Death Toll For Internet Teen Suicides Hits 17

After the body of a teenage girl was found hanging in the woods of a Welsh village last Tuesday, media attention is once again focused on the only thing seeming to link the suicides together -- the Internet. When the body of Jenna Parry was found, it marked the 17th young suicide in just over a year near the town of Bridgend, South Wales (pictured, above). Though no evidence has been found of a suicide pact (or any sort of "cult" responsible for the series of deaths), nearly all of the victims used a social networking Web site -- similar to MySpace and the like -- called Bebo, that's popular with young British children. The string of deaths began with Dale Crole, an 18-year-old who hanged himself at an abandoned warehouse on Jan. 5, 2007. His friend David Dilling, 19, took police to the scene. Then, just a few weeks later, Dilling died the same way. A week later the boys' friend Thomas Davies, 20, hanged himself in a local park. And so it has continued. The Internet has been a recurring theme in the hangings. Most (possibly all) of the victims were members of Bebo, and many of them posted messages on the public memorial pages of those who preceded them in suicide."I'm sure they all knew each other," Ferdinand, 14, who lives near Parry's house, told Newsweek. "I knew six of them myself. I've been on some of their personal pages on Bebo, and they were talking about 'I don't think I can cope with it,' and 'I'm going to end it.' I didn't think they'd really do it." As we reported earlier this year, it's believed by some that the friends were all trying to gain notoriety with their own memorial pages. Sad to say, but the Internet has long been a breeding ground for group suicides -- just three years ago, an Oregon man was arrested for organizing a mass suicide pact -- but this is the first time that such trends have hit the social-networking space. Given that Facebook employees seem to have the ability to see whose profiles you've looked at, or keep personal profiles after they're deleted, it would follow that at least this lack of privacy would help catch potential suicides in their tracks before anything tragic occurs.

This news story shows that our plot is believable and current (using internet and social networking sites).

Sample script

This is an example of the dialogue that we will have in our opening between the men.

Sample 1

Man 1

Have you got the address?
Man 2

(pause) Got it. Let's go.

Sample 2

Man 1

We've only got 24 hours. She signed out at 22:20.

Man 2

Did you tell her we're coming?

Man 1

She knows. I'm her fucking agony aunt.

Both

(laugh)

To Do List

This is just a list for myself so I can check off things that I have done (delete them from my list). This list will be deleted once I've done everything..

- development of a group treatment
- feedback on the treatment from other media students and teachers
- final revisions of the idea, creation of final agreed treatment

Stage 1 evidence for group blog: research targets and findings, comments on individual treatments, group treatment, notes from meetings, summary of feedback

Stage 1 evidence for individual blogs: own ideas and treatments, own reflections on this stage

For a successful test shoot, you will need to work on the following
- A plan of action, including targets, times and meeting point
- A list of WHAT you plan to test out: shots and sequences, lighting, location, actors, props, costumes
- anything practical that should be thought through and tested out in advance
- An agreement of who is responsible for what
- Comments and reflections on the day

You will also need to meet with Miss B and Mr Deans for your equipment to be released to you. This takes about 20 minutes, and can be done in a lesson. For this, you will each need to print an EQUIPMENT RELEASE FORM (see production paperwork linked to this blog)

Evidence for group blog: action plan, lists, uploaded test video clips, photos to document the day, group comments and reflections

Evidence for individual blog: your own reflections on the day, list of what you actually did, and what you still intend to do.

Evaluation of your own contributions so far.

The Treatment

The suicide website idea:

I know that we have to do a final treatment, and one each, so since I thought up the initial idea of the suicide website one (I'm not really twisted, honest!) I'm going to do a treament for it..


1. The action: identify the event your idea is based around; what actually happens (discovery of a body, an illicit meeting, a witness seeing a crime being committed, a criminal act taking place, a telephone call, a chase, a short journey etc)?
A criminal act is taking place, and it is not a one-off. Two men have set up a suicide help website/forum where they befriend vulnerable girls, gain their trust, and then rape and kill them, making it look like suicide. They do this because they have been treated badly by women all their lives (mothers, sisters, girls in general). They decide to try a challenge because it has become too easy. They target the daughter of the chief detective investigating their most recent murder (which is the murder that the opening sequence is working towards). In the rest of the film, they are trying to get the girl, but she is wiser than the others have been. They get her onto the website by leaving little messages in her locker and home, cryptically telling her to go onto the website, so she goes on it "out of her own choice". She is unhappy because her mother just died of cancer, and so they talk to her through the forum. Eventually they get round to her house once her dad is out of the house (at another murder they committed to draw attention away from the detective's daughter). The daughter knows they will kill her because she has figured it all out, but her dad won't believe her because she has been acting differently since her mother passed away, more paranoid, so he thinks its just her being silly. When the two men force her to write a suicide note, she spells things wrong so that the mistakes spell out a cryptic message telling her father the truth of what happened.


2. The theme(s): what should it make the audience think about or feel, what ‘issues’ will it raise (revenge, sexuality, voyeurism, stalking, obsession, greed etc)
There is definitely revenge against the female race, and the issue of sexuality and violation, as well as paedophilia, suicide, rape and murder. It addresses a lot of issues, and could also show people the importance of internet safety, and not giving strangers your home address, no matter how long you've "known" them. The audience should feel frightened and paranoid the next time they go on a forum about serious issues. We don't want the audience to boycott forums, but to be cautious of who they could be talking to.


