Monday 30 January 2012

Editing Evaluation.

When editing our children's drama, we used a programme called Adobe Premium Pro, this is a programme that lets you edit faster, and includes features to make your drama's look professional.

Everything we edited we stored on an E hard drive, although we had backup on our portable hard drive, this was Incase anything got deleted or corrupted.

During our editing, we had to overcome a few problems. For example, scenes from our children's drama being deleted, this meant we had to re add them onto Premium, and edit them again. This happened to us alot, mainly due to lack of organisation, although also due to them not being saved in the correct place, and using multiple computers.

Another problem was putting our scenes in order, and choosing the scenes we were going to use. This was a barrier because we had so many versions of each scene to choose from, there was a lot to go through. Also we had to cut and merge different bits together, to give it the best effect.

During filming we lost a member of the crew. Jordan was one of the main actors in our drama, alongside filming. Thankfully she didn’t go until we had done most of the filming; it still hindered our time schedule. Although this was a barrier, we didn’t overcome it, as quickly as we should have, and probably blamed our mistakes on this act.

Despite problems, there where positives to editing. Throughout time it became an enjoyable task. Adding sound, adding effects, cutting scenes, and merging them together. For example to add an effect, you click on effects, and it pops done with 5 categories, either effects, or transitions, or a search box, you just find the effect you want, and drag it to the appropriate scene.

The format during editing that we used was called, DV PAL, in 48 kHz widescreen, from using this you gain the best sound from our scenes, and it’s the fastest format to use.

My experiences during editing where not that great, mainly because I didn’t put the effort in, from this I have learnt that to edit your scenes well you have to try your best, and put full concentration on it. The main thing I was worried about was making mistakes on our editing, for example, the computer freezing, scenes being deleted, and me cutting them too much. To overcome this, I saved our drama in a couple of places, and asked for guidance.

Although I didn’t do much editing at the start, I did assist in the area by telling the main editors where things should be, and where I think sound effect etc would work well.

During the scene where one of the pupils used their powers, and turned invisible, things where being thrown at the teacher. When this was edited I suggested that a crashing, and banging sound effect should be added, and it turnt out very well.

To reflect on my editing experience, I have to improve on doing more editing when in a group, I think this is the main thing to concentrate and work on. In my thriller I will concentrate more on doing the rough and final cuts, putting things in order, and adding extras, I’m definitely going to push myself, and further my knowledge in this area.

In conclusion, I’ve found that trying new things isn’t a bad thing, and it is not something I should be concerned about. I’ve realised my good and bad points during the children drama, and there is much I’m going to learn from, and push myself further in. I also took note on what I’m good at too.

Thursday 26 January 2012

Recce & Locations.

* Shannons house in Porchester. (Pink Bedroom Amelie)
*Studio at Fareham College. (Dark old bedroom Jackie)
* Busy market ??
*shop in Fareham.
* Boyfriends house ??

Thriller assignment Codes and Conventions.

Don't say a word.
"Don't say a word" is a psychological thriller  directed by Gary Fleder and written by Anthony Peckham in 2001.

The thriller is about a group of thieves steal a rare gem, although during the process two of the gang members betray leader Patrick. Ten years later..... a psychiatrist called Dr Nathan.R Conrad, who is invited to examine a mentally disturbed young woman called Elisabeth Burrows. Gang member Patrick then kidnaps Nathans only daughter, making Nathan attempt to get Elisabeth to reveal a secret number, that only she knows.

Elisabeth, who doesnt trust anyone, she keeps saying "You want what they want, don't you... I'll never tell, I'll never tell... Any of you" over and over again, her experiences in life, have left her unable to trust anyone, but when Nathans daughters life is at risk, Nathan has to do everything he can to get Elisabeth to tell him the secret number.

