Character Descriptions

The four main victims shown in the pictures are only shown in a snapshot, showing a still image of them. These characters aren't talked about in great detail, but they all have their own background. Their personalities are all very bubbly, happy people who seem to not have done anything to deserve being killed. They do not appear to have any links to each other, so these killings seem worse. These are all very innocent people and the last victim is seen in particular. This victim is a boy who was walking home from school through the field at the back of his school, doing nothing wrong. He is around 16 years old and is a student in his school's sixth form.

The murderer is very different to the victims he chooses to kill. He is a very lonely, weird character that no-one goes near or wants to come across. From what the viewers can see he looks quite dangerous and the fact he wears all black and hardly shows his face proves he is someone you wouldn't want to get into any trouble with. He is quite big built, showing he is quite strong. He does not appear to have a job of any sort and is in his late 20's/30's.

below is what the 4 victims will look like:

Script

In my opening sequence of my film there will be no script to follow or use because I feel that this will give too much information away too early on in the whole film. Instead of using a script my film will just consist of music in the background of all my clips to create a eerie and creepy atmosphere and to build up the story itself to keep the audience interested.

Props, costumes and locations

Props:

For our film there are a few props needed to be used in order for the film to actually make sense and flow properly. The props we are going to need are:

- A weapon e.g. a knife

- Pool of blood:

- A ring to drop in the blood

- Bulletin board to put the pictures up on

- The actual pictures of the victims

Costumes:

- Murderer wearing all black, a black hoody with the hood always up to hide his face but the sleeves rolled up to reveal his tattoo, black trousers, black trainers/shoes

- All of the victims- bright colours, normal everyday, casual clothing like hoodies, jeans and trainers to show contrast in characters personalities.

Locations:

- Somewhere to use the board of victims- a classroom for example

- Field- The glenthorne Daisy field, has train track and lots of trees etc which could look quite eerie and desolate:

Storyboard

In order for our film to plan out and go as we want it to look, we had to do a storyboard of each shot we want to have, with information stating what is happening in each. This is so, when it comes to filming, we know exactly what to do and if someone else picked it up they would know exactly what to do. Below is our storyboard:

Sound

For our film we might need the use of some sounds to make it seem a lot more realistic and to make it look more effective.

The use of police sirens when the killer is being chased down the road could be used to create more suspense and to make it seem a lot more real:

http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=62878

The use of telephones ringing when in the police station to make it seem more busy and life-like:

http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=20069

When the ring falls into the pool of blood, a hyperbolic sound can be used to make it seem more dangerous and horrific then it would be if it just fell:

http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=44203

Shot list

Shot list:
- Titles of '... Presents' over a black screen

- A '... Production' over a black screen

- A clip of the body laying in the snow

- Name of one of our group over a black screen

- clip of a footprint/ something with an eerie effect to it

- Another name of someone starring

- Clip of a lonely bench/ something else quite eerie looking and lonely

- Last name of our group

- Panning shot around the area of where the action will take place

- Music by title over a black screen

- Clips of a close up of the ring that is dropped being used in action by the killer

- Casting by title over a black screen

- Picture of a victim

- Editing by title over black screen

- Picture of victim

- Produced By title over black screen

- last picture of victim

- Written and directed by title over black screen

- Clips of casey and nathan walking towards each other

- Quick shot of dead body surrounded by blood with the killer dropping the ring

- Panning shot of the body and area around to set the scene

- The killer running off into the distance

These shots all seem to create some kind of storyline in order to keep the audience interested. The use of panning shots and individual eerie shots of different objects allows to set the scene; something that should definitely happen in an opening sequence. Also, introductions to characters are all made in order to get the story going and for it to make sense to the audience.

Film Synopsis

A man is on the loose and is out to get whoever and whatever he can find. Danger tells the story of an unknown man out on the kill, following his 6th murder in 3 months. The police are on the lookout for him and are desperate to find him before he creates any more damage for the small town of Sutton. If he isn't found by the police soon enough, there will be serious damage to how these people live there life; in constant danger and fear. But with no clues except a mysterious ring that has been found which appears to be different to any other, will they catch him and find out what he wants from these people?

