Effects We Used

Filters - Running Shots - Day to Night
- Close up of Canon Camera - Gamma correction
- Evidence shot of number 1 - Gamma correction
- Flash Gun shot - Gamma correction
- Hand shot - Gamma correction
- Blood stained wall shot - Gamma correction

Camera Cranking - Newspaper Shot - Speed reduced by 80%
- Fingerprint dusting - Speed increased by 151%

Titles - Font - LiSong Pro
- Size - 27
- Tracking - 8
- Fade in/Fade out

Final shot fades out at the end.

In our feedback this shot was the most popular, maybe becuase it is the most shocking.

Thriller Conventions

How does our sequence meet typical conventions of a thriller?
- We successfully create a sense of mystery by never showing the murderer himself. Instead we chose to simply imply characteristics, we did this through shots such as the newspaper cuttings reading 'Troubled mind'. We also create a sense of mystery through the running shots, as it is unclear where this person is running, why they are running and who it is that is running. Our sequence creates unanswered questions which the answers to could only be discovered through watching the rest of the film.
- We created our own soundtrack to help build up tension in the sequence. It helps create anticipation of the next shot and what is going to happen. We used breathing alongside the running shots as our non-diegetic sounds, and we played this over the top of the music. The breathing fits in with the running shots and helps to create a feeling of desperation.
- We used the filter 'Day to Night' to make it look a lot darker and creepier in our shots. Without it they didn't look as eerie, and it was clear what was happening. This eliminated the sense of mystery we wanted to create. Having the shots in darkness meant that they were more distorted and unsettling to the audience.
- We used a house/barn/field as our settings as these are familiar to a lot of people. By using familiar settings and creating danger within it, we think this creates an extreme feeling of danger as it poses a potential threat.

Our Final Sequence

Feedback Review

From looking at the feedback, it suggets that our thriller piece was a success a meeting thriller requirments. The sound track which I worked on, seemed to be popular, the feed back suggests that fits well with the action. Also the hanging scene, recieved the dramatic reponse that we wanted. Also our running shots seemed to be popular, and the diegetic sound the thought fits well with the action. So overal through our feedback, we have seen a positve response, which is what we wanted.

Final Feedback

Do you think that the soundtrack fits well with the action?
Yes- it suits the genre, the breathing is well good!
Yes it is very effective, sets the atmosphere well. Very good, best in class.
Definitely, the change in the music was really good.
The heavy breathing works well to build suspense and it highlights panic.
Yes and no, we think that it works well before the orchestra music comes in, but the heavy breathing worked very well.

Which Shot do you find dramatic?
The one with the dead body as we didn't expect it. Very yucky, ending shot works well to build suspense!
The shot with the dead body hanging works very well as it was unexpected, very well done. The dead body suspended was very good, and the shots of the newspaper.

What do you think of the Flashbacks (running scenes)? Are they effective and if so why?
Really good flash backs, the breathing is good. The way in which you used the camera worked well.
Camera movement was really realistic and kept the fast pace up.
Yes, very effective and added suspense to the sequence. Quality loved it! Best in Class!

Which aspects of the video do you think work well?
The camera angles helped make it more dramatic. Newspaper cuttings were a good prop as they helped create a story. Well good, Forensic person is a good idea- works well to keep with in thriller genre.

My opinions so far..

An aspect of our sequence which I think works well is the shot of Bryn running through the fields. This splits up the other shots, which are mostly close ups, and adds variety to the sequence. It is also visually very different to the other shots, as we mainly focus on the forensic side of the murder, not anything to do with the murder itself.

An aspect of our sequence which needs developing is the editing of our shots. We need to edit the shots together with decent shot lengths and a variety of shot types together. This is the main area which needs developing in our sequence, as the shots themselves are quite strong, it's just the editing together which will create a successful sequence.

Rough Cut

Feedback on Rough Cut

1. How would you describe what happens in the sequence?
- High tempo/A lot happens in a short amount of time

2. Who are the characters?
- Not sure, as they aren't introduced yet

3. What do you imagine the film is about?
- Murders/forensic/teenage attack?

4. What questions do you still have?
- It is still unclear who is who and what the film is really about.

5. In what ways could the sequence be clearer?
- The running shot could have been made clearer?

6. What is the mood atmosphere created?
- Panicky/confused

7. What other film/tv show does it remind you of?
- CSI/Texas Chainsaw Massacre

8. How does the music create atmosphere?
- Individually the separate parts create a tense atmosphere, but all together there are too many changes

9. Give an example of effective editing/lighting/framing/special effects that contribute to the style.
- The running shot because it is different from the rest and gives a feeling of desperation.

