Process & Planning

Thursday 28th February - 'The Lightbulb Moment'

During our editing, we encountered two problems; we didn't include the 'sitting down opposite another character' part in our film and when we finished editing the Main Task, the film's duration is under a minute. We had an idea to sort out both of these problems in one sequence.

We decided that we are going to include a dream sequence in our film. This describes the main character, Jon, falling asleep after witnessing the mysterious character in his kitchen. The dream will end when the character, Liam, touches his shoulder to wake him up. We are happy to announce that we finished this small sequence on Friday 1st March. We are now ready to go straight to editing our film with a month to spare.

Synopsis of Dream Sequence

The dream focuses on Jon and the mysterious man both sat on a chair opposite each other in a dark, gloomy room with a dim light shining on them. Jon asks him "who are you?" as he is curious to know more about why he hasn't been sleeping late, it is likely that the presence of the hallucination in his head s responsible. This is a recreation of a similar scene from the Preliminary, mostly because our Media Teacher praised our use of media languages centered on the dialogue. (See Teachers Evaluation - Evalutation Page)

We scheduled as early as possible with Liam and Jon that we should come to the TV Studios in the Media Arts Centre on Friday 1st March.

Shot List for Dream Sequence
 

Shot Type/Angle	Description of Shot
Mid-Shot	The character enters his state of mind and he looks disturbed by where he is situated.  Jon: “Who are you?”
Over the Shoulder Shot	We see the hooded figure opposite him trying to look disturbing towards Jon. He replies  Hooded Figure: “I am unpredictable”
Over the Shoulder Shot	Confused by the man’s reply, Jon asks again with complete bewilderment. The hooded figure gives the same reply. Then, a flash appears.  Jon: “What?” Hooded Figure: “I am             unpredictable SFX: Whooshing sound for the flash
Long Shot	The hooded Figure disappears and leaves Jon feeling Freaked out. Jon leaves the shot. The dream sequence ends. Fade transition going back to reality.

 

We learned from our mistakes that this camera will not bring technical problems when we edit.

Inspection lamp used for dark scenes. A bigger lamp was used for the dream sequence because a stron g light source enabled us to light up the dark room we recorded in.

Printed out shot list. We'll need it when we're on the move or if we need to film some place else.

Equipment planning

We will be using a different camera that isn’t the one we used in the Preliminary. This is because we had some technical problems with uploading the clips to the editing software. So, we’re using a camera with a suitable file format for Final Cut Pro X.

We’ll use a tripod because we have been told by our Media Teacher that the examiner do not like the Main Task to have hand-held shots.

Locations

The location we chose is Liam’s bungalow. We believe this would be the perfect setting for supernatural activity to happen. The film creates a psychological aspect of the film, which details how the atmospheric value of the Bungalow makes everything feel condensed, a feeling of claustrophobia. It’s sort of trying to represent the main character’s mind; Jon’s character can only be described as mentally ill.

The dream sequence was shot in the recording studio in school. We had arrangements with the people who occupied it. Luckily, there were no schedules made around that time, time was not distressful at all. We came up with logistics; we planned to shoot 20 or so seconds during a double lesson in Media and Liam was going to bring in his camera and tripod on that day.

Lighting

Our shots during production were specifically hard to manage poor lighting. However, Liam decided it was time to bring in his inspection light to help us balance the darkness; it was quite tricky to position the light but time and patience led us to exquisite results. In the dream sequence, we acquired a light from the films studio; you were able to change the brightness instead of one light setting; that way it was easy to find the correct brightness level allowing us to capture tense shots of Jon in the light and the Hooded Figure behind the light with no face to look at. Consequently, his face was dark and hard to determine who he was.

Sound

The background noise was a nuisance in various different shots. Before, I was apprehensive by having to carefully and precisely cut the sound and muting it. It wasn’t what I thought it was going to be as Final Cut Pro has an option that allows you to mute the background noise; it recognises the difference between foreground and background very cleverly.

Costume

We shot in different days for the reality scenes, so it was important that everything was kept the same.

Jon was told to remember to bring in the same clothes on the days we were filming as well as Liam who brought in the same dark clothing; no mistakes were made in terms of costumes for both Liam and Jon. It was important the actors are wearing clothes according to their character; we believe the costumes we chose were flawless.
 

Human Resources planning.

In the Beginning of this project, me and Liam both assigned ourselves to come up with a short idea for our main task, me and Liam agree with my idea, so Liam was assigned after to do the editing so that way we both worked equally on the man task. To make sure I was doing something constructive throughout this process, I became the director/cinematographer allowing me to bring the film to life and I was adding.

It was only later on when we had a duration crisis; the film was only a minute long. Liam brainstormed the dream sequence, which brought us closer to the brief's demand for a two minute film. 

