Thursday, December 11, 2008

INTRODUCTION TO FINAL CUT PRO


We were given a tutorial on Final Cut Pro, so we could get used to the software and learn how to use it.
Here is a link to a FINAL CUT PRO TUTORIAL:



Wednesday, December 10, 2008

LOGO IDEAS



These are some of our original logo ideas. We photoshoped an image of a crystal to make it different colours. However in the end we decided that these was to simple and used another logo that encorparated the name of our logo.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Movie Posters


These are 3 movie posters, for sucessfull horror films. These give us an idea of what attracts an audience to a horror film and what the audience finds frightening.

The Script For Our Film 'Violet'

EXT. WOODS – DUSK


THE EERIE SOUND OF THE NURSERY RHYME “RING-A-RING A ROSES” AS BELLA THOMAS AND VIOLET SING WHILE SITTING IN THE WOODS

Bella Thomas is around the age of five. Her short blonde hair and big blue eyes emphasize the innocence contained within her face. Her face looks content as she sits with Violet. She wears a pink dress with a jumper and tights. She looks like the modern day young girl.

Violet is a similar age to Bella if not slightly older. Her face is abnormally pale and cold looking. She has a creepy aura around her, which would affect any adult; however Bella Thomas is not affected by it. She holds a pair of rusty scissors and a Barbie. She cuts off body parts while singing and drops them around her.

There lies a pile of dolls between and around them. Some are dissembled, while others are whole. Tall towering trees surround them; they are in the neck of the woods. It is almost pitch black.

HEAVY FOOTSTEPS AND HARD BREATHING is heard as Kate Thomas is running through the same woods. She holds a torch in her hand and her gentle eyes show a panicked look. Her blonde hair flies around her face in the wind. Despite her obvious panic she looks beautiful and incredibly likeable. She searches the woods frantically with her eyes.

KATE
(Anxiously)
Bella! Bella!

Kate Thomas hears the singing of “Ring-A-Ring a Roses”. Upon hearing this, her face softens slightly and she slows her jog to a brisk walk. She follows the voice and soon sees a girl in the distance of the woods sitting alone. She shines her torch at her and sees it is Bella. Kate’s face becomes obviously worried as she observes the rusty scissors and destroyed dolls. Bella continues to sing.

BELLA
Hi Mummy.

KATE
What are you doing out here? You know you can’t go out here alone. Never do that to me again. Ok?

Bella looks confused and upset at her mother’s sudden rashness and anger.

BELLA
I’m just playing.

Kate’s concern continues to grow on her face. She is disturbed and worried by what she just saw.

KATE
Come on. We’re going home.

She smiles and waves at Violet, but to Kate she is saying goodbye to nothingness.

Kate picks up Bella and holds her tightly. She cradles her head and looks into her eyes. She slowly walks to the outskirts of the woods. A house comes into view. It’s large and of the Tudor era. The lighting of the interior contrasts against the dark outdoors. The house is surrounded by woods and isolated from any cities or towns.

Violet is in view again. She is sitting alone in the same spot we last saw her. She stands slowly. Her black hair covers her face in the wind. The innocence of her eyes is replaced with anger. Her white dress flows around her feet and blows in the wind. She slowly walks in the direction of Kate and Bella. Her walk has an odd air of determination and evil despite her age.

My Group

My group for the horror film, is Me, Ruby, Anna and Adam.
We have come up with some good ideas for are horror film, mainly adapting Ruby's idea of the film 'Violet'.
We are having some problems agreeing things, but we are generally working well as a group

Top 10 Horror Films



10. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1990)
Yeeeesh. When you think you've become jaded, when you think you've seen it all, and that nothing you could possibly see in a movie could bother you -- please, by all means, watch this movie. After seeing hours of stylized, glossy, slicked-up violence dished out by the Jasons and Freddy's of the silver screen, this movie is a real fucking wake-up call. Disturbingly realistic in a flat, stark, almost documentary-like style, there is absolutely nothing glamorous about this movie. It will mess you up bad. Worth seeing, but really, really, unsetlling. See it with a friend who won't hate you for making them watch it.

9. Dead Ringers (1988)
Easily one of the best films by David Cronenberg, the most twisted and messed-up director I know (I love his work). I almost hesitate to call this a horror film; it doesn't have the trappings of a traditional horror film, doesn't have the pacing of one. What it does do is slowly unfold the unsettling, disturbing breakdown of two identical twins, both expertly played by Jeremy Irons with the aid of some flawless split-screen work.

8. 28 Days Later (2002)
It never occurred to me that the director of Trainspotting would ever turn his hand to reinventing the zombie genre, but he certainly did -- he took everything that works about it and stripped away everything else, investing what remains with an amazing depth of compassion for his characters, a sweeping sense of scale for what the world has lost.

