Group planning - Miss Georgiou

Group planning

My group consists of me, Malu and Bettie we have group meetings every week, we discuss and brainstorm ideas to include in our thriller production. Also by having meetings every single week we can keep improving and adding things that one of us might have thought of.  Our meetings our essential to ensure that when it comes to filming, we have planned how we are going to film our production.


Our first group meeting was on the 13th of october. The meeting allow Bettie, Malu and myself to discuss our own indivdual ideas. After each narrative explained, we then discussed what we thought was good and bad in the narrative and also if it was good if we would try to incoperate it with our group narrative. Once we had heard everyones narratives we started to create a group narrative; my idea for the setting to be a forest was agreed to be used in our group narrative. Then Bettie idea was to have a canniball killer, this would be herself as the antagonist as it would be unexpected, and the location being the forest makes the other characters vunerable.

Our second meeting was held on the 24th of october. We finalised what our group narrative was, it consisted of a group of friends that walk their dog, until it goes missing then the group of friends split up to look for the dog, Bettie is the antagonist and a cannibal killer and she eats me when everyone is looking for the dog. Once Fred finds Bettie once she has killed Kane he has to run for he's life. We also discussed what sort of conventions to include in our production, low key lighting we thought would benefit our film to set an eery, scary setting.

On our third meeting it was focused on mise-en-scene, this included the lighting and colour, costume, iconography, the settings and positions of characters. The lighting and colour was discussed and planned to keep low key as it is a thriller film. The costume of characters are planned to be casual to relate to our target audience who are going to be the same age as the actors 16-20. The only iconography we are using is the stick we throw for the dog because as the killer is a cannibal there are no weapons.

On the 10th of novemeber our fouth meeting took place and this time we discussed the editing techniques. There are loads of different editng techniques, therefor we looked at the sheet we glued in our book to help us decide on what we was going to include. We found the techniques that we thought would set be good for the thriller genre, these were: diegetic and on screen sound to show the fear of the characters, another technique we plan to include will be montage editing, this is to build up tension and will be used on the chase scene. Malu suggested we play about with the fillters when we edit, to ensure that we keep the thriller and scary look to the film.

The next group meeting was on sound. Here we discussed what shots were going to be used and where certain sounds would be effective, for example when Fred walks up behind Bettie once she has killed Kane we thought a eery quite high pitched sound should be used to create tension, and put the audience in fear for Fred. Another sound we plan to scare the audience with, wil be a very high pitch scretch that will happen as Bettie turns round to reveal she is the antagonist. This will shock the audience because she is a female and most antagonist are male. We think the sound will show that Bettie should be feared.

Our last group meeting was on the 12th of novemeber, this meeting was on who and how many characters we plan to include in our production. We planned to have six characters in the film, Bettie and two of her firends and myself and two of my friends. Due to not being able to get everyone to meet at the same time and place because they had other comminents or things to attends to. We actually can only have my friend Fred. But the meeting wasn't all a waste of time because we planned what we wanted the characters to look like, casual tennagers. We also thought the charcters all being the same age as us would be benefical for our target audience 16-20 to be able to relate to the characters.

Group meetings have been very helpful in order to keep updating and amending our group ideas on the film. The only way to ensure our production would look like a real proffesional production, was to keep talking and going through what we have planned. Every single meeting there was a new idea or innovation on the plans we had for the thriller film. I personally think the people in my group, Bettie and Malu are the best people i could have been with in the class because they both are targeting to get high grades, and therefor we are all working very hard to make sure that this media production will be very succesful.

Production Roles - Miss Miller

Production Roles

We thought it was important to split up production roles, so that one person didn't have to much to do. By splitting up the roles each person can take responsibility for one or two roles, therefor can focus on their roles and ensure that each role is done sufficiently.  My roles include: Producer, director and actor. Bettie is the Music producer and editor. Malu roles include Director of Photography, Screenplay writer and the Mise en scene co-ordinates.


