First Draft of Storyboard

by Lauren and Rana

Audience type for our film

by Lauren, Rana and Rebecca

First Draft of Script

1.) Ext        Night

Shots of the city at night. Cars moving, neon lights and traffic.

2.) Int      Night         Inside of club

Loud music plays. People are dancing, standing, carrying drinks and laughing. Lighting is dark but faces are clear. The focus is on the main character as she moves through the crowed. She carries a drink, greets the people that she recognises and moves closer to view.

3.) Ext      Night        Alleyway

Main character leaves nightclub. Walks out of door and down alleyway. The music fades as door closes and we move further away from club. Camera follows her down the alleyway, she slightly stumbles on her shoes and does not pay attention to surroundings.

See dark figure in the background. Main character gets closer to mystery figure. Suddenly, the mystery figure confronts main character and grabs her from behind.

Main character: (confused) "What are you doing?" (becomes more scared) "Stop, get off of me".

Mystery figure tightens grip and tries to pull main character away from the wall.

Main character: (shouting) "Get off! Help me".

Main character turns and after a struggle grabs mystery characters head and slams it against the wall. Mystery character falls to the ground.

6.) Ext      Night      Ransom note and photos revealed

by Lauren and Rana 

Evaluation of Storyboard & Target Audience

by Lauren, Rana and Rebecca

Eden Lake

Eden Lake

by Rebecca

Se7en Opening

The Aural and Visual language helped me gain an insight into the genre of the film. The dull colours used symbolises horror and thriller as no bright colours were used. The tension is built through the music track being played in the background as it becomes louder in some parts of the opening scene. The music puts you on edge and makes you feel nervous as it is quite creepy and daunting. The track ends with a non diegetic sound stating "You bring me closer to God". This connotes that the person could be religious or spiritual. The person seems to be creating some sort of book, this suggests his life. There is an extreme close up shot of the person's hand turning the pages in the book. The person's fingers have plasters on them, this could be from where he razored some of his skin off.

Throughout the beginning of the film, there are lots of flashing scenes. These consist of a number of images which are eerie and creepy. For example, somebody sowing and somebody shaving their finger with a razor blade. This could symbolise his mental, physiological state and that he could be troubled. The instruments used are very small, precise, sharp and dangerous. The person who is sowing is taking their time with it and is being very cautious. The focus of the image is on the person's fingers and this remains the same throughout the beginning of the film. The image is an extreme close up shot which gives the viewers a lot of detail and
insight into what the person is doing.

This non verbal image demonstrates someones eyes crossed out. A few moments later the whole face gets scribbled out. This communicates death and that somebody could be targeted. It also suggests hatred, vengeance and torture. The focus is on the man's face as the background is completly black. The image is a close up of the person's face. This is affective as it links to the genre's thriller and horror. The subjects relative size changes the audience's response to the image. I was quite scared and freaked out by this shot and was intrigued to what was going to happen next.
Red light is used on some of the images. The colour red reprents blood, danger and violence. This links with the genre I assume the film is; horror and thriller.

by Lauren

Opening Sequence of The Prestige

The Prestige Opening Scene from Media Clips on Vimeo.

In this frame, we see the title in a bold white font over a shot of many black top hats lying on the floor of a woods. This odd combination of item and setting indicates that this film may be mysterious; the fact that it is quite dark / shadowy would also support this idea. The hats are not placed carefully, instead seem to have landed there naturally or just appeared, and they also look like classic magician's hats, which might be a hint at the plot of the film.

In the second frame I have selected, we see a male character, who I presume to be one of the main characters of the film due to the camera's focus on him. He is holding a small yellow bird in his hand, and is talking about the steps of a magic trick. I think that there might be connotations in that the small bird is trapped, it may indicate that even the most innocent tricks / acts of entertainment have a victim.