We were also took into consideration our continuity task very much if the film was going to give us more marks.

A good friend of ours joined our project to help with the lighting used in the dream sequnece. Most importantly, he was told to create a flash from the light to create a visually, stunning transition.

Update: 20th and 22th February

On the 20th, me and Liam shot most of our film and stopped on that day. Turns out that Liam thought we we're finished, so we had a group meeting with Jon and Liam to decide on a specified date for when we were free. I asked Jon who lives outside of town to come over on the 22th to Liam's house (the main task location) to film the rest of the film. We now have a considerable amount of time to edit our film.

Time Schedule





I made this time schedule so that I am on point with what I'm supposed to finish. I will update this time schedule if I’ve completed a task or by adding in a few things that I haven’t mentioned.

• Update 1: I need to apply photos into the Main Task - Production Section. I have to show off the equipment we used.
• Update 2: We need to re-shoot some shots, the previous ones were not to the standard we envisioned (the kitchen scenes and window shot).

Synopsis of the Main Task

The film takes place at the protagonist’s house; the character we follow during the film teenager around 17 - 18, his name is Jon. The film sees him wide-awake around midnight wondering what's troubling him. He decides to get out of bed to suspect anything outside of his window, he turns his attention to the clock to see the time, he turns his bedroom light on and he walks out of his bedroom to investigate further to find out what's been keeping him awake.

He visits the kitchen to grab something to eat, suddenly, he is frightened by the appearance of a dark, masked man behind his fridge door; Jon screams. He soon realises what he believed to be there isn't, he was hallucinating. The question is, was the masked person really there? He is then petrified again by a hand touching his shoulder, he turns around to see who it is, but he's relieved to find out that it was his room-mate, Liam.

Liam comforts Jon and mentions how he was startled by Jon’s screaming, Liam asks if he is okay. Jon lies to save the embarassment, eventually he says he was sleepwalking. Jon decides its time to get some rest, Liam agress and Jon strolls back to his bedroom looking anxious, he collapses onto his bed.

Editing

Using transitions in our film was kept simple and to the point, usually use the typical straight cut. However there are other means of transition available to us that we'll use to keep the film appropriate to the thriller genre.

These are:

• Fade to black.

This transition happens when the picture is gradually replaced by a black slug. It is often used to signal the beginning and the end of a film.

Editing Thoughts: This is key feature in heightening for the tension of the film.

• Dissolve/cross fade.

Crossfades have a calmer approach than a cut. Crossfades can also convey a sense of passing time, changing location, or even express match on action

Editor's Thoughts: This transition is useful for the increasing tension we wanted to be obvious to the audience


Screenshot of time passing by. both shots juxtapose the character's curiosity.

• Wipe

Wipes are effective in switching from different locations. They happen when one shot 'wipes' to another shot. George Lucas is famous purposely using this transition for the Star Wars films.

Editing Thoughts: We believe this transition does not follow up to the codes and conventions of our film. This is because it is mostly used for epic movies with various locations like Star Wars 




From one location to another. Star Wars

Order of Shots

The meaning of the clip can change depending on the order of shots are cut together. The start of the film is an interesting example. The start where Jon is awake could juxtapose the next shot when we see the clock. In this case, we didn't do that as some significant shots would have to be deleted, so it's important we included match on action appropriately. Putting two shots together can suggest a connection or emphasis contrast and we believe we acheived this in the first 10 seconds of the main task.

Continuity Task

After finishing shooting our main task, we can finally conclude that we have followed the criteria of the Examiner's expectations.

180-degree Rule - This is applied to the scene where we see the characters Jon and Liam talking to each other.
Shot Reverse Shot - This is used in the same scene where the 180-degree rule is used.
Match on Action - When Jon opens the door handle halfway in one shot, then the next shot sees him opening the other half of the door, the camera looks at him in the hallway.
Exchanging a couple of lines of dialogue - The scene between the Liam and Jon.
Crossing a room - This is when Jon is walking out of his bedroom and enters the hallway. It is also present when he enters his kitchen afterwards.
Sitting Down Opposite another Character - This will be during the dream sequence (Recent Idea - see Main Task: Production)
Opening the Door - Jon opening his bedroom door (this shot is connected to the next shot showing him 'Crossing a Room'.

