Planning: Narrative, Mise-en-scene and finer details

We have now started to decide on the finer details of our film and also produced a shot list.

The Narrative (As written by our entire group):

The film begins in black and white; with a shot of the television with a broadcast from a priest or a Bishop. The non diegetic dialogue continues however there's a jump cut to an over the shoulder shot of our protagonist watching the TV, there's then a cut to the polaroid pictures focusing on a man and a woman, however there are other pictures around but aren't in focus. The written on the pictures are the titles for our film. This then repeats a few times, changing picture and name every time. There is then a shot of the protagonists child playing in another room near where the protagonist is. Following this, the protagonist leaves the room he is in and approaches a door, with a close-up of the door handle and the protagonists hands. The shot then cuts to the man on the other side of the door walking down a hallway. Colour is then introduced to the scene as he walks down the hallway, then the shot cuts to a close up of a door with a padlock. The protagonist then walks into the room where the people who are being tortured have been, they aren't in focus. Thought the film the protagonists face hasn't been shown. 

This is the idea we have at the moment however we may have to change some things depending on the location we film it at as we may not be able to find somewhere with a basement. We decided to start planning some of the mise-en-scene, lighting, make-up  costumes and the location, as well as this we have started to think about actors who could play the parts. 

Characters:
Male protagonist - 20-30 years old, innocent looking, dressed as an average family man.
Woman captive - In her late teens (18-21), heavy make-up and torn clothing.
Man captive - Young man (18-25) small, weak. Ripped trousers, no shirt.
Son -  5-10 years old, protagonists son/

Location:
Family home, fairly wealth, quite large house, living room connected to another room where the child plays.
dark, empty room (basement?) space for 3 characters and desk.Corridor leading from living room/stairs to basement

Props:
Chains, TV, bibles, crosses, table, polaroid pictures.


Sound:
Non diegetic score -  Myself and Charlee will be making some original music to suit the tone of the film with possible samples of royalty free audio.
Diegetic - Dialogue, sounds of chains and doors slamming (Foley),  TV.

Brainstorming: developing our idea's

After out previous brainstorming session, we have decided to delve into the sub genre of Religious Thrillers. In response to this idea, as a group we have decided to do the research into the following so that we can start to develop a better understanding of these genre's: 
The codes and conventions, the history of religious thrillers, a few analysis' analyse of the opening sequences of a couple of religious thrillers, plots that have been used in the past for religious thrillers.

We started brainstorming ideas and talked about religious thrillers that we had all watched, which in retrospective wast many so this is the reason we decided to go away and do some research on the topic. As a group we started to develop an idea for our film in where there would be a extremist catholic who captured and tortured people who had sinned, with his aim being to cleanse the population of people who he doesn't see deserve the gift of life. After a discussion and a brainstorm we all agreed that this could be a very good, different and interesting as religious thrillers are quite rare in the modern era of popular films.After deciding that we liked this plot idea, we brainstormed all of the ideas and anything that we thought we could include within the film in terms of plot, locations, props, narrative etc. Our ideas concluded to that the protagonist is living in a family home, perhaps with a family member in the scene at some point, then going downstairs or outside into a garage or a basement, where two people will be found to have been captured by him. We talked about how long each scene would take and what we would need for the planning and the making of the film. I think that this is a strong and different idea so far. The next stage of our development will be deciding on the finer details of the story and narrative and once this has been done we will start to storyboard. 

Planning: Initial Brainstorming

This week myself and my group have begun the planning and preparation for the production for our film. We started by having discussions about sub genre's and hybrid's genre and weather what we type of genre we should choose for our film and we've discussed all of the ideas that we've come up with threw brainstorming and recording a few of our discussions. At first we began with the idea of a crime based thriller with some physiological elements, we recorded the audio of that conversation and threw around a couple ideas that could possibly expand into more processed and developed ideas.

