Floor Plans

 

Storyboards

Comparrison, Lives of others opening and my own

The opening to the lives of others features many conventions of the thriller genre which can also be seen in my own.

The theme seen in the opening is that of interogation and surveillance. This is also the theme in my own opening. The sinsister nature and the exploitation of a humans weakness makes it conventional of the thriller genre. Surveillance is often used in crime and action thrillers as it induces the vulnerable feeling of being watched. For example in Red Road, the people being watched are put in a very weak position and are constantly unaware of their indiscretion.

The scene where the Stasi officer is teaching his class contains a sequence wherein we see an extreme close up of the surveillance equipment. This shot forces us to focus on the device that the officer is using to turn what sounds like a brutal interrogation into a simple lesson. This shot is remeniscant of one of my own in which the camera shows an extreme close up of the radio being used to spy on the antagonist. The focus on the equipment rather than the people removes the human element from the shots, giving them a heartless feel. Over this shot in both there is no music playing. This generates an eerie atmosphere and enhances the conventional coldness of the sequence.

Another similarity between the two can be seen as the respective interogations continue. After the eerie moment where we are forced to focus on the electronics (conventionally inhumane) the one being interogated reveals a secret. This shows how in both, the interrogation has become so intense that the victim has no other option than to tell the truth. The theme of unravelling mysteries is a convention of the thriller genre; this plot device can be seen in the two interogations and further intensifies the shots as a turning point in the story is created.

One difference that we see is the contrasting lighting between the two films. My own uses conventional dim lighting to give a sense of intensity and malice; this is stereotypical of thrillers as it generates the sensation of being trapped. The Lives of Others on the other hand uses very crisp white light which enhances the mechanical feel of the scene, enhancing the inhumane convention.

Finally, the two characters, while physically very different are both aiming for the same result. In The Lives of Others the character is a middle aged man however his passion to discover the truth is remeniscant of the young teenager in my own thriler. Despite having different motives they are both conventional characters of the thriller genre as both harbour a desire to harm a particualr group of people, be it for racial reasons or personal grudge. This may however be considered unconventional as the interogators in both are supposed to be the main charactres who stereotypically wish to prevent such actions. Fo this reason they may be described as more conventional anti-heroes, similar to other thriller characters such as Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight.

Location Shots

Some of the Props Used

Question 7 Looking back at your preliminary task,what do you feel you have learnt in the progressionfrom it tothe full product?

Looking back at the preliminary task I feel that since then I have learnt a great deal both as a direct result of the preliminary task and as a consequence of trial and error during the process of making my thriller opening.

It was during the preliminary task production that I initially learnt about the importance of shot types and angles. Without doing the preliminary task I would have only used a small variety of shot types such as close ups and long shots however my thriller reflects a larger amount of shot types as a result of the preliminary task. During the preliminary task me and my group were encouraged to use as many different angles and techniques as we could and it is from the tutorials of what we could have used that I learnt about effects such as match on match action, high and low angle shots and over the shoulder shots. Many of these shot types were used in my final project demonstrating how I have learnt from the preliminary task.

During the preliminary task we spent a large amount of time on the planning phase which as a consequence led to a fairly rushed shoot. From this I have learnt the value of planning time efficiently. In my final production I made sure that enough time was left to shoot the film without any issues. Furthermore I drew up a shooting schedule in order to maintain the time efficiency.

In the preliminary task I appeared on camera as opposed to the directors role I took in my thriller opening. What I have gained from this is the knowledge of what it is like for the actors on set and how difficult it can be to recreate exactly what the director is asking you to do. As a result I believe that when I took to directing I was able to communicate with my actors far more easily.

The editing phase of the preliminary task proved rather tedious as I had never used the required programme before - adobe premiere elements 1.0. As a result of this work however I became far more adept at using it in the future. A task that originally would have taken me an hour could be done in 15 minutes by the time I was editing my thriller. This saved a huge amount of time which was vital in order to keep on schedule.

While I was not in a group for my thriller I was still part of a team as I required three actors for my film. During the preliminary task I was part of a group of five people which gave me the skills needed to work with people on set. When you are part of a team it is important to coordinate your actions and not get in the way of each other’s tasks. The preliminary task enhanced this fact by allowing me to experience first hand what it was like to work in a group.

