Proof of editing

Theses were the amendments that we needed to make to our thriller opening to improve what we already had and to make it the best it could be.

This is proof of me editing my thriller opening
and this is specifically added in the final detail we
need in our thriller opening.

This is another picture of me editing our thriller,
the is the part where we were working out specific details
of our thriller opening.

  

Editing Decision List

We have finalised our editing decisions, this was harder as this is our second time filming and we want it to be perfect. At the moment, we have decided to add slow motion on the walking of the villain, as it allows the audience to get a glimpse of what he could potentially looks like. We added a variety of colour effects on each scene, because we wanted it to resemble being set in another time period, so we used a colour effect of yellow or aged film (a final cut effect) to stereotypically make it stand out to the audience; that it is set in another time era. We also decided to add a film rim around the girl filming the stalker, but we may have to take this out if we what our film to be set in a different time era. Our storyline is based around these two character not knowing they are brother and sister, so through our editing we will have to use an effect that can link these two together by making it look like it has gone back in time.

Filming log

We have just gone out and filmed the opening to our thriller opening. It has taken 4hours and we have hopefully perfected the idea that we want and plan on making same adjustments to what has been filmed in the editing suite after. Next week we will be filming the middle to the opening and plan to work quicker so we have longer to edit and make the music fit the specific shots we want, as we rely on the running shots to be accompanied by a drum background. The weather today was good which meant we could film outside and the lighting wasn't effected, hopefully next week will run as smoothly so it looks like it has all been shot at the same time.

Planning the week

This week my aim is to finish the rest of the filming of our thriller film and start all the editing and I will split my week like this:

Monday: Filming at location 1( Crystal Palace Park)

Tuesday: Filming at location 2(Kelsey Park)

Wednesday: Add the footage onto Final Cut and decide the order of our thriller film( Try and spend no longer than 30-40mins on it) Go through and cut unnecessary footage and scenes that are too long or don't need to be used(this should only take 1 hour)

Thursday: Add all the effects(if needed) and start to make our thriller music on Garage Band( we should spend 2 hours on making the start of our music using the research we found).  Keep looking at others examples for inspiration.

Friday: Continue making our music and get a start on our typography, making sure it fits with our thriller perfectly.

Rough idea for our production logo

This is the rough idea for our production logo.  We decided to go against the research we found and go for this unconventional style for our thriller idea. We chose the colour red because it is symbolic of danger and death, but we kept it quite formal to give a different feel. We will be putting this in our thriller opening and then decided whether we will keep it or not.

Things that have inspired my thriller film

When looking for inspiration for our thriller film, we have looked at many other AS thriller openings to help us get an idea for what thriller we want. We looked at the opening for a BBC drama called The Missing. we liked the idea that everything went in one continuous direction and all the clips you saw relates to the programme itself. As a group we decided that it would be best if we kept everything going to the left. The other inspiration was Mayday we liked the idea of basing it around a girl who seemed dazed and confused and was being tracked or stalked by someone who is unknown.

Target Audience Questionnaire Feedback

We used the feedback we received and this decided our final target audience for the final thriller opening.

The editing software we will be using

We used Final Cut Pro as our editing software we believed that this is a much more straightforward app to use rather then IMovie because it allowed you to use a larger scale of editing techniques, rather on iMovie when you are restricted to a limited use. Final cut was helpful in 

have are film edited to the best possible way it could have been and allowed our ideas as a group to be used. 

Storyboard

This is the final storyboard for our thriller opening. Shots will be changed to fit with the filming taking place and we will extend every shot, to make it the best possible film it can be. 

Character Profile: Kidnapper

We decided as a group that the kidnapper would only be seen once in our thriller film because we want to still base it around this young girl. We decided to go for the stereotypical approach for the villain and decided he would wear a black tracksuit the black tracksuit is very stereotypical of danger when you think of young adults. The specific colour of black is always associate with danger or death like the colour red and we thought we wouldn't chose the stereotypical colour of red and decided for black as it is an unconventional colour when you think of thriller films.
I hope that this comes across to people when they look at our thriller and they think the costumes we chose were a good idea.

This would be used a stereotypical image of
the kidnapper.

