Final Planning Meeting

On Monday we had our final meeting for the planning of our Thriller opening, before our wednesday deadline, we finalised ideas on costume and actors, then later on I photos and uploaded them to my blog along with descriptions. Matt also finished off the storyboard and then later created a video to make the storyboard flow and also so we could have some narration. Ebony took recce shots of local areas that we might use for filming, and then we decided as a group which location we preferred before Ebony wrote up explanations for which choice we had made. We then all shared our various work with each other for our blogs. We have used some of the resources provided by the college's Media Moodle section to find various clips of music/sound effects that we can put into our clip, to enhance the quality of our opening. Filming is due to happen this coming weekend, as explained in the filming schedule post, before we start the editing section of our Thriller opening over the next few weeks!

Storyboard

This is the Storyboard that we produced between the group, while we did this we planned the different shot types and narrative structure which we would be able to use in order to create the correct amount of tension that is needed for the Opening Sequence. Because of our discussions about this we decided to use a variety of techniques these were:

• Slow moving shots
• Close up (Helping to create a variety of narrative enigma)
• Shots used to give a sense of the unknown
• Facial Expressions (Through the use of make-up)
• Different and creepy music

Once these ideas were discussed between the group I began to draw our main storyboard, while Chris and Ebony helped to contribute ideas. We then made a short video explaining why we chose certain shots and put all of the images together so that the Storyboard flowed together into one.

Written By: Matthew Peall

Location

We chose the location of a woodland area as we felt that it will be great to build tension for the audience as it will create narrative enigma, but also the woods create a state of isolation and are intimidating. 


The first location I visited was a woodland area near my house, after walking round and taking images of the location. After showing them to the group we came to the agreement that the trees in that area were too spaced apart in order to create a feeling a seclusion from normal life. Also from some angles within the woods there were houses visible in the background and also a large field. Again this wasn't appropriate in order for us to create tension as the character was isolated. In addition as the woods were located between an industrial site and a recreational ground, it was deemed in appropriate as when filming we needed silence but in this particular location there would have been ambient sound from both of the surroundings.

The second location I went round and and photographed was Bramcote Woods, this location was chosen as it has a thick woodland area given the sense of isolation and also when the we have a high angle shot of our character the woods would be intimidating for her, putting emphasis and her innocence. Furthermore, as the trees within the specific area of Bramcote woods are thin it makes them look haunted and creepy, but in addition to this it enables our character to skip about without too much obstruction.

When I presented the images of the second location to the group they agreed that it was the best location for us to film in as it fit our criteria. As the lighting wasn't the same as it would be at the time of day we plan to film, I returned to our chosen location the next day to see if it would still create the same ambiance. Having doing this it was the right setting for our thriller also, due to the time of day there weren't many members of the public around this is good as it means there shouldn't be too many disruptions when we film our thriller.

Written By: Ebony Anderson

Sound

The sound in which we chose to accompany our thriller, was of a young child singing 'Ring a Ring O' Roses'. This was chosen as when sung slow it sounds haunting and intimidating, but also as it has the connotations of children and innocence it wil convey to the audience that the images on the screen aren't right or natural causing them to question what happened, thus building tension. In addition to this we also chose the song as its content is about how people died of the black death, this added meaning to the song, gives the implications that our character is dead, causing narrative engima and creating tension.


'Ring a Ring O' Roses'-


Ring-a-ring-o-roses
A pocket full of posies
A tissue, a tissue 
We all fall down


We also want to have a non-diegtic sound of a little girl laughing this is as it juxposes the image on the screen causing tension and giving our thriller a haunted feel. When these sounds are not present we will have ambient sound of the woods which will have; wind, trees rustling etc. Also we are going to add the diegetic sound of a twig snapping this will happen when we have a midshot of the charcter where the camera will pan away from her and then back. By doing this we are adding to the tension of the sequence as it makes the audience aleart and aware of the surroundings.