Initial ideas

In this lesson, me and my group (Casey and Nathan P) came up with a lot of ideas for our opening sequence of a thriller. Some of our ideas were:

- Dead man
- Why is he dead? - Drug dealer, drug problems, killed, attacked, car crash
- Who killed him? - Drug dealers (not paying them etc), murderer going round
- How he's killed?- Stabbed, shot, just shown on floor dead
- Police trying to solve the crime- people keep getting killed
- Murderer leaves behind clues when killing people
- Has a tattoo or a clue on him- left jewellery, clothes or something as a clue

An idea of a tattoo we had was:

- Where? Field, Park, Alleyway, Road
Name: The Tattoo- Working Title
Props: - Weapon to kill with- knife, jewellery of murderer
Costume: - black long sleeve top, black trousers, black shoes- murderer
- Murdered people- bright colours

Locations

Here are 3 pictures of different locations we could use for our film:



The pictures of the fields are both from Morden Park and the Daisy behind the school. Morden Park could be a good location for the part with the dead body in the field as it is very open and with the amount of trees etc it could look quite tense and create an impact on the viewer. The picture of the daisy could also be a good location because of the fact that it has a big open space when all of the people aren't in it and the fact that there is a road next to it can help the story move on as the man could then run down this road. Also, the train tracks that are next to the daisy could create a clear effect that it is a thriller film.
The road can be close by and this is of Sutton Common Road. This could be used so the man can run down it and because there are many roads coming off of it, the man could run down one of these so it keeps the story going and creates a sense of mystery.

Kiss Me Deadly

In Kiss Me Deadly's opening sequence, it is also quite old fashioned just like Double Indemnity is, very different to the other more modern thrillers like Memento and Brick. These are obviously old fashioned due to the black and white effect used on them and the more basic shots that are used, mainly the close ups which again are the typical conventions of a thriller. Furthermore, another typical convention that is found in thriller opening sequence's is the use of a hyperbolic sound of the foot steps. The questions that again are stereotypical for characters in thriller's are being evoked for the woman in particular, with the audience wondering where she is going and why she is running. Also, the actions she does like her running and the close up used of her feet as she does so creates a tense atmosphere for the audience- typical for thriller's. The use of dramatic sounds like the woman crying and the tension building music also evokes more questions and keeps the audience wanting to watch more; keeping them on the edge of their seat.

Double Indemnity

Double Indemnity is all in black and white rather than all in colour like all of the other thriller opening sequences we have watched in the past. At the beginning the car is going very fast and not stopping which portrays a sense of danger and crime. The opening uses music that slowly builds up to create a sense of tension and tries to build up the storyline more, which is a typical convention of what thriller opening sequences tend to do. An establishing shot is used to try and set the scene and shows the street and the station; this also gives off an eerie, strange sense to it. Also, like typical thriller's close-up's are used throughout the whole opening to fit the stereotypical thriller genre. These close-up's don't give away too much of what is going on, causing the audience to ask questions as to where this story is going. A lot more questions are asked towards the different characters by using silhouette's of the man etc. Furthermore, the questions evolve around this main man character in who he is by seeing a glimpse of their face, giving a small clue to the audience about who he is.

Conventions of an opening sequence

In opening sequences, the audience need to be enticed and want to carry on watching the rest of the film. If this doesn't occur within the first couple of minutes of the opening sequence then the audience will just tune out and want to stop watching. Also an opening sequence should give some information about the film, but at the same time shouldn't give away too much so that the story can't progress much further; the opening sequence could be effective if clues leading towards the rest of the film are given. Furthermore, in an opening sequence all of the titles should appear in these first 2-3 minutes in order to get all of this information across and out the way; these people need to be recognized for their work and this is the way to do it. They should include titles about who is starring in it, the distributors, company names involved, who directed/produced it, music by etc. These should be done in an interesting way so that the audience doesn't get too bored by the opening section.

