Rough cut - Miss Miller

A rough cut is the first stage in which the film begins to resemble it's final product. Rough cuts do not flow well and still undergo many changes before the release of the film. - Wikipedia. It is a form of offline editing.

The purpose of us creating a rough cut was to allow us to gain feedback from our peers on aspects of our thriller that were weak; so we could improve on those areas. It also allowed us to realise and notice if our work had clarity especially with the editing. As we made some mistakes in the editing production. 

The feedback we recieved to help us improve was to make the acting better, clearer narrative and less use of jerky handheld camera. But we were told that we created the element of suspense and the sound was effective.

However to improve on these weak areas we willl firstly improve the script. Meaning actors will speak, more dialogue. As there wasn't much in the rough cut. So this will improve acting and allow the narrative to be more understandable.

   Also to make the narrative clearer, I will include the killer in it. As the identity was hidden throughout, this is a good convention in a thriller. However, the audience will get confused if they don't see the killer. So we decided to add that in. 

  We also re-filmed the jerky handhelds parts to make the frame more still and clearer for the audience to watch. We did the handle camera by purpose. However, again the convention went to far and should of been kept to a minimum. To let the audience understand the narrative better.

All this feedback has allowed us to know what we need to improve on. And change our perspective to what the audience see. As they don't understand our vision they only know what they see.

List of all feedback

+ve

-good eerie sound

-good location

-created tension and suspense

-created mystery

-ve

-better acting needed

-quite confusing

-didn't understand narrative 

-camera too jerky

Group storyboard - Miss Miller

Group storyboard

In this post I will be discussing the storyboard our group came up with and the elements/micro-elements involved in my opening thriller scene. It consisted of different ideas and frames which came from our individual storyboard ideas; which were then incorporated into one group storyboard.

Doing this group storyboard has really developed our opening thriller scene. In our individual storyboards, our narratives were not as good as they could of been. Therefore, by doing this group storyboard we were able to organize our frame/shot timings better.

In this first page, the first frame included the use of micro-elements, such as cinematography. We displayed a long shot in the first frame to show the audience the setting of where the narrative is taking place. We also put down what sound this frame would have, we decided on eerie sound to create a mysterious and suspense atmosphere. In this frame we decided that for editing we would use a straight cut. We chose this shot because it is basic and the scene was also basic and simple.

     

This first frame idea was taken from my storyboard, we done this because we felt it opened the scene well and we were all inspired by the thriller film 'Halloween' opening, which is similar to our opening frame.

The next frame used cinematography, for movements, such as panning. Panning allows us to see more of a setting in a frame. The camera movement is like the natural movement of how our head moves. (Side to side, up and down) The panning will show the surroundings and to make the location look unknown and isolated/derelict.

 

  This frame was include from Ellie's storyboard. Ellie decided on a panning movement because it created the effect that someone was out there. And that someone else was looking at the house.

The next frame on the page was the scene where the jerky handheld camera was used (cinematography). Jerky handheld movement is when the camera is held in hand or given the appearance of being hand-held. It suggests unprepared, unrehearsed filming of reality, and can provide a sense of dynamics, immersion, instability or nervousness. - Wikipedia. This will be accompanied with on-screen sound of leaves ruffling and footsteps. It will also use abrupt jump cuts (editing) to show the passing of time.

 This was from James'initial individual storyboard. 

The next page showed more frames. The first frame uses cinematography, a mid shot of the character. This mid shot showed the importance of this character. This came from all of our individual storyboards. The frame will also include dialogue/speech to inform the audience of whats going on. 

 

The next frame uses cinematography, such as panning movement again. This allows us to see the character jogging out the house and to show that the character has left the scene. 

 This idea came from Ellie's storyboard.

The next frame showed the front of the house again and used panning to show the window which is open which allows the antagonist to get in.

The next frame then shows the antagonist inside the house and then closing the window.

This is the use of a jump cut to show the passing of time to make the thriller easier to understand. Also it allowed the codes/connotation of windows to be shown from freedom to trapped. 

This idea came from my storyboard.

 

 

 

The next frame shown located the inside of the house switching to a new location. Showing the girl in the house. The cinematography used was high angles to show a different view of the character and to make the victim look inferior. Also close-ups of items were used to show how every day actions were going on just before the victims killed. Close ups in following frames were used to show the victims facial expressions. Mise-en-scene, such as low-key lighting was used to create suspense and tension. Also a female victim was used to produce vulnerability and innocence so the audience can connect with the protagonist. These were themes/conventions we learnt in class. Therefore, it was all of our ideas to do this as we all included this in our individual storyboards.