Rational for PT1 Short Film

Our film opening starts with a wide shot showing a door in an underground car park and our female lead (Hollie) walks past our camera and walks towards the door. We will be using match-on-action to show her opening the door and entering. Once inside our room, we will have some old materials lying around in the scene to create a sense of a dirty, old, and "grunge" type feel. Hollie greets our male lead (Jack). Here will be using shot-reverse-shot in order to show our characters talking and also to show the setting that they are in. As these shots are taking place we will add some music to build the atmosphere and help the audience know that this is a thriller without even knowing the mean context of the story so far. There conversation will hint to the topic of the film however will not spoil the story, this will give the effect of unknowing to the audience and build the tension within the scene. Music will build further here. Jack will be cleaning a weapon with a dirty rag and we will show him wiping off blood and bandaging his injured leg. Hollie will leave the scene first and storm off as she is paranoid about the whole situation and doesn't want anyone finding out. This plays on the female stereotype of females always being worried however jack, will remain calm and try to work the situation and lead them to safety. The next shot will be of Jacks back and Jack will be very close to the camera so it blacks out the frame. As Jack leaves the scene will emerge and will we see an old car parked badly in a car park, we will use a tracking shot to follow jack to the back of the car. Music will be at its highest here. We will use match on action to show jack open the boot of the car, here we will use an over the should shot to show what is in the boot. We will see the victim with ripped clothes and blood on her. We will have a black bag place over her head and she starts to panic when the boot is opened. The next shot will show jack close the boot and walk round to the front of the car, this shot can be a pan. Match on action will be used to show jack open the car door and get inside. Our finale shot will be in the point of view of someone sitting in the back of the car and we will see jack drive off and we will hear the music die down and the banging and screaming of the victim in the back of the car. End    

PT1 Planning 2020

 Brainstorm

Shot List

PT1 TASKS AND ROLES

Thriller Opening research

Citizen Kane

• Music helps build the scene as there is barely any dialogue.
• Fade editing is used
• Camera movement uses angles
• Reflections in a mirror 
• Darkness on top of the film being in black and white helps create a creepy tone
• Music and visual is synced well together
• There is the use of some extreme close ups.

The Dark Knight 

• Music is quiet and the starts suddendly.
• Masks are used to conceal the identity of the robbers and this gives the sense of being in the unknown.
• Fast Music starts suddenly 
• Guns and weapons are used as conventions.
• Bank is the setting and the actors screaming tells us that this is a scary event of a robbery
• The masked villains are commanding the bank workers to do what they say.
• This is an opening to an Action Thriller.

Exception

• Music builds the scene and makes up for the lack of dialogue.
• Close ups to the eyes 
• Chase scene.
• As the audience we can see things that some of the characters cant see due to the camera placement. This builds lots of suspense.

The First Degree 

• Close ups are used 
• Music is overall slow paced
• Titles that were used helped understand what was going on in the scene.

Rational

The opening for our film will include a "news reporter" style which is going to be based around the plot of investigating a mental hospital. The film starts which a close up that shows a news reporter checking his emails and sees an email from a neighbor of the mental hospital. This email then gives information to our main character about the mental hospital and the supposed "sounds" coming from within. After reading the email our character knows there is no time to waste and quickly calls his camera-man and explains. While on the phone we will use quick cuts that are all close-ups and use the diegetic sound of a thunderstorm outside to give a sense of danger without even leaving our main character's house. The next scene shows a forest with a road cutting through. We will use an over the shoulder shot to show our news reporter standing on the side of the road waiting for his camera-man to arrive. The rain is still continuing. Upon arrival on the camera-man in the news van we here a thunder strike which is an audio cue that cuts to the next scene which is showing a broken window and a dimly lit hallway that has some flashing lights with an irregular pattern. The pair climb through the broken window and head down the creaky hallway. As they enter we will add in creepy music, creaky floorboards, rain and thunder and a howling wind flowing through the hospital. The next scene shows the camera-man and the news reporter setting up the shot they want to get. This scene will be shot with a high angle wide, close-ups and mid shots. After the set up of the camera and microphone is complete we then switch into the camera-mans POV except it is through the lens of his camera and it shows the news reporter in the classic news style we all know. (mid shot) Throughout this scene we have the new reporter warming up and practicing his lines. The reason why we have kept this in the story is to show more realism because the scene is technically scripted however appears not to be. As this is all going on we can slowly see a figure walk past the news reporter in the background and the news reporter is unaware. As the scene progresses we see this figure move closer to our news reporter and the music gets more intense. As the music builds suddenly the power in the hospital shuts off and all the light turns off. The music dies down and all we hear is some footsteps slowly getting louder. The camera shot then turns to night vision and we see the mentally ill man standing right behind our news reporter and a low bass hit comes in. Then the title of the movie appears.  

