Screen Shots

FInal Cut Feedback

Positives;
- The use of flashback at the beginning gives us a feeling of what the film is going to be like, good editing.
- Editing on the pictures was good and the sound went well with it when the pictures were flicking through.
- Production company's logo is very impressive.
-The repetition of the images+ the increase pace really builds up suspense makes us empathise with protagonist.
- Sound and clips work perfectly together to maintain a tense atmosphere
- Spotlight bit is really good and really liked the use of sound. The special effects used in some of the flashbacks are very good, the sound with the photos at the end is also very good.
- Liked the production company and the sound over it.
- Like the editing between the kidnapped person and the park.
- Lovely memory photos.
- Film production logo animation looks really good.
- Liked the lighting at the beginning with the light moving around the frame.
- The lighting of the hostage room was really creative and works well.
- The sound in time with the images builds up suspense well.
-Really liked the first shot with the production logo, it was really effective and cleverly done.
- The photos that were used near the end started piling up at the end and this was really effective.
- Like the blurry effects to create a sense of flashbacks, the use of photographs really built up emotion.
-Liked the shots to show the relationship between the characters when they are playing football.
- Liked the pictures flash up and gradually get faster as they create tension.


Improvements;
- The ending could be improved.
- It could have a stronger ending as it doesn't really explain why he has been taken.
- The titles at the beginning could stay up longer.
- While the two characters are playing football the camerawork is jerky.
- The swinging of the lamp could be smoother.
- Lighting in the end clips flick from light to dark, this isn't very noticeable but a little distracting.
- Potentially too dark in the captivity section.
- The pictures at the end go on for a little too long and the pauses on the photos are longer on some then others.
-The titles at the end make it look like a trailer.
- Titles were quite small, possibly make them slightly bigger.
- Use a mixture of effects instead of the thunder.
- Have titles and names up on screen for longer right at the beginning.

Window Pane

Shot one shows our company logo spotlight productions, we chose this one because we liked the idea of the moving logo and we think this one represented this idea well.

Shot two shows the lighting of our thriller, within the captive seen there is very low lighting to create a mysterious effect. It also gives a view of the lighting that is used throughout our thriller. It is very low lighting apart from when there is flashback shown when it suddenly changes to natural, bright lighting to show the contrast between the two sets of shots.

Shot three shows a close up of the weapon in the hands of the enemy this is a very significant prop to our opening sequence as it is used in one of the most important events in our sequence - the killing.

Shot four shows the costume worn by the hostage, a torn, muddy, blood covered shirt, ripped trousers and a hessian sack covering his face this was a strong mise en scene point for our thriller.

Shot five shows an example of camerawork that is used commonly throughout our sequence to signify certain props and aspects of mise en scene. In this case, it is the football which is important to the scene as it brings back happy memories.

Shot six shows piece of camera work we used which was a hand held camera looking at the victim in the bushes this showed that the audience were looking through the point of view of the killer.


Shot seven shows a long shot of the couple playing football, this also reflects the thriller convention of the extraordinary happening in the ordinary world. For example, the extraordinary is a normal scene in this case of a couple playing football compared with the ordinary event of a shot of the captive. 


Shot eight shows a close up of the gun against the face of the victim this also shows the media convention of Voyeurism because the gun is placed against a woman's head. This is often used to show women as commodities to be had. 


Shot nine shows the hostage on his side it shows that he gets emotional when placed in a situation where he is forced to think about his one main weakness, his 'achilles heel'. 

Final thriller

This is our final cut thriller.

thriller rough cut

Preparing for Filming

Meeting at 11:00 at Mepal primary school.


Dom is bringing:

• Chair
• Full suit 
• Pillow

Tom is bringing:

• Light
• Gun
• Hessen sack
• White shirt
• Jeans
• Worn white shirt
• Casual clothing (for three different scenes)
• Pillow

Jess is bringing:

• Light
• Casual clothing (for three different scenes)
• Pillow
• Camera / Tripod

Amy is bringing:

• Lucozade bottle 
• Pillow

call sheet

Call sheet u1 29

View more documents from Media Studies

Titles

We've decided within our title sequence we want to include the company name:
'Spotlight Studios' with the appropriate company logo also.

We also want to include the actors real names as appose to the character names to make it seem more professional as this is a common feature shown in existing film productions.
'Dominic Jones' 'Tom Harradine' 'Jessica Howard'
And the directors name too:
'Amy Smith'.

We've decided on a font also (seen in our previous posts) which is from dafont.com and called pulse.
we thought this is a good font as it is distorted and appears to be a short life line which makes it seem like the reflection of our story line.

Thriller Analysis (Amy)

The thriller opening I chose to analysis was Se7en.

The background music used in the opening of Se7en is very tense, it's quite slow to begin with but the pace quickens towards the end of the sequence. The sound used is non-diagetic as the characters cannot hear the music being played. The music in the sequence ends with lyrics, which makes it more tense as it suddenly stops and words are emphasized in bold letters with the camera panning the page they appear on.

Throughout the opening sequence, it cuts to various different objects such as pictures and books which obviously has some meaning and relates to the story some how. It adds a mysterious edge to the opening, making it tense and wondering what will happen later on in the film. The colouring of the opening sequence was all black, red and white which were strong colours to relate to a thriller as black is dark and edgey and red represents danger and blood. The names which appeared are often shadowed and some of the sequence, for example seeing someone writing on a page, is shadowed too.

