Planning: Mise En Scene - Mr. Smith

Mise En Scene



Mise en scene is very important in creating a film production as it sends messages to the audience that make them connote the significance of the mise en scene used. This also allows the audience to engage within the scene, portraying different ideas that make them have different emotions towards the several types of mise en scene. The mise en scene that we will use in our thriller will consist of lighting, setting, iconography, costume, facial expressions and body language.

Lighting

Low key lighting will be used throughout our thriller because it is conventional to the thriller genre. I have chosen to use this because it builds up tension and creates suspense towards the audience and also create different connotations from the viewers.

Setting

The setting we will mainly be filming in will be Oasis Academy Hadley. We will mainly be using a room inside the music department of the school. This location is relevant to our thriller because it is a square empty room in which we need as our main character is being filmed in a ‘’mental hospital cell’’. So we can design this room to temporarily be all white. The room is empty so we won’t have trouble moving furniture or equipment in and out. The room being all white will connote that the girl is exposed and cannot escape which makes the audience feel sympathy but negative towards the girl because of her actions that caused her to be in the mental hospital.

Iconography

The iconography we plan to use are regularly used but dangerous; a knife and scissors which will be used to attack the main characters boyfriend. Make up will also be used to show the injuries and blood so that it will make our scene look more realistic. I have chosen these because it is conventional to a thriller genre and helps connote different ideas towards the viewers.

Costume

The costume for our female victim/antagonist will be dressed moderns with youth trends. She will be in bright colours which will connote her freedom and innocence. After this character has been sent to the ''mental hospital'', she will be in all white, loose uniform to show that she is a prisoner and also to connote the good intentions that turn bad.

The antagonist in which we portray sexually abusing the main character will be dressed in messy, dark, casual wear. The antagonist dark clothing and hoodie to hide his identity connotes the mystery and bad intentions of this character.

Body language & facial expressions

The body language of the main character in the beginning will have a good posture be open to show that she is a friendly and approachable person. After she has been sent to the mental hospital, her body language will be calm, closed and fragile to show that she is not approachable and anti social.

The body language of the antagonist will be stiff and aggressive as he is committing an abusive gesture towards the main character. His facial expressions will be both angry looking but smiling as he is getting pleasure out of it and is teasing the girl.

Conclusion:

These are all the mise en scene I am planning to use for our thriller production. This planning before filming will make it easier for us to film because we know what will be used in our scenes and what the actors will need to be dressed in and act like.

 

Planning: Character Representation - Ms. Begum

Character Representation

My thriller will consist of three significant characters:
-The main girl
-The rapist
-Male nurse

The main character, played by Christine, is an average normal looking girl aged around 18. Her identity will be hidden by making her nameless and by hiding her face with her hair when she is in the mental hospital. Throughout the beginning of our thriller, she will be dressed in bright colours and have neat hair and make up to show that she is the character with good intentions. Then when she is sent to the mental hospital, she will be dressed in white and have messy hair. The change of hair and make up will connote that she has been through a bad situation and doesn't or cant bother to make herself look nice. The body language of this character in the beginning will have a good posture be open to show that she is a friendly and approachable person. After she has been sent to the mental hospital, her body language will be calm, closed and fragile to show that she is not approachable and anti social.

The rapist, played by Trey will have short camera time but a big effect on the main character. This character will be portrayed as a big strong man aged around the 30's. His identity will be hidden by the low key lighting and hoodie that he will be covering his head. the body language of this character will be stiff and aggressive as he is committing an abusive gesture towards the main character. His facial expressions will be both angry looking but smiling as he is getting pleasure out of it and is teasing the girl. The costume will be dark and messy to show that he is less fortunate and has bad intentions.

The male nurse, played by Cee Jay will be the last character shown to be interacting with the main girl. The role of this character is to be looking after the girl in the mental hospital and also dies by the hands of the girl. The costume for this character will be white and neat to connote the good intentions he has. This character will be kind and generous to the character, which makes the audience feel sympathy towards him as they know what the girl is capable of. the body language of this character will be open and have a good posture to show that he is approachable and has good intentions. The facial expressions of this character will be happy and smiley to show that he is a friendly person.

