Research: Results (Ms Begum)

In this post I will be showing the results I've got from my questionnaire and why it's important to get and analyse feedback.

Why is it important to get and analyze feedback?

It's important to receive feedback from getting second hand information - by giving people a questionnaire to fill out for your project. Doing this will allow you to see different views from people in different age group and gender for example: After getting back my questionnaire I now know which age group watches thriller films the most.

Here's a screenshot of my results I've received from people:

Conclusion

Doing this research has helped me understand who my audience are, what type of thriller they like and which age group I should aim at for my thriller. I also now know what I need in my thriller openings to attract my audience.

Planning: Mise en scene - Mr Smith

Introduction
In this post I will be talking about the settings, costumes, iconography, hair and make up, body language and facial expressions and lighting - which is the Mise En Scene - in our opening thriller.
Doing this should help everyone in my group have a clear understanding of what's going on, where it's set, what we need etc. in our thriller.

Setting
In our thriller opening, it will consists with only four locations with different characters being in it, each characters will be in a different location for example: The professor will be in a room while the demented women will be located in a different room.
The first scene will start in a room with a professor being in it - with nothing but photos on the wall (behind the professor) and a computer. The atmosphere in that room will be calm and steady because the professor is focusing and observing the demented women. A quiet room will be able to help the professor focus.
The anti-hero will be located in another room with nothing but a chair. And for the flashbacks, the anti hero, antagonist and the lover will be located in the alleyway.
There will be another scene where the flashback will be set in a bathroom, the place where the anti-hero finds out that she's pregnant.


Costumes
(Me: Mohyadin) Professor: The professor will wear a formally suit that he professors wears which is usually a white top, black (or grey) pants and a tie. In our thriller the professor will be wearing a lab coat making the audience immediately see him as a professor. The professor will also wear glasses to look like a scholar.

Lara: She will be wearing a grey top in the mental institution. During the flashback she will be wearing a casual clothes - this will be in the first and second flashback. The third flash she will be wearing a black hoodie. The casual clothes (in the first and second flashbacks) will be light colours, this will represent the good 'version' of her and the positive side of her life. The black hoodie (in the third flashback) will represent the bad 'version' of her and the bad side of her life (for example; the murder of Elizabeth)

Elizabeth: In the flashback she will be wearing a smart-dressing clothes, this will make the audience think that she just came back from her work or important meeting. The actor (which is Aydan) will already be wearing a casual smart clothing because of the school - part of the sixth form uniform.
The scene where she's dead will show her wearing a long white dress with no shoes or socks - showing the audience her bare feet.


Iconography

In the professor's scene there will be items that will make my role more realistic, There will be a:
- Paper and pen - this will signify that he has been taking notes of his observation.
- Laptop - this is used to watch Lara in a different room instead of being in the same room as her.
- Photographs - Pictures of Lara, murder scene, dead bodies etc.
- Coffee - this will signify that he hasn't been sleeping and drinks coffee to improve his concentration & allows him not to sleep, This will also show that he's in a stressful situation.
- Glasses - This can mean many things for example; he started to wear glasses because of the constant staring/watching at the laptop screen - causing it to strain his eyes.

For Lara's scene which is the demented women in a empty white room, there will be:
- Chair
- Tray of food
- Whiteboard
- In the first flashback there will be a rose
- The rose will be shown again in the scene where the dead women, Elizabeth, comes.

In the second flashback there will be:
- A pregnancy test that says it's positive

In the third flash back there will be:
- A gun - this will be used by Lara to kill Elizabeth
-  Blood - there will also be blood shown after Lara kills her.

During the scene of the dead women, Elizabeth will have a blooded wound (that was caused by the gun used by Lara) showing to the audience that she died because of that.


