Feedback

Good work, Oscar, the blog is up to date and contains plenty of relevant research into the key areas of audience and institution,  It would be worth adding some of the feedback you received on your timeline to contextualise the changes that will be made to this for the storyboarding exercise.  Otherwise, keep going with regular updates.

James

Our initial pitch/ ideas for SMAK (slideshow)

Digipack- Album cover research

Music video timeline

Our track choice- Chase and status "Let you go"

Let You Go Lyrics
You say,
We can't go on this way,
Things have got to change,
When your gone,
And each day,
A choice gets made,
You think it's yours to make,
But your wrong,

There's nowhere to run,
No place you can go,
Nowhere you can hide,
Where you won't be found,
There's no place on earth,
Where you could lay low,
Wherever you are,
I will track you down,
There's no way in hell,
I will let you leave,
Let you just get up,
And walk out on me,
There's no way on earth,
Hell would have to freeze,
More than twice before,
I will let you gooooo!,

let you....go!,

I will let you go!,

There's no way on earth,
Hell would have to freeze,
More than twice before,
I will let you go,

Let you...go,

You say,
We can't go on this way,
Things have got to change,
When your gone,
And each day,
A choice gets made,
You think it's yours to make,
But your wrong,

There's nowhere to run,
No place you can go,
Nowhere you can hide,
Where you won't be found,
There's no place on earth,
Where you could lay low,
Wherever you are,
I will track you down,
There's no way in hell,
I will let you leave,
Let you just get up,
And walk out on me,
There's no way on earth,
Hell would have to freeze,
More than twice before,
I will let you gooooo!,

There's no way
i will let you go!

Let you go!,

I will let you go!,

There's no way on earth,
Hell would have to freeze,
More than twice before,
I will let you gooooo!,

Let you....go!

Institutional context

Chase and Status are signed to an independant label called 'Ram Records'
This is a label specifically specialising in the genre of Drum & Bass. Ram Records is multi award winning organisation for its label activities, the music it releases, and the artists it has signed over the years. As well as Ram's musical output, the label is also very well know for its legendary night-club events.

Our hypothetical Artist SMAK, will be signed to a very small independent record label. A record company such as Bad Sekta. Bad Sekta showcases experimental electronic music from genres that have grown and developed out of the free party scene which our artist will be seen to be involved in. 'Fusing elements of Drum’n’Bass, Techno, Hardcore and Industrial, as well as a hefty dose of experimentation'; non-commercial styles of music have been able to flourish in the free party environment and Bad Sekta aims to bring some of these artists to the ear of those who would normally pass them by.

This type of record company, really helps to highlight SMAK's type of star image, and how they would be hired or taken on by a type of company like this. 

Feedback

Well done for catching up, Oscar; that's much more like it in terms of the preliminary planning and your video analyses are useful starting points.  I'd still like you to expand further on this week's task - research and planning into real artists of a similar type to your own.  I know that there is a presentation to upload, but there should also be some account of real artists' star images.

James

Narrative analysis of a music video (Silverstein 'apologize')

Unlike 'recreate' by 'Born of Osiris', 'Silverstein' have gone about this music video by using solely narrative as opposed to performance. The narrative of this video is highly metaphorical and directly applicable to the lyrics of the song. The artistic shots of various spinning innanimate objects at the begining are intensified by the fact that they are all in pairs and symbolic of a fragile love between two people.

We gradually see these objects become more frail throughout this video as the ink spills and as the lyrics discuss the fragile nature of his own emotion until finally we see all of the objects wither, die, smash and break down just as the relationship the song is based on inevitably has done.

The video does however contain a slight literal element within the deeply metaphorical narrative in the sense that the talking on the the phones and letter writting is directly suggestive of broken down relationships and useless apologies, however this still does not count as a performance element due to the fact that it is so tied in with the rest of the narrative.

This music video is very simplistic, however it is both visually and conceptually very impressive and goes to show just how influential and significant the narrative element of any music video can be.  

Performance analysis of musc video (Born of Osiris 'Recreate')

This video by the band 'Born of Osiris', for the track 'Recreate', is shot entirely from a live show and contains no narrative element, this is a less common, yet interesting way of going about shooting a music video. As can be seen from the video, the primary advantage of simply using solely this live footage to is the fact that the bands live performance can be cut together and edited in such a way that it makes them look highly impressive and can act as an adertisement for the bands live shows.

