'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take this anymore- I'm moving to Hawaii.'
What's Changed
Why are you going to film through the keyhole more rather than over the bath?
As a team we feel the opening sequence will be more mysterious if we film though the keyhole from young Evangeline's perspective.
How will you end the sequence?
The final shot will be young Evangeline opening the bathroom door to see her mothers legs hanging out of the bath and it will cut to black very quickly.
Why change the death from drowning suicide to self harm (bleeding out) suicide?
It will make more sense and make it easier to film her dying above the water rather than drowning beneath the water.
'Be young, be pretty and be prepared to burn the whole world to the ground to get what you want.'
Our Second Meeting with Matt and Paul
On Monday we discussed where and how we were going to film the opening sequence again with the feedback team. We got several pieces of advise of how to film the new plot due to what we can and can't do. 80% of the shots in the first bit will be filmed through the keyhole or as if she is looking through the keyhole into the bathroom. We will catch several shots of the mother passing in front od the door and getting into the bath. She will be laying in the bath as she bleeds out. We still plan to film Evangeline running up the stairs, through the hallway, outside the bathroom and looking around for her mother just cutting the outside shot.
The second half of the opening sequence will remain the same, the four kids being followed in the car. They will all get out of the car and we see the stalker get out of his car and follow to teenagers inside. We are made clear it is Evangeline and her brother with two friends by some dialogue.
I would choose 'Cloud Eight'when making my film, the are experts in the thriller genreand they wouldrepresent 'Evangeline' in the correct way.
The company haven't released many films but the ones they have, have been successful and advertised well.
The film 'Trance' is similar to Evangeline as it builds suspense well and use artistic shots and create a interesting atmosphere.
Both the films have been quite high budget but I think 'Evangeline' can achieve a high budget look with out the big budget.
My film would be shown at art houses and film festivals. It may go to the cinema if received well by critics but it not having a large budget may eliminate this opportunity. I don't think big stars are a necessity for this film. Cloud Eight - IMDb Cloud Eight so far have targeted an older generation audience with the idea of their films having strong real life stories. They almost have a documentary feel to them. My plot is targeted towards males and females in their 20s to their 40s. I think this company produces films directed at this audience.
I filmed a few shots which I had in mind for my thriller's opening sequence. They were basic idea's of bathroom shots and an experience of what there is in a bathroom to film.
What substitutions did you make in the test filming and why?
We didn't have a bath and we only used one actress to represent two different people.We also couldn't use water or film underwater, also our actress couldn't act to the full with limited props and set.
What camera angles and movements were you testing and why?
I wanted to try and test out as many shots and angles as possible on the flipcam. I used a high angle over Phoebe's head which looked effective, I also used side, front and back profiles.
Did you find this process useful as a duo?
I found the process useful as I could get a better idea of what I wanted. As a duo it worked really well because while testing the shots, there were two opinions and requests instead of one.
What worked well?
The use of high angles worked well and so did the filming through the keyhole. The tap and running water scene was also surprisingly impressive.
What didn't work as well?
Due to lack of set and a decent camera some shots were unstable and unclear. The lack of set made us unable to get the shots we wanted. eg. Bath shot/ Underwater shot.
How has this influenced you with the next stage of your idea?
This exercise allowed us to look at different shots we could you, what would and wouldn't be possible along with what looked better that the initial idea.
This week I've been working on a storyboard for my new concept. I was unsure of how to do this because A) I'm not quite 'van Gogh' and B) I wasn't sure about what needed to be put on paper.I found a useful video on storyboarding and used a template to draw on.
Working Title: ________________Production
Company: ________________
Shot No:Location:
Action:
Shot/Movement:
Sound:
Lighting:
Edit Transition:Timing:
See my initial storyboard post from October for more.
"The point of getting things done is to know what to leave undone."
Due to weather conditions and technical problems the protagonist will no longer drown in a lake but her mother will drown in a bath. The younger girl, Evangeline, will be filmed through a keyhole and later on herself in the bath. The road shots will still take place. The reason we will no longer film in a lake is because to film the actual underwater footage we planned to use a heated swimming pool, even with extensive research and editing it will not look dark enough and won't create the effect we want to achieve.The teenagers won't be camping either as it is shot in February and will be too cold.
An audience's attention relies heavily on the genre of a film. It allows them to predict and understand the film they're planning on watching. If people want to see a horror, they expect to be scared during parts of the movie and terrified to go to sleep that night once its finished. If someone wants to see a hardcore action movie they won't want to find themselves watching a movie about a couple's long distance relationship and the troubles they suffer in between.
Institutes and directors have different views on genres and how they should look and evolve but each genre will have similar set, plot and props. The institute will also make sure the right actor is cast to correctly portray the character. Certain actors are archetypes and are associated with different genres.
A movie trailer will be made specifically to show the genre of the film. The producers will assure this and the audience will look out for it.
For example: Jane Eyre will instantly;y come across as a romantic period drama. An audience will understand from the trailer that it isn't an action film or a thriller/horror as there are no action scenes and no serial killers.
"A painting that is well composed is already half finished."
MoodBoard
This is the moodboard for my opening sequence. These photos all have a meaning in it. The lake and house are important as they are the main setting, I like the sunset element in the lower landscape photo.