Planning: Production Roles - Ms. Begum

Production Roles

 

Introduction

• In the making of a film production, there are nine main roles that are most important in completing a film production.
• Each role is very different, but needed in order to help all the other roles to make it easier for everyone.
• The roles below will show why they are the most important in making a complete production.

Filmier/Camera crew: The person/people in charge of operating the camera to show appropriate shots and sizes when shooting a scene. They are also known as camera operator, videographer depending on the job they are doing and the type of technology involved. Their role also works alongside with the story boarders role as they need to shoot a scene in the same image as the story boarder wants. This role has been assigned to me as I have had experience in filming various types of videos and short films.

Producer: This role mainly assists the director in production. Their role is to assists the directors decision making and run around making sure all roles are fulfilled. So they would need to have good communication skills as they are interacting with the other workers. This role has been assigned to Marilyn as she has good communication skills and makes other workers feel approachable towards her.

Director: The directors role is to direct everything that happens in a scene, so they have to make sure that the actors are saying their lines right and also saying it in the right tone and expression. They also make sure that everything else in the scene is correct according to a story board or how the director wants the scene to look like. This role has been assigned to Marilyn as she has good communication skills and is a good direct speaker which is ideal for this role. This has also been assigned to her as she plays a big part planning out how the scenes should look like so she knows what and how the scenes should look.

 

Lighting Operator: The lighting operator is in charge of using appropriate lighting in a scene to make the scene look more ideal whether its a bad situation and has to have low key lighting. Their role is to make sure that the lighting is right for different scenarios. This role has been assigned to Shelah as he has volunteered to because he is good with electronics so this job would be most appropriate with his skill set.

 

Location manager: This role is in charge of finding suitable and appropriate locations for specific scenes. This role is important as it is needed to make a scene ideal to the plan and storyboard. This role has been assigned to Shelah as he has already given locations and ideas of locations for several scenes in our production.

 

Costume, hair and make up: The people in this role is responsible for the appearance of all the actors. This role is important as it makes the scene look more ideal with the characters having different types of costume and make up that is appropriate to the scene. This role has been assigned to Marilyn as she has experience in applying make up and has a good sense of fashion in which this is ideal or this role.

 

Storyboard organiser: This role is very important as they plot and draw out how a scene should look like and what should contain in it. This role is also important as it allows everyone in the production team to view how the scene is supposed to look like before filming. This role helps the camera operator a lot as it shows them what type of shot sizes and angles to shoot the scene from. This role has been assigned to me as I have a good layout of how the scenes should look like and what should contain in it. I also have clear drawings of how the scene should look like so it is easy to see how the scene should look like when filming.

 

Editor: This role is responsible for making a scene look professional. They are also in charge of cutting, making the right and appropriate editing for different scenes. They also add the most important scenes and cut certain scenes to make it the right time length of the complete production. This role has been assigned to me as I have the equipment and experienced people to help and provide me with the skill to create a great production.

 

Sound editor: This role is in charge of putting the right types of sound and music that matches specific scenes and also matches with the editing. This role has been assigned to Shelah as he knows and told the team what type of sounds should be used for specific moments in a scene.

 

Conclusion:

I have gained a better knowledge of production roles which will benefit me in what roles are needed in order to make a good production. This also will also help me with my roles as it allows me to know what I need to do and what I need to contribute to, to make my thriller as good as possible.



Planning: Final Ideas - Mr.Smith

Final ideas

 

The scene starts with the introduction of the main character. There is a girl shown to be in the middle of a blank, spaced out room with only a bed and a toilet. Immediately the setting connotes that this girl is being held in a prison like location. The audience can see that the girl is on her knees crying with her head down and her body is fragile in what resembles a foetal position to reflect her innocence. Her face is also completely covered by her long messy hair to hide her identity. The character is presented in a loose white costume which represents her purity and the freedom she has. The camera positioned directly in front of the girl starting with an extreme long shot, slowly zooming in closer and closer. Within around 2 seconds of the zoom in, a flashback is shown of her past, when she had been raped a short quote is remembered ''it's like nothing ever happened''. This is said in a happy tone but used in a bad event to show the audience that the rapist is comfortable with his actions as if he has done it before and is comfortable with it.

