Opening Scenaration - Miss Miller

The opening scenaration begins with a panning shot that consists of many elements which are conventional to the thriller genre. For example the suburban neighbourhood and. Night time settings. With elements of sppoky sound added this will set into the narrative of a riller instantly engaging the audience.The scene is set around the idea of the equilibrium which gives the audience a reassuring feeling and making them sense the unexpected. Within the panning shot we add a smooth transition which will eventually faded into the following scene. This will have a subtle effect on the audience which will settle them into the thriller increasing the feeling of suspense for when kidnapping occurs.The  following shot will be of leandra walking slowly into her house using an over shoulder following shot. The. We will have a fading in edit showing us leandras bedroom using a high angle shot in order to portray her in a vunerable way so that the audience feel how inoccent she is. 

After that seen there will be a jump cut and close up emphasising the text message recieved on her phone and the sppokiness of the anonymous texter within the narrative. The following text will say "im watching you" . This scene will slowly unravel thhe series of unfortunate events about to occur for the poor girl. The straight cut will demonstrate to us a blurred figure of the supposed man watching Leandra outside her window. Arthur who plays the villian will be dressed in all black hding behind a tree to add the element of surprise as soon as she sees him outside her window. As we are watching this scene scary music will be added to amplifiy the fear shown within the character and the creepiness of the villian.From the following scene we experiece a close up on leandras face to portray her fear towards the man standing outside her house. She ignores in order to avoid bring danger to herself however little does she know that the villain has become more drawn to her inoccent fear.

Obliovous to what will occur Leandra decides to walk home this is shown through a long shot when she is suddenly followed by an insidious character who is seen behind her. The sound used will be diagetic used to parallel with the scene which will consist of cars and the sounds made on a main road. As she follows a dark path we find her kneeling which is shown through a low angle shot and strange music is played to portray a peculiarness also the shot shows Leandras dramatic change in facial expression when she sees a shrine of herself before her.The following straigthcut then flows into a close up on her picture surrounded by candles which are lit and have been used repeatedly. The effect of this scene is to create a sense of shock and show the severe obsession of evil characters such as the one within our narrative. As she withdraws from this horrific scene you begin to see the villian behind her getting closer and closer which is seen through a long shot and continious diagetic sound playing to add suspense. 

The finalsing scene is shown through an ariel shot of the scenario within the forest as she passes through the path you can hear the ruffling leaves which shows an element of associative connections allowing the audience to guess what is going to occur as there is another person hidden within the scene. A jumpcut is used to portray a wide angle shot of Leandra hesitating to walk this path alone, just when she turns her head she is attacked and then a close up is shown with her lying dead, then suddenly her eyes open with suspense leaving the audience puzzled as to what might happen next which engages them to perhaps watch it again and figure out the psycological thriller. 

Production Roles - Miss Miller

Production Roles

Production roles are essential when filming as they organise each person's duty within the group. Which is more convenient so everyone knows specifically what their doing and where they need to be. People need to be allocated in specific roles to maintain coordination within the company, also each person can be specifically assigned to something. The main significant roles within the film industry are:

Producers control every aspect of the film's production and are mainly in charge of organising everything.

Directors are responsible for the entire set, it is a managing role in which they supervise what goes on within the film. 

Actors have an important role within the film and are a main part of the narrative. 

Director of photography are mainly responsible for the cinematography element of the film process and where the camera shots take place.

Mise en scene coordinator are obliged to manage what props go into the scene including hair and makeup.

Sound technicion's find the suitable music when editing the film.

Editor's are essential as they piece the whole film together by using a software to edit the movie and add different editing effects e.g jump cuts

Screenplay writer produce the scripts for the actors to read. They take ideas for the narrative and put it into speech.

Leandra- Actress/sound technician/screenplay writer/producer

Leandra is playing the main character Chelsea. Our roles are divided upon us to make our team more organised, however every individual person gets to try out different roles to see what is best suited to them. Screenplay writer is assigned to everyone as we all brought in our ideas in order to create a script from the narrative. Leandra has numerous skills in which she applies to this specific role in the film. Some of these skills consist of organisation,co ordination and team work. These abilities enable her to be a strong candidate for acting. Her co ordination skills allow her to work well with the director which is good for the audience as she can do exactly what the director asks her to do. 

