Thriller Opening Final Product

Question 1

Question 1 from Tammybaldwin99

Question 2

Created with Padlet

Question 3

Question 4 and 5

Question 6

Question 7

Feedback on Thriller Opening

Differences between our screenplay and our finished thriller opening

In our screenplay we said that our thriller would open with a shot of the house that 'The girl' was in before going inside to the argument that she is having with her Dad. However, In our finished thriller opening, we didn't include this as we wanted to get straight to the point and start out thriller with the dad complaining to the girl. We think that this worked quite well as it then set a more dramatic setting before the rest of the opening by starting with some conflict.

We also decided not to do the part where the girl picks up a photo of he family and smashes it on the floor due to a couple of reasons. 1. We didn't want glass on the floor and decided that it was too hard to put a realistic effect on it. (also the floor was carpet so if we decided we were actually smashing it then it wouldn't have smashed very well. 2. We also thought that when we would have added everything into our opening that it would be too long and probably look more like a trailer, as we decided that we were going to add a montage at the end including the titles.

In scene two (The grandma scene), we also decided not to have dialogue with the girl and the grandma inside the house and also we didn't have them sitting on the sofa together. This is also because we didn't want to make it too long as we decided that we were going to do the montage at the end which included the titles. We also wanted to make it more brief and use something that showed passage of time well.

Instead of using a long shot of the girls grandma' house in scene three (The morning scene), we decided to use 2 different shots of the sky outside along with diegetic sound of birds to show the fact that it is the morning after. We blended these 2 pictures (one after the other) to show different parts of the sky, and also to show the passage of time to the morning.

Draft of thriller opening

This is a draft of our thriller opening 'What Can't Speak Can't Lie' before we changed the beginning argument with the dad. We changed it and made the argument longer so our audience will understand why the girl was angry and decided to leave.

Film Contribution Release Forms

Pratice/exclusive clips

This is a clip we cut from our thriller opening when the dad and the girl are arguing. We cut it because it didn't fit in with new takes we did for the argument, we re-did the argument scene because it wasn't long enough for the audience to understand what was happening and it explains more why she leaves.

This is an exclusive behind the scenes clip of the argument:

Poduction Logo Update and Stylistic influence

  Me and Laura have decided to change our production logo as we decided that our last one did not look professional enough and it was too small to put into our thriller opening. Here is our new and improved design and we hope that you like it...

 

Something else that influenced us to do this was some past student thriller logos which we had seen on YouTube. We thought that these logos were good as they were usually more simple than our first design but  still had a good effect and looked very professional. Therefore, we decided to make our own logo more simple but more professional looking.

Tzvetan Todorov's Narrative Theory

Tzvetan todorov from Tammybaldwin99

Practice shots

Here are some practice still shots that me and Laura have taken in preparation for the rest of our filming. This will therefore let us see what ever shot is going to look like when we put it together and we will be able to change anything we want to at any point if we think that we can make it look better. Some of these may later be used in our finished film.

Here are some location shots of a graveyard that me and Laura are planning to use in the opening of  our thriller. As you can see we have used natural light to create shadows and highlights on certain areas (as on the first photo we have used the sun behind the object we were photographing to create a silhouette effect).

Here is a shot that we took of when 'The girl' is walking to her Grandmas house. The one below this would be of when the girl is knocking on the front door of her Grandmas house before she answers and lets her in.

Here is an example of the shot reverse shot that we will be using at the beginning of our thriller opening.

Music

The website that we used to get our sound and music from for our thriller opening was... https://www.freesound.org/  , which is a website that allows you to download music and sounds for free without the issue of copyright.


We used around three different tracks and sound off of this website to make up the sound and music that we need for our whole opening.

Our thriller poster

Here is a teaser poster for our thriller opening 'What Can't Speak Can't lie'...

As you can see, we have overlapped two pictures, one being a photo of 'The Girl' who is a main character in our thriller, and the other being a picture of some war planes. 
This has been done to show that our thriller film is based both in the past and present and also that the key theme of it is war and the negative effects that it has on people, particularly the 'War Hero' granddad in our film. 
To give the impression of the past being a big art of our thriller, we have also made our poster in black and white to reflect something old such as photos which in the time of war were black and white.

After we had the main picture that we used for our background on this poster, we added the writing and decoration using https://www.fotor.com/ 

This is a way in which our thriller film is going to be promoted in order to try and aim at a larger target audience.

Roles and responsiblities

My role in the production of our thriller is the director of photography and the editor. Both me and Laura contributed to the directing of the thriller and the making of the props used. Because Laura and I are in different media classes it can be difficult to find time to work together, but we made sure that we agreed on something before adding it to our film, e.g. the sound effects and the music, also the settings of filming and the shots used.

Laura's role was the marketing and promotion of the film which included making the poster and recording target audience responses, and she was the main actress for the opening.

Both me and Laura have took on roles that play to our strengths, I prefer to do the production and Laura preferred to do the marketing. However, we both pulled our weight by helping each other out.

I think that by working in this way with specific roles we have found it easier to manage everything that we needed to include in our film and the research and planning that goes towards it.

