MEETINGS

We discussed the problems we were having in our group to try and overcome them and make our group work together more efficiently. The problems included
- Too little paperwork being done
- More conversations and interactions over blogs needed
- Equipment needs to be used correctly
- Charlotte needs to arrive on time to shoots

These were the four main issues which we figured away to overcome. We allocated different paperwork for different members of the group, we decided to interact more over the blog to show the marker we are communicating well as a team, we decided we would make sure the tripod and camera is set up correctly before every shot, and Charlotte promised she would set her alarm earlier to arrive on time to shoots.

After a few more sessions of editing we noticed there was a lot to re-shoot. Our second shoot is going to be after school on wednesday. Things we need to consider are:
- First shot of the eyes: the camera should pull back to show the audience where the character is, becaure right now, they do not know whether or not she is in the same room as the TV
- The POV shot is too wobbly and needs to be more smooth as if it is from someones perspective
- The establishing shot is too long. There needs to be a few cutaways (maybe have a close up of Charlotte picking up the glass of wine)
- We don't understand why she is switching the TV off. To make it more realistic we could have her switching through the channels to find nothing good coming on TV and then switching it off (A close up of her hand switching the TV off can also be used here)
- In the fridge shot, the reaction shot and the frame within a frame shot do not match. We need to retake both these shots to make the continuity invisible and we need to oil the fridge door to prevent the squeakyness which distracts the audience.
- We need to have more conventional things in the fridge door, in place of carrier bags! Maybe a bottle of water.
- The POV shot of Charlotte through the window is too dark. We could use some outdoor high key lighting to make her more visible
- As she walks back into the house and goes to pick up the phone she, she uses her left hand, yet in the next shot the phone is in her right hand.
- As she goes up the stairs we could have another cutaway to her hand on the stair handle.
- We need to re-shoot the scenes with the phone, with the phone actually ringing as we realised it would be too hard to match the phone and sound together- We would loose the diagetic sound.
- There is a lack of lighting in the last shot, making it look very grainy and unprofessional. We will add more high key lighting to make the copy look of higher quality and more professional.

So there is quite a lot of re-shooting to be done but it should be finished by the end of this week so we can get on with serious editing next week!

Here is a page from the storyboard I drew for our group. It came in very handy as we knew exactly what shots to take and roughly how long they should last. It prevented us from wasting time and shooting un-necessary shots

Real shoot and editing

REAL SHOOT
On saturday 29th December we had our first real shot - it went better than planned! As soon as all the members of the group has arrived we got started straight away and worked right up till the end with only one (fifteen minute) break! We took three of more shots of every shot as we figured this was essential after the number of suprises we had whilst viewing our test shot!
EDITING
We started editing today - began capturing and saving every shot seperately. Looking back at the shots, they looked really professional. The sound and lighting was good throughout, apart from a few at the end of the sequence. Next lesson we will start choosing which shot we liked most out of the three we took for every shot.

IDEAS

Here is a brief story line of my idea:

A teenage girl is sitting at home alone, watching TV downstairs, when she hears peculiar noises and creaks coming from upstairs. She goes upstairs into every room to see where this sound is coming from. She checks every possible room and every possible hiding place yet sees noone. She continues hearing footsteps and decides to call her friend who lives around the corner.
Girl: 'I think someone is in my house, I'm hearing noises upstairs but when I went to check, nobody was there'
Friend: 'Why don't you come to my house and you can stay here for the night, however, leave the phone off the hook incase I hear something'
Girl puts phone down on the table, off the reciever. She walks out the front door making sure she locks it and then runs to her friends house down the road. Just as her friend sees her running to his house from his bedroom window he hears the phone on the other line put back on the reciever.

GROUPS!

We've already been allocated our groups and I am workin with two of my very good friends: Charlotte Cooper and Loren Dodi. This will definitely help cominucation throughout this coursework yet may also cause many distractions and irrelevant conversations! We are all pretty keen media students and know when to get serious with work so I reckon shooting an opening sequence of a horror film will be an amazing experience and we'll do a pretty good job of it!
Our first test shoot was on Monday 24th November. We met up at my house at 13.00 and finished shooting at 19.00 (with breaks inbetween)
The test shoot was extremely useful and gave us starting confidence to shoot the real thing. After watching and reflecting back on the sequence, I realised there are many things I should take into consideration for the real shoot. Reflections on the sequence are on the group blog. The test shoot overall went very well; We accomplished what we were set to do and furthermore, discovered which shots worked well and which ones worked not so well. Because Charlotte and Loren are two of my very good friends, we did get distracted quicly and very often which made the test shoot finish later than expected. As a result we have decided that in the real shoot we are going to have an hour break where we can talk all we want after every two solid hours of media!

