Sharp White Plot

As a group we have decided that our film will be along the lines as the film 'The strangers' but with one victim,not two. By having only one victim, it makes it more our own as it will not be exactly the same as the strangers.  
The plot for our film is; A young girl returns home from college, carrying her work. She's struggling with the front door keys, when she finally opens the door she remembers that she has left something behind. She then makes her way back to the car, leaving the front door open, un-knowing that there is a visitor making its way into her home. When she then re-enters her home, she locks the door behind her, un-aware that she is not alone. The masked stranger, then makes its way to the back door and welcomes in two accomplishes. The victim can feel the presence, but doesn't see them.

You will never know who they are, or why they are there. Maybe they got bored?or maybe its revenge, we will never know the true story behind the un wanted visit.

Making Sharp White

Our group met twice after school, we were expecting it to take longer than two nights to film all the shots. Some of our shots were outside; this was difficult to do as we couldn't rely on the weather. When we was about to start filming, it started to rain. We worked around it and had our camera-man to hold an umbrella over the camera to ensure there was no damage done. 

We all enjoyed making the opening sequence, it was much more work than our Continuity Sequence but still very enjoyable. We learnt how to be more creative with our shots. We changed some of the shots from our storyboard, as we were about to film certain shots we thought it would look better a different way. So we tried both and then seen which one looked better. 

VIDEO OF BLOOPERS

Location List and Costumes and Role Lists

Location List
We will be filming inside and outside of Jasmine's house. We will use the drive, the front garden, hallway, kitchen, living room and Jasmines bedroom.

The strangers will be standing at the end of this junction, as they watch me in the background go into my car with out me knowing. 

Costumes
As our killers are 'strangers' we borrowed plain white masks from the drama department in school, this then hides their identity as we will never know who they are. The strangers were all dressed similar to each other  rather casual as if they were just normal people and not 'typical murderers'. 

I will be wearing just my school uniform as i have just returned home from a day at school/college, then Luke will wear his uniform as he has just found me the next day on his way for us to walk to school.



Our Roles
We all had certain roles within the group. This grid was completed after we have finished filming,so this is what we all contributed.

Sharp White Cast List

There are 4 people in our group, but we had extra help of a year 13.

The main character is me, playing myself Shannon Evans. I am the victim in the film. My group members chose me to play this role as i did not mind what role i had, so they chose me as the victim.

Then there is Luke Price who plays my brother. He comes in and finds me dead on the living room floor, then makes a call to 999.

The three strangers are Jasmine Day, Keira Pain and Kerri Newman. These are the murderers, we never get to see their faces in the film as they are hidden behind the white masks. 

Storyboard for Sharp White

To ensure that we knew what shots we were filming for our opening sequence we produced a storyboard, this would then show us what goes on in each shot. With any dialogue written up on the side of the drawing/sketch also with the name of the shot that will be used. This way we know what we are doing and if we follow these then we will have a successful opening sequence to our film.

These are just 2 examples of the storyboards we had produced, there were several over sheets which then complete it. 

Choosing Our Opening Sequence

We all talked as a group about what thriller films we have seen, all of us have seen 'The Strangers' and we all agreed it is a good film. We liked the idea of how you don't find out who the murderers are, why they are there or why they are doing it to the couple, its a mystery. After talking about other thriller films such as 'the grudge' and 'the ring' we decided to recreate 'The Strangers'. We were all happy with the choice we made and couldn't wait to get started!
We had a group discussion on what our film would be called, we used the brainstorm method to pick a name. In the end we decided to use the name 'Sharp White'. We chose this one because as a group we agreed it sounded mysterious and creepy, also the killers will be wearing a white mask. This is distinctive as we never see what they look like, only their white masks.

This is me, Luke and Keira with our brainstorm of movie titles, which we all contributed at least one idea each.

We played around with the title affect on Imovie to see what we could use, in the end we decided to keep it simple.

