Costume

The clothing that will be worn in our opening of the thriller film, will have to be the correct costume so that the audience knows what is happening. In the location of the Lab, the actor will wear a white lab coat with a white mask. During the news report, the actor will wear a smart suit, whilest reading out the news of the scientific expriments in the army. Charlie would wear casual clothing, like every day clothes, as he is at home, just watching the news with a cup of tea. During the opening of the thriller, there will be a close up of the army uniform, so that the audience will also realate to the army theme.

These are just a varity of clothing that the actor could wear during the filming of the opening thriller.

Location

During the opening scense of our thriller film, we have decided in our group that we are not going to have many locations as any more than 2 scenes would be too much for the first 2 minutes. The main plot is with the main character being tested on during his time in the army. We thought that we should have a scientist lab to create the experiment side to the story line. We will ask to use our school lab for the filming, so after christmas when we begin to film, we will seek permission.

Another scene would be a living room, where the main character, Charlie, would be watching television on a news report. We should film this in one of our houses, so it is more realistic. Once we have filmed it, we will edit the news report into the television.

These are the only two scenes that we should really have, as it would be too much in the first opening 2 minutes, however if we feel that there needs to be another little scene in a different location, when we begin filming, then we should add it in.

Props that we will use

Due to the fact that our thriller film is very heavily army based, we thought that there should be some army props so that it shows to the viewer what the thriller is based upon. The army props that I thought we should use is army medals and a picture of either marching or someone that fought in the army.

At the begining of the thriller, it is going to be filmed in a lab, so the props that we will use so that the audience can see where it is based would be test tubes with different coloured liquids and pipettes. We will ask our school science lab to borrow their equipment and use food colouring to create the coloured liquids.

We would also use a television to show the news report, explaining the scientific experiments.  

Ways to create suspence - Alfred Hitchcock

I was looking at different ways to create suspense so that I could include them in my opening to a thriller film. I need to create tension in a short time, with leaving the opening catchy so that the audience will want to watch the rest of the film and not giving too much away in the opening scene. I looked at 'The master of suspense' Alfred Hitchcock's productions of his films.

Alfred Hitchcock used suspsense over surprise in the making of his films, as he beleived that it created a new audience (during the time that he produced his films). He made his films with the use of showing or telling the audience things in which the characters are not aware of yet. This automatically builds tension as the viewers are then unaware of how the character is going to react when they finally know the truth.

Hitchcock uses repetitive props or methods in his films to create a connection to all of his work. For example, the uses of trains are in a couple of his films like 'The 39 Steps' and 'North by NorthWest'. Or the repetition of the main woman character being blonde. In one case, he made the main character die her hair so that she could be blonde.

With all the repetitions and the different ways of building suspense, he has earned his name of 'The master or suspense.' I think that, if it would be possible, to create as many as the techniques that Hitchcock has. This would make the opening to the thriller more intresting and grasping as it holds onto the audience.

Blog Feedback Sheet

We were all given a progress sheet by our teacher to help us improve our blogs. It was set out as a table for our blog with different things that we had to improve and underneath the table, there was feed back for the preliminary task.

Research into similar products          -      Good but demostrate through screenshots
and a potential target audience

Organisation of actors, locations,      -     Show me this in action
costumes and props

Work on shotlists, layouts,               -     More individual posts on this - Show your progress
drafting, scrifting or storyboarding   

Presintation of the research and       -     More screenshots, videos, diagrams and details
the planning              

Quality of posts                              -     Present the posts in a more intresting way

Quantity of posts                            -    Try to do more


My teacher commented on my preliminary task saying 'Good - Consider camera and editing'
From these comments, i will try and follow the recomendations of what was advised to help improve my blog and get a better grade for my work. I will try and make my blog different with the way how i present my posts.

Research Methods and Target Audience

Research Methods:

` Online Research
` Questionaire
` Hand Outs
` Primary Research
` Secondary Research

Target Audience:

` Gender
` Age
` Class
` Religion
` Hobbies
` Lifestyle
` Box Office Figures
` You Tube Hits
` Titles of Thrillers

Progress Report 1

Before the Christmas Holidays, I didn't publish many posts and fell quite behind, however i feel that from this time, that i will make more relevant posts that will contribute to my overall blog. However, i feel that my posts have been detailed with what has been set. I will produce more posts from now on to make my blog more intresting and detailed.