The footage is cut together with a very fast pace of editing, switching between a vast number of interesting and well possitioned yet shakey shots which portray the band in an almost heroic light in order to convey the frantic excitement that they create from the actuall live situation.

Shots from above of the crowd help the band to present itself as a band who care about how thier performances are recieved and show that the crowd is just as muchg a part of thier work as thier music itself.

Introduction to advanced portfolio

A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

a website homepage for the band;

a cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package);

a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).

All material for all tasks to be produced by the candidates with the exception of acknowledged non-original sound or image material used in a limited way in video/radio work. Further guidance will be available in the support materials. For music video, permission should be sought from the artist for use of the audio track.


The centre will be expected to allocate marks according to four levels for each of three categories:

Research and Planning

Construction

Evaluation

In arriving at a level for each category, teachers are advised to look for evidence of ‘best fit’. It is possible both for a candidate to be placed in different levels for each of the three categories and to receive quite different marks from other members of the same group responsible for producing an artefact, according to his/her contribution. Teachers are asked to support marks with written comments under the three categories on the assessment sheet.

Our Listener

 

• Male
• Aged between 14 – 24 (school or uni)
• Race – White or Black
• Middle Class because there are able to afford this consumption.
• Trendy and Fashionable
• To look hard
• Following trends (sheep)
• Watch MTV, Read ‘NME’
• Active on the Nightclub Scene
• Go to Festivals and Live Performances
• Older audience – childless, still thinking their young, still go out socialising.

Another potential music video treatment

Band/ Artist: Placebo

Song: 20 years

Star Image:

• Alternative/ underground
• Introverts
• Vulnerable yet confident
• Open sexualities/ transcendent of the boundaries e.g risqué clothing
• Depressive

Treatment for music video:

• Autumn, shots of leaves falling, slow
• Emphasis on colour
• 3 piece band to be playing in arranged lighting so the faces cannot be seen (suggesting more importance on the music and the emotion as opposed to the individual, this supports the concept of introvercy)
• Narrative element being a solitary man walking these empty yet colourful scenes of autumn, but he has no colour.
• He stares at clocks, time speeds and slows
• When the music builds, his surroundings loose colour and he gains his colour, but the world stands still around him as if he is trapped
• The final shot is an extreme close up of his eye, reverse zoom back up over him in a different location (i.e his room) staring blankly into the camera.

Potential music video treatment

Band/ Artist: Gary Jules

Song: Falling awake

Star Image:

• Very basic/ just a man and his guitar (the main  image is a lack of image)
• Poignant
• Image is based on solely the music as opposed to physical apearence
• Acoustic

Treatment for music video:

·        The artist sits in a crowded street playing the song, quietly to himself with his guitar.

·        People pass by  and no one stops (fast motion)

·        However as particular individuals pass him by, the camera will follow them into their own mental flashback that is relevant to the lyrics the artist sung as the walked by.

·        The shot keeps returning to the artist but continues to pick up on the people walking by (who still don’t notice him). This shows that what he sings is relevant to everybody but that we don’t have time to hear other people.

·        The video would close on a very simple shot of the artist and his guitar once again, before he gets up, leaving the guitar and walks away.

Preliminary task evaluation

We used basic shot choices for this preliminary task, focusing on conventional shots such as close ups, extreme close ups, wide shots and mid shots, we did not include more technical shot choices that we used in our AS thriller such as tracking shots, panning shots and overhead (birds eye veiw) shots. We also did not use any particularly challenging camerawork techniques such as focus pulls or handheld shots, but instead tried to focus on well possitioned and visually interesting frames for our shots such as that in piture 3 (below). Through research as well as spending time with the band, it was clear that thier image was vintage and that they were attempting to portray themselves as a band who are entirely non-conventional in terms of where music has moved on to from the era of music which is clearly a huge inpiration behind this band. Subsiquently, minimalistic yet intersting camera work seemed to be the most effective way of conveying this and i believe that this has worked to great effect.

