Mind Map

This is the Mind Map that we made of all of our film ideas before we began production.

Storyboard page 3

Storyboard page 2

Storyboard page 1

Music

We edited various different sound clips together using Soundtrack Pro which was a really useful application. Once we created the music, we edited it on to our sequence timeline. We have let the music dictate the style of editing e.g. when the music is slow and building tension, the pace of editing will also be slow to match the tension. When the music builds pace, momentum and volume before reaching to a climax, the editing will be fast paced, this will be done by using lots of small shots juxtaposed together. The music plays an important part of setting the mood and the atmosphere of the title sequence which is what I am focusing on, the narrative is still important but not as important as the feel and tense atmosphere as its only a title sequence and not a film. It is crucial that the music build to a crescendo, if it stays tense, fast paced and loud all the way through the sequence it will sound very monotonous and boring. It will lose the ability to create an atmosphere or excite the audience. That is why I have edited the music to build slowly, varying in pitch and pace as well. 

Shot list

Media studies opening sequence SHOT LIST

The shots that will be conveyed below may not necessarily be in the final cut.
The final cut may be changed drastically after the shot list was made.

Shot number	Action	Duration	Camera
1	Pictures from the kidnapper are shown.	4 seconds	close up and slow pan around the pictures
2	Another picture is shown, lightened by a Zippo.	1 second	close up
3	A final picture is shown from the kidnapper.	1 second	close up
4	The protagonist wakes up, confused at where he is.	5 seconds	medium close up
5	The protagonists eye is shown, which dissolves to his last memory.	4 seconds	extreme close up
6	The protagonist is sitting on a park bench	3 seconds	pan of the park, establishing shot also.
7	The protagonist is shown, reading a magazine.	3 seconds	medium shot
8	The protagonist is shown from a different angle.	1 second	medium close up
9	The protagonist is shown from a third and closer angle.	1 second	close up
10	The protagonists phone starts to ring, he picks it up.	6 seconds	point of view shot.
11	A different angle of the protagonists’ phone ringing.	3 seconds	close up and slow pan around the pictures
12	The protagonist answers the phone and says “hello”.	4 seconds	extreme close up
13	the kidnapper is portraying stalking the protagonist.	3 seconds	over the shoulder shot.
14	The kidnappers mouth is conveyed, although he does not speak.	3 seconds	extreme close up and low angle
15	The protagonist gets up and walks towards the park exit.	5 seconds	medium shot
16	The kidnapper follows the protagonist as he walks towards the exit.	14 seconds	extreme long shot and point of view shot
17	As the protagonist walks out of the park into an alley, the kidnapper runs after him.	4 seconds	point of view shot.
18	the protagonist collapses after being hit by the kidnapper.	3 seconds	Point of view shot.
19	cuts back to the protagonist in a room, after realising what happened too him.	3 seconds	close up.
20	The kidnapper is in the room, flicking a Zippo.	3 seconds	close up and slow pan around the pictures
21	The protagonist looks around, scared.	4 seconds	medium shot
22	The kidnapper walks towards the protagonists table.	4 seconds	high angle of the kidnappers feet walking.
23	The kidnapper turns a lamp on and forces it shine on the protagonists’ face.	5 seconds	medium shot
24	The kidnapper walks around the table and sits on it.	5 seconds	medium shot
25	The kidnapper puts and flicks the Zippo right in front of the protagonists’ face. The opening then cuts to black and ends.	6 seconds	close up
26	Blank shot at the end with titles of names and the film name	8 seconds	x

A reminder that this shot list may not be the final cut, although most of it will be the same.
Duration: 1:46.

Pitch (conclusion)

We will try not to be too typical of the genre as they may cause for boredom in the film opening. We will also try to diverse the use of mise-en scene, camera work, editing and sound to boost the quality of the film and make it more entertaining.

Thank you for listening to our pitch.