Myself being the producer I had to decide the location, supervise the film being made, review each clip after it being filmed to make sure that the clip will work, and arrange days and times for everyone involved to meet. After conducting our questionnaire I went with the most popular typical thriller setting, which was the forest, the drawback of filming in the forest is that it gets dark quickly and there is obviously no lights, therefor minimise our time to film, but the forest is a eery and scary location which is key for our thriller genre. The hardest part of being a producer is arranging for everyone to meet. We have planned to have six actors involved in our film and with people having other commitments such as college, it is hard to find a day and time for everyone to be able to attend. Director is my second role, as a director i will have to position the actors in the correct place for each scene, and ensuring that they know what they're doing. Also to co-ordinate the camera man (Malu) and the cinematography which will include low key lighting, and being in the forest this is vital to keep the lighting the same, as in different parts of the forest it is darker than others.

Bettie's roles are to focus on the editing and music. This will al be done once we have filmed the whole production therefor her only responsibility during the filming is to be a good actor. We have filmed part of the film and Bettie has being looking through the different types of music she can download that will be useful in our film. Bettie, Malu and myself have been editing the parts that we have filmed, but bettie has the final say as to what we are going to do. I think the music/sounds Bettie has chosen are very good for example, the 'house of leaves' music is played through out our production and works well to build tension, it also sets the scene as a thriller genre.

Malus roles are director of photography, screen play writer and the mis en scene co-oridnates. Malu role of being director of photography means she is in control of the camera. Malu has been assigned to camera man as she did not want to act so this role seemed to fall into place with malu. The mis en scene co ordinates, this includes a range of different responsibilities but Malu main ones are hair and make up, this will be when Bettie has her make up done to make it look like she has eaten me. Also the setting and iconography is a important part of Malu's role as she needs to ensure that the actors are using the correct iconography and are positioned in the correct way so the setting can be displayed to the audience, in order to give the film the eery and thriller effect.

Opening scene narration - Miss Miller

Opening scene narration

Our opening scene narration will be around two minutes long. I am going to include the four micro-elements which are: sound, editing, mis-en-scene and cinematography.

The first shot our film starts with is a panning shot of the forest, this shot last around five seconds the editing style we will use is a flicking light to create an eery setting, the sound is of normal forest sounds such as birds, the mis-en-scene at this stage is just to ensure the lighting is low key, the cinematography of this shot is to have a long shot panning the forest. The next shot is when the characters walk into the forest we will use a high angle shot, the sound will be the on screen sound of conversation between the actors, the mis en scene is planned to be the forest surroundings and the whole film is going to be filmed around 3 o clock so the lighting is low key, the only editing taking place at this part may be to cut out anything we don't need.

The next part of the film is the friends standing around and I am going to throw the stick for the dog, after the dog has come back once i am going to throw it again and then she doesn't return. I begin to panic and ask everyone to split up and look for the dog (Bella). The sounds that are going to be used here are natural forest and a sound called 'house of leaves' which builds tension, the camera angles used are going to be close ups and reverse shots to show conversation between the group. The iconography used is going to be the stick that the dog chases, and the camera shot will be panning the dog until she runs far enough so you can not see her. The editing will be transmissions in-between shots that change, or just adding the shots together in the correct order.

Once the group of friends are looking for the dog there are going to be a range of shots to show the group of friends split into pairs, the main focus of this part is to show that Bettie and I have gone together, but to keep the audience unaware that Bettie is the antagonist. The sound of the 'house of leaves' will increase volume to put the audience in suspense. The editing techniques will be done on final cut pro, at this stage it will be including the credits and bringing the clips together in the correct order. The mis-en-scene will be focusing on the position of characters as we need to show that the group split up into different directions. Finally the cinematography will be to include a range of camera angles, the most important shot will be a low angle shot of bettie to suggest that she may be dangerous.

The next part of the film is going to be me screaming in the background, because of bettie eating me, the other actors will panic and start to look for me and Bettie until they come across Bettie leaning over Kane after she has killed him. The sound that are going to be used, are a male screaming and grunting this is going to be used when I am being eaten. The editing style will be transmissions between shots of the different friends walking around the forest. The mis en scene will be focused on the make up of Bettie, which will be the fake blood around her mouth to show she has eaten me. The main camera angle used is going to be a point of view when one of the actors walks upbehind bettie.

The final stage of the film is when Bettie is identified as the antagonist and the whole group are running out of the forest, Bettie will constantly be in the background walking to suggest that they can not escape. One of the editing styles used will be fade when the film ends to leave a cliff hanger. The sounds will be very upbeat chase music to keep the audience in suspence. The mis en scene will be focusing on the low key light to show to characters cant see much into the forest, therefor leaveing a panic effect on the audience, and the cinematography will be the long and medium shots of the characters running out of the forest.