3. The narrative: how is it structured - classic narrative pattern or break with convention, real time or different time zones, flashbacks/forwards, dreams etc. Will there be dialogue? What about diegetic/ non-diegetic sound?
We won't give everything away. I think a nice idea would be to show part of a scene, then later on from a different point of view, and with the previous part of the scene before it, we show that again. I think this effect is really clever and it is used in certain films such as The Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind and was used in a Desperate Housewives episode recently where they showed four short clips of major events that didn't really make sense, and in the rest of the episode they showed how and why these things happened and how they related to each other. There will be dialogue, in the opening scene and during the film, but I would like to use a lot of silence too. I think this creates a creepy atmosphere as well as the soundtrack. I will be using lots of diegetic sound, such as footsteps, a printer, typing, however the printer won't actually be printing in the shot because we can't connect it in the cellar, so we will record the sound before, and add it in when editing. The only non-diegetic sound will be the soundtrack, the rest will be naturalistic to make the film believable. It will skip forward at some points, (ellipses) because we don't want the audience to see everything, and we will flash back at some points to give more information to the audience, and make them try and work out things.


4. The character(s): who are they, identify their roles, what are their characteristics, including gender, appearance etc?
There is the victim girl in the beginning, who has a small part. She is pretty, vulnerable, and temperamentally suicidal. Her role is to show what the men have been getting up to, and to provide the trigger for the detective to enter the film, with his daughter on the scene because she has the day off school.

There is the detective who has recently lost is wife to cancer, leaving behind a teenage daughter, just when she needs her mother the most. His work is stressful and all-encompassing and he feels he is slightly neglecting his daughter as his mind is always on investigations. He is cynical and stubborn, and when he has a hunch about something, he sticks to it, no matter what the evidence may say. He is considered a very good detective, however some people question his methods.

The detective's daughter is also pretty, and vulnerable since she has just lost her mother. One of her best friends has just emigrated to Australia, and she feels alone in the world. She gets lured into the forum, and the two men appear to help her (even though she thinks they are agony aunts). After snooping in her father's folders, and looking at the recent suicides that have been registered with the police, she connects them and realises that it doesn't make sense, and that maybe these suicides were in fact murders. She then starts to question everything, and realises the person she has been talking to is not a woman, but the two men. Her father doesn't believe her. She spends the film trying to gain evidence, to avoid being caught by them, and trying to convince her father. Her role is a massive one, as she is their target yet seems unattainable.

The two men are both creepy and twisted (obviously - according to their behaviour) but they are both fairly normal looking. They were bullied by girls when they were younger, and are fed up of women dominating them. They will either wear suits, or casual clothes, I haven't decided yet. Their role is the villains, and the audience should be afraid of them. Later in the film we have flashbacks of their childhoods, so that towards the end of the film, we slightly pity them as well as fearing them.

Those are the main characters, with a few disposable ones such as other investigators and extras, maybe a weapon seller or something.

5. The setting and choice of location: where is it set?
It is set in London, which means that the style is more grimy and naturalistic, unlike Hollywood. A lot of the film will take place in my cellar, (their den) which will be a bungalow type place (which I have on my road). Some of the action is in the girl's bedroom, such as the conversation between her and the men, and the investigation after her death. The film is all set in London in the present time, but the actual locations for scenes vary, mostly indoors, but sometimes outside to show them plotting, or stalking her.


6. The mise-en-scene: identify colours, lighting, dress codes, the overall visual look
It will be a contrast of pink and black. This could potentially be the theme colours although we haven't discussed that yet. The lighting will vary according to the character and location; for example, the victim girl will have high key lighting, but in a naturalistic way, whereas the men will have low-key lighting to make them look sinister, evil and scary. The girl will wear either jeans and a girly top, or a skirt and a plain top, so that she looks attractive yet modest. The men will either wear suits or casual wear in dark colours such as navy, grey, khaki and black, so that they look ominous. The casual look may be better than suits because we want this film to be classically British (with influence from Guy Ritchie's films such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. The overall visual look will be very real and almost grimy (in their den). We want to get away from Hollywood, and make a real horror film that uses clever filming and plotlines to make it scary as opposed to special effects.


7. The camera work: the style you are aiming for
We want quite an edgy style, which may involve some hand-held/steadicam shots as these make the scene look less staged. We will try and vary our shots to make them interesting, such as different angles, arcing, and point-of-view shots. We want our sequence to make sense, but not to be boring and normal.


8. The editing: edited as a continuous sequence, use of cross cutting, use of montage, or combination?
We will use cross-cutting for our opening, with some continuous sequences intertwined. If the rest of the film were to be made, I would want to have some flashbacks that make a kind of montage so that the audience are given more clues and can try and work out what is happening. I like films that make you think, which is why our film will be horror/thriller. We have some continous sequences so that we can show off our continuity skills, such as when the men are talking to each other and getting ready to leave their den.


9. Has your idea been ‘tested’ against the key criteria (the 8 questions)?
Yes it has, I did the testing and it passed all of the questions, which I am happy to hear. If not, I would've had to change ideas or modify it, but thankfully our idea is very doable and should be impressive by the time we've finished with it.


10. Group responses?
Our group really like this idea, and have chosen to go ahead with it. We did like the drug idea too but this one seemed more original and challenging.


11. Teacher responses?
Our teacher liked this idea (despite it being quite disgusting and twisted) and I've asked other people for feedback and they all say it sounds really good, but very twisted (which is what we were going for). I am very pleased with this idea and I think it would make a great film.

Research into similar genres

Again, I had put this on the group blog, so refer to that if there is any stuff you want to see, (look for the "Laura" label..) We watched a few openings, but it was hard to find the actual openings that weren't remakes by random people. We looked at films with suicide as a theme, and there were only about 20 or so.
This is a list of "films about suicide" according to Wikipedia.

