Music

There are two types of music, diegetic and non diegetic. Diegetic sound is when it exists in the “world of the characters” for examples the dialogue between the characters and music which can be heard by characters. Non-diegetic sound is music that is there purely for the audience for example, atmospheric music, soundtracks, voice over and narration.
One great example is Taxi driver. The music director uses non-diegetic music to create haunting atmosphere while the voice over tell us, the audience, the main protagonists thoughts.

One piece of music that we would have used is the first 19 seconds of big dreams, sung by bow wow as it would create irony.

Or group 1 crew as it creates an atmosphere in the first few seconds and in the chorus (56 seconds – 1 minute 20 seconds)

For copy right reasons we are unable to use these so we have chosen some music from the CD’s in which our media teacher provided us with.

Hannah

Props

Props are a vital part of video production. It gives a sense of realism to the film. Everyone has heard of props but what does it mean? Well the term prop refers to any movable item which is visible on a film. There are many different types of props, these include:

· Dressing props – things that are used to dress the sets (furniture drapes, flooring etc.)
· Hand props – items that are used or held by the actors
· Hero props – objects central to the action in a scene
· Stunt props – replica items made of soft materials
· Mechanical props – move or illuminate

Other props also include:

· Weapons – knife, gun, saw
· Greenery - plants, trees, flowers

For our project we intend to use

Scissors

Glue

Headlines

Black book

Crafting knife

Robyn

Actors

While filming, a lot of students in the past (and most likely in the future) have made simple mistakes that have severely affected their grade. This could be due to:
· Costume changes
· Haircuts mid-sequence
· Poor lighting
· Drastic contrasts
· Poorly chosen and unconvincing props
· The characters performance

Although we are not being marked on our acting skills it could still affect our project as poor acting skills will undermine the overall flow and the realism of the mise en scene.
Although we had a 'student double' to help with our running scene, the rest of our acting (which isn't much) was performed by 2 of the members of our group. This saves time because there will be no need for screen tests, but their are limitations with this as they haven’t done any previous acting lessons other than the ones they did in drama in high school.

As you probably already know, although your not marked on them, simple things like having on a different top if you end up filming on seperate days (costume changes), or having unrealistic props that look homemade or like children's toys could seriously affect your grade as it seriously downgrades the look of the entire film.
Hollie

Camera shots

During the making of a film, a director has to decide where to position the camera in relation to the action that is taking places. He/She has to consider the camera angle, camera level, camera height and camera distance. This is vital because the framing of the shot has to create atmosphere whether that is joyful or terrified.

Camera Angle
There are three general angles that are used in film these are-
1. Straight on
2. High angle
3. Low angle
By using the high angle it makes the character look vulnerable and powerless, this would be used during an emotional scene when the character is having a “mental breakdown”. The low angle shows superiority and this is useful for scenes such as bullying in a children’s programme.

Camera Level
This is when the frame is “level” or wonky”. For a level shot the camera person would use either a vertical shot (straight up and down) or a horizontal shot (side to side). However to create a shot which appears distorted or weird you would use diagonal angles (canted shot).

Camera Height
It is important to frame a shot from all different heights so then it keeps the audience intrigued because it changes their perspective. The camera can be positioned
· Close to the floor
· Shooting straight on (impression of low height)
· High up in a room
· Very high up in the sky

Camera distance
Typical camera distances are:
· Extreme Long shot (framing landscapes)
· Long shot (character in the distance)
· Medium shot (character from the knees or waist up)
· Close-up (show extreme detail or facial expressions)
· Extreme close-up (part of the head)
· Over the shoulder shot (shot made from over the shoulder of a character)
· Point of view (seen from the character’s point of view
· Two shot (shot with two characters in it)

This is all useful however it is very tempting to believe that a “low angle” always means superiority. This is not always the case; framings don’t have absolute or general meanings. It means different things in different contexts.

Below are the shots which we intend to use in our project:
· Long shot from behind the character running
· Close-up from behind
· Close up from the front (x10)
· Long shot of teenagers in town centre (x10)
· Medium shot of the desk (x2)
· Close up of the headlines (x6)
· Close ups of the hands (x6)
· Close up as camera flicks across pages in the book
· Medium close up of front of the book
· Long shot of teenagers in town centre again
· Medium shot of teenagers in town centre
· Close up of killers feet
· Close up of the victims head

Hannah

Lighting

One limitation that we have is that, we don’t have access to industry standard professional lighting equipment. This is unfortunate because it is harder to make our visions become reality. However, there are things we can do to improve the quality. These are:


Use natural light – such as sunlight, in the shadows, in the mist, through rain.


Use cheap and cheerful artificial light – use of candles, firelight, torches, car headlights, security lights, neon lights and street lighting


Create colour filters – shine light through coloured liquids, vases and ornaments.


Position the light source for effect – light from above, below or in obscured way which creates different kinds of atmosphere.

“Once you have explored what light sources can provide, experiment with the interaction of with the objects in your frame.” Michael Massey (2004)

The mise en scene is all about atmosphere and continuity. This means that we have to carefully choose costume, lighting, location and props. So if the lighting goes wrong then the performance will be affected drastically.

So our project we will be using low key lighting. We will accomplish this by using natural lighting during the park scene and then using table lamps during the desk sequence.