Storyboard





 

Shot List

Shot Number	Shot Type/ Shot Angle	Description of Shot	Location
1	Long Shot.	It begins at around midnight. We see the house looking very gloomy and dark. This is where the main task takes place.	Outside the house.
2	Mid-shot of the boy. Camera is positioned next to him.	The film starts with the protagonist in his bed staring into space, not asleep as usual. He can’t sleep as he knows something’s is disturbing him. He gets out of the bed and he moves into the next shot.      ·           Music starts.      ·          Titles start rolling.	Bedroom
3	Mid- shot from one side of the character.	The next shot sees the character moving his blinds to detect any suspicion outside his window. He turns his head to look at his clock.	Bedroom
4	Close - up	He turns his attention to the clock, which shows a very late time, preferably a time when everyone is asleep mostly.	Bedroom
5	Mid- shot from one side of the character.	It then reverts back to shot 3 of him looking at it and then he walks out of shot.        ·           Music stops	Bedroom
6	Long Shot	We see a long shot of outside the house where the room’s window is. The lights turn on from inside the room.	Bedroom
7	Close – up/ High angle shot.	We see a door handle. The protagonist pulls the door half way and switches to the next shot.        ·        Titles stop rolling	Outside the House
8	Low-angle/ Mid-Shot.	The next half of the door is pulled away and the camera focuses on the silhouette of the protagonist from outside the room        ·          Title of film is displayed.	The hallway.
9	Mid - shot	The protagonist walks to the kitchen and opens his fridge to find a midnight snack. He closes the door and the threat (masked villain) suddenly appears behind the door. Boy is shocked and screams at the top of his lungs.        ·        Loud scary sound effect is played when the masked person is present.	Kitchen
10	Mid-shot	We see the character looking at the where the villain appears. He starts to breathe heavily, gradually he’s relieved.	Kitchen
11	Over the Shoulder shot	Jon looks directly where we saw his mysterious figure and he stops breathing too much. He is then touched on the shoulder by someone and turns and shouts in shock, he turns around halfway.
12	Over the shoulder shot.	The other half is where Jon turns around fully to see that it was only his room-mate, Liam. The roommate moves back for the reason that he is also scared of Jon’s scream. Liam is also shocked by the main character’s screaming. Jon is relived again and says the first piece of dialogue        ·           Jon: “You scared the living hell out of me”.        ·           Liam: “Sorry about that. It’s just I heard you screaming. Are you okay?”	Kitchen
13	Over the shoulder shot	The camera switches the opposite way so that it’s over Liam’s shoulder and the camera is looking at Jon. Jon responds.        ·          Jon: “Yeah, I’m okay. I was sleep-walking. You know you shouldn’t talk to people who sleep-walk.	The Kitchen
14	Two - shot	Liam comforts Jon and gives him a friendly pat on the shoulder. Jon leaves the shot.        ·           Liam: “Oh, my bad. It’s not every day a sleep walker screams at the top of their lungs. Well if anything happens, you should always know that I’ve got your back.        ·           Jon: “You’re a good friend Liam. Listen, I’m going back to bed”.        ·           Liam: “Sounds like a plan”	Kitchen
15	Low - angle shot	The camera follows Jon around the house as he reaches his bed. The camera moves with him to show how troubled he is from the distorted experience. At the very end of the film, Jon falls on top of his bed and the film stops Eerie music is played from start to finish. The Film fades out.	The Kitchen, Living Room and the hallway.

Comapring the Prelim. and the Main Task - Differences/Similiarities

Simliarities

We wanted to keep the silhoette clip from the prelim. Since me and Liam were really proud with this clip, we wanted to place it in the film. It presents itself as a catalyst for increasing tension and mystery.

The mysterious masked character was used in the main task again, the desire for using this character was because the usual threat in many Thriller films keep their identity a secret throughout the duration of the film, sometimes they give in and they identify themselves who they really are towards the end; whether they're murderers or characters who were already featured during the film, but 'The Investigator' finds out they were the threat.

Other than that, we loved the costume idea for 'The Threat' in our Prelim. so much that we used it for the main task.

• Black jumper (with hood)
• Black Mask
• Dark-coloured trousers.

Silhouette Shot

Differences
Most openings convey a build up to the threat appearing in the film. We wanted the main task to be an opening that contains a tiny section of the masked appearance, likewise to other Thriller films, we wanted this to build of the character to be shown as a 'jump-scare'. In the Preliminary task, the villain appeared at the start of the film, whereas, the build up in the main task will gradually go towards an unexpected turn of events, thus establishing the plot.

The protagonist in the Preliminary Task was not a developed character in the film. Most film openings make sure that they capture the personality of certain characters through carefully chosen visuals (Often decided by the Director of Photography or the Editor).

Only one transition will be used for the Main Task. Prior to the filming of the Preliminary Task, we felt that if we include transitions, it would ruin the suspense that we're trying to commit to the film. Many Thriller films keep it simple, precise and to the point without any meaningless clip changes. Finally, we finalised our thoughts; a slow fade will be included at the end of the film. This effect brings up a reactive response and a thrilling conclusion to an opening of a film. Fade to white transitions (or flashes) in the dream sequence to show the dream beginning and ending.