More music research

On Tuesday I had free periods so I come and edited our film again, and at break Emma K came up and helped with me. I was experimenting on different camera effect,and every time I spotted by Billy it goes into a negative/x-ray effect. As we was listening to youtube in the background, we noticed the background music of Rhianna's song 'Russian Roulette'. We liked the beat to this song and thought that it sounded quite scary. So we therefore found the instrumental version on youtube and played it over the top.






Then, Emma and myself began researching all the chart songs, and come across Eminem's song called Music Box. We listened to this a few times and played it at the same time as our film, and there was a really significant ring to the music box he used, During this song you can hear the music box winding up and a melody played. This melody is on top of the background music and I think that this helps us find out how we can have music over the top of our film with the music box melody also.

Rough Edit 7 of our film.

This os a few of our roughly edited films. We edited the films with the two pieces of music; Massive Attack - Angel, and The Saw music, but obviously, due to copyright reasons we cannot use them. I think they both go really really well with the type of genre our film is. We have an idea of when we want the film to build up, where we think that the height of suspense is and what emotions, feelings and what atmopshere it creates.

ROUGH EDIT 1.



ROUGH EDIT 2.




We also edited the shots together with some cross blur/zoom transitions which gave the effect of time passing. I think that this makes it look better as you don't have the bore of watching her travel everywhere.

We then added in all of the shots of Billy winding up the music box and getting out of the car and walking off. With these shots we put the exposure up, so all the shots of him were grainy which gives the audience an effect, due to the mise en scene that he is "trouble" and this is shown through the grainy effect. In contrast to this we added all the shots of the ballerina (me) dancing and put them in the effect "Dream". We used this effect as it brightened it up and also due to the mise en scene, it shows that it is before all the dark, scary ''stuff" happens and when the girl is happiest dancing. This happiness then contrasts at the exact moment she walks out the door. This could show that at the exact moment she walks out the door she's being watched.

When the shot of the ballerina girl spinning is shown we played the music box music backwards, which in itself sounded scary, but we thought that this gave an extra effect that she's different and to distort the audience into thinking something is going to happen to them.



















Rough Edit 3.

Day Five - Filming

Today we filmed the ballet studio 'Bodens' with the ballet girl (me) in her dance studio dancing around before she makes her way home, unfortunately "bumping" into Billy, her stalker. We realised since we deleted the last scenes of 'who's next' with his next victim we could focus on the ballet studio, really emphasising the fact that this girl is a ballerina (like the figure in the music box) not just an average girl getting raped. We are hoping we can link the music box sound with the ballerina's dance music, as this would be a vital motif for the film leading into being a diagetic sound in different scenes to make the link between the music box girl and the ballerina girl.

Firstly we started off by filming some shots of Elle's feet, going on point. These shots were either long shots or extreme close ups of her feet. We decided to do loads of different ballet techniques and movements as we thought that more would be better than less and somehow, either at the start of our film, with the quick transitions or with the help of fading transitions can show how she got from each shot.

We then filmed some long shots of the ballerina (me) spinning. We started zoomed in and then slowly zoomed out to reveal the girl. The reason why we did this was because since inside the music box there is a ballet dancer spinning, with a zoom transition I will mimic what the ballet dancer inside the box is doing. This is to help show the audience that the box is sort of like a voodoo and it controls the ballerina.

Following on from this shot, we did a extreme close up/canted angle of her falling. This shot would come after the shot we previously filmed of Billy slamming the box down. This also proves that the box is a "voodoo doll" and that Billy has some kind of control or power over her. We also filmed a lot of split jumps through the air. We may not include these shots but we thought if we had more time left over it would make sense to have more footage that shows that she's a ballet dancer. These shots were pan shot follows across the whole room. You could also see me through the mirror. This shot was difficult to film because there was no way we could pan across the whole room in the mirrors without the camera and tripod being seen. Luckily in the room there was a pole in the middle which was just big enough for one of us to stand behind with the camera and pan across without being seen. Also as seen in the picture, we filmed some "bar work" which where she completed various ballet moves. We may not have time to put these in our film but we thought we might aswell, as we may end up using some in the fast transition start.

Then we filmed again from behind the pole but of me spinning and doing stretches and the splits. We then zoomed into the mirror to show a closer long shot of her (me). This shot is good as the audience is not looking at her directly, they are looking at her through the mirror which also gives the audience a sense that she is being watched. I think that this shot makes up for the fact that we couldn't get hold of Billy so we could, unfortunatly, not use the amazing shot of when I bends down Billy will appear in the mirror, unseen by the girl.