Locations

There are three different locations that we will need to film in. Firstly for the scientific, experiment locations, we will need to use a science room at Newport Free Grammar School. We will need to ask for permission to film in the area and to use the science room. When we start school after the Christmas holiday, I will need to ask for permission.

The other location will be one of our houses, this will be where our main character 'Charlie' will be living, it will need to have a television and look as if our character is generally living there.

Our final location will be where we film the news report, this can be anywhere, all we will need to do, is set up a table and a background. So, ideally, for ease of use, it could be situated at Newport Free Grammar School as we will all easily manage to get there.

Evaluation of Preliminary Task

With our preliminary task, I thought that we did really well overall. None of us had previous experience with the cameras or acting, so it was the first time for all of us. We managed to fill the cirteria of the prelimiary task with it being approximatly 20 seconds, in which we took over 20 individual takes of the different angles. If I was to do this task again, I would try and act better for the position thatIi had been given. Also another thing that we could have improved is the location of the filming, however this is not really that important. Overall, I think that my group did very well with the lack of experience we all had.

Thriller Themes

I was thinking about the themes that are constant in many of the thriller films and I came up with this list:

` Crime
` Investigation
` Mystery
` Murder
` Life and Death
` Psychological
` Super Natural

When my group and I makes our opeing to a thriller film, i would like to try and make it not cliche but at the same time, bring in many of the themes as possible to attract more viewers.

2 Minute Opening Credits of 'Bullitt'

Bullitt Opening Credits

0:12 Warner Bros - Seven Arts
0:16 Presents
0:26 Steve McQueen
0:34 In Bullitt - A Solar Production
0:44 Robert Vaughn
0:52 Jacqueline Bisset
0:59 Don Gordon
        Robert Duvall
        Simon Oakland
        Norman Fell
1:09 Featuring
1:10 - 1:17 (actors names)
1:27 Director of Photography
1:37 'Mr John Ross' 'Mr peter Ross' written on the door
1:43 Art Director - Albert Brenner
        Film Editor - Frank P. Keller, A.C.E
        Production Mangager - Jack N. Reddish
1:52 Titles by Pablo Ferro, Films
2:00 Costume Desginer - Theadora Van Runkle

Production Company Ideas

Unfortunately, I wasn't there for the lesson that my group produced the logo as I was on an educational school trip, however, I like the final result as it suits our group name best. I spoke to my group with how they have come up with the name and logo for our production, and they decided that the name of the company should not have any refrence to the films that we make. It would also cover a varity of films, capturing a wider audience. The overall image with the light shining down onto a dark sky with the words 'hyperion productions' written in red suits the company best. Hyperion was the god of light, so the name of the production company and the logo works well together, creating a connection. My group didn't intentially make this connection, however, i feel that it works best. I like the overall logo that my company made, it shows the quality of the company with the films that we make. I was just unfortunate not to be there in the lesson that day, however i am glad i caught up with the missed work.

'A Postcode' which was notes given to us, so we could refer back to them

A Postcode

Audience

Production
Ownership
Syngergy
Technology
Convergence
Online
Distrubtion
Exhibtion

These are the notes given to us, so that it would be easier for us to learn, so we could use it in our exam.

Costume

There are various different costumes we will need for our opening scene. Firstly, we will need white lab coats to keep the look of experimentation and science going during our opening scene.

It would also be good if we got a lab mask as this would make the experiment scene look for authentic to the audience.

Another costume we will need is the army clothing. We will need this to make the audience know that a strong theme in our film is the army.

Another costume we will need is the civilian clothing that our main character, 'Charlie' will be wearing, this could either be relaxed or be clothes that are smarter.

Props

We have in our opening scene, a scientific and army theme. Therefore props could be for the scientific bits, test tubes with liquid in (could be water with food colouring), pipettes etc. We would need these to keep the theme of science and experiments strong in our opening scene. This would make the audience question if an experiment on our main character has taken place.

 For the army scenes, we will need army medals (to keep up the army theme of our opening scene), a real-looking gun(to make the army troops in our scene look authentic).

More ideas for film opening

This is a version of the opening sequence of 'Dexter'. It uses ambiguous devices that lead to the audience believing that certain innocent things are sinister. We need to look at doing similar things like this in our opening scene as we are doing a 'Jekyll and Hyde' type film that needs to make the audience unsure on the innocence of actions. Ambiguity is needed to keep this kind of feel up, throughout the opening scene.

