This is my evaluation. I had a bit of trouble uploading it onto my blog as I found the websites that you can use to do so quite tricky to use. However, I finally decided to use Slideshare.com, and here it is.

Media Film Coursework Evaluation

Editing Our Film Finally

Due to the technical difficulties we had when we were trying to edit our film round Matthew's house, we were left with no choice but to finish editing our film at school when I had free lessons. Zoe and Matthew gave up their I.T lesson to do the work, and we spent all day doing it, going into our media lesson. We spent alot of time cutting and editing specific shots, muting the sound and refining slight errors we had in between shots which had an overall large impact on the way the film looked. We also spent alot of time tring to sort out the effects on the voice over and how it would sound when corressponded with the music. The music- compossed by Zoe's friend Sam, was hard for Matthew and I to time with the film sequence properly as we had not been there ourselves when it was being composed, so we did no know how to synchronize it for it's proper full effect. So, after we added it to the sequence and gave it to Zoe to listen to, we discovered we were very poorly synchronized and ended up having to move the music to the left quite alot to get a certain loud sound to corespond with the closing of the door of the bedroom. At the end of the film, after we had stranded everything together, we felt we needed to add a bit of suspence and hair raising tension , so we decided to record me screaming and add it in at the end when Zoe's hand is reaching towards me in the wardrobe, and you hear the scream as the screen blacks out. I really loved this effect, and the scream sounds realistic and does not sound too mature. This is good due to the fact that it was supposed to be coming from a young girl, the younger version of me played by Matthew's sister Emma.
We added in the scream, and made sure that the voice over was at the right volume for the film to work and appeal properlly to the audience, otherwise the music would end up being louder than the narrative, and that would not be good at all. After that, we had to make sure the title was exactly in the right place and there were not any errors with the editing. We also took time to try to get the right colour size and font of the title, as this obviously has an effect on the opening of a film. Especially a thriller where the audience are just getting into the mood and feel of the theme of the film and need to be drawn into the story straight away and be put on the edge of their seat with suspense. It was hard to find the 'perfect' title font, but we went with the closest one. We kept the effect of the title coming into view simple, as the movement of clouds is slow and drifty, so we used that effect to convey that. This is conventional of thrillers as every thriller has the title to suit their opening. For example, 'Cape Fear' has its title appear with the soundtrack at its loud height, and the faint backdrop of a close up of freaky looking eyes looking around the whole screen, and this conveys the stalker horror of the film.
We finished and then Matthew burned the film onto a DVD and gave it to sir, and we were finally finished.

Analysis of Thrillers- 'Psycho'- The effect of character's fear on the audience

'Psycho', 1960 by Alfred Hitchcock was based on the novel written by Robert Bloch who was inspired by the crimes of Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein.

The scream at the end of our film can be linked to 'Psycho' because, this is a film which is famous for its scene in the shower when the young woman gets attacked and the soundtrack heightens as we see her terrified face, and she lets out a long loud scream as she gets stabbed. Our film had my character hidden in the wardrobe at the end, and then Zoe walks past and sees Anna in the wardrobe, and the audience see her hand reaching in towards Anna as the narrative stops, the music comes to its loud end, and we hear the scream as the screen blacks out. It is not the same with 'Psycho', however, the idea of the scream is similar and conveys to the audience what is about to happen to Anna, and the audience ask themselves narrative enigmas such as How does Anna get abused? What made Anna scream?

Editing Our Film- 27 April

Again, we went round Matthew's house to try to edit our film and it was going really well until the computer crashed. It was late at night, so we decided we would take it into school in the morning and try to work on it there and get it to work.

Here is a link to our thriller opening which Matthew and Zoe posted on to Youtube. It is not finalized yet, but is quite good so far. It needs to muted, have the voice over and music added to it and be finally edited before it is finished.

