Final Feedback

The feedback we received from our thriller opening was very positive. Things that were said: Wasn't to dark and the lighting added to the mood, Good use of drill, liked the garage location, maybe a bigger bowl of water so people can see clearly whats going on, soundtrack worked well with the diagetic sound to build tension, good use of drill noise with the scream, good use of voyeourism, stared web of intrigue, smooth transitions .

Feedback on 'Rough cut'

Editing: Some shots need to be cut down because they are too long.

Sound: Good use of diagetic sound but needs more non-diagetic sound.

Mise en scene: Good location, props and costume.

Narrative: Needs some transitions to break up the shots.

Reply to feedback: We will cut down the shots to make them shorter, we just haven't had enough time to cut hem down. The sound track is being finished and should be put in next lesson. We haven't decided where we will use the transitions but we will put them in as soon as we have decided where they will be most effective.

New Shot List

We decided to make a new shot list because we weren't happy with our other one. We made a new shot list for 2 main reasons. Firstly we wanted to create a better storyline and secondly it was hard to shoot the first shot list with 2 people.

New shot list:

Shot 1: Black screen - Phone message over lapping.
Shot 2: Close up of character sticking down photos.
Shot 3: Camera zooming out too a full body shot of the victim.
Shot 4: Character taking photo of tied up victim.
Shot 5: Close up of character sticking down a photo of previous shot.
Shot 6: Character brings out equipment and removes bag from victims head.
Shot 7: Character takes shot of victim.
Shot 8: Close up of character sticking down a photo of previous shot.
Shot 9: Character drowning victim whilst taking photo.
Shot 10: Close up of character sticking down a photo of previous shot.
Shot 11: Character puts a drill to victims head and the light goes out.
Shot 12: Final picture is stuck in and then put into a brown envelope.

Titles

We thought about using titles throughout the sequence but we thought that that would reduce the tense effect we were trying to create by sometimes distracting the viewer. The title will come up on the TV screen and all it will say is 'your next' which will introduce the name of the film and also show how the man watching the TV is the next intended victim. This will start the web of intrigue and will get the viewer asking questions.

Props

Here are all of the props that we will use and the shots that they will be used in:

The dvd player will be used in shot 1.

The TV will be used in shot 2. This picture also shows the fuzzy effect will look on the TV.

The hessian bag or paper bag will be put over the victims head in shot 3 and shot 5.

The drill will be used in shot 8.

The bowl of water will be used in shot 9 for the torture scene.

The tools will be in shot 11 but we might move this shot to before the drill shot.

We will use the gun for shot 12. After the gun is fired it will cut to the shot of the blank screen with the title.

Addressing The Teacher Feedback

One thing we needed to sort out was how we were going to film the proposed scenes of torture. The shot said that we were going to film some torture shots but we didn't specify how we would film it.

For the first torture bit we will 1st shoot a shot of the killer holding the drill/saw then a shot o the man watching the TV with sounds of the man being tortured so you don't actually see it.

For the second torture bit, the shot of the mans head being held in a bowl of water, we are going to film it so you can see it. We are going to do this by getting a large see through bowl and filling it with water, we will then film from underneath the bowl so you can see the mans face.

One other problem that we needed to overcome was that we couldn't find the fuzzy effect on a TV for shot 1 and 2. We managed to find this effect so thats now sorted.

Teacher Feedback

Your idea is strong but I have concerns regarding your proposed 'scenes of torture' - you need to think very carefully about how these will be put together. Remember that if I am not happy that you have behaved sensibly and safely through the filming process I can and will refuse to let footage be used.
I also suggest that you do some test footage of filming the TV screen or maybe even use a computer screen.

shot 1: mid shot- this shot shows a dvd player closing
shot 2: camera is zooming in on the dvd footage
shot 3: close up of the victims head panning down to his feet.
shot 4: camera is panning around the character who is watching the footage
shot 5: mid shot of the torturer pulling a paper bag of the victims head
shot 6: close up of the victims face.
shot7: close up of the characters as he realises who the victim is.
shot 8: zooming in on victim being tortured
shot 9: camera is panning around the victim being held in in a bowl of water
shot 10: camera moves above the table and looks down on it.
shot 11: close up of different weapons on the table.
shot 12: torturer holds the gun to the victims head and pulls the trigger
shot 13: as soon as the gun goes off the screen goes black and the film title appears 'final cut'

Student thriller analysis

I throughly enjoyed Surface. What I enjoyed about it was the fact that it kept cutting from the shots of the movie which were quick and loud, to the titles which had a dark, gloomy,mysterious background. This was done to build up tension and to make the viewer want to see more. The font faded in and out slowly to the music which added a creepy feel and the music is again quite mysterious and soft when on the title screen but when it cuts to the short clips of the sequence it has sharp loud noises and the sound of a girl struggling to create tension.

thriller openings include:

All thriller openings must have:
Titles,
Diegetic and non-diegetic sound
A variety of shots
Some of the generic conventions of a thriller

Things to consider:
Transitions
Movement within the frame
Feasability - Health & Safety
Technical aspects

Analysing Of Previous Student Thrillers

After analysing an existing thriller opening we analysed a student thriller opening.

I decided to do Negative.

The good things about this sequence is that it created alot of suspense and mystery. It also showed a flawed male lead as the bad guy. It started the web of intregue by getting you to ask questions like 'who is the woman?' and 'why is he following her'. It also shws some quite clever shots of the guy fiddling with some negative film strip and editing it together. The titles came on in an interesting way by coming in with some sort of wavey effect which could represnet the fluid used to develop camera footage.

The problems that I found with this is that it didnt reach any kind of climax and the music di drone on lowering the suspense. Also alot of the footage was quite quite boring and again it dragged on. Also you see the stalkers face which lowers the mystery.

Our idea for a thriller opening sequence

For our opening sequence we came up with one very clear idea. We decided to open it with a shot of a person putting a dvd into a dvd player. On the dvd it will show footage of a man being tortured and eventually killed. Will also cross that over with actuall shots of the torture and murder.

We decided to do this because we thought that we could fit the most thriller conventions into this sequence. We could also create alot of fear and suspense with some simple but effective shots.

Analysis of a real thriller opening

We needed to do an analysis of a real thriller opening and i chose to do 28 Days Later. I really liked this sequence because it created alot of question from the moment it started.

This opening sequence also complies with lots of the thriller conventions. Firstly it creates an enemy, the virus, but it doesnt give too much away so it still has some fear of the unknown. There is also a flawed male lead who doesnt listen to people and ends up getting killed at the start. There is also a vunerable female character who also gets killed because she cant defend herself. The tense music that plays throughout the sequence increases the fear and builds up for the climax where the people get attacked.

The way that the title of the film is introduced is interesting because not only does it introduce the name of the film it also introduces the next scene by saying in the bottom corner, 28 weeks later.... which cleverly indroduces the name of the film and the next scene in one go.

Homework for tuseday

- Write up a comprehensive analysis of a real thriller opening sequence.

- Write up a comprehensive analysis of a student thriller opening.

- begin brainstorming, blog all ideas and analysis.

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