Thriller Storyline

Our thriller opening is about the disappearance of a young girl. who we see playing in a large field with a red balloon  and she is seen being quite happy and content with what she is doing, up until she spots this mysterious person(kidnapper). The audience never see what happens to the young girl it just implies that she was taken or killed, through the search party at the end. At the end of the sequence the young girls headband is found and it eludes that somebody has the young girl or she has been killed. It ends deliberately like this to leave it in the minds of the audience, what happened to the girl.

Target Audience

demographics :

Age : 16+
Gender: both 

Relationships: for couples and friends 

Education: sixth form and college students

Psychographics:

Interests: watching thriller films and likes socially with others

Wanting to go see the films as it interests them. 

A good to watch the film with a friend or partner because I want people to talk about what they have just seen and then go on to tell others about it as well and this will help with the technology we have today to let people communicate and talk about the film.

We have chosen to have the age group like this because from prior research I have found that this is the most common age group for people to watch thriller films and go to the cinema to see films, making it quite clear that we should target that age group of people.
The only issue with it being 16+ is that it goes to anyone who is over the age of 16 and people being over 30 may not like our thriller films or going to the film in general.

They are young teenagers that go to school and look sociable as they are around everyone else and then they probably go out on weekends to the cinema as a big group, so our film will be good for them to watch.

 

Mood Board

Mood board from Shan3009

Specific roles within the group

Shannon Nash(me)- Director

                                Assisting editor

                                Cast decided 

Kirsty Allen- Head Editior 

                   Actress

                   Music assistant

Joshua Pedro- Director assistant

                        Music assistant

                        Creative license

Oliver Nichol- Dovell - music director

                                   Editing supervisor

                                   Cast supervisor

Media Proposal

Changing our idea

Unfortunately we have had to change our idea, as the thriller before hand was becoming very difficult to film and edit. The idea we had was based around Dexter however we took the storyline of the title sequence from Dexter to literally, meaning our opening became too abstract to the sense that it no longer made any sense. A clip of our old footage will be released onto here so you will be able to see the basic outline of what we wanted to achieve.

Target Audience Questionnaire

This is the research questionnaire my group and I have put out in order to decide our new target audience.

Meeting Minutes

What we discussed in the meeting:

1. Characters
2. Costumes
3. Location
4. Editing and Music Software
5. Storyline
6. Storyboard
7. Casting
8. Responsibilities within the group

Characters
 As a group we decided on their being only two characters in the clip. The main character being a young girl(teenager) and a villian who we only see small parts off. We also decided that Kirsty(who is part of our group) will be our main character because we don't want to have to relie on others to turn up for filming.

Costumes
The main character will be wearing a red/pink dress with a pink headband. We decided this in the meeting because we want the colours to represent youth and danger. The villian will be wearing black trainers, blue/black hoodie and black trousers. We thought we would go very streotypical of a villian because their is no speech in our thriller we thought it wouldn't of been able to be shown he is dangerous if he wasnt in these clothes.

Location
We have based our thriller around nature as it represents innocence and also the loss of innocence through the way of damage nature. It is set in three different places but is meant to look like one place. The first place is a field and forest, we decided this would be a good place to film because we can show contrasting atmospheres.

Editing and Music software
We decided that we would just use the MAC's software which is Final Cut Pro for our editing of the thriller film and Garage Band for making our own music for our thriller film.

Storyline
This was the hardest point to discuss in the meeting because we really wanted to put together something that it going to engage the audience into watching. In the end we decided that the stroyline is, that we are going back in time to a month before this girl is found dead and all the decisions and paths she takes to end up where she is, by being followed be her so called "killer". Although our storyline sounds like we are giving too much away we have decided only to use half of this storyline in the opening to our thriller film.

Responsibilities
There are four of us in our group so we need to distribute the amount of roles equally. Myself and Oliver, have filmed the majority of the opening with the help of Kirsty and Josh. We all decided that we want to have a role in editing the film but Josh has got the overall judgement in what stays and go's. Oliver is in charge of music and making it fit with our thriller film. Kirsty's job is executive producer and I myself is the director of everything that goes on in our group.