Our group took turns in different roles during the shooting of the video, moving between cameraman, director and music technician. This was a good experience for everyone due to the fact that we got an all round sense of the way in which different roles during the procces each contribute toward the overall composition of the music video. In particular i found the editing of the video highly interesting as it gave me a chance to experience the way in which shooting a music video differs from shooting a short film, for example cutting to the beat of the music which is essential. During the shooting proccess itself, i feel that i enjoyed the role of being the camera man the best because i am highly interested in the technical elements of creating media products, be it music, films, music videos or photography.

I feel that the way the day was structured (switching roles periodically and learning vicariously from watching one another in our assigned roles) helped my group to work really well as a team. We were pragmatic about any issues; such as framing all seven members of the band well within a shot, and worked patiently together during the editing process to create what i believe to be an impressive standard music video for our preliminary task.

I found the editing process particularly beneficial. As i mentioned, learning how to cut tightly to the beat of the music is a simple yet highly valuable skill which i will no doubt use well in my music video practical work this year. We gave the song a relatively fast pace of editing, partially because a seven piece band is alot of people to give appropriate screen time to within the space of one song but also because of the bands 'kooky' image and the upbeat nature of the song. The primary point of focus however, in terms of screen time was clearly the lead singer as she leads the song and the bands image, hence the name 'Jane Doe and the undesirables.'

I am very pleased with the result of the day. I feel as if we have succesfully matched the image of both the band and the track with the video, largely as a result of prior research into thier desired image. The musicians and singers are all well synced to the track in the video as a result of the fact that we were taught and succesfully picked up on how to do this during the editing process. However it must not be forgotten that the band themselves were highly professional on the day and that they made working with them an oveall pleasurable experience which did help greatly.

Analysis of Music video (star image)

This video is 'The Serpent' by the band 'Rise to Remain'. I decided to use this video due to the fact that it says alot about the bands star image. In terms of Mise en Scene, the video is very minimalistic, focussing on the bands live performance and ability as well as commitment as musicians through the vast majority of the focus being on the instruments themselves and the frontmans (Austin Dickinson) narritive performance, the rest of the video is made up of the band preparing thier live performance (e.g tuning instruments and checking out a venue before they play. This supports the star image for the band that they are about both thier musical passion and performance, with much emphasis placed on the frontman due to the fact that the band are very lyrically driven also.

Alongside the performance, the fast pace of editing combined with rapid focus pulls and very unsteady handheld camera shots (or perhaps camera shake put on in post-production) gives off the impression that the band are very high energy and intense, however the dynamics between the soft and hard parts of the track used in conjunction with the same principles for editing show that the band have a proffessional aproach to music with parts to please fans of many different musical tastes.

Preliminary task- Jane Doe and the Undesirables

http://youtu.be/fhrSs1F0rZk

Feedback

Your last post was in April, Oscar, which means that there is an awful lot of material which you have not posted from he last few weeks of the Summer term and it is disappointing that you have not made any attempt to meet the first deadline which was set. It is important that you do not let things slip, so double your efforts to get this blog up to speed for next Friday.

James

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

As can be seen from the two videos above, the preliminary task is far more basic and less sophisticated than the thriller, both in terms of content and production. The initial planning for the prelim was minimal and little thought was put into the Mise en Scene in comparison to the thriller, which entailed extensive research into what would be appropriate for the desired effect. The planning for the Thriller included writing the script, collecting props, building the set, casting the actors in accordance with what best fit the part, storyboarding and rehearsal to prepare for the shoot day. The only planning for the prelim however was finding a free space to shoot and finding two students from the school who were willing to act for us. The storyboard was already given to us and was very basic.

Since making the preliminary task, i feel as if i have developed my film making skills significantly as a result of the challenges presented in the making of 'Aftermath'. We moved from exclusively using simple and conventional shot types to a sophisticated sequence with a visual narrative including more complex and interesting shots such as the crane shot and the tracking shot. Whereas the prelim solely told the story through dialogue, we wanted to incorporate more visual significance to the story being told as well as using dialogue with the Thriller. This made storyboarding an overall longer and more challenging task.

The use of sound differs greatly in both tasks. Firstly, in the prelim we used the basic raw sound from the boom mic whereas in Aftermath we went through all of the sound for each shot and chose the best one out of either the boom mic or the on camera mic. After this we leveled all of the volume so that it was the same throughout the sequence. We also included music and ambient sound effects for Soundtrack Pro in Aftermath which we did not do in the prelim. All non- diegetitc sound had to be leveled and sound bridged carefully.

