Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
Evaluation
I knew I had to base the elements my group chose based on my audience research. The most important questions we asked our audience were "What is your favourate sub-genre of thriller?", "What is your favourate aspect of the thriller genre?" and information about the audience's age in years.
We knew that to be successful, we had to create a thriller that would suit the most popular categories whilst not forgetting the ones with less votes.
When the audience watched our thriller, we thought that it was important for them to feel intimited by what they were witnessing and therefore it satisifies their requirements for an ideal thriller
film. For full audience feedback as to what they thought of my thriller film please visit Section 11: Audience
feedback.
What kind of media institution might distribute your product and why?
I believe that in an ever changing w
orld, new methods of technology are increasingly being used to allow small low budget films to be profitable. One method of doing this is by using advertising supported content on video sharing websites such as YouTube. The majority of users who use YouTube fit into our college student target audience, and therefore it is appropriate to use this website in such a form. Our target audience often find themselves struggling for money, so they can watch the film without paying a penny and the creators can still bring a revenue. However, this is not a long term solution, and income from this can be relatively small after a long period of time.Personally, I do not believe that our film is aimed at an Art House cinema. Our film takes too many inspirations from other thriller films as mentioned furthermore into my blog. Therefore, it would be much better solution for my film to be on in a mainstream cinema. My work compares to a professional film with some similarities. One of those being that we used Adobe Premier Pro to edit our work, a program which is used professionally throughout the media to create many films. However, due to the fact we were only able to use one camera, the quality of our film decreases significantly because some parts have to be re-filmed from different angles.
Filming My Thriller (Diary)
After discussing the sub-genres of thriller with my group, we now had enough ideas of how to film our own opening scene. We knew that we had to remember the dark merky colours on camera as I saw in se7en and the quiet sounds from 'Silience of the Lambs'. Our group found some actors and a location which was set inside and outside my group member Tom Jennings' house.
December 21st 2010
Our filming began on this date. We had the idea of a girl walking home and is followed by two hooded men in the darkness. We only had one camera to film our work with, so many of our shots had to be filmed more than once so we could edit the footage to make it look like there were more cameras being used. The camera we used was not the camera offered to us by my college. My group heard from Warrington Borough Council that they had some better cameras which we could get hold of to film our work. We wanted to begin filming at night time so that the colour on our camera shots could be much more atmospheric. We were very limited in terms of what lighting we could use in our shots. When filming, the only lighting we deliberatly used to change the colours on screen was from a motorbike shining it's lights towards the set and the car in the film which beeps the horn at the girl.
January 4th 2011
Today we began editing our footage with a clearer idea of how the final film will look once it has been edited. The footage we had without being cropped during the editing process would have been too long per scene and would have looked untidy. We managed to crop the film so it looked like we had more than one camera being used at once. There are many times throughout the film where you will see the camera switch from one side of the room to another. This is to allow the audience to gain a differant character prospective of what is happening in the scene.
We did, however encounter one problem with our footage which we will need to refilm. We took two shots of the girl walking around the same corner, both from differant angles. The problem we have which we did not notice at the time was that she took too much of a sharp turn around the street corner on the first shot whereas on the second shot it was much more of a turn at the edge of the pavement. These problems could not edited so that her turn around the corner looks smooth. Another part of our footage which we will need to refilm is the girl entering her house through her door and leaving the key inside the lock. This is crucial because it explains to the viewers how the two men managed to enter her house. This was the last shot that we wanted to film but unfortunatly our camera ran out of power whilst recording. This was very disapointing to our group at the time but now the rest of the footage has been edited in we have left space for the remaining shots to be inserted into the timeline in the editing program. The image above is evidence of our editing.
January 14th 2011
Now we had finished cutting the clips, we could now begin our work with on editing sound. This was a very tricky task, particularly during the scene involving the girl crossing the road. This was because when we asked the driver of the car to beep his horn, he didn't do it in a long and consistant beep as we wanted him too. This was becuase his car didn't let him hold his horn for long periods. We knew we would have a hard time editing the horn so it would sound how we wanted it. In the end, we thought it was better for the horn just to beep when the girl stepped onto the road. Among the other sounds which we had to cut out was the shout of "Action!" from the start of our scenes.
January 19th 2011
The only short processes we had left to add to our opening scene was to add music, the opening titles and decide on a name for the thriller. I remembered that it was important to consider which font I used in the opening credits and how they appear o
nto the screen. We chose the white text because it stood out best when our scenes mostly have a dark background. We also thought it was best that the text should slowly fade in and out of the screen. When my name appears on screen, it was originally supposed to appear on the bottom right rather than the left. I soon decided that it would be better my name to appear in the bottom left corner because it is the direction in which the girl was walking in the scene. If it had been put in the bottom right, this may have been annoying for the audience's eyes because the girl would have been moving away from the text.When it came to chosing our music, we thought that something with high notes from a piano would help set the atmosphere. The song we chose was from the opening 20 seconds of 'Swansong for a Raven' by Maralyn Manson. This worked brilliantly when the girl is walking down the lonely road, combined with the white text for the opening credits.
