Mohammed's media coursework

Shoib worked on dialogue on the computer; because we didn’t know what we are doing we left him undistracted to work on it while me and kasim worked on our briefs in the next room. Everything is completed apart from dialogue.

We concentrated on dialogue today because that was worth more, however didn’t know how to do it. The teacher heard it and said it wasn’t good. Because the deadline was today we thought it’s better to complete what we already have rather than open new windows. Me and kasim spent a good hour and a half waiting for a computer through tutorial and lunch so we could use the computer. We let shoib go for lunch so me and kasim could have a go at editing. However after this long wait due to unforeseen circumstance we had to leave, consequently without completing the work.

we finished the cutting and the movie looks quiet good. we added the 20th century fox openning but changed it to lions gate, because its a british film. we also started to add the titles. we picked this black font with a white outline. adding the cross fades took a bit of time to grasp but we got over it. havent completed all of it due to the time it took us to edit, hope to complete it tomorrow.

We took the camera out in today’s lesson. We left shoib to do some editing while me and kasim looked for a quiet classroom to record some dialogue. We have decided to add both score and dialogue to boost our grade. The score will run all the way through and become quieter when the dialogue kicks in.

Due to the lack of computers we only get half an hour each at any given time. Some of our cuts were still too long so we needed to fix that. So it today’s lesson we completed half of the required editing. We were also deciding on the sound we needed for the opening.

Today is the deadline for the planning folder, and blog. We are on course with everything. Editing was very tricky at first but we overcame it and just have a little more editing to do. While editing we noticed that many of our clips didn’t exactly fit in together. Sam kept telling us we needed 4-5 second cuts but our ones were about 12-15 seconds long. We cut a lot of clips down and started to put it all together. With the sound we have decided to let kasim work on that alone and I and shoib would work on the editing. Because we are so far behind I took Gerard’s advice and gave everyone separate roles so the more we covered the faster we will be done. In order to create a sense of comedy to build tension we used little character movements like finger tapping odd objects and also dialogue. The sound we will be using will be non digetic score like soundtrack because it’s just sound and wasn’t created for the movie but we will use it to help hide editing errors and also use flashes, darkening of the clip. We hope all this will give us the effect we need.

Remember:

An opening sequence can be used to introduce a range of genre characteristics
· character types, the way they look, their role and purpose (two detectives in Seven)
· main themes of the film (eyes and voyeuristic looking in Vertigo)
· some narrative elements (pre credit sequences in Seven and Blue Steel)
· symbolic and iconic images (hypnotic images in Vertigo, the killer's obsessive record keeping in Seven)
· some visual references to the title (think of Blue Steel, Vertigo, Witness)
· a sense of danger (Face/Off, Blue Steel, Seven)


Will you use a pre credit sequence and a title sequence or roll the credits across the first piece of action? You will only have a few minutes so don’t try and tell the whole story.

Things needed:-
· lots of close ups
· attention to detail, it’s the details that count
· think about camera position, framing, angles, moves etc.
· think about Mise en scene, what is in the background is important
· lighting can usually be improvised. These cameras work well in low light
· films get made at the editing stage so plan your editing from the start
· also plan how you are going to use added sound, titles and Photoshop work

Objectives are:
· to create an appropriate mood and style for your film
· create interest in the audience who should be left wanting to see more
· show an understanding of a range d thriller conventions show good/advanced skills in all the relevant technologies

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddtgmtfg_9f9tgzhf3

Also today we spent filming the other part of the film. we got many different angles in. we used zooms and cut ins to emphasise objects and different angles to demonstrate binary opposition.

Today my group was all present and we went over everything, some things like the idea of using some old footage and merge it with the new to save us time. We also booked a camera out for Wednesday, tomorrow. We will begin filming and if everything is completed editing will begin on Friday.

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STEP 1: It's the Mind of the Audience

Change everything in your screenplay so that it is done for the audience. Nothing is more important than how each scene is going to affect the viewer. Make sure the content engages them and reels them in. Use the characters to tease the viewer and pull them along desperately wanting more.

