Olivia's media blog

  Aims In our short film we planned to have a short driving scene in order to get the characters to a different location. Originally we had planned to do an aerial tracking shot of the car, however I decided to experiment with some different camera angles that would add interest to the scene. Below are some behind the scenes pictures of me attaching my camera to a suction camera mount. In the footage the car reflected quite a lot of the surroundings making it difficult to see inside the car, however this will work out well in our film if we choose to use the footage, as we want to keep the characters anonymous (introducing an enigma code). I also practiced using the drone to get some tracking shots of the car from different angles.

  Costumes We wanted to incorporate the colour red into the costumes, to match the bloody imagery. We made the choice for the girl to have red fingernails, and we originally planned to have a bit of fake blood on her fingertips (however this wasn't picked up by the camera very well). We came up with three outfit options for the girl, however we ended up going for the long dress (the picture on the left). This was quite dressy, adding to the unnatural situation, and had rust coloured features without which also matched the theme of red.  To match the dress, we wanted to have a necklace that would appear quite dramatic from the back, as we had planned an over the shoulder shot of the girl putting on her necklace to showcase her red nails and fingertips. Clementine (my partner) and I found necklaces that would look like a pearl necklace, as we were aiming for something elegant that would contrast the uncomfortable and messy close ups of preparing food. The red lipstick also added...

  Planning Prior to filming, Clementine and I worked out some potential risks that would have to be addressed while filming. This included, dehydration and using knives. On the day of filming we made sure we were prepared with water bottles, and when using props such as knives we were extremely careful and made sure the actor was holding it in a safe handhold. We used the sheet below to document some of the risks, and once we filmed we filled out the ways we had minimized these hazards. Additional risks We mostly relied on natural lighting, so we did not have to worry about set lights heating up, or cables causing a tripping hazard. We did have to transport equipment in a car to get to the outdoor location, however we made each passenger in the car responsible for holding a piece of equipment, especially the camera and the gimbal as they were the most expensive. We also a simple first aid kit on hand (in both locations - the house and the park), in the event of an injury. Another r...

  Scouting The week before filming I went out to look at some potential locations to film. I had a place in mind, but I also went to a second location to make sure we found the best place to shoot.  The first location had a large area of flat grass right next to the road, which was ideal for the last shot we had planned (a continuous tracking shot of the couple retrieving their stuff from the back of the car and setting up a picnic). However, in the background a green fence was visible. This put me off slightly, as we had been aiming to shoot somewhere that seemed remote and the fence was clear evidence of human activity. Location one and location two, there was a winding road up the side of hill that added to the remote feeling of the location. It seemed like a good spot for a tracking drone shot as it was surrounded by thick vegetation and would contribute to the idea the couple are taking the body to an isolated area. This can come across as quite sinister as secluded areas...

  Food Our main props were food, as we needed it for the cooking sequence. We used lettuce, pomegranate, tomatoes, and other basic salad ingredients. We also used some bread and strawberry jam to make jam sandwiches. We had researched the best way to open a pomegranate, and the internet suggested putting a pomegranate in the microwave, followed by crushing it, would make the fruit release more juice. When we created a slit for George (our actor) to use to open up the pomegranate with his hands, it released a splatter of red liquid (as seen in the photo below). The overall effect was a dramatic - blood like effect which we used to our advantage. In my film I used a unsettling shot of the juices dripping onto a butchers knife, which appeared very effecting.   Other For the first scene, we used some basic props to prepare the food - butchers knife (to suggest the couple are dangerous), a chopping board which we used to contain the mess of the food and protect the table from the k...

  Introduction For our characters, we wanted to present the normalcy of a conventional couple contrasting the gruesome imagery and twisting their relationship into something sinister. The idea of a couple matches the idyllic picnic scene, and contrasts the body in the back of the car and all the red imagery. We deliberately chose an actress with red hair as we felt it added the characterization of a femme fatale. As we also chose to not have any dialogue and not to reveal the characters faces, red hair added a bold feature that would make the female identifiable. Dream Casting For my film opening, I would ideally cast Emma Stone and Penn Badgley. Badgley's role in "You", a successful Psychological Thriller TV show, shows his ability to convincingly play a Psychotic character. Similarly Emma Stone's role in "Cruella" (2021) shows her range of capabilities. She has starred in multiple movies and has won many awards, while participating in films of many genres....

  In this clip, editing, camera work, sound and lighting all give meaning that the girl is in danger. In the opening shot, an establishing shot shows a girl standing in front of a funhouse - with a sign saying 'Find Yourself'. This is foreshadowing when you consider the context of the film (a family discovers there are clone-like copies of themselves who are out to kill them, and the girl's doppelganger is inside the carnival). The bright lights illuminating the building emphasise the darkness around the areas, isolating the young girl and creating a silhouette of her body. When it moves on to a close up of her feet, which proceed to walk away, it creates the impression she is walking out of the audience's reach, and walking away from safety. In the following shot, a slow zoom on the girl as she walks into the building, framed by the doorway, also leaves the impression she is walking away from the outside world, and into darkness.   As the character walks through, a tra...

Schedule To keep track of our progress and to ensure we were staying on track for the deadline, we made a basic schedule outlining dates for test shots, filming and other tasks we had to get done. I used the website Trello, as it had the ability to be shared so I was able to work online with Clementine (which was especially useful when we were both away over the holidays). Trello had two exchangeable formats, a to do list and calendar. Clementine and I started by making a list of what we had to do, and we would switch it into the completed section once we finished. This allowed us to stay on top our work, organised, and prioritize tasks. The calendar function also made it easy for us to plan out filming around our own schedules.  

