Before we, as a group, decide on our final genre I decided to do private research into a particular genre I enjoy. I decided to do thrillers as after watching thriller trailers, opening sequences and short films in my own time I thought they were effective in building a strong narrative and audience connection within a short amount of time. Therefore, I decided initially to look further into specific sub-genres of the thriller genre through a series of mood boards I created myself.
To gain experience of filming I, as part of a group, created two sequences. The first is entitled 'the short life of a Kit Kat chunky'. We used one actress: Leah Robinson and one prop: The Kit Kat and filmed a short narrative beginning with someone buying the Kit Kat and ending with them eating it. This allowed us to gain experience in not only filming from a variety of different shot types but to learn for ourselves the difficulties in shooting a narrative. We struggled with two main aspects:
•Keeping continuity between shots - When we first began filming we didn't even think to ensure that every aspect of what we filmed was in the correct place and the camera was filming at the exact right angle/position etc when re filming a shot. This really made us think about planning specifically where the actress and props were positioned when filming and allowed us all to take a director’s role at some point as we had to instruct the other members in the group where to stand, position props or themselves etc. You will notice that during the sequence there is a cut to film Leah sitting down however, it is out of sequence from the previous shot as she is further away from the bench than before.
•The location - For part of the narrative we filmed outside. Again, having little camera experience we gave little thought to how different it is filming outside rather than inside. We soon realised that whilst we were previewing the clips that background noise and wind were an issue with filming outside. This wasn't a massive issue for this particular shoot because we knew beforehand we were going to mute the clips audio and add a music file on top but it made us think for future reference. Not only this but the lighting was an issue. The fact we were using an IPad meant that the focus was an auto focus and whilst filming it would automatically change therefore, causing the lighting to change. As a result, when we came to edit the clips together we had a smaller range of clips we could use due to them being noticeably different lighting. We realised that filming with natural light is more challenging in some cases and that maybe an IPad isn’t the best choice of equipment to use for filming.
However, although we had some difficulties we were happy with our final sequence and it gave us an important insight of parts of filming we would never have considered before. After we filmed the sequence it gave us a further chance to practise our editing skills. Having never used the 'Final Cut Pro' software before but knowing I have the intention to use it in our future projects, it gave us chance to explore the edits, transitions, filters, no diegetic and diegetic sounds/music and opening sequences we had available. Due to only having a short time we decided to focus initially on the editing and ensuring the sequence was in place before adding sound. This is why there is not sound on the whole video.
The second sequence we created was targeted specifically at practising continuity and ensuring that we could fit a series of different shots and shot types together so they flowed. We filmed the simple task of someone having a drink but throughout tried to use as many different shot types and movements. Again we struggled with some key aspects:
•Re-filming - As this project was specifically focusing on the fluidity of the sequence we paid huge attention to detail. This meant that when we previewed some of the shots we realised that the position of the actress’s hair, starting position of the cup, litter in the background or position of the actress when she sat down was different to the previous shot. This meant that when we first tried to piece them together there were chunks of the narrative missing which was not our aim. Therefore, we were forced to re-film some shots. Although this took us longer than anticipated when we compared our original sequence (with parts of the narrative missing) to the new one, we realised the importance of shooting a fluid sequence as it was easier for us to watch as viewers and appeared more professional.
•Props - we also struggled with the types of props we were using. We were given a plastic cup to use to drink out of. However, we soon realised that this was not suitable in our outdoor location we have chosen to use as it would blow away, fall over or move during our filming. Not only this but also the fact we chose a busy school location which meant we frequently had unplanned characters walking through the background of our shoots or we wasted time waiting for people to walk past until they were out of shot. Again this gave us an insight into the aspects of filming we had never considered before as you don't see them on camera.
