THE DRESS!

Sophie won the war on ebay and got us the dressssss! So happy that we now have the costume for the main character and can I just say, it looks great on you Sophie. It didn't cost a lot either which is good. I am even more excited to start filming now.

Elena's Skills

Elena has great skills creating these gory effects which are perfect for the harmed people in our film opening. below are a few images of the work she's done previously and I cannot wait to see what she is going to do for the characters in our film.

Analysing Blitz

This film opening from a student was found on Pete's blog. It's amazing, from the steadiness of the person holding the camera to the characters in the sequence. I feel this is a successful film opening as it made me want to know what happens next and gave me chills watching it. Also, my eyes could not lay off the screen when I clicked that play button.

The font used to introduce the production company was relevant as it looked formal and harsh. Also the establishing shot immediately showed the viewer what time in history the film was remaking. The props such as the posters, pictures, old radio and typewriter showed us the film was based on The World War. I also loved their choice of sound. It sounds like an officer preaching or something like that. the lighting in the room was perfect as it was eery and dark, setting the mood of the film.

I ABSOLUTELY ADORE the shot where the man walks into the little girls room. His large silhouette shows his dominance and the girl gasping immediately tells the audience he is an evil man. i love the fact that this film opening doesn't tell us the whole story but leaves it to our imagination. The final bomb that blows off and the darkness after the man opens the door was great as it made me want to know what was going to happen next.

Later on in the clip it travels forward in time, 60 years later. I love the fact that the man that broke into the little girls room was holding a torch as this allows us to see only what he sees making us feel as though we are there with him. The shot of the toy clown on the floor was wise to include as, personally, I find clowns creepy sometimes and other people also do.

The colour of the book that the man picks up off the floor was red. The choice of colour was clever as red usually symbolises danger and because he picks it up, it shows danger is about to arrive. Coincidently, after flicking through a few pages of the book, a dark figure glides past the man. That freaked me out! and then BAM! This masked girl appears with some gloomy sound of a young child in the background. I love it sometimes when the creepy character is wearing a mask rather than a slashed face as it leaves what's beneath to the imagination and it's just generally scary. 'We all fall down' followed by an evil girl's laugh... superb! WIKED FILM OPENING. I hope we produce something as amazing as this.

Shooting Location

I had been surfing through Sophie's blog and found these cool shots she took from Grovelands park. I think it's a great choice of location as we can all make it there; the area is just how I pictured it and it is perfect for what we want to achieve. I personally haven't seen that park before, but judging by these pictures, I'm looking forward to starting the shooting!

Plasticine Storyboard

Okay, this could've gone better. As much as it looks like it was easy, it wasn't! but we still managed to do it. Our group decided to be spontaneous and create a plasticise storyboard. We thought about practicing this way as it allowed us to see what angles look best and give us an idea of what we wanted to achieve.

Reverse shots!

Some fantastic reverse shots from Wales and around the corner! Our team had this stage where we were obsessed with putting a reverse effect on our videos but I think it was all for the better as the results we got from them were pretty cool. We've all also come to the conclusion that we will be using some of these particular shots for our film company bit at the beginning of our film opening. I think we should use the Wales waves because it looks awesome and i've never seen anything like it. We still haven't discussed our film companies name but I am sure we'll get to it at the end. For now, we're just going to focus on the final product and make sure it is as amazing as we pictured it.

Discussion In Starbucks

A couple of days ago me and my 'hard-working' team decided to have a coffee evening after school to discuss our media thoughts. Spending tine at Starbucks was one the most efficient things we had ever thought of doing as we managed to finalise the plot for our final film. We thought of continuing on with the thriller genre but adding a psychological touch to it. We decided to include a protagonist with schizophrenia and have the theme based on love... but a disturbing and eerie kind of love. Hopefully our group will finally be able to produce a vlog with ALL of us together where we'd be able to mention our story that we want to base our final film opening on and anything else we might of forgot to introduce. Below is a 'wonderful' image of me and Sophie writing down some notes and jotting some ideas, whilst Elena (Mrs 'don't wanna be in front of the camera') took the image. Even further down are images of some of the notes about our final film opening...

Practicing With The Reverse Effects

OMG, I'M A GENUIS. After a few difficulties with the format of our video not being compatible with iMovie, I finally managed to figure out a way to make it work! Thank me later Elena and Sophie.

Here is our attempt at using the reverse effect on our film, I think it looks rather supirior. I managed to fiddle around with iMovie at home and put this short clip together. I tried my best to find relevant music and thought I should use a more up beat and intense track to compliment the footage and continued on with our black and white themed film. I enjoyed filming them both and was tremendously proud of the outcome.

alt-J (∆) Breezeblocks

This is a outstanding example of a reverse technique used in this film. Our group were thinking of using this approach towards our final film opening as we were fond of the effects it gives the audience. It also enhances the movement included in the clip as it's motion is slowed down and you can see clearly all the action.

Practice Filming (Still Shots)

Above are a few still images of some footage we made last lesson. Our group are finally back together again as Elena has come back and we managed to get some footage of practice filming. Above, there are still shots of the clips. I was the camera woman again and director. I love being behind the camera and I feel Elena and Sophie have done an AMAZING effort in being the actresses. It took us quite some time to get the best shots as we all lost concentration from Sophie abusing Elena; but managed to get it together and complete our target at the end.

