Preliminary Task - The Game

This is our groups preliminary task, the scenario for our task was about a game on the computer called "The Maze Game" and Scott went to play the game for the very first time to prove to his friend (myself) that he was not scared of a challenge. The aim of this preliminary task was to show that we knew how to use the 180 degree rule when on camera, which is what we did. We made sure that the camera person (Chelsea) showed the change of the camera angles accurately to make the clip more realistic to the audience, and we also ensured that there was at least 30 degrees between the shots of the same subject, we did that because we wanted our clip to look as good as it should.

There was one type of shot that we used quite a lot in our preliminary task, and that shot was called "over the shoulder shot" or "shot/reverse shot". Myself and my group decided that it would be a good idea to use that specific type of shot because not only did we want the audience to see myself and Scott having a conversation, but we also wanted the audience to be able to see the different emotions on our faces, and the camera was able to do that because when  the camera was focusing on myself, the camera was placed over Scotts shoulder so the audience could see and hear me talking to Scott, and when Scott was talking the camera was placed over my my shoulder so the audience was able to see and hear Scott talk to me, and when we was both talking to eachother the camera was put in front of us at a medium shot so the audience was able to see both of us. Also there was a moment in the film where Scott said "try me" and we decided that to make that line stand out from the rest, there would be a close up on his face where he would do a facial expression that told the audience that he was not scared to try anything new.

The image below shows myself and Scott talking and the camera is placed in front of us at a medium shot.

The image below shows Scott and his facial expression where the camera is focusing on his face at a close up.

The image below shows a "over the shoulder shot" where the audience can see Scott talking.



The image below shows another "over the shoulder shot" where the audience are able to see myself talking.

Websites:
http://www.mediacollege.com/video/shots/over-shoulder.html- Accessed-28th November 2011
http://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/narratology/terms/overtheshoulder.html- Accessed 28th November 2011

Preliminary Research

Continuity editing is where you select the good bits of the film and then edit them onto the film to make it look more intresting for the audeince. The two different types of cutting that may be included are 'Spatial cutting' and 'Temporal cutting'.Temporal cutting is when the different shots are used to show that the narratives have indeed changed. Spatial cutting is used to create unified space through the editing shots from different angles and framing, for example shot/reverse shot, the kuleshow effect and parallel editing.

Spatial editing includes the 180 degree rule, which is where you imagine that there is a line going through the room at 180 degrees, the camera person must follow these rules in ordeer to stay on one side. If at any point the camera person wants to change camera angles, they must show the movement accuratley otherwise the film will not look as realistic. Also there has to be at leat 30 degrees between the shots of the same subject, because otherwise the film again wouldnt look as good as it should.

If two people were having a conversation, i think the best shot that could be used is called a 'over the shoulder' shot because, when the camera is filming from over a persons shoulder, not only does it show the two people having a conversation, but the audience will be able to see the emotion on the persons face. Below is a picture of a over the shoulder shot. This is often known as a shot/reverse shot because because it can be a techinque used where two people are shown looking at eachother from different directions.



Match on action shot is where you match the camera shot used, to the action that has been played out. Here is an example:



In the two images above, you can see that the camera has used two different types of shots, one of them is a medium close up and the other used is a close up. Both of these images are Match on action shots because the camera has followed round the woman and you can see that when she begins to open the book, the shot that best fits the action is a medium close up, which then follows onto the woman fully opening her book with the camera shot of a close up because that is the shot that best potrays the action.



In my opinion, continuity editing is essential in the process of film making because it is important that the film itself runs as smooth as possible so the audeince can enjoy watching the film, without noticing those little shots that occur in between scenes.

Genre Conventions-Final Decisions

For our costumes, we have decided to go really over the top and exaggerated with our costumes because of our comedy horror genre. For example in Scary movie the killers costume is very over the top with a black cloak and a scary mask . At the beginning of the film the Heroine would be very vein and a girly girl with make up and nice clothing as the only thing she really cares about is her looks, but towards the end of the film she realises that she must put others first because their lives are in danger. The geek would wear something like a checkered shirt and glasses to signify his type of character. The Innocent one who turns out to be the geeks friend would act very childish and during the film opening he experiments with womens clothing when he incidently becomes the first victim. And the helper would wear something similar to the friend.



Lighting in our film will be very important but because of where we are setting which will be in the woods, we imagine that it will be quite dark when filming because we want to create that scary effect on the audeince to get them excited, it will also create alot of mystery and make the audience feel a little scared, but the lights from around the camping site should help bring contrast to where the good and evil take place. Lighting will will help because shadows that will fall on the villains face will also help make the audience convinced that he is defiantly the villianin this film. The shadows created by the moving tree branches, will help as this will also show that it’s a very dark and broody place where we are and there isn't much that going to be surrounding us. Also the lighting is usually low key and very dark, and the contrast will be used to over exaggerate shadows.

Props is another very important area for our film as we are doing a comedy horror,we have to use a prop that will amuse the audience but also a prop can do some damage to the victim. For example when the killer attempts to murder his first victim,he will use a banana as this isn't dangerous weapon but it makes the comedy elements of our film show even more, as no one will believe that someone will be killed with a banana.

Mis - En - Scene is actually very easy for us to accomplish due to our location of our film, the wooded area gives us the scary mysterious setting we need to achieve our theme and genre goals. Due to us setting the film at night the dark shadowy trees will reflect the moonlight creating a mysterious effect through the trees and focus all attention on the lights around the camp site. this creates the focus on the campsite but remains that the area that is in darkness is the most scaryest part of the setting.

