Construction- Reflection- The life of Danika

Reflection- The life of Danika    

In this blogpost i am going to be talking about Danika as a person and again how well we have coped with filming the various shots we had.

This is a full shot of Danika(Xhuliana) in her bedroom. This is a full shot so we can see that i am angry and almost possessed as i am looking at the image and clenching my fists into the duvet. We see right from the beginning that i am mentally unstable. The shot was easy to shoot but we had to try and get the angle right so we could see a bit of my face.

This is a Hollywood shot of Danika looking at the photo. The way i am positioned and how i am looking at the camera is evil and shows that i am someone with a grudge. This again was a fairly easy shot to do, however because i had to act as though i was angry, i kept laughing, however we finally managed to do it. 

This is the climax of the two minute introduction as Danika has succeeded in killing Jane (Shannon). Here a medium shot is used to see the emotions on both of the girls faces but to also see their body movements, you can also see the settings (bush) so they know clearly where it has taken place. This shot was successfully done as i dragged Jane far into the bush to make it more realistic and i also grabbed her face and stomach. However this was possibly the longest shot in terms of how long we took to film it as we kept on laughing and not getting the angles right. We also kept getting stuck while i was dragging her into the bush. I also had to keep doing my makeup in every scene (apart from the beginning scene)to keep continuity so we had to make sure we had everything we needed with us and re doing it close to how it was the scene before.

This was a medium close up of Danika after i have brutally killed Jane and i an now standing outside the house of my  next victims. Here my mental state has completely deteriorated as i am standing covered in blood not bothered about who sees me all i want to do is kill again. This was for me personally the hardest shot to complete because it was freezing outside and i was really cold, i was also covered in blood where i had people walking past looking a bit confused and because we had to get the shot in between the diamonds of the window it took quite long to shot so i couldn't move and they due to the fact they were inside they had to direct me using hand movements.

This is a medium shot of Lily, a medium close up of Mia and a full shot of Danika. This is the final scene which builds tension as to what is going to happen next and it is a bit creepy as she is standing there unbeknownst to Mia and Lily. Danika at this point is pleased with herself for being able to kill Jane, But is still hungry for more blood which is why we see all three girls in this shot. This shot was a bit tricky because we had to arrange ourselves in the correct positions for the camera and we kept moving around, but overall it didn't take long and went well for us.

Construction- Reflection- Bedroom

Reflection- Bedroom

Here we are talking about the progress we have made in filming the bedroom scene, including; the shots, angles, what went well and what we found difficult.

This is a point of view shot. This is where we see Danika (Xhuliana) for the first time. She is sitting on her bed staring straight ahead at the photo of the four girls. We got the shot right and we feel it is really effective. The difficult part was trying to get the motion fluid and at a good pace.

This is a full shot of the whole room. This shows the setting of where we start our story. This was a pretty easy shot to do as all we had to do was film Danika (Xhuliana) looking forward. This isn't the best shot as you can't see her face properly.

This is a close up shot. It shows the emotion on her face and in this case Danika looks angry and vengeful. Again this shot was quick and easy to film. We haven't used this shot because of the problem of not seeing the other side of her face.

We filmed a medium shot here so you can see the subjects expression and her surroundings. This shot is slightly high angled as she is feeling scared of her mental state but the expression on her face says she is angry. The difficult part of this shot was that Xhuliana kept laughing and we had to keep re-filming.

Here we have a point of view shot. We are doing it from the view of the antagonist looking up. This is a low angle shot which shows the girls in the photo are controlling her emotions and mental state, this leads her to take the action she does. This was an easy shot to do as no acting was required but we have to get the correct angle.

Using a medium close up here is showing the action she is taking on the photo. We found this difficult as we didn't know it was a decent shot or not. This is a successful shot as the audience can see everything that is going on.

