Template Script

Here is a rough copy of the script that we created using Celtx. as there are three member in our team, we all took a section to write. I took lead of writing the opening of the trailer. After we had all written our separate sections we all then put our sections together so that we would have a rough idea of how the trailer would go, so we put in s much detail as possible.
In order for us to put our individual scripts together we needed to make sure that the camera shots are linked.

Stock Characters

Here is my stock character research where I research each stock character to see which one would be suit the synopsis for my film trailer.  

Planning for Production

In this lesson we thought of a synopsis for the film behind our horror trailer.
We started off by thinking about the main protagonist and the stock character, within our group we combined all of our idea and created our protagonist.

Protagonist:

Name: Georgia

Age: 17

Personality: Quiet, shy and insecure about her physical appearance.

                    She is considered an outsider to her classmates.

Stock Character:

Name: Katie

Age: 17

Personality: Out going, rather loud, an attention seeker who loves all eyes to be on her, she was previously bullied when she was younger but has grown up and grown in confidents so as revenge on her previous bullies she now bullies Georgia.

Situation:

We then though of a main event that will occur within the film that will show that our film is horror film and will engage the audience.

1. Georgia reads a beauty spell that she isn't meant to read
2. Katie then finds her and starts verbally abusing her and then pushes her head in the toilet/into a locker.
3. Katie announces she is having a masked party
4.  Georgia really wants to go so reads the beauty spell again
5. Puts on a costume (yet to be confirmed)
6. Arrives at the party looking pretty (the spell worked)
7. Dances with the football player
8. At 12 she attempts to take off her mask and reveal herself but the mask is stuck (the spell over worked)
9. Katie sees her and starts starts shouting abusive words to her
10. Georgia being stuck her costume uses the powers of her costume to seek revenge on katie and her friends using the bullying techniques that they used e.g. head down the toilet but she ends up killing them dude to the powers of her costume.

 

Film's Cool- Jesse O'mahoney

Here is a link of a podcast of Jesse. During this session we asked him some questions about his career and  pathways that we should follow if we wanted to be a script writer, this was his response to some of his questions.

https://soundcloud.com/films-cool/jesse-omahoney-script-writer

Analysis of Horror posters

This is my analysis of horror poster to show my understanding about the conventions that will appear within the poster.

Key Elements of Genre

Here is my presentation about the key elements that contribute to the definition of the word 'Genre'.

Character Profile 1

Here is some information about the character that we have created using 'Celtx'. We tried to get as much background information about our character as possible because we wanted to get an idea of how she would act and react in certain situations that might occur throughout the film.  

Film's cool 'Jesse O'mahoney'

During todays session of film's cool we had Jesse O'mahoney the professional script writer from Eastenders come in to talk to us about our ideas for our film trailer that we will be creating. He started off by talking to us about his role in the BBC as a script writer, he also told us that he was a script writer for the TV series 'HollyOaks' for a few years. I asked him how he got the job of becoming a script writer and he explained that he studied English Literature in Uni so that he could have that creative mind as he has always loved reading and used it as inspiration to create new material and storylines.

 After Jesse had given us an introduction about himself he then came to help us develop our plot, make it relatable and then add the codes and conventions of the genre (horror) to our film. As a group we came up with an idea that we all felt was good and then began to develop on this idea.

I came up with the starting point of our plot which was:

• A Major Halloween party

Everyone then contributed ideas to expand on this plot:

• A lonely isolated girl
• Finds out a guy she likes will be at this Major party
• She dresses up as a scary school girl with a mask
• Everyone at the party has on masks and face paint
• She attracts the guy she likes
• The girl reveals who she is and boy runs away
• Clock strikes 12 and everyone gets stuck in their costumes
• The girl tries to seek revenge on the boy and those who bullied her.

Jesse then helped us to develop this idea by telling us that when we are creating a protagonist we need to consider three things:
The three P's:

• Profession
• Personality
• Problem

He also suggested that when the clock strikes 12 maybe it should only be the protagonist who gets stuck in her costume which will then give her the powers to seek revenge on those who manipulated her.

Also during this session we gathered some case studies to watch so that we could get some inspiration to further develop our film ideas, some of the case studies are:

• Never been kissed
• Scream
• Mean Girls
• Cabin in the woods
• Pretty Little Liars- series 3

All of these case studies have go a teen aspect to them which is what we want to create.

Film's Cool Session 1- 'Kate Hardie'

Film's Cool Kate Hardie- session 1

Today was the first session of Film's Cool. We had a very successful and experienced writer/actress come in called Kate Hardie. Kate came in and gave us advice about how to structure your ideas about a narrative and how we could apply it to a genre after. She told us to use a plot that we can relate to so we have information about the narrative. She gave us an example of how she thought of a plot about being a single mum with a teenage son, she then added the genre of horror to her plot which changed the feel of the story being about a single mum it became a story about a boy who lives with his mother and they both have to move locations every month, everywhere they go people are killed.... The plot then goes on and it is revealed that the mum is a werewolf and kills people every full-moon giving the reason why they have to move house.