In 1991, a gang of thieves steal a rare 5 million pound gem, although in the process, two of the gang members betray their leader, Patrick Koster and take off with the precious stone.
Ten years later, on the day before Thanksgiving, child psychiatrist, Dr. Nathan R. Conrad, was invited by his former colleague, Dr. Louis Sachs, to examine a mentally unstable young woman named Elisabeth Burrows at the sanatorium.

 Patrick and the remaining gang members where released from prison on November 4th, they then break into an apartment, which looks directly into Nathan's apartment, having  full view of his wife Aggie and daughter Jessie. That evening, Patrick kidnaps the psychiatrist's daughter Jessie, as a means of forcing him to get Elisabeth to search her memory, and tell Nathan the 6 digit number.
As Nathan visits Elisabeth, she is wary at first but Nathan gains her trust later - especially when he tells her that his daughter was kidnapped and will be killed, if he doesn't get the number that they want. Dr. Sachs admits to Nathan that the gang who kidnapped Jessie also kidnapped his girlfriend to force him to get the number from Elisabeth.

After Nathan takes Elisabeth out of the sanatorium, she begins to remember past events. It is revealed that Elisabeth's dad was a member of the gang that committed the robbery ten years ago and he was the one that betrayed them, and stole the gem. However, the other members of the gang later found him and pushed him to reveal the whereabouts of the gem, later forcing him in front of a train in the underground station. The gang members were arrested after the incident, whilst Elisabeth escapes with her doll, where the gem was hidden. She also remembers the number 815508, which is the number of her father's grave, at Hart Island, which is where her doll is, as she placed it in his coffin.

Nathan and Elisabeth steal a boat, and head Hart Island. The gang members later trace them down, and again force them to give them the number they want. Elisabeth reveals the number and Patrick orders his companion to dig the coffin out. He finds the doll and the gem hidden inside it. He then decides to kill Nathan and Elisabeth as revenge, although Detective Cassidy arrives before he can kill them. Patrick's companion is shot by Cassidy but Patrick manages to wound her. Nathan takes the gem from Patrick and throws it to the excavation. Patrick then goes to recover the gem but Nathan hits the mechanism which covers Patrick with dirt, burying him alive. He is then reunited with his wife and daughter, and it is put across that Elisabeth goes to live with the Nathan and his family.

A thriller is usually the type of film to build up a lot of tension, excitement and suspense. Thrillers play on the viewers mind, and use forking paths, this is mainly then they don’t give too much away to the audience. They also build up anxiety, surprise and terror, to give the viewer the best experience. Thrillers also use a lot of cliff hangers giving the audience “I can’t wait to see what happens next” feeling.

In many thrillers there is what’s known as the Protagonist and the Antagonist. The protagonist in a thriller is a person that you should follow; he is the hero, the one that makes everything better. The antagonist is the character, which goes out of their way to make bad things happen, but they do it in such a way, then they don’t come across as a bad person, or as an enemy. The antagonist may also represent a major threat or obstacle to the Protagonist.
There are many types of genre in thriller. Some common sub-genres are psychological thrillers, which are what I’m evaluating; this is a film that is connected with the mind, or the process of how thinking works. The in a  psychological thrillers is often created by two or more characters preying upon one another's minds, either by playing deceptive games with the other, or by trying to destroy, and play upon the others mental state. There is also Crime thrillers and mystery thrillers. Crime thrillers focus on the life’s of a offender and the crimes they commit, they are also usually based around true life, and things that have been done, where as a mystery thriller focuses on the efforts of a spy or detective solving mysteries, and usually involves a murder.

Characters.

Vladimir Propp studied and suggested that all shown films have what’s known as 8 broad character types. These consist of, the villain which is the character that struggles against the hero, in my thriller it would be Patrick Koster, he is the leader of the gang that kidnaps Nathans daughter, and wants the find the rare gem. There is also the dispatcher, this is the character that send the hero off, this again is probably Patrick the villain, because he just tells Nathan what to do, and send him off to do as he says. Third is the helper, this character helps the hero on their quest, there are a couple in “Don’t say a word” but the main helper would be the mentally unstable young woman named Elizabeth, she would be the helper, because she’s the only person that knows where the gem is hidden, and she helps to save Nathans family. The princess……or prize, This is usually something good at the end of a movie, for example, The hero gets to marry her.