When it came to demonstrating our ability to master new technology in the use of Final Cut Pro and Soundtrack Pro I think that the jump from the prelim task to the main task was an example of showing a more sophisticated use of the media products than was expected in the prelim task. This is because we all knew that our main task was far more important to concentrate on and put effort into, along with the longer time period to work on it meant that we all had more time to learn how to use Final Cut Pro and Soundtrack Pro at a higher standard than we did during our preliminary task. This meant that our finished result for both tasks contrasted in terms of quality. Seeing as the time limit for editing the prelim task was so short and we were all beginners to this new technology it meant that our editing skills were no where near as good as when we came to editing our main task, which, as a result was much better pieced together and as a result looked far more professional.

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

Task 5- How did you attract/ address your audience?

Task 5

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Task 4- Who would be the audience for your media product?

Much of the idea behind the focus of the film was supposed to be emotion based. 'Aftermath' was written with the intension of exploring issues of emotional instability and struggle, therefore as a result of this, i would say that the target audience for this particular media product would be the subculture known as 'emos'. The term is an abreviation for 'emotionaly unstable'. The everage age for this target audience is generally 13-25 and gender is non specific. Below is a picture of what this subgenre typically look like:






The subculture is currently reasonably small but not so small that it could be classed as a niche market. I find that this would be useful in terms of marketing in terms of the fact that the film could be made to adress the needs of a specific audience without missing out on potential sales through a target audience that is too small.

The target audience can be seen as appropriate for this media product in the title sequence through Alex's dialouge to the camera that voices many of the feelings that are steriotyped with this subculture. The metal band poster in the background shows the kind of music that is the steriotypical for both the target audience for the film and of Alex who is an emo himself.

Task 3- what kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

"In 2002, Vertigo Films was created by producers Allan Niblo (producer of Human Traffic and South West 9), James Richardson (producer of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), director Nick Love (screenwriter and, prior to company formation, director of Goodbye Charlie Bright and The Football Factory), distributor Rupert Preston (distributor of Chopper, Chasing Amy and Bride of Chucky, among others), and entrepreneur Rob Morgan. The company was formed for the express purpose of distributing and producing two films, The Football Factory and It's All Gone Pete Tong; its current stated goal is to produce and distribute four films per year."

The institution typically deals with smaller budget films than those of larger institutions such as Warner Bros. Aftermath is a very low budget production and would therefore be much more likely to obtain a distribution deal from Vertigo films. As well as this, the film is British made and would benefit most from distribution around the UK where it may receive more market interest than in the USA and other countries worldwide. Vertigo films is a British institution and has distributed films with similar target audiences around the UK, such as 'Football Factory'.
Typically films produced by smaller institutions such as Vertigo films pay more attention to the plot instead of the other aspects of the film such as CGI special effects for example. This is another reason why I think Vertigo might distribute our media product rather than a larger institution such as Warner Bros. Because in our media product we have intended to spend more time on the story board of the film rather than the after effects.

Task 2- How does your product represent particular social groups?

In our thriller we mainly focused on our two younger actors to represent particular social groups. Alex portrays an emotionally disturbed teenage boy who upholds the reasonably common opinion that todays society is greatly problemed as a result of our own failings as human beings. We chose to represent the middle/upper class society that he lives in through the public school which is attended by both Kate and Alex.
I think that this particular character represents the social group which is stereotypically known as 'emo' because they too are known to question and dwell in the 'false' morals of society that go against their own beliefs.
Kate, however fits into a very different social group that clashes with the stereotypical 'emo' social group. The female actress(Sabrina) who plays the part of Kate is a stereotypical portrayal of a socially succesful and far more emotionally stable student because of her obvious good looks, blonde hair and attitude she displays in her part. As a result of this, contributing towards her overall demenour, she represents the 'preppy' social group. This social group is stereotypically known to not be as consumed with the real issues within todays society, but more the superficial aspects such as style and popularity.

I thought that this image was a good portrayal of the character 'Alex' because of the wreckless and rebellious connotations of underage binge drinking and 'rowdy' behaviour. It suggests that they do not care about the consequences in life which is exactly what we were trying to show through Alex's character.

