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Wednesday 31 March 2010

Editing process (Jamie)

We have been spending the last week or two editing our final piece and we are now close to a completed product that we can be proud off. Our editing process began with the three of us going over our final rushes and putting them into a sequence that we can start editing. As we did plenty of takes of each shot, we had to first decide which takes were the best to put into the sequence. This was a fairly problem free process as we did not argue at all over which takes we liked the best

(unfinished)

Monday 22 March 2010

Jamie's update

We are now steady making steady progress towards completing our project. We have done our film rushes but have come to the conclusion that a couple of our shots could be improved in order to improve our marks. We have a shot of Will walking up a set of stairs and we decided the shot was a bit too long and tedious so we are going to reshoot it by breaking it up into 2 or 3 shots from different angles. We are also doing the same with the shot in which Georgia murders one of her victims for the same reasons. We hope this will put us in a position to start editing what will be a very good opening sequence.

Friday 19 March 2010

Will's Title Analasyseseseses (Hannibal)


Hannibal

Mise En Scene
1) At the end of the title sequence is an image of pigeons on the floor of Venice, in which the shadow of Hannibal's face can be seen. This keeps with the theme of searching for someone who is illusive as well as reveals who the main character is in the film.
2)
The setting of the moving CCTV images appears to be of Venice. This implies style and ties in well with the non diegetic background music as well as revealing to the audience where the film will be set and maybe even where Hannibal is hiding.
3)
Occasionally in the CCTV images the shadow of a man will flash up, mostly walking away from the camera. This suggests to the audience the idea of only getting a mere glimpse of the man you are trying to find and keeps with the theme of searching.
Sound
1) The non-diegetic sound throughout the entire titles is completely uncharacteristic to the film in that it is classical and on the piano to a film about a serial killer. But it is however relevant to the main character, Hannibal and as this is a sequel, people should already have enough of an insight to Hannibal Lecter to know that the music is very characteristic of him
2)
Occasionally the images in the title sequence will switch to a group of police officers and on top of the music there will be a seemingly diegetic sound of people talking through walkie talkies. This implies the law to the audience and again is relevant to the theme of finding someone, namely, the fugitive that is Hannibal
Editing
1)
The titles themselves are in a very graceful font that is designed to look like curling and elegant handwriting. This is relevant as it gives the audience an idea as to the mind of the main character.
2)
The first title in the sequence (that of the name of the film) is placed on top of the all to famous Hannibal Lecter mask. This will hint to the audiences who have seen The Silence Of The Lambs that Anthony Hopkins is indeed in it.
3) Occasionally flashed up on the moving images behind the credits themselves is the definitive stamp with 'official' written on it. This implies the government to the audience and so also hints that the man being looked for is no normal fugitive if the government themselves are looking for him.
Camera
1)
The camera work during the title sequence is that of CCTV. This gives the audience an idea as to the theme of the film, namely that of searching for someone or something through ordinary life.

Updates

As some of our shots are too long and do not have a variety of angles etc, we are going to re-shoot some to make them more interesting. We are currently discussing when this will happen.

Hopefully soon we will also get some shots of the evidence board, this will probably be done somewhere in college as we had trouble trying to find one outside of college.

So far I have made three newspaper pages, which we can put on the board. As well as this I will be searching for pictures of maps from the south east so i can print one out and put on the board along with various photographs which I took of 'the deaths'.
Today as well as searching for maps I am going to write some information about 'the deaths' which will go on the board.

These are the newspapers: (Note the information on these are not relevant, only the headings on them are).







Georgia Worsfold

Tuesday 16 March 2010

Se7en (Will)



Mise En Scene



1) In Morgan Freeman's house every single object seems to be well ordered. Nothing is particularly untidy, this is to tell the audience that the character is well organised and to put an image of the character into the audience's head.



2) In Morgan Freeman's house there is a chess table that isnt set up for another game but appears to be still ongoing. This not only implies that he has been playing with himself but it also suggests to the audience that this is a very intellectual character.

3) Brad Pitt's character doesn't arrive in as smart clothes as Morgan Freeman. Brad Pitt is far more casual with an unbuttoned shirt and jacket, implying to the audience that he doesnt take things as seriously as Morgan Freeman.



Sound



1) There is absolutely no non diagetic sound for the entire opening until the credits start.



2) When Morgan Freeman is in bed at the end of the days work. The ticking of his clock is slowly enhanced until the opening credits start.