We continued on to discuss about the other aspects of production such as the art style of the film. as a group we all agreed that we liked 'Sin City's' style of cinematography. The films very arty and clever in the way it had been produced and as a group we were taking inspiration from this. In discussions about how we we like to shoot our film, we also talked about having a hand-held camera equipment to use when recording. We thought of this as it could give the audience a better sense of a connection with  the protagonist. We brainstormed and talked about ideas for the crime thriller and had a re think and decided that the idea of a crime thriller just seemed really over done and boring so we started to brainstorm different and interesting sub genres we could explore more into.  As we ended our discussion we started thinking of more ideas and came up with the possible idea of a religious thriller so in the new week we will be continuing to discuss this idea and expand on this idea. 

Discuss the way social status is represented in this extract from Merlin.

Discuss the way social status is represented in this extract from Merlin.

The extract begins with a long shot of Merlin (our protagonist), establishing his location in which he is in a building consisting of tall white pillars and stain glass windows. These are examples of the way the mise-en-scene is used to connote wealth in this section of the extract. This symbolic sign of wealth within the setting juxtaposes Merlin's presence, as his Merlin's raggedy bland brown clothing he where's is also a symbolic sign connoting his wealth. This juxtaposition signifies that Merlin is somewhere that he shouldn't be. This is idea is supported as the shot cuts to him entering an office within the building, at this point, a non-diegetic score begins. The ear-y use of strings as he enters, coupled with the SRS of an panning establishing shot of the room, also coupled jump cuts of Merlin looking back over his shoulder at the door signifies to the audience that he is In an environment he shouldn't be.

As Merlin starts to snoop around the office, close up shots of items on the desk such as unmarked books and a doll creates a sense of mystery with in the setting. This is supported as the non-diegetic score then begins transition in to a piano that calms the pace of the scene; the calm before the storm. Once again, an SRS shot of Merlin looking back at the door is a connotation of him being out of place. As the score then starts to increase in intensity, the shot cuts back to the out side of the office with a medium shot of woman approaching the door. She wears a purple dress with her hair up. The colour purple is known to be a symbolic sign of wealth, this connotes that she is more likely to be an inhabitant of the building the scene is shot in, well at least more than the poorly dressed, intruding Merlin. The diegetic sound of a clanking lock is an indexical sign that someone has opened a door, Merlin notices and causes the editing to immediately increases in pace with a fast SRS between merlin hiding the book he had picked up off the desk and the door where the woman enters.

As the woman enters the non-diegetic score comes to a halt and the camera switches to an over the shoulder shot of Merlin. As the woman starts to speak, we can see an eye line match between the two characters, this can be connoted that they are equal in respect for each other and in social status, though the scenes mise-en-scene use of clothing suggests otherwise. As they converse, jump cuts between over the shoulder mid shots give the audience an understanding of the characters POV. This seems to suggest that Merlin and the woman are equal in this conversation as if in this moment in time class is irrelevant, although the use of the editing's quick cuts and SRS's, coupled with Merlin's stuttering of diegetic dialogue and nervous movements connote that he feels as his social status does not warrant him to be in this location. As Merlin reaches to give the woman the package he is delivering a SRS with a stab of non-diegetic music occurs as we see a quick shot of the woman in the mirror appearing as some sort of skeleton or monster. This appearance of some type of curse or magic forebodes Merlin's eventual use of magic in the extract later on. The music then fades back into the score that was playing before hand as we see a close up shot of the woman's face, showing her facial expressions as Merlin exists behind her.

Merlin exists the castle and continues to walk into a street market where a eye line panning shot following Merlin, as well as showing his movement, establish his location. We can see here now that the location of the street markets completely juxtapose that of the castle. The colours are dull and unexciting as are the people. The supporting cast extras are all dressed similarly to Merlin, connoting that Merlin is among his fellow lower class people. No non-diegetic audio is used In any part of this shot, only the diegetic noises of animals, blacksmiths and extras talking is present in the scene. This could be a suggestion that the every day working lives of the lower class people is boring; life without music would be terrible. This shot then ends and cuts to a medium shot and a new characters the extract, Arthur (Our antagonist) and his cronies. This medium shot of Merlin and these new characters transitions into a close up of Merlin as he walks towards the camera and stops due to diegetic dialogue by Arthur, thus showing Merlin's facial expressions and emotion towards Arthur's comments.