Finally we realised that our next shot after this was the ballerina walking out of 'Esporta', so we needed some kind of real life transition to show that she's left one place and entering another one. We then panned her picking up her bags and leaving the room. We filmed extreme close up's of her turning the lights off and grabbing the doors. What we have realised though is that we can only use one extreme close up, either the switching off of the lights or the lift, from previous filming, as her nails are black in one and fake in the other. But this would not be a problem as we already have too much footage to deal with.

We are soo happy that we have finished filming, and learnt soo much along the way. We just cannot wait to see the finishing product!

Opening to our credits..

At the weekend I went to see Paranormal Activity with friends and found the ending very scary. As I was watching it I picked up on a scary part of the film, not the content of it with the characters, but at the start it shows appreciation to The San Diago Police force which really stirs the audiences emotions as you actually believe it is real. So we adapted that to our film by putting a black screen at the opening of our film saying "With thanks to the Metropolitan for allowing us to use this case." I think this implies a very dramatic effect onto the start of our film. At first we then added another black screen saying "Billy has still not been found" But as a group decided against it and have decided to change it to "This case still remains open" as it makes it less 'cheesy' and more serious. The sound over the black clips are very serious, and as the second clip begins a police siren plays overlapped with the first sound. Here is a clip of the opening scene..

Rough edit of film

Shot by shot analysis

(Point of view shot) - Pan across newpaper and type writer "The Music Box" (Fading transition or overlap)
(Over the shoulder shot) - "Killer" Billy winding up the music box.
(Extreme close up) - Ballet dancer in music box spinning.
(Zoom in and out, fade into real dancer)
(Long shot) - Elle spinning.
(Extreme close up) - Elle's feet going on point.
(Long shot) - Back to the shot of Elle spinning.
(Over the shoulder shot) - Billy slams music box, (voodoo effect)
(Canted angle) - Elle falling over. Canted angle shot makes the audiende feel uneasy and distorted.
(Mid shot) - Elle gets up brushes herself off.
(Low angle shot) - Possibly through Elle's legs. She bends down and in the mirror you see the killer in the door way.
(Mid shot) - Of Elle stretching back out.
(Long shot) - Elle walking out.
(Wide shot) - Elle walking out of esporta, pan to end of the road.
(Exrtreme Close up) - Elle's feet through the leaves.
(Long shot) - Elle walking down alley
(Long shot) - Billy walking up alley
(Mid shot) - Billy turning around to spot Elle.
(Long shot) - Elle walking down.
(Pan shot follow) - Elle through hedge.
(High angle shot) - Billy entering shed.
(Pan shot follow) - Elle through hedge.
(Point of view shot) - Saw dripping with blood
(Point of view shot) - Dripping on ballet dancer on newspaper
(Mid shot) - Elle turning around
(Point of view shot) - Billy crossing out the ballet dancer in blood.
(Pan shot follow) - Billy over hedge.
(Long shot) - Elle/Billy walking down alley
(Close up) - Billys legs through poles.
(High angle shot) - Billy/Elle walking down alley
(Long shot) - Billy and Elle running around the corner.
(Long shot) - Elle running to lift.
(Extreme close up) - Elle pressing the button.
(Long shot) - Elle getting in the lift.
(Mid shot) - Elle's facial expression.
(Long shot) - Elle running out, pan to door.
(Wide shot) - The bridge and the two characters running across.
(Canted angle) - Stairs, Elle running down
(Mid shot) - From behind Elle running down stairs.
(Long shot) - Billy running down the ramp
(High angle) - Running in car park
(Wide shot) - Walking across car park.
(Long shot) - Elle running out stairway
(Extreme close up) - Elle running past music box, slow motion.
(Long shot) - Elle running into car park, she turns around.
(Mid shot)(Two shot) - Billy behind her, quick strobe light effect.
(Point of view shot) - Sudoku in shed.
(Long shot) - Sophie walking in park
(Mid shot) - Sophie walking past Billy.
(Close up) - Billy's smirk.

Sounds and Motif's

As we have now got the foundations of what our film is yet to look like, we have seriously been considering the different types of music and motif sounds to play in the background. As our film is called "The Music Box" we were considering using a quiet music box sound like this one we found on YouTube..


After watching our fast paced clips at the start we realised that the music might not be suitable to be played through the whole film, so we tried it with different music. We also added a few more clips and faded out the music at the end so it didn't come to a sharp stop.

Massive attack - Angel music fits so perfectly with the content of our film, but unfortunately we are unable to use it for copyright reasons, so we are going to try and incorporate a similar sound made by us in Garage Band.