This is what we came up with;

The colour of the word 'white' is white, because it makes it stand out more next to the word sharp. 

We carried out this activity to show the evidence of choosing our film and what it will be about.

This is then the final planning sheet.

Textual Analysis

As part as research we was given the task of finding an image from a horror film and analysing it using guidelines we have received from Ms Slater. I chose a photo from the film 'The Grudge' to analyse. I haven't done a textual analysis before, as this was my first i found it easy and simple to complete. 

This is the image that i chose to analyse. 

In this image there are very little colours. This is typical of a horror film. There is low light, but enough on the girls face to show her facial expression. The darkness shows that there is something to be scared of, in the darkness is the 'killer'. Even know the focus is on the girl, the most important element is the killer in the background. Without the killer the photo would not look as scary as it does now. The lighting gives the sense of invasion in the house, she is scared and confused. She doesn't know what's hiding behind her. She is being represented as a victim, her facial expression shows this. Also the murderer/trespasser is behind her watching her so this shows she is a victim. The relationship between the victim and the killer is unknown as the victim has not seen the killer. 

Continuity Sequence; Storyboards and Finished Video

Before we could start filming our continuity sequence we had to create a storyboard so we knew what was going to be doing. We drew each shot out, showing what is going to happen. Also including any dialogue that may be in that shot.  

This is our continuity sequence. As you can see we followed our story board and dialogue to create a successful video.

 We used shots like; 

close ups:

medium shots: 

shot reverse shot: 
This is from when me and Luke were talking, it went back and fourth as each of us said something. 

We found the process easy, using the camera was simple. The editing part was interesting to learn, as none of us have used the program 'Imovie' on the macs before. After completing this task i feel confident enough to start my thriller opening scene within my group, i hope that they feel the same way as i do.  

Research into thriller films, my survey

Research into Thriller Films

The Strangers - Opening Sequence 


The opening sequence for The Strangers Part One is located in the country side, filmed from a car driving through a street surrounded by hills. The shot shows different houses using a fade in and out effect. As the car is driving through you can hear a phone-call taking place as a non diegetic sound. The phone call is between a frightened young boy and a police officer, by the tone of his voice you can tell he is distraught and that something has happened. The setting then changes to the house in where the disaster has taken place. There is a panning shot used to show damage that has been made to a car windscreen, through the gun shot hole is two boys standing staring. There is slow music being played in the background to raise tension along with the police phone-call. A long shot is then used to show the two boys entering the house, then cuts are made to show a blood covered knife, shot gun and blood splattered on the walls. This immediately shows that there was a murder taken place in that house. 

 

Secret Window - Opening Sequence



This opening sequence is taken from 'Secret Window' directed by David Koepp and starring Johnny Depp. 
It begins with the sound of the windscreen wipers, we hear this before we see what is making the noise. This creates a repetive and rather sinister atmosphere. It then shows the main character sitting in his car at the wheel. You can hear what he is thinking as a non diegetic sound, he is having a conversation with himself. Debating whether or not he should return to where he was. His mind is telling him 'dont go back' 'turn around' this tells us he is unsure whether he should carry on going. His voice sounds calm and soothing as if ihe is trying to re-asure himself that everything will be okay. The way that the camera is angled is done to show the little emotion on his face, it also draws attention to his wedding ring. His wedding ring could then be linked to the situation in some way.
The voices then stop as he spins the car around and approaches the main door of a motel. The lightening in all of the shots is dark and dull, this goes very well with the cold snowy weather they have. The camera movements are all very fast as if it has to keep up with the quick decisions he is making. As he takes a room key he ignores the owner yelling at him and carries on with what he is doing.
When he makes his way into the motel, the camera movement is fast and un focussed this shows rush. When he is inside and has seen what is going on, with what seems to be his wife and another man the camera goes into slow motion and the picture and sound becomes disorted.
It then fades out and then fades back in to the camera going over a lake. The camera then goes towards a lonely house on the lake side and through a window, too the man lieing on the sofa. This is all one shot.

