Planning: Location Planning For Your Opening

Location planning is a very important part of the pre-production process for the opening to  'The Revenge'.

It is vital that we establish which locations will be needed for our filming and to then scout alternatives in order to decide which will provide the best shooting location for us.

Our film opening will need 4 locations to be scouted. These are as follows:

1. Exterior location. This is the outside of the house, in the back garden of the main character, Billy's house.
2. Exterior location. This will be in the garden of billy's house. Someone will behind a tree filming billy watching what he is doing.
3. Interior location. This will be in the kitchen of billy's house. We won't be showing the kitchen is this scene as we just need the wall.



We have decided the location for our film will be set at 10 Elliot close in our local town. We have picked this certain location because it contains the necessary equipment needed. For example there is a skip present which is essential for the background of the film. We also have permission to film here because the house also happens to be the director's (Ryan Loasby's) house. This also means it is very accessible and increases the amount of quality filming. Filming this in a rural, well populated, family area gives the viewer the idea that even people who have been brought up in a safe environment could be venerable to danger at any time without them knowing it. 

Planning: Considering Mise-En-Scene for our opening

Mise-en-scene is literally the 'what is in the shot' and it is everything that appears on the screen in a single frame. The advantage of this is to help the audience decode what is going on in the specific scene.

The following image is from the film 'The Woman in Black':

The 'Mise-en-scene" in this scene would be the dull, shadowy lighting, the old fashioned children toys in the dark corners in the room, as if they were exiled from the scene and the lack of colour.

When decoded by the audience, they get an impression that the nursery is a lonely room and, judging by the spider webs on the window, has not been occupied in a very long time. This is an excellent scene for a horror film because it brings tension as to the thought of a haunted house, bearing in mind it was locked from the inside.

For our scene we will be using a range of props including some small, workshop tools, a piece of paper with writing on, pictures of the old bullies in his life and a board with the proposed plan of action on it. The tools will give the realisation to members of a middle or even lower-class society that anyone is capable of inflicting danger to others. The plans on the board will show that this was planned and the sheers size and detail will give little doubt to the result of this act of terror.

The costume Billy (the main character) will wear consists of all black, hoodie, gloves, tracksuit bottoms and black trainers. The all black image will give the main character a mysterious and creepy look adding to the suspense the opening brings to the viewers. We will film our opening in daylight.

Costume


Craig (Billy) will be wearing these type of clothes. Skinny tracksuit bottoms and a all black hoodie. These clothing are suitable for our film as we don’t want any of the clothing to stand out, we just want to plain so they can focus more on what's going on not what he’s wearing.

Planning : Target Audience Feedback

We have made a survey on survey monkey and here are the results that we got. I would say that in the survey we had some mixed answers and a few people from different ages.

Planning : From Initial Ideas To A 60 Second Pitch

The process for our 60 second pitch the processed we used was initial ideas,  where we wrote a load of ideas on a piece of paper for suggestions that we could possibly use for our 60 second pitch. These are the ideas we had for the pitch.

Then after that we came up with our idea of a boy who wants gets revenge on people who used to bully him. We then wrote a little script that we could improvise off for our pitch



This is our whole classes 60 second pitch. You can find our pitch at 4:31in the video.

Research : The Importance Of Opening Titles

Opening titles are important because they give a quick insight 

Analyse The Codes And Conventions In Horror Films 'Dead Wood', 'Dead Mary' And 'Wrong Turn'

Red = Editing
Green = sound
yellow = Mise en scene
Codes are signs which have meanings behind them and they can be in two different categories. These are technical and symbolic codes. The technical codes is the way in which equipment is used to tell a story. This can also be done by the way it is edited and the diegetic or non diegetic sound. The Symbolic codes are seen through mise-en-scene, it is what can be seen if we really look into whats behind it. These codes are usually seen through the mise en scene, for example, a characters decisions or actions will show you what the character is like and how they are feeling, their clothing and how much they wear can be decoded to help us better understand what type of person they are and certain props have suggestions or connotations which can have a common meaning interpreted by the audience.

A Convention is something that you will tend to see in all horror movies and certain ways of doing something; some examples of this is: falling over when running away, a phone having no signal and no battery, in a car and it either has no fuel or its broke down, you get close to a safe enclosure then something happens which will stop you. This is how Codes and Conventions are used in Media Studies: They are used together in any genre. It is not enough to discuss a technical code used such as camera work and saying how it is conventionally used in a genre. 

