Film Studies Evaluation.

In my group I have been working as the cinematographer, in our crime thriller, we decided to give it a crime thriller genre as the idea we had of a murder taking place, is a crime. We didn’t have a specific film that had inspired us to do this genre/style of clip, but we did get further ideas, from such films as, Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ we looked at the shower scene, and used the tension building idea’s as it kept us engaged and thought this would work well in our extract. Our clip is in the middle of the film just after the dilemma has happened. The clip is after a man has killed his wife, we don’t yet know he has killed his wife, but the flashback within the clip shows he may have the clip, the clip begins with a car driving up a backtrack in dark lighting this builds anticipation as we don’t know what is approaching us, to make it look eerie , next is a shot of the man, which is introducing the character at this time we think he is a normal man. then the clip leads to a shot of the boot, and we don’t know what is in the boot, or what’s going to come next, then the man drags a body around the car,
this has clarified to us that the man is about to do something with the body, and also suggests to us that he has murdered the person in the bag, making the audience watch on and see what happens, also it creates the fear of the unknown. It then leads on to the man digging a hole, and then putting the body in the hole, and then has a flashback, which adds in extra narrative, giving the audience more of a understanding about what the man is doing in. Also in the kitchen scene, we felt using a woman would make the audience feel for her more, putting the woman in peril, as this strange looking man is standing behind her with a angry looking expression on his face, making the audience think he may of murdered her and she is the body in the bag.



We put a lot into our sound, we deleted all original sounds off the clip and added in other sound effects we wanted to make the sound much more intense because we had no dialogue we wanted to sound to be great, our sound doesn’t sound out of the ordinary but it has made a lot of difference to our clip. Below are just some of the 30 layers that we added on, I think deleting the sound was a very good idea, because we were outside there was a lot of unwanted background noise, and tapping of the camera, and very unprofessional noises, so replacing the sound made it sound much better, and also we could add in things that were necessary to a thriller, like a very quiet “ghostly roll” which gives it a very sinister freaky feel.
If I had a chance to do this again, we would of recorded far more shot types, because most of them were mid/long shots, but the few close up shots we did were very effective and made the clip less boring, as it was just a very slow tension building clip, so maybe adding in some more close up shots, to show the emotions on the man’s face would be good.



We didn’t really get any influence off any films about our clip, we just thought of some conventions of a thriller, and used them to make our clip, some of the conventions we took were the dark lighting, tension building, seeing the woman character in “peril”, eerie locations, a fear of the unknown. These all helped with the construction of our clip.
The lighting we used, was natural lighting from the car that was in the background of the shot, the car that we saw approaching us in the start of the clip, we felt this gave it a very sinister dark look, which adds in with the dark lighting convention, the only problem with this lighting is in some shots we couldn’t see what was going on, so we had to cut them out, but other than that this lighting decision was a very good one.

Evaluation - Rachael Humphrey

Our film is in the sub genre of a Crime Thriller. The conventions of a thriller are fear of the unknown; shadowy lighting; flashback; crime; outside the law; mystery; death and an eerie location.
At the beginning of our film we showed a van coming from far away in the night as it helps the audience start to feel anticipation. When the van reaches us, we see a shot of the main character reaching for something in the boot, but as the audience are not shown what was taken out it is unclear what he is doing, creating the aspect of fear of the unknown until it shows him dragging the body bag through a woodland. We used a flashback to further the narrative and show the audience how the main character got into this situation. We felt the kitchen scene during the flashback should show the main character and a female character in the front of the shot so that when the abrupt looking man comes out behind her she is unaware, leading the audience to believe he killed her however we decided not to show him killing her to give a sense of mystery as to whether or not she is in the body bag and the audience is left to make an assumption about their relationship.
Van coming from far away.

I was the Editor in my group which involved me using editing style; techniques; and I played an important role adding the sounds to fit the shots. It was important to make sure the film was continuous and flowed in order to make the narrative further on as our film was from the middle of a Crime Thriller. We used video transitions like fade in/fade out to show a change in time which helps show the narrative is moving on. The video transitions meant I could put in jump cuts between the digging scenes in the woodland so the film could jump between a mid shot of the man digging to a close up of the spade going into the ground, this was an important learning development as it meant using the transition not only showed a change in time, but we were shown in detail the main characters actions and using single source lighting which created an eerie mood.

