Thriller Storyboard

This is a group storyboard that we produced. It where actions/camera shots are going be situated and what is going to be done within the sequence. As you can see, it shows the camera shot used in red pen and in black what we are doing in it and why we used a certain shot type. On the day of the shoot, we are going to base our whole peice solely around this storyboard, however make certain changes if necessary or is something on ith doesn't quite work.

The Location

These images above are all screenshots of our location, which will be along the Thurlby fen. These barns are abondoned and have been broken up a bit which is why we I thought this would be a perfert location for a thriller opening. We will also be using the farm next to it (providing it is alright with the owners) to shoot as it would add an extra sense of urbanism and eeriness. The trees next to the barn have no leaves on which is perfect for adding scariness and tension to the thriller. A health and safety issue with setting it in a abandoned barn is that we don't want it collapsing in us and causing injury, but apart from that it is completly legibly.

This also would make for a perfect scenery if we were able to move the harvesting device from it. This is another shot taken from a barn about a mile away from the previous one, so this would not be a problem switching from the two. In this barn, we would film most of the actual acting including brief dialogue and flashbacks. In order to make this look more thriller like we would, as I said earlier, remove the harvesting device and add a grainy, maybe black and white camera effect.

Thriller Proposals

What we propose to do for our thriller is highly influenced by pitch idea number 3. This would be set in a barn along the Thurlby fen that has been abandoned, so this would instantly give it a creepy, eerie effect. The plot of it is an unfamiliar female killer who kills her male victims for whatever reason. She takes them to this barn and eventually kills them. This is effective and would surprise the audience as it is a take on the cliché' that killers are male and the victims are female. We changed it round to make it more original and unique to our piece. Obviously, we propose to use a variety of shot types in order to enhance the scene and mise-en-scene etc.

The typical mise-en-scene for this idea would include props such as shovels, rope, rags for gagging and so on. Very similarly, the clothing we plan on using would include standard ripped and bloody shirts, hat to hide the killers face. Being as it will be set in a barn, you should expect to see a lot of bricks, grass and general woodland.
For the sound, typical eerie, minor sounds should be expected. String instruments deem to be highly popular within the thriller genre so we would want to interpret this into our piece also. However, we need to be careful with copyright issues and not steal anyone else’s soundtrack. We will want to include fast paced transitions in order to juxtapose with the pace of the scene, and inserting it where appropriate. Grainy, black and white effects would be expected within the thriller as well as it gives it an additional bland effect, also in relation o the scene.

Pitch Ideas

Pitch Idea 1

An idea we had for our thriller movie opening was to head to a busy shopping centre and film people going about their daily routuine for roughly 10 minutes or so. We thought this might work until we realised that it might not be allowed by the shopping centre. We were going to interpret this into our thriller by using this to show a sense of non linear and time travel (not like back to the future). The music would need to be fitting to the pace and serenity of the scene, so we want it slow paced and very minor sounding. As I said, the problem with doing this pitch idea is it might get really busy around our location and also security reasons. 

Pitch Idea 2
Our second pitch idea was probably our strongest and most convincing one, and the one we are most likely going to use. For this idea, we thought we'd take the cliche' of having a man as the killer and woman as the victim, and reverse it so we have a woman killer and a male victim. This would work very effectivly in the way that it would fool the audience and make our thriller unique. The music that we could use could also be non-digeting wind and just creepy/eerie music in general. The location we decided for this would be like an old abandoned barn or warehouse. This would add a key thriller aspect into it and make it even creepier. The mise-en-scene, again, would include bloody/ripped shirts, knifes, rope for hanging, broken glass etc.

Pitch Idea 3
Our final pitch idea was a rather cliche' one at that. It was to be filmed in a woody area like in a wood and we were going to do a chase scene. We had a lot of shot ideas for this which was very good, although as stated earlier it is quite a cliche' plot so wouldn't be as effective. The music would want to be fast paced during the chase, maybe with heavy drums, and non digetic sounds of maybe wolve howls and wind. We were also thinking about filming most of it from the killers perspective to make the audience feel more involved, although this could lessen the quality and standard of it. The mise-en-scene would typically include props such as knifes, torn shirts, fake blood etc.

This is a presentation we showed the rest of our media class. We recieved an amount of constructive critism about our ideas and how we can improve them. We certainly took these into acount. Also, we did this presentation after an advancment in planning with pitch idea number 2, which is the one we are definitly going to persue.

The Thriller Genre

The thriller genre mainly consists of fast paced, adrenaline pumping action, usually with a great amount of suspense shifted throughout scene to scene. There are all kinds of thriller, such as; The legal thriller, spy thriller, action-adventure thriller, medical thriller, police thriller, romantic thriller, historical thriller, political thriller, religious thriller, high-tech thriller, military thriller. The list goes on and on. All of these kinds of thriller  involve the ‘thrill’ that gives the genre ‘thriller’ its name.
This is an image of the shirt we propose to use in our peice:

The camera-work in thriller films normally consists of close-ups to further add tension and to show facial expressions of characters. Normally, when close-ups are shot, it gives a sense to the audience that something extreme is going to happen within that scene. Extreme Long shots however are just for setting the scene and to signify feeling of a situation in distance. The camera often moves swiftly during an establishing shot with music playing over the top. The editing within the camera shots would juxtapose the pace of the scene. For instance, if the editing and general scene was fast paced then the editing would be also, and vice versa. The mise-en-scene would usually consist of props such as guns, cars, weaponry etc, with blood also being a popular part in a thriller.