As the scene develops, the zoom in carry's on directly in front of the girl then with a sudden change of screen, another flashback. This flashback shows her and her boyfriend having a good time, smiling then they start kissing and the boyfriend makes his actions more aggressive forcing the girl. The girl is refusing but the boyfriend carry's on getting more aggressive, overpowering the girl to what she does not want to do. The quote said by the boyfriend is similar to the rapist '' Don't worry, it'll be like nothing ever happened''. Then a blur of fast images that sum up her being raped is shown whilst on screen overlapping sounds are heard of her screaming and the quote being repeated again and again on a loop. The fast images then get faster as well as the sounds are getting faster.

The scene then goes back to reality carrying on from being intense to calm, then another thought of a point of view is shown of the girl seeing her boyfriend on the ground dead with blood pouring out of his stomach. She lifts up her hands seeing blood scattered all over and scissors gripped in her right hand. The scene then shows her being taken away by police and her crying with confusion ''I didn't do nothing!''. This flash back then leaves the setting of her house with her at the back of a police car and sirens and flashing lights from the police car are shown.

(Still in a flashback) The girl is then shown to be getting booked in to a mental facility in which a zoom in to the number plate of the cell the girl will be placed in ''B13''. The door is opened which then immediately goes back to reality in which the camera shows a medium close up of the girl in the same position as the start but she is quiet now, and is still showing no movement.

Towards the ending of the opening a nurse is shown to be walking down the corridors of the facility with a smile, holding a tray of food. The man  holding the trey is then scanned before entering the cell ''B13''. The man enters the room and his first words are ''how are we doing today'' trying to be kind and opening towards the girl as if they have talked before and he is comfortable with being around the girl. The man carry's on trying to make convo but the girl doesn't reply at all with no voice or movement. The man then gives up kindly with trying to make convo and bends down 'saying don't worry you'll be alright. It'll be like nothing ever happened''. (knife in nurses pocket)

At the end the girl the lifts her head up and a fade to black is shown with off screen sound of a grown man screaming and sound of slicing and body parts crushing and squashing. The fade to black then goes into a straight cut with the view of the girls eyes in which we see the nurse dead on the floor with blood pouring from his body and the girl with her hands up with the scissors in her right hand.

The scene completely ends with a straight cut showing a close up of the girls face with her hair out of the way so we can see her eyes wide open. Her facial expressions are serious and aggressive. After several seconds of showing an aggressive look, a smile is then triggered by the girl ending the scene.

Planning: opening scene narration - Miss B

Opening scene narration

The scene starts with the introduction of the main character. There is a girl shown to be in the middle of a blank, spaced out room with only a bed and a toilet. Immediately the setting connotes that this girl is being held in a prison like location. The audience can see that the girl is on her knees crying with her head down and her body is fragile in what resembles a foetal position to reflect her innocence. Her face is also completely covered by her long messy hair to hide her identity. The character is presented in a loose white costume which represents her purity and the freedom she has. The camera positioned directly in front of the girl starting with an extreme long shot, slowly zooming in closer and closer. Within around 2 seconds of the zoom in, a flashback is shown of her past, when she had been raped a short quote is remembered ''it's like nothing ever happened''. This is said in a happy tone but used in a bad event to show the audience that the rapist is comfortable with his actions as if he has done it before and is comfortable with it.


As the scene develops, the zoom in carry's on directly in front of the girl then with a sudden change of screen, another flashback. This flashback shows her and her boyfriend having a good time, smiling then they start kissing and the boyfriend makes his actions more aggressive forcing the girl. The girl is refusing but the boyfriend carry's on getting more aggressive, overpowering the girl to what she does not want to do. The quote said by the boyfriend is similar to the rapist '' Don't worry, it'll be like nothing ever happened''. Then a blur of fast images that sum up her being raped is shown whilst on screen overlapping sounds are heard of her screaming and the quote being repeated again and again on a loop. The fast images then get faster as well as the sounds are getting faster.


The scene then goes back to reality carrying on from being intense to calm, then another thought of a point of view is shown of the girl seeing her boyfriend on the ground dead with blood pouring out of his stomach. She lifts up her hands seeing blood scattered all over and scissors gripped in her right hand. The scene then shows her being taken away by police and her crying with confusion ''I didn't do nothing!''. This flash back then leaves the setting of her house with her at the back of a police car and sirens and flashing lights from the police car are shown.


