Group storyboard- Miss Miller

The purpose of creating a group storyboard is we can collaborate all the ideas of ourselves and combine certain elements of them together to create one final improved narrative, the final narrative has all the best ideas for our narrative on one storyboard, this is so the opening scene will be the best it possibly can be.

 

We created our group storyboard by looking at each others storyboards and deciding which elements were better or stood out from the others to put in to the final ones. So we swapped the storyboards around so we each got a chance to see the ideas from each one and include the ideas we liked best in the final narrative.

Elements

Harry Hyett

Panning Shot- Harry had the idea of including a panning shot at the start of the opening scene, as he said it gives the audience a better understanding of the location that the scene is set. And that it helps to build suspense.

Handheld Camera Angle - Harry had an idea of a point of view, handheld combination to show what the character was seeing, this was to create a connection with the audience as they were looking through the eyes of the character. He took this inspiration from The Uninvited in the scene when the character walks into the room at the start of the scene in this particular camera angle.

High Angle - This was another camera angle that was taken from Harry's individual storyboard, this camera angle was to be used on both of the characters to show vulnerability of the character via the shift of power as well. Again he took this camera angle from The Uninvited where the character is running through the corridor and this camera angle is used to show her vulnerability.

Luke Durrance

Hidden Identity- We felt that the idea of hidden identity should be used so we took this from my storyboard. This is because it is conventional to the thriller genre and will add to the element of mystery. The hidden identity can be achieved by both characters. If the girl is wearing dark make up over her face it will not be clear and the audience will not be able to see completely what the character looks like. And again the same for the male character if he is wearing some form of clothing that covers a section of his face it will make the audience feel as if the character is the killer although he is not. Although they are not fully hidden they will not be clear to the audience making them feel nervous about the situation for the opposing character, this is also conventional to the thriller genre, as it creates suspense.

Weapon - This was taken from My storyboard as we didn't know what weapon we should include in our opening scene. And my idea of how the knife would be used in the scene was a clear and effective idea. This is also conventional to the thriller genre as it is used in a few of the films I researched.

Reaction Shot- This element was taken from my storyboard as we though it was a good idea that we should include this to show the audience the reaction of the character. This will make it easy for the audience to engage in the scene and become more relate able with the characters via the conversation between the two.

Evaluation

I think that our group storyboard is a massive success as we have a clear understanding of our narrative that we will be filming in the near future. We have done this by reincorporating different elements that stood out from each persons individual storyboard and collected them together and combined them into one for a storyboard that we all like and agree on. This means that the filming of the opening scene will be simple as everyone knows the narrative and no one needs to be explained the narrative. The opening scene will have the clearest narrative, and this should mean that the audience have a clear understanding of whats going on in the scene, which will help to create suspense.

Filming schedule and risk assessment- Miss Georgiou

1) Filming schedule
It is very important to have a filming schedule. It helps organise the filming and speeds up the process of filming. We used a basic sehedule by planning what day and time we would film, as it only took one session to film our whole opening scene, we used the storyboard as a guide to what shots we would film in what order. The table below is the one that we used for the filming.

2) Risk assesment

It is important to consider all risks before filming, as the health and safety of everyone included in the film-making process is important. Furthermore, identifying all risks and how to avoid them minimises the potential hazards. The below risk assessment will therefore assist us with filming in that we now know how to avoid hazards.

Hazards:

Knife. We will be using a knife in our film as it is the murder weapon. To minimise the risk of getting hurt due to this knife, we will use a fake knife.

Filming near roads. We were careful when filming the outside scenes near the road to not be near cars, as this could cause an accident.

When climbing stairs in the dark, make sure we are bing safe, so try to use a light to help us.

The table below shows the risk assment table that we made and used when filming.

Opening Scenaration - Miss Miller

Opening Scene Narrative

This is the narrative that our opening scene follows.

