Teacher Feedback

Our teacher evaluated our footage over the weekend and has given us a small list of improvements to address before submitting our final piece. They include the following:

• To get rid of the jump cuts by doing an L shape audio edit
• To edit our text, thereby making it the same size and also overlapping it to add effect (note one of our titles was overlapped and we have been encouraged to do the same with all our written content). In addition, we were told to exclude the word starring as it gave too much of an old-stereotypical style which we felt want too appropriate for this type of piece.
  

After origionally making our concluding soundtrack only four bars long to act as a concluding moment to our thriller opening, we have decided to double the length of the track to accomodate some extra footage that we are considering adding. This extra footage entails some phase shots of our characters and of the set to add more uniqueness to our piece as opposed to just simply portraying our title and then cutting. The idea to end our piece this way has been taken from the final scenes from "The Lord Of The Rings, The return of the King' where Frodo and Sam are seen stranded on a rock; the shot then phases out into black before coming in again with eagles flying in through the background. Now obviously we wont be incorporating hobbits or large birds into our opening, however the idea to have shots of our charcters faces and thier concluding expressions phase in and out at the end will supply a lead to the rest of the film should it of been made, as well as again offering a slightly different ending to just orthodox conclusions.

Progress Report

Today we are editing our film as well as constructing oth diagetic sounds for the actual sequences along with a small soundtrack snippet for the conclusion of our thriller opening. the actual editing entails cutting unnecessary footage, adjusting light on shots and also volume for dialogue etc. we are looking to make good progress with both our editing and music orchestrating to ensure we have a structured piece as the deadline for submission approaches.

in terms of the style of soundtrack we have gone for, the music is a mixture of dark and cinematic sounds with a late introduction of a heavy drum line to add emphasis the mood and suspense of a thriller. below are some screen-shots of us constructing it;

Progess

Post filming and it has ended up a success. we altered some shot selections as well as some of the dialogue which we felt more appropriate. We also went with another form of lighting to what we had originally decided on; this proved to be much more effective for the filming. We have now started the editing for the rough cut.

Script

sam-wearing hoody

tom-policeman

diegetic sounds dripping heard initially

sam sat on chair

split screen with tom putting on tie-don't see his face

Tom laughing

Sam muffled distorted voice - Hello? Hello?

sound of door opening and approaching footsteps

Tom - Calm yourself

Can you inform me of your whereabouts on the evening of the 19th at around 11.30

Sam - What? I ...erm... i'm not very distorted dialogue

Tom - OK lets try something different... walks around to behind Sam

Are you aware that Joseph Johnson is on the run?

Sam's eyes widen filled with horror and he starts screaming

Tom - are you aware of what he is capable of?

newspaper articles are thrown at Sam landing on the floor in front of him showing articles of Joseph Johnson aka Tom including crimes such as murder, rape, torture etc.

Progress

Today we are doing the script for the opening, and plan to film next week.

We have to still purchase a few prop items , including a police badge before we start filming, this will be done over the weekend. For the filming we are going to use two locations of the gym toilets to do the mirror shot and behind the stage to do the seat shot.

Locations

Our original idea in the bunker was scrapped because we couldn't use the filming location, so we looked for different locations. We made a short film but it wont upload, it has two possible locations, including a staircase and a gym washing room. We feel that both show useful aspects we could use in our thriller opening. Especially the mirror in the changing rooms because it links in with our idea of the se7en opening with the shirt and tie. The staircase adds the darkness to the thriller opening and also gives us the opportunity to film Tom walking down the stairs to the hostage.

More Ideas

This is an idea from are opening, when the character is doing up a tie, looking in the mirror. This screenshot is from the film Se7en, it also does give the idea of some mystrey to whats happening. In our opening we could also have the police badge shown in this shot (which is still to be made)

Location influence

This is a scene from the film Saw. The scene is based in a bathroom, similar to one of our location ideas. Like in Casino Royale, this scene was a main influence when trying to choose on a location that would be suitable for our opening sequence.

