(Click to Enlarge)
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Monday, 4 April 2011
Planning for the Main Task
Friday, 1 April 2011
EVALUATION
Evaluation
1. ‘In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?’ (Rhoda)
Our thriller opening follows most of the typical generic convention of a thriller. One of the main conventions used in our thriller is revenge, mysteriousness and suspense. It is almost mixed with comedy which is done purposely to make the audience feel comfortable and ease of the tension, besides; we didn’t want the story to be given away by using other famous convention such as theme of identity, crime or extraordinary events. By doing this, we subverted the codes and conventions and also to break the fourth wall. Our intension is to have the audience at complete suspense as they don’t know what will happen next but willing to find out, but the props such as the knives, syringe and poisoned beer will help reinforce the genre for our film through the opening scene.
Many of the scenes have been influenced but slightly changes by other thrillers and therefore hold many generic conventions in our thriller. The opening for our thriller can be unnatural or strange for a stereotypical thriller because it is very naturalistic. The location used for our film was indoors. We used an indoor location to subvert the genre of stereotypical genre where danger is expected to happen outside at dark, when infact a lot could happen indoors, for example, somebody getting ‘castrated’
The fact that it is shot in the day with daylight could suggests that the film is very normal and not something you would expect for a thriller, however as the audience keep watching, they realize that it is infact a thriller but an unpredicted one. A lot of lighting is used throughout the opening to suggest that danger doesn’t only happen or occur during the night, it could happen anytime and in any form.
The trailer for ‘TEETH’ inspired us to do an opening to something very un-usual, something almost natural but not. We challenged the conventions of a thriller because of the theme, 'mystery' and 'suspense'. We didn’t use any costume apart from normal clothing, this is done so the story isn’t given away and so that the audience are left clueless as hardly any prop is used to impose what could happen until the end of the scene. We subverted the roles of the characters by making the girl the antagonist rather than the boy. We noticed that too often is a boy used as the antagonist while the girl is the protagonist. We wanted to show that female can use cunning ways to revenge and also to show that some female will go to extreme lengths to get back at a person all for the sake of revenge. The audiences are left clueless until half way through the opening because no ideas, props, or costumes were used to differentiate the protagonist or antagonist. Although the protagonist is dressed in both black and white, this suggests that he isn’t entirely innocent or pure or even the hero, he is indeed the victim as the colour suggests, because the ‘black’ colour overshadows the ‘white’ colour this could also suggest that he is a versatile character as the audience can’t easily identify his role in the scene. The girl dressed plainly also adds to the suspense, making it difficult for the audience to identify her role.
We came up with the title ‘Castration’ because this was what the antagonist (Rachel) was going to do. We thought this title would be a hook for our film because its an extreme and uncomfortable title for a film, however this would make the audience want to watch it in order to know who’s being castrated, why and by who?.
The camera work for our opening trailer was very smooth and convenient because we didn’t need to add special effects or do certain camera work to get a certain effect. We challenged the codes and conventions of thriller/comedy by using shots associated with it, such as close ups, extreme close ups, tracking shots, long shots and mid shots.
2. ‘How does your media product represent particular social groups?’(Colleen)
There isn’t huge range of social group represented in out thriller. The opening consists of two characters; one is a protagonist while the other could be considered as an antagonist. The social group that is represented are teenagers around 18-20. The choice of social groups and the gender of characters were developed in order to best suit this target audience.
We want more males as the target audience because the film acts like a warning to males. It warns them to be careful of cheating because when caught out, the revenge can be extreme. Because the title is named CASTRATION, therefore the title and the contents (props) are inappropriate for younger audiences. This is effective as then the viewers, of what ever age and gender, can put themselves in the characters shoes therefore the audience has to be between 16-25 mainly males; gender representation holds a major role in the conventions of this genre as it makes an impact on the way that the audience views the movie. In our movie, gender and age are not represented in a stereotypical way. This is because the antagonist is female which subverts the conventions of the thriller genre as it is expected that the antagonist is a man that is undoubtedly capable of murder, rather than a young girl that is expected to be young and innocent.
3. 'What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? (Chess)
It is important to consider the vast majority of media institutions that now exist and the practicalities and costs involved with each one. Until fairly recently, the methods that could be utilized to distribute films was very limited, and highly expensive. One had to produce a movie with the backing of a major movie studio with a distribution contract that subsequently was worth millions in order to get the film to cinemas and the DVD. With the advent of widespread and high-speed internet access however, and the ability to produce copies of DVD’s from home without the backing of big finance; distribution within the movie industry has change dramatically.
As a group, we would love our film to be distributed by Universal studios which owns the rights to highly successful movies in the film industry, because Universal studios would be able to offer us post production facilities and technological talent which we need in order to make the film a success. Universal studios will help ‘groom’ the film into what suits the film industry, appealing to target and wider audience.
But as mentioned earlier, the internet is another option for us because free video sharing websites such as YouTube would be ideal in publishing our film or even trailers of it- then at least people are aware of it and through word of mouth, our film could have a chance in film industry. By using YouTube, internet advertising and social networks, we feel that we could genuinely make a following for our film.
