Presenting a Pitch 15/1/09

For the beginning of the lesson we continued to plan our pitches in our groups, which we then presented after break.

To begin with we broke down the pitch into sections which were:

• Setting and Location
• Camerawork
• Key images/icons
• Music
• Lighting

For each title we discussed our ideas and underneath we wrote down the ideas we had for each section, which helped to ensure that our pitch would be well organised and easy to read when presenting it. After we had written down our ideas we then gave ourselves tasks to complete. I wrote a summary of the thriller sequence on a large piece of sugar paper with information about the target audience underneath. Louise created the storyboard of the different shots we would intend to use. Pareece organised the order of when and who would present the information. Gerald created the production schedule.

The actual presentation in my opinion went quite well, with a minimal amount of hesitation when giving the information to the rest of the class.

12th January 2009

In this lesson we were instructed to begin planning/making our pitch. This session triggered of finalising the idea for our Thriller.

The requirements for the pitch are to:
Descibe the key images or icons.
Describe the settings and locations.
Describe how lighting would be used.
Describe the choice of camerawork.
Describe the choice of music.
Describe the target audience.
Create a storyboard.
Create a production schedule.

At the end of the lesson we decided which tasks we would complete at home.

8th January 2009

For this lesson I was the only person present as the majority of my group were revising for exams so I worked with Niquita, Addil and Wing for this lesson.

I didn't get the opportunity to do any camera work or editing as I was only working with this group for this session and it would have wasted time for them to explain their idea to me, instead I played one of the characters.

Watching back their finished video gave me ideas of how the end product should look.

Analysis Homework

The clip I have chosen to analyse is What Lies Beneath. The clip of the supernatural thriller What Lies Beneath uses lighting,sound,camera angles and setting to create a suspenseful mood.

From the beginning of the clip there is very little lighting used which gives the impression that what is taking place is in the evening/night. The minimal amount of lighting also suggests that something "dark" is about to happen. The brighter light used in the bathroom gives the audience a clearer view of what is going on in the scene. However the landing of the stairs is dark which makes it seem as though no one is actually in the bathroom as the other light is coming from downstairs-where the actress is coming from.

The actress' reaction to the steam and light coming from the bathroom is captured using a medium shot which then pans to a point of view shot to give the audience a better idea of why she has paused. The close up of the bottom of the door accompanied by the steam along with the actress' feet creates a mood of suspense. The shots switch from the audience's view to the actress' view of action frequently, this shows the action along with the actress' reaction which gives the audience a better understanding of what is going on. At some points the audience can only make their judgement on what is going on based on the actress' expressions and movement. As the actress moves closer towards the bath a mixture of over the shoulder shots, medium shots and close ups are used to create suspense. The low angle shot used when the actress is preparing to pull the plug of the bathtub conveys a sense that she is being watched by something beneath her.

To begin with the music played in the clip is quiet and fades out after the actress enters the bathroom. Throughout the rest of the sequence there is a minimal amount of music used until the actress views the reflection of someone else in the bath, at this point the sound of the music seems louder, higher pitched and intense.

Student Thrillers

During Gez's lesson we were given the opportunity to watch a selection of previous student's thriller openings to give us inspiration when creating our own thrillers and for us to be more aware of what is to be expected when creating our own thrillers.

The main focus of watching the thrillers was to analyse the camera angles,setting and the effects that each used but as a class I noticed that we also ended up commenting on the acting of some of the characters. We discussed and analysed what we thought worked and didn't work which helped us understand what to avoid and what to do when making our own thriller openings.

In my opinion the best thriller openings were the ones which conveyed a sense of mystery- the ones which gave enough information for the audience to come to their own conclusion but at the same time create a "what's going to happen next?" feeling.

After the camcorder tutorial session we got into our designated groups to make our final decisions on our "tutorial thriller". The group I was working with was Gerald, Pareece and Louise. The thriller had to involve a newspaper in some way or another so we decided to base our thriller on a dangerous man whose picture is discovered in a newspaper. Pareece played the character reading the newspaper and Gerald played the dangerous man- Louise and I took it in turns to capture footage.

To make our thriller seem more realistic we decided to take a photo of Gerald and stick it in a newspaper under a headline that had something to do with being dangerous. We then used the information we had been given on how to use the camcorder to record Pareece reading the newspaper and her reaction to the fact that Gerald was sitting next to her.

Camcorder Tutorial

Before creating our "tutorial thriller" we were given a tutorial on how to use the camcorders which was accompanied by a well edited DVD created by Mickey.

This session was enjoyable as the DVD explained a great deal on how to handle the camcorders correctly along with a pause every now and again which gave us the opportunity to practice what we were being shown.

The tutorial showed us how to:

• Insert and remove the tape.
• Turn on the camcorder.
• Set up the tripod correctly.
• Use the zoom function.