were able to portray the thriller genre the shots and angles we used consisted of

• High angles shots which showed the awkward relationship between the main protagonist and the copy cat antagonist.
• Very High angle shot was also used to make the victim look small and insignificant.
• Low angle shot which was used to represent one of the POV shots and to make the copy cat antagonist appear powerful and threatening.
• There was a shot in the protagonists bathroom were she was brushing her teeth this shot was show in a extreme close up (ECU)
• From the ECU we went into a close up of the Protagonists (Bea Ademujimi) face when she looked in the mirror.
• Mid close ups were also used a huge amount in our final product because it was easier to see reaction shot in MCU.


In a peer evaluation written by our class mates the range for our final product was a 2 which is equivalent to a Very Good grade. In the Marking Criteria there was a wide range of questions asked and many of the class said we did quite well in all the areas


The movie se7en was one of our main inspirations for our own thriller because the film contained a lot of fast paced shots which incorporated many quick cuts in order to create suspense and create shock.

I personally thought that the film Righteous Kill was a much better example of what I wanted our thriller to be based on and If I had a chance to re-do our final product I would have based our product on that film

I felt that as a group we did very well but the only criticism that I personally had was that I would have loved to use a much clearer camera and much more lighting in order to see the reaction shot much more clearly and to see the whole set a lot more but this could just have been improved with some more filming equipment.

The reason our final product was so successful was because we were able to use the convections to their fullest use and beyond and because ewe did this our work was a great success.


2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I personally think our media product represented modern day victims who have been in near death like experiences. Instead of using a stereotypical protagonist we chose to use a female character instead of the normal stereotype of a brave male and the female character was also slightly ironic because instead of being a brave young female she was distressed and distorted constantly. The age represented was in late teens so from 17 to 21. The ethnicity of the character for me I felt did not really represent any difference by the protagonist was of African American background. There are two female characters in the final product one is the main protagonist and one is the protagonists friend (Abi Black) The main protagonists is seen as a loner she wear average clothing and no makeup, because the Clair is not with her family she is seen as an outcast hence the reason she acts so timidly. The friend of the main protagonist is dressed very nicely and is seen wearing makeup if we had been able to have more time to film the differences between both female character would have been observed and been able to compare. The Antagonist was represented as a ‘tramp’ looking criminal. The gender of the antagonist was male (we decided we wanted the antagonist to be male because we knew that more males were able to take advantage of females and portray fear) we also chose to pick a male because we wanted to show the different between sexes and how the male oppresses the female, age was not clear. The ethnicity of the antagonist was also not that important the most important representation was the main look of the antagonist and we were able to show the antagonists evilness through the contact lens used. We used make up to enhance the antagonists ‘creepy’ look and to show he was a villain. If the film went into box office I would personally rate it a 12/15 certificate because most of the scene would not have been appropriate for minor but I did not think the movie should be over an 18 because I thought young teens would be able to view it and handle the film.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

To create a film there are three main stages involved
• Film Production – Making the film
• Film distribution - Securing the placement film an exhibitors screen and for home viewing
• Filming Exhibition-This is when there are places were the audience watch the film such as the cinema and special screening places.

There are many very popular film distributors such as Lions gate Films, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures releasing and Universal. Many of these distributors have produced many box-office smash hits such as Mamma Mia and Quantum of Solace.




Icon Film Distribution
Solar House
915 High Road
London
N12 8QJ
T 020 8492 6300
F 020 8492 6301
www.iconmovies.co.uk
Production Company and distributor offering mainstream and independent releases. Recent releases have included Priceless and Man on Wire.

I chose Icon Film Distribution because I felt our film was an independent film and would do very well with this precise final product if our film would of contained a bigger budget are film would defiantly be a great hit with icon film distribution.



4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

I think the film is aimed at both Male/Female in under 45 years of age but over 15 years of age I rate the film a 12/15 certificate because most of the scene would not be suitable for minor but I did not think the movie should be over an 18 because I thought young teens would be able to view it and handle the film. I think more male than females will attend this film; because the film is quite ingenious .I think many males between the ages of 15-35 will come to view the film because it has great suspense and a great story line which will intrigue the audience.



5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Our audience will enjoy our film because there a defiantly some great shot and the story line keeps the audience intrigued which a good thriller film needs. The story is also great because it not a common thriller based story it include slight scenes of action in it. The music used helped to also attract the audience’s attention because it help to show the mood of the moment and create suspense in needed scenes. If we were able use the work of advertising we would have attracted a wider audience from using the radio, television adverts, posters and advertising the film on billboards so we could attract a wider audience.


