characters- background information

Laura- playing the female victim.
In some way she could be seen as a femme fatale
"A femme fatale is an alluring and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations."
She has lead her boyfriend into a deadly situation, when the killer (played by Libby's dad) enters her house and stabs her in the bathroom.
She is a business woman, in her mid twenties. Within the film she is preparing a meal for her boyfriend.

The killer. Libby's dad, dressed in a long black coat and black boots, is the lodger. He lives in a small house, which he rents from the girl, at the end of the garden. He is mid forties and obsessed with Laura's character, hence the killing.

filming- so far

So far the filming has gone well. I think we are roughly two thirds of the way through, and with one more session i think we can complete it.
We have got a fantastic range of shots- tilt shots, extreme close-ups, close ups, over shoulder, low angle etc, and we have learnt a lot, from being very inexperienced, to properly experimenting with the filming.

I mainly film and we all direct the shots all together. I also take responsibilty for the filming equiptment. We all work well together and have really good ideas on how to improve the filming and particular shots. At first we started using a stills camera on the video mode, which we achieved really effective shots, however we didn't think it would be in a high enough quality so decided to start again on a camcorder. Because we knew what we were doing as we had already practised with the stills camera it made filming more efficient and we could then experiment more with the shots as we felt comfortable with them.

Libby has provided the location, directed, contolled lighting and has done some filming.
Laura is the actress playing the character of the victim, and has also done some filming and directing.

Location Images

images of the summerhouse where the killer resides. This image will be shot with the killer exiting the summer house and moving towards the house of the victim. We chose this at it is in a perfect position from the house to shoot through glass doors, which will be a very menacing and uneasy shot. It is taken, in a sense, from the perspective of the victim, and the shot will be taken at about 4pm, in dusky lighting, with lights from the garden creating an intimidating shadow.

shot of the kitchen in the victims house. The counter in the foreground is where the meat will be cut and where the killer picks up the knife with the intention to murder Laura, the femme fatale. The kitchen leads to a utility room, which has an external door to the garden, where the killer will then enter from.

This image shows the table set up, where it is clear the femme fatale is cooking a meal for her boyfriend. We used red napkins, connoting blood, along with red wine, also connoting the same thing. The image also shows how the shot will be taken watching the killer approach the house.

The image of the stairs is anothe shot we will take. Using a lamp to create a shadow behind the characters, creating an ominous intimidating image. We will use a close up of the hand on the banister for the killer and a tracking shot of the femme fatale's high heels as she walks up. This will be recogniseable as the bathroom scene as the femme fatale starts with a close up of her taking of her shoes. (image of bathroom will be added in near future.

SHOOTING MAPS

Shooting map 1 shows the shot of the killer moving from his lodging at the summer house (see location photographs) into the house. The shot it taken through glass doors and he moves towards the camera and see him disappear to the left of the shot. The camera is then moved into position directed to the entrance of the kitchen, with the choppinh board and knife within the mis-en-scene. The killer then enters the kitchen through the utility room (out of sight) and walks through the kitchen, picking up the knife and walks past the camera out of the kitchen.

Shooting map 1 is the previous scene- a close up of Laura, playing the femme fatale chopping meat on a board on the counter.

audience research

What is your age?
Under 10:
11-15:
16-19:
20-30:
31-40:
41-50:
50+

What is your gender?
Male:
Female:

Marital Status:
Single
Have a girlfriend or boyfriend
Long term partner
Married
Divorced

How do you usually consume the films you watch?
Television
Cinema
Computer
DVD

Which 2 cinemas do you prefer from the following?
Odeon
Vue
Hollywood cinema
Cinema City

Please rate each genre, with your favourite as 1 and least favourite being 8.
Thriller
Comedy
Romantic comedy
Romance
Horror
Action
Action adventure
Science fiction

How do you usually hear about the films you watch?
TV (trailers or reviews)
Magazines (reviews or advertisements)
Cinema (trailers)
Internet (reviews, trailers)

Do you find what your friends enjoy or reviews useful for when choosing what film to watch?
Yes
No
Why?