Again we have used a point of view shot. We are looking through the eyes of the antagonist again. This gives us a clear view of what she is doing. We found this a difficult shot to do as we had to angle the camera so Xhuliana's (Danika's) hands weren't in the way of the camera. Also the pen was making a squeaking noise but we have overcame that problem with putting non-diagetic sound over it.

Construction- Reflection- Park

Reflection- Park scene-In this blog I am going to explain the different moments that we created for the park scene of our two minute thriller introduction. I am also going to explain what went well/ wrong during filming, and how we overcame any problems we faced. We used a range of different shots, which is very relevant to the inner meanings and ambitions of each section.

This is one of the first scenes of Jane (Shannon) walking through the park with her dog. Jane is walking along with her dog, because we knew that we could edit this scene, to make it relevant to Jane's future fiat. We took this scene using a long shot because by doing this, the audience is able to picture the scene and capture what is happening in the moment. We were happy with the outcome of this capture because we were able to show Jane's (Shannon's) motives, before she was captured. However, we found it hard to film this scene because we wasn't really sure where it was going to be best for me to walk, as we wanted it to match up with the scene of the dog getting off the lead, and going into the bush. However, we overcame this problem by taking the shot from many different perspectives,so that we were able to go into editing and choose the one that matched up the best. After choosing the best scene, we were very happy with the outcome.

This is another shot of Jane (Shannon) in the process of letting go of the dog lead. For this shot it was key that Jane let go of the dog effectively, so that it was very apparent to the audience that Jane was left alone and vulnerable. We chose to do a medium shot for this scene because it was more important that the audience captured the motion of Jane letting go of the lead. We were happy with this scene because we managed to capture it from lots of different perspectives, choosing the one that was most shocking and revealing to the eye. After choosing the medium shot we were very happy with the kind of image the audience were going to receive. However, we did have some problems with this shot because it was hard to make it look as though the dog was actually resisting Jane. There was a lot of leakage on the lead and therefore it was hard to achieve a pulling effect. We overcame this problem by having two of the other girls pulling the lead away from my hand at a specific moment. We were overjoyed when this effect was finally achieved.

In addition, this is a picture of Kimmy, the dog that we used during our filming. In this scene Kimmy has escaped from her lead and she is heading toward the bushes. We wanted Kimmy to approach the bushes, so that when Jane went to find her, she could be pulled into the bushes by Danika. We created this scene by having Kimmy still attached to her lead, but myself far inside the bush, pulling Kimmy towards me. We were very happy with the after effect of this scene because the rustling of the bush makes it apparent to the audience that Danika is waiting to pounce on Jane. It also shows the audience that Kimmy is ironically leading Jane to her destiny. However, whilst filming this shot it was very difficult in many aspects. I was very far inside the bush and therefore it was hard for me to hear the start of filming times and when to start pulling the dog toward the bush. We overcame this problem by Julie giving me hand signals so that I knew when to start pulling the dog. Another problem we experienced whilst filming this scene was promoting the dog to walk towards the bush. The dog was very interested in the surrounding atmosphere and other dog, making it hard to create the effect we wanted. We overcame this problem by making rustling sounds in the bush, so that the dog was attracted to it and walked towards the bush at a fast rate.

Moreover, this is another scene of Danika (Xhuliana) hiding in the bush. We decided to use a medium shot for this imagery because we wanted the audience to see Danika's motives, whilst also being able to make out her facial expressions. This scene was successful because Xhuliana was able to create mysterious faces, that seem very demanding at the audience. We used an almost point of view perspective so that we could create the effect of the audience feeling as though this motion is happening to them. We also created a point of view shot because it is important in the park scene that the audience witness Jane's version of events, as this is her last moments of like. On the other hand this shot was very hard to film because Xhuliana had to pretend as though she was really jumping out on Danika, whereas really she was just jumping out on the camera. We overcame this problem by myself standing directly behind that camera so that Xhuliana could imagine that she was jumping out on me.