New Ideas for film

We showed our teacher our first draft of the storyboard that we made. She gave us some ideas on how to adapt what we did into a better film opening.  Here are some of the possible changes she gave us:-

Main character - Charlie. Dismissed from army - what did he do? (This could be revealed throughout the film)

Killer - Mysterious, unknown identity. (Found out by Charlie later on in film)

http://www.rense.com/general36/history.htm

• Make the killer a smart, well spoken, educated person.
• Don't include a murder in the opening scene
• Keep the characters/killer unexpected
• Make the main character a mixture between good and bad, not a clear-cut good guy. e.g. Jekyll and Hyde.
• News report on US army experiments
• Charlie is experimented on, he turns out to be the murderer (not intentionally).
• Subtle hint in the first 2 mins that tells us that something is not right with Charlie.
• Set in 1960s? 60s music in background to set scene? Result of 60s experiment 

Storyboard of Main Task Version1

Film Pitch, new ideas and Name

{Film Name} offers an exciting thrill ride that involves a violent, murderous psychopath being brought to justice by a Army officer that is out for revenge.


Film name ideas -

• Unfortunate Incidents
• Vengeance for blood

Michael has left!

Due to the reforming of the group Michael used to be in, the group members have changed back to myself, Ben and Amelia.

Research and Planning and Preliminary Task Feedback

My Media teacher has analysed our group's blog posts for the preliminary task and has individually given us some feedback on what can be improved (all the work was marked as proficient):

Research into similar products and a potential target audience

To improve, I should add more detail about cameras and that I needed to have more edits and screenshots.

Organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props

I could add more details and put things in some sort of an order than before.

Work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding

Again I should add more details, but through photos and diagrams.

Presentation of the research and planning

I should include more images, diagrams and videos in your posts

Time Management

This was done well and she advised us to continue in the same way with this particular area

Quality of Posts

I need to present myself with more interest

Quantity of Posts

Good, but I need to use a lot more detail!

Overall, as a group I think we did well in the preliminary task, however as we had less members than we do now in our group at the time, we will be able to have more ideas and planning in the areas that I may not have covered.

Presentation of our film idea

Next lesson we are presenting our film idea in front of a video camera and we need to have a good presentation, so here are some ideas of what we will say:

1. The synopsis of the film

2. Who the main character(s) are

3. Some possible ideas of what may happen in the film

4. Location(s)

5. Camera shots

6. Editing

7. Credits

Jelly Babies Narrative Work

In class today, we were asked to create a typical thriller narrative, in which we were given jelly babies to do so. In our first shot we created a scene of the inside of a room in a house in which there was a black figure in the far window. We then went on to create different scenes by a mountain.
From all of this we learnt a lot about narrative which will help us in making our actual opening to our thriller.

Primary Task !

We had a group discussion in our media lesson over what we should do on our main task. We all, after some deliberation, decided to come up with this brainstorm:-

New member of our group

As one of the other media groups split up due to one of their members leaving, we now have a new member that will now contribute to our group.

Evaluation of the Preliminary task

Overall, I believe our group did quite well on the preliminary task. We are all inexperienced at camera work, editing and acting. Therefore it has been good learning and practising all these things. To critise ourselves on this task, I would have to say, that I am not very good at being a cameraman. This is because, in some of the parts of the preliminary task, the camera was shaky, where I didn't use a camera tripod, which is vital.

Another criticism is that there is a very short part of our preliminary task where the screen goes black for a split-second. This is because we are not very good at editing and made a minor mistake, yet it has been very good to learn these things as we have all improved because of learning from making  mistakes in this task. I believe next time I do these things, I will be much better and my work will show that.

Evaluation of Preliminary Task work

First of all, as shown in other posts, we filmed our preliminary task which was around 30 seconds long. Then, we had to edit the clips as we had about 20 individual takes in total of all the different scenes and camera angles, some of these being outtakes as well! When we edited it, obviously we needed to decide which clip would be the best for each angle. As this was only the preliminary task, it was very basic but what we could improve for the next filming task is:

1. We could make the planning a bit more detailed
2. I could attempt to act better if I make an appearance in the next one!
3. Maybe use a different location

The Da Vinci Code Analysis

Camera:
Near the begining of the clip there is a high angle which was taken from the roof to show the audience the setting of where the action is taking place. It shows the large, empty halls that are darkly lit. The camera then changes to a low angle with the man who is holding the gun. The choice for a low angle is to make the criminal appear more superior and gain power. The camera then tilts over the famour painting of 'Mona Lisa' - this is to show that the setting is based in a famous art gallery which is suposed to have high security, however there is a criminal with a gun in the building chasing an innocent looking man. The camera then zooms into a close up shot, to show the viewers the weapon that could potentially cause danger. Once the scene changes to the confrence, the camera is at a high angle which then tilts and zooms in on the main speaker (Tom Hanks). Again, like at the begining of the clip this is to show the viewer what the scene is set in.
What i can take from this clip is the different uses of the camera angles to create effect and suspence for the viewers.

