Week 4

In the first lesson of this week we filmed our continuity sequence. In a group of four, Stevie Anthony, Danielle Hopkins, Beca Smith and I used two hours to make our sequence. We started with an establishing long shot of the setting with the character (Dani) in it, on her phone, we then did a medium shot of Dani texting someone saying "Where are you?" with a CU of the phone it starts to ring,  we have several different shots of Dani answering the phone, with LS, MS and CU's of Dani on the phone talking. We then use a pan shot of Dani walking through the English Resources and through a door, we have a MS of this and a CU of Dani pushing the door. We then had a tilt shot of Dani walking up the stairs and a LS of her walking down a corridor into a room,  we have a CU of Dani opening the door and walking into a room where Beca and I are, she gets a chair and sits down, we have a two person shot with Beca and I saying "Hey" cut to Dani saying "I've forgotten my coursework, Mrs Slater is going to kill me!" cut back to Beca and I gasping, and cut to the end of film, later in the week we will edit this together to make a full Continuity Sequence.
We then imported the film on to iMovie.
We used one lesson to update our blogs, go through the codes and conventions of a thriller movie and produce mood boards.

Week 3

This week we watched a DVD on how to make and film a thriller video, a follow up from the film "Language of film and television." We also researched past continuity sequences and past thriller openings, we found some really good and well edited sketches but we also found some films that used a lot of hand held camera shots that made the entire film look amature. We also looked at the 3 main stages of making a film;
Pre-production:

•  Research and brief of thriller openings, audience, etc.
•  An idea with script/ narrative and storyboard.
• Production planing, shooting schedule, location and location shots (permission and health and safety)

Production:

•  Actual filming

Post-production:

• Editing (using i'movie'09)
• Audience response.
• Evaluation.

Analysis of 'Secret Window' Opening.

For research we had to analysis the opening sequence of a Thriller film, I chose "Secret Window." There are many codes and conventions combined that make  a thriller film excellent and the Secret Window has sinister music, a fast pace and a dark setting. The Secret Window is thriller film about a writer called Mort Rainey (played by Johnny Depp) who is accused of plagiarism by a man called John Shooter, as Mort refuses he stole the story idea Shooter claims he took, Shooter becomes violent.
The opening sequence of the Secret Window starts like every other production with the company logo at the beginning, the Secret Window starts with the Columbia logo and this fades to black, from the offset we have a sound bridge, we hear a rhythmic thud, as the  black screen lights up we see a man in a woolly hat in a car, the colours are dark and monotone and it is clearly night time we see the windscreen wipers moving back and forth and we connect the rhythmic thud with the windscreen wipers, the man is staring just off the camera, he has very dark circles under his eyes which shows immediately to the viewer that he has not slept in days, a non-diegetic voice over starts, clearly of the man sitting in the car saying "Turn around, turn around, turn the car around and get the hell outta here, right now" as this voice over happens the main character puts on a pair of big rimmed glasses, the man puts his hands on the steering wheel and we see a very clear gold ring on his wedding finger, thus making him married. We are still unclear of his where-abouts as he turns the key in the ignition, the camera shakes slightly as if the viewer is in the car moving back when the man reverses and snow is visible on the wind screen wipers. Another voice over of the man starts "Don't go back" the car jolts to a stop, "do not go back there" as the man reverses his car back we are met with an establishing shot giving us our exact location, the only contrasting colours on the screen are the white of the snow on the road, the white/yellow of the care lights and the blood red "MOTEL" sign behind the reversing car the main character is in, this colour of the motel sign could represent danger, murder or passion.
The car is stopped and the man gets out of it, with a mid-shot he walks to into the motel reception, via a shot through the snowy window we see the man pick a pair of keys off the wall, the connotation of this scene is the freezing cold and monotone of the outside juxtaposed with the warm brightly coloured and lit room. He runs out of the room followed by a motel worker, back in the car he drives to a motel room with a blood red door again, we watch the scene unfold behind the window and the moving wind screen wipers, the man opens the door, a mid shot is used to show two people in bed, as the man goes in it is as if the wind outside increases into a roar and a scream/shout is heard, we are not 100% if this is diegetic or non diegetic sound the camera backs out of the room and the car in the snow fades to a dark blue lake, a piece of eerie creepy music has begun.
A crane shot of the lake, almost like a bird follow the lake, in white writing 'Columbia Pictures presents' a house at the edge of the lake is visible, more writing 'Johnny Depp' a big stars name is a definite audience puller, 'Secret Window' in white writing that turns to red implying murder, passion or danger, more actors names are shown and we follow the camera up to the house and a close up through a small, ("secret") window.
Inside the house we see an upstairs messy room, the music is non-diegetic and the camera shots pull in the audience making them want to see more of the beautifully located house, through the window we see a dog sitting on a green armchair, the house is quiet and no ambient sounds can be heard, the house looks unkempt and dirty but it's a dream house to look at. As the camera pans around the room we see a laptop with a word document up, what is written on the document though is unclear, the eerie non-diegetic music continues, the camera slowly swings past the the laptop and the messy desk over a banister and through a mirror fraomed by wooden twigs, through the mirror we are taken to a down stairs room that is large and in the middle of the room on a tatty sofa is a man with dishevelled hair and a worn out, holey dressing gown, this man has his back to the audience, making them wonder who it is. It is Mort Rainey.
It appears that editing has not been used greatly in this opening scene but continuity editing is used through out but where it has been used is in a clever way so that this opening sequence runs smoothly without the audience even realisingand it uses all the codes and conventions to keep the viewer/audience watching, tense and waiting for more, there is a fade from the Columbia logo to Mort Raineys face, the other fade used in the opening sequence is from the juxtaposition from the cold dark motel to the bright and warm looking house where the film takes place.
The mise-en-scene was an important part in pulling visual hints and tips forward for the viewer to have a clearer understanding of what is going on and what may happen through out the film, this is an important factor in a thriller film, especially in the opening sequence where most camera skills, edits, mise-en-scene, codes and conventions should be used to sell the film to the viewer/audience.

