Planning Opening Credits - Miss Georgiou

Credits are very important to film under the thriller genre this is for a mixture of various reasons. Credits introduce the audience to the film that they will be watching by engaging and drawing there attention to the centre of the screen. Credits also clarify to the audience the genre of the film they will be watching. They then go onto to show the audience the actors/actresses , production company and the director.

Se7en Opening Credits

We as a class have analysed the opening credits from Se7en. The credits from the film Se7en appear to be jerky, in a hand written style font, this is for effect as the credits make the audience feel  as they are suddenly place apon them. By making the credits stand out it makes the audience feel as if they are more involved in the scene. The colour of the text is white which contrasts and stands out to the audience as it falls apon a dark brown/black background this shows the contrast between the good and the bad or in the case of the thriller genre the antagonist and the protagonist.This puts the audience on the edge of as they can clearly have the understanding of the narrative which makes them feel more engaged in the scene.

The credits are showed to the audience at equal time intervals which sets out the pace of the film to the audience. To add to the credits they are used during low key lighting which is conventional to the thriller genre which helps for the audience to establish what the genre of the film is straight away. 

In addition during the opening scene the audience sees various Iconography that is conventional that the audience would expect to see throughout the whole of the thriller genre this are things like the small blade, scrapbooks containing photographs, but additional other elements such as, blood (also the colour red, hidden identity, soundtrack are all present within the opening credits as well to implement the understanding of the narrative and genre to the audience. 

Order of Credits of Se7en - Production company, director, actor, title of film, actors continued, casting, music costumes, editors, production, camera operator, co-producer, producer, writing, director

Hannibal Opening Credits Analysis

I individual have analysed the credits of Hannibal.

There are only two main colours used in the opening credits of Hannibal. At the very start the word "Hannibal" is the colour red or the colour of blood straight away after the audience see this they can confirm the genre of the film as the colour is the symbol of blood and blood is used widely across the thriller genre. 

Again the other colours used like Se7en are the colours black and white which again contrasts between the good and the bad. There are two different styles of credits at first the writing of Hannibal is a conventional style which is a lot like handwritten text. Meanwhile the style of the rest of the text is big and bold so it stands out to the audience but is slightly unconventional to the thriller genre. I like the way that the credits unlike Se7en appear to be still and more calming for the audience, this means that audience are given a false representation of the events of the film, and are not completely set up for the events of the film. By using credits like these it doesn't elaborate on the genre of the film and may make the future events of the film seem more alarming to the audience as they have not been set up correctly.

The credits also alike Se7en are shown at equal time intervals throughout the opening scene which again sets out the pace of the film to the audience, they are not displayed in LKL as they are white on a black and white background. But this does distort the audiences view of the credits as they have to engage more in the scene to be able to read them.

Thriller conventions used are the colour red for blood, jump cuts between the random CCTV footage of bird and various buildings, sinister sounds through the changes on screen to make the audience feel vulnerable and close up although this may not be apparent at first the formation of the birds on the floor create the face of the main character, Dr. Lecter played by Anthony Hopkins.  

Order of Credits of Hannibal - Title of film, Main Actor, Other Actors, Casting, Costume Designer, Music, Editing, Production Designer, Director of Photography, Executive Producer, Producers, Screenplay, Director. 

Our Opening Scene Credits

We have decided that our credits will be at the start of the scene and continue throughout the scene until a certain point which will be the scream. They will stop for a period of time and continue to the end of the scene up until the reappearance of the girl in the scene as this is an important part of the scene that needs to be focused on by the audience. The credits will be white so they stand out on the darkness of our footage.

Font One

 This is an unconventional font as it is quite friendly and attractive to the audience view. It engages the audience and is not the style that the audience would expect to see if they were viewing a thriller film.  

Font Two

This is why we are using Font Two as it is quite a conventional font that it similar to ones that have already appeared in thriller films. It stands out to an extent and at the same time is appealing to the audience and quite sinister looking as well. 

Order of Appearance of Relinquish

Production Company - Tiger Blood Productions

Actors Names - Hannah Mahoney, Luke Durrance

Music - Luke Durrance

Costume - Hannah Mahoney

Casting - Hannah Mahoney

Editors - Joshua Lester

Camera Operation - Joshua Lester

Co - Producer - Luke Durrance

Producer - Harry Hyett

Screenplay - Harry Hyett

Director - Harry Hyett

Production Roles - Miss Miller

People need to be given specific roles in order to know there jobs in the opening scenes production. By doing this the process of making the scene will be done effectively in a short space of time as specfic roles have been allocated to individual(s). There are many roles that are of importance but without a certain few there would be no film such as the director, camera operator, actors and the producer, without these roles there would be no film. The director couldn't tell the actors and camera operators what to do . Without the camera operators different camera angles and footage will not be filmed and most importantly without actors there would be not film to watch.

Roles of Our Group
We decided our roles by conferring with what roles we were confident with, so our film would be quicker and more effective. We each had to do a certain amount of tasks between the four of us so we decided to do at least two each and then more if we felt we would be able to do/complete the task that the role would allocate.