This then cuts to an over the shoulder shot of Arthur which from this point there are inter cutting SRS's between Arthur and Merlin. Arthur’s status becomes very apparent in these quick cuts, Arthur is dressed in metal armour along with his back up crew. Armour is a symbolic and indexical sign that Arthur is a warrior, a soldier. Someone is part of the upper class, a class that Merlin is not apart of. To support this his friends are carrying weapons which are a symbol of power and strength. Although they are dressed similarly, we can tell that Arthur's friends are still lower than Arthur in the social pyramid. There positioning on the screen, them standing behind Arthur, to the sides of the shot in a soft focus, connotes that Arthur is more powerful than them and possibly they have to abide to Arthur. Through this conversation between Merlin and Arthur, there is in eye line match which could suggest that in this particular encounter they are equals, although this is juxtaposed by there appearances (Relating to social status). Merlin's cockiness and confidence that he could beat Arthur in a fight causes Arthur to challenge him, which is signified with Arthur tossing a chained mace at Arthur. In his attempt to catch it, diegetic Foley of a chain clunking is a sign that this encounter between the protagonist and antagonist is going to lead to a fight, which is foreboded earlier in the scene by Merlin's smug-ness.

The shot then cuts back to inter cutting between the two conversing where diegetic dialogue has Arthur say 'You can't address me like that'. This is Arthur denoting that as he is of a higher social status than Merlin, that Merlin has to address him with a title (Such as 'My lord). This piece of dialogue shows that social status is an essential part of Arthur, he is used to people addressing him In such a way that when someone doesn’t, he feels uncomfortable or even offended. This is what causes Merlin to bow down in front of Merlin, thus breaking the eye line level that they were talking at and cause the camera to tilt down at him, signifying his lack of status. This response from Merlin cause's Arthur to take the first swing of his mace, the battle has begun.

High tempo non-diegetic music begins which immediately increases the intensity during the scene. The shot then cuts to a high angle establishing extreme long shot looking down upon the action. This shot further establishes the location of a low class market place, somewhere where Arthur looks out of place where as Merlin does not. The following few seconds after the cutaway from this long shot is packed with fast editing of multiple shots between Arthur wielding is weapon, signifying power and aggression and Merlin backing away and trying to avoid Arthur, connoting fear and vulnerability. Audio in these quick edits consists of non-diegetic period music used to increase the intensity and force upon a feeling of adrenaline, diegetic cry s and shouts from towns people and taunts from Arthur, implying that he is confident in beating Merlin due to his status and training as a warrior (which is connoted by his clothing).

As Merlin is backed into a corner, Arthur takes a swing at him where the shot cuts to a close up to piece which he ends up smashing. This shot is used to show the audience that this not just a little tiff; this is a fight with weapons that are potentially extremely lethal. The real explosion of the fruit also shows Arthur's strength in battle, this is something that he has done before and the jump cut to Merlin's terrified facial expressions suggests this. As Merlin falls to the ground, the power in the scene is really clear.

A low angle shot looking up at Arthur's is a connotation of his power and strong presence within the scene. An over the shoulder shot of Arthur shows a soft focus of metal hooks on the wall, which then sharply become in focus. This piece of editing is used to suggest that Merlin has seen and identified this object. A quick cut then reveals an extreme close up of his eye changing colour, which in the scene is very significant. His eye transitions from being blue to being red. Blue is the colour of the sky and sea. It is often associated with being calm and not aggressive where as red is a juxtaposition of this. Red is the colour of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, danger, strength, power and passion. This change of colour represents a shift of power with in the scene and the first hint of magic using magic. The metal hooks behind Arthur move and catches his mace, allowing Merlin to stand and once again fight. The shot then cuts to a eye level establishing long shot, showing Merlin's positioning in the scene and frame, in which merlin is in the foreground with Arthur being in the background dressed in shadows. This then starts a frantic piece of editing where rapid switching between a close up of merlin's face and medium shots of Arthur swinging is freed mace. This shot shows that although Merlin has recovered, Arthur is still the stronger and powerful of the too. The non-diegetic music does juxtapose this though. The minor chords and low intense score ha switched to a more high pitched exciting one, connoting the start of a comeback for Merlin.

