planning cinematography- Miss.Miller

Cinematography is a key element in the production of a thriller of as it allows us to convey more emotions into a scene by using different camera angles for example using a higher angle allows us to make one of the characters seem vulnerable as they being looked down upon.Planning is required as in order to create excellent sequences we need to decide which angles will be most suited for certain scenes  so we are able to convey the three elements of a thriller further.

We plan on using a POV angle during the chase so the audience are able to see the situation from the female victims point of view. We've chosen to use this camera angle as it allows the audience to see exactly how the victim is reacting to the situation, so it will hopefully make the audience feel more sympathetic towards the female victim however they will also feel more shocked and on edge as they completely see how the feel victim is reacting.This camera technique is quite conventional to a thriller as it helps portray the scene further by showing the situation from the point of view of one the characters.

High angle will be used at the end of the scene when the antagonist is standing over the female victim, this specific camera technique will show that the victim is in fact very helpless as the antagonist now has her trapped. As stated before this camera angle will allow the audience to see that she is now helpless which is due to the fact that the camera is looking down at the victim also making her look inferior.This is conventional as it is a technique which often used in thriller films as it makes the relationship between the character and the audience stronger as they come to realize that the character is helpless.

An extreme long shot will be used during the car park scene when the two characters are having an argument, this type of camera shot allows the audience to see the body language of the characters and the whole enviroment. In this case this camera works perfectly as we want the audience to notice that the car park that the two characters are in is deserted and quite obscure this will make the audience a little more agitated. They should also be able to fully analyse the body language of both and see that the argument is relatively heated making the audience quite shocked.This camera shot is quite conventional as it used in many thriller films and helps convey the three elements of a thriller further. This camera style will not necessarily strengthen any of the relationships with the characters but will allow them to understand the situation more.

Close ups will be used in various situations throughout the whole scene so first of all it could be used when the female victim checks her phone and realizes there is no signal or during the end of the chase scene to show the facial expressions of the female victim.The reason we want to use this camera technique is to help create more shock and surprise so for example the close up on the phone makes the audience recognize that the female victim cannot use her phone and is now trapped in a deserted area with no contact. We also want to use it on the close ups of the female victims face so the audience are able to see how terrified the victim is which will make the viewers feel more compelled to feel sorry for her.This is conventional as it allows the audience to understand the situation further and it also helps the viewers notice specific things which may not be noticed if it is not highlighted.

Handheld camera techniques can also be used during the chase however we have not come to clear decision however it will only be used during the main chase scene rather then throughout the whole scene. The reason for the particular camera technique used is to show the audience the perspective of the female victim which will create more shock and surprise, it will also make the scene more realistic which again create more of the elements of thriller previously mentioned.This is conventional to thriller as it emphasizes how panicked and frightened the victim really is and will create more shock and surprise. The audience will also start to feel for the victim as shes helpless and has no way out of the situation she is in.

My sequence will be more effective throughout the use of cinematography as it will help us emphasize shock, surprise and suspense through the scenes, it will also help us create a relationship between the characters and the audience. 

Individual narrative ideas- Miss.Georgiuo

The narrative

A narrative is important as it helps brings the audience to be more engaged with with film, the opening narrative scene being the most important. The narrative is also what keeps the audience keep interested thought the film as they are able to follow the story across the film and understand the various situations that occur and how the characters react to them, it also helps create the three most important elements which are shock, suspense and surprise. 

Mise en scene

• Forest
• low key lighting
• killer might have a mask
• urban myth that a killer lives in the forest
• group of teenagers
• wanting to explore the urban myth
• all sneak out of house at night 
• decide to meet at forest 
• all explore the forest
• they think its not true 
• they hear some rustling 
• start to get a little scared but brush it off
• then killer comes running out 
• briefly show him with the handheld camera
• they all start to run back 
• screaming and shouting
• end  

I will present this information to my group and then we will decide on which narrative we will use for our scene, we may decide to combine them or focus on one narrative. However it most likely that we will focus on one and develop it further making sure many conventions are present.

Questionnaire

Research was conducted as in order to create a film that the general public will like we needed to see there opinions on what creates a thriller that will become popular as it caters to the wants of the general public. We decided to ask 40 people as this allowed us to question a diverse range of people, this helped us make our decisions as we knew the answers that were given were of a broad audience.

PLEASE CIRCLE YOUR ANSWERS

1) Please specify your gender:

Male   

Female           

2) What is your age?

11-14            

15-17

18+

                       

3) Do you like the thriller genre?

Yes                 

No                  

Sometimes    

4) What type of thriller do you enjoy?

Psychological

Action            

Crime             

Other             

5) What type of settings/ environment do you prefer to see in a thriller film?

Forest

Deserted house/warehouse

Abandoned outside area, for example car park

Other

6) What gender protagonist do you prefer?

Male

Female

7) What type of weapons do you like to be seen & WHY?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

8) What type of soundtrack do you like to hear in thriller sequences and WHY?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

9) Do you like to see gore when watching thriller films?

Yes

No

Sometimes

10) Do you prefer your antagonist to have a hidden identity or to be seen throughout the film and WHY?

