-Briefcase -Smart clothing
-Keys -Casual clothing
-Photo - Dark Clothing
-Gun
Characters:
-Man, wife, killer
Setting:
-Home of man and wife
-Set at night when man returns from work
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Thriller Opening: Rough Plot
From our ideas we have come up with a rough plot.
-Starts with a distorted shot of a women being attacked with the sound of screaming in the background.
-The shot is constantly interrupted by cuting to a black screen with the film's production titles in white lettering.
-The shot shows a car pulling up to the house, from the inside, with curtains opened by a hand.
-The man gets out of the car and walks to the front door and inside. Once inside he calls his wife's name whilst putting his briefcase down and placing his keys next to a picture of him and his wife.
-The the camera follows him up the stairs with the man still calling his wife. He then walks down stairs when he can't find her. Goes into the kitchen to see her dead on the floor.
-The camera shows him walking up to her and kneeling as he notices a symbol printed on her hand. From behind he gets hit over the head and collapses to the floor facing his wife and the symbol on her hand with the shot fading out with the killer walking out of the shot.
-Starts with a distorted shot of a women being attacked with the sound of screaming in the background.
-The shot is constantly interrupted by cuting to a black screen with the film's production titles in white lettering.
-The shot shows a car pulling up to the house, from the inside, with curtains opened by a hand.
-The man gets out of the car and walks to the front door and inside. Once inside he calls his wife's name whilst putting his briefcase down and placing his keys next to a picture of him and his wife.
-The the camera follows him up the stairs with the man still calling his wife. He then walks down stairs when he can't find her. Goes into the kitchen to see her dead on the floor.
-The camera shows him walking up to her and kneeling as he notices a symbol printed on her hand. From behind he gets hit over the head and collapses to the floor facing his wife and the symbol on her hand with the shot fading out with the killer walking out of the shot.
Friday, 15 January 2010
Target Audiance
We have decided that our target audiance will be between ages 15-35 with some appeal to other ages. They will be mainly male but not by a large amount, they will like thrillers and be accustom to the conventions and also enjoy when some of the conventions are turned on their head.
They will be the kind of person who enjoys a film because it makes them think, although we will also include exciting elements so that the film does not bore the audiance.
They will mostly enjoy psychological thrillers such as Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000), Conspiracy based thrillers such as Eagle eye(D.J. Caruso 2008) and horror based thrillers such as Saw (James Wan, 2004). However they will also enjoy a variety of different genres of film such as comedy and action.
They will be the kind of person who enjoys a film because it makes them think, although we will also include exciting elements so that the film does not bore the audiance.
They will mostly enjoy psychological thrillers such as Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000), Conspiracy based thrillers such as Eagle eye(D.J. Caruso 2008) and horror based thrillers such as Saw (James Wan, 2004). However they will also enjoy a variety of different genres of film such as comedy and action.
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Deadlines
We will try and follow the following deadline for our production, however it will be changed if we need to for whatever reason.
5th-7th Jan-first planning/ideas, start storyboarding
12th-14th Jan-finnish storyboard, plan props costumes etc.
19th-21st Jan-Finnish planning/ start filming, will film sometime during the same week. Begin to plan evaluation documentry
26th-28th-begin editing
2nd-4th Feb-editing/ re-shoots
9th-11th Feb-editing/ music
23rd-25th Feb-Editing / music
2-3 March- editing, finalising film
5th March- Deadline
9th-11th March - evaluation
16th-18th March evaluation
5th-7th Jan-first planning/ideas, start storyboarding
12th-14th Jan-finnish storyboard, plan props costumes etc.
19th-21st Jan-Finnish planning/ start filming, will film sometime during the same week. Begin to plan evaluation documentry
26th-28th-begin editing
2nd-4th Feb-editing/ re-shoots
9th-11th Feb-editing/ music
23rd-25th Feb-Editing / music
2-3 March- editing, finalising film
5th March- Deadline
9th-11th March - evaluation
16th-18th March evaluation
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
Initial thriller ideas
We first decided to plan what sub-genre our production would be, we decided that either psychological or an action thriller.
