We spent a lot of time trying to decide on the perfect soundtrack on our thriller, and despite our hesitation at first when we believed it would be difficult to find a track that was uncopyrighted; we soon seemed to be overwhelmed with choice: did we want a stereotypical soundtrack or an ironic one? Did we want an instrumental or a piece with lyrics?
In the end, we decided to use "Across" - an instrumental, classical piece from a website that hosts many uncopyrighted songs (mobygratis). We got in touch with the original artist of the piece and asked for their permission to use the song - they agreed on the condition we let them watch the finished video, which of course we agreed to.
We chose this piece because we felt it would be an ironic statement to the action in the video (in a similar way to God Bless America is used in an ironic way in Once Upon a Time in America.) This includes the way in which throughout the murder, peaceful music continues to play in the background - almost making it seem meaningless.
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Equipment List.
Whilst shooting our thriller, we used various pieces of equipment. These are as follows:
Camera
Tripod
We used a tripod similar to this to ensure that our cinematography was as smooth as possible. During our thriller filming, I discovered how crucial these were in creating a watchable film.
Lighting
We used various types of lighting whilst shooting our thriller film - the majority of which being torches as our thriller was mainly shot in the dark. We used a trial-and-error techniques with the lighting, finally finding a balance that still have us the dark atmosphere that we needed and enough light that the action was visible.
Each piece of equipment was crucial for our filming and extremely effective.
Camera
Tripod
We used a tripod similar to this to ensure that our cinematography was as smooth as possible. During our thriller filming, I discovered how crucial these were in creating a watchable film.
Lighting
We used various types of lighting whilst shooting our thriller film - the majority of which being torches as our thriller was mainly shot in the dark. We used a trial-and-error techniques with the lighting, finally finding a balance that still have us the dark atmosphere that we needed and enough light that the action was visible.
Each piece of equipment was crucial for our filming and extremely effective.
Monday, 15 March 2010
Thriller Title: A Fall From Grace
Originally, we had planned to call our film 'The Rep' - as we had planned for the villain in our thriller to be a 'rep' for the shop in which we were filming. Whilst shooting, we thought about how effective this would be, and decided that another title would probably represent our film better.
We brainstormed a few ideas, and thought about tie-ins we could make to the character and the plot. I brainstormed around the villain's name: Grace Jones. In the end, we decided to use "A Fall From Grace" as our title.
Whilst researching the phrase, we found several meanings:
1. A loss of status
2. A loss of respect
3. A loss of prestige
4. In a biblical sense, it means to become immoral.
e.g
"Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace." (from the Bible)
5. In a famous poem, the line: "The fall from grace is steep and swift, and when you land, it does not make a sound, because you are alone" by Cari Williams in 1995 was very poweful.
'A Fall From Grace' holds several connotations about our film. First of all, we thought that it was a good idea as it highlights how Grace is the villain - murdering innocent people. We then thought about how it could hold deeper connotations towards the rest of the film.
The title suggests (as shown by the fourth suggestion of meaning of the phrase) that Grace was a classic 'good girl' and that something has happened to turn her into this murderous villain. We thought that this may intice the audience as they wish to find out what has happened to her in the past and what will happen to her.
We brainstormed a few ideas, and thought about tie-ins we could make to the character and the plot. I brainstormed around the villain's name: Grace Jones. In the end, we decided to use "A Fall From Grace" as our title.
Whilst researching the phrase, we found several meanings:
1. A loss of status
2. A loss of respect
3. A loss of prestige
4. In a biblical sense, it means to become immoral.
e.g
"Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace." (from the Bible)
5. In a famous poem, the line: "The fall from grace is steep and swift, and when you land, it does not make a sound, because you are alone" by Cari Williams in 1995 was very poweful.
'A Fall From Grace' holds several connotations about our film. First of all, we thought that it was a good idea as it highlights how Grace is the villain - murdering innocent people. We then thought about how it could hold deeper connotations towards the rest of the film.
The title suggests (as shown by the fourth suggestion of meaning of the phrase) that Grace was a classic 'good girl' and that something has happened to turn her into this murderous villain. We thought that this may intice the audience as they wish to find out what has happened to her in the past and what will happen to her.
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Storyboards
When we were first given the task of creating the opening to a thriller film, we thought out and storyboarded an idea that we did not use in the end. However, I thought that I would put my storyboard on the blog as it shows some of the thought processes of the group and the shots that we kept and how our idea developed over time.
ORIGINAL STORYBOARD:
There was a slight change, and Sam Cameron became a part of our group. A cellar then become available through the fact that Sam's mum owns a shop in North Walsham. We changed our idea as we believed that it followed more conventions and would make a more effective film overall.
Shots that are similar in both ideas include the shot from inside of the boot - we kept this as we thought that not only would this be quite a unique idea, but it would also follow the convention of a claustrophic space. We also thought that the effect the light would have when the boot was opened would create a good atmosphere in the film.
NEW STORYBOARD:
Although I'm not brilliant at drawing (as is apparent), I think that the contrasting storyboards are effective in showing our thought processes and also give an overview of our original ideas.
ORIGINAL STORYBOARD:
There was a slight change, and Sam Cameron became a part of our group. A cellar then become available through the fact that Sam's mum owns a shop in North Walsham. We changed our idea as we believed that it followed more conventions and would make a more effective film overall.
Shots that are similar in both ideas include the shot from inside of the boot - we kept this as we thought that not only would this be quite a unique idea, but it would also follow the convention of a claustrophic space. We also thought that the effect the light would have when the boot was opened would create a good atmosphere in the film.
NEW STORYBOARD:
Although I'm not brilliant at drawing (as is apparent), I think that the contrasting storyboards are effective in showing our thought processes and also give an overview of our original ideas.
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