• 2:37
• The Bridge (2006 film)
• Dead Man on Campus
• The Happening (2008 film)
• Harold and Maude
• Hatter's Castle (film)
• Heathers
• The Kovak Box
• Last Days (film)
• Leaving Las Vegas
• Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
• On the Beach (1959 film)
• Psychomania
• Rails & Ties
• The Sea Inside
• Suicide Club (film)
• Taste of Cherry
• The Chumscrubber
• Der Todesking
• The Virgin Suicides (film)

We chose three of these to watch clips from (the openings) and we looked at the trailers to get an idea of the feel of the film. Surprisingly the ones we watched didn't have a very sinister air about them in the opening.. (this is all on the group blog)

The 8 Key Questions

I had posted this on the group blog, but then I realised that I needed some evidence on my individual blog, so I thought I'd put it here aswell :-)


Even though we have chosen an idea to go ahead with, and got teacher feedback, I thought I'd answer the 8 key questions just to check.

1. Is it practical?
Yes, the sequence we want to film only involves two locations - a den (my cellar) and a girl's bedroom (my bedroom). Both of which I have permission to use. We don't need much movement or dialogue, so it won't be too complicated, meaning we can focus on the camera work.

2. Is it an idea that works to the strengths of the group?
Yes, we are all good at acting, filming and editing and are very creative. We haven't done the screen tests of us yet, so we don't know who will be playing the role of the girl, but whoever we choose will be great. I think we all know someone (a friend, or a friend of a friend of a friend) who has been affected by/thought about suicide, so we will handle the subject delicately.

3. Will it show off the skills you have learnt so far on the course?
Our sequence will include some continuity sequences (such as when the two men are talking to each other) and some cross-cutting (between the girl and the men), so this will allow us to show off the skills we've learnt. The preliminary exercise helped with understanding continuity, so I feel much more confidant about it now.

4. Is it something you can reasonably shoot and edit in the time available?
Yes definitely. As both of our locations are at my house, it makes it easier and quicker than if we used many different locations. Also, Holly lives near me, which makes travel easier. Amelia could always stay round one of our houses if we were doing a massive shoot one weekend. As the sequence is fairly simple, hopefully it shouldn't take too long to film, however we are not going to be stingey when it comes to footage; you can never have too much, so we will keep the camera rolling for a bit longer than necessary.

5. Can you get access/ permission to shoot in the chosen location at the chosen times?
As I mentionned before, I already have permission to shoot in those locations, and as they are in my house, I have easy access. The only major thing we will need to do concerning locations is to clear the cellar of my mum's art materials, or at least clear the area in which we wish to film in.

6. Can you organise lighting to use in that location?
Yes, there are plug sockets in both my room and the cellar, so we can use the big lighting if we need it, however we probably won't want it to be very bright, so we can use one of the many spotlight lamp things that I have around my house.

7. Have you included dialogue? If so, will it work to shoot conversation in that location?
Yes we have, although we haven't finalised what they are going to say, we have only devised a few samples for our screen test. Conversation will be fine to shoot in the locations, and as some of our conversation is through the "forum" we will film the screen (which we need to test that it looks ok on film).

8. Do you have guaranteed high quality reliable actors to play the characters?
Yes, as they are us and our dads, there is definite reliability and enthusiasm.

So, our idea seems to have passed the test.. YAY!

Chosen idea

We chose the first idea, but decided against the title "The Aunties" because it connoted old women and bingo, whereas when we thought of it it seemed cleverly ironic because the "agony aunts" were infact murderous men. But since people wouldn't know the story before they watched it, it wouldn't work.

We were all pretty happy with this idea, and could think of many different storylines that the rest of the film could take.

Group meetings

Well, we've had a few group meetings now, I just forgot to document them on my blog...
We've made quite a bit of progress so far :-)

First of all, we talked about genre, and we all wanted to do horror/thriller (which was lucky!)

Then we each came up with an idea.

Our three initial ideas were:
- A group of men set up a suicide forum/website in which they befriend vulnerable girls, then rape and kill them, making it look like suicide. They appear like agony aunts, but really are getting their revenge on the female race because they have always been treated badly by women. The posts on the forum/website are evidence that the girls committed suicide, so the men keep getting away with it.
- Two people (most likely men) are packaging up cocaine, wrapping it in children's wrapping paper to make it appear innocent, and they have added poison to one of the packages. They all have labels on, but we don't know which person will be poisoned. The rest of the film shows those 2/3 characters, all the while with the anticipation of one of them dying.
- A man who's father was a Nazi is seeking revenge against Hitler's ideal race; Aryans. He murders every person with blonde hair and blue eyes that he can find. His father being a Nazi ruined his life, so he wants to get revenge.

It seems that all of these ideas are about revenge! Hmmm...

Groups for the project!

On Wednesday, we got told which groups we were in for the main project, and I'm very excited because I am with Holly and Amelia! I get on well with them both, and we're all pretty keen when it comes to media, so our group blog should be amazing!

Anyway that was all i wanted to say...

So YEAH, bring on the coursework!

Preliminary Task

1) Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you?

My group consisted of Holly, Bhavika, Kris and myself. We got on well and were really efficient (and surprisingly calm when all the other groups were hogging the corridor...) We managed the task by evenly distributing the roles as much as possible. Holly and I were acting, but we also filmed the shots that we weren't in. Bhavika and Kris didn't act, but apart from that we all did everything. Planning, storyboarding, editing and shooting (to an extent) was all equally shared, which we thought was a good idea to get us back into the mindset of film-making (after the long summer, I had forgotten some of the film stuff I knew, like shortcuts while editing etc.). I filmed the cut-away shot of Holly and her blog as it was the only shot I wasn't in. When directing and filming, you get to decide the framing, but of course you can ask the opinions of everyone else in your group, which I did. I even turned the viewfinder round so that Holly could give her approval/disapproval of the framing, and this happened with all the shots so that we were all happy with the filming. We all did some editing, and shared out the hour we had evenly. Every 15 mins or so, whoever was on the mouse at the time, would say to one of the group members "do you want a turn now?" Some of us were more confidant at editing than others, so if they were a bit unsure we would help them. All in all it was a pretty smooth project and we had fun as well as got work done.