I think this image was a good portrayal of 'Kate' because of their similar appearance and attitude perceived through their good looks. Her appearance would suggest that she is consumed by the superficial lifestyle which most people who belong to the stereotypical 'preppy' social class are known to be. Also, easily impressionable by what is said to look good and what isn't.

Before we had begun work on our thriller we were researching for ideas when we came across this video of a teenage boy who was a suspect of a US shooting in his own school. Incorporating this real story into our research adds an higher level of intensity to our thriller due to the fact that it is not based on fiction, but reality.

US Shootings Suspect: 'My Genocide School'

Arizona shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner described his college as a "genocide school" and talked about "the torture of students" in a home video
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Article/201101115896026

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



Distributor

This is our first title card, upholding the traditional form of most opening sequences in the sense that conventionally speaking, it is the distributor of the film, who provides the funding on which that film is not only made, but also advertised, introduced to the market and sold on. Therefore due to the fact that it is the distributor (in our case Vertigo Films), that takes the biggest financial risk in terms of the films success, they are mentioned first in the title card. Being a low budget film, typically we could expect the distributor to potentially spend up to one and a half times more on the films distribution than the actual budget involved in making that film. Clearly it is therefore the distributor that plays the key role in the films success due to the fact that typically, any film is only as valuable as it's distribution deal.   





Production Company

This again upholds generic convention in terms of the chronology of our title cards. The production company also plays a huge role in the succes of the film. In this case, i have chosen to name the production company 'SIRATED' as a result of the fact that the name seems to fit the genre of the film without conforming to the seemingly mundane conventional spelling of the word 'serrated'. The production company is funded by the distributor to put together all aspects of the film, from research and development to the final cut of and post production. The company provides the final cut of the film for the distributor to find an audience for. The production company is an absolutley crucial aspect toward both the life and success of any film, they are therefore typically assured a significant mention within the title cards/ sequence of said film.









Director

Again, sticking to the codes of convention, we have mentioned the director third in our opening sequence. The film is (or should be) a result of the director's artistic vision due to the fact that it is thier concept on which the film is based. However, there is no way that the film could possibly be made or recognised/ succesful without the presence or help of both the distributor and the production company, therefore they take presidnce before the director in terms of the title cards of a film.





Title

We have chosen to include the actual title of the film after the initial opening sequence and not alonside the opening titles for two primary reasons which have become commonplace in modern films. Firstly, seperating the display of the main title card from the crediting title cards gives it a greater sense of significance and impact on screen. Secondly, the attention span of a modern day audience is generally less than that of audiences of prior generations, as a way of aknowledging this, we have incooperated our titles into an opening sequence as is the modern convention as opposed to opening with a leangthy title sequence. The opening seqence does not feature the word 'Aftermath' until it has established that the film to follow will portray the aftermath of the events depicted in the sequence, therefore following chronological convention. The title 'Aftermath' is also a slight pun in the sense that Kate says she was 'in maths' before the incident took place.

The establishing shot of the sequence is of Alex's video confession which as we can see from the logo on the bottom right hand side of the screen, he posted on 'YouTube'. The shot follows the conventions of our intended steriotype for this film. Firstly, the 'Sirated' poster that we can see in the background is representative of the specific genre of music that such a character would listen to (metal/hardcore). The black T-shirt underneath his schoolshirt was a specific choice in terms of Mise en Scene as it can be argued that it is a subtle indication to the darker person that Alex was beneath his external image, hence why the shootings came as such an apparent shock.

This shot presents us with two different frames of narrative from Kate. It is meant to signify the fact that although she is the narrative figure, she is telling a story from a subjective point of veiw. The film as a whole was intended to reffer back to her interpritation of events and showing her telling the story within this kind of shot may encourage us as an audience to interprate what she says in a different light, setting us up for the the discovery that she may not in fact be telling the truth. This is to some degree conventional, however with particular regards to the 'Neo Noir' style films. 

The sequence makes frequent use of conventional shots such as the 'over the shoulder' (OTS) seen above. As well as this, we ensured that we tilted the camera for a slight upwards angle on the inspector to give him a stance of power and importance within the shot. Whereas shots of Kate are all tilted at a sligtly dowward angle to somewhat victimise her within the shot.