The little girl in this frame is the audience of the other character's magic trick, her expression is curious and she looks happy to be there. Her surroundings are dark, but there are lights and the colours are all warm (yellows, deep browns and red). Her style of dress is very old fashioned - she is wearing a pastel coloured blouse with a full frilly collar and her hair is pulled back neatly - and she also looks quite wealthy. I think she may represent the point of view of the viewer - left in the dark and trying to figure out the mystery.

In this frame, the scene has changed completely and we have another male character which the camera is also focusing on. I think he might be a main character in another story / another part of the story, indicating that this film may have a multi-strand narrative.  He appears on a stage with a spotlight on him, dressed in a smart suit, holding a baton - a typical magician's costume. In contrast to the other magician, who was performing a small scale trick to a little girl, this character is clearly a showman or a performer and is in front of a huge crowd. I think that this is meant to show the audience the difference in their personalities - humble and wise, compare to bold and outwardly confident.

Here we have the introduction of another character, perhaps a third main character? It is interesting that a protagonist and antagonist has not yet been established, particularly since so many characters have been shown. In my opinion, this is part of creating the enigma code of the narrative - leaving the audience wondering why all of these characters are being focused on. There only seems to be the theme of magic connecting the three - maybe this will bring about conflict (or even friendship) later on in the film. The character shown here raises his hand to volunteer to check that the equipment onstage is as it appears. He is wearing a dark suit, but also black gloves which tells me he might be suspicious and have another motive for wanting to go onstage.

In this frame, the magician is performing his act onstage, he gets shocked by blue bolts of electricity which come from the contraption above him. This shows that this magician is a risk taker, and works hard to impress his audience - if he is willing to go to these lengths, he is probably somebody who is also competitive and wants to be the best.

The character who was previously an audience member is now backstage, confronting a man who questioned why he was there. Obviously, he is not meant to be there, therefore the audience is left wondering what he is doing and why he is so jumpy / on edge as soon as somebody gets in his way. The other man pulls his wig and false beard off, leaving us knowing he was wearing a disguise. Previously calm, the character has suddenly switched to being very angry, showing that he has a short temper when people try to get in the way of what he wants.

In this frame, it has switched back to the first scene we saw, with the little girl and the older man who made the bird disappear. He then completes the trick and the bird reappears on his hand. The little girl is mesmerised as he is doing this, and after the trick has finished, she claps and is extremely happy. I think that this scene symbolises the full circle of a magic trick as it is meant to be - the audience is left thrilled and happy, and the outcome was as expected.

In contrast, the last frame I have chosen shows the performer has fallen down into a tank of water and cannot escape. He is silently screaming, panicking and drowning as the other character watches through the glass. The fact that the second character doesn't also panic and try to help shows the audience that the two do not have a positive relationships, and the trick may have failed due to the second character's interference. Maybe they are competitors, or maybe the man outside the tank is out for revenge (he is in shadow, which indicates to me that he may be the antagonist in the narrative and the drowning man may be the protagonist).

by Rebecca

IMDB - Best and Worst Thriller Titles

We decided to look on Internet Movie Database, as this website takes into account both critic's opinions and those of the audience to give a general view. We found their lists of the Best and Worst Thriller Films to see what the public like and dislike in a thriller film;

Top 10 Best Thriller Titles

Top 10 Worst Thriller Titles

by Rebecca and Lauren

Features and Types of Thriller Films

Although most thrillers will be unique in that they have their own story (with the exception of remakes), different actors and a different look / feel, there are features that will be used repeatedly within the genre. I think this may be to attract audiences, especially people who like this genre in particular, and make the film more accessible and familiar.


Thrillers are typically focused on the protagonist's point of view, and include some kind of conflict between this protagonist and an antagonist, right and wrong, or good and evil. 


Types of Thriller Film - 

• Psychological thriller - 
  
• Crime thriller - 
• Political Thriller - 
• Legal thriller
• Spy thriller 
• Action-adventure thriller 
• Medical thriller
• Police thriller
• Romantic thriller 
• Historical thriller 
• Religious thriller
• High-tech thriller
• Military thriller  

There are also films that combine 'thriller' with another popular genre. For example horror / thriller films may retain some features of thrillers - high levels of anticipation and suspense.


