Story Board

http://www.slideshare.net/10esmith1/opening-story-board

Above is our story board on how the opening two minutes is going to be set put. Our story board includes how long each shot is, what the shot is, what sound is going to be in the shot and what the story line is about for each shot.

Location, Costume, Cast and Props

Location

In our opening of the thriller we have decided to film in an abandoned bunker in Hartlip. We have decided to film there as it is an unknown and not a typical setting. This means that the atmosphere of the film will be mysterious. The fact that it is abandoned gives the feeling that it anything can happen. Also where it is placed is in the middle of nowhere therefore the audience will be drawn in to see what the bunker has to do with the rest of the film due to it being not a typical setting.
As the bunker is in Hartlip it is easy to access which is one of the reasons the why we chose to film there. This is because myself and Beth don't live to far from the setting and therefore we are able to go to the bunker quite easily. Also this means that the bunker is close to my house which is the other place we are filming a bit of our opening thriller. This is because filming can be done due to the location of the bunker is close. Another reason why we chose to film in my house is because it is plain and quite basic therefore it looks like the time of year we are setting the film in.

Costume

The costumes that we have chosen to be in the opening of our thriller are quite similar.

We have decided to have all three boys in jumper, jeans and some trainers as the time of year we have set our flash back in has these types of clothes in. Also we have chosen this type of costume for the boys because it is winter and therefore they need to be dressed for winter as the setting will be icy and it wouldn't look right if the boys were dressed for summer.

For the girl we have decided for her to wear a skirt, denim jacket, plain top and ballet pumps this is because it is a bit of a simple outfit and therefore fits into the time of year we are doing the flash back too.

Cast

The cast for our opening two minutes is consisted of three boys and one girl. This is because boys are typically stronger and braver than girls and therefore shows the boys being boisterous. Also the reason why we have chosen one girl is because they are typically seen as weaker and have less power over things and this is betrayed in the opening two minutes.

The names of the cast are;

• Ayo
• Charlotte
• Scott
• Kyan

Props

For our opening thriller there isn't a lot of props that we need. One prop that we need is a nokia with a flash light this is because these are the types of phones that were in the time of the flash back and therefore we need to use this to make the time of year that we want to film in believable. We need a flash light on it because when they go in the bunker you can't see anything therefore the cast need a flash light to be able to see. We also need a photo frame with a photo of our characters in it. The way we will do this is when we first the first bit we will take a picture of all four of them and print it off. To help us with high angles we are going to use a selfie stick so we are able to get the shots high enough. Lastly we need something to make loud noises so that we can add them into our opening two minutes.

Institutional Research

To decide what type of production company we would use for our film, we decided to research three different companies and chose the best two to represent our film. The three I researched were Hammer, Warner Brothers and Big Talk.

Here is the information I found out about each of the production companies.

Big Talk 
BigTalk is a British production company that was found in 1995 by Nira Park. This production  has released films such as 'Hot Fuss' and 'Shaun of the Dead' which are comedy/thriller based genre films. This tells us that this production company is good for our film as it has elements of the thriller genre within it however it also has comedy which
may suggest to us that it isn't a good choice of production company due to having comedy genre throughout their films. Taking this into account this production company is classed as a hybrid genre of thriller and comedy. Therefore this could be a potential production company for our film. However looking further into the website it states that 'Comedy is, and always has been, the beating heart of Big Talk' therefore this makes it clear to us that this production company is the best for our film as it is based around comedy and that is not the genre of our film.
http://www.bigtalkproductions.com/






Hammer
Hammer is a independent film production company and was found in 1934. The most popular genre that Hammer produces is the thriller genre however it is known for producing film genres such as science-fiction, thriller and comedies. The most recent film that the production company has helped to produce is 'The women in black, black angle of death' which was a follow on from 'The women in black' this film got titled the biggest indie horror film which also made of $130m worldwide therefore this is a good production company for our film as our film follows a similar story line to 'The women in black' as there is some sort of gosht in both our film and 'The women in black'. Also the most popular films that Hammer has helped to produce is 'Dracula' and 'The Mummy'. Due to Hammer working with Warner Brothers which is one of The Big Three in previous films it has a big target
audience which knows the production company and their logo therefore it will bring a large target audience to our film. Using Warner Brothers alongside Hammer means that it will take it overseas and therefore will make our film go viral over the world. This tells us that Hammer has got the right target audience for our film this is proven by their upcoming film in development 'Shomer' which follows the thriller genre.