Camera
1) Duriong the opening credits we are presented with a big close up on someone removing their fingerprints by shaving them off with a knife. This suggests to the audience that the main antagonist is incredibly psychotic which promotes fear from the audience.




2) When Morgan Freeman is getting ready to go to work, the camera angle switches practically to a POV shot where we see his tie being adjusted in the mirror and the various items he has placed neatly on the table before him. This is to emphasise to the audience just how heavy Morgan Freeman's attention to detail is and gives them a peice of information about the character.



Editing


1) The SFX during the opening credits gives the whole sequence a very sinister feel as it is rather hard to figure out what is going on in the actual images at first, this also promotes the theme of mystery and evil.



2) The font of the opening credits is almost like slashes, promoting the idea of murder and death to the audience.






Characters



Brad Pitt



1) When walking down the street he is bumped by someone in a coat and turns around raising his hand almost as though about to throw a punch before trying to cover it up by scratching his head, this implies a rather lairy character who doesn't take anything from anyone. Almost totally contradicting to the Morgan Freeman character.


2) Upon arriving at the crime scene, Brad Pitt seems to be more interested in trying to make jokes instead of the actual scene, this communicates to the audience, exactly what his attitude to life is.





Morgan Freeman
1) In the beginning scene he is pictured getting ready for work, the way he has already laid out all of his clothes on his bed. This implies a man who is incredibly organised, almost obsessive.

2) When he is called to the murder of a woman by her husband he asks whether or not their child saw the murder, prompting another character to state that he will be pleased to see him retire. This iomplies that he cares about the victims of crimes much more than his colleugues do. This is used to try and get him high in the audiences estimation and tries to gain an emotional link with the character

Friday 12 March 2010

The Latest Latest On See Me

Ladies and gentleman. The rushes have at last been accomplished! A good substantial amount of footage was shot yesterday as Jamie was kind enough to grace us with his presence so we were able to film every single ounce of dialogue we needed. Unfortunately however we did have to overcome some obstacles, namely that the room we were using was absolutely basted in work done by secondary school kids. This wouldn't have been much of a problem had we been allowed to take it all down so we could film with our props up then replace it all after we were finished, however the woman who was supervising us refused point blank to let us move any of the work on the walls, so it took some very tricky camera work to avoid any work on the walls that didn't look at home with the police scene.

We did however manage to struggle through the afternoon in my old school and completed the respective scenes that needed to be done there. Then we headed out to our next location which was in the middle of a wood where we would be filming the next and last murder. This part of the afternoon went off without a single hitch. Just the occasional retake when Georgia burst into a fit of giggles at the concept of having to pretend to break Kat's neck, but other than that it made the day go by perfectly smoothly despite the cold weather. Now all we need is the go ahead for the rushes and we can start editing.

I am the only one so far who has viewed the rushes as i was the only person last lesson who was present and thus had to upload the tape onto the Mac by myself. I personally think that we have enough raw footage in bulk, that is that we could easily edit together a story, if the situation should arise that were needed even more footage to fill in the gaps as it were, we could easily put some in that would not only stretch it out but give us more of an option for editing.

Will Price

Wednesday 10 March 2010

Will's Title Analasyseseseses Stuff (Andromeda Strain)

The Andromeda Strain

Mise En Scene
1) The images flashed behind the opening credits seem to have a theme of classification and secrecy as they look like notes from government files. This is to give the audience a clue as to the general idea of the film
2) At one point behind the actual credits, the picture of a star graph flashes up. This is to reveal yet another aspect of the theme of the film to the audience. Namely that space is involved somewhere. It also conjures up images of the whole Area 51 theme as the star graph combined with the secretive documents make for a solid theme.
Sound
1) The music is almost that of a spy film and is at a very quick pace, this could be there to introduce the idea of panic to the audience.
2) The music is mingled in with SFX that are very hard to identify. But given the theme of the titles before the SFX kick in it does imply spacecraft to the audience.
Editing
1) The actual credits themselves dont have any breaks in between being displayed, they simply just flash from one to the other. This is used to hurry the audience slightly as they have to be quick to read the titles as they come, which could be in line with the theme of secrecy.
2) The font of the credits is that of a typewriter, which given the already established theme of secrecy is fitting as it looks as though the credits are actually within the classified documents

Monday 8 March 2010

Evidence board information

After watching a programme called 'five days' we have a better understanding of what evidence boards look like.
Before we were thinking of putting quite a lot of writing on it, but now we are wanting to put mostly pictures of the 'scenes' on it, as well as newspaper titles and maps.

