'Let em play God'

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on August 13th 1899 in Leytonstone London, and he unfortunately died on April 29th 1980 at the age of 80. He wrote an article about how to create suspense and what it really is. In class we were given a sheet about him.

Joseph Hitchcock wrote an article called thrills, suspense, the audience'. In this article Hitchcock. We always wonder how movie makers get the audience at the edge of their seat and Joseph Hitchcock talks about this. ‘Let em play God’, Hitchcock assumes that suspense is built up when the audience plays God. If as the audience we are unaware if a character is a hero or villain they will not know whether to rejoice or not rejoice. Hitchcock says if the audience has been told all the secrets that the character doesn’t know, “they’ll work like the devil for you because they know what fate is facing the poor actors”. He describes this as “Playing God”.

Surprise not suspense is built if a character is not convincing according to Hitchcock. Hitchcock also says that we do not need effects such as shadows, dull weather and creaky doors to build up suspense. His movie ‘Rope’ was evidence for this point. As Hitchcock became more interested in developing his suspense techniques, he chose to shoot these types of stories exclusively. When Hitchcock had made ‘Secret Agent’, ‘Sabotage’, and ‘The 39 Steps’ this conclusion was made.

Workshop Editing

When i first arrived at college my group members had not yet arrived so i got into the editing room and working on completing the editing. The rest of my group joined me shortly after and together, we began  thinking about how to build up tension and create a sense of suspense through sound for the shots where the sudden flash of the mysterious girl appears and the walk before reaching massie road.  We decided to have different sounds layerd together but bringing them in graduall inorder to create a false sense of sercurity, so the viewers think it is nothing but a normal day.  Making the sound proved difficult as we found it hard to blend everything together smoothly and make the transition between diagetic and non-diagetic sound seemless.

Towards the last few seconds of the Thriller, where the main character is being stalked was said to be to much of a long continous clip abd we were therefore adviced to break it up between diffferent shots. But we could not fit any footage in between because of the daanger of too much repetition. So after serval minutes of debating we had come to the verdict to leave it how it was. We speed up the last 4seconds of footage inorder to create the effect of sudden obduction and to create a more exciting effect.

After lunch time  Gerald and I returned to media workshop anxious to do more work as the deadline is tomorow! We worked on fitting the new suspense sound that we had made into the footage and it worked very well together.

Tomorrow Myself and Gerald plan to get to college for 9:00am even though we start at 1.15 inorder not to risk leaving little bits and bobs of editing till last minute as i am sure the suites will be rampacked later on in the day. During this time we will be adding the last bits of visual effects where neccesary to enhance the thrill of the scene e.g.the  illusion of the girl and also the stalker scene. I believe as a group we have worked considerably well to get our Thriller completed by the deadline, but if askes to do this again i would make SEVERAL modifications. But i enjoyed working on this project.

Media Lesson and Work Shop 26/2/09

When i first got into college i joined Louise and Pareece in the editing room and started to complete the editing. We was thinking about having build up sound for the sudden flash of the mysterious girl and just before that. We decided to have different sounds but coming in one after another. When we made the sound we found it hard to mix everything in smoothly.
In the last bits of the Thriller where the stalker sees the girl, Anabel told us that it was too long but we couldn't fit any footage in between so we had to leave it how it was. Where the stalker runs up on the girl, we slowed it up and made it more effective.

After lunch time i came back to media workshop in order to do more work as the deadline is Friday. When i came back i put the sound that we had made onto the footage and it worked really well.

Tomorrow i am planning on getting to college for 9:00am even though i start at 11:00am so that i can have time to put more sound effects and also to add any effect for the illusion of the girl and also the stalker scene. I think the group have worked well in order to get the Thriller done, but we still need that little bit more work in order for it to be completed well and successful.

Todays Workshop - 26th February

In today’s lessons, I, Louise and Gerald attended the Media work shop. We realised there was still a number of things left to do before the deadline. So today’s workshop was based on the background music and sound effects. We started off with exporting the background music we made from before in to the sequence. So while Gerald and Louise was doing that I was noting down all the sound effects we needed and where about we could get them from on Soundtrack Pro.
Some of the things we needed to remember were:

· The natural sounds of the girl (Louise) grabbing the keys.
· The sound of the front door slamming.