http://www.hammerfilms.com









Warner Brothers
Warner Brothers is a American production company found in California in 1923. Warner Brothers is known for being one of The Big Three and is a large production company. This means that Warner Brothers has a lot of fans and therefore makes our target audience wider due to the fans recognising the Warner Brothers logo. Warner Brothers specialises in video games and television which means they have a wide range of genres therefore this is another reason for having a mass target audience. The length of the Warner Brothers production company means that everyone is familiar with the Warner Brothers production market and ident as it is recognisable worldwide. The fact that this production company is from America it means that it will take our film over the world due to America being so big therefore will make our film well known over the world.
http://www.warnerbros.com







After researching these three production companies, we decided to use Hammer and Warner Brothers as they are a good combination for our film. We decided to use these production companies due to their mass target audience and having some of the most worldwide thriller films being produced or have produced. Therefore taking this into account we thought that this collaboration would be the best for our film as Hammer is well known and has a mass target audience and Warner Brothers has a mass target audience worldwide and therefore can take our film overseas.

Target Audience Research

We did a questionnaire to find out what peoples' preferences were when it came to thrillers and films. We did the questionnaire on survey monkey and sent it out to 10 people. When the results came back we looked at them and analysed the questions. 

This question was to find out what kind of thriller different people liked to watch and why. This helped us because we can use the strengths of these films that the people told us were the reasons why they watch the film they said. The results showed a wide range of thriller films for different reasons. One main thing that came up was about the story line and how it creates suspense for the viewer. This could be a strength that we use for our opening thriller because from this is the most common reason the people we sent our survey too said that they watch thrillers.

In this question we wanted to see how many females answered our survey and how many males. This helped us see what the difference between each of our results would be and who we would target for our opening two minutes. The results came back as 60% female and 40% male as you can see from the picture to the left. This meant that more females answered our survey which meant that most the results were by females.

In the next question we asked what kind of hero they would expect to see in a thriller. All of the results that came back said that they expected the hero to be a male. This is clear because they all mentioned that that is what they expected. This will help us with trying to figure out what kind of hero we want in our opening two minutes because they have all agreed on one answer.

The next question we asked was how old each of the people were that were responding to our questionnaire. This was so it could help us figure out what type of target audience we were looking for. This would help us because by looking at their age and what types of thrillers they liked we can figure out who and what age our thriller will be aimed at.

In this question we asked how many people they thought would be in a thriller. From the results we found that that a typical thriller convention is to have a good storyline which has characters in that have a bad past therefore from these results we would have to use the storyline to create suspense for our audience.

In this next question we asked what they expect the antagonist to be like. Looking at the results it told us that the audience would expect the antagonist to be a girl or a gosht therefore to make our thriller follow the typical conventions of a thriller we will use this guideline to decide how we wanted to present our antagonist to attract the right audience.

We asked how often they watch thrillers and how often they buy thrillers. From asking this questions we found out that only four people watch a thriller every fortnight and only four people buy a thriller every month and then another four people buy a thriller every other month.

The next question we asked was how they think we could build suspense throughout the film. Out of the ten people we asked seven people said that it was the soundtrack that created suspense throughout the thriller and the other three people said it was the silence. Therefore we decided to concentrate on using music and sound effects to create suspense for the audience.

Taking all of this into account we decided that our target audience would be male and older the 15 therefore meaning late teens and early adulthood. This is because this was the majority of the results and we thought as a group this would be best for our thinner opening. Also we are going to use the results of the other questions to help attract our target audience. For example using sound to create suspense. 

Pitch Ideas

I am going to be working in a group of three which is going be with Beth and Ayo, here is our ideas that we thought about for our opening two minutes of a thriller.

http://www.slideshare.net/10esmith1/pitch-ideas-57089656

Prelim

 

 

Above is mine, Beth's and Ayo's prelim video that we filmed and edited.