(Still in a flashback) The girl is then shown to be getting booked in to a mental facility in which a zoom in to the number plate of the cell the girl will be placed in ''B13''. The door is opened which then immediately goes back to reality in which the camera shows a medium close up of the girl in the same position as the start but she is quiet now, and is still showing no movement.


Towards the ending of the opening a nurse is shown to be walking down the corridors of the facility with a smile, holding a tray of food. The man  holding the trey is then scanned before entering the cell ''B13''. The man enters the room and his first words are ''how are we doing today'' trying to be kind and opening towards the girl as if they have talked before and he is comfortable with being around the girl. The man carry's on trying to make convo but the girl doesn't reply at all with no voice or movement. The man then gives up kindly with trying to make convo and bends down 'saying don't worry you'll be alright. It'll be like nothing ever happened''. (knife in nurses pocket)


At the end the girl the lifts her head up and a fade to black is shown with off screen sound of a grown man screaming and sound of slicing and body parts crushing and squashing. The fade to black then goes into a straight cut with the view of the girls eyes in which we see the nurse dead on the floor with blood pouring from his body and the girl with her hands up with the scissors in her right hand.


The scene completely ends with a straight cut showing a close up of the girls face with her hair out of the way so we can see her eyes wide open. Her facial expressions are serious and aggressive. After several seconds of showing an aggressive look, a smile is then triggered by the girl ending the scene.

Research: Age Certificates - Ms. Begum

Age certificates

The BBFC:

The BBFC (British Board Film Classification) are an expert and experienced film regulator. They have many roles, but the main role is to advise and protect public information for everyone to make appropriate viewing decisions, whether its parents deciding to allow their children to watch certain films or whether its protecting and advising vulnerable viewers. The BBFC's role is important because they have the last word in confirmation to release a film so a film can only be released if the BBFC allow it. Their role is also important because when allowing to release a film they have to decide who should be able to watch a film so they certify what ages are aloud to watch this film. For example, they confirm and label what age certificate a film should have e.g. U, PG, 12, 12A, 15, 18.

The different age certificates:

A ''U' rated should be suitable for audiences aged 4 and over.

U films should have a positive moral narrative and image so that it is appropriate to the targeted viewers. This age typed film should also

not show or connote any violence, threat or horror.

A PG rated film have some scenes that may be unsuitable for young children. PG stands for Parental Guidance is need to children 8 and under.

With this age certificate, parents are advised whether the content may upset younger or more sensitive children.

A 12 rated film contains suitable material towards 12 and over viewers. Some content in a 12 may be unsuitable to the viewers so parents are advised to see if the film is suitable for their child before allowing them to watch it. This 12 category only exist for video works so no one younger than 12 may watch, rent or buy a 12 rated film.

A 12A only exists for cinema films. No one younger than
12 may see a 12A film unless a younger than 12 is accompanied
by an adult allowing consent to view the film. So responsibility for allowing a younger than 12 child to view a 12A lies on the
accompanying adult. ''12A'' is a fairly new age rating that came
 as a result of Spiderman in 2002.



 

 

 

A 15 rated film may have content that have some controversial elements to it but overall there shouldn't be: any discrimination, drugs being promoted, violence shown that dwells on injury and pain. There may be some use

of frequent bad language and nudity shown but only

 where appropriate.

 

 

A 18 rated film may contain explicit content  such as

criminal law, display criminal offence, violence,

dangerous acts, illegal drug use etc. Also explicit

 images, sexual content can be shown and frequent

bad language can be used.

 

 

 

 

12A rating:

 

12A rate is a new age rating in film introduced in 2002 because of the first Spiderman production in 2002. This comical film was identified as portraying callousness towards victims and dwelling injury and pain. This was then argued not suitable for children under 12 even though Spiderman is targeted towards the very young, but the action in this film was to explicit for the ages 4 - 12 and was thought to be inappropriate to some viewers that  children may see this film with the consent and the company of an adult depending on the adults decision to allow their child to view the film.

 

Age certificates for Thrillers:

 

The main age certificates I would give a thriller and that are mainly used in thrillers are a 15 or 18. This is because of the explicit content, bad language and maybe some nudity shown. There are many other reasons for thrillers to be a 15 or an 18 for example, this may disturb and create trauma to the younger viewers or even some aged 15 and over. Thrillers are mainly a 15 or 18 because of the content it may contain as it is made to disturb and make the viewers jump.

