Class Evalutation - "Withdrawal"

Once I had handed in my opening title sequence, I was able to get some feedback from the class so that I could find out what people liked and disliked about the sequene. Before watching it I was nervous about what my class might think, however I was excited to see the overall result of my film up on the big screen. We watched Withdrawal through twice so that everyone was able to evaluate the sequence in detail. Once it was played twice everyone wrote down their own thoughts on the film and handed them back to me. When first looking at the class feedback I was a little disappointed because a lot of people said they thought the voice over was too complex and theres a lot to take in which they found difficult. Furthermore this is my aim as I wanted to create a detailed monologue that my target audience can listen to carefully and think about what's being said rather than it being straight forward and really easy to understand. Therefore I believe there are good and bad sides to this and I took into consideration different peoples thoughts opinions. On the other hand many people enjoyed different parts of the film, including the variety of shots and editing used. One group enjoyed the build up of the music and said that it had a big impact on the film. Another group mentioned the editing and said they enjoyed the shots of the character moving around in the room whilst the lights are flashing and the pace of the sequence is fast and quite creepy. A few members of the class stated they enjoyed the suspense which was created when the protagonist walks past the dead body as it plays with your mind, just like psychological thrillers are meant to.

Day three filming - "Withdrawal"

Day three was were I planned to film all of the outside shots in daylight in contrast to the night shots. I took my cast up to cannon hill common which was local to the other sets used previously which gave a very secluded feel to characters environment. I was able to capture a beautiful pink sky where I then got the protagonist to walk towards the camera from an ELC. I really liked the ideas of filming shots of my character by the river, as I'd looked at a past opening title sequence from a few years ago which included shots of a pond rippling. I thought this was really effective as despite the stillness of the shot it had a very fluid rhythmic movement that was capturable from many angles. I chose the setting of this shot as it was a very peaceful tranquil enviroment and it completely alternated the panic-ensued journey home. I asked my actor to throw some stones into the river and to give the impression that he was at ease in surroundings that seemed safe and very normal. In the shots he was also smoking a cigarette which highlighted his state of relaxation. The lack of wind was useful as the smoke rose slowly and was clearly visable in the lens. I took one close up from the side in which the character inhales and exhales smoke, unaware of the danger that is soon to come.
My final shot the protagonist discovering a random corpse on a park bench. I wanted to be a shock to the audience. I did this by having the character walk into the frame and pass without enquiring but to act concerned about the state of this individual(who had been affected by disease). He returns after momentarily continuing past and shakes the corpse to try and awaken him or resasitate him. The day was a success and the only problems we encountered was the process of continuinly cleaning the cassatte.

Robyn Bostock

Day two filming - "Withdrawal"

During day two I'd developed my camera skills which enabled me to experiment with a variety of different shots. I took my cast back to the house we'd shot in the day before, except this time we weren't restriced by the lack of daylight which made lighting easier and possible to collect shots I was unable to do the previous evening. I took into consideration the difference in lighting but filmed in the idea of editing so that it look like a duration of time had been spent in the house. I experimented with shots from outside the house looking in on the protagonist to highlight his isolation and give the viewer the impression he could be being watched. I filmed three shots of the character walking down the stairs all from different angles. This looked interesting and the repetition of the action also enforced the idea that he'd spent a lot of time in this house. I thought by filming these shots at different angles would be effective because it also adds a different perspective to his day to day routine. I filmed a birds eye view shot from the top of the house, looking down in the conservatory. I found this hard to do as I had to position the camera at an angle which made it difficult to view what I was filming. I ended up using my own judgement and spacial awareness skills to enable this shot to work. Some of the shots that i'd filmed day one, were lost when uploading. This was aggravting as it meant I had to film the shots again which proved even more difficult as it was still light outside, meaning the shots wouldn't of blended. As there were no curtains, I had to modify the light myself by hanging a dust sheet over the window. In this process I filmed a shot of the main character eating soup. I wanted the audience sympothise for the protagonist so I made him eat in a very uncivilsed manner. I wanted a detailed close-up of the character spilling the soup whilst eating it and aimlessly staring in one direction. I got two angles of the shot, one being a side view ECU and the other a front on ECU. I felt these close-ups of the spillages adds a great effect for portraying the character exasperation and his lack of manners showed he was unbothered about what anyone thought. After I captured all the shots I needed, the cast and myself headed to a furnished residence to film a few shots which consisted of the main character discovering his mothers corpse. In this shot I filmed from across the road which had its pro's and con's. As it was a LS it had a wide angle of the whole house in the background, and cars parked outside other houses provided a good comparison to the car parked noticably out of position with the hazard lights on in the characters driveway. However this shot was difficult to capture due to cars and residents passing by, seeing as the area was quite busy as there's a primary school round the corner. I concluded day two's filming with a ECU of the corpse's hand hanging from the open door of the car. This was extreemly as it showed a good use of thirds and looked extremly realistic giving the audience a chilling realisation of what's happened. I felt this was good contrast from the previous shot I'd captured as it was the only still shot that i'd taken throughout my filming so far. Day two was very successful and I managed to film the majority of all I needed. I completed all the filming I needed that was not part of the flashback which was very reasuring.