4. ‘Who would be the audience for your media product?’ (Rhoda)
The target audience we aimed to appeal to was 16-24. We felt this group would be more appropriate to be the target audience. We researched the website ‘pearl and Dean’ which specialized in advertising new releases and deciding the suitable rating and target audiences.
‘Pearl and Dean’ decide on target audiences by comparing a movie that they consider similar to that one. We feel our film will appeal most to 16-25 year olds. However, it is likely that our film will appeal to many other ages outside this target group. This is because during our genre research before we started producing our film, we found that the action/thriller genre is very popular with all ages.
For example, many children under the age of 16 watched ‘teeth’ and found it educational, and many people over the age of 25 watch and enjoy these movies too. So we hope that our film will hopefully appeal to a broad audience of people. We also feel that our main target group would be males; this is because of the storyline.
We researched the target audience for our inspirational film ‘Teeth’, and then compared it to our film. The main age ranges for the viewers were 15-24 and majority of the viewers were males. We also made a survey which we handed out and received the results that the majority of viewers for a movie of this genre will be males aged 15-25.
The minimum viewing age is 15 as it contains offensive weapon (prop). The viewers cannot see the killings otherwise it would be rated 18.
5 ‘How did you attract/address you audience? (Colleen)
We tried to create a storyline that hasn’t been established before or heard of, while at the same time challenging the current conventions for thriller/comedy. In our film, we tried to appeal to our audience in many ways. One of the first things we did was appoint a young lady as the lead role. For the opening sequence, using a lady as a lead role already would suggest to the audience that she is main focus of the scene when infact the young man is. The effect of using young actors was to make the audience feel comfortable and familiarize themselves with the storyline as it is mainly revenge. Revenge could come in any form or shape, but our storyline is to educate young audience to be careful when it comes to relationships as they are some psychopaths that wont give a second chance but rather put the law in their hands, therefore they should think twice about their partners, as they might not be who they claim to be.
Our film was inspired by ‘teeth’ which is an example of a thriller/comedy and appealed to more males because it was educative and different; therefore we decided to go on the same idea but have something different yet similar. Another way in which we tried to attract our audience was by putting what would be considered as the end of the film to be the opening sequence. This was done purposely to subvert the conventions of thriller/comedy because normally it should be viewed chronologically, so that the audience can ask the questions but answer it with what they see on the screen, however we wanted to involve the audience into the storyline immediately but at the same time give them enough time to start asking questions about the characters but not enough time to answer the question and hopefully this would act as a hook to catch the audience’s attention where they feel the need to know the rest of the story in order to find out what happens.
*We also attracted our audience by holding interviews about their thought of the film ‘Castration’, and below is one of our interview with our target audience
The filming equipment we used had advantages and disadvantages. The tripod was very effective and made massive difference to the professionalism of our film. For example, at the beginning of the opening sequence, we needed an establishing/tracking shot, and that couldn’t have been done without the tripod because it was easier to turn the camera smoothly. We find the tripod to be more practical than hand held camera that is needed to be kept still constantly. However it was quite hard to have the camera tracking with it being on the tripod when it came to the indoors scene, so we had to do a crane shot instead of the shot we wanted originally.
We faced some difficulties such as the camera going off during the recording, this slowed the pace if the production as we had to go back the next day to re-record, which also meant that we had to assure the availability of the actors in order to make sure the recording is completed. Apart from the camera failing us during the recording, everything else went smooth throughout the development of the production
7. ‘Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? (Rhoda)
As a group, we can happily say that we have progressed since our preliminary task as we have learnt more skills when editing a film through ‘Final Cut Pro’, ‘Live Type’ and certainly ‘Garage Band’. Using these softwares has showed us that making a film takes a lot of effort and consumes time when it comes to editing. We also learnt much more about equipments and how to play around with the software in order to get the effect we want in the opening sequence.
During the production of the main task, a huge amount of time was consumed on preparing for the genre such as research and creating a storyboard along with a working script. The storyboard we created helped us to visualise what we wanted the film to be like such as the plots and shots needed for the opening sequence.
It was important that we did the research in order to be fully aware of what is expected in thriller/comedy genre in order to include all the conventions. We also researched movies that had similar genre to ours in order to know that we are on the right track. This helped us develop a detailed plot and a bigger image of what conventions are included in a thriller/comedy genre.
During the production, research into the target audience was done, which is very important to the product as a whole because it is needed for the audience to to fit into the age group that is appropriate for thriller/comedy genre.
In conclusion, we believe that our final product has turned out to be successful even though it could have been better such as having more dialogue, more storyline to the plot and more reaction shots in order to give the audience clue about the story line but overall we are happy with our production as we like to believe that it is unique and different from other thriller//comedy genre.
1. ‘In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?’ (Rhoda)
Our thriller opening follows most of the typical generic convention of a thriller. One of the main conventions used in our thriller is revenge, mysteriousness and suspense. It is almost mixed with comedy which is done purposely to make the audience feel comfortable and ease of the tension, besides; we didn’t want the story to be given away by using other famous convention such as theme of identity, crime or extraordinary events. By doing this, we subverted the codes and conventions and also to break the fourth wall. Our intension is to have the audience at complete suspense as they don’t know what will happen next but willing to find out, but the props such as the knives, syringe and poisoned beer will help reinforce the genre for our film through the opening scene.