Producers - Harry Hyett, Luke Durrance. A person responsible for the financial and managerial aspects of the making of the film, Together we will decided what we will need for our film and purchase the items we need and pay for it ourselves.  

 Director - Harry Hyett. A film director is the person who directs the making of the film, I felt confident in taking this particular role as I constructed the screenplay of our narrative and I know it better than anyone else in the group. This is because I decided on the final camera angles we would be filming and also fully under the role of the audience and how they would respond, It would be easier to complete the opening scene directing.

Actors - Hannah Mahoney, Luke Durrance. A persons whose profession is acting in films, as they are both willing to act in the scene and feel confident in that role, also they are both stereotypical like characters of the thriller genre. Also we had to find people who understood the narrative of the plot, which would be easily maintain by just sticking to the people in our group, me and Joshua already had roles which took up sectiosn from filming so by defeault it had to be Luke and Hannah to perform in this role.
  

Director of Photography (Cameraman) - Joshua Lester. A person whose profession is operating a film camera., Joshua took this role as he clearly knows the location of the setting very well and from this it would be best for him to take the role of cameraman and he already has an idea of what angles can be achieved at the setting. He has worked with the camera before so also knows how to effectively achieve the angles that we need for our opening scene.

Music Producers - Luke Durrance. A record producer is an individual working within the music industry producing music for a film., Luke took this role as he has a knowledge of how garage band works, and also knows various websites that can be used to find copyright free tracks to use in our thriller so therefore he felt confident with this role.
  

Screenplay Writer - Harry Hyett. Is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting of films etc., I took this responsibility as I had a clear understanding of the story line at which we would be including in our opening thriller scene. So I took it apon myself to construct the individual narratives together and combine to make our real narrative/screenplay. This is as I felt I knew the plot better than anyone in my group and knew what elements from each we should combine to make our thriller more effective.

MES Coordinators - Hannah Mahoney, Joshua Lester, Harry Hyett,
The five elements of MES are...

Settings and Iconography, Lighting and colour. - Joshua took this aspect as he had a clear understanding of the setting.

Costume, Hair and Make Up , Body Language and Facial Expressions- Hannah Character was put together by herself and she decide to have a specific costume, and with this used her hair and make-up to make an orphan like character. She also helped with the design of the other character.

Positioning of Characters within the frame - Joshua as the camera with the help of myself will position the characters where he wants them to be on screen this is as he took the role of being the Director of Photography so therefore it is his and my job to decide where we want actors in relation to there position on screen as it is effected by every camera angle that we use it will be an import role made easy by the help of two people.

   Editors - Harry Hyett, Luke Durrance, Joshua Lester. A person who is in charge and determines the final content of the film. We all have a basic understanding of the editing software that we will be using so together we would work together to put our film together. We gained this experience from the preliminary task that we were set before we started filming our opening scene. 

Evaluation of Roles of the Group

By assigning everyone important, different roles, it will make for a smoother running of the creation of our film, this is because everyone will be contributing to the make and completion of the opening scene of the film. It will make the filming take a lot less longer to complete and editing will be quicker as we have a team of three working together to get the job done. If we were to not spread the roles out evenly as a team this will mean that some people will be doing more work than others with will make for a slow process of completing the task set.

Harry Hyett - Director, Editor, Screenplay Writer, Producer. I think I completed all my tasks well. I constructed a organised and combined narrative for our opening scene and then went on the direct for our film as I knew the events of the scene well. In addition I also spent time with Luke arranging a purchase of a knife for our film.

Luke Durrance -Actor, Editor, Music Producer, Producer - I think Luke completed all of his tasks very well, Luke was a good actor and took directions from me and Joshua when we were filming, Luke was a help when we were editing contributing ideas of how the final product should look and again he made the purchase of the knife we need for our scene as well.

Hannah Mahoney - Actor, MES Coordinator - Hannah was a very good actor she was confident in her role of acting as the main character, She also made her character believable and it was very conventional to the thriller genre. She done her own Hair, and Make Up which was really good which therefore made her character even better.

Joshua Lester - Director Of Photography, Editor, MES Coordinator,Co- Producer. - Joshua was a very good cameraman, he took all of my instructions that I gave to him and even talked back suggesting how we should come over problems etc. He found a good location for the setting which had good lighting so was conventional to the thriller genre. Again alike Luke he was very helpful when we were editing and help along the process of putting the film together.

I think if anything could have been done differently I think we should have allocated roles such as Director/Cameraman to more than one person, this  is as these roles are play a massive role in the outcome of the result of our final opening scene. If we were to do it again I think me and Joshua should combine together as joint Directors and Directors of Photography as then we will both have a clearer understand of what we both want to achieve by the end of filming our opening scene. In addition we can also confer ideas to make the opening scene more effective. This can be seen by our collaboration in the positioning of characters on screen where we worked together.
  



Planning Sound - Miss Miller

Sound is also one of the most important elements of the thriller genre as well. It is widely used across the genre to create tension and surprise the audience through a range of different techniques and sound types. It gives the audience a sense of the future events that are going to take place in the scene. Planning is required because we need to have a clear idea of how and when the sounds are going to take place in our sequence. Each sound that we will be using will relate to the images/footage that is in the opening sequence.

