Rough cut - Miss Georgiou

Rough cut

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NWTiw5BU7A

Audience feedback is important to a production as it allows producers to find out what needs to be improved on within their film. Producers do not want bad reviews of their films as this may put off potential audience from watching it. Ultimately, the audience is the reason behind the making of a film and so it is important that they enjoy what they watch. Producers will want their audience to recommend their film to other potential viewers which will help to build up the film reputation and result in more money being made.

There were various ways in which we received audience feedback from our target audience, the first being through asking a questionnaire that we had created to 40 people from our target audience age group. The purpose of the questionnaire was to get a better idea of what they wanted to see in a thriller film so we could analyse our group narrative and storyboard that we had already created to see if it incorporated any of the popular opinions from the questionnaire. We then made Vox Pops of three people who had answered our questionnaire to achieve more detailed answers for what our target audience feel and know about the thriller genre and to prove that the rest of our results are accurate and that we had asked those 40 people ourselves. Another way in which we received feedback from our target audience was by showing our sequence to our class and then them telling us verbally what they liked and what we could improve on. One point of improvement that was made was that our title appeared too early on in the sequence and should be moved to after the mother had been killed. That way the music would play after the mother had been killed and then again at the end of the sequence when the audience can see the antagonist following his girlfriend. The music could be used to represent his dangerous side and indicate to the audience that he is going to kill his girlfriend as well. We made this improvement to our sequence that same lesson as we agreed that it looked better in its new position. The final way in which we received audience feedback was by uploading our sequence to YouTube and asking viewers to leave comments to tell us what they thought about our sequence; what they liked and what they felt we could improve on. These could be the opinions of complete strangers who would be brutally honest about what they think. This feedback would benefit our production as we would be able to change some aspects of our opening sequence to appeal to our target audience and show them what they want to see in a thriller film. It would also benefit the film industry as if the film is collecting better reviews from its target audience, it is likely to result in more people wanting to watch the film and therefore the film industry will make more money.

Firstly, a positive comment that we received about the rough cut of our opening sequence was that our narrative was interesting and well thought through which made the opening sequence more engaging to watch. As a group we spent a lot of time trying to think of a narrative that would be different to all of the other groups. For example, the flashback at the beginning of our sequence and the 3 different change in locations, we felt would make the sequence more interesting to watch. Another positive comment was that the transitions between our shots work well which helps to create a consistent flow of the opening sequence. As a group, we wanted for our sequence to be smooth from the beginning to the end which would make it easier for the audience to watch so they could focus solely on the narrative. Finally, another positive comment was that our use of low key lighting and sounds within the opening sequence helped to build up tension. Low key lighting was used in all of the other thriller films that we had looked at and analysed due to it being a good way to create an eerie atmosphere which would build tension as it could foreshadow when something bad was going to happen. We also wanted to make the sounds that we used as realistic as possible which meant that they would have to be heard on screen at the right time.

Firstly, a common constructive comment was that our credits did not appear on screen for long enough, therefore they could not see who was what role in the production of our opening sequence. When we were creating the sequence, we wanted the forename to appear first and then disappear just before the surname appeared. We may have made their appearances too quick due to the fact that our sequence is only 2 minutes long, however, after seeing these comments and then watching the sequence back, we have enough of the sequence without any credits to make the credits we do have longer.

Another constructive comment was that we could use a darker filter when Morgan is hanging himself at the beginning of the opening sequence in order to make the feel of the scene more dark and morbid. Our group will be able to intensify the edit that we have already put onto the frames during the suicide scene to make it appear more low key.


Finally, it was suggested that we could have used a light, background music at the beginning of our sequence that could build up throughout which would help us to highlight and emphasise when something dangerous is going to happen. I think that this is a good idea that will help us to build up suspense within the sequence as the change in volume will indicate to the audience that something is about to happen but they won't know what.

After reading over the comments on our opening sequence, we have identified some changes that we will need to make on our opening sequence. Firstly, we will need to extend the amount of time that the credits appear on the screen to allow the audience to see who was involved in the production of the sequence and to fully appreciate their work.

Another change that we will need to make on our opening sequence is making the low key lighting when Morgan is hanging himself more intense to make the scene more dark and serious. We can do this by using one of the darker edits provided by the Movie Pro application.

Also, it was suggested that we should have used a light, background sound at the beginning of the sequence that could gradually build up as the sequence went on. At the moment we have a low, drone sound that plays throughout the entire sequence to ensure that there are no moments of silence. However, to improve on the comment we could possibly begin to make the sound louder as the sequence goes on or when the suicide, murder or final scene take place.

Risk assessment - Miss Georgiou

Risk assessment

A risk assessment is looking over what we are going to need to do in order to film our opening sequence and then identifying whether there is anything within the production that may cause harm to members of the group and how to prevent that from happening. When we are filming, we must always be aware of the potential risks that our production has. In our group we discussed and then made a list of the biggest risks that we felt our production had, and then continued our discussion on ways in which we could prevent them from happening.

