Thriller Rough Cut

This is a rough cut version of our thriller opening. 

Things to change:

• credits - we had put multiple credits on one shot, we must change them so that they are displayed one at a time
• company logo - we need to add another company logo, a production company for the 'in association with' logo
• need more film content, a wider range of shots, more to edit with to make the opening longer (2mins worth)
• flash effects - some of the flash transitions and effects that we added onto the footage we happening too slowly

Our Revised Film Logo

This is our film title logo that I remade. We remade it to go with an idea that we had during filming. We came up with the idea to overlay the title on the wall of this shot of the girl's hand dragging along the wall:

We plan to add the logo onto the shot and then have the shot flash to black to give a thunder storm effect.

[Edit]: We later decided to abondon this idea as it was too complex to create in our time limit, so we went back to our original title screen design (click to see that design's blog post).

Animatic

This is our animatic. To make this, we used a scan of our storyboard and cropped it so that one frame could be shown at a time. We then added our soundtrack over the top of the animatic to give more of an idea of how we want our thriller opening to look like.

Storyboard

This is our storyboard of our thriller opening. We initially thought we were not going to do a storyboard, due to our plan of making a montage-style opening. We had done a moodboard, but eventually found that this wasn't enough to help us plan out the production of our thriller opening. The storyboard helped us plan what days we were going to film and where.

Thriller Survey Interview

This is an interview we did asking two people our age about thrillers and preferences for their thrillers.

Here is another interview we did with someone our age asking them similar questions about thriller films.

This is a paper questionnare we did again asking about thrillers and opinions. This questionnare was rather limited as it didn't ask many or very specific questions.

Audience Research

This information is from the website MOJO.

• All of the top grossing films of all time worldwide are rated PG-13 or U, showing that the most common age group of cinema-goers is those who would go see these ratings of movies, like children, teenagers and families.
• All of these films are also a similar genre, they are mainly action films and are all fictional. There are a couple of animated films, too.
• The highest grossing thriller film is The Dark Knight Rises.

Risk Assessment

This is our risk assessment for the filming of our thriller opening.

Shot List

We are going to do lots of close-up shots to create a montage of creepy and uncomfortable scenes. We plan to make these shots cramped and edit them together quickly to move the audiences focus around the screen and create a disorientating feel.

• Close-up of shaking hands drawing crosses and religious symbols - filmed under a desktop lamp on a table in an office in Wem Town Hall
• Wide shot looking down on a young girl standing on the stairs - filmed in the staircase in Wem Town Hall
• Shot looking up at a church on a dutch angle - Church in Wem
• Shots of creepy, old doors - In streets in Wem
• Shots the Bible - On a table in a room in Wem Town Hall
• No shots of anyones face, add enigma
• Camera will be held free hand to make it seem more homemade and realistic
• Photos of recognizable place religious/non religious, make the film seem more human and gives the audience a point of recognition. also because they are just photos it adds enigma as to why they are there.

One-Shot Opening Experiment

We had a go at filming a similar opening sequence to the one in the film Delicatessen. To do this, we used old fashion antique props on a spinning table. We also placed pieces of tea-stained torn paper with credits written on in a hand-written-look font. We filmed using a SLR 60D Canon Camera and a Steady Cam-recorder. The different between the two was that the SLR's film was much better quality but would go in and out of focus whereas the Cam-recorder was much steadier and stayed in focus the whole time but the quality of the film was not as good as the SLR's.

These pictures show us at work while discussing, planning and carrying out our one-shot experiment. 

And this is a behind the scenes video of our creative process while filming the experiment.

Our Production Company Logo

This is our logo for our production company, which we named 'Spotlight Productions'. I made this in Photoshop and used a graphics tablet to draw it. I drew using the paintbrush tool and did skinny, creepy looking lettering. I also added a little drawing of a spotlight to give the logo an associated symbol. Symbols and images on logos make the names of companies more memorable.

Our Film Logo

This is the title screen and logo I made for our thriller opening sequence. To make this, I used Photoshop and drew with a graphics tablet which allowed me to easily draw straight into the computer. I used a white pencil tool on a black background. I chose to use the thin pencil tool because it looked creepier and more hand-drawn.

Making Logos

This is a logo experiment we did. We were given a range of random images and a title in different fonts to create examples of production company logos with. We managed to make 5 different logos with the pieces.

Our Film Titles

These are the titles we are using for our thriller opening. I chose to use the font 'Metallic Avacado' to make it look old fashion and similar to an old, creepy film.

Abstract Thriller Opening

This is our abstract thriller opening. We made it using practice shots we filmed following our shot list of ideas.

Things We Liked:

• the montage style, gives it a quicker pase 
• the use of textures, tints and filters
• overlaying titles onto the footage
• overlaying footage on top of each other and making them transparent, gives a distorted, ghostly feel
• confusing, creepy, disorientating style and overall look

Things To Change:

• add more film content

Moodboard for our Storyline

This is a moodboard we created to lay out all of our ideas for our film opening. We used images and drawings that we were inspired by (religious symbols, the young strange girl and a collection of shots from the opening of 'Se7en' of which we were greatly inspired by). We also included the font were are going to use for our credits - Metallic Avocado.

Locations We Plan To Use

This is a staircase in the Town Hall in Wem. We plan to use this location to film in because it has unusual natural lighting due to the small window above the doors which create shadows up the stairs, too. It gives a dark, enigmatic feel. The thin room has the whirring sound of a boiler and the room also echoes a lot. We may be able to use these sounds as sound effects or add to the background music, because they sound ominous and creepy.

Synopsis for Our Thriller

A young girl in a quiet village is suddenly missing and an investigation is soon carried out in search for her. Vague clues are discovered along the way, each one implying an even worse fate than death. A court case follows as the mystery is picked apart in attempt to uncover who, or what, has taken her.

Ideas for Our Thriller Opening

My Own Ideas:

• Quick shots of silhouettes
• Young girl as main character/ghost
• Wide shots of dark scenes with young girl in the middle
• Shots of young girl with back to camera
• Cutaway shots to person screaming
• Slow motion shots, wind blowing
• Edit cuts between shots with the beat of the background music

Group Ideas:

• create a montage sequence inspired by 'Se7en'
• similar quickly edited extreme close-ups
• religious theme, drawings of crosses
• title idea: 'Unhallowed'
• show credits in order of: production company, 'in association with', actors, director of photography, sound design, editing, costume design, director
• disturbing head movements
• print off a passage from the Bible and tea stain and scrawl over the top of it

Storyline:

• Young girl is uncontrollably possessed by the devil

Props and costumes:

• Teddy bear
• Young girl: dress
• Paper and pencil (scrawled crosses and religious references)

Locations:

• Church
• Graveyard
• Staircase

'Two Eyes Staring' Opening Sequence

Two Eyes Staring - 2010 - Elbert van Strien

(IMDb) (Opening Sequence)

• The opening to this film is made up of slow moving shots that are reminiscent to looking to a kaleidoscope. Random shapes, similar to those used in Rorschach tests, float and expand in the centre of the screen and contain moving images. Things like two little girls in a field and pictures of eyes in a book are shown.

'The Blue Horse' Opening Sequence

The Blue Horse - 2009 - Roald van der Laan
(IMDb) (Opening Sequence)

• The opening to this film is made up of lots of extreme close-ups of a blue crayon drawing lines on a white sheet of paper, eventually revealing that they are drawing a scrawled frontward-facing blue horse.

Features I liked:

• the use of close-ups showing the lines being drawn because it makes it look abstract and artistic
• the use of one handwritten blue letter in each name in the credits, keeps the credits in with the theme of the opening

• the fact that the film begins with an enigma, it is not explained what the significance of the blue horse is
• the part when the hand slips on the paper as it is drawing with the blue crayon and leaves a messy blue mark on the paper, gives an unstable sense to the film or to the main character

'Coraline' Opening Sequence

Coraline - 2009 - Tim Burton
(Opening Sequence)

• The opening sequence to this film shows a doll being taken apart and re-used to make a new doll by a strange pair of thin, metallic hands

• I like the background music in this opening, it gives the effect of disturbing juxtaposition in between the childish, light-hearted music and the odd, uncomfortable images onscreen

• The content of the onscreen action is uncomfortable to watch, it is creepy and introduces the dark style of the film. This is effective because it is memorable and despite it being strange and slightly distressing it still intrigues the viewer.

