Friday 26 February 2010

Dolly Zoom

We really need to try and get across the suspense in our opening but we as a group were quite stuck on how to do that. Our teacher suggested looking on youtube for Dolly Shots which have been used in a number of films such as Jaws to get across a feeling of shock and distortion . The shot is done by moving the camera out/in while zooming the opposite way.
This is one of the videos we found which shows what a dolly shot is...




We decided to try this out as we could use it in our final scene. Dave got us a dolly that is basically a tripod on wheels. We then position a camera on top of the tripod and started shooting. We found it quite hard as the zoom is quite sensitive so we kept zooming in too quickly and the effect didn't work. After a few tries though we managed to film one that actually worked and it looks really good...

Filming

Yesterday (Wednesday the 24th Feb) myself and Alex started to film the first few scenes of our thriller opening. We went to Addenbrookes and got the park and ride bus to the babraham park and ride. We filmed a series of different shots including, Alex walking onto the bus, Alex sitting at the bus stop and Alex on his phone texting his mum. We had a few problems as some of the bus drivers didn't want us filming on their bus but we found two men who said they didn't mind. One of them even let us film his hands on the money counter. We got about 4minutes worth of footage altogether and later that day in the lesson we started to edit it. We still need to film the medical room scene which myself and Samir are in which we are hoping to do on Wednesday as that is the only time we can use the medical room. Dave our teacher also managed to get us a weelchair which will be really handy as one of the scenes involves Samir wheeling me out of the medical room.

Wednesday 24 February 2010

The element of conspiracy in our thriller

Our thriller has elements of conspiracy within the story.

This is clarified by the scenes involving the patient and the person coming to visit her.
Wikipedia defines conspiracy thriller as:

The conspiracy thriller (or paranoid thriller) is a subgenre of thriller fiction.

A common theme in such works is that characters discovering a secretive conspiracy may be unable to tell what is true about the conspiracy, or even what is real: rumors, lies, propaganda, and counter-propaganda build upon one another until what is conspiracy and what is coincidence becomes an undecidable question. The protagonists of conspiracy thrillers are often journalists or amateur investigators who find themselves (often inadvertently) pulling on a small thread which unravels a vast conspiracy that ultimately goes "all the way to the top".[1]

Conspiracy theory in the US (and echoed in other parts of the world) reached its zenith in the 1960s and 1970s in the wake of a number of high-profile scandals and controversies, most notably the Vietnam War, the assassination of President Kennedy, the Chappaquiddick incident, and Watergate. These works exposed what many people regarded as the clandestine machinations and conspiracies beneath the orderly fabric of political life.

Because of their dramatic potential, conspiracies are a popular theme in thrillers and science fiction. The subtle shades and complexities of historical fact are recast as a morality play in which bad people cause bad events, and good people identify and defeat them. Conspiracies are often played out as "man-in-peril" (or "woman-in-peril")[2] stories, or yield quest narratives similar to those found in whodunnits and detective stories. It is perhaps no coincidence, then, that the English word "plot" applies to both a story, and the activities of conspirators.


Tuesday 23 February 2010

Costumes

We have picked out the costumes we want to use when filming.
Samir is going to wear a white overcoat, to emphasize a doctors white coat like below...





Lois will be wearing a gown, possibly a dressing gown as she is the patient a but like the template below...





Alex is the person visiting Lois in the hospital. His clothes are what he wears everyday as below...




Date of filming

We have decided to film on the 3rd of March

We have booked the cameras from 11 oclock til ten past 4 in the afternoon.

Tuesday 9 February 2010

Names for our film

We have some idea's as to what our film could be called but we haven't settled on a certain one yet, so far we have come up with these...

- Gone

- Vanished


- Katrina Jenkins

-
Doctor Shephard

- Room Thirty Six


Thriller timeline

Deadlines and time lines:

Thriller Project Timings & Deadlines

11th Jan to 15th Jan: Thriller introduction.

18th Jan to 22nd Jan: Analysis of real and student examples/ Production logos.

25th Jan to 29th Jan: Planning and delivery of pitches.

1st Feb to 5th Feb: Storyboarding, shot lists and other planning.

Cameras are available from Friday 5th Feb at 4.10pm until shooting deadline of 9am Monday 8th March. Students can have 2 overnights or one weekend to film. There are three weekend slots available ( 6th & 7th Feb, 27th & 28th Feb and 6th & 7th March).

8th Feb to 12th Feb: Filming.

15th Feb to 19th Feb: HALF TERM. NO CAMERAS OUT.

22nd Feb to 26th Feb: Filming and editing.

1st March to 5th March: Filming and editing.

8th March to 12th March: 8th March Shooting deadline. 2nd lesson of this week is Rough Cut Deadline. Third lesson of week, rough cut feedback.

15th March to 19th March: End of second lesson of the week is Final Cut Deadline. Last lesson of the week, feedback on final cuts and re-introduction to Evaluation questions.

22nd March to 26th March: 9am 22nd March is Interim writing deadline. Lessons this week are for feedback on interim drafts and revisions/writing.

9am 29th March: Final writing deadline.

Sample fonts for credits

I found these fonts online at www.dafont.com. To use them you need to download the type of font you want and then change the writing to whatever you want it to say. We would use this for the credits as the majority if them are quite deceiving and jazzy like a thriller film.






















I made these two font pages on photoshop because I think some of the fonts on www.dafont.com might not be suitable and there could always be a complication which determines weather we could use them or not...


Filming tips

1. Buses are hard to film on- choose a busy route
- film on a double deck bus if possible
- go early
2. Keep all pets out of the way

3. Make sure you all turn up on time- organisation.

4.Keep it simple- make simple things look effective, different shot types.

5. Do all lighting tests.

6. Make sure camera battery is charged.

7. Rewind tape.

8. Be organised when filming- make sure the camera is recording.

9. Press record- say shot number/types- then shoot action.

10. Tick off shot type.

11. Keep close for speaking part.

12. Put in a performance

13. Take more footage than you need.

14. Plan plenty of editing time.

15. Beware the public- film quickly and effectively.

16. Ask permission from public.

Friday 5 February 2010

Ideas for title sequence

Titles:

A Nip it Production presents:



Cast members: Alex Stockley, Lois Edwards, Samir Osman.

Costume designed by: John Stewart
Art direction by: Alice Walker
Film editing: David Forster
Cinematography by: Peter Lambert
Production design by: Alex Stockley

Casting by: Lois Edwards



Original music by: Samir Osman

Produced by: Alex Stockley

Directed by: Lois Edwards.

Main title:

Locations from google maps

We looked on Google maps for a birds eye view of our location. For some of them we were able to get in the addenbrookes area so we screen printed...





We marked our bus route by using photoshop... We leave addenbrookes hostpital bus park on a green park and ride bus. We then travel down to the Babraham park and ride. We loop round and come back on the same route.

Wednesday 3 February 2010