6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

We used a lot of technology from
• Using the Apple Mac Pc
• Using the Imovie program
• Using Garage band to enhance our music and create music for our film.
• Using Imovie to edit the filming

We learnt that it takes a lot of time to edit all of our two minuets sequence so for really big films it must have taken much longer to fully edit.
There were times when we edited and we would cut out the incorrect part luckily we were able to undo this and redo the mistake. My favorite task was garage band because I felt it was my specialty. I felt that I personally did not do to well with the Imovie task and therefore did not participate in the Imovie aspect of the task but I feel that I have improved with Imovie other the past months and if another filming task was set I would be able to excel in the Imovie aspect of the task.



7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?


Looking back at the preliminary task I feel that as a group we certainly have done so much better. Our final product was very good and I have learnt how to fully use the convections of a thriller. I have also learnt that with a great camera and great lighting a film could look very good. I have realized that organization is defiantly hey to successful work. I have realized that a group of all four people is sometimes hard to organize but we were able to work round that .

I am very happy that I had this experience and I have learnt a lot from it and I am very confident that we did well.

Textual Analysis of Righteous Kill Opening Trailer

The film begins with an opening shot of the Brooklyn Bridge; in the background we hear the diegetic sound of Robert Deniro dialogue then we see an objective shot which fades into a close up of Robert Deniro. Then we see fast paced shots of Robert Deniro’s character in a gun shooting range. As Robert Deniro is firing his gun the camera shots are changing very fast in different camera angles which keep the audience a shock in what looks like more but is only 2 seconds of filming. At 0.20 seconds we see what looks like a Psychologist/Detective character in a low angle mid close up. The director has chosen another objective shot while this character is speaking, we then realise the Psychologist/Detective character is talking to Al Pacino character while Al Pacino’s character is still exchanging dialogue there is a fast fade into Al Pacino’s character cuffing what looks like a criminal up against a fence. This automatically insinuates that Al Pacino is a Police Officer. Between this shot the transition used is a contrast flash from dark colouring to bright colouring. As soon as the colouring is back we see a left hand, slight high angle, mid close up shot of Al Pacino’s character with a firearm and protection goggles and then a fast cut to Robert Deniro’s character in a right hand, slight high angle, mid close up shot also with a firearm and protection goggles which suggests that both men are on the same team (maybe even police partners).
They both exchange dialogue between each other and laugh which also suggests there close (even friends). The Psychologist/Detective character seems to be asking both Al Pacino & Robert Deniro’s characters a series of questions. As the Psychologist/Detective character asks his question there’s a fast cut into a side close up shot of Robert Deniro’s face as he answers the question, as he continues with his dialogue we see a mid close up of Robert Deniro putting down his gun at the gun range. There’s a quick cut to a shot of an unknown hand reloading a gun this goes into a very fast black out and we then go back to hearing the Psychologist/Detective character asking another question this time Al Pacino’s character answering as he is still talking we see a jump shot of the reloaded gun being clocked with the unidentified hand.
The Trailer of Righteous Kill is amazing as in terms of built suspense and thrill because the trailer in capitulates the audience by the wide use of shots and editing used this was defiantly an great source of thriller because it personally gave me an idea of how I wanted to fit much suspense in our own two minutes opening sequence.

Panic Room Title Sequence

In the opening scene we can see an urban looking city the colour scheme used is light blues, light greys and cream s. The titles are show in bold lettering among the buildings. The name of the cast is also show in the opening titles in bold typography the colour of the type is a light greyish white colour with shadowing. In the background we hear traffic and police car sirens like you would hear in an urban city. We as the audience can also hear non- diegetic music in the background the music is soft sounding and ironically does not sound like music used in a thriller, but as the final couple titles appears the non-diegetic music becomes “darker” and faster in pace and more mysterious. The non-diegetic music dies down as the dialogue begins and there’s a downwards tilt towards the characters into a medium long shot. The characters are seen walking which is being filmed by a tracking shot the characters are also being shot in a low angle so the audience can see the buildings in the background to suggest the location is in an urban location.
Throughout the whole walking scene there is constant continuity there are not cuts until 02.30 seconds where we see a high angle shot of a man opening a door to an apartment because the shot is a high angle we can hardly see the real estate sales women so when see is trying to talk to the man we can see that their relationship is not so “friendly” there’s is then a cut from behind the real estate’s lady which communicates her authority with the audience the shot is still at a high angle shot which shows the relationship between the “powerful” male home owner character and the female real estate agent character. As the home owner and the real estate agent continue to argue, Jodie Kidd’s character (Potential Buyer) stops to look at the surroundings. This is shot in an MCU to show her reaction shot. At 03.03 seconds the audience is faced with a subjective camera angle which shows the audience four sets of locks on the door. The house is completely empty with no furnishing which makes the house look bleak and lonely. The lighting is also dark which makes the home look distraught. Even at 03.20 with the curtains pulled there is little light source because of the setting. As Jodie Kidd’s characters child scooters along the home we see more emptiness in the house.
Throughout the whole film I personally believe that location is one of the main focuses in this movie and I think it works very well. This film defiantly made me look into the set and location of our own production.

