Researching openings.

   Today we decided as a group to research film openings. We decided that to do this we needed to look at films with the ones that was our genre, however we decided to explore other genre openings to compare them. We will look at different openings and decide on what openings we liked and why. So that we can then base our decisions on what we see and how our ideas will compare and contrast with the ones that we have watched.
    A member of our group seems to like the idea of horror and gory films.She has the opinion that these genres are much more interesting as the openings are tense and they build up suspicion with a smear of blood and tension. Also we had an obstacle to come over as these type of genre can have a varied target audience, although it is a universal genre. Another member of the group thought that a rom com would be a brilliant opening for our film.This is a much more delightful opening compared to that of gory.The themed music is much more lively in the rom com compared to that of horror.
    The openings that we decided to watch were from the films of;

• Monsters inc. ( Animation) 
• Paranormal activity 2 ( Horror )
• Sinister ( psychological Thriller )
• Hitch ( Romantic comedy )

We took our time and looked at the first 2 minutes of the films, then we compared and contrasted them to one another. We all took a film each and compared them. We also took into account what films had what institutions and the reasons why they might of chosen that specific institution and how relevant they are. After we viewed all of them we looked at, what music they used, how the text came up ( not using the word or phrase ' staring '  and the types of shots that they used. In most of these openings they had longer shots than what we need , but they still done quite a bit in the valid space of 2 minutes.
   We also had a look out for what fonts that they used and the colour ; this is so that it does not clash with the back ground or so that you cant see it. So they wouldn't use red writing on a purple back ground as it wont stand out, so they would be more likely to use white colour. As well as the size of the font as if it was thin and not bold or scroll type writing. It needs to be easy to read and to be seen. So the font needs to be bigger. The type of font is deadly important as you cant have a font that people cant see from a certain distance. As well as the fact that it will have to suit the genre;- so for a comedy you cannot have gothic writing as this would just look out of place.

   Most of the film openings started with establishing shots and others started with a scene where there was a conversation. When a character is talking usually the do not put the names of the actors on the screen. This is because it is a close up of the actor and usually what they say is rather important. Establishing shots are mainly used for when the title is about to come up. This is because they want a simple background for the text to be on, if it was over a scene where people are doing something important to the plot line then the viewers will try to concentrate on both or this would just distract them. All of the openings were different from one another, so as usual the group had different decisions about how we should do our opening.
     Some other movies use the other materials such as clip art, animation, shots as well as pictures amalgamated into one thing, rather than just moving clips. This does sound very simple but it is also very effective.
   After watching different openings we managed to decide what bits we was going to use for our opening. This included;

• what institutions we was was going to use - we managed to get this down between Paramount Pictures and Universal Studios.
• what style of font and the colours and whether they was going to clash or be on an establishing shot- we decided to have our text appearing on an establishing shot as well as bold white bold writing.

 By watching these film openings we have realised what conventions were needed for the opening. This meant we had to focus on more precise things in order for our opening to not look tacky and for it to suit our target audience.

Scenery

   The spots that we chose to shoot in were; the orchard, inside C block, outside C block, under S block stairs, The common room, the independend learning resouces centre.The reasons why we chose to shoot in those areas was because of the availability of the areas, the size, the part of the filming, the lighting and how prepared we was.
       The reason why we chose to shoot some scenery shots in The orchard was becuase of its natural looks. During the day it can look beautiful with the morning dew, but on the other hand as it is starting to get darker earlier on we was able to see a more scary atmosphere to the orchard. The  things that made the orchard a scary place was becuase; the floor was covered in sticks and leaves and this was perfect for footsteps effect. We alsoo had the high but dawnting trees that hung over one another to create darker areas in there. There was also a gate, not just an ordinary gate but yet a gate with creeky hinges, the oak look ( the old but great wood for this ). The wind hime that was high up in the tree's was brilliant as it gave a creepy feel to the place. You can just imagine it all being dark and the wind chime swaying in the wind.  Banging against one another to cause a tinny echo effect.
      The reason why we chose to shoot in C block ( inside and out ) was because of the layout and how well it fitted into our genre and film. On the inside of C block we had toilets that had natural lighting from the skylights( windows on the celing ). There was also a quite shady looking corridor that lead out of the toilets- this was great for someone to be chased down. The outside of C block was amazing for a thriller! We had creepy ivy all over the walls and dark shady tree's that gave the building an eery feel to it. There was also a long hanging tree where someone can hide. The entrance to C block was a perfect place to shoot this is because; there was bushes and shrubs surrounding the path which was covered in thorns gave us a great idea. We could have someone with a camera in the bush and then you would be able to see all of the thorns. The symbolism of the thorns is that its a sharp painful thing that can rip such an innocent thing like pure skin.
      The reason why we chose to shoot under S block stairs was because of the lighting effects. The amount of room was perfect for our genre. We also had a huge obstacle when it came to shooting- we had large stacks of tables in the way. So we was able to over come this by using this as a part of our filming. We was able to get someone under the tables and then we was able to film from different angles. We used two cameras to do this, as we needed one from the sides and one from the front. The tables gave us a great idea. We could use the tables in order to have our actor moving around the floor and using the table legs as more of something to grab hold of and help them move ' stuttering-like ' across the floor.
       The reason why we chose to shoot in the common room was to really see what people thought of our ideas and the make up. We managed to get some feedback on what our ideal target audience thought. This also helped us to improve on certain things. Somehow we managed to film in the common room, we managed to film me crawling under the chairs/ zig-zag in and out of the chair legs. This gave a great effect especially with the lighting being brighter and darker in some areas, so this gave a great effect to my face and body-- as I was painted white and covered in black clothing to illuminate the white paint to make me look pale. At the back of the common room we have a fire escape that we was able to go and get another camera to go and film me crawling down the ramp so that we can have something really creeping happening. Okay, so we did get a few stares but we was becoming really passionate about this. With the slope we was able to get me rolling down it, crawling like an ape, creepy army crawling to give the effect that I was practically on the floor! We also managed to have some fun with this slope, we managed to give enough support to get me to jump off of the slope on to the grass. We managed to grab 3 cameras for this ( on under the slope, one in front of where i was jumping too and the third a further distance away to my right to see me jumping off of the slope and onto the grass).