Written By: Ebony Anderson

Filming Schedule

Saturday 25th February:

Film all of the needed shots exculding the final shot (zoom close up to the face of the character)

All of these shots can be filmed together as there is no need for the actor's face to contain the make-up as it is planned that none of these shots will contain her face. The reasoning behind this is that we are unable to apply the make-up to the actor on this date as the make-up artist we are using is unavaialable.

What will be needed:

Erin Vaites (Actress)

The costume for Erin (School Uniform with red jacket)

Camera Equipment and Tripod

Sunday 26th February:

Film the final shot (zoom close up to the face of the character)

We have chosen to film this shot the next day as the make-up artist is available to correctly apply the make-up to our actor's face in order to get the best ending we can. We will have to make sure that we film at roughly the same time in order to get the best quality and make all of the opening sequence flow and look professinal.

What will be needed:

Erin Vaites (Actress)

The costume for Erin (School Uniform with red jacket)

Make-Up for Erin's face

Camera Equipment and Tripod


Written By: Matthew Peall

Titles

Once we had all finally decided on a name for our production company, RedTurtle, I then experimented with different style fonts and colours that complimented one another but where also in keeping and relevant to our theme. I presented a few variations to the group some of which are shown below, we voted on which style we preferred.

We decided on the below title for our production company, which was originally green and red but Christian raised the point that colour blind people wouldn't be able to distinguish the difference, so I then played with the colours and we all decided that we preferred the colours red and black.

                                    

After we made these choices, we then went on to discuss possible names for our thriller, I suggested the name of 'Sacrament' which the others liked so we have chosen this for the name of our thriller.

Written by Ebony Anderson

Risk Assessment

Nearest Emergency Phone- Mobile on all 3 of the group

Risks:

• As we are filming in wooded area there is a hazard of tripping on sticks or things left on the floor.

To overcome this we will ensure that the area is clear of twigs and anything hazardous before we start filming the different shots of the scene.

• We are filming in a public area this may mean that strangers may become interested in the filming and try to disrupt us from our work.

To overcome this we will keep a watchful eye on what is happening while we are filming, as there are 3 of us in the group we will always have somebody stood in a close distance to our Actress just in case something happens.

• As we are filming outside there is a risk of bad weather condition.

To overcome this issue we will make sure that we take appropriate clothing in order to keep our actress warm if she gets cold, we will also take the appropriate types of umbrellas and coats in order to keep the camera equipment dry and safe. 

Written by: Matthew Peall

Actors and Costume selection

• Actor: Erin Vaites
• Character: Erin will play the role of a young mysterious child who is skipping through the woods, she will not have any dialogue, and no facial expressions will be needed except for a gloomy, creepy look at the end of the clip
• Make-up and Costume - The young girl will not show her face up until the final shot of the scene were she will have make-up on that makes her look lifeless (EG very pale/purple face, possible cuts and she will also have mud on her face). The characters costume choice is shown below!

Box on the left - 

• In the box on the left, the actor is shown wearing a red coat with a red hooded top underneath, this is because we could not find a suitable hooded coat which fitted all of our other criteria. we chose to have the character hooded so that it conceals the identity of the character, creating a feeling of the unknown 
• Also a hooded character will project the idea that the film is set in the winter, when it is cold, and cold is synonymous with a strange creepy atmosphere. 
• We chose the colour red as a focal point in terms of colours partially because red is most commonly associated with danger (This was confirmed by the majority of people in our questionnaire), but also because it contrasts against a woodland background, so the character is distinguishable during the opening scenes
• The general idea is that the girl is in a school uniform, which is why she will be wearing black tights and shoes, as well as a grey or black skirt, this will create a sense of innocence for the audience, which builds up tension