Soundtrack, Off Screen, Non-Diagetic - This sound will be used at the start of the sequence and will be low pitched, it will be used to build up tension until the first character will be seen in the film. It will be used at different noise level and will be apparent at the start but will then fade in and out during the course of the film. This is conventional to a film under the thriller genre as it builds up tension for the audience, also it set the pace of the film at a particular moment in time, it is particularly used to give the audience hints to what is going to happen in the future of the scene, so they will be able to relate to the characters further as they will begin to sympathize as they start to wonder what they would do if they were placed in the same situation as the character themselves. It will do this by engaging them more in the scene This sound will bring to the audience a sense of mystery as already they can determine the genre of the film. The soundtrack will create certain emotions/reactions within the audience as they will be constantly changing there bonds with the characters due to the fact of the pace of the soundtrack which will reflect the scene in the film, the audience will be in a constant though change as they will start to question whether or not something is going to happen to that character.

Wind/Rain, Off Screen, Dietetic - This sound will be used throughout most of the scene as it is background noise it will purely be for effect on the viewer. It will act as making the scene feel more realistic for the audience so it makes it easy to relate to the scene. It will similarly to the soundtrack fade in and out depending on different noises in the scene. These sounds are conventional to the thriller genre as most thrillers tend to take place at night time in these particularly harsh conditions, these sounds act as background noise that the audience would expect to hear in this setting which would make the audience easily able to relate to the scene even further. There is no real emotional impact from this sound as it is simply there for the audience to be able to associate themselves with the setting. They however may be able to sympathize with the characters as they are most likely familiar with being extremely cold in wind and rain, they will probably start to sympathize particularly with the small child as she is only wear a thin piece of clothing, so it would seem to them that she would be very cold.  

High Pitched, Off Screen, Non-Dietetic - This sound will be used when the teenagers turn around for the audience to find out that the antagonist has disappeared and has become the killer in the audiences view. It will have a sudden impact on the audience in the way that the sound will not be expected and will make the audience jump and be on the edge of their seats. This is conventional to the thriller genre because it makes the audience emotionally fragile as the events of the film have dramatically been placed apon them, it is used to create a sense of uneasiness in the audience making them feel a sudden state of shock, which increases there bond with the characters as they know what the likely future of that character now is likely to be. From this sound there will be great emotional impact as the audience will experience empathy for the character the sound relates to. There connection will be made stronger because the audience will see clearly that the character in unknowing of the position he will be in at this given time.

Scream in the distance, Off Screen, Diagetic - This will be used when the teenagers hears a scream in the background and gets distracted from the killer. It will be a direct scream that the character and the audience will both hear without a warning making the audience able to further bond with the characters as they are experiencing the same situation. This sound is conventional to the thriller genre as is symbolizes that a character etc, has been placed in trouble. This will only have the effect of shock on the audience as the sound is only there to get the audience to make sense of the narrative. There will some emotional impact from this sound as it source is not known so the sound will not be expected by the audience to happen, making them feel a chilling feel for the characters as they are as aware as the characters themselves to the that they have so suddenly been placed within, this element will place a massive role when it is apparent that the child has disappeared from the now seen victims sight.  

I think that my sequence with the added element of sound and the various different ones will be more effective in creating the main elements of the thriller genre, surprise, suspense. They are conventional sounds that the audience will recognize throughout the genre. These sounds will allow the audience to be manipulated to feel different emotions/feelings depending on each sound.

By planning my sounds it is easy to see how sound plays a massive role in creating a successful thriller opening scene it allows the audience to become more engaged and bond with the characters. And now it is easy to see how without the element of sound it would be easy for the audience to loose interest in the scene. In addition it will be easier now to implement by sounds onto my opening scene as now I know what the purpose each of my sounds that I am using is designed to do, so therefore I know what the effect of that is going to be on the audience at a given times during my opening scene. Without this planning I would just be adding by sounds to my scene with only a basic understand of what each of sounds effects would be on the audience as a whole.  



Planning Cinematography - Miss Miller

Cinematography is one of the key elements in the thriller genre it plays a massive importance in relating information back to the audience through various camera angles that are used in films. It gives the audience a sense of what the film is about but also information about the characters that the audience can relate through there different feelings and emotions different camera angles can display different camera angles emotions and feelings to the audience. This make as the audience feel they are part of the scene because they are feeling the same emotions as the characters in the scene.

It is incredibly important to plan the cinematography that we will be using in our opening scene for a variety of reasons, if we plan the angle/shot we want to use at particular points in our scene it will be a lot easier for us to understand why we are using these certain techniques, and the emotional impact we want our audience to have at this given time. In addition we will have a better understanding of our opening scene as we know what scene will be used where throughout the scene and also the changing moods of the audience in particular camera angles.       

