Location

As our school located in such a nice area and we have those perfect natural resources such as the amazing creepy looking vines twisting around the old historical building also the great old looking decoration inside. As we are nearly on the top of the hill we have that gorgeous scenery and we can shot a perfect sun set or a wide blue or even a scary cloudy sky and have the other hills as the back ground. We also have an amazing library with those beautiful ceiling and chandelier and all the old looking woody shelf. And all of those will suit perfectly for our shooting and actually a large percentage of the inspiration of our idea comes from all those amazing location. When we first went to the library we just studently feel like this will be amazing with the lighting behind the shelf and having the light coming through. Also with the corridor setting a light outside and creates those shadow of the window bar on the floor will be so creepy as that may suggest no escape. So we immediately decided that we will just shoot on campus and we can have more sufficient as well.

Prop list

1) White night gown
2) Roses
3)10 identical old book
4) Print out sleeves for books
5) Black paint
6) Black garbage bags
7) Make up
8) Pyjamas
9) Buy like 100 old books
10) Big light source for shadows outside
11) Grand father clock ( if available)
12) Harp
13) Candle stick and stand
14) Smoke machine
15) Candles
16) Plastic bin bags
17) A roll of carpet

Ps after shot conclution However,some of the props are very hard to get as even we made this list in advance there was still not very sufficient time for us to find some of the prop. And at the same time we found that we could use some of them even we have got it. For example, the smoke machine. Even the smoke will create a fantastic dramatic feeling but it will set up the fire alarm so obviously we have to give it up. The lesson it teaches us is that we have to make sure the props target are realistic. Such as making sure we could get them and actually use them. And we should have to start planning even earlier.

Thriller Film Equipment List

1*SONY PD170 MINI DV CAM
1*FLUID HEAD TRIPOD( INCLUDING HORSESHOE)
1*SENNHEISER (SHOTGUN) DIRECTIONAL MICROPHONE
2*AA BATTERIES
1*SUSPENSION MOUNT/UNIT(CAMERA STAND)
1*BOOMPOLE+XLR AUDIO LEAD
1*RYCOTE SOFTIE( MICROPHONE WINDSHIELD&SHOCKMOUNT SYSTEM)
2*MINI DV CAM TAPE STOCK
2*REDHEAD VIDEO LIGHTS+TRIPOD

Actual photo version for story board

Casting

For the acteress, we want to have a girl that looks really different and could give a very strong first impression and stay in the mind of the audience. We don't want a traditional western blond beauty as it has already been used again and again by previous thriller. And for a low budget independent film like us the only way for us to success is to differentiate us from the others. And chossing the actor or actress will be an essential part of this as they are the people who help us to give out the information to the audience by acting. We chose one of our friend Gemma as our actress. Why we chose her is because first she is a mix race girl with beautiful brown skin and really nice fuzzy, twisted hair. And we immediately think that her hair could just indicate the twisted fate after discovering the book in the library. Also as a mix race girl she could represent another group of people in the society which could gain awareness and also show another aspect of the society. We also quite like her figure she is very skinny and looks vulnerable and innocent to the evil.And all those could be counted as the femininity and as a female she may gain more sypathy rather than a strong male.

Planning

Video example

LIGHTING

Ceiling Story Board

1. Black. Quivering harp music? (Heather Mackie’s harp in corner D.B.’s room)
2. Establishing Shot of hill at sunset fade in.
3. Panning shot across
4. Epiphany production presents (FONT and where on screen)
5. Lonely corridor and 2-3 spotlights like in PL( Credict:A Bob Coates Film)
6. Twisting Vines on window outside hand held steadicam following where they are coming into window (Credict: Produced by …)
7. Twisting Vines on window outside hand held steadicam(Editing by…)
8. W.S. Female appears looking confused in corridor and walks through circles of light(spot light)
9. High angle of her back walking through the spotlights
10. CU Pan Tendrils of hair high angle E
11. POV shot of the library door
12. CU hand pushing
13. M.S. back Pushes heavy door with blue light coming from under
14. INT library girl standing at the door. Jtuk work,
15. P.O.V. Tilt up and down and pan across stopping to focus on glinting objects like trophy, chandelier (Starring ‘Jemima Amachree-Broad)
16. CU girl looking quizzical
17. P.O.V. bookshelf with spotlight and smoke
18. WS girl stepping towards bookshelf
19. CU Pan left to right on books to show all identical. Camera stops at right then pans back to middle book with rose and stops
20. MS Reaction shot of girl desiring book and leaning down
21. WS girl leaning in slowly
22. MS hand reaching towards book and taking from shelf
23. MS girl with open book, she turns to camera
24. OSS girl flicks through book – it is blank
25. cu reaction shot looking closer at page squinting
26. Close up of the book with a black hole and tart coming out
27. Long shot of the girl looking down at her feet with the black tart climbing up
28. cu face screaming
29. WS of Dalia’s room
30. Girl cu in bed sweating
31. Sits up and get out of the bed
32. Long shot of Walking down and with black foot print on the floor
33. CU of the black foot print on the floor

Initial idea of the thriller

A girl in a bed the camera zooms in on her she is asleep but tossing and turning also sweating

Next shot is her in a library (school library ) she is looking around there are huge stacks of old encyclopaedias on the table and in the shelves.

