Thriller Rough Cut

Today we finished our 'rough cut' for our 'thriller film', and it is so far what we have done putting together all the shots and the scenes we have filmed so far with only 'basic editing'. It shows a wide variety of shots which include 'split screens', very high angle shot, close ups, extreme close ups and trackings shots.
All we have left to do is just do a bit more editing in getting our 'match cuts' perfect as well as adding on an appropriate 'thriller soundtrack', to match the 'race against time' theme including other little elements to finish off our film.

Thriller Rough Cut.

Bag Swap Exercise

Today in class we were asked to create a bag swap scene between 2 people who have to exchange bags but in the sense that no one else knows that it is on purpose we got this idea from the film collateral.

So first we picked out from our group Me, Nicole, Rex and Canhan who was going to do the bag swap and who was going to film, Me and Canhan were picked to do the bag swap were as Nicole and Rex volunteered to do the filming of the exercise.

So we then carried on to plot out how the bag swap was going to take place we had our idea and we were on our way to film, most people in our class went outside to film so we thought that it would've easier to film inside,so we picked the first staircase in the college. as props for our bags we used the camera boxes which were a steel case which had a good effect on the scene.

Because we were using the stair case we thought that it would be a good idea if one person was walking from the top downwards and one person waling from the bottom upwards, so i was at The top and Canhan was at the bottom. we first filmed me walking down the corridor and out the door to the stairs to start my walk down the stairs, then we recored Canhan, her walking up the stairs.

Then Rex went outside to film me and Canhan walking down and up the stairs at the same time which was a really good way of getting a establishing shot and to see were the 2 characters were in the building.

After that we then filmed the swap the group thought it was a good idea to make it look like we were bumping in to each other because i was bigger then Canhan and therefore she is smaller which had a good effect.

after we filmed that a number of times we then edited the film to make it look better and shorter.

Pitch

Today we presented our pitch to our teachers and classmates.

in this pitch we discussed how are 2 minute opening sequence is going to look and what is going to be in it. plot, locations, mise en scene etc

we first described the protagonist which is a man called gabriel smith who is working under the nation, we then carried on to describe a little more detail in to what he would be doing in the opening scene and told the "judges" how this is a crime political thriller. we then proceeded to tell them locations which are Rex's house, specific places in london for example canary wharf and the millennium eye.

we then told them who was the antagonist which is an unknown character who is located in a phone box outside on the street and how he has gabriel female friend and is black mailing gabriel and how gabriel can stop this blackmailing but also were to meet him to get his friend back

Live Type Audit Tutorial

For our final piece we would had to have made 'credits' and other 'title sequences'. In order to do this we had to learn how to use 'Live Type' which is a 'software' similar to 'Final Cut Pro', and allows us to make our title sequences.
It has a wide range of 'tools' we can use to create out title sequence and even 'text' over the film. It allows us to make moving 'slides' to introduce out films including various 'texts sizes', 'fonts' and 'colours'.
It wasn't that difficult to use as it has a similar type design in a 'timeline' where we can edit what we want it and what we do not want.
Making good use of Live Type could be vital in our film in order to make it as realistic and effective as possible and we will have to take 'inspiration' from thriller films like 'SE7EN' or 'Mission Impossible'.
We were also shown how to 'export' our final product onto Final cut to in order for us to put it in our film.

Final Cut Pro tutorial

Before we could start editing on the 'Macs' we had to have done our 'Final Cut Pro' tutorial, which is basically the 'software' that we use in order for us to 'edit' out 'film' and get an almost complete 'footage'.

We were first of all taught how to upload our footage into the 'video drive' before we could even start up Final Cut Pro. Once we did that we had to 'download' all our clips from our 'memory cards' into Final Cut. We were shown the 'two screens' one of them called a 'viewer' where we can watch the footage we have edited. The next thing we were shown was the 'timeline' which is at the bottom of the Whole screen, and its function is to show us how long our film is and it is where most of the editing is done to cut, 'speed up' or 'slow down'.

Whilst using the we were also shown the toolbar which came in handy. on it include the 'mouse' clicker and the 'razor blade' which is a tool that allows us cut pieces of footage to suit us and come in great use whe we are 'match cutting'.

Location Shots

The opening to our sequence, will be situated in Rex's house - in the sitting room, to establish the dilemma and the problem that he's facing. With a close up of a telephone as our opening shot.

Another location we decided to use was a random phone booth. This is where the dilemma will unfold.
We also decided to have a scene where the protagonist runs into Canary Wharf station and exits via another station (Westminster).





We will also have our hero run through iconic places throughout London. Such as, Big Ben, London Eye and Southbank.







The last location of our sequence will be at an underground passageway (near Canary Wharf), where our hero will be confronted with a folder.

First Filming Session/ My House

Today was our first filming session of our final piece. As it was a tuesday, it was only our 1hr 40mins lesson. We didnt have alot of time to shoot and had to do alot in a short period of time. Thats why we decided to do the scenes in My house first as they were indoors and we would come across less interuptions.

Our intial idea was to shoot Smith at his workplace in an office somewhere but then, we decided to change that and shoot him at his safe place, at his domain. We thought that if we had him doing everyday things that we all do, and is a norm, therefore when he gets this phone call and we find out his secret that he didn't want anyone to know, it will be more of a shock.

We were able to capture this by shooting him doing regular daily things for example shaving, getting dressed, making toast and a cup of tea.

We were able to take various shots of his doing his daily routine, as well as match cuts through the house including him reading the paper and watching television.

We also pre-planned to make some props. As we knew we only had a limited amount of time to produce and end product, we realised that we would not be able to physically or verbally tell the viewer the situation and who our character is.

