TECHNOLOGY STANDARD

Camera - Dad bought me this camera for media because our family cameras LCD was broken so it was difficult to use and film with. So I did trial shots with the new camera before I did my actual film to get used to the filming. When it was time to film the actual scenes I was happy and felt competent with my ability to film. It was a little difficult to hold the camera and the umbrella but I got used to it. Overall I am happy with my filming ability and proud of my end product.

Camera Shots - I found this easy to deal with I got on a stool for all my high angle shots when Rochelle opened the door and when the stabbing occurred and I got on the floor for the low angle shot of Sam entering the room. I think my angles were a great success.

Editing - I did struggle with converting my videos I had to get Miss Kazimi to help me convert them so the codec would work, on her laptop. The rest of my editing I did by myself if I had more time I think I would have accomplished more but considering the time restraints I think I did a good job. I used a variety of shots, fades, wipes. I matched the music to the right parts of my film. I had appropriate pacing for my film, I had opening titles and end credits. 

EVALUATION

During the planning, filming, and editing of my film I have had positive and negative experiences. Some of the negative include the first day of filming it was supposed to be a clear night but it rained. The rain got on my camera lens so I had to get an umbrella which was difficult to hold the camera and a umbrella and the umbrella kept on getting in the way of my shot. So we had to keep retaking the same shot for a couple of hours. Then the next filming day we filmed inside but my brother had a friend over and you could hear them laughing in my shot which destroys the horror mood I was going for. The next filming day was for the shadow murder. This was tricky has I had to get the light in the right place and have Rochelle sit high enough to be seen and I had to make sure I was not in the shadow. This did turn into a positive though has i figured it out and am happy with the end result of this scene. Also my film had to be converted to have the right codec, Miss Kazimi had a converter though so we solved that problem. I had to learn how to use the program to edit my film with but i figured it out and have completed my film. Some positives were the end result of my shadow scene. I was able to get the music I wanted I think it is perfect for my film and I am very pleased with it. Overall I think my film was a positive experience I overcame problems and learned what kind of problems making a film can have and how to overcome them. I think if I had more time I could have done more and better with the editing, but considering the time constraints and problems I am very pleased with my whole film.   

ART DEPARTMENT

Props

Knife - I will use a real knife from my kitchen so i will be the supplier.
Alcohol bottles - Rochelle has empty alcohol bottles that I will borrow from her.
Shovel - From the garage I will use the shovel to stab in the ground in the opening scene to symbolize her future stabbing I will supplie this from our garage.
Condoms for symbolism - Sam is going to but these so the supermarket and Sam will be the suppliers.
Clothes on the floor - I will get these from my Rochelle and My brother's wardrobe.

Costume 

Rochelle will be wearing a red top to symbolize her future blood shed. She will wear a tight black skirt and small high heel boots to give the audience the idea that she is feminine and seductive. This Items are already in her wardrobe so she will be the supplier.   


Sam will wear a black hoodie which covers his face and long black trousers to hide his identity and make him look dark and threatening. These items are already in Sam's wardrobe so sam will be the supplier.

I have their numbers but will not place them on my blog for security reasons.  

RESEARCH

Running my concept past my target audience
Mel -
Good comment - "It flows well, and it has a good plot"
Bad Comment - "A lot happens in the beginning so what happens in the rest of the movie"
Question - "Why have I not named my characters?"

Ashleigh -
Good Comment - "Good structure, storyline"
Bad Comment - "Confused about the murder of the main girl"
Question - "What happens to her body?"

Scout Locations
My movie will be made at my house I have already asked my parents for permission they have said I can film at our house.

Possible Actors/Actress's
I think I will get my 21yr old sister to play the part because she is older I think she will be more convincing and look about the right age.

Source required props
I am trying to find a fake knife that will look menacing for the stabbing scene done in shadows.
I also am looking for some kind of lantern to create lighting for the shadow scene.

Sound/Music
I have been trying to find some suspenseful music and some Intense dramatic music for the stabbing but haven't quite found exactly what I want just yet.

All my footage will be mine I do not plan to use any archival footage.

CREW AND TALENT

Master list of Actors for my film are:

Rochelle 21 years old - The female victim who is stalked and murdered 
Sam 21 years old - The male killer

I have there numbers but will not put them on my blog.