 

The risks that we came up with were:

Two of the biggest risks our group identified involved the iconography in our sequence. For starters, we planned for the antagonist to kill his mother using a knife, which is dangerous due to the possibility that someone may get cut. The actors will have to stand close to and hold the knife in order to make the sequence look more realistic and shocking. A way for our group to prevent anything from happening, we will make sure that there is always a space between the actors and the sharp end of the knife. Also, by filming the shot from different angles we can decide during the editing stage which piece of footage looks more realistic and flows best with the rest of the sequence. The second piece of iconography that is a risk for our group during the filming process is the rope. This will appear in the suicide scene at the very beginning of the sequence when the antagonist ties it around his neck in the build up to his death. The rope could potentially be too tight around his neck which would result in the actor feeling uncomfortable or lacking breath. In order to prevent this from happening we will need to make sure that the rope is only loosely tied around his neck, but that the camera is positioned in a way that makes it appear tighter. Also, we will make sure that the chair he is standing on is stable, therefore reducing his chances of falling off. When it came to filming, we agreed that instead of using an actual rope, we would use a black scarf that looks similar to a rope but is much more comfortable.

We realised that another potential risk in our production are the props and objects in the frames that the actors or people behind the camera could potentially fall over or that could get in the way of the camera. A way to prevent this from happening would be to make sure there is always a space for the actors and cameraman to move around, and that the only objects in the frame are ones that we plan on using.

When we are filming our final frames we will need to stand near the road side which means that there will be cars around us. There are obvious risks of being around cars, so in order to prevent anything dangerous from happening we will need to make sure that we are more aware of our surroundings at all times, especially when we are trying to focus on the filming. On the other hand, we could try to film at times or in areas where there will be less cars on the road. We made a late decision to film on a quiet road near the school that both people and cars rarely came down. This meant that there were little disruptions for our group and therefore we could get the filming done quicker.

There were some risks in our production that our group faced while we were filming that we had not predicted we would encounter. For example, on our final day of filming outside, the weather was really bad which meant we had to be careful not to damage the camera or the tripod in the rain. We managed to cover the equipment by using our umbrellas but it was still difficult to keep the equipment stable.

Production Roles - Miss Miller

Production Roles

When creating a film, there are people who are allocated specific roles in order to share the pressure around as one person alone would not be able to handle it and consequently, the finished production may not be as good as it could have been. The main roles within the filming production are:

A producer is someone who has overall control on every aspect of a film's production. A director is someone who directs the making of a film. The actors job is to bring the characters and narrative to life. The director of photography, sometimes referred to as the cameraman is in complete control of the camera. The music producer has the role of selecting appropriate songs and sounds for the film to match the footage. An editor is someone who puts the finalised footage together by taking out any mistakes made while filming, or adding effects over the footage. The screenplay writer will create the script for the film which is dictating what the actors are going to say. Finally, the Mise-en-scene Coordinator is someone who decides which sound, lighting, costume and iconography elements should be used in the film.

Producer (Production names)

As a group we created our production name GoButson, but the idea came from Jake Butler who thought it would be more personal if we were to join all of our surnames together. Together as a group we agreed on the order that the names of the people involved in making the film will appear on the screen during our opening sequence. Usually they are shown in order of appearance or importance.

Directors
For the directors of our opening sequence, Molly and I were chosen due to our strong leadership skills and our ability to give direction to the actors and other group members. Also, together we had similar visual ideas for how we wanted our opening sequence to look and so it would be easier to work together to finish filming our sequence. We are responsible for making sure that our other group members and the actors that are helping out know what to do and how the sequence needs to look. Within our role we have set up times and places for us all to meet in order to film or editing our footage. Also, we have made sure that we had all of the equipment that we would need to film, mainly the camera, SIM card and camera tripod. This makes the filming and editing easy as without any footage there would be nothing for us to edit, and so the directors make sure that we have everything that we need in order to film on the days that we had decided to.

Actors

Most of the actors in our opening sequence come from outside of our immediate media group, excluding Molly Emmerson. Our antagonist Cameron will be portrayed by Morgan Brown, who we chose to be an actor in our film due to his passion for acting and his experience from taking drama at a GCSE level. Similarly, we chose Grace Wingrove to play the mother in our production as she is very passionate about acting, and she and Morgan get along well together and so we believed it would be easier for them to act together. The actors are responsible for bringing our group narrative and ideas to life, which means they have to turn up whenever we have planned to film and learn any lines that they we needed them to say during the scene. Without the actors there would be nothing for us to film or edit that an audience will relate to, therefore actors are one of the most important aspects of the filmmaking process.

Director of photography

I was allocated the role of director of photography (cameraman) for our group due to my experience from filming family events, and my passion for photography and film. I am therefore responsible for making sure that the camera and SIM card are present on days that we have planned to film, and also making sure that what we have recorded follows the group storyboard that we had created together. Throughout the filming process, I had to make sure our group completed the filming of our sequence within the time frame set, which therefore meant that I had to make sure all of our actors knew what dates and places we were meeting to film, and find a time that suited all four members involved. Having this job ensured that we would have a camera at all times and would be able to follow our filming schedule previously planned.

Music producers

Due to our various tastes in music, we decided that all three of us would work together to produce the soundtrack for our sequence. Jake Butler enjoys listening to rap music, Molly Emmerson prefers pop music, and I like indie, acoustic styles of music which means that collectively we will have an understanding for what music will work best in our sequence. We are all responsible for giving input towards the sounds within our sequence, where they will appear and the volume that they will be. This will make our filming and editing easier as we would have a better understanding of what sounds would work well alongside the footage. Also, the editing process won't take as long to finish if, as a group we already know what we want to do.