Conventions of a Thriller movie

I learnt about the main conventions of the thriller genre which could include:
- Shock tactics
- Strange, eerie music
- Tension
- Jumping
- Ask questions
- Suspense
- More sophisticated/intelligent characters
- dark, night time
- Violence
- Unexpected
- Scream sound effect
- Mist/fog
- Split personality
- Complicated
- Crime

These all build up the suspense and the stereotypical view of a thriller.

How Wallander (Firewall, BBC) fits into the Thriller genre

Wallander is a television series that was shown on BBC, which has many conventions of a thriller genre. The use of the eerie music at the start of the clip creates a very suspicious feeling and the sound used it quite tense. It makes the audience feel quite nervous, uncomfortable and want to know what will happen next. The music is quite slow which again builds up the tension quicker and puts the viewers on edge. The other uses of sound is also the way the sound effect of wind increases over the top of a shot of the landscape. This gets louder and seems more sinister; this has a bigger impact on the viewer as it is very hyperbolic. It also makes the audience ask why this noise is taking place and what is going to happen as a result of it? This sound is a true reflection of the conventions of a thriller as a lot of hyperbolic sound and eerie music is used to try and get across the thriller genre.There are many shots used throughout this to get across the thriller genre. The establishing shot at the beginning makes the setting look peaceful which actually puts the audience more at ease from vulnerability.

Thrillers do these a lot to try and get the audience on there side and to engage them and surprise them when they least expect it.

Also, the use of the girl out of focus in the background when the 2 girls are walking, shows the status and who is the main character in this. Also, by using a close up on the girl in focus, the audience can really see her facial expressions and the blood and dirt all over her face. This is very suggestive and shows that some violence has probably taken place; a very common convention in thrillers.

The use of the costume used on the girls is very messy hair and quite dirty casual clothes. This evokes a lot of questions from the viewers and they wonder why these girls are like this. It also, shows a hint of their characters and that something has happened- the costumes like this are used a lot throughout thrillers due to the amount of questions it makes them ask. Furthermore, the main character has red streaks in her hair, which could connote a very rebellious attitude and again hints to what she is like.

The main prop that is used in this is a knife shown being dropped from the main characters bloody hand right at the end. This demonstrates how violence and crime has been committed and this is a key convention used in thrillers. It is clear they have committed a murder, but there are no other hints as to why and what has really happened and the reasons behind it. This makes the audience want to carry on watching in order for any unanswered questions to become answered.

How obvious is it that Sixth Sense is a thriller?

Sixth sense is obvious from just the opening sequence that it is a thriller by the use of many of the thriller conventions seen throughout the thriller genre.

The use of the eerie music at the beginning of this opening sequence sets the spooky, scary atmosphere of which many thrillers create. It keeps the viewers on edge and want to see what else is going to happen after this music; it builds up a lot of tension. Also, the fact that this music builds up over time immerses the audience in

to the atmosphere right from the titles. These titles are as if something is coming out of the darkness as well; these 2 things put together creates a lot of tension and suspicion as to what the first shot will be of and how the film will progress.

The use of the voyeuristic shots happening at the wine rack in the beginning creates a sense of someone watching this woman, which is quite weird and scary. This sets the scene for the rest of the film and allows the viewers to have a sense of something lurking in the darkness. This type of thing is typical of a thriller as it is eerie and makes the viewer feel on edge.

The woman's outfit which seems to be party clothes makes this character seem extremely vulnerable and the bright, colourful costume contrasts with the dull, dark room. The use of this contrast is also quite appropriate for the thriller genre as this is used a lot, in order for the character to really stand out and the fact of the dark room creating a sense of danger and something dodgy going on.

The fact that this opening sequence makes the viewer ask questions is also obvious. From even watching it the first time around, the audience already want to know who this woman is and what the noise is that is made. The use of the viewer asking questions about the film is typical of thrillers to do as it keeps the viewers wanting more and on the edge; they can really get into the film and its storyline.