A young girl has been abandoned and is walking along an industrial estate at night, the back story is the audiences individual idea, but the narrative implies that the young girl has been abandoned by her parents and left alone in the dark, this is shown with a panning shot, it just shows the girl walking down a path, at the same time the frame starts the soundtrack begins over the top, which is continued throughout the opening sequence. The girl is wearing a night dress and is messy and she is carrying and teddy bear. She is seen as a weak vunerable little girl in a dangerous setting on her own and is in danger. She walks along the path slowly and apperars fragile in the freezing cold, showing barely any emotions through her face or body language, this is her characteistics, the audience dont know what to think of her, which is creating some suspense as the anticipation builds to see what will happen, we decided to do this purposely as it make the suspense build as they are unsure if she is in danger or not. Her face is emotionless as she walks through the shadows, which still portrays this image of her. The girl decides to walks down a dark alley way, which has some light, this see the soundtrack build up. We made the high angle shot look like a CCTV camera tracking her. She walks for a small amount of time down the alley way and then is encountered by a tall, dark figure that walks up to her, the soundtrack is continung, the suspense is building and the anticipation of the audience is high. As the shot shows them standing in front of eachother the girl smiles, this is shown quickly, but is included to confuse the audience slightly but is also building suspense, the smile could be seen as scary, as the smile could indicate that she is in control of the situation, this adds some confusion. There is a scream coming from behind the male character, this scream happens as the girl character dissapears. This shocks the audience as they are confused and the shot is a POV of the Male turing around and looking for the girl. At this point the male is confused, and is trying to look for the girl he walks down the alley way this is shown by another high angle shot, in the same style of a CCTV camera. This is suspenseful for the audience as they are unsure about whats happening. The next shot is an eye level shot to show the male figure walking down the alley way, while the suspense is building and the soundtrack is still going. As the man walks past the camera, the young female character is seen behind him, she was hiding in the shadows, this is shown in  a mid shot. We decided to inculde this as it builds the suspense as the audience now know that she is the antagonist in the situation and the male is going to be her victim this is shocking to the audience, the sound track is also building. The next shot shots the girl leave the shadow, we decided to slow this shot down as it empasises how the character looks, which builds the relationship between the audience and the characters. As the male POV is shown he turns into the direction the girl is in, the girlis in the middle of the shot, standing still for a couple of seconds, this is when the suspense is at its higest becaise the narrative has come together to this point, the soundtrack is also continuing and ads to the atomosphere. Then she runs, with her knife in her hand. The attack on thye male isnt shown but it is clear that he has been killed. The next show is a shot that pans in on the girls face, the soundtrack is still continuing. This is the end of the opening sequence.

Summary

There are a few elements which will make our sequence better/coventional such as..

Scream - at first we was going to include a brief conversation between the two characters in the scene. It would be a conversation about the injures to the girl and how he was going to help her. This is slightly unconventional to a thriller opening scene as opening scenes to not generally contain dialogue. To overcome this we decided to use a Scream insteate of a conversation. As it would take less time in the film length and also would also be conventional to the thriller genre.

Removal of the phone - In the original narrative we had included a phone at which a sub-narrative between the girl and someone was taking place. Although this would make the opening scene more relateable to the target audience, it would also draw there attention away from the scene and what is taking place. So we decided to take this element out as it would take to much time up in the opening scene and would distracting for the audience.

Teddy Bear - With the removal of the phone we decided to add an the teddy bear into the scene as the teddy bear make the girl appear to be less mature and younger, also it add the snese that she is an innocent. Which is conventional to the thriller genre.

Production roles- Miss MIller

People need to allocated specific roles during the filming as they need to know what their roles are. The main roles necessary for filming a thriller film are, director, camera operator, actors and producer. we decided who would be doing what by asking one another what roles we would prefer to do and we agreed to the roles.

Roles of Our Group

Producers - Harry Hyett, Co-Joshua Lester, Luke Durrance. A person responsible for the financial and managerial aspects of the making of the film, Together we will decide what we will need for our film and purchase the items we need and pay for it ourselves.

Director - Harry Hyett. A film director is the person who directs the making of the film, he felt he understood the narrative and what roles the actors needed to do in the shot.

Actors - Hannah Mahoney, Luke Durrance. A persons whose profession is acting in films, we both felt comfortable with the job of acting, and we relay the conventions of a teenager in the thriller genre, as we are both teenagers. 

Director of Photography (Cameraman) - Joshua Lester. A person whose profession is operating a film camera., Joshua know the location of the setting very well and from this it would be best for him to take the role of cameraman and he already has an idea of what angles can be achieved at the setting.

Music Producers - Luke Durrance. A record producer is an individual working within the music industry producing music for a film, I took this role as I felt that i could do it, as I have researched the conventional sounds used in thriller films, and I know how to use it in an original way. 

Screenplay Writer - Harry Hyett. Is a writer who practises the craft of screenwriting of films etc., He took this role as he felt as though he would be a good director, he knew the narrative well, and the other roles of acting wasn't suitable for him.

MES Coordinators - Hannah Mahoney, Joshua Lester. The five elements of MES are...

Settings and Iconography, Lighting and colour. - Joshua took this aspect as he had a clear understanding of the setting, and with the camera, he knew if the lighting was sufficient for the camera, or if we needed to move where the characters are more visible.

Costume, Hair and Make Up , Body Language and Facial Expressions- Hannah's Character was put together by herself and she decide to have a specific costume, and with this used her hair and make-up to make an orphan like character. She also helped with the design of the other character.