 

Screenplay writer

Jake Butler was chosen to be the screenplay writer for our group as he is studying English at A level therefore he would have a better understanding of appropriate things the characters can say that will fit in with the sequence and genre. When our group actually filmed, the script that we used was made up on the day and changed depending on how much time in our sequence it would take up. For example, during the dinner scene, instead of having a conversation, Grace was the only one who spoke. By doing this we would be able to show the audience that she is overpowering and annoying. This role should have made the filming easier as the actors would know what they were going to say before we started filming. This would mean we could finish the filming much faster and therefore spend more time editing our sequence. It would also give us more time to decide whether there were any parts of the sequence that we would need to film again if it did not flow or look good. For example, we had to re-film the frame at the beginning of the sequence where the audience see the antagonist walking through a door which closes behind him. Due to the first door we used having our school logo and pictures about the school on it, we decided it would be best to use a different door.

MES Co-ordinator

Jake Butler was allocated the role of Mise-en-scene coordinator due to his experience from taking media studies at a GCSE level and his understanding of what elements group together to make up Mise-en-scene. For this role, Jake Butler had to understand what elements of Mise-en-scene are conventional to the thriller genre and why, this would make our group planning and storyboard easier to complete as we would already have an idea of what we were going to incorporate and where it would be seen.

Editor

As a group we decided that Molly would be the lead editor within our group due to her editing experience from taking media studies at a GCSE level. She has also edited other short sequences that she has made in previous years which gave her the knowledge to guide the rest of our group on what to do. We filmed the same frame several times to give us more options when it came to the editing stage. As a group we had to decide which piece of footage we thought looked best, and then Molly would crop and place it accordingly. This will make the filming easier as we would be less worried about making mistakes, such as laughing while we're filming as the editor would be able to add in sound over the noise, or crop the footage down in order to cut out the mistakes.
 

As a producer, Jake came up with the idea to incorporate all of our group member names into the production name to make it more person and to make the film easily identifiable as ours. In the end, our group had no need for a screenplay writer as we improvised what characters lines while we were filming. If we were to redo our sequence, we could have spent more time deciding what the characters were going to say before we began to film. Jake provided the group with ideas for what Mise-en-scene elements to use in our sequence, but overall it was more of a group effort. To improve, Jake would have needed to input more of his own ideas into the overall process and take on bigger responsibilities, such as being in charge of iconography or making sure the tripod was present during every filming session. As a director, Molly was able to instruct the actors on what to do and suggest ideas as to where the camera should be placed. As an actor she managed to remember her lines and where she needed to stand in relation to the camera and other characters in the frame. As lead editor she involved all of the group members in the decision making in order to make sure that we were all happy with the final product of our sequence. I believe that with my allocated roles I completed them to the best of my abilities, and that as a group we were able to help each other out and work together in order to finish our opening sequence.

Opening Scene Narrative - Miss Miller

Opening Scene Narrative

The opening scene narrative is a detailed description of the plot that our group has created for the beginning of our thriller film. Our opening sequence is approximately 2 minutes and 20 seconds long.

At the very beginning of the sequence, we will use a long shot to show the audience our antagonist, Cameron, dragging a chair behind him through the school corridor, with a rope hung over his shoulder. The chair and rope are the most important pieces of iconography that we will use during the frames that are set in the school, as they both represent and foreshadow the way in which the antagonist is going to die. The audience will be able to hear the sound of the chair being dragged across the floor, which we hope will irritate them and help us to prolong the sequence. The lighting in the frames will come from the windows around him and therefore will be natural looking. The body language of the character will be almost confident looking to show the audience that he knows exactly what he is going to do. This frame will then switch into a medium shot that will show a side view of the antagonists legs. The same emphasised sound of the chair being dragged will continue, but now it will be joined by a low, eerie sound that becomes louder the closer he gets to his death. We then plan on showing the audience the back of the antagonist as he walks through a white door that leads to the underneath of a staircase where the suicide frames will finish. The audience will hear the clicking sound of the door as the character opens it, and then a creaking sound as it begins to close. We will use a darker edit to make the lighting appear more low key. This frame will flow into a close up of the antagonists hands as he ties the rope around the metal bar underneath the staircase, which will appear dusty and damp. The sound of the rope being tied will be accompanied by a low, droning sound. The legs of the antagonist will then be seen as a medium shot as he climbs onto the chair and begins to tie the rope around his neck, although the audience will not be able to see this it will be implied. The first time the audience will see the antagonists face will be when he has tied the rope around his neck and is about to jump off the chair. He will be wearing a white shirt and his make up will cause his face to appear pale and his eyes sleep deprived. The camera will start as a close up which gradually zooms out into a medium shot to give the audience a bigger view of the rope around his neck and the chair that he is standing on. The shot will be silent as it will help us to emphasise the sound of the chair hitting the floor after he has jumped. We will then use a medium shot to show his legs dangling in the air and the chair pushed away behind him. In the editing stage, we will slow this frame down to make it appear as though he is struggling. All throughout the suicide frames, we plan on using edits to emphasise the low key lighting and the dull, droning sound to prevent any moments of complete silence. The actor will be wearing white but the audience will never see a full body image of him.

