Before Soundtrack

This is our rough cut before the soundtrack. However, since this was posted we are no longer using this film due to the feedback from our class and other media students.

Rough Cut

This is the rough cut of our opening sequence.

Sound

This is our backing track for the opening sequence of our thriller film. It acts as an enigma code as well as building suspense in the opening sequence. 

Storyboard and Pre-vis

This is our storyboard put into action. The drawings are not good quality but the actual storyboard can be found further down.
Slide 1) This shows Laura walking her dog, with a reverse shot to Charlie and then a shot back to Laura walking her dog.
Slide 2) This shows close up of Laura walking to her destination of threat to her life, to a close up of her taking the lead of the dog, long shot of the dog running into the forest
Slide 3) This shows a close up of Charlie taking photos, a flash of saying actor's name "camera flash", medium shot of Charlie being creepy
Slide 4) This shows fast flashes of Charlie's work, to a typewriter of actor's name, close up of Charlie back in the forest stalking Laura
Slide 5) This shows actor name "camera flash", medium shot of Laura walking through the forest, medium point of view shot showing Charlie following Laura
Slide 6) This shows Charlie behind Laura, typewriter to actor's name, zooming to Charlie taking photos of Laura's scarf on a fence
Slide 7) This shows "camera flash" and typewriter to Mr Grevor - the name of the movie

In our opening sequence, when filming, we kept to the storyboard as a brief outline but added in a few more shots to create an atmosphere and a sense of danger towards the protagonist.

Title Research

Title research

Se7en

We have analysed 'Se7en' on many occasions and we believe that the titles have a great impact on the thrill element of the opening sequence. The titles appear very untidy therefore suggesting that it is the protagonist is writing the titles due to the very slow writing of the words and poor handwriting which could only be associated with a person. Thus, creating the audience to feel on the edge of their seat and promote their vulnerability, as if it is the Protagonist in control of the opening sequence. Consequently, creating an eerie, intimidating atmosphere within the film. 

Shutter 

We really found the opening sequence  of Shutter extremely intimidating and the titles contributed to this. The titles appear upon a black background. Black links to darkness which is associated which is when most bad occurrences happen, therefore with the titles on a black background acts as an enigma code for the rest of the film. The title is an old fashioned style of writing which creates a mystery as the film is in modern day but the writing is old fashioned, which could imply that it is the deceased ghost of the film writing the titles. Subsequently, this creates the thrill and vulnerability within the audience. 

Woman in Black 

Woman in Black (2012) trailer is extremely effective and immediately creates a sense of jeopardy due to the chilling soundtrack (which we have took inspiration from due it's pure thrilling element), the hard lighting and also the titles. The titles are in a very inconsistent with the size of each letter varying, suggesting that it is the insane 'women in black' writing the titles thus promoting the thrill of the film.  The dark black titles are on a jagged grey background which shows uncertainty as a grey is a very mutual colour, whilst it could also reflect the fog at the beginning of the film in the form of pathetic fallacy. 

This is our last research into the selection of our titles. Here you can see all of the titles we have looked into and what we have finally selected. 

Production Diary

Props and Costumes

props 

Props

- Diana F+ and Minolta Camera- makes the audience think WHY the antagonist (Charlie) has a camera on him and what images he has on it- creating suspense and confusion within the audience.

-Laptop - to be part of Charlie's bedroom scene, which the audience will see him on. Raises doubts over Charlie and why he may be typing away so furiously alongside a messy room - sets tone for the rest of the film. 

-Scarf - the scarf  will be red, which symbolises blood, danger and anger all of which they audience will see later on in the film as Charlie looks to kill. This will act as an enigma code as it will set the tone for the rest of the film implying bloodshed and deaf. 

-Voodoo doll - the voodoo doll will be important as it gives the chance for the audience to recognise the link between Charlie piercing the doll and Laura's vulnerability. Furthermore, Laura dead is pictured in a stripy top, whilst the voodoo doll is red with black stripes, therefore showing a clear distinction between Laura and the doll. Also, the colour red indicates the anger, blood and danger. 

Protagonist - played by Laura McLean - costume

Laura's costume 

- Casual clothes, big coat, scarf (red) and wellington boots. Just the normal clothes you would wear when walking a dog, casual yet practical. However, in this casual yet practical costumes, there are enigma codes which convey the potential occurrences in the future of the thriller. For instance, the red scarf and hat symbolise danger. 
-The colour red symbolises blood, danger, anger and is also the first colour in which the human eye responds to, thus drawing attention to the enigma code.

