Film Inspiration

Seeing as we wanted our film opening to have a very specific sci-fi feel, we took inspiration from films such as: 

Alien

28 Days Later

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7ynwAgQlDQ

For our make-up and special effects, we took inspiration from the MTV show 'Teen Wolf'. 

We looked at possessed Stiles Stilinski for base makeup for the infected characters; pale, sweaty skin and dark circles under the eyes:

         

And for the more seriously infected characters, we drew inspiration from the character of the Kanima, a deadly lizard creature for scale patterns and yellow eyes with slit pupils:

We also had the idea to include black blood coming from the infected characters to really enhance the supernatural, sci-fi feel, and took inspiration from scenes and clips from the show like this:

Location Scouting

As part of our preparation to film our film opening, we have been scouting locations that would be appropriate for our piece. We decided on a large basement in a friend of Charles' house that has massive potential for a creepy, abandoned and sci-fi atmosphere. 

Here are some photos of our chosen location:

The furnishings will be removed and the lights turned off to achieve a dark and sinister feel. We are very excited about the potential for brilliance that this idea boasts. 

Chosen Narrative

We have now chosen and begun to develop one of our two film opening ideas; the reptile-apocalypse idea. This video explains our initial ideas for plot, makeup, location, camerawork and inspiration;

As a group, we are also currently creating a detailed storyboard for our opening, which includes a list of costumes, shots and shot lengths so that we have a very clear reference to look back on. This storyboard will be uploaded in the coming days once it has been completed.

Two Narrative Ideas

Our first idea was a post-apocalyptic storyline that is effectively a zombie film but with a disease which gives its victims reptile-like qualities. This would have an obvious sci-fi/thriller feel and would include lots of prosthetics and special effects. It is a very ambitious idea but are confident that with the correct preparation it can be a spectacular and professional film opening.

Our second idea would be a creature-feature, with the beast being a huge, black dog. We would have multiple POV shots from the animal's point of view, that would create a voyeuristic and unsettling feel. This would be easier to prepare and film but still has the potential to look very professional and effective.

Over the next few lessons, we will be choosing which idea we will develop and realise.

Developing a Narrative

Today, we started planning and developing our ideas for our final coursework piece. Above is the brief; to film 'the titles and opening of a new fiction film'. We are very excited about the possibilities for this task and have begun to expand our initial thoughts about the task.

Our chosen genre will be Thriller/Sci-Fi, as we agreed that this will provide us with many opportunities for ambitious camerawork and editing, as well as being engaging and exciting for the audience.

As part of our idea development, we were asked to think of two narratives that were in keeping with our genre, and devise two shots which we would hypothetically use, should we go ahead with that particular plot. These miniature storyboards and thought-diagrams will be included in my next post, once they have been completed in sufficient detail. 

Preliminary Task Evaluation

After re-filming and editing our Preliminary Task, we were now able to form an evaluation of how well we think the whole experience had gone and what we had learnt in the process.

We, as a group, discovered that it was much more difficult than we had imagined to get the actors and location to film our task due to some logistical problems, but on the whole (minus the having to re-film it all) our film was relatively successful for our very first attempt at creating a storyboarded, planned narrative. Obviously there is a lot of room for improvement before we can produce a successful and professional-looking piece of media, but I feel as though our experience with the Preliminary Task has really improved our filming-skills specifically. From things such as how to steady a camera and what kind of device to film on, to determining which shots would be most effective in creating a particular mood/atmosphere.

As a result of the Preliminary Task, I am very much looking forward to beginning production on the coursework film.

Re-filming

Upon returning to school after the half-term holidays, we realised that there were some major issues with our Preliminary Task attempt; particularly our camera quality. Unbeknownst to us, the camera was on a setting where the quality of the shot was reduced to allow it to take up less memory space. We were not happy to settle with a film that was not of an anywhere near acceptable standard, and so, we had to re-film our entire piece.

This was a pretty major setback as it meant that we would have to gather actors together again, find a suitable time to film, and edit another minute-long clip. Needless to say we have learnt from this experience to always check which function the camera is set to before hitting record!

Here is our completed Preliminary Task mark 2:

Filming the Preliminary Task

Today we used our storyboard and filmed all the shots that we had planned for. Over the next few weeks, we will be editing our task and making it look as professional and smooth as possible.

We experienced some difficulties when filming our Prelim, such as the classroom that we had planned  to be empty and abandoned having a class in it. This meant that we had to use one doorway for part of a sequence and another for the remainder, which I worry will result in a lack of continuity.

Fortunately, as this is our Preliminary film, we will, as a group, be able to take the mistakes and naiveties from this first task and use them to work out what we can do better in our coursework.

Preliminary Task Storyboard

Before you can even think about filming a piece, a refined and detailed storyboard must be produced in order to give an almost exact account of what will be happening in the clip/trailer/film etc.

Here is the storyboard for our Preliminary Task:

Preliminary Task

We have now been placed into our coursework groups which we will work in for our main project, the members of my group are Emily Kelly and Charles Ryder. The first practical task we have begun to carry out as part of our Media Studies course is our Preliminary Task. This will give us an opportunity to test out the skills we have newly learnt when it comes to actually storyboarding, filming and editing a short film. So far we have created a storyboard for our Preliminary Task, it is as follows;

A teenage girl is seen walking into a dark corridor, followed by another, curious girl. The 'Finder', as we called her in our storyboard, walks into the room at the end of the corridor to find a teenage boy tied to a chair and gagged. She rushes over to the boy in order to help him and discovers who it was that abducted him. In almost the same instant, the original girl the audience see walking into the corridor at the beginning of the piece appears from behind the 'Finder' and captures her too. The screen will then cut to black.

We like this idea as a Preliminary Task as it gives us multiple opportunities to include effective camera angles and shots such as 'shot-reverse-shot' and a 'match on action' to display the skills and techniques we have learnt so far. We chose to create a thriller/horror piece as there are many signs and signifiers that make it obvious that it is a thriller, and it was another opportunity to use many different camera skills.

Over the next week we will be filming and editing our Preliminary piece in order to upload it to YouTube in the near future.

This blog will be updated with developments in our piece in the near future.

Holly Cook Media 2014/15

This here is the very first post on this blog that's going to be following my journey through AS Level Media course. I haven't been studying Media for very long (only about a month and a half), but so far I. Am. Loving. It. It's really opened my eyes to so many different opinions and points of view I'd not have even thought about before beginning the subject. I'll keep this post quite brief but I'll be keeping this blog updated with developments and progress.

Until next time

Holly