Robyn Emily Bostock

Day one of filming - "Withdrawal"

During the first day of filming I met up with the new cast and talked through all my ideas and how I wanted the sequence to run. "Withdrawal" is based on a young boy who alienates himself from society due to an outbreak of disease. He keeps himself locked away and has flashbacks of events that have effected him in his day to day life. My opening title sequence doesnt give a lot away which allows the viewer to independantly form their own opinion. I came to the conclusion that I wanted the film to be shot in a derelict building with dark lighting and plain white walls to create a mysterious mis-en-scene in contrast to the flashback which appears in daylight. I explained this to the cast and one of them suggested I'd film in his new house which hadn't quite been refurbished. This was really useful as it was just what I was looking for. I then went on to thinking about costume and what my main character should wear to potray the theme of a psychlogoical thriller. I considered the boys feelings and personality and associated them with colours. For example his white T-shirt reperesnts purity in contrast to his black trousers which represnt darkness and fear. The actor that I chose isn't experienced when it comes to acting however he feels comfortable in front of the camera which I feel sets of a more realistic approach. Once arriving at the house to film I cleared away any unecessary props and replaced them with benificial props that would help to make the setting look authentic. I played around with the lighting, dimming the main lights and adding candles to create a more subtle mysterious feel to the room, furthermore the camera could pick up essential details within the shots. The first shot started with a conventional thrilling close up of the actor restlessly moving into different positions highlighting how uncomfortable and distreseed he feels. I used a variety of different shots of the actor in the same room behaving in an odd maner, using different angles so that I had a variety of shots to chose from. I manipulated his facial expressions, movements and emotions in order to make him look unstable. The second group of shots I filmed were in a different room to add a slight change; the second room was a lot bigger and had a balcany which enabled me to film a variety of long shots to mix with the close-ups. The lighting in the second room was a lot harder to play about with as the room was bigger I couldn't just use the candles as a form of light. As an alternative I bought a lamp along with me and placed it in different areas of the room to make the lighting look a lot more realistic as well as capturing shadows which added am interesing ghostly effect to the sequence. I had a slight problem with the camera but I resolved this problem but asking the teachers for a cassett cleaner. I learnt a lot about the camera during the first day of filming, I was able to play around the with the focus to create different effects and became a lot more comfortable tracking a shot. Overall the first day of filming was successful and I was able to record at least 20 minutes of footage. I also picked up on new skills which enabled me to feel a lot more comfortable when using the camera.