I thought of the name 'Abduction' because it links in with the plot and what is going to happen in the opening scene. We also had the idea of calling it 'Incention' or 'Ascention', but we all felt that these titles didn't link in well enough with the plot. Another idea for the film was 'Kidnap' or 'The Kidnap', but we felt that this wasn't a very original name and we needed something a little differant.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
SECTION 2: RESEARCH INTO EXAMPLES OF COMPARITABLE PRODUCTS: American Psycho
American Psycho was the next thriller film which I watched. The opening titles of the thriller film show red liquid dropping to the floor in a side on close up shot. In time with the shot of the blood dropping is a short orchestrial sound. This makes the viewer feel like they are witnessing blood dripping from a dead body. They also assume this because the film they are watching is called American Psycho. The white background makes these red droplets look very visable. Since red can often represent anger, when falling to the bottom of a white backround it may make a viewer feel slightly distressed.
We then see the droplets fall onto well prepaired food in a posh and very up market New York restaurant. We see the restaurant full, with the camera focusing on four young profesionals. They are talking to each other, happily.
We then see the droplets fall onto well prepaired food in a posh and very up market New York restaurant. We see the restaurant full, with the camera focusing on four young profesionals. They are talking to each other, happily.
Once they leave the restaurant we see the first use of darker colouring in the film. This is outside of a nightclub. The film's title's are similar to other thrillers in that the bold white colours stand out in a darker background and are ment to be powerful for the audience to witness. When female dancers in the nightclub point guns around, this makes the atomosphere much more tense to the audience.
Monday, April 18, 2011
SECTION 2: RESEARCH INTO EXAMPLES OF COMPARITABLE PRODUCTS: Unthinkable
The very first thing we see when we watch the film "Unthinkable" is a nervous man standing in a dirty and cream coloured room talking to a camera. The shot is edited so that the sound and picture quality is similar to that of a small handycam. In one of the clips, he says that his name is Steven Arthur Younger. He then changes his name to Yusef Artum Mohammed, which imediatly tells the audience that he is a musilm and that the way he is filming himself may suggest to the audience he is recording a suicide video. It is important to mention that he is stood in an empty room, and that because of the cream colour and camera quality it carries on with the convention of a thriller often not using many bright colours in a situation of danger and threat.
A black screen then appeared with silver writing for the opening credits. The text fades in and out, reminding me of the powerful text I saw in the credits in 'Silience of the Lambs'. Although the text enters the screen slightly differant in that film, it does have a similar effect to the audience. When the words 'Unthinkable' appear on the screen, they move towards you as the font becomes larger in the centre of the screen. This suggests that something awful is about to happen during the course of the film and it wants the audience to become fearful early on and wants to maintain this throughout the thriller. This is similar to 'Jaws' because it wants the audience to become scared of the giant shark until the end. In this film, the man in the cream room is the shark.
The film then cuts to people walking across busy streets in New York. They are wanted to be seen as every day people getting on with their lives. On screen silver text appears saying the word "Tuesday", which was similar to seven, in that in wants to tell the audience that events of film are going to happen over a few days. A woman is seen smiling at a child. The camera shows that she is wearing New York Police Department uniform with a gun under her jacket. This continues the convention of having a dangerous object in a peaceful area. The next scene shows the headquaters of the police department. The room has a mixture of gloomy colours with brighter shades, although it is important to remember that since the location is a work place, it wants to show that the police are hard working. The camera then shows a man holding black and white photographs of two witnesses. Again, this is another link to the merky colours found in many thrillers.
The film then shows the witnesses in their living room. The television is switch on, showing the news. It is talking about a shooting. Note the red bold colour fade on the television. This tells the audience that the man involved is a threat and tries to make them think that even if his character was a real person, they should not go near him.
A black screen then appeared with silver writing for the opening credits. The text fades in and out, reminding me of the powerful text I saw in the credits in 'Silience of the Lambs'. Although the text enters the screen slightly differant in that film, it does have a similar effect to the audience. When the words 'Unthinkable' appear on the screen, they move towards you as the font becomes larger in the centre of the screen. This suggests that something awful is about to happen during the course of the film and it wants the audience to become fearful early on and wants to maintain this throughout the thriller. This is similar to 'Jaws' because it wants the audience to become scared of the giant shark until the end. In this film, the man in the cream room is the shark.
The film then cuts to people walking across busy streets in New York. They are wanted to be seen as every day people getting on with their lives. On screen silver text appears saying the word "Tuesday", which was similar to seven, in that in wants to tell the audience that events of film are going to happen over a few days. A woman is seen smiling at a child. The camera shows that she is wearing New York Police Department uniform with a gun under her jacket. This continues the convention of having a dangerous object in a peaceful area. The next scene shows the headquaters of the police department. The room has a mixture of gloomy colours with brighter shades, although it is important to remember that since the location is a work place, it wants to show that the police are hard working. The camera then shows a man holding black and white photographs of two witnesses. Again, this is another link to the merky colours found in many thrillers.
The film then shows the witnesses in their living room. The television is switch on, showing the news. It is talking about a shooting. Note the red bold colour fade on the television. This tells the audience that the man involved is a threat and tries to make them think that even if his character was a real person, they should not go near him.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
SECTION 2: RESEARCH INTO EXAMPLES OF COMPARITABLE PRODUCTS: Brooklyn Rules
'Brooklyn Rules' is an action thriller, with the first 5 minutes of the film set in 1972. The film begins with a black screen and church bells can be heard in the background. There is an echo of a priest speaking to the congregation. The opening shot is of a colourful statue Jesus Christ. The next scene is of a much more cloudy evening shot of the brooklyn bridge. The shots at the bridge are ment to show crime, whilst the church is of harmony. As the film switches between the two, it creates a comparison asking the audience where would they prefer to be?
