Evidence of my Contribution to the Filming

Me setting up the camera

Me setting up the camera

Me helping Emma film

 

 

Me filming

Evidence of Copyright Free Music

Evidence of Me Editing

Me doing foley from home

Me doing final 20 seconds of foley and inserting soundtrack from home

Me Editing from home

Me Editing from home

Me Editing from home

Me Editing from home

Me Editing from home

Me Editing from home

Me Editing from school

Me Editing from school

Me Editing from home

Me Editing from school

Me Editing from home

Individual Edit with Re-Shot Footage

Individual Edit Mentor Partner Feedback

Individual Edit

This is my individual edit of my group R.E.M Productions thriller Opening, i feel that it is not very good and is not up to the standards that i would like to achieve. Since the making of this video we have re-filmed our footage and i will be making a new individual edit of that footage, i posted this video to show the change between this video and the future individual edit. When we re-filmed footage we made sure that we set the white balance, properly focused the lense and used the appropriate lighting.

Level 4 Example, AS Students Opening Sequence

- I chose this video as a level 4 example
- It has a great use of foley
- There are many title slates and they are embedded well into the video
- The students made use of camera techniques and shot types
- The genre is clearly defined
- The sequence leaves questions unanswered making you want to see the rest of the film
- There is a variety of good editing techniques used

Level 3 Example, AS Students Opening Sequence

- I chose this video as a level 3 example
- It had good use of foley
- It had a good use of a whisper effect
- The sound of the video in general was very well done
- There was an obvious lack of title slates
- I don't feel that the students fully understood the task as they titled it as a 'Thriller Opening' but there does not seem to be a grasp of whether it is a thriller or a horror
- More research should have gone into their definitions of genres

Level 2 Example, AS Students Opening Sequence

- The video is an example of a Level 2 piece of work
- There is a low number of title slides
- The slides are not embedded into what is on screen, they are just placed on top
- The production company logo is unproffesional
- Lack of foley sounds
- Sound quality is poor
- No clear genre is outlined as character is killed by a human but seems ot return as a zombie
- No editing skills used, clips jump from one to the other

Dexter Re-Make.

This is our group re-make of the Dexter Intro Seuence. I made this in a group with Grace Cuthbertson, Peter Wilson and Benn Kelly. We all took part in the filming of this video and i was the main actor in it. Peter and Grace were responsible for the editing.

Group Contributions.

Evidence of me Editing Parity.

General overview of ideas for my thriller

Characters.

James Harding.
-An inner city detective who lives on his own and has no contact with the outside world other than at work.
-He is a short tempered man who will do anything necessary to achieve his goals even if it means going against what he believes in his heart.
-During the plot of the film even his ideals will be tested as he undercovers a plot so sinister and terrifying that it was beyond anything he or any of the viewers could expect.
-He is a generic detached detective that you see in a lot of crime thrillers much like Morgan Freemans character 'Detective Somerset' is in the 1995 crime thriller 'Se7en'.

Leo (No Surname Given).
-Underworld Boss
-Obviously in charge of all the gang members
-Dresses smartly showing he is a dignified man rather than a regular street thug
-Overly pronounces his words to show an inflated sense of self importance
-Is the main character that harding has to face
-A man with no mercy and no regret
-Driven by his own desires has no respect for anybody else and their beliefs or ideas
-Will not be questioned by anybody
-Hints about a traumatic past shown throughout the plot

Sub-Genre.
Crime Thriller.
-It is a crime thriller that will appeal to an 18-25 year old male audience
-Meaning that there must be lots of mystery and suspense but also a specific viewpoint of the film
-Plots will be uncovered by the audience as the same tiume as the characters in the film so that it keeps the audience involved and makes them feel as if they are part of the film
-Detective is thrown into the centre of an underworld crime gang with no contact to the outside worlds and what he undercovers is more shocking and dangerous than anything that we would have expected
-Parts left to the audiences imagination and for them to decide, use of flashbacks link it to a psychological thriller but the content of the film shows it to be a crime thriller

Opening Scene.
-Film will open in a police station, dim lighting but a bright light shining on a at the time unknown characters face to show power
-Time jump to large spacious room with stone walls and little furnishing, a large table and two chairs are the only things in the room other than the men
-Two locations will be needed for my opening scenes due to a time jump
-I feel it is key putting a time jump in this early because it will show the fast paced nature of the genre


Why it is a Thriller Plot.
-My opening will immediately show the thriller plot because it will make use of a time jump to immediately create mystery and suspense
-The time jump will take the viewer to a meeting so that they will wonder what is being discussed, how they got there etc
-This makes it immediately get the viewer asking questions showing that the film will have a strong enigma codes throughout
-The type of characters shown in the opening scene will also show it to be a thriller plot as the criminal and policeman are those type of characters that are nearly always included in any good thriller
-The main gang leader 'Leo' will be presented as sophisticated and adult to show the adult nature of the thriller that all good crime thrillers and other sub genres of thrillers should have

