Feed back

Before we added the sountrack we got a chance to watch all the other groups work. We were asked to comment as we went round each group.

Here are the comments other people had about our video:

1) Nice first person shots.
2) Good shots, good titles (writing), just a bit short.
3) If he was hung his hands would dangle, but very good. You can tell it's a thriller, so thats good.
4) Good use of shots, especially at the start. Good effects and use of props.
5) Sound effects and camera angles are good. We got the storyline/plot. Establishing shot maybe to long.

We were pleased with the comments, as we felt a lot of them were positive. We tried to change elements of what the negative comments were about. It helped us to have other peoples opinions so we could have a fair judgement of what an audience would think.

Sound track

We had one single lesson and a double lesson to make our thriller soundtrack, which meant we had four and a half hours to have it completed.

In our first lesson, we played around with Garage Band, trying to find a "boomph" noise for when the title "Chosen" appears. We found one sound we liked and loaded it up to the video. We learnt that Garage Band was difficult to use, as you have to upload to iTunes before adding it to the video on Final Cut Pro.

In our double lesson, we started to use Sound Track Pro which works well along side Final Cut Pro. We mixed a few different ideas and found that Orchesteral music worked best to build tension. We added in bangs to when each title sequence appeared which also made our thriller more eery.

In the end we were all really pleased with the sounds we had chosen. We then worked on the order and the overlapping of each music clip so the sound track flowed and gave the right feeling. The music gets faster as the tension builds through our opening sequence.

We added our sound track on to our video and everything was completed.

Music

1. Tension Music
2. " "
3. Tension starts to build more
4. " "
5." "
6. " "
7. Tension half way into this shot then deep, heavy, panic breathing
8. Like the Boomph, from Lost.

At 2:35 seconds, when the title "Lost" appears, there is a sound effect. We liked the sound effect as it emphasizes the title and what it means to its full extent.

Shot List

1. Birdseye Close-Up
2. Title Shot
3. Birdseye Close-Up
4. Title Shot
5. Birdseye Close-Up
6. Title Shot
7. Birdseye Close-Up
8. Main Title Shot

Between 7 + 8 - have new shots of zooming, blurring and pixalating killer. 'maybe back and fourth between killer and the title 'CHOSEN' one letter at a time faster and faster then ending with the Boomph!'

Actors, Props and Equipment

Actors: James Scriven and Tom Forrister

The props and equipment we will be using whilst filming are:

James' costume: Black jacket, shoes and trousers

Tom's costume: Shorts

Ladder

Rope

Camera

Fake blood

Tripod

Bike (to make a smoother moving shot)

Opening Thrillers

This is the opening sequence of Memento. We've uploaded this video as it is one we discussed in class. As a group we liked this opening sequence because it showed originality, by starting at the end and rewinding. From this opening sequence, we have taken the use of the image of blood because it created an effect of tension.

Setting options- trees

Mitchell and Jake walked through the woods for 2 hours through Weston woods looking for a tree that matched our storyboards to some degree. They came across and photographed 4 trees which They thought were appropriate for our opening scene. These were the trees that had the attributes we desired:

Photo onePhoto twoPhoto threePhoto four was our favourite tree and we have decided to use it for our opening scene.

Story board progress

In lesson, we discussed that our opening scene answered to many questions, and we felt that the opening should leave the audience questioning the storyline. We cut out all the shots that shown the next victim, and scenes where you can definately see the link between the victims. We decided to be more subtle about the link and leave it for the audience to work out later on in the film.
We are currently still working on our storyboard, as we need to discuss more shots that can make the opening longer and cause more questions to be asked. We are hoping to add more abstract elements and tension building scenes that introduce the murderer only and his way of killing.

This is an example of one of our title shots, this is the style of font that we used. Keep in mind it is a work in progress.

Font

For our font stlye in our opening titles, we wrote out our 'working production company name' 'Hatter Productions' and looked at it in different styles of font on 'Word'. We came across various types but none of which we could decide upon on. They all looked the same except for one or two, we liked one but unfortunately it looked a bit cowboy western, so the kind of font you would se on a 'WANTED' poster. Luckily we decided on one which we all liked and wasn't the same style as 'New Times Roman' or 'Arial', this was 'Cracked'. It stood out when we made it a bigger size, alomost as if someone had broke the letters. We used this font for our Blog title and thought that it looked slightly odd and different and suited a thriller film, because thrillers are odd and different. After agreeing on this font, we opened a program called 'Live Type' which allowed us to write out a sentence, phrase or word, choose a font, colour and size and then add all types of effects to it, for example we can add shadow and extra colour, we can stretch it outwards, upwards and downwards. You can create different style and add them to a video or animation which you can then add to your film. We had a little play with it and decided this is what we would use to create our interesting titles. Whilst we were having fun trying differnt things with live type, we decided upon a 'working title font' (which is shown above) it is a basic outline and working progress of what our titles will look like eventually. We are looking and hoping we will put some animation into it so it looks like the red, blood looking like colour is either exapnding outwards or inwards. As we go on we shall try other creative ideas to make sure our titles look as thriller like as possible.

Storyboard

The layout of our storyboard changed throughout the course of our latest lesson (Tues 29th Sept). We first of all structured it to be 6 slides long with credits in between each slide; however, the first two slides were pretty much exactly the same so we decided to drop one of the first two slides and just have an overall total of 5 slides.
The order of our slides was also altered. We had it set with the introduction of the 'next victim' being shown first sat on a bed, with the victim holding a significant item (which is to be decided) which is to symbolise the reason for being chosen by the killer and signify the connection between the other hung person(1). This was then followed by a shot of a stump of a tree which is surrounded by a piece of rope, the connecting object and drops of blood(2). The camera then cuts over to a man (the serial killer) and the camera is pointed over his shoulder, to show the situation from his view, at a photograph of the next victim (from the previous scene) in his hand(3). Credits then followed this and then the 2nd slide is shown again but the camera is rotated to see feet dangling from above(4). The dangling feet then sway and cover a man (the serial killer) in the distance and when the feet sway back and the man is gone(5).
We decided to start with (2) first and follow with (4), then (1), then (3) and ending with (5). This was decided as it would become more clear to the audience who the next victim was.
However, this is yet to be finalised and may be changed in order to sequence the viewing in the best way possible.

Lesson two: Treatment

Target audience: we have chosen for our Thriller to have a certificate of 15+. Our audience will not be gender specific so anyone can enjoy the story line.

Synopsis: A man targets a group of strangers that all have something linking them to each other. He captures his victims and brutily murders them all with the same style of killing. In his favourite spot in the woods he hangs his victims in the trees. At the end his plans of revenge are unveiled, but is someone one step ahead?

Opening sequence ideas: Start looking down at the floor in the woods. Blood randomly drips to the floor. The camera slowly moves up to where the blood is coming from. In between this will be shots of the next victim showing a subtle link between all the victims. It will skip from shots of the camera moving up to where the blood is coming from, the next victim and the opening credits. When the camera moves up towards the blood, it will show more of the woods and then reach blood covered feet hanging from a tree. In the far distance a shadowy silhouette of a man will be stood facing away from the hanging victim. The feet will slowly swing, as they swing they will cover the man in the distance and as they swing back the man will have disappeared.

Lesson one

We were given our brief which was 'To create an opening sequence for a new Thriller film including title, with the age certificate 15 or 18, must be at least 2 minutes long'. We watched some examples of Thriller openings from films such as Memento and Usual Suspects.
In our groups we discussed different aspects of Thrillers and what we thought our Thriller opening should include. We then discussed in groups a few initial ideas and played around with a few story lines.