  Script Before starting our storyboard, we came up with some initial ideas for our film on a piece of paper. We then developed that into a script, so we could visualize which shots would be filmed at each location, and sort out the narrative that would be featured in our film. Our storyboard ended up slightly different to our script as we changed our minds on some shots as we began to visualize each scene, however Clementine (my partner) and I found it very useful to have to the script to refer to throughout the different stages of production. First draft Second draft Pre-visualization Below is a picture of our preliminary storyboard, which we drew out when we first started to visualize the different shots. We drew each shot on a magnetic whiteboard sheet, so we could rearrange them as we figured out the sequence of the shots. This made it much easier to figure out the order of our film as we were able to add, and move around shots as we discussed our thoughts. St...

Mood board Before we started planning, we used various techniques such as creating a mood board to plan the tone and some iconography of our film. Although we decided on using a narrative that appeared cheerful (couple going on a picnic), we initially collected photos that captured a kidnapping/murder. This reflected our original idea for our thriller film. We later went on to decide we wanted the film to have connotations of these events rather than showing the murder outright. We both felt this would make the scenes feel more sinister. From there we chose to film a conventional couple as they go to a picnic to contrast the connotations of murder. Once we reveal the body we hope our film will become more menacing. Despite the changes to the plot, we continued to use the mood board to help us capture the tone of the film, and we still included the off-putting imagery of food as we had originally planned.   Shot ideas Once we had settled on the vague idea of our plot, Clementine and...

Padlet I used the website Padlet, to display my ideas for our film in a mind map format. My partner Clementine made a separate presentation, and then we brought our ideas together so we could start planning out our idea. I started by analyzing the film openings of Psychological thrillers to identify conventions that could be reflected in our own film opening. From there I looked at the sounds and music each film used, and started to brainstorm ideas. This research inspired two initial ideas for our film, one of which we ended up using for our final composition. Below, is my padlet of ideas, followed by Clementine's work. As well as looking at conventions, I also inspected how credits were incorporated in the opening sequence. Although I was off school for the week we worked on our pitches, Padlet allowed us to connect our ideas and look at each others thought processes remotely. Feedback ...

  Thriller Sub-genres To prepare ourselves for creating a film opening to a thriller, we did some research into the different sub-genres. There are may sub-genres associated with Thriller films, however these are some of the most well known: Psychological thriller Action thriller Crime thriller Spy thriller Political thriller Mystery thriller Horror thriller Supernatural thriller I did some more in depth research of the sub-genres I found most interesting. Decision  Clementine and I decided to base our film opening on a psychological thriller. We found the use of shared suspense particularly interesting, and thought that keeping the audience in the dark would make the film more interesting. We included this in our film by purposely leaving our actors faces out of each shot, so that their identities remained an enigma code. Psychological thrillers can often include themes of mental illne...

Introduction Alfred Hitchcock was a film maker, most well known for his Thriller films and his effective methods in building tension. He is known as one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Hitchcock often used the phrase 'pure cinema', which can be interpreted in different ways, but his successful film techniques won him many awards. I looked at Hitchcock's style and the many definitions of pure cinema, so that I could identify techniques that are still being used to this day. Pure Cinema PURE CINEMA: Through the Eyes of Hitchcock (25 min) Directed by Gary Leva from Gary Leva on Vimeo .   Hitchcock The Shallows - Analysis Many movies use Hitchcock's techniques, and 'The Shallows' is just one example. You can see from the clip that the movie makes use of shared suspense, anticipatory space, temporal deadlines and vicarious suspense. This all helps to build tension, just as Hitchcock used in his films, and the disorientating sh...

Introduction During production day we were given the task to recreate some of Hitchcock's most famous techniques. This included lighting, montage (inspired by the famous montage shower scene in Psycho (1960), and using the camera to "show, don't tell". We also attempted to recreate the unsettling character reveal in Hitchcock's film Frenzy (1972).  Examples We were given examples from Hitchcock's films, so we could attempt to recreate the techniques and add them to our skillset, as many modern day films use similar methods.   Final results Our group presented our final footage in the form of videos, explaining our techniques and how we were able to recreate similar sequences to Hitchcock. We also made a montage of all outtakes from the day, showing unused footage and behind the scenes.   My class...

  Introduction We analysed the opening to the show 'True Blood', to look further into tv shows opening sequences and to explore montage techniques. We also looked at the imagery and what the shots represented, while looking out for theory tools such as binary opposites. Tasks 1. Think about the format of the images     - How are they constricted     - What shot types are used     - What filters, effects are used     - Any adjectives you would use to describe the quality of the images     - Are there any key colours used? The images are formatted in the form of a montage - short clips edited together. The edits are quite fast, almost overlapping. There a lot of mid-shots and close ups, to keep the audience guessing (introducing enigma codes). A flickering/glitchy effect has been added to the images, as well as retro filters. There are vivid colours contrasting black and white images. Adjectives you could...

  Introduction   Scary movies are a popular form of entertainment, and can appear in the structure of Horror or Thriller films. There are many differences between the two genres, which I highlighted in my ' Conventions of Thrillers ' blog post. Whatever form they appear, the two Genres are still very popular, so our class decided to analyse how fear is created through films, and why people continue to watch scary movies. Fears One method used to create discomfort in the audience, is by incorporating common fears in the movie, so the audience are automatically uneasy from seeing their own fears on screen. This helps them connect with the characters, and start feeling fear on behalf of them. Scary movies often contain themes of death, darkness and being hunted. Below are some common fears that effect society, which are often included in films: ...