We started off by dragging the music sequence into final cut pro. In order to make the transfer from non-diagetic sound to diagetic sound we used the pencil like form key, to mark in or out the sound. Deciding when it should start and finishing. I really like what we did with the music in the beginning, were we faded in and out from the sound of the radio.



Once we were happy with that we had, we played the film and showed it to the teachers and technicians. Some of the staff approved with the whole sequence, wheras some dissagreed and thought that the point of view perspective of the stalker went on fot too long and needed to be broken up with different shots of the girl point of view or simply just at a different angle.

Whereas some of the other staff appreciated the length of the sequence and knew what was happening straight away. Due to the many different responses of my group members and staff this did lead to a passive disagreement. This did waste quite a bit of time because we tried to re-arrange the shots in different orders and lengths to see if we could make the scene more obvious, still keeping the audience in suspense.

So after fiddling about, we came to an agreement to leave it how it was originally however with the shots of the little girl (Ana), we would use effects such as a negative to create a more sinister feeling. So the lesson did progress on but we were unable to find any effects for when Ana flashes on the screen. So we decided to stop wasting time in searching and move on the to the soundtrack again. We opened up the orginal music we made from before and started to try and develope it. Focusing on thinckening the music for when Ana first appears on the screen.

While doing this we also tried to find a noise that sounded like a bang, something that was unexpected but happened so quickly that the audience would be in shock, anticipating wondering whats going to happen next.

Overall I think this lesson was very productive, even with all the interuptions, with attending so many workshops throughout the week I could really see the development of our opening thriller and was happy with the outcome.

Gerald is going to come in early in the morning to finish a tiny htiches as i won't be ablt to attend because I have a 3hour lesson in the morning, Louise may join him later in the day and I hopefully will get there in time to view it and Save it for the examiner.

Wednesday 25th - Workshop

In Today’s lesson Gerald, Louise and I attended workshop that I managed to fit around my awkward timetable and attend. During this work shop I gave the dialogue I wrote up to Mickey and gave him a briefing on what type of effect we were trying to have and how and what we exactly wanted him to say. Mickey made my job easier by giving me some constructive criticism and re-wording my script, so that it sounded more professional. This helped Mickey to sound more confident in this character because the words were more elaborated and structured differently, compared to a DJ that you may hear on Choice FM.

Once I returned to my lesson and rejoined Gerald and Louise they had successfully put all the clips together, including match cuts and followed the 180° rule. I was really proud of what they had accomplished in the time I was in my lesson and was excited to just crack down with putting on the right back ground effects and music etc. So once we embed the video again, into soundtrack pro we were assisted in adjusting the different noises you hear in the clips, with one of the technicians. I know myself and Gerald was having problems with adjusting the volume and getting the natural noises to run smoothly into the radio sounds. But after a long practical days work, I agreed to leave about an hour early to go home.

I believe that in tomorrow’s lesson due to length of it we will get a lot done and will be successfully completed for Friday.

Monday 23rd Lesson and Workshop

On Monday 23rd February I and my group attended workshop even though we had a lesson straight after because we realised we needed all the time we could get. So during the lesson and after the workshop we continued to edit our footage, however finding that there were still some gaps within our footage. Making the film incomplete and hard to work, with since we had edited all other scenes already.

Subsequently we managed to find something else to do, and tried to put our footage into soundtrack pro were we could organise were we wanted specific sound effects, how loud and long we should have it playing in one shot. Etc.

Sadly we also found that the 180° rule was broken again were we did try to match from the same angle, causing us to have many jump shots. So we planned what needed to be filmed for the last time so that this could all be logged and captured in workshop lessons by Wednesday ready for Thursday’s lessons.

