On Friday myself and the girls in my group sat around brainstorming different locations where we could film and ideas, as we did receive an email from our local castle letting us know that we would be restricted with filming in most areas of their ground. We were quite sad about this but we decided to all just view it as a learning curve, so straight away we began to reconsider where we could film.
We wanted our location not to be stereotypical for our thriller genre, we wanted somewhere that wouldn't obviously be perceived as a 'scary' place. That is when we came up with the idea of filming in our local Cinema! It is a small cinema with just one screening room and naturally has quite a creepy vibe, perfect for our short film! This location would be interesting as we are already breaking thriller conventions as nobody would expect something bad to happen in a small-town cinema.
Jasmin has taken the role on of contacting the cinema to enquire about us filming there. Fingers crossed they will be just as excited about it as us. Trying to get access to film in public places is seeming to have its obstacles, however I think that we will eventually find the right place to film and it has actually helped us to develop new, exciting ideas that we may not have considered before.
In the meantime I have decided to do a bit of research into the history of our local cinema to see if I can find anything strange to evoke storylines for our short film. Here is what I have found so far...
The cinema was built on the site of the nineteenth-century town market and museum, and at one time the old town gaol had also stood there.
This instantly caught my attention!! It couldn't get any creepier! Perhaps we could use this history to promote our film and create a buzz? We are still discussing narrative but I definitely love this location and think that we could be on to something!
Sunday, 30 June 2013
Thursday, 27 June 2013
Investigating Theories - Do we have our own minds?
This past week I have been looking into Michel Foucault's Theory of power and knowledge through discourse.
Michel Foucault believes that the knowledge surrounding us is what shapes us, for example a child cannot know anything but what is communicated by those around them. Therefore, he believes that we are hugely influenced by the information presented to us by the media and ultimately it creates our identity.
This got me thinking...What do I believe? Do we have our own minds?
Can we be entirely influenced by the images that we see?
MY EXAMPLE: After contemplating these tricky questions I have come to the conclusion based on my own experiences and opinions on the power of the media. The example I am going to use relates to a modern day issue concerning young females and males with weight issues. The media has drove in to our minds and depicted to us through films, magazines, shop advertisements the 'correct' way to look, mainly conveying body shapes as unrealistically skinny.
Over the last 5 years I think that the media has begun to realise the effect that this unhealthy image that they have been conveying has had on people and have now begun to use more plus size models and almost trying to rectify their mistakes.
Despite being smart enough to realise that the media is conveying false representations of how I should look, I still think that what they are conveying can have a subconscious effect on people. For example, when I look through fashion magazines and see perfect looking females with slim physiques, I know that they probably don't actually look like that and have probably been manipulated on Photoshop, however it still subconsciously has an effect on me and makes me want to look like that because that is what the media is feeding to me, as the 'correct' way to look. I think that the media does have more power over our thoughts and opinions than we like to think, even if we don't always realise it.
I then began to look into how Foucault's theory could relate to the film genre that my group is going to pursue which is...'Documentary Thriller' and here are some questions I came up with:
Does the media shape our fears?
Could Horror/Thriller films be mentally dangerous for us, perhaps de-sensitizing our brains when it comes to reality?
I found this website on desensitization...
http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/can-media-violence-desensitize-you
I think that this article is really interesting and I believe that we have been exposed to so many action/horror scenes through the media that now when we witness horrible things in real life, such as terrorism acts, our brains almost don't know how to react anymore, switching to and from what is actually real and what's not.
By producing a realistic short film we could evoke these different emotions in our audience, making our film more engaging and perhaps relatable to them in some way. After all, after doing some research into why people enjoy thrillers to begin with, I found that it is because our brains like that feeling of being scared and movies are ideal because people know that they will still come out of the cinema alive!
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/25/why-our-brains-love-horror-movies-fear-catharsis-a-sense-of-doom.html
Foucault also claims that 'we believe what we are shown' and I do think that there is some truth to this statement. Below I have related this to our Thriller genre. The images show two different perspectives of a forest, the first image looks peaceful and inviting, however, the second looks much more daunting.
Refering back to the theory, these pictures of forests should not create any fear to us humans, but they do, and I believe that this is because of the media and how they convey to us that forests are dark places where murders happen and we believe them.
