Planning post of your choice

Locations settings 

The location of the setting will take place in different locations for each set. During the start of the film it would take place in my room (which I call it the office) this would be the scene where things start to take a turn. The first scene of the film project shows the wall of the office which show cases many different sheets of paper that's hanged on the wall. My room alone as well as the outside at night will mostly be taken. There would be very small moments where when Hazy (the one on the phone) will be talking about the deceased person that she seese there would be an unexpected flash cut scene of a jeep turning on outside during the night before switching back to the phone call. The unexpected quick flashes that happend are prior before when she dies. So when she saids on the phone line "I see someone.... I think they're following me.... they're like... They might have a knife" and then quciky flash cuts to a scene showcasing Tim (the killer) showing and holding on to his knife wearing all back to blend in the dark. These main locations: room and outside (dark) will best show horror/thriller astetics. 

Consideration 

There would be some moments in the project where I would like to make some changes to the project that would make the project better. My first thing that I might change is more unexpected cuts and showing some parts of the film itself at night while Hazy (on the phone). So while Hazy talks about her adventure about the school I could implement some scenes of records of the school at night so that way It'll be a better representation rather than just showing the room itself most of the time. Have maybe an introduction during the start of the film and having all the credits show in the background. 

Audio development

 For most of my content on audio, most of the sounds that will be implemented into the project will be copy right free sounds/music that mostly originate in Pixabay/YouTube. The sounds effects and music that I pick are more suspence and horror, which I wouldn't say its a big suprizes considering my whole filming project is dedicated to horror/action. The starting of my project I've implemented ambiance sound office effects along with fans running in the background. You can also hear suspence horror music as well adding more depth into being more of a horror introduction film to start with. It starts to get more suspending when all of a sudden you hear a sound in which it only gets louder and louder until it gets interrupted by a house phone call. It was bringin up suspension when all of a sudden it crashes leading to unexpected cut to a phone call. 

Hazy is the one of the characters in the film who leaves a voice message to Jim about her exploring an
abaundand high school when all of a sudden her confidence is destroyed upon finding one of the dead people who were remaind missing in one of the papers in Jim's room. You can hear her voice starting to become fearful when she realizes that she isn't alone, suspence music slowly comes up as well when something just does seem right. Out of the distance you can hear running over the phone and she screams before the phone line cuts off with the door myseriouly just slamming the door shut by itself, creating tension and Action.

Implementing Mise-en-Scene Elements Part 2

As I continue to focus on imputing mise-en-scene elements like atmosphere, props, sound, lighting, and tension. One of the charaters named Hazy plays a key role in expressing her emotions during the phone call by seeing her in vulnerability and fear as she runs from something she believes that someone is chasing her. The murderer (Jim), although you're not able to see his whole appearance, you can still see parts of his arm show to frame in which he'll be wearing a black jacket, black pants, his whole clothing is black. Hearing Hazy over the phone call talking about she's inside some rundown school creates a sense of isolation. She then later talks about finding one of the missing person in the school who looks to be dead, which brings a dread of fear to the audience of what's going to happen next. Hearing background noises in the phone call as well as her describing what she seese we get quick flashes of Jim having to plan this before time before he murders her. As for an example when she seese someone she then describes what he's doing and what he's wearing and when he starts to charge at her she decides to run and scream when all of the sudden she gets murdered which then furthers intensify the horror aspect. 

The low lighting and flickering gets intense when she starts to get attacked by Jim, building more suspence. The camera moves through the shadow, which further isolation and the panic it progresses as she tries to escape the scene. The lighting and the cutoff from audio when the door gets shut as soon as she dies creates an somewhat unchilling vibe as to what happend to her, or if she's still alive or dead.

Implementing Mise-en-Scene Elements Part 1

 implementation of mise-en-scene pt1 

By creating mise-en-scene elements into my project I'm well able to enhances the horror/thriller aesthetics. The sets and desgin I've added during the beginning when showing missing posters and random advertisements that creates an unsettling investigation atmosphere. Camera cuts and looks at the monitor that's displaying static while the other one shows outdated software system which adds on a sense of technology decay. a unexpected sound that starts from low to high, reaching the highest part before it suddenly quickly stops and cuts to a phone house number ringing which intensify the mystery as it pams over to a checklist of crossed out names who have been murdered placing another missing poster sign which provides a visual storytelling. These contributations make the story feel more horror and somewhat real. And additionally, how the murder (Jim) appearanceis like when the girl (Hazy) starts to describe his own appearanc before unexpectedly killing her.