Hitchcock knew why people are drawn to a darkened theater to absorb themselves for hours with images on a screen. They do it to have fun. In the same way people go to a roller coaster to get thrown around at high speeds, theater audiences know they are safe. As a film director you can throw things at them, hurl them off a cliff, or pull them into a dangerous love story, and they know that nothing will happen to them. They're confident that they'll be able to walk out the exit when its done and resume their normal lives. And, the more fun they have, the quicker they will come back begging for more. (Gottlieb)

STEP 2: Frame for Emotion

Emotion (in the form of fear,laughter,surprise,sad

ness, anger, boredom, etc.) is the ultimate goal of each scene. The first consideration of where to place the camera should involve knowing what emotion you want the audience to experience at that particular time. Emotion comes directly from the actor's eyes. You can control the intensity of that emotion by placing the camera close or far away from those eyes. A close-up will fill the screen with emotion, and pulling away to a wide angle shot will dissipate that emotion. A sudden cut from wide to close-up will give the audience a sudden surprise. Sometimes a strange angle above an actor will heighten the dramatic meaning. (Truffaut)

Hitchcock used this theory of proximity to plan out each scene. These varations are a way of controlling when the audience feels intensity, or relaxation. Hitchcock compared this to a composer writing a music score - except instead of playing instruments, he's playing the audience!

STEP 3: Camera is Not a Camera

The camera should take on human qualities and roam around playfully looking for something suspicious in a room. This allows the audience to feel like they are involved in uncovering the story. Scenes can often begin by panning a room showing close-ups of objects that explain plot elements.

This goes back to Hitchcock's beginnings in silent film. Without sound, filmmakers had to create ways to tell the story visually in a succession of images and ideas. Hitchcock said this trend changed drastically when sound finally came to film in the 1930's. Suddenly everything went toward dialogue oriented material based on scripts from the stage. Movies began to rely on actors talking, and visual storytelling was almost forgotten. (Truffaut) Always use the camera as more than just a camera.

STEP 4: Dialogue Means Nothing

One of your characters must be pre-occupied with something during a dialogue scene. Their eyes can then be distracted while the other person doesn't notice. This is a good way to pull the audience into a character's secretive world.

“People don’t always express their inner thoughts to one another," said Hitchcock, "a conversation may be quite trivial, but often the eyes will reveal what a person thinks or needs.” The focus of the scene should never be on what the characters are actually saying. Have something else going on. Resort to dialogue only when it’s impossible to do otherwise.

"In other words we don’t have pages to fill, or pages from a typewriter to fill, we have a rectangular screen in a movie house,” said Hitchcock. (Schickel)

STEP 5: Point of View Editing

Jimmy Stewart looks at dog and then we see him smiling. Jimmy Stewart looks at a woman undressing and then we see him smiling. Those two smiles have completely different meanings, even if they are the exact same smile.

Putting an idea into the mind of the character without explaining it in dialogue is done by using a point-of-view shot sequence. This is subjective cinema. You take the eyes of the characters and add something for them to look at.

- Start with a close-up of the actor
- Cut to a shot of what they're seeing
- Cut back to the actor to see his reaction
- Repeat as desired

You can edit back and forth between the character and the subject as many times as you want to build tension. The audience won't get bored. This is the most powerful form of cinema, even more important than acting. To take it even further have the actor walk toward the subject. Switch to a tracking shot to show his changing perspective as he walks. The audience will believe they are sharing something personal with the character. This is what Hitchcock calls "pure cinema." (Truffaut)

Note: If another person looks at the character in point-of-view they must look directly at the camera.

