Opening Scenaration - Miss Miller

The opening scene of our thriller is the following plot, a young girl is walking home on Halloween night after going out with her boyfriend, during this scene there will be only diegetic sound in the form of dialogue between the two characters. As she is making her way home she begins to feel as if someone is following her, there is no sound during this scene, just the sound of her walking. She recieves a text from her Mum asking when she will be home, she replies saying that she is nearly home and she will see her soon. At this point she enters the underground car park, this is where we first see the killer, who is in the background out of focus, when the killer makes a movement to go behind one of the car park pillars there is non diegetic sound, this is a sudden jumpy sound effect. Then the killer is fully visible to both the audience and the victim and we can see he has bad intentions as he is holidng a knife and wearing a mask. The victim is then in absolute shock and begins to run for her life this is when she is captured by the killer. The next part of our narrative shows the killer making his way down to an abandoned shed, there is a lot of low key lighting in this scene. We then filmed the victim slowly waking up and realising that she is being held hostage, this is when she begins to call for help. The killer then turns the lights on in this abandoned shed and it is then when the audience see that he has set up almost a murder scene, with dead bodys hanging from the ceiling and blood all over the floor. The killer then proceeds to taunt the victim by slowly walking around the room with a knife. Then he executes her and turns of the camera. The final shots we see is the outside of the shed and then the mask of the killer jumps infront of the screen.

There will be some elements that will make our opening scenaration better..

Shortening phone scene: The scene where the victim was texting her Mother and telling her when she will be home was quite long and took up a lot of our 2 minute time period. We felt this part was not as significant as others in our opening scenaration so we decided to shorten it. This will allow the opening sequence to increase in speed and intensity creating much more tension among the audience, this will therefore make it much more conventional.

Using out of focus shots: We plan on using a lot more out of focus shots in our opening sequence, these will be included when the killer is on screen. This will make our opening sequence much more conventional as a thriller as it creates an enigma as the audience aren't fully able to see the killer.

Filming schedule / Risk Assessment - Miss Georgiou

The purpose of the risk assessment task was to ensure that all members of the group would be safe while filming. To make sure of this we had to make sure any dangers that may occur during filming were dealt with, for example using knives in public and tripping on any leads. To avoid these hazards we came up with a prevention for each one.

We made a filming schedule, this was a rough copy of the timings when we planned to film. The filming schedule also included the location, what we was filming, and the equiptment we would be needing. This schedule was helpful as it allowed us to keep organised and we knew what we was doing on each day. Although we didnt entirely stick to the filming schedule it was still extremely helpful.

Description of hazard	Prevention of hazard
Trailing leads while filming	Use gaffer tape to secure leads
Using knives in public.	Take care about where we film.
Getting run over.	Be careful when crossing roads with equiptment.
Tripod falling over.	Make sure it is carefully balanced at all times.
Dropping the camera during handheld.	Make sure it is always straoped to your hand.

 

 

 

 

 

Shot	Date & time	Location	Content /Action	Shot type & Duration	Costume/ hair/ make up	Iconography	Personnel	Equipment
1	17.11.2013 5:00pm	Repton Park	Filming the large tower in order to set the scene.	Extreme long shot into a pan, for approx. 4 seconds.	None	None	Cameraman Location manager	Digital camera, Tripod, Street Lights.
2	17.11.2013 5:15pm	Repton Park	Filming the victim saying goodbye to her boyfriend after a night out on Halloween.	Long shot, approx. 5 seconds.	Girly outfit, Hair up.	Phone and Handbag.	Cameraman Location manager Actors	Digital camera, Tripod, Street lights.
3	17.11.2013 5:30pm	Repton Park	Filming the victim on her way home.	Mid shot, approx. 3 seconds.	Girly outfit, Hair up.	Phone and Hanbag.	Cameraman Location Manager Actor	Digital camera, Tripod.
4	17.11.2013 5:45pm	Repton Park	Filming girl texting her Mum when she will be home.	Close up, approx. 5 seconds.	None	Phone,	Cameraman Actor	Digital camera
5	17.11.2013 6:00pm	Repton Park, underground car park.	Filming girl walking and then mysterious figure appears.	Long shot approx. 5 seconds.	Girly outfit, hair up.	Phone, Handbag, Mask.	Cameraman Location manager Actors	Digital camera, tripod.
6	17.11.2013 6:15pm	Repton park underground car park.	Filming the antagonist walking towards the girl.	Over the shoulder shot approx. 5 seconds.	All black outfit.	Mask, Knife.	Cameraman Location manager Actors	Digital camera, Tripod.
7	17.11.2013 6:30pm	Repton park underground car park	Filming the girl looking shocked and scared.	Close up approx. 4 seconds	Hair up, make up on.	None.	Cameraman Location manager Actors	Digital camera, Tripod.
8	18.11.2013 5:00pm	Repton Park, field	Filming the girl running	POV, approx. 4 seconds.	None	Shoes.	Cameraman Actor	Digital camera.
9	18.11.2013 5:15pm	Repton Park field	Filming the girl being captured	POV approx. 2 seconds	None	None	Cameraman	Digital camera, bin bag.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