After the screen has faded to black, the location of the sequence will change and we will begin to show the audience the build up of events that led to the suicide at the start of the sequence. The first shot is a long shot of the antagonist and his mother as they sit at the dining table eating dinner in their house; the audience will see both characters from the side on. The iconography in the scene will be the plates and cutlery on the table, the most important being the knife as this will be the weapon that Cameron uses to kill his mother. The lighting is natural which will give the scene a relaxed and homely feel to it, similar to the sounds in the scene of the pair of them eating and talking quietly together. The sound of the mothers dialogue will gradually increase as the scene goes on, and the audience will become aware that she is nagging her son with questions about his medication and therapy sessions. The shot will then change into a point of view from Cameron's perspective, he will be wearing a black jumper which will contrast the white shirt that his mother will be wearing. The sound of the mother's dialogue will be droned out to make her speech longer and more slurred. The mother will be wearing a white blouse with her hair covered in white powder and tied into a messy bun to make her appear older. The shot will then quickly fade into a close up of a knife that Cameron is scraping across the table, accompanied by the change in lighting from natural to low key. We will zoom out from the close up to a medium shot of Cameron sitting at the table, still holding the knife in his hand. The audience will get a better view of his facial expressions and his feelings towards his mother. As Cameron begins to launch across the table at his mother with the knife, the camera will change to a point of view (POV) shot to show the audience the same thing that Cameron can. The camera will focus more on the mothers facial expressions and her horror at what her son is doing. The sound of the mother screaming and the knife cutting her skin will be emphasised, and the lighting will remain low key to emphasise how dark the events in the scene are. The time between each of the frames will be sped up during the editing stage. Following the medium shot of the mother struggling on the floor with her son kneeling over her with the knife in his hand, the title of our film with be shown on the screen along with the song "tiptoe through the tulips". We will cover some areas of the mother's top and body with fake blood in the final frame to make the stabbing look more realistic.

The screen, after fading to black will then show the audience the final location in our opening sequence, which will be a bus stop on the road side. The final character featured in the sequence, Harmony, will be introduced through the use of a close up of her legs as she walks towards the bus stop. The lighting will be natural due to it being set in the day time, and it will remain the same throughout the rest of our opening sequence. The camera will then change into a medium shot of her face, which will be closely followed by the sound of her phone ringing which we will add in during the editing stage to accompany the action of her taking the phone out of her pocket. This on screen sound and the diegetic sound of the dialogue exchanged between Harmony and Cameron over the phone will be the most significant. As she answers the phone by saying "Cameron?", the camera will zoom in closer to her face as she awaits his reply. The audience will then hear the voiceover of Cameron saying "I can see you", and then the camera will begin to move in a panning motion, to look as if Harmony is searching around for Cameron. She will reply with "where are you?" which he will follow with "Cameron isn't here anymore". All of the speech from Cameron will be recorded after the filming and then added over the footage during the editing stage. Harmony will finish the conversation by saying "what are you talking about?" before beginning to walk away from where she was standing until she is fully out of the camera shot, which will reveal Cameron standing a few feet behind her. We will then begin to play "tiptoe through the tulips" which we played once before after the death of the mother while the title of our film was being shown. The song, along with the image of Cameron walking away on the screen will face to black, signalling that our opening sequence has finished. There will be a low, dull sound that is constant throughout the entire sequence to ensure that there are so silent moments.

Filming Schedule - Miss Georgiou

Filming Schedule

The purpose of a filming schedule is to provide all of the group members with a detailed outline of what we are going to need to bring, and where we will need to meet in order to film our sequence. The schedule will keep us on track and motivated to film our sequence, and it will keep our group communicated with each other outside of the classroom. The filming schedule helped my group to plan our opening sequence as we now know when we need to get certain frames filmed by, and what each frame is going to involve. We also became more aware of what iconography and equipment we need for each frame, and who is in charge of costume, hair and make up. Also, the schedule will make sure that we all know who is needed for each of the frames so we will be able to film on the days that we have planned to. It was important that we made a plan before we filmed our sequence as this would ensure that we knew exactly what we needed to do so we wouldn't miss anything out while we were filming.

Or filming schedule is:

The beginning of our sequence will start in our school which will show the antagonist as he drags a chair through the corridor and into the basement. The idea is that the school will look empty which will cause the audience to feel sympathetic towards the character as there is no one around to stop him from killing himself. We decided to use my house to film the dinner scene between the mother and antagonist due to my house being and looking older than Molly and Jakes, which will therefore help us to create a more eerie atmosphere. We planned on filming the last frames of our sequence at a bus stop that is local to Chigwell station. This was due to the area around the station being quite isolated which will once again create an eerie, lonely atmosphere. We also thought that this would prevent people from walking into the shot or disrupting us as we film. In the end, we decided to film the last frames on one of the backroads near our school instead of at the bus stop. This would look as though the girlfriend was on her way to the antagonists house and therefore was still in the dark about the fact that the mother is dead. As the girlfriend walks out of camera shot, the audience will then see the antagonist standing behind her, who then follows her as she walks away. The audience will be left wondering what is going to happen to her once she has found the mother or what the antagonist is going to do to her.

