On Wednesday the 25th January I filmed my media thriller. I went into the shoot thinking everything would be quite simple and the day would go smoothly, this was my first mistake. At the start of the day, around 9, we brought all the boxes we had collected up to the studio. As they all had to be the same, we had to cut one side of the boxes, turn them inside out so they we black, and tape them back together. We had made around 25 boxes when we realised we were folding them the wrong way, and so had to start again. That was our first mistake of the day. We worked well as a team when sorting this problem so it wasn’t a big set back. I think we worked very well as we just stayed calm, and changed the boxes together, along with 2 of our actors helping us out. We then had to empty the container and spray symbols on all the boxes. We had to wait for the day to get dark to we spent time setting up until around 4 30-5, when the light was dark enough to finally film. Our storyboard was initially the same as we had intended, except we managed to add in some shots and angles we thought looked good. On the day we decided that the people unpacking the container would work for a big black market organisation, so created a tracking shot with a machine being driven past the camera, and the men unpacking were in the background. I thought the changes in the camera angles and shots were a big improvement as it was only when we were actually on set, that we could experiment deeper with what looked good. I felt much more comfortable behind the camera compared to my preliminary task as I knew how to properly work the camera, like white balance and bubbling etc.
Friday, 27 January 2012
Thursday, 26 January 2012
Account of shoot day
On Wednesday, 25th January, we were on set filming our thriller which we had prepared for in advance. The first task we needed to achieve was making to go into our container so that when it came to filming, the girl wouldn’t be seen by the audience. The container was fairly big, therefore we had to find and make as many boxes as possible; we managed to acquire around sixty boxes which filled the container right up to the top. These boxes came in many different shapes and sizes, so we had to divide them up into piles; large, medium and small. Having done that, we then had to turn them inside out so we wouldn’t recognise the ‘tescos markings’ because it would seem more rational if the marks on the boxes were all the same, as they’re from the same company. After cutting the boxes, and turning them inside out so there were no marks, we stuck the sides back together by using duck tape. There was a slight issue when it came to the duck tape as we didn’t provide enough to start with because there were more boxes than we intended there to be. In the end, we solved the problem and asked nicely for a member of staff to collect some more duck tape from a local shop. Making these boxes and sorting them out into different sizes took us a long time, in fact almost all day because we had to stack them all up into the container as well which took a while.
We changed the story board last minute as we came up with a new idea in our thriller which was filming a man at a desk on a laptop searching laptops on ebay. This tells the audience that there must be laptops in those boxes in the container. The shot we used for this was a tracking shot because we wanted to see him on the laptop and see that he’s in a factory, and see the workers unloading the boxes all in one shot, which we managed to accomplish. Also by using a tracking shot, it helps build the suspense which was what we were planning on achieving. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to do the point of view shot from the girl’s perspective inside the container; nonetheless, we didn’t really feel the need to do it as we had taken plenty of other different, interesting shots from all different angles. However, we did decide to get inside the car and film a shot from the backseat’s perspective of the girl being dragged out the container, because we felt that created more of an ominous atmosphere, although we may or may not use it. We shot a close up of the car wheel and some of the door so when Adam, our actor, came out of the car, we could merely see his feet, which I thought created a mysterious effect as we don’t know who it is yet.
The effect we were going for in our shoot was thriller, and this relates to target audiences for thrillers because people will find that when the girl has been revealed once all the boxes have gone, she will give them all a fright as it’s unexpected and she is looking rather beaten up from perhaps where she previously was. Our target audience are people from around the age of eighteen up to the age of fifty-ish because most people of that age will have sympathy for this poor, drugged up girl who has been trapped in a container for over three days.
We had all day to set up because we didn’t start filming till the evening as we needed it to be dark in order to create a more thrilling, and spooky atmosphere. During the day, we decided to set up in the studio because it was slightly wet outside and we couldn’t afford the boxes to get wet as the marks which we spray painted on would have come off or smudged.
As the sky became darker, and we had prepared the set, nearly ready to start filming, we rounded up our actors and did their costumes and makeup. Finding costumes for our two box workers was easy because all they needed to wear were boiler suits and perhaps a hood to make them seem more frightening. Putting makeup on Izzy, who played the girl, was slightly more difficult because we didn’t want to overdo it and make her look like she has been abused or gang raped. So we decided to put on a few bruises here and there, and around her forearm so it suggests she’s been drugged with class A drugs such as heroin. We used fake blood to give a more realistic impression, because the girl may have hit her head on something hard when she was being taken, or it could have been someone else blood, or she could have been scratching herself vigorously till she bled. There are many reasons why we used fake blood and bruising.
For our lighting, we used a big over head light because we were filming in the dark and we wanted to be able to see all the different shadows as it created an ominous feel to it. Whenever a film has been filmed in the dark, it always seems to form more fear for the audience and this is because in the dark you can’t see what’s going on, or where you are. You feel isolated, vulnerable and weak in the dark, especially when you’re the victim in the film. However, if its pitch black, it will be impossible for the audience to see what’s happening, so we decided to use a big strong light, almost factory like because the scene is set in a factory where boxes are filled with laptops.
Overall, our shoot day was promising and as a group we worked really well together and all contributed to the sequence.
