Evaluation: Question 7 - Filming Summary

Ben - Work In Blue

Ellie - Work In Red

Having completing the filming process of the opening sequence to a Thriller has been a massive learning experience. This has pushed our group to the max. We had to arrange days where we could all film as its a group task. We have all had a turn on direction, using the camera and editing. We have to be very careful when we filmed that we included the following:

Camera Angles:
Extreme close ups
Close ups
Medium shot
Long shot

We had to be very specific when it come to what we wanted out actors dressed in as the custom plays a massive part to the Thriller because if they do not look old enough or smart enough then the whole opening sequence wouldn't look like an opening sequence to a Thriller more like a low budget film. We   needed to make sure when filming we made sure we filmed it while it was on the tripod as a giggly camera is not professional when filming, we would only not sure the tripod when we was shooting a point of view of one of the actors as it creates more tension to the audience.

Before we started to film we made sure all the equipment we took out worked and there was not faults to it, other wise we would of had to take out different equipment or if we hadn't of found the faults until we started to film then we would've had to delay the day we were planning on filming. Before we we're allowed to take the equipment out we had to pay a deposit for the camera in-case any damage was caused then we had paid got insurance to cover any repairs is any damage was caused.

Overall we have developed as individuals and as a group. We have each developed our editing, camerawork and foley skills. This has greatly improved our film final cut. To improve our skills we have practiced when editing parity and our rough cut. To develop our skills we have looked though various different videos and practiced using Final Cut Pro/AfterEffects to add motion tracked title slates.

Final Cut Pro & After effects were the two main applications we used to create our opening scene. This enabled us to use colour correction, filters and add our motion tracked title slates.

From the making of Parity which was based around continuity we have developed and improved our overall editing skills which involves how to colour correct, add and seamlessly join two shots together without any continuity errors.

Below are screenshots of Parity and our final opening sequence to show editing, shooting, motion tracking and colour correction.

The above screenshots show how we have progressed and used various different techniques to further improve our final thriller. This continuity task has helped to develop skills, I have used colour correction as you can see the screenshots on the left have a green hue effect and the screenshots on the right show a dark, dull effect with minimal colour. These add drama and make the scenes more tense. Both Videos show match on action, shot reverse shot to show conversation and extreme close ups which are all present in most thrillers. These add normality to our opening sequence as we want it to be like other thriller films. We have used foley to create the sound of tying on the keyboard and the effect of chains rattling when they are around the young girls ankles. To add extra realism to our opening scene we have added special motion tracking twice first when the text appears when the paper is lifted again shown in the 5th and 6th screenshot when the mans legs go over the text.

Below are screenshots of Editing and what software I used to edit our final cut.

-Rendering the footage

-Getting sounds from YouTube witch was fine to use-We had to make sure we timed the music with the sound correctly-Fading in and out of the titles-Placing the titles so they would be shown when we watch it in Quick Time-Colour correction

-Adding soundtrack

Evaluation: Question 3 - Production & Distribution

Below is a Prezi of my Question 3 Evaluation

Evaluation: Question 2 - Characters & Stereotypes

The screenshots above on the left show our thriller opening sequence and on the right is two films one called "Taken" and the other called "The Disappearance of Lenkawood".

Our thriller represents younger females to be more at risk and vulnerable, this is because the thrillers above show young females being kidnapped. This shows that women are predominantly more likely to be kidnapped, young women are also looked upon as sex objects which is why many women are kidnapped like the film "Taken" where a girl has been kidnapped and put into the prostitution industry.

The film Taken involves a young girl being kidnapped for money by selling her into the prostitution industry. Our film is closely linked as it involves kidnapping and holding a young female to ransom. This also shows that women have less power over men as these films are driven by male actors, the male actors provoke the films by kidnapping to try and make money. All three trillers above have dark scenes and show women to be powerless. This is shown where in my thriller has a girl with her mouth tired to take away her voice and where the woman in Lenkawood has her face covered, this shows that there voice and identity has been taken away showing them to be powerless and controlled.

The woman in this photo and the woman in our thriller both have plain dark clothing which can symbolise and show how women can all be the same and uniform. This also shows women to be objects and belongings to men. The dark colour of their clothing is symbolic of vulnerability and death which can foreshadow bad upcoming events like in Taken where the young girl is sold into prostitution.

Evaluation: Question 1 - 9 Key Frame Analysis

Final Edit

Here is our final edit with corrected titles.

Evidence of Editing

These are screen shot of us editing the footage. We've used things such as:
-Rendering the footage
-Getting sounds from YouTube witch was fine to use
-We had to make sure we timed the music with the sound correctly
-Fading in and out of the titles
-Placing the titles so they would be shown when we watch it in Quick Time
-Colour correct


We made sure we saved it every half an hour to prevent losing the footage while editing it.

