Some Storyboard Photos and Sketches

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Planning essay

I have chosen to select the film brief. To define the convention of an opening to a thriller I have to consider many aspects of the film such as the plot, clues laced into the film, a twist at the end, audience being the detectives, a darker side of human emotions (revenge, anger, obsession, murder, hatred etc), the mood/tone being oppressive, the introduction should expose a significant theme without revealing any crucial information and it needs to engage the audience at a certain target group.  

We looked at different existing thriller films such as ‘Saw III’, ‘Ransom’ and ‘Kill Bill’ to get inspiration and ideas for our film such as the theme of torture and kidnapping. In Saw 3 the introduction begins with a black background with non-diegetic sounds of people screaming at each other over slow scary music with movement sound effects and dripping taps etc. White writing slowly appears fading in and out and then the camera shot changes to the bloodstained floor where the only light is from a torch which is shining onto a gun - still playing slow music. Up to this point in the introduction the camera shot has been at the same angle but zooms in/out and follows the light of the torch when the man grabs it to stand up. The colours have been dull and dark except the man's light blue t-shirt. This is mentioned in my blog. After recognising what defines a thriller and what needs to be considered when creating a film introduction, it is now necessary to explain the nature of the thriller we are going to produce.

In the process of planning our film introduction we followed the brief which indicated we needed to complete a preliminary task which consisted of filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. It demonstrates match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule. This task was a more advanced video in comparison to the one we first made including a character walking down some stairs, from 3 different angles in the same shot. This practice of filming and experimenting with different camera shots and angles helped us plan and visualise the elements of filming our final introduction to our thriller. But we encountered a few problems such as our camera shots and topic of conversation were not planned and didn't work out very well. After changing the effects and editing the clips together we noticed that more thought needs to go into the amount of different camera shots we use to capture the audience's attention. We discovered that the masks caused our voices to be quieter and difficult to understand. We also didn't include people walking in/out when a new character entered and an old one left which causes confusion as the video, along with the dialogue and camera shots then begins to make little sense. Due to these problems, we made another short film with the same criteria but this time it is easier to understand yet still contains the required camera angles in the specification. In this video the topic of conversation is simple and i used 6 different camera shots; one of Delia walking towards the door, then a close up of the handle as she opens it and a reverse shot from inside the room she walks into. When she sits down to face Amy and they begin their conversation i used a match on action shot before moving onto two over the shoulder shots keeping to the 180 degree rule to make sure the continuity stays the same.

To plan our film we used a story board, created by the use of the synopsis we wrote of the plot followed by breaking it up into moments and scenes, then shots. We don’t have any dialogue in our film introduction so writing a script/screenplay at this point is unnecessary so I sketched the scenes and shots in a ‘thumbnail’ grid and analysed each one where required illustrating any mise-en-scenes, montages and camera angles.  We have chosen to use a mid shot in front of the actors as they walk towards the camera, with one creeping up behind the other so we can see both their expressions which shows that gradually the kidnapper is getting closer to the lady, still with her being unaware of it. In our storyboard sketch, we have made the kidnapper more shaded to show he is hidden, in the shadows and also mysterious and suspicious to the audience. After sketching out various shots which we took photos of, we then put our sketches of each shot into imovie to create an animatic so we are able to see what the shots look like in sequence. This was successful and we were able to add music and other effects to practice creating the atmosphere wanted. This animatic is shown on my blog.

There are going to be two characters in the opening to our thriller; the victim and the villain both of which are friends of ours. I chose these actors because they suit the social class we are aiming to represent and I feel that they look like they could adapt to the character brief. The fact that they are young is helping with the target audience and also both actors have experience in drama. The basic plot consists of a young woman who gets kidnapped and taken away and tortured by a man of which she has little recognition of ever being associated with. Our opening to this thriller is set in an old dark garage giving a tense atmosphere where the man has obviously tortured the woman, but the audience is oblivious to the reasons why or how she got there, the second scene is set in the car park where she got kidnapped, the story begins to unfold revealing the reasons for the suffering woman in scene one. Scene three is shot in the setting of the garage again continuing the aspect of torture leaving the audience to question whether she is still alive thus encouraging them to continue watching so they can find out. I looked at the British board of film classification to obtain an idea of which certificate our film should have, the target audience ended up being 15 because 'Strong threat and menace are permitted’ and 'Violence may be strong but may not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. Scenes of sexual violence must be discreet and brief.' This affects what we will shoot by the fact that we will have to bear in mind the limits of a 15 certificate therefore unable to view ‘any detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts, or of illegal drug use’.

We aim to produce a thriller in the style of ‘Saw III’ as the kidnapping and torturing themes are the same. We hope to film various different types of shots; a range of close-ups of the victim’s eyes and both character’s faces, extreme long shots of the victim to portray a sense of vulnerability, mid-shots to establish the characters, a subjective shot from the kidnapper to capture a sense of authenticity and an eye line match as we see the victim who looks back sensing someone is following her but then the camera shot captures what she sees and no-one is there. We are also hoping to use carious transitions throughout the filming of the introduction such as tracking or a dolly shot when the victim is walking through the car park and a pan movement when the villain kidnaps his victim. Some of these angles and shots are shown in our story board which we will use as a base to our filming so we have something to follow.

We intend the titles to be simple yet effective perhaps white on black at the very beginning and then cross dissolve from a black screen into the moving images of the film. We will need to include in the titles the production name, directors, producers, editors, actors and the title of the film which is yet to be confirmed. The non diegetic background music will be slow, scary, and sombre throughout the introduction but the pace will pick up at the point of the victims kidnapping to create tension at the build up to the climax. As for diegetic sound, the naturalistic sounds we will need are a gasp or screaming when the victim is taken/ tortured which can be recorded whilst filming along with her heavy breathing when she is captured in the garage. The lighting that we need is minimal due to the fact that our film has a dark, inexplicable, eerie, disturbing, dim atmosphere and little lighting is essential to create this unfamiliar ambience.