Panning Shot- The first camera angle that we will be using in our opening sequence will be the panning shot to establish the setting that our scene is set in. It will introduce one of the main characters which will be the blonde child walking along in the distance. The camera angle will mainly focus the setting and only briefly on the character.  This camera angle is conventional to the thriller genre as it is used to establish the setting of the scene and also give the audience details about the story line. This camera angle will create the audiences first relationship with the character in the scene. This will be done will the character being shown in the distance which the audience will have there first response to. In addition it is also used to establish within the audience the setting of which events are going to take place. This camera angle is used because without this the audience will not have a clear understanding of the layout of the setting at the beginning of the scene. This shot will be used to make the audience feel as if they are familiar with the setting even before the start of the plot is even reveled to them.    

Long Shot- This is also one the camera angles that I will also be using. Will will use this multiple times throughout the scene because we want the audience to feel distant from the character too make the link between audience and character stronger. This will used on both of the characters. This shot will show the audience the body language and in more detail the setting of the scene. This will be the second camera angle used after the panning shot. This camera angle is conventional to the thriller genre because it is used in thrillers to show the audience the situation the character has been placed in, in more detail which they can relate to further because of the setting. This shot will create a certain reaction within the audience, the shot will make the audience feel as if they are distant from the character, the way in which the character will look smaller will suggest to the audience that she will be a potential victim in this scene.

Close Up- This camera angle will be used to show in detail the facial expressions of the characters throughout the scene. The close up will show the audience various emotions and feelings of the characters. This will help the audience relate to the character because they have been placed in the same position of the characters but they can see their emotions clearly. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it gives the audience an idea of the characters emotions in which they can relate to because the emotions should match the ones of themselves, also this type of shot is used to engage the audience by the use of reflecting all of the characters emotions onto them. This shot will be used to create a certain reaction within the audience as it will be used to try and get the audience to understand the emotions of the characters so then they will be able to empathize with the character therefore creating a stronger bond.

High Angle- This camera angle will be used correctly and to manipulate the audience into thinking that the blonde female is the victim (Although she is not). It will show towards the end that in fact the teenager is in fact the victim. This will be used multiple times to make the audience feel that the characters are vulnerable to then create a strong bond between the two. This camera angle is conventional to the thriller genre because it shows the characters vulnerability and gives the audience the feeling that something in the near future is going to happen to the character. This is in order to create a very strong relationship between audience and characters. This shot will be used to get the audience feeling towards a character become stronger. We will use this camera angle twice as we feel that it is highly effective in making the characters look vulnerable to the audience making them feel more sympathy for the characters.    

Low Angle- This camera angle will be used to manipulate the audience into thinking that the teenager is the killer and not the victim. It will be used to show the character power/dominants over the blonde female. This camera angle will only be used once to directly get the audiences bond with the character to be very weak so then later on into the film the audience will be shocked when they see the shift of power from him to the blonde female so an even stronger relationship is created. This camera angle is conventional to the thriller genre as show a characters dominants over another particular item in order to create that very weak relationship. This camera angle will be used to get a particular reaction from the audience as we want the male character in our scene to be portrayed as the stronger character, so the reaction we want is for the audience to recognize this from this particular camera angle which will show the male character dominating in height over the female. By this they will be able to sympathize further with the character as they will recognize what this angle has set out to achieve as one character is seen as being more powerful/dominating than the other.  

In summary I think my sequence will be more effective in creating emotions/feeling in my target audience. The different camera angles that we are using, are being used to create the illusion of power, weakness, vulnerability etc. By doing this we are making it easy for the audience to obtain a strong or weak relationship with the characters corresponding to their roles in the narrative at given times. By using camera angles like the close up we will make the audience feel as if they are more involved in the scene. These angles are conventional to the thriller genre because they are designed to get the audience to respond to them via the different emotions that are channeled to them. By doing this cinematography planning I clearly know what I have to achieve and obtain during the course of filming my opening scene. I now know how the audience is going to respond to each camera angle so I can go away now and film knowing what to do. 

Planning Characters - Miss Miller

Planning Characters

Purpose of Characters

Characters are need in the film in order for the audience to build relationship with the characters this is in order to be interest in narrative of the film that they are watching.  The audience creates a connection with the characters my the means of different camera angles and also the appearance of themselves as well. If the characters are alike the target audience it makes it easier for them to relate and therefore create a connection. If the characters are interesting and easy to be able to relate to then the audience will be interested in what happens to the characters throughout the narrative.

Characters - Blonde Female Victim Killer
This character will be played by Hannah this character is a young child that is a stereotypical character from the thriller genre portrayed mostly as a victim. She will be wearing female bed clothes of a child that will be stained with some form of blood or dirt. She will be very pale because she is cold from the whether with heavy black eyes. This character is very stereotypical but in our narrative the character starts of as conventional but then turns to unconventional because this character is the killer in our narrative we have taken this route because we wanted our scene to seem conventional but with a twist that the audience wouldn't expect. We thought this was the also the most relateable character for the audience because she is a child and would feel the duty of care for that person through young person(s) in the family. This is why we first portray this character as the victim. The audience are able to build a relationship with the character due to the fact that she is  vulnerable, she looks beat and also quite upset. Because the this the audience feel that they want to help this character because she is isolated from any other forms of help during the start of the scene. 