Wrong Turn

Two people are in the middle of no where a boy and a girl. In the remote forest the female and the male are rock climbing on a cliff. The male reaches the top and prepares to help the female, the male went out of eye sight from the female and then she witnesses his sudden murder. Someone begins to pull the female up the cliff so she processed to cut the rope and falls to the ground. Then she then attempts to escape to her car but trips over a piece of barbed wire before being pulled back into the woods, screaming, by one of the three cannibalistic mutant mountain men. When the female is rock climbing with the male she has a lot of flesh on display. The diegetic sound  in this movie was simply things just like the sound of the  moving wire or a hook starting to break , although the non-diegetic sound really gave the film a sense a of danger as the tempo of the music starting to pick up rapidly and increased in volume to build tension. Moving onto the symbolic codes; the mise en scene used shows the female being slightly underdressed which will make the audience relate a bit more, blood on the body to show it was a vicious attack and a vehicle being used as a prop to show the safety. The main conventions found in this is a secluded location and a person running through trees and ends up falling over.

Dead Mary

A female is sitting in her car by herself  waiting for the boy to return with fuel for the car. The sign is swinging making a noise which indicates that danger is near is danger is about to happen. The atmosphere then becomes heavy as she is there on her own in the car and then the female keeps looking around as she is in the middle of no where, She then looks out of the car to see if anyone is approaching, She then starts to sit back and relax and wait, she soon checks her phone to find out that she has no signal on her phone so she holds it up to try and get signal but she cant so if she's in danger she wont be able to get hold of anyone. The female now looks in the glove box to see if anything is in there and just so have it there is a flare gun so they can shoot that if they need to. The male soon arrives with petrol so they can start the car and drive off to their destination.  When the female is sitting their in the car for the man to return she has a lot of flesh on display.

Dead Wood

Dead Wood starts with a male running through a bunch of bushes and trees that ends up being faced with a jump where he has to decide does he just or does he not as a creature is chasing him, then cuts to his friend shouting his name as he’s gone missing from the girl. The male then decides to just and makes it most of they way then he starts to fall down as he try to pull himself up, the male then spits out blood and then falls down a cliff and dies. The Women comes out of the tent and looks around to see if she can find the male but there is no hope as he is nowhere to be seen. The female comes out of the tent she has a lot of skin on display, The diegetic sounds used in this movie were the branches snapping, leaves rustling and possibly the bird’s twerping which gave the audience the sense of nature which could be interpreted as safety but intact they are in the middle of no where, no one will be able to see them or even hear them so they will be in danger if anything happens.

Research : Analysing Codes And Conventions In Existing Teen Horror Films

1) Wrong Turn

2) Dead Mary

3) Dead Wood

Research : Codes And Conventions Of Horror Films

Codes:

Codes are signs which have meanings behind them and they can be in two different categories. These are technical and symbolic codes. The technical codes is the way in which equipment is used to tell a story. This can also be done by the way it is edited and the diegetic or non diegetic sound. The Symbolic codes are seen through mise-en-scene, it is what can be seen if we really look into whats behind it. This can be shown by a characters actions, it can show how they are feeling or what the character is wearing shows what type of person they are. 

Conventions:

Conventions generally are certain ways of doing something. There are general conventions like the use of interviewee quotes in a print article, but they are also genre specific. For example horror films have the same conventions are were two characters are in the middle of nowhere and cant escape or get help as they're in danger

This is how Codes and Conventions are used in Media Studies: They are used together in any genre. It is not enough to discuss a technical code used such as camera work and saying how it is conventionally used in a genre. 

For example, the technical code of lighting is used in some way in all film genres. It is a convention of the horror genre that side and back lighting is used to create mystery and suspense.

History On Horror Films

History in Horror

Horror is a form of art. They are make to terrify each other with tales that trigger the less logical parts of our imaginations for as long as we've told Stories. Horror films often deal with viewers' nightmares, fears and terror of the unknown. Plots within the horror genre often involve the intrusion of an evil force, event, or personage, commonly of supernatural origin, into the everyday world. Prevalent elements include Ghosts, Werewolves, Demons, Gore, Torture, Vicious Animals, Evil Witches, Monsters, Zombies, Cannibals, and serial killers. Movies about the supernatural are not necessarily horrific.

there are loads of different types of horror movies for example Frankenstein goes to Hollywood, Home counties horror and The America scream. Horror films way back as far as a 100 years ago, even from our earliest days films used imaginations to see ghosts in shadow shapes and they can also be emotionally connect to the unknown and to fear things. 

