First editing Practice!

In this lesson we learnt how to use adobe premier pro on the mac laptops recreating a short extract we watched from its raw files. I found this very interesting and quite fun as it has some of the same techniques used in photoshop. However it was quite difficult at times as I haven't used macs before it took a little time for me to get used to especially right clicking instead you have to press shift on the keyboard and then click on the one buttoned mouse. Nevertheless practice makes perfect so our end result is above, and apparently all high end film making industries and directors use apple as it is the most well known technical company. After that we analysed our editing skills which is shown on the photo attached.

On the photo attached is also a diagram of the 180 degree rule which basically makes the continuity (realism/verisimilitude) of films better. This is because the audience feels more secure while seeing the same space in the shot reverse shot. the following video shows how it works in more detail:

This photo is of my notes I took as we learnt how to use the program so when we need to edit our own thriller opening I will be able to look back at my notes which will help me remember.

Decisions Made from Research

br />

Our confusion combined with the limited time we have for filming has made my group to come to a final decision, to change the structure, as we feel that the opening sequence could be too long with the credits. The credits are going to 30 seconds at the longest. So we only have one and a half minutes of filming  as our opening has to be two minutes long at the most. This would mean that we wouldn't give too much of the plot away as we also feel that in thrillers we've spectated  never give the whole story at the beginning sequence.  This is now our idea at this stage of our planning:
1c) man wakes up in shed or garage tied to a table has been drugged edited muffled noises flashing lights blurred blinking - faints black out
2b)close up of eyes opening sharply in his bed edited to flicker back to the same guy in shed flash backing
3c) next flash back of a struggle with injection masked man flicks back to man tied up drugged flash backs of his messed up memory
4b) close up of injection going into neck then photo of girl "Remember Me!" written in red it, flicks back flashing lights are less blurred red and blue conventions of crime thriller (we now know that our thriller is definitely going to be a hybrid of a crime psychological thriller through the indexical link between the police red and blue lights flashing)
5b) Black out credits red blood splatters
I don't know now whether we are going to have the flash backs in black and white any more probably - hopefully because I think it will look good and emphasis the fact that his memory is slightly blurred as it happened in the past tense.
Therefore, we think that the flashback of the guy standing over the girls body gives too much of the plot away so we have gotten rid of that section.

Evaluation of Groups added Research

Research on silent movies

A silent film is a film with no synchronised recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, mime and title cards. The idea of combining motion pictures with recorded sound is nearly as old as film itself, but because of the technical challenges involved, synchronised dialogue was only made practical in the late 1920s.

Acting techniques
Silent film actors emphasised body language and facial expression so that the audience could better understand what an actor was feeling and portraying on screen.

For the first twenty years of motion picture history most silent films were short--only a few minutes in length. At first a novelty, and then increasingly an art form and literary form, silent films reached greater complexity and length in the early 1910's. The films on the list above represent the greatest achievements of the silent era, which ended--after years of experimentation--in 1929 when a means of recording sound that would be synchronous with the recorded image was discovered. Few silent films were made in the 1930s, with the exception of Charlie Chaplin, whose character of the Tramp perfected expressive physical moves in many short films in the 1910's and 1920s. When the silent era ended, Chaplin refused to go along with sound; instead, he maintained the melodramatic Tramp as his mainstay in City Lights (1931) and Modern Times (1936). The trademarks of Chaplin's Tramp were his ill-fitting suit, floppy over-sized shoes and a bowler hat, and his ever-present cane. A memorable image is Chaplin's Tramp shuffling off, penguin-like, into the sunset and spinning his cane whimsically as he exits. He represented the "little guy," the underdog, someone who used wit and whimsy to defeat his adversaries.

Films from the Silent EraYEAR FILM DIRECTOR COUNTRY
1915 Birth of a Nation D. W. Griffith USA
1919 Broken Blossoms D. W. Griffith USA
1919 The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Robert Wiene Germany
1922 Nosferatu F. W. Murnau Germany
1922 Nanook of the North Robert J. Flaherty USA
1924 The Last Laugh F. W. Murnau Germany
1925 Strike Sergei Eisenstein Russian
1925 Potemkin Sergei Eisenstein Russian
1925 The Gold Rush Charlie Chaplin USA
1925 The Street of Sorrow G. W. Pabst Germany
1926 Metropolis Fritz Lang Germany
1927 Sunrise F. W. Murnau Germany
1929 The Blue Angel Josef Von Sternberg Germany
1930 All Quiet on the Western Front Lewis Milestone Germany
1931 M Fritz Lang Germany
1931 City Lights Charlie Chaplin USA
1936 Modern Times Charlie Chaplin USA

Above is Loua's research I think it is very detailed and has lots of examples of silent movies which is also well defined. Spelling and grammar is also all correct. However it would of been better if she Anlyised one her self and researched a few things about film noir as we had a detailed discussion about the possibility of doing a modern film noir that would be more contemporary and less cliche. also I think it would be better if she changed it into her own words especally the second paragraph.