Memento

Memento is a good opening sequence to a thriller for many reasons as it fits in with a lot of the conventions of thriller movies.

-The film uses a non-linear order to make the audience ask questions about what exactly is going on and why each of the scenes shown has actually happened. It creates a sense of confusion as to what is going to happen next by the use of so many flashbacks etc.

- The eerie music creates a sense of tension at the beginning and allows the audience to feel on edge as to what might happen; the eerie music and tension makes the audience feel vulnerable to the story line and what it might bring as the film progresses

- The use of close ups o all the different objects used and broken as a result of the crime taken place makes the audience ask even more questions as you are only shown the crime that has taken place after seeing all of these objects. This allows the audience to make up their own mind about what has happened and why these objects are like this. Also, by showing these it creates some suspense and builds up the audience to something that might happen later on in the film.

- Also, the use of close ups throughout means that they only want you to see certain parts- it shows what you can't see and what you want to know.

- The scene is also like a jigsaw where you have to piece all different parts together to make sense.

How brick fits into the thriller genre

Brick fits into the thriller genre by using many of the thriller conventions, including:
-A non-linear narrative, making the storyline a little more confusing then any other film genre
- A lot of close-up shots to only allow you to see parts of what is going on. We shown a lot of close ups of the dead body like the girl's arms with the bracelets on- later shown when going back in time to show it is the same girl and the man's shoes are used in close ups to show the same thing; to prove to the viewer that it was the same man throughout the film.
- The viewers ask themselves a lot of questions about the storyline and the characters involved in it. The clues that are given confuse the viewer and the non-linear narrative makes the viewer want to find out how they got from one thing to another; for example, how she ends up being dead 2 days after planning to meet this man.
- The use of music at the beginning is quite eerie and sounds quite western to show the sense of mystery and the fact that something is going to happen, which is clearly shown.
- The boy character is never shown properly. All of the cinematography used never allows the viewer to actually see the character; there seems to be a barrier between the boy and the audience, which adds a sense of mystery about him and also makes people ask a lot of questions concerning him.
The opening of brick also is a typical opening sequence because it has all of the typical conventions you would seem to find. The use of the titles over a black screen makes an impact and allows the viewer to take in what its actually saying easier. Also, it doesn't give too much away in the opening sequence; just bits and pieces of the storyline that need to be worked out. Below is a screenshot from Brick which shows the titles over a black screen which allows the viewer to take it in:

What I Learnt Last Lesson

Last lesson I learnt about the new brief that has been set. The brief said:
The titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of 2 minutes.
We also got a mark scheme which everyone is aiming to get Level 4- Excellent in.
There are 3 parts of the mark scheme including Research and Planning, Practical work and Evaluation. At the moment we are just focusing on the Research and planning section.

As we watched the beginning of 'Mementos', we looked out for some of these conventions and I found that in order for it to be a good, effective thriller it needs most of these; from the first 5 minutes 'Mementos' seems to do so. It included eerie music, violence, makes you ask questions, shock of blood etc, tension and a non-linear narrative.
I also learnt the differences between horrors and thrillers:
Thriller: you don't see the murder
Horror: See the actual murder with blood etc.
Thriller: Threat of what might happen
Thriller: Makes audience work it out
Horror: Shown and told what happens
Thriller: Target more sophisticated audience (older ages)
This helped so that in the future, these wont get mixed up.

WWW and EBI

WWW: I think that our group's idea worked really well and the way we edited our sequence worked well as it now all flows and looks as if it could be just one long clip, instead of loads of different shots. We also included all of the shots we needed to which went well as this is what was needed to make it continuity editing.

EBI: We used a few more different shots to make it look more interesting and if we used a more quiet room in order for our dialogue to be heard and the people in the background wouldn't talk over our dialogue.

I think we did stick to all the rules that were given and that the continuity editing in our piece is correct and looks effective to the viewers.