Research into Saul Bass

Saul Bass was a graphic designer and filmmaker, he designs film posters and motion picture title sequences.  Born on May 8th, 1920, in New York City. He has produced artwork for the following films; In Harm's Way, Advise and Consent, The Man With the Golden Arm, Exodus, Anatomy of a Murder. During his 40-year career Bass worked for some of Hollywood's greatest filmmakers, including Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger, Billy Wilder, Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese.

This is the opening sequence to the film 'Psycho'; 
The opening credits come onto the screen and the test is random being split into bars, which are constantly moving around. Not only is the text unstable and random but the bars are to, sometimes they will split or they will change the direction they come from, this to is changing all the time through out the sequence. This could then reflect on the split personality that the main character has. The music is very dramatic, it seems as if its trying to keep up with the patterns with the high pitched pluck of a string instrument one moment then a very low pitch pluck the next. It gives the feeling of suspense as the music is very unpredictable on what it will play like next. 

Using The Camera

Camera Work

Establishing shot

This shows the whole scene, all subjects/elements are in the shot, which then establishes a setting. Most likely to be a long shot.

Medium shot

Action shot, generally from the waist up, a shot where you are able to identify with a subject or character.

Close up

Head and shoulders shot; the emotion shot; an expression shot; the detail shot, the reaction shot. Used to signify importance or emotion.

Extreme close up

Only a part of the face or body or element fills the whole shot. Usually dominates the screen.







Aerial shot

Very high camera angle shot downwards towards the subject from a building, ladder or balcony. 

Two shot

Generally a profile shot of 2 people facing, normally engaging in conversation, Used to establish the relationship between them.

The 180-degree rule

An invisible line in filming, which the camera does not cross. Establishing such a line prevents audiences from becoming disorientated, as they always see action and setting from a particular perspective.

Editing Work

Cut
The common transition used to create a sense of continuity and realism.
Cross Cutting
The editing technique of alternating or interweaving one narrative to another. 
Cutaway
A brief shot that momentarily interrupts a continuously-filmed action, by briefly inserting another related action, which is then followed by a cut back to the original shot.

We will be using the Imovie software to do the editing for our film.

 

Timeplan

	Completion Date	Date Achieved
RESEARCH & ANALYSIS
Continuity exercise	26th October 2012	26th October 2012
Thriller title sequence	26th October 2012	26th October 2012
PLANNING
Continuity exercise	28th October 2012	One week after due date
Thriller title sequence	26th October 2012	One week after due date
CONSTRUCTION
Thriller opening
Filming	end of November 2012	19th December 2012
Editing	end of December 2012	January 2013
EVALUATION
Thriller opening

Assingment Brief

Video Brief


For our AS media studies coursework we were given the brief of completing a preliminary task and a main task.
For the preliminary task I have to film and edit a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with who she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialouge. In this task i have to demonstrate match on action shot, reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.

We are also given a brief concerning our main task which is to create the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to a maximum of three minutes. Our main task has to include;

• Pre-production: research, planning, development of ideas, scripting, storyboarding
• Production: shooting, lighting, working with sets, actors and scripts
• Post-production: editing, special and sound effects, music.

Camera Work

Camera Work

In my first media lesson we had a tutorial of how to set-up the tripod and dismantle it successfully. In our groups we  took it in turns to get to know the tripod. I thought it was quite simple to set-up  i now know how to use the tripod. We were also shown how to use the tripod for low angle shots, panning shots and high angle shots. We were also told about when carrying the tripod to make sure its folded in, in case of it catching on the wall and breaking for example. Ms Slater told us that once the camera is in the right position you do not touch it because you will get camera shake, that's why you have to be confident with the positioning before you start shooting. When we had finished with the tripods, we then got to know our cameras,where the battery's go,the buttons on the camera and where the charger will plug in. Then we placed them on charge ready for use in the upcoming lessons.