 

To start this we discussed some ideas that we thought would be good for a short video. We had to make sure it wasn't to complicated however showed some techniques. we then decided on a clip idea which was of Ayo stealing food from the diner. We chose Ayo over myself or Beth because stereotypically men are more like to steal or commit a crime more than women are.

 

We started this by filming Ayo walking into the building by using 'match on action' shot this meant that we had to film Ayo walking up to the door, then pause, go the other side of the door with the camera and then video him walking through that side. Whilst doing this figuring out where the camera had to be wasn't overly difficult however we had to make sure that it continuous. We also decided to use a shot reverse shot and panelling shot to show the discussion between myself and Ayo. After we had filmed the other shots such as the 180 degree rule of the food showing what Ayo was thinking about stealing. Which then led onto another match on action shot which showed Ayo running away. Once we had finished filming these shots we then uploaded it to IMovie to begin to edit it.

 

In IMovie we was able to edit our mini film to make it better. We started this by dragging each clip that we filmed down the bottom and put them in order, we did this by dragging them left and right and clipping bits out of it that we didn't want in there. After we did all this and all the clips were in the right order

we played it through and realised that whilst we were listening that we could hear a lot of background noise therefore we decided to cut out all the noise until we got to the conversation and put in background music which could fit into the clip. The music we chose was called ‘Fuck the Police’ we chose this because we thought that it fitted into the storyline as it was about what is right and which is wrong. We edited it so that it sounded like the music was coming out of Ayo’s ear phones and when he took them out the music drained out. In the beginning we added the sound in then realised that we had to mute the background noise so that it was clearer. After editing clips I saw that the 180 degree rule wasn’t used to its full effect therefore when I do my opening of a thriller I will make sure that I use it to create the right effect. When Ayo is running away we decided to add the music back in as it foreshadows that he is breaking the law and is a symbol of his character. After editing the video we put in a title page. We did this by adding in a black background and choosing a font that we thought was suitable for this clip. We then decided on the title of ‘What’s Yours is Mine’ this foreshadows the clip as he believes that if other people can have something so should he which shows a twist on what is right and wrong.

Other AS Media Opening Thrillers

I looked at two different peoples opening of thrillers to see what things I could criticise about it so that when it came to doing my thriller opening I can make sure I didn't do what they had done. One of these was State of mind and the other was Blanc.

State of mind

In the opening of State of mind used lighting at the beginning that meant you cant really see what was happening in the scene. This meant that I need to think about what kind of lighting I am going to use for my opening to make sure that the audience is able to see. Another thing that this group didn't think about but I will try to is about the Mise en scene and where it is set. This was because the filmed the boy getting out of bed and opening the certain which were pink and floral therefore this wouldn't be a typical room of a teenage boy which means that they didn't really think about where they were filming it as they might of just filmed in the first room they went into. Also when I do my filming I will have to think about how the Mise en scene links into the scene and the characters. another thing they made a mistake on with the Mise en scene is that the boy walks to the door without a coat on but then when he walks out of the door the other side he has a coat on. This means that they didn't think about showing him getting his coat on as it is a normal thing to do. This helps me because I will make sure that the continuity is good and that I don't miss out anything. Another mistake that this group made which they didn't realise is that the genre is a thriller and when the boy reversed up his drive and then turned around it was slow which caused it to be dull and boring. This meant that they didn't think to have the car already turned around to make this scene go a bit faster as it hasn't got a massive impact on the actual opening. Whilst I am doing my opening I will keep in mind that it is a thriller and therefore I need to make sure that I don't lose the audiences interest. Within Mise en scene the group didn't think about costume which link into the group not following the conventions of a thriller. This is because the costume of the stalker wasn't scary therefore didn't cause any effect on the audience. Therefore this means that I will use this to make sure that in the opening of the thriller I will choose a different type of costume for the character that the audience should be scared about. The titles that are shown when the boy is walking down the street are hard to see which indicates to me that I will need to play around with where I can place the titles and what colour to have them in so that the audience is able to see. also I learnt that having the titles at the end made this groups work look like a trailer therefore I will think more into where else is good to put the titles.

