Thriller Filming

We spent the lesson taking photos of each other out of college for the opening panning shot of the photos. We traveled around to and from a place called 'Archers field and took photographs of each other while making the subject look unaware and the camera operator seem hidden eg. by having part of a close tree in a shot.

Risk Assessment:

Risk Assessment

Bodily Injury:
We will ensure that appropriate footwear is worn during all photo taking and filming sessions and make sure that the ground we are walking on during a scene/photo is extremely safe before capturing.

Getting Injured By a Moving Car:
We will ensure that precautions are put in to place for road safety during footage around roads and we will never film actors crossing busy roads. (If crossing of a road is necessary in one shot, then the cameraman will never rush actor and make sure he/she feels safe crossing the road and that they do it as naturally and safely as possible).

Getting Lost:
During certain "forest" scenes, we will make sure that all actors have phone in their pocket in their pocket if they cannot find way back. However, this will be prevented by filming in groups of three or four at all times, which will limit individual isolation.

Damage to Equipment:
We will make sure, when handling equipment, that we do so gently and slowly, preventing any quick slips, trips or falls with the equipment. We will also share the equipment when walking therefore preventing any one person to carry all of it by themselves, which will hopefully prevent injury or damage to person or equipment.

Strangers/Assault:
We will make sure as a group that we don't annoy or aggravate members of the public during the filming's of our scenes. We will choose fairly isolated areas during the day to avoid this, but if we encounter a person we will take extra safety precautions to avoid awkward questioning or negative vibes.

General Injury:
We will ensure that our locations are near college during, college hours, so if something happened we can quickly return to get help. Also we will always travel in a group of 4, therefore if someone is in trouble, one (or two) member(s) of the group can stay with them whilst the other one or two can run off for help.

Illness:
If a member of a group falls ill time needs to be used efficiently to remain on schedule. If its more than 2hrs we need to find replacement or a definite reschedule date will be set and be met without exception.

Thriller Planning 3

We decided to start storyboarding our project. We also updated the thriller questionnaire and gave it out to some of the other people in our class. However, we had trouble with the storyboarding as we had trouble agreeing on scenes. We eventually decided that we should have a panning shot of photos placed on a table of us. It would have tense music in the background and have actor and director names appearing in the shot. We also came up with the idea of having a montage a photos of us in full screen doing various things. The photos would be point of view and we would appear unaware of being photographed.

Thriller Planning 2

We started advancing our ideas for an opening shot with the idea of scattering photos of various mysterious places and people and panning over them with music in the background. The shot would then zoom into a photo which would then become part of the next scene. We began our initial design for a questionnaire and included questions involving fonts, titles and thriller preferences. We then began researching usable copyright free music which we could use for our project, we found a piece of music called (insert name) which we thought would work well with our project. It contains an eerie piano melody which we think will increase the atmosphere. We then began to storyboard our project and got upto the picture zoom. After a long discussion, we decided that it would feature us four in different places such as the city and the countryside. We came up with the idea of us being filmed in both the third and second person, indicating that there is a person actually filming the character. Sophie decided that she should finish the storyboard over the half term holidays.

Thriller Questionnaire Prototype

Thriller Research:Donnie Darko

Sound is used to create representations of thrillers. Building storm sounds increase the tension as the credits are displayed. When the establishing shot is displayed, ambient diegetic birdsong is present to indicate it as a safe haven. An electronic humming sound gradually gets louder as the zoom increases to increase the tension. This then turns into harpsichord music which has a childlike feel to it.

Thriller Research: The Bourne Identity (1988)

One of the ways which this is made a thriller is that the storm sounds grudually builds up during the short opening credits and then evolves into loud dramatic orchestra music. This all build up to the yell of the shooter and the fire of his gun. This creates suspense for the audience and readily sets the scene when the sea and boat shot is established. The music then becomes slower and sadder with added bubble sound effects. This slows the pace down but increases suspense as the audience is wondering if Jason will survive. The explosion at the end climaxes the scene as the man resurfaces and survives.

The camera angles also create thriller representations. The first shot is an establishing shot of the boat and sea which tells the audience the setting as well as leave them wondering what's going to happen there. As Jason is shot and falls down, there is a high angle shot to show his vulnerability.

The mise en scene is also important. When Jason is drowning, he is repeatedly being snagged by seaweed. This emphasises how he is underwater and likely to die, and makes it appear more sinister.

The editing is also used when there are constant switches between Jason and his shooter, while portraying their decreasing distance from each other. The fact that Jason gets more screentime foreshadows that Jason is the main character and that the shooter is unlikely to be important in the story. Jason's fall in the water is also repeated from a different angle to emphasise his fall.

Thriller Planning

After, being a test group for a teacher applying for our college, we decided our groups. I am in a group with Tom Adcock, Sophie Neil and Andrew Tinley. We then began brainstorming ideas. We decided first off that we wanted to do something conventional, but original. We also had the idea of it possibly being an action-horror-tragi-thriller. We had ideas of having death and murder as the openings background. Sophie then had the idea of during the opening credits, sepia photographs of people and settings could fade in and out on screen. On the final one, we would zoom into and it would become part of the action of a first scene. We began with ideas for a questionnaire to find out what people expect from a thriller.

Thriller Introduction 2

We finished watching 'The Usual Suspects'. We then discussed how it conformed to the conventions of thrillers in different ways. We then watched Thriller openings from past year groups to inspire us and learn from their mistakes.

Thriller Introduction

Our new task is to create the opening of a thriller. On Monday, our teacher talked us through the codes and conventions of thrillers in our lesson and taught us what a thriller requires in its characters, its plot and its atmosphere. We then watched the openings of 'Lost Highway', 'Signs' and 'Blood Simple'. We discussed use use of camera angles, mise en scene, editing and sound in the openings and how they help make it a thriller. We then began watching the beginning of 'The Usual Suspects'.