We then tried to create our own plots, to do this we thought about our own hopes and fears for the future, what interests us in life or a significant event that has happened in our life so that when we create a plot it will be about something that we can relate to and also expand on as we already have that information.

 

I came up with the idea to write about a young girl living in the world trying to achieve her dream of becoming a professional dancer and having the fear that she wont make to where she wants to be. To develop this idea I added the horror genre to this plot and made the main protagonist so obsessed with getting to were she wants to be in life that she would do anything to get there, so when she goes to auditions she ends up killing her opponents so that she can get the main role.

Introducing our group

During today's session we chose the groups that we will be working with to create our Magazine cover and Trailer with. We chose our groups based on each others individual skills so that we could have a wide range of skills within our group and not have everyone with the same skills.

Talia:
Talia will bring great ideas to this group as she is always willing to contribute her thoughts within the group, she is also a Graphic designer and can manipulate images in Adobe Photoshop and InDesign, this skill would particularly be good when we are creating our Magazine cover. She has a qualification in leadership which is a good skill to bring to this group as she will be able to lead us when doing the tasks set keeping us organised. She has also got a strong talent in make up, this skill will be useful for when we are creating out trailer as she will be able to do the make-up on the actors to make the trailer look more realistic.

Kyra:
Kyra is really good at finding locations and places to film this s a great skill as we will need good locations to film our trailer. She always contributes good ideas which will help us to develop our ideas for our trailer and poster. As she does business studies she is very good at Digital Strategies which will help to create a buzz around our film. She has an interest in script writing this skill is vital as we will need someone to write the storyline and script for the trailer/film that we will be creating.

Me:
Within the group I believe that I will be able to contribute my editing skills as I have previously made a music video using iMovie which will come in handy when we are editing our trailer. I am also good at filming, I have a good judgement on when to start and end a shot so that when editing we can make the most of our footage. I am currently studying Performing Arts and have taken lead roles within productions, I believe that this skill will come in handy as we are going to need people to be in front of the camera to act for our trailer and I believe that I will contribute most to this section. I have an interest in after effect, throughout this course I would like to develop this skill.

Representation of Women in a Horror Trailer

Tucker dale Vs Evil

In this trailer the theory that women are seen through the male gaze has been represented in this trailer.
I know this firstly because of the sound, within the first 30seconds of the trailer one of the girls say 'did you see the way those guys looked at us' and then in the next shot one of the boys asks 'who wants to go skinny dipping?' implying that they only see women as a sexual object not respecting the fact that there is more to these girls than just there outside beauty.

We then see a long shot at a low angle forcing us the viewer to watch the the girl taking her clothes off at the top of the mountain.

Throughout this trailer we see a range of close up shots of the girl looking scared and terrified, this shows the stereotype of women being vulnerable and needing someone to look after them emphasising on the fact that women are subordinate to men.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1465522/

Male Gaze Theory

Mulvey's Male gaze- Audience Theory

In 1975 Laura Mulvey suggested that the male point of view is adopted by the camera for the benefit of an assumed male audience. The fact that the camera would linger on the females body is evidence to this quote and also shows us that women are seen as 'sexual objects' to gratify men. Saying this, Mulvey then argues that male roles will always have a main active role where they view women as passive and showing us that women are subordinate to men. The female audience are also positioned to see through the 'male's eyes' giving them an insight into the male gaze. Mulvey denies the existence of the female gaze.

In saying this, this theory can be challenged according to Freudian Psychology saying that not all heroic characters are male as there have been changes in the way that women are represented which has resulted in the challenges to the stereotypical gender roles since Mulvey wrote her essay, e.g. kill bill vol.2 (2004).

Kill Bill has a different representation of women Uma Thurman has been presented with such a great power with the help of her samurai sword that helps to demonstrate her dominance over the unequipped male. Throughout this film Uma develops the male characteristic of being violent.
Even though this film challenges Mulvey's theory, it also confirms the stereotype that women are possessed with family and emotional e.g. the job of seeking revenge on her family.

Even though Uma is represented as powerful and dominant men can still get pleasure by watching her on her killing rampage as the outfit that she is wearing is tight fitted, making her more attractive to the male's eyes and also giving them a reason to consider her as a 'sex object'.

Genre

1. What do you understand by the concepts of repetition and variation of a genre?
 Giving an example from a Horror film using the repeated concept of the background. A background is a recognisable location. In horror film the recognisable location would either be in a family home as that is where people feel most save and wouldn't expect there to be anything bad to happen or either in a dark area where nobody would think to enter. In horror film the background is very recognisable as with either of these backgrounds then the horror would loose its sense of fright.

2. Provide a definition of the concept genre. Use an example to illustrate the points that you want to make.

Genre is a category of media product that has distinctive features which helps to supply the audience expectations. Genre is based on visual element e.g. in a musical you would expect to see every emotion (anger) expressed through music, movement (dancing) and acting.

