Week 10 Summary 15th - 21st MAR (Faraz Maqbool)

While I was editing the opening sequence of our film I noticed some problems in terms of continuity and it was clear that we had to go back and re-film on the 16th of march. With the additional footage captured I was successfully able to edit the opening sequence and complete it. I also chose the soundtrack that is going to be in the opening sequence and I uploaded the music used in the opening sequence onto the blog.

Legacy 2 minute opening sequence

Editing Journal [The Editor] (Faraz Maqbool)

Editing Journal (Faraz Maqbool)

Legacy Opening Sequence Music (Faraz Maqbool)

Death march by gazzadde43

Alongside editing the 2 minute opening sequence I also chose the music that was used. We chose to stick with using the above music throughout the 2 minute sequence, as it gave it a eerie and mysterious feel especially the way in which it ends and how we used it in the film to create suspense.

The music used in a film must fit its genre type so that certain feelings can be communicated to the audience and so that they know what type of film that they are watching.

However this was not the only choice I had as I sifted through a great deal of different types of music and compared and contrasted them with the movie and I felt that the above music fit in quite well compared to the others. The piece of music used is not copy-righted and is called Death March.

Questionnaire Results (Marian Hassan)

Questionnaire Graphs

Week 9 Summary 8th - 14th MAR (Faraz Maqbool)

This week we finished off filming and we were able to successfully capture all of the footage that we needed. We also showed the footage captured to our lecturer who gave us the go ahead to start editing as he saw no problems. Two filming journals were also uploaded one from the camera woman and also one from the director which details what happened on the days of our filming and what days we filmed. Editing also started this week.

Filming Journal [The Director] (Gareth Hawkes)

Filming Journal Directors Prospect

Filming Journal [Camera Woman] (Marian Hassan)

24th February:
We started filming in H block class room H115, the first scene we filmed was Faraz killing Gareth while he was sitting at one of the computers. We thought this would be simple but soon realised we would have to do many retakes because the way Gareth was reacting to be stabbed did not seem realistic at all. we also had to start again becase he did not sign into the computer so it would not look believable.
Another problem we encounterd was we did not realise how sensitive the sound was so any movement was picked up and we had to start again several times due to out cast members talking in the background.
We also filmed Taiwo & Prisca running away from Faraz out of the class and down the hall way and Prisca had to scream. This scene caused two major problems for us. One because the running scene kept going wrong, either they were too slow or too fast or they tripped over each over.
Two becuase we never knew that there were night classes going on and Prisca had to keep repeating her scream witch was very loud, this distracted the students and the lecturer came to confront us about it quite angrily, unfortunately Taiwo became irritated with the way she was telling us off and they got into an arguement but after expressing his feelings he apologised becuase she thought he was rude and we were told he could carry on as long as we did not make to much noise.

9th March:
We began filming inside again becuase after watching what we had previously recored and got feedback from other class members we decided that we were going to reflim the scene where Gareth was being stabbed by Faraz, this was becuse Garethg reaction to being stabbed was not very believable. This took a while to get right because Garteh fealt shy infront of the other cast members so we politely asked them to leave, and after that he either did not make noise on time or he didnt make noise at all.
We then added our next scene which was Faraz killing Iffrah, this went smoothly and took no time to get over and done with.
On this same day we were meant to get the outside scene with Prisca and Taiwo done but unfortunately Prisca left college without telling any of us so we could not get that out of the way.
So instead we filmed the outside car park scene of Akelah driving towards Faraz. This was very problematic seeing as it started to drissle just as we got outside but luckily it stopped and we were able to carry on. It took a while to get the camera in the same position as the car but we got there, and Akelah had to be very careful so that she did not accidentaly hit Faraz. That bit went fine. Soon after another group came outside also to film and they cast members got in the way of out shot, so we politely waited. In the end we looked over out film and the still got in our shot without us noticing so we had to cut out as shot of Faraz walking into the road.
Lastly we filmed Faraz falling to the ground to give the audience the idea he haad be knocked down by the car.