Characters - Teenage Male Thug Victim
This character will be played by Luke this character is a teenager who would be a stereotypical character from the thriller genre because he is wearing a hoody that will provide hidden identity for the character. The characters clothing will be ordinary clothes of a teenager/thug which will be the hoody, tracksuit bottom or jeans with trainers. Alike the other character and is stereotypical but at first is conventional because the audience sees this character as the killer at first through the use of different camera angles etc. But then turns unconventional because he is the victim of the opening scene. The reason for this is the audience will see him as the killer not the victim but also because they are not particularly seen as the weak character through the whole of the thriller genre. We though this was also quite a relateable character as the target audience of teenagers will be able to relate to this because they may have experienced gangs or people in hoody or because they are portrayed as dangerous through the media for example the London riots. 

Evaluation
 I do think our characters are conventional to the thriller genre because they are stereotypical of the thrillers as they are widely seen across the genre. But because they are not in convectional roles they are quite unconventional. This in my opinion will add a element of twist to the narrative that the audience will not expect will have a massive effect on the switch of the audiences relationship with the characters from strong to weak for the blonde female killer and weak to strong for the teenager. These characters would help put emphasis on genre of my opening sequence because they are very recognizable characters that are always normally seen throughout the genre.

I think by making the audience build a relationship with the little girl  before revealing that she it the killer, is so that the audience create for themselves a greater emotional impact when the girl reappears, this is as they had previous created quite a sympathetic bond with the character they feel deceived when it becomes apparent that see is the killer as they did not expect for this character to take on this role as they expected the man will be manipulated by various camera angles to be more dominant and controlling over the small
defenseless appearing girl.

I think that the use of our very specific characters it will make our sequence more interesting due to the fact that these characters are not that widely used across the thriller genre. There are some thriller films that use the killer as a child such as orphan. By doing this I think the audience will be engaged further as it is still a conventional narrative but will the use of the child becomes more interesting due to the fact that a child is more individualistic than a common adult serial killer.

In addition teenagers/young adults are widely used across the genre as victims this can be seen from such thriller films such as scream. I think by using this particular age group we are able for our target audience to relate even further as they probably have younger brothers or sisters that they have the duty of care for. If they do they can directly relate back to this scene as they can see the connection between thriller film and real life,as the teenager goes in search of the girl once she has gone missing, which will make the experience for interesting for the audience as they can imagine what they would do if they were placed in that situation for themselves.

I found this planning very helpful with my characters because I did have a clear understanding of my characters but now I know how my characters are going to look because of there costumes. Also I now know how I want my characters to be represented throughout my scene and how they should be shown to the audience and how the audience should relate to them. Now I can go into filming knowing confidently about my characters. Without this planning I would not exactly know how my characters should be this is why it was very helpful.   

Planning Editing Styles - Miss Georgiou

Planning Editing Styles

Why is editing important within a thriller film?
Editing is very important within a thriller film as various techniques make an effective thriller film/opening. Various techniques create the element of suspense, tension and shock/surprise which are the main elements of the thriller genre.   

What editing styles will you include within your sequence & why? What effect will this create?

Reaction Shot - We will include this editing technique in our sequence because in out opening sequence we have a part of the scene where the girl vanishes out of sight of the Teenage Male and he is shocked as a little girl who has suddenly disappears out of sight. We can use this editing technique to show the sudden reaction of the man. This will create a shocked effect on the audience as they suddenly experience the emotions and feeling of the man that is in the scene.   

Straight Cut -  We will include this editing style in our sequence because at the start of our scene we have a panning shot of the setting to clarify to the audience the location of the setting that we are using. In this panning shot we will see the girl very briefly so the audience has an idea of the character in the scene. By seeing the character at a distance the audience wants to know more about the character. We can give the audience this by using the straight cut to a Mid-Shot of the character that is seen in the previous shot. 

Jump Cut - We will include this editing style when the scene focuses on the blonde female when she disappears and when she reappears this is because we want the scene to suddenly focus on the girl because it gives the audience a sense of shock that it is important we create because it is one of the key elements to a film in the thriller genre. In addition we can also use this editing technique to sudden focus on one element of the setting such as a light to give an emotion distant between the audience and the characters.

Timing of Shots - We will include this editing technique because we want to create the element of suspense and also surprise when we are creating our scene. We will use this technique through the whole of the scene as we want to create a atmosphere the audience will recognize from other thriller films. We will use this to show the vulnerability of the man and the girl and to show the change of the roles that the audience will see through this editing style and also the camera angles. As the scene draws to the end we can make the timing of shots longer to create the element of suspense for the audience to give them time to thing what is coming up in the next section of the sequence.

How are your editing styles conventional to a thriller film?
 All of my editing styles are conventional to the thriller genre as they are widely used across it. All of these editing styles can be seen in my research for editing styles on the thriller film The Uninvited.

Reaction Shot- This is conventional to the thriller genre because it is used to show the audience the characters reaction due to there facial expressions after something that has taken place during

the film. It is used multiple times across each film as the character is put into a death like situation and it is key for the emotions of the characters to get related back to the audience. This creates an quick emotional burst on the audience as they quick see the characters reactions, as if it was a long time period they would be able to make sense of the situation and feel less disturbed. 