 

 

 

Production Roles - Miss Miller

It is important that people are allocated specific roles in films, this is so that everyone is aware what role they have in the creation of a film. The different roles we would expect to see in the creation of a film are, producers, directors, music producers, editors, actors etc. This allows people to work better in their specialised role and also means that not one person is having to do all the work; instead they are able to concentrate on one aspect of the film and make that as best as they can. 

To decide which role each member of our group was going to have we had to look at what each of us was good at. Joe had previous experience using garage band, this meant that he was most suited to creating the soundtrack for our opening sequence, therefore he was appointed head of sound. This means that he is responsible for creating anything sound related in our opening sequence, such as the soundtrack, sound effects etc. This will make it easier when it comes to adding the sound to our filming as we know who to go to if we have any ideas related to the sound aspect of the opening sequence. 

Joe was also appointed as the director of the overall project, this was decided as we felt that he was most organised and could therefore lead the team much more efficiently. This means that Joes job is to oversee the whole project and make sure everything is running correctly. It is also Joes job to change anything if he thinks it does not look right, for example if one shot does not go as planned on the storyboard, it will be down to Joe to modify this. The fact that we know we have one director will make it easier for the other members of the group as we know who has the final call on all decisions and they can therefore make any big decisions that we may come across during filming.

The role of director of photography was handed to me, this was decided as I was the most experienced in the group when it came to handling a camera. This experience would allow me to decide which type of shots are best for certain scenes. My responsibilities in this role are everything to do with the camera, for example I would decide what type of shot we would use, the duration of the shot etc. This makes it easier for Joe and Reggie to voice their opinions about what types of shots they think we should use, but I have the final say.

The role of editing director was given to Reggie, however there was also a large input from Joe in this role. This was decided as both Reggie and Joe are very good with the Apple software and would therefore be the most suited to editing our opening sequence. In this role Reggie was required to edit all the shots that we would be using in our opening sequence, this included, altering the brightness, cutting the length of shots and adding fades and swipes for example. This is one of the most important roles in our project as it is what we felt would entice the audience the most. The fact that we had two people working on the editing was helpful as it meant they could both contribute ideas to the overall editing of the opening sequence.

The role of actors in our opening sequence was another important aspect. It was vital that we had a female victim, therefore we got Cara Gaffney to act out that role. We also had two other actors, the boyfriend (Joe Smith) and the antagonist (Myself). The role of the actors in our opening sequence was to follow the directions that the director gave to them. It was important that out actors nailed their role as they are what the audience are creating their relationships with, therefore it was vital that they depicted the emotions that was expected of them for example Cara had to portray fear and a sense of inferiority. Having these actors made it easier for us as it meant that we could work with them individually in order to make them act in the way which we wanted. 

Overall each person in our group did very well in the role which they was allocated, we all did our jobs properly. Assigning each person a role in our team was very important as it allowed each member of the group to work on the area in which the specialise in. The only problem we had was when it came to  the role of who would be naming the film, we was split on three different titles, The Rejected, The Different and Phobia. Each member of the group thought their title was the best and we could not come to a joint decision.

Planning Opening Credits - Miss Georgiou

In this post I have been asked to discuss the credits that I will be using in my opening sequence. Credits are important to the opening of an opening scene fuck as they inform the audience which role everyone has done in the film, they also tell the audience which actors are featuring within the film.

I analysed the opening scene of 'Se7en', and analysed the credits that were used. The credits appeared on screen in the following order Production company, director, actor, title of film, actors continued, casting, music, costumes, editing, production, camera operator, co-producer, producer, writing and the director again. As you can see the title of the film appeared directly after the main actors, this is because these two are the most important credits and it is important that the audiences attention is attracted to them. The colour of the credits used in this opening sequence was important; they was white on a black background, this is to contrast the difference between good and evil. The font used in this clip was jagged and jerky, this is to represent the unstable position that the audience are going to be in creating enigma and a sense of unease, also it establishes the genre to the audience. 