Workshop editing

Today Louise, Pareece and I attended lunch time workshop. When i first got there i logged and captured the footage that Louise and I had shot yesterday. We ended up fixing all the footage together and putting in some sound effects. I asked Pareece to recorded the radio so that we could include it and fix it into our Thriller. It was difficult because we had to blend it smoothly into the voice over that Micky had done for us.
Louise and I had stayed in college up to 6:00pm so that we could get as much work done as the deadline is fast approaching. It was difficult when fitting in sound effect as we had to get it all accurate and also low enough in volume to be made background noise.
We had realised that once again despite being told we had broken the 180 degrees rule and so we had to go and film again. We came back and fitted it in perfectly.
In tomorrow's lesson we have to get as much done and basically be finished. I am planning on reaching college early tomorrow so that i can get a lot of work done to meet the deadline this Friday. I hope as a group we will be able to finish everything and have a successful Thriller

Monday 16th February - Half Term Catch Up Workshop

On Monday the 16th of February my group were given the opportunity to come in and catch up on the shots that needed re-filling. So as written in a previous blog the plan was given to Gerald as he missed that week so he was also aware of what needed to be done.
Due to the location being much closer to Gerald and Louise, as well as there only being a minimum filming left to do. I meet the rest of my group back at college, to log, capture and edit all that had been filmed.

I was hoping that this was the final footage of what we needed. As repeating scenes and going out to book equipment and arrange time to meet up was getting very frustrating and repetitive. Once I arrived at college my group seemed to have a mishap with the time because we were led to believing the workshop was concluding at 5pm, not 3.30pm.
So with only a short amount of time left, my group were only able to show Gerald what we had done over the week and start to log and capture what was recently shot in that morning before the session ended.

In comparison, regardless of the little time I was able to spend with my group members we were able to discuss and prioritise what we were going to do for our next lesson back and agree to taking as many workshops as possible to make sure our deadline is best meet.

Workshop Editing

Today pareece, Gerald and i came to lunch time workshop to edit and ended up staying to after 6pm editing as we were very determand to complete all of our editing by thursday. we aimed to log capture and edit all the film and just leave music for tomorow mornings lesson. Whilst editing we faced a couple of problems with shots being discontinued and as a result we had to add certain effects such as a cross dissolve, to make the transitions from one shot to another  run smoother. Now that we have edited and logged and captured all the shots we want, we can now devote our time to working on putting sound effects where needed and embedded our soundtrack onto our footage.

Final Filming 24-02-09

Gerald and I decided we had to film some bits again as we had not gotten somethings right. We had no time to wait for Thursdays lesson so we decided we would go and film the things today. We revisited our outside location Massie Road and reshot a couple of shots where we had broken rules such as the 180 degree rule. We also had to re film the stalker bit because the way we filmed it, it didn't look like someone was getting stalked but just looked like a normal camera looking at the girl. We had broken the 180 degrees rule and so then shot the stalker from a different angle. To show that there was a stalker we used the camera behind cars and moved a lot to show that the girl was being watched.

 

When we were satisfied with our new footage we moved to our indoor location, where we concluded our filming. We first shot the bit where the girl left the house and panned to the radio. We shot this from many different angles, giving us a variety of shots, which we would be able to use for variety and also make very effective match cuts.

 

We plan to attend Media Workshop tomorrow.

Final Filming

After logging and capturing all the footage and also editing it, we had realised that we had broken the 180 degrees and so we had to film some bits again. We had no time to wait for Thursdays lesson so me and Louise decided that we would go and film the things today.

When we finished college at 3:00 pm we went and booked out the camera for over night. We set off to our first location i where the girl spots the mysterious girl and also the panning of the post code. When we first shot the post code, the pan was too slow and we also zoomed in whilst filming. Rebbecca told us that it wasn't right so instead we tracked the girl until she past the post code then she walked out of the shot and i quickly panned up and focused on the post code. Instead of zooming in, i filmed then paused it, zoomed in and then recorded again.

We also had to re film the stalker bit because the way we filmed it, it didn't look like someone was getting stalked but just looked like a normal camera looking at the girl. We had also broke the 180 degrees rule and so had the stalker in a different place. To show that thee was a stalker I used the camera behind cars and was moving a lot to show that the girl was being watched.

When we first shot the bit where the girl left the house and panned to the radio, it didn't come up for some reason, so we did that again. We also shot the same thing in many different angles so that it gives us a variety of shots that we can use and also make very effective match cuts.