Jump Cut- This is conventional to the thriller genre because it is used to suddenly focus on something. This editing styles show the audience what the character may/may not see and shows in detail something that it important to the scene that the audience needs to focus on. This editing style is used widely across the thriller genre as it is used to create the element of suspense, or shock which are two of the main elements of the thriller genre. This editing style can create suspense by suddenly focusing on a section of  the setting after an event has occurred or it can be used to send the audience into a sudden state of shot so that feel a sense of uneasiness this can be by suddenly focusing on something such as a the killer after a calm part of the scene has just occurred etc. This editing style can be more effective with the use of sound at the transition between camera angles.

Timing of shots- This is conventional to the thriller genre because the timing of shots shows the audience the pace of which the film has been set. It is widely used to create tension or shock throughout the whole of the film. A slow use of timing of shots gives a slow pace to the film which then the audience begin to take in more information from the shots so they are on edge because they do not know what is going to happen next. Whereas fast pace creates a sense of shock/surprise for the audience as they are suddenly seeing quick images that they can not get a great deal of information from that is fast paced.

How will you editing appeal to your audience?

Reaction Shot- This editing style will appeal to the audience because the audience want to be able to see the characters feelings so they can relate because they can see if the reaction that they have to the situation matches the one of the characters.

Jump Cut- This editing style will appeal to the audience as they will suddenly see a change of setting or character. It will suddenly focus on a particular item sending the audience into a sudden state of shock. This will appeal to the audience because shock is one of the main elements of a thriller film and is one they expect to feel.

Timing of Shots- This editing style will to audience because slow timing of shots will engage the audience and build up tension getting the audience prepared for a moment of shock. Whereas if there is fast timing of shots the audience will be engage but will they will feel the element of surprise rather than shock this is why this editing style will appeal to the audience.

Planning Mise-en-Scene - Miss Georgiou

Why is Mise-en-Scene important in a thriller film?

Mise-en-scene is very important in a thriller film as all of the aspects of mise-en-scene together make a sucessful thriller film. All of the elements play a role in creating a conventional thriller by bringing all of the esstienal structure/conventions of the thriller genre together. Some elements tend to create a connection between the audience and the character in the film. While other tend to make the thriller feeling and conventions the viewer expects to see when watching a thriller film.

 What is the Mise-en-Scene of your thriller film? and Why?

Setting and Iconography - The setting of our thriller opening scene is an industrial estate at night time. The setting is covered with lampposts at different intervals beaming dim light illuminating the path and some of the road. It is mostly dark so lots of shadows are created creating the eerie setting that we want as the distance it barely visible with no help around as not many people go to this place at night. Creating a secluded setting that the audience expects to see in a thriller film.The audience properly have visited this setting before and can relate to it making it an ideal setting. Props that we will be using are a knife as it is a conventional killing weapon that is used widely across the thriller genre the knife will be stained in blood because blood is also a massive symbol in the thriller genre.  

Costume, Hair and Make Up - 
Blonde Female Victim - This character will be played by Hannah. We as a group want to give the audience the interpretation that this character is in some way or another a victim of some sort we can show this through the use of the characters costume and hair and make up. We want the costume to be that typical of a young girl as night time. We though the best way to capture this would be by making the character wear some form of bed ware. This would make the audience feel more relatebale to the character as they would feel comfort in the attartie worn by the girl. In relation to the hair and make of the character we want the character to look very pale with heavy black eyes. This is as we want her to stand out on the camera for the main reason that she looks very cold by the pale face and heavily bruised so it looks like she has been hurt by the heavy black eyes. Her hair will also be as if she beaten it will be scruffy and not straight so it looks like she hasn't spend time preparing for something.

Teenage Male- This character will be played by Luke. We want the audience to be able to relate to this character the most as they will experience empathy for this character when the switch of power takes place in the scene. We want this character to look as stereotypical as possible so the audience will be able to relate the most to this character. The characters costumes will mostly consist of wearing typical clothes of a teenager for outdoor wear such as jeans, coat and trainers. This will be so the audience can relate further to this character as our target audience will dress very similar to this particular character as he will be in there same age groups. In terms of make up and hair the of the character it will be completely unchanged so it looks normal so the audience can relate even further.

Facial Expressions and Body Language - The facial expressions and body language of each of the characters will vary as we want the audience to gain different responses from each of these character.

Blonde Female - The blonde female will be completely emotionally disturbed at the start of the scene showing neutral facial expressions with a slow and upset body language. This will be until she meets the teenager down the alley way. Her facial expressions will rapidly change as she become more confident and stands up straight, she will break out with a smile looking at the teenager before she disappears.
When she later returns towards the end of the scene she will move slowly with a confident body language and once again a smile on her face as she know the task she set out to do has been complete. After she has killed the teenager she will become complete emotion neutral as she is starring at the corpse of the life she has just claimed.

Teenager - We want the teenager to show confidence on the way up the alley way before we meets the girl. We want this to be maintained until the shift of power has taken place between the two characters. This is when the characters confidence will be dropped as he will become more panicked and confused as he does not understand the situation that has just occurred.
                         