TREATMENT

My opening film will start... With a young girl wearing a red top to symbolize the blood shed to come. She will walk up her driveway looking around herself suspiciously as if she felt like she was being watched with a Tracking Shot (TS) following her. There will be a shovel stabbed in the ground on the lawn subtlety in the background this will be there to symbolize the fore stabbing of the young girl in the future. When the young girl is half way up the driveway she will see a hear a twig snap in one of the bushes and turn around still with a tracking shot (TS) she will hurry up the rest of the driveway to her door. The scene will change to a High Angle (HA) to show the young girls vulnerability as she fumbles with her keys unlocks the door frightened and runs inside. there will be a Close Up (CU) of her face by the door, then she will move to the table moving into a Mid Shot (MS) in the hallway check the time and place her phone on the table calming down from her fright. The camera will show the phone in view as she receives a text. Still in Mid Shot 9MS) she will check her phone and show shock and fear on her face. The scene will then cut to a Close Up (CU) of the phone with a text from "Blocked" saying "I'm watching you..." the background image of her phone will be a photo of her with a boy to show the audience she has a boyfriend. Then the scene will cut to the girl again frightened she drops the phone in disgust and runs into the kitchen closes the window runs into the dining room closes the window and curtains runs into lounge and closes window and curtain all the while being a tracking shot (TS). Then she will enter her bedroom close windows and curtains there will be alcohol bottles in the room and boy and girl clothes on the floor and condoms on the table all symbolic of the fact that the girl is sexual. Still (TS) the girl will go to the hall and hear her phone go off again she will run to phone and there will be a close up (CU) of the phone from "Blocked" saying "You forgot the bathroom window..." The young girl will enter the bathroom and scream when she sees the window open she runs in and closes the window heavy breathing to show fear. Then will enter her bedroom again to go to the phone to call the police (TS). Then the scene will cut to a Low Angle shot (LA) of a dark shadowy figure of a man entering the room with a knife in his hand to show he is scary and in power. There will then be a High Angle (HA) shot of the man pushing the girl on the bed to show her vulnerability again. There will then be a mid shot of the shadow on the wall of the man stabbing the girl while she is screaming to implie violence. There will then be a close up of her hand dropping on to the condoms pushing them off the side table in her death again being symbolic of her sexuality. That is the end of my opening film. The music playing the whole way through my film will be The Sacrifice by Angelo Badalamenti to set the mood of a suspenseful horror.

CONCEPT

My film opening will be a horror genre and will be entitled "Ripple" the title is symbolic as when someone touches water a ripple will occur it is a consequence of touching the water as in my film there will be a female victim who will be murdered as a symbolic consequence for drinking and having sex. In my film opening I wish to explore the principle ideas of "drinking and having sex is wrong and if someone does it in my film they will die". I wish to evoke emotions such as, jealously, and revenge. I hope the impact I have on the audience is shock horror that's what I'm aiming for when there is a murder in my opening film. The brief outline of my story is a boy who who's girlfriend cheats on him by getting drunk and having sex with someone else so he murders her out of jealously and revenge. The boy then goes on a killing spree where he kills all young girls who appear to him to be slutty as revenge because he thinks they deserve it. His girlfriend will be the first girl murdered to open the film. The characters in my opening will be the young girl who is murdered, and the murderer. The style of my film will be a horror so I will use dark lighting and shadows.     

Horror films Isolated Setting

Isolated Setting is used in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 Psycho and Wes Craven's 1996 Scream, the films use this convention to set the mood and show us what kind of movie we will be watching. In these two particular films they use isolated setting to create a creepy mood. In Psycho isolated setting is used as the Bates hotel where the murders take place. The setting is hidden from the publics eye, it is away from the highway. Norman Bates tells Marian Crayne no-one comes here unless they get lost. The hotel therefore is an isolated setting. In the film SCREAM the isolated setting is a small town in California. Inside that there is another isolated setting which is Stew's house down a long driveway away from people driving by. He has a big house but after all the boys leave to see their principle gutted and hanging from a post it becomes abandoned with most residents who were inside murdered. This makes the setting alone, isolated and unsafe.