Added Research for Planning

On order to know how to make a film noir thriller we Have to understand the generic conventions involved in them. Therefore I am going to analyse one to get a sense of what repartition is allowed, but not so much it is seen as cliché. The Maltese Falcon (1941) is one of the most popular and classic detective mysteries ever made, and many film historians consider it the first in the dark film noir genre in Hollywood.



Therefore I have chosen to review an extract from the film it may not be at the beginning because I couldn't find it on YouTube  However it still shows generic conventions and signs of film noir, which will help us understand how to make one more clearly.

Most camera angles are still as they do not move with one pan left in the whole scene as it is a low budget. There was mainly close ups to show the emotion between the characters and mid shots to introduce the characters into the scene. the shot reverse shots also helped convey their reactions to the audience. There are a few high to low angled shots to exaggerate the importance of each character and who is of higher status.

Sound before I watched this I thought film noir was silent and just had non diegetic score whereas this film film has a lot of diegetic dialogue and no non diegetic sound at all which I was surprised about. However, I think it will still be better that

Mise-en-scene has 1940''s costume of suites worn by the man and a kind of collared stripy dress worn by the woman this connotes the era as it was more common for men to wear suites as this is the stereotype combined with the woman wearing a dress as this is what it was like in the 1940's. the decor also shows the era with the props of the lamp curtains tables and fire-place. Moreover the black and white film conveys a low key lighting making it even more mysterious which is the effect we want to create.

Editing
the only editing in this extract is cuts, cut aways and eye line match through shot reverse shot.
Evaluation
I think that before I watched this I thought that a film noir had to be silent.
I have found that we want a film noir has more exaggerated non diegetic sounds as it will make the audience feel anticipation I think in order for the audience to understand the story we will need flash backs as the dialogue won't be there to help. I think we want to make a modern film noir because that way it won't seem cliche but contemporary. However, we will still repeat the setting of a house to convey it is still the same kind of genre. therefore the props and costume will be more modern but it will still be in black and white to make it more mysterious. Therefore, in the flashbacks we will edit them to make it black and white connoting to the audience that it is in the past and is a slightly blurred memory.

We thought about doing a silent movie so I analysed Last of the Mohicans to find the basic conventions of silent movie.


Camera Angles
every shot is still and doesn't move in any direction. I didn't realise before but the dialogue is actually written on the screen sometimes it can be a summary of either the shot previously or after it which helps the audience understand the series of events this could be classed as editing. a mixture of medium long shots, long shots and medium.

Sound
The non diegetic score over the credits is a drum beat with some kind of flute which connotes it is a mysterious thriller that isn't set in England but probably set in a foreign place. next are the foley horse shows galloping on the road. next non diegetic score is classical connoting the era of the 1920s as it was classical. this music is jolly and happy and stops when someone enters the door I think this would be the end of the beginning

Mise-En-Scene:
It is revealed that there are Indian characters in the film which reinforces the foreign mysteriousness of it. I know that they are India because of the text on the screen and because of the costumes, the english people are wearing smart long waist coats, trousers and boots for the men and women wore long old fashioned dresses which once again conveys the era. whereas the indians were all men and so were wearing no tops but a fur thing over his shoulder and shorts on the bottum with sandeled shoes.

Evaluation
I thought silent movies would just be over exaggerated miming with a lot on non diegetic score in the background with foley sounds to exaggerate the characters emotions even more, which there was but without the words on the screen as I thought that the miming in the mise en sene would explain everything to the spectators but it doesn't. this confused my group a bid, because we didn't know if we wanted a silent movie any more as this would make it quite boring for the audience now as the traditional silent movie has evolved into the films we have today to make them more interesting for us, this has also been reinforced our audience from the survey said that they would prefere colour and sound  rather than black and white and silent.therefore we will have sound but there won't be much dialogue there will proabably be some heavy breathing connoting that the character is panicing.