Hair

I was in charge of the characters hair styles.
Our main Antagonist already had long hair so I did not want to change his image.
Our secondary Antagonist, I used a small amount of wax to bring his hair forward to look more "Casual Scruffy" than "urban chic", and this effect worked well with our own thoughts of the character. Our main Protagonists hair was neatly tied back with the hair flowing at the back( a youthful look) with medium sized gold earrings. Our secondary protagonists hair was straitened to also look youthful and innocent these hair styles worked well with what we were trying to portray.

The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

One of our main ideas was taken from this movie. In our own production we studied the idea of the typography and the used the use of credits. This can be seen in the first 12 seconds of trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O76m3kpgPTQ and we even took notice of the distortion in the colour and the editing of the film

In the Scene

Because of the problem with the cast i took over the role of Claire. This turned out to be successful we manged to film many different scenes in many different camera techniques which is good because now we have a lot more choices to chose from. The only problem was the issue of Day/Night because we are in the middle of winter and spring the sun went down much earlier then we wanted but luckily we were able to film all our daylight scenes. Due to good organization. We made sure to repeat the filming more than once in order to capture a great varity of shots.

Props & Costume

For our production we will need:
Red contact lense
All Male Antagonist actors will be wearing a black jacket
Male Protaganists will be wearing causul wear
Female Protaganists will be also wearing causul wear.
Bed
Chair
A modern Home
An Urban Location
Toothpaste
Water
Bathroom appliances
Dining room table
Crunchy Nut
Bowls
Orange Juice
Glasses
Slippers
Bathrobes
Pajamas
Kitchen utensils
Potato Sack
Prime Ministers Noets
Photo of Claire and father
Blood
Photo's of Murdered Celebrities
Toothbrush
Soap
Shower Gel
Flannel
Toilet
Towels
Bath Mat
Tissue
Hairbrush
Hair dryer
Fluids
Knife
Shelves
Fireplace
Mirror
Fishtank
Television
Photo's
Sofas
Fridge
Car
Newspaper
Carpet
Phone

Cast and Characters

Characters that will be shown in the opening sequence include:


Claire Adams being acted by Beatrice Ademujimi - A 17 year old female who has already escaped the grasp of Christian Greeko

Uncle Russell being acted by Russell Lloyd - The Uncle of Claire who looks after her whilst her Dad is too commited in working.

Lisa being acted by Abi Black - The cousin to Claire and daughter to Russell.

Gang Member 1 acted by Jack Sadler - A man who respects and follows Christians orders

Christian Greeko acted by Jack Storer - The main antagonist of the film, a serial killer who gets his thrills from killing those he sees as not deserving their money.


One disadvantage to including actors who will be known to the audience is that this could not be so thrilling. We realise this won't matter in the eyes of the examiner.

Bea Ademujimi's Textual Analysis of 'What Lies Beneath'

Task: Explain How the Mise En Scene and Sound is used to establish the situation and the characters in the opening two minutes of the thriller film What Lies Beneath

I will be finding out how the thriller film, What lies beneath uses mise en scene and sound to represent s the genre of a thriller. The genre of the thriller is not easily noticed in the beginning of the film trailer, the way of the mise en scene makes the film look upbeat and relaxing not like the normal scary jumpy thriller approach that is normally associated with the genre of thrillers. By watching the two minute trailer of what lies beneath, I found that the director Robert Zemeckis was aiming for the trailer to look gentle and forthcoming in the beginning. This is why he put a lot of effort into the trailer. The Mise en scene included the settings, décor, props, lighting, costume, make-up, colour, body language and body movement. The director chose to put the setting in a new lakeside house set in Vermont. The setting evokes many responses from the audience. The home supposedly belonged to Dr Norman Spencer’s (Harrison Ford) scientist father. In the opening nine seconds we have an eye level extreme long shot of the home which is positioned in the middle of the screen so the audience can see the families car the trees on the porch and the house which is on the left side of the lens which shows the audience the beautiful setting of the lake on the right hand side, by all of this we already have a sense that the home is of a small middle class family.