Thrillers often overlap with mystery stories but are distinguished by the structure of their plots. Jeopardy and violent confrontations are standard plot elements in the mystery-thriller genre, unlike in the mystery genre where the story is more downbeat and dramatic. 


Thriller and Crimes often overlap.However, pure crime films/novels focus on a specific crime or set of crimes, and solving the mystery or tracking down the criminal(s), with no or little violence but more drama throughout. Thrillers are usually fiction-based and fast in pace, while crime fiction tend to be more leisurely paced, dramatic and realistic. 

by Rebecca and Lauren

Research in making a good thriller.

According to the Thriller Press ( http://www.thrillerpress.com/whatmakesathriller.html ) starting a movie clip with a serious problem or our hero or the bad guy to build imagination from the start.

• Thrillers usually have a great deal of action, cinematic landscapes or cityscapes or interior "mindscapes." Thrillers are very dramatic even when they focus on someone's mind as in a psychological thriller (like Hitchcock's PSYCHO).

http://www.ehow.com/how_7824040_make-good-thriller-movie.html sets a step by step way in how to make a good thriller. it explains the why's and how's in making a good thriller, for example simple cuts can simply be spliced together for scenes that evoke the feeling of suspicion.







This trailer is a good example of how to portray a thriller because it includes a touch story line, the aural and visuals link in very well together and the camera shots tend to be fast, sharp, edgy and close up.

by Rana

Research on thrillers

What is a thriller film? 
*A genuine thriller is a film that rentlessly pursues a single-minded goal; to provide thrills and keep the audience cliff-hanging at the 'edge of their seats' as the plot builds towards a climax. They heavily stimulate the viewer's moods giving them a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and/or terror. Thriller films tend to be adrenaline-rushing, gritty, rousing and fast-paced.


Thrillers use:
*Tension, suspense and excitement as the main elements.


Characters in thrillers:
*Convicts, criminals, stalkers, assassins, down-on-their-luck losers, innocent victims (often on the run), prison inmates, menaced women, characters with dark pasts, psychotic individuals, terrorists, cops and escaped cons, fugitives, private eyes, drifters, duplicitious individuals, people involved in twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, psycho-fiends, and more. 


Themes of thrillers:
*Terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder. 


Primary elements of the thriller genre:
*The central protagonist(s) faces death, either their own or somebody else's
*The force(s) of antagonism must initially be clever and/or stronger than the protagonist's
*The main storyline for the protagonist is either a quest or a character who cannot be put down
*The main plot line focuses on a mystery that must be solved
*The film's narrative construction is dominated by the protagonist's point of view
*All action and characters must be realistic/natural in their representation on screen
*The two major themes that underpin the thriller genre are the desire for justice and the morality of individuals
*One small, but significant, aspect of a thriller is the presence of innocence in what is seen as an essentially corrupt world
*The protagonist/s and antagonist/s may battle not just on a physical level, but on a mental one as well.
* Either by accident or their own curiousness, characters are dragged into a dangerous conflict or situation that they are not prepared to resolve

by Lauren

Directors of the Thriller Genre - Christopher Nolan (Unfinished)

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN

World famous director Christopher Nolan was born in London, England in 1970. He has been responsible for directing some of the most successful feature films of the decade, and three short films - for many of these, he is also credited as the writer and producer.

Feature films

Nolan has directed 7 feature films;

• Following, 1998, neo-noir / mystery / drama, rated 15
• Memento, 2000, psychological thriller, rated 15
• Insomnia, 2002, psychological thriller, rated 15
• Batman Begins, 2005, superhero / action, rated 12
• The Prestige, 2006, mystery / thriller, rated 12
• The Dark Knight, 2008, superhero / action, rated 12
• Inception, 2010, science fiction / action / thriller rated 15

Two future film projects have also been confirmed;

• The Dark Knight Rises, 2012
• Man of Steel, 2013 (written and produced by Nolan, but directed by Jack Snyder)

by Rebecca

Planning

Main characters: Thulani and Rana
Party scene: Theatre in the school
We are going to arrange this by asking people in our year to come on a particular day and time and dress in a specific code. To make it look like a party, we are going to use the flashing disco lights we have in the school theatre. We are also going too use the computer in the theatre to play music out loud.