Furthermore, this is a shot taken of Danika ( Xhuliana) pulling Jane (Shannon) into the bush. Just before this event Jane was walking toward the bush trying to find Kimmy, and now Danika has jumped out on her and pulled her backwards. We used a medium shot for the first part of this scene because it is important the audience can see what's happening, whilst also seeing the expressions of the two girls faces. We found this scene successful because Xhuliana was able to effectively pull me down inside the bush, almost out of sight, which would be relevant to our cut away shot. I also was able to add streaming effects, which made the scene a lot more realistic. However, we did find this shot hard because it was difficult for us to find a correct positioning, which would make the shot a lot for realistic. We overcame this problem by trying lots of different dragging posses so that we could choose the most effective one. We were very happy with the outcome and impact of this shot in our two minute thriller.

This is a shot that was taken of Danika (Xhuliana) dragging Jane (Shannon) into the bush. We chose to create this shot using a full/long shot as it was the first part of this scene. From the beginning of this scene it was important that the audience could see from a fairly far distance, that Danika was tightening her arms around Jane and pulling her backwards. We were happy with the outcome of this scene because through using a lot of different shots and angles we were able to make the positioning and realism very accurate. However, we had problems with this scene because it took us a long amount of time to find the right shot that we needed. We tried a lot of face on shots but the actions seemed very false and therefore we changed the positioning. We also had problems with this shot because the day that we filmed on was very muddy and wet, meaning that me and Xhulaina did have a tendency of slipping during filming time, creating many bloopers. We overcame this problem by re filming the scene on numerous occassions.

Finally, this is one of the last scenes of Jane (Shannon) hanging out of the bush dead. We used a medium shot for this clip so that the audience could see the extent of Jane's injury's, whilst also seeing that her phone was ringing, which was relevant to our story plot. This scene was very successful overall because we used a lot of make up and fake blood to add to the realism of this scene. Once we edited this clip, it was extremely apparent what had happened to Jane. However, there were many problems that we experienced whilst filming this scene. It took us a long time to prepare for the scene and therefore there was an inconsistency with the lighting. However, we overcame this problem by editing the lighting during the editing stages. We were able to make the picture the same lighting as the previous scenes and therefore it ended up looking really effective. Another problem that we experienced whilst filming was we decided to film on  a day that it was extremely cold. I was stuck hanging out of the bush for around thirty minute, which was a very chilling experience. We overcame this problem by trying to film faster but with lots of quality. As a group we are very happy with the impact that this scene has on the audience, as it is very key to our storyline.

Construction- Reflection- Phone scene

Reflection- Phoning scene: In this blog post i am going to be explaining the
phone scene in our two minte opening scene. I am going to identify the different shots we used and how the actual filimng went.

This is the phone scene, whereby Mia(Elidona) and Lily(Hannah) are trying to get hold of Jane(Shannon) unaware that Jane has a already been killed. This is a medium shot of the two characters as they are having a conversation and we need to be able to see both of their faces. The main setting of this scene is Lily's house.

This is a photo of Mia calling Jane. The hprops used in this is the telephone, showing that Mia is actually calling somebody. These shots are at a slight high angle to make them seem vulnerable as the audience knows that they are going to be the next victims. This was the hardest part to film as the phone kept making noises and therefor Elidona kept laughing, however it was filmed to a high standard.

This is a close-up of Mia emphasising that Jane is not picking up the phone indicating that something has happened to her. A close up is used to show the emotions somebody has. Here Mia looks worried for her friends safety. We transferred from a medium shot to a close-up by slowly zooming in on her face as well as Hannah's face later on.

This is a medium shot of Lily giving her response as to what Mia should do. Lily is positioned the way she is to make it obviuos to the audience that a conversation is occuring between two people. Apart from the flashback scene this is the only scene in the present that has the most speech in it.

This is a close-up of Lily, again to show she is worried and  a bit scared as she doesn't know what to do. These shots were not hard to film although we did have a little trouble as Elidona and Hannah found it hard not to laugh especially as they had to act as though they were worried and upset in these scenes. Overall this was the least problamatic scene of the whole introduction.