This whole week our group has stayed behind after school and during free periods to continue editing our film. In one of our media lessons, we were analysing the TV drama 'Shameless' and noticed lots of quick, fast pacing shots at the beginning. This inspired us to try and use it in our own film. So after school, we began searching through our old film tapes and found 11 seconds worth of film with different shots of characters, locations and props that correspond to our film. We edited it down to 0.2 seconds so the shots are sharp and snappy (like the Shameless clip) We are so happy with how it has come out, although there is a few more bits to improve on.

Here is the clip..Enjoy!

First Day of Editing..

Yesterday we finally uploaded our film and it was fantastic. We had the whole afternoon to edit, so me, Emma and Sophie got keen and decided to start earlier than the lesson and start at lunchtime. When it was time for the lesson, Neelam, our other group member joined us and we got down the basics and started to experiment with different music to play as our 'motif' on top! Of course we are a long way off from getting the perfect camera shots to go together SO smoothly, but yesterday, me and Sophie stayed until 5pm trying to edit parts of the film to perfection. We still have lots to do, and this weekend we still have to film two more scences, but what we have already done, we tweeked up a bit and included slow motion shots for the most vital scenes of when the two characters meet.

I cant wait for the next few months to carry on filming, making it everything we hoped it would turn out to be!

Filming- Day Four

Yesterday, we all met up after school to film our 'final scene'. We filmed from 3.30 until 9.30 pm, so it was a rather long day. We had to wait from 3.30pm until it got dark which was just after 4.30pm. We all went down to the cinema to film in the underground car park where we had Billy, our actor/rapist run frantically down the ramp into the car park and towards the ballerina (me). We took loads of shots from high angled shots to low angled shots, to running along side Billy, in front and behind him. It was all a bit hectic! I managed to sit myself on top of the car park 'ledge' to film a very high angled/aerial shot of Billy running down the ramp into the car park. This looked fantastic!

Then we went to the car park stairs and filmed myself running down - as if from the bridge scene in a emotional state. I found it soo hard to try and get emotional especially with the public walking around! We filmed low angled shots and panned myself running down the stairs and through the car park.

Then we filmed the last vital shot of our film, where the 'ballerina' and the 'rapist' meets for the first time. This scene was really dramatic as the girl and Billy were both running towards each other in effect, and then as the girl stops in the middle of the car park, she walks backwards not realising Billy, 'the rapist' was/is behind her. It was very tense. As we was leaving we came across a graffiti ed alley way, so decided to film in there. I had to improvise with my reaction to seeing the music box down the alley, so picked it up and chucked it out of rage and fear to Billy out of shot waiting round the corner so we didn't smash the box up! It looked really effective!!

Then later, we went back to Sophie's to film the last part of the typewriter scene, with low angled shots of when he is typing, along with him filing in a sudoku of the exact dates he meets the ballerina, adding another twist to the story. We filmed on top of Sophies roof as an aerial shot of Billy walking into the shed to "start his work" and an establishing shot of the houses around the house.

Yesterday's filming was soo good! I really enjoyed it as our film is finally piecing together! All we have left to do is film at the ballet studio and in the lift when the ballerina realises she is being followed and has a flashback. YAY!

Our first day of editing - kind of!

Yay! Finally we managed to upload our film onto the imac's at school. I was so excited to do it!! Emma, Sophie and myself all met up and sat through the whole of lunch uploading and watching our film, even finding scenes we could use to make an 'out-take' film for our own time!

As I had a lesson in the afternoon, I was unable to continue editing the film so Emma and Sophie gave up their free periods to continue. I went back after lesson to see what they had done, and it looked positive. They had experimented with lots of sounds and changed the colour toning.

From what we have seen, it looks very promising and I cannot wait to have completed the whole film and start editing.

Filming- Day Three

For this week (3rd-9th Nov) Sophie went on a Geography field trip and so we had to postpone our filming for the week. Yesterday, myself, Sophie and Emma met up and filmed a fraction of what we had left as our actor, Billy, couldn't make it, but it wasn't a problem as the stuff we filmed today didn't require him.

As when we filmed the type writer before we had realised there was a few words we didn't type on it. So today we re did the type writer with the camera focused on the words appearing each time, so it didn't matter who was typing it. We also realised that we had to film it all on the same piece of paper as the continuity of it would be different as we would of started at different parts in the paper each time. This proved to be quite a challenge for Sophie as she was typing the words, since it was in the dark, she couldnt see what she was typing and if she went wrong we had to start all over again, which was quite frustrating.

After this, all three of us (Sophie, Emma and Myself) sat down and focused on everything we had done, and had left to do.