Another give away of the location is the New York accent. This is where many thrillers are set, including 'Unthinkable' and 'Se7en'. We see plenty of disturbances of the hamony in the opening scenes of 'Brooklyn Rules'. The first is when a child steals from a catholic church, the second is when a man is found dead sat in a car. He has a bullet wound on his forehead. The disturbance of peace here is that he is sound in a lush and green forest. In the back of the car is a puppy trapped in a box. This is a warning of suffering for what will happen later on in the film.
Another give away of the location is the New York accent. This is where many thrillers are set, including 'Unthinkable' and 'Se7en'. We see plenty of disturbances of the hamony in the opening scenes of 'Brooklyn Rules'. The first is when a child steals from a catholic church, the second is when a man is found dead sat in a car. He has a bullet wound on his forehead. The disturbance of peace here is that he is sound in a lush and green forest. In the back of the car is a puppy trapped in a box. This is a warning of suffering for what will happen later on in the film.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
SECTION 2: RESEARCH INTO EXAMPLES OF COMPARITABLE PRODUCTS: Jaws
At this stage, there is no music being played in the film. Although this could still represent peace, there is a possibilty for this to also also be a warning. As she runs into the sea, camera shots of the horizon from the shore show how Cindy was venturing into the unknown. The lighter blues of the sea are from closer to the shore, whilst further away darker shades of blue stretch further and further out until it reaches the horizon.
SECTION 2: RESEARCH INTO EXAMPLES OF COMPARITABLE PRODUCTS: Silience of the Lambs
The film starts with a shot of a forest from the top of a hill. Large bold writing is seen in the opening credits with white lines around each letter of text. I thought that this was very plain but affective for the introduction to a thriller. In the distance there is white fog. As I have said before, white often represents tranquility, but in the darker green colours of the forest the white mist may be seen by some as mildly sickening.
Running towards a hill from a distance is a woman. In the first few seconds when we see her, I remember wondering if she was running away from someone or just simply training to a higher standard of fitness. When she lifts up a rope from the bottom of a hill aid her climbing, it becomes apparent that she is training for something. As she moves closer to the camera at the top of the hill, I can get a better view of the clothes that she is wearing. She is wearing matching grey jog pants and sweatshirt with a hood on the back. She keeps running until she climbs over an obsticle and meets a man holding a stop watch. This represent superiority by the trainer over the woman who is running. He sends her off into a main building where outside there are more men trianing on a climbing frame. They are wearing a differant uniform to the woman, so this allows you to question about the levels of gender seperation in the thriller.
As the woman enters the building, it becomes apparant that the building isn't as previously observed; there are offices, kitchens and people from differant genders wearing either a navy blue or grey colours similar those of the woman we saw enter the building. She keeps on walking until she reaches the elevator with many muscular men. The doors close as the lift takes her up to a room with many offices. Cameras follow her as she walks into an empty office. The woman looks around; emphasised by a 360 degree crab shot. the camera spins around until we see many photographs on the wall of dead and bloodstained corpses. The fact that the photographs are small but there is plenty of them scattered on the same wall makes you ask the question of whether this is a trophy wall.
Running towards a hill from a distance is a woman. In the first few seconds when we see her, I remember wondering if she was running away from someone or just simply training to a higher standard of fitness. When she lifts up a rope from the bottom of a hill aid her climbing, it becomes apparent that she is training for something. As she moves closer to the camera at the top of the hill, I can get a better view of the clothes that she is wearing. She is wearing matching grey jog pants and sweatshirt with a hood on the back. She keeps running until she climbs over an obsticle and meets a man holding a stop watch. This represent superiority by the trainer over the woman who is running. He sends her off into a main building where outside there are more men trianing on a climbing frame. They are wearing a differant uniform to the woman, so this allows you to question about the levels of gender seperation in the thriller.
As the woman enters the building, it becomes apparant that the building isn't as previously observed; there are offices, kitchens and people from differant genders wearing either a navy blue or grey colours similar those of the woman we saw enter the building. She keeps on walking until she reaches the elevator with many muscular men. The doors close as the lift takes her up to a room with many offices. Cameras follow her as she walks into an empty office. The woman looks around; emphasised by a 360 degree crab shot. the camera spins around until we see many photographs on the wall of dead and bloodstained corpses. The fact that the photographs are small but there is plenty of them scattered on the same wall makes you ask the question of whether this is a trophy wall.
Friday, April 15, 2011
SECTION 2: RESEARCH INTO EXAMPLES OF COMPARITABLE PRODUCTS: Se7en
In my earlier lessons where I studied the thriller genre, I asked myself what codes and conventions of it make the opening scenes so successful? This question is a complicated question to ask yourself or someone else and it really requires some considerable studying before a reasonable answer is found. I could only begin ask myself this question by watching one of the many sub-genres of thriller. Seven (or Se7en, as it is written in the film) is an action thriller and was an excellent benchmark for allowing me to answer this question.
