Camerawork and Editing Style

We decided on quick cuts and mainly hand-held camerawork to increase the pace of the sequence and to further enforce the sense of tension and panic; this style is similar to that of films such as City of God and Slumdog Millionare. This style also grabs the audiences attention, which targets our target audience of 16-24 yr olds successfully, and works well with the thriller genre.

Location survey

Location Survey

Location
Blunts Wood

Location address:
Blunts wood Crescent, Haywards Heath, West sussex, RH17

Travel
Nearest train station:
Haywards Heath Station
Commercial Square
Haywards Heath, Mid Sussex, RH16
0845 127 2920

Nearest Bus service:
Metrobus
81 Haywards Heath - Lindfield -Sharpthorne - Ardingly - Haywards Heath
82 Crawley - Copthorne -Crawley Down - Ardingly - Haywards Heath
86 Horsham - Southwater -Bolney - Cuckfield - Haywards Heath
89 Horsham - Warninglid -Bolney - Cuckfield - Haywards Heath
270 Haywards Heath -Horsted Keynes - Forest Row - East Grinstead
271 Crawley - Handcross -Cuckfield - Haywards Heath
272 Crawley - Pound Hill - Balcombe - Cuckfield - Haywards Heath
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Local Taxi’s:
Station taxis Ltd www.410410.co.uk - 01444 410 410
Abbey air - www.taxinumber.com - 01444 450 505
Hello taxis - www.taxinumber.com - 01444 414 840
T'n T - www.taxinumber.com - 07748 683 522
Gatwick Airport chauffeurs - www.gatwickairporttaxiservice.co.uk - 0845 675 0690
Gatwick Airport taxi Service - www.gatwickairporttaxiservice.co.uk - 0845 675 0690
Cs taxi Services - maps.google.co.uk - 01444 441 616
Andy's taxis - www.taxinumber.com - 01444 461 266
Roadrunners (eg) Ltd - www.taxinumber.com - 01444 443 300
A1 travel - www.taxinumber.com - 01444 459 341

Health and safety
Nearest doctor surgery:
The Dolphins Heath Road, Haywards Heath Tel: 414767
Newtons Surgery Heath Road, Haywards Heath Tel: 412280
Northlands Wood Surgery, 7 Walnut Park, Haywards Heath Tel: 458022

Nearest Hospital:
Princess Royal Hospital
Hurstwood Lane
Haywards Heath
West sussex
RH17

The Locations facilities
The woods offer trees and shrubs in different densities. In terms of lighting parts are open enough to enable natural light through. The tree where the last scene will be shot is open allowing possibility to shot from multiple angles and depths for a large variety of shot possibilities. There is a car park available for the car scene that again offers the same possibilities as the tree.

Continuity Issue

During the editing process we came across an issue bridging two shots together. The issue was if two of our shots were put together it would cause a jump in the frame too big to be classed as a jump cut. To get round this we placed in a shot of Dan looking up at Jonty and Junior, the problem being in this shot Dan is wearing the tape over his mouth whereas in the shot before and after it he is not. This is a minor laps in continuity that is less notable than the frame jump. We will make sure to mention this in our evaluation.

Anamatic With Sound

photographic evidence

we have a little problem in this department, we intended on taking photo's during the process however when it came to shooting we didnt have enough time or people, at no point was anyone not busy either working with the reflector to get the continuety or replotting markers in between shots. the limitations on light meant that everything had to be done quickly and effectively leaving no time to set up for photo's.

Video-Audio Comentry

We are planning on creating a comentry over our opening footage. we are going to make the fottage black and white and cut out the sound files from it, we are then going to create an audio comentry to go with the footage saying what we hoped to achieve with each shot and our initial ideas and what had to be changed and why. We are also going to explain why we chose the particular shot size, angle and postioning withing the frames. we are doing this to give a clearer explination as to why we have chosen different ideas for our piece and why we ended up changing some things during filming.

Animatic

We are planning on putting an audio clip and sound effects over the storyboard images to show our original planning of what we are trying to achieve from the sequence. This will hopefully help us with the creation of our piece and the editing as we will then have planned out what we want to happen in every section of the opening sequence.