Film Prep.

In today's lesson we learnt about diagetic and non diagetic sound. Although we hadn't come across these terms before, we had already began using them in our film.

Diegetic sound refers to the sound that both the audience and the characters can hear.


For example, in our film, we use the scary music box theme throughout our film to familiarize the audience with the on going sound on and off screen. It can also be the sound of the characters footsteps walking down the alleyway.

As we was filming we came across a number of background sounds which cannot be featured in our film. Since we do not want them included in our film, we have decided to mute all the sounds and find our own music ( the music box theme) to play over the top. This is known as the Post product Production.



Non-Diegetic sound refers to sound that only the audience can hear.


For example, in our film this could be a fast paced heart beat music created on garage band, such as jaws, to build up and create suspense. This will help the audience feel how the characters are feeling and reflect their emotions.

We haven't yet learnt how to use GarageBand, so were unable to create our 'soundtrack' however, we are hoping we will find a good soundtrack to play over the top to create suspense and tension to the film. We also thought to make it spooky we would have the "music box" song played over the top of the piece as well to make it seem as if the music box is following her, thus the killer is. This is called a sound motive, something that is played throughout the film. We think that this will then relate back to our title of "The Music Box" and hope that it makes it more clear for the audience what the film is about.

Filming- day two.

Today, on the 23rd November 2009 we carried on filming our 2 minute film. As we have already filmed me running across directly above Billy running beneath the bridge, we focused our aim on looking at ways we can link the bridge with the dark alleyway and what location we could use to get me up to the top of the bridge. Thankfully, we came across the lift at the cinema which links the staircase that we are using to the top of the bridge, allowing me to run "frantically" down the stairs away from Billy.

For the lift shot we filmed an extreme close up of my finger pressing the lift button to call the lift down, and filmed me walking in and out of the lift. We filmed me running out the lift, as the lift is the turning point in the film where the girl (me) has a flashback and remembers all the times she has seen the man (Billy) so she freaks out and runs out of the lift ( towards the bridge ) We also filmed the inside of the lift, showing a point of view shot noticing the music box outside the lift, before the doors close when she has her flashback. ( This is when she realises she is being followed as she hears the same MOTIF that has been playing throughtout. ) We was planning on using sepia of the glow effect on imovie to show the significance and difference of the flashback.

Next we attempted to film the stairway of where the girl (me) was going to run down the stairs away from the killer from the top of the bridge but unfortunatly, because we were filming at around 3 pm the continuity would not have been the same, as the outside was far to light and so wasnt able to film that scene on that day.

Instead, we went back to Sophie's to film the rest of our scenes; Billy getting out of the car and the typewritter. We used an establishing shot of the house and filmed Billy winding up the music box inside the car before doing a number of different shots of him getting out of the car and walking off. This shot will be when the girl is "dancing in the dance studio" to keep the continuty of where both characters are at the start.

We then filmed an establishing shot of Sophie's house. We thought that this would give us a variety of different shots and that it would show where the "killer" is writing his story from. We tried this in a number of ways swooping up or just steady. We also filmed this canted angle as we thought that the "killer" isn't exactly normal, so the canted angle would help suggest this and make the feel of the shot uneasy.

We finally filmed the type writer. We filmed this in Sophie's shed which was pitch black. The only lighting we had on top of it was a torch with a red filter, which was made from a "top trumps" box. We also first filmed a saw with fake blood on it to get the "killer" mood. Before the type writer we filmed a newspaper that we created with an article of murder on it and in a headline our names. We moved the light across the article to show each part seperately and Billy then slammed a cup of tea on the newspaper and began typing.

We used extreme close ups of the words "The Music Box" come up on the type writer using the red light filter. We found this quite hard as it was difficult to see what we were typing and sometimes typed it wrong so we had to start again. We then also filmed it gradually zoom out onto Billy to show that it actually is the "killer" typing the story not the "victim".

Day two was probably one of the most enjoyable days to film as we were getting more and more excited the more we filmed. We just cant wait to see the finishing product!

StoryBoard..

This is our storyboard for our film to help us when filming. Hopefully, it will make our lives a lot easier, as it will help us with what comes next in our film.

Filming - Our first day!

Last night, we all met up and began our film. We were all both excited and nervous as we did not know what to expect. We headed for Enfield Town park as night fell (around 17:45) and began to set up. Our actors were all in costume and rearing to go! We filmed all of the outside scenes including the park where the rapist first See's the 'ballerina' and also the last scene where he will begin his process (stalking) again with a new girl. I think the only hard part about filming in the night is the lighting.. as as it got later, it also got a lot darker, resulting into us changing the scene slightly, to me (the ballerina) walking past Billy (the rapist) in a pathway where there was limited but effective light source. We took pictures of our costumes to keep the continuity each day we filmed.

