Opening sceneration - Miss Miller

In this post I will be discussing each frame from my group storyboard that I have used as a guildeline to produce my thriller opening.

The first frame shows a young girl who is blonde, we used this type of character because it is conventional to the thriller genre and this character look vulnerable towards the audience, so the audience will be sumpathetic towards this character. The young blonde girl in this frame is walking down a deserted quiet street, in this frame a long shot will be taken to show the characters surroundings and only in screen sound will be used. 

In the next frame the camera will show a mid shot of this character to show that she's the most important character. Things such as shadows and quick off screen sounds will be included in this frame.

In the next frame the girl will start to hear voices, hear she will remove headphones to make sure she is hearing correctly. But the audience will hear contrapuntal sound, happy music playing from her headphones and scary sound effects from the girls surroundings. This will create enigma and tension for the audience as they don't know what's going to happen next. This frame will use a close up to show the characters emotions more clearly to see her reaction to the sounds.

In the next frame there will be another long shot, this shot will be using the pan movement to follow the girl walking towards the forest. During this frame the girls headphones will be removed and the voices (sound effects)will not be heard. This will create suspense, and will then be easier to make the audience jump later on whilst watching our thriller.

In this frame close ups of red signs like 'warning' and 'don't enter' will also be taken. To give hints of the dangerous place this girl is entering, with her being completely oblivious to all the red flags. These signs allow the audience to interact more with the film. Feeling empathetic that the character doesn't know what's going to happen to them.

In the next frame it will be a close up showing the back of the girls shoulder and head. Showing her surroundings again. The reason I want to show the surroundings is for the audience to get that eerie feel to the atmosphere as most thrillers do this. As it allows the audience to feel as if they are the ones walking through the forest. 

Panning will also be done hear to make it look like the girl is starting to feel abit paranoid and starts making a head swaying motion- looking either side of her; to ensure herself she's safe. At this point tense but quiet music will start playing. Along with sound effects such as bushes rustling, owl sounds. To show the audience that someone is out there.

In this frame the girl will be walking whilst the camera is on her side body profile panning her walking. During these frames shadows will be shown, paired with low-key lighting, to create tension.

In the next frame, there will be an over the shoulder shot. So you will see the girls face when walking with a man emerging from the background. Who's wearing all black and you can't see his identity. The costume of the antagonist is trying to portray his character, to show the audience that he's the villain. 

In the next frame it will go close up to the villains hands and villains shoes. This will keep the villains identity hidden, increasing tension for the audience. 

The next frame will show another over the shoulder shot of the girl with the man not there anymore. Right after, the girl will turn around instantly, but obviously the villain won't be there. 

In the next frame it will be close up to the girls face. She will again hear voices increasing with volume. Which tell her to look back then tell her to run. But also mock her. Once she looks back she sees the villain chasing her. 

Panning will be used for this whole frame. This frame will probably split into two due to timing of shots as different shots will be used to increase the pace. And also continuity editing may be used to link all the shots together smoothly. 

In the next frame, the girl will trip and the man go unconscious. Shots such as mid shots, close ups of her body will be used. Calm sound will be used here, this will play on the audiences moods making them anxious. 

The next frame, the screen will fade black quite quickly and show the girl tied up with duck tape on her lips. Standing in the centre of the forest. The camera will pan around her. 

In the next and last frame, a quick shot of the villain/creature that will be behind the girl with a knife near her neck. The girl will scream and the scene will end with that. Or end with a last frame showing a more gory, graphic scene ( this is only if we get the make-up artist) 

Those are all my frames in my opening. These frames were inspired by the thriller opening of the film 'evil dead' as the forest scene was very intense and made me inquisitive towards the scene. And created a sense of suspense and mystery for the audience and I. It was refreshing and exhilarating. 

Production Roles - Miss Miller

People need to be allocated specific roles so everyone knows what tasks they have to complete. We also need to allocate roles so we know if everything that needs to be carried out is being taken care of by somebody. Specific roles leave less room for production error, as everyone is doing something and no job task has been forgotten to complete.
 The main roles necessary for creating a film is costume/make-up role, producer, editor, actor, director of photography, graphic designer etc.

