CHRISTMAS HOLS

22ndDecember-5th January

Merry Christmas xxx

Shoot - more photos

Here are some photos from our shoot including photos of our cast and crew, behind the scenes, and screen snapshots to help when resetting a scene.

feedback notes continued....

If the girl bit is first the story will make much more sense and create more enigma, because the audience will think that the girl is talking to an agony aunt, which will be anchored by the text on screen of the illusive charcter 'julie' and then they will see that julie is in fact a man. This hopefully will provoke some sort of frightened emotion of shock.

We could show an establishing shot of her house (lauras will do fine) and then show her, so that everything is all happy and nice
and then the shots of his and the bungalow....showing the contrast
or we could have no house at all??

Editing stuff - feedback

i think that would make it clearer, but i suppose what we should do is try it where it shows her talking to "julie" and then show that to random people to get their opinions as to whether or not it makes sense.

About the "F word" - I KNOW!! im very confused, because if it was a certificate 18, then there definitely would be swearing, however, i suppose since it is a school project, the rules are different?

Try some different things, maybe swap the orders of the clips on another timeline or something...

Good luck!

Oh by the way, the film clip looks helpful, i like that film, but what language is it dubbed in?!?! Lol.

Laura

Computer Conversation 2

Something's Gotta Give

The computer conversation in "Something's Gotta Give" shows lots of good techniques like zooming in to the line as it's being typed, and cuts between expression and screen in a realistic way. We could easily try all this.

Feedback Feedback Conversation

Hello ill people, hope you're feeling better.
I agree that it doesn't make sense at the moment...it does look like her boyfriends and there isn't an indication that she thinks he's a woman...But when we do screen shots of typing and show "Julie" on screen won't this make it clearer? I don't know how to change this....if the girl bit is first how will it make it clearer? But we should try it anyway.
Also if we remove the "F word" from the line it sounds stupid - we deffinitely can't have it?? But it's a horror movie that would be an 18!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
More shots of King, yeah we were planning on doing that anyway.
And the briefcase bit we should try differently because it can go anywhere, really.


In this editing session, shall I try some new things? Can you give me some specific things to do and I'll try them? Or shall I just leave it.

Holly x x

BLK Feedback 12/12/08

I showed our media teacher our sequence so far, even though it was not the final order and we still have some things to film/re-shoot
here is what she had to say:

• The girls part must be first-the narrative and story doesn't make sense; it looks like she's talking to her boyfriend. She should be first with an establishing shot of her house
• NO swearing in the scrip - it's not appropriate
• The close ups of the knives should go later, after the men have got her address because the pace of the action is begins to pick up and so it would lead in nicely into the quick montage of the briefcase.
• Also the titles may not be needed to break up the shots in the briefcase; a montage may be enough

She told us that our shots were really good and of a high quality which is good, but when we re-shoot we should get some more shots of King from the angle which you can see him in the mirror, as it is a really creepy shot.

Overall positive comments which is really good, and I feel we are prepared for our re-shoot.

Conversations

Something I've noticed in watching film clips, and TV clips, is that when a conversation is happening, the camera isn't constantly on the person who is talking, it is also on the other person to see their reactions, while the first person is still talking. I think we should do this with ours because it makes it look more natural, and will show off our continuity skills.

Here is a film clip showing a conversation, which we can adapt by using cross-cutting, (shown in the film clip of "The Holiday" which is earlier on in our blog.)

Shooting script for Saturday 13th

Our shoot is scheduled for 10.30am - 4, on Saturday 13th December at my house. We will arrive at 10.30, King will arrive at 11 so that we are all set-up by the time he arrives. We need my Dad for one short scene (walking out of the cellar), so we will bring him downstairs to the cellar when he is needed. We need King, and Amelia, but we will do King's scenes first so that he can go, as Amelia has to be there the whole time anyway.

Location: Cellar

• King's lines from all the different angles (which will be decided on location)
• King retrieving the print out
• The two men leaving together
• Typing on the screen (King)

Location: My Bedroom

• Typing on the screen (Amelia)
• Re-shoot Amelia's OTS shot of her typing as it was on blogger and not our forum
• Shot of forum (can be done anywhere, but bedroom is easier as there is more room)

Hey guys, just thinking, since we need to do a group treatment, I've done an individual one, so what are your thoughts on it so we can make a group one and agree on a final idea? (It's on my blog btw)

X

Male actor number 2

Name: Kingsley Zachariah Ben-Adir

Age: 22

Height: 6ft?