Lighting and Colour - Our filming will be taking place at night so the light we can use to our advantage will be the light produced by the lampposts. It will be Low Key Lighting as only the lampposts will be used There will be many shadows that will be cast my the dim light so it will create an eerie setting. The colours that we will mainly use will be dark like the fake blood that will be on the blonde females costume and the blood on the knife as well. We will relie on the lampost as our main light source as it is the only conventional light used in the thriller genre and any other lights used would defeat the purpose of have a shadows redian setting.                      
Positing of Characters/Objects within the frame - At the start of the scene the blonde female victim will be central to all of the shots in the scene she will be represent by camera angles such as the high angle to show her vulnerability in the setting. In addition she will also be insignificant in some of the shots to show at first how little power she has. When the characters meet they will both be central to the scene if we film some of the shots from a low angle we can show how dominant the male character is over the blonde female victim at first. When the power shift has occurred will be reverse these techniques to also show the audience the dominants/vulnerability of the characters. 

How is the Mise-en-Scene conventional to a thriller film

 Set Iconography - A thriller film makes go use of this element as thriller film take place in a secluded location usually for example a house. The setting is usually linked with the audience so they can relate to the film and the character. This stands as well for the Iconography of the film. The typical props that the audience sees for example a knife can be seen across the whole of the genre. So it is important that the film contains a set of props which are conventional to the thriller genre.

Costume, Hair and Make up - Some thriller films contain very iconic figures which have very complex costumes and others contain more eerie character with costumes. This is also another important element as the costumes and features of the character need to be widely considered as they need to be relateable to the auidence so they can create a bond with the audience.

Facial Expressions and Body Language- Thriller films contain lots of the characters emotions throughout the film and they are expressed through many camera angles such as close ups. This element needs to be considered as the audience will not feel the emotions of the character and will not be able to create a bond with them during the film.

Lighting and Colour - Needs to be considered as Lighting is key to creating a suspencful thriller film. If the lighting is not considered the film will not have the same effect on the audience of suprise, tension and shock created by various lighting techniques such as Low Key Lighting. As the colour as well it can comminicate esitenial information to the audience such as blood can mean death.

Positioning of Character and Objects within the frame - This element draws attention to a character at a certain time. This is important in thriller because they tend to focus highly on a character before they are killed. It gives time for the audience to bond with the characters that they have been draw to because of this element.

How can you thriller build a relationship with your target audience?

During my thriller opening scene there are many ways I cna build a relationship with my target audience. I can do this my the facial expression and body language of the charaters. I will do this by making the actor who plays the blonde female express her emotion that she feels the characte would feel like if she was in the situation of the character and show these to the audience in Close Ups and Mid-shots of the actor. I can also show this my having the blonde female in the centre of most of the shots in the opening of the scene to make it apprent to the audience that the girl is in trouble therefore creating a connection with her as they will feel they want to help her.

Preliminary Task - Miss Georgiou

Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task that the group had to complete of a character walking in a room and having a brief conversation with another character using various camera angles and editing techniques. Group Members: Harry Hyett, Luke Durrance, Hannah Mahoney and Joshua Lester. 

Purpose?

The purpose of the preliminary task was to get to know the cameras that we will be using in our thriller opening but also using various camera angles and editing techniques and basics of the editing software will be also be using as well. This will play a massive role in the future when we come to actually create our own thriller opening sequence, this is as we will then have some training in the use of the cameras and how to achieve certain camera angles, with the use of a steady shot which can be achieved with the use of the tripod. After this we will then be able to get the understanding of how we can transport all of the footage that we have taken on the camera and transfer it onto the Mac for editing and finalization of the footage for exporting onto YouTube. By learning this process I will be able to achieve the whole of the process in the future,  in a quick and clear way which I will then be able to easily complete late on when we come to make our own thriller opening scenes.

Objective?

Our task was to film and edit a scene where a character opens a door, crossing the room and sitting down opposite another character and then they exchange a few lines of dialogue. The task should have demonstrated match on action, shot reverse shot and the 180-degree rule and had to me a maximum of one minute in length.

When filming we managed to complete the shot reverse shot which can be seen in the video as we shot from various angles when we was filing the conversation between both of the characters.

We also completed the task of not breaking the line of the 180-degree rule as can be seen when I am walking in through the corridor into the classroom as we do not film in the opposite direction therefore breaking the 180-degree rule. However we had to break the rule when filming the shot reverse shot as it meant filing in both directions of the setting when filming.

In addition we also did not get near maximum the length of the scene, so when we go to film our opening scene from this I can take from this task I need to film more footage than I need to get near to the length of 2:00 minutes when I create my opening scene.   

What did I learn?

During this task I learnt how to work the camera that we will be using and also how to set-up the tripod and use it to do various shots such as panning etc. I also learn that we need to consider the types of camera angles we are going to use before we start to film and also what position the camera should be in when taking shots of film. And finally I learnt the basics of the editing software that we will be using to create our film on by combining all of the sequences of film we took and combining and cropping certain sections of the film to create the final product. 

What did I struggle with?