Another use of the close up of Merlin's face revealing the changing of eye colour is then cut to a high angle looking down POV shot at a box moving and stunting Arthur's attack. As before, Arthur misses a swing of his mace, this time hitting eggs. Once again signifying that this is no little disagreement, it is a dangerous and lethal battle. For a third time we see a shot of a moving object, a rope, tightening and forcing Arthur to fall. This is accompanied by diegetic audio of the accompanying crowd cheering and clapping. They support Merlin and this is probably down to the fact that they are of a similar social status, they feel the same way as Merlin does towards higher classed people such as Arthur and they want Merlin to beat him to show that though they are lower class, they are not weak.

The power at this point in the scene shifts from Arthur to Merlin as Merlin wields Arthurs weapon an starts to swing it. This image of him swinging his weapon is a symbolic sign connoting his strength and power, which up to this point Arthur possessed the majority. Along with the non-diegetic score playing, the shot cuts from a close up of Merlin to an eye line medium shot of Arthur and he sputters the words 'Give up to you?!'. This is Arthur connoting his higher social status commands him not to give up to anyone 'lesser' than him. He is insulted that Merlin believes he has won and that he is giving him the chance to spare him. This example of Arthurs attitude towards his and Merlin's social status is most like the reason the surrounding crowds want him to lose. As Arthur falls to the ground and the high angle shot looking down towards him connotes defeat for Arthur in the battle, it shows him as being smaller and weaker than the upstanding Merlin. As it cuts to a close up of Merlin his facial expression of happiness and triumph switches to one of worry. This is explained as the shot cuts to a medium shot of the crowd with his mentor standing in the background. We know that he is important as he is in the centre of the shot and there is a soft focus on the crowd in the foreground. He wears similar clothes to Merlin and the crowds, suggesting that he is of an equal social status, although in Merlin's world he is an authoritative figure which is established later in the extract.

As the shot cuts back to a close up of Merlin, Arthur rises and the shot cuts to a long shot of behind Merlin where Arthur strikes him with a broom. This with it brings a great use of foley sound editing and score combination. As Merlin is struck with the broom 3 times, each hit is accompanied with a piece of diegetic foley. Its apparent that it is foley as a broom does not make this sound when hit o anything, this creates a low verisimilitude in the shot. At the same time, stabs of no-diegetic musical score are heard during these hits, this gives a real sense of a finale as this is the end of the fight and also the last piece of non-diegetic score for the scene. This then sparks the pace of editing to slow down and decrease in intensity, the fight is over an the pace of editing becomes calmer and more like before the fight. As Merlin is then raised to his feet by Arthur's cronies, again begins the over the shoulder intercutting SRS shots similar to the beginning of the scene. This is a sign of a respect between the two characters, Arthur lets Merlin free whilst commending his spirit and bravery suggesting that even though his social status may be of different standards, at this point they consider them selves as equals.

