Sound Reseach

In drama genre films sound is usually used to create suspense or tension and set the mood and tone of the scenes. The sound could be music or natural sounds, such as animal noises, human talking or sounds of things like storms and rain. 

    In the film, 'Oldboy', the sound mix is made by Dolby Digital. The title sequence (http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/oldboy/) starts off with the sound of diegetic rain and you can hear the sound of a man talking in a phone box. Once he leaves, another man starts shouting for him and a police siren sounds, almost in the distance. The sound of people talking and walking can be heard and then violin music starts playing, slowly at first but gradually building to a faster pace and louder tone as the shot changes to that of a timer and a clock. Once there is the image of the clock, ticking can be heard, as well as an alarm ringing and grandfather clock chiming. More violins overlap the first creating suspense and giving the scene a dramatic, tense feel. For our film opening we intend to create this suspenseful feeling and leave the audience with some unease.

    In our film we intend to use creepy non-diegetic music that plays in the background through the opening. We hope that this will create suspense in our scenes and give it an eerie feel, even though some of the shots are more happy and friendly. We also intend to include some diegetic sounds in a few of our scene. These will be, the sound of background chatter, glasses clinking and laughter to give the opening a sense of tension.

Targets for sound research

1) Add more to the sound research, find a range of films from drama genre to analyse. Focus on instruments, match it to visuals, discuss pitch, how does it make the audience feel. What have I learnt? (What will be used in our film?)
2) Explore freesound.org for free sounds we can use in our own.

7 frame moodboard

We are making our short film in the drama genre so are looking at screen caps of films from the same genre.

1. The film title:

This film is called 'Gone Girl'. It is in the genre of drama and also mystery, which are the genres we are making our film. The title of the film suggests that there has been a disappearance of a girl and no one is quite sure where she has gone and what has happened to her and suggests that the film will be centred on finding her and discovering the truth. The title is small, central and in a bold, block font. It is white against a darker background so it can be read easily. 

2. Setting/locations:

This film is called '10 Cloverfield Lane'. It is again relating to our film genres, with mystery and drama. It is set in a bunker, the place where the characters live and have to stay due to an apocalyptic event which is a widespread chemical attack. One of the rooms is small and bare with one singular mattress against one wall. It is dark and un-homely. It would be similar to where we would have the shots of the dead girl, to give it a creepy and neglected feel.

3. Costume/props:
These costumes are from 'Harry Potter and the deathly hallows part 2'. This film again relates to our chosen genre and uses modern but casual costumes to make the characters appear to be regular teenagers in their normal clothes. This would be similar to the kinds of things our characters would wear, so that the audience could get a feel of how old they are and what kind of people they are.



4. Title font and style:
This film is 'Se7en'. It relates to our film genre and uses the font of the title to show this. The font is bold, central and takes up most of the screen. It is white and stands out against the black background and looks unusual in the way that it style it has been written in. A sense of mystery is created and it leaves the audience with questions, which is what we hope to do with our film title.

5. A key point for the opening and how it creates the story:
This film is 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'. These shots show key points from the opening sequence that hint to the narrative. The first shot shows ink running through the keys of a keyboard, which hints to the ink used in tattoos, suggesting the dragon tattoo on the female lead character. The keyboard suggests her hacking skills on the computer as she uses them to aid the main character in an investigation.

The second shot shows a figure made out of wires and cables, with more computer cables coming towards it. This again references the girl with the dragon tattoo's skill with computers and her ability to hack into them. Which out film opening we hope to use the shots to hint to different parts of the narrative and build up the drama and suspense.

6. How the opening suggests the genre:
This film is 'Oldboy'. It is a drama and mystery genre film and the opening shows this in the first shot, since it is dark and is raining. It is set in what appears to be a sidestreet or a road with a small lit telephone box on the side. It creates suspense and starts to make the audience think about what will happen in the narrative.

 The second shot is a close up of a clock face with loads of different numbers on it and the hands tick round. It is slightly blurred round the edge and out of focus, creating more suspense and leaving the audience questioning why the clock is involved. We hope to have this effect on our audience as well.

Lighting experimentations

We had a target to take some still shots using different lighting. We walked around the school and took some pictures in different places to see which lighting worked best for that particular shot.

    First we took some experimental shots of the girl on the floor, with her killer standing over her. Sian used a light from her phone as a spotlight and took the picture as if from her character's point of view. This is similar to the lighting we will need to use when we film this shot, although it needs to be slightly darker and more in shade.



We then experimented, taking this shot in a range of different places to see where the best place would be to film in terms of lighting. For this shot we only used the light from the phone, again it would need to be in more of a spotlight so the edges of the shot would be darker.

For this shot we were in a lighter area, so didn't need as bright of a light. We just used the flash from the camera and this gave a lighter image and made the shot appear more yellow.

For this shot we were in another light area. No extra light was used, just the light from the window opposite where I was sat. When we film this particular shot would have to be in a darker area.

For this shot we changed the camera setting to the sunset mode and it made the image look duller and more yellow than before. When we film it would still have to be slightly darker and more shaded.

For this shot we used both the light from the phone and the flash and it made the while image appear really bright, rather than just the body, so when we film we will need to use lighting that would appear as a spotlight on the body

                                    .