1950 - 1960	Sci-fi, B-Movies and Hammer Horror.
1960 - 1970	Psycho's and Zombies.
1970 - 1980	The Birth of the Slasher.
1980 - 1990	Modern Horror Begins.
1990 - 2000	Scream until you like it.

The 1950's had seen the birth of the horror comedy, but it was the 1950's that saw the introduction of science fiction horror pictures. The rising demand for science fiction resulted in very few dedicated horror movies being released at first, although many film makers still tailored their Sci-Fi pic's towards the horror market to appeal to the drive-in movie couples.

This is an example of a film from the 1950’s

1960’s

Psycho presented  the monster so close to normal it was only in the final section of a film that they revealed how monstrous a man could be. 1960 Psycho, which marks a turning point. Norman Bates goes in the list with Frankenstein’s monster and Nosferatu, but this time the monster had a perfectly normal, even likeable, face and voice, and an innocent charm. Many horror and crime movies since have been about characters with multiple personalities, but I struggle to think of any such movies made prior to this. Suddenly the danger had shifted from an external monster into the interior of someone’s mind, which made it less tangible and predictable.

This is an example of a film from the 1960’s

1970’s

Psycho presented us with Norman Bates, the monster so close to normal it was only in the final section of the film that he revealed how monstrous a man could be. Based on the real- life. this reinforces that kids can be spooky and unwanted, and do bad things to their parents. This theme continued into the 1970s where it came to dominate. The crumbling family unit becomes the source of much fear and mistrust. This time around 'the enemy within' is not a shape shifting alien from another planet altogether. This time the enemy is to be found in your own home.

This is an example of a film from the 1970’s















1980’s

Horror movies of the 1980s (which probably begin in 1979 with alien) exist at the glorious watershed when special visual effects finally caught up with the gory imaginings of horror fans and movie makers. Technical advances in the field of animatronics, and liquid and foam latex meant that the human frame could be distorted to an entirely new dimension, onscreen, in realistic close up. 

1990’s

In the 1990s for the most part, cinema attendance was up - mostly at multi-screen cineplex complexes throughout the country. Although the average film budget was almost $53 million by 1998, many films cost over $100 million to produce, and some of the most expensive blockbusters were even more. In the early 1990s, box-office revenues had dipped considerably, due in part to the American economic recession of 1991, but then picked up again by 1993 and continued to increase. The average ticket price for a film varied from about $4.25 at the start of the decade to around $5 by the close of the decade. As indoor multiplexes multiplied from almost 23,000 in 1990 to 35,600 in the year 2000, the number of drive-ins continued to decline.

2000
Horror movies in the late 1990s predicted dire things for the turn of the century. Whilst January 1st, 2000 came and went without much mishap,many commentators have identified the true beginning of the 21st century asSeptember 11th, 2001. The events of that day changed global perceptions of what is frightening, and set the cultural agenda for the following years. Final Destination is a 2000 American supernatural horror-thriller film. Sawa portrays a teenager who "cheats death" after having a premonition of 28 Days Later (2002) himself and others A british zombie horror. perishing in a plane The plot depicts the explosion and uses breakdown of society it by saving himself following the accidental and a handful of release of a highly other passengers, contagious "rage" virus and but is continued to focuses upon the struggle of be stalked by death four survivors to cope with by claiming back the destruction of the life their lives which they once knew. should have been lost in the plane.   

Introduction To The Main Task

Preliminary Task Evaluation

  We were asked to create a short clip of 2 people and they have to come into a room and to have dialogue between the 2 characters, we had to use certain camera angles such as match on actions, 180 degree full and shot/reverse shot.

In my group we made a story board which explained every shot we did, we were set to do this in under 12 shots, so 12 shots meant 12 story boards. we also had to find the locations where we were planning to films and and take pictures of them and apply them to our blogs. We had to post pictures of our Characters and what their names were and a little bit about their characteristic. 

Me and my group had to plan a time on when we were all free to film as we were doing the filming in our free lessons. We got a computer up when we were filming so we could check our story bored and see what shots we were doing, this was so we could never forget the shots and get it correct first time. The filming what quite good but the room we planned to used we being used so we couldn’t use it so we had to change rooms. The filming didn’t take long, it took us around 50minutes.

Everybody in our group had to edit their own clip but use the same clips. This was so no one would take credit for someone else’s editing. We had to import the clips from our photos to Premier pro and go through and select the clips we wanted to use.

Our Preliminary task went alright, a few issues occurred such as we had to change rooms to films in as there was a lessons going on in the room we wanted to film in and the sound quality from the filming wasn’t the greatest, we needed to speak louder and clearer. what went well was that we used all the camera angles such as match on action, shot/reverse shot and 180 degree rule. The weaknesses from this was that the match on action wasn’t as good as we thought, we thought it was timed correct but looking back at the filming we were out of time a little so the character was opening the door and the next shot the door was shut and he wasn’t where he was meant to be. To improve we need to focus on the timings for the match on action and speak louder and more clearer so the quality is better.

Learning To Edit Using Premiere Pro

In the last two lessons of Media Studies i have learned how the following:

• I have learned how to create a new project on Premier Pro
• I have learned how to import clips and audio in the Premier Pro and not to move the files after adding them to it
• I have learned how to play the video in full screen to see any errors clearly, or for video viewing purposes
• I have learned how to add video transitions and effects to my project
• I have learned how render a video so it is ready for exporting
• I have learned how to export my project to my desktop

Planning : Mise-En-Scene : Location Planning

Shot one of our story board is an establishing shot showing the exterior of the school building. When we were scouting for a location we thought that this was a suitable location for the opening shot.




We thought that this corridor was suitable for our shot because it shows where billy is going to ask James about his coursework.

We thought that a classroom was a suitable place to for Billy to ask James about his piece of Btec PE Coursework.

Planning : Mise-En-Scene : Casting

   James age 16 and very sporty and friendly. James likes to play football, socialising with his friends and listing to music in his spare time


This part will be played by  Ben Nye, he is the right for the job as he is confidence in front of a camera and not afraid to perform.

Billy is a 16 year old student. He enjoys playing football and he uses social media in his spare time.

The part of billy will be played by Ryan Loasby. Ryan is a good choice for this role as he is confidant and he can follow instructions effectively. 

Preliminary Task : Creating A Story Board From Initial Ideas

We decided as a group that our task would involve two 6th formers talking about their coursework. The lead opening shot will be an establishing shot to show the viewers where the scene is set. We had a task to do this in 12 shots and we managed to do this is 11 shots while using a range of different camera shots, movements and angles.


In the lesson I learnt how to create a storyboard with only used 12 camera shots to plan a short clip, I learnt about  where a character has room in the shot to look into. I learnt how to use arrange of camera shots, movements and angles.

Media Slideshare from BenNye353

Preliminary Task : First Ideas

Billy (age 16) will walk into a class room where James (age 16)will be sitting  completing the bfec pe coursework and then Billy will pull up a chair next to James and will then start to speak about Btec PE coursework.

OCR Video Guides

   

Foundation Portfolio : What is it?

50% of your grade will be earned through your Foundation Portfolio. This consists of a preliminary task and a main task, the details of which can be found below.

The Preliminary Task is designed to illustrate the processes of pre-production, production and post-production that will be required, albeit in more detail, when you come to undertake the Main Task. The Preliminary Task is not marked but MUST be completed and submitted alongside the Main Task to the examiner. If it is not completed, marks are deducted from your Main Task.

The Main Task is marked out of 100. These marks are broken down as follows:

20 marks - Research into similar media products and planning of your own media product.
60 marks - Construction of your own media product including filiming and editing.
20 marks - Evaluation of your own media product.

All of your work must be posted to your blog as this will be accessed by the examiner in May of 2016.

For each of the criteria above, marks are available in 4 levels with level 4 being the highest. 

The progress thermometer below shows the key words for each level of the mark scheme.

This is what you have to do:

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.

Main Task

The titles and opening of a new teen horror film, to last a maximum of two minutes.

All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source. Both preliminary and main tasks must be completed as a group. Maximum four members to a group.