2) How did you plan your sequence?

Firstly we came up with some ideas about a storyline to our sequence, and quickly settled on one of Holly blogging (which was kind of a jokey subject as Holly blogs A LOT) so we all found it funny (even Holly, though she was a bit reluctant at first). We wrote a list of shots that would make up the sequence, and then we categorised that into continuous shots (our shooting script). For example, with the conversation, instead of showing loads of shots, we just wrote from one angle (because in shot-reverse-shot you film the whole conversation from every angle). We had to incorporate a door into our sequence, so we chose Mrs Thrasher's classroom door as the computer was right near the door (for the blogging) and as no-one else was going to be in there (according to Mrs Blackborow). We made a basic storyboard, and even did a walk-through at the location to check how it would work. We decided on actors almost instantly, as both Holly and I wanted to act, and the others weren't bothered if they acted or not. We had asked Mrs Thrasher to use her room for the walk-through, which she said was fine, but we forgot to actually tell her that we'd need to film in there on the 21st Oct! So when we turned up with our camera and everything, there were some year 13's setting up for a photo shoot. Luckily they hadn't set much up and were able to move locations, but it taught me to ALWAYS make sure that we actually TELL the teacher when we need a location, so that's a good lesson to learn! We made a shooting script (as mentionned) but we had to alter the order we did the shots in because all the groups wanted to use the corridor, so we had to go last (we had 3 minutes at the end!). We came up with the dialogue when we came up with the idea, and it is all very naturalistic. The script is very short and simple, which made it easier to focus on the camera work as opposed to creating a complex dialogue.

3) What technology did you use to complete your task?

To do this task we were given a lovely new Cannon HV30 HD mini DV camcorder (with touchscreen controls!). We also used a tripod, a microphone with headphones (which was quite strange the first time I did the sound and filming, as I could hear voices REALLY LOUD even when they weren't right next to me). We also used a whiteboard (in place of a clapper board) to show us which shots were which, and how many takes we'd done. This was useful when it came to editing. For editing in post production, we used Adobe Premier Pro, which I have used before. All the footage had been captured for us, and we had to cut it into the clips we wanted (using the razor tool) and place them on the timeline on alternate video tracks. We used non-linear editing which meant we could copy and paste clips and move them around, so that we could film in any order, and add transitions later. It was quite obvious which takes were the best, and luckily our group agreed on all of those choices. Matching on action wasn't as easy as it looked, however it wasn't too difficult, it just took some trial and error. We had to keep cutting bits off/adding bits that had already been cut off.

4) What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing?

We had 1 hour for planning, 1 hour for shooting and 1 hour for editing.

Planning: We had to take into account the locations the other groups wanted (so that we could all finish filming), the amount of time we had (which went VERY quickly), and how to make the sequence not only fit the brief, but use some interesting shots. We had to keep it simple, so that we could focus on making the conintuity good as opposed to the content. We realised that we had to have 2 people for the conversation, which was fine as it left two doing most of the filming and sound. After we had planned all of this out, we were all really eager to get going, and so we had a walkthrough while the other groups were still planning. It went fine, and showed us that we had thought it through. We filmed indoors because we couldn't rely on the weather, and we had no budget, but that was no surprise. We had to keep an eye on the battery life, so that it wouldn't cut out during filming, so we made sure the camera was fully charged before we used it. When storyboarding, we had to vary our shot types to make it more interesting, and our walkthrough showed us whether the continuity of the sequence worked or not.

Shooting: Shooting was harder than planning, as we soon realised that some shots were harder to film than others. For example, the slightly high angle shot over my shoulder of Holly was very difficult to film as we didn't take into account the fact that there was a back rack right where we wanted to film. We had to balance it on a shelf, and hold it (which was quite awkward). This happened because we had to move location slightly. We wanted to film using the second computer along, however when we actually got to filming it (and needed the blog on the screen) we found out that the internet on that computer didn't work, so we had to shift to the computer closest the door, which didn't leave much space for the camera in that shot. We also realised (after watching our first take of that shot) that the tripod had been left in the background, so we quickly removed that and did another take. We left a gap between saying "action" and actually starting the action, and the same at the end, so that we could have extra footage if we needed it when editing. As all of the groups were using the corridor at some stage, we had to keep going out there and asking them to be quiet while we were filming as it was quite loud. We also had to get them to move out of the view through the window in the door as they were in the background of our shots.

Editing: When we started editing, it felt a bit daunting, because we had so much footage, and it took AGES to drag a clip to the start of the timeline, so we were all getting a bit frustrated. We started by referring to our storyboard to get the first clip onto the timeline first (which we had actually filmed last, so that took a long time to drag it to the front, even when we zoomed out from the timeline). It was quite easy to edit the cut-aways because that only involved one clip, however matching the action was a bit harder. For example, when I came down the corridor and looked through the window of the door, we had to match that with the shot of my face (from the other side of the door) and then with the view that I would have had (point-of-view shot). This took a few times to get right. With the p.o.v shot, we disagreed on the length of it. I felt it was too long, and that no-one would take 3 seconds looking through glass at someone, but the others disagreed, so we left it for a bit. However, when we had watched it back a few times, they saw what I meant, so we cut it down a fair bit. With the conversations (shot-reverse-shot) we had to use one take from each side so that the tones of voice, position, and pace matched. This was quite hard to do because we spoke quite quickly, and we all felt it was a bit too fast, however there wasn't anything we could do about that. Kris kept reminding us about the 180 degree rule and 30 degree rule, which was helpful, so we managed to not break any of those.

5) How successful is your sequence? Please identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve/do differently?