I also analysed the opening credits of 'Insidious', the first notable feature of the credits is that they were written in red, from this we can connote blood and death, both strongly related to the thriller genre. This informs the audience what they can expect later on in the film. The style of the font is very representative of the thriller genre, for example the credits turn into smoke, this looks extremely mysterious and creates an enigma. The credits to this film are conventional to a thriller film as low key lighting is used throughout, this dark background is in contrast with the red font, allowing the credits to stand out.

My opening credits:
After reviewing the opening credits of several films I have come to the conclusion that my credits will appear in the following order...
1. Sandstorm Productions
2. Director - Joe Smith
3. Director of photography - Daniel Armstrong
4. Actors - Cara Gaffner, Daniel Armstrong, Joe Smith
5. Film Title - TBC
6. Editing director - Reggie Witham
7. Producer - Sam Smith
8. Co producer - Mark Abraham
9. Costumes - Lara Walker
10. Music - Joe Smith

I feel that this is a very concise order and it will look professional as this is similar to the order that is used in many of the big budget films that I have analysed. 

Fonts, Styles and Colours..
For the font of our group credits I have suggested a jagged, almost hand written font. I believe this is conventional to the thriller genre as it will look as if it has been written by someone who is unstable. I also believe this font is most relevant to the images that will be shown on screen at the time. I have also seen this hand written type of font used in many of the thriller films that I have analysed, therefore it must have some type of impact on the audience. Furthermore, I have suggested that the colour of the credits should be in red, I believe this is most conventional of the thriller genre as it connotes evil, danger and blood, all of these being things you would expect to see in a thriller film. I was going to use the colour white, however I don't think this will allow the credits to stand out as much as the colour red will. For the style of our groups credits, I would like them to fade on and off of the screen slowly, so that its noticeable to the audience but at the same time it will create an eerie effect.

Inspirations - Miss Miller

Inspirations are important before creating an opening sequence as they allow you to incoroporate ideas into it, they also enabled me to see what I need to put into my film in order to make it do well. Overall inspirations were used to improve my original ideas. Inspirations can be taken from other thriller films that have been successful, it is important that I look at the key features that have been used within this film. The inspirations that I have took have been from the following films, The Strangers, Halloween and Saw.

From The Strangers I took the inspiration of having hidden identity for my antagonist. In The Strangers, the several antagonists that there are all have their identity hidden with a mask, I thought that this matched the conventions of the thriller genre as it creates an enigma as to who the killer is. I though this would be a good feature for my opening sequence as it leaves the audience in fear and allows the antagonist to be recognisable to them. Using an unknown killer makes it easier to relate to most people as they can imagine who they want as the antagonist.

I took the inspiration of having a point of view shot through the antagonists mask, this came from the opening sequence of Halloween in which Michael Myers puts on his mask and the it looks as if the camera is wearing a mask. In Halloween we see only the eyeholes in the mask, meaning that vision is slightly restricted. This inspired me as it made me feel tense as I wanted to shout out to the victim but she was helpless. I will use this shot when the victim is being stalked by the antagonist. To go hand in hand with this shot I will also have an unsteady camera, this will create a shaky effect and connote to the audience that the antagonist is unstable. This is conventional of the thriller genre as it creates a lot of darkness on the screen, this creating low key lighting. Using this point of view shot will also create an enigma as the audience can see from the antagonists perspective, but they are unable to know the true identity of the killer. This also allows the audience to see things from the antagonists perspecticve, creating a chilling sort of atmosphere. I am also hoping that this shot will sort of disorientate the audience as they do not have full vision, this will put them in an unstable situation, much like the victim is in.

From the film Saw I am going to use the idea of a handheld camera when the action begins. In Saw we see three victims tied to a bed and they have to race to get free, when the action begins the camera goes into handheld, this created a sense of chaos. This inspired me as it really emphasised the action that was taking place in the scene and it made me feel as if I was involved when I was watching it. This shot will happen when my victim is being chased by the antagonist. This inspiration will be good for my thriller as it creates chaos, putting the audience in the same position as the victim. Putting the audience in the same position as the victim also allows them to relate with the victim and sympathise with her as they know how she is feeling. This therefore makes my thriller seem more realistic to the audience and also creates suspense and tension.