Filming the Voiceover and adding in the music- 26 April

Zoe and I went round to Matthew's house so that together as a three, we could record the voice over before he had to go out. Zoe wanted to write the script because she was able to come up with a good narrative which included many adjectives which, on the whole gives the film and my character more ambiguity, which is what we wanted because we didnt want to give away too much.
So Zoe handed me the script, and I started practising reading it out ready to record the voice over. I tried to get in the character of Anna by elaborating and trying to picture myself as a depressed drug addict. However, Zoe did not like the way I was reading it, and after many attempts, as we were pressed for time, I agreed that maybe it would be a better idea if Zoe read it, as she knew how she wanted to read it and how she wanted it to sound. It was a shame because I did want to read it, and my voice would have been ideal as i have a quiet calm voice and it would have been ideal for the character of Anna. However, Zoe read it, and we recorded it. We made sure to record it in steps so we wouldn't catch the rustles of the page turning of other sounds which would have disrupted the voice over.

Working Progress/ Completing the Storyboard for the Group Because of Me Leaving to go to Cyprus for Easter

Sorry for going to Cyprus in the break.
I have helped Prince with the Recce form and the risk assessment.
I managed to use my packing time to complete the final story boards in neat hand drawn boxes on A3 sheets of paper. I used the rough story boards Zoe and anyone else had sketched as a rough guide for the story board, but as I knew in my mind what the film would look like, I improvised and added quite a few shots so that the opening would flow better.
I finished the storyboards, made sure they were detailed enough, and with the rough copies dropped them off at Zoe's house the next morning.
I am deeply disappointed that I was not here to finish filming our film and edit it, however I am really happy with the way Matthew and Zoe managed to do it. It works really well and it is what we had in mind.

Filming Day 2- 4 April

That day, we met up at Sainsburys at 6pm again and made our way to Muswell Hill. Due to traffic, we got there a bit later than last time, and we were surprised by how little time it actually took to grow dark. So we were filming in darkness the whole time again. We re- filmed shots which needed to be filmed again, as we knew we would not come back to re- film at this location as time is aginst us so we needed to have good shots so we would have less to worry about when it came to the filming.

Analysis of Thrillers- The Butterfly Effect

'The Butterfly Effect', (2004) Directed by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber.
I watched this film a while ago and my first impression was how unusual and jam packed it is. There is always something important going on- what with the whole point of the film. The theory in the film is that one tiny difference in the time continuum will change the rest of history like stepping on a butterfly. The same lifetime of the main antagonist changes repeatedly throughout the film due to his ability to change events in history just by focusing his thoughts to travel back in time inside his head.

I feel that both 'The Butterfly Effect' and 'Clouds' portray memories of the antagonists' childhood which shows their unhappiness. 'Clouds' shows how Anna has turned towards drug addiction as her 'sanctuary' because of being depressed because of what has happened to her, and not being strong enough to pull herself out of negative thinking.

Thriller Analysis- Mum and Dad

'Mum and Dad',by Stephen Sheil (2008) is a microwave film, and is the first film that was available in cinemas and DVD at the same time meaning that you could choose to watch it either at home or out. It was based slightly on real life seriel killers making it even more serious and horrific, because it makes the audience think of how the happenings in the film actually occured to people in real life. It is about a polish girl who gets led into a trap and is repeatedly tortured by a psychiatric couple who get pleasure from sexualy, physically and verbally assulting her. It is not a film for those who do not enjoy thrillers.

I feel that this film is linked slightly with ours as it shows horrific abuse and torture, and our film has the mysterious backdrop of parental abuse in it, in the way that the audience can tell that Anna has been abused in some way by her mother, and it has left her psychologically alienated in a society where she would not originally have taken up heroin addiction if she had not been abused as a child.

First Day of Filming- 31 March

That night, we went to Muswell Hill together and started to prepare for a night of filming. I went dressed in my casual every day clothes, how ever, Zoe and the rest of the group felt that I needed to get more into the character of a heroin addict, so I borrowed Matthew's hoody, which was too big for me, thus making me look not feminine, and grungy. I messed up my hair to let it hang messily, because our character, Anna would not care (or notice) how her hair looks.
The Filming was a success. Going along with the storyboard, I was directed and told what to do so that our filming would go according to plan. We got loads of shots of me running to my 'sanctuary' and running down a huge hill as well as climbing up a brick wall over a far drop on the bridge where Matthew zoomed in under my arm to get an angled shot of London.
However, it got dark quite quickly so we actually filming in pitch blackness and as it wass getting late, we had so finish off for the day and go home.

Group Meeting- 31 March

As a group, we met up to discuss the progression of our filming and when and where we would be able to meet up to start filming.

