Draft Thriller

This thriller was created by myself, Rachel Aylott and Samantha Milne. After a viewing from classmates and my teacher we were told that we needed to put a soundtrack to our opening sequence and that more effects and titles were needed as well as the use of a studio and production company title. However the and i feel that we are not working effectively together, so i have decided to leave this group and start and new project myself and adapt my blog to fit my new film. I have realized that my blog needs a lot of improvement so will be putting in extra time and effort to ensuring that it meets the standards i need in hope to achieve a high grade. I think that this course has taught me that i need to keep on top of my coursework and not fall behind as now i have lost marks for deadlines and so need to make them up in the quality of my work from now on and any improvements that i make.However the feedback that i received on this opening sequence will be put into place in my new thriller opening sequence and hopefully i can use that to ensure that my film is to the best of my ability.

Actors and Characters

Characters and Actors

Character 1

Name: Character 1

Played by: Chris Gray

Role: Character killed off at start of the film shocking the audience as he is setup as though he will be the main character in the film. Possibilities for if the film is continued could reveal that he is and then it leads up to how and why he is killed or following on after his death the reasoning for it. The character is introduced at the very start of the film and is presented to the audience as having a very important role to play.

Character 2

Name: Character 2

Played by: James Verran

Role: Has a suggestive role at the end of the clip which shows him entering the victims house holding his work bag with the victims inside it. The Conventions used in the clip will make it out as though this character has killed character 1 this is done by mise en scene in the victims house and holding his bag, lighting darker lighting and luma curve suggesting that this character is in some way evil, and camera, the camera is at a low angle to the character suggesting dominance.

Actors

For my characters I stuck to friends that I knew and could get in easy contact with and organise to film with reliably, I also chose them based on previous acting experience and I feel

confident in their acting abilities.

Character 1 – Played by Chris Gray, I chose Chris for this role as the character is a mature businessman and so to play the rolecorrectly required and mature look and ability to play out a serious role without laughing or smiling.

Character 2 –

This was played by James Verran this role was very minimal and only required a couple of seconds of film

time. James offered to play this role enthusiastically and

maintained good facial expression during the filming.

He was reliable and did a good job of laying this role.

Filming Schedule

Filming Schedule

For my second media thriller I filmed between Saturday 26th and an overflow day on Sunday 27th March. In these two days I planned to get all of my filming done to edit for the following week. Saturday 26th March would be the main filming day and then I will use Sunday as an overflow day for any work that for any reason get done on Saturday. I believe that this is very much achievable as I only have to film in my house this means that I am not having to travel very far to film and then save the files to my computer. The two actors that I plan on using live locally and I am in regular contact with them this will insure that they are reliable on the day. I have already organised timings for when they come round for filming and so far everything is arranged for the day that I have assigned if circumstances force one or both of my actors to be unable to attend on Saturday then I would look into filming on the Sunday or if not find actors readily available in the date.

Set

All filming will be done inside my home and should only take roughly 2 hours at most to film depending on the number of takes. All my actors live within 20 minutes from my home so should be readily available to film, they are both friends of mine and so are willing to be flexible as to timings as well as being in constant contact with me, this communication would become essential if one were to drop out last minute and I had to rearrange. I have taken some location shots displayed below of where filming will take place.

Sin City Opening Sequence Analysis

Sin city is an example of a new age thriller with an aged look, the film is very good at enveloping the audience in the life of crime and sin, hence the title. At the very start of the clip it is a black screen the audience can hear the distant sound of police or ambulance sirens.This shows that straight away the director is trying to surround the audience in a world of crime and corruption. The camera fades up from black to reveal and young blonde woman walking away from camera towards a balcony railing,the camera is at a high angle suggesting that she could be some form of victim or insignificant. The sound of the sirens continues in the background accompanied by the high pitched brassy sound of a jazz trumpet. From looking at the mise en scene we can see that the movie appears to be dated around the mid 1950's, the majority of the film is black and white however the red long evening dress worn by the blonde woman in shot has been highlighted so that it stands out in contrast to the black and white. The color red represents lust and blood, giving a sinister appearance to this female character "the lady in red". A few seconds after the woman reaches the balcony we hear a voice over, the commentator is male he appears to be complimenting this women through the use of poetic wording use metaphors and similes. However " She shivers in the wind like the last leaf on a dying tree" this technical use of poetic language appears to be very sinister. It implies death, loneliness and weakness / vulnerability. As this point the audience haven;t yet established who each character is so at this point the clip is very unpredictable and exciting. The camera angle then changes and we get a mid shot over the shoulder of the woman, we see a man approaching her, he is dressed in formal wear and is suited to the time frame of the rest of the film. At this point me find out through the use of camera that this man is the narrator, he explains how he lets her hear his footsteps as he approaches, this is very intimidating he wants her to know he is there even though she probably already knows that, this creates a dominance of his character over her she appears very weak cold and vulnerable whilst he is cool calm and confident.