Reflections on editing

Editing the sequence went quite well for most of it, only with a few mistakes that made us have to film a few scenes again as it didn't look right or continuous in any way. One example of this is when Emma was putting the cup of tea on the table in front of Todd by bending over and then in the next shot she was standing upright straight away; this didn't look correct and was obvious that it was 2 different shots so we had to film another clip of the cup itself being put on the table to break the 2 clips up and look as if Emma was standing upright. However, most of the clips did flow quite well, the only difficulty we had was the background noise and the dialogue as it was very hard to hear most of the dialogue being said as there were other people in the room talking over our group. To edit this we used iMovie on the Mac's and this way easy to use and allowed us to do everything we needed in order to make our sequence look continuous and effective as possible.

Reflections on filming

When filming the sequence, the continuity editing did seem harder to keep up and make sure everything looked exactly the same when on different shots. We made sure we followed the rules by doing it quickly and staying in the same positions to make sure the next shot would be the same as the one before. The continuity editing did prove difficult when dialogue was said and then when the person had to move in the next shot, as this could sometimes look out of place and not look realistic as they would move too far or would be in a different place etc. We used a camera and a tripod to do all of our filming as this was all the equipment we needed to make it look like a good sequence and the tripod helped to keep it all looking smooth and at the same level all the time. For our location, we chose to set it in the common room as it was supposed to be the setting of a cafe. We used the kitchen as we thought this would make it come to life and look much more realistic and look more like a cafe. This also made it look effective for continuity editing purposes as it always looked the same everytime we filmed it. Also, we used props from the kitchen in the common room like a cup, bowl of sugar, spoon etc. in order for Emma to make the tea, and for the story to actually make sense. This also added to make the continuity editing show more as in every cut, the props are used and by carrying on the actions with these props it shows that the continuity editing is actually working and looks effective.

Reflection on planning the sequence

To plan our sequence everyone in the group made their own storyboards and put all their ideas down, and then we shared them with eachother. This allowed us to think of different ideas and in the end come up with a sequence that would include everyones ideas together. This took quite a while as there were many ideas but the end result came out well. Every shot had to include the continuity editing and we made sure of this as we went along by discussing what shot it would be etc. It wasn't that hard to follow the rules and keep continuity editing in it during the planning as it seems easy as we all knew what would look continuous and what wouldn't.
Here is an example of some of the ideas I came up with at first:

The Preliminary Task

For the task itself, we were asked to produce a short filmed and edited sequence of someone opening a door, walking in to the room, sitting in a chair opposite another person and having a conversation. This all had to be done using continuity editing in the correct way and at the same time had to look correct and make sense to the viewer. By using continuity editing correctly, the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot reverse shot all have to be used whilst filming the sequence. Other editing techniques that can also be used to make it look better is a Master shot and an eyeline match, just to make the whole sequence look more effective and clear for the viewer.

Continuity Editing

Continuity Editing is when the edits between shots flow into one another easily and most of the time the audience do not even realise these edits have been made. These are made to be as unobtrusive as possible. Some examples of continuity editing that are used in many different ways are these basic edits:
-Master Shot- this sets up the spatial relationship between the characters. It shows you where they are in the room and the audience can use this information when watching the rest of the scenes.
-180 degree rule- An imagery line is drawn between the characters. The camera can be placed anywhere but it must stay on the same side of this line.


-Match on action- This is where the characters carry out an action and the first shot from one type/angle and the next shot from another type/angle.
-Shot reverse shot- Usually used during conversations where the camera switches between medium close up/close up of characters as they speak to each other, showing the response and reaction between the characters.



-Eyeline match- Cut between a characters looking off screen to what they are looking at.
These all seem natural to the audience and most of the time these shots do not seem like they have been put in during the editing part. These seem very smooth and allow the storylines to flow quicker and easier, so the audience do not get confused at all. These cuts allow the audience to see time and space in a clear way so that it makes sense to them watching it and doesn't look odd in any way.