Story Board and Brain Storm

Media Homework

The media extract that is shown here is one of a "Crime Drama" and we know this as the audience by what happens in the beginning and what is shown at the end. The most obvious way of seeing that this clip is a "Crime Drama" is by the speeches at the end of the clip at what looks like the outside of a courthouse. The parents of the victim who are saying their speeches to the crowd of photographers are very emotional. The dialogue that is said here to tell the audience about what TV drama this is, is through the quote "If pointer was dealt with properly by the authorities, our daughter would still be alive today" Through this use of dialogue we can see as the viewer that someone has died and it involves the police, therefore making it a crime drama. 

The different conventions that are used in order to tell the audience that this is a crime drama are placed throughout this extract. The photographers outside the courthouse show that something has happened that relates to crime (due to it being outside of the courthouse) The non digetic music that plays throughout the extract gives of a suspenseful tone and tell the audience that something bad has happened. The use of a forest can show the audience that the man in the car doesn't want other people to see what he is doing which can give off a sneaky and suspicious tone. The banging on the boot of the car shows us as the audience that the person in the back wants to get out and knows that she is in danger. This banging can also be linked to the sound of a heartbeat which can then show the audience that something bad is about to happen to the girl in the boot.  

The groups out of the 7 core media representations in society, would be the difference in the gender and class and status. The difference in gender is shown through the male character kidnapping the female character. This could link to how the male is being dominate over the female. This could is also link to the stereotype of how the males are always the kidnapper and the females are always the victim. This could also link the physical ability difference between the pair and how the male is stronger than the female and therefore is able to kidnap and take the female character. Switching to the courthouse scene, the male is the opposite and breaks down in front of the crowd of the photographers and can't hold himself together. This is where the wife of the male steps in and manages to hold herself up and is able to talk the crowd. The other core media representations that are shown in this extract is the difference in class and status. This is shown through the contrast between the victims family and the villain. The villain is the one doing harm for his own benefit and therefore committing a crime, we could link this to a lower class in society. However the victims family that are saddened by this event shows that they are apart of a higher class and sees the horrific event as it is.

The different conventions that are used in this extract to convey a "Crime Drama" would be through the use of the photographers, victims speech and the actual crime itself that we mainly hear through diegetic sound at the beginning of the sequence. Some of the diegetic sound that is used at the beginning would be the banging on the boot, which could be linked to the heartbeat of the viewer and build suspense. The radio which is actually explaining the events of a girl being missing and tells the audience some of the backstory before the murder actually takes place (almost like a flashback). The birds chirping in the background brings a sense of calmness which contrasts to what is about to happen. Another use of sound is the non-diegetic music that builds in the background. This music starts slow and slowly builds into a creepy arrangement that spooks the viewer and helps the audience understand that what has taken place is not something of joy and happiness. The camera work in this extract varies due to the setting and the context of what is happening in the scene. In the beginning of the sequence, in the forest scene, the shots are very close up to build tension and also show the claustrophobia within the car. Other shots include a tracking shot that shows our villain get out of the car and head to the victim in the boot of the car (0:45) This shot brings the audience almost into the car with the villain due to how the camera shakes and it tracks the villain out of the car. It almost seems that the camera is our eyes as the view and that we are there with the characters in the scene which build suspense and tension. The mise en scene of this extract shows three places, the forest, the car, and the front of a courthouse. The forest bring a sense of unknown and a spooky atmosphere, at one point there is a clearing in the forest that shows abandoned trash and it looks like someone has been there. This can show that because the area has been abandoned, no one will come back and therefore a crime can take place. The car is a very basic car and looks clean and sophisticated. This is very contrasting due to how the stereotype of a criminals cars are very run down and broken. This could point to the fact that anyone could do this and this brings the threat up. The courthouse is a very basic building however the foreground of the shot is littered with photographers which shows the audience the scale of this crime and that it will shown across the nation.