When ultimately isn't the idea that the media can actually make our hearts beat faster about something, our hands grow sweatier and actually control our fears, much scarier than a simple forest?
This theory really got me thinking and has offered me some very interesting things to consider when creating our own film.
Michel Foucault believes that the knowledge surrounding us is what shapes us, for example a child cannot know anything but what is communicated by those around them. Therefore, he believes that we are hugely influenced by the information presented to us by the media and ultimately it creates our identity.
This got me thinking...What do I believe? Do we have our own minds?
Can we be entirely influenced by the images that we see?
MY EXAMPLE: After contemplating these tricky questions I have come to the conclusion based on my own experiences and opinions on the power of the media. The example I am going to use relates to a modern day issue concerning young females and males with weight issues. The media has drove in to our minds and depicted to us through films, magazines, shop advertisements the 'correct' way to look, mainly conveying body shapes as unrealistically skinny.
Over the last 5 years I think that the media has begun to realise the effect that this unhealthy image that they have been conveying has had on people and have now begun to use more plus size models and almost trying to rectify their mistakes.
Despite being smart enough to realise that the media is conveying false representations of how I should look, I still think that what they are conveying can have a subconscious effect on people. For example, when I look through fashion magazines and see perfect looking females with slim physiques, I know that they probably don't actually look like that and have probably been manipulated on Photoshop, however it still subconsciously has an effect on me and makes me want to look like that because that is what the media is feeding to me, as the 'correct' way to look. I think that the media does have more power over our thoughts and opinions than we like to think, even if we don't always realise it.
I then began to look into how Foucault's theory could relate to the film genre that my group is going to pursue which is...'Documentary Thriller' and here are some questions I came up with:
Does the media shape our fears?
Could Horror/Thriller films be mentally dangerous for us, perhaps de-sensitizing our brains when it comes to reality?
I found this website on desensitization...
http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/can-media-violence-desensitize-you
I think that this article is really interesting and I believe that we have been exposed to so many action/horror scenes through the media that now when we witness horrible things in real life, such as terrorism acts, our brains almost don't know how to react anymore, switching to and from what is actually real and what's not.
By producing a realistic short film we could evoke these different emotions in our audience, making our film more engaging and perhaps relatable to them in some way. After all, after doing some research into why people enjoy thrillers to begin with, I found that it is because our brains like that feeling of being scared and movies are ideal because people know that they will still come out of the cinema alive!
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/25/why-our-brains-love-horror-movies-fear-catharsis-a-sense-of-doom.html
Foucault also claims that 'we believe what we are shown' and I do think that there is some truth to this statement. Below I have related this to our Thriller genre. The images show two different perspectives of a forest, the first image looks peaceful and inviting, however, the second looks much more daunting.
Refering back to the theory, these pictures of forests should not create any fear to us humans, but they do, and I believe that this is because of the media and how they convey to us that forests are dark places where murders happen and we believe them.
When ultimately isn't the idea that the media can actually make our hearts beat faster about something, our hands grow sweatier and actually control our fears, much scarier than a simple forest?
This theory really got me thinking and has offered me some very interesting things to consider when creating our own film.
Monday, 17 June 2013
Researching different films
As we have now decided on a specific film genre (Thriller/Documentary style) I can begin to research some similar films to this genre, to inspire our own film. Below are some of the films I have researched...
Cloverfield
On youtube I found this trailer from the film 'Cloverfield' which gives you a basic summary and style of the film. One of the things I noticed and really liked was the way that the start of the film seemed so realistic and normal, the party was believable because of the jump cutting of the camera footage and also the silly script was typical for a group of friends enjoying each other's company. Watching the film, you actually begin to forget that it is a movie as you feel like you are just viewing someone's normal home video until the lights cut off and the panic begins.
This style definitely works really well when creating a thriller film and I think that our own short movie should possess similar realistic qualities to make the thriller aspect of the film even more shocking when it arrives.
The Blair Witch Project
I particularly liked the start of this film where it shows a statement telling the audience that three students have disappeared in the woods, offering post modernism and realism immediately to the film. That opening section draws you into the movie straight away as there is now that tense ambiguity whether or not the following film holds some element of truth.