We decided what each person would be doing by analyzing each group members skills and applying them to the job roles. So it would be easier for each person to complete the tasks. I'm responsible for the graphics and costume/make up, I was assigned this role as I do graphic design in my spare time and know someone that can do the make up. Ellie was assigned as the actor as she's blonde and fits into the typical thriller convention. Ellie was also assigned the role of 'director of photography'. James was given the role of producer and editor because he knows how to use the editing software best. Within my role I have designed the movie logo and font. I have also contacted the make up artist to provide gory make-up on our actor. Ellie has been filming production and has also been practicing her acting role. James has been using the editing software more to get used to the tools it has; To make sure that when It comes to editing It will be completed quickly with less room for error.

In each role everyone completed there tasks to the best of there ability, however, the directing of the film could be better as we found it hard to make time for filming so we were quite hard. Also I kept forgetting to contact the make up artist so we didn't end up using a make-up artist. Instead I planned the costumes better to cover the removal of the make up artist.

Planning opening credits - Miss Georgiou

"In a motion picture, television program, or video game, the opening credits are shown at the very beginning and list the most important members of the production. They are now usually shown as text superimposed on a blank screen or static pictures, or sometimes on top of action in the show." - Wikipedia 

   

Opening credits are important as it introduces the film. It Informs the audience on what type of film they are going to be watching. By including different features in the opening credits, to change the audience's emotions, depending on the type of film genre it is.  

In this post I will be analysing opening credits in thriller films, as this will be a plan for my group and I to make our opening credits for our thriller opening. 

                                         

The film 'Se7en' has given me inspiration for my own thriller opening credits. There were a lot of good features used in these opening credits that created suspense, tension and enigma. 

Font

In this clip you can see that the font is shaky/jerky and hand written, it is also unclear to see after it flashes/blinks. As this film is a thriller, we the audience already know that there is a villain. So this font signifies to the audience that there is someone who is doing something involving writing which is quite unclear to see, maybe meaning it's hard to find the person doing the writing.

Colour

The background of the opening credits is black whilst the writing is white. This contrast between black and white, shows a comparison of good and evil. Which could either signify that the villain has split personalities or that there is a villain which is evil and a victim or hero involved that is good. 

Another main colour in this clip is red, there are some flashes of red. Which to me signify blood, pain and evil.

Conventions of a thriller

In the opening credits we see a lot of conventions of a typical thriller, firstly, we see that the identity of the character doing all these things is unknown. The characters identity is hidden, this creates enigma. The reason why it creates mystery is because the story the opening credits moving images is trying to make is unknown to the audience and slightly baffles our understanding. 

Another convention is lighting. The type of lighting used in this clip is low-key lighting, low key lighting also connects to the point about mystery. But low-key lighting also adds more suspense to the scene as the dark lighting also creates shadows, again not making the characters identity clear for the audience to see, also making the setting come across as scary. 

In the opening credits, different editing techniques are used. Such as fast cutting, wipe, jump cuts and dissolve film editing. Fast cutting is the editing technique were there a several consecutive shots that are then linked together very quickly, It can be used to show information quickly or can imply a lot of energy/chaos. Fast cutting was used throughout the opening credits, in se7en fast cutting added a lot of energy to the opening credits. However, It also informed the audience about what type of thriller it was going to be and showed us the theme that is going to be in the film se7en. Fast cutting is typical to the thriller genre.

 A jump cut is two sequential shots of the same subject that are taken from camera positions that only vary slightly. Jump cuts were also used in the opening credits. This is used to give a jumping in time effect, all this does is just add a sense of speed to the sequence of events. Then making the audience feel more excited by the opening credits, making them want to continue watching the film.

 Lastly for the editing, I noticed the use of a dissolve effect. The dissolve effect is the gradual transition from one image to another. This is used right at the beginning frame of the clip, to introduce the image the pictures dissolved/fade into one another to reveal the next shot. There was also the use of a wipe effect. The wipe type of editing is a type of film transition where one shoot replaces another by or travelling from one side of the frame to another with special shape. This wipe effect was very sudden and that created excitement/tension.

There were quite a lot of camera shots/angles used in these opening credits. To name a few that were used; High angle and eye level extreme and normal close ups. These close ups were used to really focus on that object/character, to emphasise the things the mysterious character was doing. For the audience I feel that these shots and extreme close ups, with a fast timing of the shots, really increased the pace of the scene. Giving the audience a high level of anticipation which is conventional in the thriller genre.

There were also quite a few images our eyes couldn't see, due to blurry images and really quick flashing images. I had to pause the film to see that these shots/images were there. This is conventional to the thriller genre as doing this adds adrenaline. Therefore, the audience wouldn't want to take there eyes off the film incase they miss anything, again this is creating excitement and enigma.

