First day of filming

Today on 27/10/09, we started creating our two minute film opening. First, we structured and storyboarded our film and then headed outside to begin actually filming. I was mainly excited about filming but also quite nervous. On one hand, excited because we have been discussing this coursework and planning and researching for it for the past 2 months and so I could not wait to actually produce it. On the other hand, I was nervous because there was a lot of pressure to film what we actually had in mind and if it was not of the standard that we wanted then we would be really disappointed.

Today, we filmed most of the outdoor scenes where the stalker and ballet dancer are in the shots. Our actors were very reliable and we took pictures of their outfits so that we remember what they wore and so when we film over the course of the next few days we will ensure that they are wearing the exact same outfit with the same make-up, jewellery and make up. This is extremely important so that it shows continuity thoroughout our film.

Elle Hutchkinson(Ballet dancer)= We realised that it was impossible to find the actual outfit the ballerina was wearing in the music box so we improvised. Elle became more of a contemporary dancer and wore the following :


Black jazz shoes, black leggins, black leg warmers, black crop top, black lace overlayer, black over the body bag and black coat for outdoor scenes.


She wore her hair loose and curly with a black headband and had natural make up with simple earrings.




Billy Jarvis(Stalker)= We wanted to portray the typical stalker looking character and we did this by ensuring he wore suitable clothing, he wore the following:


Jeans, black leather jacket, black trainers and black over the body bag. The idea of him dressing in black attire also fits in with the darkness of the sky. The black bag could suggest he has hidden items in there that could be of some danger.







We began filming in the park at around 17:00 just at it was beginning to turn dark. The first scene we filmed will actually be the last scene in the film.

The scene was Sophie(the 2nd dancer) walking past the stalker as if she is his next victim. This was filmed by the river in Enfield Town Park as Sophie walked along the pathway next to the river Billy sat on the bench. We filmed this shot from different angles; wide shot, a shot from behind, a shot from infront and an extreme close up of the stalkers eyes whilst he read the newspaper.


Since most of our film was filmed at night and in the dark we decided to use nightmode on the video camera. Most of our film will be filmed in nightmode to reinforce the idea of the time of day being the night and it also makes it appear scarier and makes it clear that it is a thriller film.







Whilst filming we came across a beautiful reflection of the moon in the river. This really caught our eye as it was partially hidden behind a twig tree so the branches were sticking out and the silhouettes of the branches overlapped onto the moon. Although it was not in our storyboard, we decided to shoot a weather shot of this and slot it into our film somewhere to set the scene and atmosphere. We also filmed a pan shot from the moon in the sky down to the reflection in the ripples of the river.



After we filmed these shots, the night grew darker and it was too dark for us to film in our current spot as planned as it would not show continuity. We decided to relocate to a pathway under a light and filmed them walking past each other in opposite ways. This was a clever decision as you could see the characters clearer than in the previous location. We filmed this scene as a wide shot, from one end of the pathway and from the other end of the pathway.


We then made our way to Esporta Leisure Centre nearby and I asked them if we could film the outside of their building as it could pass for a ballet studio. To our delight they accepted and we began to film this shot. We filmed Elle walking down the steps as if she was coming out of the ballet studio at the end of a class . We filmed this scene as a wide shot on the other side of the road, an extreme close up of her feet as she walked down the steps and a pan shot as she continued down the road to show the linkage between the shot.

The shot following this was of Elle walking along the pavement. We filmed this scene from behind, infront, an extreme close up of her walking through the leaves on the floor, Elle then filmed a point of view shot of her feet and we filmed a pan shot follow as she walked.