BLK feedback

Please keep up with your Stage 1 posting Nisha - you need to show how the project is developing from your own perspective.No evidence for this so far on this blog. Try to avoid long-ish gaps between posts.

Please see the main blog posts for advice on how to proceed with your individual blog if you're not sure what you should be doing.Your evaluation and continuity sequence link? What's going on?

OPENING SEQUENCE

THE RING (2002, Verbinksi)




This opening sequence is one of the best I've ever seen. A spine-chilling, engaging sequence which follows the conventions of a horror opening sequence, yet is individual by not following the Todorev classic narrative theory.
The sequence starts with a low establishing shot of a corridor. At the far end of the shot we see a girl running up the stairs in a skirt and a shirt,(portraying she may be school child) as if she may have just heard a noise. As she walks towards the puddle of water (in the foreground of the shot) her pace slows down, implying to the audience something mysterious is about to occur. The reaction shot really involves the audience as we know exactly how the girl is feeling. The close up of the door knob creates impact and emphasises on the dripping water. This is an enigma shot as the audience urge to know what is on the other side of the door. We are then taken into a long shot of the inside of the room, the audience are not yet sure whether this is her own room or someone elses. We hear a high pitched scream and a cut away to what the girl is looking at - a black and white fuzzy TV screen. The camera then zooms into the girls' shocked face, allowing the audience to empathise with her.
CHARACTER ANALYSIS
The girl is a blonde and looks innocent, making her look vulnerable and naive. She is dressed in a short skirt and an untucked shirt which gives the audience the impression she is a laid back, unorganised girl. Her nails are long and painted implying she is a 'girly-girl.' This allows the audience to sympathise with her as we believe she isn't the type of girl who will be able to defend herself.
SOUND
There is no soundtrack until 0.36 seconds into the sequence. This creates maximum impact on the diegetic sound in the shot. For example, the running up the stairs, and drip sound of the water are made audible and sound more primitive because of the deadly silence. The screeching of the TV stands in stark contrast to the deadly silence in the previous shots, giving the audience a suprised shock. The soundtrack then starts at 0.36 - the instument is a xylophone, paired with a more primitive string instrument which gradually seems to dominate the sountrack.

DVD COVER ANALYSIS

The colour theme of the 'Legally Blonde' DVD cover is blue and pink. The pink connotes girly, feminine and pretty. The blue and pink together are subtle and is 'easy going' (as blue connotes calmness) The main character is in the foreground, bigger than anything else in the image. She stands out as she is dressed differently and brightly in comparison to the people in the background. The protagonists in the back are insignificant and small. Creating all focus on Reese Witherspoon. They stand looking shocked (the girl looking jealous) in the background as she walks towards something the audience can not see: anchoring the slogan. 'Boldly goes where no blonde has gone.' Witherspoon is in her own world, ignoring the looks from other characters, showing she is determined to achieve whatever she wants. The university in the far back,clothing styles and the folders in Witherspoons' hand promises the audience that this is based at a university. Therfore, the target audience is teenage girls (maybe slightly older) as it gives the younger girls an inspirational character to look up to and the older girls something to refer back to - there uni days! 'Legally Blonde' is quite an anti climax title. 'Legally' suggest the film is based around law, and the 'Blonde' portrays clumsyness, glamourous and pretty. The words together suggest that it is adequate and achievable to be Blonde and clever!
In the bottom right corner 'Two thumbs up!' emphazies on how good this film must be! It shows that the movie must be a good film. Reece Witherspoon is a well known actress with many fans, therefore having her name on the front cover will help sell the film.
The back of the cover gives a small synopsis on the film. A few of the main characters are portrayed in snap shots, making the cover seem interesting and fun. 'A feel good girl power comedy!' is a valued judgement which promises the target audience that it will be funny. Witherspoons' boyfriend in one of the snap shots shows that the movie is a chickflick/romcom. On the left is an image of Witherspoon, surrounded by books and her dog. At the bottom of the back cover is a 'Special features' banner which reads everything that is included in the DVD. Such as, deleted scenes. This makes the audience think they are getting more than just what they want and therefore are encouraged to buy it. The pink and blue matches with the front of the cover.
A DVD cover needs to stand out and draw in the target audience. It needs to give away the main best selling points in oder to encourage the consumer to buy the DVD. Overall, I think this DVD cover engages with the target audience very well and is extremely intriguing. I would and have already bought it!