Tomorrow after in finish college i plan to attend Media Workshop as i am aware that the deadline is fast approaching. I plan on logging and capturing the footage that me and Louise filmed today and also finishing of the music so that on Thursday and Friday we can put everything together and hopefully have a good Thriller

Workshop/editing lesson

I along with the rest of my group attended workshop. We as a group have faced many problems throughout the duration of making this thriller opening and because this, are trying our best to attend workshops as well as lessons in order to meet the deadline.

in today's lesson we continue with editing our thriller. We tried to log and capture the footage myself and Louise shot on the half term Monday workshop but for some reason the footage would not show up on the screen therefore, although we were frustrated, we decided that we would just have to refill it. As we carried on editing we found bits of footage that were either non unable or just needed redoing because of rules broken such as; the 180 degrees rule and match cutting from the same angle causing jump shots. we took note of all the things we needed to re film, and planned to film them on tomorrow after college so that we could attend workshop on Wednesday to log capture and edit. We also embedded our footage onto soundtrack pro in order to see how our filming fitted in with our music. last we took note of what sort of effects we will be inputting and where they will go.

23-02-09

let em play God

We were given a sheet in lesson about Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock. He was born on August 13th 1899 in Leytonstone London, and died on April 29th 1980 in Los Angeles at the age of 80. He wrote an article about how to create supense and what it really is. 

His article is called thrills, suspense, the audience'. In this article Hitchcock talks about how every mystery movie makers aim is to have the audience at the edge of their seats the technique involved in doing this is suspense. According to Hitchcock suspense is created when you let the audience play God. If they are unaware whether a character is a hero or villain they will not know whether to rejoice or not rejoice. Hitchcock says if the audience have been told all the secrets that the character dont no, “they’ll work like the devil for you because they know what fate is facing the poor actors”. He describes this as “Playing God”.

Hitchcock believes that when characters are not convincing you only get suprise but not suspense. He also believes that inorder for suspense to be created, you do not need effects such as shadows, stormy/dull weather and creaky doors; his movie ‘Rope’ was evidence for this point. As Hitchcock became more interested in developing his suspense techniques, he chose to shoot these type of stories exclusively; this conclusion came by the time he had made his movies‘Secret Agent' ,‘Sabotage’, and ‘The 39 Steps’.

Thriller Genres

On the 15-12-2008 as a class we brainstormed all of the genres of Thrillers.

> SCI-FI
> CRIME
> PSYCOLOGICAL- PLAYS WITH YOUR MIND.
> ACTION
> SUPERNATURAL
> AQUIRED IDENTITY
> MURDEROUS PASSION E.G. LOVE TRIANGLES
> INNOCENT ON THE RUN
> GOOD VS EVIL
> POLITICAL
> KIDNAPPING

Half Term Workshop catch up

On Monday 16th February Louise came to my house early in the morning so that we could re film all the remaining footage that had to be filmed. It wasn't that hard to do because she had already written down all the things we had to film in the lessons that i missed due to the production.

After we had filmed i asked Louise if she was able to attend the Media Half Term workshop catch up and she said that was OK. We then contacted Pareece and we all attended. When we first got there Louise and Pareece showed me what they had done in the week i was away. We then logged and captured the footage that me and Louise had filmed. We didn't get a lot done but it was still good as we had all the footage that we thought we needed. On Monday when we return to college i plan to attend workshop.

Workshop/lesson

today my group visted workshop in order to create more time for ourselves because although we had a lesson straight; with the deadline being on friday we felt we needed to work extra hard and faster in order for our thriller to have a good outcome.

We edited our footage but still found that there were minor pieces of footage either missing or not usable meaning once aqain and for hopefully the last time, we will have to book out a camera and re film those missing parts.
Although we couldnt complete editing because of the missing footage, we decided to move onto trying to fit our music in with the footage. We also thought about the different effects we will be using and where they will go. As a group we have planned to attend workshop every lunch to complete this work and meet the deadline.

brainstorming the thriller genre

in this lesson as a class we discussed and brainstormed all the different thriller sub genres. 15-12-08

THRILLERS




-psychological thriller-plays with your mind. frightening becoz it cud happen.
- kidnapping
- Super natural- based accult-ghosts ect
- Sci-Fi
- Crime- spy thriller-

political thrillers- Government corruption political conspiricy
- Action
- Acquired identity . Cloning. Stealing
- Innocent on the run
- Good vs Evil
- Murderous passions- Love triangle, affairs blackmail
-

Half Term Catch Up Workshop

On Monday I came to college borrowed equipment and went to Geralds house to re-film shots we didnt get quite right. After refilming all the shots we needed we decided that we had fully completed the filming for our thriller opening and all that was left to do was to log and capture the new footage and edit everything. We went to college ffor the catch up workshop where pareece joined us to edit our footage. Although we didnt get alot of edited done because of time, we still logged and captured all our shots which will make it easier when we come to edit first lesson back on monday. I plan on attending monday workshop as our dealine is fastly apporoaching.