The last convention to analyse is the sound that was used, this sound is classed as 'suspense music' It created tension, it increased and slowed down in pace, changing the audiences emotions and moods. This also gave the audience an ultra-heightened expectation of the film.

     
 In my own thriller I have decided to use white font against a black background to symbolise good and evil. My title will also be white and bold with a image connecting to the story. This is to create mystery for the audience. The opening credits font will also be handwritten to make it again connect with the theme of the story. I will include similar conventions to se7en. 

      
The first convention I would like to use is mirrors, mirrors create suspense and can make a scene more dramatic. It also represents the reflection of someones soul. It can also represent a characters inner evil/darkness; This can make the audience feel uneasy. 

  Another convention would be low-key lighting, low-key lighting creates tension and enigma. Paired with shadows creates a very eerie atmosphere which again represents evil and darkness within a character (typically the villain)

  I will also use quick cuts, as I said about se7en quick editing increases pace and excitement for the audiences and can also play on there emotions. Quick editing will add adrenaline to my thriller opening. 

 
Tension music, tension music is as big as a part to the thriller to any other conventions. Tension music also creates mystery with the intense rhythm, terrifying the audience of what is to come in the thriller sequence. 

Stairs are another convention that are generally put into the thriller genre, stairs create a division between time and space, stairs are usually used in psychological thrillers - as our sub-genre is psychological I would like to include this convention in my own thriller. This all relates back to the iconography of thrillers such as (shadows, bars on windows etc)

Risk assessment and Filming Schedule - Miss Georgiou

A Risk assessment is a important part of managing health and safety and also helps you to identify hazards and control and reduce the risks involved. The process involved in risk assessing is to look at your activities properly, then decide what hazards are present. You then need to asses the risk of people being exposed to these hazards and to finally find ways to eliminate or control these hazards. The risk assessment will assist us with filming by allowing us to not waste time on dealing with health and safety, as we don't have much time to film. It will also help me with filming by making sure we're paying close attention to all of those risks to then control them.

A Filming schedule is a plan of each days shooting for a film production.  This is specifically for when you go out on location shooting and should be viewed and completed as though it were a bible.  It needs to be comprehensive so that anyone else looking at it knows where you are, with who and how to contact you at every minute throughout the day. This is for Health & Safety reasons as well as ensuring that you have thought through the filming day and have a realistic idea of what you can physically achieve. 

We made changes to our filming schedule, due to weather conditions and times when we were available to film as a group. It also took a while to find days all of us were free on, so this held our group back so we finished production quite late.

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Planning Sound - Miss Miller

Sound is as crucial to a film as the motion pictures. It plays a critical part in a film, sounds such as dialogue are used to inform the reader. Other sound whether off-screen/on-screen sound add atmosphere to the film and make the film more realistic to life. It also creates a mood towards certain frames/scenes in a thriller. Sound also gets a reaction from the character as it can shock the audience and create tension/suspense. We need to plan what sound techniques we are going to include in our films, so we know what type of shots we need to take to include in the film. As shots/sound have to work together to make sense to the audience.


Sound Techniques

Diegetic sounds - Diegetic sound (actual sound) in film is sound whose source is visible on the screen. Diegetic sound includes effects and extra diegetic sounds. I have decided to use diegetic sound because it can emphasize or improve the scene. I will use this type of sound when I show shots of the microwave and kettle. I will use sound effects or artificially enhance the sound recorded. This type of sound is conventional to the thriller genre as it informs the reader that normal activities are going on whilst the villain is planning to attack the person. This is an example of contrapuntal sound putting good in the contrast of evil through sound.

Non-diegetic - Non-diegetic sound (commentary sound) is the sound whose source is not visible on the screen and not present in the action. Examples on non-diegetic sound include voice overs, theme music and background music.

I would like to include background music in my thriller opening in order to enhance the dramatic narrative and the emotional impact of the scene. The background music would be natural sounds such as wind, owl sounds to create a eerie, mysterious setting. I hope that this will portray the mysteriousness of the antagonist. This type of sound is conventional to the thriller genre as it creates suspense and enigma.

More sound

I would also like to include sound like footsteps, footsteps create a consistent beat which keeps the audience in a mellow mood. I would then add a loud sound after it to make the audience jump/shocked. The reason I would like to include footsteps is because it shows that someone is there but you can't see who it is. This creates enigma and enigma is conventional to the thriller genre.

Whilst filming my thriller in one scene a police car drives by and it surprisingly fit in with out scene. Even though the police car was off-screen, you could see a bit of flashing blue/red lights. And it gave a symbolization of danger and trouble that is going to happen which was good. I may have to artificially increase the sound so the audience can hear it.