 

Titles in our thriller opening

These are the titles that we are using in our thriller opening. First of all, me and Laura have looked at other thriller openings including past student ones and decided that we were going to use a simple font with a simple effect on it. We have been doing that as we thought that they looked better in the thriller openings that we had seen and also we thought that these titles looked more professional than others we had seen. Here are a couple of examples from our thriller opening of the type of titles that we are using...

Props

During the making of out thriller opening the props that were used were either items that we already owned or what me and Laura made.

Here are some of the significant props that we used...

The article
Here is the fake article that we made for when the girl finds it in the attic of her Grandmas house. This is the last part that is shown in the opening scene before the titles so as the audience have to wait until after the titles to see what happens in the rest of the film.

The photo frame

For this we used the same old looking photo shown on the fake article above and put it in an old looking frame which had dull colours (We already owned this frame). 

This is the photo which the girl takes to her Grandmas when leaving her own house. 

The old box
This is the box which was used as the one filled with the girls granddad's old belongings. As you will later get to see in our film, we filled it with old looking things such as books and coins to give the impression that these belongings are from an older generation (Her granddad's).

Target Audience

Narrative/ Plot

Narrative/Plot of our film

As you will later find out, the opening of our film will not reveal much about the story and what will happen in the rest of the movie, it is also left on a 'cliff hanger'.

Here you will learn about the rest of the action packed and thrilling film that would be produced if the film was to be made fully.

I think that our opening and film is unique to the other thriller films/openings being made as the rest of our film will be unexpected for the viewers. The rest of our film also uses a flashback relating to what the audience will be seeing in the opening. 

 

 

 

Issues around representation

Day three of filming

Today me and Laura went 

to the graveyard as we thought that it would be 

a good idea to film some pieces for our titles part

in our opening. When we were there we mainly

shot clips of me walking through the graveyard

and some of me running, including some different 

types of angles. We shot quite a lot of footage at

the graveyard as we needed to make sure we had 

enough.

On this day we also managed to film the scene when 

the girl goes to her Grandmas house, however this did

turn out differently than we planned on our storyboard 

as we didn't want out opening to drag on for too long or

seem more like a trailer... find out how it changed later in

our finished production.

Day two of filming

                                            Yesterday we mannaged to get a 

lot more of the filming done which 

included the argument that the girl has 

with her Dad, the girl walking up the stairs,

grabbing her coat and bag, and walking 

outside in the dark to her Grandmas house,

although we didnt shoot the scene with the 

Grandma in today as we planned to do it the

next. However we shot the scene again when

the girl finds the old article of her Granddad.

Day one of filming

The 17th of February- Filming Day Number 1!

On the first day of filming we didn't actually do as much filming as the other

days that we had planned. This is because on the first day, me and Laura decided that it would be the best choice to get on with making the props and asking some of the people we needed (Laura's Grandma and Dad) when they were able to film, therefore it was easier as we could plan ahead which gave us more time to do other important things.

We started off our "filming day" by getting out props together with began with 

making the fake article that the girl finds in the attic whilst at her Grandmas 

house. This prop actually took a long time to make as it took a while to dry after

we had made it, however while we were waiting we discussed scenes that we were not fully sure on and some of them in the final product were changed a bit.

We then got an old looking photo of a young man dressed in a Military uniform which we used for the picture in the frame which the girl carries with her in the opening of our thriller. (We then put this in a old looking frame and so as it was ready for us we put it where it is placed for when we were filming).

Although we didn't use this on the fist day of out filming, we decided to put a box together to use as the box filled with the girls Granddads old belongings. To do this we just put the fake article in the bottom and some old looking books and random items that we could find.

Filming: Like I already said, on the fist day we didn't do too much filming as we were preparing everything we needed first. When it came to filming, we did the scenes without the Dad or Grandma needed as they were more available on other days. 

Some parts that we managed to get filmed on this day was the part when the girl is packing her bag, when she finds the old article, when she picks up the photo of her Granddad, although we didn't have my Dad we were able to film the girl walking out of the door after the argument with her Dad and then we filmed a few shots of the location in case needed.

Location scouting

We are going to use these steps when the girl is walking up and down them before she leaves her house and heads to her Grandmas. However we are not certain on the angle.

This picture shows the location that we are planning on using when the girl is outside when walking to her Grandmas. The road is long which will be good as we can film on different parts of it making it seem like she walks a long way.

Here is the room we might be using for when the girl and her parents are arguing. We are not sure yet at where in the room will be best.

 

Here is an example of the door we may be using for when the girl runs out of after arguing with her parents, also this could be the door that the girl comes back into before she sees the photos including the one of her war hero Grandad.

Here is an idea of what we might use to put the photos on where the picture of her Granddad is standing. We will show it using different shots e.g. mid-shots of the shelf cutting to close-up shots of just the picture.

This would be good place to film the girl packing her bag. We will do the first shot looking through the mirror and then to pan to her actually packing it not through a reflection. I think that this will have a good effect.

(There is also a place to stand for the camera person so as they are not seen in the background of any of the mirrors, as seen in these photos).