Pitch 8 (sound)

We will produce a soundtrack to the movie using he software "Soundtrack Pro". The soundtrack will fit in with the film due to it being rather eerie and mysterious. We will also add the soundtrack to fit different parts of the film opening, depending on the tone at the time. We will also add diegetic sound effects which will correspond with the different actions that are taking place in the film opening.

Pitch 7 (camera)

We used a variety of camera shots and angles in the opening of our film. We used a pan to help establish the park of where the protagonist is kidnapped. We also used many close ups and a few extreme close ups to show facial expressions. We took the 180 degree rule into consideration while we were shooting, to make the balance of the shots work for the audience. Finally we added high, low and level angles to make the characters seem both vulnerable and dominant depending on their positions at the time.

Pitch 6 (editing)

The editing in our film is often fast paced. Reasoning for the fast paced editing is that as we are doing a thriller film and often the scenes are rather tense the fast paced editing will engage audiences into the scene more. At times the editing is fairly slow, for example when the protagonist is first at the park due to the audience not knowing that he is being stalked upon yet.

Pitch 5 (locations)

We used two locations to film our footage. We chose a local park where the protagonist gets kidnapped which is appropriate as it is quite a lonely and mischievous place to be. We also shot footage in a dark room where the confrontation takes place. The room that we chose was a good choice as it is rather dark and claustrophobia like due to the spacing.

Pitch 4 (props)

Props that we included for our film include:
A zippo for the lighting and which the kidnapper uses.
A lamp also for lighting.
A magazine which the protagonist reads before being kidnapped.
Mobile phones which both the protagonist and the kidnapper use.
Photos which the kidnapper uses in the film opening.

Pitch 3 (costume)

The costume of the protagonist that we chose was casual clothes which include Jeans and a jacket. We thought that by giving the protagonist casual clothes that we could give out a greater sense of realism. In regards to the kidnapper, he wore black which is a convention of a villain as typically villains wear black in movies.

Pitch 2 (lighting)

The lighting from the scene at the park will all be natural. The reasoning behind this is that the footage was shot will the sun was going down so that a dark, spooky atmosphere could be made from the clip. A lamp is used in the scene where the person kidnapped is being held for effect and to build suspense. Also a zippo is used for the lighting when the pictures of the park are conveyed to again build for a frightening atmosphere.

Pitch 1 (idea)

The synopsis of the opening of our film revolves the kidnapping of someone at a park. The main protagonist will wake up in a place that is unfamiliar to him and will not know where he is. The protagonist will then have a flashback of the last place that he remembered where he was. The park will be included in this scene and the tension will be built right up to the moment of when the protagonist gets kidnapped. Although the face of the kidnapper from the opening will not be conveyed, he will eventually confront the protagonist in a rather frightening circumstance.

Pitch (intro)

As a grouped we pitched our final idea to the class in separate slides. Each of the slides covered different aspects in relation to the final opening of the film. The different aspects will include the media techniques that we inputted into our film which include camera work, editing, sound and different areas of mise-en scene.

Risk assessment

A list of risks that we en-counted while filming:

• The zippo that we used could burn peoples hands.
• The lamp could also burn peoples hands.
• The pins that we used were quite sharp and people could have cut themselves using them.
• One of the times while filming at Sherrington it was very muddy, so we could have slipped over especially on the hill.
• While the actor was falling on the floor for one of the point of view shots, it could have been hazardous as something which would have hurt them may have been on the ground.

Lesson time

in the lessons we have been analysing thriller title sequences such as Memento and Seven. We have been gathering ideas and information and our film thus producing it, which is the stage that we are at now. We are currently editing our film opening and are going to add a soundtrack to it. I have used Final Cut to trim, cut and put the videos together.

Target audience

The target audience of the film is around 15 year olds plus. Mainly through the questionnaire feedback it is discovered that the film may appeal more to men than it will to females, but females will enjoy it too.

Thriller questionnaire feedback

What gender are you?

A.     Male 15

B.     Female 15

What type of film do you like the most?