Many of the scenes have been influenced but slightly changes by other thrillers and therefore hold many generic conventions in our thriller. The opening for our thriller can be unnatural or strange for a stereotypical thriller because it is very naturalistic. The location used for our film was indoors. We used an indoor location to subvert the genre of stereotypical genre where danger is expected to happen outside at dark, when infact a lot could happen indoors, for example, somebody getting ‘castrated’
The fact that it is shot in the day with daylight could suggests that the film is very normal and not something you would expect for a thriller, however as the audience keep watching, they realize that it is infact a thriller but an unpredicted one. A lot of lighting is used throughout the opening to suggest that danger doesn’t only happen or occur during the night, it could happen anytime and in any form.
The trailer for ‘TEETH’ inspired us to do an opening to something very un-usual, something almost natural but not. We challenged the conventions of a thriller because of the theme, 'mystery' and 'suspense'. We didn’t use any costume apart from normal clothing, this is done so the story isn’t given away and so that the audience are left clueless as hardly any prop is used to impose what could happen until the end of the scene. We subverted the roles of the characters by making the girl the antagonist rather than the boy. We noticed that too often is a boy used as the antagonist while the girl is the protagonist. We wanted to show that female can use cunning ways to revenge and also to show that some female will go to extreme lengths to get back at a person all for the sake of revenge. The audiences are left clueless until half way through the opening because no ideas, props, or costumes were used to differentiate the protagonist or antagonist. Although the protagonist is dressed in both black and white, this suggests that he isn’t entirely innocent or pure or even the hero, he is indeed the victim as the colour suggests, because the ‘black’ colour overshadows the ‘white’ colour this could also suggest that he is a versatile character as the audience can’t easily identify his role in the scene. The girl dressed plainly also adds to the suspense, making it difficult for the audience to identify her role.
We came up with the title ‘Castration’ because this was what the antagonist (Rachel) was going to do. We thought this title would be a hook for our film because its an extreme and uncomfortable title for a film, however this would make the audience want to watch it in order to know who’s being castrated, why and by who?.
The camera work for our opening trailer was very smooth and convenient because we didn’t need to add special effects or do certain camera work to get a certain effect. We challenged the codes and conventions of thriller/comedy by using shots associated with it, such as close ups, extreme close ups, tracking shots, long shots and mid shots.
2. ‘How does your media product represent particular social groups?’(Colleen)
There isn’t huge range of social group represented in out thriller. The opening consists of two characters; one is a protagonist while the other could be considered as an antagonist. The social group that is represented are teenagers around 18-20. The choice of social groups and the gender of characters were developed in order to best suit this target audience.
We want more males as the target audience because the film acts like a warning to males. It warns them to be careful of cheating because when caught out, the revenge can be extreme. Because the title is named CASTRATION, therefore the title and the contents (props) are inappropriate for younger audiences. This is effective as then the viewers, of what ever age and gender, can put themselves in the characters shoes therefore the audience has to be between 16-25 mainly males; gender representation holds a major role in the conventions of this genre as it makes an impact on the way that the audience views the movie. In our movie, gender and age are not represented in a stereotypical way. This is because the antagonist is female which subverts the conventions of the thriller genre as it is expected that the antagonist is a man that is undoubtedly capable of murder, rather than a young girl that is expected to be young and innocent.
3. 'What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? (Chess)
It is important to consider the vast majority of media institutions that now exist and the practicalities and costs involved with each one. Until fairly recently, the methods that could be utilized to distribute films was very limited, and highly expensive. One had to produce a movie with the backing of a major movie studio with a distribution contract that subsequently was worth millions in order to get the film to cinemas and the DVD. With the advent of widespread and high-speed internet access however, and the ability to produce copies of DVD’s from home without the backing of big finance; distribution within the movie industry has change dramatically.
As a group, we would love our film to be distributed by Universal studios which owns the rights to highly successful movies in the film industry, because Universal studios would be able to offer us post production facilities and technological talent which we need in order to make the film a success. Universal studios will help ‘groom’ the film into what suits the film industry, appealing to target and wider audience.
But as mentioned earlier, the internet is another option for us because free video sharing websites such as YouTube would be ideal in publishing our film or even trailers of it- then at least people are aware of it and through word of mouth, our film could have a chance in film industry. By using YouTube, internet advertising and social networks, we feel that we could genuinely make a following for our film.
4. ‘Who would be the audience for your media product?’ (Rhoda)
The target audience we aimed to appeal to was 16-24. We felt this group would be more appropriate to be the target audience. We researched the website ‘pearl and Dean’ which specialized in advertising new releases and deciding the suitable rating and target audiences.
‘Pearl and Dean’ decide on target audiences by comparing a movie that they consider similar to that one. We feel our film will appeal most to 16-25 year olds. However, it is likely that our film will appeal to many other ages outside this target group. This is because during our genre research before we started producing our film, we found that the action/thriller genre is very popular with all ages.