I thought that looking at these films has been very useful for my narrative as they have allowed me to incorporate new ideas, making my opening sequence more conventional and also allowing me to appeal to my audience much more. These inspirations that I have taken from other films have made my sequence better as they have allowed me to enhance the profile of my antagonist and at the same time make my victim look more inferior.

Planning Sound - Miss Miller

Sound in a film is important as it consists of everything that we hear (auditory), it is key in creating tension and building suspense among the audience. Sound also is what enables different shots to be linked together, and allows characters to be depicted in certain ways, for example when we hear happy jolly music this tells us that the character is happy. Planning the sounds that I will use in my sequence is important as it enables me to choose which types of sound I want in certain places and what effect they will have in my opening sequence.

Non diegetic sound in the form of tense music will be used within my opening sequence. This will build suspense among the audience and also inform them when something may be about to happen. This sound technique also will make the victim seem inferior and as if she is in some sort of danger, this will allow relationships to be built between the audience and the character as they will want to tell her that something is going to happen. Non diegetic tense music is conventional to the thriller genre as it creates suspense, thus being one of the most important conventions in a thriller film.

Contrapuntal sound is also something that I am going to try to incorporate into my opening sequence, this could be in the form of happy music. This will make the audience feel uneasy as they would not expect to hear this music in relation to what may be about to happen, and this therefore builds suspense and tension. This sound technique will also portray the strange and eerie characteristics of the antagonist. This sound technique is less conventional of the thriller genre but it can still be used as a way of building tension.

I am also going to be using diegetic sounds in the form of the antagonist laughing and the victim heavily breathing, this will be used to portray how scared the victim is at this moment in time. The diegetic sound of her breathing heavily will depict a sense of panic towards the audience and this will therefore leave them in an uneasy situation. The diegetic sound of the laughing antagonist will create an eerie atmosphere as you would not expect to hear someone so evil laughing. This also portrays the antagonist to be twisted as he is laughing at what he is about to do. Diegetic sound is conventional of a thriller as it involve the audience with the characters and they can see exactly how they are feeling, this allows relationships to be built.

I will also be using non diegetic sound effects in my opening sequence, these will be in the form of a sudden jumpy noise when the antagonist appears. This will be used to firstly scare the audience and make them feel uneasy, but it will also be used to create a sense of superiority surrounding the antagonist. This sound effect will also grab the audiences attention and make sure that they see the antagonist. The sudden jumpy sound will also convey to the audience that the victim is in danger as it has alerted them. This is conventional of a thriller film as it scares the audience and this therefore creates tension among them.

I think using sound in my opening sequence is very important as it creates tension and portrays certain emotions across to the audience. The use of sound also makes it easier for the audience to follow what is going on and they can judge characters through the sound that has been used in relation to them. I am hoping that the sounds that I have chosen for my opening sequence will create an enigma and enable the audience to build relationships with characters. I believe that the sounds I have picked are conventional of the thriller genre as each of them create an enigma, tension and an eerie atmosphere, all of these being the main conventions of the thriller genre. I found planning sound very helpful as it has allowed me to evaluate which sounds I want to include in my opening sequence and what they are required for.

Group storyboard - Miss Miller

In this blog I shall be evaluating our group storyboard, including the content of the storyboard and the specific elements we have used from our individual storyboards. The purpose of the group storyboard task is so that we can incorporate all the ideas of each individual into one storyboard. The storyboard will allow us the organise the shots, editing, iconography, actors, sound and lighting  we will be using in each frame. This will allow us to keep organisation and structure when it comes to filming.

In our group storyboard we have included several elements from each of our own individual storyboards that we created. In frames 8 and 12, we incorporated Joe's idea of a point of view shot from the antagonists position, this means the camera shot will be filmed as if he is wearing a mask. This was an inspiration from the original 'Halloween' film. This frame allowed me and Reggie to see Joe's idea and the features of a thriller that it would generate, such as low key lighting and hidden identity.

We included the long shot feature of my storyboard, these long shots consist of the victim and the antagonist. The reason we included this feature in our group storyboard was because it creates the atmosphere of isolation as we can clearly see the empty background. This allows the audience to identify the fact that the victim is helpless and alone, thus therefore will create a relationship. We included this element of my storyboard as it generates the convention that this creates is a vulnerable female victim.

