The genre of our film extract was based on a psychological thriller, as a groupwe decided to use this genre as you can use a range of camera angles and sound effects to fit this genre. Before filming we came up with a number of camera shots that we would want to use whilst filming, we looked at various clips from films where they used point of view shots, this was so when the protagonist in our extract was looking around we would use a point of view shot. We looked at a scene from Spiderman in which they used this,
We, in our extract then took ideas from this shot and used it in our extract when the main character first realised her gift for reading minds.
We also looked at a scene from Spiderman where the main character first develops his powers, in this scene we looked at the close up of his eyes.
We wanted to recreate this in our extract as it would show the audience how the character is feeling at that point in the film.
As i was the sound editor, i looked at soundtracksfrom different genres of films but mainly thrillers, i looked at the opening to 'Halloween', this uses a range of different sound effects to build up a soundtrack. Originally, we wanted to use non diegetic sounds to build sounds in the protagonists head rather tan using a soundtrack, which would have created the effect of her tuning her mind into reading peoples thoughts. We looked at a clip from 'Twilight' where the character reads minds, we did this as we didn't no how we were going to portray the protagonist hearing the thoughts of others. In the clip we looked at, the character says the thoughts of the people around him out loud, whereas we wanted to portray the character hearing the thoughts in her head rather than saying them.
After we filmed our extract and had edited it, we looked at using non diegetic sounds such as radio tuning and walkie talkie tuning to create the effect that the character could feel her head being tuned into the thoughts of others around her. After doing this i realised that by putting a soundtrack onto the extract would enhance the tension throughout the clip, i used a range of sounds and effects on top of each other which built tension but also showed how her mind was not the same as a normal persons.
I created the soundtrack by using non diegetic sounds from 'Garageband', by overlapping sound effects and also using instrumental music, this showed how the extract was building up to the end of the scene and also what the main character could hear in her head.
When using the point of view shot we quickened up the music, this was to show the character becoming more alarmed at her gift, we also wanted to create the effect of her hearing lots voices at the same time to create confusion, we used diegetic sounds to create this, we recorded various people saying different things, we then overlapped them to show that she was hearing all of the thoughts of the people around her.
Overall, our film extract had everything we intended, we have used a good range of camera shots and music, and have edited the extract well so it all fits together, we used some clips twice to create the effect of repitition, we did this so it would create confusion as this is what the character would be feeling in the scene. We also built up non diegetic and diegetic sounds to create different illusions of what was going to happen, so the audience wouldnt know what would happen next. If we were able to use any shot we could, we could have used a vertigo shot, we tried to create this effect while filming with the camera but it didn't work that well. If we could have used any equipment we could have used a more varied range of sound effects and used different effects with the camera. However, the extract worked well.
whilst we were putting sound effects to our film extract, we realised that we would need to use a soundtrack as well as sound effects, this was because the range of sound effects that we had on offer did not suit some of the clips from the extract. We decided to merge music and sound effects together as this would create the illusion that she was hearing voices in her head, however, it would also create the sense of confusion for the audience. It worked well because there was never any silence during the extract, which meant the music built tension throughout the extract, we used non diegetic sounds of radio tuning, this created the effect of her tuning in her head to read the minds of the people around her. We also used the voices of people talking from Cambridge to create the illusion that in her head, she could hear the voices of everyone around her. We overlapped the various voices we had recorded and slowed some of them down and quickened some of them up, this was to show that she could not control her gift of reading minds.
Costume ideas The costume ideas for the character's are very simple as we ant it took like it is any other day for all the character's nothing special. For the main character Mel simple jeans, jacket top, and uggs work with natural not bright colors. we chose this to create the idea that this gift could happen to any normal person. Sarah her best friend, we agreed to wear black and dark colours as we find out that she isn't a very nice person in the scene. So using light and shade that white is angelic and that black is evil. The other passing by character's are just strangers on the street, we tried to range the age of people from little kids, elders, middle aged and teens. Again going for the fact that it is an ordinary day with very ordinary people in it.
Location Ideas
These are very basic shots in cambridge centre, we admit it is a very obvious place to film and a well known location, but we wanted to get that feel as if we were filming in busy london. so the audience would get idea that this could happen to you in a well known urban city, also stories like this with a main charcter having a sixth sense or power tend to be set in an urban location. E.g. Spiderman or other comic book heros - New York city. Once again going with the idea that this is a very normal day and place, where the passers by are unaware that a girl is sitting on a bench and finally being able to hear people's thoughts. Also we wanted to get the effect of lots of people in the shot to show that she is being overwelmend by thoughts. And where better to shoot a busy public location that Cambridge city centre at 11.30-12.30 bang in the middle of lunch hour?
This is a clip from WANTED (Timur Bekmambetov 2008), in the film the character Wesly finds out that he is the son of one of the best assasins in the world. As his whole life he has been a push over and always fighting aginst panick attacks, he chooses not to belive that he has the same abilities then his father. This film and clip was very interesting to us as our film extract is based on the same sort of idea of the main character after so long of ignoring his abilities finally finding or using them. Unlike the other superhero based stories out there this one is very unique and not to the point of stereotypical idea of special or magical powers, as weslie's is a talent not a superpower. It links back well to our extract as our main charcter has a very unique and special talent that has been brought up through not genetics or super spiders but physcilogical powers. The idea that wesly can not 'curve the bullet' until;l his love intrest in target, his phycilogical mind tells him not to dshoot her but shoot round her.
This clip from Jumper (Doug Liman 2008) is prehaps the aftermath of him discovering his gift and then learning how to use it. In our extract we only see her dicovering her gift not testing it out and more importantly not deciding weather or not to use it for good. In this clip we see the jumper using his jumping skills to rob a bank for self gain, even later in the film he turns on the TV and on it is the news repoting a mass flood in a 3rd world country. the line reads " it would take a miricle to reach the stranded starving people" and the jumper ignores this and changes the channel. The main thing that jumped out to us in this clip was the fact that our charcter is undecided on how to use her gift. We plan to add a clip of a child alone in cambridge and her thoughts to be "mummy where are you?" and possiblu the main character Mel could use her gift to find the motehr and bring them together, but she passes through and ignores it. this will be our prelouge suggesting how she might use her powers.
Another clip from WANTED, this one shows the first time wesly tests his talents. Another thing we liked was the idea of him finding out that there our others like him, with his talents and gift. this gave us the idea for extract ending were the main character get's an email from an UNKNOWN source saying "YOU CAN HEAR THE VOICES CAN'T YOU? " this would opening up a box of possibilities for the main character's story to go.
For our film extract we had to look at a variety of different soundtracks to inspire what type of sounds and music we would be using in our project. The genre of our extract would be based on a psychological thriller, I began to research other thrillers to get ideas for our extract.
I looked at the opening to Halloween, as this uses a range of different sound effects to build up a soundtrack. we will be using non diegetic sounds to build sounds in the protagonists head rather than using a soundtrack, this will create the effect of her tuning her mind into reading voices.
One of things we are discussing for our film extract is how we are going to portray the protagonist as a mind reader. We could use the general voice over trick, a monologue from the main character or typing on the screen. This is a clip that inspired us;
Here is another clip that we could create ideas from