Positioning of Characters within the frame - Joshua the camera man is the main person that does this, he knows where the camera will be pointing so he directs the actors, Harry also directed the characters into what they needed to do in the shot.

Editors - Harry Hyett, Luke Durrance, Joshua Lester. A person who is in charge and determines the final content of the film. We all have a basic understanding of the editing software that we will be using so together we would work together to put our film together.

Overall everyone carried out their roles well, every role that was necessary was carried out well and with minimal problems, there isn't anything that I would change about the roles of the people in our group as we all worked well in the roles allocated.

Harry Hyett - Director, Editor, Screenplay Writer, Producer. I think he completed all the tasks well. He construed the main narrative with the help from the group, he had a good understanding of the narrative which helped when filming.

Luke Durrance -Actor, Editor, Music Producer, editor - I think I completed all of my tasks very well, I listened to instructions from Harry the director. Also with the editing I feel that I have put in alot of input and I am please with the progress that our opening scene has made.

Hannah Mahoney - Actor, MES Coordinator - Hannah was a very confident in her role, and made her character beliveable, she made her costume realistic and the make up that she had to do herself was also good and made the role believable.

Joshua Lester - Director Of Photography, Editor, MES Coordinator,Co- Producer. - Joshua was a very good cameraman, he added input into the shots that he was taking, and he was enthusiastic. The shots he used he made sure had sufficient light in the background, and for the high angle shots he controlled the camera well.


Planning opening credits- Miss Georgiou

We have decided to use a style of font that we feel is the most conventionl to a thriller film, which is the second font, 'font two lithos pro regular', we have decided to include this into our thriller opening sequence instead of the first font as the first font is not conventional to thriller genre, and I feel the  font we chose is a better alternative.

The film Seven used effective font that suited the thriller genre, the colour of the text is white which contrasts and stands out to the audience as it falls apon a dark brown/black background this shows the contrast between the good and the bad or in the case of the thriller genre the antagonist and the protagonist. The style of the credits was messy handwriting, which suited the genre of thriller and was conventional, as this style of font is creepy and is used in some other thriller films. To add to the credits they are used during low key lighting which is conventional to the thriller genre which helps for the audience to establish what the genre of the film is straight away.

Shutter Island opening credits.
The opening credits for shutter island are very conventional to the thriller genre, as the font and colours they used suit the genre, and they show the audience what they need to know from the opening credits. The way that shutter island uses the opening credits is effective at setting the level of suspense that the film starts with, and it shows the audience a basic insight into what the rest of the film is going to be like. I have taken some inspiration from the shutter island opening credits as I feel they are good at setting the atomosphere for the film, which I want to incorperate into my opening sequence, manly because it suits the style of our opening sequence,  and it will ensure that the opening credits are conventional to the thriller genre.

Our Opening Scene Credits

We have decided that our credits will be shown throughout our opening sequence, this way we can make the opening credits be in time with the events on screen, for example we will show a credit when a character is shown in a new shot, if we didnt do this then the credits would be mixed, which could result in distracting the audience from the narrative of the opening sequence.
Order of Appearance
Production Company - 'Tiger Blood Productions'
Actors Names - Hannah Mahoney, Luke Durrance
Casting - Harry Hyett
Music - Joshua Lester, Luke Durrance
Costume - Hannah Mahoney
Editors - Harry Hyett, Luke Durrance
Production - Tiger Blood Productions
Camera Operation - Josh Lester

Inspirations- Miss Miller

From each of the thriller films that I have looked at for my posts I have taken some inspiration from all of them. These ideas that our group and I have thought out to use in our opening sequence, have been thought of from inspirations taken from the films that we have watched, which is why research into the thriller genre and watching thriller film has help as the give us inspirations for our own thriller opening sequence. We can take inspiration from almost anywhere, for example I have taken inspiration from films I have watched,these films have shown me conventional of the thriller genre, which lead back to inspirations that can be used in my own thriller film. I have watched Shutter Island, The woman in black, Scream 2, Halloween, The Shining  The Ring and Seven.

One of my main ideas has been to include a female character like in Scream 2, The Ring and The Woman in Black, as each character in all of the films help build a suspenseful atmosphere, which is what i want in my opening sequence, so by including a female character in my opening sequence, I feel that it will help build a suspenseful atmosphere, and will also relate to a conventional thriller film. To incorporate this character into our own opening scene, we decided to change the role of the character, which is conventionally a victim, so to make our opening scene unique, we made the young blonde female, the killer. This should shock the audience, and will still create suspense, and will also incorporate the female character convention.