Me - "The Ballerina"

- Black jazz shoes, with black leggings and black leg warmers. Crop top with a lace over layer, and a coat for her outdoor scenes.

We had a slight problem with trying to find the exact costume the music box ballerina wore, and so improvised with what we already had and made the dancer into a more contemporary dancer for later scenes in the dance studio.
hair - curly.

make up - natural.

Billy Jarvis - "The Killer"

-Jeans with black shoes and a black coat. He will only wear dull colours to fit in with the darkness of the sky as a typical "stalker" in horror films would do.
-He also has a bag around him, which he may be hiding possible things to attack her with.
-He also will be wearing black gloves when winding up the music box in other scenes.

The first scene we filmed was actually our last scene, as it was only just getting dark and so we wanted to change the scene a little instead of Sophie walking past at around the same kind of time. This scene was Sophie walking past the "killer" as if she is his next victim. We filmed this from all the different angles by the river in town park. The different shots we used was wide shot, a shot from behind and in front, and an extreme close up on the "killers" eyes and mouth.

As we was shooting at night, we turned the camera onto 'night mode' as when we looked it looked a lot scarier, more realistic, and a lot clearer to see. We just hope that it comes out as effective as we want when we edit it in iMovie.


Night was fast approaching and within an hour it seemed to dark to film the first scene (the main actress) walking past Billy. We decided to maybe come back and film it another day, when as we was walking to the next location, we saw a pathway with limited but effective light source. This old alleyway lamp gave off an orange effect making the scene feel wiry and scary. This worked like a treat as we were able to see our faces a lot clearer and it also made the film seem m0re effective as we were not just shooting in the same places.


We could see the moon so clearly in the sky so we thought we might as well film a weather shot and slot it into our film somehow. This shot of the moon was amazing and looked really effective as you could see the moon from a tree with branches sticking out. We also then thought about panning it down and seeing the reflection of the moon in the water ripples which we thought looked really effective.


After this we went into Esporta Leisure Centre and asked them if we could film the outside of their building as the steps looked like it could belong to a ballet studio. To our great luck they allowed us to film the outside, so we got cracking and started filming myself walking out and down the steps. We used different shots to film this; Wide Shots from across the road, along with Extreme Close Ups of my feet walking down the steps and panned across me walking away, down an alley. This then gave us the idea of keeping the continuity of the film as we filmed me walking down a road, from behind, in front and an extreme close up of her feet kicking the leaves and even a hand held shot only focusing down on my feet and my footsteps.


After this we filmed Enfield Town bridge. This shot needed great timing and communication between the actors and the directors. As we had myself running across the bridge one way and Billy, the "killer" running underneath it the other way, the directors had to stay in touch on phones to tell Billy and I when to go or not. We also had to be extra careful and time it right, as Billy was running across a road, so we timed it when the cars were stopped by the traffic lights. Ive not yet seen this shot, but the girls said it looked fantastic as Billy and I both meet at exactly the right point in the middle of the bridge. The lights from the bridge gave us enough light and you could easily see the two silhouettes of both actors running from the different directions who met in the centre exactly.




After this we filmed an alley way for our final shot of the day. This shot was of myself walking down a dark alley whilst being followed by Billy shortly after. We filmed this shot from loads of different angles giving us different shots. We filmed myself walking towards the camera, then panning around the corner. We filmed from behind her. We filmed her walking past the camera, and finally we filmed from sitting on a wall to produce a high angle shot. This shot will make the ballerina seem vulnerable and unaware seeing as she is the victim in this film.



Last nights filming was so enjoyable, I absolutely loved it and cant wait to film some more today!
I think we all realised how much preparation is needed and how time consuming it is! It was a very long night which seemed like forever, but got the shots we wanted so everyone happy! We still have more shots to film, and although we have already filed 10 minutes, which is well over 2, we thought it is better to have more than needed so we can play with it at the end and see which works best!

Practice Filming

During our media lesson on the 23rd October 09, each group was issued their equipment for the making of our 2 minute film. Myself and my group set out around Enfield Town to film some practice shots and just to generally get used to the camera. We were given a camera, tripod, tripod plate, 3 DV tapes, battery charger and a fire wire.

As we set off we accidentally came across a small alley way with steps in the middle of town so decided to have a quick go of filming Sophie walking down the steep steps of this building. We included Extreme close ups of her feet which gave us a slight incline into how difficult our film and each individual shot was going to take, and also how much patience and time is needed.

