Budget!

Things we need - Costume we can provide without having to buy anything. A3 paper. A3 map of Bury St Edmunds (our main location). Printed pictures (possibly Polaroid) Jaz has one we may be able to use. This will cost in printing paper £5 - £30?

This is about it. Anything else we may need to source we will list.

Analysis on questionnaire results

We created a questionnaire as a group and thought up of relevant questions to help us decide of different aspects of our Thriller opening. We decided to hand out our questionnaire to 20 different people to understand what our target audience (16-18) wanted from a Thriller opening.

The first question was what type of thriller sub genre did they prefer?

I have put the results into a pie chart to see what the majority of our peers preferred. It is clear that the sub genre 'psychological' is the sub genre that is popular.

The next question was trying to find out whether people would want to see a male or a female take the lead. The male lead seemed to be very popular by the people we asked, making up over three quarters of the results. This worked well with our plan for our thriller because our group really liked the idea of a male lead.

We then asked if they liked the idea of black & white and colour film mixed together? We were unsure whether to use these two together as we wanted certain shots in black and white but some in colour. However, the results came back that people did not like this idea as the majority said no.

The next question involved their thoughts about what they like in Thriller films. We found that confusion was popular within the people we asked. Also, twists were common too, therefore we will try to incorporate these factors within our opening.

The name for our Thriller opening is another important part of our film. We had a selection to choose from and the most popular one was Anonymous. These results also worked well as the whole group liked the idea of this name but were obviously still open for ideas.

Questionnaire for Our Thriller Film

Our questionnaire:

What thriller sub-genre do you prefer:

• Psychological
• Crime
• Conspiracy
• Supernatural
• Legal
• Revenge

Your favourite Thriller film

......................................................................................................................................

......................................................................................................................................

Do you prefer a:

• Male lead
• Female lead

Do you like the idea of black and white and colour film mixed together?

• Yes
• No

What do you like about the Thriller genre?

• Confusion
• Suspense
• Hero vs. Villain
• Twists
• Cliff Hangers
• Stalking

What name do you prefer for a Thriller film?

• The Following
• Obsessive
• Snap Shot
• Anonymous

Assigning Roles...

Jobs need filling; storyboard artist, camera operator, director, editor, sound designer, script writer, actors, set design, props and costume design, title designer, lighting, special effects and make up artist.

We are all going to contribute to each role, however officially we have assigned roles within the group.

Nikki - Director
Jaz - Editor
Jazz - Sound Designer

As to the rest of the roles, we are going to employ some actors (without pay), we are going to rotate roles as camera operator and director/assistant directors. All having equal amount of input into the other unassigned roles.

Analysis on Previous Students Work

Positives:

• Something that works well with this thriller opening is the 'thriller' storyline with an innocent person trapped and needing help. A common storyline for thrillers include plot twists, flashbacks and red herrings. Therefore, the storyline sticks to the features of a thriller which reflects on the opening.
• The establishing shot involves one character lying on the floor in a darkened room. The lighting is dull and creates somewhat of a show effect. This creates an eerie sense in the room and an unexpected desire to know what is going to happen next. There is a use of a 'pan' to show the audience the location and where the character is.
• The titles work well and have been thought out carefully with the type of font and colour, and what this represents. The transitions between the titles and the actual film works well and makes it clear that it is going to be a thriller film.
• The music throughout the extract creates tension for the audience especially later on where the character is trying to escape. The music is somewhat 'off putting' and non harmonious. Throughout the extract, the music builds in volume, pace and pitch and therefore increases the audiences tension whilst watching.
• There is a good use of camera types, angles and perspectives within the opening of the film. There is a point of view shot, hand held camera, close ups, low angles which all create a sense of panic and help to relate to the character and understand what they are going through.
• Inter-cutting is used very well in the extract which shows the characters point of view and also what the masked man can see. The cutting is quick paced and therefore makes the extract seem a lot quicker. The shot then shows the masked man which is somewhat secretive and adds to the dramatic storyline.