Role: Man 1 (name tbc)

As mentionned before, King is an actual actor, so we are going to use this to our full potential and give him most of the lines.

Shoot 1 - feedback 4/12/08

Here is a summary of the feedback from Ms Thrasher of our first shoot.

1. Good attention to detail
2. Look at titling after you have edited and filmed your whole piece
3. Careful not to get bogged down by minute details
4. Don't run out of time
5. Maintain standard by planning

Overall lots of positive feedback, which makes us feel confident in our next shoot.

"Extremely well done!"

Male Actor number 1

Name: Rick Allen

Age: 53

Height: 6ft

Role: Man 2 (name tbc)

This is my dad, who has graciously stepped in to be one of our male actors, alongside Kingsley Zachariah Ben-Adir (a.k.a King). He won't have to do much as he will just be sharpening the knives and filling the briefcase, with one line of dialogue (as he's not an actor).

Our shoot - photographic evidence

These are some photos we took on our shoot. This is the creepy bungalow, but it was slightly too dark to actually film it, but I thought I'd upload a photo just to give an idea.




So that we could match shots if we needed to re-shoot anything, we took photos of the frames on our camera. Here are some I have included.





We thought this was a great idea as it makes it really easy to make the shot look the same because we have photographic evidence.

Looking forward to our second actual shoot, as we will have our male actors and it should be great!

Reflections of the Shoot

Shoot 1 - Saturday 29th November

What Went Wrong

• Amelia forgot to collect the equipment (tripod and boom pole) from Miss B after her French Oral. Fortunately, she picked it up the next morning and we had it on time for our shoot in the end.
• In our footage, on some shots the microphone picked up mobile signals and this can be heard. We didn't realise this would be recorded - however it is only on some shots that are not too important, and we can just cut them out.
• Planning - we didn't plan our shots out in a storyboard style; instead we just shot from every angle that everyone wanted to and it worked out pretty well. In our sequence we want a range of shots from a lot of angles to give the impression that the girl is being watched, but it was very tedious to shoot the same conversation over and over again! We now realise we need to start drafting storyboards and we are currently doing this in the form of post-it notes on sugar paper, so as to move them around in different orders.
• We couldn't decide whether to film with music from the iPod speakers, as originally agreed, or whether to add it in later. We tried it with various music tracks then disagreed about what song to use - some were too obviously depressing, others too happy. A Radiohead track called "Just" was the best, but after this we decided not to include music as the continuity would be hard to get right. We will deal with it this weekend.

What Went Well

• We managed to film all the shots we wanted for the girl's part, and the footage looks realistic and not too staged.
• We stayed within the time limit we had, even having lunch inbetween!
• All our equipment worked and was used to its full potential - there were no accidents or misplacing of items.
• Costume and make-up looked good. We actually used eyedrops to make Amelia look as though she was crying before every shot, which worked really well.
• Everyone was there on time and left at the same time, and our actor turned up with an open mind.
• We tested the script and found it to be good - it wasn't too cheesey, predictable or over the top.
• We communicated well with each other, and voiced our opinions without needing to be bossy or rude. This came up when talking about the music and everyone was very rational and decisive.
• We always thought of what was best for the group

Script Draft

Our sequence is an online conversation between this victim and the murderer. The script starts half way through the conversation. We have decided the girls name is 'Emma', and the murderers screen name as the agony aunt is 'Julie'.

JULIE

(muttering) Oh, no...that must be really hard for you...Did you take your pills?...Yeah?....Hows your mum?.......Is she still drinking at night?...(continued)

EMMA

I feel so alone at school...I wish I could talk to you all the time...Things seem to be getting worse. I don't know what to do!

JULIE

You know you can always talk to me...I'll always be here for you.

EMMA

I know. You've helped me so much. How can I ever repay you?

JULIE

(Laughing, not typed) Yeah...that comes later, darlin'....

(typed) Oh, you know I love talking to you too. But you seem distant tonight...

EMMA

I know. I'm sorry (crying). I just want to end it all! I feel like I want to die...

JULIE

(not typed) Bingo....

(typed) No, don't say that. We can work it out together. I've been through the same thing as you, I know what it feels like.

(pause)

Don't think things like that, things will get better. I promise.

(pause)

Emma?

(pause)

(not typed) Fuck, where did she go?

MAN 2

What?

JULIE

She's fucking gone and topped herself, man. Oh, hold on, hold on. She's back. She's writing.