In the first scene, we meet Detective Somerset, a soon to be retired policer officer. He is wearing a white shirt and dark tie, although he is hanging his tie loose until we see him tighten it a few seconds later. In the background the sound of sirens can be heard. This gives the impression that Somerset's appartment is in a busy city street. Soon after the film cuts to its first post-murder scene. Se7en doesn't show how someone was murdered, as is something that would happen in a horror film rather than a thriller. Se7en lets the audience's mind travel and wonder who was resposible or what caused the sequence commited. Although it may be early into my judgements to be saying this, this convention is one reason why I prefer the thriller genre to horrors.
At the first post-murder scene, Se7en keeps with a code of thriller that is seen in the majority of the film. This is the dark colours and murkey lighting in an effort to affect the audience's mood. The colours want to make the audience feel depressed by what they are seeing. The only time in the film where we see brighter colours is inside Mills' appartment. White is often the only bright colour you see in the thriller genre. This may be becuase not only does white represent a mixture of dark colours, but also there is balanced amount of brighter colours. Therefore, the white white you often see in horrors represents tranquility and harmony.
Although it is still early on in the film, it is easily noticable that because Detective Somerset has had his job for such a while he has a routine of doing things without thinking and allways in the same order. This is the opposite with Mills, who looks unprepared and becuase of his young age he hasn't yet found himself a routine. We see this at the same time as when we see the bright white in his apartment, so due to it's tranquility it is possible that his sometimes anxiousness represents a factor that will break the harmony, something bound to be explored later on in the film. This is one reason why this sort of peace can be broken and similar sorts of peace disturbences happen in other thrillers.
Sounds are used in the film to create a restless atmosphere. This was achieved early on by the ticking sound from the metrognome and its volume being raised to enhance Somerset's thoughts as well as close up camera shots. I believe that this has helped me to gain a better understanding of this sub-genre of thriller, but I need to watch more thriller films to be able to understand the original question I was posed.
In the first scene, we meet Detective Somerset, a soon to be retired policer officer. He is wearing a white shirt and dark tie, although he is hanging his tie loose until we see him tighten it a few seconds later. In the background the sound of sirens can be heard. This gives the impression that Somerset's appartment is in a busy city street. Soon after the film cuts to its first post-murder scene. Se7en doesn't show how someone was murdered, as is something that would happen in a horror film rather than a thriller. Se7en lets the audience's mind travel and wonder who was resposible or what caused the sequence commited. Although it may be early into my judgements to be saying this, this convention is one reason why I prefer the thriller genre to horrors.
At the first post-murder scene, Se7en keeps with a code of thriller that is seen in the majority of the film. This is the dark colours and murkey lighting in an effort to affect the audience's mood. The colours want to make the audience feel depressed by what they are seeing. The only time in the film where we see brighter colours is inside Mills' appartment. White is often the only bright colour you see in the thriller genre. This may be becuase not only does white represent a mixture of dark colours, but also there is balanced amount of brighter colours. Therefore, the white white you often see in horrors represents tranquility and harmony.
Although it is still early on in the film, it is easily noticable that because Detective Somerset has had his job for such a while he has a routine of doing things without thinking and allways in the same order. This is the opposite with Mills, who looks unprepared and becuase of his young age he hasn't yet found himself a routine. We see this at the same time as when we see the bright white in his apartment, so due to it's tranquility it is possible that his sometimes anxiousness represents a factor that will break the harmony, something bound to be explored later on in the film. This is one reason why this sort of peace can be broken and similar sorts of peace disturbences happen in other thrillers.
Sounds are used in the film to create a restless atmosphere. This was achieved early on by the ticking sound from the metrognome and its volume being raised to enhance Somerset's thoughts as well as close up camera shots. I believe that this has helped me to gain a better understanding of this sub-genre of thriller, but I need to watch more thriller films to be able to understand the original question I was posed.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
SECTION 3: BRAINSTORM OF CONTENT AND CLASSIFICATION OF FILM.
We have decided the certificate for 'Abduction' based on the bbfc guidelines on their website, particually what they say related to violence in a 15 rated film:
"Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the affliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have strong contexual justification".
'Abduction' does have strong violence in it and does not "dwell on the affliction of pain or injury". This is seen
when the two men run and take the girl away viciously whilst she is screaming.
Relating to horror in 15 rated films, the guidelines also state that "strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.
The guidelines for 18 rated films did not talk in any more detail about some of the events in the film. That is why I thought a "15" rating was suitable for this film.
In my group, we had to discuss possible ideas for my thriller film and brainstorm them during a class disscusion. The image below shows detailed ideas of we came up with:
"Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the affliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have strong contexual justification".
'Abduction' does have strong violence in it and does not "dwell on the affliction of pain or injury". This is seen
when the two men run and take the girl away viciously whilst she is screaming.Relating to horror in 15 rated films, the guidelines also state that "strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.
The guidelines for 18 rated films did not talk in any more detail about some of the events in the film. That is why I thought a "15" rating was suitable for this film.
In my group, we had to discuss possible ideas for my thriller film and brainstorm them during a class disscusion. The image below shows detailed ideas of we came up with:
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
SECTION 4: AUDIENCE RESEARCH
My group had to gather create a questionaire to gain a better understanding about people's preferences in the thriller genre. I have analysed these results and you can find my analysis here: (please click images to enlarge the three pictures).