Overall i think we have a good narrative it is just gonna come down to weather the acting and filming is up to standard, in order to make our editing effective. For example the actors must show the same body language and fear as the sounds that are used at that time. Therefor we plan to use our storyboards to ensure we get all the acting done correctly and effectively.

Risk Assessment

 

Risk Assessment 

It is crucial that we consider all the risks that could happen so that we could try to avoid being involved in any risks. To sustain a safe and precautioned filming environment, we have listed the possible risks that could happen such as: falling out of a tree, to prevent this hazard we have decided we are going to try and use a ladder to climb any trees.    

Having a risk assessment outlines all the possible risks that may occur during our filming of the thriller. Their are obviously some risks that may be unavoidable for example: slipping the tripping on the forest floor, the most precaution we can do is just to ensure all actors keep an eye out for any roots or puddles around them. In conclusion this risk assessment had made us think about the location more and come to better ideas, as to where we should film certain scenes, for example their is a tree that has a huge base that would be easy for mall to sit in it safely and film a high angle shot. Another example of a risk that can be prevented is the dog running off, I can bring my lead in order to have her on the lead straight after her scene that she runs off, and have they other characters spread out so they can grab her once she has run off. Overall the risk assessment has ensured that we can have a solution to mainly any problems we face.

Filming Schedule - Miss Georgiou

Filming Schedule

Our Filming schedule includes: Date&time, Location, Content/Action, Shot type and duaration, Costum hair and make up, iconography, Personal and Equipment. This will ensure that our group all know when and where we are filming, and have a clear understanding of what we need on each day. everyday we plan to use casual clothing, which means we will need to wear the exact same thing everyday, to make it the film look realistic.

Although we planned to stick to our filming schedule it has been verry difficult due to some of they other actors letting us down. Due to our film needing all the actors for the most part of the film, this has caused a huge barrior in filming our production. We have filmed the parts that we just need me and Bettie, but for the most part of the film the other actors are crucial. The filming schedule is still very helpful, just the date and time which is not correct, as we have to keep re planning when to film. Malu, Bettie and myself made a what app group chat in order to contact each other easily, this has helped to overide the date and times planned on the filming schedule.

In conclusion the filming schedule has helped us to consider what we should bring to filming set. Also to include more camera angles. Overall the filming schedule is gonna come to good use when we have re planned the days to film, as we can look back at the schedule to see what part we should be up to and use the information that we have planned for that day.

Research into target audience - Miss miller

Research into target audience 

I carried out research to get a better understanding of my target audience befor we create the film, because it would give our group a berrer understanding of what the audience is looking for. We gave out our questionnaire out to 40 people to get a general answer, in my group we made pie charts out of the results to show the majority the answers that people choose. I will use my results to construct my film. For example using the most popular answers to make a film the suits the majority of our target audience.

We made pie charts showing to show the results of each question.

The first question we asked was their age, we thought this would benefit us when setting a target audience and age certificate on the film. From our results you can see the majority is 16-25, so the film we be aimed towards either a 15 or 18 age certificate. Therefor focusing on what 16 and over answeres were to our questionnaire was vital. By using their answers we could include aspects of a thriller sequences that they want to see in our production. Also because we are in this age bracket our ideas are going to more then likely be quite succesful in our production.

Our second question, what gender are you, was important to see the majority of either female or male watching our thriller sequence. In this case we had 75% male, although our film will be aimed at both genders, some aspects of the sequence may be what a typicall male would like to see in a thriller film. This is because our pie chart tells us that mostly males will be viewing our production.

The next question was what thrillers do you like and why, we gave our participants a option of four dirrent thrillers: 'The shinning' 'Saw' 'Insidious' and 'Other' this was an important question because from this we can see what narrative or aspects of a thriller the target audience prefer. The pie chart shows quite an even split but the shinning was most popular. Therefor our production may be influnced by this film, or because it was tight between saw and the shinnign, we may be able to mix the aspects of this films when we create our own production. In order for our target audience to enjoy our thriller sequence.