Why have we chosen to be the Protagonist?

We have chosen Laura to be the Protagonist, mainly because she fits the conventional mould of a Protagonist. First of all, Laura is a female, who are stereotypically seen as more weak and vulnerable, therefore this would suit the role of a Protagonist who are of course the victim. Secondly, Laura has blonde hair, and often in film (especially in thrillers) blonde haired girls are Protagonists, therefore Laura fits the classic convention of a Protagonist. Furthermore, girls with blonde hair, such as Laura, are stereotyped to be not as smart as a brunette, subsequently Laura's danger and vulnerability could be thought to be down to the fact she is a 'blonde', thus reflecting stereotypical views. In addition to this, Charlie has dark hair, the opposite to Laura's light, blonde hair. Consequently, Laura's light hair could reflect good (often reflected in light, heaven-like qualities) and Charlie has dark hair which could reflect evil (often reflected by darkness).

Antagonist-played by Charlie Boyden-costume

-The key to an effective and sinister antagonist is the feel of mystery. The costume will play a vital role into making the antagonist a mysterious, sinister and dark character by hiding away facial features. Consequently, this keeps the audience unaware of who the attacker is, therefore meaning the audience have to watch the rest of the film to discover who the antagonist is, and why he is there.

Charlie's costume

-Dark clothing blends in with the gloomy surroundings, therefore staying out of sight of the unaware protagonist, whilst the audience can see the antagonist thus contributing to the tension.
-The costume will be relatable to a classic teenager; fashionable. Our target audience is from 16-25, therefore the costume would be more relatable to the target audience, making it feel more real, thus making the audience feel more vulnerable.

Why have we chosen Charlie to be our Antagonist?

We have chosen Charlie to be our Antagonist as Charlie is a male, and in the classic conventions of a thriller, as males are often the antagonist as stereotypically men are seen as more violent, aggressive and capable of sinister actions. Consequently, Charlie fits the mould perfectly of an antagonist. Furthermore, Charlie has very sharp facial features which make him seem more intimidating as it causes the audience to focus on them, thus making Charlie seem as if he isn't up to any good. Lastly, I touched on it previously regarding Charlie  and Laura's difference in hair colour. Charlie's very dark hair can reflect 'evil' in the fight between 'good' and 'evil' seen in many thrillers. Charlie's dark hair can portray the darkness and creepy part of evil, whilst Laura's hair is light, projecting innocence on the 'good' side.

Research Task 1

This is my Research Task 1 part of my coursework, an essay looking at three opening sequences to a thriller film:

I have seen three opening sequences to three separate thriller movies which all have different elements and techniques which create tension and suspense within the audience. From camera angles to lighting effects, each technique applied by the director is purposely placed to produce the thrilling theme.

Firstly, Sorority Row is a horror/thriller which revolves around a group of teenage girls who try to plot a wicked prank against a drunken boy. The sequence begins very ordinary as the first camera shot seen is the panning (then zoom) of a large house, which from the outside looks quite ordinary with a garden and a drive. However, on the inside, the house is far from sane as it is over run by drunken teenagers, reflecting their stereotype; as they are always seem causing trouble or drinking alcohol. The costume is a stereotype too, as the males are seen in jeans and t-shirts, whilst the girls are wearing short skirts.  Consequently, this classic costume of teenagers and normal house conveys that what the future offers could happen to anyone. Thus makes the film more thrilling. Another stereotype mixed in is the fact the classic protagonist being female, and the murderer an antagonist.

The lighting initially is soft lighting, implying happiness which is also reflected via the extreme-close-ups showing smiles and laughter.  Tracking is then used to follow one of the main characters into a bedroom, where another extreme-close-up is used as an omen for their soon mischievous behaviour.  The prank begins with a close-up of the ‘ill’ girl. Another extreme-close-up is on the boy, reflecting his sheer panic and horror to what he is seeing.  We then skip a scene into a car, with the use of P.O.V to give the audience an idea of where they are going. The weather plays a vital role as an enigma code in the form of pathetic fallacy, portraying what is going to happen. As the group exit the car, a long shot is used to show the group’s vulnerability and hard lighting immediately produces shadows creating an eerie atmosphere and again implying sinister activity is in the offering. Another enigma code is revealed as a silver sword (prop) is left in the boot of the car, thus giving the audience the idea of what is going to happen to the ‘dead’ girl. This causes the audience to think ‘what is going to happen next?’ therefore keeping them guessing and thrilled. Swords, associated with death convey to the audience that the girl’s fate could be settled by the sword, as the girls joke around by ‘looking for rocks to cut her up with’.   This chilling quote alongside the sword does begin to create an enigma, as by putting the two and two together, a haunting image is put into the mind of the audience. In addition, the hard lighting implies jeopardy thus further implying the girl’s life is in danger. The soundtrack edited in is very sinister and cold which picks up tempo as the horror begins, ergo producing tension and suspense, as the audience expect something bad to occur.