Dexter Opening Sequence Analysis

The Thriller Genre

Questionaire 1.) What sub-genre of thriller would you typically watch? A - Crime B- Horror C- Medical D- Psychological 2.) What gender are you? A- male B- Female 3.) How old are you? A- 15-20 B- 21-25 C- 25+ 4.) What emotion do you want to feel most when watching a thriller? A- Excited B- Scared C- Confused D- Hopeful Results Question 1: A= 7 B= 5 C= 3 D= 10 Question 2: A= 18 B= 7 Question 3: A= 19 B= 3 C= 3 Question 4: A= 10 B= 6 C= 5 D=4 Story Board These two images show my final storyboard that i will be basing my filming on. Each box shows a clear idea on the camera angle and shot that each scene will use. There are going to be more shots than just these 6. These are the key shots that most of the scene will be based around any other shots will mainly be used for simple continuity. Obviously this may change on the day of filming depending on the circumstances and wether it looks right on film or not during the diting stage in which case i will re film it.

The Story My story idea for my thriller opening sequence follows a middle aged man as he prepares to go for work. The idea is to create a feeling of normality. During the morning routine I intened to have a thriller based soundtrack this is to ensure that it keeps of feeling of thriller. The emphasis in this morning routine will be the man putting a gun in his briefcase to take to work with him. I will emphasis this using camera shots showing him getting the gun out of his sock draw placing it in his bag whilst still showing the rest of his morning routine. Once the man leaves his house i will fade to black. The next shot will be of the front door of the house he has just left, however returning will not be the first character but the introduction of a second character. This man will be holding the bag of the man who has just left with the gun hanging out of the side pocket. The cmaera will be at an extremley low angle and the lighting will be more shadfowed to make this man seem menacing. At this point it will fade to black and the clip will end, this leaves the story open eneded, the question on the audience's mind will be what has happened to the first character has he been killed, has he been kidnapped, who else is in the house, and why is this man returning to the first man's home. Research Thriller is an amazing genre of film and television, it is heartpounding and shocking leaving the audience on the edge of their seats. Thriller is a large genre and is made up from various sub genres, these include; physcological thriller, crime thriller, political thriller, action thriller, supernatural thriller and medical thriller. All of the sub genres of thriller have their own typical situations/ story lines. Typical stories of crime thrillers would be, ransoms, kidnappings, murders, revenge crimes and heists. The thriller genre is often described as being a sub genre to the horror genre, both of which use suspense and atmosphere to cause feelings of dread in their audiences. Alfred Hitchcock was a extremley famous thriller director from the 50's examples of his best known thrillers include; vertigo, psycho and the torn curtain. A genuine, standalone thriller is a film that provide thrills and keeps the audience cliff-hanging at the "edge of their seats" as the plot builds towards a climax. The tension usually arises when the character(s) is placed in a menacing situation, a mystery, or a trap from which escaping seems impossible. Life is threatened, usually because the principal character is unsuspectingly or unknowingly involved in a dangerous or potentially deadly situation. hrillers mostly take place in ordinary suburbs/cities. Though sometimes, they may take place wholly or partly in exotic settings such as foreign cities, deserts, polar regions, or the high seas. The heroes in most thrillers are frequently ordinary citizens unaccustomed to danger. However, more common in crime thrillers, they may also be "hard men" accustomed to danger, like police officers. Traditionally it has been men who have lead as characters, recently there has been increased amounts of female lead characters. Thrillers often overlap with mystery stories but are distinguished by the structure of their plots. In a thriller, the hero must thwart the plans of an enemy rather than uncover a crime that has already happened. While a murder mystery would be spoiled by a premature disclosure of the murderer's identity, in a thriller the identity of a murderer or other villain is typically known all along. This keeps the audience engrossed in the film due to anticipation, the film or tv show will have them guessing the end of the story before it has happened interating and engaging with them. In crime thrillers the crimes that must be prevented are serial or mass murder, terrorism, assassination, or the overthrow of governments. Jeopardy and violent confrontations are standard plot elements. While a mystery thriller climaxes when the mystery is solved, a thriller climaxes when the hero finally defeats the villan. More recent thrillers have begun incorpirating more elements of the horror genre, often they will invlove blood, gore and torture. These new types of thriller shock the audience by presenting them with grotesk imagery and sound. As thrillers advance directors are becoming more creative in ways of shocking audiecnes making the storylines of their films sicker and more disturbed than before. Obviously this is considered as a sub genre of the classic thriller but is coomon in the modern age.

Assesment of Task

The video didnt go 100% to plan there are two parts in which the camera freezes on a frame i thought that once it had exported that it would be ok. So the video has been restricted to one camera angle however the image is very dark anyway so we wanted to concerntrate on the audio ands getting the atmosphere right. I wanted the video to feel like the individual was trapped and confined in a small area and we think we have done this well and will learn from these mistakes ready for our thriller video.