For our location we chose Hargate Forest which is right by Max's house, we visited the forest during the half term, also we are filming in max's bedroom as we can achieve the right amount of light that we want to enhance the antagonists type of character
What was the purpose?
The purpose of visiting Hargate Forest was that when we went on our trip to Wilderness Woods, we felt that we were able to control the amount of light we exposed the camera to whilst filming, we also felt that we liked the setting of the woods, how there were different settings within the Woods itself
What did we do?
When we went to Hargate Forest we took pictures of settings that we particularly liked and where abouts they were so that we knew the rough whereabouts of where the settings were to save time when we eventually go there to film, we also filmed with the camera to see how the our camera reacted to the light and if we could film effectively with it, also filmed in the room with dim lighting to see if we could get a dim greyed colour whilst still being able to pick out mise en scene and characters
What worked?
We were able to control the light to a level that allowed us to pick up images and characters at Hargate Forest, vast settings and variety within the forest, similar to WIlderness Woods
We were able to use our same techniques at Hargate Forest when filming behind Trees to show the antagonistsPOV
What didn't work?
There was still alot of ambient sound, due to outdoor windy conditions and as a result did sound quite loud on the camera
Also the dim lighting in the bedroom worked to a certain extent but some images were not clear and therefore we may need to use enchanced lighting to pick out the detail that we want.
For our film our genreis a physchological horror but throughout the clip the most important prop is the use of the camera, therefore we are trying to find titles that look like they have been captured using a camera.
Here a few of our ideas for font that we researched on 'dafont.com'
For our titles we took some inspiration from the title sequence of (Se7en,Fincher,1995)
We like the idea of having a split screen where two different types of actions are going on
We also like how the titles have a disorientated look and are quite lively in terms of moving around and flipping over juxtaposed to just being static
As a result of The Pitch presentation on friday we were
given the green light as well as also recieving the following feedback from our
peers and teacher:
We recieved good comments from people about our concept of
the film opening and how we are going to include shots from both the
antagonists POV and Protagonists POVwhich shows different angles of the same
scene.
Overall we were not given too much feedback in terms of
critisism from our peers, but we concluded that this was due to our concept
being confusing and quite complicated to visualise from someone explaining it
which resulted in people not fully understanding what was happening during the
different clips.
We will have to ensure that whislt we are filming the
different parts to the film we make sure that it is easy for the audience to
understand the storyline and that it does not cause confusion or cause the
opening scene to be boring and loose the audiences attention.
We were also told that we would need to go to our location
recci and test out our camera to see if we could get the right level of
lighting to suit our genre as well as to see if it allows us to show the scene
fully.
We also need to decide on the characters that we are going
to pick for the film as we need a female to act as the protagonist and an male
to play the antagonist.
Here we have chosen some of our favourite shots from our wilderness woods trip that we feel are both interesting and show the scene from good perspectives.
One of our favourite shots was using a pull focus to draw the audiences attention back and forth from the background to the foreground.
The four screen shots below all show how we have uses the cameras focus to shift the viewers attention from the background to the foreground and visa versa, we both feel that this technique is very effective.
Other shots that we liked we shots which are partially blocked by objects but still allow the viewer to see what is happening in the scene, we felt that shots like this make scenes more interesting and appealing.
We like the look of close up shots on Henry's feet which can be used to show the protagonist or antagonist moving or in a chase scene.
Other shots that we liked were shots from the protagonists POV such a hidden shots showing the protagonist behind an object like a tree and using the focus to draw the audiences attention to the antagonist.
Finally we liked the use of over the shoulder shots showing an antagonists perspective of the scene .
Soundtrack: Eerie soundtrack plays after the establishing shot tracking along the girls arm with the camera laing on the floor(out of focus) Titles:
Beginning
Shot: Close Up
Mise en scene: single shot showing incoming shadow of antagonist clubbing a girl wearing a hoodie and jeans with something.
Girl falling on the ground with camera in her hand in slow motion out of focus.
Titles appear in focus through the out of focus scene revealing a small proportion of the location.
Low angle shot still showing the girls arm with a slow pull focus revealing an incoming blow from the antagonist.
Low angle shot of man taking picture of the girl shot in long shot and from POV.