EMMA

Sorry. The phone rang but it was for mum. I mean, why would it be for me?

(pause)

Can I ask you something?

JULIE

Anything. You can ask me anything.

EMMA

A favour? Would you come over?

Lol yes plan.
And yes we were doing those posts together :-P
see you in meeeeediaaaaaa

xxxx

I think its best we work on one together
so we need to have a meeting
BUT i can't do tomorrow lunch :S

but some other time
yeah maybe just all jot down some notes for the script and put a final draft together friday
xxxxx

Hey guys - I wrote out a script but i dunno how long to make it, i say we all write out what we think they should say then just mix and match yarsss?
Also, out of curiousity, are you two actually posting those posts together or just putting your names on everything?!
Holly x

Costume List

So we have 3 characters in our opening - the victim girl, and the two murderous men.

The Victim Girl
We will try to make the girl typical to horror/thriller films. She should look attractive yet modest, vulnerable, and unhappy (as she is visiting suicidal websites). We're thinking that she should wear a skirt and a plain top OR jeans and a girlyish top. Her hair should be down but not covering her eyes (so we could use a hair clip). The location she will be in is pink and cream, so she would need to be wearing a colour that fits.





The Two Murderers


There are many different conventions to muderous men in thrillers. Either they could be dressed in black suits, very matchy to show they are together like a little team/gang. However as our film is english, they should have a traditionally British style, and I do not think the men should be matching. I think they should be dressed quite casual but with a twist. All dark colours such as greys, navy and khaki.

Prop List

Here is a list of props needed for our shoot (we will keep adding to this list if we need to).
(stuff in purple is stuff we still need to get)

• briefcase
• laptop
• kitchen knives x 3
• rope
• tape
• matches
• wooden mannequin
• printer
• garden clipper things
• tumbler of whiskey (or perhaps a hip-flask?)
• condoms

Reflections of watching test footage

After watching the footage in the lesson, we realised some important factors to consider when doing our actual shoot, and made some observations and changes to the piece.

1. It wasn't snappy enough (but we realised this towards the end of our takes after reviewing them).
2. We don't have enough continuity, so we need to change the action so that it involves continuity other than the conversation online.
3. We decided who would play the girl.
4. After watching the different shots of the murderer with the briefcase, we realised which lighting looked best, and discovered that a mixture of different shots and angles could look really effective. We can cut it up to make it SNAPPIER and show some more continuity by matching-on-action with sharpening knives etc.

Test Shoot Evaluation

We had our test shoot yesterday, so this is just a little review of how it went and what we still have to do..

We were all pretty much on time (not that Laura had far to go) which meant that we had a lot of time, however after eating lunch, it took us a while to get into the working mood. We started trying to develop our story more so that we could make our opening sequence better.

We hadn't planned the exact shots we were going to take, we had just planned which locations to use. This meant we had to make it up on the spot, which surprisingly worked quite well.. We managed to find some good props such as a briefcase, kitchen knives, a wooden mannequin thing etc, that were effective and quite chilling. We didn't have our male actors, so me and Amelia had to stand in for them. This meant that you couldn't really get a sense of the contrast between the "victim girl" and "scary murderous men" as both were played by us..

We realised the importance of 100% commitance, because it is nearly impossible to film and act with just two people. This was especially evident when using the boom microphone, as we had to prop it up against things to get it in the right place.

The Computer Conversation

The Holiday

This is the whole near-10 minutes of the first bit of The Holiday, but it was the only clip I could find of the computer scene in it, so watch from 8:00 - onwards.

This is exactly what we want to create in our opening sequence - two people in entirely different places having a conversation, muttering some lines, typing others. The techniques used to let the audience know what's being said are:

• Speaking of what they are saying AS they type it
• Muttering their replies AS they read it
• Close-up onscreen of the text appearing AS it is being typed
• Close-up of keys being pressed
• Close-up of lips/faces AS words are muttered

It would be good if we could use a combination of all these techniques to show the conversation in our sequence, and not just the same one over and over, to show variety. We will film the whole thing from the different perspectives and then intergrate them using the different "techniques".

Will do. We've got footage of it, so we'll upload that at some point too..
Oh and you know when we went to the creepy bungalow, the miaowing from the massive cats next door to that can be heard on the film! It's SO CREEPY.
Laura x

By the way Laura, take some pictures of your room as it's one of the locations!
Holly x

Possible Victim

We've decided that either Laura or Amelia, who both do drama and want to be in it, should play the girl in our sequence. This will make things much easier - we know they will turn up to shoots, will actually care and can be in constant contact with them.