Costumes

These are the costumes are characters will be wearing in our thriller opening:

Propps Character Types

Introduction to the characters

Characters from Tammybaldwin99

Screenplay

Screenplay from Tammybaldwin99

Our Production Logo

Here is our production logo '21st Century Productions'.

Me and Laura thought that it would be good to use quite a simple yet unique logo so as the viewers know who it belongs to. 

The text '21st Century Productions' is being projected out onto the screen behind it which is why we have used a yellow shadow behind the text. By using this it creates the image that there is light there which we think makes it look like a projected image instead of plain boring text.

The shadows we think also connect with the type of films (such our thriller)that we make as it makes it more mysterious.

We used the name '21st Century Productions' as it it also simple yet effective. This name is also easy to say (for all people) and is also easy to remember.

 

Time and equipment required

We have decided we will need about 3-4 days to film our thriller opening, however we will use more if needed. These days will include the making/sorting out of our props and costume and ensuring that the people we need are available at the time that we need them for.

For the making of our thriller, based on the storyline that we have, we think that we will be using the following technologies:

1. DSLR Camera - for the main filming
2. Tripod - For steady/still shots and panning
3. Shoulder mount - for moving shots
4. Possibly the Go Pro - for running/point-of-view shots

Risk assessment

Risk assesment part B from LauraKN

'Secret diary of a call girl' analysis

Secret diary of from Tammybaldwin99

Thriller Storyboard

Storyboard from Tammybaldwin99

Textual analysis of a past student thriller opening

Texual analysis of a thriller film

Role of the screenplay

In todays lesson we learnt all about screenplays; what they are, how they are different from a script, and why they are used.

Firstly we got given a copy of a screenplay from the beginning of the film Jaws:

We learnt that one page of a screenplay is equivalent to one minute of screen time, and we also learnt how to structure a screenplay. This will give us an idea of how to structure and write our own screenplays for our thriller opening.

The role of the screenplay is so the actors/actresses and the director know exactly what happens, when, where and at what shot angle. 

A screenplay is different from a script because it provides more detail of the location of the shots and the mise-en-scene of the location, and the type of shot used. Whereas a script is just the dialog of what the characters say. 

How the audience will 'use' or thriller

Based off my previous blog on theories I will be focusing on the uses and gratification theory and show how we will relate to it in our thriller.

I believe our thriller is aimed at teenagers and adults and I think they will watch (use) our film as it aims to be a very dramatic thriller type film, but we didn't want to give much away in the opening which will have the audience 'on the edge of their seats' and intrigue them.

I also think that the audience will be able to relate to our film as the opening starts off with a typical family conflict between a teenager and her dad which I'm sure many will be able to relate to. Therefore, because the audience might be able to see similarities in their lives along with the lives of the characters this will enable them to interact more with the film and the other characters within it more (Meaning that they can emotionally connect with the film, the action, and the feelings of the characters).

I think that our thriller opening/film will give a message to the viewers that life isn't always what we expect it to be, and that sometimes bad things can happen even if everything seems perfect or just like a normal life.

We decided to leave the ending to our thriller up to audience interpretation so that it will promote discussion about our film hopefully attracting others to watch it.

Audience theories

Active Vs. Passive 

Academic theories of audience can be split between models which see the audience as passive and those which see it as aggressive. Passive means it is easily manipulated, weak willed, controlled, dominated, and is compliant. Active means being engaged, involved, responsive, in control and free willed. The passive audience: The Hypodermic Syringe/needle model - short term effect, this was developed in 1930s where all audience members react in the same way, they all passively receive messages, the audience are manipulated and the media affects thoughts and behaviour.

I think our thriller will appeal to the aggressive audience because it will probably get different reactions as some people will find it interesting and mysterious, but others might not get the concept so might not like it because they don't understand it. I think this because it isn't a conventional thriller, that might scare people but its a thriller that makes people think.

Uses and Gratification

The Uses and Gratification theory of audience suggest, unlike the hypodermic needle model, that the audience determines what to do with the media rather than the media influencing the audience directly. When an audience actively seeks media, they want to gratify them, they are choosing to interpret its message. The main idea is that media does not fully control a helpless audience, but rather the media is subjective per person as they use it to meet needs.

Reception theory

The Effects model (active vs. passive) and the uses and gratifications have some problems and limitations so a different approach was developed by the academic Stuart Hall at Birmingham University in the 1970s. This considered how text were encoded with meaning by producers and then decoded (understood) by audiences. This theory suggest that when a producer constructs a text it is encoded with the meaning or message that the producer wishes to convey to the audience. Sometimes audiences will correctly decode the message or meaning and understand what the producer is trying to say. However in some instances the audience will either reject or fail to correctly understand the message. Stuart Hall identified 3 types of audience decoding of the text: dominant or preferred which is where the audience decodes the message correctly and agrees with it, negotiated this is where the audience accepts, rejects or refines elements of the text in light of previously held views, and oppositional where the dominant meaning is recognised but rejected for cultural, political or ideological reasons.

Primary audience research

Here is a survey we did to find out what types of audiences would watch our thriller film

Primary audience research from LauraKN