The scene the cuts to a tracking medium shot of Merlin entering his teachers room with his teacher following close behind him with diegetic dialogue coming from him. This then cuts to an over the shoulder eye line shot of Merlin's teacher speaking to merlin. This is the start of a series of intercutting eye line SRS shots between the two characters. There is no non-diegetic audio or music in this scene which gives the conversation they are having with each other seem more significant as well as being a calmer and more tranquil one; juxtaposing the conversation between Merlin and Arthur during there fight. This constitutes to there being a sense of respect and equality between them. Neither of them feel as if they are better than the other. This is supported in the mise-en-scene, they both are wearing similar dull, raggedy clothing and they are in a location in which they do not look out of place, like Merlin did and the beginning of the extract. During these intercutting shots, the shots that land on Merlin are interesting. He is positioned on the screen on the darker side of the frame, facing inwards towards light that appears to come through an window. This could be a indexical sign that in Merlin's eyes he is in a dark place with in his life and h wants to transition from the dark to the light, which is actually supported by his dialogue within the scene. The end of this conversation leads to Merlin exiting the shot and the extract coming to an end.

Evaluation of My Progress So Far

What have I learnt in this first half term?

One of the first new things i've learnt since starting as an A Level media student is how the use of different camera shots, angles, pace of editing, sounds and music all play a huge part in the setting of a scene and develop ideas and characters in a piece of media text. For example, I have learnt to notice that how a high angle camera shot looking down on a character are often used in film and tv to portray different levels of power that characters poses.
I have also learnt about mise-en-scene. Mise-en-scene is everything that  you see in the frame including costume, props and lighting. I've learnt that this can be used to effect and give depth the text. 
Very importantly i have also started to understand more about what genre really is, especially the codes and conventions of 'Thriller' films as we are going to be making our own intro to a thriller film. 
In this term I have also been learning about title sequences, and how the use of different graphics and pacing of a title sequence can make or break the beggining of a film. 
Sound has been a big part of my research so far. I have learnt about the two different types of audio that are used in media texts; Diegetic (Sound that is in the scene eg; footsteps, crashing waves etc)  and Non-Diegetic (Sound that is not part of the scene eg; music).
A big part of this half term has been spent by myself working in a group so it has been necessary that I work on how to share responsibilities within a group and ensure I manage my own time and work to make sure I'm organised in order to meet deadlines while also motivating my group to do the same. 

Where and How have I learnt all of these new things to me?
I've pretty much learnt everything when working in media lessons and also a lot of it has come from the independent research I have done as part of my groups work using the ocr media studies book I own and researching on the internet. What would then usually happen then is that in class we put our learning into practise by watching a past exam clip, making notes, discussing what we have seen as a class and then (a couple of times) write an exam styled essay. For example, recently we looked at how editing and mise-en-scene was used in the introduction of the 'Titanic'. As well as this work, I have gained an overall understanding of the majority of the topics that we have looked at and discussed about in lessons, this then adding to my knowledge which i would then post on my blog as part of my research. 

My Strengths;

I feel that as I did the Creative and Media Diploma for gcse, that I knew about a few of the topics that we have worked on so far, such as mise-en-scene, foley sound editing and whatnot. I believe that this gives me the strength to take on new information about these topics quickly and efficiently as I don't feel as if i'm being bombarded with new information. I also think that this helps me work well as part of my team as i am able to explain and give advice on things that they may not know as i've already spent a few years doing it. I also feel that I have a good understanding of the editing process as it is something that I very much enjoy doing and have spent a lot of my time doing recently so I feel as if this gives me an edge when learning new things relating to that topic.

My Weaknesses;

I think one of my weaknesses is that I don't feel comfortable blogging as it is something very new too me. I feel as if the content I am posting is good but i'm not posting regularly enough. Another weaknesses is that I have not fully understood the mark scheme, this is something that I can quickly rectify though so I am not to worried about this as I will be reading through that multiple times in the planning process. I also struggle with understanding some of the semiotics we learnt at the beginning of the term as there were lots of different phrases that I need to learn, I have got most of them down but there are a few I need to go back and have a look at again.

Targets
1. To go back and study the mark scheme again to give myself a better understanding of what is required from myself and my group for our exam and coursework film.
2. To show enhance and show a range of skills on my blog, adding audio and video to some of my posts could help this.
3. To continue to go back and read my notes on semiotics and to learn and understand all of the necessary terms.