Thriller Final Cut

16th and 17th March

In these two lessons we will be putting the finishing touches into our project. We have finished our editing however we will be looking over the final project many times to pick out any mistakes or faults in the clips, images or music.

Overall we are happy with our final project because we have covered all the aspects we wanted to and we agree that the story makes sense.

After the comments from other groups we decided that we would change and fade the music into the clips better as the music jumped from one sequence of music to another very quickly without a fade.
After completing the music we discussed our final image montage and decided that the transitions between each image was too slow so we made the montage faster. The only problem with this was that it cut the final project time down by approximately 3 seconds so we repeated the montage so it was longer and this made it more effective.

Editing - What we have learned

After nearly completing our editing process we have learnt that if we organise our time better we can be more relaxed throughout our project and finish before or on the deadlines.

This project we have included many techniques such as picture montages and repeating clips to add suspense and to draw the audience in.

We decided that some clips would look effective in black and white. This also shows that it could be a flashback or vision from one character.

Credits Font

Making our credits:

• Opened www.dafont.com
• Typed in "Paradox" into the word box and selected submit
• Found the font we wanted
• Screen shot the font
• Saved on the desktop
• Opened a new project in photoshop which is the size of a landscape A4 piece of paper
• Open the "Paradox" screen shot
• Drag onto the blank file
• Transform to size we wanted
• Experimented with colour of the text and background and ended up with 3 final ideas

Out of the three final designs we decided we would use the red font with the black background as it keeps with the thriller theme and plain yet effective.
Our other credits link up with the main paradox title.

Feedback response

We liked the technique of a range of shot types, we also like how the film can darken by using a filter at the beginning, this would then make the film more of thriller by the use of dark colours.

We agree with most of the comments made such as; using more shot types. But some comments we disagree with such as how the sound changed in them middle, but we did this to create more tension of the individual shot. We also disagree with the use of black and white as we did use this effect to show a flashback and to make the opening more interesting.

rough cut

So far we feel that the music fits well with the shots we got, also the credits work well with the music and also the conventions of a thriller film.

Although it took a while to get all the editing done, due to the montage. Although we didn't get all the shots we needed, we feel we can do this soon.

Deadlines

Monday 7th March 9am:
Filming deadline

Wednesday 9th March 12:20pm:
Rough cut deadline

Thursday 10th March:
Watching each others rough cut and offering advice etc

Wednesday 16th March 12:20pm:
Final cut deadline

Monday 21st March 9am:
Draft evaluation due in via email

Top tips for filming.

Top tips for filming your project:

• Make sure your camera is fully charged
• If possible take an extra battery with you as cold weather can drain your battery quickly
• Make sure you are familiar with most or all of the functions on your camera
• Make sure you have enough space on your memory card to capture all your footage and you will need to take more than one shot of each scene
• Allow yourself to get to the location to set your equipment up
• Make sure you have your shot list with you so you know what and how long it should take you to film a certain shot
• Make sure you do a location recce so you are familiar with your surroundings
• Make sure you have permission to film in your location 
• eg:
• car parks
• public parks
• shopping centres
• college classrooms
• college after hours
• resturants
• cafes
• private property
• Make sure someone knows where you are and when in case of an emergency
• Make sure all cast and crew know where to be and when
• Make sure you have back up cast so you can definitely film when planned to

Test Footage

This is our test footage for our opening sequence thriller movie.
this is just a very simple version of what our opening sequence would be, we also missed out some scenes as we couldn't go outside due to the rain so it was hard to show the entire sequence.
We have also shortened it down just showing the basic camera shots we will be using.

Target Audience Research.

Our film will be certificate 15 as it within the BBFC certificate guidelines.

-The film will be based around violence but the violence is unseen and does not dwell on pain or injury.
-There may be strong language but it will not be aggressive or repeated.
- There will be no explicit scenes of sexual activity o sexual assault.

Our target audience will be people aged 15 or under. We expect our target audience to be mostly boys, this film would appeal to them as it focuses around a crime commit and a detective solving it and many others. We think this would appeal more to boys than girls as girls would be more interested in a comedy or romance film.

Our target audience may also be interested in movies such as;
- The Prestige
- Memento
- The Terminator
- Die Hard
- The Sixth Sense

In our film we will be taking different elements of each movie.

       Location Recce 

We decided to film in the woods as it is a common location for thrillers.

It is good as it builds suspense as it is very eary and scary. 

It is on site so it easy to access and we can go film when convenient for us. 

Good Points: 

- Easy access.

- Gives a good backdrop and effect.

- Ambient sound available.

Bad Points:

- Train track near by which goes past regularly. If this is problem then we could mute the audio and record dialogue over the top. 

- When sun is out can see shadow of camera and persons.

- Because the terrain is rough and bumpy people could trip and hurt themselves.

- Could be a popular location for thriller filming so would have to find a quiet spot. 

                                                      

Story Board and Shot List.