For example, many children under the age of 16 watched ‘teeth’ and found it educational, and many people over the age of 25 watch and enjoy these movies too. So we hope that our film will hopefully appeal to a broad audience of people. We also feel that our main target group would be males; this is because of the storyline.
We researched the target audience for our inspirational film ‘Teeth’, and then compared it to our film. The main age ranges for the viewers were 15-24 and majority of the viewers were males. We also made a survey which we handed out and received the results that the majority of viewers for a movie of this genre will be males aged 15-25.
The minimum viewing age is 15 as it contains offensive weapon (prop). The viewers cannot see the killings otherwise it would be rated 18.
5 ‘How did you attract/address you audience? (Colleen)
We tried to create a storyline that hasn’t been established before or heard of, while at the same time challenging the current conventions for thriller/comedy. In our film, we tried to appeal to our audience in many ways. One of the first things we did was appoint a young lady as the lead role. For the opening sequence, using a lady as a lead role already would suggest to the audience that she is main focus of the scene when infact the young man is. The effect of using young actors was to make the audience feel comfortable and familiarize themselves with the storyline as it is mainly revenge. Revenge could come in any form or shape, but our storyline is to educate young audience to be careful when it comes to relationships as they are some psychopaths that wont give a second chance but rather put the law in their hands, therefore they should think twice about their partners, as they might not be who they claim to be.
Our film was inspired by ‘teeth’ which is an example of a thriller/comedy and appealed to more males because it was educative and different; therefore we decided to go on the same idea but have something different yet similar. Another way in which we tried to attract our audience was by putting what would be considered as the end of the film to be the opening sequence. This was done purposely to subvert the conventions of thriller/comedy because normally it should be viewed chronologically, so that the audience can ask the questions but answer it with what they see on the screen, however we wanted to involve the audience into the storyline immediately but at the same time give them enough time to start asking questions about the characters but not enough time to answer the question and hopefully this would act as a hook to catch the audience’s attention where they feel the need to know the rest of the story in order to find out what happens.
*We also attracted our audience by holding interviews about their thought of the film ‘Castration’, and below is one of our interview with our target audience
The filming equipment we used had advantages and disadvantages. The tripod was very effective and made massive difference to the professionalism of our film. For example, at the beginning of the opening sequence, we needed an establishing/tracking shot, and that couldn’t have been done without the tripod because it was easier to turn the camera smoothly. We find the tripod to be more practical than hand held camera that is needed to be kept still constantly. However it was quite hard to have the camera tracking with it being on the tripod when it came to the indoors scene, so we had to do a crane shot instead of the shot we wanted originally.
We faced some difficulties such as the camera going off during the recording, this slowed the pace if the production as we had to go back the next day to re-record, which also meant that we had to assure the availability of the actors in order to make sure the recording is completed. Apart from the camera failing us during the recording, everything else went smooth throughout the development of the production
6. ‘Have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?’ (Chess)
During the production, we have learnt a lot about technology used in order to produce a piece of film. We have learnt and developed IT skills through blogging, and how to transfer different types of media from the camera to the Apple Mac computers.
The software we used was: Garage Band, Final Cut Pro, and Live Type. Through Garage Band, we were able to make the background music that would mix in with the actions on screen, we wanted a suspenseful music, which was difficult to get on copyright sites, eventually we were able to create the right music we thought was appropriate for the opening sequence; we then exported this file into an MP3, and added it to the sequence on ‘Final Cut pro’. The editing software ‘Final Cut Pro’ was extremely useful software to use as there were huge range of different ways to edit our movie and many different effects to use, so it gave big chance of opportunity to make our movie professional.
The filming equipment we used had advantages and disadvantages. The tripod was very effective and made massive difference to the professionalism of our film. For example, at the beginning of the opening sequence, we needed an establishing/tracking shot, and that couldn’t have been done without the tripod because it was easier to turn the camera smoothly. We find the tripod to be more practical than hand held camera that is needed to be kept still constantly. However it was quite hard to have the camera tracking with it being on the tripod when it came to the indoors scene, so we had to do a crane shot instead of the shot we wanted originally.
We faced some difficulties such as the camera going off during the recording, this slowed the pace if the production as we had to go back the next day to re-record, which also meant that we had to assure the availability of the actors in order to make sure the recording is completed. Apart from the camera failing us during the recording, everything else went smooth throughout the development of the production.
7. ‘Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? (Rhoda)
As a group, we can happily say that we have progressed since our preliminary task as we have learnt more skills when editing a film through ‘Final Cut Pro’, ‘Live Type’ and certainly ‘Garage Band’. Using these softwares has showed us that making a film takes a lot of effort and consumes time when it comes to editing. We also learnt much more about equipments and how to play around with the software in order to get the effect we want in the opening sequence.
During the production of the main task, a huge amount of time was consumed on preparing for the genre such as research and creating a storyboard along with a working script. The storyboard we created helped us to visualise what we wanted the film to be like such as the plots and shots needed for the opening sequence.