2nd day of filming/ Shoot #2

There was no major problems unlike in the 1st shoot. All actors turned up in near enough the same clothes, we had no problem with props, everything was ready on time. Although it started raining it did not ruin or stop our filming, it may have even enhanced it, giving the footage a better atmosphere. We had a light reflector to help improve some of the close ups.

Final Filming Decisions

We decided against the charred hand of the victim as we did not like the effect given when filmed as it did not look realistic enough.

We have cut part of the ending of the sequence before the title as we had a discussion as to wether we were giving to much story away to the audience in the opening. We have decided on a fast paced action opening so that we keep the audience interested and wondering what is happening. In the sequence we have fast cuts with a one or two slow shots within them to empahsise the atmosphere within the sequence.

We have used natural lighting throughout this film piece as we felt this gave us the most realistic and desired effect that we wished to obtain, however in some shots we had to use a light reflector to maintain lighting continuity within the sequence.

We filmed each shot a number of times in different angles so that we had a choice in which shot to use when editing. we also made sure there was an overlap in action (filmed the last bit of the previous shot) in the shots so that the editing could be made easier and less complicated for us when needing to combine the shots together.

Originally we were hoping to have a slightly upper-class look to our antagonist characters but due to lack of cotume supplies we decided to change this to a more modern style of tracksuit bottoms and jeans with black tops as this is all we could get for our characters. this has worked well with our piece as the look we finally decided to give them suited the setting and story line of our piece.

Posted By Sonja Moss and Luke Graham

Opening of a thriller analysis

How is Mise en scene and Sound used in a thriller?

Name of film: Se7en

Year: 1995

Director: David Fincher

Main cast: Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kevin Spacey

The opening to Se7en draws the reader in straight away by its silence and simplicity. There is no background music at all. There are just murmurs from possibly his TV or radio, but they are so quiet you have be carefully listening and focusing on them to hear. This silence helps make the audience focus on what the character is doing. Although what the character is doing is not anything of interest it is significant to showing what kind of character he is. It helps work him out. Making it very intense as we can hear every little thing he does. Every touch, every movement, and every time he picks something up or puts it down. This has a great effect on the audience as we don’t now if he is the victim or the villain; this keeps us guessing and makes us curious. With no music to help sway our opinion of him we have to wait there fore drawing in the audience.

However as there is no background music to distract the audience they feel calm. They can start trusting this character as we can start to notice subconsciously the sentimental ornaments around the rooms he enters in, what we assume is his flat, and can see how tidy and lonely he is. As by now we have assumed he lives alone and has a set routine every morning. We can see this is his usual morning routine, as he is getting dressed, making a cup of tea and generally getting ready. Nevertheless his facial expression within a big close up shows that he is possibly bored or tiered of it. With no music of any kind, diagetic and even non-diagetic, it shows how uninteresting his life maybe and also gives an edgy feel to the scene.

The brightness of the kitchen contrasts well with the dullness of possibly his bedroom were he is getting ready. This plus the silence shows really well that he is living alone. His home is also very tidy and looks like everything has its place and is in order this gives another insight into his character and more reason to trust him. The positioning of the camera while he is getting ready shows him from the waist up, this could show some kind of authority. He then walks towards the camera obviously going into the next room. However the camera does not follow or look up at him making the audience feel like maybe he doesn’t care anymore.

In the 2^nd scene it is extremely dark and the colours are dull and not very inviting compared to the first scene. Within the framing of the shot, the audience can see the body of a man from the calf up to the top of his back. Next to the man is a pool of what we assume is blood by the colour, positioning and the way it generally is placed within the frame. This ‘finding’ contrasted with the overall colour gives the scene a very eerie and dangerous feel. The voice over that is used, is obviously diagetic, as they are explaining to the character we are following, what has happened and makes us assume the man on the floor is dead as they are not helping him, panicking and also they are talking about him not to him. This makes the audience uncomfortable as it sets the scene in their head’s of the kind of noises that were heard before the man was killed and the result of what happened. This makes the audience realise he was murdered.

