Filming Schedule.

This is our filming schedule that we plan to follow when it comes to filming.

Actors

As a group we have discussed what actors we needed and who would be suitable for the role. We decided to use Annie Nurse as the young girl (character a) and Jonathan Tang as the mystery man (character b) in our opening thriller sequence.

Annie is suitable for this role because she is 16 years old but does look older so can look the same age as the girl who would be 18. She suits the expected appearance and can portray the body language that is needed. Although she has not much previous acting experience she can relate to the emotion of the the character as Annie is just a typical teenager. As she is a close friend of ours we know that she will reliable and will act according.

Jonathan is suitable for this role because he looks older so can be identified as the older mystery man. He can look mystifying which would be good and would live up to his role. He also has not much previous acting experience but I am sure that he will as best he can. As he is a close friend of ours we know that he will be reliable and will act to the role as best he can.

(Jonathan: left, Annie: right)

Locations.

Patricia was assigned to the task of location in our group and this is what she did:

Since our story is based around a girl jumping off a cliff we knew that whereever we were going to film there was going to have to be a cliff there. We discussed about various locations we could film at but we then we decided that some of the locations would take too long to get too or were too difficult to get too.

In the end we decided on filming at a place called 'Bobs Rock'.
This is the perfect location as it has wooded area and also a cliff which is vital as this is where most of our filming is going to place. There is also a graveyard where we could also film to help add to the spooky atmosphere which we are trying to capture.

'Bob's Rock.'




























The Graveyard.

Thriller Task - Props

Henna Mistry was assigned to the task of props in our group and this is what she did:


In the opening sequence to the thriller that we are producing, props need to used or the opening sequence would be dry and boring and in place would not make sense. The props that may be used are:

A mobile phone:

The phone will be the main prop used in the thriller, as this prop will set the scene at the beginning of the opening sequence. As the audience will see the phone on the chosen location which will create the suspense. The main character will be seen answering the phone to a mysterious character. It will be used because a phone is modern technology which is used in everyday life to communicate with others.


A photo:


The photo will be of the main character and her friends, she will be looking happy and having a good time. She will be holding looking at the photo but will look sad, which again the audience will start to ask questions and become interested. This will make more sense as the opening sequence progresses of why the character is upset. We thought this would be suitable as being a teenager means having a good time when with your friends and taking photos to keep the memories.

Thriller Task - Risk Assessment

As a group we all completed a risk assessment together to assess the risks and how to prevent them from happening when filming.

Risk: Cliff top
Reason: This is a risk because there is a chance of someone falling off this cliff and getting seriously injured as the cliff is quite high.
Prevention: The group can overcome this by acting sensibly and not going to close to the edge of the cliff. Also filming on stable land which is not to close to the edge.

Risk: Damage of equipment
Reason: This is a risk because if the equipment became damaged or broken, it is our responsibility we will have to pay to replace it, which could cost a lot.
Prevention: We can overcome this by acting logically, but using it to the best of our ability, keeping the equipment with us at all time and not leaving it unattended.

Risk: Weather
Reason: This is because it could ruin the eerie tense atmosphere that we are tyring to create with the opening sequence. It could also damage the camera equipment. If it snows or becomes icy it may be difficult to even reach our location.
Prevention: This can be prevented by keeping the equipment in cases and avoid filming in bad weather conditions. We could also check the weather forecast the day before we are going to film to make sure the weather isn't bad.

Risk: Other people
Reason: This is a risk because if wandering people may disturb the shot while we are filming, they may also get in the way of the shot and ruin the tense atmosphere that we are trying to create.
Prevention: This can be prevented by filming in a quiet location of where we are filming, so that not many people will be there to disturb when filming.

Risk: Damage of Props
Reason: This is a risk because if a prop is dropped it may become damaged and broken, this again is our responsibility. If the item belongs to someone else we need to take extra care.Prevention: This can be overcome by keeping an eye on the props at all time and using them carefully when in use.

Risk: Damage to Crew and Cast
Reason: This is a risk because there are nettles and bushes that can be harmful if they are dangerous. The land could be uneven and there could be rock causing an accident to the cast or crew while filming and acting.
Prevention: This can be overcome by acting carefully and being aware of the surroundings around the location.

Questionnaire.

