Pitch

Our idea is about a mum who believes that she has killed her daughter. We see her on the anniversary of her death. The mum is very depressed and has a heavy conscience about the death, we won't reveal how the daughter died in our sequence. The daughter died in the park so the mum starts to have flashbacks to the park and each thing she touches that reminds her of the daughter means she has a  stronger and stronger flashback. We will hear noises of the child laughing and crying throughout the sequence. The radio also turns on and the TV and the end of the sequence,shocking her.

Storyboard-My idea.

 My idea for the opening sequence. The idea is that a woman gets home from work and she checks her phone, the audience see a text from her "get her home soon" and a text from another person "will do" we then see the woman going round the kitchen, making a cup of tea and reading a newspaper.  The time would be shown at the bottom of the screen, ticking away. Her daughter isn't home yet which worries her but to pass the time she is watching TV. The TV then would start flickering, and would start to show her daughter coming towards her and the father figure laughing manically. The door then opens and the father is standing there. The woman then screams.

Production Companies

What does a production company do? A production company are in charge of producing the film. It helps the film from when it is just an idea right up to its finish. The production company deals with the budgeting,scripting, casting etc . The company as also responsible for finding the talent and the director. They have huge responsibilities as they watch over a large proportion of the film.

Independent Production company-
"Independent Movie Production Companies are production companies that operate without a studio or distribution contract or budget. Most commonly, indie movies are made with a budget of $1 - $100,000. It is rare to see an indie movie that has been made for over $100,000. Independent production companies are usually run by 1 - 10 people depending on budget. Most indie filmmakers have their own production company but work in affiliation with other indie companies to get their work completed."

An example of an independent production company is Tiger Aspect. They are one of the UK's leading with their work including Robin Hood, Harry and Paul, Murphy’s Law, The Vicar of Dibley, Mr Bean, Secret Diary of a Call Girl and many others.

 Other independent production companies include: 

Major Production Company-
"A major film studio is a production and distribution company that releases a substantial number of films annually and consistently commands a significant share of box-office revenues in a given market. The Big Ten are the United States's ten major movie production studios. Most of them have their offices in Hollywood."

An example of a major production company would be Paramount Pictures who are currently one of the top grossing movie studios. They have produced work such as Cowboys & Aliens,Footloose ,Paranormal Activity 3, Puss in Boots and Mission: Impossible.

Other Major Film companies include:

Genre-Horror

Definition:

Horror is a film genre seeking to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's primal fears. Horror films often feature scenes that startle the viewer; the macabre and the supernatural are frequent themes. Thus they may overlap with the fantasy, supernatural, and thriller genres.

^{There are many subgenres in Horror they are:}

• Action Horror
• Body horror
• Comedy horror
• Gothic horror
• Natural horror
• Psychological horror
• Science Fiction horror
• Slasher film
• Splatter film
• Zombie film  

Codes and Conventions: 

In most horror films there is what is known as a final girl, who is usually the lead and survives the film. However, anybody can die in a horror film. In horror films partaking in sex and drugs usually leads to death. Also asking "who's there" or anything that doesn't use common sense means that your likely to die according to the genre. The Villain in horror films is usually an outcast and has distinct ways of killing his victims. He/She can not also be killed or defeated easily and the equilibrium that is being disrupted by him/her is trying to be restored throughout the movie. In most horror movies the face is never shown of the killer or it is not completely shown due to a mask, e.g leather-face in Texas Chain Saw Massacre or disfigured. If they are shown this is usually at the end of the film. 

 I also looked at the thriller genre to go and see that blog post you can click here

Genre: Thriller

Some conventions of thriller include:  

•   Quick cuts
• Lots of camera angles 
• Music that gives tension
•  Lighting often high key lighting to emphasise shadows and two sides to a character.
• Often told the story from the Killers POV- allows it to be more menacing
• Use of Flashbacks.
• Use of Black and white
• Use of montage which helps pass time and elongate the storyline.

The primary elements of the thriller genre:

• The protagonist(s) faces death, either their own or somebody else's.
• The force(s) of antagonism must initially be cleverer and/or stronger than the protagonist's.
• The main storyline for the protagonist is either a quest or a character who cannot be put down.
• The main plotline focuses on a mystery that must be solved.
• The film's narrative construction is dominated by the protagonist's point of view.
• All action and characters must be credibly realistic/natural in their representation on screen.
• The two major themes that underpin the thriller genre are the desire for justice and the morality of individuals.
• One small, but significant, aspect of a thriller is the presence of innocence in what is seen as an essentially corrupt world.
• The protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) may battle, themselves and each other, not just on a physical level, but on a mental one as well.
• Either by accident or their own curiousness, characters are dragged into a dangerous
• conflict or situation that they are not prepared to resolve.
  Examples:

•  Psycho (1960)
•  Snakes on a Plane (2006)
• Rebbecca (1940)
• The Shining (1980)

Individual Research: Camerawork

The 180 degree rule:

         The 180 states that the camera should remain the same side of the imaginary line.