Research - Mood board

Saul Bass

Saul Bass was a famous graphic designer, filmmaker and title designer in the 20th century, his most famous work for films includes the titles Psycho, Oceans Elevens and The Man with the Golden Arm.

Here is a picture of Saul Bass. (from Google images.) 

Saul Bass was born in New York 1920 and died in 1996 aged 75. He studied at an Art School in Manhattan. After studying under a Hungarian graphic designer he went onto some apprenticeship with some Manhattan design films.  In Saul Bass’s early career  he was a freelance graphic designer, working in a studio in Los Angeles until 1954 when he was asked by to create a poster for the up coming film "Carmen Jones" but it wasn't until famous director Otto Preminger asked for Saul Bass to create the title sequence for "The Man with the Golden Arm" that his career really established itself. 

Saul Bass worked closely with Alfred Hitchcock to produce two of his most famous and iconic title sequences "Psycho" and "Vertigo". over Saul's career he created about 53 different title sequences. He even tried his hand at directing, and in 1974 the film "Phase VI" was released, however the film was a flop and Saul decided to return to his true profession, graphic designing.  

Here are two examples of his title sequences: 

Ocean's Eleven title sequence.

The Man with the Golden Arm title sequence.

Saul Bass designed logo's and film posters as well:

Logo's made by Saul Bass.

Movie posters he designed.

Saul Bass had an iconic and very recognisable style that has inspired many modern day graphic designers and title sequence makers today, he became a legend in cinema with directors begging him to work, his last work was doing designing the titles for the film "Casino" in 1995, he died the following year aged 75. 
However, Saul Bass's style can be seen even today, even in the summer 2011, BBC 2 produced a programme "The Hour" which had title sequences similar to those Saul Bass would of made, below is the trailer for "The Hour" where this can be seen:

Timeplan

Week 2

This week we learnt more about the tripods and the cameras, in groups we used the camera's to film the following shots to see what the effect was and how successful it was:

• ECU - Extreme Close Up.
• BCU - Big Close Up.
• CU - Close Up.
• MCU - Medium Close Up.
• MS - Medium Shot.
• LS - Long Shot.
• ELS - Extra Long Shot.
• 2S - Two people Shot.
• OTS - Over the Sholder.
• High Angle Shot.
• Low Angle Shot.
• Tilting Shot.
• Establishing Shot.

We also updated our blogs and personalised them with information and backgrounds.

In another lesson we were told about all the research and analysis we would have to complete for our coursework, such research and analysis includes research on Saul Bass and his work, I will also research into similar media texts. We were given a Timeplan to fill in and to upload to our blogs.
And in the final lessons of the week we watched a film about the 

Week 1

I've just started my AS Media Studies at Pencoed Comprehensive. In the first week of lessons we set up our blogger accounts, had an introduction on the course, set up tripods and learnt about the different camera shots and angles.

This image is from google images, while searching camera shots.

These are all the different camera shots we could use when we do our coursework.