Group Storyboard - Miss Miller

Group Storyboard

After creating individual storyboards, we then compared our ideas and took the best ones to create a group storyboard. The purpose of a group storyboard is to give the other member's of the group a chance to look at each others ideas and to see if we had done anything different to each other. We could then also decide if their ideas incorporated elements that were better than our own. Due to our previous group meetings, we all had similar looking individual storyboards which made it easier to put together a group one. We all knew how we wanted the sequence to look, however for some of the frames we had used different camera techniques, or gone into more detail on the sounds and edits that we had planned to use. For example, Molly's storyboard was the longest out of all three as she used more frames and camera shots to show the audience the build up to the death of the antagonist at the beginning of the sequence. In her second frames she decided to use a medium shot to show them a side view of the antagonist dragging his chair through the school corridor, whereas Jake and I only used our first frame to give the audience a long shot of the antagonist walking towards the camera. We decided to use the frames that Molly had created as we thought it would prolong the sequence and make the audience wait longer in anticipation for the scene to finish. Also, during the frame that would show the audience a close up of the antagonists face right before he killed himself, I thought it would work best if there was no sound as this might distract the audience from what they are watching, and also the silence would emphasise his death due to the sudden sound of the chair hitting the floor shocking the audience and making them more aware of what has just happened. Whereas Molly wanted to have a low, eerie sound playing quietly throughout. We agreed that during the editing stage we would watch the sequence using both of our ideas to see which one works best.

This was our finalised group storyboard:

Together as a group we looked over our three individual storyboards before creating a group storyboard by using what we thought were the best frames from each. Overall, our group storyboard contains 24 frames, is set in three different locations and is around 2 minutes 20 seconds long. The group storyboard is much longer then our individual storyboards as we went into more detail in each of the frames. Frames 1 to 8 are set in the school, and show the build up to the suicide of our antagonists. We kept with the idea to have an enigma at the very beginning of the sequence as we are the only group with this idea and so we hope it will hook the audience. Frames 9 to 18 are set in the house and show the build up to the death of the mother. Frame 14 will be a blank screen as this follows the camera zooming in on our antagonists eyes, which he will then shut which we hope will surprise the audience. Similarly, frame 19 will be the title of our thriller film, "Disturbia" and will be accompanied by the chorus of the song "tiptoe round the tulips" taken from the film Insidious. Finally, frames 20 to 24 are set at the bus stop near Chigwell station. These will be the most difficult frames to film as we will have no control over the light outside, therefore we will have to try and film all of the frames on the same day as we cannot be sure that if we film the frames on different days that the lighting will be the same. To solve this problem we agreed that we could potentially use edits on the footage to keep the lighting the same throughout. Molly's individual storyboard was the most detailed out of the three as she often expanded her frames to sometimes show the audience the same shot but from different angles. There were only a few times during the group planning that we needed to make compromises on the camera shots we were going to use, for example, for the dinner scene, Molly had planned to use Point of view (POV) shots to show the audience what the antagonist was looking at. I, on the other hand wanted to use a close up shot to give them a better understanding of how he was feeling which would help to build tension due to the audience feeling as though the mother was in danger. As a compromise, we decided that we were going to start the frame with a close up of his facial expressions and then follow this with a zoom out to show the audience the bigger picture and include the knife in the shot.

I think our group storyboard is detailed and clearly shows how we want our opening sequence to look after we have finished filming. It was easy for us to do as we noticed after looking over our individual storyboards that someone of our frames were visually similar which made it easier to finalise our group storyboard. For example, the first frame of our antagonist walking towards the camera dragging a chair behind him was the same idea for all three individual storyboards. We all had the same beginning frame in mind for how we wanted it to look. We used the second frame in the group storyboard to show the antagonist walking from a side view as Molly had used two frames in her individual storyboard to prolong the sequence. If we could create the storyboard again we would try to incorporate more of Jakes ideas into our final one, but his individual storyboard was the least detailed and contained most of the ideas that mine and Molly's had together.

Individual Storyboard - Miss Miller

Storyboard

The purpose of a storyboard is pre-visualise how we want the scenes in our opening sequence to look after we have filmed it, and the appropriate camera techniques that will assist us in achieving these shots. The storyboard consists of a rough picture that shows the characters and setting within the frame, along with a brief description of the iconography, lighting, sound and editing that will also be present.

We each created an individual storyboard of how we think our group narrative is going to look once we have filmed it, including the camera shots, iconography, lighting, sound and editing. My storyboard consists of 18 different frames: frames 1 to 3 are the main shots from the suicide scene that takes place in the school, which is followed by frames 4 to 8 that show the build up to the death of the mother, Grace. Frames 9 to 12 introduce the character Harmony, who then goes on to find the mother dead in the house. Frame 13 is when the title of the film will play, along with the song "tiptoe through the tulips", and then finally, frames 14 to 18 are the build up to the end of our opening sequence, which will leave the audience with an enigma due to the possibility that the girlfriend could be in danger as she does not yet know who the killer is but the audience does, and they do not know what will happen to her once the sequence finishes. These individual storyboards will be discussed in our groups and the selectively joined together in order to create a group storyboard that will be the final outline for our opening sequence to the thriller film.