Filming Locations

These shots above have created an almost 'bunker' look as a possible site for shooting, to create that undercover, suspense feel. We would use lighting techniques as well as various camera shots to create tension for the audience as well as incorporating diegetic sounds to add that 'chill factor' and keep the audience on the 'edge of their seats so to speak. The idea for this type of location came from the torture scene in 'Casino Royal' where they are in a ship bunker

This is a simple prop idea that will be added to the shot and eventually play a key role within the scene

the shots above are trying to create an alternate feel from the bunker shots previous, for the audience in that we took our inspiration for this setting from the Saw film's, supplying an almost perilous, no-hope scenario for the character whilst still sustaining the theme of a thriller. we thought this an effective area to help emphasize our title 'misconception' as some audience members would look at this setting and view it as a simple room, whilst others may identify the similarity between it and the film inspiration we took it from; by which time they should have identified the theme/mood of the shot. again, as with the bunker shots, we will incorporate different camera angles and shot types as well as diegetic sounds and lighting techniques to add effect.

Progress

Today we are looking at fonts for the titles.

We are also going to create the final idea for the film.

Fonts that we ahve come up with include:

• Trajan pro

Different titles within the film will obtain various sizes and fonts to emphasise various moods that will be incorporated into our thriller, for example 'a Measham film'.

We are also researching various font style idea's on a renowned site called www.freephotoshopfonts.com

This is one idea.

The photo below shows two of our ideas in photoshop whilst creating the titles. The mix of two different fonts in one title works quite well we think and adds to the mood of the video

More film ideas

The aim of our idea is to fool the audience. The scene will be based around an interrogation between two characters, one of whom is a policeman and the other a criminal. The interrogator (who the audience believes is the policeman) asks the criminal (but really a policeman) several questions about the crime. At the end of the scene it turns out that the criminal being interrogated is really the policeman, who is being held hostage, and the interrogator was the criminal all along. Hence the title of the film being 'Misconception'. At the end of the scene something will be shown to prove that the criminal was really the policeman the whole time, e.g. a badge. We could also show something that proves the interrogator is a criminal, e.g. a news flash showing the criminal after having escaped from jail.

Ideas

These are some more ideas for our opening thriller:

• With the news report idea, the crime is being reported on the television, and the victim is the one watching it in a dark room. When zooms out you see the victim in the chair watching it. We will use photoshop to make the news report effects such as the banner at the bottom.
• The title of 'Misconception' is what it says on the tin, it relates to the what the actual film is about. When watching the film the audience will be misconceived. However the mix up with the police man will not be shown at the opening.
• The idea is that the opening is the ending of the film, and the film looks back on what happens before.
• The 24 type shots will show for example the hostage 'as such' his face and the next shot of his hands tied up

During the creation of our thriller opening we were tasked to create a short piece for a production company to place at the start of our thriller. These are photos of the process of creating this production logo. It is a game of noughts and crosses that then fades out to reveal our production name: Criss Cross Productions

After we finished this video, we realized we would quite like some changes to be made to our video. Instead of just one nought moving across we decided to use three. The updated video is shown below. We as a group think that the updated video is a lot better and adds more effect.

Student work

This is a good thriller opening because of the two things happening at the same time. With the title 'Piece by piece' and the idea of playing chess and slowly beating the other player then he is slowly losing his chances of staying alive.
The music in the film creates a feeling of suspense and action at the same time. The tempo of the piece gets faster as the video progresses adding to the content in the video.

Political Thriller

'The Interpreter

Starring Sean Penn, is a political thriller.Escalating events begin when U.N. interpreter Silvia Broome alleges that she has overheard a death threat against an African head of state, spoken in a rare dialect few people other than Silvia can understand. Issues incorporated within the film include:

• conspiracies
• secrecy
• assassination
• general threat to life