Films that inspired me in my ideas.
-Firstly the film Se7en was a major inspiration, although it is not in the directive style that i would like to use in my thriller it does follow the same kind of dark unexpected plot line that i desire mine to have
-It also has many similar characters for example i took inspriation for my lonely detatched Detecive harding from Morgan Freemans character detective somerset
-I changed him slightly as Harding has no compassion for anybody whereas Detective Somerset did have some humanity

-Secondly the film Pulp Fiction inspired me in the way of directive style
-The scenes of the film are played in what appears to be an almost random order but they do all tie together eventually
-This means that the viewer has to piece together what happens where and how
-I want to do this in my thriller with the use of flashbacks and time jumps
-Also Pulp Fiction shows a somewhat lighter side to gang culture but none the less shows what their life is like
-This again inspired my thriller as it will show what the gang life is like in the city where Harding is undercover

-Thirdly The Dark Night Rises was a major influence in my plot
-It influenced me because it shows the kind of major power that gangs can control
-The character Bane in the film has the same motives as the character Leo in my thriller
-They both seek to destroy a complete city through a sinister unexpected method
-The type of fear the citizens live in during The Dark Night Rises is similar to the fear the citizens live in during my thriller
-Also the mystery and darkness surrounding the main character, Batman in The Dark Night Rises and Detective Harding in my thriller is similar as it creates more suspense as you are not always sure if you can even trust the character who seems to be fighting for good or the well-being of the people

Mind-Map of Ideas for Crime Thriller

Collage of Typical Crime Thriller Scenes and Ideas

Treatment of My Idea for Thriller

Black Days

Crime Thriller

18-25 year old males

Directive Style

I chose to use the directive style of Quentin Tarantino, i want my thriller to have a non-linear structure, with time jumps and flashbacks throughout so that the audience does not know how the characters got into situations until a flashback in a later scene that will explain what is happening.

Logline

Man goes undercover to discover true going ons of todays underworld but what he finds are crimes and plots more sinister than anything we expected.

The main characters

 - James harding, an inner city detective who has realised that unless they bring the crimes down at their centre all of his city will fall to the criminals.

- Leo (surname unknown) a underworld boss with whom James must compete in order to retrieve the plans that he witnessed leo steal

Main Ideas

James working so deep undercover that he has been placed on the most wanted list meaning he not only has to be careful not to get found out by the criminals he is undercover with but also any policeman he sees will shoot him on sight. James whole life changes as soon as he accepts the job, he is no longer a lonely detective he is now a wanted fugitive thrown into the centre of a criminal organisation.

Intro Scene

-James sitting at a desk in a police station with a bright light in his face, being questioned if he know what will happen if he accepts this job. 

-James says yes. "i know i will have to let go of everything i have valued all life, i will have to carry out acts i had never imagined, but i agree for the benefit of our people"

-Time jump 6 months, shows POV shot from James eyeline, shot shows him witnessing a discussion between an unknown man and the character LEO over plans for some kind of 'revolutionary weapon' 

-Leo shoots the other in the chest picks up the file turns to James pointing the gun at him. 

-James speaks "but leo i thought we were in this together" (introduces the character of leo) 

-"No, this file is my little secret" Leo proceeds to shoot James. 

-Screen goes black 

-We re-awake again from James pov character speaks "lucky i was wearing a vest" 

-James' hunt to find out what was inside the envelope begins.

Preliminary Task

Evidence of me filming

Evidence of me editing the video on FinalCut

This is the final edited version of my groups preliminary task. In this preliminary task we had to work in groups of three to successfully film a short interrogation scene. We had to include shot reverse shot, match on action and comply with the 180 degree rule. The actors in this video are not members of my group as all 3 of us had to work the camera so we could not be acting at the same time. We filmed all of our shots successfully. However when we came to edit our footage some of the shots would not upload meaning we had to do without the second half of our shot reverse shot. This meant that although we had filmed it we did not have the evidence in our final video. It is not through a fault of my groups it was a technical issue but in future we ill allow more time so that if a shot fails to upload we can re-film it and try again. I think we did well with this task as each group member used the camera and edited well. The image on the left is photographic evidence of me filming and the photo on the right is the evidence of me editing the video.

Preliminary Task with Directors Commentary

This is our preliminary interrogation scene, this time with a directors commentary over the top. The 3 of us in my group are the 3 speakers in the commentary. Myself, Rosie Rattray and Emma Nye. In the commentary we outline the success of the task, continuity, composition and framing, overall success in fulfilling the brief, our own contributions and a group self evaluation of how we feel we did at completing the task. In the video above we took out the sounds of the video and played our commentary over the top. The commentary was much longer than the preliminary task video so we looped the video. We tried to get shots of what we were discussing on the commentary at the same time as they showed on the video for effectiveness. This was not always possible though. I feel that our commentary was very effective as it explained what we did well but also our shortcomings and the reasons behind them.

Spoiler review of the film 'Se7en'

I chose to do a spoiler review of the film se7en, it is a crime thriller with some very dark themes that leave you tense throughout and shaken once the film has ended. The film opens with detective somerset (morgan freeman) preparing to leave his house for work.
When he leaves the shot then changes to show a dead body at a crime scene, this shows the type of gruesome images detective somerset sees everybody in his job, immediately setting the dark mood of the film. the lighting of this scene is also key to immediately outlining it as a thriller as it shows the dim low key lighting used frequently throughout thrillers.