- We decided that Zoe would charge the camera and bring it along to where ever we are meeting this evening.
- Matthew will bring a camera to document our work, and also upload it onto the group blog so we can reference to it later on.
-We have decided that we will meet up at Sainsburys at 6pm so we can all go as one to our filming location which is Muswell Hill.
- Tomorrow, Khalid, Prince, Matthew and Zoe will visit the other three locations. I will be unable to attend due to the fact that I will be spending the day attending a UCAS convention.
- Matthew will take a camera and take pictures.
Khalid and Zoe will take brief notes so that Prince can complete a Recce form for us.
- There will be a quick rehearsal to see if the group are able to carry out the more complex shots.

Location Test- 24 March

That day, we met up at Sainsburys at 6pm (after the first attempt did not go according to plan) and together, we visited our possible locations to decide on which ones would work for the feel of the film that we wanted to create.
First we went to Alexandra Palace to look at how the rooftop shots we wanted would work. We knew that we would be able to get some amazing shots of London from the top of the hill, so we tested the camera on a few shots of the view, and I have to say- they were pretty good, so it was a definite possibility.
Next, we went on location to the old train tracks in Muswell Hill (they've been turned into a path now). We explored with different angles and lighting, although it got dark quickly so we did not have a lot of time to see what it looks like in day light. However, we used this to our advantage and made sure that we considered all possibilities with how we could carry out our planned shots with what we had. The old train tracks under the bridge were surrounded by shrubbery, and when we explored up the stone steps along side the brick wall of the bridge to see what we could use on top of the bridge, we found that the view of London at night was quite impressive considering we were not as high up as Alexandra Palace.
Compared to Alexandra Palace, Muswell Hill was more gloomy, isolated and quiet which we felt was perfect for what we were looking for so we decided to use Muswell Hill instead of Alexandra Palace.

Soundtrack Analysis- 'The Scilence of the Lambs'.

Silence of the Lambs (1990) is regarded as one of the best psychological thrillers ever made. It won Oscars for Actor, Actress and Best Film.

The Opening

The music makes the audience feel that something bad was going to happen, but nothing actually did. It built the eerie tension up.
We see a character running through a wood on an assault course. The music from the start is an eerie piece of classical music which is immediately unsettling. In fact we are waiting for something to happen. The character's face does not look scared, and we soon see why she is running as we see her climb a rope web. The music makes us predict something in the visuals.

Our opening does not have tense music, but calm and relaxed piano music playing, as Anna is running to her 'sanctuary'. As our film is unconventional and as an opening, it is quite busy with the voice over as the narrative which means that the audience have to be constantly involved, although I feel that the filming sequence rather speaks for itself and the audience can tell what is going on.

The Interview

The soundtrack plays as she walks towards Hannibal Lecter. It is used to unsettle the audience without going to its full tempo.

The Escape Scene

The scene opens with diagetic classical music playing. This suggests a peaceful scene, however we soon see that the scene is very horrific and violent where the cut joins two different sounds together. After the violence has ended, the classical music starts again. The high tempo soundtrack creates immediate anxiety and tension. The pattern I noticed in the music was that the music went from diegetic to non- diegetic to diegetic again which meant that classical music, while usually it is used to heighten peace, was used in this scene to overall heighten the horror of the fact that Hannibal Lecter's heart rate does not raise higher than 85 when he kills, and he is fully capable of listening to classical music calmly before and after killing.

Our film can be linked to 'Silence of the Lambs' because we used a somber piano piece as our soundtrack, even when it came to the tension in the wardrobe when Zoe reaches out towards Anna and at this point, the music does change slightly, but it is still piano throughout, whilst 'The Silence of the Lambs' had the difference of its own soundtrack as well as the piano music which Hannibal Lecter is listening to.

'Buffalo Bill' is killed

As Clarice staggers around in the darkness the soundtrack builds again to a Crescendo until she shoots him and then it dies down. The audience is familiar with the soundtrack from its use of key moments in the film. It is very loud which can be draining.

We made sure that our voice over was louder than the music so that the narrative could be heard, and the music would not over drain the audience.