We continued to discover things we had never considered in the editing stage, again in which we focused purely on the continuation of the shots. Having little experience using the software (Final Cut Pro which we used for the Kit Kat project above) we struggled to get to grips with how to crop shots accurately so the flowed from the previous. However, at the same time we picked up new tips and all felt like we understood the software much more by the end of the editing process. Due to focusing purely on continuation we didn't use any audio (we also muted the clips) and didn't add any effects or title sequences onto the final draft.
After experiencing the difficulties of filming first hand for the first time, the things I need to consider when doing my next filming project are:
1. Choosing a suitable location: not too busy, not too exposed to weather conditions and with suitable lighting.
2. The equipment we use to film: eg choosing a camera you can manually focus, change the lighting settings, a boom to prevent the camera picking up unwanted noises and using a tripod to keep the camera steady.
3. Continuation: making sure we pre-plan exactly where each prop should be positioned, the actor/actresses appearance and lighting conditions where possible.
4. Props: suitable for the location eg not too light and the right material so you can’t see the camera in the reflection.
5. the editing process: gain experience on how to use Final Cut Pro efficiently buy watching video tutorials or doing more practical work.
I have had experience in Media Studies as I studied it at GCSE with the OCR exam board. I completed three practical tasks throughout the two years. The first task involved analysing an existing DVD cover and creating our own cover for our own film. I chose the iconic 'Sherlock Holmes' as my case study from my genre: crime. I then created a hand drawn cover for my own film: The Steeple Chase. The second task was an advertisement where I chose an existing brand to design for, I chose L’Oréal, and design a print advertisement for a new product.
The final task was in the area of music promotion in which I had to construct and evaluate my own music campaign for a current artist or created artist. In my case I chose to create my own artist and therefore constructed my campaign for the Indie artist 'Iona'. This consisted of a tour poster, album cover and website design.
These projects gave me the chance the gain an understanding in media language both varied and specific to certain areas of media. I also learnt about the importance of evaluating your own work and planning specifically to your target audience. In addition to this it gave me opportunity to use software like: serif draw plus, Pixlr, publisher and serif web plus
After sitting down with our group once we had confirmed we could work together, we had a discussion about which genre we all enjoyed. Part of the reason we had all decided to work, together was because we all have a love for thriller films. When we were talking we realised between us we had watched a wide range of films within the thriller genre so this instantly confirmed that is what genre we were going for.
However, we also realised that out of the many thriller genre films we had watched between us, there was a wide variety of sub genres eg crime, psychological, horror etc. So when we tried to decide on the sub-genre we wanted to film within we found it difficult. Therefore, moving forwards we decided that all the research we would conduct would be within the thriller genre as it would all be relevant. However, once our research into the thriller genre as a whole is completed, we would regroup and decide on the sub-genre based on that research. Then using our decision on the sub-genre we would all do one piece of analysis into a different film of that genre and share our findings which would assist us without plan for the final piece.
Moving forwards:
Conduct research into the codes and conventions of the thriller genre as our findings will help us decide on what we can conform to and challenge in our final products.
Do some practise filming/shooting within the thriller genre to help me when filming and editing the final product.
Research and analyse existing films within the thriller genre as this could give us some inspiration and help us with our final idea.
To film the final product of our brief we have to work as a team. Therefore, I decided to work in a group with three others within my class. We decided to work in this particular four as we all have different areas or weakness and strength. The following people are in my group:
Leah Robinson ( www.leahbrobinson.blogspot.co.uk )
GCSE media result: A
Liv Mclean ( www.liv-mclean.blogspot.co.uk )
GCSE Media result: A
Phoebe Wetton ( www.phoebewetton1.blogspot.co.uk )
GCSE media result: B
We decided to work together as we all get on well and know we work well as a team. We also agreed that working as a four would be beneficial when it comes to splitting up the filming. We can split it into four clear sections we are each in charge of. This means we don’t have to ask someone else to act in our final product as we ourselves can be in it. In addition, we all enjoy and have watched many thriller films which is our initial idea for the genre we want to film within.
