Props

This is some of the possible props for use in our filming tomorrow.

This picture, and a couple from our group's storyboard can also be found on the 'Yfrog' photosharing website, as seen here http://yfrog.com/16wy50j

Inspirations And Why

Although this movie was not an inspiration as I had never seen the movie, the plot which most closely matches the one of our story, is 'The Bourne Trilogy'.

The movie uses a 12A certificate as it is an complex political storyline however there is no extreme violence or nudity. This is similar to our movie however the storyline is more psychological than political and the idea for later parts of the movie involve stronger violence so the certificate of our movie should probably be a 15.

'The Bourne Trilogy' also uses many tracking shots and street chases, similar to our opening sequence, and from research we gathered that the movie used some unique handheld camera shots which we are likely to also use.

Inspiration for the psychological aspect is 'Donnie Darko' as the movie has some dark scenes and they lead to tricks being played on the viewer.

Questionnaire For Audience Research

1. What gender are you?  Male  Female
2. What age are you?  Under 16    17-26    27-36   37-46    47-56   57-66   66+
3. Which of these movie genres is your favourite? Comedy    Thriller    Musical   Romance    Drama   
     Sci-Fi   Other
4. Which of these movies do you most enjoy?  Harold And Kumar    The Bourne Identity    High School Musical    Pride And Prejudice   Othello   Terminator   I haven't seen any    I don't like any    I like them all  
5. What do you consider to be the conventions of a Thriller movie?
6. Which of these settings entices you the most?   Park    Street    Nightclub   Office    House   
    Police Station   Abandoned Warehouse
7. Which of these characters is most iconic? Terminator (Terminator Movies)  
Batman (Batman Movies)     Jigsaw (Saw Movies)    Jason Bourne (Bourne Trilogy)     None        Other
8. Which is your favourite movie from the following? Ocean's Eleven   Ocean's Twelve   Ocean's Thirteen

Comparing Two Opening Sequences

Kidulthood

Sound: The non-diagetic music used in the opening sequence of 'Kidulthood' is a steady beat, which fits in well with the theme of the movie and lasts throughout the sequence. The diagetic sound includes a drill being used by Trevor to construct a gun and general conversations in the playground.
Mise-en-scene: The characters are all dressed to fit in with the theme. The opening scene is in a high school so everyone is wearing the uniform. The high school setting means it is filled with many people.
Narrative: The main character, Trevor is constructing and hiding a gun, meanwhile Sam is being hostile to people in the playground and asking questions and finally, some random white guy is handing out invitations to a party.
Camera shots: The sequence uses extreme close ups when Trevor is constructing the gun and also close ups are used to show the concentrated look in his eye. An establishing, high angle shot is used in the playground to show its size and all the people.
Aim: The aim of the opening sequence is to establish the theme of the movie. The opening scene hints that the movie will involve violence with the gun being constructed and Sam behaving in an aggressive manner. The scene also establishes the fact that the characters will be mostly high school students. There is some enigma because the viewer is not made aware of why Sam is being aggressive and why Trevor is constructing a gun and whether the two actions are linked.

Silence of the Lambs


Sound: The non-diagetic sound is slow background music which helps build tension. The diagetic sound includes the woman's footsteps as she runs.
Mise-en-scene: The woman is wearing a casual/sport sweatshirt which shows that the situation is nothing special at first sight. The setting is a dull, forrest filled with obstacles.
Narrative: A woman is running through a forrest in a fast tempo fashion and an FBI officer is there and provides her with some information.
Camera shots: A longshot is used at first which shows the forrest and then the shot pans down. A low angled shot is used as the woman moves towards the shot. A tracking shot is then used as the woman continues to run. As she goes through obstacles the camera pans around her. When she meets the FBI officer a close up is used to show his facial expression as the camera zooms on him. The camera zooms in on the woman at the end before gory images are shown.
Aim: The aim of the sequence is to produce some enigma as the viewer does not initially know why the woman is running and tension is also built by the slow music to intrigue the viewer, and make them want to watch the rest of the movie.

Our Group's Idea For An Opening Sequence

This is the rough idea for our group's opening sequence so far.

There will be a man answering a phone. The man's identity remains unknown. He talks to another unknown man on the phone throughout the opening two minutes about hunting someone down. Again the hunted man is unknown and only referred to as "him". This interlinks with a sequence involving a man walking along the road and taking various paths in a quick and panicked fashion. It can be assumed that this man is the one being hunted. There are numerous shots of him taking paths which are then shown to be blocked by henchmen, and he is forced off into many different directions. There will also be around three or four rapid flashback shots during the sequence, which will be blurred and tinted so it will be clear that the scenes are flashbacks. The titles will come up simply in black and white every now and then during the sequence.