To actually film the material, we intend to use a digital video canon XL2 as well as a manfrotto tripod when filming in order to produce steady quality film that is easily imported onto the computer. The filming will need to be complete over the course of three weeks. Having completed the filming, we will then spend the remaining time using imovie HD to import and edit our footage until the film is complete. Then if further editing is needed we will use After Effects.

Plan of scenes - camera shots, angles and movements

1. Starts with a black screen with credits appearing over scary music.
2. Extreme close up of woman's eyes - shifting you can see she feels scared.
3. Big close up of woman's face with blood on it showing her expression/reaction.
4. Scene changes to a mid shot of woman in her car just parking up in a car-park.
5. Long shot in the car park of the car as the woman turns off her car lights.
6. Close up of the car door as the woman gets out - her leg stepping out the car.
7. Mid shot of woman shutting the door once she is out the car.
8. Long shot of car park as she walks across from man's point of view so he is spying on her.
9. Mid shot of the two characters - the man is shadowed so the woman can’t see him watching her and the focus is on him.
10. Shot of the man silhouetted, so can't see his face in the shadows.
11. Woman getting scared looks behind her where kidnapper is meant to be.
12. Front tracking shot of her continuing to walk, thinking everything is fine.
13. Him watching her, side view, tracking pan shot to behind her
14. Medium shot of both, him coming up behind her, she drops her keys and looks down to pick them up.
15. She bends down to get her keys, he comes up behind to grab her, very close, his hand is about to go over her mouth. Tracking shot moving around a car blocks out actual kidnapping moves around to eventually see there is nothing there where they both were.
16. Scene changes back to shot 3 in a garage.
17. Man with his back to the camera, from elbow to arm with half of his body seen. Large weapon in his hand, lady lying on the floor further away from the camera not in focus.
18. same shot but the lady turns into focus, still breathing heavily
19. Floor shot of man's boots slowly walking towards her
20. Shot of him next to her looking down at her.
21. shot of his hand releasing the weapon.
22. Floor shot of it dropping to the floor, slow motion, with her face in the background but not in focus.
23. Same shot but turns the focus onto her face; she turns to look up at him in fear.

Ransom kidnapping

The film 'Ransom' has given me and Amy ideas for how our character will be kidnapped at the beginning of our film introduction. I like the lack of dialogue and action that the kidnapping includes as it is still affective and the music and camera shots help build tension up to the point where the character is kidnapped.

The scene includes long and close up camera shots switching between the kidnapper's face and the boy he is taking followed by tracking shots of the man following and slowly creeping up on him. This is done along with non diegetic sound of music that is slow, building suspense up to the point where the man takes the boy.

When the man becomes close to the boy behind him, just as he is about to grab him, the camera does a pan movement behind a wall and then when it comes out the other side of the wall the characters have disappeared and the music has built up a loud tension to an immediate silence. We are going to do a similar action to this in our film as it is set in a car park the camera will move behind a car to then reveal the characters have gone.

Target Audience

I have considered my target audience for my film, looking at the British Board of Film Classification to see the guidelines between the different ages of film classification. The theme for my film is horror / thriller which would include some violence and strong language. The guidelines for a 15 film are that 'There may be frequent use of strong language... But the strongest terms will be acceptable only where justified by the context.' This would give me the freedom to use strong language if i need to express the strong feelings of my characters when angry or scared. It also states that 'Strong threat and menace are permitted.' and 'Violence may be strong but may not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. Scenes of sexual violence must be discreet and brief.' which i think allows my film introduction to obtain the interest of the audience.

Preliminary Tasks

Delia, Amy and I worked together to create a short film, the continuity task involved filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. It demonstrates match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

Firstly we made a video which involved clips of each of us (only 2 at any one time) wearing masks and talking about how we are getting revenge on someone. Our camera shots and topic of conversation were not planned and didn't work out very well. After changing the effects and editing the clips together we noticed that more thought needs to go into the amount of different camera shots we use to capture the audience's attention. We discovered that the masks caused our voices to be quieter and difficult to understand. We also didn't include people walking in/out when a new character entered and an old one left which causes confusion as the video, along with the dialogue and camera shots then begins to make little sense.

We have now made a new video which is shorter and easier to understand yet still contains the required camera angles in the specification. In this video the topic of conversation is simple and i used 6 different camera shots; one of delia walking towards the door, then a close up of the handle as she opens it and a reverse shot from inside the room she walks into. When she sits down to face amy and they begin their conversation i used a match on action shot before moving onto two over the shoulder shots keeping to the 180 degree rule to make sure the continuity stays the same.

camera angles practice video

I used imovie HD to edit 3 different camera angles together of delia walking down some stairs. i changed the effects of the film by using 'sepia' effect and 'fade in/out' at the beginning/end. i also added music in the background of my video which i adjusted the loudness of where apropriate.

Analysis of introduction to saw 3

The introduction to saw 3 begins with a black background with non-diegetic sounds of people screaming at each other over slow scary music with movement sound effects and dripping taps etc. White writing slowly appears fading in and out and then the camera shot changes to the bloodstained floor where the only light is from a torch which is shining onto a gun - still playing slow music. The gun is an indexical signifier. A man who is lying on the floor rolls into the torch light and tries to grab the gun, he used his shoe to reach it and noticed it wasn't loaded. Up to this point in the introduction the camera shot has been at the same angle but zooms in/out and follows the light of the torch when the man grabs it to stand up. The colours have been dull and dark except the man's light blue t-shirt.