All films have what’s known as

Codes & Conventions.

These are the things you expect to see and happen in a film. For example in a thriller you expect to see a twist, something bizarre, un-expected. This builds up alot of anxiety and is needed to a thriller to work.                                                

The conventions in a thriller has alot to do with the editing and sound. For example, using quick cuts and a variety of camera angles. The music in a thriller also has alot to do with the conventions, it builds up alot of tension and anxiety. Pandemonium plays alot in a thriller, building up alot of madness and disposition.

Also in a thriller you may expect to see handicapped individuals. Someone with a mental disability, or has problems to do with their health. Some examples in which a thriller has handicapped characters are, Misery, where Paul Sheldon is in a wheelchair, and is kept hostage. Another example is Denzil Washington in bone collector. Also rear window. Rear window is a thriller about a wheelchair bound photographer who spies on his neighbours from his apartment window, and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.

Wednesday 25 January 2012

Kieran & Shannon's thriller idea.

“A Double Reflection”
*Female identical Twins. {Jackie & Amelie}
* Jackie is impersonating her twin sister Amelie.
* Jackie also feeds on animals, craving blood.
*Amelie is the mummy’s girl the princess.
*Jealousy.
Amelie is ‘miss perfect’- typical girly girl, mummy’s little angel. Doing well in life, perfect job, boyfriend, fashion and car.
Our thriller is about a young girl that leads a normal teenage life, unaware that she has an identical twin, which is impersonating her.
Jackie is an insane self obsessed individual and has been hidden in the basement all her life. She feeds on flesh and has many problems. Over time she becomes more and more jealous of her perfect sister, living the perfect life, and her being locked away, what is she going to do to stop her jealousy?

Thursday 12 January 2012

Qualitative, Quantitative research.

Whats it called: Rivers Monsters.

How is it presented?
The show is presented in a formal, factual way, and includes alot of travelling around the world to places such as, Germany, Australia, India, Brazil Ethiopia, Uganda, South Africa, The Republic of Congo, Alaska, Florida and Texas.

What is it?
River Monsters is a world wide documentary presented by Jeremy Wade. Jeremy goes round the planet searching for freshwater mysteries and bizarre animal cases, He then reveals the tales and information about what they find. You also find out the creatures history and feeding habits.

3 seasons, which altogether is 21 episodes.

Some examples of Quantitative reserch are.
* Exam results.
* Graphs/Tallies/Stats.

Some advantages of Quantitative reserch is it provides accurate results and it reduces people being bias towards something they really like, and compareing it to other things.

Some disadvantages of Quantitative reserch is that they always need to be updated because there constantly changing. They also deprive things like emotiona nd feeling towards peoples opinions and views.

Some examples of Qualitative Reserch are.
* one to one interviews
* Diaries.
* Blog information.

Some advantages of Qualilative reserch is that they are easily accesable to people, and you can get close to peoples real life experiences and know there stories in detail, you also gain insight on peoples lifes.

Some disadvantges of Qualilative reserch is some of the sources are very bias because of the strongs opinions of people, also you may have to question peoples opinions and the authenticity.

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Aim- to understand different character types in a thriller.

Protagonist {good]
arent aware of who is actually aliigned with them.
{Audience are unaware too}
Dramatic irony- viewer knows more then the characters.

Antagonist.
False hero.
Mentalliy handicaped.
Government {FBI etc}
Manipulator.
criminals.

Types of thrillers:
Conspiracy.
Phycological.
crime.

Character archetypes.
False hero.
Handicapped protagonist. Paul sheldon, diesel washington, rear window.
Picraresque hero- charming, uses wits to escape from problems.
unaware hero- protagonist who stumbles into plot {mistaken identity}
unreliable narrator- dont know what there talking about.
women in peril.