Pre final edit - without corrections

This is the final edit of our opening sequence to a Thriller.

Individual Rough Cut - The Case - Ben Homewood

http://youtu.be/hejBU_m6jqY

Above is my individual rough cut edit, I have produced my first edit of my opening scene.
I will be getting feedback and improvements which I can apply to further enhance my opening scene.To enhance my opening scene I will be adding effects, better title slates and sound improvements like sound effects and ambience.

Animatic Storyboard

Here is our final animatic storyboard, the opening sequence includes title blocks which provide all the required information for our opening sequence.
This sequence uses the following title blocks
- BEV Productions
- Staring Ben Homewood
- Filmed by Ellie Rackham
- Casting by Ben Homewood, Ellie Rackham & Vicky Smith
- Production designer Ben Homewood
- Directed by Ben Homewood and Ellie Rackham
- Produced by Ben Homewood
- Edited By Ben Homewood
- Story by Ben Homewood, Ellie Rackham and Vicky Smith
- The Case

Opening Scenes Analysis

This is a range of screenshots from the film Batman. The background is very dull and dosile, it is portrayed to the audience as very tense and eerie. Also in contrast to the background yellow writing is used, which is an unusual combination just like the film. The background scene is also very desolate which adds unawareness and suspicion. The font is also all in bbold and upper case, this would be a good idea to use in our final opening scene.

Here is another range of title scenes from the film Edward Scissor Hands. This clip is also very dark, which has a chilling effect. The titles are incorporated into the scene as if they were in the acutal scene itself, this adds realism to the opening scene. The background images are very dark and lacking in colour which also gives the idea of an upcoming tense and thrilling film. The font used looks like handwriting, this could also be used in our opening scene but a bold font will have a greater effect.

This screenshot has a selection of title slates from the opening sequence of Catch Me If You Can. This opening scene in comparison to the other two is very colourful and eventful at the same time. The screenshots show the scenes have colour and give you an idea of what will happen in the film by providing animated scenes. The use of animation of the scenes and text could be portrayed as a film for all ages which doesn't require you to really follow along and remember every detail. The font in this opening scene is very clever as it is incorporated into the acutal scene, it would be very effective to use this in our opening scene but in a more negative way. For example change the font to a more bold font and make it move with objects using object tracking in Adobe After Effects.

Final Storyboard

Here is our storyboard that shows the basis of the opening sequence, this was created using screenshots from our test footage and using an app on an iPad ipthe images were placed in chronological order. This provides and shows the different camera angles used. This storyboard will also help us keep track of what needs to be filmed when it comes to filming the final opening sequence.

Prezi about "The Case"

Here is a prezi talking about our opening sequence and influence on our opening sequence idea.

Parity Recreation - Final Edit

Here is the final edit of Parity. I used a camera to complete all the shots to get our footage, I them edited it all together using Final Cut Pro adding a sound track, sound effects and the opening title at the beginning. The flashback shows his victim looking at him in the mirror, this shows neglect and upset. This is emphasised by some sound effects. Throughtout the clip are non diagetic sounds of the muderer yelling which is a flashback sound. This creates drama. The whole clip creates a lot of tension due to the dramatic, tense sound track all the way through. 

Directed by: Vicky Smith

Filmed by: Vicky Smith & Ben Homewood

Edited by: Ben Homewood

Here is a screenshot of editing Parity: 

Omniscient and Restricted Animations

This video shows two types of narratives, omniscient and restricted. Omniscient is where the audience knows everything, but restricted is where the audience only know what the characters do.

http://goanimate.com/videos/0CjrCvUC50GU

This is a short clip of an animation video about Omniscient and Restricted narratives.

Target Audience

These are the types of questions I will be asking audience of Thrillers.

How old are you?
Do you enjoy watching Thrillers?
What do you like about Thrillers?
What Thrillers have you seen?
How often do you watch Thrillers?

I'm going to ask people within the target audience about Thrillers and also other people out of that target audience so that the target audience isn't necessarily 18-29, there can be other age range and gender who may enjoy Thriller, but the most popular target audience is men between the ages 18-29. I have also asked people out side the target audience to make my research more strong. Through this research I have noticed that there are many girls enjoy watching thriller between the ages of 16-18 years old.



The link below is a video of the target audience we have interviewed and also other people outside the target audience.

Thriller Genre

Conspiracy - hero or heroine, journalist investigator linked into a powerful organisation, enemies, secret organisations, lies and propaganda,

Identification of good to over rule the evil of the world, secrecy of governments and secret organisations in history.