Showing the single source lighting from car lights.

We worked to further the narrative, character and genre we decided a flashback would be a good idea in between the digging scenes to show an insight of how the main character came to digging a grave in the woodland. We developed the character using no dialogue, which meant there was more emphasis on his actions and the genre of Crime Thriller. We developed our genre as we decided to use some of the typical conventions of thrillers which helped show the extent of the crime.

Flashback scene, showing abrupt looking man.

There were certain shots we wanted to use such as close ups, pan, long shots, mid shots, over the shoulder shots, track forward and an establishing shot. We changed our plans slightly on which shot type to use to focus on what was happening in the scene but kept to most of our plan. We changed having no non-diegetic sound and added a small electronic sound to the flashback to add eeriness and it was subtle in between the diegetic kitchen sounds we added.

Close up showing detail of digging scenes.

Close up of man in car, to identify main character.

I wanted the transitions to signify a change in time showing the narrative had moved on. I wanted to show the characters state of mind when he is digging, so placing the flashback in an important place shows the audience not only what happened to the female character but suggests his thoughts and feelings are being shown.


Close up allowing audience to see his emotions before the flashback scene occurs.

The feedback we received showed us the decisions we chose, made our film quite successful. Some feedback told us the pan shot when the man is walking from the woods to the van then continuing from the van to the woods with a spade was very good. When the man comes close to the camera then goes into a long shot was a very good technique that worked well. A criticism of our sequence was some of the sounds were not in sync with the film showing me the importance of technical skills and I worked on making the sound fit with the action so it held the audiences suspension of disbelief.

Man walking from woods to van and back in a pan movement.
The skills involved in creating our film helped us develop the choices we wanted to make. From editing I was able to cut unwanted scenes and choose scenes suitable for the film, to give it the suspicious atmosphere that can occur in crime thrillers. Using film transitions to create a change of narrative and got rid of all original sound then added any sound that resembles the action from using different parts of a sound clip; like in the digging scene it shows the sound is not on a loop and creates a realistic effect as the digging sounds vary.

Screen Grab of Timeline

This is our time line for our film project, in total we have added 30 layers of sound to the film all of it being not the original sounds.

Screen Grabs of Our Project

Planning - Dates and Locations

We booked our camera for two over nights during the week in January, we filmed in the location of Ely. We used and orchard in Ely to film our digging scene in the film, this was behind Abby's house in Ely. We left college around 2 to be able to get to Ely so that it was dark enough for the outside scene, but also so that we could film the kitchen scene in natural light and some other inside lighting like lamps. We filmed the kitchen scene in Abbys house in Ely, which was good as it meant that we did not have to go far to get to our two locations making it easier for use to film and also meant we could spend more time filming rather than travelling to the location.

Psycho -Shower Scene

In Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock, the shower scene builds up suspense and fear of the unknown when the female is in the shower and a person with a weapon appears at the shower curtain, this is similar to how we wanted to get our flashback scene to look like. As in our flashback with have the female character washing up which is normal and the kitchen is a very public place as it is somewhere that everyone can relate to, then when the main male character steps into the room behind her who is also unaware like the woman in the shower in psycho, it creates that suspense for the audience as to what the person in the background is going to do.

Location Report

This is our location in Ely where we shot our entire film. In the small black circle on the left of the picture above of the orchard this is where the digging scenes in our film was shot, and to the left of that is that track where the van drove down to get there in the opening sequence.

Target Audience

Our target audience will be to 15 year old and older, anyone under this age may not understand the concept of our clip, a younger audience may not appreciate the silence, and the fact that it doesn't have much going on, whereas the older audience will appreciate the suspense created.