Plan For The Media Work Shop

After looking back at what me and Louise done I noted down what we needed to re-film on the following Monday:

• Grabbing the keys with the correct hands
• Closing the front door
• Pan from closed door to radio
• Zoom into radio (With the radio in the correct focus and in the middle of the screen)
• Pan up to "Massie Road" sign

As well as general things we needed to catch up on:

• Re-do all credits
  
• Re-edit the soundtrack
  
• Create and give dialogue to Mickey
  

Thursday 12th February

On Thursday myself and Louise fixed most of the sequence together, we realised that some of the shots went on for a long time and so with some helpful advise we realised that we could break up some shots by fitting in credits. We did this well and took advantage of this by adding in credits to the establishing shots as well as when the girl (louise) is getting ready to go out.

I realised and learnt that sometimes having animated themes and fansy writting can sometimes distract or decrease the atmosphere built up within your shots. Making it easier to understand why most films and programmes for a wider audience normally have just a simple black and white themed base credit(s).

Another tip I learned was that Cross-Dissolve is good for when you want to show that time has passed to prevent shots from looking so sharp. For example a problem that occured when we had the order of our shots in place was the struggle of making our establishing shot run smoothly from being outside the house to the girl (Louise) walking down the stairs inside the house. However from fiddling about with the effects we realised this is where using we can take advantage of Cross-Dissolve.

More Editing

Monday 9th Feb 2009

In Mondays lesson I began editing and bringing together all the footage we have filmed so far. I noticed a few scenes that needed to be redone because of obvious errors. I had a go at playing around with different effects and just seeing what didn't look good and what did, such as cross fading credits onto the end of a shot. I also tried to match cut a lot. Next lesson i play continuing with embedding the credits into the scene and possibly getting some music down.

Logging and Capturing - Monday 9th

In yesturdays lesson myself and louise spent the lesson logging and and capturing what her and Gerald filmed on Saturday. Lousie and Gerald had to re-fillm many of the outsides shots because the weather outside on the Saturday compared to when we filmed on the monday was dry and sunnier. So we had to re-do the shots that were previously already edited.

Other problems that occured on the Thursday that was re-filmed on the Saturday was the match-cutting shots. This was because when the Teachers and Technicians had a look at what we done. They gave us the advice that we can't match cut from the same angle, and we have to remeber the 180degree rule in order to get the right effect. So it was important for us to re-film that again.

I realised that once we had logged all the shots from Saturdays filming. Myself and Louise were finding it hard to make the shots run smoothly from one shot to another. We tried using some editing features like the cross dissolve. However when we got our Teacher to have a look at it, we realised that we made a general mistake in some of the shots. Wich was not leaving 5 seconds before and after shots when we were logging and capturing. So sadly this became time consuming because we then had to go back to the shots that we wanted to use effects on and Log and capture them all over again.

Once this was done we were able to make our establishin shot, run smoothly into the next shot. Which was a shot of Louise walking down the stairs, inside the house from behind. We were able to cross dissolve effectively. Allowing us to pick up our pace and sync the other shots in well together.

Snow Day - Monday 2nd February

On Monday the 2nd of Februaury me and my whole group wernt able to meet, due to the set back of the snow. This Monday was really needed as this was our last week my group were able to film with majority of us bein there. W e also planned to film on this day, and since we didnt know when it was going to stop snowing it was really worrying for us, because we knew that Gerald would'nt b available for the rest of the following week.

Early Morning Filming-Catch up

On Saturday morning unfortunately only Gerald and I turned up for the much needed filming session although this was disappointing and a set back but we were determined not to let it affect us. When we filmed during Thursdays lesson the weather was icy, rainy and the sky was grey and gloomy looking, on saturday although it was cold, there was no icy, no rain and the sun was shinning quite brightly. This was annoying becuase we knew it would be obviously recognised wen watched. We therefore decided that we would film everything again that day jsut incase we were unable to make the two sets of footage look like they were filmed on the same day. We got a lot done outside, we reshot the bad match cut scenes which was quite difficult because we had to keep waiting for the same bus to come by without any other obsticles getting in the shot which proved difficult as it was main road on a saturday morning. Althought it took a while we managed to get it filmed and were happy watching back what we had down. After being outside for over 2hours we decided to move on and film the house scene.

