P2 - Setup equipment and record production materials
M1 - Apply codes and conventions for the chosen materials
Here are some of the shots I have taken for my film, as it can be seen, this angles and shots are quite similar to the story board
I produced. When filming this I also made aware what king of physical work would be done by the actors and made sure they
knew the risk assessment. The camera used for all these shots is my phone as it had good quality and good capture of sound.
For the colouring in the visuals, I left it on
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RUSH 1 - This is the fist shot I took as this is how the film begins. I made sure it is similar to the storyboard in terms of camera angle, shot and placing of character.
This shot would conform with the typical convention because the shot shows you the protagonist's reaction to a difficult situation such as being stalked. Having a still showing the emotions of the character is a technique used by many thrillers. In result, this shot was successful as it is following the example shown in the storyboard. |
RUSH 2 - This is an over the shoulder shot taken, that can also be found in the storyboard. It shows the three character's talking to one another. This scene was shot in a hall way, I had to make sure the sun light outside was behind the camera because light exposure could ruin the visuals.
The conventions in this particular scene can be found all throughout different kinds of visual media products such as tv shows and movies, the reason I used something so simple is because showing a conversation between characters needs to be easy to follow for the audience as you wouldn't want them to be puzzled throughout the short-film, adding a easy to follow conversation may help the audience maintain their attention on the product. In result, this shot was successful as it is following the example shown in the storyboard. |
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RUSH 3 - This scene is taken from when the stalker hides in the bushes to film the victims. For this scene I needed to crouch done and have branches in between the actor and the camera man to give the effect that the character is hidden. I will be using this scene later with a zoom in to give the effect that he is a possible crazy stalker.
The convention of this shot is showing the appearance of the antagonist so the audience can have a better understanding of who to believe is the good guy and who is the bad guy. Also showing the character doing something such as hidden in the bushes otherwise doing an action that is seen as a bad or creepy helps me to better capture how I would want the character to be seen in my film, doing so allows me to have the audience want to put this antagonist in prison. In result, this shot was successful as it is following the example shown in the storyboard. |
RUSH 4 - This is the shot of both of the main character's friends walking down the stairs eventually finding their distressed friend. The shot was taken focusing on the two actors instead of the light, to control the light exposure. I will make sure to edit the light and colour to make it have better visuals.
This simple shot's convention is quite simple as it is widely used in productions, this shot allows me to present to of the unknown characters that were shown with the protagonist at the beginning of the short film. In result, this shot was successful as it is following the example shown in the storyboard. |
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RUSH 5 - This is a scene showing the stalker behind my protagonist. The shot is a front over the shoulder shot. This kind of shot allows me to show the stalker clearly without being my main focus in the shot, the audience would divert their attention from the protagonist to the antagonist easily.
This shot also resembles the storyboard with the camera positioning and character placement. |
Shots taken during the production.
D1. Explain how meaning was created during the materials created
Within the short film, I create meaning through multiple factors such as camera angles and shots, direction for the actors and dialogue.
My way of using camera angles and shots, give meaning by for example showing how the actor reacts to three disturbing incidents, showing a still of the actor would make the audience pay more attention to the emotional response the actor would be conveying on screen than anything else. Another example would be when my protagonist was sitting on a bench and the antagonist could be seen at the back, this was for the audience to see the antagonist although the camera was not directly filming him, this also reminded them of the time that the antagonist was spying on the main actor. As this is a thriller, keeping the audience on edge and clueless is a convention of thriller movies. Angles and shots unconsciously connote meaning to the audience such as which character has more power which can be created through the height of the angle of the shot taken, if it is high it means vulnerability and if it is a low angle, it means supremacy. For the bench scene, my intention was to have a lower angle on the protagonist, but not to give him power but the antagonist that was behind him. The antagonist is shown to have full control of the situation without the awareness of the protagonist. The interesting part is that the protagonist is also included in the low angle shot, this is to symbolise that he believes he has the power of security, but it’s his own illusion.
