Planning and Research: logo

Here is our logo for our production. We came up with SOLA as it was a mixture of our names. We chose the colours red, black and white as those are the main colours that will be in our film.

Task completed by Somer.

Research: Codes and Conventions of thrillers.

We decided to present our codes and conventions of thrillers research as a filmed conversation using shot-reverse-shot.

Task completed by Somer and Aleksandra.

Planning: Classification for out film.

Classification for out film.

We are proposing that out thriller film has a 15 classification.

What does the 15 symbol mean? No-one under 15 is allowed to see a 15 film at the cinema or buy/rent a ‘15’ rated DVD.  15 rated works are not suitable for children under 15 years of age.

How much strong language is there in a 15?

There could potentially be a great deal. At 15 there is no upper limit on the number of uses of strong language (eg f***).
Occasionally there may be uses of the strongest terms (e.g. 'c***'), although continued or aggressive use will not normally be passed 15.

What about discriminatory or offensive terms?

There may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory language, and the work could explore themes relating to this.
However, at 15 the work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.

How much sex and nudity is allowed at 15?

At 15 sexual activity can be portrayed, as long as there is no strong or graphic detail. Some sex scenes can be quite long at this category and may involve some nudity and movement. Though nudity may be allowed in a sexual context there should be no strong detail.
There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
There can be strong references to sex and sexual behaviour, but especially strong or crude references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context.
Heterosexual and homosexual sex and sex references are treated the same.

Can there be strong violence?

Yes, at 15 violence may be strong. It should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury, however, and the strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.
Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable.
Easily accessible weapons may not be glamorised.

What about sexual violence?

There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence (for example descriptions of rape or sexual assault in a courtroom scene or in victim testimony) but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.

What about horror works?

Many horror films are rated 15. At 15 there can be strong threat and menace (as long as it is not sadistic or sexualised), although the strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.

Can you see drugs in a 15 rated film or video?

At 15 drug taking may be shown but the work as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse.
The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances like aerosols or solvents is unlikely to be acceptable at 15.

Task completed by Aleksandra.

Planning: Mood Board

This is the mood board we made for our thriller film.

 

Task completed by Somer and Aleksandra.





Preliminary task.

Preliminary task.

Preliminary exercise: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

Task competed by Somer and Aleksandra.

Planning: Old Thiller film location.

Our Thriller location.

 

Here we have our thriller location which is a quiet residential house.  

 

This is the street that the victim will be walking down.

 

Here is a long shot of the same street.

 

This is the exterior of the victim's house.

When the victim gets to the outside door, she'll look around before entering.

This is the victim's kitchen.

This is the table in the kitchen where the victim will be sat. 

 Again here is a wider shot of the scene location.

 


Task completed by Somer.

Research: Narrative Theory.

Narrative Theory.

Vladimir Propp: Propp was a Soviet formalist scholar who analysed the basic plot components of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest complex narrative elements. He divided fairy tales into different sections. These sections allowed him to be able to define the tale into a series of sequences that occurred within the Russian fairy-tale. Usually there is an initial situation, after which the tale usually takes 31 functions. He also established that all the characters could be set into 7 broad character functions in the 100 tales he analysed: (Examples of films where this theory takes place are next to the bullet points). These are--

1. The villain — struggles against the hero. (The Joker in 'The Dark Knight')

2. The dispatcher — character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off. (Nick Fury in 'Avengers Assemble')

3. The helper — helps the hero in their quest. (Robin in 'Batman and Robin')

4. The princess — the character who needs to be rescued. (Gwen Stacey in 'The Amazing Spiderman')

5. The donor — prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object. (Lucius Fox in 'Batman Begins')

6. The hero — weds the princess. (Spiderman in 'Spiderman')

7. The false hero — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess. (Darth Vader in 'Star Wars')

Claude Levi-Strauss: Levi-Strauss is a Social Anthropologist;

he recognised that stories automatically reflect the values, beliefs and myths of a culture. These are usually stated in the form of double oppositions. His research has been modified by media theorists to reveal essential themes and symbolic oppositions in media text.

Binary Oppositions: A conflict between two qualities or terms.