Here is an example of low key lighting. It is the murder scene taken from Disturbia (2007)

Robyn

Risk assessment for the park

Robyn

Risk assesment for the college

Hollie

Preliminary Shoot

Before we start shooting our opening sequence we had to do a preliminary shoot in order to make sure that we knew how to use the camera and how to edit the shots we have film. Our sequence was based on a person walking into a room sitting down at a table and having a conversation with another participant.

During our shoot there were minor errors such as:

• The first cut isn't invisible, this makes it look non naturalistic. This is shown in the 7th second into the film.

• We didn't have a wide enough range of different shoots due to time constraints.

• also we forgot to edit out background talking 

However, there were some successful qualities in our performance these include:

• We used the 180 degree rule.

• It was simple so it was easy to understand.

• We included the rule of thirds.

• framing

• composition

• the use of space

• Close-ups

Hannah

Costumes

The costumes that will be used in our project will be typical 21st century clothing.
Girls will be wearing:
· Jeans and t-shirts
· Dolly shoes/UGG boots
· Scarves
· Jewellery
· Hats

Boys will be wearing:
· Tracksuits
· Hats
· Jeans
· Jackets
· Trainers
· Pumps

Hollie

Locations

The locations we intend to use in our project are:

Corporation park woods – this will be used at the beginning of the sequence when there is a boy or girl running through a park at night.


In college – this will be used during the credits. This will be when the serial killer is cutting out the headlines and pictures.

These are ideal places to film as they are easy to access and we wont interrupt any of the pupils in college or the general public.

Hannah

Production Calendar

Week 1
Go through the booklet
Do activities to get used to the codes and conventions

Week 2

Choose group and idea of project
Create a blog, write about research and plan

Week 3

Training of equipment
Update group blog


Week 4

Complete preliminary task
Update blog

Week 5

Video groups - start filming
Update blog

Week 6

Take photos
Continue filming
Update blog

Week 7

Complete filming
Edit
Update blog

Week 8

Continue editing - ask teacher for feedback
Aim to have done "rough" cut by the end of the week
Update blog

Week 9

Continue editing
Work on creating pages left
Update group blog

Week 10

Completed task
Upload video for exam board
Be aware of the evaluation
Update blog

Evaluation phase

time limits for this will be set by your teacher and must adhered to. You will usually be given time to draft and then produce a final version of the evaluation. This will be done in your own tine and not in class.

Robyn

Full Storyboard

This is our full, original storyboard, but changes and adjustments will probably be added to it later as our filming begins and we have more of an idea of what look we are trying to create in this sequence, and we may also encounter problems which result in us having to adjust our end product.

Hollie

Idea for the opening scene

· Boy/Girl running through a park at night time
· No noise will be heard, just the images of trees and footsteps etc.
· Flash to pictures of teenagers, with credits.
· Then flash to news reporter on the television, reporting on missing people.
· Distorted then goes off.
· Typical day in town, with teenagers, and their hobbies
· Following the Boy/Girl home, through the park,
· Boy/Girl notices some one following them, and speeds up, eventually running(cyclical opening!)

Hannah

Background Information

It is based on a serial killer; however it is not like your ordinary thriller where it turns out to be a male with a mental problem. Instead it is a female journalist. She has lived her whole life being surrounded by news, everything she has every heard has been bad news. The most recent stories are about teenagers. This is when her hatred begins. She believes that she has to rid the world of these “humans” and create a new generation… a perfect generation.

Robyn

Names

We found it difficult to think of a name for our project. We had ideas like:

• still life

• condemned

• Ideology
  
• camera shy
  

After we added the last details on our project we decided that the title that represented our project the most was camera shy.

Hollie

An opening sequence

An opening sequence is the first thing in which the viewer sees. Within the first five minutes the producers have to make sure that they:
· Establish time and place
· Introduce themes and ideologies
· Set up an equilibrium
· Introduce characters
· Set up audience expectations
· Demonstrate generic conventions


These are the key elements in order to make the perfect opening sequence. The techniques in which our group will focus on are: ·
Genre – crime, thriller
· Enigmas – who is the killer? Why is he/she killing? Why choose these people?
· Conventions – scalpel, knife, blood, headlines, pictures, scrapbook of achievements, hands, eyes, writing.
· Audience expectations - killings, chase, mental problems


We have used the BFI handbook to find out the figures for the regular cinemagoers. We found out that 41.5 % was between the ages of 15 up to 34. Our project is ideal for this age range because it suits their genre perfectly, as it is a horror.


Films that are related to our project are:

Se7en - $100,125,643 - 9/22/1995

Hostel - $47,326,473 - 1/6/2006

American psycho - $15,070,285 -14/4/2000

Hard Candy - $1,024,640 - 14/4/2006

The genre of the film we are making is popular at the moment and people between the age of 15-34 regularly go to the cinema. Most viewings in cinemas lately are of thrillers. Our audience will want to have enigmas created, and a sense of uncertainty whilst watching the film. We shall do this by not giving the identity of the murderer away, but by simply showing them how they operate. We will also create a ‘red herring’, to throw the audience of track. Our idea is different because there is a twist. The murderer is not who or what you expect it to be. Our film will be similar to the ones which have already been released, due to the genre, but can assure you that it will also be entertaining and NOT a cliché.

Hannah