Sunday 15 June 2014

(A2) One improvement of my AS thriller film - Sarah

One problem in my AS thriller film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSkIv3VMML8



Setting


two locations
location 1) Although our desolate rural lane was appropriate as we wanted to give the effect of isolation and helplessness, each shots background may have appeared too similar. 



location 2) There was not much of this location shown, only around 10 seconds. This was to show the character in her flashback beginning to walk home. We should have found a more contrasting setting to the rural country lane. Using only two locations kept simplicity against the confusing flashback plot, however, the film would have appeared more interesting if we had varied where we shot. 

A problem within the setting location was lighting. I started filming in the middle of the day, which in a wide open landscape meant we used a lot of natural light. This was also a disadvantage as we wanted to use LED to create shadows at the beginning on the character lying in the grass ditch however the lights would not show up. As we progressed filming, by the time we were filming other close ups of the character we used a back light and filler light which worked very well and we much clearer.

One of the reasons we could only film two locations was timing. As we only had one afternoon to film, we thought it was best to use the location that was appropriate enough and close to us. This had an impact on the variation of setting but in a way still worked well as the audience could follow where she had come from and the transition between location was very smooth.

To improve our setting problem we could of changed our plot and storyboard slightly so we could have more interesting locations. We should of experimented with a variety of settings before choosing a rural lane. The main reason we did not do this is due to research. After taking inspiration from the silence of the lambs opening in a wood, the idea of being trapped and alone gave us the idea of the countryside location. In the future I will look into experimenting and varying my film setting choices. 


Thursday 12 June 2014

moving onto the advanced portfolio - evalutation grid of AS thriller film (sarah)


Evaluating your own Foundation Portfolio Thriller Opening.

 

Assessment Criteria
What went well
What did not go quite so well
Shooting material appropriate to the task set;
We shot a character who had clearly be followed and then abused by another character. We did this through use of mise en scene and shot variation. This fitted in with the thriller genre as we played on the feelings of fear and used a stereotypical hooded male character as the antagonist. We used the most important shots in our film as we filmed too much so each shot was appropriate to the set.
We only used two settings and did not experiment enough with different locations. This was due to the lack of time as the two settings were very close to each other. Our plot also didn’t need many locations so to improve this we should’ve changed our plot slightly to vary the setting more.
Controlled use of the camera
We used a hand help camera techniques to give an effect of fear and action. We also used a tripod for the other shots such as panning and long shots. This was to make sure the shots were still and to the best potential. We made sure to check and re-do the white balance in every shot so the colour was accurate.
For the tracking shots we didn’t have a steady cam so the shot was quite shakey and not as good as it could’ve been. The tripod we had also wasn’t one of the better ones as it was slightly loose so the panning shot to begin with could’ve looked a lot better.
Attention to framing
The close ups were framed correctly, we used these to show facial expression. We made sure to recompose the positioning of the characters in our storyboard to match the frame of our filming.
 
The tracking shot of where the character is walking, we shot her legs with blood splattering to the floor. This was a problem as without the use of a tripod the framing could not stay steady and therefore as we were focusing on the steadiness our framing lacked.
Variety of shot sizes
 
We used lots of different angles and shot sizes, especially close ups to capture the characters feelings.
Although we experimented with a variety of shot sizes, I think we could’ve improved our work by using a few more extreme close ups, maybe of our characters eyes to reinforce the feeling of fear and confusion.
Close attention to mise en scene
We carefully chose costume in our film and did a lot of research into other thriller costumes. We used a ripped white tshirt which with the prop of the fake blood contrasted with the white very well. With the hair and makeup we made her hair appear scruffy and on one of her eyes we smudged her makeup and made it look like a tear had fallen slightly, this gave the appearance that she was hurt and had been crying. We also used LED lights from the left side in the close ups to create a slight shadow which is a convention of thrillers.
One aspect of mise en scene that we could’ve improved on is setting. Although the setting was as desolate and isolated which is how we aimed for it to be, the time of day we shooted made it appear less scary and thriller like. We could’ve also used more props as the only prop we used really was the phone. We had considered the antagonist carrying a weapon however we thought (due to the setting) most weapons would look less appropriate and as it was in public, people may have mistaken it as an actual weapon.
Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer
We used an effect on Final Cut Pro called ‘light rays’ which made it clear to the audience that the character was experiencing a flashback. We also used a fade at the end of the thriller to convey that something bad was about to happen and that it was the end of the film.
We could’ve used more editing techniques such as distortion and more fades in other parts of the film. However the editing we chose, we felt like it made more sense but to improve it we should’ve experimented more.
Making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions, captions and other effects
We used titling captions in a black grunge like font to follow the conventions of thriller. We also used an outline in white to make them readable on screen for the audience.
 
We could’ve used captions in a text font on the screen when the character is walking home on her phone to indicate to the audience where she is and give some context as to where she has been and what she is currently doing. We use a split curtain effect in editing which broke the continuity.
Recording and editing sound with images appropriately.
We used quite a few foley effects as non-diegetic sound. I used the sound of my footsteps running on the spot to be used as the action of running in the film and the thud of my hand on a desk as the heartbeat of the character.
We could’ve experimented with using a sound bridge to link shots. We couldn’t find a place that would be appropriate to use one when filming after looking at our storyboard but to improve we should’ve changed some of the shots before we produced the storyboard to make room for one. The diegetic sound in our thriller also varied from being very quiet to suddenly very loud which was a definite problem.