Main Plot Summary
The basic plot of the film follows 2 men, detective somerset and detective mills as they try to discover who is behind a series of gruesome murders. The killer murders his victims based on each of the seven deadly sins gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, pride, lust and envy. For example the first killing involves a obese man and is labelled "gluttony". They find clues relating to other deaths at each of the crime scenes which leads them to the conclusion that they are looking for a serial killer who has planned out these killings perfectly for a long time.
On a different tangent in the story Detective Mills wife is pregnant and confides in Somerset before she tells Mills. Somerset reveals that he has previously pressured a girlfriend into having an abortion as he did not want to have a child growing up in the city. He says that if she is too have an abortion mills should never know and if not she should spoil the child every chance she gets.

After Somersets extensive study at the library he tracks down a man named John Doe who has checked out multiple books on the seven deadly sins over the past year. Mills and Somerset visit his flat but he sees them outside and shoots at them. The two detectives chase him with mills leading the chase and somerset just behind, the chase climaxes with mills being held as gunpoint by Doe before Doe seems to have a sudden change of heart and releases him. 

Shortly after the 2 officers have returned to the station we are shown Doe leaving a taxi and entering the station to hand himself in. He offers the two officers a way for them to see the last 2 bodies, if they refuse his offer however he will plead insanity and will not be punished for his crimes. The two detectives agree and drive Doe out to a remote desert location, being followed from above by more police officers in a helicopter incase the whole situation is a set up. Doe asks what the time is, shortly after a delivery van approaches and Somerset runs over to intercept it, he is informed by the driver that he was told to deliver a package to that exact location at that exact time, again showing the extent to which Doe has planned all of his actions. Somerset looks inside the box and is horrified at what is inside, we are not shown what it is but Somerset runs back to
Mills shouting for him not to listen to Doe. Doe reveals to Mills that the box contains the head of his wife Tracey, after seeing the way that Somerset is running towards him Mills realises Doe is telling the truth. Doe then taunts the now distraught Mills by informing him that his wife was pregnant when he killed her. "She begged for her life, and the life of the baby inside of her" unable to deal with this rationally Mills shouts and shoots Doe dead. The film ends with detective Somerset quoting Ernest Hemingway

"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for. I agree with the second part."

Key Moments
- Discovery of the gluttony body
- Discovery of greed murder body
- Discovery of sloth murder body
- Mills' wife admittance of pregnancy to Somerset
- Visit to Doe's apartment
- No fingerprints in entire apartment
- Clues lead to lust victim
- Discovery of pride victim
- Doe turning himself in
- Journey to desert
- Arrival of delivery van
- Discovery that box contains head of Mills wife
- Mills shooting Doe

Key aspects of why it is a thriller

The film fits all aspects that are associated with the thriller genre. The film is set in a nameless city where it rains nearly all of the time. This gives the low key lighting and shadows that you expect to find in thrillers. The fact that one of the victims was kept alive but paralyzed for over a year keeps with the thriller idea that things take place in the real world around us. It shows that people do not notice something that could be happening right on their doorstep. The film is a crime thriller and we as a viewer help the detectives uncover the case. The main enigma code in the film is why did the killer murder all thes people rather than wondering who the killer is as he turns himself in. This allows us too look at the film from a totally different perspective. The film does contain all the major plot twits you expect from thriller such as when Mills wife reveals to Somerset she is pregnant and when her head is in the box at the end of the film.

Conclusions and Overall Rating
This fim delivers all that you would expect from a crime thriller. It has a very complex plotline as you cannot work out why the killer is carrying out these murders. This keeps you interested and supplies all of the plot twists that you expect to find in a film classed under the thriller genre. The dark clouds and constant rain in the city set a very dark tense atmosphere, this accompanied with the dark lighting in all of the crime scenes adds a lot of mystery to the happenings in the film. You see the majority of the film from the perspectives of Detectives Mills and Somerset however at the end in the desert you start to see the reasons behind why Doe carried out the murders, giving us his perspective on what is happening. It makes the viewer more interested as it ends the film with a more well rounded feel, letting the viewers see both sides of the story.
I would rate the film 4/5. I feel it was a good thriller but the first 45 minutes or so of the film were very slow and did not hold the viewers attention as many other thrillers I've seen in the past have done.

Storyboard for Preliminary Task

In this task we had to design a storyboard for our preliminary task which was an interrogation scene that would typically be scene in a thriller film. me, Rosie and Emma designed the storyboard, Rosie took the photos you see above and me and Emma were the actors or subjects for these photos. When we actually came to film the task me, Emma and Rosie were all doing camera work and directing so we had to get the help of our friends David and Jake to act in our scene. David took the place of Emma in the photos above and Jake took the place of me (Martin) in the photos above. This was our second attempt at a storyboard as our first one was not thorough enough as it did not contain examples of all the necessary shot types. These being Match on Action, 180 Degree Rule and Shot Reverse Shot. We tried to use as many different cinematography techniques in our shoot as possible to create the desired atmosphere you would expect to see in a film which falls under the thriller genre.