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
SECTION 5: Treatment.
Synopsis:
Abduction- To carry off by force; kidnap.
Dawn is a girl from Warrington, she lives a normal life with normal friends with normal hobbies.
However her family’s past is not so normal and something which is to come back and haunt her… Dawn is abducted by a cult intertwined with her family history and is taken to be part of a religious ritual which will result in her death. The Authorities have no clues, no leads or way of finding her, only her family can save her. But they are at a dilemma; save their daughter from a religious sacrifice or follow the code of the cult, which they are devote to.
Treatment:
The film starts off with a young girl walking home. It is late at night and the air is cold and misty. As the girl walks down an avenue off the main road, the camera shows a man dressed in black clothes watching her from the opposite side of the road. The only noise is the buzzing of the lamp posts and distant cars.
As she turns the corner, she again looks around, gripping her coat round her to keep warm, her pace quickening. She comes to another road where she goes to cross but the front lights of a car stop her, its windows are blackened out to hide the identity of the driver. She goes to cross nervously but the car beeps at her, so she steps back onto the pavement to allow the car to drive off but it doesn’t move. She steps out again in the hope of being granted passage but the car beeps at her again, she stares at the blackened window pondering on how to react.
She steps out a final time cautiously; the car slams on the horn causing the girl to jump and by instinct run across the road and continues to quickly walk down the road as the car stays motionless. The girl then turns the corner, walking clumsily in the dark as she desperately wants to get home, we see a car in the distant coming down the road. As she walks down the road to her home, thinking she is finally alone, under the light of the lamppost, a man stands, his identity hidden.
We then see her in a kitchen cooking her meal, to then walk into the lounge with a prepared meal. She watches TV and starts eating her meal in a relaxed manner. Suddenly, the window is hit from the outside, the girl jumps in shock. She stands frozen and then slowly moves to switch the garden light on. As she switches on the light, a man is revealed to be standing behind the window, his identity still hidden within the black hooded coat. The girl and the man look at each other through the window, her body shaking in fear, tears forming at her eyes. Suddenly another man comes from behind and pulls a bag over her head. The other man forces his way through the sliding window and comes to help the other man as the girl struggles and screams. The men then drag the girl through the house and into the car that she stepped in front of previously. The shot ends with the car door slamming.
The rest of the film:
Her parents come back to the house later and after searching for their daughter, realise what has happened. Their son, Jason -who has no knowledge of his parent’s past- rushes to call the Police, however the parents tell him not to and instead they ring other family members, asking them to come to the house. A few hours later they arrive and discuss the matter, Jason is sent to his room where he rings the Police despite his parents command. When the Police arrive, the family then have to answer questions and the parents are taken to the station because of suspicions over why they didn’t ring the Police first. After they are let go, the parents return home and the father decides to go and look for Dawn, he tells the mother to stay with Jason at the home. The father then goes in to town meeting up with contacts he has and eventually finds the location where Dawn is being held. The location is an old warehouse that was abandoned years ago. The father fights with cult members and works his way deep into the warehouse where he finds the two original kidnappers with the leader of the cult going to stab Dawn and complete the ritual. The father turns the knife on the leader and kills him, the two kidnappers run off as the father unties Dawn. The ending shot is of Dawn and her father working out of the warehouse entrance, Dawn clinging her father by the side.
Abduction- To carry off by force; kidnap.
Dawn is a girl from Warrington, she lives a normal life with normal friends with normal hobbies.
However her family’s past is not so normal and something which is to come back and haunt her… Dawn is abducted by a cult intertwined with her family history and is taken to be part of a religious ritual which will result in her death. The Authorities have no clues, no leads or way of finding her, only her family can save her. But they are at a dilemma; save their daughter from a religious sacrifice or follow the code of the cult, which they are devote to.
Treatment:
The film starts off with a young girl walking home. It is late at night and the air is cold and misty. As the girl walks down an avenue off the main road, the camera shows a man dressed in black clothes watching her from the opposite side of the road. The only noise is the buzzing of the lamp posts and distant cars.
As she turns the corner, she again looks around, gripping her coat round her to keep warm, her pace quickening. She comes to another road where she goes to cross but the front lights of a car stop her, its windows are blackened out to hide the identity of the driver. She goes to cross nervously but the car beeps at her, so she steps back onto the pavement to allow the car to drive off but it doesn’t move. She steps out again in the hope of being granted passage but the car beeps at her again, she stares at the blackened window pondering on how to react.
She steps out a final time cautiously; the car slams on the horn causing the girl to jump and by instinct run across the road and continues to quickly walk down the road as the car stays motionless. The girl then turns the corner, walking clumsily in the dark as she desperately wants to get home, we see a car in the distant coming down the road. As she walks down the road to her home, thinking she is finally alone, under the light of the lamppost, a man stands, his identity hidden.
We then see her in a kitchen cooking her meal, to then walk into the lounge with a prepared meal. She watches TV and starts eating her meal in a relaxed manner. Suddenly, the window is hit from the outside, the girl jumps in shock. She stands frozen and then slowly moves to switch the garden light on. As she switches on the light, a man is revealed to be standing behind the window, his identity still hidden within the black hooded coat. The girl and the man look at each other through the window, her body shaking in fear, tears forming at her eyes. Suddenly another man comes from behind and pulls a bag over her head. The other man forces his way through the sliding window and comes to help the other man as the girl struggles and screams. The men then drag the girl through the house and into the car that she stepped in front of previously. The shot ends with the car door slamming.