Afterwards, we made our way to Enfield Town bridge to film one of the shots that I was dreading. The reason being was that it required great communication and timing between the directors and the two main characters. The shot had Elle running across the bridge right to left and had Billy running underneath the bridge from left to right. This was achieved by the directors and actors communicating via mobile phones to inform them about when to run and when not to. As Billy was running underneath the bridge on the main road we had to be extremely cautious so filmed the scene when the cars were stopped by the traffic lights. Our aim was to film it so that when the two characters were running in opposite ways their silhouettes met at the middle of the bridge at one point. The communication and timing all worked out perfectly and with the use of the bridge lights we managed to shoot the shot exactly the way we wanted which was fantastic. This shot actually turned out to be one of my favourite scenes to shoot because although it was difficult to time it correctly it was all worth it in the end and we also had fun and giggles along the way.

For our final shot of the first day, we filmed Elle walking down an alleyway then being followed by Billy shortly after. We filmed this scene from different angles; Elle walking towards the camera then panning around the corner, from behind Elle, walking past the camera and finally her sitting on a wall for a high angle shot. The use of this shot will portray her to the audience as vulnerable as she is the victim in the film.



I thought the first day filming was thoroughly enjoyable as did the rest of my group. All the shots came out the way we expected and we managed to shoot everything we set ourselves to film and more! The first day filming made me realise that our film will take a lot longer than we expected as we were out for around 3 hours we only managed to film around 10 minutes of footage.This is way too much as our whole filming should be around 2 minutes. This was because we found ourselves filming the same scenes a few times as we encountered a few problems for example, people walking past and cars driving past.But we thought that it is better to have more footage rather than less so that you have more to experiment with and more of a choice when editting but hopefully with the use of imovie we will be able to narrow it down to our duration limit.

Storyboard for Film

Before we began filming our film opening we decided to storyboard it and structure it carefully. We drew pictures of all the shots, included a description of what will be happening during that shot and included the type of shot it is.

We decided to use post it notes so that if we were to change our minds about the order of shots then it would be easy for us to change them around.

The purpose of storyboarding our film opening was to ensure that we have the order of the shots right and so that we can see whether what is happening makes sense for certain. Also, it makes it easier and helps us during the process of filming so that we know what we are filming, the type of shot it is and what shot is next.

Practice with video equipment

During the lesson on 23/10/09 each group was given their equipment to film our production which consisted of a video camera, tripod, tripod plate, two DV tapes and a few wires.

As we were the first group to be handed the equipment it meant we had the most time to experiment with the video camera.We took advantage of this time and wasted no time in beginning to film!

First, we headed off to the grounds around our school, set up our equipment and started to film each other skipping around the trees to practice smooth pan shot follows.

Then, we wanted to film parts that are in our production to gain practice. So we found a set of steps around Enfield Town and filmed Sophie walking down them and included pan shot follows and extreme close ups of her feet.









Whilst we were in town, we came across 'The Cheeky Girls' who were launching the opening of a new store and we filmed them just to experiment with different lighting as they were inside under false light and we were filming under natural light before.












The opening of the new store were handing out balloons so me and Sophie took one each and along with the rest of my group, Emma and Elle, we came up with the idea of laughter in a two shot and we let the balloons go and Elle and Emma filmed them going up which was a weather shot. Although we are not including a weather shot in our production we still considered it important to gain an understanding of it.


We also filmed the scene of running across the bridge, the lift scene which included an extreme close up, the escalator scene which was a pan shot follow and the park scene with the newspaper which was also a pan shot follow and extreme close up.


I thoroughly enjoyed this lesson as we experimented with different types of shots and we all feel comfortable with the video camera and we have adapted to the different modes and when and how to use them. I am confident with using the video camera for our production and we will start filming within the next couple of days and I am really excited!

Research:Lighting and Sound

In the outside scenes of our film it will be nightime so the type of lighting will be low key lighting. This is because it is a thriller film and adds a feeling of mystery, builds suspense and makes it appear spooky.

When the man is typing on the typewriter, he will be in a pitch black room so that the idea of darkness runs throughout the film. So that the text is visible there will be a spotlight moving along the text on the paper this will be achieved by the use of a torch. We are thinking of perhaps using a red sweet rapper in front then shining the light so that it produces a red light and will support the idea of thriller as it will bring about connotations of murder and blood.