Crime thrillers - focuses on criminals and what they do, emphasises action over pscychological aspects, serial killers/murders, robberies, chases, bank robberies.

Disaster thriller - survival in conflict with natural or artificial disasters, causes of human activity, future going to bring. Eg. The Impossibe, based on a true story of a family on holiday where a tsunami takes place and the family get separated

Mystery thriller - crime related, detective/private investigator, mystery that needs to be solved, circumstance of the mystery of crime, gets audiences attention and makes the audience think, dramatic effect.

Political thriller - stability of government, hero or heroine prevents bad things happening, 

eg elections, like V for Vendetta

Psychological thriller - plays with audience mind, produces suspense, shows mentality of the character and the thought processes. Eg. Flight Plan

Religious thriller - plots closely religious objects, institutions and questions. Show and provide good and bad points of religion.

Supernatural thriller - otherworldly element that shows something, tension and suspense, unsuspected twist, villains have supernatural gift, closely linked to religious thrillers. Eg. Avengers Assemble

Techno thriller - manipulation of sophisticated technology which plays a part of taking over the world, mostly based on fictional speculations on life. Based on world wars, action, and science fictional/supernatural events such as alien invasions.

Non linear - Where the film has a clear beginning, middle and end. A basic film to follow like The Impossible, they are together then the tsunami takes place then they find each other at the end.

Eg. Seven

Linear - has flashbacks of past life, like in Shutter Island where the woman has flash backs of the past.

Eg. Taken

Omniscient - where characters and the know details about what's happening, eg. Why someone is killed or what the aim of the event is.

Restricted - This is where only the audience know why a certain event is happening, for example the audience should know why a character is being killed and why whereas the other characters don't know who did it or why.

Test Footage - First and Final Edit

Here is our test footage of our idea. It shows the rough idea and basis of our final opening sequence. It demonstrates camera angles, props and mis en scene. Like the office, case file and driving.

This video shows the first edit which included a backing track and sound effects, after discussing at watching back I decided to edit further and change around the sound and add a end title to enhance the overall opening sequence.

Filmed by Ellie Rackham
Edited by Ben Homewood

This second video shows my improvements through editing. I changed around some sounds and I make the "mystery sound" at the end longer and faded into the title of the film. I also added a footstep sound at the end to add tension. This will provide the audience with something they will want to figure out and get hooked onto.

Camera Angles - With test shots

For our opening scene we will be using the following camera shots:

Jump cut shot - this will add masculinity and tension to the scene, as the jump cut shot doesn't take up time and adds drama

Medium long shot - this will show the location and character at the same time, giving a hint onto the location as you will see the background.

Close up shot - this will be used to show the case file

Panning shot - this will show the character delivering the case file smoothly and quickly

Test Shots:

Jump cut shot when coming upstairs (CCTV shot will be from above)

Medium shot of case file

Close up of case file

Music and Sound Effects

The music we will be using will be high paced. A heat beat like effects will be used to help dramatise the scene. Also music with a fast beat will he used, these sounds being used will be non diagetic as you cannot see the source of the music. Other sounds will include general city sounds like cars, traffic and crowd noise to help and realism to the opening scene. As the tension builds the sound effects will enhance this as it will increase and become louder. Adding sound effects and music will help grab the audience and increase suspense and mystery.

Here is an example of the type of music and sound effects that we will produce and incorporate into our opening scene: 

http://youtu.be/XOzCgLA3tKw

http://youtu.be/MTn6DHfF9Q8

http://youtu.be/VjZ-iUStAEI

Scene Walk Through Timeline For Opening Sequence

Or title sequence will mainly feature an intensive sound track to build suspense as their will be no dialogue thoughtout the opening sequence.

-0.0 - 0.07

Production introduction

-0.07- 0.14

Typing on laptop

-0.14 - 0.22

Looking at files

-0.23 - 0.25

Circling face on paper

-0.25 - 0.31

Close up of photo

-0.31 - 0.34

'The Case'

-0.34 - 0.42

On computer

-0.42 - 0.45

Picking up cable tie

-0.45 - 0.48

Close up of cable tie around hands

-0.48 - 0.58

POV of walking

-0.58 - 1.05

Text message

-1.05 - 1.07

Location of road shot

-1.07 - 1.14

Man walking

-1.14 - 1.16

Closer shot of walking

-1.16 - 1.22

Low angle of men meeting

-1.22 - 1.30

Exchange of documents

-1.30 - 1.36

Low angle of walking away

-1.36 - 1.37

Pan of area

-1.37 - 1.48

Man looking at file

-1.48 - 1.55

Tilt up from young woman's feet

-1.55 - 2.03

Close up of young woman's face

-2.03 - 2.07

Black screen with music finishing