In my storyboard I incorporated different elements that are considered conventional to the thriller genre such as low key lighting, shallow focus and the fact that the victim is female and the antagonist male. Low key lighting will be used during the dinner scene in which the mother will be killed. The use of low key lighting is conventional to the thriller genre as the darkness of the light will suggest that something dangerous is going to happen but the audience will not know what, therefore suspense will be created as a result of this. The audience will have only just been introduced to the two characters in those frames, therefore they will not yet know who the victim is or who the antagonist is. But once the killing begins, the audience will sympathise with the mother who was not expecting her son to stab her to death. The antagonist will now be identified as someone for the audience to fear, especially when he is alone with other characters in the sequence. In the same frames, the low key lighting will be partnered with slow editing which is also conventional to the thriller genre as when the timing of the frames is slowed down, the sequence becomes prolonged leaving the audience waiting longer to see what happens next. The use of low key lighting was mostly inspired by the film Shutter Island, a thriller that uses low key lighting often to create dark shadows around characters and objects to make them appear dangerous and more significant to the frame. The use of low key lighting also makes it difficult to work out what is happening behind the characters, which will build tension within the sequence as it is more likely that the audience will experience jump scares due to things jumping out in the scene that they did not expect to be there. The fact that the victim is female and the antagonist is male are both conventional to the thriller genre as the woman will represent vulnerability and an easy target for the strong, male antagonist. The victim in the thriller film Psycho, Marion, was young, blonde and pretty, which is the most typical description of a victim. The colour white connotes the idea of innocence and vulnerability, which is why the victim in most thriller films, including our own, will be seen wearing white. In contrast, the colour black represents the idea of danger and hidden identity, which therefore means the antagonist will usually be seen wearing this colour. As a result, the audience will find it easier to identify which characters in the sequence are good and which are not, which they may find comfort in knowing. The use of a knife as the iconography is conventional to the thriller genre as the weapon requires more energy than, for example, a gun, which means the death of the victim can be prolonged and emphasised to create fear and shock within the sequence. The audience will be forced to watch the victim suffer for longer, and as a result they will sympathise with them. In contrast, the audience will begin to fear the antagonist who will appear brutal and personal in the way that they have killed their victim. In our sequence, the mother will be killed at the dinner table by her son, and so the knife will appear as part of the setting, due to the characters using the knife to eat. This will create shock within the sequence as the scene begins with a homely, natural feel and then suddenly turns violent which the audience will not expect.
 In conclusion, my individual storyboard is a rough outline of how I expect our group narrative to look after we have finished filming it. I think that when we create a group storyboard we will need to add in some more frames or extend some of the already existing frames in order to make the sequence more detailed. I think my storyboard may need to be slightly longer, however at the time I only needed 18 frames to show the most important ones within the sequence. Also, I feel as though I have been repetitive with the camera techniques that I have decided to use, such as the close up. In order to solve this our group will discuss alternative camera techniques that we can use instead of the close up. Using various techniques will make the sequence more interesting for our audience to watch. Our individual storyboards will help with planning our group storyboard as we will have three different interpretations of our group narrative, which we will be able to consider and take ideas from each to build up our final group storyboard.

Planning Opening Credits - Miss Georgiou

Planning Opening Credits

The purpose of the opening credits is to let the audience know the different roles that will feature in the film and the film title. Usually the roles will appear in the order that they appear in the film. The opening credits will also tell the audience which production company has produced the film, and will introduce the mood of the film. For example, the thriller genre will feel eerie and tense.

As a group we analysed the opening credits to the film Se7en. We discussed the colours that were used during the sequence, and we identified that the main colour for the text was white, whereas the background was black. These two colours represent the relationship between the antagonist and the victim. We could also see that there were flashes of red throughout the credits which connote the idea of death, blood and danger; key elements of the thriller genre. The style that the credits were written in appeared messy, almost as if they were handwritten, which suggests that the antagonist is a mentally unstable character. There were different conventions of the thriller genre that were used during the credits of Se7en, including Low Key Lighting which is used to create suspense and an eerie atmosphere. There was also an enigma present throughout the entire sequence as the audience could only see the hand of who they presumed was the antagonist, and so they did not know who he is for sure. They could also see the faces of the victims, therefore they are left wondering what those people have done wrong. Finally, we identified the different iconography that the antagonist was using during the opening credits that implied to the audience that he was planning the death of his victims. Lastly, we were asked to consider the order of which the text appeared during the sequence. The first name that appeared on the screen was New Line Cinema, the production company of the film. This was followed by the name of the director, David Fincher, and then Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, the main actors that the audience were going to see in the film.

We practised creating the credits for our groups opening sequence, and this was my final design. The title will fade into the screen at the beginning of the sequence and then out of the screen at the end, which I believe will appear mysterious and chilling. This is conentional to the thriller genre as the antagonist is usually hidden and lurking in the backgroup, which creates an eerie atmosphere and makes the audience feel unerved. The font text that I have used is bold and stands out against the black background. The line of red that runs through the middle of the white text represents that blood and death of the victims. This follows the conventions of a thriller as the death of the victim is typically brutal and bloody.

Molly used red and white font in order to make the title of the thriller film stand out again the black backgroup, this was similar to the colours that I used in my own idea. The white represents the victims within the film, and the red represents their blood and the danger that they are going to find themseleves in during the film. Whereas the colour black represents the dark side of the antagonist and how much power he has over the other characters; the black background is larger than the text. The text that Molly used for the title is bold and moves around the screen in a way that is similar to the title of our film. Overall, I think that her idea contains many of the conventions that typical thriller film credits have, and that it represents the status and characteristics that the characters in our sequence have.

