Screenplays and Screenwriting

A screenplay is the foundations of a film and is the first thing to be done when going about making one. Screenplay writers are very important as they create the original idea for the film.

A screenplay is written before pitching the film to give the people funding the film an idea on how much money will be needed to create the film, how good the story line is and ideas of what actors will be used in the film. The storyboard is the developed from the screenplay and each person involved in the film gets a separate storyboard so they know what to do.

Screenplays and Scripts

• They include the location, setting and time of day. For example - Ext. Garden - Morning
• Introduces the key characters and include a short of what they look like.
• Introduces key dialogue between characters and details of the expressions and actions.
• Includes details of where the camera is in each scene. Sometimes the screenwriter will leave this to the people creating the storyboard but will give basic guidelines.

According to the website Creative Skill Set the screenplay is the blueprints for the film. The screenplay provides creative input for the producer, director, editor, production designer, composer, cast and crew who all will be involved in the making of the film. Screenplays contain detail which allow anyone reading it to image what is happening in the scene. The plot, characters and idea should able engaging for the reader.

Here you can see a extract from the opening of the movie Jaws. In the screenplay they have included dialogue between the characters, a description of the action the audience will see on screen and the location where the scene is set. 

Here is an extract from the opening of the screenplay of our thriller film 'Raven Calls'. The screenplay starts with the location of where our thriller starts. It then moves onto a description of what the audience will see on screen. We've included different camera shots that we're going to use when we start filming, we chose to add camera shots in our screenplay so we can refer back to it when we start. When writing the screenplay we decided not make it dialogue heavy, at least not for now, so we can get a clear image of what the it's going to look like and half of our thriller is set outside and to make it easier to film we didn't want there to be tons of dialogue and the cameras not pick it up. 

Lighting

In preparation for our thriller task myself and my group tried different types of lighting to see what different effects. By doing this we have learnt the different ways to use lighting and how we can use natural light and Photoshop to change the lighting in our film.

Types of Lighting

3 Point Fill Lighting - 3 lights are used to create normal looking lighting in a scene with soft shadows and average colours.

Chiaroscuro - brings out the black and whites of the scene but doesn't necessarily take away all the colour but can however be used in a scene that is just black and white.

High Key Lighting Set Up - this uses harsh, bright lights to reduce contrast in a scene/create a white washed clean look that doesn't have a shadow.

 Low Key Lighting Set Up - creates a darker scene and can be used to create an atmosphere of mystery or can be used to soften the images and make a cosy/romantic setting.

Backlighting - when the scene is lit directly behind, usually some form of natural lights.
Natural lighting - natural lighting comes from the sun
Artificial lighting -  uses man made sources of light like light bulbs or florescent lights.

Our images

For all of these images we had the lights off in the room and the only sources of light was the little natural light coming through the window and the light that we had for the pictures. Majority of the time that we were taking these pictures it was raining outside meaning the natural lighting we used was quite dark.  

For this image we decided to use the natural lighting to use the natural lighting that was coming through the window. This was effective as it created a shadow over Amy's face a bright light. The contrast between dark and light gave this image a sombre feel.



In this image we used the white light of the light that we had then we used Photoshop to change the colour of the image and give it this 'night vision' look which could be useful when we do our thriller films the 'night vision' look is often used in horror films to create suspense.

In this image we used a backlight. We stood Amy in front of the window and used the light that was coming from behind her to create this look with her in shadow.

This image was created using the light that we had with a pink coloured lens over the top. The colour created a warm tone to the image.

For this image we used the same lens as the last image but then we edited the picture in Photoshop adding more red to the image which created this picture. As the red stands out in the picture there is a feeling of danger about the image which could be used during our thriller.



For this image we placed the light under Amy's face which created this look of the light being on the lower half of her face but her eyes and the top of her face was in shadow.

Fro the image we used a blue lens on the which combined with the natural light coming through the window created this sad feeling lighting.

We used the same blue lens for this picture but then used Photoshop to make the blue colour stand out more. With the position of the camera and the light both being low looking up at Amy the picture gives the feeling of an uneasy atmosphere as the colour blue is usually associated with sadness.

For this final image we had the light in front of Amy's face. This lighting worked well to show Amy's expression against the background of the dark room.

Conventions of Thriller Films

Conventions of thrillers by Beth Newton

Se7en Textual Analysis

'The Fall' textual analysis

Although I completed this as part of my study of the representation of gender for my AS exam, it is relevant to the my coursework as, in planning for this, I will need to consider how the representation of gender is constructed through the use of camera shots, mise-en-scene, editing and sound. This will hopefully enable me to represent characters in a variety of different ways in my film opening.

This is the powerpoint I have created based on the clip we watched

Art Of The Titles Analysis

As a task we were asked to look on a website call Art Of The Titles to look at thriller openings. This is so when we make our thrillers we can use titles effectively. Our task was to pick one and analyse it. I chose the film Spectre which is a Thriller/action movie. I personally have seen the film, I saw it when it was first released, and I enjoyed immensely. I chose this film because I believe the opening titles in a Bond film is a crucial part to the films success and I believe the opening and the song by Sam Smith did the film justice. Although it's not a typical opening scene to a film, in that it doesn't have any action or story as that happens before it, the title sequence in itself tells a story of its own.