We decided the Intro would have to involve some kind of crime since this is conventional of the thriller genre.
One of our ideas was a chase scene that ended in a murder, another involved someone watching a hostage tape.
The idea we decided to use was a normal looking man cominng home from work going into his house and searching for his wife but then finding her dead on the floor in one of the rooms, soon after this he gets knocked out by the killer who concealed themself.
For this we would need a fairly average looking house for a location.
We decided the Intro would have to involve some kind of crime since this is conventional of the thriller genre.
One of our ideas was a chase scene that ended in a murder, another involved someone watching a hostage tape.
The idea we decided to use was a normal looking man cominng home from work going into his house and searching for his wife but then finding her dead on the floor in one of the rooms, soon after this he gets knocked out by the killer who concealed themself.
For this we would need a fairly average looking house for a location.
Monday, 4 January 2010
Taken - Pierre Morel
In the opening sequence of Taken, we are introduced to main character and some other characters that play important roles later on. First off, we see the titles in white on a black background, which is conventional as it has also been used in other thriller films. In the background we hear non-diegetic music which is sort of mysterious as we're not sure what is going on. We can then see a recording of a girl at her birthday party. This goes on for a minute or so where we see an older woman who is most likely to be her mother. At this point we think that these characters are connected to the main character. Next the recording cuts unexpectedly to a close up of the main character in the present. This cuts to a long shot of him sitting in a dark living room on his own. Holding a picture of the same girl. We realise that the girl in the recording is his daughter, althought we don't actually see him with his daughter in the recording. This opening is quite conventional as you sometimes watch someone's memories or a dream and that you see the present.
The camera then changes to a close up of the picture with the titles of the film 'Taken' next to it. This suggests that she is the one who is going to be taken. The next shot is of the same man walking into a shop where he is greeted with the words 'Hello, Mr Mills' this tells the audience the character's name. This is again conventional as we get to know something about one of the characters in the opening sequence. The shots throughout the dialogue are often high angle shots to make Mr Mills seem more powerful because he is wearing smarter clothes or because he has a higher authority. Mr Mills purchases a karaoke machine, probably for his daughter. As he wraps it he wraps it carefully, which suggests he is a perfectionist and cares for his daughter. Later on we see him at his daughter's party giving her the gift. We have now met another character and we also meet the mother who doesn't seem to get along with Mr Mills. This suggets they are divorced. This opening is conventional to other thrillers as it introduces us to our characters and tells us a bit about them without giving too much away so we want to watch more to find out.
The camera then changes to a close up of the picture with the titles of the film 'Taken' next to it. This suggests that she is the one who is going to be taken. The next shot is of the same man walking into a shop where he is greeted with the words 'Hello, Mr Mills' this tells the audience the character's name. This is again conventional as we get to know something about one of the characters in the opening sequence. The shots throughout the dialogue are often high angle shots to make Mr Mills seem more powerful because he is wearing smarter clothes or because he has a higher authority. Mr Mills purchases a karaoke machine, probably for his daughter. As he wraps it he wraps it carefully, which suggests he is a perfectionist and cares for his daughter. Later on we see him at his daughter's party giving her the gift. We have now met another character and we also meet the mother who doesn't seem to get along with Mr Mills. This suggets they are divorced. This opening is conventional to other thrillers as it introduces us to our characters and tells us a bit about them without giving too much away so we want to watch more to find out.
Saturday, 2 January 2010
Saw (James Wan, 2004) analysis
Saw begins witht the titles which are a blueish white with a plain black background, this is fairly common in some horror/ thriller films. The audiance are introduced to the main character (Adam) right at the start when he there is a close up of his face underwater, he then climbs out of the bath into a room with very low key lighting.
While the lights are turning on the camera tracks backwards while looking up at them, this helps show that the room is quite large.