Therefore we decided to look back at the 'show don't tell' meaning we made up fake certificates and 'top secret, confidential, classified' sheets of paper to lay them out around the house in inconspicuously. We also had in places various credit cards and passports, as well as a briefcase all this will challenge our audience minds as they will have to use the information and clues to infer the situation in order for them to deduce some what to who our charater is, as well as the genre before the he even receives the phone call.

This will excite our viewers, and give them a vicarious thrill in feeling a part of the film and from then on they should be hooked on to our plot. I believe we executed the filming very well and now as long as we can achieve the same in editing we should be able to get our point across and challenge our viewers rather than mouth feed them the story line, which should give us an edge in originality and creativity.

Second Filming Session: South Bank/ Westminister

Today was a really good day in terms of my group and I getting alot of work done. As this was our second outing and we had almost the whole day to do it, we were able to film at South Bank and Parliament as well as Londodn Eye and Canary Wharf.

We arrived firstly at Tower Bridge around 10:00 am where we started to shoot our intial running scenes of Gabriel's race against time around the City Of London. We trekked on foot along the river thames bank, stopping each time we saw a potential vantage point in capturing his epic journey to find the person who has a hold over him. Views of the river and the landscape also added to our improving the visual aspects in our filming as well as bustling crowds and natural frantic noises of buses, mototrcycles and cars.

Another thing we achieved today was filming the last scene in our piece which was located at 'little bridge' as we weren't able to do it in day one of filming. As it was pretty much an isolated area we were able to have a sort of eerie tranquility which adds to our need of showing suspense and tension as he is alone with only the folder which is left on the floor with potentially devastating classified information.

We also were happy with our planning that everything went very smoothly today, and we took neccesary precautions before filming. We knew that areas like Canary Wharf, London Eye, and Parliament were private areas therefore we asked our teacher for a headed letter from the college to show security or police along with our student I.Ds in order for our filming not to be restricted. At first we didnt encounter this problem, however as we entered into heavily footaged areas we were stopped and showed our letter, and then were given permission. This only happened 3 times which was great as it didnt cause much of a disruption in our filming.

With our second filming session, we have now got alot of scenes done and a majority of our filming done just the antagonist dialogue yet to film, we should expect to completely finish filming by the week ending the 12th of March before we can have two weeks to do editing and additional work.

Pitch

Today we made our pitch to our course teachers, about Our short film opening we are going to make.

We talked about the primary plot of our film. We introduced Gabriel Smith who will be our main protagonist, and when a normal day in his life turns into a race against time pulsation chase to find who has the hold over him.

We are set to film in my house which will be his domain, to add the normality into his life. In the latter stages we have him running through famous sites in the capital, like parliament, Canary wharf and South Bank. We decided on these places as they are keep enteprise/financial zones as well as politically important buildings which will match out genre of political-crime thriller perfectly.

We also talked about safety aspects when filming to do with the camera and other equipment, for example not filming in the rain, cover the lens e.t.c

We also demonstarted our storyboard and put on display our wide array of shots we will use to show variation and to capture our character in different angles. OSS, POV, XCU, TS are just some of the shots we will try and capture in our piece.

I'm happy our pitch went well and we can now finally start focusing on producing the film. With a step by step plan we should be able to accomplish what we set out for.

Animatic Storyboard.

Here is an animatic storyboard of our thriller.

Drawings by; Ca Nhan Hua.

Thriller Pitch

Here's our initial pitch that we presented to a panel of teachers. It covers the thriller's key aspects-from the plot to the audience.

Preliminary Match Cut Exercise.

Before we were able to film our main thriller, we had to undergo a preliminary exercise. The point of this activity is to have a first hand glance and experience on actual filming, acting and editing. This will give us a head start to the stages that we will undergo in our final thriller sequence.

Before we start filming, we had to construct a storyboard which pinpoints roughly what we want particular shots to look like (in terms of camera angles and mise en scene), and what the story line is roughly. As a group, we decided the key shots that we wanted to use for our preliminary in order to carry out our match cut exercise properly.

Using our storyboard as a guide, we began filming. We had some difficulties using the tripod at first, because we weren't familiar with the different locks and knobs that were put in place. Similarly, with the camera, we didn't know how to function it properly because we weren't able to play around with the different options available to us before. However, after a while, we were able to mount the camera onto the tripod properly, as well as get to grips with the zooms and auto focusing of the camera.
Whilst filming our preliminary, we were able to explore different shooting angles and heights that we didn't originally plan in our storyboard. This made it more creative as, we came to figure out that different angles can depict different meanings in a shot. Eg. Low angle tilt looking up can show power and superiority. Another difficulty that we came across, was panning using the tripod. The neck of the tripod was too stiff which didn't allow us to move around flexibly. With little knowledge of how to undo the knob (yes, we seriously didn't know), we had no choice but to take the camera off and hand-hold it to pan. This made the finishing sequence seem amateurish and unprofessional, however, we have learnt from this mistake and know better, when filming the our final thriller sequence, to use the locks and knobs on the tripod.

After gathering all the shots that we needed, we headed to the editing suite and began putting our sequence together, on Final Cut Pro. We also stumbled through many difficulties whilst editing because we weren't familiar with ALL the functions. Eg. how to import rushes onto the program. However, we were still able to achieve the goal of this preliminary exercise; To make a successful match cut.

Click here to watch our preliminary.

Click here to see a quick animatic of our storyboard.

Preliminary Short film

This is our preliminary short film we made, we were told to create a short film which had match cuts in so we created/ came up with a story line which this could be done in.