Construction- Reflection- Flaskback

Reflection- Flashback:
Below are a range of photos that were taken while filming our flashback scene. I will be describing each photo in detail, also adding what we found easy and difficult whilst filming these shots.

This is one of the first shots where  Danika (Xhuliana) is walking home. As you can see from the photo this is a full shot to introduce her to the audience,  The weather in the shot is a snowy day, this represents the cold and lonely feel of Danika's life highlighting a bad vibe in the air. While shooting this shot we found it easy to act out as there wasn't any dialog nor actions just simple walking. However we did find it difficult to set the camera in a position that we can see a full shot of Danika from a high angle shot.

This is the next section in the flash back scene where Mia, Jane and Lilly (Elidona, Shannon and Hannah) call Danika (Xhuliana) over to talk. We have used another full shot to show the surroundings and the actors. During the filming we found it easy to  set up the shot and angle that we wanted to film. However we found it difficult saying the right lines as it would sometimes go wrong. We also found it difficult to keep our positions whilst filming, as it took a while to create this scene. We overcame this problem by making foot prints in the snow to mark our positions.

Moreover this is a close up of Lily (Hannah) angry with Danika while she has her against a wall. We used a close up shot so that the viewers can see expression in Lily's face to help tell the story. For this shot we found it easy setting up the camera as a close up of Lilly's face but found it difficult to act out angry. We found this difficult because we weren't genuinely angry, whilst filming these scenes.

In addition this is another close up, but this time of Jane's (Shannon) face showing how angry she is with Danika. Again it helps set the scene and makes it more realistic for the viewers to see a close up of Jane's expression. This is also a point of view shot in Danika's eye, it makes the audience think they are in the shot. We had the same advantages and disadvantages as the previous shot, which were setting up the camera and trying to stay serious.

This is another close up of Danika showing how she is scared while being put against a wall and yelled at by the three girls. Again it gives the audience a better look at her emotions and makes it look more real to the viewers. Danika presents a scared looking face because the three other girls are pushing her up against the wall, and threatening her. Danika wanted to portray a look of confusion because she has confused of what her friends were accusing her of. This can also be seen as a point of view shot from Shannon's (Jane's) perspective. This is effective because it makes it seem as though the audience were there.

Furthermore this is a full shot of the three girls against Danika after they have argued with her. In this shot we found it difficult to get everyone in the camera frame while filming the scene, as all of us where in the shot. We finally achieved this effect by taking a range of different shots, so that we could use the best one. In this shot Lily and Mia are holding Danika up against the wall and are about to walk away with Jane. We were happy with this scene because we took it from a large range of angles and we were very happy with the outcome.

Finally this is the last shot of the flash back scene. It is another full shot showing Danika left alone and crying after the other girls left her standing on her own. In this shot we found it difficult to get the right timing to film as we had people walking or driving past, therefore we had to keep shooting the scene several times. However, we were really happy with Danika's acting skills because she was able to portray a really upsetting look about her friends leaving her. When we updated this scene onto the editing software, we was really happy with the impact the argument had on Danika's emotions. We also turn't this scene into black and white during editing, which adds to the impact. The snow further added to the contrast with Danika's personality and inner emotions.

Construction- Reflection- Podcast

Reflection: This is a video of our group speaking about what we have achieved to so far and what we still have remaining. We included things that we found difficult, whilst also including things we found a success. We have started the process of our filming and we are hoping to finish it in the next couple of days. At current we are all really enjoying our media coursework and two minute introduction construction.

Construction- Reflection- General work

Reflection-This week in media studies our group have been doing numerous tasks that are a contributing factor to our overall media planning process. As a group we have been focusing on our master catalogue, storyboard, film poster and improvements to our mise-en-scene/ lighting. During these developments to our initial planning, we have had sections that have been very successful, whilst others have slightly gone wrong, and there was room for improvement. In this blog we are going to talk about the problems we have faced during our blogger processing and how we fixed it, whilst also explaining the subjects that we found a great success. 

