Preliminary Task:

As a group we were required to make a Preliminary task which demon-straights match-on-action, the 180 degree rule and continuity.

This is our product:

Preliminary Task: Script.

In order to create the preliminary task we had to create a script detailing what exactly the actors must say. This was my job within the group. Here is the script:


Preliminary Task:
Script.

Scene starts with a close up of Mark putting a gun in his pocket.
We then see him straighten his clothes and loosen up (Long Shot).

There is then an emphasis Marks foot as he walks through the door and sits on a chair. (Camera places on floor, mark’s feet walk past).

We then see a Mark’s facial expressions as he sits at the table. He is nervous about the gun in his pocket. There is then footsteps heard. (Mid-shot).

Then Mary appears, she shits on her chair. (Mid-shot)

Close up on tea cup which is put on the table.

Mary: Here’s your tea. (Sounding angry)

(Two-shot: Mary pushes cup towards Mark)

Mary: How was your day dear? (Emphasis on the word “Dear”)

(As Mary speaks there is an Over-the-shoulder-shot from Mark, Grabbing the cup and nearly taking a sip. Yet he does not, he waits and replies to Mary)


Mark: Yeah, not too bad. (Playing it cool)

 (Close up of Mark drinking)
(Extreme close up of Mary’s eyes then a mid-shot as she is clicking her fingers on the table)

Mary: I know you did it.

Mark: Did what?

(Mark dies loudly)

(Long shot as Mary stands up, Two-shot walking to body dialogue is said in these shots)

Mary: You killed your other wives. I guess you were finally out smarted and by a cup of tea.
A real assassin. (Emphasis on the word assassin)

(Mid-shot of Mary looking smug)

Mary: They do say, true love never dies. Ha!

Connie.

Mood board:

This is a mood board showing some of the common elements within a thriller. There is a gun because lots of thrillers have guns, as well as fire to portray danger. There is a police man because most Thrillers include Police due to the nature of the story line, the target thriller market is males, males like action and crime. and to make the film realistic there must be police trying to solve crimes ect. The silhouette and blood is to symbolize murder thriller story lines commonly use murder. Seven and Orphan are two examples of thrillers. These thrillers have sub genres, Seven is a psychological thriller but has elements of a crime thriller and Orphan is a psychological thriller.

Module 1 Evaluation: Research Portfolio.

In this lesson we were asked to evaluate our work for this term. We were asked to look at our blogs and decide whether we believed that we had been productive. We where given the grading criteria levels and asked to decide which level our work an effort comes under and what number we would give our work.

Completion: my work was not complete. There are bit missing. I am yet to complete and post the 9 frame analysis's of a thriller film which was appointed to me, i have a mood board to complete as well as  a series of other tasks for my individual and group blog.  

Research: I think i showed a basic level of research into thrillers and their audiences. I think demonstrated a basic understanding of the aspects of a thriller although it would have been better for me to go into a lot more detail.

Care in presentation: I believe i demonstrated a basic level of care to presentation although i could have come up with a more creative way to show such information.

Time management: All of this feedback shows that the most important aspect of a Media course is time management, if you are more organised and you put the time in there will be a greater quality of work. I didn't as much time as i should have on this coursework.

Grade I give myself: 8 (Level 2). 

To get to an higher level 2 or better, a level 3. I think i need to put more time into my work. i need to think out-side the box with my presentation and i need to put more detail and better explanation into the information i give. i should also ensure that i meet deadlines. 

I think that my work on the Sub-genre's of a thriller was good. i believe i went into a good amount of detail and i gave lots of examples using videos from Youtube. 

Connie.  

Group Meeting; 6th Oct.

As were are filing our sequence as a group it in important that we meet regularly to discuss what we should be doing. This is what went on in this meeting...

Chloe: Intro- summary, what is a thriller (story/theme/mood)

Connie: Sub-Genres  of thriller (explain differences)

Frankie: Key films and why  - plot, characters & themes.

? : Conclusion - how the thriller has developed over the decades. (stories, themes, characters)

Synopsis:

In this lesson Mr. Barton asked us to think out what would commonly happen in a thriller and write a synopsis of what will could happen:
A typical Thriller synopsis-

A typical thriller synopsis would include many of the common details we see in a thriller.

These would be...

Sound- A mood needs to be created very early on to establish the genre of a thriller. Otherwise the audience will get confused. From the very begging of a thriller, even from the title sequence we need to create this mood. The title sequence is where a lot of information is given to the audience and if the sound does not match the information we are try to get across then the audience may not pick up on some important details. For example, there’s a murder in which a man in a long black coat and top hat shoots and kills a person. If the music in the back group was upbeat and happy the audience will grow distracted by the music, where as if the music was dark and mysterious the audience’s mood will change setting them up for getting into and watching the rest of the movie. The sound in a typical thriller would be slow, mysterious and eary. Thrillers tend to use a lot of classical music.

Characters- There are a number of typical thriller characters and characteristics. One of which being the professional like characters. They are usually crooked murders ect who always appear squeaky clean at first glance. They will often wear a black coat. Odd More-than-meets-the –eye behaviour is also most common in Thrillers.

Story- There are many sub-genre’s to a thriller. The most typical being the low key murderer who wants revenge, or maybe the lovely-looking-gentile-man with ulterior motives, the trigger happy poker player or the use of conspiracies in politics. There is nearly always violence and there is a common use of guns and knives as well as fire.

If i were making a typical thriller i would set most of the scenes around a isolated place such as an untouched country land and farm house. I would film at night time as the unseen and the darkness adds to mystery.  I would need sound effects like gun shots and at the beginning there would be slow music.

   AT the start you would see a man walking across this county land minding his own business, the music in the background would be calm and slow. Then a car, expensive looking with blacked out windows pulls up by the side of him. This is when the music gets dark and dangerous. And big bouncer-like man steps out of the back seat and punches the man straight to the ground. The music carries on but there is not picture, its black to symbolise the unconscious man. The man then comes ground to be found in a different place all together. He is in a room. Military looking which only the bare minimum of furniture. A man walks in and explains that they need him, he does not define what for. For the next few weeks he is ordered to train, in strange subjects like mathematics in which he has always be a genius, sports, law, I.T and technology and Fire arms. He tries to break out of the camp a few times but he’s efforts were fruitless and there are a few bruises to prove this. This mystery remains as to why he is here, what they need him for, why they are training him, until...     


Connie.

9 Frame Story Board:

In this lesson we watched a scene from the film 'Lock,Stock & Two Smoking Barrels'. In this scene we see a poker game, and a irresponsible player looses £500,000. (From 1min 50 secs - 5mins).

The class was serperated into groups and asked to create a story board using screen shoots from the film. we captured these shots by using print screen.

The shots we had to printscreen included Extreme-close ups and close ups. We used this story board to recreate the sequence from 'Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels'' our selves. The idea of this task was to ensure we were aware of Contiunity. We had to pay attention to the details, props and position of characters ect. We created the stills by recording and pausing the camera, using a tripod to make sure we have still/straight frames. We had to make sure we followed the 180 Degree Rule and kept match on action throughout our storyboard. We were then told to upload our shots to the computer and edit them on Final cut Pro editing software.


Here is our sequence:


http://www.youtube.com/v/?version=3&feature=player_embedded


Connie.