Analysis of Opening Sequence

Analysis of an opening sequence

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What is a Thriller/Horror?

What is a thriller oj

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Account of post production

Editing this practical task is a very different experience to editing my preliminary task earlier on in the year which was a far more basic, straight cut based approach. Now I am currently developing my skills in more complex aspects of Final Cut such as sound bridges, titles, transitions and sound levelling. For instance, the shot which pulls in from a close up of the evidence photos on the table to an entire establishing shot of the interrogation room using the genie lift included the sound of the genie lift itself within the shot. Therefore I had to take the sound from one of the shots that was filmed from a different still angle and edit the levels of this so that the sounds of things such as the evidence photos being laid out on the desk was in sync with the video footage from the initial shot.

           

            Many of our chosen shots within the sequence are cut at a slow pace so as to indicate the slow passing of time within the interview room and indirectly bringing forth the sense that there is no way out of this situation for our victimised girl (Kate). This is also evident through the use of the cross dissolve. We are currently in the process of experimenting with faster cuts in order to suggest intensity within the scene. Combined with the slower cuts I believe this could be highly effective.

            The very first shot of the sequence is from the diarised ‘youtube’ confession of Alex attempting to explain his reasoning behind his actions. Cutting back and forth from this within the sequence would allow us to progressively reveal Kate’s potential involvement in the situation as Alex mentions her more often as the sequence progresses. However, later on in the process of editing it became apparent that this technique was not beneficial to the flow of the plot within the opening sequence and may be difficult to comprehend when not within the context of the film as a whole. We therefore decided to cut the diarised video confession of Alex from the sequence apart from the very beginning in order to establish his involvement in the events leading up to that of the film itself.

 The key idea however is to give Kate the majority of the screen time in order to show that this story is based around her and not Alex who has previously committed the crime which leads us to her situation, later to be followed up throughout the film. This sense of the fact that it is Kate’s story we are following is shown by the fact that the opening sequence ends with her in the on set camera saying ‘let me tell you what really happened’. This sets us up to cut between her diarised version of events within the interview room and the other events that would follow later in the film.  

As well as video editing, our knowledge of photoshop proved to be useful in terms of creating the title card for the film. Using regular font seemed to be highly unimpressive in visual terms so we came up with the idea of adjusting a conventional typewriter style font in order to make it unique to our film. This was done by taking certain letters from the word ‘AFTERMATH’ in this font and dropping or raising them slightly in order to convey a sense of disorder within the word itself. The theme of the film being based around a school shooting, we felt it was appropriate to place the letters as if they were on a blackboard. This blackboard is both stained and scratched, including over and around the text. This fits in well with the overall demeanour of the film which is meant to address both tarnished and dark concepts behind the tragic events at the school. We used the ‘bad TV’ effect on final cut, flicking on and off during the time that the title card is on screen so as not to just have a static image on screen which may have been potentially mundane to watch.

Some ideas that helped us develop our finial thriller concept further.

Just after we had finalised our idea for 'Aftermath', this news story came up. I read through this and found that it was greatly relevent to the issues that we intended to tackle within our film had it been developed further than the opening sequence. To read the article please CLICK HERE
The article was not only usefull in terms of research but also shows that there is i wider social context regarding the main concept of 'Aftermath'.

Thriller opening sequence- Pre production planning (script)

Below can be found the original script from which the opening sequence was based upon. The script includes stage directions and proposed camera angles that may work for a particular part of the script. Having already shot the sequence, i now know that the running time for this script ran over the intended two minutes for the sequence. As a result of this i sat down with the rest of my group and the actors in order to cut out parts that seemed irrelevant and to adapt the script to make it as concise and as effective as possible. I feel that this was done effectively, however we could not have ended up with a script of such a standard that we were all happy with without this initial draft which i personally composed entirely.

Script- Dialogue

INT: On Camera (youtube) Confession greenlit / computer screen /webcam look. Actor looks into camera and talks to his ‘audience’:

ALEX:

I don’t expect you to understand now, you’ll see though. I can’t show you until it’s done. Every single day, I watch humanity go about their business, so pointless, so apathetic, shit. That’s what we are. And now it’s time to show every single one of you what you could never see, you’re not so indestructible, you won’t feel so hard tomorrow when your teachers and friends are lain out, lifeless, in front of you, if you’re lucky.