Name: Amelia Conway

Age: 16

Height: 5 foot 7



Amelia looks like a typical quirky, pretty teenager, and would work well in this role. Her screen test will determine whether she gets the part or not.

Possible Victim

Name : Laura Allen

Age : 17

Height : 5"6 ish??

Possible Role : Victim Girl

I am one of the possibilities, as I do drama and wouldn't mind doing it. This should've been done before the screen test, but it doesn't really matter because everyone in my group knows my name, age and estimated height..

Yeah that's a PLAN. I'm just updating my individual blog; it's been slightly neglected this week...
Oh yeah, if you haven't already, label your posts with stage 1/2 to make it easier for blk...

Laura x

Yep that's a good idea, you do yours and I'll just do Amelias shall I? Might as well...
Thankyou - COME ON MEDIA DEDICATION!
Holly x

Yeah cool. Shall we just use the photos from our individual blogs?
Hope you feel better!
Laura x

Oh ok, don't worry about it we'll just upload them this week some time.
I think I'll have to come in tomorrow to catch up and stuff! Also I think we should do two posts with pictures of you and Amelia as potential actors with profiles, just small ones, until we can upload the videos so that we don't get behind, what do you think?
Holly x

Hey, yeah we wrote a few lines of possible dialogue. After saying them a million times we now HATE them, but that would happen whatever lines we used..
Can't upload the clips as they're on Premier Pro and I'm on the computer in the 6th form study room, and I'm busy all lunch with House meetings and French meetings..
Will you be in tomorrow do you think?
Laura x

Hey guys

You think Amelia should be the girl? Sounds good. I really want to see the screen tests - can you upload the clips onto the blog?
Also did you draft a script? Shall I write one then we can edit it etc. ?

Holly

Screen test result

After looking at the footage of me and Amelia as the girl, we decided that Amelia should be the girl because she seemed to fit the role better. We need to get Holly's approval before going ahead with that but I'm sure she'll agree once she sees the scene.

Also, thanks Holly for the pic of your dad! We'll get Amelia to upload one of her dad too.

The Villains

We have not really researched/decided what the two villains in our sequence will be like, so I've looked at how male murders of the same sort have been portrayed in these films. We need to decide on dress, make-up, voice, body language and personality.

Male murders in Films


1) Jules and Vincent from Pulp Fiction

Although these hitmen are a pair like in our story, the characters are too cool and too funny - although they are murderers, there is no enigma about their personalities or characters that scares the audience, which is what we want.

TO BE CONTINUED........

Possible Villain

Before we screen test the two men for our sequence, I thought I'd post a picture of my dad (a potential actor) just to mark the fact that we've thought of someone.



Name: Bill Thicknes
Age: 44
Height: 6 foot 1


We need the two men to be stocky, tall and menacing. Although this picture is friendly, when we screen test him we will try out different expressions, shot lengths and sample scripts. I think he will work well at this stage, and we know he will be reliable for the shoot.

Him in a leather jacket (potential outfit) pulling ridiculous, Jack-Nicholson-in-Shining face...

Full-body shot...

BLK feedback

hope it all went well today girls, looking forward to seeing your footage :-)

Possible script for girl - screen test

E-mail conversation between girl and men. This is the script that we used in the test shoot, but we won't necessarily use this during the actual thing. Maybe she should be sadder while talking to the agony aunt, and have more depressing lines.

Girl
I've been doing a lot better this week.

My mum didn't drink this evening.

You've really helped me.

Can I ask you a favour? (pause) Would you come over this evening?

The Story

We thought we'd try and come up with a story..

So, the whole film is about these two men who go around raping and killing suicidal girls and the opening scene is just a taster. After the successful murder (in the opening) an investigation is started. The men's next target is the detective's daughter, whose mum just died from cancer. The two killers play on this and realise she would be quite emotional and needing comfort, and her dad is their enemy. They discuss how it has been too easy, and they are always game for a challenge, so they choose to prey on the detective's daughter as they believe they can make her seem suicidal. They lure her to the forum by subliminal messages and notes in her locker. The rest of the film is about them trying to get her, and her trying to frame them, but nobody believes her, not even her dad. When the men are forcing her to write a suicide note (before they rape and kill her) she writes it cryptically so that her dad will understand what happened and be able to catch them. But will he...?

Classification

Just thought I'd mention that our film will most likely be rated "18" because of its content. This is from bbfc.co.uk (british broadcasting film classification).