STEP 6: Montage Gives You Control

Divide action into a series of close-ups shown in succession. Don't avoid this basic technique. This is not the same as throwing together random shots into a fight sequence to create confusion. Instead, carfully chose a close-up of a hand, an arm, a face, a gun falling to the floor - tie them all together to tell a story. In this way you can portray an event by showing various pieces of it and having control over the timing. You can also hide parts of the event so that the mind of the audience is engaged. (Truffaut)

Hitchcock said this was "transferring the menace from the screen into the mind of the audience." (Schickel) The famous shower scene in Psycho uses montage to hide the violence. You never see the knife hitting Janet Leigh. The impression of violence is done with quick editing, and the killing takes place inside the viewer's head rather than the screen. Also important is knowing when not to cut. (Truffaut)

Basic rule: anytime something important happens, show it in a close-up. Make sure the audience can see it.

STEP 7: Keep the Story Simple!

If your story is confusing or requires a lot of memorization, you're never going to get suspense out of it. The key to creating that raw Hitchcock energy is by using simplistic, linear stories that the audience can easily follow. Everything in your screenplay must be streamlined to offer maximum dramatic impact. Remove all extraneous material and keep it crisp. Each scene should include only those essential ingredients that make things gripping for the audience. As Hitchcock says, “what is drama, after all, but life with the dull bits cut out…” (Truffaut)

An abstract story will bore the audience. This is why Hitchcock tended to use crime stories with spies, assassinations, and people running from the police. These sort of plots make it easy to play on fear, but are not mandatory for all movies.

STEP 8: Characters Must Break Cliché

Make all of your characters the exact opposite of what the audience expects in a movie. Turn dumb blondes into smart blondes, give the Cuban guy a French accent, and the criminals must be rich and successful. They should have unexpected personalities, making decisions on a whim rather than what previous buildup would suggest. These sort of ironic characters make them more realistic to the audience, and much more ripe for something to happen to them.

Hitchcock criminals tend to be wealthy upper class citizens whom you’d never suspect, the policeman and politicians are usually the bumbling fools, the innocent are accused, and the villains get away with everything because nobody suspects them. They surprise you at every step of the plot.

STEP 9: Use Humor to Add Tension

Humor is essential to Hitchcock storytelling. Pretend you are playing a practical joke on the main character of your movie. Give him the most ironic situations to deal with. It's the unexpected gag, the coincidence, the worst possible thing that can go wrong - all can be used to build tension.

In Marnie, Tippi Hedren is stealing money from an office safe and is just about to leave when she notices the maid happens to be cleaning in the next room. The maid is completely innocent and unaware. Hedren will get caught if the maid sees her, but the audience is already hoping that she gets away with it. The more happily the maid mops the floor and the closer she gets to seeing Hedren, the higher the tension.

You'll also find that Hitchcock tended to use comical old women to add a flavor of innocent humor in his films. They will usually be opinionated, chatty, and have a highly optimistic view about crime. If someone were committing a crime they might even help with it!


STEP 10: Two Things Happening at Once

Build tension into a scene by using contrasting situations. Use two unrelated things happening at once. The audience should be focused on the momentum of one, and be interrupted by the other. Usually the second item should be a humorous distraction that means nothing (this can often be dialogue.) It was put there by you only to get in the way.

When unexpected guests arrive at the hotel room in the Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day are in the midst of a tense phone-call. The arrival of the guests laughing and joking serve a dramatic counterpoint to the real momentum of the scene. In Spellbound (1945) Ingrid Bergman sees a note which has been slipped under her door. Just when she grabs for it, her colleagues walk in and speak with her about the dissapearance of Gregory Peck, completely unaware they are standing on top of the note from him! The end result is - the audience pays more attention to what's happening.

STEP 11: Suspense is Information

"Information" is essential to Hitchcock suspense; showing the audience what the characters don’t see. If something is about to harm the characters, show it at beginning of the scene and let the scene play out as normal. Constant reminders of this looming danger will build suspense. But remember - the suspense is not in the mind of the character. They must be completely unaware of it. (Schickel, Truffaut) In Family Plot (1976) Hitchcock shows the audience that brake fluid is leaking out of a car well before the characters find out about it. In Psycho (1960) we know about the crazy mother before the detective (Martin Balsam) does, making the scene in which Balsam enters the house one of the most suspenseful scenes in Hitchcock's career.