Light and sound itslelf play an important role when creating a film's atmophsere. The usage of low lighting, flickering screen from one of the monitors, sudden darkness, and seeing the foreshadow of danger. Adding in background sounds in the starting of the film, from atmospheric to suspensful music, creating a immersive experience which cuts to unsettling situation that goes into insane factor. Getting to hear voice phone calls, along with frantic breathing and running, with a deep sense of urgency before the girl screams in pain and at the same time you hear the door slam shut unexpectedly, turning complete pitch black after. reciving close up and different angles of around the room, panning over the evidence of the murderer having his own list, making it a horror experience that keeps the audience engaged into watching more.

planning post focusing on character development

 Focusing on Character Development

Through out the project film there will only be two chararcters named Jim and Hazy. Although their appearance is barley shown on the project, you can still notice their basic appearance based on inferences and conclusions like sounds and movement (showing hands). Hazy is the one on the phone who's currently leaving a voicemail at Jim house home phone system. She's more of an explorer and likes to do things herself while Jim on the other hand is barley is to be shown talking at all instead you can see his movements and shadow through the film which is indication for another person shown. A very dark plot twist happends at the end of the film when her best friend Jim decided to end her life betraying their own friendship they once had for eachother. You can consider Hazy to be more independant and brave while Jim is psycho with malicious intent to murder people. 

As for the story plot as it becomes more and more suspence and later in the film you start to realize that Jim isn't at his home because he knows that she's outside exploring in an abandoned school, we soon know from the start that all those missing people were previously the people he'd killed before and she was going to be the next one. From the start he already kept track of where she was planning to go. He knew she'll call his house number before the unexpectded happends.

Post including your script or storyboard

script or storyboard Breakdown

During my Project I have also implemented a storyboard which can best help me understand my own thoughts and process when writing it down, especially with images to help understand what's going on. Storyboards help me the most especially when making a recording of the project and looking at the images to help me understand what, where, and how to shoot. By making this story board I am well aware of the processing steps on what to do, or better yet make it better by making some upgrades to it.

These will be the following materials I need for the project: Gloves, Polar images, wanted papers, application paper, monitors, car, house phone and knifes.

summarizing your project idea

 My Project plan summary (work in progress)  

For the introduction of my filming, the starting scene will take place a room, showcasing a close up shot of peices of paper that are on the wall, in which some of them nothing to do with the filming (since it's random advertisements I made on photoshop) and other sheets showing important information about missing people (my friends I used during my project) which will be important later on during the filming. Sounds you'll start to hear are background sounds that I've added to try to replicate atmosphere of the settings, as well as adding in suspence music to enchance the horror aesthetics. 

The camera cuts to the other scene where it shows a mid shot view of a computer setup in which one of the monitors is broken with a static view while the other presents old software version of windows. A few seconds after strange unsetteling sound starts to appear slowly from low volume to high quickly and when the unsettling pitch reaches its climaxe the sound cuts and aswell as the camera to another scene showing a high shot view of the house phone that's ringing. 

It continues to ring until it reaches voicemail and you can hear someone on the phone that sounds terrified and scared as they pled for help. The chararcter is continues to talk about how this abandoned school (Cypress Bay High) is secretly haunted. she saids she's hearing movement and sound throughout the school. Hearing footsteps and sounds coming near them. We can get to hear them run and pant in a rush, while the phone call is happening the camera pams over through all the paperwork on desk which provides the myserious compiries of the students dissapering in that school ontop of adding suspence in the background. While shes running she's screaming for help as she yells out the desription of the person that's chasing her. and while she does it goes from an unexpected cut from the house phone to a person who has on the items that she's describing; She even describes the car that the person got out of. During the end of the phone call you'll hear a loud yelling sound and the caller start screaming until the phone just unexpectedly cuts out. 

While the character screams and pleds not to die, the camera shows the outside of the room door and when the phone call ends the door slams by it self and we see pitch black. After a few seconds of darkness the camera starts to fade back into seeing a close up view of a checklist of a paper that shows the names and her name being crossed out as well with others. The murderer puts up the missing poster sign next to the others that he's killed in the past, which people remain and think that the school is haunted.