11th March:
It took a while to begin filming because we had to wait for it to get reasonably dark outside.
We started filming inside H block Faraz walking down the stairs. This was easiliy done in one take. We then began to film the outside scene where Prisca and Taiwo run from h block to the car park. This took mant shots and was quite difficult at times especially the panning scene because i was too fast at times. We also had issues with the automatic doors as they opended to slow.
Then Faraz did a point of view shot and that went very well. After that we did the scene we Prisca and Taiwo run behind a car then run across the road.
Finally we did the scene where Taiwo see's Faraz knocked down on the ground and goes over to check his pulse and suddenly Faraz opens his eyes and strangles him, this also took a while because Faraz could not see very well so he kept missing Taiwo's neck.

16th March:
I was not able to make it to the last day of filming because of too short notice from the director (Gareth Hawkes), and i had to pick up my neice, but Pianki took my position and that day went well apart from being able to see the director in the reflection of the mirror.

Personally I think our filming went better than i thought it would have and was quite enjoyable, we came across a few problems here and there but that made us better at our jobs.

Week 8 Summary 1st - 7th MAR (Faraz Maqbool)

We have not uploaded anything to the blog this week as we have been primarily focussing on the filming. I would say that we have made a lot of progress in this week and we have come close to the end of filming, we have run into a few problems such as some of the cast members not being able to make filming dates. However we were able to compensate and film on a different date that was appeasing to all of the people involved in the project.

Week 7 Summary 22nd - 28th FEB (Faraz Maqbool)

This week we started to film the opening sequence and we also have our production set and uploaded onto the blog. This has the dates that we have to get our work done and also the dates that we have to film on, these dates have been discussed before hand to make sure that everyone would be available for filming. There is also a set date for when everything has to be done by and that means te whole project and when it has to be finished.

Production Schedule (Marian Hassan)

Untitled

Week 6 Summary 15th - 21st FEB (Faraz Maqbool)

This week we took a really big in depth look at the opening sequence that we are going to be creating and we uploaded the production brief which outlines everything that has to be considered in creating the opening sequence such as who the target audience is and where we can distribute the film and so on. We were also able to upload the storyboard so that the viewers can see what we are trying to achieve and what shots we are going to use. Alongside all of this we also uploaded the treatment which also looks at the target audience and the product that we are creating among other things. This week we also talked about possible filming dates and checked the dates we chose aginst the ones that our cast was free so that we could film with no problems, we also made sure that we had a few dates set aside just in case we had to do emergency filming or re film.

Production Brief (Faraz Maqbool)

Production Brief

Treatment (Gareth Hawkes)

Treatment

Storyboard (Faraz Maqbool)

Storyboard

Shot List for our film (Gareth Hawkes)

Shot List

Week 5 Summary 8th - 14th FEB (Faraz Maqbool)

This week what we did was find the props that we are going to use in the opening sequence. We took a long time finding some of the props such as the knife that we are going to use however it was originally supposed to be a big machete, but we were unable to find one. So we have to settle for a knife. We also were abe to round up our xast and this was mainyly down to Marian as she was able to recruit the cast memebers and get notes and pictures of them. We also looked ovr our blog and made changes, not very big ones just some that made the layout f th blog look more nicer to look at.

Theories (Faraz Maqbool)

Mcquails Uses and Gratification Theory
This theory is used as a way or means to understanding mass communication. This theory puts more emphasis on the audience rather tha the actual media product itself. It does this by exploring what people do with the media products they view rather than what media products do to people. It suggests that people choose to view and use media products to meet their own needs. Mcquails theory assumes that the audience are not passive but do take an interest in what they want to watch and make their own decisions regarding what they want to watch.

An example of this is that a person may feel more comfortable and confident to talk to others when they have facts or stories from a certain media product. This in turn will lead them to want to view the media product because they want to and so this is their own choice.

Vance Packards Hypodermic Needle Theory
This theory is actually quite straight forward and easy to understand. It states that the audience of a media product will clearly know the intended meaning of it and that they will accept this intended meaning completely. This theory however is actually very old going back to the 1930s and 1940s and is considered as being obsolete today. However it was quite popular when it was first introduced and the evidence for it was the war and the propaganda and how everyone easily and openly believed what they were told about the war by the media through Radios and TV's. It was not heavily questioned and people just swallowed, however things are different today and people choose what they want to watch and what they want to believe and even then we now know that media has a selective influence on different individuals.