Body language and facial expressions

(Me; Mohyadin) Professor: The scene will show the professor sitting down with a straight posture, this will represent his control over Lara, his ability to release her or to keep her in the mental ward, his decision of what will happen next, environment etc.
At first I may put on a calm-looking face - because that how I am in real life - but during my scene in the opening I will have to put on a serious-look expression at Lara's behavior.
I may scratch my head a couple of times while making notes to show the audience that I'm confused and frustrated

Elizabeth: During the dead women scene, her head will be bowed and her posture will be straight, her body movement will be dull and will show no expressions - this will all indicate that she's no longer alive and that she's dead. In the flashbacks, at first, she will have a calm expression while walking at a 'calm' and slow pace showing that she's not expecting anything shocking to happen. During that flashback she will see the affair and stop walking, at that point she will freeze (her movement, her face etc. will freeze) showing that she's shocked and didn't expect that. Few second later after seeing the affair, she will begin to move again but will be confused with mixed emotions as well as uncontrollable body movement. (Shocked, in tears, shaking, gasping for air etc.)

Lara: In the mental ward, she will have unpredictable movement and expressions for example: She will be crying and in the next minute she will be laughing. Another example is that she will be sitting down on the floor calmly and in the next minute she will move in a violent way.
During the first flashback she will be in a very happy mood with her boyfriend, the second flashback she will be even more happy after finding out that she's pregnant and in the third flashback her character will change - it is as if her personality is different, as if she's a different person - at first she will hesitate a lot to kill the wife but in the end she toughens up and murders her.

Lighting

In our opening thriller, the lighting we will have is:

- Low key lighting for the professor's environment signifying to the audience that he's observing Lara at a late hour.
- Under lighting for Elizabeth's scene to allow the audience to see her bones and pale skin (with the help of make up). This lighting will make Elizabeth look frightening and powerful.
- High key lighting for the second flashback, this will represent happiness because of the lighting that makes it look positive. The high key lighting will also be used for Lara's metal institution room allowing the professor to see her properly because of its lighting.
- Natural lighting will be used for the professor's environment, it will also be used for the scene that's set in a quiet road -  because it's outside.
- Top lightning will be used for Lara's theme, the light will shine down on her to representing her vulnerability.
- Top and under lighting will be used for the professor's theme:
   - under from the laptop
   - top from a lamp


Hair and Makeup 

(Me; Mohyadin) Professors: I will not be wearing no make up but instead I will do something to my hair to make my appearance look older for my role which is the professor. I will either wear a white/grey wig or dye/color my hair white.
Elizabeth: She will be wearing a pale makeup to indicate that her skin is pale and cold because she's dead.
Lara: She will have a ruined mascara showing to the audience that she has been crying a lot - which ruined her make up. Her hair will also be messy,

Conclusion

After planning out our thriller opening together I am now sure that everyone in my group has a clear understand to what will happen, what we need to do, when and where we will be etc. In my opinion, my group has planned this thriller opening perfectly because of the weeks of planning we had (We've shared out idea, picked the best idea for our group, improved the idea by stretching out the story etc.). We all now have confident to what we'll make and are ready to create the opening.

Planning: Preliminary task - Mr Smith

The purpose of preliminary task

The purpose of making a preliminary task is because it gives us a chance of exploring new things - learning how to film and edit, especially when it's our first time doing it. 

The preliminary task helps us learn our mistakes so that the next time we start filming - we will know to do because we've did it before.  

Video

The video we've created for the preliminary task isn't related to our thriller opening that we're going to make.

In this video that we've created for the preliminary task, it's about a young sixth former (boy) asking another young sixth former (girl) out  - to go to the cinema. Because it's a preliminary task, it had to be a 30 second video about anything.

The scenario (Screenshot)

  The scene starts with me asking Suweda a question "What're                                                                  you planning to do later"?

 This bit is where Suweda answers his question saying that she has                                                          nothing planned later.

  This scene shows him  asking if she wants to go out to the cinema                                                         later. She replies saying "Yeah, sure", then I asked her if I should                                                           take her down the stairs.



  This scene is where I took her down the stairs.











This bit is shows Suweda going somewhere else, I decided to go downstairs. I told her that I'll pick her up at seven and she replies to him saying 'Okay'.










This scene shows me walking down the stairs.







This scene shows me still walking down the stairs - this is the ending of the video we've created for the preliminary task. 