The rest of the film:
Her parents come back to the house later and after searching for their daughter, realise what has happened. Their son, Jason -who has no knowledge of his parent’s past- rushes to call the Police, however the parents tell him not to and instead they ring other family members, asking them to come to the house. A few hours later they arrive and discuss the matter, Jason is sent to his room where he rings the Police despite his parents command. When the Police arrive, the family then have to answer questions and the parents are taken to the station because of suspicions over why they didn’t ring the Police first. After they are let go, the parents return home and the father decides to go and look for Dawn, he tells the mother to stay with Jason at the home. The father then goes in to town meeting up with contacts he has and eventually finds the location where Dawn is being held. The location is an old warehouse that was abandoned years ago. The father fights with cult members and works his way deep into the warehouse where he finds the two original kidnappers with the leader of the cult going to stab Dawn and complete the ritual. The father turns the knife on the leader and kills him, the two kidnappers run off as the father unties Dawn. The ending shot is of Dawn and her father working out of the warehouse entrance, Dawn clinging her father by the side.
Monday, April 11, 2011
SECTION 6: CHARACTER PROFILES
Before filming, we had to decide on profiles for our characters. There would be three characters involved in our film. They are as follows:
Clint LeVern
Clint LeVern is a rich man who made his money over several years by fraud but has recently lost all his savings through his shares collapsing on the stock market. He joined the cult in order to seek supernatural aid for his material. Clint dresses extremely well and has many servants at his home, however with his financial issue, he is now struggling to keep hold of his material wealth and status and so will desperate do anything to remain powerful.
Gideon LeVern
Gideon LeVern is Clint's younger brother and has always looked up to him, however he has never questions how Clint remains so rich but will do any task he asks him to do. Gideon does not officially belong to the same cult as Clint, but still wishes to help Clint in kidnapping a young girl. When Gideon isn't with his brother, he is lost and doesn’t do anything productive. He is also very shallow and often opens up his mouth about the deeds he has committed without considering the consequences, which is why he is kept in the dark when it comes to Clint’s business.
Dawn Jones
Dawn has a relatively normal life, with a supportive family and friends. She does well at school and is looking to go to university. Dawn stays late at school and so always comes home late in the dark. Her parents are normally out. Dawn enjoys an odd diet, mostly of raw potatoes.
Dawn’s parents
Dawn's parent's have a very disturbed past and have a very disturbed past, going back to their teenage years when they have joined religious cult they have since departed from. Dawn's father is a very strict man who does not show his daughter any comfort or attention (something which she has got used to). Her Mother is the opposite however, Dawn and her mother have an extremely close relationship as she is a university lecturer
Jason - Dawn’s brother
Jason is a rebelous teen mostly because he feels neglected by both his father and mother, due to the fact that his father shows no attention to his children and that his mother is always focused on Dawn. Jason doesn't do so well in school and despite not getting along with his parents, has a very close relationship to Dawn.
Clint LeVern
Clint LeVern is a rich man who made his money over several years by fraud but has recently lost all his savings through his shares collapsing on the stock market. He joined the cult in order to seek supernatural aid for his material. Clint dresses extremely well and has many servants at his home, however with his financial issue, he is now struggling to keep hold of his material wealth and status and so will desperate do anything to remain powerful.
Gideon LeVern
Gideon LeVern is Clint's younger brother and has always looked up to him, however he has never questions how Clint remains so rich but will do any task he asks him to do. Gideon does not officially belong to the same cult as Clint, but still wishes to help Clint in kidnapping a young girl. When Gideon isn't with his brother, he is lost and doesn’t do anything productive. He is also very shallow and often opens up his mouth about the deeds he has committed without considering the consequences, which is why he is kept in the dark when it comes to Clint’s business.
Dawn Jones
Dawn has a relatively normal life, with a supportive family and friends. She does well at school and is looking to go to university. Dawn stays late at school and so always comes home late in the dark. Her parents are normally out. Dawn enjoys an odd diet, mostly of raw potatoes.
Dawn’s parents
Dawn's parent's have a very disturbed past and have a very disturbed past, going back to their teenage years when they have joined religious cult they have since departed from. Dawn's father is a very strict man who does not show his daughter any comfort or attention (something which she has got used to). Her Mother is the opposite however, Dawn and her mother have an extremely close relationship as she is a university lecturer
Jason - Dawn’s brother
Jason is a rebelous teen mostly because he feels neglected by both his father and mother, due to the fact that his father shows no attention to his children and that his mother is always focused on Dawn. Jason doesn't do so well in school and despite not getting along with his parents, has a very close relationship to Dawn.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
SECTION 7: RECCE AND LOCATION SHEETS
The video above is a slideshow of the storyboard my group created to show the locations we plan to film in. This process is also known as a Recce.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
SECTION 11: AUDIENCE FEEDBACK
We had to get some feedback from out target audience about our thriller film which edited and re-watched to look to see if we needed any changes.