Discuss the way status is represented

In the extract from the series of Merlin status is represented through class in the first long establishing shot of Merlin, as the mise-en-scene conveys the setting of a castle. This is signified from the props of stained glass windows, and pillars. This shot also shows that Merlin is the male protagonist, because he is the first character introduced so it is form his point of view. Therefore the audience understands he is of higher status and is more important than the rest of the characters as he leads the plot forward. The next significant shot of Merlin is in Gwen a female protagonist’s room; by using a close up of him looking back at the door, it confirms that he isn't supposed to be there, because it conveys the detail of his facial expression of scared as he is snooping around and finds the props of a voodoo doll and a spell book which are iconic items for black magic, so builds up the tension for the audience, as the non-diegetic sound reinforces the tension of sharp, eerie sinister violins and whispers the combination these things and the low key lighting connotes that the male protagonist thinks the female antagonist is more powerful than him. Therefore, the tension is further increased through editing when the camera cuts to a long establishing shot of Gwen, wearing purple symbolising wealth connoting that she is royalty (upper class); coming through the same corridor Merlin was just in. This indexically connotes she is going into the room he is snooping around which increases the suspense even further. However, the eye line match of the two characters, communicates to the audience that they are of equal power, importance and status; which completely juxtaposes Merlin’s thoughts, despite his diegetic stuttering. The next significant shot is a medium shot of the female antagonist’s edited reflection, which is old. This can be interpreted in two different ways; on one hand this could symbolise that she is weak and fragile, because of the thin grey hair and lack of beauty, but on the other hand this could symbolise that she is wise and should be respected as she is elderly. However, I believe it is the first reason the director wanted to portray, because of the sharp non-diegetic roar of a flame or inhaling sound as the camera cuts to the mirror. This adds a sinister atmosphere and draws the audience in.

The change of scene to a working-class market stops the sharp non-diegetic violins and changes the low key lighting to high, because he is with people of his own status. Therefore, with a wide medium shot of the male protagonist walking toward the camera positioned in the middle of the screen which connotes he is of higher status compared with Arthur the male antagonist who is walking behind him with Arthur’s guards, marginalised, walking behind him for back up as though they are bullying Merlin through their facial expressions of mockingly happy at his misfortune of being teased. Arthur is wearing armour and leather gloves which connotes wealth as he can afford these items, the camera is still at an eye line match, which again connotes they are of equal status. Even though, Arthur is a king and Merlin is of working class. The audience acknowledges that Merlin is of this class, because he is wearing brown and grey clothing and no gloves which symbolises dirt and uncleanness as he works. When Merlin takes of his jacket it symbolises that he is up for a fight, as his body language in the medium shot connotes aggression. However, the fact that, Merlin drops the prop of a medieval weapon ball and chain when Arthur throws it at him connotes that Merlin doesn’t know how to use the tool and the diegetic sound made is emphasised to reinforce this as it make Merlin look less powerful, because his knowledge is at a disadvantage. Through the shot reverse shot the male antagonists creates the diegetic dialogue “you cannot address me like that” and the male protagonist replies “sorry, how long have you been training to be a prat, my lord” conveys sarcasm as the facial expression of smugness is illustrated through an over the shoulder mid shot as though Merlin is mocking Arthur back. Furthermore it communicates each characters reaction to the speech.

Nevertheless, in the first part of the fight scene, Merlin’s lack of power is reinforced with a high to low shot of Merlin backing away from Arthur changes the status Arthur has more screen time than Merlin. While the non-diegetic adventurous music begins so does the violence as Arthur swings at Merlin and misses conveying the brutal damage the weapon could really do to Merlin by presenting an example of power on the cabbages. The fight then cuts to a medium shot of an old man looking out the window to the fight the old man is in fact Merlin’s teacher, the audience understands this, because of the mise en scene of the shot; it had a prop of a book in it. As the extract continues Merlin falls to the ground through a high to low shot, at this point of the extract Arthur is of more important status.

However, this all changes again when the male protagonist starts using magic, the audience knows it is him, because of the extra close up of his eye changing colour. Therefore, there is an indexical link between his eye changing colour combined with the sharp non-diegetic sound and magic. Moreover, the colour of the eye turns orange the colour of flames; this could signify that the magic is dangerous. This is reinforced with the sharp non-diegetic sound that happens as the eye changes colour also the eye line match of the chains, box and rope moving. Therefore the male protagonist wins back his place of the more powerful as next the male antagonist falls to the floor through high to low shot, so Merlin celebrates with the crowd who are making natural diegetic cheers he expresses his happiness through a facial expression of smiling, until he sees the old man, his teacher. This shot reverse shot presents Merlin’s reaction to the teacher’s presence and facial expression of disappointment, as Merlin’s joy of gaining more power over Arthur turns to guilt. While Merlin is distracted by his teacher Arthur puts merlin back in his place as he uses a broom to strike him down, this is exaggerated through a Foley sound that was in the exact timing of the non-diegetic triumphant sound track. As Arthur sweeps around Merlin it connotes that the male antagonist thinks he is of a more importance than the male protagonist mocking him jokingly. However, Arthur restores his respect for Merlin through an eye line shot as he creates diegetic dialogue “there something about you Merlin; I just can’t quite put my finger on it” and lets the guards let the male protagonist go.

The last scene is parallel to the one before it as it is a wide medium shot of Merlin is in the foreground walking towards the camera with his teacher in the back-ground. There is also still an eye line match even though the teacher is supposed to be portrayed as old and wise they are still of equal status and importance. The diegetic dialogue “I’m just a nobody and I always will be” spoken by the male protagonist explains how he feels, which is reinforced through his facial expressions of sadness and disgust, because he has the power to send himself up the status hierarchy, but his teacher won’t let him use it. The fact there is no non-diegetic sounds emphasises the seriousness, and therefore juxtaposes the scene before as it was more of a teasing joke.