When we got to the house we sat down and brainstormed a new way to set out this scene as members of our group were not present we could not do what we initally planned. After brain storming we shot the scene serval times from diffrent angel trying to be as creative as possible taking into account our target audience and how they would respond to certain scenes. It was a bit difficult to film the house scene because of bad lighting but we decided we would just film it and wait until editing to see if it is usable or if we would have to refilm it.

Although it was hard with just the two of us, we managed to get a lot of filming done as Gerald will be away next week. So we tried to get as much filimg done as possible in order to make sure that we do no tfall behind anymore. During Mondays lesson I be focusing on logging and capturing all of saturdays footage and seeking advice on the house lighting situation and the weather situation i will also be attending lunch time workshop in order to get more done as the lesson is quite short.

Ediitng Workshop

Thursday 5th January

After we returned to college from filming, we decided that we did not want to waste time waiting until next lesson before we edit our footage so myself and Gerald attended workshop because the rest of the group were unavailable, as we had a 3 hour gap it was the perfect opportunity to get some editing out of the way. As we were editing and trying to create good looking match cuts we realized that they were turning out to be bad looking jump shots, after asking the advice of a media helper, we were told that because we did not film the action to the end and cut straight to the same action in another angle we were unable to make the shot look smooth. We learned that you cannot match cut action from the same angles because it then looks like a jump shot. Having taken this in advice into carefully consideration for future filming, we decided that nothing could be dun and we would have to film that part again along with a couple other shots that had the same problem. After the helpful workshop we informed the group that we would be filming early Saturday morning in order to be up to date and not too far behind on our production schedule, we all agreed on 11am and the location our filming would take place. During this early morning session we aimed to get the unsuccessful match cutting shots re-filmed and the house scene starring myself and pareece filmed leaving our thriller pretty much completed and only editing footage, and making the credits and music left to do. We needed this early morning session as we were told that due to a college performance Gerald would not be able to attend any media lesson for the next week, so getting all the filming out of the way was of great relevance.

GETTIN FILMING OUT THE WAY

Thursday 5th January

In todays lesson we decided that we would take full advantage of the 3hours we had. Although it was very cold and it was raining an some of the group were again Not present, we decided that because of our situation (constant set backs) we had no time to let little things disrupt us from filming so we decided we would try and get the majority of our filming done today. We set out to our location and filmed a lot of useful footage. We made sure to experiment with different and intresting angles. After being out for over 2hours we decided to call it a day as we were beginning to slowly freeze. The weather conditions of the day were icy, cold, rainny and the sky was gloomy looking. We hoped that the next time we come to film the weather we be ruffly the same.

Set Back By Snow

Monday 2nd January

Because of the sudden and dangerous weather conditions college was closed therefore media was canceled and we were unable to film. This was a set back for us and a bit of a panic and my group and I had already had a lot of catching up to do and missing lessons was not helping. We decided that on Thursdays lesson we would work extra hard and fast in order to get the majority of our filming out of the way.

Changing Our Setting

Thursday 29th January

after having shown our footage to our teachers and other media staff helpers, it was decided that doing a night based thriller was not such a good idea as it would be difficult to work out a good lighting situation without making it look obvious. Although we were very keen to film in the night in order to convey to the audience our thrilling effect, it made known to us that basing our thriller in the night time just to enhance the thrilling effect was not worth possibly loosing marks for bad lighting. Also because we had chose to base it at night it meant that whilst everyone was busy getting on with their filming during lessons we were just sitting around trying to make up music and credits to go with our thriller which was hard because in order to make sucessful music that goes with the scene, we needing to be able to see the footage and go with the feeling we get wen we watch it. The same went for the credit. Taking all these things into consideration we changed our setting and based it during the day and we ended up altering our intial ideas to work better with our new setting. I believe that we will still be able to create the same thrilling effect in daylight maybe even better than we would have at nightime.

early morning filming-catch up

Saturday 7th January 2008

This Saturday the group had decided that we would go out and film the bits that need to be filmed. We decided to meet up at the same location at 11:00am. Unfortunately only Louise and I was present but we didn't let it effect us and decided to film anyway. We had to alter some of the filming and the original plan because there was only two of us. We were very annoyed because on the Thursday we was filming the floor was wet but on Saturday the floor was dry and it was a bit sunny but we still continued and are waiting to see what it looks like when we put it together.