The convention was used in this way in the movie Psycho to create a dark and ominous mood, the audience could see something creepy about Bates motel straight away, with only two people residing there so you think. No-one ever visits Bates motel anything could happen there and no-one would notice. The Isolated setting is the Bates motel it has small rooms and the film being in black and white makes it seem more isolated The creepy house on the hill resembles what we know to be the classic haunted house. The house is big dark and intimidating. The house is seen in low angle shots to make it seem more dramatic and intimidating. The house is also surrounded by a swamp that is isolated, menacing things could be hiding there. Isolated setting is where Psychopaths may hide. Alfred Hitchcock had a very low budget for this film so the setting was low budget but cleverly done. Even in modern day horrors Psycho's isolated setting is used to create a mood and scare us with a foreign setting. Even in Psychos notorious shower scene the shower was a isolated setting a shower is usually a place where one stays by themselves. When Norman comes in and stabs Marian Crayne she is isolated no-one can her scream, she has nowhere to go she is helpless, and her fate is inevitable. After filming the shower scene Janet Leigh rarely took showers she said she never realized how vulnerable one is in this shower. The audiences reaction to this convention was a little fear the setting creates fear and makes the audience fell uncomfortable the way it looks allows the audience to notice something is not right. The audience had never seen a movie like this in 1960 it was new and terrifying the audience did not expect anything like this horror film. The setting scared the audience and looked very different. This convention created a tradition for horror films as films still use isolated setting, and when modern audiences see this convention we know something horrifying will happen at the setting.

In SCREAM Isolated setting is used to get closer to home for the audience, there are a lot of small towns in America and the thought that a serial killer could come and terrorize a town is scary. Having the setting for a murders rampage in a isolated small town makes it hard to escape. The murder of Sydney's mum shocked the town and even after a year the towns people are not quite over it. There is no escaping it in this isolated setting. This convention links to the film as  a whole because in a way the film is a mockery off other horror films so they used all the famous conventions from classic horror films. The isolated setting inside an isolated setting is Stews house. The audience responded to the convention with horror, the isolation is scary. There is no way of escaping the murder.


      

       

Techniques

Shot size / angle + camera movement

A close up shot is a camera shot where its gets close (around about a head shot) with almost no background to a object on screen. Close up shots are used extensively in the opening title sequence of Amelie they are used to make the viewer feel close to Amelie. The CU shots are also used to show us that Amelie plays by herself. It is only Amelie that we see in the whole opening sequence and the CU shots make sure we do not see anything else but her its so close on her your attention never moves from her as the camera never moves from her. We never see anyone else this shows us Amelie's lack of friends but shows us that she is still pleased with simple various things she does in life as she is smiling a genuine happy innocent smile.

Character / Performance

A character / performance is a character how Amelie is first introduced to the audience in the beginning opening title sequence as a little girl playing and doing various things. She is hugely important for the beginning title sequence as this shows us who Amelie is and helps us understand her personality. Amelie's character does not say anything but she doesn't need to her silent playing shows us her lack of friends and how her farther and mother do not play with her, but this does not make you sad even though she is by herself her genuine happy smile allows the audience to realize she is perfectly happy playing various things at home by herself. Also this movie is called Amelie and is just about her other character's in this opening would distract away from the purpose of introducing Amelie.

Lighting

The opening to Amelie has a reasonably dull lighting, the colours are quite dull as well not bold distracting bright colours this allows the audience to focus more on Amelie and the things she does rather than have a big distraction of bold colours drawing the eye away from Amelie. The lighting is the same not distracting it has the perfect lighting to see everything but not be distracted by bit being too dark or too over exposed.

Sound / Music 

The opening title sequence to Amelie has a piece of music from Yann Tiersen called La Dispute it only plays the second half, It is a solo piece of only piano. Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet chanced upon the largely accordion and piano driven music of Yann Tiersen while driving with his production assistant who put on a CD he hadn't heard before. Greatly impressed, he immediately bought Tiersen's entire catalogue and eventually commissioned him to compose pieces for the film. So this piece of music was made for the sole purpose of beginning in this film. This makes this special because it's meaning was made originally for Amelie's opening title sequence. La Dispute is a gentle piece of music it helps set a innocent happy mood for the film as it its tempo is quite relaxed. The only other sounds you can hear in the opening title sequence of Amelie apart from the La Dispute piece of piano music is diegetic sound you can hear the noises that Amelie makes like when she runs her finger around the glass you can her the music it makes. You can also hear the sounds of her slurping her milkshake and the dominoes falling. This again creates less of a distraction not having loud music or people talking the point of this is so you can really focus on Amelie.