Nataliah-Editor/mise en scene coordinator/screenplay writer/producer

I was assigned the role of the editor because she has the ability to know how to make the scene a lot better and more tense. This will help us to create a successful opening sequence because i have the responsibility of creativity which is what she owns, a creative spirit which will enable us to have a successful opening sequence. I am also the mise-en-scene coordinator because she has the ability to set a scene, use certain iconography, lighting, colour, hair, make up and also positioning the characters in a certain way to make the characters become represented in certain ways. This will be useful as we intend to make the villain seem scary and intimidating while we make the victim seem vulnerable and small. This will show the audience which character is what and how their actions take part in the opening sequence. Ialso played a part as a screenplay writer as she helped my by using her own individual ideas to incorporate her own ideas into the script to make the opening sequence a lot more believable and interesting to grab the audiences attention.


James- Director of photography/director/producer/screenplay writer

James was assigned the role of director because he has the ability and is able to order people around because he is the director and has numerous amount of abilities to make the film a lot better and believable. James also has the responsibility as director of photography because he is the only one with the ability to work a camera and be able to use it to create character representation by using different camera angles in the scene and to know how to introduce a character or scene. We also gave the role of screenplay writer to James as well because if we incorporate the three of us in our group we can create a good piece of script that will be interesting but not too complicated that it will confuse the audience.

Planning editing styles - Miss G

Editing Styles

The first scene of my opening thriller credits will commence with an establishing shot giving the audience a view of the neighbourhood, setting the element of the equilibrium only to decide the audience into thinking everything is going to be fine. This specific edit will take place outside Leandra's house allowing us to get a bigger perspective on the setting and it will make the atmosphere incredible tranquil.  A jump cut is essential as it suggest simplicity to the viewers. This establishes the context for a scene by showing the relationship between its important figures and objects.

The following edit will be a crosscut of leandra walking into her house. This will engage the audience and make them want to find out more. I will use this edit to  establish an action occurring at the same time in two different locations. In a cross cut, the camera will cut away from one action to another action, which can suggest this simultaneity of these two actions. This will signify to scenes happening at once. 

Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment 

The importance of a risk assessment is to insure that all the equipment is used properly and all people taking part in the thriller. Safety measure are essential as many accidents could occur on set. The main aim is to ensure all equipment is checked and safety procedures are planned out incase of a fire or injury that may happen. 

Risk assessments are significant because all people on set must look at all work activities that could cause harm in order to decide whether they are doing enough to meet their legal obligations. This is a minimum requirement and the aim should always be to reduce the risks as much as is reasonably practicable. As well as directors, cast, others who could be affected must also be considered, including temporary workers, volunteers and the general public.There are many potential hazards on sets that we must run through before we use the set. 

Film Schedule

Film schedule 
This is an essential task to maintain organisation and coordination within the group. Having a table enables our group to 

Shot	Date & Time	Location	Content/Action	Shot type & Duration	Costume, Hair and make up	Iconography	Personnel	Equipment
1.	22/11/13 4:00pm	Barkingside Hobart Road Suburban neighbourhood at night with trees and houses	View of the neighbour hood	Panning shot	N/A	N/A	Director, camera man, make up and hair artist.	Camera, Tri-pod
2.	22/11/13 4:30pm	Barkingside Hobart road	In the victims bedroom when she is sitting on the bed and receives a text message	Mid-shot and close up	PJ’s and no make up and natural hair style	Book and mobile phone	Victim, hair and make up artist, director and camera man.	Camera, tri-pod
3.	24/11/13 5:00pm	Barkingside Hobart Road	Looking over the victims shoulder	Over the shoulder shot	Villain wearing a black jumper, trousers and timberland boots	Mobile phone	Victim, Villain, Camera man and director	Camera, tri-pod
4.	27/11/13	Claybury forest	Where the victim will be followed and kidnapped	Long shot, hand held shot	Villain wearing a black jumper, trousers and timberland boots and the victim wearing jeans, jumper and trainers with natural hair	N/A	Victim, villain, camera man, director	Camera, tri-pod
5.	27/11/13	Claybury forest	Victim is alive You only see the victim who is badly bruised	Close up	Natural makeup and bruises messy hair	N/A	Victim, camera man, director	Camera, tri-pod