The soundtrack that I am thinking of using would be a high pitched constant sound, and to add more suspense a sound of a heart beating, that gets louder and faster to add more suspense for the audience. For example I have taken specific Inspirations from sequences, like the sequence that I analysed from The Woman in Black, where the sounds used were effective at creating a high level of suspense and were conventional to the thriller genre, as the suspense engaged the audience and built a relationship between the audience and the character. The inspiration that I took from that scene was that now I know what specific sounds I want to try and replicate in my own thriller opening sequence, specifically the use of a sort silence to intensify the suspense, is very effective, so that I would like to include it in my own opening sequence. I will have a different soundtrack and the events on-screen will help intensify the suspense, this will make my use of the silence different to the use of it in The Woman in Black.

A character with a hidden identity is included in my film, we have filmed our opening sequence so the identity of the male character is hidden when the audience first see him, this leads the audience to think that he is dangerous, and the young female character is in danger from him, which creates suspense. The identity of the male character is later shown a little in the opening sequence, this puts a different perspective of the male character in the audiences head, as he is now seen to be worried when he is looking for the female character. From him being portrayed to the audience as dangerous, to being seen as the character  in danger, the use of hidden identity in our thriller opening sequence is effective at building suspense, and relaying our film to conventions in the thriller genre.

The use of a industrial park and dark alley way is not typically conventional to thriller films, as the thriller films  watched for research didn't include dark alleyways and industrial parks, but the audience can still relate to the [places in  our thriller film, and know that they can possibly be dangerous. This use of an alleyway is effective because most audiences can relate to it. By using an industrial park and an alleyway we know that our thriller opening sequence is going to be more original than others, that might have used a house of Forest, as they have been used alot in thriller films.

I have been inspired by films like scream 2 and The Orphan to use fast editing, which is effective at building suspense in the scene especially during chase scenes, and this would be used with effective camera angles like a point of view shot , and eye level shot so the audience feel like they are in the scene, the use of these shots helps build atmosphere in the scene, which again is conventional to the thriller genre.

The research that I made of thriller films, has helped me in many ways with producing my own thriller opening sequence, for example, the blonde female character that we have decide to include in my own thriller film has been taken as an inspiration from films such as Scream and Halloween, we decided to use a young blonde female character in our thriller opening scene, but to incorporate it into our own opening scene, we decided to change the role of the character, which is conventionally a victim, so to make our opening scene unique, we made the young blonde female, the killer. This should shock the audience, and will still create suspense, and will also incorporate the female character convention.
Also the research helped me understand how to include and build suspense in a scene, I have seen good examples of this from The woman in Black and in Seven, both films use the soundtrack and onscreen sounds to build the suspense slowly, which is conventional to the thriller genre.

Planning sound- Miss Miller

Sound is vital to thriller films as sound is what stirs emotions and creates tension. Planning is required to produce a good soundtrack and good use of sounds in the thriller opening sequence to build suspense and create emotion amongst the audience, this is my main aim from my sounds, to provoke a reaction from the audience from the sounds that I use in my Thriller opening sequence. The sound that is used in the opening sequence should be linked in with the pictures on the screen, which creates a high level of suspense.

Soundtrack, Off Screen, Non-Diagetic - This sound will be used at the start of the sequence and will be low pitched, it will be used to build up tension until the first character will be seen in the film. the soundtrack will be faded in and become louder, the soundtrack will have a steady beat. which is conventional to the thriller genre as it creates suspense. This helps create a relationship between the audience and the characters, which in turn will create a suspenseful atmosphere.

High Pitched, Off Screen, Non-Diagetic - This sound will be used when the teenager turns around for the audience to find out that the antagonist has gone missing, and will also be used when the Young girl is seen behind the character. This sound is specifically used in the highly suspenseful moments in the thriller genre. The main aim of the sound is to be scary for the audience,and intensify the suspense in the scene, which builds a relationship between the audience and the characters.

Scream in the distance, Off Screen, Diagetic - The scream will happen when the teenager is looking at the young girl. It will be a direct scream that the character and the audience will both hear, this scream then leads to the disappearance of the girl, so the scream then intrigues the male into investigating where the scream came from. This scream is only used to give a meaning to the narrative, and it is a key part to the narrative of the opening sequence, at this point the male character is also seen to be in danger, which builds the relationship between the audience and the characters once again. 
The sounds that I am planning to use in my opening sequence are important to the atmosphere that the opening sequence has and the overall narrative of the thriller as the sounds are key to the relationship that the audience have with the characters and the events on screen making sense. This is why I believe that the sounds will give the opening sequence a more effective and interesting narrative that is conventional to the thriller genre.