The idea of the stalker is for him to be a watcher. We will see his eyes and lips but never his whole face in a shot. I like the idea of a cross dissolve between eyes or mouth and a forest. The car will most likely not be convertible as we will film in January and it will be too cold but i like the angle and proxemics. The drowning scene is important and I want the material of clothing and her hair to be a major visual point.
"Money won't buy happiness, but it will pay the salaries of a large research staff to study the problem..."
Difference, Repetition and Similarity
Two films with very different elements can still be classed as the same genre. Take Divergent and Silence Of The Lambs, although both placed in the thriller genre, the films have completely different Mise en Scene, characters and narrative events.
Divergent,Although a thriller it is sub categorized as an action, sci-fi and adventure movie. It is not set in a present day government and costumes, setting, characters and events in the movie are very different to our modern day. The morals of the story aren't applicable to our everyday life.
Much like silence of the lambs we want to discover more about the plot and it keeps us anticipating more.
Silence of the lambs is very different in the fact we can relate it to our present world, The characters are exaggerated but very naturalistic and possible in the plot. It is based in several parts of America and very accurate in location. Unlike Divergent, Silence of the lambs has no romantic elements attached to it at all, it is very much a psychological thriller.
The setting is accurate as we are all aware of what a prison looks like, although it is extreme.
These films are similar in the fact that the audience are always wanting to discover more and read into the plot deeper. There is a protagonist and antagonist, and a major catalytic event is the base of the conflict. The conflict is also often between a male and female character.
Eye-line Match shot in DIVERGENT
C.U Of Hannibal Lecter in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
Over the shoulder shot of Clarice in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
Legal Thrillers- Law, court, crime, justice, questions, penalty. Supernatural Thriller- Hero/Villain, paranormal, myth, vampire, demon, werewolf, witches. Psychological Thriller- makes you think, messes with your head, deceptive games, intelligent. My Opening Thriller Sequence
My opening thriller sequence is in the psychological thriller sub-genre, throughout the film the dialogue and conflict is internal and is supposed to make you think. There are some action-thriller ideas in the plot but not likely to be shown in the opening sequence.
Sub-Genre:a subdivision of a genre of literature, music, film, etc.
Hybrid Genre :A cross-genre is a genre in fiction that blends themes and elements from two or more different genres. As opposed to the conservatism of most genre fiction, cross-genre writing offers opportunities for opening up debates and stimulating discussion.
Sources : Wikipedia And Google
Why Is Genre Used?
Genre is used to stereotype, archetype and categorize films, it allows an audience to get an idea of the film before they see it. Different genres will have different target audiences. Eg. A film in the horror genre will not be targeting young children or elderly audiences. What Are Genre Conventions? Genre conventions are the smaller elements in a film which refer to repeating plot points. Usually films will have a set of particular elements then an audience will expect in a film of that genre. These tend to evolve over time and are revealed as the story unfolds. Conventions can also change depending on the situations occurring in real time.
"Nobody heard him, the dead man. But still he lay moaning. I was much further out than you thought.
And not but drowning. I was much to far out all my life, and not waving but drowning."
Rain For Morgan - Underwater Footage. I really love this underwater footage. This has inspired my opening sequence. I plan to have different shot angles though and create several differences.
Here is the initial idea for my Thriller opening scene.
The first shot will be a crosscut between a woman drowning and the contrast of two girls and two boys in a car going on a road trip. The woman will be filmed underwater floating peacefully. The sequence will be a mixture of mid shots and close ups. It will be at an eye line height. There will be non diegetic classical music and no diegetic sound. This will then cut to a shot of the four teens, they will be driving and the shot will be through the windscreen of either the driver, passenger of front windscreen. The foursome will be listening to diegetic dance music and raving in the car. The shot then moves onto Dan who is smoking a split out of the car window. The scene then cuts back to the woman drowning and we see her hair and dress getting wrapped around her body and face. There is a close up of her face from a direct over head angle. As the shot cuts to a wide shot of the teenagers truck we zoom in on a car following them. It is an Audi. The truck is seen turning off and pulling into a open space near a lake and the shot cuts to the car pulling in towards the camera. The music is turned off and the four teenagers grab their bags out of the back of the truck this is a wide shot showing the kids with their bags and tents. A few lines of dialogue are exchanged and they kids go to put up two tents. We cut to a shot of the tents in place and it is now early evening. The next shot is in the tent with both the couples, as they unpack the girls notice their underwear is missing. We see the girls empty their bags. Josh offers to take Maddie to get some more clothes from home and we see them walking towards the car and the headlights light up. During this time Jasmine and Dan decide to go swimming in the lake we film them from a wide shot and see the couple splash into the lake. It cuts back to Evangeline drowning and the classical music has stopped and we hear the diegetic splashing from underwater, a voice over is played over this and it is Evangeline talking about her death. As if she is watching herself. She continues to speak as we cut back to the couple in the water. In sync both the couple stop moving and Evangeline finishes her speech. We see an over the body shot from Evangeline and we see Jasmine open her eyes underwater to see Evangeline's corpse. She screams and the noise is heard through the water and bubbles escape to fill the shot. Fade to black. See Phoebe's Blog. I Will Work With Lucie And Phoebe Phoebe's Blog