After seeing the idea that Molly designed, I think there are many similarities that our design ideas have. I also think that as a group we will work on Molly's idea as the font stands out and fills up the entire screen. We want the audience to take notice of the title and to see how the word "disturbia" represents the behaviour of the antagonist. Also, the way the colour of the title changes from red to white can be used to represent the way our antagonist changes from being innocent to a killer, which the audience will see within the first few frames of our opening sequence.

During our opening sequence, the first credit that will appear will be the name of our antaognist, as he is the first character to appear on the screen and the most important in our sequence. The same goes for the two other characters that are featured in our sequence, when they are first seen on the screen their name will accompany them. We think this will make it easier for the audience to identify which actor is portraying which character. The title of our film "disturbia" will appear after the death of the antagonists mother, along with the song "tiptoe round the tulips". We decided to place the title here as it will give the audience time to process the first death and also it will hopefully leave them wanting to know what is going to happen next. The name of the director will appear at the end of the seuqence, followed by the names of the makeup and costume artists, which will show the audience the importance of the people involved in making our opening sequence.

Planning Characters - Miss Miller

Planning Characters


Without characters, the audience of a thriller film would not be able to understand or connect with the narrative in the same way. Characters are what bring the narrative to life, and act the narrative out for the audience to enjoy and appreciate. Usually, the characters will use their dialogue to tell the audience a story, building up the narrative as the film goes along.


Our antagonist will be called Cameron and is the only male character to be featured in the opening sequence. He is an 18 year old school drop out who lives with his mother. To the audience he will appear worn out and emotionless, due to the amount of time he spends fighting his split personality. In the sequence he will be seen either wearing a white shirt to show his vulnerability and guilt, and then black to show his dark and violent side. He is naturally a very quiet yet disturbed person who behaves in a passive way. He prefers to suffer in silence than to open up about the way he is feeling. At the age of ten he lost his father, but the murderer was never found. This was the prime event that led Cameron to become the angry, unstable person that he is. His character is stereotypical of the thriller genre as without the antagonist we would be unable to build tension and suspense within the sequence, or be able to create an enigma of who the killer is. The audience are able to build a relationship with Cameron as they will feel pity and sympathy for him during the suicide scene when he is guilt ridden. But they will also fear his dark side and the things that he is capable of doing.

The first victim to be seen in our opening sequence will be Grace, the antagonists mother. Her name represents her innocence and her peaceful nature. The mother is around 44 years old and worked as a primary school teacher but quit her job in order to dedicate her time to looking after her son. Her brown hair is beginning to turn grey in places, but overall she is quite young looking. To the audience she will appear tired and stressed from all of the years that she has had to spend looking after Cameron on her own. She has a very nurturing and caring personality, which Cameron will find annoying. He will see her constant nagging as too overprotective. Grace was once happily married and had Cameron when she was 26 years old. When she was 36 her husband was murdered, which left her a widow and alone to deal with Cameron all by herself. Her character is stereotypical of the thriller genre as there is typically a female victim who does not deserve to die, and this will help the audience to build a relationship with her as they will feel sympathetic towards her and her situation.

The final character to be featured in our opening sequence is Harmony. A young girl who attended the same school as Cameron, and became close friends with him and his family. She is 17 years old, and very girly looking which the audience will see as an obvious target for the antagonist. As the sequence goes on she will become more and more paranoid about Cameron. Harmony will be more of an obvious, typical victim who the audience will be able to build a relationship with as her innocence will make them feel sympathetic towards her. Her character is stereotypical of the thriller genre as she portrays the character that the audience expect to be the victim, due to her innocence.

In conclusion, the three characters that will be featured in our opening sequence are all, in their own ways, conventional to the thriller genre. To start with, Harmony, the girlfriend of the antagonist, will come across to the audience as an obvious choice of victim for the antagonist. Her slightly stupid characteristic will suggest that she is going to get herself into a dangerous situation involving the killer, therefore the audience will view her as an easy target. The mother of the antagonist, Grace will be the first victim featured in our opening sequence. The audience will feel more sympathetic towards her due to the fact that she was trying to protect her son the same way any mother would, therefore she could not have expected such a violent reaction in response. Finally, the antagonist, Cameron is conventional to the thriller genre as he is the reason behind the main narrative of the film. Had he not killed his mother or committed suicide at the very beginning of the sequence, the audience would have nothing to watch or no questions that they want answers to. The fact that the antagonist is twisted and mentally unstable will make him more of an interesting character to watch, and the audience will want to know more about why he is the way he is.

Planning the sound - Miss Miller

Planning the sound

The purpose of the group sound discussion was to decide which different types of sounds we wanted to use in our sequence and where they would appear.

Parallel

A parallel sound is one that the audience expect to hear with what they're watching. For example, when someone in a film gets shot, the audience will expect to hear the sound of the gun being fired or the bullet leaving the gun and then hitting an object or person. Our group has chosen to use a parellel sound when the antagonist is killing his mother during the dinner scene. The parallel sound of the the knife stabbing the mother and then the mother screaming will make the scene more realistic and will show the audience how violent the antagonist can be. This will be the first time in our sequence that the audience see the character as dangerous and the antagonist. We want this sound to emphasise how much pain the mother is feeling which will result in the audience sympathising with her and not wanting to be in her position. This will also create shock and the audience will fear the antagonist who was able to kill his mother is such a sudden and brutal way.