Planning opening credits - miss g

Planning opening credits

Opening credits are significant to most films as they set the scene, creating an enigmatic atmosphere for the audience to question what the film is going to be about. Also the are responsible for the recognition of the actors, directors and film company within the movie.
                                       
The first credit scene begins with a  light to stress the name of the director as most of the films font is in bold red the black adds a contrasting unique effect which centers the attention of the name. The light becomes a part of the iconography within the scene which then begins to rotate blending into the scene giving the audience a chill and this sets the atmosphere for the film creating a suspicious element of a thriller enigma. 

In the credits above there is a smokey effect above the credits as if it were on fire and the red represented something satanic. There is a prominence on certain words written in bold which suggest that they have a significant part and meaning to the film. The letters slowly fade out in unsync order which gives the audience an enigmatic feel to the opening credits.  This gives the audience the idea that it will be about something supernatural and out of our understanding such as ghosts, demons or aliens.

                                   

The opening credits continue in to a scene of a isolated house which has a suspicious element engaging the audience even more. The font of the credits is consistent and red throughout the clip. The abandoned house is shot in black and white which contrasts good and evil within the movie. The erie music creates a chilling sensation within the audience, preparing them for the worst.  The surrounding black mist adds a spooky effect which makes the house a significant factor within the movie. The credits slowly fade after a few seconds which then blends into the background leaving the audience feeling edgy as to what might a occur.  

The opening credits go into several shots of the house playing a erie symphonic  background music which urges the audience to not be at rest throughout the movie creating a frightful tense atmosphere which leaves them more vulnerable to scarier events that are to take place in the clip. The symphonic background music begins to increase in pitch creating an alarming ringing sound within the audience. The theme of black and white is maintained throughout the clip referring back to the contrasts of good and evil also creating a parallel to the music. The setting relates to the thriller convention as many suburban houses are targeted and classed as the scariest due to the element of the equilibrium by Todorov.   

  

                                      

Towards the end of the credits we experience a startling scene were big red font is projected on to the screen with high pitched sound to emphasises the title and make it seem very frightening. The big red font symbolises blood,death and danger which is followed by a light which brings out the title making it seem even more bigger and scarier. Th e style of the font is very formal. This gives the audience an element of surprise and questioning as to what the film might be like. The finality of the clip is useful as it sets the scene. There was an element of tranquillity throughout the beginning and then the sudden title towards the end leads the audience in fear and tension. 

The opening credits 

Group storyboard - Miss M

Planning Character resprensentation - Miss G

Character representation is essential to narratives as it is how someone is presented to the audience which gives an insight into how they might react according to their clothing,background and attitudes.

Victim

Name: Chelsea
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Race: British
Background: Typical white girl

Purpose to the narrative: Chelsea is a typical university student living alone. She is the main victim within the narrative and is forced to believe that she has a stalker or follower who plans to murder her due to his obscene obsession with her. If he cannot have her then no one can. 

Characteristics:
Funny, outgoing, naive, innocent and temperate. 

How the character will appeal to the audience:

Chelsea is a very vulnerable and naive young girl who will appeal to the audience as many students can sympathise with these characteristics as being young is also apart of being naive. She will portray a typical daughter who studies hard. The viewers will be intrigued to see such a young and innocent girl being taken which will leave them heart rended and in surprised. She has a typical teenage attitude which the audience will see due to her lack of caution and laid back sense of life. Her use of inoccence and facial expressions will engage the audience into feeling sympathy just by using the emphasis of her body language and delicate reactions towards shocking situations.