Narrative Codes and Theory of Media
Roland Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. he was able to create a theory which stated that in every story there were five major Narrative codes which are all connected together and that these codes once brought together created meaning. We have only so far learnt of two of the codes both of which are shown below.

1. Hermeneutic Code (The Voice of Truth)
The hermeneutic code is associated with enigmas of the text. So to reveal the truth you would first have to be able to solve the enigmas.

- Thematisation. What in the narrative is an enigma?

- Positioning. Additional confirmations of the enigma.

- Formulation of the enigma.

- Promise of an answer of the enigma.

- Fraud. Circumvention of the true answer.

- Equivocation. Mixture of fraud and truth.

- Blocking. The enigma cannot be solved.

- Suspended answer. Stopping the answering after having begun.

- Partial answer. Some facets of the truth are revealed.

-Disclosure of the truth.

Because the hermeneutic code involves a move from a question to an answer it is one of the two codes (the other being the proairetic or action code) which Barthes calls “irreversible”. Once a secret is revealed, it cannot be unrevealed—the moment of cognition is permanent for the reader. TV Shows like "Lost" use the Hermeneutic Code very clearly.


Proairetic Code (The Voice of Empirics)
A Proairetic Code is a plot action that does not directly raise particular questions -- it is simply an action that is caused by a previous event and which leads to other events. It is not inherently mysterious. An example would be like a person walking down the street or a tile falls off the roof of a building.

Where the proairetic code creates tension in a story is in the anticipation it causes with regard to what might happen next. When we read stories we may try to read the mind of the author and hence wonder why what is happening as it is. This effect can be used by the author to lead the reader astray and hence create further tension.

Prop Notes (Marian Hassan)

PLASTIC KNIFE: Used by Faraz (Edward Wolfe) to kill his victims. It was given to Faraz by the drama department and as soon as we were finished with it we had to return it.









CAR: Driven by Akelah who owns the car. It was used to hit Edward Wolfe in order for him to fall to the ground.



PLAIN WHITE HOCKEY MASK: Worn by Faraz to induce fear and intimidation. it also resembles the mask of Freddie in Freddie vs Jason and that is the killer kind of loof we were going for.


BLUE OVERALLS: Worn by Faraz because it fit in with the appearance of our antagonist. Overalls also convey that the person wearing them is planning to get dirty and Edward Wolfe was planning to get bloody.

Cast Notes (Marian Hassan)

CHARACTER: Faraz Maqbool - Antagonist
AGE: 20
ROLE: Plays the role of Edward Wolfe the bullied teenage studnet who finally has enough of being a victim and seeks revenge against his enemies in a violent gruesome way.
RESONS FOR WHY THEY WERE GIVEN THIS ROLE: As a group we decided that Faraz suited this role perfectly because he is tall and quite wide built, he also has an intimidating stature. It took us quite some time to come to this decision seeing as Gareth Hawkes was eager to play this role, but we believe that in most common thrillers/ horrors e.g 'Freddie vs Jason' the antagonist is usually bigger than the protagonist and looks like they will defeat the victims easily.
We also thought that because Gareth is shorter than the other cast members it would look very humourous to see him chasing them around with a knife, and we would prefer it to be believable.



CHARACTER: Taiwo Giwa - Protagonist
AGE: 19
ROLE: Plays the role of Toby a student who continuously terrorised Alex and made him feel excluded, he was once the antagonist towards Alex until Alex flipped the script and Toby suddenly becomes the protagonist.
REASONS FOR WHY THEY WERE GIVEN THIS ROLE: We decided to give Taiwo this role because he is quite built so he could have intimidated Alex (Faraz) in the past, but at the same time he is not bigger than him because we want our antagonist to appear the most threatening. He also attends Havering College so we can easily reach him.



CHARACTER: Prisca Vungbo - Protagonist
AGE: 17
ROLE: Plays the role of Carla another student who was cruel to Alex because he was different but now realises the tables have turnded. She also runs with Toby to escape Alex's revenge.
REASONS FOR WHY THEY WERE GIVEN THIS ROLE: We gave her this role because we needed a female who looks quite cheeky and loud mouthed to portray a female who can actually bully a bigger male, and Prisca suited this role perfectly seeing as that is her personality, outspoken and quite confrontational. She also attends Havering College so it was no problem for her to act for us anytime.