Our planning for our Opening

Group effort written up by Zoe

Begin with Anna in the present tense running towards her 'sanctuary' her fast running and facial gestures of deep breathing and anxiety would be shown through close ups. And the suspense and tension will be shown through her determination and speed. Though we'll have a sobre piano playing and all diegetic music will be muted.She then stops beside the train bridge (underneath) to take a moment to 'catch' her breath, this would allow time for the audience to begin contemplation on the character, yet no direct shots of her face will be shown to keep an essence of mystery. She'll then continue on her way.
Arriving at her destination this allows us to shot our trademarked 'rooftop shots'. It will show Anna in solitude, in contemplation and in deep though. The Narration may begin here, if not now then possibly whilst she's running. The emotional script and sombre piano with the silence and emptiness of the location would hopefully draw strong emotions in the audience. After these few shots we'll see a POV shot of Anna's feet as she sits upon the bridge with a large distance to fall.
A simple fade to either white or black (undecided) will be our transition from the present to past tense.
We then see a young girls feet (Anna in the past) as she's about to open a playground gate. We then see the park through the eye's of a child. This requires a variety of complex shots and camera movements which are hard to describe with out refrencing to the annotations on the story board. This scene would signify the equilibrium stage and begin portraying a false depiction of Anna's life as a child. It's a false representation as she had a brutal and tragic upbringing which would later be revealed. We've discussed idea's wether to shot the flashbacks in black and white to show a clear contrast. This will also work well with the dark railway scene previously, as too much of a contrast could be startling on an audience and 'throw' them off.
This scene would then show Anna leaving the park holding her mothers hand. This could then fade once more to enter the next scene.
We've had breif discussions about filming the movement of clouds over several hours to then fast forward them to show an artistic backdrop to display the title (Clouds). This is still under deliberation. If it was to be done, it would occur now. Then fading to white the next scene would continue.
It shows Anna arriving home from the park at her door then running up the stairs. In a POV shot in the style of the famous film Halloween. She then hides in the closet and you see her hiding. This would hopefully add a sense of mystery and be unsettling to the viewer. The narration would have stopped at the titles and piano would fade in, yet not as a sobre peice but to be more epic and intense.
The scene would then suddenly end which a sharp anticlimatic build and which a fast fade to black.