  Master Catalogue- This is a picture of Hannah (left) adding details to our groups master catalogue. Whilst making this part of our coursework, we added ideas about characters appearances, actors and different types of props. During the making of our master catalogue we found the information we was able to add a major success. Through adding portfolio's etc it gave us a larger insight into the imagery side of our two minute introduction. However, as a group we did find it difficult to come up with characters appearances because we had to think greatly into the role of each actor, and how they should be portrayed. We over came this problem by siting down together and really thinking and suggesting ideas to each other about how each character should look in appearance.

Group poster- This is a picture of Shannon (right) working on our groups poster. During the creating of our poster we had to come up with different ideas that meant it really did portray the inner meaning of our film. We all came up with the idea of the first victim (Jane) being on the front cover, showing the effects of her brutal death. We used a lot of fake blood, make up effects and then continued to edit it via computer to give it a more scary look. Using the computer, we added pictures of Danika (The killer) into Jane's eyes to show the true extent of her death. We found this hard to do because we needed to use different editing software's such as pro desktop to minimise the photo of Danika to put into Jane's eyes. However, with many attempts we managed to do so and we are very happy with the final outcome of our poster.

Lighting- In this picture, Xhuliana (left) is making final edits to our different types of lighting. We worked very hard on trying to created high key and low key lighting's so that they fitted the requirements. Whilst creating our high key lighting we found this very successful as we were able to find areas where no shadows would be forcasted on our faces. However, whilst creating our low key lighting images, we found it increasingly difficult to portray different lighting effects on our faces. We finally managed to do this with success by taking pictures in the dark, whilst using a torch to invent unique shadowing on our faces. By creating these pictures we were able to build on our understanding about the types of lighting we can use in our thriller.

Mise en scene- This picture shows Elidona (right)  working on our props, costumes and spacing. As a group we decided that we wanted to show some individuality by creating our own pictures, instead of using others from the Internet. We found is fairly simple to create our pictures and we really did enjoy the process. We was able to portray our own costumes etc which helped us to increasing understand the types of distances, outfits and props that we will use in our opening two minute introduction. Whilst putting these requirements on our blog we added information to each picture, where we were able to write in detail about each different parts of mise en scene. In completing out mise en scene post we were happy with the final outcome and we are looking forward to using these different effects in our thriller opening.                    

Storyboard- This is a picture of the editing of our storyboard (left). As a group we worked extremely hard on creating different pictures that were relevant to our two minute introduction,whilst focusing on the lighting, shots, angles and inner meanings. We spent time as a group taking pictures that showed a range of props that we will use in our two minute introduction and other sources of events. Whilst looking at our script we tried to use different ranges of events throughout which would show the types of scenes that will take place during our two minute thriller introduction. In addition, we made a selection of our shots in black and white effect, which shows the distance of time that will be portrayed within our introduction. During the creating of these shots we found it hard to show the different types of shots, making sure that the frame was not too small to represent a different shot, but not too big to portray a lager size shot. We overcame this problem by taking our images from different angles and experimenting with the zooming tool. After doing this we uploaded these photos to our storyboard and explained the deeper significance of each one. We are happy with the outcome of our storyboard and are looking forward to re creating these scenes in our film.

Overall, our group are very happy with the work that we have produced so far. During this week we have had many successes with our work that has made up feel very positive about the forthcoming of our filming. Also during this week we have had arising problems with the creating of our blog work, however, by working as a team and really thinking about these problems in more depth, we have been able to overcome them. Now that our two minute introduction of our film is approaching, we are looking forward

to the successes and challenges that we are going to be faced with. This blog has helped us to understand the challenges that we have faced so far, whilst also making us aware of the successes we have made together.