Before the party scene we were going to include footage of the people(actors) going into the theatre as if there is a queue outside. This was to make it look realistic and if it was actually a nightclub.

Our group are going to arrange a day where we go to London and take different shots of the lights and atmosphere there. We think that we could use some of these shots in the film, either to set the scene / make the location clear or create the right atmosphere for the other scenes. Another idea we had is that we could use the London footage as the background to our credits, as this would be more effective than putting them over a blank screen, or over the other scenes.

For the attack scene, we are going to experiment with different shooting styles - for example, we are going to try to film the attack from different angles / points of view and in different lighting. It is also important that we choose the right location for this scene; one that is both realistic and practical. We will have to do some further research in order to make the right choice on this.

by Lauren, Rana and Rebecca

Review of Preliminary Exercise

During the production, i starred in the clip, edited and directed. With the editing i added and deleted slots of shots and reviewed it as a whole, then i looked at the sounds and how they could be improved. On iMovie i learnt how to cover unnecessary sounds and replace them with sounds that fitted the scene.
   When i was editing the clips, i rearranged the scenes, cut parts and replaced them.

Things that i've learnt throughout the production was the 180 degree rule and why and how it was affective. I've also learnt how to edit clips and sounds, how to use iMovie and its technical use and how to produce a final piece.

I found the camera and tripod use easy as i've experienced their use previously.

The success  of the finishing product was producing the actual clip and perfecting it with the editing.

What went well was:

• my group and i worked well together and produced a good edit
• We used all the technicality we can to explore all the different aspects to create the clip                                                                                                                           

by Rana

Review of Preliminary Exercise

In the production of this task I created the shot list and was a character acting in the exercise. We all took part in editing the clips into the final outcome of the exercise. 


Through filming and editing the exercise I have learnt four specific things:

• This includes using I-movie to edit a film. I used the sound editor tool to add specific sound effects to clips and replaced unwanted sounds e.g unnecessary voices and background noises
• I also learnt how to use the continuity edit to make the film flow and go together. I cut and copied different parts of clips to do this. 
•  I learnt about the different shot sizes and what works well with the scene and what does not.
• Finally, I took directions from other members of my group and improvised with dialogue to improve the scene. 

Overall, the finished product was quite successful as it told a story and all the clips flowed well. For example, we added more clips into parts of the film in order to make the continuity better. When we first filmed the preliminary exercise it did not go to well as the camera dropped down at one point and there were lots of unnecessary sounds and voices within the clips. However, we used I movie to edit these things and the film turned out better than expected. Finally, the aural sounds went well with the visual aspects and we learnt from the mistakes we had made in the task.


by Lauren

Review of Preliminary Exercise

For the preliminary exercise, I wrote the script and the storyboard, and filmed the clips for the video. Together, we all edited the clips into the final outcome of the exercise.

Through filming the preliminary exercise, there were a few important things that I learnt;

• I learnt how important it was for the pace of actions in clips that follow each other to be the same, so that when editing the clips together, you can use match on action to create a flow between them. Also, whilst filming I had trouble moving the camera smoothly at first and ended up with some clips that were jolty. However, as I got used to using the camera equipment, I think I learned how to follow the pace of the action with the camera better. This will be very useful when filming our 2 minute film opening.
• Another thing that I learnt was that sometimes it is best to adjust the script as you film if something is clearly not working out as you expected. The same goes for the shot list, due to a change in filming location, some of the angles and shots had to be changed in order to keep to the 180 rule and make the clips look continuous.
• Finally, I think that the most important thing I learnt from the exercise was how to be able to give and take directions with more confidence and work well in a group. At first I wasn't very confident in expressing my opinion on your progress, but as we went along, we all realised that we needed to give our own input because when we put all of our ideas together to create scenes and solve problems, that was when we produced the best outcome

