A Clockwork Orange - Openning

This is a classic opening and as much as I love it I cannot recreate anything near this due to the requirements set and the tools available to me, bearing all this in mind it has been playing at the back of my mind while me and my group discuss our ideas.

- Nicholas A

Stanley Kubrick

Many may have watched 'The Shining' or 'A Clockwork Orange' but people are not aware of the pure genius that Kubrick channelled into all of his work. His passion for film was ignited by the gift of a camera giving to him by his dad or his 13th birthday, after that point Kubrick became an avid photographer. This lead to his move into directing and seemed to be the best move he had ever made. He has been a very big inspiration for my media piece.

- Nicholas A

Scores (Non-diagetic sounds)

We are going to need a very good piece of eerie music to be playing throughout the titles and posssibly the opening sequence to to build up tension, we are planning on doing this because we don't want our actor/actress to worry about remember the script and over completicating the whole production process. A very good example of a score we could possibly use is taken from a game name 'F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin', it's very complex in it's simplicity and would be perfect in my opinion.

         

- Nicholas Ajagbe

How to make a horror movie

Before we started to film I looked through youtube and the internet in general is search of a how to guide or even just simple tips on how to create a good horror movie. This came in handy.

- Nicholas A

Project Research - Terminator

I have chosen to look at terminator because it is a modern horror/thriller/sci-fi success. They have used the special effects tastefully to intrigue the viewer but tried to keep the film as realistic as possible, this is something we as a group plan on doing. We want to use special effects by using programs such as Adobe After Effects and tutorials readily available online.
You won't allow me to embed the clip so click here to watch it.

In terminator the non-diagetic music used is very helpful in building up the tension of that scene, in our case we only have 2 minutes instead of the 10 minutes the clip lasts for which means that we will definitely need our music to boost the tension in short space of time.

- Nicholas Ajagbe

Ideas for the final piece

OCR has instructed me and my group to create the first 2 minutes to a film including titles. So before we could even start to research we had to make a decision on what genre our film will be, we chose to make a sci-fi/horror.
Now that we sorted out what genre our film will be we had to start to research and look at the opening 2 minutes of famous/credited horror and sci-fi films of the past and present to help us develop our ideas.

What I have picked up from this clip is that non-diagetic sound helps to build suspense and tension even if it is only the beginning of the film and the establishing shots used show how  secluded place the film is set in helping the film in regards to it's build up. A part of this that will definitely be taken forward into the final project is that the titles are overlaying shots, this will allow us to use more time to build it up instead of using titles on a black screen that will take up time and most definitely kill the mood.

- Nicholas Ajagbe

Continuity 1 - Analysis

Here is a link to the continuity piece that my group produced. Click Here.

Analysis

Holding a shot steady, where appropriate;

-Every shot we used was steady because of our use of the tripod, we didn't believe it was necessary to add shake to the shots for atmosphere/tension.

Framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;

-Regarding the shots set on the staircase we framed it so that Nina was as central as possible to show that she was alone, that she was doing something she wasn't meant to.

-During the conversation when shot reverse-shot was used we decided to frame in the shoulder in an attempt to engage the viewr in the conversation.

Using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;

-I believed we fufilled this very well by using closer shots when necessary (such as during the conversation) while you using more distant in other, for example while she is on her way to the room.

Shooting material appropriate to the task set;

-I believe that our shooting material such as our plans and the shots we actually used were appropriate because they helped us achieve a shot reverse-shot, follow the 180-degree rule and match on action.

Selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;

-Both Nina and Femi are both wearing heads to show that they are being rebelious or that they are rebelious characters.

-We had files and posters in the ackground to make it obvious that the scene had been shot in a school.

Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer;

-I believe that we as a group edited in the best way and that is where it is not obvious, the clip is smooth and the meaning and what is going on is clear for the viewer to understand.

Using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set;

-We decided to keep the transitions to a minimum and basic level, this is because if too many were used the clip wouldn't flow as it should.

Using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;

-We didn't touch up the sound used which is one of the negatives of our continuity piece.

Using titles appropriately;

-I believe the titles were used efficiently but the end credits did remain on screen for longer than necessary.

On final analysis I would say that our continuity piece is a strong first attempt and from it we have learnt many lessons regarding the filming and planning aspects of making a film/shooting a scene. If I would do anything differently next time or when it comes to making the final 2-min clip I would plan a lot more and do a vast amount of research and learn from mistakes made by film-makers much more experienced than myself. I would also try to edit the sound properly to make sure that is level and use more mobile/moving shots because in my opinion the tripod was over-used and that results in the clip feeling very stationary.

- Nicholas Ajagbe

Continuity 1 - Planning

Regarding the planning stage my main priority was that we meet the criteria set by the examination board which was...

"Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule."

- OCR

In order to get the best piece possible as a group we decided to individually create our own storyboards and merge them together so that everyone's ideas were being used. The initial storyboard I created has been placed below and below that is the final storyboard that we used.
[Insert my initial storyboard]
[Final storyboard]

Now that the storyboard has been finalised Nina insisted that we create a brief script now to make the filming process much easier for everyone, our script was only made to meet the criteria set and was made basic to ease the editing process. Our script is:
Femi: Oh my god I thought you were a teacher.
Nina: (Out of breath) I almost got caught by Mr. Wilson.
Femi: We should have just stayed in class.
Nina: No this is jokes, lessons are boring.
The next step in planning was to create a camera plan, they are not necessary but in order to make sure that rules such as the 180-degree rule and match on action are used the plan is key. On our plan we drew the basic layout of the room we were using to film and plotted the cameras in the positions we needed to film from.
[Insert Camera Plan]

- Nicholas Ajagbe

Continuity 1 - Research

Our first step was to think of an idea that was simple yet very effective in showing the continuity of our piece. We decided to show a female student (Nina) running down a staircase into a classroom and then sitting down and having a conversation with a male student (Femi) who had been waiting for her. To make sure were able to complete this task we booked a teachers room and a camera so that we could film during lesson time and our own time.

We looked at television drama clips because they are known for their use of shot reverse-shot and close ups and both of these types of shot will be need for our continuity piece. 90210 is the program we looked into because they constantly use those shots, watch it to see what had inspired us. 

180-Degree Rule

The specification requests us to produce a continuity piece that demonstrates the 180-degree rule, the rule is a basic guideline in film making that states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other.

Shot/Reverse Shot

The specification also insists that we demonstrate shot reverse shot which is a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other. Through applying the 180-degree rule to a shot/reverse shot you will end up with a very clean & flowing conversation.

Match on Action

Match on Action is a film editing technique where the editor one shot to another view that matches the first shot's action. This is the final technique that is requested by the specification.

- Nicholas Ajagbe

Continuity 1 - FINISHED!

We have finished our first continuity piece which I have embeded below. I will soon blogabout the research, planing and an analysis of the piece.

- Nicholas Ajagbe