I think our sequence is very successful considering the time we had to do it in. It meets the brief, and shows some good shot sequences. We included a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down opposite another character and exchanging a couple of lines of dialogue. We used shot-reverse-shot, match on action and the 180 degree rule. We worked efficiently as a team and made compromises if there were any disagreements. We shared the roles as evenly as we could, so that we all got a chance to do everything (except for acting). The sequence works well because it makes sense, is believable, and it has good continuity. In hindsight, I would do the conversations slower, because in our editing it seems a bit jumpy in the actual conversation, and the dialogue happens a bit too quickly. Since this is a preliminary task, it doesn't matter too much, however in the long run I think it's a good thing that this happened, because I now know that when I am making my acutal film opening, I need to leave more space in between lines in a dialogue to allow for smooth editing. The actual acting of it was fine, and we said the words the same way each time (which seemed silly at the time, but was good because it then meant we could choose takes based on camera techniques rather than content). I am very happy with the beginning and end of our sequence, but I think the middle could have been better if we had had more time. When editing, there seemed to be a blip in the soundtrack during the shot-reverse-shot. There is a quiet hissing sound that is heard througout (which I learnt the camera makes and there is nothing you can do to stop it) and yet in this clip it cut out for a second. After examining it closely, we realised that somehow, two parts of the audiotrack were missing and that is why there was a blip. We extended the silence on that clip (by dragging the audio to meet the other audio clips) and it worked a treat! We were all so happy and relieved! I would say that the editing is fairly seamless, except for some of the conversation as it is slightly too jumpy, which makes the audience aware of the cutting. Right at the end when we still had some time left, we added some fades to our titles and the sequence. We called it "I Can't Stop Blogging" and used simple white text on a black background, which we faded from black and then back to black. We also faded into the sequence, and at the end faded to black. This made it look really proffessional and made the entire sequence better.

6) What have you learnt from completing this task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing the rest of your foundation coursework, do you think?

I found this task very useful because it showed me the importance of adapting my planning and shooting to incorporate continuity. Last year in media we made a trailer, but in a trailer you don't really need continuity. I have made several mini-movies over the years with friends and my brother, but I never really had to think about the logic of continuity, we just sort of filmed it and checked if it looked right, without referring to rules. Of course that stuff was much more amateur than this, so it was good to have some knowledge of how to achieve successful continuity. I learnt the importance of properly booking a shooting location, and of slowing conversations down and leaving more pauses so that I can have more freedom when editing. This project definitely confirmed my thoughts on the importance of a well-thought-out storyboard and shooting schedule. I already knew how to edit, but it was good to re-familiarise myself with it. To sum it up, this task has helped a lot and has really got me in the mood for filmmaking (despite now knowing how LONG it all takes!) Media is possibly my favourite subject (or on par with drama), and this little task reminded me why. I LOVE IT!

Sound

To have sound on a film was a massive revolution. It enhances/matches the feelings of the character. Without atmospheric music, a scene won't seem as tense/scary/emotional.

DIEGETIC & NON-DIEGETIC sound...

Diegesis --> diegetic sound in the film's world belonging to the film's diegesis.

Diegetic --> sounds in the film's world, creates a real world

Non-diegetic --> sounds that are added: music, voice-overs

On-screen --> see it and hear it at the same time

Off-screen --> can't see it but can hear it


The Soundtrack and Foley tracks are both very important.

Foley track --> the soundtrack of natural everyday sounds for a film. Additional natural, incidental and ambient sounds are added to the recording from sound effect libraries or from the Foley artists’ personal collection. The purpose of recreating this track is to provide a much clearer professional production of the soundtrack than would have been recorded on location.

Sound bridge --> sound from one scene continues into/over the next scene (makes it flow better)

Parallel sound --> audio and visual effects match, not in synchronicity, but in tone and mood

Contrapuntal sound --> music and visual elements play against each other, and are in contrast

Overture --> musical piece in the beginning (motifs) from all the music in the play/opera/film

What should opening sequences achieve?

There are 10 main things that opening sequences should contain and achieve..

• introduce the characters, location & time
• engage and captivate the audience
• show the core themes and signify the genre
• introduce the narrative structure
• generic conventions to satisfy audience expectations of genre/director/actors
• establish iconography that will continue throughout the film
• be able to dictate the pace of the film
• credits/titles
• soundtrack that establishes the genre and mood and creates a sound that is recognisable as that film (with motifs that will be used throughout the film)
  
• give clues that will relate to the future story
  

Opening Sequences

During the half term, I got together with two good friends of mine (who also do media) and we had an intense movie day/night/day to expand our cultural knowledge of films and look at different openings. We watched 8 films! Walk The Line, The Magdelene Sisters, The Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, Mulholland Drive, The Object Of My Affection, Kill Bill vol 1 & vol 2, The Shining. The next day I watched Moulin Rouge with a different friend. So that was 9 movies in 2 days!! (We only slept for 4 hours and ate LOADS of popcorn...)

This is the opening clip from The Magdelene Sisters (2002) directed by Peter Mullan.

Since we had a variety of genres, the openings were all very different. With The Magdelene Sisters, it had white credits on a black background, and then went into a scene of a wedding in Ireland, where one of the main girls was to be introduced. The music playing is diegetic sound because it is coming from the movie world as there is live music at the wedding. The titles are simple, like the time (Ireland in 1964), and there is no music while the credits are fading in and out, which I think creates the tone of the film. It makes it more serious because of the silence and the conventional black and white. Only at the end of the credits when it sets the scene (County Dublin, Ireland 1964) does the music come on, which is part of the first scene. The first 2 minutes (which is how long our openings have to be) the man singing and playing the drum is still going, and the camera is showing various bits of the wedding inbetween shots of the musician.