We struggled to fulfill the objective of the 180 degree rule as we had a very small space to work in. So we broke the rule when doing the shot reverse shot technique as it went from behind one character and then behind another. Also our camera angle on the shot reverse shot was not close enough to the characters face so we saw as the audience a large amount of the background that was not needed during the scene as we had already established that the setting was in a school classroom. Finally most of our shots were at a high angle for no apparent reason we should have considered using the tripod at different levels of height instead of mostly one to give the audience a wide range of angles in the scene.   

How will the preliminary task assist me with the planning and creating of my own thriller film?

The task that we completed will help me in the way that now I have a basic idea of how all the elements of creating my own thriller opening sequence work. I know how to use the camera/tripod also have an idea of how to create camera angles and know how the editing software works. I have the foundations to go and start filming my scene once my group have decided on a narrative that we all like and feel is specific to the genre. 

Individual Storyboard - Miss Miller

What is the purpose of a storyboard?

The purpose of storyboards is to lay down the narrative onto paper so that the creator as an idea of what they think the scene will be like and has an example to start filming on and possibly change. Helps manages timing of production, portrays an idea of which production can start, shows how the final product will look and finally is used to show to the rest of production team a basic idea of how the scene will work. From this it is easier to see if there are any faults with the narrative that need to be changed. My storyboard contains 12 different frames with different time lengths, drawn images of what I think the narrative should be like, camera angles that will be used, location of each frame, iconography, lighting , actors, sound, editing to the next frame and also the narrative description. 

Conventions

Blonde Female Victim/Killer- It is conventional for a thriller film to have some form of female as the victim as they are portrayed as weaker and men therefore are more vulnerable. By having a weaker character as the victim it is easier for the audience to bond and sympathize for the character. Also it is conventional for the male to the killer as they are seen as the more dominant gender, it gives the sense to the audience that the little girl is exposed as she cannot defend herself. This is until the narrative flips and turns into an unexpected plot in which the girl disappears and is actuality the killer. Although this is breaking the conventions that I have just wrote about, it is still conventional to the thriller genre as the audience find less dominant killer more sinister as they appear to be more terrifying than a man. By doing this the audience will feel an emotional twist as they have been strongly bonded with the girl which then the emotions are transferred to the man when she disappears as the situation has been reversed.      

Low Key Lighting - It is a must for LKL to be present in a thriller film as it the most used type of lighting across the genre. The lighting casts shadows in the scene which will make the audience not be able to see certain sections of the setting so it will create one of the main elements of the genre, suspense. The audience have to focus more on the scene which will mean they become more engaged, at this point the audience will have a feel for the scene and will understand that something is going to happen in the near future. Finally when something occurs in the scene it will have a bigger shock (second element of a thriller genre) on the audience, than if the scene was not to be filmed in high key lighting.     

Sounds - By storyboard has helped me to identify the certain sounds that I wanted to use at a particular time intervals to help the audience receive a better response to the footage that they were viewing. At the start I want to use normal sounds such as the wind and rain so the audience can easily relate to the scene. Then I want to build up the tension alike other thrillers that I have seen by including a soundtrack accompanied by various noises that influence the feeling of the narrative as it is seen by the audience. This will then enable the audience to create a stronger/weaker bond with the characters in the scene this is why it is conventional to the thriller genre.   

Inspirations
I have taken some of my ideas from previous thriller films that I have seen and this can be reflected in my storyboard by the use of similar characters, narratives and conventions from the films. 

Orphan/The House on the End of the Street - From these films I have taken the idea of including in my opening scene a young female blonde as the killer. I think that this character gives an unexpected twist in the plot for the audience this is only seen across the genre a couple of times. In Orphan the audience are given a impression that the character is a sweet child, but the plot then twists and the audience finds out she is a deformed adult pretending to be a child after occurrences during the plot, this is the same for the other film except the twist plot and the child is actually the killer from the start. I have tried to capture this in my storyboard as I feel this will make a good basis for our narrative if we first try to make the audience see her as the victim and then flip the audiences feelings when the girl disappears. 

How will this help when making a group storyboard?

My storyboard has been very successful as I have identified my own ideas of how I think the scene should look. I have also chosen specific lengths of frame so I have an idea of how long the scene will be, how the camera angles will look. Also I know the props that I will be using in the film, lighting, sound and editing techniques that I should use.  I think that my storyboard has been successful because I now have a basis which I can go and create my opening scene from with my group by collaborating ideas together. This is as we will all have a different understanding of how the plot should look like, all we have to do now is collaborate and decide which micro-elements we want to use from each other storyboards.  By doing this we will have a a greater understanding of each others thoughts and ideas and then the best one we can include in the scene so that we have a scene we all agree on and like making the scene better and more effective because we will have a better structured , intense and wide ranged scene, as four peoples ideas have been combined.

  
How will we combine each others storyboards together?

When we next meet as a group we will swap storyboards and then exchange what we think stand out from each of them. From this we will write down the elements that we all like and try to find a way that we can fit all of these into one group storyboard that we can all agree on the basis that we like of the elements within it. In addition we can also improve on this by adding in additional thinks afterwards that we think are a slightly unconventional , that we need to change.