Original Art Of The Titles Article

Storyboard and Location shots powerpoint

To be able to make our film we had to do some planning. We started planning by making a storyboard which was drawn by Amy. On our storyboard we wrote what camera angles we planned to use and things we needed to remember like that we weren't going to show Sid's face in the film.

I took our location pictures whilst Sid was creating a timetable and Amy was finishing off the storyboard. I took several pictures of the corridors and have included the ones of the corridor we chose to use. I also checked how long it would take to walk down the corridor to make sure it didn't take too long.

I unfortunately do not have pictures of the location we chose to film our interrogation scene in. When we do the Thriller task I will be sure to make sure we have pictures of all the locations.

storyboard and location pictures

Preliminary Task and Evaluation Questions Powerpoint

preliminary evaluation questions powerpoint

Preliminary task and shots

Our preliminary task is to create a short film showing a character walking to a door, going through the door, crossing a room and sitting across from another character and exchanging dialogue.


I am in a group with Sid and Amy and the idea we came up with was a sort of 'spy' scenario so we would have an interrogation scene.




My role on this task is to film and deal with most of the sound used in the final clip. Both Sid and Amy are acting in the film.




In our scene we have to use shot reverse shot which is a shot showing one character and then the other to show dialogue more clearly.




We also have to stick to the 180 degree rule, this is a rule which means when filming the characters have to keep the same right/left relationship to each other. This is so the shot looks believable and the characters looks as though they're facing each other. If the rule is broken then viewers could become disorientated and confused.


In our scene we have to make sure the match on action is okay. This means we need o make sure the continuity of the scene all fit together and run smoothly.

Utopia Case Study - how the show got it's comic book look

Utopia is a channel 4 TV series with a comic book look, this means all the colours in the show are bright and bold making them stand out. This gives the series the edgy and futuristic look of the comic it revolves around.

To achieve the look lots happened post production.

As you can see in these two pictures from before and after editing the colours in the series are brightened. For example, in this picture the yellow has been brightened to make it stand it more and be bold like a traditional style comic.

In the article by Wired the director, Marc Munden said how he looked to the technicolor pallets of 1950's Hollywood for inspiration. Munden and colourist Aiden Farrell worked carefully going through each scene and colour correcting it using a grading software. 

They used the colour correcting software to change grey British skies to bright blue skies and make grass greener to continue the comic book look. However, colour correcting isn't the only thing to happen between the end of filming and the series being broadcast. The order of shots is established, audio is mixed and extra sound is added such as music. Also time is allowed for pick ups to take place if footage gathered isn't adequate for filming, these can be expensive and time consuming which is why people are constantly on the look out for mistakes whilst the filming is originally taking place.

In series 2 episode 1 of Utopia, the episode we watched as a class the whole episode was filmed in the classic 4:3 style, I believe this was done as the episode was set in the 70's and the directors wanted to make the episode as believable and immersive as possible 

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/utopia-channel-4

Fight Video

For our first filming task we were asked to create a 'knife fight' video and this is what my group came up with.

 

I enjoyed making this film and I think from this task I discovered that although i enjoy acting I like creating and filming more. If we were to do this again I think we would film some scenes again as you can hear the word 'go' being said in places as well as seeing my reflection in the glass of the door. I am however now looking forward to our next task.

We used many different kinds of shots. For example in the final scene we used an over the shoulder shot of Amy looking down at Sid. This shot was effective because it showed Amy being higher.

Another thing we used was the 180 degree rule. The 180 degree rule is a basic guideline which states that two characters or other elements have the same left/right relationship. This is so the characters look as though they are facing each other.

Our next task is to create a shot scene showing a character go through a door, cross a room and exchanging dialogue with another character. We're currently creating a storyboard with our ideas.

Camera Shots

To help us get a better understanding of camera shots we had a task to create a short story using different camera shots. Our group decided we were going to do a story of someone being followed up the stairs.

This shot was our establishing shot which was used to show our scene would play out in the stairwell, looking back now I think we should've taken the picture from the bottom of the stairs rather from the top as the next picture was taken from the bottom of the stairs.

In this picture we used an over shoulder shot to show Amy's character, who was the 'stalker' for our scene had seen my character and was following her movements. This shot showed what things looked like from Amy's point of view.

The next shot we used was a close up, we used a close up on Amy's face to show her facial expressions which gives an audience an idea on what she might be thinking or planning to do next. 

Here we used a low angle shot of Amy to show that in this scene she is higher and she is in control. This shows that her character is dominant by making the viewer seem lower.

In this first image we did another over shoulder shot from a different angle to show my character seeing Amy's for the first time. Using an over shoulder shot here was effective because it shows Amy's facial expression at the 'dramatic' moment of the story we were trying to tell. the second image showed the same scene but from a different angle bringing different views to the scene. 

As my character had fallen over in this shot we used a tilted camera angle to highlight this and create a sense of danger. 

In this final shot it is over my shoulder again but shows Amy in full as well being taller than me. This helps show once again her character is the dominant one of the situation and my character has now been caught.

Welcome To My Blog

Hello and welcome to my blog.

My name is Beth and this blog is to evidence my media studies coursework.
I have never studied media before but I am interested in TV shows and films and how they are created. As of yet I don't know how they are created but I am looking forward to learning and doing the tasks we're set.

One particular area I am looking forward to is screenwriting as I have a huge interest in writing and enjoy doing it already.

The task is to create a two and a half minute film opening, I believe it sounds intriguing and am I looking forward to it.

I hope you enjoy the final film and this journey into to creating it.