The sequence will have a quick feel to it with the numerous shots used in quick succession. Tracking shots will be used to show the man on the run and extreme close ups will be used of the first man's phone ringing and him answering it. As was aforementioned the flashbacks will be clearly defined with some blur and tint, if possible although it should be recognised that this may prove difficult to acheive and so may have to be cut in the final plan. The costumes will be casual/smart and dark, mostly greys and blacks. The music will have a dramatic feel to it and will probably be an instrumental by acclaimed artist Ashgo 9Teen as we have gained legal rights to use his material. The most likely pieces for use are the tracks 'Rayners Lane' or 'Rusteeq' as using his more complicated pieces would take away from the visual and the theme of the sequence.

Our initial idea for a title is 'Untitled' because the man is unknown and unnamed. The tagline is "Unknown quantities cannot be titled". The movie would fit into the thriller genre, and the sub-genre would be a hybrid; a man-on-the-run thriller with elements of a psychological thriller. The movie's style is rather rapid and creepy. The psychological element could show similar content to such movies as 'Donnie Darko' whereas the man-on-the-run element could be like the movie 'The Fugitive'.

Thriller Sub-Genres

The Thriller category of movies is very wide and unspecific. The following are sub-genres of the Thriller genre.

Psychological Thriller - e.g Donnie Darko. Movies with complicated and often creepy storylines.

Man On The Run - e.g The Fugitive. Movies which follow one person or a group of people's journey as they are hunted down.

Action Thriller - e.g Con Air. Movies which are packed with explosions, gunfire and fighting, but suffer from unrealistic moments and minimal storyline.

Slasher Thriller - e.g Scream. Movies which usually follow a violent series of killings.

Spoof Thriller - e.g Shawn of The Dead. Movies which use stereotypical elements of famous thrillers and pack them in a funny way into one movie.

Horror Thriller - e.g Saw. Movies which are designed simply to scare the viewer.

The Birds Scary Scene Evaluation

1st shot - Establishing shot
2nd shot - Mid Shot
3rd shot - Medium Long Shot (tracking)
4th shot - Low angle Mid Shot with slow rotation
5th, 6th shot - Mid Shot
7th shot - Medium Close-Up
8th shot - long shot
9th shot - Medium Close-Up
10th shot - Medium Close-Up
11th shot - Medium Close-Up
12th shot - High Angle, Wide Shot
13th shot - Medium Shot
14th shot - Close-Up
15th shot - Long shot continuity Medium Long Shot
16th shot - Long shot
17th shot - low Angle, Close-up

1. What principles of continuity are used here? How successfully? Refer to specific shots / screen grabs.

The continuity is mainly completely smooth but some parts of the woman's journey are missed out and in the shot of the woman going through the front door, a couple of her footsteps and the opening of the first door are skipped.

2. What is the effect of the editing on the viewer? What are we meant to feel at different stages? (ie before she enters the house, in the kitchen, in the corridor, in the bedroom, running away)?

There is a lot of build up as the woman opens the door. Then a point of view shot is used as she looks around the room and finally comes to the man. Then a close/mid shot is used to show the woman's expression and reaction.

3. What is the 'best bit' for you in this sequence in terms of learning new techniques and why?

The best bit was as the woman discovered the body and ran away, a view is used which allows us to see the woman running towards the camera but also shows the corridor behind her as if there is a possibility of something or someone coming behind her as she tries to escape.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

The above video, is one of the final cuts of the preliminary task movie. The difference in the 3 final cuts is the soundtracks used. I think we all did good jobs with the sound as they fit well with the genre and tempo of the movie. Different camera angles are used to build tension such as POV and high angle shots. The minimal dialogue aids the movie as most films in this stalker sub-genre of thriller, do not contain much speech and conversation. The continuity was quite good apart from one scene where a person appears where he wasn't before, however it doesn't look bad as it looks like it may have been an intentional sudden appearance as the music is also shocking at this point. The other poor bit of continuity is in the final scene which I was absent from the filming of, as in this scene there are many people standing around who were not there before, however this could be covered up with the idea that the criminal is standing around pretending that he doesn't know what happened to the victim, and then the man who gave the victim his wallet before the incident, sees the criminal, and figures out or knows from previous incidents, that he did the crime.

Comparing 'The Accident' and 'The Door'

'The Accident' was the first movie. The main task was to create a good storyline while using a variety of camera angles. The first objective was completed as was the second one however looking back, the main problem is the continuity in the filming and editing. The main objective on the second movie; 'The Door' was then to illustrate good continuity.

'The Door' was a success as the movie showed near perfect continuity, including during the most difficult to film scene, of a character going through a door.