Hidden identity

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Seen throughout

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Research was conducted as in order to create a film that the general public will like, we needed to see their opinions on what creates a thriller that will become popular as it caters to the wants of the general public. We decided to ask 40 people as this allowed us to question a diverse range of people, helping us make our decisions as we knew the answers that were given were of a broad audience.

This pie chart shows us that the majority of people we asked questions to were female however we can also see that it quite an even number of male and females asked. This will not necessarily help us with the decisions what we make for our scene however it has helped us to understand that the rest of the questions asked are answered by both an almost equal amount of gender which will make our decisions appeal to both male and females.It also shows us that the male and female people who answered may have some sort of distinct difference in the answers that were provided for example the males may prefer more gore in the thriller films they watch which may not be the case with the females, ultimately this will help choose what type of gender our film is most likely going to be aimed to however in the perfect scenario we would hope that the opening sequence we have created will satisfy both genders.

This information allowed us to analyse the answers between different age group, this is critical as it will allow us to decide what age group we want our target audience, This pie chart tells us that majority of the people who were questioned are between the ages of 15 to 17 which indicates immediately that our scenes will most likely be tailored to the liking of audiences of those ages if we decide to use all of the answers on the questionnaire to base our film on.However when creating out film we must also bear in mind the age restrictions which certain films have based on the content so our target audience could change entirely if the films we produce is to violent or gory, although being of a similar age it is likely that the fllm we produce will cater to this age group providing we adhere to certain rules.

This piechart tells us that a large proportion of people do in fact like the thriller genre or at least occasionally, this informs us that it is obviously quite a popular genre which could potentially mean that our scene will be viewed a lot.There is nothing from this question that we can incorporate into our scene however it just proved that a lot of people enjoy the category of our scene and will hopefully watch it. When taking this answer into context there does seem to be more use to the question rather than it being an indication of how popular this genre is, as the people who answered that they do like thriller films or at least occasionally make the answers of the the questionnaire more valid and therefore more useful to us when creating our sequence as they have more knowledge on what creates a better thriller film then those who answered no.

This question shows us that people prefer many types of different setting so it will be hard to accommodate to every viewer. However in the question there is an answer with a majority which could possibly point us into the direction of using that setting but it does not necessarily mean we will use the answer when choosing the scene. When the question was asked practically every participant did not have a specific type of setting that they really enjoyed and in fact just settings that they may prefer to see which imply's that a certain type of setting may not be seen as too important, which may imply that is in fact up to the creators to choose the most effective settings as the setting allows the certain emotions to be explored more vastly for example a forest would allow us as film makers to create more mystery and suspense as it is a setting that is considered relatively unusual to people and is also associated with being quite eerie.

Based on the pie chart we can see that psychological thrillers are enjoyed the most however it is not a clear majority.This sort of information can be quite critical when making a successful scene as this definitely something the general public may look for in a thriller, so based on this information we will clearly have to pick a specific type of thriller we want to base our scene on. As psychological thrillers seem to be the most popular we will most likely decide to base out theme on this type of thriller as we want our scene to appeal to the majority.

Out of the 40 participants 57% of them preferred a male protagonist to be apart of the scene. This type of information will have a big impact on the gender of the protagonist that we will choose which based on this pie chart will be a male as it is clear a majority of people prefer to see a male be the hero of the film.It is also very conventional which one other reason as to why this seems to be a clear choice for us even before creating the questionnaire, a male antagonist seems to always create more shock and more unease in the audiences of thriller films.

This pie chart shows us that the majority prefer a gun to be used as the murder weapon in thriller films however it is not clear majority so there are still a lot of other people who prefer possibly an axe or knife to be used. These answers will be taken on board however it is unlikely that we use the majority answer in this case as it is difficult to make the murder look more realistic as we will need a prop gun, so instead we will most definitely use the knife as it is a lot easier to use and often more conventional to thriller films.

This pie chart shows us that majority of the people that we asked preferred a fast paced action soundtrack in the thrillers that they watched. This information is likely to be taken into use however the scene that we have narrated will not fit this style of sound so we are more likely to include the slow paced soundtrack as it will create more suspense and shock with fitting scenes. Although we are not using the majority answer we are however using the second most preferred answer which means that the slow paced soundtrack will still appeal to many of our audience.However there may be some use of variations between slow and face paced sound tracks as this seems to be a lot more effective then one continuous soundtrack, this technique is also used very often in thriller films as the sudden change in pace creates more shock to the audience during a significant scene. 

Based on the information on the pie-chart we can see that a majority prefer to see gore used within thriller films, many people also answered with "sometimes" which still suggests that they like to see in most likely more moderation.This information will definitely be taken into consideration as it seems a large majority like to see gore which can also be relatively easy to replicate. The scene we have created can also be easily altered to incorporate more gore with the use of possible fake blood or more visual killings. Although gore may be may be hard to use in an opening sequence but it does quite often play quite a big part in the majority of the film.Starting with a relative amount of gore could be technique used to shock the audience as it is not something they would expect at the beginning of them film as the audience are usually gradually brought into it.