Character Profile : Girl

For our main character of the girl we decided that we wanted her wearing an off red colour dress instead of the stereotypical colour of white, to represent her innocence and the danger that she is in. The dress is to symbolise her being this young girl also the dress is quite old fashioned as we want her to be as unique as possible. The colour red is to symbolise the danger and the loss of innocence that this girl encounters during the film opening. The girl also wears a pink bow headband as this is really used to emphasise her childlike features and it later becomes quite an important prop to our thriller, we used pink as the headband because it shows she is this young girl. We decided we would unconventional colours to portray an innocent girl because we don't want our thriller opening to be stereotypical and predictable.

Using the tripod

This is the specific outline of the tripod we will being using to shoot our thriller opening with. This is a sturdy tripod that had a spirit level to no whether the camera would focus or not. 

This is how the plate to attaches to the camera and then to the tripod to securely place the camera on the tripod, to remove the plate from the camera you have to twist the screw underneath the plate which will release the camera. 

This is another picture of the plate and how those two screws attach to the bottom of the camera. 

First shoot schedule.

We had it  one the 5th, 7th, 12th, 18th, 19th, and 24th November 2014, however because we were filming outside we didn't get the chance to film every time because we relied on the weather to be ok and it wasn't half the time so it hinder how much we could get filmed during school hours.  

Homeland Analysis

In the title sequence for Homeland overlapping images of the main character as a child and now and with new reports create confusion for the audience almost putting us into the mind of this women. If you know the show then you know she suffers from a mental illness these overlapping images already give an insight to what the audience will be witnessing in the TV programme. The opening is showing and talking about different terrorist attacks on the United States and this is showing her what her job is, to keep people safe from these attacks and to stop them before they happen, there is a line in the opening where she say "I'm the only one who got it right" this shows her dedication to her job and the lengths she will go through to keep her country safe. The sound create by the overlapping of different news reports and as well as jazz music playing in the background suggest that jazz music is her safety blanket as she hears it as a child. The audience know that this show is based around terrorist attacks and that she must be the main protagonist as she is always shown and its relating to her mental welfare. The image of her and the other character who's name is Brody suggest that they have a relationship with one another and it very difficult for them to be together as they are pictured in a maze suggesting that its a relationship that is full of obstacles.

Sound Analysis of Face Off

In "Face Off" contrapuntal sound has been used to show the vulnerability of the child in the scene by playing the song "somewhere over the rainbow" this song is generally associated with children. This song is leading the audience to a false sense of security. However the gunshots being fired in the background and the visual images of dead bodies on the floor show that this isn't what it sounds like. The diegetic sounds used are the gunshots because this is being heard in the film world, the non diegetic sounds used is the clip is the soundtrack although this could be classified as a sound bridge because we know that the little girl is listen to it, its then projected into the other scene. "Face Off" has been successful in using contrapuntal sound as we start to feel sympathy for the girl and what is happening to someone she knows. It has also show the contrast between diegetic and non-diegetic sounds and have used it to their advantage to show the emotion in the scene.

The Missing Title Analysis

Music Analysis: Black Swan, Gladiator and Inception

When I was looking for inspiration for the music to use in our Thriller opening I looked at a variety of film music that I could possibly blend together to create one soundtrack. I used 'Inception' as the first one I could use as it is fast paced (as it is an action film) and it builds to a climax, we want our thriller music to build to a climax as it will show the tension in the film. There is a slower paced part where the music slows down and this creates mystery and tension this is important for thrillers to have because the audience want to be kept in suspense throughout the film and building it through the music will do so. The other was ‘Gladiator’ and it is very slow paced which is mesmerising for the audience and is highlighting the sadness in the music. The full piece is 8 minutes long and it is constantly changing tempo because there are fast paced action sequences and melancholy slow paced sections there are parts which are also quite eerie, 4 minutes into the piece a voice is singing and this is creating an eerie noise that is quite captivating and indicates the genre of the film because it sounds mysterious which is immediately associated with thrillers and the sound of the voice is quite high pitched which almost sounds like eerie, scratching sound related to thrillers.