It was important that we did the research in order to be fully aware of what is expected in thriller/comedy genre in order to include all the conventions. We also researched movies that had similar genre to ours in order to know that we are on the right track. This helped us develop a detailed plot and a bigger image of what conventions are included in a thriller/comedy genre.
During the production, research into the target audience was done, which is very important to the product as a whole because it is needed for the audience to to fit into the age group that is appropriate for thriller/comedy genre.
In conclusion, we believe that our final product has turned out to be successful even though it could have been better such as having more dialogue, more storyline to the plot and more reaction shots in order to give the audience clue about the story line but overall we are happy with our production as we like to believe that it is unique and different from other thriller//comedy genre.
Friday, 25 March 2011
SCREEN PLAY- THE OPEN WINDOW
Our first task that we were given was to read 'The Open Window', which was a short story we were given written by Munro (Saki), and to recreate the story into our own screenplay. We were required to research other screenplays in order to maintain the initial structure.
EXT. FRAMPTON’S CAR ON SAPPLETON’S PROPERTY - DAY
FRAMPTON NUTTEL drives onto the property of MRS SAPPLETON. As he drives in he looks up anxiously, through the car window, and sees the niece peering down at the car through a curtain on the top floor.
INT. DINING ROOM - DAY
The NIECE opens the front door and welcomes Frampton into the house and encourages him to sit down when entering the dining room. He notices his surroundings by looking around. There is a great fireplace that has not been lit, from the looks of it, for a while. The great oak table surrounded by matching oak chairs seemed to be perfectly laid out. He hardly notices the open window. The niece announces:
NIECE
My aunt will be down presently, Mr Nuttel.
When he sits down she asks him a set of questions while she is standing over him. Frampton replies awkwardly to all of the questions that he is being asked as he feels quite intimidated by the way she has to look down on him.
NIECE
Do you know many people around here?
FRAMPTON
Hardly a soul. My sister gave me a letter of instructions to some of the people here.
NIECE
(Curiously wondering why she is asking him these irrelevant questions)
So then you know practically nothing about my aunt?
FRAMPTON
Only her name and address.
NIECE
(sadly)
Her great tragedy happened just three years ago.
FRAMPTON
Her tragedy?
NIECE
You may wonder why we keep that window wide open on an October afternoon.
(Niece points to the large French window that opens to the lawn)
INT. DINING ROOM – DAY (ALSO DINING ROOM – NIGHT)
The French window is wide open and looks out over the lawn.
FRAMPTON
(Confused)
It is quite warm for this time of year but has the window got anything to do with the tragedy?
The niece smiles sadly before starting her story. She seems to be comforting Frampton as if he is the one that had experienced the tragedy. He looks up at her waiting for her to inform him of the incident.
NIECE
(Slow and dramatic)
Out through that window, three years ago to a day, her husband and her two young brothers went of to their day’s shooting...
Throughout the time that the story is being told there is a flashback from a dark, windy night. Mrs Sappleton walks slowly towards the doors in her night gown with tears leaking down her face. She stands at the window... The light wind is causing the curtains to blow inwards into the house. She stares out into the night sky, with no emotion shown on her face… just hope.
NIECE
(Continues)
They never came back. Their bodies were never recovered; that was the dreadful part of it. Poor aunt thinks that they will come back some day, they and the little brown spaniel that was lost with them, and walk in at that window just as they used to shouting ‘Bertie, why do you bound?’.
(The story is interrupted by the niece’s sobs she has her face in her hands and is looking down to the floor)
The flashback finishes with just a view of the open window. Frampton sits up halfway as if he considers whether or not to comfort her.
NIECE
No, I’m fine…
(She straightens up and continues her story)
That is why the window is kept open every evening till it is quite dusk...
INT. DINING ROOM - DAY
The niece’s facial expression changes to a glare and her piercing eyes slice straight through Frampton.
NIECE
(Continues menacingly)
Do you know, sometimes on still, quiet evenings like this, I almost get a creepy feeling that they will walk in through that window –
(The speech was interrupted)
Mrs Sappleton bustles into the room and her apologies break the eerie atmosphere. The niece’s head snaps around in a second of surprise. Mrs Sappleton repeatedly apologises for her late appearance.
MRS SAPPLETON
(Apologetically)
Please forgive me, I have been quite busy recently and I was not expecting any visitors!
Frampton stands up to greet her fully aware of the niece’s presence behind him. He smiles at Mrs Sappleton in a way to say that she has nothing to apologise for.
INT. DINING ROOM - DAY
All three of them are standing up facing each other, standing on either side of the window. Frampton feels as if the window is dividing them into two groups as the aunt is not aware of his knowledge of the window. He feels out of place and as if he is intruding in her personal business and therefore he stands awkwardly, not knowing what to do with his hands.Eventually he put his hands in his pocket.
Frampton faces the window, with the niece still behind him and Mrs Sappleton faced them but constantly had the corner of her eye towards the window.
INT. DINING ROOM - DAY
Frampton feels extremely awkward as the aunt starts to talk about her family and the open window as if nothing had ever happened.