Patricia, Henna and I carried out a questionnaire in order to find out what our target audience of teenagers (16-18 years old) want to see in Thriller movies. We carried out this questionnaire on 18 students, although this gives a very biased sample of the audience as it is a very limited sample. Therefore results cannot be generalised across our whole target audience of teenagers.

The Thriller Film Industry.

I began my research on the Internet Movie Database (IMDB)(http://www.imdb.com/genre/thriller) by looking at films by genre and going into the thriller section. The IMDB is the largest internet based database for information on directors, actors, celebrity stories, films and reviews. This website gave me the the current most popular thrillers which are:

1.The Wolfman
Dir: Joe Johnston, Genre: Horror | Thriller
2. Edge of Darkness
Dir: Martin Campbell, Genre: Drama | Thriller
3. From Paris With Love
Dir: Pierre Morel, Genre: Action | Crime | Thriller
4. The Hurt Locker
Dir: Kathryn Bigelow, Genre: Action | Drama | Thriller | War
5. Shutter Island
Dir: Martin Scorsese, Genre: Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Three of these films, 'Wolfman', 'From Paris With Love' and 'Edge of Darkness', were also in the top 10 USA weekend Box Office Summary for this weekend, which shows the popularity of this genre.
From these films I can see that when there are thriller movies they are usually mixed with another genre in order to reflect their storylines. This could occur in our thriller, so after we have planned what our main story is, we may have to look at other genres to see if our film ties in with any others so we can avoid claiming it is a pure thriller as there don't seem to be any around without sub-genres.
According to www.movies.com.au 'The majority of thriller movies are actually hybrid films that use characteristics of another type of genre to maintain audience interest and anticipation', and the different hybrids are:
* Action thriller
* Conspiracy thriller
* Crime thriller
* Disaster thriller
* Drama thriller
* Eco-thriller
* Erotic thriller
* Legal thriller
* Medical thriller
* Political thriller
* Psychological thriller
* Spy thriller
* Techno-thriller
* Religious thriller

I also found a chart for the best and a chart for the worst Thriller films ever made, as voted for by IMDB users.(http://www.imdb.com/chart/thriller)

The 5 Top rated Thrillers of all time, according to the chart, are:
1. The Godfather (1972)
2. The Godfather: Part II (1974)
3. The Dark Knight (2008)
4. Rear Window (1954)
5. Fight Club (1999)

This chart shows how Thrillers have always been popular throughout the years and also shows how the genre has not been lost over time, as one of 5 these 'top thrillers' dates back to 1954, and another at 2008. The oldest movie on the chart called 'The Big Sleep' was made in 1946, and the most recent film on the chart is 'Inglourious Basterds' which was released in 2009.

Another website I used for research is http://www.toptenreviews.com. They keep up to date with movies, reviews, and the top directors and films and have plenty of information on their website.
According to their research, the top 10 thriller movie directors are:

(click to make bigger)

Costume

For the female character in our opening sequence, I thought that she could wear a stylish winter coat to represent her age and class, the season and the current climate. I thought she could wear this with jeans and a top and some flat shoes because it could depict her age.

For the male character in our opening sequence I wanted to create a serious, mysterious character so I thought a long black trench coat, white shirt, possibly a black tie, black trousers, a pair of black patent leather shoes and maybe a black hat. The tie, shirt and trousers represents the seriousness of the character and adds a sense of formality. I chose a long trench coat to add mystery and the hat also does this too and will cast a shadow over the characters face for this effect of a hidden identity, although we may not use the hat. The colours black and white are formal as well and do not give anything about the character's personality away.

The Bourne Identity (2002) - Opening Sequence.

I watched and analysed the first 3 minutes of this film on DVD.

Camera:

• One camera movement I thought was effective was the first one in the opening sequence; the camera zooms in on a character in the water and it looks like a floating dead body. This fits with the genre of a thriller because it follows the conventions of narrative enigma; the audience wouldn't know it's the main character at first in the water, and they would question whether that character is dead or not and if so who did it or what happened would also be questions raised. Another convention this follows is that a possible crime may have been committed.
• The close up of the scalpel cutting into the character's wetsuit makes it look as though it is cutting his skin until it shows the man peeling back the wetsuit. This raises narrative enigma until that point.
  