There is a scene where the girl gathers that she is being followed and so has a flashback on what she has previously seen, this will be presented in sepia mode as it will represent the fact that it happened in the past.This will be achieved by the use of imovie during the editting process.

When the girl is running along the Enfield Town bridge, there are vibrant lights that run along the outside edge of it and change throughout the night. This will make the bridge appear dominant against the nightime and will be the main focus in that scene.

Sound plays a major part in a film as it is the key to building up suspense. So, when the music box appears in the scene it will play the music it produces. During the other shots, there will be a haunted music box song playing in the background which I have included further down in my blog posts. We will use this example as an inspiration and we hope to produce something similar on GarageBand.

Towards the end when she realises she is being followed, there will be rapid transitions when she flashbacks in sepia mode which will have a sharp sound on each changing transition to reflect the rapidness.On the bridge when she turns around there will be the sound of a fast heartbeat in the background to show her fear.

Research:Props

Our film will include a limited amount of props:

• The Music Box=This is the main prop in the film as it symbolises the psychotic mans presence and will be used at several different times in the film.Also, our film is named after this significant prop.

• A newspaper=This will be read by the psycho man on a bench in the park. The purpose of this is to hide his face so that only his eyes are visible and so that the audience do not have a clear visualisation of him and so adds mystery and suspense.

• A typewriter=Plays a significant part in the film as it is the first prop the audience see and so should grab their attention. The purpose is to show the title of our film, tell a story and show the closing credits. We decided to pick a typewriter rather than a computer/laptop because the way the text comes up on the paper along with the sound it makes when the typewriter returns for a new line makes it immensely creepy.

Research: Actors and Costumes

In our production have three characters:

• The main character who is a female in her late teens, she is a ballet dancer and the victim.This role will be played either by Emma Kozlowski or Elle Hutchkinson who are two girls in my group. Throughout the film, they will be wearing the same outfit which will be a ballet outfit; a leotard, tu tu, tights and ballet shoes. The reason for wearing the same outfit throughout is to show continuity. The outfit will be the same one as the ballet dancer is wearing in the music box so when we do the fade in/out shot it will be very effective.

• The next character is the psychotic man and will be played by a male in his late teens. He will not be presented directly and the audience only see parts of his body. He will be wearing black attire to make him dominant as he is in a block colour and a hooded top so that his face is not visible. He will also be wearing significant black gloves that will hide his identity.

• Our final character will be played by Sophie Mcnamara another girl in my group and will play the role of the next victim of the psychotic man. She will also be wearing a ballet outfit but obviously a different coloured one. The pastel colours of the outfit will symbolise her innocence as she is the next victim.

Research on locations

For our film production we will need several locations to show the places the main character walks through on her journey home.

The first scene will be of the typwriter and will be filmed in a pitch black room.

Then, there will be a scene in a bedroom with the man on the typewriter.

The first scene in the flashback will be in a car with the man winding up the music box on the dashboard.

This then blends into a ballet studio surrounded by mirrors and will be filmed at Bodens Studio & Agency.

The next location will be outside Enfield Grammar Lower School and the focus will be on the ballet girl walking down the steps.

She will then begin her journey home where she first walks through Enfield Town Park by the lake.

This will then lead to a Jack The Ripper style alleyway which is situated in Central London.

The next location will be on a set of escalators with one ascending and the other descending and will be filmed at a London Tube Station.

Finally, the last scenes will be filmed in the multi storey car park in Enfield Town in a lift and across the bridge that connects the car park and shopping centre.

We are then brought back to the scene with the typewriter in the bedroom.

To finish the production the final scene will be back in Enfield Town park by the lake.

Research for typewriter shot

During my research on how we could incorporate the typewriter in our production I came across this advert which is advertising MasterCard. The typewriter includes a shot at 0.06 seconds and although it is completely irrelevant it is exactly the kind of shot we are after for the opening credits to illustrate our title, 'The Music Box' and for our closing credits.