By the time you see this, I’ll be gone and it’ll be done. And you’ll wonder, how could anyone do this, why, what was going through the head of that fucking psycho?!

My answer to you, there is no kindness in mankind, we’re selfish, every single one of us, I’m gonna show you how one insignificant psycho can change everything, not so fucking useless now am I?! By now, I’m dead, literally got away with murder.

Kate, you know you are my world, any time I’ve ever been happy’s been with you. I’m so sorry, but you need to understand that I had to do this. I love you, forever. I love you now, and I’ll love you still when you see this and I’m gone. Don’t go in to school, you don’t need to see this, you’re the only person in this entire fucking world I’m willing to spare.

In years to come, you’ll all be forgotten. Just another kid, tragically killed in that school. But everyone remembers the killer, the psycho that flipped out, killed himself afterwards and claimed it was all justified and in the name of something meaningful. Well let me tell you right now that this is all for the sake of beauty, Kate. The only understanding of real beauty that I ever had. Babe, I won’t let you grow up in a world that doesn’t understand the individual, just like me and you. I won’t let you live in that kind of place, nobody else is gonna change it for you, and you can’t change yourself for the world, so I’ll change the world for you.

INT: CUT TO Interview Room

INTERVIEWER initial insensitive approach, perhaps an element of personal anger over what has happened- shot focused on hand/evidence pictures, Kate out of focus:

 So another senior school boy shoots up his school, posting a confession video beforehand, pretty much claiming it’s all for you and you’re trying to tell me that you had no idea about this? Come on, don’t mess me around here. You know it’s all gonna come out regardless of weather you try and lie to me or not.

KATE focus pulls back to Kate as she replies. She is quiet and emotional, signs of grief and shame strongly apparent:

 (silent tears) are you fucking kidding me? He killed my friends….

Interviewer Same shot pulls back to OTS of interviewer, left shoulder and head in view, focus on Kate:

Just take your time, tell me everything that you know.

Kate Focus changes to Kate’s image in the evidence camera, she is blurred in the background.- Non- diegetic voice over of youtube confession plays over her tears

 (Bursts into uncontrollable tears)

Interviewer Shot cuts to through one way glass, medium wide of the entire interview room, and focus on interviewer here:

 (sighs)

Kate ‘I remember’ said in previous through glass shot, cut to close evidence camera picture.

I remember…. He said don’t go into school (dubbed with au voiceover from video- non- diegetic) – but I didn’t see the video in time, I went to school…..

Interviewer :

What did you see at school?

Girl:

I was in maths, at the very end of the main building……… I heard shots… and screaming…. The shots stopped, I went out…………. (crying)

Interviewer:

 Go on….

Girl:

My best friend…. Was on the floor, I didn’t believe it, I tried to help…….. she was so pale (uncontrollable crying)

Interviewer:

I know it’s hard, is there anything else?

Girl:

There were so many more….. blood everywhere (crying) ………….then I saw him lying there, he was covered in blood….. (breaks down properly) with a gun in his hand (uncontrollable tears)

Interviewer:

Okay, I think we need to take a break. 

           

Thriller- Mood Board

Below can be found a power point format mood board containing the basic and original ideas on which an opening sequence for my horror/ thriller genre film could be based. The concepts in the mood board all relate to a sense of fear, threat and danger. One idea which i particularly like is the concept of a person posing a threat to oneself (or the results of such a threat, either to that person in particular or to others around them)and i would perhaps like to incorporate this into my opening sequence.

Thriller

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Account of Shoot Day- Thriller

The shoot day did not turn out as was initially planed. Our group, which had initially consisted of four members, ended up becoming just James Troughton and I due to the fact that the other two members were absent from the school at that time for various reasons. As a result of this, both James and I had to multitask and adapt our previous planning strategies for the day in order to gain the most out of the short time that we were allotted. We spent longer than expected finalising the finer details of our set design because of the lack of extra hands to help on the actual morning of the shoot.

            However, the set was finalised regardless of the extra time that this took and did not set us back too badly due to the fact that we had prepared the majority of both the physical set and aspects of the design to be added last minute prior to the actual day on which the shoot took place. Good organisation prevailed and the day moved relatively fluidly once we actually began filming as we had a rigid storyboard planned out, clearly showing us what shots we needed to do and exactly how we could best conduct doing them.