She sits down and reaches for one of the books and opens it in front of her.

Music build up camera zooming in she is looking closer into it

Suddenly a hand reaches out and grabs her neck

Next scene she wakes up and is really panicked and sweaty and disturbed.

It will be

Fantasy/ pans labrynth style-

Amazing carved ceilings in library- sharp contrasts on ceiling patterns.

Girl in library with glints of light from trophies and plates

Windows, shutters, woods exterior

Lots of books on shelf with pinpoints of light emanating from them

Girl opens book, intense crescendoing music. and suddenly comes out through the middle of the book and grabs throat.

Heather Mackie with harp e.c.u strings, polished wood, fingers plucking

Prehaps gemma amachree-broad as protagonist(wild hair)

First production group meeting

To finalise the narrative elements, key images and themes we had our first meeting as a group today. We have discussed a lot and came out with several interesting ideas for our key image and element for the theme. For example, the classic china doll but we give it up at the last as it has been used too much in other thriller and we want to make our unique. Finally, we decided that we will have a rose in the girl’s hair and it will dying as the girl open the book. However, we decided that it is not very realistic and will look a bit strange. So we made a little changement. We will keep the rose as one of the key image but it will be inside the book and it will be the sketches of the rose as she flips the book the sketches of the rose will become darker and darker and start dying which indicate facing the death and evil also the evil behind the peace and beauty. And we will have the black tar as one of the key image and element as well. So we decided we may have a foot print on the carpet at the end.

What is a Thriller?

http://www.slideshare.net/secret/dkTHBHjHRiCwkd

This is the power point I made introducing what is a Thriller. Through naking this I have a better understanding of what is a Thriller. And I found myself quite interesting in super natural Thriller.

Editing preliminary task

Account of editing preliminary taskStarting editing the preliminary sequence was a very nice actual combat and revision of the previous editing lesson. It did help us to solidify the ability of editing and bring the theory to practical. We did it step by step following the notes. We did suffer a bit at the start as we didn’t get the knack and spent a lot of time in logging and also cut down the bit we want. We also got some fluency problem as we didn’t cut on movement. However, as the time moved on we were getting better and better and certainly being more confident. This was really a very meaningful lesson as we can actually say that we can edit. I really did enjoy it!

Shooting of preliminary task

Shooting of preliminary task

This is actually the first time for me to shoot a sequence with the story board and with those professional equipment. So obviously I was quite exciting but at the same a bit nerves. However, when we step into the shooting room I found myself actually release. We immediately start setting up the room and decided where to put the chair and the desk we have to put them in the right angle so that it will look similar to the story board. We also decided the route that the actors will go. And at last most importantly we decided our role. I was decided to be the director and Nik will be the photographer, Will and Poppy will be the actor and actress. After all the preparatory work we start shooting. Matt helped me revising what the director should say before shooting which is “STAND BY’’ “ROLL OVER” “ACTION!”. We also learned that we have to shoot on the same side which is the 180 degree rule so that the scene won’t be very strange. Through the shooting we also solidified the ability of using the camera for example set the light in the right setting etc. In addition, we experienced the different angle shot in reality and have a better understanding of what each angle of shot represent. Despite that I realized how much effort and time has to take to shoot a 40seconds sequence. Through this shooting I think we should do more planning before the shoot for example decide the position of all the pros before hand and have a brief planning about lighting. And I should give more suggestion as a director.

Editing&Final Cut Pro

At this lesson we have been introduce to Editing &Final Cut Pro here are some notes on using Final Cut Pro.
The first thing we need to do is set up the scratch disk this is very important. The Scratch Disk is where the computer takes notes on what you’re doing.
Than we go to Final Cut Pro
System settings
This opens a window
Set (put in screen shot of this perhaps)
Click on firewire drive and find your folder
Click on scratch once
Choose
You will need to do this whenever the computer asks you to reset scratch disks
Now……make a folder
File/New/ Bin-name Bin
File /New /Bin-name this one ‘log’
Drag ‘log’
The Triangles expand things into Drop Down Menus

Photo shop
Here is the horror post I made by photoshop it was quite excisting as this is only my second time using photoshop!
I learnt how to put special effects on the text and to zoom in the original poster. I should improve myself by learning more techniques as I am still quite weak in this area.

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Practical lesson 15/9/08 using FUJI FINEPIX S900 DIGITAL CAMERA

We had a practial lesson using digital camera. And I worked with Poppy as a team. We learned different shots ie.



CU=CLOSE UP



MS=MIDDLE SHOT



LS=LONGSHOT



Here is a photo we did





Close up with high angle and there is a looking space of her looking at the left hand side



There is another high angle shot. Which gives a weak feeling.




We also learned to look at the control wheel:
A=Aperture
Which is the cameras eye. It is like a pinhole letting in light. Also, turning the wheel will change the shutter speed.

For example:
If you were taking a picture of the moon at night, you would need to let lots of light in-(Aperture). But would also have to take the picture with a fast shutter speed, to avoid blurring the image.

My name is Ariana I wish to study Fashion management in the future. To study Media I wish to improve my IT skill and expand my horizon.