Welcome to Group 4's offical blog - all the work of Nikki-Leigh, Kiera, Ruben & Billy :)
Thursday, 17 February 2011
Treatment:
V1 Group 4 2011 - Billy Greenall, Nikki-Leigh Rogers, Ruben Milner-Edwards and Kiera Molloy.
The Opening of a Short Film:
The Reprobate (Horror) (2011)
Duration:
Approximately 2 Minutes
Audience:
Our opening to this short film will target the young adult group, which mainly concerns those aged 18 - 30 years old of both genders. However, the blood and gore could suggest the males would prefer this movie, but the stronger-stomached females may also enjoy this. The psychologicaly of this film means it could prove to be too horrific for the younger generation, with scenes of a distressing nature included. The cinematic effects could lead the older generation (30+) to see the film as unrealistic and silly, leaving the young adults to use their imagination and get the best values out of this film.
Resume:
A woman stumbles violently down an empty hospital corridor. The screen flashes and another woman appears in a strange and creepy fashion,the audience later find out that this woman is a killer. The plot is non-linear, and the opening is also the ending to the film. The film is about how the first woman found herself in this particular state - she became possessed by a demon. The killer is the one who murdered the now-demon woman, and the story is about how this happened and the events which unfold.
Suggested Elements:
Performance: Woman stumbling down hospital corridor with lights flashing. Another woman looking odd, sick and possessed in the darkness.
Costumes: Both women will be in freaky and theatrical outfits. The woman in the hospital should be in garments typical of a hospital, while the killer must dress in clothes which a killer would dress in, looking dark and not at all revealing.
Props:
Key Locations: Withington General Hospital.
Title/Opening Credits: Flashing and fading into the opening sequence in the hospital.
Recording Days:
Tuesday 15th March 2011 (Production)
Thursday 17th March 2011 (Production)
Tuesday 22nd 29th March 2011 (Post Production)
Thursday 5th April - 29th April 2011 (Editing)
These are only approximate dates.
Treatment:
V1 Group 4 2011 - Billy Greenall, Nikki-Leigh Rogers, Ruben Milner-Edwards and Kiera Molloy.
The Opening of a Short Film:
Title: The Reprobate
Genre: Horror
Duration: Approximately 2 minutes
Audience:
Our film will target the young adult age group, mainly 18 years to 30 years old of both genders. However, the blood and gore could lean the film to be more suited to males, but there are also females who like such thrillers. It would not be suitable for younger children as it is quite psychological, and children often have nightmares. The majority of the more older generation would probably not enjoy the film because they may be too mature to see it's true value and thrill - they may see it as silly or unrealistic which it is, but with horrors a lot is left to the imagination.
Resume:
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
We have been in negotiations with Withington Hospital and they have given us permission to use their hospital for one of our film locations. We have agreed on the time for after 4 o'clock since this is the quietest time in the hospital. This allows us to film and not disturb any hospital routines. We really appreciate this opportunity as it will help us to try and achieve higher grades.
These are the emails from Jan Owen the assistant manager of the fundraising and donations department at Withington and Wythenshawe Hospital.
This is the response from my first email previously posted on the Blog:
Hello Nikki
Thank you for providing detailed information on your project. I hope to be able to accommodate you but need to gain permission from the Hospital Manager at Withington Community Hospital who unfortunately is s not available until Monday. Therefore I will get back to you early next week.
Kind regards
Jan Owen
Mrs J P Owen
Assistant Manager, Fundraising & Donations Department
UHSM
Southmoor Road
Wythenshawe
Manchester, M23 9 LT
Tel: 0161 291 5961 Email: Jan.owen@uhsm.nhs.uk
This is the email confirming our permission:
Hello Nikki-Leigh
I am pleased to inform you that permission has been given for you to film at Withington Community Hospital.
Please confirm which day you would like to come in ideally between the 14th and 17th of March from 4pm onwards. I am only in the office today and tomorrow this week, so please try to get back to me asap so that I can make the necessary arrangements for your visit.
Regards
Jan Owen
Mrs J P Owen
Assistant Manager, Fundraising & Donations Department
UHSM
Southmoor Road
Wythenshawe
Manchester, M23 9 LT
Tel: 0161 291 5961 Email: Jan.owen@uhsm.nhs.uk
Opening Analysis 1:
Silence of the Lambs
The opening scene of silence of the lambs shows a woman running through a forest, she is an army cadet trying to conquer an assault course.
The woman is a counter-stereotype because she shows good physical strength and determination to conquer the assault course.
The non-diegetic soundtrack/music is low-pitched, and goes well with the deserted forest setting, to create a mysterious atmosphere.
The woman in the forest is also wearing appropriate clothes for the assault course, which shows her as a counter-stereotype because women are known to spend a lot of time on their image, but she is just determined on getting the course completed.