MRS SAPPLETON
(Happily)
I hope you don’t mind the open window, my husband and brothers will be home directly from shooting, and they always come in this way. They’ve been out for a snipe today, so they’ll make a fine mess on my poor carpets.
Frampton feels uncomfortable and looks around to avoid catching Mrs Sappleton’s eyes. He feels the niece shuffling behind him which makes him feel even more uncomfortable; as if he knows too much. She has a slight smirk on her face, which can be seen behind Frampton’s shoulder, when the aunt mentions the family.
INT. DINING ROOM - DAY
Frampton makes a desperate attempt to change the subject and he starts to talk about himself and his conditions in order to ease the tension. Mrs Sappleton is looking out of the window and out into the distance as if she is in a daydream. Frampton doesn’t notice the lack of attention from his host and carries on speaking. The niece is out of view.
FRAMPTON
The doctors agree in ordering me complete rest, an absence of mental excitement… Oh and the avoidance of anything in the nature of violent physical exercise…
(He trails of his sentence as he realises that not even a fragment of the aunt’s attention is on him and their conversation)
Mrs Sappleton’s eyes were out in the distance waiting for the return of her ‘long lost’ family. Frampton doesn’t say a word as he does not want to interfere in her thoughts. He sits there uncomfortably waiting for the aunt to speak. As she does not say a word he looks around for the niece in order to help him in his situation. Mrs Sappleton suddenly shakes her head as if to snap out of a trance and looks up at Frampton in surprise.
MRS SAPPLETON
(Apologetic)
I’m so sorry! I was listening to you but my mind seems to be elsewhere today.
INT. DINING ROOM - DAY
At this point the aunt is not looking towards the window but towards Frampton who is facing the window.
FRAMPTON
It’s fine… really…
(Trails off as he looks past the aunt and into the distance outside the window)
The aunt goes out of focus and he concentrates on something moving in the background. He sees three tall figures and the shape of a dog. He starts to panic and does not believe what he’s seeing until they start to get closer and closer.
INT. DINING ROOM - DAY
His eyes show extreme fear as he looks around for the niece. His eyes are wide open with shock and beads of sweat start to stream down his forehead.
INT. DINING ROOM - DAY
He looks over to the niece to see her reaction in hope for reassurance. When he looks at her she is staring at the same three figures as he is with her eyes wide open with fear and, what seems to be, in a state of shock. Mrs Sappleton seems to notice what they are looking at and turns around. Her voice can be heard in the background…
MRS SAPPLETON
(happily)
Here they are at last! Just in time for tea and don’t they look as if they were muddy up to the eyes!
Mrs Sappleton stands by the window looking out at the family happily. Frampton hears an echo in his head repeating and getting louder by every step closer the three figures took.
FIGURES
(Echoes)
Bertie, why do you bound. Bertie, why do you bound! BERTIE, WHY DO YOU BOUND!
Frampton stands frozen with the echoes of the voices pounding his brain.
EXT. SAPPLETON’S LAWN - DAY
Frampton turns to run out of the house through the window. He runs towards the camera and the niece and the aunt are in the background, looking at him, confused at his reaction to seeing the other members of the family. Frampton runs as fast as he possibly can in the opposite direction to the three figures still in shock horror.
EXT. SAPPLETON’S PATH & THE ROAD - DAY
He runs down the path as fast as he can to get as far away from the creepy house as soon as he possibly can. In his drastic attempt he stumbles a few times and even falls to the ground at one point after colliding with an unknown cyclist. He looks behind him in case he is being followed by the ‘ghostly’ figures and rushes to get up in order to carry on running. He runs out into the distance without stopping to look behind him even once.
INT. DINING ROOM - DAY
The aunt is looking out into the distance in the direction of where Frampton ran with her arms open with confusion. The husband and brothers look over their shoulders in the direction of which Frampton ran also looking confused.
HUSBAND
Here we are, my dear…
(Curiously)
Who was that man that bolted out as we came?
They all walk back into the house as Mrs Sappleton turns to answer the question that she had just been asked.
INT. DINING ROOM - DAY
The aunt stands to answer the question with the niece behind her out of view. She replies to her husband while walking out of view of the camera.
MRS SAPPLETON
An extraordinary man, a Mr Nuttel. Could only talk about his illnesses and dashed off without a word of goodbye when you arrived. One would have thought he had seen a ghost.
INT. DINING ROOM - DAY
NIECE
(Still smirking devilishly)
I expect it was the spaniel. He told me he had a horror of dogs. He once went to a cemetery somewhere in the banks of the Ganges where a pack of pariah dogs attacked him. He had to spend the night in a newly dug grave with the creatures snarling and grinning just above him; enough to make anyone lose their nerve.
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Main Task - Working Script
Title: Castration
by
Colleen, Chess and Rhoda. EXT. SCENE. DESCRIPTION.
A young man about the age of 18, average height approaches his girlfriend’s house for dinner. He knocks on the door and waits patiently. A short young lady opens the door and smiles at her boyfriend.
Tom:
(sincerely)
Hello Gorgeous.
colleen:
(sarcastically)
hi baby.
come on in.