 The music would typically be orchestra based, similarly to the James bond series and many others including the classic 1960’s film ‘Psycho’

Prelim Task

This is my video upload of our preliminary task where we had to shoot some footage of a breif storyline within the school premesis. This is what we came up with and it is currently titled "Mafia prelim task". By me, Jamie Webb, Jamie Moulds and Rhys Evans.

Overall, I think that our prelim task was very succsessful because we shot all the footage that we wanted within the given time. It got some good feedback from the audience that watched it and the music, mis-en-scene, footage etc was very fitting to it's title 'Mafia style prelim'. If I was to change anything about it I would enhance the vocals as they are somewhat quiet.

Production Company Name Ideas

This is a mind ap of ideas for names of our thriller film production company. We chose a wide variety of ideas and discussed them within the group. These are the following:

Thriller Institution Company - Universal Studios

I have researched the institutions that produce thriller films and I have found out that "Universal Studios" have distributed thriller films in the past. University Pictures is one of the six major movie studios. It was founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, it is one of the oldest American movie studios still in continuous production. Here are some examples of thriller movies that were produced and distributed by "Universal Pictures":

·                     Drag me to Hell

·                     The Strangers

·                     The Last House on the Left

·                     Stay Alive

·                     The Unborn

Being one of the oldest American movie studios still in continuous production, "universal studios" have a lot of experience within movie making, so they would be ideal for producing and distributing our thriller film. They are a worldwide production company which means they would definitly support films made the UK, and would also help within the merketing section as they could advertise and sell all over the world (mainly in the USA)

The reason why I chose "universal studies" over other producers, for example "summit entertainment" or "dimension films" is because Universal Studies is arguably one of the most famous producers and have the most knowledge, experience and financial support. Also, our thriller is very inspired by thrillers produced by Universal Studios, so in that sense they would be more of a help. However, the only problem is that Universal Studios is originally based in the USA, so convinience would be an issue. 

Memento review

The film “Memento” is classed as a psychological thriller, and truly lives up to this. With the option of viewing in linear or non linear really treats the audience which is what makes this film very unique. With flashbacks from the linear version, shown in black and white, creates a mind puzzle for the audience to solve. The black and white camera work denotes with the past, change and difference, which Is exactly why it has been used in the film. The sense of confusion is carried throughout the whole film, with senses of mystery which is what makes it live up to the thriller genre, along with mild scenes of violence, connoting with blood, fights and weaponry. Guns are a key factor within the mise-en-scene, as they are commonly used within the scenes, and in the thriller genre, which is why “Memento” lives up to its genre.

It cleverly uses Polaroid photos within the mise-en-scene to capture the story in an illustrated way, and adds to the sense of mystery. On the topic of mystery, the music choice is very typical for a thriller film, strings, eerie minor notes and low tonality. This adds tension in the fact that It juxtaposes with the dark depressing scenes. The impact this has on the audience is a positive, responsive one in the fact of the juxtaposition of the music and scenes. 

First Video Upload! Thriller Audio Track

This is an audio track I created for my upcoming project of filming part of a thriller movie. I mixed this using audio software, in particular audacity. It is great for changing pitch's, speeds and effects for any type of audio

Prelim Storyboard

This is a snap shot storyboard I made before the actual filming process of the prelim task. This pretty much shows all the shots in order and actually shows us what the shots are. However, I havn't included certain      and specific effects used as some of them can only be used on video software.

The happening Review

The Happening

The first 5 minutes from the thriller ‘The happening’ are action packed and full of suspense. The use of camera shots and transitions used within the opening sector of the film appeal to the audience and give off a great first impression of the film.  Also, I noticed that the non digetic sounds are greatly enhanced. For instance, when the knife gets plunged into the woman’s neck, it seems a lot louder than everything else in the cut-scene. This is because it adds suspense and is there to shock the audience and make them jump. Also, the sound of the bodies crashing to the ground is enhanced for the same reason as the knife. 

The eerie non digetic effects of the wind blowing  gives an indirect impact on the audience in the way that heavy wind is typically linked in within the thriller/horror based genre. The angles of the camera greatly shows the effects of the wind on the characters faces, which gives the audience a clear indication that wind is present. Weather deems to be a great convention within the thriller genre as it creates the ‘eerie’ effect that is popular within the genre. Weather also reflects on what is happening in the scene, for instance if the scene seems sad or angry, the weather would reflect on it and would be dark, cloudy, raining etc.

My personal favourite still frame is the image of the bodies falling off the scaffolding, mainly because it is a unique camera angle (Worm’s eye view).  The music played over this is string, orchestral sounds which again, typically denote with the horror/thriller genre.