The Treatment for our Thriller Opening

Group effort written up by Zoe

With the opening we began brain storming some ideas neither group member had a definitive idea. We began thinking of character idea's and weather there would be only one antagonist, and we how we can turn a standard character in an ambiguous one.Our initial thoughts were to have both a male and female, but to include the sense of uncertainty and ambiguity we decided to show the male to be the vulnerable one in a more passive tone, and still being very 'male', in the way he acts (mannerism), characterisation and other conventions. We thought for the women to be the antagonist as this could be represented as a unavailing twist as the story progresses. Next we had to construct a relationship dynamic between the two. We decided to have them as step brother and sister.This helped us branch out to a narrative idea, we thought we could tell a brief story of their family dysfunction (as past tense). We thought this would be perfect for filling the story with enigma's and it would also help us, more easily, draw audiences in to the characters by creating a sense of sympathy. More idea's were that the male, as a young boy, could have been the 'favourite', or that the younger girl suffered abuse and neglect.We decided to no follow the conventional narrative structure by simply representing an equilibrium stage, but rather throwing the audience into the chaos. Yet from the woman's perception we'll see flashbacks of her past through the film to reveal to viewers why they have grown up to be the people they are today. We decided due to their family dysfunction they'd grown up to be outlaws to society, they'd be condemned in the eyes of others to be able to live a 'normal' life. Our film idea is now taking on a more Drama style genre as one of the main themes is turning out to be family and family dynamics.We need to begin thinking what could have happened during their childhood that began a chain of negative events and thought patterns. An idea came up that we all agreed upon that the little girl (past tense) saw her brother either being physically abusive or murdering either the mother or step father. As you see this whole film through the perception of the girl, you witness the dysfunction of the boy, as a child and in the present. Yet it's not until the ending where it reveals to the audience, she's just as messed up as him. As the viewer all along you'll be believing her narration and believing she's completely sane and grounded. Yet as the flashbacks reveal more and more they reveal her abandonment as a child and these foundations she's learnt from have caused her memory scares disabling her to behave/live appropriately in society. This brings forth huge ambiguity to her character and the film would have a huge element of mystery and suspense.As the boy was very aggressive at the young and vulnerable stages in his life, we decided for him to have this deep underlying love for his mother in which he secretly desired her (inspired by Freud as his theory that young baby boys secretly lust their mothers). This would contain that obscene more shocking element to the film. So as the step father moved in he's anger raged and he began lashing out at his mother. Till the day came where he went too far and killed her. This was done by his own physical strength and a mirror (details not necessary). He managed to escape authority causing him to live in the shadows of life.The main objective of both characters is the search/quest for their own happiness and escapism. The film would deal with many phsycological issue's dealing with addiction, denial, escapism, anger, anxiety and etc. As the boy grows older he becomes and porn addict, he channels all his rage through the violence and obscenity of the under ground porn industry. We this disturbance through the eyes of the women, who appears to be the more vulnerable one, sympathy is given to her as she has to 'look after' her older brother.The women on the other hand would begin to appear Innocent constantly living in the shadows from the start with little attention. As the back flashes reveal more we see how a little girl starved of attention begins to be neglected and emotionally scared from the scenes she's witnessed. As the film goes on, the narration changes, as she takes us the viewer through a window of her life, she finds her happiness. What she finds is not reveled to the end. Her perception completely changes and the film almost becomes distorted as it's through her perception.So the boy in this channels his anger and dives in a world of oblivion. The girl is mentally unwell due to her calm and hugely depressing outlook until she becomes a heroin addict. What's quite common with thrillers is that the begin and end scene repeat each other to emphasis a particular point. This also helps develop a tag line/famous phrase that's easily remembered in the film, that of course must have a high impact on audience's and is very emotional. So maybe it would be nice to begin the film very surreal to show a rather twisted equilibrium, yet as it revels it's actually a resolution of complete devastation.We decided to have an urban location, as living in a city can extremely isolated, with the idea of alleys, cold streets, so many strangers and generally a lonely place in your mind (constantly reinforcing the physcological element).A name that was brought up in discussion was the name Cloud or Clouds. Personally I fell this definently suits the film well as clouds instantly remind you off the sky and how clouds can be perfectly situated to present a perfect picture. By calling the film Clouds it brings an added disturbance to the nature of the film. It also represents how each character lives 'in the clouds' or how addicts have their 'heads in clouds'. It could also signify how clouds just go by without notice and change and mold by factors of their surroundings this can be symbolically applied to the women character.This is the basic treatment, yet i feel more needs to be discussed on the character dynamics between the Brother and Sister.

A Thriller Opening- 'Momento'- Analysis of narrative enigmas

'Memento', (2000)

The character Leonard Shelby, a former insurance fraud investigator hunts for the man he believes raped and murdered his wife during a burglary. He suffers from amnesia because of a head injury inflicted by his wife's rapist/murderer.

The film begins with the event at the end of the story where Leonard discovers who the murderer is and he shoots him in the head.

This is similar to our film because 'Clouds' begins with the present and then has the flashback which shows the event from the past which shows what happened to Anna.

With the colour sequences showing Leonard's investigation are told in reverse chronological order, and the black- and - white sequences told in chronological order show Leonard in his hotel room talking on the phone to someone unknown (which makes the character even more ambiguous. The audience realise that Leonard has just lost his recent memories when a scene begins, and this keeps the audience unaware of the forthcoming events just like Leonard.

This film always has the audience asking questions like: Who is Teddy? Why can't he remember anything? We wanted our film to have this mysterious approach, and our film does contain a flashback memory of Anna's child hood memory where she went from playing in the park to being abused at home.

Editing the Preliminary Task

At the CLC, we sat as a group and worked together to edit our film. We had not quite finished filming, so most of what we had was the coffee scenes, so we decided to call our preliminary task- 'Coffee'' because of the emphasis of the preparing the coffee.