7. The Shining (1980)
I've had a recent conversion experience over this one. I'd seen it on video, and I always used to find it kind of boring -- but I got talked into seeing it on the big screen, and I finally got it. It really needs a cinema screen to convey the sense of scale and isolation, and now I love it. (I still think Jack Torrance's slow descent into madness would seem more convincing if they hadn't cast Jack Nicholson, who seems a little unhinged at the start of the movie, but what the hell.)

6. The Ring (2002)
I don't remember the last time I was this scared in a movie theater. The original version isn't as good, in some respects -- both of them have their plot holes and leaps of logic, but the original's Sadako is even more creepy and terrifying than the remake's Samara, if you can believe that.

5. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
I saw the 1990 remake long before I ever saw the original, and for quite a while, I honestly thought I prefered the remake, at least partly because it has the talents of the incomparable Tony Todd and Babylon 5's Patricia Tallman behind it. But when it came time to compile this list, I realized that only one of the two had really managed to burn its images into my brain, and that was the original. The original may feel a little stilted and dated in some ways compared to the remake, but it's got a power to it that just can't be denied.

4. Dark Water (2002)
The American remake is a perfectly serviceable little film, and has some decent scares in it, but the original Japanese film is really, really unsettling. I had a hard time going into elevators after seeing it. And I never thought I'd be quite so scared of a little pink backpack.

3. Audition (1999)
Okay, I'm going to make kind of an anti-recommendation here, okay? If you're just looking through this list because you're looking for something kind of scary for a date, or for a party, don't -- don't pick this one, all right? Physically brutal, psychologically off-kilter, this movie is fairly brilliant -- but don't see it unless you're sure you really want to.

2.The Haunting (1963)
What can I possibly say about this movie that could convey the creepy feeling it provides? In some ways, this movie is a little stilted and dated, but no other film has ever really matched its atmosphere of oppression and dread. The characters are well-drawn, neurotic and compelling; the house really feels haunted, with shifting perspectives and weird trappings; and the writers and directors had the sense to know that what we don't see is much, much worse than anything they could put on the screen. (Too bad the makers of the 1999 remake couldn't figure that out. Avoid the remake as if your life depended on it.)

1. Hellraiser (1987)
For me, nothing else comes close. The directing debut of my favorite author, Clive Barker, Hellraiser is a charming little tale of passions taken too far; it's a movie that isn't afraid to show gore, but does so for a reason. Hellraiser is an intelligent, thoughtful film, that sets up its own logic, its own reality, and its own mythology. Strikingly innovative, it raised the bar for horror films.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

HORROR FILM TREATMENT OF ORIGINAL IDEA

ACT 1


1) A good looking woman in her mid 20s walks down a busy London street, she seems agitated. Her phone rings, so she answers it and begins a conversation.

2) She comes to a road crossing and without looking either way darts into the road. A car speeds towards her, stopping suddenly just before it hits her. The man driving the car, just stares at her. He has a slightly creepy ora about him. Not the least disconserted she carries on walking across the road and into her office building.

3) She walks out of her office and down the road to the local sandwich shop. She goes inside, orders her food and sits down at a table. At the table opposite her an older man in his 40s is sitting reading the newspaper

4) She is on her way home, from her from work and gets on the tube as usual. A man comes and sits next to her. She gets up and off the train, out of the station and begins walking down the road towards her house. She enters the house, removes her coat places her back in the hallway and goes upstairs to her bedroom.

5)She goes into the ensuite bathroom and begins washing her face. From downstairs she thinks she hears a noise, but she ignores it and carries on washing. She opens the bathroom door and sees a man sitting on her bed. A look of shock is seen on her face and she screams. He grabs her pulling her onto the bed, and overpowering her sits on top of her as she lies on the bed. With one hand he grabs her neck and with the other he reaches into his pocket, pulling out many photographs and throws them at her. They are many pictures all of her - he is clearly infatuated with her. He puts his other hand around her necks and slowly tightens his grip, until she is dead. He gets up and smashes the picture on the bedside table of the woman and a good looking blonde man in his late 20s.

ACT 2

1)A slightly dishellved and rugged looking man in his 40s leaves his house and gets into his car. He starts the engine and drives off. He comes to a busy road and driving down at full speed almost knocks over a pretty, well dressed woman in her mid 20s. She stops the car suddenly, just avoiding hitting her. He stays silent, instead just stares continuiosly at her, in a slightly creepy manner.

2)He watches the woman walk across the road, before driving around the corner. There he stops the car and sits there watching the opposing office block. He has his phone in his hand and often glances at it, looking at something on the screen

3)After a while he gets out of his car and walks down the road a nearby sandwich shop. He sits at a table reading the newspaper. A woman walks in (the same one he almost run over), she doesn’t acknowledge him and just places in order and sits at a table.