In line with the consistent findings of the BBFC's public consultations, at '18' the BBFC's guideline concerns will not normally override the wish that adults should be free to chose their own entertainment, within the law. Exceptions are most likely in the following areas:

- Where material or treatment appears to the Board to risk harm to individuals or, through their behaviour, to society – e.g. any detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts, or of illegal drug use, which is likely to promote the activity. The Board may also intervene with portrayals of sexual violence which might, e.g. eroticise or endorse sexual assault.

- The more explicit images of sexual activity – unless they can be exceptionally justified by context and the work is not a 'sex work' as defined below.

Forums

We want to use a forum so that the men and the girl can communicate, so we wanted to look and see if we could make one. I found this website http://drupal.org/node/111576 which lets you make a private forum I think. This website http://www.myfastforum.org/?gclid=CMTE3bn-hZcCFQKKMAodIAtN9Q looks better though, as it clearly says that you can make free forums, so I will wait until Amelia and Holly see this so that we can make it with the username of our male characters (which we haven't decided yet).

This is a forum I found for suicide help (which I think Amelia also found when she did research on suicide websites) http://www.suicideforum.com/ so we should make ours look like this, so that it is believable.

The 8 Key Questions

Even though we have chosen an idea to go ahead with, and got teacher feedback, I thought I'd answer the 8 key questions just to check.

1. Is it practical?
Yes, the sequence we want to film only involves two locations - a den (my cellar) and a girl's bedroom (my bedroom). Both of which I have permission to use. We don't need much movement or dialogue, so it won't be too complicated, meaning we can focus on the camera work.

2. Is it an idea that works to the strengths of the group?
Yes, we are all good at acting, filming and editing and are very creative. We haven't done the screen tests of us yet, so we don't know who will be playing the role of the girl, but whoever we choose will be great. I think we all know someone (a friend, or a friend of a friend of a friend) who has been affected by/thought about suicide, so we will handle the subject delicately.

3. Will it show off the skills you have learnt so far on the course?
Our sequence will include some continuity sequences (such as when the two men are talking to each other) and some cross-cutting (between the girl and the men), so this will allow us to show off the skills we've learnt. The preliminary exercise helped with understanding continuity, so I feel much more confidant about it now.

4. Is it something you can reasonably shoot and edit in the time available?
Yes definitely. As both of our locations are at my house, it makes it easier and quicker than if we used many different locations. Also, Holly lives near me, which makes travel easier. Amelia could always stay round one of our houses if we were doing a massive shoot one weekend. As the sequence is fairly simple, hopefully it shouldn't take too long to film, however we are not going to be stingey when it comes to footage; you can never have too much, so we will keep the camera rolling for a bit longer than necessary.

5. Can you get access/ permission to shoot in the chosen location at the chosen times?
As I mentionned before, I already have permission to shoot in those locations, and as they are in my house, I have easy access. The only major thing we will need to do concerning locations is to clear the cellar of my mum's art materials, or at least clear the area in which we wish to film in.

6. Can you organise lighting to use in that location?
Yes, there are plug sockets in both my room and the cellar, so we can use the big lighting if we need it, however we probably won't want it to be very bright, so we can use one of the many spotlight lamp things that I have around my house.

7. Have you included dialogue? If so, will it work to shoot conversation in that location?
Yes we have, although we haven't finalised what they are going to say, we have only devised a few samples for our screen test. Conversation will be fine to shoot in the locations, and as some of our conversation is through the "forum" we will film the screen (which we need to test that it looks ok on film).

8. Do you have guaranteed high quality reliable actors to play the characters?
Yes, as they are us and our dads, there is definite reliability and enthusiasm.

So, our idea seems to have passed the test.. YAY!

Monday: Test Shoot

Monday is our first day to test out all our possible shots so we need to make sure everything is organised in advanced. We need to screen test myself, Holly and Laura, to see who would be best as the role of the girl. As we plan on using our dads as the killers, and they will have work on Monday, we will fill in for them and purely test out the different types of shots we will use.
Other things that need to be done before Monday is the first draft of the script (it can be perfected after this as adjustments may need to be made.) We will need to make a test shooting script, as well as think about sound, if we decide to have sound in the shots. Consider lighting in our locations and if we will need artificial light or not, and if so what lighting will we use? We need to make a detailed list of props and costume that we will need, and check if we have theseor not. It is not essential that we do for our test shooting but it will give us a clearer idea.