"How to Prepare for Film Shoot" Presentation

• "How to Prepare for Film Shoot"

Layers to final product:

• Preparation and good planning
• Script writing
• Test shooting
• Shooting
• Editing

• Script Writing
• write all ideas down
• simple with actions and emotions
• determine whether the shot is external or internal (inside or outside)
• ext - college during the day
• int - bedroom at night

• Walk through
• act it out
• walk though your script
• identify problems

• Location recce
• find location
• find any problems
• make notes on what you see or hear
• take photographs

• Digital storyboard
• take photos of different frames
• take photos of different actions
• take photos of different shot types

• Shot list
• annotate your script

• Test your shots
• get familiar with your location
• get used to equipment
• identify props and costumes 

• Organise your shooting
• what restrictions do you have?

Call Sheet Research

Call sheet:

• The daily call sheet is a filmmaking term for a sheet of paper issued to the cast and crew of a production,  informing them where and when they should report for a particular day of shooting.

• Call sheets also include other useful information such as contact information such as phone number and other contact details, the schedule for the day, which scenes and script pages are being shot and the address of the shoot location. 

• Call sheets may also provide logistical information in regards to the location. 

• It is common to find weather information, sunrise/sunset times, local hospitals, restaurants, and hardware stores. 

• Call sheets also detail information about cast transportation arrangements, parking instructions and safety notes.

Examples:

Lesson time planning

We have decided to film where our media lesson would be. This would be on a monday, wednesday and thursday.
We also have some free periods we could work in and lunch time if necessary.

We plan to film all the location shots together,
for example; we will film all the scenes that are in the detectives office together and then scenes in the forest and then edit them together.

We hope to film around 1-4 scenes within our filming slots.

Cast & Crew

CREW:

Director - Lewis Mills
Sound/music -Louella
Filming - Sami
Editing - Sami, Lewis, Louella

CAST:

Detective -Lewis Mills
Running Girl - Emily Grinnel

Class Pitch Questions.

What Classification is it?

We decided to rate our film as a 15 as we will not be showing violence in the opening sequence just the after effects.

For example; The audience will hear a gun shot but will not see the victim.     

What is the story line?

The outline of the story is the typical narrative of a thriller. There will be a girl, who is the victim, and an antagonist who follows her and eventually kills her. There will be a detective, the protagonist, who follows the murder and tries to discover how it happened by following clues.

What is the name of the thriller?

The name of our thriller is 'Paradox'. We decided on this name as it means something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained. This links into the web of clues that will be left and how the detective tries to unravel and solve them.

How will flashbacks be shown?

Flashbacks will be shown in black and white and maybe a blurred transaction.

How will the credits be shown?

The credits will be shown in a typewriter effect and not as in your face as other movies, it will be more distract as the opening sequence is drawing the viewers in.

Six feet under title analysis.

In Six Feet Under the credits are pretty small and not in the viewers face. They blend in with the opening of the film and the set, for example; credits are shown on a jar making it look like a label.

They also fit with the music and fade in and disintegrate. One of the credits disappears by the crow flapping it wings to blow it out the way.

Mise-en-Scene research "Identity"

Lighting: The lighting used in this opening scene of Identity is quite dark but highlights the props that the produces wish the audience to focus on at that time. The darkness used in the clip increases the intensity of the scene. 

Our group could include this to our opening thriller scene to also create tension in the audience watching. Like in the clip above we could used specific lighting to create a focus point within the opening clip.
 

Sets: The set used in the clip is quite small and secluded. This also allows the audience to feel tense but also have an open mind about what could happen in the rest of the film.

The sets we have planned to use are quite similar to the sets used in the clip above. We will use a small dark room to show the vulnerability of our protagonist. Also we will use dark place to reflect the genre.

Props: The props are the first thing you see in this clip. The tape player shows that the talking is set in the past but also leaves the question bout who is listening to the tape. As the tape scratches the audience sees the horrific drawings that are laid on the desk. This implies that the person listening to the tape and looking that the drawings and mug shots is the protagonist allowing himself to be drawn in by the mystery. 

Also as the tape is replayed we hear the person talking about the patients mother and as we are listening to that we see the reports of the mother being looked through by the character. This allows the audience to follow what's happening.

Costumes: the costumes used are all quite dark. Stereotypically the police/detectives are all dressed in shirt, tie and long dark coat. This also reflects the genre of the film.

Make-up: During the clip there was no heavy makeup used allowing the characters to look natural but tired looking. This shows the audience that they could feel drained from the case about the character we heard on the tape.

Colour: The fact the clip does not have any bright colours that could draw the audience's attention away from the main props or characters also increases the intensity of the clip.

10 second sections planning

0-10 : girl running and start of credits - for 3 seconds, heavy breathing, quiet tense music. cuts to over shoulder shot at detectives notes.

10-20 : same again but pan over over the note, zoom in on notes, music gets slightly louder. credits phase in.

20-30 : long shot of girl running through forest really fast, back to notes and zoom in on newspaper. music louder, credits.

30-40 : point of view shot of chaser, heavy breathing.  maybe looking at notes again.

40-50 : back to point of view.


50-90 : credits showing, we hear the number being typed in, '999 whats your emergency' girls says ' help!' hear phone drop.

90-100 : see phone on floor, emergency call is shown on screen. We hear 999 speaker asking if she is still there? zoom in on phone.

100-110 : camera on floor, shows chaser walking away.

110-120 : detective's phone rings he answers says hello and ends.