However in this opening there was good parts as well that I am able to use in my opening of a thriller. these were the continuity and the sound. the continuity was good because they didn't cut from one scene to another and it flowed from shot to shot throughout the clip. the sound in this groups opening was good because it created the atmosphere that is connect to the genre of thrillers. the group did this by having slow music which was opera like. this created depressive around which makes a contrast therefore it became thrilling. another thing the group did with the music was that it was slow music until it got to the man that was stalking the boy and then it picked up. I will use these things that I have picked up on in my own thriller as it helps create a certain atmosphere and keeps the audiences attention.

Blanc

 

Where this group had placed the titles on the first shot was good however you couldn't see them as the colour and font was a bit blurry and wasn't clear. This meant that it is hard for the audience to know what they were meant to be looking at. Another thing about the titles is that they dragged out a bit to long because they did this it seems like they needed something to make it to the time they needed for the opening. From this I will take that not to fill gaps with things that will bore the audience. This group also over used slow motion which is an editing technique. This meant that most of the opening clip was full of slow motion. This meant that because they over used slow motion it loss the effect. Another part of the Mise en scene that isn't effective is the lighting. This is because it is to light to be the first thing in the morning as it shows the boy just getting out of bed. This means that in mine I need to make the light suitable to the time of day I want it to be set in. I can do this by using editing to make the lighting either darker or lighter. The sound that is in this opening is music which doesn't fit in and it changes throughout the opening scene. This has helped me because I will look more than just one bit of music if I am going to use music to make sure that it fits into the scene correctly. Lastly the man who is the stalker has a crow bar in his hand which is swinging however when it cuts back to him its up his sleeve. This is effective however showing it swinging before and then not showing how it got up the man's sleeve doesn't use continuity well. This means that with my opening I will need to make sure I pay attention to the little parts as well as the big parts to make sure that it is shown well to the audience that this is a thriller.

Something good that this group did was that a part of mise en scene. This was the costume of the stalker. This comes across as scary as it creates a sense of mystery. Which makes the audience intrigued to carry on watching due to not know what the mask has to do with the stalker or the film. A camera shot which is good in this opening two minutes is the first shot this is because it is effective and doesn't give to much information about the film therefore makes the audience want to watch it more.

Opening of a thriller

Opening of a thriller- X-men

The opening two minutes of the thriller X-men shows me what kind of camera work, sound, Mise en scene and editing I can use in my open two minute opening.

In the opening of the thriller X-men camera angles are used to show a close up on a number. This can give the idea to the audience that it is important that they look at the number and recognise it. However can make the audience wonder why it is symbolic and why it does mean anything. This can also link to the thriller causing an atmosphere of mystery because it is drawing the audience’s attention to the number which means that it mean something that they aren’t telling the audience what it means.

Editing is used in the opening two minutes to show the audience what power the boy has. This is done by using slow motion. It shows the boy trying to open the get by using his powers. The slow motion is effective because it gives more time for the audience to take in what is already going on in the opening two minutes of the film. The slow motion also causes the atmosphere of tension because the audience doesn’t understand why it is happening as they have more time to watch it happening. The questions that the audience might think is how did he get these powers which may cause them to carry on watching the film as they will want to see what he can do with the powers and how he got them in the first place.

The scene shows that the weather is raining which means that the film is using Mise en scene to create pathetic fallacy. This is because the rain can indicate how the characters are feeling. This may cause the audience to put them self’s in the position of the characters as they can unders5and how they are feeling. The rain can make the scene worse because in a thriller it is never in a nice setting and rain is linked to the day not being very nice. Which can also link to what is going to happen in the rest of the film or in that scene. This can raise the questions of what else is happening in the scene or what is going to happen.

The sound that is used in this opening two minutes can show to the audience that it is a thriller because there is people shouting and other people ordering others around. This can make the audience wonder what is happening that they can’t see or why it is happening. The sound can indicate to the audience that it isn’t good and whatever is happening in the scene isn’t nice. This can make the audience want to carry on watching as it may mean that they find out more information on what is happening in the film.