Generally our test shoot is a time to test out any possible shot type or angle, and get a feel for how the whole piece will look. We should experiment to find out what works and what doesn't but also be very critical, as this is a time for learning and analysing. But most importanatly we need to have fun ( be quick and professional or course but have fun.) This is after all a learning experience but that doesn't mean we shouldn't enjoy it.

So now we need to start some in depth planning to make sure we are prepared
Can't wait :)

Suicide Films

We've decided to further our research about the use of suicide in film, and have chosen these three films to look at. Because we are focusing on this sensitive issue, we want to handle it delicately by getting as many facts as we can rather that making it up for our sequence, and so we're looking at how other films have handled it.


1) The Virgin Suicides
Based on the novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, the film tells of the suicides of the five Lisbon sisters in an upper middle class suburb of Detroit during the 1970s. The girls’ suicides fascinate their community as their neighbours struggle to find an explanation for the acts.

The Trailer

We thought the trailer handled the issue of suicide from a realistic point of view ("Clearly you've never been a 13 year old girl, doctor") and the music fitted the teenage setting. The titles were also hand-written and girly, as if jotted down in a diary, which relates to our theme of teenage depression. Overall the trailer successfully shows the audience what the film has to offer and its main subject, and if we were promoting our whole film, we'd go about it in a similar way.

2) The Happening

In Central Park, New York City, people inexplicably begin committing mass suicide. First they become disoriented and motionless, before resorting to the most convenient means of killing themselves. Initially believed to be a bioterrorist attack, the pandemic quickly spreads across the northeastern United States.

The Trailer

This trailer is very tense and uses a lot of blackouts and fades. This makes it seem epic and it matches with the music. There are a lot of establishing scenic pans, implying that it is a big issue. This is contrasted with close-ups of horrified faces, which gives the audience a feeling of helplessness. The trailer doesn't really explain what the story is, which on the one hand is intriguing, but on the other hand is a bit anoying as you have no idea what's going on. Mass death, but not necessarily suicide is shown in the trailer, which leaves the plot open-ended and you are left wondering what's "happening".

3) Heathers

Heathers is a 1989 black comedy film starring Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, and Shannen Doherty. The film portrays four girls in a trend-setting clique at a suburban Midwestern high school. The girls—three of whom are named "Heather"—rule the school through intimidation, contempt, and sex appeal. JD makes Veronica murder people, when she is just trying to get revenge by pranking them. To cover up her murder of one girl, they forge a suicide note, (which is how it relates to our film). They also shoot two guys in the woods, who are naked (with the promise of Veronica fulfilling a dirty rumour about herself), and JD and Veronica put gay porn magazines next to them and a forged suicide note saying the lovers had a suicide pact. These are the only elements that are similar to our film.

The Trailer

This trailer is really strange, which fits the genre as it is a black comedy. It uses a big voice over which is similar to other teen movies, however the actual subject matter is quite dark. I don't think it is a very good trailer, but I put it up there because it is roughly about the same things as our film.

Samples of Dialogue for Screen Test

Here are a few samples of possible conversations that we have written to test out the males in our piece. This will not be the definite script of our piece but will give us an idea of how the situation will pan out.

Sample 1

Man 1:

Have you got the address?
Man 2:

(pause) Got it. Let's go.

Sample 2

Man 1:

We've only got 24 hours. She signed out at 22:20.

Man 2:

Did you tell her we're coming?

Man 1:

She knows. I'm her fucking agony aunt.

Both:

(laugh)

Suicide Help Websites

I started to have a look at some help websites, most were to prevent suicide but were not aimed at the suicidal person themselves, but to a friend or family member. I started to look at the colours and themes that they used for their backgrounds , to either aim them at youth or adults.


I have found some of the websites use muted, calming colours such as pale blues and greens. This is obviously because of the state of mine that these people are in, they might be quite on edge and (although it sounds irrational) be set off by anything, including a brightly colour, flashing, animated web page.


The websites all have inspiring quotes and statements such as “Suicide is not chosen; it happens when pain exceeds resources for coping with pain.” and "Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore." The websites are there to provide hope and advice in these peoples most desperate time of need. They need to appear caring.

If we are going to show words from the screen of the computor then will will need to think very carefully about how our website will be designed and what kind of things we will say. Ideally we will set up a blog to look like a help website, however I have found from research online that most of the one on one advice from 'agony aunts' to the suicidal people happens in forums, so perhaps there is some way of creating a forum.