Filming the Preliminary Task

The task was to film a person walking through a door and meeting someone else whwere a few lines of dialogue are exchanged. So, together as a group, we sat down in the classroom and discussed our ideas for the Preliminary Task. None of us were completly certain about what we had in mind as we had not fully developed our ideas, however Zoe had the following ideas:

- Patient, Doctor, Nerves
- Husband, Wife, Abusive
- Student, Friends, Relationships
- Student, Counsellor, Emotional
- Patient, Physciatric, Suspence
- Lovers, Romance, Proposal
- Student, Lovers, Lustual

As a group we decided on the abusive husband and wife pitch idea because we felt that with the people in our group, we would be able to pull the characters off easier than any of the others. QWe also felt that it was the sort of storyline we were in the mood for, and this has huge significance when it comes to being able to work with your task and take on the roll of a character without feeling uncomfortable.
The plot for our task was that a married couple live together, and the wife is a timid quiet character who is obedient and madly in love with her husband despite his abusive behavior. The husband however is somewhat psychologically challenged (we did not make clear why or how, so as to leave suspense and mystery and to keep the audience drawn into the storyline wanting to know more. The husband does not appreciate his wife's help and continually finds faults in her actions and notices the tiniest of mistakes. He repeatedly verbally abuses her and does not answer questions the way a normal husband should. This is our script which we worked together to complete:

*Wife makes coffee without sugar and walks through the door*
WIFE: There you are darling
*hands over coffee*
WIFE: Did George sort out those files for you?
HUSBAND: I'm home now not at work, so shut up.
*Wife is hesitent*
WIFE: Prince rance today, him and Ruby wanted us to go round on Friday for dinner. I told them i'll let them know tomorrow.
HUSBAND: I don't want to see them Friday, I want to go to the pub.
WIFE: We havn't been out in such a long while, i think it will be nice.
HUSBAND: I just want to go pub.
WIFE: Alright hun, i'll tell them we can't make it.
*dramatic pause*
WIFE: Drink your coffee it's fetting cold.
HUSBAND: Women, don't tell me what to do.
*dramatic pause*
**drinks coffee**
HUSBAND: Fucking whore
*spits coffee*
HUSBAND: Silly slut! There's no sugar. Stupid Bitch, you should know this by now.

We filmed our preliminary task in one day, so the process of making up the script and the basic story outline, followed by filming was quite swift and as a group, we worked together really well. As one, we made the set, discussed the character roles and the script and props were provided, as well as working together to make the camera work happen. We decided on the theme of our story together and made sure that we were comfortable with the task so that it would be easy for us to work together as a team. Everyone had their roles, and it would have been significantly harder for everyone if just one member was not present. I was acting throughout and co-operated with Zoe and Matthew and their camera work in order for us to get the filming done in as little time as possible.

What makes an effective 'Thriller'?

*Martin Rubin suggests that there is no such thing as a 'Thriller' which is in fact a meta genre that "gathers several other genres under its umbrella".
*Thriller components work better with some genres than others. It works well with spy;crime;horror but not well with musicals or war films.

In my opinion an effective thriller should...
*put you on the edge of your seat without implying other genres too much such as horror.
*only know as much as the characters
*should keep the audience in a state of suspense and uncertainty
*make the audience always ask themselves rhetorical and unanswered questions about the narrative (narrative enigmas).

Looking at eachother's practise videos with the whole class to discuss what went well and what could be improved

The whole class organised themselves into small groups to practise filming which was then shown back to the class.

My first practise video was with Serhan, Elena A. , Jhanelle, Vedat and I. We were filming Serhan proposing to Elena, and Elena refused his proposal and ran out of the room. We choses the canteen as our location as ae wanted Seran to be proposing in a resturant, so the canteen was the closest to a resturant we had that we could use. Vedat did the camera work, while Serhan and Elena A. did the main acting, I did the directing as well as a minor acting part where I had to act as a waitress and bring plates to the table and Jhanelle acted as the other waitress and sorted out our setting for filming by making sure no extra items ruined our shots and furniture was in the right place.

My second practise video was with Serhan, Thegla, Sadek and I. Serhan and I acted, Thegla did the camera work, while Sadek played the role of the librarian. This film communicated affairs, relationships, lies, secrets, empathy and sympathy to the woman character. The idea of our video came from my pitch of a girl and a boy meeting in a libary and having an arument. As a group, together we then built on it, including dialogue and body action aswell as wht kind of shots we would have where. The final idea was that Serhan and I were a couple and I had somehow found out that he was being unfaithful in our relationship. The conversation includes me asking him where he was ''last night'' and what ''they were doing together, and Sehan denying it and acting confussed at which point I get angry and raise my voice and walk out of the room leaving Serhan to try to call after me which doesnt work, and there is a shot at the end where he looks down, sad because I have left him.