The last thriller music I looked at was ‘The Black Swan’- trailer as the violins create an eerie atmosphere( the high pitched violin) the low pitched violin which is quite shuddery creates the sense that something bad will happen and is it leaving you in suspense. The use a sound collage of people’s voices which is playing whilst an image on the main character is up and this makes the viewer’s feel as if they are paranoid because of the amount of noise surrounding them. Towards the end of the music, the violin fades out and this suggests that the bad things are over, but leaves the viewers in suspense as they want to know what is over.

I had inspiration from these pieces of music because these have individual qualities that could really help me create my piece of music as I need music which is really mysterious and it won't give away too much of the storyline Therefore I am thinking of using instruments such as pianos and drums and my pace will be quite slow but will build to this fast pace, due to a running scene in our thriller, however we are still undecided whether will we keep that.

Teacher Tutorial on Garage Band

Before we start making our music for our thriller, we were taught how to use garage band. We were taught how to make new tracks and to change the instruments. This really helped because I have never used Garage Band and I knew how to do the basics on it now, thanks to the teacher that helped us and we are lucky as someone in our group has a really good understanding of Garage Band, so we are now making our music completely without any help or without any other music that has already been used. This helped us know what instruments we want to use as well because we now know how they will sound.

Storyboard for our old thriller

This is a quick summary of the thriller storyboard, the ideas will be adapted according to the day of filming. For example the kiwi cutting will be edited to fit with other examples. 

Difference between a horror and Thriller

There are many differences between a horror and a thriller and most people get them confused as some films are very hard to distinguish between. The main difference is that a thriller is a psychological film and doesn't really involve many deaths/killings, whereas a horror is mostly based upon gore, blood and guts!

Four things that make a good horror are:

• It needs good music- with out with sounding like a thriller film
• A remorseless killer- someone who doesn't feel bad for what they have done and constantly goes around killing people
• Blood- it is vital for making a horror that blood is used as this is the element to make a key horror film
• a fear- there needs to be a fear that is relatable to the audience and must be fearful for what is happening

Four things that make a good Thriller film are:

• a good storyline- the storyline needs to be gripping otherwise it will not be able to grip the audience into watching the film
• multiple points of view- don't have it based on one person throughout the entire film make sure it is for a variety of people views
• Don't give it all away- do not reveal the entire storyline straight away, make sure things are hidden through the film
• it needs to be fast past- if you drag the film out it starts to become boring and not interesting but if it is fast pace you will be able to make it more thriller like.

An example of a horror film

An example of a thriller film

Preliminary task

Analysis of thrillers

Analysis of thrillers 2 from shannonnash3009

Conventions of a Thriller

Conventions of a thriller from shannonnash3009

The Barthes Code

The Hermeneutic Code:
This is the part(s) of the story that are often unanswered(like enigmas) they don't necessary have to be at the beginning of the story and thriller tend to uses them at the end of the story, so they are revealed straight away.

Examples:

The Proairetic Code:

Actions suggesting further actions/reactions, also known a the actions code e.g. an argument and waiting for the answer/resolution.

Examples:

The  Connotative code:

The accumulation of connotations. Sequential thoughts, traits and actions constitute character. its the voice of the person.
The Cultural code:

  Though all codes are cultural we reserve this designation for the storehouse of knowledge we use in interpreting everyday experience. it is the voice of science usually.

The Symbolic code:
Binary oppositions or themes. This leads to the cultural code and highlights their importance.

The codes are complicated by partial delays and interruptions.

1.  Thematisation: emphasis on object which will be subject of the enigma.
2. Proposal of enigma: questions in the text.
3. Formulation of enigma: frequent supplementation of the enigma as the text progresses.
4. Request for an answer: facilitates narrative movement.
5. Snare: types of deception

• deception of one character by another.
• deception of the reader by the discourse. 
•  character deceived by self.

6. Snare and truth: A statement which might be taken two different ways.
7. Suspended answers.
8. Partial answers.
9. Disclosure: a discussion or uttering of the irreversible word, closure, the end of signification.



 

Camera angle analysis of Back to the Future

In the clip from Back to the Future many different camera angles are used in order to show the importance of the main character, Marty. These are done so there is an effect put on the audience so they know who to focus there attention on during the film. The extreme close-up on the girls face at the end of the clip, this angle shows the emotion on there faces and gives the audience the chance to know how others feel about this character. This extreme close up on this particular character could show that these girls are going to be importance throughout the film.