In using the group storyboard it enabled us to split our narrative into separate sections, this allowed us to see where we wanted low key lighting, diegetic sound, editing etc. This is helpful as when we are filming we can make sure that each element that we require for each shot is available. Using the group storyboard has also enabled us to not only note the key elements that we will be featuring in each frame but also conduct a sketch to make it easier for each member of our group to visualise our ideas.

I think our storyboard is very good and has been managed very well as it has broke our opening sequence down into separate segments making it easier to understand and also make it easier for filming. I found that the ideas each member of our group put forward were very helpful as we have built a very well structured storyboard. I thought it was a little bit tough incorporating all of our ideas into one storyboard as we had to leave some out. But overall I do believe that we have made the best possible storyboard with the ideas that we had.

Cinematography planning - Miss Miller

Cinematography is the art of movie photography, this includes both the shooting and development of film. Cinematography consists of many different camera shots and angles. In this blog I am going to be planning and discussing the cinematography that I will be using in my opening sequence. Cinematography is an important element within films as it connects the audience to the characters and it allows them to relate with them. Planning my cinematography is important in order to create an excellent opening sequence as it will allow me to evaluate which camera shots and angles are most relevant to use in order to create the effect I want.

The first use of cinematography I will be using in my opening sequence is a panning shot, this will be at the beginning and it will pan from a large tower with a dark night background into a young girl saying goodbye to her friends. This piece of cinematography has been chosen here as it sets the scene and allows the audience to know where the setting is and that it is at night time. I am hoping that the panning of this large tower will create an eerie effect. 

I will also be using a close up shot of the victim in my opening sequence, this cinematography has been used here as it allows the audience to visualise the victims face close up, this therefore portrays the emotions that she is feeling very scared. This means that the audience will be able to relate to the victim more easily, as they can see the genuine fear in her face. The impact of this shot is that it fills the screen and the audience therefore have no choice but to focus on it. This cinematography is conventional to a thriller film as it allows the audience to see that the victim is scared, this therefore makes her look vulnerable, and a vulnerable female victim is conventional of the thriller genre. 

I've included the cinematographic technique of shallow focusing in my opening scene, this will be when we first see the antagonist. In this shot we will see the victim in full focus and then in the background we will see the antagonist standing out of focus. The impact of this shot is that it creates tension as the audience know that something is there but they don't know the true identity of what it is. This cinematography will convey to the audience that the person standing out of focus has bad intentions as their identity is being hidden through the blur. This technique will make the audience feel more alarmed as they want to tell the victim that there is something behind her, I am hoping that this will build relations between the audience and the character. This camera shot is conventional to the thriller genre as it creates an enigma as the audience are unable to clearly see who it is.

I have also included a point of view shot in my opening sequence, this shot will be used from the point of view of the antagonist. In this shot we will only be able to see eye holes as the antagonist is wearing a mask. The impact of this shot will be to strike fear into the audience, as they are put in the position of the antagonist, this will make them feel uneasy. The P.O.V shot will allow relationships to be created between the audience and the antagonist as they can see things from his position. Furthermore it depicts the fact that the victim is so isolated, as she is being watched but she is unaware of it. This shot will create low key lighting as most of the screen is blacked out apart from the eye holes, this is conventional of the thriller genre. This piece of cinematography emphasises the fact that the antagonist is wearing a mask, and shows that his identity is hidden.

In this opening sequence I have also used a long shot, this shot is used to show the antagonist for the first time clearly. The shot will show the antagonist standing in a mask and holding a knife. The impact of this shot is that it allows the audience to see the whole of the character and the setting in which they are in. This shot allows the audience to identify that the antagonist is wearing a mask and holding a knife, thus creating a terrifying atmosphere. This therefore creates relationships between the audience and the victim as they are both scared at what may be going to happen. This shot also portrays how isolated the victim is as they are alone in an empty car park, thus making the victim look extremely inferior and vulnerable, which is conventional to the thriller genre. 

I think the use of cinematography in my opening sequence is vital in evoking a reaction from my audience as it allows the audience to create a relationship with the characters. The cinematography I have used also permits me to portray certain emotions toward my audience, for example the close up portrays the emotion of fear to my audience, thus creating fear among my audience. I feel that the cinematography I have used is conventional to the thriller genre as it extracts the key features of a thriller film such as low key lighting and an enigma etc. In planning and discussing the cinematography that I will be using in my opening sequence, I have been able to see what effect each of my camera shots and angles creates, this has been extremely helpful as I can identify which areas I need to improve on in terms of cinematography.