When we include the typewriter as the first scene of our production we hope to achieve a shot like this because it is a point of view shot and does not include the fingers of the person typing. Together with the content of the film and the sound it will add suspense and present the thrilling scene that we are hoping to portray to prepare the audience for the rest of the film.

The typewriter idea will be portrayed through the type of shot I previously mentioned as well as the following type below. This is a music video and on 1:17 minutes for about two seconds it includes the idea that we want for overlapping the text from the typewriter onto the flashback for a few scenes.

Sound research

During my research on sound I came across this piece of music which instantly grabbed my attention.



I found this piece of music particularly creepy and eerie because it is quite high pitched and has a distinctive rhythm.

Me and my group took great interest in this piece of music and we will use it as an influence as the music for the music box in our film opening and we hope to produce something similar on GarageBand.

Researching a target audience

Whilst deciding on a target audience for our film opening I researched a few thrillers and their target audiences. I researched; Prom Night, Final Destination 2 and Black Christmas.



This is the trailer to Prom Night and shows how a typical teenage prom turns into a living nightmare as a psycho man who is obsessed with females comes to kill a girl.




This is the trailer to Final Destination 2 and shows how a young woman experiences a premonition and tries to escape death. It is an ordinary day and she is driving when she has the premonition.




This is the trailer to Black Christmas and shows a group of teenage girls in a house together on Christmas eve. One of them is kidnapped in the house and the kidnapper gradually kidnapps and kills them all.

All three of these thrillers are aimed at teenagers and young adults as the actors that play in them are young adults and teenagers. So the target audience are attracted to these type of films as they feel they can refer to them because themselves and the actors are within the same age group.

So, because our film opening has a female teenager as the main character we have decided to aim our film opening at the teenage/young adult age group as they will be attracted to it, able to refer to it and so therefore will enjoy it to the maximum.

Brief description for film opening

The idea of the beginning being the end and the two minute film opening being all a flashback and then ending with how it started-present day.

• Begins with the title, 'The Music Box' being typed on a typewriter but no hand or fingers are visible.

• Flashback-there is a man sitting in a car and there is a music box on the dashboard and he begins to wind up the box-over the shoulder shot.

• Zoom into the ballet dancer inside the music box spinning around which then fades into a ballet dancer dancing the same way in a ballet studio.

• Fades out back to the music box and the man slams down the box and the ballet dancer who is dancing in the studio falls over at the same time as he slams it down.

• Flashback-the ballet dancer stretches and bends down and we see the mans reflection in the mirror whilst she is down and when she stands up straight again he is not visible.

• Meanwhile, the text from the typewriter overlapps the previous studio scene writing, 'It was just an average day.'

• The ballet dancer takes her belongings and walks out the studio, turning the light off(extreme close up) and sees the music box in a corner playing music, she feels puzzled but does not take any notice of it.

• She walks out of the studio down some steps and begins to make her way home where she experiences a series of events(all this will be filmed during the night to enforce the thriller theme)

• First she walks through a park and the man is sitting on a bench reading a newspaper and we zoom in on his eyes as this is all she sees(point of view shot) and the music from the music box is playing in the background.

• Then she walks down a Jack The Ripper styled alleyway, the man is present(over the shoulder shot of him watching her) and she hears the music again and becomes confused but continues walking.

• Afterwards, she is going up the escalators and the man is going down the escalators next to her and they come across each other and all se sees of him is his hat.

• Finally, she walks into a lift and as she turns around she sees the music box playing the music before her and the typewriter is brought into perspective again and overlapps the current shot with text reading, 'Then everything became clear.'

• All becomes clear that she is being followed as she then flashbacks with rapid transitions back to the eyes, the hat the several sightings of the music box, realises the music box symbolises his presence and so presses the lift buttons frantically to go up and escape.