Whilst in town filming, we came across the "Cheeky Girls" opening up a new shop in the center. We decided it would be a good idea to go in and meet them also whilst filming them, to get a feel of the different lighting and sounds (mise-en-scene) that we could possible adapt to our film.

As we left the shop Sophie and Neelam were given free balloons, so we decided to film a shot setting the balloons off into the sky and use it as a weather shot. We then went inside a shop to film Sophie pressing the lift button and walking inside the lift. We did the same for the escalators, filming a number of different shots, including Pan Shot Following, as well as Long Shots. Both looked really good.

Just before we left, we had a practice go of Sophie running along a bridge, away and towards the camera, as if she would be running away from her "stalker/rapist" in the film. This was very effective and we will probably use this in our final film.

Research:Lighting and Sound
In the outside scenes of our film it will be night time so the type of lighting will be low key lighting. This is because it is a thriller film and adds a feeling of mystery, builds suspense and makes it appear spooky.When the man is typing on the typewriter, he will be in a pitch black room so that the idea of darkness runs throughout the film. So that the text is visible there will be a spotlight moving along the text on the paper this will be achieved by the use of a torch. We are thinking of perhaps using a red sweet rapper in front then shining the light so that it produces a red light and will support the idea of thriller as it will bring about connotations of murder and blood.

There is a scene where the girl gathers that she is being followed and so has a flashback on what she has previously seen, this will be presented in glow mode as it will represent the fact that it happened in the past. The colours will be warm yellows, this will make it look like a dream especially with the glow effect making it seem like it is a dream. This will be achieved by the use of imovie during the editting process.

the next scene is when the girl is running along the Enfield Town bridge, there are vibrant lights that run along the outside edge of it and change throughout the night. This will make the bridge appear dominant against the nightime and will be the main focus in that scene.

Sound plays a major part in a film as it is the key to building up suspense. So, when the music box appears in the scene it will play the music it produces. During the other shots, there will be a haunted music box song playing in the background which I have included further down in my blog posts.

We will use this example as an inspiration and we hope to produce something similar on GarageBand.Towards the end when she realises she is being followed, there will be rapid transitions when she flashbacks in sepia mode which will have a sharp sound on each changing transition to reflect the rapidness.On the bridge when she turns around there will be the sound of a fast heartbeat in the background to show her fear.

Research:Props
Our film will include a limited amount of props:

The Music Box=This is the main prop in the film as it symbolises the psychotic mans presence and will be used at several different times in the film.Also, our film is named after this significant prop.

A typewriter=Plays a significant part in the film as it is the first prop the audience see and so should grab their attention. The purpose is to show the title of our film, tell a story and show the closing credits. We decided to pick a typewriter rather than a computer/laptop because the way the text comes up on the paper along with the sound it makes when the typewriter returns for a new line makes it immensely creepy.

A newspaper=This will be read by the psycho man on a bench in the park. The purpose of this is to hide his face so that only his eyes are visible and so that the audience do not have a clear visualisation of him and so adds mystery and suspense.

Research: Actors and Costumes
In our production have three characters:
The main character who is a female in her late teens, she is a ballet dancer and the victim.This role will be played either by Emma Kozlowski or Elle Hutchkinson who are two girls in my group. Throughout the film, they will be wearing the same outfit which will be a ballet outfit; a leotard, tu tu, tights and ballet shoes. The reason for wearing the same outfit throughout is to show continuity. The outfit will be the same one as the ballet dancer is wearing in the music box so when we do the fade in/out shot it will be very effective.

The next character is the psychotic man and will be played by a male in his late teens. He will not be presented directly and the audience only see parts of his body. He will be wearing black attire to make him dominant as he is in a block colour and a hooded top so that his face is not visible. He will also be wearing significant black gloves that will hide his identity.

Our final character will be played by Sophie Mcnamara another girl in my group and will play the role of the next victim of the psychotic man. She will also be wearing a ballet outfit but obviously a different coloured one. The pastel colours of the outfit will symbolise her innocence as she is the next victim.

Research for typewriter shot

During my research on how we could incorporate the typewriter in our production I came across this advert which is advertising MasterCard. The typewriter includes a shot at 0.06 seconds and although it is completely irrelevant it is exactly the kind of shot we are after for the opening credits to illustrate our title, 'The Music Box' and for our closing credits.
When we include the typewriter as the first scene of our production we hope to achieve a shot like this because it is a point of view shot and does not include the fingers of the person typing. Together with the content of the film and the sound it will add suspense and present the thrilling scene that we are hoping to portray to prepare the audience for the rest of the film.
The typewriter idea will be portrayed through the type of shot I previously mentioned.