A.     Action 3

B.     Comedy 4

C.     Horror 10

D.    Thriller 7

E.     Western 1

F.     Gangster 2

G.     Animation 1

H.    Adventure 2

Which of these Thriller films are your favourite? As it gives an insight into what type of Thriller you like the most.

A.     Seven 11

B.     The Silence Of The Lambs 12

C.     Memento 2

D.    Fight Club

E.     The Bourne Identity

F.     Taken 4

G.     If none of the above, place state a favourite.1-Edge Of Darkness

What attracts you into watching a Thriller film?

A.     The actors 10

B.     A good antagonist 2

C.     The setting

D.    An engaging storyline 16

E.     The director or producer 2

How often would you watch a Thriller film on average?

A.     Once a week 1

B.     Once a month 22

C.     Once a year 

D.    Never

E.     If other please state - Once ever few months 7

What is your favourite Thriller setting?

A.     The city 16

B.     A forest 4

C.     A house (home) 10

D.    If other please state 

Props

Props that we included in our final cut and the reasoning for them were:

• A Zippo for effect on the lighting of some pictures.
• A magazine which the person who is kidnaps begins to read at the park.
• A phone for both the kidnapper and the person who is being kidnapped, so that the kidnapper can get in touch with him.
• Pictures of the area which the protagonist is kidnapped in, which were edited into black and white for effect.
• A lamp which was included in the scene involving a confrontation between the kidnapper and the person kidnapped, which added effect due to the darkness of the room, and leaves focus on one individual character.

Filming 5

We filmed at Sixth Form for the final time in a different room to before. We chose a different room in the centre due to the lighting and the space being more suitable for the opening of a thriller. We could still include shots from our previous time of filming due to certain close up shots being suitable, although a different room was the setting.

Filming 4

We re-filmed at Sherrington Park. Although the lighting was completely different this time around we could still use some shots from our previous bunch to add in, these included extreme close ups which we could eventually edit. We made some shots better such as a point of view shot that we had which was awful first time around due to shaking of the camera. We also got some better shots of the park and some better pans which we will eventually include in the final cut.

Filming 3 (cutting)

We realised after we uploaded our footage that a lot more footage needed to be shot. We also realised that a lot of the shots that we had were not good enough due to the lighting and continuity problems that we had. We took lighting and clothing into consideration, and began re-filming in both the Park and a different darker room in the Sixth Form.

Filming 2

We then filmed at Sixth Form. We planned to film the second half of the opening in a fairly confined, dark room. We spent an entire morning period shortly after the Christmas break filming the scenes to get it complete. We used a suit for the kidnapper and made it black to portray him as an antagonist. We did have a few problems with the lighting, as the room that we filmed in was constantly bright and not dark what so ever.

Filming

The first time we filmed at a local park was over the Christmas holiday. We took out a camera from Sixth Form and spent an afternoon at the park. The shots included the main character being stalked while reading the magazine and eventually being taken from the park. We used lots of different pans, close ups and establishing shots while filming at the park (Sherrington).

final idea

Finally we came up with the idea of the opening to our Thriller film. We are going to have someone who is kidnapped, who wakes up not knowing where he is. After that will we use effects to show that he is thinking in his head what he can remember last happened too him. His thoughts will take him to a park where he was reading a magazine. he was stalked and eventually taken which brought him to where he is now. we will end the film with the kidnapper confronting him, although without his face being viewed, with a Zippo.

Casino Royale opening

The inspiration that gave us our original idea that we had for our Thriller film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNvzNWuzI9Y

ideas for own film

originally as a group we came up with a wide range of ideas. We were unsure what kind of thriller film we could do. We wanted to be different, rather than having the usual chase scene that a lot of people do. We set up a mind map of different ideas that we came up with, some we exploited a lot more than others.

We came up with the idea of a confrontation, like the beginning of the film "Casino Royale", which we also would have shot in black and white.

mood board