There are many close ups on the women’s face to show her grit and determination. The fog and mist in the forest connote mystery and add to the drama that is targeted by the director.
The fact that the woman enters the lift surrounded by males suggests she is weak, but the quick time in which she completes the assault course shows her passion and strength.
Thursday, 10 February 2011
This is the email we have sent the the hospital requesting permission to film on their premises.
Hi again,
Its Nikki-Leigh Rogers who you previously spoke too on the phone. I am a media student from Loreto College in Hulme on Chichester Road. I am emailing you about our request to use a corridor in your hospital for our film location.
i thought i would give you some information about the course we are involved in and what we need to do. We are doing our A-Level in Media Studies and are in our first year producing our AS. This project is worth 50% of our final mark, so therefore we are taking this very seriously, we need to produce a film opening of a genre of our choice. We have picked a Horror/Thriller and believe that a hospital location is the most effective. In order to make it as powerful as we hope it will be, it would be really helpful if we could use your hospital to film a girl (who will be a student from our college) walking down the corridor in a white gown (which we will provide) with lights flicking on and off. However this could also be emphasised in the editing process so it would not disturb your routines at the hospital. We have to include detailed planning in this project so i can reassure you that we will be organised and be very quick in the process.
The dates we would ideally like to film are any date from the week beginning from the Monday the 7th of March to the Friday 18th after four o'clock. We would most probably only need to use two of these dates for a maximum of a couple of hours each. We are open to any of those dates which would be most convenient to the hospital.
There would be a maximum of four people involved in this project all of whom are AS media student at Loreto College. We are, NIkki-leigh Rogers, Billy Greenall, Kiera Molloy and Ruben Milner-Edwards. If you have any further questions or requests and would like to email our teacher his email is slewis1@loreto.ac.uk. Or you could email me on this email address for any detailed questions.
Thank you for this possible opportunity.
Nikki-Leigh Rogers.
In our planning process we have discussed various film locations that have a disturbing effect on the audience for horror/thriller genre. We have introduced the idea of filming our opening in a hospital corridor as this normal connotes terror and isolation having the effect of a 'shiver down your spine'. As we believe this location never fails to create an unsettling effect we have looked into filming at our local hospitals. So, we have contacted the fundraising volunteer department at Withington Hospital and now are dealing with negotiations in order to recieve a agreement with them.
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
For our preliminary we have created a short film to show the various shots we have used to create different effects. For example, we began our task with an extreme long shot of Kiera sat in the church. Low key lighting is used, showing the darkness which relates back to her enclosed privacy. This illustrates the emptiness and lonely surrounding of the setting.
We then used a Medium shot of Ruben walking into the church. This was to instantly create a connection with him and feel empathetic as he played an important character. Meanwhile, we could also see the surrounding background, which relates back to the darkness in the church. A long shot of Ruben and Kiera sat down indicates to the viewers the loneliness suggesting it is a quiet and deserted place.
Furthermore, an eye line match was used focusing on Ruben as he idolises the statue. This is an important part of the sequence as it shows a religious symbol. Also it reflects Rubens belief, which suggests it is important to him. The eye line match then focuses on the statue as a low angle shot. This shows the statue is important, which was very useful in the task. In the task we have also used shots such as an extreme close up. For instance, this shows the disturbance of the church which is a key feature as it breaks the peace full, calm atmosphere. This worked well and was a good part of our sequence as it shown the viewers information without dialogue.
A two-shot was also used, focusing on Ruben and Kiera. This shows their connection to the viewers. The wide range of shots selection we used were good and angled correctly. They showed different effects for instance, the difference between the extreme long shot and the extreme close up. However, we could improve on our organisation skills and the quality of the shaky cinematography.
Having this experience has taught us more effective techniques of camerawork. For example, at the start of our preliminary task we cut the head of one of the characters and some of the frames were longer than they needed to be, this made the prelimanory task over two minuteswhen it only needed to be a maximum of 40 seconds. As a result, we have learned to make frames shorter and link together more effectively through our mistakes, such as following the character walking which takes up valuable time, we have learned that we can clear these errors in our piece by employing jump cuts, match cuts and cutaways.
Thursday, 3 February 2011
This is a shot list we have created of our Preliminary Task - showing a student being disrespectful in the Church.
shot 1. extreme long shot of Kiera sat in the church.
shot 2. medium shot of Ruben walking into the church
shot 3. Long shot showing Kiera and Ruben sat down in the church
shot 4. eye line match of Ruben looking at the statue
shot 5. low angle shot looking up to the statue
shot 6. insert of Kiera's phone ringing
shot 7. two shot of Ruben reaction of kiera answering the phone
shot 8. close up of Ruben praying
shot 9. shot reverse shot of Ruben and kiera talking
shot 10. high angle shot of kiera on the phone
shot 11. long shot of Ruben walking away