There could have been more close ups to communicate emotion to the audience.
The over the shoulder shots worked well but in future could be more neat in their 180 degree rule and the way they appear to the audience.

From Anna and Thegla's group, the shot of Anna walking in to the bathroom to meet the character of the drug dealer worked really well because the audience see how serious Anna's face is and we can tell that she is troubled. The shot on the stairs where Thegla and another girl are talking, the audience are filled in on what they are feeling and how they feel about Anna. The best shot was the one at the end where Anna is in the toilet cubilcle and is taking the drugs and the camera cuts to the shot of her lieing on the floor with her eyes closed, dead from a drug overdose. There is no sound, just silence, and the camera is very still and the audience feel sad that Anna has died this way.

From Aya's group's video, the shot with the close up of her eyes was very nice and effective. It showed her emotions to the audience at the right time which conveyed what she was thinking as the character in her role. On the whole, the video worked really well but continuiety needs to be worked on as one of the characters at the beginning suddenly disappered and became someone else playing the same role which confused the audience. But apart from that the video was a success.

From Khalid's group video, there were really good camera shots. I like the way they experimented with all different kinds of shots and what they included in the shots. This had a positive outlook on what was portrayed to the audience overall as it made the emotions between the two male characters come to life as the audience understand their secret gay love. Yana and Anna, who played the two women in relationships with Prince and Khalid do not know of the chemistry between Khalid and Prince and the audience realise this with the sequence of shots where Prince bits his lip, Khalid taps his fingers together and they both tap their feet on the floor. These could be normal everyday actions, however the audience automatically know that it symbolizes awkwardness between the two male characters and the two female characters are unaware that their partners are actually gay. After the conversation that Anna and Yana exchange, where Khalid and Prince do not pay attention to because they are to busy thinking about eachother, Yana and Anna walk away out of the scene and Prince and Khalid are left alone with eachother where the camera focuses on both of them and the intent of their exchange in body language becomes sexual.

Due to the fact that I missed a week off school because of the art trip to Barcelona, I missed out on taking part in the third practice video. However I watched the videos filmed by those who did not go on the art trip with the rest of the class.

From Ali's group, what worked well was the framing of the shots, the angles of the shots, the camera movement, the editing, the 180 degree rule and continuity. There were some nice shots where the camera was getting the whole corridor in the screen from an angle, Aslihan is standing up leaning against the wall waiting and Ali opens the door from inside the room which he comes out of to greet Aslihan, where the audience see the look on his face as he sees her. This conveys to the audience how Ali is pleased even though the couple seem to be far apart, as the shot with the phone conversation shows that the couple have not seen eachother in four months. Also the close up shot of Ali stroking his wedding ring carefully before putting it in his pocket wroked well as the audience then realise that he is married and that the reason that the couple seem to be far apart is because Aslihan is ''the other woman'', and the last time they saw eachother was when Aslihan got pregnant. The shot of Ali putting his ring away communicates to the audience that although he is married, he now has a baby on the way which is a big responsibity to take care of. The whole video worked really well as a whole and could be quality if the group had time to edit and refine.

From Serhan and Anna's group they managed to use an extra character with the help of a fellow sixth former called Tarek. The dialogue with Tarek and Anna worked really well when there is a backwards tracking shot of the couple walking down the corridor. Also when the camera stops tracking and there is over the shoulder shots with Tarek and Anna and it shows their argument about not spending valentines day together, to the audience and we understand how Anna is feeling. What did not work was when Tarek ad Anna finished their conversation and the camera jumped straight to Tarek looking down the corridor looking sad and the audience are unsure where Anna went. The next scene is of Serhan sitting down on a staircase listening to music. There is also a nice shot of Serhan from behind, although it really should have been an over the shoulder shot of Serhan looking at Anna from the top of the stairs, but it doesnt work in that sense because the audience cannot see Anna. Next, we see Anna walk up to the staircase at which point Serhan sees her and notices she is upset and asks her what is wrong. She walks up the steps and sits down next to him and tells him the problem is that she thinks Tarek is ''cheating'' on her and is lieing to not have to spend valentines day with her because he is spending it with another girl. The audience sympathise with Anna and this makes the film a success because we understand that she as a character must be feeling upset because of what has happened to her. Next, there is a nice close up shot of Anna's eyes looking up into Serhan's as she rests on his shoulder, and this intimacy conveys immediate sexual tension to the audience as their heads grow closer and they are about to kiss, however they both burst out giggling and fall back onto the step behind them. Apart from the laughter at the end, it was overall a very effective shot which shocked the audience of Anna's secret feelings towards Serhan, and this leaves us thinking whether Tarek was completly in the wrong atall.