When we see the character in this scene he is walking around the crime scene, we immediately now he is a detective and the way he is shot within the frame suggests he has the greater authority and is good at his job. On the other hand his body language and the way his colleague talks to him with what he says, suggests the character has had enough and is retiring soon. We get the feeling he has been doing his job for years and is used to this sort of situation as he is calm and is the main focus of the camera framing. They show what his expression over the ‘case’ is and what he looks at so the audience can follow his thinking. This helps the audience keep up with the story line and starts helping them form a suspect in their minds.

Se7en has a very strong opening sequence that keeps the audience intrigued and makes them curious about the rest of the film. The use of silence helps build up the tension and shock the audience by how calm the characters are. It also suggests that something else is going to happen as it is ‘too calm’. This shows us there jobs and that they are used to seeing dead bodies. This makes the audience uncomfortable as they are not trained to be as calm. Using this opening immediately throws questions into the audiences mind of who done it? Are they going to be able to solve the case? Will who ever done it strike again? There fore drawing in the audience as they want answers to their questions. Overall I think this film intrigues the audience because it makes u start guessing from the beginning. Lighting makes it seem mysterious and dodgy in places were you can hardly see till your eyes adjust. The use of a dead body so early on in the film shocks the audience into questions and it captures their attention. Personally I have been drawn in a plan to watch the rest of this movie and take in to account things the director has done to start thinking of ideas to suggest to my group for my main task.

Luke Graham

Hi im Luke and during this project i am in charge of camerawork, storyboarding, directing and part of the editing process. I have been interested in filmmaking from a young age and hope to be a part of the industry in the future; in cinematography or editing. Im mainly interested in the 'MTV' gritty style of filmmaking and have a great interest in independant movies; which i believe will come across in the thriller opening.

Thriller Planning

Synopsis

The victim borrows money from a friend in return for his services. When he becomes stuck the victim asks his brother for some help. The victim and his brother work together on the streets, making deals, muggings and getting information on the local gangs. When the victim is found to have been double crossing he is kidnapped and driven to a wood his brother chases hoping to catch them before the victim is burnt alive. This film follows the love of two brothers, friendship and loyalty as the two learn to put aside their differences to overcome the more serious issues.

Cast List

Daniel Shambrook – The Victim – He has borrowed money from a friend and is found to be double crossing him. He is kidnapped and burnt alive. He is a nice guy but has been entrapped within a rough drug dealing crowd.

Joe Dorman – The Brother (Good Guy) – He has been dragged once again into the consequences of his brothers’ actions and has to try and free him from the grip of the gang leader before it is too late. He had seen this coming and new what to do but is very panicked.

Jonathan Egginton – The Gang Leader – The leader of the street gang that does not come across as a hard and powerful person but this persona shows through at times. He does not like to get his hands dirty so he has his followers do his dirty work.

Junior Ogwel – The Right Hand Man – He is the ‘follower’ of the gang leader, he does most of the dirty work as he is too afraid to stand up to him. He is very hesitant about doing the deed he is asked to do.

Sonja Moss – Jonty’s woman 1 – She doesn’t care much and she is very argumentative and always wants to a part of the action.

Rebecca White – Jonty’s Woman 2 – Care free and just relaxed with what the guys do.

Location

Blunts wood, Haywards Heath. We have chosen this location because it is built up enough for us to use but not too much. It is also easy to get to for all of our group and actors. It also has a clearing near it.

Costume Ideas

Girls – Mini denim skirts and heeled boots, low cut tops and jackets.

Junior and Jonty – casual everyday clothing.

Daniel – Jeans and slightly tattered shirt

Joe – Casual Clothing

Make-Up Ideas

Girls – Natural make up with coloured eyes and lips.

Jonty and Junior – Not Needed

Joe – Very slight dirty look on the face

Daniel – Severe burns on the face and one hand

Props

• VW Polo
• Nail File
• Cigarette’s
• Lighter
• Duck Tape
• Hand Bags
• Ash (lots of)
• Oil Can

Lighting

Our first issue is that the college does not have the equipment we require. The only lights they have to offer are spots with only 15 minutes of lighting power, not sufficient for our shoot. In order to get round this problem we may have to hire from an external source.