Villain 

Name: Sylvester
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Race:Russian/British
Background: Russian Ex-con

Purpose to the narrative: Sylvester has an insidious plan to use have Chelsea as his victim and if he cannot have her he plans to kill her. Corrupt by the sadomasochistic scheme that he wanted to take out on Chelsea he begins preparation for her killing.

Characteristics: Psycho,Nervous and hesitant.

How the character will appeal to the audience:

Sylvesters scars represent his masochistic past that he wishes to pursue on chelsea. The audience will be  very intimidated by his character. His attitudes are very evil and insidious. He doesn't have family and cannot co operate in a social environment  Sylvester has some serious pyscological problems which he wishes to persue on this young inoccent girl. Chelsea is a target within his eyes that he wishes to use for the worst. His criminal past allows him to reconcile with hpwhat has happend and therefore reflect on what he did in the past which leads him to do the worst. He is a hidden character that has no identity within the clip. The significance of hidding the villian is to create suspense and curiosity within the audience which engages them into feeling and thinking what Chelsea is going through if Slyvester takes out his evil insidious plan on the poor inoccent girl.

Planning Mise-en-scene - Miss g

Planning Mise En Scene.

Mise en scene is an essential element within the film industry. It enables us to perceive things and enhance our idea of what brings the scene together. With the elements of the film conventions it pieces a great genre which we wish to create within our thriller.

The setting: The opening setting will be a neighbourhood using the element of the equilibrium from todorov's theory. Leandra our main victim will be situated in a house alone in her bedroom. The main setting will be focused around the neighbourhood and a local forest to add a tense and mysterious effect to the thriller. The use of filming at night is advantegous to the thriller element within the clip. Most bad things happen within the night so the audience will automatically prepsre for the worst.

The iconography:
The opening sequence will commence with a mobile and earphones. Which is very profiac as it is concealing what is about to occur within the scene. Another element of inconography which could be seen as having thriller connations to it will be the shrine that we hope to place within the forest. At this point leandra eill spot the shrine surrounded with candles and have a shocking reaction to this.

Costume, hair and make up: 

The murderer will be masked and wearing a hoodie in order to preserve his identity to create an atmosphere of suspense and curiousity within the viewers.The victim will be wearing her nightwear (pjamas) and her hair will be normal until she is captured. The reason i will use no dramtic makeup effect will be to create a naturalistic effect that demonstrates the use of realism within the thriller and how a kidnapping could happen to anyone no matter where they are.

Facial expressions:

Throughout the filming process the main facial expressions will be seen by Leandra and her raw acting skills. These are a series of scared and surprised expressions inorder to engage the audience toward feeling sympathy towards the poor innocent girl emphasising the theme of fear. Facial expressions determine the feelings of the charcters within the thriller thats why when filming i will to my best to instruct Leandra in overdramatising her reaction to the anonymous texts and shrine in the forest.

Questionaire and charts

Questionnaire
1. How old are you?
13-18 19-24 25-36

2. Are you...?
Male Female

3. What age certificates do you watch?
U PG 12/12a 15 18

4. What interests you in watching a thriller?
Adrenaline Characters Murder scenes Other .............

5. What do you expect to see in thrillers?
Female victim Murderer weapon Scary setting Other..........

6. Do you like sequels?
Yes No

7. What type of sounds would you like to hear in a thriller?
Eerie music Screams Piano

8. What characters would you like to see in a thriller? Why?
Unidentified killer Blonde Victim Mysterious creatures Why? ...........

9. What type of actors would you like to be used?
Morgan Freeman Brad Pitt Anne Hathaway Gwenth Patrow

10. What type of setting would you like to see?
Suburban Neighbourhood Abandoned Alley Grave Yard

11. Would you enjoy other sub-genres to be used? If so, which ones?
Horror Drama Sci-fi Fantasy

12. What type of narrative would you like to be used?
First person Second person Third person

Vox Pops

 

 

 

Individual Storyboard - Miss Miller

The purpose of a storyboard is to pre visualise the video or motion picture that you have in mind. It is very useful as it gives us an insight to a story and a pre plan that we can then visualise when it comes to filming.