CHARACTER: Gareth Hawkes - Protagonist
AGE: 17
ROLE: Plays the role of Derek another bully who was unfortunately caught first and brutally stabbed to death by Alex.
REASONS FOR WHY THEY WERE GIVEN THIS ROLE: We chose Gareth for this role because he is physically the smallest of all our cast, we also thought that him dying goes against the stereotype that 'the black guy always dies first' because he is white.





CHARACTER: Iffrah Sessay - Protagonist
AGE: 17
ROLE: Plays the role of a student who is sitting by the computer quietly doing her work and all of a sudden Edward Wolfe comes from nowhere and slices her neck with a knife; she dies instantly.
RESONS FOR WHY THEY WERE GIVEN THIS ROLE: Sh was available at the time we needed her and sh had no problem woth acting as long as her face was not seen and she did not have to say anything.




CHARACTER: Akelah Wallace - Car Driver
AGE: 18
ROLE: Drives her car out of the car park and accidentally hits Edward Wolfe down to the ground.
REASONS FOR WHY THEY WERE GIVEN THIS ROLE: We gave her this role because she is a licensed good driver who attends Havering College and is able to control the car well.

Week 4 Summary 1st - 7th FEB (Faraz Maqbool)

This week was a more of a successful week as we were able to finish up on a few loose ends such as the completion of the preliminary task. We were successfully able to record our preliminary task and also upload it onto YouTube. the video is Embedded on our Group Blog. we however ran into a snag as we forgot to turn the mic on which left us with no sound being captured at all so what we did was added in music to cover over where there was actually supposed to be sound.

we were also able to create a production schedule so that we knew when we wanted to start filming and when we wanted the whole project to be complete by. hopefully we should be able to stick to it. We were also able to create our group logo which says "Legacy" and we were also able to find the location in which we are going to be filming and so we have alongside the pictures put down notes that let people know why we have chosen the locations that we have and how they tie into our film.

Group logo (Marian Hassan)

Logo Notes :
The reason we used this logo is because the colour suits the uneasy atmosphere of a thriller.
I went on google and typed in the search engine 'logo creator' and clicked on the link http://cooltext.com/
I then clicked on the logo 'embossed' typed in legacy changed the font and size then sent it to my email.
We used the logo 'LEGACY' because it fits in with our script seeing as our title is 'The Legacy of Edward Wolfe'

Location notes (Marian Hassan)

The location we are using is Havering College Ardleigh green campus, which is media class room H115 in H block and the Havering college car park.
The reason we chose this location is because it suits our script which is set in a college and a class room, this location is also convenient for our group because it is easy for us to meet up and we do not need to leave campus or travel far to film together.

Preliminary Task Evaluation (Faraz Maqbool)

This is our Preliminary Task for our AS Media Studies coursework. This was our 3rd attempt at trying to do it. The first preliminary we filmed we actually ran in to the problem of not complying with the 180 Degree rule, and we actually did break it a few times. We mixed up some of the camer shots and could not bring things together in the editing part and so had to do it again.

On the second attempt everything went well except the fact that we once again accidently broke th 180 degree rule. the third time was fine and everything went off without a hitch and then in the editing suite we realised that the mic was not on and so no sound was captured and we decided to just put music over it.

we ended up making a lot of mistakes which are highlighted above however we were able to learn from these mistakes and be more aware of them in the future seeing as how easily they can be made. we have learnt the importance of double checking the equipment before we use them to make sure that they are running correctly.

Preliminary Task (Marian Hassan and Faraz Maqbool)

Marian Hassan was the Director

Faraz Maqbool was the Editor

Week 3 Summary 25th - 31st JAN (Faraz Maqbool)

A lot happened in the third week of the project work. we actually did get through a lot of work, we were able to do research on genre. This was carried out to get an understanding and increase our knowledge of thrillers and the types of them as we were looking to make our 2 minute film around thrillers. we eventually decided upon a horror/thriller type of movie.

We also delegated the group roles and responsibilities to make sure that everyone in our group knew exactly what they were doing and what was expected of them. This also allows to see who is falling behind and not meeting deadlines and it also allows us to see the contribution that everyone is going to be making.