The information in this pie chart shows us that a slight majority prefer the (Not finished as tyler did this one wrong)

The vox pop is a tool used in many forms of media to provide a snapshot of public opinion. Random members of public are asked to give their views on a particular topic and their responses are presented to the viewer/reader as a reflection of popular opinion.We specifically used them as we wanted to see what the general public thought about certain aspects of a thriller film so using the same questions in the questionnaire we asked random people to give their opinion on the questions, as previously mentioned the information that we collected will be treated as the opinions of most  people. To ensure that the results can be more accurately described as popular opinion we aimed to ask people of different backgrounds and cultures.The data we collected which is otherwise known as qualitative data due it being opinions of other people, is practically the same as the questionnaire that we previously asked however the use of vox pop may not necessarily be used just for creating films as it can be used to show others an example of general members of the public answering our questions on the thriller genre. So the vox pops still serve the same purpose as the questionnaire however they allow us to see a visual representation of the questions asked.

Within my research i found many aspects to be of interest to our group, the questionnaire being the most interesting as it allowed it us to see the opinion of 40 people which could help us majorly as we were able to see the interests of a segment of the general population and incorporate it into out scenes.Although it will be difficult to incorporate every bit of information so we decided to analyse each questions and see which was the most feasible for our scenes so for example one of the questions indicated that the majority preferred a gun to be used as the murder weapon however once we analysed this we came to a conclusion that the better option would be using the second answer which was a knife as it would be a lot easier to use in your scenes and is often seen to be more of a conventional weapon.If i were to do the research again i might add more consideration when choosing participants in order for out results to be from more diverse people so that the out results could be based on a broader proportion of the population.

group planning

Risk Assessment

It is important to consider to risk as the group ultimately will want to have make sure that nothing goes wrong within the production phase so to ensure this we will ensure that we take precautions in regards to the risks that we have previously calculated.

The risk assessment that we have created will help us to avoid the risks that are possible for example we know that the area that we are filming in is very muddy therefore making it difficult to run on so we will have to ensure that the characters in this scene are wearing the correct foot wear and taking other precautionary measures.

Filming schedule

A filming schedule is important to have as it allows the group to keep track of the location, equipment and various other things that are happening on particular days of filming which can then be used as a way of checking progression.

We ended up making a few changes to the filming schedules as location had to be changed for various reasons such as not being suitable to film in however apart from this the rest of the filming schedule was kept the same

group meetings

Meetings and discussions are important to carry out as they allow the individual group members to discuss ideas with each other which can ultimately end up improving the final scene. These meeting also allow other members of the group to critique the ideas of other members which will make sure the idea satisfy all of the group members and also will also ensure that it fits the requirements need for the opening scene.

The group worked well in terms of creating the narrative and designing certain other elements of the opening scene however the group was let down in other crucial elements, for example in terms of organisation other members of the group did not conform to the bare minimum of expectations. They also delayed the film process by constantly decreasing the filming time in order to attend to other commitments which ultimately affected the rest of the group as this did not allow for a sufficient time of period which therefore had an negative impact on the quality of the opening scene. 

Roles- Miss.Miller

It is essential for roles to be allocated to individual members as it is not possible for directors to do every role especially in large films as there are many tasks to do which is only possible when located to different people.There are many roles within the production team for example there are producers,editors, sound producers, writers and many more which are all necessary for a film of any genre .

We decided on certain roles before the actual production of the film however our main criteria for allocating the roles was experience in the role or in a similar role, so for example i had experience with finding copyright free music in the past so i allocated myself to that role and was able to quiet easily find sounds that were adequate for our film as well as fitting the criteria for the music used. The roles allocated for each member were as follows:

• Producers (definition:"prepare and then supervise the making of a film before presenting the product to a financing entity or a film distributor")- Tyler Osman,  Mikaeel Khaliq
• Directors (definition: "a person who directs the making of a film")-Tyler Osman , Mikaeel Khaliq
• Actors (definition: "individuals that have the role of performing") - Mikaeel Khaliq, Tyler Osman and Samantha Apperly
• Director of Photography (definition: "The person who is in charge of the lighting and camera settings of the motion picture but who does not always control the camera itself")-  Mikaeel Khaliq
• Music producers (definition:" Those who have the role of either producing suitable music or being able to locate copyright free music")-  Mikaeel Khaliq, Samantha Apperly
• Screen Writers (definition:" an individual who creates an orginal narrative for a film or other media products") - Samantha Apperly
• Editors (definition: "works with the raw footage, selecting shots and combining them into sequences to create a finished motion picture")- Tyler Osman

Tyler Osman's roles are stated above. Tyler specifically did quite well when it came to directing the film as it seemed he had quite a clear vision as to what would look best on camera and was able to give good suggestions in terms of cinematography and how the scene should be filmed even when he was on camera which proved to very useful as a second opinion allows for reflection and can most certain prevent mistakes.He also had no problem during the role of his acting apart from being a little irresponsible in regards to the costume however we were able to over come the problem with a few adjustments.In regards to the editing he started off well as he claimed that he previous knowledge in editing film which is why we chose to let him do the task individually however his quality of work did not seem to be up to par so i decided to take it upon myself to continue with editing as i was more willing to put in the work which turned out to be for better.\\

Samantha Apperley's roles are also stated above in the list. Samantha's major role was the acting as she was a vital part of our opening sequence as she was the main character and had to be in every single role, this provided both negative and positive aspects. The role she played was up to a relatively high standard which i cannot fault her for however as she was such a key element to the filming she did prove to be quite difficult to in organising herself to meet at the arranged time of filming which was most probably her major downfall. There were other minor downfalls like refusing to do certain things during filming but they were amenable. However she did provide the narrative for the whole opening sequence which a quiet conventional to thriller films which made it a good choice of narrative.


