Production Company Logo

I have created a logo for our production company using photo shop and it will be inserted into the film. It includes two film reels with an original name.

Filming Completed :)

All elements of filming have now been completed and now the editing process is going to begin and within the next week the whole film should be entirely completed.

Photo of the crew and cast. 

Music and Sound effects

Our group is currently looking at background music and sound effects to be used within the film. Creepy and eerie sounds will fit best to give the film the fear factor and build up suspense that is common in most if not all thrillers.

Audience Research

Before you think about creating a film you have to think of what type of audience your production will be aimed at e.g. 15-18 year olds. Audience research is a vital part of creating a film because you need to know what your target audience likes and dislikes, you can determine this in many ways such as creating surveys to ask your audience questions and based on their feedback your film will appeal to the audience more than it would of done if no research was carried out.

Me and my group went around our school and handed out a survey discussing thriller films to students who were 15-18 years of age as they were our target audience (see below for survey).

Character Profiles

Geoff Ray Porter


Played By: Aaron Tuck.


Description: Geoff has a job as a delivery boy for the Bridgend branch of Pizza Hut, however recently he has become a very stressed, anxious character because due to company cut backs the security of his low paid job is under threat, he is likely to be made redundant by the end of the month, however having barely any qualifications it would be very unlikely he could get another job anytime soon.

Physical Description
Age: 27
Height: 5 foot 9
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Habits:Wears dark hoodies, smokes

Habits/Traits: He has a habit of looking downwards from all time he spends textng or having his head between his hands thinking. On better days he is a loud shouty character who often laughs with friends he does have.

Main Goal: To attempt to gain security with his job and one day quit smoking for good.

Method to Achieve Goal: To do his job to the best of his ability to tempt the managers into keeping him on, whilst looking into other jobs should the worse come to be.


Family Background: He comes from a broken family in Brackla, where his parents live apart, his father now lives in Sheffield whilst he and his mother still live in Brackla, the split happened when he was 6 he is now 21 but he faces being kicked out as his drinking, gambling and poor money are making her life very difficult.


Education: he attended Brynteg comprehensive age 11-16, he never went to primary as he didn't like the other children and often tried to beat them up (reflecting the anger disspated between his parents failing relationship.)

Personality: Geoff is normally a nice person, though recently he has become an irratable and temperamental character because of stress and facing redundancy, he is easily distracted by his phone. He is quite lonely as he has few friends because he is socially awkward.

Likes: Smoking,  his friends, his car, alcohol, gambling, gaming, eating KFC, lying on his bed not doing anything.


Dislikes: people who dislike his car, not being able to stop drinking/ gambling, having to do anything that involves a bit of effort.








Alice Freener

Played By: Sophie Roderick


Description: Alice is a well spoken person who tries to get on with everyone in her life, she is fond of animals especially dogs. She lives in a small house with her dog, she is currently in Pencoed College doing her A levels so she has qualifications in case she can't be a hair dresser (being a hairdresser is her dream job.)

Physical Description


Age: 17
Distinguishing Features: Posh Accent
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5 Foot 6


Habits/Vices: She unintentionally has a habit of sounding quite posh.



Main Goal: To complete her college course and become a hairdresser.



Method to Achieve Goal: N/A she was ran over by Geoff. Return to haunt people as a ghost..


Family Background: Alice has left home a year ago, she now lives in a small house with her dog and doesn't have a close relationship with her parents which is why she lives on her own.


Education: 
5 years in Coity Primary and 5 years in Pencoed Comprehensive and now attends college

Personality: 
Alice is a pleasant well spoken character who tries to get on with everyone (excpt slobs) she is a believer of a clean world and she absolutely HATES dirty things.

Likes: Dogs, people with good manners, listening to music, hairdressing.


Dislikes: Slobs, people who drive too fast, dirt, fast food, illegal immigrants. (or any immigrants in general)

StoryBoard

Editing

As my main task within my group is to edit all the footage together i have been familiarising myself with the editing programme "iMOVIE". I have had some experience with this editing software before but im not aware of all the features it possesses which is why i'm practising using it. I've gained some experienced when it comes to editing as i have used more professional editing software such as "FinalCut Pro" which is the media industry standard and have also logged some hours on"Sony Vegas Pro" for PC. 

Progress Halted..