As the audience, I could immediately foresee the potential dangers of such a bold prank upon a drunk, panicked boy. The pathetic fallacy immediately acts as an omen for the future (darkness and sadness) and reflects the boy’s emotion; distress, which is then conveyed into me (the audience).The sword is a sinister object, and one which you do not normally have in the boot of your car, thus I was very suspicious to see such an object there. Subsequently, I was nervous and anxious for what was coming next. Furthermore to add to the eeriness, the long shot portrayed vulnerability, and the location was very remote further implying how vulnerable they were. This made me worried for their safety, and kept me very thrilled.

Secondly, I watched ‘The Sixth Sense’, a thriller film about a young boy who sees the dead. The film begins with haunting music playing over the titles of actors and directors. The font is written in white block capital on a black background.  The soundtrack which is very haunting immediately gives the audience a valid insight into what the film is about.

The first part of filming we see is a lady in a dress walking down some old wooden steps into a cellar. The angle used for this is a low angle shot which is employed to hide her identity, ergo creating tension within the audience as we cannot see who is approaching in the gloomy cellar. The hard lighting of the cellar contributes to the eerie suspense as a figure walks down the stairs. However, as the lady comes into the shot, we see soft lighting upon her face. This could highlight her importance in the film, but it also could indicate she is a good character within the film as the soft lighting produces a white light. White, often referred to as the colour purity and goodness.  The mise-en-scene contributes to the atmosphere too as the dark, gloomy cellar is often a place associated with spooky coincidences. The costume is very formal with the men wearing a suit and the woman a dress.  This quite grand costume is reflected in the house which appears to be large and luxurious. It is also what you would expect people of that age to wear if they were to dress formally.

A change of scene brings a change of lighting into a soft lighting, as both the man and woman appear happy with extreme-close-ups on their face.  Subsequently, this causes the audience to relax as the character’s emotions appear to be relaxed and the lighting implies nothing suspicious is going on. However, a discovery of an enigma code in the form of a broken window with an object on the floor creates an omen.  A shadow of a scattering figure is seen via the employment of hard lighting, this immediately causes surprise in both the characters and audience as it is such a sudden movement. Suspense is created via the beginning of this enigma code which also acts as a trigger event for other suspicious behaviour.  We then see a less stereotypical element as a naked intruder (who broke in) almost possessed by shooting the male owner of the house. This is a swap of stereotypes as normally the protagonist is a female, however it is the male in this film. Consequently, this makes the whole audience feel more vulnerable, as men, often seen more brave and less susceptible to such incidents has been a victim in the first scene.

Another edit alongside the titles is that the first scene is in fact a flashback.  This flashback is very disguised, therefore after the opening sequence, the audience are confused to what has happened and why. Thus, this makes it more thrilling as the audience have to decode the story. This creates an element of thrill as it keeps the audience guessing.

Overall, the opening sequence creates great bewilderment within me, as the flashback eliminates clarity and makes the whole sequence seem much more thrilling. The hard lighting creates tension and kept me guessing ‘what could it be?’ and ‘who is it?’. I believe that the lighting played a key role into the thrill element as it highlighted characters as good, whilst it made others seem much more mysterious at times.

Lastly, I watched ‘Shutter Island’, a film which is a drama thriller. To begin with we see edits such as the paramount and the setting of a scene via a gold bold font, illustrating ‘pearl harbour 1954’. This gives a clue to what the film may revolve around. This then links in with the first shot we see is a long shot of a military boat upon a rough sea surrounded by fog. This immediately projects the vulnerability and exposure of the crew upon the warship. The first character we meet is via an extreme-close-up in a mirror which gives two effects. First of all, it gives us an insight into the characters emotion which seems to be anguish and illness, as he seems very weak and sweaty. By looking in the mirror for an extreme-close-up, we can also see how he sees himself, thus the director immediately puts us on the side of the character. Furthermore, upon his face we can gain an idea of what sort of character he is. The character has a plaster upon his forehead, signifying he has been injured recently (which links in well with the thought that he is on a warship). However, more deeply, this could imply he is trying to cover up something, indicating he has done some wrong doing recently.  One could infer that the plaster is also an enigma code as it could symbolise potential pain.