INT. SCENE. DESCRIPTION.
The young lady lets him in and she turns to close the door with a devious look.
Colleen:
Do you want a drink babe?
Tom:
Yea, sure. Thanks.
He then walks to the sitting room, takes his coat off and sits down bopping his head to his ipod|MP3.
Colleen walks to the kitchen and brings out a beer from the fridge. She pours the beer and arsenic into a pint glass, places it on a tray with the other contents (knives + syringe) covered with cloth, she picks up the tray and carries it into the sitting room.
Colleen: Here.
Tom downs off the beer, half way though, there is shot of Colleen smiling, after/during he downs it off, he looks through the glass and sees her smiling.
Tom: Why are you smiling?
He then collapses.
Colleen: No reason hun. (sarcastically)
Colleen gets rid of the cloth and present the knives and syringe while hysterically laughing. The end.
by
Colleen, Chess and Rhoda. EXT. SCENE. DESCRIPTION.
A young man about the age of 18, average height approaches his girlfriend’s house for dinner. He knocks on the door and waits patiently. A short young lady opens the door and smiles at her boyfriend.
Tom:
(sincerely)
Hello Gorgeous.
colleen:
(sarcastically)
hi baby.
come on in.
INT. SCENE. DESCRIPTION.
The young lady lets him in and she turns to close the door with a devious look.
Colleen:
Do you want a drink babe?
Tom:
Yea, sure. Thanks.
He then walks to the sitting room, takes his coat off and sits down bopping his head to his ipod|MP3.
Colleen walks to the kitchen and brings out a beer from the fridge. She pours the beer and arsenic into a pint glass, places it on a tray with the other contents (knives + syringe) covered with cloth, she picks up the tray and carries it into the sitting room.
Colleen: Here.
Tom downs off the beer, half way though, there is shot of Colleen smiling, after/during he downs it off, he looks through the glass and sees her smiling.
Tom: Why are you smiling?
He then collapses.
Colleen: No reason hun. (sarcastically)
Colleen gets rid of the cloth and present the knives and syringe while hysterically laughing. The end.
Friday, 4 March 2011
Preliminary Task
Preliminary task
by
Chess, Colleen and Rhoda.
INT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION
1. A young lady is walking quickly (almost jogging) down the corridor and towards a door. She is carrying her bag and before she enters the room she checks the time on her watch.
2. When she approaches the door she opens it and walks through.
3. When she enters the room she immediately sits down.
4. The other young lady already sat in the room, jumps out of her seat and while standing - shouts in anger at the lady who has just sat down about being late.
5. In response, she vulnerably claims that she didn't know she was late and stays put in her chair.
6. The lady who is stood up then makes a sarcastic remark that she is "clearly late."
Rhoda:
(hastily)
Why were you late?
Colleen:
(innocently)
I didn't know I was late.
Rhoda:
(sarcastically)
Well you're clearly late!
by
Chess, Colleen and Rhoda.
INT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION
1. A young lady is walking quickly (almost jogging) down the corridor and towards a door. She is carrying her bag and before she enters the room she checks the time on her watch.
2. When she approaches the door she opens it and walks through.
3. When she enters the room she immediately sits down.
4. The other young lady already sat in the room, jumps out of her seat and while standing - shouts in anger at the lady who has just sat down about being late.
5. In response, she vulnerably claims that she didn't know she was late and stays put in her chair.
6. The lady who is stood up then makes a sarcastic remark that she is "clearly late."
Rhoda:
(hastily)
Why were you late?
Colleen:
(innocently)
I didn't know I was late.
Rhoda:
(sarcastically)
Well you're clearly late!
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
Friday, 11 February 2011
PANIC ROOM
The scene starts with an establishing/ bird’s eye view shot with the institution’s name, then various shots of places and buildings are shown as texts stands in the air. Majority of the shots used are long shots of New York City. A lot of bird’s eye view and tracking shot is done as it shows names of actors, producers, editors are shown and the significance of this is to familiarize the audience with the cast. The opening credit is being edited into the buildings so cuts don’t need to be made between shots of landscape and opening credits. The titles are very grand and easy to read as it stays on the screen for quite a while. The sound is non diegetic as orchestra music plays in the background. It starts quietly as the camera tracks through the building, then it gets louder and the pace picks up a little suggesting adventure and action, then it goes back to being quiet and fades into the dialogue that takes place when the camera pans down. There is no narrative plot in the opening sequence as no action is shown making the film ambiguous as it isn’t fully established, however the characters are talking about a house suggesting that this house is important, therefore it’s hard to categorise the film into a certain genre, however the location is in the city and the music is eerie which could imply thriller or danger. The audience don’t get a chance to meet the main characters, but towards the end of the opening sequence, two characters are seen and heard talking about an accommodation, however this is done to create suspense because the audience are left guessing who the antagonists and protagonists are. The target audience were mainly 15-24, although females went to see it the most as well as C1.