3. Write a summary of the key elements that the concept of genre relies upon. 

Genre relies upon six key elements:
Protagonist - Protagonist is the main character in a narrative who would usually get into conflict with the antagonist.

Stock Character- The stock characters are the minor characters who are quickly recognised as they are an exaggerated stereotype associated with the genre of the film.

Plot Stock Situation - The plot stock situation is the storyline that would usually .......

Icons- Icons allow you to define what territory you are in.

Background- The background is a recognisable location e.g. the woods in a horror film

Themes- Themes are ideas that run through out the film and are apart of the genre.

5.

Horror Killers Analysis

http://prezi.com/mcammajmu2wi/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Sergei Eisenstein

Who is Sergei Eisenstein?
Sergei Eisenstein wan an early Russian film Maker who has been considered to be the 'Father of Montage'. He is mainly known for his silent film strikes (1924). Battleship Potemkin (1925) and October (1927). Eisenstein believed that there was more to editing than just illustrative a scene through 'linkage' if related images.

He created and developed five different methods of montage:

Over Tonal: The over-tonal montage is the accumulation of metric, rhythmic, and tonal montage to show its effect on the audience for an even more abstract effect.

Tonal: Tonal montage uses the emotional meaning of the shots. For example, a sleeping baby would emote calmness and relaxation. (tone implied).

Rhythmic: Rhythmic montage is when there is visual continuity from edit to edit

Intellectual: Intellectual montage is when shots are combined to create an elicit and intellectual meaning.

Metric: Metric montage is where the editing follows a specific number of frames, cutting to the next shot no matter what is happening in the image at that time. This technique is usually used to show the emotional reactions of the audience.

Using Celtx

Celtx is used to organise a script/ play write, it is a better way to tell your stories.

Using celtex you can organise your props costumes and setting

Celtex can also give you the skills to develop your character that you have created.

you can also add words that don't exist in the dictionary to your celtex dictionary

your script can be uploaded and published to celtx froum for public viewing

Using Celtx has helped me to organise my props costume and setting
It has helped me to develop my character

I have learnt to ...

Montage

What is montage?

Montage is the process of cutting up film and then editing it into a screened sequence. It is when the editor takes two pieces of film and combines them to emphasise there meaning

Montage editing uses close-up shots fades dissolves and jump cuts.

 

Where does montage occur in a film trailer?

Montage will usually occur at the end of a film trailer so that that it can build up tention and suspense of the film leaving the viewer wanting more and feeling eager to see the film.

Rules of Picture Composition- Depth Of Field

Depth of field:

Depth of field refers to the range of distance that appears acceptably sharp. It varies depending on camera type, aperture and focusing distance, although print size and viewing distance can also influence our view of depth of field.

Rules of Picture Composition- Head Shot

Head Room:
Head room refers specifically to the distance between the top of the subjects head. Its important to not leave too much head room in a head shot, and the eyes should be in line with the camera.

Rules of Picture Composition- 3rd Frame Rule

Thirds:

This rule states that for an image to be visually interesting, the main focus of the image needs to lie along one of the lines marked in thirds. For example, according to this rule, a horizon shouldn’t be smack bang in the middle of a photo, but on the bottom third. A single tree in a field should be aligned with one of the two vertical lines.

Rules of Picture Composition- Looking Room

Rules Of Picture Composition: Looking Room
Looking room is the negative space between the subjects face and the edge of the screen, specifically it is the space on the side the subject is looking towards

Rule:

There should always be looking room on the side the subject is looking towards as you are literally giving the subject space to look.

Screenshot Premiere

This is how I edited my sequence on Premiere,

Kuleshov Effect

Kuleshov Effect from Joshua Claassen on Vimeo.

What is the Kuleshov effect?

The Kuleshov effect is when an image is put next to another image that is not the same which then allows your brain to create a meaning for those images e.g. the woman is looking straight forward, we then see an image of a book which makes our brain create the meaning that she is reading the book

Crash Premiere Pro

over lay insert split-ends

Evaluation of The Meeting

During this task we were asked to create a small video sequence using continuity editing with our team members. The sequence was given the theme of 'The Meeting'.
To evaluate our skills we all watched everyone's sequence that they created and gave feedback and advice to the different teams so that they could see where they need to improve.
With our sequence we realise that our continuity editing wasn't good due to the fact that we didn't line up our shots and take them in specific areas within the sequence, this then caused our editing to be jumpy.

Current Skills

The current skills that I have in Media are:

• The ability to use Adobe photoshop and indesign to create a music magazine
• I have the ability to manipulate and add effects to an image changing the background and adding different material to it.
• I can create a double page spread from a blank canvas. 
• I have used a professional camera to take pictures from different angles also using a professional camera I can record different shots.
• I have previously used iMovie to create a music video using a wide range of editing techniques from continuity editing to montage editing also using a range of camera shots from a pan to an establishing shot. 

I believe that all of these skill will help me in the next section of this course as I will be using and developing a majority of these skills.