The weather is delaying the filming of the last part of the movie as its set outside. Hopefully the weather will be clear on the day we are set to film otherwise precious editing time will be lost due to setbacks. Editing is probably the most time consuming part of the whole process and the more time i have to edit the film, the higher the quality it will be.

Shooting script

Location: Church Grounds- Exterior

 Weather- Dry.

The scene opening in a church yard. Aaron is sitting on the bench in distress, running hands through his hair. He is obviously upset/thinking.  He is holding flowers and starts to rip the petals off.

Location: Road in Pencoed common – Exterior

Weather- Dry.

This is a flash back from Aaron sitting on the bench.  A car is driving down a road, as a school girl is crossing. The driver is texting and doesn’t see the girl. He is too slow to break and hits the girl. Aaron gets out of the car in a panic but the girl isn’t breathing. He leaves her on the floor and runs away.

Location: Castle grounds- Exterior

Weather- Dry.

It cuts back to Aaron sitting on the bench and then all of the sudden the dead girl appears next to him.  He jumps and falls to the ground in fear. He looks back and she isn’t there. He gets up and runs into the castle grounds, as he is crossing the bridge he thinks he hears something so turns around. To his surprise there is nothing there he turns back and the dead girl is lying on the floor of the bridge. He stumbles back and she is gone. He runs over the bridge and through the Castle walls. The dead girl appears behind one of the walls but Aaron can’t see her. As he turns round a corner she is there, he falls against a wall and drops his phone by accident. He runs to the Castle tower and starts climbing the steps in a panic. Then the metal gate swings shut and he screams from the tower.

Research on flashbacks

Techniques For Formatting a Flashback To determine where a flashback is needed in the script, the screenwriter should decide when the audience needs to know something from the character's past. Getting into the flashback scene (transitioning) is just as important as the flashback scene itself. Transitions must be executed smoothly and seamlessly so that the audience is not jolted from the present to the past, and back again to the present. To smoothly transition into a flashback from a present-time scene, you can use techniques that evoke the protagonist's memory. He can look at a photograph that carries him back in time. He can gaze at a lake or mountain that carries him back to a similar setting in his past. Or he can hear a melody that evokes a memory of a past time. Sourced From Google

How flashbacks will be used within my film

Flashbacks will be used within my opening sequence as it aids to the plot of the film. In this instance a flashback sequence will be triggered when the character looks at a red rose and still images will be displayed to create suspense and give the audience a chance to learn more about the back story to the film.

location

Me and my group have decided to use Coity Castle as the location for the opening sequence to our film and have currently filmed the first part outside the Castle grounds by a nearby church displayed in one of the pictures displayed.

Moodboard

This is our group mood board with all the ideas and thoughts of what the film will contain or look like. Examples of thrillers are shown on the mood board to give ideas towards how the style of the film and also what props would be used within the film e.g Red Rose. Some codes and conventions are also displayed using the colour red to signify blood.

Continuity Sequence

Analysis Of An Opening Sequence: The Secret Window

The opening sequence of the secret window beings with the Columbia logo and whilst the logo is on screen you can hear the non-diegetic sound of windscreen wipers on a car. At this time the viewer doesn’t actually know what they are hearing as they haven’t seen what’s making the noise (windscreen wipers). This makes the viewer anxious and they want to know what is making the distinct sound.

The Columbia logo then fades into a close up shot of Mort Rainey (Johnny Depp) face. It’s clear at this point in the sequence that the non-diegetic sound was in fact windscreen wipers on his car. The characters face has a blank expression and shows almost no emotion except maybe a sense of anger or distress. Whilst the camera is focused on his face you hear the words “Turn around, turn around, turn the car around”.  The character is not speaking these words so the viewer is left wondering who’s saying these words and why, although the assumption is that they are his thoughts and what he is thinking at this point in time in the film. He then suddenly gives into his “thoughts” and turns the car around in a violent manner as if to signify his anger and his facial expression shows this. This creates a false sense of security as the character goes through different emotions and expressions very quickly and you have no idea what is going on which then creates suspense and catches the viewer’s attention to draws them into the story.