My individual narrative is set in a suburban neighbour hood which links into Todorov's theory of the equilibrium adding the element of the unexpected later into the scene. Chelsea who is played by Leandra is situated in her room where she is home alone. The scene begins as she is laying on her bed listening to music like a typical teenage student. She suddenly receive a text from an unknown contact who writes the following 'i am watching you' . Chelsea is immediately anxious and keen to figure out what trickery is this. Naive and alone chelsea decides to shut the curtains, only to notice a man tall in black awaiting her reaction across the street beneath be forest. Looking away she then looks closely to reassure  herself that its all a simple trick of the mind. 

That following night Chelsea goes for a walk within the forest only to find a shrine of her near a tree. She calls her friend Harley in a panic. Murmuring down the phone she trips and then gets dragged along the floor and knocked out. Chelsea finds her self in a basement struggling to breathe and tied up trying to solve the mystery behind her kidnapping. The obsessive villain then unmask her only to find that she knew him all along. It was her ex-boyfriend!

The iconography that i will use are basic every day items such as mobile phones, ipod,rope,pictures and candles. This is all relates back to the equilibrium which will be beneficial in making the audience think that its a typical film clip that then turns in to a horrific thriller adding in the element of suspense and surprise.I want to engage the audience by adding elements of on screen sound that relate to the character and leave them in a tense atmosphere, which makes them more vulnerable to loud sounds and jumpy scenes. Costume and hair  for Chelsea would be an average teenage girls clothes with soft colours to represent innocence's within the clip , but the villains clothing are darker and shapeless. He will have several scars that will represent his past life as a killer. 
I will use a variety of camera shots such as close ups and panning shots to emphasis what is going on and what the character is feeling specifically which is portrayed through facial expressions and body language. Lighting will be very low key at times however when an important action is about to take place in the clip, the brighter the light the higher pitch the sound.

Preliminary task - Miss G

In this task we were asked to perform a short clip showing our understanding of the various camera angles and equipment within the clip. We began filming at an angle when Leandra walked into the room. James panned the camera across from where Leandra walked in. After the following frame we sat down and had a 30 second conversation, changing the camera angle every 15 seconds. This clip that we had made enhanced our understand of how the equipment works and how it must be used. This will benefit me when i will commence filming our thriller. After the filming the preliminary task we were assigned to edit the clip also on final cut and remove all odds filming bits. I found the editing very straight forward and easy. As a group we decided to remove some scenes that went on for a bit to make the clip short and clear. The editing task was useful as it gave us an understanding of the computer equipment and different effects used to improve videos or short clips.

Inspirations for Opening Scene - Miss Miller

Inspirations for opening scene 

In many sequences i took inspirations which i used during my storyboards and narrative. It was essential to watch different sequences and gain a number of ideas to piece my final story.

Sound

In opening scene of halloween we have numerous sounds being used to create a frightful atmosphere, what i derived from this was the off screen sound and how effective it was towards the audience .The different sound techniques were a contributing factor to the idea of creating a thrilling atmosphere. For instance the opening sequence began with a non diegetic soundtrack which is conventional to thrillers as it is prepping the audience for the horrific events about to take place. The following sound was most effective as if had a spooky element, the off screen sound was of the children chanting a halloween poem, this specifically increases the tension and gives the audience a chill. The use of silence after the off screen sound was most useful as it is creating a climatic atmosphere and make the viewers extremely tense. Erie music is used throughout which is made parallel to the sound of the footsteps. The increase of the pitch throughout the sequence is a constant ringing which is a good combination with the sudden piano tune.  

Cinematography 

Scream 4 fed my interest for specific edits that i will use throughout my thriller clip. For example the low angle camera shot which created tension and emphasis on the characters that were in a struggle to escape. The jump cuts to show the simplicity of the scene throughout the film. There were intense close ups that portrayed each facial expression of the actor/actress which made the audience feel a connection with what the character might be feeling. The high angle shot created a wider perspective of the scene which then led us to understand where the characters were and what could occur. Engaging the audience even more by making them continue to solve the enigma.

