MacGuffin

MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin or Maguffin) is "a plot element that the viewers' attention or drives the plot" of a work of fiction.

The defining aspect of a MacGuffin is that the major players in the story are (at least initially) willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to obtain it, regardless of what the MacGuffin actually is.

Editing Sound

Things to include/ Things to remember

1. Title - "The conversation"
2. Edit the conversation - start with the 'Master shot'
3. You do not always need to see the person who is speaking
4. Must have both on and off screen sound
5. Two final edits - parallel/contrapuntal 

Sound

There are three key elements of sound in a film:

• Dialogue
• Music
• Sound effects

There are two key terms to divide sounds in film:

• Diegetic sound - sound from within the world of the film, sounds the characters can hear
• Non Diegetic sound - sounds from outside the world of the film, sounds the charcters can not hear

On Screen Sound

This is when the audience can see the source of the sound being made

Off Screen Sound

This is when the audience can not see the source of the sound being made

Cinematography

Cinematography is the style of filming, including the shooting and development of the film.

Two important factors in cinematography are:

1. Camera Angles 

• P.O.V. - Point Of View
• Birds eye view
• Close ups on characters faces
• Low angle shot
• Over the shoulder
• Long shot 
• Mid shot

    2.  Camera Movements

• Gets closer to the characters faces very slowly
• Pan
• Tilt
• Track 
• Zoom

A group of students and myself put these Camera movements and angles into practice by creating short scenes displaying these effects

Recipe for Thriller

Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film and television that includes numerous and often overlapping sub-genres.

• Horror thriller 
• Syfy thriller 
• Action thriller

Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action and resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of move powerful and better equipped villains.

• Batman, Michael Scofield, The expendables, Superman, Jason Bourne

Devices such as suspense, red herrings and cliff hangers are used extensively. A thriller is a villain driven plot, whereby he presents obstacles the hero must overcome.

The genre is flexible and can engage the audience through a dramatic rendering of psychological, social and political tensions. Hitchcock said thrillers allow the audience, "to put their toe in the cold water of fear to see what it's like"

Mise-en-scene

The arrangement of everything that appears in the framing – actors, lighting, décor, props, costume – is called mise en scène, a French term that means “placing on stage.” The frame and camerawork also constitute the mise en scène of a movie.

Mise en scène encompasses the most recognizable attributes of a film – the setting and the actors; it includes costumes and make-up, props, and all the other natural and artificial details that characterize the spaces filmed.  The term is borrowed from a French theatrical expression, meaning roughly “put into the scene”.  In other words, mise-en-scène describes the stuff in the frame and the way it is shown and arranged.  We have organized this page according to four general areas: setting, lighting, costume and staging.  At the end we have also included some special effects that are closely related to mise-en-scène.