We were having trouble with the possible name of the movie and so we decided to enter that into our questionnaire and allow the audience to decide between two names which were either "Deranged" and "The Legend of Edward Wolfe". We were able to create the 90 Minute synopsis which is the outline of the whole movie saying what happens. It gives us a better idea of the movie as a whole and its characters personalities as well as what the complete story is about.

Our group was also able to do the treatment which basically is a kind of in depth look at the Movie we are creating. it concentrates on the Product (which is the movie), the target audience we are aiming at, the context of the film, the media languages used, the possible institutions involved, the representations that could be used and finally the genre of the movie we are creating.

We also had our first attempt at the Preliminary task this week as well, however it did not go as smoothly as we had hoped due to complications such as the breaking of the 180 Degree rule. This mistake was made quite a few times in the first attempt at a preliminary task, however we were unable to finish the second preliminary attempt as we discovered that we ran into the same problem once again and also we also made the mistakes of not positioning the camera correctly. This was the first week we actually started to use the camera and so some of us were quite awkward with it however we are getting better at operating it and should get the hang of it soon. we are hoping to complete the preliminary task in the following week.

The Legacy of Edward Wolfe (Gareth Hawkes, contributions by Faraz Maqbool)

The Legacy of Edward Wolfe/Deranged

90 minute synopsis of The Legacy of Edward Wolfe/Deranged (Gareth Hawkes)

In the past, a teenage boy was continuously bullied by a group of other teenage boys. His name, Edward Wolfe. This group of boys continued making threats to him, and continued bullying him; until he snapped. Edward started getting his own back, murdering those who bullied him, murdering his own family and his friends, his mentality, changing. The police found out and killed him, due to the deaths of other police, and innocent people. Some brutal, others unknown.
But now he's back, existing in a new body; Alex. Just a simple, light-hearted college student, controlling his every move. Before, Alex was relied upon, by many a moon; trusted upon by many people, until Edward's dark-hearted spirit suddenly took over his body. Now, what was and still is, becomes a deranged student, murdering those who bullied him, murdering his own family and his friends; controllable, not now; not ever. Unless he can stop it, and rid the world of the legacy, Edward Wolfe's Legacy.

Genre Research (Marian Hassan and Faraz Maqbool)

A thriller is a film that restlessly pursues a single-minded goal. It gives the audience thrills and keeps the audience cliff-hanging at the 'edge of their seats' as the plot builds towards a climax. The tension usually builds when the main character(s) is placed in a frightening situation or dangerous mission from which an escape seems impossible. Life itself is threatened, usually because the principal character is unsuspecting or unknowingly involved in a dangerous or potentially deadly situation. Plots of thrillers involve characters which come into conflict with each other - the menace is sometimes abstract or shadowy.
Thrillers are often hybrids - there are suspense-thrillers, action- or adventure- thrillers, sci-fi thrillers e.g. Alien (1979), crime-caper thrillers e.g. The French Connection (1971)), western-thrillers e.g. High Noon (1952)), film-noir thrillers e.g. Double Indemnity (1944)), even romantic comedy-thrillers e.g. Safety Last (1923)).
Another similar genre is the horror film genre e.g. Halloween (1978)), also designed to bring forth tension and suspense, taking the viewer through agony and panic. Suspense-thrillers come in all shapes and forms: such as murder mysteries, private eye tales, chase thrillers, courtroom and legal thrillers, erotic thrillers, surreal cult-film soap operas, and atmospheric, plot-twisting psychodramas. Thrillers keep the emphasis away from the gangster, crime, or the detective in the crime-related plot, focusing more on the suspense and danger that is caused.
Characters in thrillers include convicts, criminals, stalkers, assassins, down-on-their-luck losers, innocent victims (often on the run), prison inmates, menaced women, characters with dark pasts, psychotic individuals, terrorists, cops and escaped cons, fugitives, private eyes, drifters, duplicitous individuals, people involved in twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, psycho-fiends, and more. The themes of thrillers frequently include terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder.

