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 Title Sequence Analysis (Jessica)

Thriller: Psycho 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tek8QmKRODw

The backing track used in the opening title sequence of Psycho is a high pitched string piece which creates tension instantly and very well. The pace of the music is quick also making the audience feel tense and feel like they are moving at the same pace as the music. All sound in the opening title sequence of Psycho is Non-Digetic. Towards the end of the opening the track uses and "call and response" style of notes, using the same notes but in a different pitch, this creates a mysterious atmosphere, relating the music back to the direct story line of the film. The use of contrapuntal sound with the pitches of the instruments is very effective and has an impact on the audience which makes them feel tense and alert them into the genre of the film. The track finishes on one long suspended note, creating suspense as it fades into the opening of the film.

 The Editing within the opening of psycho is done with the strong use of transitions between screens and the use of fades. 

This example shows the use of the grey lines to bring the words into focus, this technique is used throughout the opening sequence, it is very effective to the audience and goes in time with the music also. The colouring in the opening title sequence is all grey, white and red, this sets the time in which the thriller was created.

This is another example of a simple but effective transition, the use of splitting the word psycho into three sections and making them move left and right and different times this creates a very shadowy atmosphere reflecting the genre on the film. The way the transitions come together, could be argued to reflect the story line of the film, how lots of different pieces of information are put together to finally reveal an answer. These transitions are repeated in slight different ways- the use of repetition of the same thing is a common feature of psychological thrillers.

The lighting is all dark throughout the opening title sequence again reflecting on the atmosphere created throughout the film.

There is no variety on the camera angles throughout this opening as it is more of a graphic opening compared to a thriller such as se7en which uses a wider variety of camera angles and camera movements.

Overall, the use of simple transitions and strong sound track come across as very effective, they create a very tense atmosphere instantly alerting the audience into the genre of film they are watching and the mysterious happenings which are going to entail. This opening title sequence is simple but effective and it fore fills all traditional features of a thriller.

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 Test Shot Footage

This is our test footage for one of our shots for our thriller. You can see the safety precautions we took during this :)

Safety precautions for our thriller opening

We realised that if we were going to film our captive falling from a chair then we would have to protect his head. We did this by covering his head with various items of clothing and also used a sports mat for the captive to land on so he didn't hurt himself. These pictures also show that we want to tie the captives hands for a full effect. 

More Happy Memory Images

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.

Potential location

This is one location idea we looked into as it would be good for the dragging away of the hostage's girlfriend as the colouring around this area is very old and faded and the floor is stony and grey this could also be argued to effect the emotions being experience in our opening. 

Summary of Why "Thrillers" Thrive (Jessica's)

The Article on Why "Thrillers" Thrive talks about why we as humans enjoy these "emotional disturbances", or how they are commonly called, "thrills". It also talks about how we are able to watch thrillers knowing we are safe, for example sitting in a secure environment. This makes the thriller appear as though we are watching it through a window as such. Another point that is made is that we are not just spectators of the actions on screen, we are in fact participating also, we have to, to feel the true emotions that the characters are feeling.


It gives a good example of "good cinema" from the scene from "Hells Angles" where we are really put in the footsteps of the character on screen, due to the quick changes of shots and the facial expressions we see, we are able to feel first hand the sense of panic that the character is feeling. It also continues to say that there is no harm in this because we know subconsciously that we are safe. 


In the conclusion of the article it states that the writer believes that the thriller genre will be successful and be around for a long time, compared to the horror film genre which will soon die out. 

Script

In a dark, vacant room there is silence, but there is water dropping.
A man is tied to a chair in the room with a sack over his head. Shaking his head from side to side. As he shakes his head he sees a flashback of a happier time with his wife in a light, warm snooker hall. They are alone.
The man shakes his head again in distress. A flashback of his wife being taken and shot is shown.
One shake and a happy flash back of them walking in a bright field with bright flowers and the sun shining.
Another shake shows a flashback of him pushing her on some swings in a sunny park smiling and laughing.
There are a series of happy still images consisting mainly of his wife, smiling, gradually getting quicker building until a collision of snooker/pool balls brings the scene back to reality.
Finishing with the hostages.