Research a media theory to integrate into your project.

Media Theory

Before I talk about the media theory added into my video project, I'll like to break down what Media theory itself and its one of many different types. Media Theory is how many different types of movies, shows, social media, and news effect people. It could help explain things like:

• How is this media made (why do many horror movies have suspence sounds and dark scenes)
• Reaction to the media (Why do some love horror while others hate it)
• How the media is able to change society (How news can change peoples opinions) 

Media thories can be used by Filmmakers, advertisers, reasechers to best answer questions like these. It answers the question to why different suspence or action is taking place in that set of genre. There are many different type of media theories but here's some of the most common ones. 

1. Genre Theory: The type of theory that people indulge in especific types of genre (like horror, action, drama), getting on the effects that they get from it. An example is that someone watching a horror movie just to enjoy being scared, because horror films provide fear and excitement.

2. Hypodermic Needle Theory: It tells a way that the media has a strong pull towards the audiance, it is accepted in a way that they watch or hear it without asking any questions about it. It's like if they're being spoon feeds ideas directly into peoples minds. 

3. Uses and Gratifications Theory: People who choose to pick what type of media they want based on their desire and needs rather than just consuming whatever media content comes their way. They can select the media that helps them reach their goal of their wants.

Integrating Genre Theory into my project. 

I will consider to add genre theory to my project. Considering my project will be horror and suspence I would like to implement unexpected horror sounds and quick screen changes. Ontop of that I was thinking about adding screaming as well to better understand the type of media theory that's added on my project but for right now I'm putting that as a consideration. There some be some parts where during the video project it gets quiet, building up suspence for some suprise that might happen. 

Source (what is Media Theory): https://media-studies.com/theory/

Reflection post about group meeting

Reflections on Our Group Meeting

While working on my project the teacher gave us a task to form into small groups in our class to dissuces and get feedback from other students to see what can be improve from each others projects. One by one we'll hear from each student talking about their own project and while they talk about their plans to start their own recording and techniques. We were given links to their blog posts to further undertsand the concepts of their project and techniques that they'll implement. Hearing what other students are discussing gave me a broad of information on giving them feedback about their own projects and lets just say there was some couple cool techniques that I've noted down on what they were going to use.

 When dissussing about my project, which the topic is thriller, horror and murder mystery at first, I wasn't fully confident in the project idea itself however I was able to get some guidance from the students who I was working with in my group on how to make it more of a "horror mystery". by trying to implement people into my project.  However, about my project, I was explaining to them that no one was going to be in the film and most of their reactions were kinda confusing, like, how were you going to make a horror murder mystery film when no one is going to be there? I'm going to use off putting sounds, shadow effects, and posters, photos, and fliers to indicate somewhat of a myserious film introduction. There's a few images below that I will use during my project that will shows suspence and horror.

More Infomation about my project: https://charlieownspaceword.blogspot.com/

Polaroid Camera

Monitors/lighting

Missing poster signs

Aside from my small group now knowing that no people were going to be implemented but might show hints like shadows and voices, my group gave me some advice to try adding in more sound effects and more human life things into my project. For example, when in a horror movie showing a door scene, you can predict that something is going to show up behind it, you can sense it but dont see it, which is what I want to do in my project 

Creating a timeline schedule

I'll be creating a schedule timeline schedule to keep track of the things that I have to do that's important first. I'll be breaking down into sections on what I think best needs to be done first before the due date meets its match. Since the project is due on March 15 I'll try to best prioritize my time into finishing this project and I think making a own schedule for it is a great idea. 

Timeline Breakdown

Finishing up 

1) being able to catch up with the blog posts (typing up to date)

Film 

2) Reasearching/planning (whole introduction plot) 

3) Taking different types of angle shots taken (the paper planner sheet) 

4) Creating fake document paper and making a horror scene room. 

5) Implementing lighting effects on play (flickering, distance lighting, background lighting)

Editing 

6) Adding in horror/atmosphere/suspence sounds effect on to the editing application.        (mostly using Pixabay) 

7) Adding in lighting effect: Creating the scene more suspence and horror 

8). Use the blur effect within the application to highlight important documentations in view.