The Codes and Conventions

It is very important to follow the Codes and Conventions of the genre in which you are creating your movie. This is because it allows the audience to understand what type of movie that they are watching. An example would be that if they were watching a Horror movie there would be props, lighting, iconography, music, etc that would be used to convey that type of movie, so there would be scary/eerie music being played. However in a thriller movie there are certain Codes and Conventions that have to be watched out for, these are:

- Quick cuts and changes of the camera angle
Directors in many thriller movies like to use quick cuts and a vast amount of camera angles to keep the pace of the movie fast, and build suspense and create tension for the audience. it keeps the audience interested and focused on the movie.

- Surprises and twists
This is a very important convention that must be used in a thriller as it is a way to keep the viewers of the TV Show or Movie guessing and so that they are literally on the edge of their seats waiting to see what happens next. The show Lost does this spectacularly by leaving its viewers wanting more and more after each episode that they watch and keeping them in suspense until the next episode is released. It also keeps the viewer interested in the show and allows for shocking storylines that the viewers did not expect.

- Sound
Sound plays a key role in thrillers as it is a way to convey certain feelings to the audience and so in effect it is able to keep the viewer enthralled in the movie. There are many different types of sound that can be used such as Synchronous, Asynchronous, Diegetic, Non-Diegetic, etc. It can be used to evoke the feeling of suspense and tension in the viewer.

- Props
The props used also are able to convey to the audience what type of movie that they are watching. it is common to see guns, knives, stairs and also mirrors in thrillers, if the director chooses not to follow the conventions on the props used then the audience may not find the film very interesting as it does not seem realistic to the genre being portrayed.

- Editing techniques
Depending on the genre of movie being made there are sometimes some editing techniques that are associated with those genres. An example would be how Flashbacks are used in thrillers such as Phonebooth or lost. It is usually used to portray the past of a character so that the audience knows more about this character and can maybe even take a liking to that character through some sort of connection. Lost the TV Show makes great use of the editing technique such as the flashback.

- Effect on the Audience
A good Thriller really does leave the audience thinking and it may even be putting forward some moral or ethical decisions that may have the viewer contradicting their own beliefs. This is not found in all thrillers but it is found in a few, one such example would be the movie Shooter. it makes the viewer think about what they would do if they were in the position of a character in the movie or TV Show and it makes them start to think about what they would do or could do in that particular situation.

- Antagonists Point of view
Thrillers such as Phone booth have the audience seeing things in not only the protagonists view but also the antagonists view. Phonebooth may not be seen as a conventionial thriller but one convention that links this movie to being a thriller is that it shows the story from the antagonists point of view. this type of movie also plays with your mind and can be classed as a Psychological thriller.

Group responsibilities

Director - Gareth Hawkes and Faraz Maqbool

Camera person - Marian Hassan/Faraz Maqbool and Gareth Hawkes

Editor - Faraz Maqbool

Week 2 Summary 18th - 24th JAN (Faraz Maqbool)

We had to make changes to the synopsis created as it was far too long and detailed. And then after the first amendment we found that it did not make much sense and so I altered it again for the third time which finally made sense and was the right length required. The brainstorm was not retouched as it was adequate enough.

However the script created still gave us a few more problems as it did not resemble one. But we managed to amend it and make it look like a proper script with some help from a few example scripts.

Synopsis to 2 minute opening sequence (Faraz Maqbool)

Three students are at college after hours doing their project work, when they are attacked by a mysterious and terrifying being, two of the students Toby and Carla make a quick escape while Derek is caught and un-mercilessly killed. The two students are not out of the frying pan just yet as the killer Alex is in quick pursuit, the two students try to get away and end up in the college car park with Alex not far behind. In such a wide and open space Alex spots them easily and advances for the kill, but when it looks like the end is near for the unfortunate students a vehicle strikes Alex with a thunderous force sending him crashing down onto the ground. Alex is crumpled on the ground lifeless..... Is this the end or is it just the beginning.

Week 1 Summary 11th - 17th JAN (Faraz Maqbool)

In the first week we got through the brainstorm, the script and the 2 minute opening sequence synopsis. However we had to make some changes due to the fact that the script created was far too long with too much dialogue that would have made it difficult to make and also make it go over the time limit for the film.

Our Brainstorm (Faraz Maqbool, contributions by Gareth Hawkes)

The 180 Degree Rule (Faraz Maqbool)

This is a video explaining the 180 Degree rule that we have learnt in lesson.