Sound:

• In the first 30 secs of the film there is the sound of thunder, this is effective as it sets a estranged atmosphere and a dark, gloomy mood, all of which is typical of the thriller genre.
• The soundtrack on this opening scene is dark and starts off slow paced but then gets slightly faster pace. It is orchestral, dramatic and uses a low pitch and minor key on violins and cellos. This is effective as it creates the right kind of dark and mysterious atmosphere that would be typical of a thriller movie.
  

Editing:

• The title sequence transition used is effective but goes against the convention of the title sequence reflecting a character's state of mind. Though, the way that the title sequence fades in from the dark, stormy sky and has a black background and the colour of the font is like that of the thunder is effective as it depicts the dark mysterious atmosphere further.
• The straight cut from one of the men on the boat saying 'have you ever seen a dead man before?' and another doing a cross-sign to the character that was in the water moving his hand is ironic and lifts the narrative enigma that he isn't dead but the audience still wouldn't know what happened to him. This goes against the thriller convention that a crime or a murder usually happens at the start, but he is obviously helpless at this point which portrays him as the protagonist and a victim which also goes against another typical thriller convention that a child or a woman is the victim as this one is a man. This makes the plot more intriguing.
  

Mise-en-scene:

• The lighting is naturalistic and no artificial light is used as this is filmed at nighttime so it keeps the dark gloomy mood that would be seen in thriller movies.
• The costume that the character found in the is wearing is a wetsuit and he has a flashing light attached to him. This raises narrative enigma as it would be unknown at this point why he was there and what he was doing and this adds to the mystery of the plot.
  

Thriller Task - Brainstorming and Ideas

When brainstorming we discussed what ideas that we each had and wrote down our ideas onto 2 spider diagrams which are shown below:



The images above show our ideas that we were having when we were planning the opening sequence. As you can see we have considered many key important areas that need to be taken into account like the location, characters, camera angles, titles and props, costume plus many more that we have thought about that could possible be used.

Thriller Task - Storyboard

Shown below are a series of pictures which make up a storyboard of what camera angles, shots and movements we plan to have in our opening sequence. Also they are in the order that we intend them to occur in our opening sequence.


This is an Establishing Shot showing the view from the top of the cliff (one of our chosen locations.)


This is a close up tracking shot of the female character's (character A) feet walking on the cliff.


This is a close up of character A's face.


This is an over the shoulder, tracking shot from behind character A.


This is a long shot from the side of character A as she looks over the edge of the cliff.


This is a long shot of another character, male (character B), walking through either woods, a cemetery or by a canal.


This shows a shot showing character A taking something out of her pocket.


This is a high angle shot from behind character A, showing her looking at a picture.


This is a close up, static shot of character B's phone as he rings a number.


This is a shot of a phone, buried under leaves and twigs, ringing, this would zoom into a close up of the phone so you can see it clearly as it rings.


This picture is a mid static shot of the girl turning around because she has heard the phone and the camera would track her as she moves quickly towards it.


There is then a static shot of her hands rumaging through the leaves and twigs and then it would show her picking up the phone.


This is a close up of character A's face as she says "Hello?" to see who is on the other side of the call.


This is a long shot from afar of character B standing against a wall with the phone.


This is another close up of character A saying "Hello?" again, but sounding a bit anxious and a little louder this time as character B did not answer.


This is an extreme close up of character B as he says "Don't jump." on the phone, then the camera would zoom out and show him taking the phone away from his ear.


Here is a close up of character B's phone as he hangs up.


Now a mid static shot of character A, who would look scared, taking the phone away from her ear, shaking and looking around left to right, being paranoid.


There would then be a quick pan of what she can see in front of her from left to right so we can see what she is seeing.


Here is a shot of her dropping her phone and running away from just above ground level so only her legs are seen and as she runs away the background will blur and the sharpest object, in the foreground, would be the phone on the ground.

Mulholland Drive - Opening Sequence.

This is a thriller written and directed by David Lynch, about a young actress that travels to Hollywood and gets involved with a murder conspiracy and ends up with amnesia after a car crash. I watched and analysed the first 3 minutes of this movie.