We also started to film the house scene but faced the problem of bad lightening. We managed to film the bits that were missing from our original filming but are still waiting to see what happens when we log and capture all the footage that we have filmed. Although it was hard with just the two of us, we managed to do a lot of filming and I am sure that it will help us with our progress. Next week i will be out of lessons because of production week but i have tried to get as much work done as possible to help the group and make sure that we don't fall behind even more that we have already done.

Next week i will be off timetable because i am taking part in a college production so i tried to do as much work as possible and also on the first day of the holiday i plan to go workshop and try and catch up on missed work

Set back by snow/ gettin filming out the way

Thursday 5th January 2009

There was no lesson on Monday due to the bad weather but however on Thursday we decided that we would film the bits that needed to be filmed again. Once again the whole group was not present but we realised that we dont have enough time to wait for everyone. Although things are more difficult without everyone being fully commited, we had to realise that things had to be done. So the rest of us set out and went to film. When we went out to film the floor was wet and we knew that the next time we went to film the weather had to be similar or it wouldn't look right but we still continued with the filming. When we was filming we had to think about the best way and most interesting shots to use in order to make the best effect. Filming was very difficult becuase the weather was so cold but time was against us so we had to do what we could. After the lesson Louise and I attended workshop to try and put the footage up and start editing. When we had logged and captured the footage we started to edit it and was finding it difficult. We went to seek help from the technician and she told us that not enough footage had been shot and so it was hard to get the effect that we was looking for. We had to then book out the cameras for the weekend to finish off the footage that we had to do so that we could start editing.

Catch up - Match Cutting

On the 5th January, Rebecca’s afternoon lesson was based on match cutting. The whole class took part in a match cutting tutorial. We had Mickey one of the technicians explain to us what it was and how we can go about making them for ourselves. We were given a synopsis which was;
East London. 3pm. a man chain smokes as he sits at his home pc. He copies confidential computer files and plans to a CD. He packages them and is seen posting them.

We had to then using this synopsis come up with about 20 shots using match cuts were appropriate filling in a grid. Once we were given ago, we then look at Mickey’s version with all the available match cuts. This allowed us to compare ours and see if we got the same as well as see the ones we may have missed out. I found it hard in the beginning to completely understanding and to get to grip why a match cut is made and how it is useful. Realising the bonuses it gives to any filmed project.

Once everyone got the gist of things, we were put into small groups with a storyboard grid and a different synopsis. This was; Character A opens the door, enters a room, and sits in a chair opposite Character B. Character A and B exchange a couple of words of Dialogue. After being told that our storyboards had to be filmed in our lesson on Thursday our group got strait into discussion and filling them out.

Unfortunately I and Gerald were unable to attend Thursday’s lesson due to me having exams the next day. So because I wasn’t part of the filming I had to make an effort with editing, as I have to also blog the clip and be able to show that I was part of the process.

Thursday 29th Jan - Re-editing and Planning

On the Monday we filmed Louise and Gerald went to an extra work shop and asked for assistance in editing what we had. However with helpful advice and a few options they came to an agreement that they thought would best suite the group since two of us weren’t there to help make the decision and changed some of the storey plan.

The reasons for changes were:
· Lighting was positioned incorrectly
· Shots looked to dark on the wider screen

So due to me not being able 2 attend an extra work shop Gerald and Louise in our lesson on Thursday 29th January told me the new plans and hoped for an agreement with myself and rhea. Of which I confidently felt happy to agree to and get on with, however sadly without the input of Rhea who was unwell.

So the advantages of the changes were:
· Filming in the day would be easy and less time consuming
· We can still get the same effect and make it look darker

After we made this agreement and all discussion was over. We went to the editing room to edit our credits because we realised that the type of theme we used in the background wouldn’t really link in with it being shot in the daytime.