Our preliminary task.

This is our preliminary task. In the making of this we had our ups and down and this caused us to have a delay in the task.

Recent findings.

    We recently found where our preliminary task was. So this will be uploaded next time that we get the chance too. We also recently discovered our edited versions of our conversations and talks and the videos where we went out location shooting. We did try to upload these but for some strange reason we could not do this. so as a result of this we will try and upload it again tomorrow. If this doesnt work then we will have to come up with another solution.

Make-up Designs.

  We decided that because we are going to start filming soon we should start seeing what doing the face paints on a person would be like. So the first step in all of this was to find someone who wouldn't mind being painted and filmed whenever they are needed. So bravely I volunteered to help out the group. So then me and Jessica had a walk up to C block to have a look at the face paints that were available in school. We had a look at the paints that were available and what paints would look best for our genre. This lead us to find this white and black face paint with the sponges and so we got to work. We first applied a think-ish layer of white face paint. This gave me a a white complexion so that I would look scary, pale and more or less a look-a-like of the grudge - this is because most thrillers have a ghost or spirit that would be dead so we took the idea that I could of been like a spirit, the white paint made it look like I was dead as when you are dead they drain all of the blood out of your body.


  We then took a paintbrush so that we can get into the smaller places of my eyes- this was for the black, with being able to get into the smaller places we managed to make it look more professional. We then combined this with some black and grey eye shadow to give it more of a softer look as she swept it up to my eye brows- This part was Ashleigh's idea as she liked the combination of the soft black & grey eye shadow and the black paint. This gave my eyes more of a two-toned look, we applied the paint of top of the white then we covered it in black eye shadow to give that eerey effect to my eyes.This is because in a thriller the most common things to notice is their black beady eyes that pierce their souls. The idea with having a large part of my face covered with black is so that it can make a statement, if we had only of done a small outline of my eyes then it wouldn't be as noticeable and people wouldn't get the full effect.

   She also used a paintbrush and the black face paint on my lips so that it too will look rather black and scary- usually they don't have black lips but we decided to challenge the conventions of the thriller as we could then see if it worked. There is a symbolism of black throughout our film as we have the stalker dressed in back, we have the black make up. This is so we can get a hidden message across to the audience.We have done this twice now, and every time we are getting better and better at this. The second time that we did this I bought in some black clothes so that we can film in various places and to get a real feel of what this would be like.

This is our make up video of what we done to get the creepy effect of a white face and black eyes and lips.

Relevance to our genre.

                Today we took the camcorder out onto our school and we chose some locations to do different things in. For example we chose to do a filming in the woods as this would best suit our genre. The woods gives more of an edge to the whole film as well as the fact that it is a known thing for bad things to happen to vulnerable girls that run through woods on their own.

     The locations that we chose had to consist of these things;

• Look great and creepy at night time 
• Had to be a big space for our film to be set.
• Had to have mis-en scene
• Had to be somewhere that we could access with out a problem.
• Had to be a place where not alot of people would go so it would be easy to film with out people complaining.

   The places that we chose to view were;...

• The tree out side of L block due to the tree being a known thing in a thriller as well as a great place for someone to be hiding. In this case we can edit the lighting so we can make the characters have an outline.
• The courtyard at the back of c block this is because of the scenery. The scenery in the woods is more of an eery fell for the film. There are so many noises and a substantial amount of different places where different lights and props can be used. We have natural light from the sun coming through the trees. We have sticks and leaves on the floor so that you can hear a person coming or the person running away as some great sound effects as well.
• The learning resources centre because there are book cases there that someone can lurk around. We also had a great lighting in there. We also managed to do a bit of filming because we had some willing actors and the camera was there so we did that. In here we also used 2 cameras to film a person going up an isle and scaring two people on the other side of the book case. This enabled us to get two different angles of the film. We may need to work on not getting the other person in the shot but this is something that we can improve on in the future.
• Inside of C block because it was a quiet confined area that we could film in. We chose to film by the toilets so it was more of a natural thing. We had 2 cameras for this so that we can get two different views to this. We had help from two other actors to help us to do this. We managed to also have a bit of fun with this.

Low budget films.

LOW BUDGET FILMS
                   Low budget films are mainly films that do not have famous actors in them as they cannot afford them. As well as a low budget film they will not have a lot of special features or effects because they cant afford them. A great example of a low budget film(s) are;

'Saw' is a brilliant example because they mainly use 1 room for everything to happen in. Okay so its not the best of rooms but it really gets the feel of the film and the characters. So this works for the low budget films. The components that they use in saw are;

• Non famous actors.
• A single room to do the filming.
• More-or-less reused props from other films.