In the ways that I directed my actors as seen on screen, my objective was to keep the stalker unknown both to the audience and the protagonist by making him look and seem like any other person. As can be seen, he isn’t wearing anything that would catch your eye directly, until he drops his phone. This can be seen as a convention as usually, thriller films want to present their antagonists as normal people in the beginning, as the film progresses both the audience and the characters find out. Once the antagonist is found out, my way of creating meaning through the actor was giving directions for him to act as if he has a combination of being smart and mentally unstable. This is connoted through the use of stalking, which he can execute with precision. It is common for the villain in thrillers to be bright and cunning as those are the kinds of villains people fear most, the antagonist in my film is shown to be great at hiding and obtaining personal information of his victims such as their emails to send them his findings.
The dialogue I have shown is intended to help the audience understand how the character feels about the current situations and how he is dealing with them, such as asking for help from his friends or debating whether to call the police. These actions are also true for others, such as his friends, both he and the audience find out that the protagonist is not the only one being stalked and this adds to the thriller genres conventions. My reason for not concluding the actions of my protagonist at the end of the short film is because I intend for the audience to understand the situation and think of what they would do in this situation. Leaving it without a conclusion can bring up a conversation of what would be the proper action to take. This can be another way to create meaning within a thriller movie, the meaning, in this case, is that situations like these are possible as there is no sense of fiction and fantasy, in this short film there is one objective which is to capture the culprit, but there is no limit in the ways it can be done.
My way of using camera angles and shots, give meaning by for example showing how the actor reacts to three disturbing incidents, showing a still of the actor would make the audience pay more attention to the emotional response the actor would be conveying on screen than anything else. Another example would be when my protagonist was sitting on a bench and the antagonist could be seen at the back, this was for the audience to see the antagonist although the camera was not directly filming him, this also reminded them of the time that the antagonist was spying on the main actor. As this is a thriller, keeping the audience on edge and clueless is a convention of thriller movies. Angles and shots unconsciously connote meaning to the audience such as which character has more power which can be created through the height of the angle of the shot taken, if it is high it means vulnerability and if it is a low angle, it means supremacy. For the bench scene, my intention was to have a lower angle on the protagonist, but not to give him power but the antagonist that was behind him. The antagonist is shown to have full control of the situation without the awareness of the protagonist. The interesting part is that the protagonist is also included in the low angle shot, this is to symbolise that he believes he has the power of security, but it’s his own illusion.
In the ways that I directed my actors as seen on screen, my objective was to keep the stalker unknown both to the audience and the protagonist by making him look and seem like any other person. As can be seen, he isn’t wearing anything that would catch your eye directly, until he drops his phone. This can be seen as a convention as usually, thriller films want to present their antagonists as normal people in the beginning, as the film progresses both the audience and the characters find out. Once the antagonist is found out, my way of creating meaning through the actor was giving directions for him to act as if he has a combination of being smart and mentally unstable. This is connoted through the use of stalking, which he can execute with precision. It is common for the villain in thrillers to be bright and cunning as those are the kinds of villains people fear most, the antagonist in my film is shown to be great at hiding and obtaining personal information of his victims such as their emails to send them his findings.
The dialogue I have shown is intended to help the audience understand how the character feels about the current situations and how he is dealing with them, such as asking for help from his friends or debating whether to call the police. These actions are also true for others, such as his friends, both he and the audience find out that the protagonist is not the only one being stalked and this adds to the thriller genres conventions. My reason for not concluding the actions of my protagonist at the end of the short film is because I intend for the audience to understand the situation and think of what they would do in this situation. Leaving it without a conclusion can bring up a conversation of what would be the proper action to take. This can be another way to create meaning within a thriller movie, the meaning, in this case, is that situations like these are possible as there is no sense of fiction and fantasy, in this short film there is one objective which is to capture the culprit, but there is no limit in the ways it can be done.