mid-editing

So far...

 So far we have filmed the shots we need and are have edited our first riugh draft. It begins with a girl walking which cuts to the man looking around the inside of her house. There are constant cuts and fades between the girl walking home and the man inside the house doing various different things to create suspense and mystery. There are different shots of the man looking around her house, cutting up photos of her, burning photos of her and pinning photos of her on a board. This creates confusion for the audience as to what he is doing there and builds up to the climax at the end. All the way throuigh the title sequence there are flashes and cuts to a black screen with the titles in white writing. this makes it seem as though the film is breaking up and again adds to the mystery. It ends with extremely fast cuts between many shots of the girls hand as she is opening the door to her house and different shots of things the man was doing inside the house. This leaves the title sequence on a climax and leaves the audince wondering what is going to happen in the film.

Thriller genre research

Research

Conventions of a thriller:

Theconventions of the thriller genre are to do with sound and editing. eg quick cuts and camera angle changes and music that gives tension and when appropriate. Lighting and the use of shadow. mirrors and stairs are also conventions of thriller movies.

The aim for thrillers is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats. The protagonist in these films is set against a problem,  an escape, a mission, or a mystery. No matter what sub-genre a thriller film falls into, it will emphasize the danger that the protagonist faces. The tension with the main problem is built on throughout the film and leads to a highly stressful climax. The cover- up of important information from the viewer, and fight and chase scenes are common methods in all of the thriller subgenres, although each subgenre has its own unique characteristics and methods.
A thriller provides the sudden rush of emotions, excitement, sense of suspense and exhilaration that drive the narrative, sometimes subtly with peaks and lulls, sometimes at a constant, breakneck pace thrills. In this genre, the objective is to deliver a story with sustained tension, surprise, and a constant sense of impending doom. It keeps the audience cliff-hanging at the "edge of their seats" as the plot builds towards a climax. Thrillers tend to be fast-moving, psychological, threatening, mysterious and at times involve larger-scale villainy such as espionage, terrorism and conspiracy.Thrillers may be defined by the primary mood that they elicit: fearful excitement.

^{Taken from:}  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_%28genre%29

Risk assessment

Risk Assessment

Risk	Risk (high, moderate, low)	Measures already placed	Persons affected	Other information
Sharp objects (scissors and pins to stick photos on board)	Moderate	Safe scissors and pins to be used.	actor	The actor will be wearing gloves to add to the mystery of the man so this will prevent any possible injury.
Shooting in the dark	low	All obstacles that could cause a fall moved out of the way.	actor	A torch will be used to make it easier to see.
Fire (lighting a match and burning photos)	High		Actor and film crew	The picture will be burnt near a sink so it can be thrown into the sink with water. The gloves will also be worn which are fire resistant.

Red lights analysis

Another title seuqence we looked at of the thriller genre was Red Lights. The link to this is below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFkDfbkOwyo

This title sequence seems quite simple but effective. The music immediateley sets the mood as it has a fast tempo and seems quite scary. It begins quite loud and constantly changes tempo switching from stoccato to legato while also changing volume, this will keep the audience on edge and wondering what is going to happen. The audience is first shown a black screen with white lights which creates mystery and is also ironic as the film is called red lights. It then becomes apparent to the audience that these white lights are shown continuosly throughout the sequence.

These lights then tuen into the titles which are shown in white writing on a black bakground the whole way through. This seems simple but works for this genre as it keeps it mysterious and not too colourful and happy. We have used this idea for ours by having the titles flashing up in white writing on a black screen to add to the tension and unease of our target audience. In this sequence the font of the titles is quite plain but they appear and disappear randomly with different affects added such as one word at a time going and fashing on and off. This puts the audience on edge and works with the horror/thriller genre as the audience don't know what is going to happen next.

The whole sequence is in black and white which make it mysterious as the audience don't know why. It also adds to the eerieness as bright colours woukld make it seem more happy and would deteriorate from the titles and the close ups of different things shown. We used this idea in ours to a certain extent, we did use colour but added effects to make it darker as we thought this worked better than just using black and white for our title sequence. In this title sequence the black screen is also shown all the way through with close ups of different things appearing all the time.