The boat inside and out has hard lighting on it, implying it is a place of bad events. Inside the walls are very plain and dull, which could reflect how the war has impacted the workers upon the boat, which would link in with the main character’s anger and sadness in the opening sequence.  The boat seems due to the hard lighting as quite a pessimistic place to be situated upon. However, we see the male main character as good as the soft lighting makes him stand out from the gloom in the background. This again makes the audience take the side of the character.

Another edit put into the scene is flashbacks of the main character’s wife which gives us an insight into his previous life. Flashbacks can give us vital details into who this character is, and his characteristics. In the flashback, the scene is in soft lighting which makes his wife stand out and seem pure and happy.  Whilst this creates happiness, an element of sadness is also introduced as we are again sympathetic to the character as he revealed his wife died.

However, the main character is not your classic stereotype of one in the Navy as he is seasick and is constantly thinking about his wife, suggesting homesickness. To be in the Navy you have to be ready to leave your family, however he seems to struggle.

In conclusion, I believe that the opening sequence is very affective as it gives me a quick insight into the character thus informing me about how he may react to certain thrilling experiences. The enigma code of a plaster indicates what the future of the film may unveil and keeps me guessing how he got the injury. This creates an eerie element to a character, who previously is depicted as very good by the director. Camera angles also create an eerie atmosphere with the long shot portraying vulnerability, and the extreme-close-up showing his pain and anguish. 

Inspirations for our film

Se7en

As a group, we took inspiration from the film 'Se7en', a thriller, starring Brad Pitt. We really felt that the constant close-ups of the Antagonist's work and actions created great suspense, without revealing his identity, therefore the audience have to watch the film to discover who he/she is. To us, we have really decided to take Se7en as an inspiration due to the sequence, as the quick pace sets a tone for the rest of the film. We believe that the tone can play a vital role into making our opening sequence succesful. Se7en uses a very quick, sharp, fast pace, however we believe that this could be even more effective if we were to employ quick flashes of close-ups alongside a long, slow, tension building pan shot for instance. We believe that close-ups creates tension, and confusion as we only see the protagonist's hands therefore keeping his identity secretive, thus more mysterious, we have opted to make close-up's of both the Antagonist's face, hands and work (plotting of a murder) to create tension, just how Se7en does. We would also like to take inspiration from the lighting used in the film. The use of hard lighting when on the madman's character creates dark shadows, which have connotations of evil and death, indicating what he may do. There is also some soft lighting to show clearly what the madman is doing. 

We would like to include a spooky, messy desk, as if it is a madman's of strange and suspicious writings and pictures, similar to the one seen in the protagonist of Se7en. We have used the protagonist in Se7en as our inspiration for Charlie's protagonist role in our film.

                                                                                            

Shutter Island

Shutter Island's opening sequence has great effect, and we believe that the soundtrack is what has such an intimidating effect on the audience. When we see a close-up of a character's face, a different sound is employed, a dramatic 'whoosh' noise is applied to show a character's importance or an element of thrill. Subsequently, we as a group would like to apply a dramatic soundtrack to contribute the thrill element of our film.  When making the soundtrack, we would like to use a dramatic soundtrack in addition to the close-ups of Charlie's (antagonist) face which would act as an enigma code and signify to the audience who the antagonist is, and further underling his evil aim. We believe that the soundtrack is vital into the creation of tension as certain noises can be associated with certain characters therefore, the audience are aware of when danger and the protagonist is ready to inflict pain. The noises all tend to be very electronic as the film is fairly modern, so a piano effect for example wouldn't reflect the rest of the film as well. Our film too is contemporary, so a more electronic soundtrack would be better suited as well as for our target audience (16-24 year olds) who would be more modern in their interests.  The lighting tends to be soft when focusing on main character played by Leanardo Di Caprio to show he's a good character, however when in moments of possible danger/focus on certain people a hard lighting is used to show they could be bad or something is going to occur.