Our preliminary task turned out quite well, although there were quite a few mistakes that we made that we will know how to avoid in the future. For example, as I mentioned before, in the scene where Lauren (the second character to appear) was walking into the classroom, I dropped the camera down too quickly and you could hear the sound of it and see the clip jog a little. We managed to tone down the sound during editing, but in the future if I was trying to capture the diagetic sound of the scene, I would ensure that there is no outside noise present that isn't meant to be there. I liked the cuts as Rana entered the door, which were not there when we first edited the scene (there was only 1 cut originally), but Lauren suggested making more cuts and it looked a lot better this way.


by Rebecca

Preliminary Task Video

by Lauren, Rana and Rebecca

Preliminary Task - The 180 Degree Rule

Whilst doing our preliminary task, we wanted to practise using the 180 degree rule during filming. The 180 degree rule refers to an imaginary straight line through the middle of a scene, which creates a 180 degree angle along which you can move the camera.

In our scene, we had two characters sitting either side of a table, opposite each other. The red semi circle indicates the positions where we could place the camera whilst filming. If we 'crossed the line' between the two characters and filmed from the other side of the table, it would change the viewer's perspective on the scene and make it look as if the placement of characters / settings / props had changed.

We used this source to understand why how breaking the 180 degree rule would affect our preliminary task. They explain that if it was really necessary to cross the line, it would be best to have a shot on the line between, in order to introduce the audience to their new perspective and avoid disorientation.

by Rebecca

Preliminary Task Script

INT: Hall in Curie Block
We see a long shot of character 1 walking down the hallway, through a small crowd of people. They are carrying a school bag and approaching a classroom. As they near the classroom, they turn to their right. 


Character 1: [Tired/Fed up expression, unenthusiastic about carrying the heavy bag]

Medium shot of character 1's back as she opens the door to the classroom and walks in. 


Medium shot of Character 1 entering the room from the other side of the door (face on to camera), shuts the door behind her. Walks towards a table, sits down and puts her bag on the floor.


Character 1: [Sits down on chair, looking bored]


Shot of crowd walking in corridor, diagetic sound of crowd. 
Changes back to medium close up of character 1 in classroom.


Character 1: [Typing on her phone, puts phone away in pocket, crosses arms and leans on her hand]


We hear the door opening and change to a shot of Character 2 coming into the room, carrying a plastic bag. She puts the bag on the table whilst sitting down.


Shots then alternate between the two characters for their conversation


Character 1:  'Hey, how are you?'
Character 2: 'I'm good thanks, how are you?
Character 1: 'I'm just stressing over exams'
Character 2: 'This is for you'
Character 1: 'Oh, is that for me?'
Character 2: 'Yeah, Happy Birthday!'
Character 1: 'Aww, thank you!'



by Lauren and Rebecca

Preliminary Task Shot List

1. Long shot of character 1 walking down the corridor, going past people. They will be walking towards the camera.
2. Medium close-up of character's back as they turn to enter the room. 
3. Medium shot of character as they enter the room, closing the door (need to ensure continuity of actions) and walking towards a table. Close-up of character sitting down at the table and putting her bags down on the floor.
4. Another long shot of the crowd in the corridor, with diagetic sound
5. Close-up of character typing on phone keyboard and then putting her phone away in her pocket. 
6. Medium shot of another character entering the room, following them until they reach the table that the other character is sitting at. 
7. Shot of both characters (one sitting, one standing), standing character puts a plastic bag on the table and then sits down
8. Alternating close ups of the two characters as they have a conversation
9. Close-up of character as she is about to look in bag

by Lauren, Rana and Rebecca

Preliminary Task Storyboard

 

by Rebecca

Initial Film Idea

Film Pitch

by Rebecca