A rough cut is the first stage in which the film begins to resemble it's final product. Rough cuts do not flow well and still undergo many changes before the release of the film. - Wikipedia. It is a form of offline editing.
The purpose of us creating a rough cut was to allow us to gain feedback from our peers on aspects of our thriller that were weak; so we could improve on those areas. It also allowed us to realise and notice if our work had clarity especially with the editing. As we made some mistakes in the editing production.
The feedback we recieved to help us improve was to make the acting better, clearer narrative and less use of jerky handheld camera. But we were told that we created the element of suspense and the sound was effective.
However to improve on these weak areas we willl firstly improve the script. Meaning actors will speak, more dialogue. As there wasn't much in the rough cut. So this will improve acting and allow the narrative to be more understandable.
Also to make the narrative clearer, I will include the killer in it. As the identity was hidden throughout, this is a good convention in a thriller. However, the audience will get confused if they don't see the killer. So we decided to add that in.
We also re-filmed the jerky handhelds parts to make the frame more still and clearer for the audience to watch. We did the handle camera by purpose. However, again the convention went to far and should of been kept to a minimum. To let the audience understand the narrative better.
All this feedback has allowed us to know what we need to improve on. And change our perspective to what the audience see. As they don't understand our vision they only know what they see.
In this post I will be discussing the storyboard our group came up with and the elements/micro-elements involved in my opening thriller scene. It consisted of different ideas and frames which came from our individual storyboard ideas; which were then incorporated into one group storyboard.
Doing this group storyboard has really developed our opening thriller scene. In our individual storyboards, our narratives were not as good as they could of been. Therefore, by doing this group storyboard we were able to organize our frame/shot timings better.
In this first page, the first frame included the use of micro-elements, such as cinematography. We displayed a long shot in the first frame to show the audience the setting of where the narrative is taking place. We also put down what sound this frame would have, we decided on eerie sound to create a mysterious and suspense atmosphere. In this frame we decided that for editing we would use a straight cut. We chose this shot because it is basic and the scene was also basic and simple.
This first frame idea was taken from my storyboard, we done this because we felt it opened the scene well and we were all inspired by the thriller film 'Halloween' opening, which is similar to our opening frame.
The next frame used cinematography, for movements, such as panning. Panning allows us to see more of a setting in a frame. The camera movement is like the natural movement of how our head moves. (Side to side, up and down) The panning will show the surroundings and to make the location look unknown and isolated/derelict.
This frame was include from Ellie's storyboard. Ellie decided on a panning movement because it created the effect that someone was out there. And that someone else was looking at the house.
The next frame on the page was the scene where the jerky handheld camera was used (cinematography). Jerky handheld movement is when the camera is held in hand or given the appearance of being hand-held. It suggests unprepared, unrehearsed filming of reality, and can provide a sense of dynamics, immersion, instability or nervousness. - Wikipedia. This will be accompanied with on-screen sound of leaves ruffling and footsteps. It will also use abrupt jump cuts (editing) to show the passing of time.
This was from James'initial individual storyboard.
The next page showed more frames. The first frame uses cinematography, a mid shot of the character. This mid shot showed the importance of this character. This came from all of our individual storyboards. The frame will also include dialogue/speech to inform the audience of whats going on.
The next frame uses cinematography, such as panning movement again. This allows us to see the character jogging out the house and to show that the character has left the scene.
This idea came from Ellie's storyboard.
The next frame showed the front of the house again and used panning to show the window which is open which allows the antagonist to get in.
The next frame then shows the antagonist inside the house and then closing the window.
This is the use of a jump cut to show the passing of time to make the thriller easier to understand. Also it allowed the codes/connotation of windows to be shown from freedom to trapped.
This idea came from my storyboard.
The next frame shown located the inside of the house switching to a new location. Showing the girl in the house. The cinematography used was high angles to show a different view of the character and to make the victim look inferior. Also close-ups of items were used to show how every day actions were going on just before the victims killed. Close ups in following frames were used to show the victims facial expressions. Mise-en-scene, such as low-key lighting was used to create suspense and tension. Also a female victim was used to produce vulnerability and innocence so the audience can connect with the protagonist. These were themes/conventions we learnt in class. Therefore, it was all of our ideas to do this as we all included this in our individual storyboards.
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.
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.
"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)
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.
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