Genre / Atmosphere

The opening to the title sequence of Amelie starts with piano music. 
The camera then goes to a close up of a yellow background with red letters and a young persons hands re-adjusting the title stating the movie. They then are swapped and its turns to a red background with yellow letters.
It then goes to Amelie as a little girl, It has a close up of her hands wiggling her middle fingers and in bold red letters the title for scenario comes up, the red is very bold. The shot then changes to a extreme close up and a high angle shot of Amelie's mouth and chin a face had been drawn on her chin so when the top of her face had been cut it looked like a face. Then the title for dialogue came up in bold red again.
There then is close up of Amelie's face squishing into a glass window, casting title comes up.
The scene then cuts to a extreme close up of Amelie's ears with cherries hanging over them, the camera slowly draws out to just a close up shot and then cuts to her other ear which has the same Amelie then turns to face the camera and smiles then the costume title comes up.
The camera then cuts to a mid-shot showing Amelie's top and the desk she is standing in front of with dominoes she then pushes the first domino to make all of them fall the camera moves to the right to follow them apart from the music the only thing you can hear is the sound of the dominoes.
Then the camera cuts to Amelie wearing big circle glasses she moves them off and on by wriggling her nose, directer title shows up.
Extreme close up on Amelie's hand a face has been drawn on it so as she moves her hand it looks like its talking. The face was drawn in black and white. The camera comes in closer still on Amelie's hand.
The camera then cuts to a mid shot so you can only see the middle portion of Amelie and a desk with a glass that has a emerald green liquid in it, Amelie runs her finger round the edge of the glass to make a sound.
Then the camera cuts to a close up of a milkshake with a straw in it close up high angle so you can only see a wooden desk and the milkshake with a Amelie's hand around it. You can her the slurping of the drink.
There then is an extreme close up of Amelie's hand as she pulls out a girl paper chain the camera moves out as she does this.
It then comes to a extreme close up of the back of Amelie's head as she claps her hands over her ears. This makes a hollow airy sound.
Then a extreme close up of a high angle shot of Amelie's nose and mouth the top of her face is cut off at this point as she pulls a bit of paper over her mouth.
Then we go to another close up of Amelie pulling glue of her fingers we see a portion of the table the glue bottle and her fingers.
Close up low angle shot of Amelie blowing a bit of paper cut into a spiral shape out. and then she pulls it back up. close up of Amelie's hands spinning a coin. Then we cut to a close up of Amelie with raspberries on her finger tips, she eats them all.
The camera then cuts to Amelie standing the camera moves down lights go bright and a cut to Amelie looking down and moving down she goes out of camera shot. The director's title Jean - Pieere Jeunet comes up and the screen turns white with the red bold title of director still on the the movie continues on.

This creates tone by showing us close ups of a young Amelie all the camera shots are close up so we can get close to Amelie and understand her happy simple pleasure lifestyle. The things Amelie does are simple but they make her smile. 

The mood of the opening is happy, Amelie is a sweet innocent character and this gives us a sweet innocent mood. You can tell it's a cheerful happy mood.

Amelie wears a dull yellow musty top during this beginning sequence. Which matches the colour of the wall. which is musty yellow with diamond shapes. The lettering stands out as it is bright red and bold
DRAFT COPY

Reason For Selecting

 The opening credits of Amelie shows the girl playing Amelie as a child doing various things. These things actually illustrate the credits shown at the same time. Such as when she wears cherries over her ears and the costume designer credit shows up. When she makes the chain of girls the person who did montage shows up. When she claps her hands over her ears and it makes a sound the credit for music and sound editing shows up ect. This fits into the movie as a whole because it introduces Amelie to the audience, and it shows you that she had a some what lonley childhood doing things by herself. This opening credit title sequence appealed to me because it fits very well with the movie and gives you a real sense of the what the rest of the movie will be like.   

My choice for the opening title sequence

I have chosen to analyze Amelie's opening title sequence for this project. The link to watch this opening on you tube is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiYoNpYb96A :)