The dialogue starts off as non diegetic sound and then in a matter of seconds we see the characters Mr. Norman & Mrs. Claire Spencer (Michelle Pfeiffer) in their home and then the sound becomes Diegetic. We know that the characters are in their home because we can see both of them standing outside what looks to be their bedroom window you can tell this by the décor of the room. In the 13th second of the thriller trailer there is a close up of the house there are many neat looking plants around the house which gives the set a luxurious yet normal look to it, from this shot there is a fast fade into a MCU of Caitlin Spencer (Katharine Towne) their only child who is going off to college. There are six very fast cuts between her eating her breakfast in the morning and her leaving the house and packing her things into the car. Her costume is quite normal she is wearing a pale orange t-shirt and her hair is wet showing us that she has just taken a shower and not dried her hair. She does not seem to be wearing much make-up because she has just left the shower not too long ago. In the very fast paced cuts we see little parts of the house behind the characters the props help to show what certain locations are. For example the cupboards are filled with glasses, the microwave in the kitchen counter and the cups next to the sink show that the room they are in is the kitchen and in the other fast cut scene other room wallpaper is clear white and most of the furniture is based on the furniture of a bathroom the sink, the flowers on the side, the white mirror and the single light.

After two single lines of dialogue is spoken by Mr. & Mrs. Spencer soft background music is being played (it is non diegetic sound its pace is slow but effective), and the couple is seen on the bed cuddling, when suddenly they here their new neighbours screaming with passion but only for a couple seconds. Mr. Spencer looked out the window to see if there was trouble but returned to the bed and joined his wife on their bed. At forty seconds we see Claire on her computer playing a game of solitaire it is raining outside and we can see and hear the diegetic sound of rain when she suddenly a non diegetic sound of lightning comes and there is a power a power cut. There is a medium paced fade and we see a two shot of her and her husband in the hospital that her husband probably works in we can assume this because we see medical equipment behind him and a female who looks like a nurse wearing gloves behind him putting some equipment away, she claims to have heard noises. After she says this, the volume of the background music increase slightly and when she says the word “home” there is a fast fade into a centre shot of the home. Then there is a cut into a two shot of Mr. & Mrs. Spencer sitting in a restaurant with another couple opposite. At this part the music has decreased slightly. Her make-up is gentle and neat and her costume is a nice ivory v neck dress which makes her look angelic, her body language is uncomfortable and her facial expression shows that she is stressed. The props used to make the location look like a restaurant are the small tables and the glasses of wine and the cuisine laid on the table and male characters dressed as waiters. The colour is normal but the lighting is used so that we have a clear focus of the two couples but a less clear slightly blurred focus on the other diners in the restaurant the director probably used key, back and filler lighting only for the scene. As more cuts become more rapid the music increase pace slightly.

At the 57th second the audience can see an ECU of an old news paper and on the newspaper “Search Intensifies for missing girl”. The background music is still playing, and Claire is seen holding up a card of the “missing” girls’ photo and this is again shot as ECU. The shots are moving quite rapidly now and the audience are only viewing snippets of evidence from these shots. I think Robert Zemeckis chose to use discontinuity editing because it makes the audience confused it interreges its audience because the audience are stuck on what’s going to happen next and you certainly can’t tell by the way Zemeckis has created this trailer. Zemeckis uses many jump shots to show time passing and he uses montage editing which works successfully because the shots are not seamlessly joined together. At 1 minute 2 seconds we suddenly jump cut into a braid of hair being fished out of the lake and at 1 minute 4 we see and OTS shot of Claire facing an wooden based café. The lighting in there is not very light due to the lack of natural light in the setting but it is enough. A woman is talking to her about Claire husband. She looks tired and run down and by what she is wearing she seem to not really care about much and it does no look like she has any make-up on. After this there is another jump shot were we see Claire taking a picture with a camera of her neighbour, she shows the image to her husband and tries to persuade him that there new neighbour is in fact the missing girl but her husband is quick to persuade her otherwise.