Robyn Bostock

Planning process - "Withdrawal"

Before and during the filming process I planned out several ideas on paper so that when it came to actually doing the filming and editing I knew what to do and how I wanted everything to look. Firstly I designed a storyboard with a variety of my shots in order to help me put all the shots together. The storyboard included a drawing of each shot and underneath a brief idea of what's happening, different angles to capture this scene from and a list of props if neccessary. This made filming a lot easier as it was like a guide for me to follow so that I couldn't miss any shots out that I wanted to be included in the filming. It gave me a sequence of events to follow and a rough idea of the time duration needed for each shot. With the scenes pictured and described it gave me an idea of how to structure the monologue and music but this would need further anaylsis once the shots were captured.

I created a scrap book which I filled with ideas including the monologue, editing ideas, music and a variety of proposed features to include in the film. I wanted the monologue to be written in a very intellectual yet appealing way so that my target audience can sympothise for the protagonist and also think carefully about what's being said. I had help writting this monologue with a friend who's very keen on complex literature and especially enjoys creative writing. I sat down and explained how I wanted the monologue to be and he helped me write it whilst the film was playing in the background. We found a suitable creative enviroment and looked at various monologues that both him and I were inspired by. He enjoyed and liked the monologue written by Irvene Welsh in his book 'Trainspotting' and was keen to encourparate it with a monologue in the playwrite 4.48 by Sarah Kane. It was very successful as he was able to establish a very pessimistc mindset which suited the role of the of the character. We redrafted a few times before recording and used the timeline we created to suit the films flow.

This time line I made determined how I wanted my shots to be placed when editing. I divided the sequence into half which really broke down the order as I placed the flashback shots in the second half and all others in the first half. This was really useful as I was able to add all the shots in the order, kept it to a time schedule that I'd devised and used it to syncronise the music and monologue effectively.

Robyn Emily Bostock

Inspiration - Withdrawal

The plot I used for my film derived from various sources and I feel improved the cinematography and ensured the individuality of my film.
The rough idea of my film focused on a unknown disease infecting the human race.
Inspired by several films I took out key factors that I particularly admired including the structure, stylism and filming techniques.
The initial plot derived from several different films I'd seen recently which included:


FILMS
28 DAYS LATER- I was inspired by the element of disease corrupting society however I didn't want to incorporate the violence or gore that was a very big part of the plot.

I AM LEGEND- The isolation of the main character was brilliant in this film and the ability to follow one mans action and quest really inspired me to try and limit my cast as much as I could. However I chose not to have any form of companion as the character in this film has a Dog for the majority of the film, it also contains the same aggressive presence of the diseased which I opted out of my opening title sequence. The routine followed by Will Smith in this film inspired the idea of my short cut scenes of the press ups in my film. The character wears tight revealing clothes quite like mine does in Withdrawal

V for Vendetta- The intellectual dialogue and eloquent musical transitions between scenes were key to adding in my stylised artist approach to my film, I really liked the proper english used and intelligent terminology inspired my monologue/voice over. The film itself is very arty and the element of conspiracy used as subplot is very intriguing. Half way through the film you discover that the disease that affected the coutries population was a corrupted governments attempts to gain votes as it appeared to deal with the crisis in a heroic way. I felt it was a great idea and was an unexpected edgey twist.

Phonebooth- The set for this shot was very limited and despite it only being filmed in one phonebox it showed me various of the same shot can be just as affective as many different scenarios.

NOVELS

THE RED ROOM- A famous book it focuses on a mans stay in a haunted room which is renowned for leaving visitors terrified, mental and emotionally unstable. However the key aspect of the story is the phycological fear. In discovering the twist at the end I realised that to be scared of something you do not have to see it yourself. In the story a man spends a night in this room but discovers that the mind plays tricks on itself and that there is nothing in the room but the paranoia and reputation influences him to imagine or create this fear of a ghost that is non existant. I found it a very interesting prospect and took into account not too be too descriptive of any fears or threats to my character.

THE ACID HOUSE- A book of short stories, the actor I used had recently read a story in this which inspired the character in my film. The story was called video rental and was about a reclusive man who through isolation became hooked to a certain routine and became to act irrationally and lost interest in everything that concerned himself and became very observant of society and the way things had declined around him. He is a pessimistic and negative character that was highly intellectual but was not much of a risk taker whilst he had the opportunity.