4)He stays there staring at the woman until she leaves. After she has left he gets up and returns to her car. He sits there until the woman leaves her office. He then gets out his car and follows the women down the road into the tube station. He stands next to her as they wait for the train, and once it comes he takes a seat next to her. He watching her get up to leave the train, so he follows. He walks a few metres behind her down the road and waits across from her house as she enters inside.

5)After a while of waiting he climbs over her back fence and smashes the back window with his foot. He slowly makes his way upstairs towards her bedroom and opens the door, he looks around sees her in the ensuite bathroom. He takes a seat on her white bed, just out of her sight. He sees her open the bathroom door, and scream. He grabs her pulling her onto the bed, and overpowering her sits on top of her as she lies on the bed. With one hand he grabs her neck and with the other he reaches into his pocket, pulling out many photographs and throws them at her. They are many pictures all of her - he is clearly infatuated with her. He puts his other hand around her necks and slowly tightens his grip, until she is dead. He gets up and smashes the picture on the bedside table of the woman and a good looking blonde man in his late 20s.

ACT 3

1)A man in his late 20s arrives at the house and seeing the broken glass, immediately calls the police. He goes round to the front door and unlocks the door with his key. He walks slowly into the house and begins to walk upstairs. When he reaches the bedroom, he walks in and sees the woman lying there. He goes over to her and sees the pictures surrounding her body. Realising she is dead he breakdowns in hysteric tears on the floor.

2)Shortly after the police arrive and baracade the front door, breaking it down and climb the stairs slowly. The see the dead woman on the bed and the man in hysterics on the floor beside her. One policeman stays with the man and woman and another policeman searches around the house.

The policeman reaches a small dark room at the end of the corridor and enters it, with his gun in his hands. Crouched down in the corner is a man, crying quitely. He feels great remorse for his actions, as he was in love with the woman. The policeman places handcuffs on him, which he doesn’t resist. The policeman leads him out the room

Horror Pitch Feedback

Jamie
Title: Working Title

Good Ideas:
-Black men (unidentifiable features)
-Opening, girl in white room is good
-Ends on a climax

Problems:
-However I don't understand how the opening sequence links to the rest of the film
-More detail about the characters

Commission:
-Probably, but some parts of film need to be developed and work out how to film them


Alex
Title: Working Title

Good Ideas:
-Black book
-Unique
-Realism

Problems:
-Storyline needs developing
-Need to adapt the ending
-Need more background to characters

Commission:
-Maybe, will need to develop the plot

Friday, October 17, 2008

The Hole

One of my favourite Horror films is The Hole.

Information about the film can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hole_(2001_film)

Trailers:

http://movies.virginmedia.com/player/default.asp?url=/film/fid304/trailers/trid383/wm/bb.asx&filmid=304&trid=383&partner=virgin&sec=trl&psec=
http://movies.virginmedia.com/player/default.asp?url=/film/fid304/trailers/trid426/wm/bb.asx&filmid=304&trid=426&partner=virgin&sec=trl&psec=
Information and Review:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0242527/

An example of a preliminary task from our class

This was our first attempt at filming and then editing a film. It was quite challenging, as we were not used to using final cut pro or handling the cameras, but we ended up with a good finished production. We used many different shot times, amd the closeups in particular were very efffective.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Practical Lesson With Matt, Vicky & Bex (15/09/08)

USING A FUJI FINEPIX S900 DIGITAL STILL CAMERA

We were taught to use a digital still camera and how to take different shots.
What I learnt:

  • Turning the Wheel - Changes the shutter speed.
  • Aperture - The eye of the camera, what lets let in. (e.g. if you were taking a picture of the moon at night, you would need to let lots of light in, aperture, but would also have to take a picture with a fast shutter speed, to avoid blurring the image)
  • Rule of Thirds - An image can be divided into nine equal parts by two horizontal lines and two vertical lines. The four crosses formed by these lines are then the focal point of the screen, (where you put the most important things)
  • Looking Space - Give the object/person you are photographing, space to look into, so you are intrigued to what they are looking at

We were given a task to take 6 shots on a theme outside. We had to take at least one shot shot of each of the following: Close Up (C.U.), Extreme Close Up (E.C.U.), Mid Shot (M.S.), Long Shot (L.S.), Wide Shot (W.S.), Low Angle, High Angle.

Why I Chose Media.

I did Media Studies for GCSE and really enjoyed it, achieving an A grade at the end of the course. It was my favourite subject, and as the media department at Hurtwood is known for being very good, I decided to do it for AS.
I like working practically, for example filming our preliminary sequences and designing film posters. I have really enjoyed what I have done in Media Studies so far and it works well with my other subjects. Hopefully it will also be useful for a future career, as I hope to work in the media industry in someway, probably through fashion.