Within their role the other members of the group have continued to do research on their specific roles in order to ensure that the final opening sequence is to the highest quality. We have tried to stick to the roles which have assigned to ourselves however in certain roles other other group members have had to take over in order to ensure that the task has been completed fully and to the highest degree of quality possible. By creating specific role for each group member it should have allowed us to focus solely on the roles which we had designated to ourselves, it should have also made the roles easier for each of the group members as we had less to concentrate on. The specific roles also should have assured that we were able to designate more time to the roles as we had a smaller burden, which ultimately should increase the quality of our opening sequence. 

In conclusion, the roles allocated to each member did not necessarily prevent other members from not doing other tasks, the editing task eventually became a shared task between myself and another group member. However as a whole each group member did reasonably well in their allocated role although there were a few roles which were shared among the group. I would make sure that the roles of each group members were not shared as this would have made the process a lot quicker.

Opening scene narrative- Miss.Miller

The scene starts wit the two characters which are supposed to be portrayed as a couple, they're situated in a deserted car park at  the time of dusk. The setting was specified within the miss-en-scene ensuring that it was conventional as possible. We carried on the conventions this scene/setting as we made sure that low key lighting was present the whole scene as this created more suspense throughout the scene. The scene then goes on to show the two characters in a heated argument which should hopeful shock the audience straight away as the opening scene does not ease the audience into the theme of the thriller, the low key lighting is key here as we want the audience to feel more tense.The argument carries on for a short period of time before the male character storms of to his cars and leaves the female stranded in the dark car park with no way of getting home, ideally we are going to create a close-up at this point so the audience are able to see the facial expressions of the female character.

 Soon after the stalker will be shown however before this we want the audience to come to a realisation that the female character is in fact alone in the car which should hopefully build a sense of suspense in the audience we may do this by incorporating a long shot which is designed to show the environment in which the character is in which fits the purpose here.When the stalker is shown in the camera shot there should be some sort of non-digetic sound which will show the audience that this character is the antagonist as it will make the situation suddenly seem more eerie.The costume of the antagonist will first be revealed to the audience here, which is dark clothing that hides the identity of the antagonist in order to create more mystery about the character.The main focus during this part of the scene is making sure that the female is to convey emotions of panic to the audience to make them realise that the character in the distance is in fact something to be afraid of.

The scene then goes on to the show the female character panic even further as she frantically to get her phone out however to her dismay the phone has no signal, here there will be a combination of a mid shot and a close of up of the phone , the mid shot will be used to show he body language of the female character and of the phone to emphasise that there is no signal which makes the character stranded in the car park.The style of editing will most likely be fast paced here as we want the audience to really feel that the situation is in a state of dismay, this type of editing is achieved by changing the camera angle several times.
After this scene the antagonist will slowly come to a realisation that the girl is on her phone and most likely trying to call for help so he makes his move and walks toward the female character, naturally she becomes hysterical and decides to brisk walk towards any type of exit from this car park no matter where it leads too.

 The female character ends up walking to an alleyway where a panning shot will be used in order to show the audience the environment as well as showing that the speed that the characters are running at which is important as this show how much the female character wants to get away front the antagonist. As the characters run out of the alleyway the female character sees a forest and decides to run into it as she sees it as a way out. A POV is used in the chase scene as it shows the audience what the antagonists point of view is hopefully create more shock as the audience and can experience the situation from a first person view. The chase scene carries on deep into the forest as know the female character slowly starts to become more and more helpless, eventually she evades for him for a while but she falls over a branch which looses her critical time as the antagonist is not far behind holding a knife which adds more shock and surprise to the audience as there is the presence of death constantly through the chase scene.When the female character falls there is no longer enough time for her to escape as the killer is now running up to her, he bends over her and and the lifts the knife up, the scene then ends her in order to add more enigma to the scene as the audience are kept guessing as to what will happen next.

The opening scene we have created is conventional in many ways for example the characters, iconography, lighting, editing and sounds are all inspired from other thriller films which ensures that our opening scene is relative to other thriller films which ultimately is what makes the various elements and the film as a whole conventional 

Group storyboard- miss.miller

The purpose of a group storyboard is for all of the group members to combine their interpretations from the individual storyboards and all come to an agreement as to what the final opening scene should be like in the form of a storyboard however here we can also focus on the types of camera angles, iconography and the types of editing styles that we want to use.So once we had all created our own storyboards we scheduled a group meeting and proceeded to compare all of our storyboards evaluating each section and coming to a conclusion as to which one is most suitable for the final opening scene or alternatively we could have decided to combine two different into one if they both add value to the scene.