Editing:

To add empathis on the film, there is a match cut from the inncent looking man laying on the floor to the man that is pale dressed in black, holding a gun. The shot with the man laying on the floor at a high angle, shows to the viwer that he is vulnerable. With the criminal standing tall with a gun in his hand, shows that he has power and is not scared to be holding such a powerful weapon. The cuts are also very fast with how they change from one character to the next, this implies to the viewer that there is a lot action and tension that is going on at this moment of time. I liked the way the fast editing built tension as it felt like there was a lot of action at that time.

Sound:
At the begining of the clip, there is non-digetic music with a slow and tense rhymn to build suspence. Before you even see any actors, you can hear a digetic sound of footsteps that is then followed by a shadow of the innocent man. Due to the fact that you can hear the footsteps of the man before you see him appear, creates tension as a viewer, you are not sure where the footsteps are coming from. The dialogue also creates supsence with what is said, mostly by the man that is holding the gun. 'Is is a secret you wish to die for' such a simple piece of dialogue that is said adds great effect to the viewers. What i got from the sound out of this clip is the choice of words that should be used to create an instant impact on the viewer.

Mese en scene:
The setting is darkly lit to create a fear of the unknown as you can't see what is about to happen or who is about to appear, creating more of a thriller theme. The characters and the costumes that they are wearing sets the scene well with what is about to happen. The old man is wearing a smart suit with smartly polished shoes, his hair colour also is very important to create more of a vulnerable appreance. What i got from this clip is the costumens and lighting are very importing when creating a thriller.

CEMS of One Hour Photo (2002)

Camera

A camera taking a photo is shown at the beginning of the film and before the photo is taken there is a close-up of it but after the photo is taken there is an extreme close-up. This may suggest that the camera plays a dominant role in the film.

Editing

When Robin Williams' character is talking about a (or his) family life, he says that "people looking at their photos would think they led a happy life" and that "people don't take pictures of the things they want to forget". The way that he says the word "think" depicts that they didn't have a happy life.

Sound

The sound builds up suspense as we see a camera and the music calms down when we see Robin Williams' character who is having his photograph taken. This suspense building, which is typical of thriller films, makes the viewer intrigued to what will happen next.

Mise en Scène

As we only watched the first 5 minutes of this film, it is not necessarily easy to tell what the main base for this film is, however I believe the most obvious one is their family house. The interior and exterior of the house is light and this optimistic style makes us ask "how will this be a thriller film?", and we know something bad will happen because of what Robin Williams' character said about the family not living a happy life. This, in my opinion, is a brilliant way of keeping the viewer watching.

CEMS of the Da Vinci Code (2006)

Camera

The cameras show a man running and we can tell by the close-up on his face that he is scared. When the camera cuts from his face to various pictures on the wall, it is like they are looking at him. This keeps the viewer excited and they unconciously realise that something bad will happen.

Editing

The action is slightly fast paced, but not very and it edits between the man and the pictures (as mentioned before, seemingly looking at the man). Also, we are aware of a person behind the man as we see a shadow. The effect of all this keeps the viewer watching and makes them feel excited.

Sound

The music to the opening is dramatic which helps to convey the mood shown in the opening scene.

Mise en Scène

The beginning setting is a museum of some sort and the lighting is dark - again, to contribute with the dark mood the film wishes to convey to the viewer and the dark atmosphere connects with suspense.

Preliminary Task

Ways to create Suspense

I have been looking at the ways Alfred Hitchcock created suspense, as he was known as the 'Master of Suspense'.

Hitchcock created suspense in a variety of ways. For example, in some of his films, he showed the viewer what danger there was at the beginning of the scene, and then, making sure the character does not see the danger, lets the scene play out as normal. Creating suspense for the viewer as they know about the incoming danger and the character does not. I believe we should do this in the our opening scene of a Thriller as this seems a very effective technique to create suspense. An example of this is in this clip:-