RESULTS
Question 1:
Under 10: 0
11-15: 2
16-19: 7
20-30: 2
31-40: 0
41-50: 1
50+ 0

Question 2:
Male: 5
Female: 7

Question 3:
Single 5
Have a girlfriend or boyfriend 4
Long term partner 1
Married 1
Divorced 1

Question 4:
Television 2
Cinema 3
Computer 3
DVD 4


Question 5:
Odeon 4
Vue 5
Hollywood cinema 0
Cinema City 3

Question 6:
Thriller 2
Comedy 2
Romantic comedy 4
Romance 0
Horror 1
Action 1
Action adventure 2
Science fiction 0


Question 7
TV (trailers or reviews) 5
Magazines (reviews or advertisements) 2
Cinema (trailers) 3
Internet (reviews, trailers) 2

ANALYSIS
Question 1 shows that a majority of the people i asked are teenagers, which could make the results bias as it doesnt particularly take into account other age groups. However, the information captured by the questionnaire would show relevent information to use in later work as I fall under this age group and can therefore understand the information more effectively and can take into account my own oponion if necessary.

Question 2 proves fairly balanced results in terms of gender, with only 2 more females than males, and the results can be compared from one gender to the other fairly because of this. I wanted to make sure that it was evenly split between males and females so that the results were as relevent as possible.

Question 3 shows that most people who filled in the questions are either in a relationship or single, whereas there are only a few others who have been married of divorced- which doesnt make a fair assumption on any ground that those who are divorced for instance watch a certain kind of film for instance. However, there can be comparison between single people and those who have a boyfriend or girlfriend- these people are also more likely to be wityhin my age group as well, so this can be taken into account and the findings are still relevant to my own personal knowledge.

Question 4 suggests that the ways in which films are consumed are also evenly spread. Most of the people older than 19 were those who often go to the cinema, which surprised me as i often go to the cinema, with my friends of this age group. The reason for this may be because a lot of stuydents are short of money, and therefore prefer to buy the DVD or illegally download. There was also a correlation between those who are in a relationship and those who consume films within the cinema, this is unsurprising as it is often an ideal 'date' to go to the cinema.

Question 5 implies that a majority of people go to Vue cinema in Norwich. This is the most central cinema to the city, so it is not surprising that this is the most popular. Those who attend Cinema City said that it is because it is usually less expensive and often have independent films that they enjoy more than mainstream. There was also a correlation between the older age groups and cinema city, perhaps because the films shown deal more with politics and important world issues that teenagers may be less concerned with.

In Question 6 the most popular genre of film was the romantic comedy, which most of the females stated as their preffered genre. Romantic comedy has a target audience of females so this is not surprising. The rest of the answers were widely spread across the genre's, which is generally expected.

Question 7 shows that most people hear about the films they intend to watch via television advertisement (trailers) and in the cinema. This may be because it is a moving trailer, giving people exciting clips of the film, whereas with a still image there is a limited amount of information given, such as the actors and actresses, and the genre of film is usually clear if the image is successful.

From the questionnaire the data i have collected has been relevent and interesting. It will support further research and into the construction of my thriller film, taking into account the different opionions etc.

analysis of Preliminary Task

FILMING

Before filming we discussed a basic plot for the task. Laura and I volunteered to be the main actresses, and Libby acted as the "follower". Sabrina and Sam shot the piece.

We took each shot a couple of times, which we knew would help when it came to editing as there will be a range of shots to choose from. Shooting went smoothly, but i felt we could have built on communication and interaction between us so that it was filmed more efficiently. Regardless, we were the first group to finish filming showing that we had worked well.

EDITING

When it came to editing we had to split into two groups. Laura, Libby and I edited separately to Sam and Sabrina.

Our group also had help from Beth, who was more educated in the software as she had used it in GCSE media studies.We uploaded the footage onto the software and firstly watched it all the way through to see what needed to be done in the edit. We found the programme difficult to start with, trying to cut out big chunks of footage etc, and panicked when we thought we had lost half the film! after a while we got the hang of it and we all had a go at tweeking our piece.

After about an hour we had cut out everything we need to, however from clip to clip it was very sudden and not smooth, making the video look very unprofessional. We added transitions, such as fades, inbetween shots to make

the video run smoothly. We also added slow motion to the close up and when i turn to look behind me. This, i thought gave us the much needed practice on the software for when we edit our thrillers, and it works very effectively.

We then added a sound track. We had to lower the sound of the video to cut out the background noise. We stopped the music at the conversation so that it was clear what was going on within the video.

Overall i think the task went well considering our inexperience. We successfully learnt about the 180 degree rule, and know to apply this into our thriller, as it is very important to remember. Our video didn't work out as well edited as i was expecting but we put a lot of hard work into achieving what we did, and in the future, with a bit more practice, we will be able to edit very smoothly.

Preliminary Task