After all the fussiness about whether or not the credits should cut in between the shots like the first (which was never resolved) and what are these different shot going to look like. This was also never resolved. W e moved one with idea of saving argument to edit the practice thriller since this still had to be blogged and is part of this whole process, considering we were running out of time.

We eventually came to agreement of booking a camera for Monday. So we can use the most of next week for filming and editing.

Thursday 22nd Jan - Credits Lesson

On the 22nd of January I wasn’t in majority of the lesson. However when I came I helped assist Rhea and Gerald in making the credits even though a great deal of it was done. This at least helped me to familiarise with how to use the programme Live Type. Since Gerald never finished the credits in the lesson and Rhea left, I stayed with him throughout the work shop so I could catch up on any plans missed and what we going to do the following lesson. This way I thought I would still be able to go home learning something new, know what to expect, planning ahead for next week and able to add more to my blog.

Credits Lesson

On the 22nd of January half of group were not present. Pareece joined myself and Rhea towards the end of the lesson, and helped assist us in making the credits. Though a great deal of it had been done before she arrived. This helped us to become familiar with using the programme Live Type. although we got a lot done, we didn't finish the credits in the lesson, Pareece and I throughout work shop so I could help her catch up on the plans she missed and what we were going to be doing in the following lesson.

Monday 26th January - Filming and Music Day

On the Monday 26th January, not all the members of the group and the cast for the thriller were there. So it was hard to decide on what we were going to film and whether or not we should proceed in certain areas, because we thought it would be unfair that not all members input were put into the main production of the thriller. However as members who were present we had to make a decision so I, Gerald and Louise made a start on the music. At the end of the lesson I was very delighted at the outcome of what we had made so far because I felt it built up suspense and will fit with the shots we were going to film later on in the evening.

After college we collected the camera equipment along with the heavy lighting that we needed to use to film. Sadly due to not having any of our cast members it made the beginning of the filming we originally planned difficult to film. So after a lot of argumentative discussion, we came to a conclusion to scrap the whole beginning and changed the lead cast to me.

Whilst we were setting up the equipment we realised that filming in the dark was harder then it appears. Due to none of us having experience with the lighting we found it hard to place it, were the surroundings would still look natural but there will still be enough light for all action to be seen. However we believed from looking back at the tape on the camera that it looked alright and defiantly created that night effect we were looking for.

We are hoping to attend workshops so that we can edit all we have done so that we can attach all music and credits to it in the next lesson.

Music Tutorial - 19th January

On Monday the 19th January the whole class was taken into the computer suite to have a tutorial on how to make music for our thrillers. The application that we used was Casino Royal. This in the long run would help us to use Sound Track Pro. It is used for making music and editing audio sounds.
I learnt a number of things such as;

There are three different audio elements to always think about
· Dialogue - All words and vocal expressions heard
· Effects - i.e. Footsteps, gun fire
· Music - What instruments are going to be heard, (background music)

The tutorial was put into chapters the first one was:
Sound Layers – Elements, i.e. music, dialogue and effects.
· I learnt that you try and put an arrow with sound, learning where the sound on a shot is exactly coming from.
· You are able to manipulate it and emphasis different sounds and its effect.
· Effects can affect a sequence differently.

Tip: Think about what problems you might have to deal with

Soundscapes – Sounds which are appropriate, their tone, level + their relationship with each other
· You can use the position of sound to affect the audiences perception
· You can use the position of sound to determine where you are. For example A sire would suggest you’re in London, Big Ben, Black Taxi’s, Double Decker Red Buses = London
· Go for detail, identified sound
· Brass and Percussion high, music provides the emotions carried on the screen

TIP: You have to choose your moments

Sound Sequences: Edit/mix own versions of soundtrack.

Tip:Don't layer too much on as it can just sound messy, look for detail. The aim of sound is to add not take away!

We then were given different clips from Casino Royal to drag the available various sounds to where we thought the sound was best fit. We were also given the choice whether or not there was background noise, allowing us to change the volume of it. This allowed me to understand how we have to pay attention to all things that are filmed in the shot and put in extra noises ourselves if we don’t record them properly when we film.

After starting to get the hang of things we were then asked to stop the tutorial and make the music for our practise opening thrillers. Even though I never approved of us not being able to complete the tutorial, I realised that us getting the chance to do it ourselves on our (practise) thrillers prevented any accidents or confused minds from struggling on the real thing.