Negatives:

• Whilst watching the clip, the lighting seems unrealistic at some points throughout. The setting is in an enclosed location which would not naturally have a light inside. The light inside the location therefore is ambient (is created by a light) but does make a good effect for the narrative.
• When the masked man is speaking, it is hard to understand what he say's and therefore could be hard to follow the storyline. Also, it is something that has been used in a film before - Saw. It would have been a good idea to record him miming the speech and record his dialogue separately. Therefore, you will be able to hear what he says better.
• The lighting sometimes changes subtly without actually showing the character turning a light of for example. This is a bad continuity however, is quite subtle and hard to detect although it is important that the people editing it noticed it and try to solve this.

Video blog #1 Initial Narrative Ideas

This is us three just talking about our initial narrative ideas for our Thriller film.

Discussion topics include;

• Storyline ideas
• Locations
• Shot ideas/types
• Editing techniques

What is a Thriller?

"Thriller is a huge category which include psychological, crime, conspiracy, supernatural and more. The genre plays with your emotions and makes you become attached to the main characters. A good thriller should put you on edge and leaves a lasting impression on you. Audiences have certain expectations of genre films. They expect genre films to involve innovation. inflection/subversion of the generic conventions."

What is a thriller?

• Uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements.
• Society is seen as dark, corrupt and dangerous.
• Literacy devices like plot twist, red herrings and cliffhangers.

Characters:

• Criminals
• Stalkers
• Innocent victims
• Private eyes
• Police
• Psychotic individuals

Thriller films:

• Inception
• Dark Knight
• Silence of the Lambs
• Bourne Identity
• Fight Club
• The Shining
• Memento
• Se7en

Thriller techniques include: Use of tracking, Point of view, Close ups/extreme close ups, Reveals (track in/zoom in), Dramatic angles, Eerie tense music, Low key lighting, Chiaroscuro, Exaggerated sound, Strong directional lighting, Fast paced editing (chase scenes), Jump cuts, Parallel editing, Silence, Disorientation of time or space.

Narrative techniques include: Plot twist and turns, Multiple lines of action, Flashbacks, Red herring, Deadlines, Principle of concealment, Mysterious characters, Morally complex characters, Chases/pursuits.

Finished Preliminary

I made a huge mistake and deleted my youtube account. This had the original video copy of the task. I cannot render this mistake as the copy will not open on the hard drive.

After filming we realised there are a few continuity errors, next time we need to plan better. Shot lists rather than just 'ideas'. We also need to direct out actors better. Some of the movements where too quick to edit properly.

Director Research

As part of our class work, we had to go away and research a certain director.
My director was: QUENTIN TARANTINO.

Information about his life:

• He was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, the son of Tony Tarantino who was an actor and amateur musician.
• His father is Italian, and his mother Irish. He was raised by his mother, as his parents both separated before his birth.

Films he has made:

• Kill Bill: Vol. 3
• Inglorious Basterds
• Death Proof
• Sin City
• Kill Bill: Vol 1 & 2
• Jackie Brown
• Four Rooms
• Pulp Fiction
• Reservoirs Dogs

To name just a few..

Pulp fiction followed the lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangsters wife, and a pair of diner bandits connect in 4 tales of violence and redemption.
It was directed and wrote by Quentin Tarantino and receive 9 out of 10 star rating.
The response of major American movie reviewers were widely favourable. One review quoted "Tarantinos originality stems from his ability to focus on small details and follow them where they lead, even if they move the story away from conventional plot development"

Preliminary Task...

Preliminary Task - Conversation between 2 people.

After watching a few AS preliminary task examples we decided we wanted to use a better script. The Drama department provided us with a few and this is the one we chose.

''Person A - I  need a cigarette
Person B - You can't have one
Person A - But I'm desperate
Person B - There's a sign over there that says no smoking so you can't
Person A - Yeah well there's a sign over there that says no dogs so you can't be here either.''

We watched a few examples on youtube like the clip below...just to get a few ideas and some inspiration on shot types...