A little help please?

To be honest as a media student I don’t really have much experience in filming (for many reasons including the fact I only began the course this academic year.) I’ve been looking at all sorts of media openings from thriller openings to romcoms and I’ve even done a prelim practise to get used to the cameras and software (which by the way can be seen further down the blog…) I needed a little expert help so who better to consult than my media teacher?

What about shooting in the shop (the location)- the 180° rule? Does it matter if I broke it? Would it look weird?

All I have to do is make sure I take shots of the whole shop- for example pan shots to establish the shop and there are actually FOUR walls. That’s ok, I can film that.

Do my shots look alright?

Most of my filming is good (except for the small matter of the shots that didn’t include continuity- oops) but the fact I have chosen the genre ‘thriller’ isn’t really showing, my shots are too slow and I needed quicker cuts and a faster pace. Quite simple- I cut out all the pretty zooms; for example when the mystery character is outside I don’t need a long zoom to get him back in the frame- a quicker cut would be fine and a lot more fitting.
The shots I plan to put at the beginning (close-ups of Laura sorting things out in the shop) of the opening sequence are ok as they establish that the character is in the shot- and in the shop. Also it gives me a chance to show the titles (the name of the cast. The ACTUAL title will come at the end.)

Except from the faster cuts to make more of suspense I should add other effects to create a sort of ‘reconstruction feel’- which is the kidnap, and to show the audience the kidnap is separate from the main part of the film. Similar to openings of murder mysteries it is a good idea to create a detached effect from the rest of the film. To achieve this I will have to look at different effects such as black and white and blurry etc… which I can use on my footage.

How does it seem more ‘thriller genre’ type apart for faster cuts and colour effects?

The content is also very important- the most important. Making sure I tell the audience the story, but not giving everything away or showing everything that (so the audience can't make judgments or guess clues.)
e.g.
The characters; *the young adult woman alone in the shop.
*The mystery character clearly planning something dodgy.
The location; *the shop- its closing time, its dark, the character is all alone…

Showing quick cuts will create pace and keep the audience in suspense for what is about to happen

As earlier said, to keep the opening detached from the main story it was a good idea to change the effects for the opening. To establish this and show the audience my whole film won't be in the same effect, I will have to show a quick shot sequence after the title- Something totally different from the kidnapping.

Back to the story board…

To come away from the first characters we see (Laura and the kidnapper), it’d be a good idea to introduce new ones and what a better way than for the police to discover that Laura is missing (And it’d tie in the title too!)

I will add the storyboard for the next part…..