We changed the story board last minute as we came up with a new idea in our thriller which was filming a man at a desk on a laptop searching laptops on ebay. This tells the audience that there must be laptops in those boxes in the container. The shot we used for this was a tracking shot because we wanted to see him on the laptop and see that he’s in a factory, and see the workers unloading the boxes all in one shot, which we managed to accomplish. Also by using a tracking shot, it helps build the suspense which was what we were planning on achieving. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to do the point of view shot from the girl’s perspective inside the container; nonetheless, we didn’t really feel the need to do it as we had taken plenty of other different, interesting shots from all different angles. However, we did decide to get inside the car and film a shot from the backseat’s perspective of the girl being dragged out the container, because we felt that created more of an ominous atmosphere, although we may or may not use it. We shot a close up of the car wheel and some of the door so when Adam, our actor, came out of the car, we could merely see his feet, which I thought created a mysterious effect as we don’t know who it is yet.
The effect we were going for in our shoot was thriller, and this relates to target audiences for thrillers because people will find that when the girl has been revealed once all the boxes have gone, she will give them all a fright as it’s unexpected and she is looking rather beaten up from perhaps where she previously was. Our target audience are people from around the age of eighteen up to the age of fifty-ish because most people of that age will have sympathy for this poor, drugged up girl who has been trapped in a container for over three days.
We had all day to set up because we didn’t start filming till the evening as we needed it to be dark in order to create a more thrilling, and spooky atmosphere. During the day, we decided to set up in the studio because it was slightly wet outside and we couldn’t afford the boxes to get wet as the marks which we spray painted on would have come off or smudged.
As the sky became darker, and we had prepared the set, nearly ready to start filming, we rounded up our actors and did their costumes and makeup. Finding costumes for our two box workers was easy because all they needed to wear were boiler suits and perhaps a hood to make them seem more frightening. Putting makeup on Izzy, who played the girl, was slightly more difficult because we didn’t want to overdo it and make her look like she has been abused or gang raped. So we decided to put on a few bruises here and there, and around her forearm so it suggests she’s been drugged with class A drugs such as heroin. We used fake blood to give a more realistic impression, because the girl may have hit her head on something hard when she was being taken, or it could have been someone else blood, or she could have been scratching herself vigorously till she bled. There are many reasons why we used fake blood and bruising.
For our lighting, we used a big over head light because we were filming in the dark and we wanted to be able to see all the different shadows as it created an ominous feel to it. Whenever a film has been filmed in the dark, it always seems to form more fear for the audience and this is because in the dark you can’t see what’s going on, or where you are. You feel isolated, vulnerable and weak in the dark, especially when you’re the victim in the film. However, if its pitch black, it will be impossible for the audience to see what’s happening, so we decided to use a big strong light, almost factory like because the scene is set in a factory where boxes are filled with laptops.
Overall, our shoot day was promising and as a group we worked really well together and all contributed to the sequence.
Monday, 23 January 2012
Thriller Interviews
from these interviews i got a clear perspective that young adults or teens didnt really know what made a thriller good or why it was their favourite. Most of the people i interviewed used the term, "i like it because its thrilling", to describe why the thriller they chose was their favourite. The two thrillers chose, Taken and Shutter Island, both include mystery, action and male leads. In the first interview, charlie said that he liked Liam Neeson, this shows that a famous, or known name, in the acting industry is important and was one of the reasons that he liked Taken. Both thrillers have big names in them, Liam Neeson, Leo DiCaprio etc, this only confirms that a big name helps with marketing, as they already have a fan base from the big name actors. I would probably try and get a known actor in my film just to increase the fan base and there will definatly be action.
Cast list
These are the 2 bodyguards that grab "Sofia"out of the container and into the boot of the car. We chose them because they are both around the same height and they are reasonably built, so can look like henchmen. With the right clothes they could easily pull off an intimidating and dodgy persona.
This is our main girl. We chose her as she is small enough to be lifted easily and she looks quite young and naive. As she has blonde hair and blue eyes she would easily conform to the ideology of most of the girls who are kidnapped for sex trafficing. 
Adam is our buyer. He will drive up and have his henchmen collect "Sofia" and put her in the boot. We chose him for his scouse accent and he looks like a high powered man if he wears a suit.
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Camera Shots for Sofia 1st draft
Camera Shots
- Close-Up of cargo lock and hand
- High angle establishing shot from within container
- Low angle establishing shot from corner of door as men enter
- Side mid-shot off men moving boxes
- Mid-shot behind the boxes as they continue to move boxes
- Close-Up on boxes, into mid-shot as the girl is revealed
- Low wide shot as the girl is dargged out
- Close-up by the car as they walk to it and open the boot
- High angle shot as the girl is thrown in and the boot is closed
- Side establishing shot as the men get in
- Front mid-shotas the car drives towards teh camera into a blackout
- The title comes out of the light - Sofia
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Adaptation of Thriller opening sequence Sofia
We went through everything we needed for our thriller with Matt, Simon and Luke in our lesson. We finalized our cast list and realised that we had to start ordering the props we needed, even though filming is 2 weeks away. We've search ebay, and other sites that sell large amounts of boxes. The boxes are crucial in our thriller as they are what conceal the girl, "Sofia" in the container. In order to make the thriller and situation look legitimate, all the boxes need to be the same. We have to "scruff" them up a bit as they would have been in ths "lorry container" for 3 days travelling around. We also plan to make signs like "fragile" and "this way up" on the boxes to make everything look more "real". We will also put foreign writeing on the water bottles she will have and the boxes labels. This will ensure the audience that they have come from a foreign place and have travelled.
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