The close up shot of Mort Rainey then quickly transitions into a wide angled shot where you can see a car that the character is driving and a motel in the background. The motel sign is a blood red colour and the colour red is emphasised throughout which goes well with the monochrome contrast. The colour red is often signified with blood and can indicate that something bad is happening or about to happen. When the character walks up to the red door your left wondering what’s lying behind it which creates suspense yet again. As he walks in the door you see that his wife Amy is in bed with another man and Mort screams loudly and you see them shouting at one another but all you can hear is the whistle of the wind from the snow storm. This shot slowly fades into a tracking shot of a lake and the shot used to film resembles a bird flying over the lake that then focuses upon this log cabin type house which appears to be in the middle of nowhere and very secluded at which time music starts playing which sounds like the typical creepy thriller soundtrack. As the house come into view titles appear on the screen stating the production company (Pariah Productions) and the main actor Johnny Depp but the main focus is when the title of the film “The Secret Window” appears on screen in a white text format then transitions into the blood red colour and is the only title to do this; the colour red is emphasised a lot in the opening sequence to keep the audience guessing what the film is going to entail.

As the camera gets closer to the house it starts to pan around giving the viewer a better image of the scene and surroundings. The camera seems to fly through an open window (referring to the title of the film) and you see a desk with a computer sat on it with lots of papers surrounding it. The character seems like unorganized and untidy person by the way his house is kept and also by the way he dresses.

Saul Bass Profile

Saul Bass was a Jewish American graphic designer and film maker. He produced animated title sequences for movies, some of these movies include the famous "Psycho", "North by Northwest" and "The man with the golden arm". His most famous and also controversial work was in the 1950's film "The man with the golden arm". The main focus of this title sequence was the main characters arm as he was a heroin addict and is a symbol of the characters drug addiction. The sequence featured a black paper cut out of the characters arm to symbolize the story of the character and film. Saul Bass was a pioneer of title sequences and the animation involved with them. His techniques and work was considered revolutionary from the early days of his career as nothing like he created was ever seen in the 50's and 60's. In the 90's he moved on to creating title sequences with the aid of computer graphics. This technology never existed earlier on in his career so it opened up doors for him to experiment and created more innovative title sequences such as the one seen in "Casino" where he was using computers to make the titles. Saul Bass was a pioneer from the days of his early work to his latest work before he died in 1996.

Continuity Film

Recently filmed my continuity piece with my group and have finished putting it together and editing the footage to produce a short film sequence. Many different shots and techniques were used to film such as the ones i stated in the last post about camera angles used in film production. The film will be uploaded to this blog as soon as possible for viewing purposes.

Camera Shots and Anlges used in film

	ECU - Extreme Closeup
	The extreme close up is used to reveal very small details in the scene. It might be used to reveal horror in a subject . It might also be used in a mystery to show some detail that the detective picks up on or to show some small clue.
	CU - Close Up
	The close up shot is used to reveal detail. If you are shooting just the head and shoulders of a subject this is a close up.
	Head and Shoulders
	The head and shoulders shot is used in news broadcasts. If you think about the television news you will realize that this shot reveals enough detail to see the subject's lips move and the expression on her/his face.
	Bust Shot
	This shot shows your subject from above the knees to above the head. It is often used when the subject of the shot is doing something that requires the audience to see some detail.
	MS - Medium Shot
	The medium shot is from just below the waist to above the head. There is more headroom than in the bust shot. This show is used if the person is animated with their hand movements, etc.
	MLS - Medium Long Shot
	Remember in this shot to not cut ther person off at the knees. With this shot, you can still see expression on the persons face, while getting more information from what is going on around the person.
	LS - Long Shot
	This shot is useful for someone that is walking or moving.
	ELS - Extra Long Shot
	Also known as the Establish shot, this gives the viewer some perspective as to where the subject is. This is very important if the subject is moving to new locations or times. It lets the viewer know where the video is taking place.
	2 Shot
	Two-shots are composed when two people are in the scene and their interaction is important. A two-shot is a good way to introduce a conversation. From the introduction you might cut to an over the shoulder shot of one person talking or a close-up of the other person reacting to what is being said.
	OS - Over Shoulder
	The over the shoulder shot reveals one subject as seen from over the shoulder of another subject. It simulates a view of the subject as seen from the second person's eyes. This shot is often used in conversations between two people where the dirtector wants to focus on the person speaking. Usually these shots are head shots.

First Blog

This is the first blog i have ever created and was asked to create one on my AS Media course. In this week i have learnt about all types of camera angles and movement and also how they are used in films to create a certain atmosphere or effects.

Introduction

This is my AS Media Studies blog and im going to be creating a film :)