Certification 15

If you wanted to buy a ticket to the cinema or buy a DVD you have to be 15 or over to buy it.
The film itself cannot contain discriminative language or behaviour.
Drugs can be shown in a 15 certificate however it must not encourage the use/purchase of them.
No self harm, suicide, and harm to the body may not be used.
Nudity may be used but not in strong detail.
Sex can be talked about but actually showing sexual behaviour is not allowed.
You can show violence but must not dwell on death or injures.


We decided to make a certificate for our thriller, on the reasons above we decided to certificate it a 15.

Editing

Whilst editing our piece we decided to add some transitions in that showed a change in time, and also some transitions are used to show his mind blanking, and tripping, we thought this would be effective to use, to make it look more psychological and freaky.

In the flashback scene we have effectively changed it to black in white to show the change in time and place, also it is effective as it makes the audience make a presumed link that the flashback is the related to the man digging to hide the body bag.

Diegetic Sound & Non Diegetic.

We decided to re-record diegetic sound to the sound more intense, as there is no dialogue we want the diegetic sounds to be very powerful, and we feel on the actual clip it doesn't achieve that, the list of sounds we are going to re-record are -

• Thump of the body
• Rustling of the leaves under his feet
• Sound of the boot of the car slamming
• Breathing and panting of the man
  
• Digging sounds of the hole
• The wind in the tree's
  
• Car door opening/closing
  
• Turning off the car
• Water from the sink in the kitchen scene
• The tap in the kitchen
  
• Car Tyre approaching
• Night time sounds, ie crickets, ghostly eerie sounds.
  

Once we have finished editing we decided to delete all of the original sound as create it all using final cut express. This would work better than using the original as the sounds will be clearer and there will be no unwanted background sounds.

Non Diegetic sound

Kicthen scene-
During the kitchen scene, we have put in the sound of the running tap made from a clip on final cut express, and then also a eerie electronic sound has been put in to add supsense, however the eerie sound is very subtle so that it is loud enough to hear but quiet enough to make it seem more part of the scene and diegetic rather than an added sound.

Digging scene-
We don't think its necessary to use any non diegetic music in this scene as the diegetic sound is going to be far more effective when we re-record it, so we decided that we wouldn't use any music in the scene. We have added background sounds and like crickets and wind blowing as it sets the scene of it being night time and in the dark.

Blair Witch Project

In our clip we used shakey camera work, not quite hand held, like our example, but just a little bit shakey, we used this effect as it makes it look rough, because we filmed in a bumpy location, our main character was tripping over things, we thought by following him with the camera showing him trip up will make the audience feel what he is feeling, and feel like they are experiencing his difficulty and making them feel like they are there watching it.

thriller conventions

Fear of the unknown
Sound - to build up suspense/tension and atmosphere
Hero v villain
Subtle
Location - woods, abandoned house
Lighting - shadowy
Film Noir
Damsel in Distress/Vulnerable female
Flawed hero
Narrative - suspense restricted info
Flashback/Flash forward
Objectification of woman - voyeurism.

We used shadowy lighting to create a gloomy atmosphere, and build suspense, so the audience cant see the characters face.
We used a woody location, as it was suitable for the narrative and also because of the trees and being able to make the sound of wind in the trees this would build up the tension and show his struggle to hide what he has done.
Another convention we have used is a flashback, to a scene in a kitchen which shows a woman washing up and suddenly the main character appears, the reason we chose to add a flashback was because we thought it would further the narrative along as it shows a possible link as to why the man is digging the grave in the woodland and who could be in the body bag.
We also tried to be quite subtle when using some sounds like in the flashback with some eerie electronic sound to build a suspense.
Fear of the unknown has also been used in our film as although the flashback shows the man approaching he woman from behind very angrily, there is nothing to show that she was then killed and that is who he is digging the grave for. So there is a fear of the unknown as to who could actually be in the bag and also the reason as to why he has committed this crime.

Filming day, + pictures of location

Lighting we used to light up the kicthen scene a bit more.

The Kitchen location

The Outside Location around the grave

The track leading up to the grave

The Grave

Testing on fake blood

Testing if fake blood looks real

Body bag we made.