Mind Map - plan

So our first discussion in our groups was our own thriller opening; we brainstormed. what would be better a hybrid or sub genre? we made a joint decision of creating the sub-genre a crime thriller. We also knew that we wanted the structure of the film to start at the end and then show the audience the chain of events created this ending. We were trying to come up with of the best setting but it also had to be possible, because we thought about the first scene being set on top of a building. However, this is quite difficult to do because we may not be able to find the correct roof top we are imagining and it would be too expensive to get a green screen. So thought about it being set in a forest but then abandoned the idea, as we thought it may be difficult to tell the difference between a horror or a thriller. Next we though of the possibility of down an alley way but then thought it was to cliché . Therefore the best idea we have is on top of a building, as we thought a basement or attic could be confused with the sub-genre of psychological thriller, so its whether we can find the right building and whether we can film there.

Further discussions led to the idea of the victim was unsure about his whereabouts when he has been abducted, as we had a lot of deliberation over the setting as most ideas came across as too cliché - I feel that its still cliché starting it off in the mans house but my group has made a decision, but thinking about it I agree with them, as it gives the audience a false sense of security.
Later discussions found that it was too difficult to create a film at the end and then go back to the beginning.
We have now also changed the sub-genre/hybrid as we are now doing the hybrid a modern film noir mystery thriller which will add more suspense through more non diegetic sound and low key lighting, also there will be no diegetic dialogue creating even more of a mysterious character of the abductor as the audience won't even know what his voice sounds like.

We brainstormed all of our discussion points - this is our mind map above.

This is my mind map - we decided that we should go away and think about what we had discussed and create a brain-storm of what our own ideas were, so that when we come back as a group we can share our ideas and bring them together as one.

My group have now come up with a plot using the brainstorm above but narrowing it down more, so the following chain of events may be in the thriller opening: (we have two ideas and we trying to decide which one is least cliche as our group is divided though the decision)
1a) a man is sleeping in his bed and suddenly hears something down stairs - close up of eyes opening sharply
b)a man in his study looking through a scrap book of people he has killed hears something and
2a)goes to the hall to find a window has been blown open by the wind
2b) the man walks down stairs to find it was only a pet making the noise - medium shot of man to wide long shot from the corridor through to the kitchen foreground has cat knocked sigh of relief over photo frame
3a) he picks it up and realises that there is a picture of one of the dead girls he's killed in it
3b) has a flash back of him standing over a girls body the same one in the photo
4a) then close up of injection going into mans neck - black out (certain)
5a) man wakes up strapped to a table
6a) diegetic dialogue between the unknown abductor (because he is in low key lighting)and cereal killer
6b) no dialogue edited like the cereal killer is
6c) with each look at the photos of the girls on the walls abducted guy has a flashback of a memory of him standing over each girls body with a murdering instrument in his hand - knife, gun ect
7a) knock at the door stops the unknown abductor from killing cereal killer.
7b) flashing light -red and blue indexical to police therefore a crime thriller
8) credits red blood splattered text over it

Research and planning

Today we discussed what we had left to do and what we have learnt from our research. I feel I have learnt a large amount of information about camera angles, as the main shot used in thrillers is high to low angle, because it shows status and also the tracking angle, because it conveys a fast pace. Moreover, at the very beginning of the course I had no idea what mise en scene was at all, now I can name types of it and understand what they symbolism for example a purple costume can symbolize wealth, as it refers to royalty. Furthermore, I learnt editing keywords like cross cutting, but feel I need to look over this and add main techniques to my research. However, I have learnt a lot about lighting and sound as well. Therefore, we can use this research to plan our own thriller opening for example we could use a low key red gel to connote danger through the lighting as this is a convention of thriller genre; this is yet another fact our group found while researching.

To do list!

These are our dead lines for the project.

However now we have chosen to do the thriller hybrid film noir mystery, so will have to go back on our research evaluate a film noir. Therefore I have decided it would be good to add to my research, so I am going to evaluate and research a film noir thriller opening to understand them better as we haven't done any of this in our previous research.

Merlin note taking

This lesson we were told that this term we are going to analyse films non stop, to get quicker at writing notes in exams, because, as the saying goes "practice makes perfect". Therefore, the photos show my evaluation of the first two sections of the clip we watched, as we only watched the clip three times this lesson and the in the first viewing we cannot write notes. However evaluating this lesson I think I find it incredibly difficult to decide the film into sections, finding editing and giving reasons for the techniques used, as i feel i am going at a slower pace than the rest of the class. Nevertheless this should all come with more practice.