As i previously mentioned we created a group storyboard so we could all combine the ideas of the individual group members into one final story which will would be the most conventional in relation to thriller films as all 3 of the individuals storyboards were critiqued in order to be most conventional and suitable for our end opening scene due to the scrutiny. There were certain element in group members storyboards that we decided to include for example one of the group members had incorporated varying timing of shots which allowed us to portray more emotions to the audience through a change in editing style for example using slow editing in the scenes we want to emphasise the emotion of suspense and fast editing in the scenes where we would like to emphasise the emotion of panic.There were also certain elements that we all had included in our own individual storyboard which were low key lighting so of course this type of lighting was used in scene as it was clear that it was something that we all agreed on. There were also new ideas from certain group members like including the sound of a heartbeat or heavy breathing in certain scene in order to stress the emotions of the characters so during the chase scene in our opening scene we would use a faster heart beat to show the audience that the victim is extremely frightening and clearly fighting to escape the antagonist , the heavy breathing would also further strengthen this as the audience can relate heavy breathing to a state of panic, these types of sounds are often used in thriller films which is one of the main reasons we have used them as it further conveys emotions as well as making certain elements more conventional.Many of the elements used have been inspired from other films , for example the use of slow and fast editing was inspired from the human centipede as there is a scene that uses theses editing styles very effectively. The use of a heartbeat was quite clearly used in shutter island which one of my other groups must have used previously for inspiration on sound or other elements however for the use of this sound to be effective the sound must be edited in correctly and fit the images of the scene.We incorporated all of these ideas by creating a group meeting and discussing ideas that we had previously come up with in our own story boards, during the meeting we all looked at other group members storyboards and noted which ideas we liked. After we noted the ideas we liked we then discussed which would be best for our opening scene and collectively created a group storyboard and incorporated the most suitable ideas.

The storyboard we have created fits the purpose as it has done exactly what we wanted which was to incorporate all the best and most relevant ideas from different group members.As previously mentioned we managed to incorporate others ideas by having a group meeting and discussing the elements we had used in each others storyboards.No compromises had to be made as my group generally had a similar concept of how we wanted the final storyboard so we knew what elements we wanted to include.I did not necessarily have to make any compromises however i should added more editing styles in the storyboard which will most likely be used when we get to the editing stage apart from this i have nothing else i wish to change.

Group planning

My group members are Samantha Apperley and Tyler Osman, group meetings are essential as they allow all the group members to exchange ideas with each other which will make the narrative and general concepts improve.

In our first meeting we discussed the fundamentals of our task which was the narratives, we initially produced our own narrative so we had something to discuss in our meeting. We then analysed each narrative and came to a conclusion that Samantha's was the most suitable to our task however we felt that some elements needed changing such as the end scene where she had planned a torture seen however  thought this would be too had create as we do not have the means to make it look realistic, it also made the opening scene seem more like a scene that would occur in the middle of a film. So we then changed the ending to a chase scene which we had seen in mant thriller filsm before hand while doing out reasearch tasks, we felt that this was more appropriate then the torture scene and at the same time made our scene more conventioanl as through this we could add many more conventions such as slow editing.

We planned the type of facial expressions and body language that needed to be used within our thriller scene for example the victim needed to have a scared expression on her face throughout the chase scene and closed body language throughout the arguement to show some fear.The costume were also decided upon as this showed the audience what type of people the characters are, myself and samantha are wearing casual clothes whereas tyler who will be the anatagonist will be wearing all black clothes to try and hide his identity and the pyhsical charactersistics to create more enigma in relation to the characters. We planned on using low key lighting throughout the scene as when we looked at many other thriller films this seemed to be the main type of lighting as it made it harder for the audience to see certain things therefore creating more suspense and mystery.As mentioned previously we had planned on using an abandonmed car park and and obscure forest as these both make the settings of the scene more conventional to thriller films.

Inspirations - Miss.Georgiou

We need inspiration before we can create our thriller process as in order to produce a film that is appealing and engages the audience. We can take inspiration from other films as we are able to see what techniques have been used in order to create suspense, surprise and shock. i have taken inspiration from various films like scream, sin city, the conjuring and Halloween as they all use many different techniques to engage the audience with the three elements that i previously mentioned.

 In this scene there were many inspirations that i took and then incorporated into my actual thriller sequence for example there was a vast amount of slow editing as well as fast timing of shots which are essential in every thriller film.This type of editing inspired me as it allowed the director of this film to portray the emotions of suspense and panic with simple editing techniques which can easily be incorporated into any film.I will try to incorporate these techniques into my opening scene during the whole chase scene as this is the type of situations that these type of editing scenes are used in as suspense and shock is always present in these scenes.It is difficult to make the use of these editing styles completely different as it is similar situation used in "The human centipede"however during the editing stage i will make sure that the use of these techniques is not exactly the same.

Previously i had looked at the conventions used in the film "scream 4" there many conventions used that were actually used in many films such as the sealed identity of the killer, use of knife and blonde female victim. These were all relatively inspiring as they were conventions that seemed to be used in many successful thriller films and also added more suspense, shock and surprise to many of the scenes filmed. It evident from many of my more recent posts that i have decided to use all three of these conventions as it fit the narrative so well,  however i have tried making sealed identity of the antagonist a little different as usually many of the antagonists film wear masks however ours does not yet the killers identity is not revealed. Unfortunately i was not able to make the the use of the knife and the female blonde victim unique as it they are conventions that are not able to be altered and tend to be similar in many thriller films.

