PreLim Video.

Storyboard.

This is our fantastic storyboard that was created by Caitlin Moll. This is our general idea for our plot.

Ideas for Thriller.

Our idea for our thriller opening is that there will be 2 people at a crossroads and a man developing photos in a dark room. The two people are searching for their best friend/girlfriend and are handing out 'Missing' posters.

This is the dark room we plan to use, we thought it would be creepy to see a photo gradually developing.

A girl then knocks on the man who owns the darkrooms door, unknown to her this is the man who has killed her best friend who she is searching for. As she knocks on the door it opens by itself and she steps in and calls out. She looks around for a bit, still calling and folds up a poster and as she puts it down she sees an object belonging to her friend and has a flashback. She tries to escape but we presume the man finds her and we see him hanging up the developed photo of the girl who was searching, now dead.

We may change some ideas slightly but we are confident and pleased with our ideas so far. We mixed all of our ideas and decided as a team which were best to use. 

Music

http://www.freeplaymusic.com/search/category_search.php?t=v&i=8 - Abandoned

http://www.freeplaymusic.com/search/category_search.php?t=v&i=1502 - Abducted

Question 6- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this project?

From constructing the preliminary task I learnt more about video cameras and editing software.
I have used a video camera before but mainly freehand and I have never edited what footage I recorded, so when using the video cameras for the first time with tripods I learnt it was not only easier using a tripod but it made the overall finished clips look more professional. I really enjoyed producing the clips as it gave me and my group a chance to experiment with camera angles which we had learnt previously. We did have some problems when it came to editing so did have to re-shoot rather a lot of our clips for our task to be in sync and make sense.
Once we got to the editing process we watched over our clips and were pleased with what clips we had. I had very limited experience using iMovie before but me and my group soon got to grips with it and we all chipped in trying to help one another make the final product as best as we could. We used transitions on some slides to make clips ease into others more smoothly and tried to synchronise each shot as best as we could. We also added sound effects to some parts and tried to add a humorous aspect on the final video.
I believe we all enjoyed working as a team and are all very happy with what we achieved. I found it really useful to have a chance to use and learn how to use the equipment before going straight into filming our Thriller introductions and I now feel more confident in using the equipment when we have to again.

Thriller Research

Last week we started to look at thriller films again, in particular the first few minutes of some. This was to build up our knowledge of what kind of camera angles, music and plot they use in the first few minutes to help us when planning our own openings. This is what I made note on:

The Book of Eli

2009

 

In the opening scenes of this post-apocalyptic thriller we see a crabbing shot of a dark woodland area. The tree trunks are quite thin and they give the impression of bars and imprisonment, a common feature in thriller films.  Ash is falling rapidly through the tree tops like rain and the crabbing shot starts to lower so the ground is visible. The first thing that the audience sees apart from the ash and trees in a gun. The gun is laying on the floor and soon after we see a hand, the hand that has dropped the gun. As the crabbing shot continues we can see that this hand belongs to a dead person who is laying in this dark forest. The sound at this point is non-diegetic and is slowly getting louder and adding suspense. We see something moving in the background of this shot now and as the figure gets closer we can see it is a sphynx cat, it starts to eat at the dead body. If that wasn't chilling enough the camera starts to turn and zoom, we are now introduced to a new character.
The zoom continues and as it does the breathing of this character keeps getting heavier, they appear to be wearing a gas mask. The camera continues to zoom until we see a metallic arrow head, we now have a cats POV shot. The music is continuing to heighten and we can now see the POV of the concealed character, the music stops for a short while. Suddenly the arrow is fired and once fired the shot is slowed down, this gives the impression of not knowing where the shot is going. The arrow then hits the cat and it is killed almost instantly. The concept of death and the fact that this person has had to resort to killing a cat makes the viewer want to find out what has happened. 

Brick

2006

The opening of this film is very different to the previous, it opens with a very eary, almost peaceful percussion piece. We then see an extreme close up on a man, we can mainly see his eyes, he looks sad or scared. We then see a dead body, a female character and the man crouching near by looking at her, we cannot tell is he is the killer or not yet. The background shows a dark tunnel which gives a sense of mystery and confinement. There is a close up on her wrist which is in some running water, a common concept in thrillers and we see her bright blue bracelets. We then see a a hand wearing these same bracelets put a note in a locker, obviously from when the now dead girl was alive.
The note is about a meeting, the main male character from the opening shot goes to the meeting place but no one is there, a phone box near by starts to ring. The character answers the phone putting himself in a confined space, the person on the phone knows him. He tries to make sense of what she is saying, she is in danger. We can tell this by her crying and pleas for help. She also says that it's 'nice to see him' which gives us the impression of him being watched. All the time the main character seems to be in quite isolated surroundings, the scene ends with a car speeding into the distance, we presume the girl is in this car. No one knows what is going on or what will happen which means the viewer will want to continue watching. 

Gothika

2003

This thriller opens with a rather long instrumental piece on a violin, the logo for Columbia Pictures has also been changed to fit the genre of the film.

We first hear a woman's voice whispering, she is talking about her encounters with the devil. She is clearly the psychopath in this film and she looks quite rough, the other woman in this confined space seems to be a detective or police woman. They are behind bars in the confined space, and the psycho continues to whisper her stories. The viewer gets a feeling of not belonging and that they shouldn't be there, it's a sense of voyeurism. There conversation continues for a while, the psychopath explaining how she killed her stepfather whilst the other woman listens, the psycho gets angry with the woman for not listening with her heart and attacks her. Police come in and restrain her, the light is dim and it beams onto the psychopath. 

We do not know the background to the psycho or other woman that well so the viewer wants to find out what is going to happen and why this psycho thinks she has had encounters with the devil.

Royalty Free Music Idea.

Whilst looking through some royalty free music on a website I found I came across this and thought that my group could possibly use it in conjunction with our Thriller opening? I shall discuss this with them further tomorrow.

Link & website found: http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/index.html?genre=Modern