Monday, February 21, 2011
SECTION 12: ANALYSIS OF COMPLETED THRILLER
During the filming and editing process, it was important to ask ourselves: "As an audience member, how would we feel if we saw this film for the first time?" Throughout the film, we wanted our thriller to have a very ghostly feel to it from the start. The slow fade in to a dark street coincidenting with the classical piano music may seem calm to some but also very restless in the persepective of an audience member. We continued this theme with the opening credits of everyone who was invloved in our thriller. The white text fades in just as the girl the camera is following walks past the area. We felt that this would have been easier for the audience to read who is involved with the film and add to the spooky affect we wanted to achieve. The girl's shadow when she is walking down the road was created via our lighting and was something we were very proud of filming because her shadow allways grows as she moves.
When the lights of a parked car turn on as she walks in front of it, we wanted the audience to feel as though she is surrounded. The same idea is used when we hear the car horn. During the editing process of this scene, we had a lot of problems getting the timing of the shots and consistancy of the horn noises to coordinate perfectly. I now feel that the problem was solved for the final film. The credits then carry on with the piano music in the same style as the opening clips.
The scene with the knife and potatoes in the kitchen is an example of an idea with adapted to our thriller film from another. Sharp blades and food is something that I remember seeing in the opening sequence of 'American Psycho". This worked well because it showed something that can be seen as an item of threat and danger in a less harmful context. As the girl leaves the room, the pictures cross cuts from a brighter, peaceful room to a darker, more hostile environment. The use of colours in this form is a convention taken from many thrillers I have watched. The sound effects in this scene, most notably the heavy breathing from the man witnessing the film from a window, are used to continue the idea of the girl being inferior compared with her surroundings. Also, I think that as the camera shakes, it adds a personification element to the character witnessing her.
The black dressed figures appearing where light is shining helps to portray an idea of there being no escape for anyone in her situation, particularly when one is standing outside and the other man appearing from the door behind her. The screaming being used in coordination with the death metal music projects a climax from what has gradually been built up during the opening sequence.
When the lights of a parked car turn on as she walks in front of it, we wanted the audience to feel as though she is surrounded. The same idea is used when we hear the car horn. During the editing process of this scene, we had a lot of problems getting the timing of the shots and consistancy of the horn noises to coordinate perfectly. I now feel that the problem was solved for the final film. The credits then carry on with the piano music in the same style as the opening clips.
The scene with the knife and potatoes in the kitchen is an example of an idea with adapted to our thriller film from another. Sharp blades and food is something that I remember seeing in the opening sequence of 'American Psycho". This worked well because it showed something that can be seen as an item of threat and danger in a less harmful context. As the girl leaves the room, the pictures cross cuts from a brighter, peaceful room to a darker, more hostile environment. The use of colours in this form is a convention taken from many thrillers I have watched. The sound effects in this scene, most notably the heavy breathing from the man witnessing the film from a window, are used to continue the idea of the girl being inferior compared with her surroundings. Also, I think that as the camera shakes, it adds a personification element to the character witnessing her.
The black dressed figures appearing where light is shining helps to portray an idea of there being no escape for anyone in her situation, particularly when one is standing outside and the other man appearing from the door behind her. The screaming being used in coordination with the death metal music projects a climax from what has gradually been built up during the opening sequence.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Filming My Thriller (Diary)
After discussing the sub-genres of thriller with my group, we now had enough ideas of how to film our own opening scene. We knew that we had to remember the dark merky colours on camera as I saw in se7en and the quiet sounds from 'Silience of the Lambs'. Our group found some actors and a location which was set inside and outside my group member Tom Jennings' house.
December 21st 2010
Our filming began on this date. We had the idea of a girl walking home and is followed by two hooded men in the darkness. We only had one camera to film our work with, so many of our shots had to be filmed more than once so we could edit the footage to make it look like there were more cameras being used. The camera we used was not the camera offered to us by my college. My group heard from Warrington Borough Council that they had some better cameras which we could get hold of to film our work. We wanted to begin filming at night time so that the colour on our camera shots could be much more atmospheric. We were very limited in terms of what lighting we could use in our shots. When filming, the only lighting we deliberatly used to change the colours on screen was from a motorbike shining it's lights towards the set and the car in the film which beeps the horn at the girl.
January 4th 2010
Today we began editing our footage with a clearer idea of how the final film will look once it has been edited. The footage we had without being cropped during the editing process would have been too long per scene and would have looked untidy. We managed to crop the film so it looked like we had more than one camera being used at once. There are many times throughout the film where you will see the camera switch from one side of the room to another. This is to allow the audience to gain a differant character prospective of what is happening in the scene.
We did, however encounter one problem with our footage which we will need to refilm. We took two shots of the girl walking around the same corner, both from differant angles. The problem we have which we did not notice at the time was that she took too much of a sharp turn around the street corner on the first shot whereas on the second shot it was much more of a turn at the edge of the pavement. These problems could not edited so that her turn around the corner looks smooth. Another part of our footage which we will need to refilm is the girl entering her house through her door and leaving the key inside the lock. This is crucial because it explains to the viewers how the two men managed to enter her house. This was the last shot that we wanted to film but unfortunatly our camera ran out of power whilst recording. This was very disapointing to our group at the time but now the rest of the footage has been edited in we have left space for the remaining shots to be inserted into the timeline in the editing program. The image above is evidence of our editing.