In this post i researched the cinematography used in the film sin city and there were many types of camera angles and shots that were of interest me as they showed me different how characters can be portrayed differently depending on the camera angle or shot.In the scene they used close ups and high angle shots which showed emphasised the the expression on the characters face and  the high angle showed me that if you manipulate the camera angle to make certain characters seem either more inferior or less inferior. I plan on incorporating both types of camera angles/shots and many more throughout my opening scene however i will try to make them a little different but these types of shot/angles are quite conventional so they represent the same idea in most films.For example i will a high angle to make the victim seem more inferior which is done in many other thriller films making it quite conventional to a thriller.

In this film there are many aspects of sound which are of interest to me like the use of screaming and heavy breathing both of which added more suspense and shock to the scene.These two particular styles of sound have provided me with inspiration to use them in my opening scene as the screams showed the audience how scared or panicked the victim was and the heavy breathing depending on which character it comes from also adds suspense to the scene as it adds a sense of doubt to the audience.These two particular aspects of sound are going to be used within my scene during the chase scene to show that the victim is extremely scared and the heavy breathing will show that she is starting to become helpless, this has become different to the film above as it is used in different situations and used in a different concept.

My research was helpful as it allowed me to see many other conventional techniques in other films which i could use and adapt into my style to fit the narrative.These techniques have made my sequence better as using the techniques from other films i can now emphasise the three elements of shock,surprise and suspense in a better manor.

Individual Storyboard – Miss Miller

A storyboard is a sequence of pictures that illustrates a scene which in our case is the opening scene.Using a storyboard allows us to structure how the scenes will fold out and allow us to make any alternations if necessary. It can also be used as a tool to show the rest of the members in my group the ideas i have come up with or the perception of the scenes that we plan on producing.The storyboard will also allow us to plan the type of camera angles,lighting,sounds and editing techniques we want to use when it comes to filming our scene.

As previously mentioned the main reason for creating our own storyboard is so we can put our own perceptions of how the scene is going to be in a planned out structure. In my story board i decided to make some of the camera techniques to be handheld as it is something i had seen before in the thriller "Halloween" this helped to conceal the identity of the antagonist which is something we hope to fulfil in our thriller however it also added more shock and suspense to the scene as the audience were able to see a first person view from the killer which made the scene feel more realistic.The setting which the scenes were set in are all conventional of a thriller so there were many films like "friday the 13th" and so on that incorporated a large deserted forest which i felt was a good location to help emphasise the elements of shock,surprise and suspense as this sort of location had an eerie and mystical presence when watching the film and a location like this is easily found.I decided to include low key lighting throughout some of the scenes as this is the main type of lighting that creates more enigma and suspense in scenes as the audience are able to see less of the scene leaving them wondering what is happening.However we also decided to include a contrast in the lighting as this would provide a deeper shock for the audience as they would end up becoming used to the low key lighting so in order for this to be more effective there also needs to be a contrast in the lighting.I have also decided on adding eerie music into certain scenes in order to increase suspense, surprise or shock depending on where it is most appropriate, this is a technique that is used in practically used in every thriller film as sound always helps enhances a scene.
I think my storyboard proficiently expresses my perception of how i want the scenes to be set out this should help when we eventually make the group storyboard as we will be able to incorporate my  ideas if the group feels that it is something they also want to include into the opening scene. I might decide to change the lighting as i feel the lighting is more effective when the lighting goes from high to low key lighting rather then being at the same level constantly. 

At the end of the my storyboard i have decided to in corporate the use of high angles as i felt that the use of this camera angle would be most appropriate for the scene which is when the antagonist leans over the female victim and is now trapped. During our analysis of cinematography we came to the conclusion that the use of the high angle allows for whoever is lower to seem more inferior in comparison to any other character which is already true in that scene however by using this specific angle it makes it more apparent to the audience as they realise just how helpless the female victim really is. The use of low key lighting in my storyboard is significant as it ultimately sets the scene for the whole scene however upon refection i will most likely create a contrast in low key lighting and normal day light as this will allow for a greater effect on the audience as the sudden change in lighting will indicate that the something is about to happen therefore creating more suspense in the audience. Throughout the opening sequence there will be a sound track that like the lighting will add to the setting as the nature of the music can either make the scene seem eerie which is the aim or the opposite, so when it comes to editing i will be looking to find fitting music that can add to the eeriness of the scene and make the audience feel more on edge throughout. A soundtrack is also essential as there is only a small section that contains dialogue so the soundtrack also acts as filler for the rest of sequence.

Planning opening credits-Miss.Georgiou

The purpose of the opening credits is to show all of the production crew and cast members to the audience, it also informs the audience of the title of the films. There is usually a set sequence in which the title and name show, the sequence usually shows the more important members then the least important and back to the most important ending with the name of the director.