 

In conclusion, I have learnt all the age ratings the content different age rated films may contain and how they are regulated to certify the age ratings for different types of movies. In making a thriller I will need to consider what content can and cant be used and also what aged audience my thriller is targeted to, which is mainly people around the age of 15 and over.. I will need to know what is appropriate for different aged groups and viewers.



Research: Sound - Mr Smith

What is Sound?

Sounds in films are used to create an understanding to the audience, to show more meaning to the scene and to the characters emotions. Sound is one of the most important micro-elements in film production. Sound is used in many different ways. It can be used to relax the audience but also make the audience jump.

There are different types of sounds that are used in film productions:

-Diegetic sound: is sound that you can see where is coming from in a film. For example, in a film, if music is being played from a radio, jukebox etc. this is diegetic as you can tell where the sound is coming from. Diegetic sound can be on or off screen.

-Non-Diegetic sound: is sound that is added on to a film which is un-natural, for example a soundtrack and sound effects. An example of this; when a film shows a montage, a soundtrack can be used to create a relaxing or tension building affect.

-On screen sound: is when we can see where the sound is coming from for example, cars, radios, jukebox, phones, heavy machinery etc. The use of this type of sound is to create naturalism and realism to the audience to make the scene feel more realistic. This helps makes scenes more believable and also helps the audience to follow what is going on in the film.

-Off screen sound: is when you can hear sound but cannot see where it is coming from. For example a phone call, films usually show one half of a phone call conversation so the camera is showing one person on the phone but you can hear two different people talking. The person talking on the other side of the conversation (off screen) is off screen sound.

Conclusion:

I have defined and analysed the different types of sounds in film productions. With this, i have developed a better understanding on sound and the importance of sound in film. I will also take note of what type of sounds i can and will be using in my own thriller to gain as much marks as possible.

Research: What is a thriller ? - Ms Begum

What is Thriller?

A thriller is a genre which is created to keep the audience on edge with suspenseful action. Thriller is also being produced in television programs, radio, theatre productions and other types of media.

Thriller genre is a group of productions which affect the audiences emotions by raising their the level of anticipation, uncertainty and surprise. Thriller films or books intend to be unexpected & interesting which helps to engage the audience attention to find out the actions in movies or stories.

What are Genres?

Genres are categories in which a film belongs to. it is important for the audience to know about genres because of the age certificates and also different genres have different narratives and conventions so some audiences are interested in and other audiences are not.

'Texas Chainsaw' (2013) is a remake of the original production 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. The story of this film is supposedly based on a true story of a group of friends visit an old home in which contains a 'legend' of a serial killer, the main antagonist. The group of friends who visit this old home little do they know about still visit this place to find out they will be living with a serial killer. in the 2013 remake of this film a young woman travels with a group of her friends to Texas to collect inheritance but little does she know that an encounter with a chainsaw-wielding killer.

Sub-genre of Thrillers:

 

Horror/Thriller




Crime/Thriller

 

Drama/Mystery/Thriller

Common themes in thriller:

The common themes in a thriller are topics such as death, obsession, revenge, mystery, rivalry etc.
These common themes allow the audience to identify them by the actions in the film. For example; death would become a them in a film if death was shown or if a funeral was shown then this would connote death. Another example would be if the antagonist in a thriller is killing and committing crimes throughout the film, but his appearance of his face has not been shown to the viewers. What this does is hides the antagonist identity creating a build up of mystery to when the antagonist is finally revealed.
Themes in thriller send off different messages to a viewer allowing them to think and connote different ideas from the film.

General audience for thrillers.

The general audience for thrillers are usually for more of a mature audience so young adults or people that are 18 and over. The youngest a thriller allows are 15 because it creates a wider audience and also younger people are more interested in thrillers. Their are many reactions from different audiences when watching a thriller. Most audiences feel disturbed and frightened from the actions in a film as they mainly contain explicit and disturbing images to put off the audience. Some viewers may have strong political views on thrillers as some are easily viewable by under 15's in which by law they are not aloud to watch thrillers as their age ratings are mainly either 15 or 18. People may have these type of views because they are concerned about protecting and preventing things such as trauma to a child. Others may enjoy watching thrillers as it gives them excitement and shocking feeling which makes them want to watch more.