The first shot slowly fades up from black (the background of the credits) and shows a CU of some drawings, which, as the man hits it with the drum stick, you realise is a drum. The camera then tilts down to show more of the drum. It shows his hand drumming for a few seconds, and then cuts to a shot behind the shoulder of someone, showing him drumming from the other side. The camera then tilts up to reveal the musician's face, and we see he has a dog collar on, so we now know he is a priest/vicar who is conducting the ceremony. He is very into his music and you can see that it means a lot to him. At 01:19 we see the first shot of the bride. It is a CU of a pretty woman in her 20s with brown hair, wearing a veil, and looking intently just to the right of the camera (presumably at the musician). She is positioned slightly to the left of the frame, and on the right of the frame is dark and blurred background. The next shot shows her hand in her husband's hand, which is positioned to the left of the frame, so that we can see the big white bow on her wedding dress and part of his suit. Then again, the camera shows a CU of the man drumming, but this time we know who he is and why he's drumming, so we can focus more on the music and lyrics. "If you be a man of noble esteem, you'll tell to me what happened to them" is the lyric at this point, which is very fitting to what is about to happen in the next minute or so.

Then the camera goes to a two shot of two girls, around age 15, who are dressed smartly, one has a flower garland in her hair, which tells us that they are part of the wedding party. There is a man blurred in the background. One of these girls, the one on the left, is one of the main characters, and she is introduced shortly with her own scene. The next few shots are just of other wedding guests all looking at the vicar/priest to create the atmosphere of a wedding in Ireland. At 01:55 the girl on the left of that two shot is now shown again, this time on the right of the frame, with a man next to her and a man behind her. The camera then shows the musician again to reinforce what all the guests have been looking at. At 02:15 (which is further than what I will have to do for my opening) the man whispers something to the girl, who smiles, and then the camera goes to the vicar/priest and the other musician who are now both only drumming. The girl then whispers to the blonde girl what the man has whispered to her, all the while the drumming is getting more fast paced and urgent sounding, as if it is building to a climax. At 02:45 the drumming finishes, with the musicians very sweaty from being so into the music. The camera shows the whole wedding party applauding them (including the bride and groom at the front) and then goes back to the man and girl, where the man tells her something and leads her away. As the camera follows them walking out, it passes the bride and groom having their first kiss as a married couple. This is symbolic because of what is about to follow. That scene ends with a CU of the musician, satisfied at his performance. It fades to black, and then the title "MARGARET" comes on screen, in white text with a black background (same as the opening credits) introducing the first character. We realise that the girl who the camera has been showing is Margaret, and the man is Kevin, her cousin, who in that scene rapes her. While she is resisting him and it is very quite while she says "what would your father say?" there is quiet pipe/violin music in the background, coming from the party downstairs. This is contrapuntal sound because it is jolly music that doesn't match the action (rape). While she is being raped, the camera cuts to a little boy blocking his ears while other people are dancing to this jolly music and it shows a guitar being played. General merriment is shown in this cross cutting, and then we see Kevin emerge from the back, and walk through the crowds of people dancing.

This is a very effective opening sequence and although it is much longer than the one I need to produce, it is still useful because of the things that make it so effective, such as the use of music, and showing CUs of things that the audience don't know what they are until the camera zooms out or tilts.

The first 30 seconds are credits showing the boards that helped make it possible, the directer, the film company (Miramax) and who it is in association with. In this clip, after 2 minutes not much has happened except establishing the scene, whereas in the next two minutes, a lot happens.

This is a clever opening and introduces the culture of Ireland by showing a wedding. This opening scene definitely sets the tone for the rest of the film; there is joy, but lots of sorrow and hardship along the way.

Horror Conventions

Now even though I'm not definitely going to do a horror film, I thought I'd type up some of the ideas I brainstormed in class about what makes a horror film, just in case.

Firstly let's talk about NARRATIVE.

Low angles, not showing faces, fights, capture (locked up), escape, car crashes, ghosts, surprises, shocks, the people who are about the save the victims are often killed, no hope, corrupt authority, powerless law, murder, stalking, contrasts, natural disasters, grief, high body count, masks, black, gore, serial killers, secrets, enigma, isolation, killer in control, can't contact help/help doesn't believe the victim, twisted methods of killing, sexuality, mental health, revenge, stereotypes killed, at least one of the main characters survives, supernatural, torture, fear of the unknown, pace quickens towards climax, ECU's to show fear in eyes, handheld camera, tilts/different lenses (black and white, picking up only certain colours).


Now on to CHARACTERS.
Villain usually a man, ditzy blondes killed, bitchy high-school girls killed, stereotypes killed first (stupid, vain) pretty blonde female victims, the final girl, victim changes role - goes from being a coward to becoming the hero, the geek survives and aids the victim, the bully or cocky macho jock dies, lots of victims, psychopaths, villains, useless police, media killed for being useless or nosey, villain has other people to do their dirty work, enemy dies right at the end (unless there is a sequel planned so the villain will survive), allies of victim killed as they are on their way to help them, mass merderers, twisted men, deep motive (revenge etc.), creatures that go evil and attack, ghosts, spirits possessing people, demons, children possessed or targeted, killers have a disguise or something that is unique to them (a mask, a glove, a catchphrase..) vampires, zombies, often the victim is violated before being killed.

On to ICONOGRAPHY.


Masks, mirrors, distortion, black, darkness, reflections, knives/weapons, full moon, claws, shadows, silhouettes, low-key lighting, shadows created by torches or single lights, big houses, long corridors, empty roads, haunted buildings, basements, attics, hotels, forests, countryside, unfamiliar territory, ambiguous shots, ECU's, handheld camera, angles, zooms, tilts, montages, fades into and out of black, dissolves (time passing), candles, lamps, rain, snow, storms, dripping water, corpses, limbs (missing), trees creating scary shadows, smashed glass, hooded cloaks to hide faces, old furniture, doors creaking open, dark colours and red, chains, religious symbols, money, photographs.