At 1 minute 14 seconds there is a non diegetic sound of Norman and we then see him on the phone, but this intrigues the audience because he does not tell who he is talking to, he is wearing normal house cloths and his body language shows seriousness. In the next jump cut we see Claire walking around in her house when we hear a non diegetic ghostly sound above the creepy yet soft background music. The décor of the house walls are white which make the shot a lot brighter and also more ghostly. Then there is a 180’ Rule shot of her talking to what looks like a male psychiatrist. Then suddenly we see the words “you know” written in dark gray in a scary font onto the pure white doors and there is a slow zoom onto it. The background music then increases again but only slightly. The jump shots are continuing and we find out that Norman had an affair with the missing girl; he tells how the girl had threatened to kill herself, and in an OTS we see Claire in a red revelling dress telling her husband to get out. There is now whispering going on while the background music is still playing both are still non diegetic sounds.

The jump shots turn into quick blackouts were we see a different location in the house each time and a different facial expression by the two main characters, Claire looks shocked and deeply upset while Norman shows no remorse. At 1 minute 37 seconds we suddenly see a shot of the bathroom the lighting is bright and we can see that there is defiantly something wrong by the way the objects are moving and the lights are flickering. We slowly see Claire’s head appear out of the water in her bath. And then the blackout appears again and we see text appear on the screen there’s another quick shot and again text comes upon the screen this intrigues the audience because it tells the confused viewers a little bit about the movie

Final Evaluation 14th January

We have gone through the process of planning, creating our storyboard, filming and editing and have come to a final result. We came across few mistakes and those we did come across we found a way in overcoming them. We are pleased with the whole sequence, one example of what we are pleased with is the editing and the way it shows continuity, we are also happy with the music and the way it also helps create suspense. One thing we wish could be better is the storyline, this is something that won't be marked on though and therefore isn't as important as anything else at all. Overall we believe we were at successful, in future, we plan to make sure we will be free alot more together creating more opportunities in bringing up better ideas and taking part in more with eachother.

Finished Filming!

We have finished filming and now we a currrently editing. We have put the piece together and it's all coming along really well. We have filmed our storyboard and are changing it into a Jpeg Image. We are also putting a voice over onto our story board which we shall be posting on here during this week.

Prop Manager

As the prop manager I made sure certain piece's of equipment were avalible to us like:

Costume

Props that we need that were on the set were like:

Briefcase
Pokemon cards
pokemon case
plate of cookies
jug of water
glasses of water
table
chairs

Bea Ademujimi

The Story So Far - December 3rd

We have met our deadline at creating a decent enough storyboard that shows our plans for our 1 minute sequence.



The first few shots for our storyboard include cross cutting from one shot including an extreme long shot of a door, in this shot it won't be as alarming as the other shot it cross cuts with, in which includes a close up of legs walking,we hope to build suspence through this. Throughout our storyboard the main character wears a hoody covering half of his face, this will be used to hide his identity and to also create suspence it is not seen until the last scene.



Halfway though our storyboard theres a shot of the main character walking through a door this will be done especially for our specification asking us to include a match on action, in this match on action we will make sure that the characters hand will be hidden behind the door in order to create less chance of the audience noticing any faults.



Once the character walks into the interview room, confrontation will be used between him and a female character, during this scene we will use different music, more quieter including alot of percussion, it is made quieter in order to hear the dialogue and percussion will be used to create suspense. Throughout the last scene we will use the 180 degree rule, this is a line between the two characters at eye-level, we will make sure we don't cross this and record on both sides as this will only confuse the audience due to the characters changing positions. Other shots we will use include the POV shot, reaction shot and shot/reverse shot in order to create continuity also.

Throughout the sequence we will use little props including Pokemon cards, a hoody, biscuits, glasses of water, chairs, table and a briefcase, this is used to create a good mise en scene in the interview room.

What We Plan To Do

For this exercise, we plan to create a 1 minute sequence including many different shots that will be used to create continuity. Our specification states that we must complete it involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. In our 1 minute sequence, we will be recording a character walking around the college building and then walking into an interview room, in the room there will be a confrontation between two characters.

The story of our 1 minute sequence will be a 'Chav' looking male character walking into a meeting where he will deal Pokemon cards to our 2nd character: The Receiver. This will be ironic as a 'Chav' looking male would never be seen with Pokemon cards as they are seen as a 'nerdy' past time or hobby. This will be used to create humour as well which was the main reason for it.

Throughout our recording and editing we tend to use the college Video Camera, Tripod, Clipboard, Lighting, Computer and props, some owned by the college and some owned by ourselves.

At the end, we plan to achieve a good piece of work in which shows good continuity and fits with the specification asked. We plan on making an accurate storyboard which the audience can relate to. At the end of the filming, we will use the editing suite provided by the college including computers that have necessary programmes to use. We plan on creating our own music which will also be used in the sequence, throughout our project, we will use our good teamworking skills to provide a great finishing piece of coursework.