During the first scene the audiance find out that Adam is trapped in a large bathroom like room with another man called Laurence who also has no idea how he got there. There are white tiles and many pipes on the walls which help to show that it is a bathroom.
One way that it is conventional is that it is based round a crime, which in this case is kidnap, there are also many enigmas become apparent, for example "why have they been kidnapped?" There is alos a dead body in the centre of the room they are in which raises even more questions.
Adam wears jeans and a shirt, these help to show that he is a fairly average person trapped in this unusual situation which is conventional of thriller films, this also applies to Laurence. The pipes in the bathroom are all various browns and black colours and look very dirty, this helps to make the room feel unpleasent.
Another convention of thriller films is that the antagonist has power over the protagonist, since Adam is locked in a room with no obvious way of escape the antagonist has ower ove rhim which is conventional.
The editing in the opening scene of saw is continutiy editing which heps to enhance the verysimilitude of the situation and make it more realistic, which is conventional of thriller films. Shot reverse shot is used when Adam and Laurence are talking, which means that most of the time you cannot see anything else in the room other than the two corners they are in, this keeps the audiance wanting to know what else is in the room which creates tension.
The camera slightly zooms into some of the shots of Adam and Laurence from a high angle which gives the feeling that they arn't veyr powerful and are being watched.
When Adam and Laurence are talking there are mainly long shots (or at least medium long) shots used, in most of these the camera is looking slightly down at Adam, which shows his lack of power, they look slightly up at Laurence but not all the time, which shows he does have slightly more power than Adam.
There is some music during the bathroom scene although it is quite and not heard much, it is ambient sounding with parts which sound electronic and orchestral.
Some of the ideas we could use in our thriller opening are: An unknown antagonist, uncertainty over who the protoganist is and continuity editing to make the verysimilitude believable. We could also use high angle shots to make the character seem less powerful. In saw the situation the characters are in is made clear but the reasons are not-these become the enigmas that make the audiance want to keep watching, we could also do this in our thriller intro.
While the lights are turning on the camera tracks backwards while looking up at them, this helps show that the room is quite large.
During the first scene the audiance find out that Adam is trapped in a large bathroom like room with another man called Laurence who also has no idea how he got there. There are white tiles and many pipes on the walls which help to show that it is a bathroom.
One way that it is conventional is that it is based round a crime, which in this case is kidnap, there are also many enigmas become apparent, for example "why have they been kidnapped?" There is alos a dead body in the centre of the room they are in which raises even more questions.
Adam wears jeans and a shirt, these help to show that he is a fairly average person trapped in this unusual situation which is conventional of thriller films, this also applies to Laurence. The pipes in the bathroom are all various browns and black colours and look very dirty, this helps to make the room feel unpleasent.
Another convention of thriller films is that the antagonist has power over the protagonist, since Adam is locked in a room with no obvious way of escape the antagonist has ower ove rhim which is conventional.
The editing in the opening scene of saw is continutiy editing which heps to enhance the verysimilitude of the situation and make it more realistic, which is conventional of thriller films. Shot reverse shot is used when Adam and Laurence are talking, which means that most of the time you cannot see anything else in the room other than the two corners they are in, this keeps the audiance wanting to know what else is in the room which creates tension.
The camera slightly zooms into some of the shots of Adam and Laurence from a high angle which gives the feeling that they arn't veyr powerful and are being watched.
When Adam and Laurence are talking there are mainly long shots (or at least medium long) shots used, in most of these the camera is looking slightly down at Adam, which shows his lack of power, they look slightly up at Laurence but not all the time, which shows he does have slightly more power than Adam.
There is some music during the bathroom scene although it is quite and not heard much, it is ambient sounding with parts which sound electronic and orchestral.
Some of the ideas we could use in our thriller opening are: An unknown antagonist, uncertainty over who the protoganist is and continuity editing to make the verysimilitude believable. We could also use high angle shots to make the character seem less powerful. In saw the situation the characters are in is made clear but the reasons are not-these become the enigmas that make the audiance want to keep watching, we could also do this in our thriller intro.
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