The soundtrack at the start of the trailer is extremely tense and the heavy base instantly sets the feel for the rest of the film. It is effective because it is not too obvious to the viewer that there is a soundtrack. The simplicity of the one long note works very well and fits the 'documentary' genre perfectly because it is supposed to be real therefore it wouldn't work if there was a stereotypical creepy soundtrack throughout the film because it would ruin the authenticity of the story.
I think that for our film the soundtrack needs to be very minimal and subtle. we want to build the tension using soundtrack but not in an obvious way.
I also liked the fact that the held-hand cam had a grainy effect, once again making the footage realistic. This is definitely something that our group could replicate with our film. Similar to the Blair Witch Project we could also base our short film on student filmmakers working on some type of project which could turn into something much much more. I will present this idea to my group for the next lesson and we can discuss ways of developing the idea but also how we could challenge it.
Reading through some of the feedback online for this trailer, to gain inspiration, I come across a comment which said...'The witch was only in their mind. "if you believe in something it comes true" their mind was playing tricks on them.' This really inspired me and got me thinking. Perhaps our own film should explore this quote, "if you believe in something it comes true" a film conveying weird, peculiar events but never knowing if it is actually happening to them or just in their imagination.
Cloverfield
This style definitely works really well when creating a thriller film and I think that our own short movie should possess similar realistic qualities to make the thriller aspect of the film even more shocking when it arrives.
The Blair Witch Project
I particularly liked the start of this film where it shows a statement telling the audience that three students have disappeared in the woods, offering post modernism and realism immediately to the film. That opening section draws you into the movie straight away as there is now that tense ambiguity whether or not the following film holds some element of truth.
The soundtrack at the start of the trailer is extremely tense and the heavy base instantly sets the feel for the rest of the film. It is effective because it is not too obvious to the viewer that there is a soundtrack. The simplicity of the one long note works very well and fits the 'documentary' genre perfectly because it is supposed to be real therefore it wouldn't work if there was a stereotypical creepy soundtrack throughout the film because it would ruin the authenticity of the story.
I think that for our film the soundtrack needs to be very minimal and subtle. we want to build the tension using soundtrack but not in an obvious way.
I also liked the fact that the held-hand cam had a grainy effect, once again making the footage realistic. This is definitely something that our group could replicate with our film. Similar to the Blair Witch Project we could also base our short film on student filmmakers working on some type of project which could turn into something much much more. I will present this idea to my group for the next lesson and we can discuss ways of developing the idea but also how we could challenge it.
Reading through some of the feedback online for this trailer, to gain inspiration, I come across a comment which said...'The witch was only in their mind. "if you believe in something it comes true" their mind was playing tricks on them.' This really inspired me and got me thinking. Perhaps our own film should explore this quote, "if you believe in something it comes true" a film conveying weird, peculiar events but never knowing if it is actually happening to them or just in their imagination.
Friday, 14 June 2013
Deciding on a Genre
After looking at the website showing popular films under different genres with the group, we decided that we would like to try and make a Thriller/Documentary styled short film. Films such as 'Cloverfield' and 'The Blair Witch Project' inspired us to try the thriller genre and the hand-held camera effect. We also feel that it is a different technique that none of us have tried before and seems like a good challenge and will deffinitely be a step up from our AS opening sequence to a film. We are really looking forward to trying this new way of filming and will further develop our film making skills.
We are currently now discussing narrative and so far we have thought about the idea of filming at our local castle, playing around with the idea of post modernism by making our short film seem like a normal tourist video at first and then the thriller aspect slowly unfolding. After discussing these rough ideas we have contacted the castle and are currently waiting for more information on whether or not we will have access to filming. As soon as we hear from them we can start to further plan the film narrative and begin to produce storyboards etc.
We are currently now discussing narrative and so far we have thought about the idea of filming at our local castle, playing around with the idea of post modernism by making our short film seem like a normal tourist video at first and then the thriller aspect slowly unfolding. After discussing these rough ideas we have contacted the castle and are currently waiting for more information on whether or not we will have access to filming. As soon as we hear from them we can start to further plan the film narrative and begin to produce storyboards etc.
Monday, 10 June 2013
Research-Making decisions
Today my group sat down and discussed what type of film we would like to produce. We discussed different genres and I then went on the internet to research different genre types, I came across this website...http://www.imdb.com/genre/ which lists most film genres and examples of different films. I will show this to my group and we can discuss which is our favourite and would be the best one to produce our own film on.
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