• Meanwhile, the stalker man is still following her and heads downstairs thinking that is where she is heading too.

• Then, the girl runs across a bridge towards the right and beneath the bridge the man is running in the opposite direction.

• The focus is then on the girl with a rapid heartbeat playing in the background and as she turns her face to see who is behind her all becomes pitch black with just the sound of the music box.

• We are brought back to present day to the typewriter and based on the text during the flashback the audience are led to believe that the girl is writing this account.

• However, it is a twist as it is actually the man writing on the typewriter who writes the last piece of text, 'Part two' which implies that he is going to follow another girl.

• The camera then focuses on a window with a different girl walking passed then goes back to the man who puts on black gloves, picks up the music box and heads out the door.

• The next shot is back in the same park as before with him holding a newspaper again but instead zooms in on his mouth and smirks which informs the audience that he is going to strike again and do the same thing to this girl as he did with the other girl.

• The closing credits consisting of our names is presented by the typewriter again as it relevant to our film ,reinforces the idea of telling a story and shows finality.

Evaluating Preliminary Exercise

During the lesson on 16/10/09 we watched every groups Preliminary Task and evaluated it by taking notes on what they did well and what they could improve on so that they do not make the same mistakes when they film their film opening.

Each group managed to successfully include the shot reverse shot, 180 degree angle rule and match on action. However, some groups had problems showing continuity through the use of body movement.

During the feedback, my group were told that we included a smooth pan shot follow which was due to the good use of the tripod. Also after the pan shot follow the directors zoomed in on Sophie which was also smooth and so was effective.However, we were told that at the point where I interrupt Sophie during her phone conversation it was too sharp and it was cut in too early(although this was our intention the audience did not agree).

Therfore, I found this lesson important and helpful because it allows the video to be seen from another perspective and allows other people other than the creaters of the video to see it and judge it to see what we can improve on. This enables us to take note of what other people said and consider it when filming our film opening so that we do not make the same mistake.

AS Media Terminology

Introducing AS Media

View more documents from The Cottesloe School.

Over the October half term, as well as filming our two minute film opening we also need to watch this presentation in preparation for a test after the half term. We need to take into account the terms, definitions and phrases and learn them off by heart to ensure that we have absorbed the work that we have been doing in class the last half term.This presentation is also helpful for our exam as it outlines the basic knowledge of Media Studies.

The Art of the Title Sequence

http://www.school-video-news.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=453:the-art-of-the-title-sequence&catid=44:edit-post-production&Itemid=111

I visited this website and read the interview by the two people who created a website on the key points about opening credits and I learnt many key points that make the opening credits to a film effective.

I took these into account so that I can carry them forward and include them in my own opening two minute to a film. They said that it needs to be original and clever with a lot of thought put into it. Also, rather daring and challenging to grasp the viewer immediately so that they have a positive attitude towards the rest of the film.

To add to the effectiveness it should tell a story either straight away or in an abstract way and delve into the core of the story without relvealing too much.

The first few minutes can do many different things, it can either draw us into the film immediately or lead us away giving us a negative view for the rest of the film. So it is immensely important that the first few minutes are the most effective as they function as a key to the rest of the film.

I have taken all these considerations into account and will be definately carrying them forward to help me and my group create effective and successfull opening credits that achieve all these criterias.

Preliminary Film

This is our complete Preliminary Exercise. We imported the raw footage on the DV tape onto the macs and began editting using imovie. I thought this was going to be rather difficult but suprisingly we managed to complete it within around half an hour which we were very happy about.

Whilst filming we had to film the task several times from different angles so that we were able to include different shots. So, during the editting process we used different parts from each shot and merged them together to produce a complete video consisting of the different angled shots.

This was rather tricky as at times during a few shots we were corpsing! Therefore, we had to delete the unwanted parts and replace them using the same footage from another shot. This is why it is so important to film more rather than less footage and so that it is easier to edit afterwards. We kept previewing our clips to ensure that it runs smoothly and looks like one whole shot rather than several different ones.