Sherlock Holmes 

The video above is from Sherlock Holmes' ending credits, and we believe that the effects are what sets apart these ending credits from any other film. Sherlock Holmes is set in Victorian Britain seen in the very formal costume of suits and bowler hats, which is not part of our modern-day film. However, we feel that we can really take influence from the effects employed. The director ( Guy Ritchie) along with his editing team, they have taken scenes from the film including specific characters which have frozen. When frozen, an effect of an old paper background alongside the character produces an effect as if the characters are in a  book which could have been done on purpose by Ritchie to reinforce the fact that all the main characters are from the book, and they haven't been altered since the creation of the film. We as a group really liked how the audience can establish a link between the character and actor. Furthermore, we felt that the titles of the actors names was excellent, as the writing is in quite an old-fashioned style, reflecting the time in which Sherlock was set. Therefore, the titles and screen freezes of actors alongside the 'paper' effect, have inspired us to have freezes in our opening sequence of characters in addition to roles of people too. However, we did feel that the writing was almost too fancy and hard to read, thus we would like to go for a more simplistic font which would reflect the era in which we are filming in too. This reflects our target audience (16-24 year olds) as the modern approach would be more likely to mirror what they look for,  because the target audience are more modern and contemporary.

Ripper Street 

 

Ripper Street is a BBC production series which tries to recreate the horrific murders of Jack the Ripper in Victorian London's Whitechapel in 1889.  

Ripper Street fact-file: 

- Producer: Stephen Smallwood

- Executive producer: Greg Brenman, Will Gould, Simon Vaughan, Andrew Lowe, Ed Guiney 

- Cinematography: Julian Court, PJ Dillon, Peter Robertson 

- Production company: Tiger Aspect Productions Lookout Point

- Distributor: BBC Worldwide 

Ripper Street has been a very big inspiration for us as it revolves around crime, which we are trying to replicate by the murder, of Protagonist, Laura.  Yet, what we most liked about Ripper Street opening sequence was the effects and props. The main effect employed is an overlay of characters over a brick wall (reflecting the Victorian buildings) in addition to a red coloured effect. We like this red effect as the connotations of red include: blood, death, anger and danger, therefore we feel that if we were to implement this red effect in addition to overlays of Charlie and Laura, the audience can then relate the red effect as an enigma code, implying danger and murder between these two characters. Furthermore, when Charlie is seen in his office working frantically we would like to use the red to indicate that he is in fact planning something very sinister. The red effect we would like to employ would be placed alongside another blur effect to give an impression that the footage is CCTV, thus indicating the audience are spying on Charlie and shouldn't really be seeing what evil actions he is plotting. CCTV is obviously quite a modern invention and is quite a big part of society nowadays, subsequently the use of a CCTV-ess effect would mirror our audience (16-24) who would be aware of CCTV and it's usage. 

Risk Assessment

The Risk Assessment is a key piece of work before filming as it looks at how the location may carry certain dangers, e.g. barbed wire, and how we are going to ensure nobody is hurt whilst filming. Consequently, we can carry out our filming in a controlled manner without any injuries.

Recce Report

The image is of the Recce Report, a vital piece of work before filming. The Recce Report discusses our location and what factors there are, both positive and negative.

Thriller Moodboard

This is a moodboard of elements which we expect to see in a thriller film. I have highlighted some angles we may see, type of lighting, props, mise-en-scene, and costumes that maybe used.

Treatment, Demographics and Audience Research

In this post I am highlighting the building blocks of my media coursework, who I will be working alongside Charlie (Antagonist), Laura (Protagonist) and Sarah on. Pictured right you can see my target audience for the film and what conventions we would like the film to revolve around. It also describes the setting of the film and a storyline for which the filming will mould around.

DEMOGRAPHICS

The demographics of our film are key as they are the focus points on how we want our film to be. The Demographics narrow down our target audience criteria so we can really focus on how we want our film to be produced. Secondly, we have chosen 'Strugglers' as a criteria as they seek escape from reality. We would like our film to be chilling so the strugglers feel that they have moved from reality into something sinister. Whilst 'Explorers'  who seek discovery attempt to predict the course of events in the film. We are going to use a wide range of enigma codes such as the colour red and voodoo dolls acting as enigma code for the 'Explorers' to query what the props may be used for in the future of the film. 

Thriller codes and conventions

This is my first on my blog, this highlights the codes and conventions which make a thriller: