Analysis of preliminary task 

On our last studio lesson we've been editing our footage from last week. 

We've decided to start with long shot to set the scene, show the audience the location and both characters. It was an eye level shot to make the viewer feel like she/he is a part of the action. 

Subsequently we put close up over the shoulder to show Hugo facial expressions, afterwards we changed it onto over the shoulder shot on Tommaso to emphasize the idea of conversation. 

Then we captured both characters in one show to show the little distance, the intensity between them two.  We used quick editing to change the shot and show the increasing pace of the conversation. Then the camera was pointing on Tommaso, focusing on his gestures and facial expressions. 

Till the end the viewer can only see Tommaso going backwards towards the door. 

As a last shot we've decided to add a comedic element, when suddenly the viewer can see Tommaso dragging Hugo along the floor. 

Finished clip last for 25 seconds, but what is interesting that it took us more that an hour to get the footage that we needed. The whole process was really time consuming. It requires a lot of patience and concentration. I found continuity the most important thing. It makes your editing a lot easier. At the beginning it was hard to remember about it but later each person from our group was looking after fluency. I was happy shots over the shoulder and close ups. It makes the moment more emotional and helps to set the atmosphere. I think we could have add more camera movements like panning during conversation - to make this clip more interesting, or to add shots from different angles to suggest who is more energetic and to show their role and power in this situation. 

I had a lot of fun during shooting but it is important to stay concentrated of all times especially when you are a director. Watch everyone on the set and control continuity. It is also important to shot as many footage as possible to make your movie/clip more interesting. 

Edited preliminary task 

Influence of sound in thriller sequence

As a first sequence I choose clip called 'Ends of Deceit', which is a opening scene to a thriller movie made by Hurtwood students. 

This clip starts with a few seconds of credits accompanying by non - diegetic ambient melody, in order to create tension and set a viewer in a insecure mood. It is also a sound bridge to the beginning of the action when camera is panning in the room to show the location of a action. The purpose of the sound bridge is to keep the audience in the same mood and prejudice. 

Then we see a girl in her bathrobe coming into the kitchen with her dog. The observer sees and hear door opening so it is a diegetic sound.

The mysterious melody is still playing in a background but at the moment when the actress comes in the additional sounds begin. Her footsteps, or rather scrapes are a diegetic and pleonastic sound. Due to her clothing we can assume that it is morning, so the scrapes can suggest that she is tired or she has just woke up.  Girl opens the door which is a diegetic sound and lets her dog out. In this point the gloomy soundtrack ends, what make the audience more concentrate on the following sounds. From that moment the audience can see only the dog. His footsteps, which are diegetic and pleonastic are imposing his importance in this clip. For the next 40 seconds the audience can see the dog running around in the forest. We can hear simple, natural and delicate sounds of nature - wind, birds, movement of leaves - these are all non - diegetic sounds. They influence on our suspicions, now it seems like nothing special will happen, every sound is neutral. The audience abandons the mysterious and scary perception of the clip. On the next shot we can see the dog in front of the house. He is getting inside by pushing and scratching the door, which are diegetic sounds. He is running to his bowl with food and starts eating. Here the tension starts to build up again. While eating the ambient melody starts to play one more time , which makes the audience questionnaire what is happening. Sound of eating, which is diegetic sound and soundtrack set the audience in the uncertain feeling what is going to happen next.  Subsequently we can hear dog's footsteps, which is a diegetic sound, he is going to other room and suddenly the ambient sound start to play parallel with footsteps and the audience can see the victim of the murder - girl is laying on the floor with her head in blood. The sudden appearance of deep and intense sound with the view of killed girl shocks audience. Afterwards dog is walking next to the victim squealing, which is a diegetic sound. It makes the audience feel helpless and pity. 

After watching this clip i thought that the amount of sound is balanced. It did not bulit up tension throughout the whole clip which i liked because at the beginning the audience is waiting for the plot twist but suddenly it dropps and lives the observer with confusion. The plot twist takes place at the end when the audience does not expect that. 

IDEAS FOR THRILLER OPENING SEQUENCE 

1. Missing person 

I was thinking about showing a typical morning of a teenage girl, everything is on daily basis but when she is trying to wake her mom up to drive her to school she won't wake up even if the girl is shaking her body. The girl is in such a hurry that she decides to walk on her own. She is getting out of the house and she is passing trees every few meters but the thing that she doesn't notice is 'missing person' posters on every tree with a picture of her.

2. Imaginary friend

In this sequence i was thinking to show a person talking to another person throughout the whole sequence, but the audience sees only one person talking, asking questions, asking about their opinion about his/hers look. At the end of the sequence camera is showing the rest of the room and that there is nobody there. 

3. Mirror 

I thought of setting this sequence in a car -  lady is driving really nervously in a bad weather. She acts really stressed, she keeps looking in the rear view mirror - nothing's there. When she looks away on a street the audience sees the reflection of a men sitting on a back seat. Suddenly she stops a car, she opens the door and we can see the man reflection one more time in a window of the door and the lady is getting out of the car.

Studio lesson - preliminary task 

In this week studio lesson we shot some short sequences of opening scene, from a story board that we were given earlier. 

We worked on a small set - it was a room with a fireplace. There were two actors (Tommaso and Hugo) I was a director and a camera operator (Kirill), who was using Canon 5D. Actors were supposed to learn few lines by heart and then we were ready to start shooting.  The first take witch was a long shot to set the scene, show both characters and their reactions. At the beginning i had to control all lines and continuity, so that later it is easy to blend different shots together. As the second and third take we did over the shoulder shots from both sides. After that we shot the whole sequence through the door so that the viewer can see Tommaso from the back and Hugo from the front. Then we did an eye level shot of both characters to make the observer feel the tension between these two. As our last take we added our own idea, when Tommaso is pulling Hugo along the floor. Which we found would be a funny element in that story. 

During this task we had lots of fun, it appeared not to be that easy as it seemed. We needed to repeated each take couple of times. It was crucial to film the whole scene from different angles so then we have a lot of footage to play with during editing. 

I've learnt how important is communication on a set. There were some mistakes during the shot that i didn't notice but actors did -  and we needed to do another take. Secondly it important to check footage before moving the camera, because later it is very hard to set the scene this same way as it was. During filming everybody needs to be aware of little natural things like shadows, cables and frames to make our shot clear.

Thrillers 

Thriller is a one of the main genres in the movie industry. It is using suspense, mysterious music and tension to make the viewer anxious and increasingly terrified. 

There are different types of thrillers - psychological, crime, romantic, spy, action etc... 

Psychological

This type of thriller emphasizes the mental health and emotional state of characters.

 In this sub-genre a lot of the conflict is mental, rather than physical. The protagonist has become involved in a dangerous situation which literally threatens their sanity.

Crime 
This sub-genre focuses on crime, and is usually from the criminal’s point of view. Physical action and avoiding the police take the place of gathering evidence and trying to discover the criminal.

Romantic 

It is a combination of thriller and romance. The plot line follows a typical thriller’s tension, suspense, and excitement, but a main element is concentrating on a relationship between two characters.

Spy 

This sub-genre focuses on the adventures of field agents. They mostly face criminals or any kinds of crooks. 

Action

This sub-genre contains a lot of violence, fights and explosions.

Disaster 

In this sub-genre the disaster takes place and the antagonist is trying to prevent this disaster or the extent of the disaster, or just save themselves before time runs out.

Religious 

This sub-genre uses the history and myths of religion. Usually a religious artifact or historical secret is discovered, and different people and groups compete for control.

Camera Shots/Angles/Movements

SHOTS

Establishing shot   it's mostly used at the beginning of the movie. To show the viewer where and sometimes when (time of the day) the action is taking place. It is generally long or extreme long shot. 

Extreme long shot  sets the scene, it is mostly used as exterior - to show the surroundings, where the action will take place.       

Long shot shows the whole object or full human body. It is concentrating more on details.

Mid long shot captures characters from knees upwards. Allows the viewer see more details and observe body language. 

Two shot is a shot of two people 

Mid shot shows a character from its waist upwards. It reveals more details.

Close up is a close shot mostly of character's face or object. It makes the viewer concentrate on facial expressions.

Extreme close up is a very close shot capturing the most details of character or object.

ANGLES 

High angle shot is a shot where camera looks down on a subject form a high angle. It makes the character/object look helpless and weak

Low angle shot is a shot where camera looks up at the subject. It makes the character look powerful.

Point of view shot shows the viewer what the subject is looking at - its point of view.

Over the shoulder shot is a shot of someone or something taken from the perspective of camera angle from the shoulder of another person. 

Canted, dutch angle shot is a tilted, turned shot, which makes the viewer confused.

MOVEMENTS

• Zoom - its changing the focal length between the lens of the camera to make subject closer (bigger) or further away (smaller).  

• Tilt - camera moves up and down.

• Pan - camera stays in one position but it rotates.

• Handheld - when the camera operator is holding the camera while shooting. 

• Track - when camera follows together with subject. 

STUDIO LESSON 3 - EDITING

On our third lesson in the studio we learnt how to edit our sequences that we did on our previous lesson.

Firstly Matt showed us how Adobe Premier works, which allows us to crop and connect different pieces of footage. Then we were supposed to edit our sequences. To make my clip I used long shot, mid shot and close up. I found continuity the most important thing while editing a sequence. You need to remember about the position of objects, movement of characters etc.

First we used long shot to set the scene - the main character was walking down the stairs. In the middle of this shot we put mid shot to show more detail of our actor while sitting on the stairs. At the end of the scene we add a close up of character saying his line.

 After this class i know how to use Adobe Premiere and how to blend different shots together to make our sequence/film more interesting!