Consent Form

The picture underneath shows the consent of the people they are going to appear in our opening sequence.

Work on the Opening sequence

Over the last couple of days we made some huge steps in the process of editing our thriller and producing the music for it. 

But first of all let me talk about the editing. We had to film a few more shots that our movie looks complete and that everything makes sense.
Since than we have focused on the different transitions, were we should put the titles and some other effects we put in e.g layered-shots. 

Here u can see the work on one of the layered-shots. I really like this sort of effect because it kinda illustrates that the protagonist is weird, on drugs ( he actually is in our movie ), or just crazy. 

A few more pictures of the editing process. 

First of all we put the clips in the right order and since than we cut them into the right length so that they make sense together.

And now we focus more on the real editing how i already said. 

Another part that I'am working on at the moment is the Music/Sound of our movie. I tried to create a scary type of music that fits to our movie i had some issues with that because i literally created the thriller stereotype music, and i don't want that i want to have something special you that you won't find in every thriller. 

I really liked the Modern Rock Clean Guitar 17.3.1 (Sound on Garage Band) but that is the type of the sound that creates the stereotype so i had to get rid of it, But i already found another sound i really like.

Two other screenshots of the process of producing my music. 

Sound

Sound is one of the most important features in a thriller movie it can produce Tension, fear , dead and a lot more.

In the opening sequence we are going to produce is literally no sound so we have to create the points from above with music.

But now back to Sound underneith i will list a few of the most impotant types of sound.

Diegetic Sound: Sound that comes from a person or object in the world of the movie and seen within the field of vision.

Ambient Sound: Background sound belonging to the diegesis but not always in the field of vision.

Non-diegetic sound: Sound the comes from nothing within the field of vision and has ben added in afterwards in the editing process.

Synchronous sound: Where the sound is synchronised with the object emiting that sound.

Asynchronous sound: This is where the sound track is deliberatley out of sync with what we see.

Sound effects: Sounds added to the visuals in editing. They may be naturalistic.

e.g: the sound of traffic outside the window added to a shot filmed in a studio

Dialogue: The sound made by characters talking to each other. Sometimes this is re-recorded in a studio with the actors attempting to lip-sync to the footage: this is called foley recording.


This video illustrates how important the right choice of music is:

Final Cut Pro 10

Final Cut Pro 10 is a video editing app for OS X from apple. 
It was released in 2011.

Final cut pro 10 (FCPX) is an all new application, written form scratch.

It supports up to 5K resolution. During import it can analyse footage and audio for automatic sorting into groups such as close-ups, medium shots and two shots. 

What was great for my movie because i had all the different shots i recorded already sorted so I haven't had to worry about it. 

Overall i would say that FCPX is a great software for the production of movies, from hobby amateur producer to professional Hollywood movie, it can be used by everyone. 

So far I haven't faced any bigger problems with the software. 

Garage Band

Garage band is the software we are using to produce the music for our opening sequence. It is a application for OS X and iOS that allows users (us) to create music or podcasts. It is develped and sold by Apple Inc. 
GarageBand's music creation system enables useres to create multiple tracks with premade MIDI keyboards, pre made loops, vioce recordings, and an huge varitiy of instrumental effects.

We are going to produce the song we gonna put over our opening sequence in Garageband (Non-Diagetic).
I haven't got a idea at the moment in what way I want the genre of the song to be, but I will figure it our pretty soon I guess.
I can alrady say that i want the music to be in a dark and scaryfing tone, because that should be the very best for my opening sequence.

In the picture above you can see the user interface of Garageband. 
The interface is of a good design and easy to use in my opinion.
During the preliminary task I was able to get my first expiriences with the software and I thought it is quite easy to use.

However I'am looking forward to produce my own peace of music, which really should be interessting.

Producing Our Movie

A couple of days ago we started to film and produce our movie 
we already have 95% of the shots we might have to add a few more because of the editing but we are not sure about that yet. 

The Picture above shows the main location of my movie the most of the scenes are filmed in here. I really like this location because it looks quite scary and in several thriller movies/series i really like the protagonist tortures/kills his victims in his garage as well so i think thats quite a nice idea.

As you can see on that picture its not the biggest garage but for my use it was definitely enough and i quite liked it because the lighting in there was perfect for the shots I've done in there.



I used a lot of props in my sequence the main ones you can see in the picture underneath there is for example a knife, the fake blood we have used, different torture tools, a flashlight and a few other things.

On that picture you can only see the things I've used to illustrate that my protagonist tortures someone.

One of my favorite props was the fake cocain we produced it looks quite realistic and in the shoots it just looks awesome. 

Overall i can say that i really enjoyed the progress of filming all the different shots i have in my movie it happened once that i was inspired by the moment and just filmed a shot that was not on the storyboard and that one is now the first shot in my movie.
I already started to edit my movie and got all the clips in the right order in final cut pro 10. 
At the end of the filming process i can say that i haven't had a big problem during the entire progress of filming i actually really enjoyed it. 

