This is our animatic of our storyboard, it just shows what our final thriller opening will look a little bit like. we put it together on Adobe Premiere Pro, by adding photos of our story board (some editing to be darker/lighter) We also found the music called Eerie Angel on www.freeplaymusic.com which is a site with uncopyrighted music on. We then edited it on Audacity to make it fit with the sequence, and also the bang for the flash backs we found too. We then created our own diegetic sounds like the wind (havent decided if we will use that in the real thing)
Thursday 10 December 2009
this is our storyboard we have created for our final peice, next we will turn this into an animatic
Shotlist
Establishing setting – edge of woodland area
Getting deeper into the woods
Zoom into woods
Zoom deeper
LA shot of tall trees
Black screen
Woods + whistle
ELS dog crossing camera path (walking)
Woods + whistle (darker)
LS dog (away from camera)
MS of dog sniffing
Woods – dog comes through bushes
Shot of dogs feet walking
Sniffing – found body
Black screen – titles
Just sounds – twigs breaking, heavy breathing
CU of hands tied up
Very short cut of body being dragged
Hand tied – twitch
Pan across arm – gagged mouth
Dragging body
CU gagged mouth – panicky breathing
Flash back to when attacker was putting gag on her
My groups feedback from the rest of the class + targets: -Full variety of shots -effective use of camera/editing -framing mostly ok - need to improve P.O.V shot reverse shot -sound poor due to choice of location - need to improve diegetic sound/acoustics/dialogue
we were giving 30 marks out of 60, 50%
we know what our weak points were and what we need to focus on to make our thriller opening now we can get on with it
We were given the task to create a short 1 minute film with minimum 15 shots, we were given a shotlist to follow but we made up the scene/setting/dialogue etc.
1.Person A walks up to a door 2.Handle is opened / pulled 3.Shot of person A walking through the door 4.Shot of person B sat down 5.Shot of person A sitting down next to them. 6.Shot of person A asking person B if they are ok? 7.Reverse shot (CU) of person B replying? 8.Two shot of person A and B – person B asks person A a question 9.Shot of person A’s reaction and answer 10.Shot of person B’s response. 11.This may be reapeated and varied as conversation develops – think carefully about this part. The scripting is important here! 12.Shot of person A getting up. 13.Shot of person A walking away. 14.(Possible) shot of Person B. 15.Person A exits through same door as entrance. (Do NOT break the 180 degree rule!)
We filmed in one of the music practise rooms, we had a problem with space in that room. also we had issues with our camera and couldn't get it to focus. we were allowed to shoots some shots again on a different day and turn a blind eye to the bad continuity of clothes etc. ...As it was our first experience of filming...
I sent my survey link to via email to a selection of friends and family: The responses i recieved as a reply to 'What is a Thriller?' were fairly similar: In general my audience wish to be either scared/thrilled/action based/tension/engaging storyline/suspense
I also asked 'What makes a good thriller?', to try and provoke more detail into what the audience actually want from their thrillers: i recieved answers such as 'jumpy scenes'/adrenaline/suspense/'build up to pinicle point'/moving/depth/realism
This will help me for when i go on to filming my own thriller extract.
After looking at a selection of thriller film openings, i can conclude that most, not all, thrillers follow a list of semiotics that are iconic to the genre. For example the majority of the opening sequences i've studied or seen or spoke about are generally very simple; dim lighting, white on black composition/text, and very little (if any) storyline to the first 2 minutes of the film, as it is not needed. the director would use typical camera/editing/sound/mise en scene techniques to portray the genre in the opening sequence and establish the rest of the film.
The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) is the agency which classifies the certificate rating of films in britian, they rate all films and judge what certificate they should be by whether the content is suitable. The BBFC rates films into the following catorgories: U PG 12 12A 15 18 R18.
15: 15 rated certificate majoritively allow moderate violence, gore and sexual activity, but not too frequent and must be relevant. Drug taking is not banned but should not be promoted.
18: 18 rated certificates allow gore, violence, sexual activity and drug taking. again, not to be promoted. The difference between the two certificates is diciphered by it's explicity.
The sequence begins zooming into a black cats face until the cats eyes centralised. To the viewer this connotes that cat will serve some importance in the upcoming scene or further on in the film. The use of low key lighting creates a mysterious sense about the whole sequence, what we see is very limited, just backgroud walls/pipes whilst tracking the cat walking, use of slow pace dissolves at different points of the cats journey, parts inbetween are not nessacery therefore at skipped. Iconic Thriller convention, Binary Opposition is used in the opening, with the black cat on the majoritively white background. Non-Diegetically added brassband added is iconic of the thriller genre, coincides with the drums building up pace, indexical of something about to happen, when the tension builds the audience know that there will be some climax to come. This is reinforced by the editing, fades and dissolves are used to slow the pace of the opening down until it gets closer to the cats fighting when the editing speeds up. The other cat is a white cat, symbolic of the enemy, as the other cat is different to the one which has been in shot until that point. At this point aspects of an action thriller become apparent, and the pace is much quicker and music louder. This sequence connotes the forthcoming film in that there will be some form of confrontation between the 'goodies and baddies' and we will see the build up.
We had one lesson in which, in our coursework groups we were given a HD camera and a tripod to spend some time practising filming, we practised shots such as LS, CU, ECU, MS as well as angles like LA, HA, Birds eye view and worms eye view. also practiced zooms, pans, and tracks. This was good practise for when we start filming our openings and continuety tasks. We didn't however have the chance to upload them onto the computers as they werent working at the time.