Non diegetic

A non diegetic sound is one that comes from outside of the narrative, for example, a VoiceOver is a non diegetic sound. Our group has planned to use a non diegetic sound of the song "tiptoe through the tulips" towards the middle of our opening sequence while our film title is being shown. The song is very childlike and joyful and follows the brutal death of the mother which we believe will create shock and unsettle the audience to hear such an unnerving and creepy piece of music.

Diegetic

A diegetic sound is one that is part of the narrative, for example, the sound of footsteps against the floor. We have planned to use a diegetic sound at the very beginning of our sequence when the audience see the antagonist dragging a chair through the school corridor. This diegetic sound will prolong the sequence and create antacipation within the audience as they have to wait longer to find out what happens. Although, the audience may already know what is going to happen due to the use of the iconography of a rope and chair in those frames. The audience will feel sympathetic towards his character due to him feeling as though his only option is to kill himself. We believe that if we keep the audience waiting longer for the inevitable to happen it will help our group to create suspense within our sequence. This will then create an enigma due to the audience not knowing why the character has killed himself.

Off screen
An off screen sound is one that can be heard but not seen. For example, the sound of a phone ringing from a room in a house that the characters are not in. The off screen sound that our group has planned on using in our sequence occurs when the antagonist is on the phone to his girlfriend; the audience will be able to hear his voice but they will not be able to see where he is. This scene follows the death of the antagonists mother which means the audience will now know what he is capable of but the other character will not. This will therefore create suspense in our sequence as the audience do not know what is going to happen to the antagonist's girlfriend

The audience will feel fearful for her and also fearful of the antagonist due to them already seeing how violent his character can be. Off screen sounds are conventional to the thriller genre as they can create tension due to both the audience can characters not being able to see where it is coming from or who is making the sound. For example, the sound of floor boards creaking is a typical way of creating tension and suspense as usually the character in the frame is home alone.

Discussing the sounds that we were going to use in our sequence made it easier to edit our footage as we already knew where the sound was going to appear and for how long. We could also choose the sounds before we had started filming which would result in a shorter time needed to edit the sequence.

Planning editing styles - Miss Georgiou

Planning editing styles

Editing is when certain shots are selected and then joined together in order to create a finished product. It is the time for any mistakes to be removed, and for sound and effects to be added over the footage. Our group had a discussion on the best editing techniques that we planned on using after filming our opening sequence. As the mind map shows, the three editing techniques that our group decided we wanted to include are a reaction shot, slow editing and filters.

A reaction shot is used in films to show the response that one of the characters has to another character or a situation within the film. Our group planned on using a reaction shot during the dinner scene of our sequence to show the horror on the mothers face as her son launches towards her with a knife in his hand. The audience will feel sympathetic towards the mother, neither of which were expecting the son to kill his mother in such a brutal way, therefore we want the audience to feel shocked by it. This will be emphasised by the use of fast editing which will represent the rush of adrenaline that the antagonist is feeling. We want the mother's facial expressions to show her pain and horror when being stabbed, which will further develop how sympathetic the audience feel towards her and also their fear towards the antagonist. We planned on using another reaction show towards the end of our sequence while the girlfriend is talking on the phone to the character that will have now been identified as the antagonist. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it will create tension due to the audience knowing that the antagonist has just killed his mother, but the girlfriend is still in the dark about it. The audience are aware that she is in danger but the character is not. This will leave our sequence on an enigma as the audience do not know what is going to happen to her character later on in the narrative.

Slow editing, as it sounds, is when the timing that the shots appear is slowed down. Slow editing is conventional to the thriller genre as it is used to create suspense within a film as the change between the shots is prolonged, leaving the audience waiting longer to find out what happens next. We have planned to use slow editing during the dinner scene to represent the antagonists growing imaptience with his mother as she nags him about his hospital appointments. The sound of the mothers voice will be muffled, so the audience can hear it the same way that the antagonist does. The use of our slow editing will prolong the build up to the death of the mother, which will create tension as the audience will see various shots of the knife but will have to wait longer to see it happen. The audience may fear the antagonist due to the sudden and brutal way in which he was able to kill someone that he loved. We have also planned to use slow editing again during the suicide frames at the beginning of the sequence as we believe that it will help us to create a more intense atmosphere, and emphasise just how serious the the situation is. It will also give the audience more time to process what the character is going to do. The audience will feel sympathetic towards the character who felt that the only way out of his situation was to kill himself. The use of slow editing will create anticipation and enigma within our sequence as the audience will want to know why he felt his only option was to kill himself.

Our group will use filters throughout our sequence, for example, to make the lighting more low key or to change footage from colour to black and white, but the most important filter that we are going to use is a flashback that will follow on from the suicide scene. By doing this we will be able to begin to tell the audience the narrative before his death and the events that led up to it. The audience will be able to build a relationship with the character as they are being given an insight into his personal life and the reasons behind his death. The use of a flashback in our sequence is conventional to the genre as it will create suspense and anticipation due to the audience already knowing how the film is going to end but they are unaware of what happens throughout the rest of the narrative.