Media that has inspired me 2.0

Recently i got inspired by different forms of media i spend a lot of time with watching different Tv programs e.g Dr. House, Breaking Bad, House of cards etc even if some of the series do not have anything to do with a thriller movie it was still good to see how you can use several camera techniques and sounds.

I really enjoyed Watching Dr house and i got some great ideas what sort of shots i want to use in my opening sequence. 

And it was great to see how they have used sound, in my opinion Dr house is one of the series that uses sound the best to express different feelings.

Another Media product that inspired me was the movie Batman the dark knight. 

Literally everybody know this movie and i watched it again recently and overall i have to say its just a great movie and i was really inspired by the acting of heath ledger, he has to play the rather crazy role of the joker and he just acts so strong. I think the great acting in this movie is one of the main factors why it was so successful.

Classification Guideline

U: The U symbol stands for Universal. A U film should be suitable for audiences aged four years and over. However it is impossible to predict what might upset a particular child, especially at this lower end of the category range.

 

PG: Pg stands for Parental Guidance. This means a film is suitable for general viewing, but some scene may be unsuitable for young children. A PG film should not unsettle a child aged around eight or older.

 

12A and 12: The 12A requires n adult to accompany any child under 12 seeing a 12A film at the cinema. This is enforced by cinema stuff and a cinema may lose it license if adult accompaniment is not enforced for children under 12 admitted to a 12A Film. Accompanied viewing cannot be enforced in the homes, so the 12 certificate remains for DVD/Blu-ray.

 

15: No one under 15 is allowed to see a 15 film at the cinema or buy/rent a 15 rated video. 15 rated works are not suitable for children under 15 years of age. 

What might i see in a 15 rated film: 

• strong violence
• frequent strong language
• sexual nudity
• drug taking

18: Films rated 18 are for adults. No one under 18 is allowed to see an 18 film at the cinema. No 18 rated works are suitable for children. 

What sort of issues might i find in a 18 film: 

• very strong violence
• strong horror 
• strong blood and gore

• strong portrayals of sexual activiy

I think the movie that I'm going to produce would receive a 18 rating because i have 

• strong horror 
• strong violence 
• drug taking
• strong blood 

in my movie and the most of that points are in the 18 rated category.

Angle and Movement

Angle

High Angle: a shot from above which points down on the action, subject may appear small, insignificant, or threatened. 

 
Low Angle: a shot taken from below and pointing up at the action, implies power resides in the subject. 

Straight-on or eye level shot: Camera is on the same plane as the subject, may imply normality or equality.

Canted Angle or Canted Framing: is a view in which the frame is not level, either the right or left side is lower than the other, causing objects in the scene to appear slanted out of an upright position. Canted framings are used to create an impression of chaos and instability. They ate therefore associated with the frantic rhythms of action films, music videos and animation.

Movement

Pan: A camera movement with the camera body turning to the right or left. On the screen, it produces a mobile framing which scans the space horizontally. A pan directly and immediately connects two places or characters, thus making us aware of their proximity.
The speed at which a pan occurs can be expoited for different dramatic purposes. 
 

Tilt: A camera Movement with the camera body swiveling upward or downward on a stationary support. It produces a mobile framing that scans the space vertically. Its function is similar to that of pans and tracking shots, albeit on a vertical axis.

 

Tracking shot: A mobile framing that travels through space forward, backward, or laterally. A tracking shot usually follows characters or objects as it moves along the screen. Contrary to the pan, which mimicks a turning head, a tracking shot physically accompanies the entire range of movement. It therefore creates a closer affinity whit the character or object moving. 

 

Storyboard

We started to produce our storyboard a couple of days ago 
so the main part of planning our thriller movie is now accomplished.
In my opinion we had a lot of decent ideas what sort of shots we are going to use and which features we would like to have in our movie. 
I have to say that i really enjoy the work with my partner at our movie, and I'm looking forward to our final piece but now back to the Storyboard.

First we discussed what sort of movie we both want to produce and we ended up with the idea of a psycho-thriller.
Its about a psychopath that really enjoys to kill people and we are going to illustrate that with a couple of flashbacks to his older killings. 
But the main happening is the process of the psychopath killing one of his victims.

At first we draw our storyboard but because of the quality drawings we decided to design it again at the computer.

 Well thats our final storyboard its kinda like a comic and its shows what is going to happen panel for panel. 
It should be a good help for use when we are going to film our movie so we can easy remember everything we want to have in our sequence.
At the beginning of producing our storyboard we had a lot of dialog in our sequence but with moving on in our planing an with watching a lot of example movies we decided to remove literally all the dialogues in the sequence just to keep it nice and flowing.



At the end i can say that i think we have used quite a lot of shots and that it should be interesting to finally start to film our movie and I'm really looking forward to that part now!
Too be honest we might change a few shots during the process of filming because there may be better ones.
We have planned to film every scene between 6PM-10PM so literally all of them are going to be in the dark with a very dark atmosphere. 

Mise en scenec

Mise en scene

Mise en scene (French: placing on stage).

The arrangement of everything that appears in the framing- actors, lighting, decor, props, costume - is called miss-en-scene, a French term that means "placing on stage." The frame and camerawork are also considered as a part of mise-en-sence of a movie. In cinema, placing on the stage really means placing on the screen, and the director is in charge of deciding what goes where, when, and how.