The red lights that appear while the title of the film is being shown are the only thing that is in colour. This again adds mystery for the audience as they will stand out and they will want to know what significance these red lights have in the film. It will also make the title stand out as the title is 'red lights'. The colour red connotes danger so these red lights appearing may show the audience that something bad is about to happen.

At the beggining of the sequence little is shown and it is always close ups but throughout there are more and more things shows and there are the whole of thing shown so it becomes more apparent to the audience what is happening and what the film is going to be abouut. It also becomes lighter towards the end with more white being shown rather than black adding to the mysteriousness.

The sequence ends quite suddenly. The tension has beein built up by the crescendo of the music and the fast paced cuts and the audience are in suspense and mystery wondering what is going to happen. The music fades out and it cuts into a plane flying ready for the film to start which contrasts with the rest of the sequence as it seems quite normal sanf this is now in colour rather than black and white.

se7en analysis

One of the title sequences we looked at that helped us in developing ideas and showed us the conventions of the thriller genre was Se7en.

This title sequence focuses mainly on mise en scene to show the target audience which would probably be young adults and teenagers a taster into the film. The music used fits in with the genre which is horror/ thriller, starting with a bang and being continuisly creepy and sinister throughout. It gradually increses tempo with the creaking and a beat being added. It builds up to a croscendo towards the end creating tension and keeping the audience in suspense so they want to carry on watching the film.

Throughout the sequence there are cuts to a black screen with the titles flashing on in white writing.l We used this in our tite sequence as we thought it kept the sequence unnervingand it wasn't clear to the audience when the titles were going to flash up. Although it is simple it is effective for this genre because the font fits in as it is scary and the titles flashing on and off create an eerie atmosphere for the audience watching.

The title sequence begins with a close up of a book and through the sequence it is shown again and again, sometimes with words being crossed out. This makes it clear to the audience that this book must have some significamce to the film but it never comes apparent to them why it keeps being shows. This adds to the mytery of the film and makes the audience want to watch the film to unravell the mysteries the title sequence creates. We used this in our title sequence with cuts throughout to different things that to do with ballet. This will hopefully give our target audience an incite into the girls personality showing her as girly and possibly vulnerable. We also used the crossing out words in a book idea and had close ups of the man in the house crossing out words to add to the mystery and possibly confuse the audience to keep them watching.

The whole way through the se7en title sequence only close ups are shown, te audience never see the full thing. This makes the audience watch closer and makes it more mysterious as it is sometimes hard to tell what it is. It also adds to the eeriness and keeps the audience entertained. We used this in our sequence by having cuts to closse ups of different things such as the book, the ballet shoes and the fire.

The editing in parts of the sequence show blurring and almost as though two things are happening at once. When there are close ups of the hand, it blurs and looks as there are two hands. This makes it look like there is time passing and also again adds to the mystery and the scariness of the sequence. In our title sequence we used opacity to show two things at once. We showed the man looking around the house and the girl walking home at the same time, this shows the audeince they are both happening at the same time and adds to the tension as the audience know what awaits her when she arrives home.

Shot list

In the house
Burning photograph MEDIUM/CLOSE
Cutting photograph CLOSE
Ripping Photograph down the middle CLOSE
Pinning Photos onto board MEDIUM
Close up on photos on board (scanning) CLOSE
Walking up stairs showing balcony POV
Walking downstairs scanning towards door POV
Walking through corridor numerous ones to juxtapose together POV
Looking round room focus on ballet shoes, ballerine figurine POV/MEDIUM TO CLOSE
Looking out of window POV
Looking at the door POV


With the girl
Walking along from side MEDIUM
Walking from back WIDE
Getting phone out of bag CLOSE
Looking at phone CLOSE
Walking on the phone MEDIUM/WIDE
Walking up the hill on the phone WIDE
Putting phone away MEDIUM
Looking at the house WIDE
Looking at the door MEDIUM
Close ups of smiling playing with phone CLOSE/MEDIUM
Walking up hill from front MEDIUM
Close up on necklace CLOSE
Walking past camera MEDIUM
Walking up hill from behind WIDE
Nearing the door MEDIUM
Hand on door and opening CLOSE

Storyboard