This opening of a thriller shows me that there is a lot of things that I can involve to help keep the conventions of a thriller.

Black Swan

Black Swan- Conventions of a thriller

In scene one of the black swan camera angles are used to create suspense for the audience telling them that it is a thriller. This also brings up questions as it doesn’t give the full story line to the audience so that they don’t lose interest in what is happening in the film. One camera angle in this scene that does this is an over the shoulder mid shot which shows the girl bleeding. This raises the question on why is she bleeding? And how did it happen? This will draw the audience in more due to these questions not being answered in this scene. The way that the film shows an over the shoulder shot shows the concern on the girls face which indicates to the audience that they should be on edge on what is going to happen as there is no answers at this moment in this scene. This links to the audience being left on a cliff hanger therefore will be willing to what the rest of the film as that they find out what is going to happen. Editing is also used in the first scene to help create the sense of suspense. This is done by using a hand held camera which shows all the other girls hugging the girl. This can create the questions of what is happening. This keeps the audience in suspense as they are not sure what the film is building up to due to there is chaos. Chaos can suggest to the audience that to the girl in the film that a lot is going on at once and she isn’t sure on why it is happening. It could also mean that the girl is all over the place and has more than one thing to think about. The way that the film has used a hand held camera for editing shows that in this scene it is uncontrollable and nothing is going the way it should which could foreshadow what is going to happen in the rest of the film therefore will draw the audience in by using suspense of the first scene. The mise en scene used in the first scene shows that someone has written in red lipstick on the mirror in the bathroom ‘Whore’ this raises the question of who did this and why? Which creates suspense because this indicates to the audience that something is going to happen to the girl as it is a mystery on why someone doesn’t like her. It also suggests to the audience that more things are happening than she knows off therefore will keep the suspense within the film as the audience would only know what she knows and the fact that the girl is shown to want to know what is happening keeps the audience drawn into the film. Also another thing that the mise en scene shows is the painting all over the mothers room which indicates to the audience that the mother is obsessive over the daughter and is always watching which can create suspense due to the audience not knowing why the mother is obsessive. The sound in the first scene is used to show how controlling the mother is over the daughter. This could make the audience wonder why this is. The fact that the girl hasn’t got any control over her own life due to the mother having the control can make the audience wonder what is going on in the daughter’s life that she doesn’t know about. This can cause suspense as the audience will want to know what happens in the girls life as she hasn’t got the control over her own life due her mother so far being controlling it makes the audience wonder who else can take control. The sound shows this by adding in a ticking noise which can show something is going to happen and the ticking sound is just waiting for it to happen.

In scene two suspense is created by camera angles which in this scene is close up of her skin ripping of off her finger therefore makes the audience wonder why this is happening and what has caused it? This causes suspense for the audience as it is an uncomfortable image however the audience needs to carry on watching as they need to know what is going on in the scene to make it happen. Also this links to the audience wanting to carry on watching because they want to see what happens in the rest of the film. Another way that this film creates suspense or tension in the second scene is by using editing. This is used by using quick cut from her finger to the tap. This shows the audience the extent of the pain the girl is in. this can create tension as the audience will feel uncomfortable watching her pulling her skin off which can make the audience become on the edge of their seat. Another thing is that the audience might put their self’s into the girls situation as they may feel the pain that she is gong though which might not raise as many questions for the audience to wonder about. This may be due to the fact the audience need to know why she is doing that however they may know due to the fast editing that a lot is going on and it is a spare of the moment thing.  Mise en scene is used through the costume of the two girls. This is done by each girl wearing a black and white dress this can indicate to the audience who is good and bad within this scene and also how it links to the rest of the film. Also this is done by showing the good side or bad side of each character due which can show that the audience needs to pay attention to everything to be able to answer some of their questions about the scene. The costumes can show to the audience something that people don’t know in the film which can make the audience want to know if and when the rest of the characters find out also linking to the audience being kept on the edge of their seat.  The sound in this scene is used to create tension is kept at the same pace throughout the scene with elements of high pitches to show that something is going to happen which keeps the audience watching. The way the music goes from being the same to going high pitched once in a while indicates to the audience that the film is going to go from being a normal film and thinking that nothing is going to happen to the high pitch sound which can link to something going bad within the film. The scene shows this as it goes from a normal girl getting her dream to something going bad a bit then going back to normal until something really bad happens.