Middle box

• In this box the character is shown again from many different angles with only a red coat on so that we could decide which outfit would be most appropriate
• In this instance, it would be harder to conceal the identity of the character with the different types of camera angles up until the end on the scene when the girls face is finally revealed, but this type of outfit does provide the ability to show the girls hair more, as it moves around whilst she is skipping, really giving a sense of vulnerability and naivety
• We chose the colour red as a focal point in terms of colours partially because red is most commonly associated with danger (This was confirmed by the majority of people in our questionnaire), but also because it contrasts against a woodland background, so the character is distinguishable during the opening scenes
• The general idea is that the girl is in a school uniform, which is why she will be wearing black tights and shoes, as well as a grey or black skirt, this will create a sense of innocence for the audience, which builds up tension

Box in the right

• The final box simply shows the character in a normal school uniform, this is simply for planning, so we get to know what the character looks like in normal clothing

As a group we decided against using props in our film as we thought that they would not help to create tension when mixed in with location, music, costume and make-up.

Brainstorming

These are our brainstorming plans that we put together to form an idea on what we would base our Thriller opening on, we looked at what type of shots, locations, characters and other topic areas such as costume and props would help to create tension and establish that the film was a Thriller. Once we had an idea of what themes we would use in our Thiller, we started another page to further focus in detail what we would do to create tension. We had the idea of a little girl skipping through the woods, because the woods are a stereotypically scary place, and a little girl would create a sense of naivety. using a variety of camera angles and techniques (Such as the rule of thirds!) to film all of the girl except her face, which would only come into shot right at the very end.

Audience Questionnaire Results

Questionnaire results analysis charts

From our questionnaire we compiled a graph of what we deemed to be the most poignant questions;

•  From our questionnaire we found out that most people thought that a young girl was the creepiest type of character, as shown on the graph above (Column 5) so we have decided to have the lead character as a young girl.
•  Also our results revealed that red was the colour most associated with danger, so to make sure that our character stood out in a woodland area we choose one the primary colours to be used in her costume to be red (Column 4)
• That leads on to the next choice we had to make which was location, our audience thought that the most creepy area for a film to be set was in the woods, out of the 4 options we gave them, so therefore we decided to set our film in a woodland/heavily wooded area (Column 3)
• (Column 1 and 2) these two columns show the distribution of age and gender between the people who answered our questionnaire, as can be seen we asked an almost equal amount of Males and Females to make sure our results weren't in any way biased, also the average age of the participants who answered our questionnaire was 21, this is a good number because it is right in the middle of the age group that stereotypically watch thriller films (15-30 year olds)

Most Popular Film in the Industry

Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)

• This is possibly one of the most famous Thriller films of all time, research from the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) website suggests that Pulp Fiction is the most highly rated Thriller of all time, with an average rating of 8.9/10 and more than 553,727 people voted it as their favourite of all time. More people voted for The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008), with 640,014 votes, but this is below Pulp Fiction in the rankings because it only has a rating of 8.8. http://www.imdb.com/chart/thriller

Audience Research

To find out what kind of ideas our target audience have about Thrillers, we created a questionnaire which we published on the social networking site, Facebook. We will also use a variety of different ways in which to distribute our questionnaire, such as asking family members and other members of the public who are willing to take part in our questionnaire. We planned to do a focus group, but because of the time limitations, we could not get a wide age representative of the media masses, this made our research inaccurate and biased.

Here is our Questionnaire:



Thriller Questionnaire -

Are you Male or Female?

Male:

Female:

How old are you?

12-17:

18-25:

26-30:

30+:

Do you like Thrillers?

Yes:

No:

When did you last watch a Thriller film?

Within the last 7 days:

Within the last 2 weeks:

Within the last month:

Within the 6 months:

Within the last year:

Which location would you associate with a Thriller film?

A wood/woodland area:

A Shop:

A House:

Other (Please Specify):

What colour would you most associate with danger?

Red:

Blue:

Black:

Green:

Other (Please Specify):

What character would you find creepier?

A middle-aged man:

A middle-aged woman:

A young school girl:

A young school boy:

Other (Please Specify):