A also watched some previous opening title sequence by a level students at coombe.
I really liked a shot I'd seen where the camera focused on the rippels created by things being thrown into water. I liked the white wall backdrop I had seen in other low budget short films and opted to use this for my isolation scenes.

Finally the inspiration for my production company name came from the wonderful pink sky encountered over the 3 days of filming which was probably my favourite shot in the film overall.

Robyn Bostock

Questionare on psychological thriller- "Withdrawal"

In order to chose a type of thriller and target audience I had to research existing opening sequences to thrillers. Other genres I took in to account were political, horror, action and gangster. I begun inquiring into my target group, I thought up a good questionare with a variety of questions on psychlogical thrillers and in return got a great response from a range of 10 different people. This questionnaire allowed me to look further into my target audience and find out different opinions and observations of a psychological thriller film.

Firstly I discovered young people ageing from 13-17 enjoyed watching psychlogical thrillers the most, they stated they often enjoyed watching thriller's and expected a small amount of violence and explicit language from a certificate 15. On the other hand 50% of the people I asked think 30+ are interested in psychological thrillers. I questioned two 30+ and one of them said they don't mind watching films under this genre but it's not his favourite. The majority of the people I asked said they expect psychlogical thrillers to be mind playing, atmpospheric and quite similar to horrors however they said they're less bloody and graphic. When I asked the 10 people about what certificate they thought psychlogical genres should be put under; 75% stated they thought the certificate was suitable for 15-18 due to the violence and heavy subjects that play with your mind. The other 25% said they dont see psychological thrillers as a threat to under 15's. People had a range of different answers when I asked them what their favourite psychological thriller is. I got a lot of people saying that enjoyed the film Saw as it's very mind playing and gets you off your seat. Another popular answer was The Ring as they were shocked of the content of the film and didn't expect it. In my quiz I involved multi-choice questions as well which, allowed people to have an option of answers to choose from.I asked, how do you usually watch films? 1.) through the internet? 2.) DVD? 3.) Cinema? I got a variety of answers and discovered most of the people aging 15-17 enjoyed going to the cinema (orange wednesday) to watch films because its a lot better quality and the atmosphere is so much better than sitting in your living room watching in on the TV. However 30+ stated they prefer watching films on DVD or via internet as it's a lot more accessible and they didn't like the environment of being in the cinema as they feel a lot more comfortable sitting at home. A lot of the younger teens wern't able to list any production companies that produce psychological thrillers, furthermore two of the people who were aged 20 were able to list me two companies one being Thriller Entertainment and Urbanchillers films. I was suprised when I to see 3 out of the 10 people that I questioned had bought a soundtrack to a psychological thriller all 17 - 25 because it's not a popular style of music to buy. They consider the music from the soundtrack being catchy and exciting to listen to due to the tension created in the music. My final question asked was, what is the difference between a thriller and a horror. I was suuprised when I found out half of the people 15 - 17 didn't know the difference between a thriller and a horror whereas 20+ knew the difference.


Robyn Bostock

How the preliminary task helped me with my opening title sequence:

Before my group and myself began creating our films, we carried out various types of research and practiced our camera techniques by carrying out the preliminary task, "Feed the Fish." When producing our preliminary task we planned out all aspects of what we needed to prepare as if we would when making our final projects. I learnt techniques such as zooming in and out on actors however I found it hard tracking in and out of a desired shot. I also learnt how important it was not to move any props or alter the setting dramatically as something as minor as this has a great impact on editing and cutting shots. It is obvious when collecting random clips that the mis-en-scene has been modified, it doesn't look effective but instead appears unproffesional. When filming our "Feed the Fish" task we decided cutting shots has a greater effect and was a prefrence in contrast to tracking. Especially as the genre I selected is a thriller, cutting shots was more appropriate. The short sharp movements of cutting seemed to relate to a thriller, compared to a drifting tracking motion that seems less thrilling because of the subtle action of the camera.

Robyn Bostock