Alfred Hitchcock was born on the 13th of August 1899, and died on the 29th April 1980. He was a British born film director and is widely regarded as the master of the thriller genre. He's distinct camera style and vision allowed him to be in the Movie business for 50 years. His camera style matched that of a human's 'gaze' which made his films more involving for the audience. He created great films that became Hollywood classics such As North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960) and Birds(1963). He never watched his movies as he knew what they would look like shot for shot already as he storyboarded every film before he made it.
Quotes "The only way to get rid of my fears is to make films about them"
"There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it"
"Always make the audience suffer as much as possible"
Here is a picture of Hitchcock on a poster for "Alfred Hitchcock presents..." It was a very big thing in america showing 30 minute dramas created by Hitchcock.
As a genre Thrillers are hard to define to one exact type of film, within the thriller genre there can be sub cataories. These can include such things as horror type thriller, Crime thriller, spy thrillers , there are many variations. Thrillers are films that can have a "who done it" fel to them and can generally create alot of questions for the viewer, example of a thriller may be : Source code, The James Bond films, The bourne films , Hostage , Vantage point, Taken.
These are examples of different types of thriller's film posters:
Once we had finished our editing we had to upload our video to Youtube. We did this completing a lot of settings to do with sound, visuals ect that make the video watchable on youtube. We also published our video under the tag "Youtube" in the idea that it may get more views that way.
This is our video that we embedded from Youtube.
When we had finished filming our preliminary task we had to edit it together using Final cut express. The purpose of our editing was to put recorded clips together whilst also cutting out seconds of clips that are unusable or show errors whilst filming. We were able to cut out several shots showing people not concentrating or delaying their words and actions whilst we were filming. This made the conversations alot more believable and free flowing compared to the original footage that showed alot of problems such as stalling. The only problem we had was that we had an ending that was missing roughly a half of a second's worth of footage. The error occurs at the end when michael moves to go out of the door. There are two cuts that make his exit show bad signs of continuity. We got around this problem by adding a fading effect on the two shots showing michael moving to open the door to him walking away from it and walking down the corridor , although it is a mistake it is still passable as a convincing exit from the room, as it shows the images linked together that are shown as he enters in the beginning.
This is a screen shot of us editing clips together using final cut express to make our final film.
We decided to film a hitman style themed film for the Preliminary task. We were allowed to use one of the teacher's offices for our film which made the film a bit more different than others that had used a classroom.
We were able to get some good shots in that showed Michael going towards the door of the room and passing through without making it look un-believable. But at the end of the filming we had a failed attempt to film him coming out of he door. We are not sure why this happened but we are guessing that the record button was pressed twice by mistake, making it cutout certain recorded movements.
It was good to see how different camera angles can effect the conversational flow that is happening on screen, it can really help make the talking more believable as you switch from one person to the next as though you are there with them.
We watched Source code in lesson in order to see different aspects that go into making a good thriller movie. we saw how fast paced action sections and dramatic sections can make the film a lot better and make the audience enjoy it more.
In "source code" we follow the story of US army cpt Colter Stevens, when he has to go back in time utilising the source code technology in order to identify the man who planted a bomb on a train, as it is rumoured he may strike again.
He travels into the last 8 minutes of Sean Fentrice's life, a school teacher in Chicago, played by Jake Gyllenhall , as he attempts to see how the explosion came about.
He struggles to see how going back cannot save the people in the future, this creates a moral dilemma as he struggles to see his place in this mission and why he is in the source code. Once he has come to terms with his mission, he attempts to find the identity of the bomber through various routes.
This is the trailer for source code:
This week we looked at the start of Casino Royale and analysed how different lighting can expose a character for who they are. In the case of casino Royale, in the beginning we see that Bond is lit dimly and only shows half of his face we implies that their is another side to his character, a darker side representing an eviler side. Then in the second part bond is surrounded by light and is completely open, the choice to use white light in the toilet where they are fighting emphasises that there is a gritty side to his job and character, and the fact that he is completely lit shows that this is his true character. That the raw , violent, uncontrollable side to him is more prominent than his sneaky side. Here is the link to the Opening sequence to Casino Royale..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNvzNWuzI9Y
This week we designed a story board based around a comedy chase scene and turned it into an animated story board using final cut express. We had to add notes as to what is going on in the scenes and then upload it on Youtube when it is finished. Then i will post it on my blog.
This week we made a story board surrounding different themes such as comedy action thrillers ect. We had to include different special notes to every scene we drew and why we added them , these include things like sound , music and lighting in a scene.
My story board shows a comedic chase scene with a man being chased through a market and eventually falling into a piece of fruit . I chose the comedy idea because its quite a simple idea to apply is that of a chase, and also because a scene like that is easy to draw as it follows one long action or event but over a long period of time.
Sounds in movies are incredibly important as they can make or break a film. Poorly made sounds can make a film seem cheap and rushed. Where as great sounds can make a quality production. As i mentioned in my last post their are different types of sounds that can affect a film and give different effects .
In order to make a good quality film of my own i need to learn about things that go in to other films that bring up the quality of the production. So this week we have been learning about different aspects of sound and lighting that all have different uses and purposes to represent different feelings ad emotions that you are tying to show in your film. For example if you were to use a low angle shot in a scene , it makes the character in question look tough , manly ect. But if you use a high angle shot shot it could have the opposite effect, making them look small and weak , whilst giving the impression that you are looking down on them. Its the same with sound , there are different types of sound that give different effects and also can give and take realism in a film. The two main types of sound in a film are digetic and non-digetic sound. Digetic sound is sound that is natural to what is being portrayed in the scene , for example, people chatting or a kettle boiling , are natural sounds. Where as non digetic sound is something that doesn't fit in with the natural things on screen , for example a voiceover, as it is recorded separate to the film and added later.
This is an example of low key lighting, which is created by back and key light only.
Welcome to my AS media studies blog! This blog will chart the progress of my foundation portfolio, on it i will include details of work I have done and things we're studying.