·         The line is drawn perpendicular to the cameras viewpoint in the establishing shot of the scene.

·         The rule enforces continuity of the film.

·         An example is if a car is traveling from right to left, the next shot must be captured from the same side, meaning it is traveling from right to left again.

·         You shouldn’t break the rule unless it is for effect

·         If you break it your audience will be confused, lose concentration, become disorientated, and miss vital parts of the film.

·         The only way to cut across the line is to show your audience the camera movement

·         Crossing the line in over the shoulder shots shifts the person’s eye line.

Cross cutting:

Cross-cutting is an editing technique most often used in films to establish action occurring at the same time in two different locations. In a cross-cut, the camera will cut away from one action to another action, which can suggest the simultaneity of these two actions but this is not always the case.

Suspense may be added by cross-cutting. It is built through the expectations that it creates and in the hopes that it will be explained with time. Cross-cutting also forms parallels; it illustrates a narrative action that happens in several places at approximately the same time.

Shot reverse shot:

Shot reverse shot (or shot/counter-shot) 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.

Eye line match:

An eye-line match is a film editing technique associated with the continuity editing system. It is based on the premise that the audience will want to see what the character on-screen is seeing. The eye-line match begins with a character looking at something off-screen, followed by a cut to the object or person at which he is looking. For example, a man is looking off-screen to his left, and then the film cuts to a television that he is watching.

Master Shot:
A master shot is usually a long shot of an entire dramatized scene, from start to finish, from an angle that keeps all the players in view. It is the foundation to build upon in many films.

Cutaway:
Is when a continuously filmed action shot in broken up with a different clip, this is a technique used by people who want to avoid using a jump cut, and the shot usually goes back to the first shot.
 Cutaways are used to act as a buffer but can also just be to add detail and interest into a sequence.

Two shot:
Is a shot that includes two people. It is commonly used with one in the foreground and one in the background however, it could be two profiles of people. This shot is used commonly to show emotions of two characters and also their actions.

Inter-cutting:
 This is shots between actions taking place at two distinct locations and makes one whole scene.What makes it different to cross cutting/ parallel editing is that this is used compress time it speeds up a scene and allows you to delete large pieces of time that would slow a story down.

Jump cut
A jump cut is an editing technique in which two shots of the same subject that are taken from camera positions that vary a little. When you edit these together it looks like the subject is jumping in a discontinuous way. Jump cuts are not considered part of classical continuity editing due to this as continuity editing tries to create the impression of continuous time and space.
Continuity editing uses the "30 degree rule" to avoid jump cuts, in order for shots to appear seamless the camera position must vary at least 30 degrees from the previous position.

The fourth wall
The fourth wall is an imaginary wall at the front of the stage through which the audience see action. Breaking the fourth way is when you as an actor acknowledge the audience.

Film Industry: Insitution

Institution: Distribution.

dis·tri·bu·tion

Noun The action of sharing something out among a number of recipients. The way in which something is shared out among a group or spread over an area. The role of distribution is a very important one. A distributor markets the film and attracts audiences to see it. They are the final stage in the production of a film. They have the task of deciding the films USP and what will make people come and see the film.

An example of a distributor: Momentum Pictures

Momentum Pictures is a very successful distributor. It was founded in 1996 and is one of the leading motion pictures distributors in the UK and Ireland.  They distributed movies such as:

·         The Woman in Black

·         The King's Speech

·          The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

·          The Spy Next Door 

·           Dear John

Oceans 12 sequence

Institution Powerpoint: Our Idea and Script

Script for Powerpoint presentation: Class Act

1^st Slide:  

This is our idea Class Act by By Nari, Katy, Zahra and Abbie.

2^nd Slide:

2 characters named Elizabeth and Britney Anne.

Storyline:

The two characters are both from different backgrounds

They both leave their different schools at the end of the day. Elizabeth gets a phone call from her dad who she is expecting to pick her up. He says ‘sorry the chaffer at premiere and I am at work so get the bus home today’. Both girls were at the bus stop. You see a shot of them and their friends. We can see that their visually very different. Britney Anne is smoking. They get on the bus and it’s packed. Both girls meet on the bus and fight for the last seat left. They both argue about why they should get it, for stereotypical reasons. They go home and go to bed, we see a split screen of how different there life is as they do the same activities, e.g. eat dinner, brush teeth and do homework. When the wake the next morning they have swapped bodies, when they realise they both freak out but have to continue with the others daily lives, go to school etc.

Throughout the story they have a series of events that works towards their eventual realisation that they are not dissimilar at heart. Once this has been realised both characters change back to normal and try to bridge the gap between the classes.

3^rd Slide:

Casting.

Say a little about these.

• Why we picked each actor?
• How they fit the movie and its genre.
• A second option.

4^th Slide

• Why we chose that director and what else he has directed.
• What the role of the director is.

Powerpoint Stills