Another sound produced whilst filming was creaking, there was creaking of doors and windows. This creaking gives the audience a feel that someone else is out there. Creating terror and mystery again.

The planning really helped me to know what shots to include in my film so then the sound can make sense to the audience as the sound and shots will be connected. Planning also helped me develop further knowledge on whats conventional to the thriller genre. By knowing conventions it helped me relate that to sound so I know what the audience expect to hear in a thriller. The sound I have chosen is very conventional as it creates suspense, tension and mystery in all the typical thriller scenes such as the chase scene. Sound also helped me to understand the type of reactions and emotions I want to get out of my audience.  So

Inspirations - Miss Miller

To be inspired is to be influenced by something which arouses the persons mind by emotions or actions.

 We need inspiration before we can create something so we can generate ideas of creativity to include in our own work. Having inspiration doesn't only just give you good ideas, it can also motivate you to do better in your work and to also make us feel passionate about the things we do. We can take inspiration from anything, anything that is related to what your doing. In relation to the thriller genre, I have taken my inspiration from the internet, videos/clips, books and most importantly films in the thriller genre.

Sound

(Prom Night and Silence of the lambs)

In my own thriller I would like the sound to be calm and peaceful with out of tune, high pitched sounds. I also want the sound to increase with pace, to reflect the characters emotions and to also contrast with the actions going on in each frame.

I have taken inspiration of sound from two thriller films, prom night and silence of the lambs.

The sound from prom night used high pitched sounds and diegetic sound , such as, voices of characters. As you can hear in the sound clip below Lisa is panting, breathing heavily, screaming etc. This all impacts the audience positively, as they can connect with the character through there emotions/sounds this will then scare the audience. In my own thriller I would now like to include diegetic sound such as characters dialogue/screaming.

I was also inspired by the film 'Silence of the lambs' to use diegetic sound. Diegetic sound are sounds like, sound effects, mood music and any off screen sound. I would like to use this type of sound because it adds dramatic effect.

 Music represented as coming from objects/instruments in the narrative is called 'source music'. Source music is shown in the silence of the lambs - cop scene. We see this when the classical music is supposedly playing from the radio. Source music sets the scene,  making the scene more realistic.

 In this cop clip, the sound changes according to the plot of the narrative. This is shown when Hannibal grabs the police officer, the sound immediately changes from calm, classical music to a more menacing, suspense sound effect. This again plays on the audiences emotions manipulating them to be relaxed, then tense, this is caused by the build up of tension. Due to this scene, I would like to include an object like a phone, and play off screen sound. To add more of a dramatic impact.

The reason I would like to use both diagetic and non-diagetic sound is because it can show ambiguity.

Mise-en-scene

(Saw V)

Mise-en-scene is the arrangement of everything that appears in the frame – these include actors, lighting, decor, props and costume. I was inspired to include plain dressed, average looking actors as this will allow the target audience to connect with the characters on a personal level. I would also like to include low-key lighting as low-key lighting is used to create shadows and create suspense. Low-key lighting also suggests an air of mystery, as the characters faces and some objects are not shown so it creates a sense of enigma. I want the decor to be a natural typical setting with passing cars and located on a dark road this will emphasize the realistically of the setting and then cause terror. Props, we haven't decided to use any props except for a knife and maybe a mask to display the theme of hidden identity.  The film saw V really used all the conventions of the typical thriller.

Cinematography

(Halloween)

I was inspired by the film Halloween to use different cinematography techniques. The first one is a long shot of a house, I used this to introduce the beginning of the scene. As I used this long shot to start my film, it then allowed me to build on the narrative of the film by going into more detail (zooming in/close-ups). I was also inspired to use a jerky handheld camera movement, I used this to create a more homemade/dramatic feel to the scene. This was shown in the film Halloween when the boy was walking towards the house, to show that there is someone out there. I also used the same concept.

Another type of cinematography technique I was inspired by and included in my own thriller was panning. Panning was shown in Halloween when the villain was going round the house. I used panning to follow the character running and to also show the surroundings of the setting. Panning creates a smooth, swiveling movement. I used it because it creates the motion of a person turning there head from side to side, as I wanted the audience to feel as if the camera is the villain looking around.

I was also inspired to include close ups, high angles, and mid shots. All the emphasize on the main characters and show the characters emotions in some scenes. 