There are various different camera angles and movements used during the sequence, like panning over the pages or pictures and writing. The lighting is really dark and typical of a thriller opening. Overall, the mix of music, various different camera angles and shots, and dark lighting make the opening sequence to Se7en a typical tense thriller opening and extremely effective, that leave the viewers intrigued to know what happens on later on in the film.

Lesson 17/2/11

This is our first go at playing around with title effects in final cut within our title sequence, we used effects such as earthquake and blur to create a distorted effect :)

Lesson 15/2/11

In today's lesson we have finalised some ideas which were still in the air, we decided on the location for our thriller opening such as we chose to film the majority of our opening in soham, such as the snooker hall and park, Dom is going to ask permission for filming in the snooker hall soon. For our dark room we are going to ask permission from Mepal's primary school to borrow a classroom for this. We also decided on the date to film our project. 


We also made our flashback sequence in final cut today:





This way we'll have a head start on our editing as we our filming on the last weekend possible not giving us much time for editing ):

Font Ideas

We liked this font because of the heart pulse through the middle of the writing. We are considering this font for our main title.



We liked this one too as it is distorted and looks scratched and worn.


We're not too keen on this font, it seems quite mysterious to the audience.


We all really liked this font as it fits the distorted mise en scene we were looking to create.


We liked this font but it seems more suitable for a horror and also it is quite difficult to read.


This is a clearer font to read than the above but with a very similar style to it, but we don't like these as much as we do some of our other options.

Our sonic mood board

This is our final sonic moodboard it shows the type of mise en scene we plan to create during our thriller. We also used the images we plan to use in our "happy memories" flash backs of the captive and his girlfriend. We used the sound effects of pool balls smashing to show the dramatic swing of the captives head as he tries to fight off the flash backs he is having.

Story Board

Camera Shot List

Our Happy Memory Photos

These are some of the still images we are going to use in our flash back sequence to represent the memories of the captive's past life.

Feedback From Pitch

The main piece of feedback that we received from the group when pitching our idea was to think about significant elements in greater detail to make the production more precise and exact. To do this, we will need to pay specific attention to detail when storyboarding.
Another problem that we were enlightened to was to make sure that we show the right bits of the storyline without giving too much information away too quickly.
Sound was also highlighted as a problem that we need to address. One way that we could overcome this problem is to fit a rough soundtrack to the storyboard and evaluate the rough cut in order to make a more efficient soundtrack. Also, pay attention to sound effects that need to be exaggerated such as: The sound of water dripping at the beginning of the sequence, Snooker balls colliding and doors slamming.

Salt

During the first opening of the film Salt we were able to identify many of the common features of Action Thriller Films.

The first feature we were able to identify is the way the main character is mistaken for someone else- a common feature of Action Thriller Films.

The use of violence throughout the opening of the film is very noticeable with the use of weapons such as guns and grenades also. The use of blood than your average thriller is used during the scenes when she is beaten.

Manipulation of the Government is a noted feature we found

The film on a whole is very fast paced and the actions come quickly one after another much like the minds of a character in an Action Film.

The use of non-digetic sound adds to the tension and action of the piece making the viewer feel very tense about the actions that are taking place.

High-Value-Motive is used also the use of secrets and the way we are unaware of what secrets are going to be told and who is telling the truth makes it a very tense film to watch. Another feature of Action Thriller Film

Codes And Conventions Of The 'Crime' Genre Of Thriller Films

Crime Thrillers

Protagonist
 Outsider, often have characteristics of antagonists.
Tragedy
 Motivation, line between right and wrong is blurred.
Variety Of Characters
 Gangs or pairs of criminals, dopey sidekick, eccentric.
Topics
 Often include crimes of a number of crimes; - Murder; Kidnap; Robbery.
 Narrative follows the planning and execution of crimes - not always successful.
                                                                  
        

Notes on the opening sequence of memento

Within the opening sequence of memento, many traditional aspects of 'psychological thrillers' are used, such as; The reversing of time, creating a non-linear narrative, this happens at the very start of the piece, making it disrupt the continuity. Flash backs in the sequence are used to create the sense of memory and how the main character cannot create new memories, this 'flaw' he has, makes his conception of reality hard to understand, this also makes our sense of time confused.

Through the use of the photographs makes him not immediately perceptible. This also makes his character unreliable, the character is unpredictable, yet the viewer is invited to identify him. This makes him vulnerable, heartless and dangerous, lonely and unstable (points all linked to his traumatic memory). This creates tension.

The use of high pitched string instruments (non-diegetic sound), instantly creates a great sense of tension. Although the calm music is the complete opposite of what is happening in the scene, it creates a unknown atmosphere, making the viewer experience the tension also felt by the characters in the scene. The diegetic  sounds in the clip are mainly of the gun shot and of the shaking of the photograph, these sounds make the scene seem very realistic making the extraordinary happen in the ordinary world.

Panning shots used in the room establish the location, they are also from Lennie's point of view so the viewer is invited to empathise with him. Other shots used such as the close of of Lennie's face as the narrator speaks, relate back to the traditional aspects of psychological thrillers (eyes being a common imagery).

The mise en scene of the piece is created with the use of the tattoo's covering the characters body, this helps us understand the characters 'flaw' and links into the memory as his body is used as a notebook to remember key information.