“The essential fact is to get real suspense you must let the audience have information." --Alfred Hitchcock

STEP 12: Surprise and Twist

Once you've built your audience into gripping suspense it must never end the way they expect. The bomb must never go off! Lead them in one direction and then pull the rug out from under them in a surprise twist.

In the climax scene of Saboteur (1942) Norman Lloyd is cornered on the top of the Statue of Liberty as Robert Cummings holds him at gunpoint. Just when you think it's over, Cummings begins to speak, startling Lloyd to fall backwards over the edge!

STEP 13: Warning: May Cause MacGuffin

The MacGuffin is the side effect of creating pure suspense. When scenes are built around dramatic tension, it doesn’t really matter what the story is about. If you've done your job and followed all the previous steps, the audience is still glued no matter what. You can use random plot devices known as the MacGuffin.

The MacGuffin is nothing. The only reason for the MacGuffin is to serve a pivotal reason for the suspense to occur. (Schickel) It could be something as vague as the "government secrets perhaps" in North by Northwest, or the long detailed weapons plans of Mr. Memory in the 39 Steps. Or, it could be something simple like the dog blocking the stairway in Strangers on a Train. Nobody cares about the dog. It's only there for one reason - suspense. It could have just as easily been a person, an alarm, a talking parrot, or a macguffin!

One of our group members were missing today so me and the following group member agreed with the proposed idea and started to collect the props needed. We went on to the internet and search and downloaded many images, which include mug shot criminal profile pages and so odd pieces of look a-like evidence. We began making the actual folder files needed and finished them. We had a few disagreements so in the actual layout of the profiles; however we have come to an understanding and completed all the practical work needed.

These things came to mind today. So I wrote up a plan for the next four days, which will cover everything we need to do apart from editing which a whole day will be dedicated to, hopefully this Friday. Things in this plan will include filming, creating all the props, and organising to actual location. In my opinion these things will work, conversely will my group share my outlook.

Today I used many programs such as Lexmark imaging studio, Photoshop cs3, Sony Vegas pro 8 to do a small sized practice at home. I used the first to programs to actual make the pages of the book, and used the last software to edit the whole video together. I used my own camera for this work. I used many different colours, transitions and sfx to see which will create more Anticipation and Apprehension on the audience. I found that using all of these to a certain extent, will give me the things I need.

My entire group was present in today’s lesson so we put our ideas together and started to sketch out some possible layouts for the book and also done some research into how we are to come to making such a masterpiece. We also booked the camera out and done some practice shots to give us further ideas on how we are to approach it. We used many types of techniques such as double cut ins and some dissolving, and different angles in the same line/area.

One of my group members is ill and the other had coursework to do so they both were not here today, so instead of wasting time I took full advantage and checked if my planning had been marked. I got a 3 for my brief and 3/4 for my planning. I read the advice Sam had left and began to put the points into practice and started improving my brief. It also gave me time to lay back and think of ideas. This time was a god send because every minute counts when you’re trying to catch up with the rest of the group. Also about the trip I went to yesterday I took the perfect picture, which I can include in the production.

Look up some images of missing people http://www.missingpeople.org.uk/areyoumissing/missing/ and newspaper articles of murders on Google. We have decided to invert the colours on the video to give it that mysterious touch to it. Our main inspiration on this idea would probably be Se7en 1995. There is no need for actors so no actors needed. It will mostly be hands on work with producing the actual book. We are very late behind because of us changing ideas so we will have to work pretty fast but to an excellent standard because my standards are very high. I am going on a trip to the galleries of justice in Nottingham tomorrow so no entry will be posted. But excellent timing for the trip because it will give me an insight in to many of the most notorious killers and how they were terribly executed.