10. What single image is most striking and why?
- Hand next to the number 4 sign because it is the first real bit of horror/gore, and the number implies that the death is one of many, and it makes the audience start to ask questions.

11. Give an example of an effective use of the following elements:
- Prop/settings - The shed
- Costumes - The forensic team costumes
- Performance - The forensic team

12. What is an area of improvement?
- The running scene needs to be cut shorter.

Review of Fiming- Positve

A positive review of filming -

• We did get a lot of footage, more than we need so we have choice
• We came up with lots of new ideas on the spot
  
• We were quite time wary and productive
• We got some shot that were on the shot list
• Our action fits well with the sound track
• Our shots fits with the codes and conventions of a thriller opening
  

Review of Fiming-Negative

We had a number of issues of when filming:

• There were days when we were not all present so sometimes, it was hard only working with two people.
• The weather kept on changing making it hard to film out side shots with out mistakes
• The equipment was missing bits like the 'foot' (however we brought a spare)
• It was sooo cold
  
• We kept on having better ideas than were on the shot list so we changed from original ideas.
  
• We pre ordered some props which did not turn up, so we had to improvise
• We were under a time limit so we rushed certain shots
• We failed to bring camera back due to poor organization
• There was to much light in certain areas that we wanted to film in
  
• camera battery ran out
  

Test Footage

This is some test footage we took so that we can see what our ideas will look like when filmed. It also helped us get an idea of how long to hold a shot for, and we were able to try out some different effects on final cut. Now when we film our final footage we have a more clear idea of what to do, and how to add these effects on final cut.

Filming...

Things to remember when filming -
- Make sure everything which is within the frame is there for a reason and fits in with the genre of our sequence.
- Make sure when we are filming the body shots that all body parts are very still, otherwise it will ruin the effect of the shot as they are supposed to be dead.
- Avoid swinging in the hanging shot.
- Make sure that there is enough light so that the camera doesn't go in and out of focus.

Props and scenery needed...

Camera- Bryn already owns one of these so there will be no need to borrow one or buy one.

Bodybag- This will have to be purchaced

Evidence Bag- These can be easily mocked up to look real. Using somthing like a sandwich bag with a label.

Fingerprinting- Just a small pot with a powdery substance and a paint brush.

Tape- Have to be purchaced. May ask police officer friend if he might be able to get us some from the office.

Cards- Easily made up printing numbers on yellow card.

Our Animatic Feedback...

When watching the Antimatics our class came up with some pointers and feedback for our group to consider..

Shots too short- When creating our animatic we did the opposite of what most people do, our shots were too short and did'nt give the audience time to see what was happening in the shot and time to appreciate the composition.

Title not relevent- When the audience saw our title they all asked why we decided to choose that title, and we couldnt really think of a viable reason. We have now decided to use the current title of ''Voices'' as a working title and then when we start filming a final title should come to us when we have taken some shots and expanded on the storyline.

Soundtrack Effective- The soundtrack was described as edgy and does well to fit the conventions of the thriller genre. However as a group we have decided that the soundtrack is slightly repetitive and that when we have got the footage we are going to re-visit it and edit it some more.

Good Storyline- Our class decided that our idea to focus more on the aftermath of the murders and the forensic side of things which, unlike the rest of the class is less likely to go down the route of a horror slasher more than the thriller convention.

Animatic

Possible titles...

Our Titles....

An End Of The Road production..

Christian Conway

Samuel Wilkes

Casting Director- Bradley Hughes

Original Music Composed by Tally Cornwell

Music Supervisor- Tristana Wright

Producer- Austin Lee Collins

Assosiate Producers- Peter Deller and Emma Fortune-West

Editor- Justin Hay

TITLE

Director- Nick DeMeta

Possible Names

The Voices

Shadow Shudder

Shudders and Shadows

Pixels

Aperture

No Way back

Dark Fall

The Dark Rising

Distorted

Distortion

Distorted Light

Tally and Garage Band

I'm creating our sound track on garage band. When doing this task I need to take in to consideration certain codes and conventions, of a thriller soundtrack, such as creating an atmosphere that fits in with the images on screen. Also I need to raise the volume at climaxes and create a sort of spooky music, to fit with our setting. I Liked the soundtrack in SURFACE, which it works well to appeal to its target audience. I also need to take in to consideration non diegetic and diegetic.