            On entering the studio, we noticed the genie lift which we were eager to make use of, in spite of our small group; we established that as a result of our planning, we could afford to take the extra time out of the initial storyboard and experiment with a number of other shots which may add to the desired effect of our opening sequence. Firstly, we focussed in on the table of the interview room and, using the genie lift, conducted a crane shot, ending in an overhead view of the interview room and both occupants, intended to be the opening shot of the sequence as it establishes the setting from the finer details to the overall establishing shot of the setting as a whole. We also tried this shot in reverse as it seems more conventional to start off with an establishing shot and then later focussing in on finer details such as the evidence photos which are laid out on the desk early on in the scene.

            In order not to complicate things for ourselves during post production, with foresight we ensured that we maintained a detailed shot list, consisting of all the relevant information from the shot, for example whether or not the shot may be useful for the final cut and which take was most effective.

            We decided to shoot the thriller, for the most part in the studio. This enabled us to control for elements of the shoot such as lighting and the overall structure of the interview room. On the film, the room appears to be reasonably dull and dimly lit, however the set was actually rather brightly lit so that the shots were clear, however in order to achieve a sense of horror, entrapment and darkness, we used a light filter on the camera so that the set did not look so bright.

            In terms of shot choices, we made sure to take as many as possible in order to give ourselves the best choice possible when the time came to edit the sequence in post production. Particular focus was placed on close ups, extreme close ups and tight over the shoulder shots, again in order to achieve the effect of entrapment and negative intensity. Tracking shots were also taken so as to give a smooth transition between points of view within the scene as well as to build suspense with the pan within the track, leading us around the room, to the diarised version of our victimised girl within the onset camera in the foreground and her actual image in the background. The idea on which this was based is the fact that had we made the rest of the film, it would keep referring back to her (‘Kate’) diarised version of events in order to signify that this story is about Kate and not Alex (the killer). This can be seen as our unique selling point (USP) for this thriller.

            On the day, we ‘cheated’ the spatial relationships between characters and objects in order to make certain shots work. In order to do this we had to collapse part of our set and relocate a wall in order to fit particularly our tracking shot into the scene effectively. As a result of carefully planned camera work; ensuring that all of the elements within the shots held their original place within the frame, we were able to make it look as if none of the set had been moved at all.

            The part of the shoot in which controlled lighting played perhaps the greatest role was when we had ‘Alex’ (the killer) talking to what appears to be a webcam. We created this illusion by placing a light string underneath the camera to recreate the look of the glare from a computer screen. We were aware however that this is massively bright in comparison to that of any regular computer; however we felt that in order to create the desired effect, the overdramatic lighting created the feeling of intensity that is mirrored through the dialogue and tight setting of the interview room. These choices were made specifically with regards to the genre of the film.

            In one instance, (our tracking shot), we deliberately broke the 180 degree line of action, however this was done in one continuous motion so as not to confuse the audience as to the whereabouts of characters in relation to each other within the room. Other than this, we took great care towards ensuring that this line of action was not broken as a general rule towards continuity in a shot. This proved specifically important with OTS shots and reverse shots.

            Throughout the day, I took on the role of operating the camera and directing the actors. Prior to the shoot I had spent time with the actors, ensuring that they were all aware of what was expected of them on set with regards to performance and therefore on the actual shoot day guidance was easy because everyone knew exactly what they were doing. Besides actually shooting the sequence, being the camera-man meant that I had to ensure that certain things were done before we could begin filming, such as light balance, bubbling the tripod and filters etcetera. I also wrote and redrafted the entire script for the sequence and ensured that all of the actors were satisfied with their lines and that they worked well together.

 The entire group worked well together in ensuring that all elements of the shoot fitted together well, even if two of the members were not present for the majority of the shoot day. The props list worked well in relation to our set and this was bettered by the fact that we were all highly pleased with the performance of all our actors. I was personally pleased with the costume design that James had finalised for the characters that I had written into the script and I feel that these were exactly what I was aiming for. Overall, I think that everybody within the group is pleased with the way in which our final shoot went and that we are all excited to see how this will come out in post- production editing.   

           

Photos from shoot day: