Script

In our thriller, we have decided that we are not going to use any soundtrack; the reason for this is because we feel that there is not an opportunity to use it in our opening sequence. Besides, our main focus is to attract our audience by focusing on the visual sides of the thriller. Moreover, as a group we feel that if we use dialogue it may break the tone and atmosphere of the thriller.

Character descriptions

Becca Lake as Brooke Morgan

Brooke Morgan is the popular, pretty girl at school. She has longish (dyed) blonde hair that she often backcombs and uses a hairspray to support it. She cares about her appearance a great deal, but doesn't consider herself to be better than others. She is tallish, and always wears heels to make herself look taller and older. She has bright blue eyes, and well moisturised skin. You will never see Brooke without make up on, as she is girly and well groomed. She dresses slutty as she likes attention from the male gender, and loves to flaunt her curves and other assets. She also likes to drink a lot and doesn't always consider the dangers of the affects that this might have on her in the future and at this present time. She also does a lot of drugs, which could lead to her being very vulnerable and having a great risk of being in danger. We have chosen this this type of character to be the main character as we thought that this stereotypical portrayal of a party girl would leave her to be more vulnerable, and the audience would be able to understand and relate to this character more.

Merlin

Merlin is a selfless, sensible character who is almost a contrast to the other main character Brooke. He is a tall black male, with brown eyes and a high top. He dresses very smart and casual, and loves his fashion. He mostly wears black as he doesn't really like to stand out in a crowd, and likes to keep himself to himself. We have chosen him to be the character who discovers the body as he is very self-aware and extremely sensible. He lacks a sense of fun and therefore he never seems to find himself in trouble. He often stays home on the weekends and works continuously throughout them. He is very devoted to his work and education, and therefore can lack social skills and friends. He is a complete opposite of Brooke Morgan, so that's the reason as to why we decided to cast this character as our other main character.

Titles

When the titles appear in our opening sequence, we have chosen for characters names to appear first, and then we will include job roles such as camera men, director and so on after in a bold white font. For the title of our film, we have decided that it will appear slowly using fading, once it has fully appeared it will be in large white font, with capital letters on a black background. We have chose this because it represents the theme of a thriller well and creates quite an uneasy atmosphere. These titles will appear in the bottom centre of the frame so that the audience can still see what is happening to the characters.

Conventions of an opening sequence

An opening sequence main intention is to grab our attention as viewers. An opening sequence is set to establish the mood or even the tone of the film. It is also often six minutes long which familiarizes the viewer with the setting.

I have taken screen grabs from various different thrillers, which I feel that show the conventions of an opening sequence.

•Normally has a soundtrack to set the tone
•Slower paced shots – leading us into the narrative
•Establishes the mood and tone of the film
•Familiarises a viewer with the setting
•It has to hook its audience in the first 5 minutes

Shooting Schedule

A Shooting Schedule is a timetable of dates in which everybody in our group is available to film. This is essential so that everybody is aware of when they have to film, as well as being able to allow enough time to plan, film and edit our opening sequence. We have chosen these specific dates as they work around our school timetables and give us enough tine to get our opening sequence completed.

Conventions of a Thriller

In a thriller film, I believe that they should be able to incise the audience. A thriller movie follows specific devices in order to build a certain effect on the viewer. It should normally leave with a food cliff hanger, however it usually has a jumpy effect which makes an audience what to carrung on watching the film.

• Full of intense action
• Various camera shot types
• Short/long clips to build tension
• Fast paced clips
• Gloomy, misty, dark rooms, woods, car parks, graveyard and derelict settings
• Spine-chilling props
• Blood and gore
• Starts with an equilibrium and ends with a happy ending
• Ends with a cliff hanger
• Jumpy scenes

Initial ideas

When noting our ideas for our thriller opening sequence, we made a spider diagram of our basic ideas and then bullet pointed them. We decided that our main character Jamal would be walking through a park and comes across a friend’s dead body.
We then said that he would then pick up note left in the victims hand that said something creepy and bizarre like 'your next.'
We would then see Jamal becoming panicked as he would then have a note similar to the victims.
Groups of people dressed in all white would then appear around the park, seen as distant and creepy (just like the note.)
However we decided to then scrap that idea when we had spoken to our teacher, as it was a bit random and didn't really have any relevance to our actual story.
We also decided on getting a lot of location shots to create a really eerie atmosphere, seeming as though Jamal was alone and deserted in this park.
Our group also talked about using some flashbacks in our opening sequence, to set up the first few minutes of our story better.
These will possibly include a few seconds of the victim getting ready the night before, to try and build up tension as to how she died and why.
We were also told beforehand that we were not allowed to shoot in alleyways, and our actors were not allowed to wear hoodies.
In our spider diagram we also addressed what props we would be using, and where we would purchase these props etc.

Props, Costumes and Locations.

Costumes and Props

Costumes for Characters

Brooke Morgan.
On the evening of Brooke Morgan’s death, she was preparing for a night out. This means that Brooke’s costume consists of bright colored heels, a short dress with a handbag. She is also wearing a distinctive silver, spikey braclet in which is a main clue in solving her murder. This costume represents Brooke’s character well as she is quite an outgoing young girl, and at times is not sensible.

Jamal.

Jamal is the character that is walking his dog through his local park like most mornings when he comes across his bead friend, Brooke’s dead body. He is wearing tracksuit bottoms, a jumper and trainers to portray that he has just got out of bed and has not made an effort. This costume shows Jamal’s personality as it shows a typical teenage man well.

Props

-Dog: this will show the audience that Jamal is in the park as he is taking his dog for a walk.

-Fake Blood: this will be used on Brooke’s body to emphasise that she is dead, as well as on the gate at thefront of the park to show that she has been running and tried to escape from somewhere.

-Lipstick: Jamal steps on the lipstick that belongs to Brooke, this is where he realizes that she is dead.

-Braclet: the braclet will be on Brooke’s wrist, which is later a clue to her murder.

-Water for leaf: one of the shots we have included in our opening sequence is a close up of rain dripping from a leaf, we will need to bring a bottle of water during filming to put on the leaf incase it doesn’t rain.

-Make up: we will need to use make up on Brooke to show that she has been beaten up.

-Note: the note used in Brookes hand is also another clue to solving her murder.

Sound

Very successful soundtracks used for thriller films or programmes.

I used these four links from cinema's most successful thriller films and television programmes. Each one of these films or television programmes uses a dramatic appeal by using suspenseful music. However, some of this music that I have incorporated is quite quirky, connoting that certain things happen to people every day of the week, and that it is just ordinary hence the ordinary, everyday music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imamcajBEJs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QjuEWsdgEc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpJQ-HX3F8g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fE7WtWcT64

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYIAfiVGluk&ob=av2nm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEgX64n3T7g&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxVuUoy7Ns4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn3-1kvv6u4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdK9OlOzayE&ob=av2nm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaVE4WVlsDQ&ob=av2el

Music that I think would compliment our thriller opening sequence.

My group researched artists on Youtube that we think produce music that would go well with our opening sequence. All the music posted below has an eerie, effective sound to it, and gradually builds tension to produce a dramatic climax. However, some of the music is quite quirky, to represent the normal, everyday life and how people face different dangers every day.

Synopsis

After being out for the night at the local Bar “Abbey Girls”, Brook Morgan is highly intoxicated in alcohol and her mind is almost absent. She has been parted from her friends as she lives in the opposite direction of her friend’s houses. Brook is found looking greasy and gummy in a lonely walk way besides the bar. The two bouncers at the bar stumble across her and take her back to their shared penthouse.

Brook has been setup up by her Fathers clients who struck a deal with him to place an order on selected heavy goods items. Yet the deal has not been successfully met. The items agreed on were not exactly as planned so there has been a disagreement.

After being raped by the two bouncers, she has been departed in the park surrounded by woodland where she normally hangs about. Her best friend comes across her in the park and is mortified. The police investigate the scene and believe the unnamed best friend has committed the rape and murder and he is then arrested.

Casting

For our thriller opening sequence we have chosen two actors and a dog to construct the opening sequence. One of the actors chosen is Becca, we have considered her for the reasons that she is a confident and flexible student who is willing to be co-operative and work hard. A person with these decent qualities will not only commit to what she has been asked to do, but she will be able to discuss and assist with any problems with her staging or if she feels uncomfortable. Becca is also an efficient and organised person who likes to try out new challenges therefore we should not have any complications with her during filming schedules. Becca has experienced numerous performances as she has achieved a grade B in her Dance GCSE. Her experience is not so much from a drama prospective however having a Dance qualification she would have had to be able to work in a team also solo so getting her to do duets would not be difficult. Involving the thriller questionnaire, a large 54% the volunteers who completed the questionnaire said that they would prefer a pretty girl character therefore we believe Becca is a perfect candidate for this.

Additionally, the next actor we have selected is myself, I am reliable person and I feel I have bags of enthusiasm and energy. These abilities will help me to make sure my performance is to its full potential. Some of my peers would say I’m a keen, positive and friendly natured person who does not find it hard to interact with people. Besides, I believe I have a genuine passion for working with people and have achieved a grade B in GCSE Drama. I have given countless presentations in school and I have also performed in various school productions. I feel I am a confident person who is well educated in creating a good performance for an audience and knowing what they would like. I could say I am trustworthy individual as I have excellent attendance and punctuality record at school (100% in Year 11) so there should be no trouble in my appearance whilst shooting. Because of my Drama GCSE I have been taught how to select the most effective course of action so if there is any problems with the shooting I will be able to step in and try to solve it.

Lastly we have chosen a dog named Ruby, it is a Pug. Pugs have been featured in television and film, including Frank the Pug in the film Men in Black. Pugs are small in size and have enormous personalities. Ruby is intelligent, affectionate and loves to be the centre of attention. She has been trained therefore it should not be a problem whilst getting her to perform in our opening sequence. Since Pugs are small, and cute. It almost breaks the general stereotype of all dogs have to be of a medium size and slightly aggressive. Besides, Ruby should be able to win over peoples hearts as she is well behaved and enjoys attention.

Storyboard

Audience Research 2

In our thriller groups we were asked to analyse our results. By creating graphs/pie charts and upload to your blog. We had to analyse the results and how will the information influence our work. Whilst analysing our results we found out style of thriller they liked by asking them open and closed questions ranging from locations; characters and various endings.

In the questionnaire we asked what type of location they preferred for a thriller film. A large 46% of people preferred an abandoned building. So within planning our thriller opening sequence we will consider this. Close to an abandoned building, some people chose woodland as their answer so we use this as a backup plan.

We asked the preferred genre of thriller nearly half of the people we asked chose psychological, in our group we feel strongly with this genre and we feel we can develop this exceedingly.

In the questionnaire we asked how old they were, we feel this helped to show what age group prefers a certain style of thriller. With this question, most of the people we surveyed were aged 16. This shows that most of our results will be from a sixteen year olds perspective.

Even more, as a group we felt it would be important to know what their ideal character would be so we could try to portray as much as they would like to see. We also have an actor in mind for planning to act out of the pretty female victim.

More than half of the 15 people we surveyed agreed to that thriller should contain gore so we shall consider this in our planning.

Wallander - Analysis

Cinematography

Cinematography in the Film Wallander draws a lot of attention to the viewer’s so they are very engaged. We see an extreme close up of a bloody knife in a female characters hand. As a viewer I personally feel abstract to this as I do not usually come across knives smothered in blood in the first minute or two of an opening sequence. I believe the establishing shot at the start of the opening sequence is almost perfect, the camera tracks along the water and land which shows the landscape of setting of the film. The tracking shot immediately sets the mood of the film and gives an unnerving effect which makes an audience think something unpredictable is going to happen. The framing of the shots in Wallander are done as if they are photographs. Every object within the frame is central; if I was to split the shots up into 9 equal segments every square would look symmetrical. As viewers we are attracted to the well composed shots which also make us feel relaxed whilst we absorb the storyline of the film.

Mise-en-scene

Furthermore, there is a taxi drivers ID covered in blood which makes the characters seem more authentic as we try to predict what his life was like or even the type of character he was. An audience would question if the taxi driver had any children or a wife and why he was killed. The setting of the film is in the day by the bright coastline which makes it more suspicious to the taxi driver’s death. The costumes are mainly dull and meet stereotypical teenagers dress sense of genes and a dark jacket. The girl’s clothes look messy and unclean. The adults in the opening sequence are mainly police officers and are in police uniform. The characters seem to have vicious facial expressions and seem to look as if they have no guilt what’s so ever even though they look suspicious of murder. The key prop in the opening sequence is the knife drenched in blood. The knife makes an audience believe someone has been injured or even killed from the knife. So as a viewer we question why the knife is bloody.

Sound

Sound plays a big part in the atmosphere of Wallander. There is an example of non-diegetic sound of birds which adds to the naturalist effect of the coastline. More importantly there is a low ambient sound which shows anxiety of the when we see the two shot of the characters walking along the grass pathway. As a viewer we can tell that the characters have conspired something or they will be convicted for something they may have committed. There is also interesting dialogue between the police officers; they are discussing the victim’s injuries. This then leads the audience slightly into the narrative which then encourages them to continue to watch the film so they can see if there predictions were correct.

Editing

The film Wallander has some thought-provoking parts of editing for example, we see an extreme close up of a knife which then cuts into a shot of match on action n with the knife which then cuts into the title sequence, as viewers we are surprised at this transition which makes us feel as though we want to continue to watch the film as it seems interesting. There are a few shots of eye line match for instance the male police officer looks towards the police car then the film cuts to the convicted girls in the police car. This editing effect makes the film look more continuous. Even more there are lot of focus pulls shots when the camera is focusing on the different characters. As viewers we are able to visualise the characters facial expressions stereotype the type of characters they are.

Kiss Me Deadly - Analysis

Cinematography

In the film ‘Kiss Me Deadly’ cinematography plays a huge part in creating a thriller atmosphere. Within the film we witness a large amount of mid shots. The mid shots create a sense of uncertainty for us as viewers. For the reason that we do not have a complete image of the person and we do not know who she is. The mid shots also attempts to play on our minds as we start to convince ourselves of the role the character plays. We see a focus pull at the beginning of the film of the car begins to gradually come closer to the women in the road. This not only wants us to believe the car is not going to stop but it also add a great deal of tension to us as an audience. Even so, the point of view shot of the women watching the car approaching the lady also adds to the tension created. As viewers we feel as though we are in the women’s shoes which then terrify us as we believe we will be run over or majorly injured if the car does not stop. The gentle establishing shot of the car coming along the road uses the rule of thirds as we break up the images into various segments and try to piece the story together.

Mise-en-scene

Moving on, the mise-en-scene in Kiss Me Deadly is a very typical setting of a thriller due to the time of day it is set. It is set at night time in a lonely countryside A road. Because of the distinctive setting we believe something or someone is about to jump out of grassland besides the road. I believe the setting is good as there are many dark colours and it seems as though the road leads to trouble due to the director focusing heavily on the rules of thirds whilst composing the film. Besides, the female character in the film uses strong but exaggerated facial expressions. She seems to be terrified and as if she has been tortured. These facial expressions are captivating and pull us further into the film. The female character is barely wearing any clothes but a long, pale scruffy jacket, she has not even got any shoes on her feet therefore she must have been in such a awful state she had to leave in a hurry. The car I believe is a superior prop which we mainly focus on. The car is a white sports car, we normally associate the colour white with objects such as clouds, snow and flowers which appear often in nature, therefore it is stereotyped to frequently be related to purity and cleanness.

Sound

Sound in the film Kiss Me Deadly progressively gets more interesting whist the story moves on. There is a soundtrack which plays in the background it is very ominous which makes a viewer feel tense whilst indulged with the film. There is diegetic sound of the car skidding off track almost hitting the female character. There is a large amount of dialogue between the arrogant man who is more concerned about his car then the lady he nearly killed. There is also incidental music in the background when the lady stands in front of the oncoming traffic, this adds atmosphere to the action which is a threatening tone and startles the audience. The incidental music immediately alerts the audience that something is going to enhance the depiction of the story advancing the film.

Editing

The film was made in 1955 therefore it is a very old film. The film is in the style of black and white which personally does not appeal to me. However there is a good reason to compose the film in black and white, it makes items such as fog; mist and smoke heavily stand out within the shots. The smoke or dust which is visible when the car skids off the road is highly exaggerated for visual effects. This makes the film look realistic. An audience may react more sharply towards this as the smoke or dust almost looks as if it explodes. There is match on action between the two characters just as they are about to have a conversation. Once again this type of editing just makes the shots look more interesting for a viewer to watch.