Sound research
During my research on sound I came across this piece of music which instantly grabbed my attention.




I found this piece of music particularly creepy and eerie because it is quite high pitched and has a distinctive rhythm.Me and my group took great interest in this piece of music and we will use it as an influence as the music for the music box in our film opening and we hope to produce something similar on GarageBand.

Research on locations

For our film production we will need several locations to show the places the main character walks through on her journey home.

The first scene will be of the typwriter and will be filmed in a pitch black room.Then, there will be a scene in a bedroom with the man on the typewriter.

The first scene in the flashback will be in a car with the man winding up the music box on the dashboard.

This then blends into a ballet studio surrounded by mirrors and will be filmed at Bodens Studio & Agency.The next location will be outside Enfield Grammar Lower School and the focus will be on the ballet girl walking down the steps.

She will then begin her journey home where she first walks through Enfield Town Park by the lake.

This will then lead to a Jack The Ripper style alleyway which is situated in Central London.

The next location will be on a set of escalators with one ascending and the other descending and will be filmed at a London Tube Station.

Finally, the last scenes will be filmed in the multi storey car park in Enfield Town in a lift and across the bridge that connects the car park and shopping centre.

We are then brought back to the scene with the typewriter in the bedroom.

To finish the production the final scene will be back in Enfield Town park by the lake.

Extended storyboard for our film..

1) "The Music Box" - on typewriter, typing out as film starts.
2)Man in car (over the shoulder shot) winding up the music box on dashboard
3) Zoom in of ballet dancer inside the box - fades in fades out, zooms into real ballet dancer (blury) as she is spinning.
4) overlap of writting on bottom right saying "it was a long day..." (typewritter)
5)Back to man in car- music box still spinning, he slams shut the box
6)Sharp shot back to girl in studio -she falls down as man shuts box.
7)Gets back up and carries on dancing. Moments later, decides to finish 'class' so picks up her bag from the floor shes out of shot, and all we see is mans reflection in the door way of dance studio.
8)Then as she gets back up, he dissapears, leaving a music box. Girl is unaware of this. Turns off lights, see's music box lightly playing the music again. Takes no notice. Continues to walk out of room towards light. (We film from inside the studion watching her leave)
9) Next scene, girl steps out of dance studio (back of the Grammar school) and off she walks.
10) Walks down alleyway, hears the music box music, doesnt understand whats going on.
11) Next location: holborn? then the lift where she has a FLASHBACK!! as she sees music box again!
12) Flashback of the park, man sitting there with newspaper, follows her. Then girl realizes, he followed her from the dance studio, through to the park then the alley, then the escalator, and now!
13) Girls panics! frantically tapping the lift to go up!! as she gets to the top PAN SHOT of girl running one way across the bridge and the man running directly beneath her at the bottom (chasing her)
14) Then (strobe light effect) camera runs after girl..flashes instantly towards her, as camera gets closer, she starts running and looks behind (distorted) and BOOM! Black screen.
Leads audience into anticipation.
15) Type writter comes back into view, typing "She had it coming to her" or "who will be next?" grabs gloves and walks out.
16) At the park again, reading a newspaper. DE JA VU! Ballet Girl walks past with ipod on.
Extreme close up of mans mouth, smirking.
17) Camera stays focused on the bench man sitting on whilst he leaves, exiting the view shot following the next victim.

ALL CAMERA SHOTS ARE ON MY PREVIOUS STORYBOARD.

Prelim Exercise.

This is our Prelim task which we completed in class. My group and I edited our video to fit perfectly together. It turned out really well and we're all really pleased with the outcome. It took us over an hour to edit fully and then upload onto youtube.
Our feedback from the class was overall really impressive, with only a few minor issues raised. Including: When Sophie bangs her feet on the table, as we have edited the next shot, it has carried through to the next shot, causing the sounding to be delayed. This is a problem that needs to be fixed for future filming as we need to sort out our sounds to get a continuous audio/sound for each individual shot.
Our Establishing Shot, Pan Shot and Zoom In was said to be "really good ans smoothy done" We also managed to include 'Shot Reverse Shot, 180 Degree Rule, and Match On Action'

Rough STORYBOARD for our film. (inc camera shots)

3 main locations;

Whitechapel - narrow, dark alleyways, wet cobbled streets, we will have an 'over the shoulder' shot following the girl down the alley.