Ok, so here are some of the THEMES, (some of which are already mentioned earlier).
the devil, ghosts, child/toy spirits, mind games, vampires, science fiction, zombies, animals, creatures, wilderness, claustrophobia, love, passion, sex, obsession, mental illness, insanity, split personalities, twisted sexuality, desperation, helplessness, trapped, torture, danger, fear, fast heartbeat, shock, surprise, uneasiness, discomfort, sympathy, grief, mystery, forbidden actions, evil deads, misery, sin, forgiveness, punishment, panic, confusion, hell, isolation, deceit, greed, twisted entertainment.

Finally, but by no means leastMUSIC & SOUNDS.

Thunder and lightning, rain, dripping water, echoes, whistling wind, window bangs, wolf howls, owls, rustling, footsteps, deep voices, creaking doors, creaking stairways, sudden bangs, clanks, clicking, strange noises such as creatures or supernatural noises, crackling televisions or radio signals, beeping, evil laughter, screams, sounds of agony, crying children, rustling trees and leaves, slamming doors, scary music, long high pitched violin noises held on one note, 'Psycho' music, deep musical notes held for long time (drone), crashes, loud base drums gettting faster, variations in tempo and dynamics, orcestral music, sometimes techno music, minor key, organ music, church bell sounds, childrens toy noises, contrapuntal music (upbeat music during a murderous chase or fight), silence, shrieking, howling wind, lullabies/nursery rhymes used in a sinister way, gasps, heavy breathing, yelling, crying, whispering, sudden high pitched notes (violins).

Budgeting

Budgeting

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Budgeting is an important aspect of film production.
During script development, filmmakers produce a rough budget to convince film producers and film studios to give them a greenlight for production. During pre-production, a more detailed film budget is produced. This document, which could be over 150 pages long, is used to secure financing. Multiple drafts of the budget may be required to whittle down costs.

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A budget is typically divided into four sections: above-the-line (creative talent), below-the-line (direct production costs), post-production (editing, visual effects, etc), and other (insurance, completion bond, etc).

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Going over budget

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In the US film production system, producers are not allowed to exceed the budget. Exceptions have of course been made, one of the most notable examples being Titanic. Director James Cameron ran around with the budget and offered his fee to the studio. In other countries, producers who exceed their budget tend to eat the cost by receiving less of their producer's fees. While the US system is profitable and can afford to go over budget, other countries' film industries tend to be financed through government subsidies.

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Here is the estimated budget for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
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Story rights (Carolco and Gale Anne Hurd): $14.5 million
Screenplay: $5.2 million
John D. Brancato & Michael Ferris: $1 million
Director (Jonathan Mostow): $5 million
Producers: $10 million
Cast: $35 million
Arnold Schwarzenegger: $29.25 million + 20% gross profits
Arnold's perks: $1.5 million
Rest of principal cast: $3.85 million
Extras: $400,000
Production costs: $58 million
Post-production costs: $4 million
Visual effects: $20 million
Music: $2 million
Other costs: $33.6 million
Total: $187.3 million

As you can see, almost $70 million was spent on the cast. Using unknown actors would save a lot of money, but probably wouldn't generate as much publicity. As this is a Hollywood Blockbuster, they have the budget to use "stars".

Who is needed when making a film?

Apart from the actors, there is a team of people needed to make a film a success. This website describes all the roles: http://saturn.vfx.com/loup/glossary.html

However, it doesn't mention hair & make-up, which I'm sure is a vital part of the production...

Stages of filmmaking
-Development. The script is written and drafted into a workable blueprint for a film.
-Pre-production. Preparations are made for the shoot, in which cast and crew are hired, locations are selected, and sets are built.
-Production. The raw elements for the finished film are recorded.
-Post-Production. The film is edited; music tracks (and songs) are composed, performed and recorded; sound effects are designed and recorded; and any other computer-graphic 'visual' effects are digitally added, and the film is fully completed.
-Sales and distribution. The film is screened for potential buyers (distributors), is picked up by a distributor and reaches its theater and/or home media audience.

The Coen Brothers

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, known together professionally as the Coen brothers, are four-time Academy Award winning American filmmakers. The brothers write, direct and produce their films jointly, although until recently Joel received sole credit for directing and Ethan for producing. They often alternate top billing for their screenplays while sharing film credits for editor under the alias "Roderick Jaynes". They are known in the film business as "the two-headed director", as they share a similar vision of their films. Actors can approach either brother with a question and get the same answer.

The reason I chose to research the Coen Brothers is that they differ from all other film makers in that they are two people who work as one. They have produced films of different genres, such as "screwball comedies" (The Hudsucker Proxy), film noir (No Country For Old Men) and genre hybrids (The Big Lebowski).

No Country For Old Men received rave reviews in Cannes, and the film review site http://www.rottentomatoes.com/ said "not only does No Country deliver another excellent Coen Brothers film, it also delves thematically deeper than your average crime thriller with its sprawling saga of a drug deal gone wrong, a bag of cash, a hunter on the run (Josh Brolin), and the philosophizing psychopath on his trail (Javier Bardem)."

Scripts

Scripts are the integral part of movies, and there are specific rules that writers should follow when writing a screen-play.

I found this website really useful with tips on screen-writing as it gives a detailed guide on the do's and don't's.

http://www.screenwriting.info/

It looks quite hard! And it's different to TV because the story is more involved as the duration is longer. For GCSE media, as part of my exam on Sitcom, I wrote part of a script for my Sitcom (which I had to exclude from my final exam due to time) but I was quite happy with it. It seemed to capture the essence of Sitcom and show the characters in the way I intended.