Camera:
- There is a high-angle tracking shot of a car while it is going up an empty road at quite a slow pace at nightime.
- There is an overhead shot of a lit up city, from wich you can tell that the movie is set in America; sets the scene.
- There is an effective static medium close up of the women's face while she is staring in shock at the cars coming towards her, as the cars get closer the shot is encased by more and more light till we cannot see the women's face anymore.

Sound:
- There is a slow, minor key, strings soundtrack throughout, which builds up the gloomy mood.
- There is American Dialogue from all characters that speak in the opening, which sets that they are in America.

Mise-en-scene:
- The man in the front seat pulls out a gun and points it at the woman; this creates narrative enigma, as at that point the audience would wonder why that is happening.

Editing:
- looks like it is in black and white because of the dull lighting and night-time setting at the start, but with the red headlights of the car; red symbolises danger, and this tied in with the dark, dullness of black and white creates an ominous tone.
- Opening credits are white flash then trails upwards off of the screen which creates an effect of an estranged mood.

The Conventions of a Thriller.

This is a list of conventions which regularly occur in a movie when it is of the thriller genre:

- The lighting is normally darkened to give a sinister effect.
- Builds up tension and suspense throughout the whole film.
- Atmospheric music is used.
- The victim is usually a woman and/or a child.
- A twist in the plot usually occurs.
- Protangonist & Antagonist.
- Narrative enigma.
- A crime is usually commited.
- Protagonist who is systematically disempowered and drawn into a complex web of intrigued.
- Themes of mirroring, indentity and voyeurism.
- Title sequence often reflects the main character's psychological state.
- Protagonist usually has a flaw which is demoralized by the antagonist.

Thrillers - Introductory Lesson.

In Today's lesson we were introduced to our main task. We were told that we had to make the opening sequence, not a trailer, which would last only 2 minutes, of what would be a movie based in the genre of a Thriller. First we were asked to define what we think a thriller is. We all came up with the same ideas; that a murder would usually happen; there would be a good and bad side; it has suprise, tension and mystery within the plot; it almost always has a 'damzel in distress' and some dramatic music. Then we were given a list of the top 100 thriller films according to the Radio Times, along with a definition of what a thriller is - "A thriller means a touch of evil rather than a bucket of blood; the natural beats the supernatural" it also says "the genre ranges from political intrigue to cat-ane-mouse via police procedural."
We then were told we had to know the difference between a trailer and an opening sequence, so first, we looked at 3 trailers. These trailers were 'Public Enemies', 'Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince' and 'Funny People'. From these trailers we saw that some of the plots were portrayed within the trailers; the main characters were shown; the actors/actresses that star in them, the directors, producers, writers and the companies involved were made apparent, and they were mainly made up of a montage of different scenes throughout the film and normally had sound bridges using dialogue overlapping different scenes; and music was also involved.
Then we watched the opening sequences of 'Fargo', 'Mulholland Drive' and 'The Usual Suspects.' They are all famous thriller movies and were good for inspiration and ideas on what thrillers should be like. They all had opening credits; narrative enigma; some sort of orchestral or dramatic music and introduced characters.
After doing this we knew that trailers are to interest audiences and draw them in in order to advertise and sell the film whereas an opening sequence is a start of a film that set the scene, introduce a couple of characters and give a small insight into the story in order to hook the audience and make them continue to watch.

Preliminary Task - The Final Lesson.

First of all, we had a problem, there were a few clips missing in our film and the audio was corrupted. We did not know how this happened as nobody had touched the clip since we completed it in our last lesson. I then found a back-up file amongst our drive as the software we use has an auto-saving function. We then had our finished film that we had at the end of Thursday, so Amie and I converted the film into an .AVI on Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 using the export tool. Then we repeated this process, but instead converted it into a .H.264 video file so we could upload it onto Youtube faster as it makes it a smaller file.
Our teacher then let us upload our film onto Youtube and showed us all how. On the first try, it didn't work but Amie had a second attempt. It had uploaded sucessfully so she showed Aidan and I the end result, which we all approved of.

Here is our Preliminary Task Film:


There were some advantages and disadvantages to our film. One disadvantage was that it had an incredibly basic storyline; there was specific story to it and also it was limited. I think we all would have thought of a better storyline if we had a little more time and if we had executed audience research into what would be more interesting. However there were advantages; we included interesting camera angles and movements and when we turned it into greyscale and added transitions it looked so much better.