We analysed the thriller film se7en as it was a typical thriller film which adhered to many of the common conventions. The first thing that i noticed is that the font was white in colour however it was on a black background, both colours represent different features of a thriller film for example the white represents innocence and serenity whereas the black provides a connotation of death and fear which the makers of the film want the audience to sub consciously notice throughout the opening scene.These two colours could also be seen as the portrayal between the relationship of the victim and the antagonist as innocence and death are both appropriate words to describe each of the characters.There was also hints of red within the writing, this also has a meaning behind it which is blood and danger, this colour will stand out just as much as the white writing which means that the audience will also notice this colour and will hopefully come to the same conclusion to what this represents. The style of writing was also quite jagged in nature and seemed to constantly fade out and appear in different section of the screen and again there is another reason for each element of the font, the jagged writing is most probably supposed to represent the antagonists personality which means they are un-stable and may or may not have some sort of mental condition which makes them behave in this manor. The random placements of the credits also supports this theory and keeps the audience constantly thinking as they cannot anticipate where the credit will appear next. The font was also in a handwritten fashion which again relates back to the antagonist which is barely shown to the audience in the opening credits, as the credits is in written in this style this should make the audience feel that they already know something more personal about the character regardless of whether the identity is concealed or not as the hand writing of an individual is considered to be quite personal.The size of the font is was kept at a relatively pertinent size throughout the scene so the audience could clearly read the titles however they were also able to see the opening scene at the same time where a few of the characteristics of the characters are revealed. The scene opens with the name of the director which is typically quite unconventional however the director of this film is known to mention his name twice in the opening credits which is apparent in this film as it is the last and the first credit. Commonly the opening credits of the film mention crucial members of the production team and cast first which them progresses to the less relevant members of the film and lastly going back to the director which is considered to be the most acknowledged member of the film.

  

I have decided to create my own style of font for my opening sequence however i have decided to make sure that my opening credits will be conventional to a thriller film so i decided to take inspirations from films. The colour scheme is clearly quite similar to se7en as i felt that it reflected the personality of the two characters rather well as my characters also happen to represent innocence and death, this is due to both films being conventional to thriller films in the respect that the victim is always oblivious to the situation around them and the antagonist has a clear motive which is death in both cases. Although i took inspiration from se7en i decided not to add any hint of red as i wanted my design to be unique and i came to a conclusion that the black and white represented enough features about my characters.The font is also quite distorted which adds to the thriller theme as it can be seen as adding more mystery like the identity of our antagonist however it is still readable for the audience, The positioning of the credits is not something i have yet decided on however it is possible that i may decide to put the credits in different sections of the screen where it is most appropriate. The font is relatively simple as i felt that adding anything else to it would make the credits to hard to read as there is already many effects put on this simple font.

 strengths:
This design is quite conventional as it uses the contrast of black and white which both symbolise the same connotations which are serenity and death. The style of writing is also quite rugged which may mean this individual has tried to recreate a similar technique which is used in se7en so they might being trying to indicate that the antagonist in this case is unstable in some sort. So overall it does seem like the sort of font used in an opening scene of a thriller film.

Weaknesses:

It is possible to argue that the combination of the distortion and the font might make it hard for the audience to read continuously throughout the scene so will end up deterring in the audience to read the opening rather then encouraging them. The font of the opening credit is to small for the audience to read so would need to be increased if we decided to use this style.

Strengths:

This opening credit has also used to the black and white contrast of colours which may make it conventional to a thriller as it seems like this is a popular choice to use within the opening credits. The font is spaced out well which will make it easier for the audience to read as the opening scene unfolds.The size of the font is also sufficient in allowing the audience to read the opening credits better.

Weakness:

This opening credit can be argued as quite unconventional as the writing does not relate to any type of font used in thriller films as many elements are more likely to used in other genres of films.The spacing may also be considered a negative as it could take a large proportion of the screen which may not be wanted in certain circumstances. The style also does not relate to any character or to any feature of the film which is often used in thriller films.

We have decided on using my style of opening credit as it is the most conventional and also fits the criteria of film in the most appropriate manor.The appearance of the order of the opening credits will most likely start with name of the creator of the film and then go on to introduce the name of the main characters in the film, the title of the film will then be mentioned with the rest of the production members mentioned after. Lastly the opening credits will finish of the name of the director as he/she is often considered to be the most important in the making of a film.

Planning characters- Miss.Miller

The purpose of characters is to make the narrative more appealing to the audience as the audience will start to build a relationship with the characters which will make the scenes more interesting. The main purpose of planning the characters of a film is to ensure that the characters fit the narrative as the narrative needs to make sense in order for the audience to watch, it also allows us to create a more in depth background of the characters and control the characteristics that we feel that they need.

We have three characters named Zak, Nicole and the last is unknown as the identity of this character is concealed.Each character plays completely differently roles in out thriller sequence for example our character "Zak" plays a small role at the beginning of the sequence when he gets into an argument with his girlfriend in an obscure car park however his role is short lived as he eventually drives off and leaves his girlfriend stranded. This is relatively stereotypical as due to his actions he makes the the audience feel sympathetic to the female which fits in to the general stereotype of the females in thriller films as they are often a victim of some sort of situation. The characteristics of this character may not necessarily help the audience engage more with narrative although it may make them feel even more sympathetic to the female characters as "Zak" is a male. The audience will not have much of a relationship for the character as he is only part of the opening sequence for a short period of time, the only relationship that they will form is a spiteful relationship as the audience see the character break up with the female character due to actions which leads her to feel hurt, so the audience immediately have hate for this character.This character will be wearing casual clothes as a costumes as we need to ensure that he looks like a regular person in order to have a a greater effect on the audience as makes the audience realise that this character is a normal person like themselves.