The second angle is the over the shoulder at the very beginning, this is to show the contrast in Marty and Biff's height. This shot is also used to show the fear in Marty as he is physically smaller then Biff and this particular shot allows the audience to know that Biff is quite intimidating foreshadowing what he could be like in the rest of the film. The over shoulder shot accompanies the genre of the film because it is meant to be tongue and cheek humour, which this is showing.

Lastly, the pan tracking Marty on his skateboard escaping Biff, is to show his heroic efforts to out run Biff. The specific effect this has on the audience is that it is putting them into the action with the characters because they are following what everyone in the film world is seeing. This shot is effective in doing this because when I was watching it I thought I was part of it and really wanted Marty to escape Biff like he has done.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lu6iX9myJIo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Analysing 'Seven' title sequence

In the title sequence of Seven a multitude of techniques have been used in order for the title sequence to fit the thriller genre. The title sequence is the first impression for the audience to get a glimpse of what is to come and this is effective as it uses this range of techniques to impress and showcase their film.

Firstly, the childlike handwriting suggests that this film is going to be strange as you don't  really associate childish handwriting with a grown man. Also the typography is very distorted and this could mean that the character's mind is confused and un clear.  Everything in the title sequence relates to something in the film, for example the crossing out of eyes and words show that he will later go onto kill someone and do maybe hint at doing something to someone's eyes.

Secondly, the sound of the radio tuning creates the atmosphere of an eerie thriller. The crackling noises in the background, create a sense of confusion and mystery but also makes it seem as if there are more people involved in the killings because it starts to sound like a conversations but this could just be in the character's mind as he is may be schizophrenic. All of these connect to a psychological thriller because it is playing with the audience's mind as we are constantly asking questions and we are only at the title sequence.

Lastly, the editing is very fast paced as its wanting to show chaos that is already occurring, or will occur in the latter part of the film. Also it is leading us to a false sense of security because we think it will happen quickly, when in actual fact its a slow paced film as it elongates every little detail and death in it. This title has left me asking lots of questions like why is he blanking out eyes and words? Why does he kill people? etc... And it really make me want to watch the rest of the film.

Seven Film picture

Typography

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, uses a fast pace to display its typography, but without even seeing the typography it immediately draw attention to it, due to the white colour on a black background. The typography itself is wrote in a style of writing that you would associate with tattoos and they all interlink with one another to form a new tattoo. The typography is quite small and it usually situated towards the top right corner on lower left corner but is always seen on screen because it stands out on the black background as it is white. It sometimes just blends in because there is a lot going on around it that you don't quite notice it the writing, because it is slightly too small.I think that the typography has been used quite cleverly as it fits with the genre of the film for being fast paced and reflects the films meaning by having it wrote as if it is in the style of a tattoo.

Doctor Who's typography takes a while for it to be displayed on screen as it mainly focusses on the Tardis, however once they are seen they use the tunnel they are in to find each name. The actual typography doesn't really stand out apart from the fact the writing is so big, the colour of the typography is grey and this makes it blend into the background as they are amongst a storm in title sequence. The typography is kinetic as it moves with the time changing sequence and it immediately connotes with Doctor Who as you can associate the letter 'I'  with a Tardis at the end. The sequence for Doctor Who uses typography very well to portray their show of a sci-fi/ action television programme.

You can see how the writing is in style to look
like a tattoo that is fading or just being
created.

You can see how the dark colours make it slightly harder to
see as it looks like they are trying to blend in.

Lighting analysis of own photos

The lighting for this image is quite dark but the lights from the building manage to make it a good place to film because the allow the camera to focus on the buildings and this particular shot will make a great Birdseye view and a great setting for an action film because it is set in the city of London. 

The lighting for this particular image is quite poor as it is set outside and it is very hard to light outside due to the equipment needed. To make this image better a flood light would need to be used so the building will be lit up in order for it to stand out of the image. 

This is the perfect lighting for an outside shot because it uses the light of the sea to reflect onto the camera Len to brighten up the rest of the shot. However it only lights up one half of the picture, so a fill light would need to be used to light up the other half of the photo. 

Analysis of Batman