From Yana, Jhanelle and Usmund's group, there were some fresh and effective shots which made the film unique on the whole. The quick establishing shot of the exterior of the school followed by a very slow backwards tracking shot of Yana and Usman talking. I liked it alot because it was steady and slow and it looked realistic, like someone else's view of them talking to eachother quietly. It made it casual. The shot of Prince and Jhanelle hugging worked well because the camera circulated around them, and this created warmth on screen. Yana writing 'Prince' in a love heart on paper and the camera getting a close up of it worked well as if the audience are sharing her thoughts. Also, when the camera gets close to Yana's phone and the audience see clearly what is written in her text. What needs to be improved is trying not to spend too long on each shot. What also worked well was the extreme close up of Yana's eyes which caught her emotions as she realizes with the audience that Prince is not being truthfull about his words and is going out with Jhanelle instead of her.

From practising filming, I gained an understanding of how to use the camera effectively, and how to act appropiatly to create realism with camera shots, angles and techniques which would help me in my coursework, so I am very glad we did practise before doing the real thing.

British Social Reality Dramas

- Shane Meadows- A Room For Romeo Brass




Shane Meadows moved to Nottingham when he was about twenty years old, but grew up in Uttoxeter. His films hint on the kitchen sink realism (a movement in the late 1950s to the early 1960s) with a modern twist. A lot of what is included in his films is based on his own experiences from when he was growing up. 'A Room For Romeo Brass', (1999) was inspired by his best friend and nieighbour, Paul Fraser and his young self. Paul suffered an accident and had to stay in bed for a long period of time and Shane befriended a messed up individual instead. It is a real life movie with elements of comedy and drama. It uses local locations in both the countryside and the beach. Meadows, known as one of the rising stars of British cinema has created a relaxed style of film with ad lib which is no script and it is made up as they go along. There is a lot of rehearsal time using unknown characters, and other actors feel encouraged to take this style on to create a better sense of reality within their acting.
I feel that within our film, there is a similar style as we wanted our film to have a simple and realistic approach, and I think it has really worked quite well.

The film begins with credits in a unique font on a black background. Sound sets the feel of the film. The volume is high on the credits and in the background when action is occurring. The merging of the narrative and credits used to break up action and involve the audience more in the story and we are waiting to see what happens next. We are introduced to the characters and the storyline with a mini storyline which is started and completed. There are clues about the genre.
Our film does not do this. Our title sequence is completely unique. Our title is unique and comes up on the background of the playing opening which is in full colour.

The film starts with two characters who are young boys. The audience can tell they are good friends from the way they insult each other. The fat boy says: ''Why did i do this again?'', referring to why he has eating more than his own share of chips and the thin boy replies: "'cause you're fat?''. The chubby boy does not get offended and there is familiarity through dialogue.

The themes of friendship with Romeo and Gavin or 'Knocks' growing apart. Morrell begins by helping the boys however becomes increasingly violent when he becomes infatuated by Ladine and threatens Gavin and Romeo's father. Romeo's father is in the scene but Romeo does not get on with him. The audience hope that Morrell is going to flip and want Gavin and Romeo reunited.

The overall feel of Shane Meadows' films is that they have that local, urban and realistic touch to them, and I think this is definitely something we can link to in our film, as we used local settings and did not spend any extra money on props. I think our film could be a microwave film as we have kept the locations simple, and have not spent any money on sets, props, make- up, costume, special effects or paying actors and we would therefore have a cheap budget.We just worked with what we had, and it worked really well.