In the third scene camera angles and shots are used effectively to create tension or suspense. In this scene it uses a close up of the teacher to show what the girl is seeing. Which makes the audience wonder if the story is true as the girl is hallucinating which can make the audience want to carry on  watching to see what happens later on in  the film and if it is linked to anything else. This shot shows the girl seeing the teacher as a crow which is obvious to the audience that it isn’t true which makes the atmosphere of suspense because the audience might be wondering why the girl is seeing this. Editing is used in this scene by using a hand held camera which creates the atmosphere of tension as the audience is put into the perdition of the girl. This indicates to the audience that the girls head isn’t right and she is slowly going mental. This can make the audience wonder why all these things are happening to the girl therefore meaning that the audience wants to carry on watching. Another thing that a hand held camera creates is the tension on how fast everything is happening and how frantic the girl is becoming because it shows that the girl is running which causes the audience to realise that it is happening all at once. Therefore fitting into the convention of a thriller due to not giving the audience an exact answered on why all of this is happening so fast. As this can make the audience confused and can leaving the audience wanting to know what is happening. The mise en scene is only used a little bit to show the typical conventions of a thriller. This is done when the girl is alone on the stage. This links to how the girl feels about having the lead part. Also it tells the audience that the girl hasn’t got anyone else that is going through the same as here therefore she is isolated. This can also link to typical thriller conventions because the auid3ence knows that only the bad things happens when people are alone. Therefore this creates tension and suspense because the audience knows something is going to happen but they aren’t sure what it is so they are left waiting just like the girl is. Sound is also used to indicate to the audience that something is going to happen. This is because it also is linked to the lights going off. The film used a big bang to indicate that the lights weren’t a mistake and it was done on purpose. This links to the audience knowing that something is going to happen to her but the audience or she doesn’t know what. Linking to this it can cause suspense because the audience will begin to think and feel how the girl is during this.  

In scene four it shows the typical conventions of a thriller through the camera work which shows a long shot of her being on the floor and being surrounded. This can make the audience wonder what is happening. This is by causing tension and make the audience wonder why it is happening. The fact that the girl is on the floor can indicate that she is powerless and has given up on what she is trying to fight against therefore causing her to fall to the floor. Everyone surrounding her can represent the power of the problem that she is battling against and that it has taken over her. This links to creating tension because the audience isn’t sure what is happening to the girl which shows that the girl doesn’t anymore. Editing is used to create an atmosphere of a thriller. Fast cutting is used to show all the action that is happening in the scene so that the audience can get a sense of the atmosphere just as the girl is. By showing the audience all the things that are happening in the scene it gives the audience a chance to answer some of the questions they have about what is happening. Also the fast cutting keeps the suspense because the audience hasn’t got time to try and think about what can happen next it just happens therefore the audience is caught off guard and the tension is maintained. The fast cutting creates the atmosphere that it is manic in the film therefore the audience isn’t sure what is happening which keeps the mystery of what is happening. The mise en scene is used to try and make the audience think something has happened which hasn’t. This is done by making the audience think the girl is dead however it’s just the way they show her on the floor. This can create the feeling of suspense and tension because the film showed all this action and then all of it just stopped therefore it can make the audience wonder if it was all true or it can make the audience wonder if anything else is going to happen. This is because throughout the film it has caused the atmosphere of tension or suspense and then it drops for a bit and then picks it back up therefore the audience can be left wondering what is going to happen. Lastly sound is used to keep up the conventions of a thriller by the sound draining out. This is done to show the audience that all the action has stopped and it is serious. Also making the audience wonder what is going to happen to the girl and if any of what she was thinking and feeling was true. It also can indicate that nothing else is going to happen and can cause the tension to build when nothing is going to happen. This can make the audience want to watch until the end just in case they miss anything that they thought wasn’t going to happen.