I have taken screen shots of the evidence board they used on 'five days'







I am going to make newspaper titles that we can put on the evidence board. And also will be taking the photographs of the deaths and locations to put on there.

The Even More Latest On See Me!

Ladies and gentleman, once again we have made fantastic progress. The following is an update from each person with their respective jobs.

Will
I personally have undergone a whirlwind of activity in which i have purchased (not borrowed, PURCHASED! That is how dedicated i am!) enough masks to see us through filming the rushes and i have even found every single place to use as a setting. For the murders i have managed to secure the use of a public and totally underused field, an alleyway down the side of my house, my mothers car, the woods and my proudest moment, my old English classroom for an office. An office which I might add was the hardest thing to find.
Jamie

Georgia

Friday 5 March 2010

Analysis of title sequences (Jamie)

The Orphanage

Mise en scene

The opening credits to 'The Orpahage' features a lot of use of mise en scene. The wallpaper that is being torn away throughout the credits give you a lot of inclination as to what the film is going to be about. The use of wallpaper being torn away indicates that the film will be about uncovering things and revealing what is not visible on the outside. The wallpaper is very old and dated and sets a dull mood on things.

Another noticable aspect of mise en scene that features in the titles of 'The Orphanage' is the hands that are used to peel away the wallpaper. Having watched the sequence before the credits begin, you come to realise the hands belong to the orphans due to the sleeves. The fact that there are many sets of hands peeling it away suggests that the film will follow these orphan's story as a group and that they will be working together.

Editing

The title sequence uses a fading effect to change from one shot to another. These fades create a kind of eerie effect and atmosphere over the credits. It is a good effect to use in a thriller as it puts the audience in the mood and gives them a good inclination as to the nature of the film.

Camera Work

Throughout the title sequence, a lot of camera techniques are used for effect. For example, they make a lot of use of the panning technique. At times, the panning combines with a rotation or a zoom to create a disorientating effect. The use of this effect could be to indicate that the film has a lot of twists and turns thoughout and quite a strange film.

Sound

Each time a piece of wallpaper is ripped from the wall in these credits, a short, high pitched sound is put in over the top to emphasise what is being done and creates more tension and edginess in the viewers mind. This effect could be hinting that the film is going to be quite a sharp, jumpy film.

The soundtrack used over the top of the credits creates a very eerie, sinister mood which is perhaps indicating the tone of the film. The track creates and installs a set mood in the viewer that the people who made the decision to use the track want in order to hint at what people should expect from the film.

Vertigo

Mise en scene

In the title sequence to the film 'Vertigo' I noticed that the people who designed it have taken great care in the composition aspect of mise en scene. The text that appears on screen is positioned so that it is very noticable, but also allows the viewer to take in the imagery that is elsewhere on the screen. They have done this because they feel that the viewer should take in both the titles and the background as they value them at equal importance.



Editing

A lot of Special Effects are used in the title seqence in Vertigo. The special effects used create a highly disorientating effect that, having watched the film, creates a mood that fits well with the rest of the film.

Camera Work

Sound

The soundtrack over the top of the title sequence
Sin City

Monday 1 March 2010

Evidence Board Pictures

The Latest On See Me!

OK then ladies and gentleman! We have finally got our grove back as the past week or so has just been a hell fire storm of activity and decision making.

Firstly, we have not only decided on a plot! But we have even gone so far as to write a script! I myself have written the script from scratch and have been rather pleased with the out come as it gives us loads of scope for camera angles and some really decent acting. I have also been in charge of location and even though they have not yet been uploaded due to my internet being totally confused as to its job, I have indeed taken many pictures of locations, mainly of murder scenes.

Next up on the accomplishments list we have the simply magnificent, Georgia! The girl who is so good at her job it makes you want to snuff it just so you can preserve the moment forever! She was totally in charge of the story board! She has drawn the storyboard and decided on most of the camera angles and distances.

But what blog would be complete without the latest from Jamie as well. He has been in charge of props and the synopsis, doing a superlative job on both fronts, especially props where he has managed to compile the list of things that we actually need and find out where we can get them from. So as you can see. Life is good in the base camp of See Me. We are thus making heavy progress and have managed full well to display thos, no matter what you say dammit!