The female character who is named "Nicole" is the main character of our opening scene as she plays the female victim throughout as she first gets into an argument with her boyfriend and short after into a chase for her life from a stalker who now wants to kill her. A female victim is extremely stereotypical and conventional of a thriller as majority of the victims in thriller films are female as this often makes the audience realise that the victim is less likely to escape as they are female and less likely to get away from a male antagonist.The gender of the female character will have a large impact on the audience as like i've previously mentioned this makes the victim even more vulnerable which is the start to the close relationship that the audience and this character will most likely have. The viewers will probably feel a sense of remorse for this character as she has been hurt by her boyfriend and is now trying to save her life from the stalker which makes this the strongest relationship between the characters and the audience.Aside from feeling remorse the audience are already inclined to feel compassion for her due to the mishaps.The background/environments we have decided to use will create more shock,suspense and surprise with the audience as the female character will have trouble getting out of such obscure settings.The costume this is character will being wearing is very similar to the character "Zak" which is casual clothing as we want to send the audience the same message which is that "Nicole" is an ordinary person as this will create more sympathy for her.

The unknown characters role in this scene is to be the antagonist through the second half of the opening sequence which will eventually lead into a chase. An antagonist is stereotypical as every horror film needs one however our antagonist is more stereotypical as we have made sure this character is male and also has a concealed identity so the audience are left questioning who the antagonist is.All the characteristics are concealed however the audience will be able to tell that the antagonist is quite tall.To aid to the concealment of the antagonists identity the costume we have selected for him is all black and baggy so the only physical feature the audience can see is the height of the antagonist this adds to the mystery and therefore makes this character seem a little more intimidating. The relationship between the antagonist between the character will slowly develop as the sequence unfolds however it is not similar to the female victims relationship as the audience will most likely feel hatred towards the antagonist as he is trying to murder and innocent girl which would also imply that they may form no relationship at all apart from the emotion of hate.

The characters we have chosen are immensely conventional as both the gender of the antagonist and victim are considered to be conventional. The antagonist is almost always male in thriller films which have seen in our previous research as males antagonists are considered to be more superior and can quite often have a far greater impact on the audience in regards to creating more shock and disturbance. The victim in this opening sequence is a blonde female both words being conventional components as during the same research all the victims were female and in fact blonde as this represented that character was innocent due to the light nature of the colour, the difference in genders makes the female character more weak and vulnerable.By ensuring that the characters chosen are conventional to thrillers this should make our opening sequence more successful as we are able to transmit the emotions of shock, suspense and surprise which are all essential in creating a successful film.

Planning editing styles-Miss.Georgiou

Editing styles are important top include within a thriller film as they help engage the three main elements of a thriller fully. The three elements are shock,surprise and suspense which are essentially the emotions that thriller films aim to create, various types of editing styles help to create each element for example slow editing emphasises the suspense created in the scene making the situation more intense for the audience.Certain styles of editing can also make characters seem more vulnerable, this makes the relationship between the audience and the character stronger as the audience feel more compelled to feel sorry for the character as they are helpless.

The three styles of editing we have decided to use are slow editing, montage editing and fades.The slow editing will be used during the beginning of the chase scene to help create more suspense to the scene as the character will slowly come to realisation that she is being followed by a  masked man. As the suspense is built up it makes the following scene more shocking as the audience are more on edge and may not be necessarily expecting a sudden change in events.This will immediately create a stronger bond between the character and the audience as they will see that she is a very vulnerable state from the argument she has just had and now suddenly she has a strange man following her, the audience will also slowly realise that there is no way that the female can escape.This editing technique is very conventional to thriller sequences as it often used to add more suspense to the scene and leave the audience questioning what may happen next.

Montage editing is the speed of editing , where shots are juxtaposed together. The main scene this technique will be used is during the chase scene as we want to create more excitement, shock and surprise to the scene which is conventional to thriller films as it helps create the three element of a thriller, it is also a technique used in all thriller films for the same purpose. The relationhship between the audience and the character will grow stronger as this is where their predictions become true, they will see that the female victim is now completley helpless and in a complete state of panic. The audience will start have an attachment to the character as they notice that the female victim is helpless so they feel obliged to root in her favour.

At the end of the sequence we will incorporate fade which is when the screen fades to black this often means an ending to a scene, this specific editing technique works well for our scene as it we are only producing an opening scene so this will allow us to end the scene and leave the audience questioning what will happen next. The sole purpose of the technique is to create a large amount of suspense and enigma at the end of the scene especially as the scene will be left on a cliff hangerm, this should continue to make our thriller film more coventional as every aspect of all the techniques add shock,suspense and surprise. The relationship between the characters and the audience may not neccassarily be strengthened however