Mise en scene: Long shot of the girl dressed in a hoodie and jeans showing her laying defenceless with her bag scattered
Middle
Shot: Close ups and POV shot
Mise en scene: Antagonist walking back to a house, whislt montages are shown of the girl being followed by the antagonist, as the antagonists imagination
Mise en scene: No identity of the antagonist is given to add suspense and increase the audiences curiosity as to who the antagonist is
antagonist is shown going upstairs to room in dim lighting, hangs up a picture of the woman on wall next to other pictures of her that he has previously taken all shot in extreme close up.
The antagonist crosses out the picture of the woman with surrounded by blood.
clips of the woman are shown in montage form with fast cutting rates and multiple layers of visuals to create a sense of confusion.
Montage is frequently interrupted by short clips of the girl being watched/followed from the antagonists POV shot in long shot.
End Shot: Extreme close up POV Mise en scene:shot of antagonist putting up a picture of his next victim next to the previous victims which have been crossed out.
Shot:Long Shot and is Establishing Shot
Duration:8 Seconds
Mise en scene:Shows a man lying down in his bed with the lamp light on
Shot:Close up at a low angle shot
Duration:6 Seconds
Mise en scene:Man puts his glasses on the desk and flicks what looks like an old fashioned clock
Shot:Long Shot zooming to character in mid shot
Duration:10 Seconds
Mise en scene:Man is still lying in bed awake whilst clock is ticking- builds more tension
Shot:Mid Shot zooming into Close up
Duration:4 Seconds
Mise en scene:Shot of clock ticking again but this time is much more apparent
Shot:Mid Shot zooming into Close up
Duration:5 Seconds
Mise en scene:Man is sleeping whilst tossling his head , noise of talking in the backhground, the preferred reading of this is that the man is having a dream/nightmare
Shot:Close up zooming into Extreme Close up
Duration:6 Seconds
Mise en scene:Clock is still ticking and there is still the sound of people talking in the background further reinforces the fact that the man is having a dream/nightmare
Transition: Fade to Black
Duration:2 Seconds
What does it tell us?: That we are viewing the film from the characters dream/nightmare
Mise en scene:Sound of thunder & lightening continues through the transition
Shot:Extreme Close up
Duration:5 Seconds
Mise en scene:Book with hand out of focus in the background turning the pages of the book
Shot:Extreme Close up at Eye Line shot
Duration:2 Seconds
Mise en scene:What appears to be a man with badly conditioned fingers is cutting his nails with a razor cutter
From 0:48-2:56 there is a very fast cutting rate used and is shown as a montage of events and actions, not everything seems clear and certain shots and images are distorted and doesnt give the audience a clear image of whats going on
After every 2 seconds of a few montages the titles of the film appear with a fade to black transition to add continuity, this also enables the producer to be able to use a matched cut and show a few montage shots from a different location
All the montage shots are shot in Close Up to add emphasis to the particular image for example 1:38-1:40 the close up of the closing page added with slow motion empahsises this shot
From 2:03-2:05 split screen editing is used, with a contrast of colours, red dark colour juxtaposed with the light white colour of paper in the bottom screen
Shot:Long shot of city buildings
Duration:4 seconds
Mise en Scene: Shot of city with title saying 'Monday'
Shot:Mid Shot of couple sleeping Still shot
Duration:19 seconds
Mise en scene:Couple are sleeping with the man rubbing his hand over the woman's shoulder, he checks his watch and then gets out of bed whilst leaving the woman sleeping
How many layers of sound are there? How does it help establish an enigma / create dramatic tension?
During the course of the clip when the dream/nightmare is occuring there are two layers of sound
There is the soundtrack playing which creates an eerrie mood, the soundtrack and is also at quite a fast tempo which reinforces the fact that the movie is a thriller
There is also non-digetic sound of pens scratching which are made more apparent to emphasize the action
What have you learnt from this technical analysis?
I have learnt how techniques such as montage editing and fast cutting rates can disorientate visuals on the screen but in a way that still immerses the audience
I have also learnt how effective the use of a soundtrack or beat is to deliver to the audience what mood you (the producer) is trying to convey
What didn't work?