January 14th 2011
Now we had finished cutting the clips, we could now begin our work with on editing sound. This was a very tricky task, particularly during the scene involving the girl crossing the road. This was because when we asked the driver of the car to beep his horn, he didn't do it in a long and consistant beep as we wanted him too. This was becuase his car didn't let him hold his horn for long periods. We knew we would have a hard time editing the horn so it would sound how we wanted it. In the end, we thought it was better for the horn just to beep when the girl stepped onto the road. Among the other sounds which we had to cut out was the shout of "Action!" from the start of our scenes.
January 19th 2011
The only short processes we had left to add to our opening scene was to add music, the opening titles and decide on a name for the thriller. I remembered that it was important to consider which font I used in the opening credits and how they appear onto the screen. We chose the white text because it stood out best when our scenes mostly have a dark background. We also thought it was best that the text should slowly fade in and out of the screen. When my name appears on screen, it was originally supposed to appear on the bottom right rather than the left. I soon decided that it would be better my name to appear in the bottom left corner because it is the direction in which the girl was walking in the scene. If it had been put in the bottom right, this may have been annoying for the audience's eyes because the girl would have been moving away from the text.
When it came to chosing our music, we thought that something with high notes from a piano would help set the atmosphere. The song we chose was from the opening 20 seconds of 'Swansong for a Raven' by Maralyn Manson. This worked brilliantly when the girl is walking down the lonely road, combined with the white text for the opening credits.
I thought of the name 'Abduction' because it links in with the plot and what is going to happen in the opening scene. We also had the idea of calling it 'Incention' or 'Ascention', but we all felt that these titles didn't link in well enough with the plot. Another idea for the film was 'Kidnap' or 'The Kidnap', but we felt that this wasn't a very original name and we needed something a little differant.
December 21st 2010
Our filming began on this date. We had the idea of a girl walking home and is followed by two hooded men in the darkness. We only had one camera to film our work with, so many of our shots had to be filmed more than once so we could edit the footage to make it look like there were more cameras being used. The camera we used was not the camera offered to us by my college. My group heard from Warrington Borough Council that they had some better cameras which we could get hold of to film our work. We wanted to begin filming at night time so that the colour on our camera shots could be much more atmospheric. We were very limited in terms of what lighting we could use in our shots. When filming, the only lighting we deliberatly used to change the colours on screen was from a motorbike shining it's lights towards the set and the car in the film which beeps the horn at the girl.
January 4th 2010
Today we began editing our footage with a clearer idea of how the final film will look once it has been edited. The footage we had without being cropped during the editing process would have been too long per scene and would have looked untidy. We managed to crop the film so it looked like we had more than one camera being used at once. There are many times throughout the film where you will see the camera switch from one side of the room to another. This is to allow the audience to gain a differant character prospective of what is happening in the scene.We did, however encounter one problem with our footage which we will need to refilm. We took two shots of the girl walking around the same corner, both from differant angles. The problem we have which we did not notice at the time was that she took too much of a sharp turn around the street corner on the first shot whereas on the second shot it was much more of a turn at the edge of the pavement. These problems could not edited so that her turn around the corner looks smooth. Another part of our footage which we will need to refilm is the girl entering her house through her door and leaving the key inside the lock. This is crucial because it explains to the viewers how the two men managed to enter her house. This was the last shot that we wanted to film but unfortunatly our camera ran out of power whilst recording. This was very disapointing to our group at the time but now the rest of the footage has been edited in we have left space for the remaining shots to be inserted into the timeline in the editing program. The image above is evidence of our editing.
January 14th 2011
Now we had finished cutting the clips, we could now begin our work with on editing sound. This was a very tricky task, particularly during the scene involving the girl crossing the road. This was because when we asked the driver of the car to beep his horn, he didn't do it in a long and consistant beep as we wanted him too. This was becuase his car didn't let him hold his horn for long periods. We knew we would have a hard time editing the horn so it would sound how we wanted it. In the end, we thought it was better for the horn just to beep when the girl stepped onto the road. Among the other sounds which we had to cut out was the shout of "Action!" from the start of our scenes.
January 19th 2011
The only short processes we had left to add to our opening scene was to add music, the opening titles and decide on a name for the thriller. I remembered that it was important to consider which font I used in the opening credits and how they appear onto the screen. We chose the white text because it stood out best when our scenes mostly have a dark background. We also thought it was best that the text should slowly fade in and out of the screen. When my name appears on screen, it was originally supposed to appear on the bottom right rather than the left. I soon decided that it would be better my name to appear in the bottom left corner because it is the direction in which the girl was walking in the scene. If it had been put in the bottom right, this may have been annoying for the audience's eyes because the girl would have been moving away from the text.
When it came to chosing our music, we thought that something with high notes from a piano would help set the atmosphere. The song we chose was from the opening 20 seconds of 'Swansong for a Raven' by Maralyn Manson. This worked brilliantly when the girl is walking down the lonely road, combined with the white text for the opening credits.
I thought of the name 'Abduction' because it links in with the plot and what is going to happen in the opening scene. We also had the idea of calling it 'Incention' or 'Ascention', but we all felt that these titles didn't link in well enough with the plot. Another idea for the film was 'Kidnap' or 'The Kidnap', but we felt that this wasn't a very original name and we needed something a little differant.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)