Listed below are a few of the problems that can potentially trigger suicidal thoughts in a young person:
Death of a parent.
Divorce of parents.
Feeling like a "pawn" that is being used between feuding, divorced parents.
Joining a new family with a step-parent and step-siblings.
Breaking up with a boyfriend / girlfriend.
Moving to a new community.
Not feeling accepted by peers.
Being ridiculed by classmates.
Feeling misunderstood.
Any experience perceived to be "humiliating."
Alcohol abuse.
Drug abuse.

to be continued...by Amelia

Briefcase

We'd talked about having a briefcase where the men put the weapons, so I thought I'd try and find a briefcase of weapons, and this is as close as I could get. It just gives an idea of what out briefcase should look like - black, hard...

By Laura

Inspiring Movie Opening

Se7en: Opening Credits

We love the montagey, fast-paced, enigma creepiness of Se7en's opening sequence - is it the murderer or a victim or a detective? You see a hint of information, but not enough to make out a clear character. The titles are also brilliant, hand written on black screens as well as over the action. This technique of mixing the two really appeals to me, as opposed to having black screens the whole time for titles (or vice versa). Also the music in this sequence is so suggestive - it sounds like technology breaking down, computers hissing, dripping water, an electro beat, all mixed together to make an eery soundtrack that compliments the on-screen action perfectly. I think the music is very important - not only the type of music but when it comes in, when it's loud or soft, or when the base is clear/in the background. More than anything this clip inspires inspires you to find great music!

Sample Music for Soundtrack

We found some samples of music tracks we liked as first ideas for our soundtrack. They all come from 'Freeplay Music'.

http://freeplaymusic.com/search/category_search.php?sindex=11&i=1403&t=v

• "You Are Safe"

For the opening shots (the slow zoom of the murders) we thought this very low, eery drone would work well very quietly, cross-cutting with the girl's teenage music.

http://freeplaymusic.com/search/category_search.php?t=v&i=1049

• "Pitched Up"
• "A Cinematic touch"
• "Darkscape"

These three tracks we liked for when the titles start in our opening sequence - our favourite is A Cinematic Touch, as the other two get too epic and happy.

BLK feedback

fantastic stuff so far girls! I love the website/girls idea, we can have a look at it a bit more in class on weds.

as for Laura's shed/cellar/art/studio/washing room - what a fab location -and the empty bungalow idea, that could work so well too

great research, great ideas, well done

Background

Just a quick post to say why we chose the background. Basically, since our idea involves teenage girls being the victims, the photograph of the terrified girl seemed to fit well, and the colours are black, red, and grey - classic horror colours.



So yeah, SPOOKY..



By Laura, Holly and Amelia

Location Location Location - Laura's cellar

So, we were thinking about some possible locations for the men's den, and I thought of my cellar, so I took some photos of it.

This is the outside of my cellar.. it could look pretty creepy in the dark (especially the shadows that the ivy would cast).

Here's another picture of it, thought it could be a cool little den, (it used to be a bomb shelter in wartime).

The door. I quite like this framing and how the ivy creates interesting shapes around the door.

Here are the outside windows. I thought perhaps we could include a shot through the window, showing one of the men at the computer (which would be a laptop, as there is no computer down there.. But that's not a problem as I have a laptop). This could be quite effective and create a creepy atmosphere from the word go.

This is the view from inside the cellar out the windows. This could also be included to show that they are in a little outdoor den, that is isolated.

This is the door from the inside. Since the walls are pretty colourful, I would photograph this in darkness (cover up the windows and use artificial light) to make it look sinister.

This is the second half of my cellar (where we hang the washing, and store stuff). There is a pillar that could be used in shot, and it is quite dark. With tight framing, we can miss out all the rest of the stuff in there. My friend photographed me tied up to that pillar with chains for her art project, and it looked very effective and freaky.

This is a picture of the first half of the cellar (my mum's art studio). If we were to use this location, we would have to clear the canvases and paints, and use tight framing to just include the laptop on the desk, and the man at the computer.


There is also a creepy-looking bungalow on my road that seems to be uninhabited.. We could always photograph that as the outside location, and use the cellar as the inside location. Will photograph it at some point probably..

By Laura

Research: Instruments of Murder

We thought we'd look at murder weapons and how they've featured in some classic films/scenes. This is our moodboard of many different instruments of murder, such as the knife, gun, chainsaw and pills:

1) Misery

As you can see, this is the classic scene in the classic horror/thriller "Misery", where Cathy Bates, the derranged obsessive kidnapper breaks the feet of her victim.