Title Credits

These are title credits from Blade Runner...

Jerry Perenchino and Bud Yorkin Present

Harrison Ford

Blade Runner

Rutger Hauer

Sean Young

M. Emmet Walsh

Daryl Hannah

William Sanderson

Brion James

Joe Turkel

and Joanna Cassidy

Supervising Editor- Terry Rawlings

Music- Composed, Performed and Produced by Vangelis

Associate Producer- Ivor Powell

Production Designed by Lawrence G. Paull

Director of Photography- Jordan Cronenweth

Screenplay by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples

Produced by Micheal Deeley

Directed by Ridley Scott

Feedback From Class

-Be careful not to go into the horror genre, so we will try not to use too much blood/gore, and instead focus on the forensic side of the murder cases.
-Make sure that we have good visibility when shooting, maybe try out different lightings/filters to see which one works best and creates the best effect. Also we may be able to create the flashes we want in final cut.
-We have to be very meticulous about what is in the shot, and think carefully about the framing of the shot.
-It may be a good idea to facde from black into the shots.
-Use ambient noises/sound effects

Pitch Part 2

For our storyboard we decided just to get a few ideas down on paper before we made any final decisions about the order of the shots.

To focus on the theme we decided to draft up shots of the scene itself and some extreme close-ups of the items used and the murder victim themselves.

We agreed that the murder victims should not be shown fully with their faces and be shown in a more abstract way in order to suggest methods of murder rather than show the full long shot. For example one of the victims is hanged and instead of attempting to show the whole of the body hanging, which would look unproffessional and possibly humerous we decided to just show a close-up of the legs hanging and a figure taking a picture between the legs.

We have decided to use a camera as an important part of our sequence, with the flashing of the camera used to help with transitions and to create tension.

Also the camera will be used in all the shots where they are taking photos of the bodies and instead of focusing on the body the shot will focus more on the camera and the photographer leaving the audience to imagine the position of the vicitm from the angle of the camera and the positioning of the shot.


Shot List

This is our shot list so far, we decided that the transitions will be more naturalistic with the mise-en-scene and the diagitic sounds will trigger a simple transition from one shot to the other without a noticable change.

Shot 1: Camera pans across a window covered in newspaper cuttings, negatives etc (right to left)Shot 2: Still shot of flashgun from a camera, it flashes to give us a bright white frame.
Shot 3: A shot of a dead hand
Shot 4: Still shot of newspaper, reveiling small details of information about the murder
Shot 5: Closer shot of newspaper showing face of victim
Shot 6: Even closer shot of above
Shot 7: Shot stays the same, but different newspapers are slammed down on top of the previous to reveal the number of cases(last newspaper mentions a death involving hanging)
Shot 8: Dark room, camera flash iluuminates victims legs hanging

Soundtrack

Through the sound track we have made so far, we have used mysterois tones and jumpy volume raise. We plan to have raised voulume when we have a our title come up

Our Pitch

Our final idea is to focus on a murder scene. By using certain codes and conventions of thrillers, we will portray an opening sequence, with short cut shots and quick editing.
We will be using a barn as our setting round Tally's house, it has a creepy feel to it due to the odd objects and the run down look it has. In terms of mise-en-scene it will definitely provide a suitable surrounding for our murderers hideout. We want to focus on the victims of our murderer, but with emphasis on the post murder rather then showing the actual murder taking place. The abstract way we will show the after effects will imply how they have been killed, rather then us needing to show it in an obvious way which would lose suspense.

Characters
Murderer - We wont ever show the murderers face, this will surround the character with mystery. The character is obsessive and calculated in his actions and plans his murders thoroughly.

Victims - These will all be women because women would be more vulnerable and also women seem more innocent and the audience are more likely to fear something happening to them. We never see the victims alive, the only way we see them pre-murder is through photographs on newspapers. We will use a lot of victims so the audience know the murderer is the focus of the film.

