Evaulation Questions

Evaluation question 3 - Maisy -  Directors Commentary

This is our film production company. It’s called Pumping Heart Productions. A company such as ours would produce low budget films in the thriller genre and distribute them around the UK, such as Coffee Films or Hammer Film Productions.

A production company puts money into a film production which allows the film to be made, and then distributes and markets it around the country, or depending on the size of the company, around the globe.

A film distributor is in charge of getting the film around and making deals in which the film can make a profit, such as dealing with the amount of money each cinema ticket to the film makes or which the price of DVDs for example.

Generally, in independent films, the money for them comes from the producers and/or Production Company. Therefore, all three of us paid for any expenses needed to make the film, such as props, but there wasn’t much we actually had to invest in. We generally had most things that we needed and didn’t need to buy much.

Obviously, some jobs were more important than others and the titles reflect this – the first few titles have the names of our Production Company, the screen writer, director, editor and producer, and then go on to list all of the people who worked on the film until the last scene which tells the title. Obviously the production company is the one of the most important factors as it presents the entire film. The following singular titled slides show the most critical people to the film, as without any one of them, the film couldn’t be made.

Films like Chris Nolan’s Following and Marek Losey’s The Hide have been similarly produced and distributed to our film Dead By Alliance. The films have been if not independently made, then at least made on low budgets compared say, the budget of the latest Hollywood blockbuster. Both films are also in the thriller genre, creating another parallel between Following, The Hide and Dead By Alliance.

Evaluation Question 6 - Technology - Video presentation - DRAFT- Maisy

A: For all of us, it was our first time using a lot of the software on the apple mac. We used final cut pro to edit and garage band to compose our soundtrack and edit our foley.

M: We learnt a lot from using final cut pro, like colour correction *changes colour* and video effects *go to bad film effect* such as bad film which we put over our entire title sequence to create a tense atmospheric look.

J: We used a sony HDV camera, a 1080i series. It’s a really good camera and we found it easy to use and to get the best possible shots. It was really portable and that was great for us as we filmed the majority of our film outside. We used a tripod too *pulls tripod out of a hat/a box or something cool* and these HDV Z96 LED lights *pulls out lights - be using jump cuts* which are a really good quality and so easy to use, especially as it was our first time using them.

The internet has played big part in the process of film as we’ve not only used Google for research but also sites such as Eblogger,Youtube and Facebook to broadcast our work. This also helped us gain feedback from our audiences which we used to further direct us.

What I did in production...

I edited my own version of the film, but for our final edit, we used parts from each of our edits and put them together. By editing my own version, I learnt alot about Final Cut Pro, including how to use Colour Correction and other video filters.

The title sequence was my responsibility, and I learnt alot from editing it. I learnt how to place the titles over the shot s at speficic times and edit them to create something interesting to watch.

What I've done/what I'm going to do

I have/will been/be filming the title sequence this week.
On 19th, 20th December, I helped with the lighting, did a fair amount of set dressing.
I will be doing the special effects and we'll all be sharing the editing.
We've all had a hand in directing.

A Look at the Titles of Memento...

Memento had one of the most interesting title sequences I've seen in a thriller film - mainly because it is not conventional, it's delicate and slow as the same image appears throughout; that of a polaroid picture. The music - although classical - is not conventional either, its yearning and painful in a way, like heartbreak is being portrayed. I found it really interesting that although no action actually happens during the title sequence, I was still interested, I still wanted to watch - because of the atmosphere caused by the music, which was dramatic and powerful and overall, intriguing.

The Importance of Sound - The Shining

Yesterday, I sat down and watched Stanley Kubrick's The Shining - a film full of weird psychological happenings and make-you-jump moments. I absolutely loved it. It terrified the hell out of me at some points, but over all, it was a really great, refreshingly interesting film and cinematographically, I thought it was amazing. The vast setting of the actual story -the large empty hotel in the snowy mountains -completely supports the dark thrilling film and the performances are really convincing.

One thing that was very apparent to me whilst watching this film, was the use of sound. In last thursday's lesson, we studied the use of sound in film and I haven't been able to get the ideas of the different categories out of my head - and when watching The Shining, I found how important it was as a dramatic technique, especially to this particular film. The string sections made me jump alot, and I often thought, when watching, "If this music wasn't playing, I wouldn't be looking at the screen through my fingers. In this one film, I realized how prominent sound is in films in attempt to evoke emotion and feeling in the audience.

In the start of this particular scene, the importance of music really hit me and I realised if this scoring was not there, I would not have been wondering what the hell was going to happen ("Is he going to kill someone?! Are those freaky little girls in blue dresses going to appear?!") - music can utterly change the entire tone and atmosphere of any scene.

Although The Shining is considered to be a horror film by many, I can definately define the thriller aspects in it. It is pschyological and its meant to make you question the characters and also the state of our humanity when put into isolation - basically, it's a film to make you think without being conventional in any way.

What I learned from Dexter task...

From recreating the opening scene of drama tv show Dexter with my group, I learned quite alot:
  - Organisation is everything: I've learned not to leave anything to chance or till later on in the process because if one thing goes wrong, it tends to start a domino effect, and we can't be dealing with that.
 - The finer details are important: Getting everything just right and correct is really important as it gives the audience everything they need and want, to be able to enjoy and be incorporated into the film piece.
 - Good communication: It really just keeps everything well organised and speeds up the problems when things down don't out how you expect them to. 
 - I also learnt about the way I use the camera and I really got to grips with it well during this recreation.

American Psycho - A Look at the Titles

Throughout the American Psycho titles, there is implicit meaning and imagery, such as, as what seems to be blood falls in drops, really it is a red sauce being put onto the dish that carries itself through the title sequence.

As the knife comes down - bringing ideas of murder and anger to the audience - the character uses it to cut food.  All the shots so far are close-ups to intrigue the audience and make them closer to the action.

In this shot, the blood-fooling sauce is apparent and the woman eating wears black gloves - something used often whilst murdering/ committing crimes.

This title sequence really reminds me of the Dexter routine which I already studied, as they both consist of close ups that attempt in a way to fool the audience into thinking a certain way - getting them in the mindset of the American Psycho.