 

Three opening films, Analysis and Discussion: Horror/Thriller

Credit scene 

Scream (1996): One of the most iconic horror classics in history. As the scene instantly starts innocently with the girl who gets a random phone call but the tension rises when the unknown caller knows about her and wants to play a game. the camera shows midshot of mostly of her to show her reaction to whats going on. But through out the there conversation there tends to be high pitch noises and sudden base suspence when something feels off or when someone about to attack. Prior before when an attack happens all the atmosphere sounds start to dim down or fade away before all of a sudden an unexpected jumpscare happends and the suspence music turns up as well as screaming. 

• The font thats being used throughout the movie is a Scream white sharp font that could blend in with the black background. 

• The placement of credits are at the end of the movie which allows the audience to watch the movie without disruption.

A Quiet Place ll: This movie is a fast pace suspence movie as many things are going on. The starting of the film takes place at a kids baseball game when all of the sudden the atmosphere background slowly dies down and more people start to notice the massive astroid that's coming down from earth, hearing the noise of it coming down, everyone reacts to it and starts fleeing away. This is when the creatures come to show, since they're quick the camera follows it and everyone starts panicking and it becomes a huge mess. Beginning of the movie starts with no credit scenes but just atmosphere sounds for a few min until the characters engage in a conversation. Like the Scream movie, the credits end in the end of the conversation. 

All of us are Dead: A South Korean fast paced zombie thriller series that sets a stage for horror to come. The introduction starts out with highschool students on the rooftop, engaging in a fight with a group of bullies. The fighting scenes uses a close-up shots and many rapid camera movements, with suspence/haunted music that plays in the background. As the students falls down on the floor and transforms into a zombie, we get a wide shoot of the chaos spreading around the school, hinting that horror will come.

The front being used in the movie cover is called FF Folk font, which looks great for a suspence horror series. 

Credits

Ashley Hajimirsadeghi (all of us are dead): https://shorturl.at/QM4oS

Font Meme (All of us are Dead): https://shorturl.at/MfiWq

Melissa Coy (A Quiet Place ll): https://shorturl.at/96Moi

HyperPix (A Quiet Place II): https://shorturl.at/M8PmS

Roger Ebert (Scream): https://shorturl.at/AdLRK

Font meme (Scream): https://fontmeme.com/scream-film-font/?form=MG0AV3

Portfolio project plans

 Approaching The Project 

For my approach for the Media portfolio project, the themes I'm going to pick is going to be Horror/Thriller and the reason why is because I'm a big fan of suspencful horror action myself and I believe that I know best on how to add in some horror suspence drama into my project, to be able to build up suspence and when the right time comes in, bring a big scare into the audience not expecting whats expected. So over the time I've been researching even more information on implementing those genre into my filming along with providing a movie example which I personally think does it well. This will be a murder mystery horror case that I MIGHT be using one of my friends to read a script during this project. The project itself wouldn't have anybody in it but might have signs of people there like for exampe: phone call, photos, images, and shadows itself. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFYDiMe8wSo

A video called Double Vision by Isabelle Kiser, this is one of my own inspiration for starting my own horror/thriller filming. I thought everything about it was good, well, mostly everything about it, didn't really like why she turned off the lights when the killer clone was right infront of her, but to each their own. What I've really liked about it is how was the coloring layout they've picked and the atmosphere of sound you could hear around the surrounding film adn ontop of that the appropriate music that was added on to show suspence.

My project will be somewhat similar to this but will be a bit more suspencful and no one is going to be on the film itself but might show hints of people there like: photos, shadows, movement, and banging from a door or wall (still thinking about adding that to the project). A murder mystery is going around and maybe ontop of that a haunted spirits are living in this house where this project will take in a security office (AKA my room). Camera will be glancing at objects and papers around the walls which will show hints of murderings that took place at before. most of the sound effects that would be use in this project will be taken from Pixabay with its original credit to source. 

Disscussing 3 opening films (horror and thriller)

As I continue to develop my own horror/thriller film opening project, I've been reasearching about how films established their tone, character, and suspense in just a few minutes. Having an great opening can immediately draw the attention of the audience in, which sets the expectations for the rest of the film. My goal is it create a tense, suspence opening, I've been paying close attention to cinematography, sounds, and pacing. 

In this post I tend to break down three horror/thriller openings that I found pretty effective: Scream (1996), A Quiet Place (2018), and Get out (2017). They each use different techniques to be able to build up tension, and I want to take inspiration from them from my own project.