2) Nightmare On Elm Street
This is the infamous star of "Nightmare on Elm Street", the murderer Freddy Kruger with knives for fingers. The make up use is also really effective in creating his character - he clearly stands out from the usual killer. There is an element of humour about his outfit now, but at the time he was a terrifying character. I like the idea of using exaggerated make-up, as I think this is usually more effective than an understated killer. However Freddy Kruger's face would be too complicated.

3) Halloween

Mike Myers in "Halloween" always uses the kitchen knife as his tool, right from when he's as little boy and takes in from his kitchen. We all have kitchen knives so this would be a practical tool!

4) Psycho

The shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" became a cult classic, and this silhouetted shot of Norman Bates, the murderer, dressing up as his mother and raising the knife to kill his victim, is a great example of film photography legend. There is enigma in that we don't know who he is, and the blur of the shower spray creates thrilling anticipation - he's about to pierce that watery sheet.

5) The Texas Chainsaw Masacre

Although it would be hard to get our hands on a chainsaw, it's such a scary murder weapon that it really appeals to me! It connotes real destruction and lots of blood...and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre really is a sick, horrible film - brilliant, but totally sick. Again, difficult for our task on a low budget/not a lot of time.

6) The Shining

The axe hacking its way through the bathroom door in "The shining" we thought was a good example of a random object being used as the killer's main choice of weapon - apart from the knife, it's the best, I think. The audience is more scared because they know axes are more accessible than a gun or a chainsaw.

by Holly, Amelia & Laura

BLK feedback

Girls - such a great start! All the teachers are enjoying reading your work, and looking at your group blog!!

Company Name Ideas

• Shoe lace/shoe string productions
• Monkey Man productions
• Mole
• Blinding Light
• Handprint Productions
• Hat And Gloves
• Glass Eye
• Grub
• Margarita Makers
• HAL
• Lah Lah Lah Productions
• Origami

We all looked at all the names of film companies in the industry at the moment (Paramount, Pathe, MGM, Fox) and then decided we wanted just a normal word or phrase for our company name. We'll keep researching this and decide later.

by Laura, Holly & Amelia

Second Group Meeting

Our second meeting was on Friday 14th November, where we worked out which idea we were going to go ahead with and developed the full story. We chose the suicide "Aunties" plot because it is original and we think it can create a really effective opening sequence. This is our initial shot list:

• Cross cutting between the back of one of the murderers on the computer in a dark room, and a teenage girl in her room doing girly things ie. Blow-drying hair, doing nails, reading magazine. But she’s pouring her heart out to the website, having conversations with the murderer. She mutters some of the messages. At this point, in terms of sound, there is the background noise of the girl’s teenage music on her shots, and the dim hum of the ominous computer on his side.
• The camera is zooming in towards the man on the computer, and then he turn his head so you see a shadowed profile of him. Exchange of dialogue with other murderer who you can’t see. He prints something off, and there is a cutaway to the text. Then shadows (bodies) move across the screen as they get up to go and the screen goes black with the first title. The music starts up.
• Title.
• If there is time after all this… hand-held shots of the murderers getting ready to go to the girl’s house, possibly black screens for titles. Random dialogue. There are two ellipses: shows them leaving the flat, cut to car wheel screeching away, they knock at door. Her head whips round – CU for reaction.
• Ending: something initiating the action but leaves on a cliff-hanger.

by Holly, Amelia and Laura

First Group Meeting

We had our first Group meeting on Wednesday 12th November in the media block to brainstorm ideas. We came up with three initial rough ideas:

• A murder organisation called "The Aunties" (possible title?) who victimise vulnerable, suicidal women/girls by setting up a help website where they are "agony aunts". they are really men. then they target certain women, get to know them, then find out where they live and kill them, making it look like suicide. The posts on the worry website are evidence of suicide.

• A film centered around cocaine (talcom powder?). A dealer is getting packages of coke ready and poisons one, sends it off and his unsuspecting victim receives it. that's all we have so far - no real outline.




• A murderer who targets Aryan (blonde hair blue eyes etc.) victims because he hates the Nazis. His father was a Nazi and it ruined his life. Possible big twist about his father/who he is.

At this stage, my favourite idea is the first one because it is more developed and has a clearer plot. I think it will be quite interesting to shoot and easier, too. However I think the cocaine idea will be very original. We'll discuss this further in our next meeting.



Holly