COMPARISON OF SE7EN AND PANIC ROOM
Both sequences include bird eye view at the beginning. Panic room starts with an establishing/ bird’s eye view shot with the institution’s name, then various shots of places and buildings are shown as texts stands in the air. Majority of the shots used are long shots of New York City. A lot of bird’s eye view and tracking shot is done as it shows names of actors, producers, editors are shown and the significance of this is to familiarize the audience with the cast, while in SE7EN, a birds eye view shot is used to show a picture of two disfigured hands and very quickly fades away by showing another image of sharp objects but a close up on a razor then various shots are used but close ups are used mostly as it gives a closer look of objects and action.
Both sequences don’t give the story away, as they keep the audiences in suspense because the main characters aren’t revealed. In SE7EN, in between various shots shown on the screen, names of the actors, producers and directors are shown in black, however the text doesn’t stand still, it is constantly moving, almost like a light bulb with inconsistent energy to produce the light.
The significance of showing the actors name is to catch the audiences’ attention because majority of the actors are famous and well known such as Brad Pitt. The black background, inconsistent light and disturbing images shows that the film is full of mysteries, for example, the opening of a book filled with information as the character highlights and takes notes suggesting that it is thriller, while in PANIC ROOM, the opening credit is being edited into the buildings so cuts don’t need to be made between shots of landscape and opening credits. The titles are very grand and easy to read as it stays on the screen for quite a while.
The sound in SE7EN is non diegetic, however creaking, splashing, and whooshing sounds are heard making the object shown on the screen even more disturbing. The music is slow and steady as matches the action on screen, but towards the end of the sequence, the music paces up as it reaches a climax but at the end, the audience can hear ‘we’re getting closer to God’ in the lyrics suggesting death, and ends with a black screen with the inconsistent light, again adding to the iconographies of thriller/horror. In PANIC ROOM, the sound is non diegetic as orchestra music plays in the background. It starts quietly as the camera tracks through the building, then it gets louder and the pace picks up a little suggesting adventure and action, then it goes back to being quiet and fades into the dialogue that takes place.
The narrative technique used in SE7EN thriller is appropriate as it teases the audience by not showing the character, the story line, or location, however, different shots of actions done by the mysterious character (as the audience do not know if it is a female or a male or even someone they know) gives a clue that the film is going to be about answered questions as this character is busy gathering information and doing research as the pictures convey this. In PANIC ROOM, there is no narrative plot in the opening sequence as no action is shown making the film ambiguous, it’s hard to categorize the film into a certain genre, however the location is in the city and the music is eerie which could imply thriller or danger. The audience don’t get a chance to meet the main characters, but towards the end of the opening sequence, two characters are seen and heard talking about an accommodation, however this is done to create suspense because the audience are left guessing who the antagonists and protagonists are.
The lighting in SE7EN is dark and it is hard for us to see everything that is being shown. This lighting gives us the effect of it being more scary and mysterious. We also only see one character and that character is also mysterious to us too. Also, because the setting is surrounded in violence it makes it more scary and eerie for us because we cannot identify the character doing all of these weird, strange things. While in PANIC ROOM,
the lighting is naturalistic and normal as it shows a normal day in New York City, which also gives an eerie atmosphere because danger could be near without being aware, just because it is daylight, it doesn’t mean there is safety.
TITLE ANALYSIS
SE7EN
According to the codes and conventions of the title sequence, the producer’s name appears first.
The directors name appears next, but the conventions of titles would normally have the director’s credit as the last credit.
Next, the stars of the film appears. The main characters names are shown.
This is followed by the title of the film.
The names of the
supporting cast is then shown.
Followed by the crew.
The director’s name is then shown again.
PANIC ROOM is very conventional as it shows the title sequence chronologically which is almost similar to SE7EN.
The first thing that appears on the screen is the producer’s name.
Followed by the main characters.
Then the title of the film is shown.
Followed by the supporting cast.
Then the crew and director’s name is shown at the end.
Unlike SE7EN and PANIC ROOM, CHILDREN OF MEN subvert the codes and conventions of title sequence as at the beginning the producer’s name is shown but then the story line is established.
Followed by the title of the film, however nothing is shown after that suggesting that the director wanted to engage the audience into the plot immediately which means that the director’s name, actors, supporting cast, and crews name is shown at the end of the film (the credits).
According to the codes and conventions of the title sequence, the producer’s name appears first.
The directors name appears next, but the conventions of titles would normally have the director’s credit as the last credit.
Next, the stars of the film appears. The main characters names are shown.
This is followed by the title of the film.
The names of the
supporting cast is then shown.
Followed by the crew.
The director’s name is then shown again.
PANIC ROOM is very conventional as it shows the title sequence chronologically which is almost similar to SE7EN.
The first thing that appears on the screen is the producer’s name.
Followed by the main characters.
Then the title of the film is shown.
Followed by the supporting cast.
Then the crew and director’s name is shown at the end.
Unlike SE7EN and PANIC ROOM, CHILDREN OF MEN subvert the codes and conventions of title sequence as at the beginning the producer’s name is shown but then the story line is established.
Followed by the title of the film, however nothing is shown after that suggesting that the director wanted to engage the audience into the plot immediately which means that the director’s name, actors, supporting cast, and crews name is shown at the end of the film (the credits).
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