Posted By Sonja Moss

Jonty

Jonty is a perfroming arts student at the college. We have chosen to use him as the head 'gangster' as we know he is a strong enough actor to pull it of believably. he has also appeared in many of Luke's films and was a performer we could trust.

Junior

We chose Junior to act in our piece as we had seen him acting with a role that needed the same personality as the character we need him for. He is also a funny character in himself as he like to make people laugh. He is a friendly face that we all new and got on with. Junior is a talented actor and can take on different roles really well. He also creates a contrast between the main man and the right hand man within the story this works well with our story line.

Story innfluence

we wanted to do something different to the prelim. We decided on a sub-genre going with the nitty gritty british drama. I looked into current affairs and saw in the news that there was an idea of postcode warfare. In the rest of the feature this concept would have been visited. It could be argued our film has a lack of realism, however this is only so the audience watching the piece comes from a middle-class area and cant understand the extremes that gang crime leads to.

Rebecca White

Hey my names Bex. I'm a performing arts student and studying GCSE Spanish alongside this Media course. Out of college i am obsessed with my fitness and go to the gym 4 times a week. I also work 2 evenings at the weekend. I never stop and i am constantly busy. In this project i like to vary what i do. From being in front of the camera, or hair and make up to a bit of directing.

Sonja Moss

Hey hey. My name is Sonja. I am a performing arts student. i also do GCSE Spanish and Obviously Media Studies. Outside of college i enjoy spending time with my friends and keeping fit. I also like to make sure i have time for me and my boyfriend to have time together. i have been acting and singing since the age of about 6 or 7 and have always enjoyed it. in the future i hope to go into the production business, i want to work off or on screen but my main goal is to be a director in the business.

Joe

we chose to use Joe as he is a good friend of mine (Dan) Joe is a performing arts student at the college and has been used in every one of the films associated with me for about a year. We chose Joe for this particular role as we wanted someone smaller than the 'gangsters' to add intimidation and a strong performer to do the more emotional scenes.

Dan Shambrook

Howdy. Im dan, i have been acting since i was about 6 mainly just school productions. Outside of school i have been a member of shine theatre company, and am currently a member of west sussex county youth theatre. i have appeared in a few of the media pieces and worked both in front and behind the camera.

Day 1: Problems with costume

The first shooting we had several issues including costume. We had lack of choice in trousers and limited choice of size's, in such short notice. We had agreed on casual, however our actors turned up in far to casual clothing to what we would have preferred; we think this is due to lack of communication. We looked within the resources available around us before we went filming but were unable to agree or find anything that we thought would fit within what we wanted the film to look like. However in the initial filming it does not look as bad as we thought it would be. Although we know we got a lot of the costume aspects wrong, we adjusted to this and tried our best to make it look like they were meant to look how they did. This took a little change in acting rolls to keep this looking natural (to a point). We are not completely happy with our first shooting but we are working around this and improving all the time.

Day 1: Make up Mishaps

We tried to create the burnt effect on Dan's hand by using Vaseline, ash and dirt. we found this to be to runny for the desired effect, we think this is due to it being kept in Dan's trouser pocket. also we needed some form of red-ish colouring to create a more effective burnt image.

We are going to experiment with different products to see which gives the best desired effect of burnt flesh.

By Sonja Moss

Day 1 issues

1. Costume we intended to use wasn't available to us:( But we made do.

2.We hadn't brought any vaseline for make up :( But we went and got some :)

3. One of the actors hadnt turned up at the meet point :( But we phoned him and called him back :(

4.We had no duck tape :( but we borrowed some from the theater :)

5.Joe had to leave early :( so we filmed all his bits first :)

6.The make-up didnt work on camera :( so were re-developing ideas :)

7.damn lights broke :( we used natural :)

8. we ran out of light :( have to re-shoot :)