 Editing

(The Strangers)

I was inspired by the film 'The strangers' to use different editing techniques, such as the jump cuts , fast cutting, short takes, continuity editing and straight cut.

A jump cut is 'a cut in film editing in which two sequential shots of the same subject are taken from camera positions that vary only slightly'. - Wikipedia. A jump cut is used to show the passing of time, I was inspired to use this by the film Halloween as it used the shot to show the passing of time when the little boy was walking out of his house. I included a abrupt cut in my thriller to yes increase the time but to also disorient viewers, and represent paranoia. 

In the film stangers there was alot of cutting used. It was shown when the woman in the house kept moving around, it showed us different angles of the setting. Straight cutting is where one shot suddenly changes to the next shot. A shot can transition to another shot by using wipe, fade or a dissolve. I was inspired to include this in my own thriller because changes the scene and setting easily this way. It also is used to change the POV or to build and create on a image/idea.

e.g of a straight cut

I was also inspired to use a eyeline match, a eyeline match consists of two shots. The first shows the character look off in one direction. The following shot shows what the character is looking at. This creates enigma and gives the audience information. I included this when the young girl was going out to jog, she looked down at her feet. And there was then a close up of the shoes. 

e.g of a eyeline match


In my thriller I was also inspired to include a 'fade in' effect. This is when the screen appears just a blank, black screen to begin with, and then the shot begins to fade in. This usually occurs at the beginning of a scene to indicate a softer, quieter introduction. This just creates a smoother way to transition cuts. I include the fade in effect at the beginning of my thriller to open up the scene. This allows the audience to have time to think about what they are going to see. 

example of fade in/out effect

Lastly, I included some short takes, continuity editing and fast cutting. This was used to increase the pace of some of the tense moments in my thriller and to also emphasize a moment or a reaction. I used these in the violent scenes to increase the tension and suspense to audience receive. 

Codes and conventions

(Scream)

Fast paced editing - chase scene

 In scream 4 there was a use of young teenage girls and blonde victims, this is typical to the thriller genre. The reason these type of characters are used is to make the audience feel empathy towards the character as they appear more vulnerable on the screen. This did inspire me, however, In my own thriller I did use young victims but they weren't blonde. I felt that the hair colour of the characters had no impact on the film. But it did sometimes give the audience a perception of that character, but I didn't feel that mattered. As long as the characters came across as vulnerable it's fine.

In many thrillers there are the use of mirrors/stairs. These were both included in scream 4, when they girls were running away from the antagonist.Mirrors are used are a convection by using a reflection of ones inner self, mirrors can also signify darkness within some characters. I'm inspired to use mirrors in my thriller as it increases suspense if we see the antagonist in the mirror first. It will usually cause the audience to react by jumping. So i feel that mirrors can cause terror, especially when it is paired with sounds, reaction shots etc.

Stairs are another convention, this was used when the girls in scream were running away, when paired with tension music. It gives the audience an adrenaline rush filled with terror. As we don't know whether the character will get pulled back down or make it to where they are trying to get to. Stairs are good because of the angles you can receive. For example high angles, so you can see all the characters reactions running. 

e.g of mirrors in scream 4

e.g. of girl running up the stairs in scream 4

As I mentioned before about the antagonist, a antagonist is the enemy or villain who strongly opposes someone or something. A protagonist is a champion or hero who tried to defeat something. In scream 4 the character Sidney Prescott is the protagonist as she tries to defeat ghost face. Ghost face is the antagonist as he/she opposes the girls. Using this convention makes a thriller much more interesting to watch as there are two views and sides to the story, good and evil. That's why I have decided to include the same convention. 

Sidney Prescott (Hero) and Ghostface (Villain)

Ghostface also has a hidden identity as he/she has a mask on. I would like to include this as it creates enigma and tension as you don't know who the character is so the film is built upon the audience trying to find out who it is.

Ghostface hidden identity

Lastly, I was inspired to include low-key lighting/shadows. As described in mise-en-scene     low-key lighting is a convention. Low-key lighting also produces shadows, shadows can represent the evil of a character in a film. It can also give an eerie atmosphere. These were shown in scream 4 when they were looking out of the window in a dark room. Windows are also another convention that I was inspired to include in my thriller as it symbolizes freedom but in the thriller genre usually a lack of freedom. 

Windows with the use of low-key lighting

My reasearch helped me produce many ideas for my narrative as I was able to take the best parts of different films that I felt had an effect on me and produce them in my thriller. It gave me a much clearer idea on what I was trying to produce when It came to filming and directing. As I knew all the conventions and themes to include.