Today (1st Feb) we filmed our clip, for our crime thriller, here are some pictures of the location, props and lighting.

We tested out fake blood as we were going to add it in the flash back scene and show the murder taking place, but we thought that it would be more mysterious to not show the murder, also, the fake blood equipment didn't work properly, therefore we didn't incorporate this in our film.
The filming overall was successful, we felt the lighting from the car headlights wasn't strong enough in the outside scene, but looking at it on the computer we felt that it was successful and created the shadowy effect that we was hoping to go for.

Shooting Schedule- Job Titles

We would like to achieve to have all the filming finished by the middle of next week, the 3rd of February.

We are going to be filming on Monday 1st of February and take out the camera overnight, we should be finished filming by the end of the day but just incase we are giving ourselves an extra day.

We will be filming outside college hours, as we need it to be mid evening when we filming, also the location we have chosen its not practical to do it in college hours as it is not close to college.

Job Titles-

Cinematographer: Shooting style/Camera work -Abby Tucker

Director: work with cinematographer to plan/block scene, work with actors/performances. - Abby Tucker, Rachael Humphrey and Lucy Jones

Sound: Plan diegetic sound, room tone, atmosphere tracks, sound effects, dubbing and music. - Abby Tucker, Rachael

Editing: any style editing style + techniques + edit sequence + adding sounds - Rachael Humphrey.

Film project ideas

Ideas:

As a group we brainstormed different genres and ideas that we thought would be interesting and work well for our project.
In our brainstorm we came up with different characters like hippies/villains, and also a crime genre or also thought a high school thriller would be a good idea to work with.
We finally chose to do a crime thriller genre, which would include one main male character that had murdered a possible wife or girlfriend. The clip would show him digging a whole in an orchard at night, and driving down the track in a white van, and whist he is digging the hole he has flashbacks of the killing, throughout the scene. We thought this would create a good suspenseful clip for our project as it would lead the audience into wanting to know how and why he had ended up killing someone.


What we'd need to do to achieve this;

Camera shots:

We'd need to use a range of camera shots to make the extract interesting, as there is not going to be much packed into the scene, so we'd use a range of long shots when the van is approaching the back of the orchard, maybe a close up of him in the van looking nervous and sketchy, another shot type is we'd use a close up of him, and a low angle shot to make us as a audience feel inferior to him, and a range of mid shots flicking around him so its not just one still shot, maybe also a panning shot, to show his confusion and nervousness.
-Establishing shot
-Long shot
-Close up
-Mid shot
-Track forward
-Pan
-Over the shoulder shot

Mise-en-scene:

Setting/Location for our crime thriller is a back track next to a orchard which is far away for visibility of the public eye.
Also the orchard is a very scary place, we are going to film it in the dark/mid evening, to make it feel a lot more scary also if it is filmed in the dark, it would make more sense.
Also we are going to use the kitchen for flashbacks, there is also going to be some filming in the van as-well.

Props-
Spade
A body bag (in the bag will be a sleeping bag and teddy bear, to create the idea of a person)
The van
Torch
Sellotape ( so the body bag can be shaped into a person outline)

Costume-
Main Male Character-
Dark Jeans
Black Coat
Opened Checked shirt
Boots

Female Character for the flashback -
Casual Jumper
Jeans
Slippers

Lighting-
It will be natural lighting, outside in the dark, the scene will be lit up by the car lights and a torch whilst he is shoveling the hole.
In the flashback it will the black and white, to show the difference in time, the lighting will be natural house lights.

Sound list:
Diegetic & Non Diegetic sound in the scene:
The sound of the van rumbling down the track, the male characters breathing to emphasize the worry, the spade hitting the ground, this will be quite loud as its going to be mostly the only sound, and its significant to the narrative.
In the flashback, the female character will be washing the dishes in the kitchen, low level non diegetic sound will come in when the male character enters the room.

Cast List:
Lucy Jones- Wife that gets killed introduced in the flashback
David Martin - Man introduced at the beginning and throughout the scene also the killer and the digger of the grave.

Script -
No script needed, there is going to be no dialogue.