This website http://www.script-o-rama.com/ has LOADS of free movie transcripts, however they have no character names, so I thought I'd take an extract from Mean Girls and add the character names to see if that extract could help me when writing my script.

Cady has just sat down with The Plastics.

Cady

I'm new. I just moved here from Africa.

Regina

What?

Cady

I used to be home-schooled.

Regina

Wait. What?

Cady

My mom taught me at home...

Regina

No, no.I know what home-school is.I'm not retarded.So you've actually never beento a real school before?Shut up. Shut up.

Cady

I didn't say anything.

Regina

Home-schooled. That's really interesting.

Cady

Thanks.

Regina

But you're, like, really pretty.

Cady

Thank you.

Regina

So you agree.

Cady

What?

Regina

You think you're really pretty.

Cady

Oh, I don't know...

This writing is clever because it introduces both characters at the same time. Cady gives the audience more information about her home-schooling, and the audience learn what a "mean girl" Regina is.

The Scene Heading, sometimes called Slugline, tells the reader of the script where the scene takes place. Are we indoors (INT.) or outdoors (EXT.)? Next name the location: BEDROOM, LIVING ROOM, at the BASEBALL FIELD, inside a CAR? And lastly it might include the time of day - NIGHT, DAY, DUSK, DAWN... information to "set the scene" in the reader's mind.
The Slugline can also include production information like CONTINUOUS ACTION, or ESTABLISHING SHOT or STOCK SHOT. Here are examples of Scene Headings:

INT. BEDROOM - MORNING
EXT. LAS VEGAS STRIP - SUNSET
INT. OFFICE - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS ACTION
EXT. KEY WEST MARINA - DAWN - ESTABLISHING
EXT. PASADENA - ROSE PARADE - STOCK FOOTAGE

On this website, there are lots of tips for writing and using software. For example;
The Scene Headings are aligned flush left (which we learned is about 1.5" from the edge of the paper) and are rarely long enough to reach the page margin.
The Scene Heading is written in ALL CAPS. Use a full stop after the INT. or EXT., a hyphen between the other elements of the Slugline.

I found out something interesting about dual dialogue. I had always wondered how they wrote it on a script when two charcters were speaking at once to each other. When two of your characters speak simultaneously, that's called dual dialogue or side by side dialogue. For example, if Frankie and Julie are in a heated argument.
............FRANKIE ................................JULIE
Get out of my life! I can't ......Don't you yell at me! I'll leave
stand the sight of you any ....when I'm when I'm good and
more!! .................................ready! Tough!!

(obviously the dots wouldn't be there, but blogger wouldn't let me space it out)

The character names are always centered and in capitals, and the dialogue aligned left. The font is always the same; Courier New 12pt in black. Here is a useful video on font tips for script-writing.

For part of my work experience, I went to the set of the film Chemical Wedding as I know the Producer, and I read the script. It was really thick but easy to read. The stage directions were detailed enough to create a mental picture, but not rambling. The font and spacing made it easy to read and understand.

When making the opening to my film I will take these things into account to make the best film I can.

Pan's Labyrinth

Looking through my dad's dvd collection yesterday, I discovered that we had Pan's Labyrinth, directed by Guillermo Del Toro in 2006, (El Laberinto del Fauno in Spanish). Considering I had researched it for part of my research on foreign films, I decided to watch it, so I thought I'd summarise what my thoughts on it are.

I loved it! It was very tense, and in places, quite gruesome, but the story was intriguing, the graphics were incredible, and the language meant that I was totally absorbed in its' world. The film is quite dark, about death and the underworld and a ruthless captain who kills people for no reason. Despite this, there is a sweet message the whole way through, and it ends happily, with Ofelia ruling the underworld with peace and a kind heart.

I was impressed, because the genre "fantasy" can come with some bad connotations of being unbelievable and child-like, but this was definitely an adult's film. It had believable characters, and the performance from Ofelia (a young girl played by Ivana Baquero) was outstanding. I was thoroughly impressed.

Film idea pitch

We were asked to come up with a film pitch, so here is mine.

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• The story is about a woman in her mid-twenties who is very wealthy.

• Instead of spending money and sitting around all day, she works in a charity shop from 9-5 and attends fund raisers and does all the charity fun-runs. Basically, she is a wonderful person who helps people because she wants to. She enjoys having money, but wants to feel normal, so she gets the tube to work every day.

• She gets the tube at the same time every morning and every evening. This is observed by her train driver.

• He is a disturbed man in his 40s with an unhappy wife and an illegitimate 8 year old son who the man ignores. The train driver watches the woman every day, and paints a picture of what he imagines her life to be like. He becomes so intrigued that he puts cameras in the carriage that she always gets into, and puts a microphone by the seat she always sits in. He finds out everything about her life through listening to her phone calls, seeing her talk to people, and looking through the cameras at her diary to see where she'll be.

• He stalks her, finds out where she lives, and steals small, personal things from her, such as underwear, one sock, or a mascara. His favourite item is one stud earring.

• One day he sees her get on the train with a man, who she kisses as she gets off the train. This makes the train driver go mad with jealousy (because in his fantasy, he and the woman are together), and he decides to fulfil her wish of being normal.

• Murderers go after "normal" people.

• He waits until a day when she is alone in her carriage. At the next station, he tells everyone to get off the train, but doesn't open the doors to her carriage. He takes her to the end of the line, where he ties her to the train track. He attaches a note to her body - "bad things happen to good people, so why be good?" He leaves, and when the next train comes into that station, she is crushed.

• You then see him get back into his driving pod and put the single stud earring on his dashboard. The camera pans to show rows and rows of other single stud earrings sticking out of sponges. Each one is different, and symbolises a woman he has stalked and killed.

• The next day the train driver notices another nice woman and his obsession continues.......

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Thought of this while waiting for the tube...