The next question asked was what type of sub genre do you like, this question was used to identify the most popular sub genre, as most people like a sub genre in a thriller film to keep it intresting. As a result of our pie chart the most popular sub genre was sci fi. This may lead to our production including a sic fi sub genre.

The sixth question we asked was, what do you expect in a thriller film? the options we gave were: death, possession, chase scene and other. The most popular answer to the question is death. Therefor my group plan to include a death, but we have been slightly unconventional as usually the antagonist is a male, but in our production the antagonist is going to be Bettie which will be unexpected, creating more shock and surprise which are vital conventions of a thriller film.

The next question was, what type of music do you expect in a thriller film? the most common answer was eery and second highest jumpy. Therefor during our thriller film we will ensure we use eery music, this will probably be when the characters are entering the forest, so that the audience get an idea that the forest is dangerous for the characters. This will leave an effect on the audience by putting them in suspense and the reason the second highest answer was jumpy, is due to that is what the audience will expect next.

Our next question was what do you think a good narrative is for a thriller film? the most popular answer was a sychopha on the loss. I think this is a typical narrative and is included in most thriller films. Therefor we will try to include it but with a twist. This is so that we ensure the audience can not guess who the antagonist is until the death is revealed. Bettie is not the average sychopha, she is very controlled and plans her killings therefor her friends do not notice that she is an antagonist. 

What weapons do you like to be used, was a question we included but i don't think will apply to our thriller film because bettie is a hannibal; which means she kills by eating people. The most popular answer was knife. We may have one character who has a knife on him which could lead to the audience thinking he is the antagonist. Therefor will lead to a bigger surprise and shock when it is revealed that Bettie is the antagonist. Shock and surprise are very important in making our thriller successful.

Our final question of the questionnaire was what would be a typical setting. The most popular answer was forest, which has had a massive influence on our film, as our whole production has been planned to be filmed in the forest. Our antagonist is to be unknown until the death of Kane, therefor we looked for a normal reason for a group of people to go into the forest. The best idea we came up with was walking a dog. Therefor i am going to walk my dog in the forest with a group of friends and Bettie will be included with the group of friends. Our target audience is our own age group and this to them will look like a normal day for a group of friends, therefor make the revealing of Bettie being the antagonist a massive shock, which is conventional to a thriller film.

In conclusion our questionnaire has helped my group to decide on different factors of our thriller film. The most useful question was the typical setting, as we strongly agreed with the answer being the forest. Therefor the questionnaire has assisted our group in designing a thriller film that should be successful. Also by conducting are questionnaire it gave us an idea of our target audience as 62% of the people we asked were 16-25 and we feel that they gave us the best feedback and therefor we will give our film a 15 certificate.

  

   

Group storyboards - Miss Miller

Group Storyboards

My group is Bettie, Malu and Myself. Before constructing our group storyboards we each made our own individual storyboards of the group narrative. This allowed for each of us to be creative in our on ways then see what we thought was good about each others. After looking at each others individual storyboards we worked together to make a main group storyboard, including all the best features of each others. I made sure we included to shot when someone walks up behind Bettie after she has killed Kane, as i think that will build tension which will ensure our film is in the thriller genre.

The purpose of having a group storyboard is so that everyone in the group has a clear understanding of what the narrative is, and how we are going to film it. The group storyboard gives us a basis to look out when we are film so we ensure we include everything we planned to
                                                      to include. We was inspired by the film Mama to use an isolated location this is why we went for the forest, as it is quite a freaky and a typical thriller genre setting. We have specifically came up with different camera angles in different stages of the film to highlight authority on venerability. An example of this is within our first five frames we have planed to use a high angle shot of the group of friends entering the forest, this is to outline the innocence of the group and also to insinuate the danger of the forest. Overall i think we incorporated everyones ideas well to ensure that our group storyboards had a bit of everyones help and advice to make it a group effort and an interesting narrative.


In conclusion the group storyboards will keep me, Malu and Bettie on track when we are filming our film. It also eliminates any errors that might happen when filming, for example going from a shot on a high road straight to the forest, as the audience may find it hard to follow, therefor keeping an order and planning it is crucial. I am happy with our storyboards but if i had to change something, it would probably be the amount of characters involved; as when it comes to filming if someone lets us down it could lead to not being able to film anything at all that day.