White Lodge (Royal Ballet) or Trafalger Square outside National gallery - Large steps- Group of dancers saying goodbye, girl walks off on here own into the distance.
- Man in a car watching.. (dont see his face, just over the shoulder shot of his breathing)..
-wide shot of his view watching girl walk off..

Bodens Studio's- Ballet studio -Girl dancing like the music box (in same position) box slams, so she falls. Class ends. Girl in mirror, picks up dance bag from floor. As she bends down, we see a mans reflection in the doorway from the mirror. Then as she gets back up, he dissapears, leaving a music box. Girl is unaware of this. Turns off lights, see's music box lightly playing the music again. Takes no notice. Continues to walk out of room towards light. (We film from inside the studion watching her leave)

At the beginning of the scene - Music box is on the dashboard of mans car. Extreme Close Up of him winding it up.. Lens goes blury, zooms in then out .. Cut away to girl in dance studio in same postion as music box (spinning around etc) Then he slams box down (cannot see this, just hear it?) Girl in studio falls over (like a voodoo?) Canted angle. She then finishes class.. Picks up her bag from floor, we as viewers see him in the reflection standing at the door, leaving the music box from car.

Music plays quietly in the background, un-noticed. Girl stands up, brushes herself up, looks around, walks out, turn lights off, at corner of her eye notices the music box but chooses to leave it..Camera zooms into music box spinning, and music follows through onto the next scene. As girl walks out to meet friends outside on the steps (White Lodge RB or Trafalger Sq) She is humming the music box tune.

Next scene, girl is walking home alone, in dance wear, down the alleyway (Whitechapel Jack the Ripper alley) Over the shoulder shot of her. She is humming the song from music box, when she notices a quiet noise coming from behind her.. deep heavy breathing, and the real life music box...

Prelimary Task

Yay! Me and my group finally managed to sort out and shoot our prelimary task today in class. It went really well!! We added some extreme close ups and pan shots, and successfully stuck to the 180 degree rule! I especially liked the idea of the extreme close up of when the phone rings, so now the viewer will actually get to see "Ricky" ringing Sophie. Im soo excited to do all the cutting and editing now as it is going to look great!

The Beach. – Camera Shots.

I chose this trailer from The Beach as it demonstrates a variety of camera shots. The opening shot is a Crane Shot sweeping in towards the island. It is used to set the location, and in this instance, enables the audience to see the full view of the beach. It manages to draw the audience into the center of the action. The next shot is a Fade Shot, fading in and out of the island. Then follows the Pan Shot Following, this follows the cars on the road, emphasising the busyness of the road and country even.

Medium Shots and Wide Shots are regularly used to emphasise the large crowds in the background, and also to emphasise the isolation of him in a unfamiliar country which is ironic as later on in the film, he ends up in a close-knit community, unsure whether he liked being alone or in a community on the secret beach. Establishing Shots are used to see the rear view of the beach and the setting around it.

Pan Shots are included as it affords a more extensive view of the location. This made spatial awareness clear to the audience, really emphasising the isolated island. Close Ups are also used to show the character Daffy's facial expressions and his twiitching emphasising his mental instability. Lastly, Extreme Camera Shot is used to show the detail of the map as this is the key feature in the film.

Genre Research

My favourite genre for a film is a chick flick, as it is very light hearted and enjoyable to watch.

The term chick flick is slang used to describe a movie that primarily appeals to teenage girls and young women. The term was first used in the late 1980s and early 1990s to describe movies such as Ghost , Dirty Dancing , Beaches , and Pretty Woman . While earlier films such as An Affair to Remember , Funny Girl , and Casablanca also have a strong appeal among female audiences, their structure is significantly different from the chick flicks of today.

Chick flicks are typically perky, upbeat, modern, and post-feminist in tone, although some movies do have sad and dramatic elements as well. The setting for a chick flick can vary. Movies such as Never Been Kissed transport viewers back to the torment of high school, while Notting Hill takes place in a book store.
The female characters in a chick flick are usually strong women who overcome adversity to reach their goals. The key to a successful chick flick is a message of female empowerment, although a snappy soundtrack and closets full of designer clothes will also help boost ratings.



Another genre which I enjoy watching is Thriller. Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, television, and gaming that includes numerous and often overlapping sub-genres. Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action, and resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more-powerful and better-equipped villians

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObKpwmZkl24

I LOVE THIS FILM SOO MUCH!

Youtube doesnt show you the first 2mins of the film, but this is the trailor to it. I chose this film because im not to sure what genre it is and who it suits best. I think its a very clever film as it shows what a real life deserted island could be like. I feel like the films a metaphor by saying not everything that seems perfect, is perfect, and sometimes far from it.