The 7 things he underlined were:

Narrative
Values + Ideologies
Institutions
Representation
Language and forms
Audience
Genre

Tzvetan Todorov: Todorov is a Bulgarian Literary Theorist, he proposes that most narratives start with equilibrium, this mean that the protagonist’s life is normal and they are happy. However this state of normality is then disrupted by an outside force, which then means the character(s) have to fight to restore the state of equilibrium. This idea that Todorov has theorized can be applied to a variety of movies.

Equilibrium -> Disequilibrium -> New Equilibrium

 

 

Beginning: The beginning of the film shows what life is like before something swoops in and wreaks it all. In 10.T.I.H.A.Y Kat is someone who comes off as a bit of a cow, who doesn't care what people say about her. She's also someone who hates love.

 

 

Complication: The complication is effectively the storm, however it only lays a path for what is to come. In the screenshot we see the sisters dad telling the girls that unless Kat starts dating then her sister Bianca can't.

 

 

Climax: The climax is where the majority of the drama takes place, here in the screenshot we see Patrick Verona trying to ask Kat on a date as he was asked to help get her to start dating.

 

Resolution: A resolution doesn't always turn out to be positive, but in the film Kat finally learns how to love as you can see in the screenshot.

 

 
Task completed by Somer.

 

 

 

 

 

Class Work:

In lesson today, our teacher got us to look at three blogs, and told us to mark them out of 100 on planning and research(20), construction(60) and evaluation(20).

Kamini blog

The first blog I looked at, Kamini's blog, I believe is a very well thought out and organised blog. I marked his planning and research 20/20, purely because he even thought of what age range he was targeting and even went out and spoke to a couple of people asking what they would want to see in a thriller. For construction I gave him 50/60, because I feel even though the blog is well structured, I feel he could of made it more bold, instead of just all black. Finally for evaluation I gave him a 15/20. I gave him this mark because I believe some of the work is unnecessary. Overall the grade is an A.

Anupac blog

In contrast Anujan's blog is completely different to Kamini's. Firstly there are less posts, and it looks like it hasn't been taken care of.


Task completed by Somer.

Planning and Research: Editing.

Editing.

 

 

 Editing for realism.

 

To construct the illusion of reality through 'invisible' processes such as:

• Continuity editing; making sure everything stays the same
• The 180-degree rule; this is when the actors have to stay on the same side of the camera.
• Shot-reverse-shot;when you have a conversation between two people, and the camera shoots between both people.
• Match on action; when action from scene carries on through to another scene.
• Eyeline match; when the actors eyeline matches the camera sht.

Editing to show a passage of time.

To show the passage of time through visual effects or transitions:

• Dissolve; when the pixels all fade out.
• Fade in, fade out or to black; different ways to end a scene.
• Wipe, slow motion or fast-forward; ways to show the change in time.
• Short or long takes; the duration of the shots and the pace of the movie.
• Flashback; showing a different time zone.

Editing to show simultaneous activity.

• Insert; Place, fit, or thrust (something) into another thing e.g. shots within a shot.
• Cutaway; A shot in which the camera view is reframed to give the audience information that was previously outside of the camera’s view.
• Cross-cutting; an editing technique most often used in films to establish action occurring at the same time in two different locations.
• Parallel editing; A style of editing that involves cutting back and forth between two or more scenes in which the action is taking place simultaneously.

Editing to disrupt.

To disrupt or challenge the viewer's expectations:

• Jump-cut; An abrupt transition from one scene to another.
• Montage editing; The juxtaposition of seemingly unconnected images in order to create meaning.
• Post-production special effects; Part of the filmmaking process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs.

 

We wanted to use a variety of cuts and editing to conform with the

conventions of a thriller film.

Flashback; showing a different time zone:- In this scene you see the victim sat on the sofa with the boyfriend who turns out to be a part of her murder, we chose to put this is because we wanted the audience to be intrigued and wanting to find out more.












Task completed by Somer.

 

 

 

 

 



RESEARCH - Graphic breakdown of Arlington Road.

We looked at this opening of a thriller film in order to get ideas for our own 2-3 minute thriller opening.

From watching the clip I picked up a few things that I think would look good in our film.

• blurred camera shot to begin with because it adds to the suspense and eeriness of the scene.
• close up shots of the face and body parts  to give the audience an idea of who she is. And to show the emotion and body language.
• we might add some quick shots into some of the scenes to add to the pace of the film.

Task completed by Somer.