Conclusion:
This has helped et a better understanding of the thriller genre, I am also able to  speak about the key conventional features which  are typical to the thriller genre. Through my research I am able to  gain experience and an understanding of  the audiences response within the thriller genre and how they are meant to react  to certain specific scene within a thriller film.

 

Research: Results from questionnaire

Results from questionnaire

In my questionnaire I asked 20 people aged 15 to 21. I asked people within these ages because those are the people that are most interested in thrillers and are allowed to watch most thriller, as thrillers are mainly either a 15 or 18.



This graph shows me what sub genres people are interested out of the 4 choices given. In this case: Horror, psychological, action and supernatural. This showed me that the majority of the people are interested in supernatural. This will allow me to develop my narrative to meet the audiences expectations.





This graph shows me how many main characters people would like to see in a thriller movie. The majority of the people I asked like to see groups in a thriller. So now I can develop my characters in the narrative to give the audience what they want to see.



This graph shows me that most people like to see lethal weapons in a thriller. So I will take note of this and use props that the audience would be most interested in.

Conclusion:

Overall I have developed a better understanding of what most people are interested in thrillers. This will help me to develop my narrative so that I can create a successful thriller.



Research: Film Censorship

Film censorship

Who are the BBFC and what is their role?

The BBFC (British Board Film Classification) are an expert and experienced movie regulator. They have many roles, but the main is to advise and protect public information for everyone to make appropriate viewing decisions, whether its parents deciding to allow their children to watch certain films or whether its vulnerable viewers. The BBFC's role is important because they have the last word in confirmation to release a film so a film can only be released if the BBFC allow it. Their role is also important because when allowing to release a film they have to decide who should be able to watch a film so they certify what ages are aloud to watch this film.

What things get censored and why?

-Film censorship is when a film is revised due to the content it shows. a film may either be banned or asked for some scenes to be cut several times before the BBFC are happy with it.

Cannibal Holocaust was filmed as a documentary mainly in the Amazon rain forest and real indigenous tribes were interacting with the American and Italian actors and crew. The film was so graphic that the director was accused of showing real gruesome violence and death. This resulted in postponing the release in many countries as it did not pass many countries film regulators and when released, many scenes were cut or censored.

 

 

 

The Exorcist 1973 production is a supernatural horror film that had been banned for almost 17 years due to the terrifying scenes showing supernatural demonic possession in which this was very controversial so it had been banned in many different counties. This film hadn't been passed through the BBFC till 1990.

 

                                    

 

So films mainly get censored due to the content in a film. This may be for many reasons that display; frequent bad language, criminal offence, illegal drugs, religious acts(supernatural, evangelic etc.), nudity, sexual or sexualised violence, race, true events, corrupt of the young etc..

 

What is the difference between films being cut and banned? 

 

-A film that is cut is when it has been edited or has had scenes take out of it to make it appropriate for viewing.

-A film that is banned is when a film is taken away from cinema viewing completely due to indecent, harmful or offensive material.

 

Forna and Kermode debate:

Aminatta Forna was a journalist/broadcaster that debated for censorship whereas Mark Kermode was a critic/broadcaster who debated against censorship.

 

Arguments for censorship from Forna were..

• Responses to very violent and explicit films resulted in to people being influenced to do in real life. For example; suicide, rape, murder etc.
• Some people might gain pleasure from watching certain things and might try to actually remake that pleasure in reality.
• People were tempted to copy the actions in films in which this resulted in thought of reality vs. fiction.

Arguments against censorship from Kermode were..

• He wanted people to see what they want to see and be able to have the option to view an explicit film if they wanted to.
• Freedom of speech - freedom for people to say things others don't want to hear.
• Kermode thought that the BBFC put themselves on top, above others to make an overall moral judgement on who can watch certain things and who cant.

In my opinion I am more on Kermode's side as I believe that everyone should be aloud to watch whatever they want and should be free to have that option if they want to but on the other hand I am also on Forna's side as I believe that some image may be too much for the youth and even adults to handle so censoring some image may protect and prevent (for example) trauma to people.

 

In conclusion, I have gained a deeper understanding on Film Censorship and now know what to consider with what content can and cant be shown in  our own thrillers. So I will be able to show appropriate content for the correct viewing.