Film Studies 

Scream (1996): The film starts out with a highschool girl Casey, whom she's home alone. She answers a phone call which seems to be harmless however it gets more threatening. The caller tells her that she's watching her and it ends with her dead in violence, which sets the stakes high.

Fiming and editiing 

Scene starts out with soft lighting, neutral lighting and slow, The camera moves slowly making everything feel normal at first. Soon the shots get tighter, and the editing becomes faster, which increases panic use of framing. Most of the shots are her isolated in the frame reinforces that she's pancking in fear.

• The phone ringing starts to become an unsetteling and strange by just hearing the ring itself and nothing else playing in the background, building os suspence 
• Background noises are like crickets, dog barking contrast with the silence of the house. 
• The voices on the phone changes from normal to menacing, which manipulates the audiences emotions.

I like how the scene opening builds suspense through any directions before any actions occure. The shift from slow pacing to quick cuts is something that I'll incorporate when my own scenen escalates. 

A Quiet Place (2018): Its an post- apocalypic setting where a family goes through a deserted store. everything feels strange, when the youngest child activiates a noisy toy it leds to deadly consequences, monsters as you can say will come after you...

Filming and Editing 

• It uses long shots and slow tracking shots in a way to show silences.
• Camera lingers on some small details (like showing the foot steps of the feet or language) by informing the audience of the films world without having to show dialogue.
• close up on some facial expressions which show emotional tension making the actions feel important.
• They implement silence as their key, since every tiny sound they make feels somewhat exaggerated or dangerous..
• Sudden burst of sound (that's coming from the toy) is horrifying, and just shows how deadly noises can be in this world
• they focus the audience attention more on ambient sounds 

The opening shows how you can create tensions without dialogue. For my filming project I want to implement silence in my own scene with a bit of suspence music in the background. Maybe tenstion to remain quiet whie something lurcks by using small sounds which can be effective. 

Get out (2017): A young man (Andre) is walking through a surburban neighborhood during the night. All of a sudden a car slowly follows him. He gets assulted and kidnapped 

Filming and Editing 

• Usages of long films makes the sence feel realistic.
• The slow pacing at the start which makes the attack more unexpected 
• smooth tracking camera movements,frequently quiet.

From this film, I like to add the idea of building suspence slowly and implemneted more slowing pacing. I would probably implement the use of diegetic sound since it could be a good way to create contrast in my scene 

 

Find The Right Genre

Horror/Thriller Reasearch

Going through my Cambridge portfolio project, I think it's time to select my possible genres choices for my project. For during the past week, I started brainstorming the different possible ideas and concepts of what to do. I was the kind of person who loves thriller and horror. They're somewhat similar when creating suspence to the audience but in different ways by bringing them into a fear factor shocked. I've always found suspence and fear to be exciting yet, intriguing to what's going to happend next. Thus, For my research blog I'm going to disscussing the type of genres and how they would be implemented onto my film project.

Basic Reasearch: Horror vs Thriller

To understand how they would be implemented into my video project, it's important to understand how they can be used and what they are. Horror is designed in a way to give somewhat of an unsettling and shock to the audience, in which can explore events like supernatural or monstrous themes, aiming to envoke fear and suspense. Its main goal is to make the audience feel shock or discomfort, so they highly focuse on imagery and sound.

You can take Goosebumps as to a genre of horror, as it sets unsettling situations that often relate to childeren fear in mind. With each episode focuses on different paranormal events that happends but with less fear and suspence since it's suitable to watch for kids.

Thriller on the other hand is all about tension, suspence and mystery. Unlike horror with supernatural scares, thriller uses an alternative method like conflict, crime, and other high dangerous actions to keep the viewers entertained in watching. Their goal is to create suspension and excitement instead of fear, and focus on plost twist or high dangerous situation that just puts you in fear.

The movie World War Z is a zombie fast pace apocalypes in which the main characters have to make some difficult choices into surviving. With close calls with horders of zombies running into their way. This shows a best representation of thriller as though out the movie shows suspence and quick moving decisions in order to stay safe from being bitten

Implementing horror/ Thriller into my project. 

During my video project representation, a little sneak peak to it but it'll be about a murder mystery case, which there would be no main character showing on camera but you can see hints of a person on camera through a shadow, movement, sound, and suspence. I want the style of the project to be slow and fast paced. And you'll see a lot of information that's important visual wise.