Treatment Update

The set up for our film opening is set in a park. We decided that the wooded area for the film would create a tense atmosphere as it invites the emotion of being scared into the audience as they know that the woods is a quiet,isolated and threatening place to be, especially in the dark. Also the horror genre portrays the woods as scary because in most horror films people usually get killed in the woods, for example "The Blair Witch Project". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_Hw4bAUj8A

It is set in the woods because it's the ideal place for camping and the audience wont suspect anything.

The Equilibrium in our film is the beginning, where everything is normal. The diserquilibrium is what sets the characters off on the adventure and thats usually where the problem lies, for example in Shrek the diserquilibrium is where he goes on an adventure with the donkey to save princess Fiona.



In our film the diserquilibrium is when the geeky kid (Scott) asks the popular girl (Chelsea) out on a date but she rejects him and then humilates him in front of everyone, then he plans revenge when he is invited to join a group of friends, including the popular girl on a camping trip. The new state equilibrium is the ending of the film and how the characters change throughout the ending.

In our film, the protagonist is Chelsea, who portrays herself as the popular beautiful girl who has a mean streak and a history for breaking boys hearts. Her character changes throughout the film and realises life is not just about her. Towards the end of the film, she portrays herself as the hero/heroine because she tries to solve the murders and goes out of her way to try and find out who his identity is. She also realises that its not just her and her friends at stake, its the whole community.
The adversy in our film is scott, at the beginning of the film he shows himself as being a bit of a geek with no friends, but then the audience see him as a completely different character in the middle of the film. The theory of our film is based on friendship, but with a twist of humliation and love.

The 3 act structure for our film "When The Clock Strikes 12" invoves:

• The set up- In our film its the setting which is the park/woods.
• The set back which is when a character is killed due to mistaken identity.
• The resolution which is the ending, e.g. solving the murders,running away from the killer screaming and shouting and trying to save your own life and others by fighting off the killer and winning.

The Character types for our film are the hero which is Cheslea, because she tries to stop the killer and save everybody, the villian is Scott because when he gets rejected by the popular girl, its the final straw for him so he decides he wants revenge which is what our film is really about. The hero helper (sidekick) in our film is myself because in the film i follow the hero on her adventure to stop the killer and im there to support the hero but also the back her up when things go wrong.

2001-Shrek-Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson.

1999-Blair Witch Project-Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrek

http://www.afi.com/10top10/animation.html

Narratives Theories Research Task

Narrative is used for story telling in a way in which the audeince becomes intrested in a certain film, simply because of the way the story is being told. Narratives are important because without it, the audeince wouldnt be as intrested in the film. Some storytellers start off a story with "Once upon a time.." and thats usually when the audeince for the story is little kids,however "Once" means that the story is set in the past using a past tense and "upon a time" means that the story is in a world thats different to our own. Stories that start with "Once upon a time.." are usually fairytales which makes the story sound more intresing and magical which could make the children want to listen to the story. At the end of the story good defeats bad and its the same sort of ending for films aswell because in most films the hero always wins which brings me to "character type". Character type is just basically defining what each character type in a film is, for example:

• The Hero is the one that leads the narrative and they are usually looking for something or going on an adventure where they try to solve a mystery or rescue someone.
• The Villian is the one that has conflicts with the hero where he or she try to take over the world and kill the hero.
• The Heroine is often described as a prize for the hero.
• The Father offers a reward to the hero because they managed to complete their quest.
• The Helper is often described as a "side kick" because of them helping the hero.
• The Donor is able to give something to the hero so they can complete their mission, i.e. a clue or even a special power.
• The Mentor teaches and sometimes guides the hero throughout so the hero knows what he's looking for or what he's got to do to complete the quest.

An example of a film which features most of the character types are "Meet the Spartans".


The Hero in "Meet The Spartans" is King Leonidas, he's the hero because his mission is to stop Xerxes from buying the land in which the spartans live. The Villian is Xerxes because he's the bad guy that tries to bribe the king into giving him the land, and when the king refuses Xerxes sets out to humilate and almost kill Leonidas. The Heroine is the kings wife Queen Margo. She is the heroine because aswell as trying to send out more troops to her husband to help him, its almost as if she's a prize to the king because of all the work he has done being king. The Helper/sidekick in the film are the kings soilders, they're the helpers because they are the poeple that help him along the way.

2008-Meet The Spartans-Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer.
 http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/meet_the_spartans/
http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/meetthespartans

Questionare Results Analysis

This is the questionnaire that myself and my group designed to find out what interests people the most about horror/comedy films. Our questionnaire was aimed at teenagers who are 15+ because our film opening is suitable for people over the age of 15. We asked a range of different questions because we wanted to see which was the most poplualr answer. By looking at our results you are able to see that the one thing about horror/comedy movies that interests our audience is infact the comedy side.

We also found out that our audience likes horror/comedy films and when watching a horror/comedy, they expect to see a lot of blood and gore. Using this information myself and my group are going to be including bits of blood and gore into our film opening but in a way that will give a sense of humour to the audience. We were also able to discover that the audeince is humoured by silly costumes, slapstick and murders when they are watching a horror/comedy film.

This questionnaire has helped myself and my group because now we know what our target audience interest's are when watching horror/comedy films, we are able to take those results, and put them into our film opening so now we have some sort of idea of what our audience's expectations are when watching our film opening.



Final cut introduction

The aim for today was to create a short clip in front of the Whitehouse. The scenario was that aliens were geetting ready to attack the building, but a little while before that happened the news reporter (played by Chelsea) came onto the scene where she interviewed the President (played by myself). The news reporter was asking the president if she knew any thing about the whitehouse supposedly being under attack by aliens or if the whole thing was some sort of government experiment but when i came onto the scene as the president i tried to reassure people that it was not a government experiement and what ever it was myself and my staff were going to get to the bottom of it so nothing bad was going to happen.

Alien invasion Movie