During my first experience of editting my own footage I learnt a few things that will help me when filming my opening two minute film. One of which that we certainly need to film more footage rather than less so that we do not have problems when editting and finding mistakes then realising that we only filmed that part once. Also, that during edditing the idea of continuity is extremely important because if it is no portrayed correctly as real life time then the video looses the idea of realism.

Preliminary task script

(Neelam is sitting on a chair at a table waiting for Sophie to arrive and Sophie walks into the room sits in the opposite chair at the same table and put her feet up on the table and begins to text on her mobile phone).

Neelam:Hello Sophie.

Sophie:Alright miss?

Neelam:Yeah, how are you today?

Sophie:Yeah, alright.

Neelam:Well, we are here to discuss your grades , I'm afraid that you are currently failing in all your subjects and if you continue to go on like this then you will not be able to continue and study for A2 level.

Sophie:Yeah and..? Whatever I don't care.

Neelam:This is not the attitude to take you...

(Sophie's mobile phone rings and she answers).

Sophie:Hey Ricky, you alright? Yeah, that party was wicked last night innit!

Neelam:Excuse me..

Sophie:Umm..don't you know it's rude to interrupt.

Preliminary Task-Lesson 2

My group finally managed to film our exercise today and as well as the over the shoulder, two and long shots we also included a pan shot follow shot following the long shot and a point of view shot of the mobile phone ringing. The whole task went reasonably well after overcoming the laughter and incorrect dialogue.

Following my group groups 3 4 and 5 managed to film their exercises completely. Group 3 sang the opening theme tune words to Spongebob Squarepants which was rather amusing and took a while to complete because the class were laughing. Group 4 had a general everyday conversation between two friends and had a touch of drama to it which was different and enjoyable to watch.Lastly, group 5 were having a verbal arguement over boyfriends which was quite amusing and took longer than the last group to film but they completed it in the end.

During this lesson, i learnt that the comedy scripts take the longest to film as they require several takes because everyone finds them funny.and ends up laughing which spoils the filming. Also, that during my shot i had to keep my dialogue and posture/body language exactly the same throughout all four shots otherwise it would not show consistency.

Next lesson we will film the one remaining group and for the rest of the lesson we will be editing our task using imovie and start piecing it together which i am looking forward to.

Preliminary Task-Lesson 1

As part of our two minute film opening coursework a preliminary exercise is required and we embarked on this in todays lesson. The preliminary task consists of four shots; a long shot when entering the room throught the door, a two shot to show a conversation between two people taking into account the 180 degree rule so that the viewer is not confused and two over the shoulder shots to establish that a conversation is taking place between two people and they are not just talkin to the camera.

The first group began their exercise saying the song lyrics to "You got to be starting something".They managed to complete most of their task successfully but encountered a few problems for example; giggling amongst the class and noise outside the classroom. However, they managed to overcome these problems and filmed and completed their preliminary task successfully. We also identified the fact that around 15 takes were required to complete the task and they had to repeat their script four times so that we are able to edit the video afterwards and insert the four different shots.

Then my group began to film and we started to film the two shot, we giggled during the conversation at first as did the class so we had to do several takes. After a few takes, we managed to film most of the conversation successfully but towards the end the script included a mobile phone ringing which was a slight problem as we tried the student being filmed to play it on her phone but we realised it looked false and so decided to make another student ring the mobile phone but problems also arised this way as it was difficult timing it right so that it rings at the correct time according to the script. Therefore we only managed to complete one out of our four tasks completely as we ran out of tim

From this lesson i learnt that if we were to continue filming from this lesson onto next lesson we would have to have the exact same clothing, hair style, make up etc and this would be too complicated and if we were to differ it in any way it would not show consistency and would confuse the viewer.So we have decided to start again from the start next lesson and hopefully we will be able to complete it and see other groups too.