Sophie's Trip To Wales

I managed to steal some photo's I found on Sophie's blog from her trip to Wales that I found most interesting. I love the location and the ominous, vintage look to the cathedral she discovered.

Horror Opening Sequence

Here is a horrific film opening made by a group from another school. We discussed and watched it in class and I decided to upload it on my blog as I thought it was a great example of something we'd like to achieve by the end of this course. From the effects to the use of music, this opening sequence gave me chills and was most certainly creepy. It also made me think about whether we should start with our soundtrack or filming first. I personally think we should begin by finding the audio, as we can build and be inspired by the sounds we hear on the soundtrack.

Thoughts on what we could include...

Finally a vlog with one of my team members!

Practicing with Effects

 

Yet again... my 'amazing' acting skills were used! We wanted to experiment with the camera and effects to create this short clip. Sophie was the camera woman; making sure the positioning was still. We decided to do a longshot of Palace Gardens but, unfortunately, we got in trouble for shooting there so we had to switch locations, so we chose the market. A reason to why we decided on shooting in the market is because it is quite a busy area and we thought it would be perfect for the effect we were going for. After a few interruptions by the market stall owners (who insisted on making me laugh and lose concentration), we managed to get the shot we needed. I stood still for a good two minutes whilst the people around me continued to go about their business. We sped up the recording and came up with this pretty cool effect. I feel this kind of scenery is intense as everything is moving around the subject (character) and she looks like she's in deep thought (can I mention my 'magnificent' acting skills again). I and Sophie considered using this technique for our final film opening... I wonder if Elena agrees...

Second Vlog -Practice Task

....Starring Lucy, walking in the background.

First Practice Filming

Here is our practice video. We investigated different camera angles and experimented with music and effects. I thought being behind the camera was great as I had never got the chance to do that before. I realised you need VERY steady hands to be a camera woman and it's not easy to find amazing scenery in Enfield Town. As we're hoping to create a psychologically disillusioned movie entry, we decided to use creepy music and make the video black and white. I'm pretty proud of that!

My First Vlog!

Russell Howard's Good News - Justin Bieber Time Travel

Here's the video from the show Russel Howards Good News that had inspired our script for our preliminary task. I thought it was hilarious.

uh oh... OUTTAKES!

MUST SEE!
Miss Foster guest stars in our outtakes video. Her hand gestures have become viral... we like to call it the bouncing sandwich.

Preliminary Task

Finally our group has completed our prelim! After the disagreements of who's going to star in it... we had decided to pick names from a hat and unfortunately my name was picked, followed by Sophie's. At least me and Sophie got to show off our 'amazing' acting skills. Elena was behind the camera, capturing the shots. She managed to get all my bad angles. THERE IS NO WAY I'm going to be acting in the final movie opening!

Preliminary Exercises

This was a preliminary exercise from the year before the last's media group. I chose to post this one up because, as well as me finding it humerus, I also like the camera angles they've incorporated.

Above are images from last weeks lesson. They are still shots from the preliminary task a couple groups managed to complete during the lesson. I feel our group was lucky to not be the first few recording as I had a chance to examine what I'd have to do for our preliminary shooting; what angles we could uncooperative and what was possible.

BEST Movie Openings

DO NOT WATCH IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH. 'Saw' opening scene's have to be the most amazing for me. Even whilst I type this now, my fingers are shaking! The opening's of these movies always get straight to the point and get my blood rushing emediately.

One Of My Favorite Childhood Books

When I was young, I didnt read much. Untill this day, reading isn't my favorite hobby. I love looking at images and this is why I adored Roald Dahl books. The illustrations were amusing to look at. As well as loving the pictures in the books, I loved the stories, especially 'Matilda'. I've also seen the movie 'Matilda' and think that movie is absolute ledgendary.

'I'm kicking my ass, do you mind?'

I CRY everytime I see this clip. This definately brings out Carrey's dauntless acting skills. This part of the movie 'Liar-Liar' never gets old.

Hilarious Clip From 'Bruce Almighty'

This has to be one of the funniest clips from the movie 'Bruce Almighty' that Jim Carrey Starred in.

One of My Favorite Actors

John Lewis Advertisement

This is a John Lewis advert. An astonishing technique the creator or this advert used was split screening. Not only have they mastered that, they also grasped colliding history to modern day life. The colours were contrasting; the historical side with more of an antique look to it whereas the modern side had a more up-to-date aspect to it. I adored the way they managed to create the timeworn setting and contrast it to the contemporary location they’ve used. I’ve also noticed they’ve used very appropriate music in the background; ‘Two worlds collided and they could never tear us apart’ (a line from the clip).

My Favorite AS Final Video Opening From Last Year

This is one of the final video openings from last year’s AS groups. A few of the reasons why I chose to post this one up is not only the respectable moral the video provides us (don't judge a book by its cover) but also the amazing scenery and how they managed to shoot in every season. I thought their camera angles were interesting especially how they managed to place the camera so accurately in the right places throughout the video.

AS/A2 Media Studies Coarse Booklet

ECS as and A2 Media Studies Course Booklet This link is vital as it gives me all the information I need for my coarse.

Film Making Techniques

this video was extremely helpful as it demonstrates many film making techniques.