Taking in to consideration settings and possible areas for filming. I have taken have decided to photograph certain parts of my house and farm which could be used for possible setting. A setting should fit the codes and conventions for a thriller, therefore it is important to select the right places. These codes are for example that the setting should be pratical, with out any objects that have not been placed for reasons. As we learnt in previos prodjects, every object needs to be there for a reason. The setting could have a mysterios feel to it and it has to be used to 'thrill' the audience.



These photos are of a barn, the window is imoprtant for one of our shots, plus there are beems to hang of for the hanging body scene :










These are next in the attic, the photos that i took were in pitch black:

Shot List

Shot 1: Camera pans across a window covered in newspaper cuttings, negatives etc (right to left)
Shot 2: Still shot of flashgun from a camera, it flashes to give us a bright white frame.
Shot 3: A shot of a dead hand
Shot 4: Still shot of newspaper, revealing small details of information about the murder
Shot 5: Closer shot of newspaper showing face of victim
Shot 6: Even closer shot of above
Shot 7: Shot stays the same, but different newspapers are slammed down on top of the previous to reveal the number of cases
(last newspaper mentions a death involving hanging)
Shot 8: Policeman holding up police tape
Shot 9: Camera Tracks under the tape as it is lifted up
Shot 10: Track in towards the house
Shot 11: Shot of legs and camera
Shot 12: Close-up for camera and sounds of shutter releasing
Shot 13: Quick sequence- Dusting for fingerprints
Shot 14: putting evidence in bag
Shot 15:Close-up of labeling

Student Work.

The opening is the most effective one we have viewed. Caused by the fact that the soundtrack, used is eerie and effective at creating a scary/horror effect. The titles used are professional and the use of the red liquid is contrasted well with the action.

We have decided to use a variety of close ups in our opening because they portray mystery and an eerie scene which are key conventions of a thriller. Using this piece we have decided to use loud sounds to shock the audience as well.

Things to Remember

Need to have Bryns camera with flash, possible tripod
Need to take pictures of vitims and then create newspaper cuttings using photoshop
Some sort of method of creating blood
White forensic suits, blue bags to cover over shoes

More ideas.

This opening from red dragon, is similar to a lot of our ideas, the use of close ups of the newspaper cuttings work well to show the themes and suggestive narrative on this thriller. It has helped give us the idea of using newspapers and photos, to add an errie tone to our work.

Initial Ideas

Background
Weve decided to base ours round the idea of a sedistic murderer whos very calculated. We want to focus on his past murders flashing back from present to the past, from the murder being reported in newspaper cuttings to it being investigated at the scene shortly after the event.

We intend on showing this by using camera flashes as a tansition technique and having series of xtreme close up shots showing hands, feet and blood. The camera may pan over parts of the body closely and only reveil small parts about the nature of the death and the victim.

In non forensic scenes we intend on creating newspapers that tell us smalls bits of information about our murderers victims. The camera would pan over headings on newspapers and reveil faces.

Se7en

As a group we like the way this sequence presents mystery and the idea of us learning things about the killer through his actions, such as his writing and the way he creates everything. Without even seeing his face we get an idea what he is like.

The Silence Of the Lambs - Title Sequence

I like the creepy feel this title sequence gives you. You question whether the women in the video is being watched because the trees and titles themselvs provide obstructed views which makes the character look vunerable.

Thriller - Dawn of the dead

The shots of action and crowds give future references to narritive later in play. Errie soundtract digestic and nondigestic sound plays well with the action shots. Tiltle blood, sets mood and tone. Gun shots and horror in action also contribute well to tone and mood. Long shots and close ups potray a confused insight into film.

Our good tings and bad tings

Tally- Good with working on GarageBand and constantly comes out with very valid ideas. However when he has an idea in his head it is hard to persuade him that it is not good or that it is not going to happen. Ever.

Bryn- Great at ideas and software skills. Enthusiastic worker and good at acting. However, Bryn is not reliable,which, however has been gigantically improved and can be a bit hot headed/aggressive sometimes.

Emma- Great camera technition and always willing to work with others ideas evn if she doesn't think they are the greatest. However sometimes she has good ideas and doesn't speak out to the group about them.

Daniel- Dan is a valued member of the group as a focused reliable individual. He excels in camerawork and is always willing to work with Tally's ideas, all be them some times slightly ambitious. However is sometimes critical to others ideas and Emma's lifestyle.

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