In some instances, the mise-en-scene is designed to evoke emotions that permeate the whole movie. For example in the German expressionist film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari(1920), distorted shapes and claustrophobic scenery are implemented to disturb the audience and enhance the horror.

Set Design

The set design refers to the decor of the set, or how it's dressed, comprising mainly of the furniture, props, and the set itself. Instead of just placing objects here and there, the director must be savvy to fathom how these elements may bear significance in a deeper level, while also emphasizing themes, creating meanings, and provoking thoughts.

Costume and Make-up

Costume and Make-up can sometimes assume importance to the viewer. The producer is able to create a completely different feeling  with costume and make up.

Some genres are unimaginable without Costume and Make-up for example: Sci-fi, Horror and some types of Action movies require a heavy use of prosthetic Make-up to create the monsters, aliens and injuries that the audience wants to see. 

It's possible to illustrate passed by periods of time with different Costumes and Make-up for example the remake of The great Gatsby.

In modern Movies all the actors are using Make-up because their skin tone, facial features and the continuity from one scene to the next.

Location and Setting

The set or location of any thriller is created to give meaning to the text and the things they are taken place.

Producers can use both a constructed set or a place that really exists. 

One example for a movie were they have used a place that really exists is the Lord of the Rings, they have used a lot of the landscape in New Zealand.

Cloud Atlas would be an example for a unreal Location.
At least the Parts of the movie which are in the city are made with the Computer because its a city of the future and its doesn't exist so its quite obvious that its unreal. 
But without that technique to illustrate different locations with the computer the most of the movies we know wouldn't exist.

Camera Terminology

Deep Focus

A camera technique tht allows objects both near and far from the camera to be in foucs at the same time.

Esthablishing Shot

The shot (usually wide or long ), often used ate the start of a programme or film, a new section of a programm or at the start of a new scene to establish the relationship between the set/location and the characters and to show the whole view. 

Hand-Held Shot

A shot filmed with the camera not on a tripod bit instead held by the camera man, often whilst walking. This makes the shot seem quite shaky. This can make the audience feel the scene is more realistic, or can make us feel like we are part of the action. 
This is outstandingly shown in the movie cloverfield were the enire movie is shot out of that perspective.

Long Shot

A distance shot where the camera is a long way from the subjects being filmed. A long shot can be effective as an establishing shot that sets the scene for the action and roles in the viewer.

Loose Frame

Describes a shot where there is a lot of room around an object or person. Usually used to show them as being alone or isolated or unimportant. 

Master Shot

A camera shot used at the beginning of a sequence to establish the component elements and relationships in such a way as to allow the audience to make sense of the action follow.

Point-of-View Shot

A camera shot taken from the position of the subjects, used to enhance a sense of realism and audience involment in the action. 

The shots above are the most important shots commonly used in the business of producing thriller movies.

Preliminary Task

In our last 3 lessons i accomplished my Preliminary task. We started with filming every clip at least three times. At the beginning i thought why should we do it that often thats useless, but when it came to the editing it was really a big advantage because it was so much easier to fit the clips together when you have more opportunities.

When i'am going to film my movie i will now definitely record every clip at least three times.


When i started the editing is was a great opportunity to test my skills with Final Cut Pro 10. It was great to test all the different effects and transitions we are able to apply to our movie. 

At the beginning i had a slightly problem with the cutting of the clips but after a few try's it worked without any problems.

I struggled with the exporting of my movie as well but after a few minutes i figured out how it works so it won't be a problem anymore.

The Shots I Have Used


The first shot I have used was an ESTABLISHING SHOT. 
This shot is used to set the scene and to show the audience where the scene is located. It's often at the beginning of a scene.

New York City Establishing shot.

The next shot I have used is a OVER THE SHOULDER SHOT.
It's used to give us the characters point of view but it includes a part of the characters shoulder or head in the shot.

The next shot I've used was a TRACKING SHOT.

I have used it when my main character walks along a corridor.

In a professional movie the Tracking shots are filmed from a mobile crane. A Tracking shot usually follows the character or object as it moves along the screen.

The next shot I have used is a CLOSE UP to the characters hands. 
A close up is a framing in which the scale of the object shown is relatively large. In a close-up a persons head, or some other similarly sized object, would fill the frame.

Than I have used a MEDIUM SHOT.
In a Mid shot a human being with the hight between 4-5 feet would fill most of the screen vertically.
I have used it when my character opens the door and walks into the room.

The next shot I have used is a Tracking Shot again.

After that I have used a POV-Shot.

A Point of vied shot is taken with the camera placed approximately where the character's eyes would be, showing what the character would see, usually cut in before or after a shot of the character looking.

Than I have used a TWO SHOT to illustrate the conversation between the two characters.

So a Two shots are composed when two people are in the scene and their interaction is important.

At the end a POV-Shot is used again.

My Preliminary Task video

Overall i can say that it worked well for me, and it was great fun.
I'am really looking forward to produce and edit my movie in the future.