Lighting

Saw 5 used an ingenious technique of lighting to highlight how the characters were feeling and make the audience extremely tense and worked up. There was low key lighting to emphasize certain objects making you focus mainly on the characters. At times of danger high key lighting was used to project what was going on specifically. This emphasises the importance of certain situations. Throughout the clip the main use of lighting is low key to keep the consistence of thriller conventions throughout.

Costume and hair

I took my inspiration for costume and hair from 'Along came the spider'.this is because there basic every day characters who dress normally which sets the sense of equilibrium. It inspired me to use costume and hair in a very natural daily look.This is due to the naturalistic effect thats i wish to create within the thriller sequence. Also this creates a sense of realism within the thriller giving the audience something to relate to as it is a realistic experience that many people can experience.The villain will be dressed in black and his face will be blurred throughout in order to keep up the suspense. The film also pictures the villain in black as black is the colour of evil and wrong things.

Iconography

For the following inspiration of iconography i found his idea from the film 'V for Vendetta'. A shrine is usually an object of remembrance to commemorate a dead person. This was quite a peculiar thing to put in a thriller however it is something strange enough to spark fear within the audience.  The fact that the main character is not dead leaves question as to what might happen to her regarding the shrine that the villain has put forward for her. This adds an insidious twists towards the plot of the story eventually giving an element of mystery to what might occur next.  

Group Narrative - Miss G

What is the purpose of a narrative?

The purpose of narrative is to engage the audience and inform them about the story.

We discussed our ideas by brainstorming different thriller conventions and what we would like to see within a thriller clip. We also looked at what scares the audiences the most during films and from that we began forming an idea on what our thriller will be based about.

The advantages of a narrative are that it expresses your point of you which enables the audience to gain different perspectives into your story. You can base your narrative on a real life event either way it will sound impressive. An advantage to this is it has loads of good codes and convention like low key lighting from the stated settings. A Disadvantage to this is it would be hard to film the scenes without getting unwanted people in the background or noises the will distracted the viewers.

Vladimir Propp (1985-1970)  pioneering in the analysis of narrative folk tales, Propp was a russian critic who introduced a whole new theory to the film industry. His main focus was on the narrative of folk tales and his in depth analysis on what pieced the narrative together. This allowed us to experience different elements of the story such as the characters. The narrative function provides a structure for the story.The character analysis is conventional to most folk tales as seen below - 

The hero's main aim in the narrative is to seek something rewarding or statutorily advanced.
The villain must oppose the hero's quest to attain the reward.
The dispatcher's obligated to send the hero onto the quest or mission.
The false hero is employed to disrupt the hero's sucess by making false claims.
The helper is used to aid the hero in their time of need.
The princess is usually the reward for the hero.
The father of the princess usually rewards the hero with the princess as an act of respect. 

Tzvetan Todorov was a bulgarian struturist who puplished influential work on narrative structure. Todorov proposed that there are 5 fundemental elements to narrative which are as follows

- a state of equilibrium  which simply means all should be as it is.
- a disruption of the equilibrium by some action.
- a recognition that there has been a disruption.
- an attempt to repair the disruption
- a reinstatement of the equilibrium.
 

This theory is particularly mainstream in the film industry and it is the one that i will use.
 
 

 

Everyone in my group wrote up and individual narrative saying what will happen in each scene what types of character, camera shots, edit etc we could use. We looked at the advantages and disadvantages of each idea and created a narrative to use in our thriller clip. 

The people who are part of my group narrative are : James Edwards, Nathaliah Makki and Leandra Saunders.

Storyline

Characters

            
Setting

This film will be rated a 15 because it will have scenes of a sexual nature and maybe some use of drugs and violence.

Codes and Conventions

- Low key lighting

- Shock

- Surprise

- Suspence

- Tention

- Stalking

- Chase

- Background music