Premiere Pro is a software that we'll be using frequently throughout our media studies course in order to peice together clips to form our work. Last week we had a few lessons focusing on how to use Adobe Premiere Pro, we were given the raw files to an a level opening sequence to a film from last year, and we had to recreate the sequence using premiere pro. First we imported the clips on to the computer, then put them in order, we then learnt the techiques such as editing using frames and about FPS (trim/cut) adding transitions, adding titles (positioning/opacity/keyframes), adding effects/animations and sound effects/overplay
The opening to the village is very limited in my opinion, quite basic. It begins with a rather disorientating shot of trees, this is used to confuse the audience, which is iconic of thriller films, to make an uncomfortable environment. Very minimalistic lighting, typical to the genre, black tree's on white background which is also iconic of thriller films to have silhouettes. The text dissolves through the image, very slowly to set the slow pace of the movie, along side the eerie music setting the mood of the film. The director had made the decision to follow the stereotypical conventions of the thriller film, as this is what helps the audience understand the genre. as the pace of the non-diegetic music gradually increases as does the editing of the dissolves until an anticlimactic shot tracking the trees, it becomes clearer that the camera is lost in the woods, by the use of the LA shot looking up towards the trees making them look daunting or scary, iconic of thrillers to make the subject seem small and insignificant.
The opening sequence to 2005's 'Sin City' by Robert Rodriguez connotes that it is a Thriller by the use of low-key lighting, and a slow pace at the beginning. This film does not have an opening sequence like most other thrillers do. It starts with an establishing shot of the city skyline, where one woman is smoking on the roof of a tall building on a cold windy night, this is iconic of this genre of film, the screen is in black and white apart from the woman’s red dress and red lipstick, the colour red symbolises lust and passion but in the meantime could also represent danger. These simple indexical sign's reinforce that it is a thriller; because right away the audience is wondering why the director has chosen to this and what will be happening soon. A woman smoking in thriller films is often seen as quite sexy, but can denote a powerful dangerous woman, this reinforced the colour red representing lust, yet also danger. On the other hand, the way in which the colour of her dress symbolises power, contrasts with the backless design signifying vulnerability A man appears in ELS and gradually walks though centre into a mid shot, the man and woman are level on screen this denotes that the genders are equal in the shot. Throughout the scene the pace is slow and steady and there are various long-held straight cut's and jump cut's of the two characters, CU's, ECU's and zoom's of the cigarette and of the kiss and their faces, this makes the audience not only see the continuity but also to connect and interact with the characters. The director also decided that he would occasionally cut to a shot of a comic book, in silhouette which reinforces the genre as silhouettes are used alot in thrillers. This also establishes that this is a fictional comic book story. Alot of the scene is established through sound, non-diegetic jazz music sets the passionate, romantic scene, the ambient sounds of the city night reinforces the location, along side the sounds of rain and wind. Also the voice over helps explain the narrative, and makes the personas inner thoughts known. The man in the suit with a gun is iconic of the classic hit man look in typical action thrillers, e.g. James Bond. Once he shots her, she falls off centre and lower than him in the shot, signifying that she is now a weaker character. The opening extract finishes with a close up of him half in the light symbolises the mystery of his character, highlighting the genre of thriller.
The opening sequence the thriller 'The Birds' by Alfred Hitchcock beginnings with a shot of squawking wild black crows fluttering rapidly across a white sky, this is an example of binary opposition. Silhouettes like this are used frequently in thrillers as it symbolises the evil, represented by the crows being iconic of death, contrasting with the plain white background representing pure and good. It is a very simple opening, but as are most opening sequences to thrillers. The titles appear on top of the black crows in simple font too, but the cold blue writing dissolving on and off screen reinforce the coldness of the scene and scenes to come. Also, the non diegetic sound of birds annoying high pitched squawking sets a quite uncomfortable mood, which emphasises the genre of the film. The frantic flocking birds speed up and the pace of the non-diegetic sound does too in parallel until it fades to black. At this point it has no relevance to the plot so far, but it will stay in the audiences mind and leave them curious as to what it meant, this is iconic of the thriller genre. Then an establishing shot of a city dissolves through the shot of the birds. The camera pans into a long shot following one woman in the centre as she crosses the road, this signifies her importance. This becomes apparent also once the narrative continues to see her in centre mid shot. The off screen music is quite soft and calming which is a juxtaposition from the previous scene with the uncomfortable squawking sounds, this reinforces the fact that it is a different scene in a different location.
A thriller is a genre of film, a typical thriller film consists of a list of semiotic codes that most thrillers follow and have become iconic to the genre, such as; they often start with a slow paced opening sequence, the lighting is very low-key, it is very common for them to contain non-diegetic sound in the background, e.g. Organs or brass bands, used to set the mood, this is reinforced by, very minimal, ambient sound, setting the location. Quite often there is narration to help explain or expedite the narrative. The director of a thriller film attempts to create an uncomfortable, yet engaging atmosphere, this is established by the use of suspense, intriguing the viewer to watch on. Also, they always contain scenes with tension, which also sets the mood of the film. Until they build up to the climatic thrilling definitive point in the film, or one of them.
There are many sub genres of the film genre thriller, for example - ·Action Thriller ·Adventure thriller ·crime thriller ·disaster thriller ·drama thriller·sci-fi thriller·psychological thriller·spy thriller And many others.
Film's such as sin city and the village are two different types of thriller, but they both follow similar conventions, although sin city does not have a title sequence, the film starts on a rooftop of a city, with very low key lighting, very few colours, most of the sound is either non-diegetic music or ambient sounds. It does contain some diegetic dialogue, unlike the opening to the village, but in that case they focused on sound creating ambience. Both beginnings start very slow-paced and build up until the crescendo.