Group roles

We all had a role in making the preliminary task:
Actor: Mohyadin
Camera operator: Fatma
Actor: Suweda
Editor: Lara

Difficulties you encountered whilst filming

One of the problems we'd encountered was lighting, while filming there was a problem with lighting during the first 10 second (The scene where I was talking to Suweda next to the window).
Another problem we'd encountered was the echo, because we was in the stairways you can hear our footsteps and our voice echoing sometimes. However, it wasn't that big of a problem because during editing, the echo wasn't loud enough to hear.

There was a light coming behind me from the window, we didn't notice this until we started editing. 

Difficulties you encountered whilst editing (Screenshots)

It was hard cutting down the video from 1 min and 60 seconds to 30 seconds. There was bits we needed to cut out.

None of us have an IMac and cause of that we had to learn how to use it - at first it was difficult to use this software called Final Cut Pro, but then we started  to get a hang of it.

After filming and inputting the video on a program called Final cut pro, we've noticed there was light coming out from the window behind me in the video. We didn't notice it until editing the video. 

What have you learned?

There are many things that I've learned from making the preliminary task. One of the things I've learned is that I now know how difficult and long it is to edit - it wasn't long when editing a 30 second clip but possibly it will take long to edit a 2 min opening which my group will soon make.

Another thing I've learned is that it can be annoying to get distracted and disturbed during filming, randomly someone or something (such as cars, bikes, noise etc.) can disturb you while filming - which will cause to film again. 

 Doing the preliminary task has gave me a hint on how editing and filming can be.

Conclusion: How has the task beneficial 

The preliminary task has helped me realize how hard it is to edit and film, there can be many risks and problems coming in our way during filming.
This practice gave us a good preparation (filming, equipment, editing, final cut etc.)  

Planning: Pre-production paperwork (Ms Begum)

The pre-production paperwork has different types of document that's given to your filming team and cast members. Our group had to do the pre-production paper work, before creating our thriller opening, which was:
(1) Risk Assessment Form
(2) Location Reece Form
(3) Location Release Agreement
(4) Production Schedule
(5) Client Release Form
(6) Camera Shot List

Each people in my group has been assigned to one or two documents to create:

Mohyadin: location reece form and location release agreement
Lara: camera shot list and production schedule
Suweda: client release form
Fatma: risk assessment form

The pre-production paperwork allowed us to figure out what kind of problems and risks we could be facing while making the opening, it also helped us sort out our time management. Not only that but it also helped us tell the cast members the location we'll be filming and the time it will be. Now that we have done this, we can now make our thriller opening more efficiently.

Risk Assessment Form

This is a document that tells you the risks that might come in your way, this is assessed in every location that you have chosen. To create this you will need to analyse your location and identify what risks that might arise and how you plan to overcome them.
The risk assessment form should be given to everyone in your group so that they have the information they need about your location and risks.

Here is a picture of a risk assessment form, this was created by Fatma.








Location Reece Form

Location reece form is a summary of the location that your group have decided for your thriller opening. To create this you will need to show visual information and discuss your reasons and choices of your location.
The location reece form should be given to everyone in your group so they all have the information they need about your chosen location.

Here is a picture of a location reece form, this was created by me.





Location Release Agreement 

Location release agreement is a document that discusses the terms and agreements for the company, council, people etc. that are allowing you to film in their location. This document should be given to them (company, council, people etc.) to show that you have agreed to the terms and condition, When creating this you need to show that you have understood yours and their rights.

Here is a picture of a location release agreement form, this was created by me.




Production Schedule

Production schedule is a summary that tells you what is going to happen in your filming schedule. Everyone in your filming team should be given this document so that they have all the information they need to about your thriller, this also includes cast members. This document should be easy to follow and understand.

Here is a picture of a production schedule form, this was created by Lara


Client Release Form

This is a document that discusses the terms and agreement for any actors that you have chosen for your thriller, and also this should be given to everyone who will be part of your cast.

Here is a picture of a client release form, this was created by Suweda.


Camera Shot List
The camera shot list gives you the information about the shots that the group has chose for the opening. Everyone should have an idea of what shot we will be using each scene we shoot.
The camera shot list has all the shots sizes, angles and movement of each shot that we may use for our thriller opening.

Here is a picture of a camera shot list, this was created by Lara.