Editng Our Film

Hello examiner!

We have started editing our piece and are currently working on the second sequence. We decided that this should be a team effort so we could come to a fair conclusion of what scenes are the best for all of us. I believe today was success! Here is a sneak peak below

First Day of Filming

Today we developed our first shots for the project. In this scene the main character, Nortz, is at a party with friends and just having a good time oblivious to the events succeeding. For this scene we asked all our school friends who could join to be extras and dance for the camera to make our party scene more realistic. We shot this scene at Leon's house as we all agreed it would be the best place to do so. For this scene we turned off the lights and use an iPhone as a torch so you could see characters faces but also have the effect of low key lighting.

3rd Production Meeting

Welcome back Examiner! For our third production meeting we discussed our new last minute ideas as some of the resources needed for our original project could not be accessed. After a lengthy discussion we decided on a new film 'Resentment' and headed to Elijah's house to start filming. We managed to get 3/4 of our film finished.

Storyboard

Hello Examiner! This is our story board which we completed today.

Animatic

Hello examiner! Here is our animatic. I hope you will find it interesting.

Second Production Meeting

Cast & Crew

At our second meeting we discussed the events that would take place in our film and the location. We also decided who would handle the different responsibilities to make our film a success;

- Tino would handle Costumes and Props

- I would handle Treatment and Shot Listing

- Leon would handle Location

- Elijah would handle Storyboard and Animatic

We also planned a new storyline.

First Draft/Evaluation

Hello examiner, this is a draft of our project that we have put together for evaluation.


As you can see there are many improvements that can be made to this piece of work. The storyline is very simplistic and thus make the film non sensical. Also, as the film does not have many plot and character elements, viewers may be confused at what is happening throughout the film. For example we see the character 'Nortz' at a party and walking angrily and the reason for that is not revealed. In addition to that, our film does not contain a title at any point of it which may also confuse audiences. Furthermore, our selection of music is laid back and mellow, in contrast to the zealous events taking place in the film. This, in turn, makes our film look idiosyncratic and extremely disorganised. Finally, our student identification numbers are not present so examiners will not be able to mark our work.

Rope

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Writer: Hume Cronyn 

Screenplay: Arthur Laurents

Editor: William Zigler

Cast: 

James Stewart as Rupert Cadell

John Dall as Brandon Shaw

Farley Granger as Phillip Morgan

Joan Chandler as Janet Walker

Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Mr. Henry Kentley

Constance Collier as Mrs. Anita Atwater

Douglas Dick as Kenneth Lawrence

Edith Evanson as Mrs. Wilson

Rope is Alfred Hitchcock's critically acclaimed 1948 80 minute roller coaster about two (possibly homosexual) friends who try to commit the perfect murder 'for the sake of the arts'. The film is based on the 1929 play of the same name, which in turn is inspired by the true events of the murder of 14 year old Bobby Franks carried out by Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb.

This film is what I would call an quintessential thriller as it contains all the main conventions of a thriller.

The film begins with the introduction of three classmates; Phillip Morgan, Brandon Shaw and David Kentley. Phillip and Brandon are aesthetes who commit the murder of their friend David as an manoeuvre to prove superiority, in their apartment. This excites audiences as they are immediately drawn into action,  They then proceed to hide the body in a wooden chest and host a dinner party inviting most of David's family and including; his best friend, Kenneth, Kenneth's former lover, Janet, who is now David's fiance and former headteacher; Rupert, all of whom are unaware of the events that have taken place. To make matters even more dramatically ironic, Phillip and Brandon decide to have food and drink served on the wooden chest instead of the norm dinner table.
In the end, Phillip and Brandon's crime is uncovered by their Rupert, when maid Mrs. Wilson accidentally hands him David's monogrammed hat when he leaves the party.

This film is known for its long shots. Every shot in the film is roughly 7 - 10 minutes and cuts are only separated by the panning or tracking of an object. For example one of the shots cut with a man's jacket blocking the entire camera. Although this is so, in the last 20 minutes the cuts are explicitly unmasked. Here is a table of all the shots with a description of how they cut:

Segment	Length	Time-code	Start	Finish
1	09:34	00:02:30	Close-up (CU), strangulation	Blackout on Brandon's back
2	07:51	00:11:59	Black, pan off Brandon's back	CU Kenneth: "What do you mean?"
3	07:18	00:19:45	Unmasked cut, men crossing to Janet	Blackout on Kenneth's back
4	07:08	00:27:15	Black, pan off Kenneth's back	CU Phillip: "That's a lie."
5	09:57	00:34:34	Unmasked cut, CU Rupert	Blackout on Brandon's back
6	07:33	00:44:21	Black, pan off Brandon's back	Three shot
7	07:46	00:51:56	Unmasked cut, Mrs. Wilson: "Excuse me, sir."	Blackout on Brandon
8	10:06	00:59:44	Black, pan off Brandon	CU Brandon's hand in gun pocket
9	04:37	01:09:51	Unmasked cut, CU Rupert	Blackout on lid of chest
10	05:38	01:14:35	Black, pan up from lid of chest	End of film

The Birds

The Birds, is Alfred Hitchcock's critically acclaimed film that shocked audiences in 1963. The film was Hitchcock's first directed film after his classic 'Psycho', so it is safe to say it was highly anticipated. The film stars Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy and Suzanne Pleshette, It is set in Bodega Bay, California a town that is mysteriously targeted by birds which leads to which leads to violent attacks by them, The film begins with the introduction of Tippi Hedren's character Melanie Daniels, a mischievous young socialite who's flamboyant, animated personality is reflected through her demeanor. She meets lawyer Mitch Brenner, in a San Francisco bird shop who wants to buy lovebirds for his sister's eleventh birthday, and he remembers her from a previous encounter. As she does not recognize him, he decides to play a practical joke on her by pretending to mistake her for a salesperson. She is angry when he leaves and realizes that he was playing a prank. Feeling both resentful and intrigued, she plans to buy the lovebirds and surprise him. After she finds his address in Bodega Bay she gets the birds and leaves it at his house. On her way back via speed boat, Mitch sees her and she is briefly attacked by a bird. He helps and invites her to dinner and this prompts the start of the many attacks Bodega Bay receives from the birds. 

Mise En Scene

Mise en scene is the technical term commonly used among filmmakers to describe the design aspects of a film production. Although the term 'Mise en scene' means placing on stage, it fundamentally means 'telling a story' or 'visual theme'. In other words, the 'Mise en scene' of a film production means how a story is told via the visually artful ways of story boarding, stage design, facial expressions, cinematography and narrative.

Colour (Denotation & Connotation)

Denotation

       - The literal definition or meaning of a term, devoid of emotion, attitude or colour

Connotation

       - The definition or meaning of something according to a person

For example, if you think of the word 'Anger' you will automatically think of a dark red/orange shade of color. as it represents the fire and passion you feel when you have that emotion.

The Five Main Aspects of Mise en Scene

• Settings & Props

• Costume, Hair & Make Up

• Facial Expressions & Body Language

• Lighting & Colour

• Positioning of characters/objects within the frame.