RESEARCH: CINEMATIC STORYTELLING

The book "Cinematic Storytelling" outlines the different uses of smash cuts with examples from renowned film Psycho and American Beauty. In American Beauty, a smash cut jumps from a wide aerial shot to an imposing close-up, jolting the audience. Psycho uses a moving shot than then slam to a stop with a static shot, making the audience feel as if they have ground to a halt. 

There are numerous ways in which we could use this technique, one idea we discussed would be the following the protagonists travel in a car to the warehouse (the camera follows the car as it thunders done the road). A still shot of the warehouse suddenly appears. 

Another technique the book highlights, climate. Climate can be used to convey a specific meaning to the audience without having to make it too obvious. The example used is Shyamalan's "The Sixth Sense", coldness is used to symbolize the unnatural (ghosts). Clouds of air (mist) are used to tell the audience that character has indeed died but remains in the land of the living. 

We could use this technique of using the scene's climate to connote meaning. A drop of blood or strong gust of wind could be used to connote a death to the audience without directly showing it to them. This could envoke a stronger emotional investment from the audience as they do not see who has died or if anyone has died, this will motivate them to watch the film. 

CONSTRUCTION: LOCATION FILMING

On the 27th of October Tom and I met up with our actors to carry out our first filming shoot. As we were yet to fully establish our plot, the shoot was mostly focused on establishing and any footage we would want to use for transitions or to convey the characters are moving around the setting. Once we had all arrived we began outlining what we wanted to achieve that day, and what we planned to do with the actors. Tom was in charge of directing so I looked to him for instructions on the layout of the film and where he wanted to film and what to happen there. I was in charge of filming, it was my job to ensure that the film's story can be conveyed to the audience through camera. Using different techniques and conventions. 

Here Joe and Ben are being filmed entering and leaving different rooms, this will allow us to have scenes flow together. Though we are producing a trailer, a coherent setting will help us engage with our audience.  

Here I was practising shifting the camera exposure from the torches blinding light, to then reveal the two protagonists.  

Tom explaining the framing he wanted to see when recording Amy on the cherrypicker, to create a boxed-in feeling for the audience. 

Preparation for the brief photo shoot that we were planning to use to create a poster.  

The day after the filming I looked at all the files to see all the progress we had made. There was a lot of videos that I was happy with. Although some of them did not turn out the way I wanted. A key example was the plan to shift the exposure from the flashlight to the characters. The camera struggled to process the lighting and focused the exposure to the light source. This meant that the characters were out of focus and too dark. 

PLANNING: THRILLER CODES AND CONVENTIONS

 

PLANNING: RISK ASSESSMENT