One of the first phases of the preliminary task was choosing an appropriate location. I went out to different areas until we found an area that looked appropriate and was not likely to be interrupted. From this I how looks are not everything when it comes to choosing the set. Our first choice in the preliminary task was too busy to be suitable. When it came to choosing a location for my thriller I chose an area that would be both appropriate and unlikely to be interupted by passers-by.

We didn’t have a soundtrack for the preliminary task however there were a few inappropriate background noises including speaking from behind the camera, from this I learnt the importance of checking the soundtrack and in my final cut I ended up having 6 separate soundtracks before I was satisfied demonstrating how the preliminary task experience taught me the value of suitable and good quality sound. For example the dialogue in the prelim was recorded straight to the camera and was not given its own soundtrack; the result was a less than brilliant sound quality and various background interruptions. In the final cut of my thriller however I combated this level of quality by recording the dialogue separately on a microphone and I removed all background imperfections.

Several parts of the preliminary video are jumpy and it sometimes repeats the same sequence. By seeing the negative effect that this has on the overall quality of the video I ensured that in my thriller this did not happen.

My audience feedback for my thriller is far better than I expected. While the male audiences appear to appreciate it more I have however received very little criticism from males or females. Most people understand what is going on however it has been suggested that my plot is not clear. I believe that this is my largest weakness however this is not an issue for most people. My biggest strength is my soundtrack, I believe that it perfectly complements the atmosphere and this has been backed up by several people.

The most important lesson I have learned from the whole process is that it is vital to understand the bigger picture. When I started out I had in my mind a good looking sequence however there was no back story, it was just a pointless sequence of events. At the time I believed it was ok for me to be in the dark as much as my audience however the whole plan for this shoot collapsed and it was not until I had formulated motives and backgrounds that I managed to effectively shoot my thriller. By knowing the bigger picture I knew exactly how each character should behave and what misé en scene was appropriate.

Question 6 What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In the process of creating my media product I was required to make use of various technologies, some of which I have had previous experience with however with others I have had none at all and therefore had to learn from scratch how to use them.

The Camera was an integral part of the process and, while I have used it before on previous projects, this time around I was required to have more in depth understanding. For example the contrast settings had to be adapted in order to see properly in the dark natural lighting I was using. Also I had to adapt the zoom settings from digital to optical to create a clearer image while using the zoom.

In the editing process I was required to use software that I have never used before. The editing programme I used was adobe premier elements 1.0. In order to learn how to use this I attended various tutorials on how it worked and enlisted the help of a more experienced user when I ran into difficulty. In order to create my film I had to learn to do the following:

-          upload the video from the camera to the programme

-          cut out parts of the original video in order to place them into a timeline so that I had a foundation to start editing with

-          finely cut out part of the film so that unnecessary images were not included

-          put in video transitions such as “dip to black” in order to create a flowing sequence

-          download and record other media to insert into the clip, for example music and voiceovers

-           put my selected soundtrack over the video and align it so that the sound increased in tension at the right areas

-          add in a post recorded voice over

-          add in sound effects such as gun shots and a recording of water

-          edit the sounds so that they did not disrupt the dialogue, i.e. make them quieter without making them suddenly drop in volume

-          create titles for the credits and film title

-          add transitions to the titles so that they appeared over the video but didn’t block it out completely

-          finally export the completed video

After this process I had to upload the video to Youtube. This process was simple but I hadn’t done it previously so it involved creating an account before uploading.

Other technology that I used was a dictaphone with a microphone attachment for various sound effects and the voice over as well as a tripod for steadier shots.

After learning the importance of using different camera shots and angles I set about utilizing them in my film. I used a wide array of shot types such as over the shoulder, high and low angle and extreme close ups. The experience of creating this film allowed me to put into practise these skills.

Finally, the whole project came together as a result of using the internet. I was required to do research prior to creating my own thriller and I know feel far more confident in finding audience response and critical reception for films on websites such as IMDB. Also the use of blogger was vital in order to present all of my work. I had never created a blog before and so by doing so I have gained skills in both efficiency (labels and case studies) and presentation – making the blog look good.