'Delicatessen' Opening Sequence

Delicatessen - 1991 - Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet
(Opening Sequence)

• The opening sequence to this film is a one shot camera movement around a room tracking over various items and artefacts that show the credits on them.

• I like the idea of writing some of the credits on items that correspond with the person's job. For example, the director of photography is written on a camera. It makes the opening sequence more interesting and entertaining by giving pairing text with the item in frame.

• I also like the fact that the entire sequence is kept within one colour scheme: a golden/brown/sepia/shadowy colour giving an old, worn, dusty feel to the film

Creating a Soundtrack

This is a screenshot of our soundtrack in GarageBand. We recorded sound using everyday objects and edited the recording to make it sound creepy and atmospheric. To do this, we changed the pitch and the reverb. We then added other sounds to the soundtrack, drums and bass, to give the soundtrack a backing beat and make it sound darker and threatening. We were inspired by the opening sequence to 'Se7en'.

20 Thriller Films

1. The Dark Knight (2008)

"When Batman, Gordon and Harvey Dent launch an assault on the mob, they let the clown out of the box, the Joker, bent on turning Gotham on itself and bringing any heroes down to his level." (IMDb)

2. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

"A young FBI cadet must confide in an incarcerated and manipulative killer to receive his help on catching another serial killer who skins his victims." (IMDb)

3. Psycho (1960)

"A young woman steals $40,000 from her employer's client, and subsequently encounters a young motel proprietor too long under the domination of his mother." (IMDb)

4. Aliens (1986)

"The planet from 'Alien' has been colonized, but contact is lost. This time, the rescue team has impressive firepower, but will it be enough?" (IMDb)

5. The Prestige (2006)

"The rivalry between two magicians is exacerbated when one of them performs the ultimate illusion." (IMDb)

6. Die Hard (1988)

"John McClane, officer of the NYPD, tries to save wife Holly Gennaro and several others, taken hostage by German terrorist Hans Gruber during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles." (IMDb)

7. Blade Runner (1982)

"Deckard, a blade runner, has to track down and terminate 4 replicants who hijacked a ship in space and have returned to earth seeking their maker." (IMDb)

8. Taken (2008)

"A retired CIA agent travels across Europe and relies on his old skills to save his estranged daughter, who was kidnapped on a trip to Paris to be sold into prostitution." (IMDb)

9. Strangers on a Train (1951)

"A psychotic socialite confronts a pro tennis star with a theory on how two complete strangers can get away with murder...a theory that he plans to implement." (IMDb)

10. Looper (2012)

"In 2072, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent 30 years into the past, where a hired gun awaits. Someone like Joe, who one day learns the mob wants to 'close the loop' by transporting back Joe's future self." (IMDb)

11. The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992)

"After her humiliated husband kills himself, an embittered pregnant widow loses her child, and embarks on a mission of vengeance against a woman and her family." (IMDb)

12. The 39 Steps (1935)

"A man in London tries to help a counterespionage agent. But when the agent is killed and he stands accused, he must go on the run to both save himself and also stop a spy ring trying to steal top secret information." (IMDb)

13. Shutter Island (2010)

"Drama set in 1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels is investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is presumed to be hiding nearby." (IMDb)

14. Fight Club (1999)

"An insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that transforms into a violent revolution." (IMDb)

15. Dial M for Murder (1954)

"An ex-tennis pro carries out a plot to murder his wife. When things go wrong, he improvises a brilliant plan B." (IMDb)

16. Black Swan (2010)

"A ballet dancer wins the lead in "Swan Lake" and is perfect for the role of the delicate White Swan - Princess Odette - but slowly loses her mind as she becomes more and more like Odile, the Black Swan." (IMDb)

17. Fatal Attraction (1987)

"A married man's one night stand comes back to haunt him when that lover begins to stalk him and his family." (IMDb)

18. Angels & Demons (2009)

"Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon works to solve a murder and prevent a terrorist act against the Vatican." (IMDb)

19. Pulp Fiction (1994)

"The lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster's wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption." (IMDb)

20. The Departed (2006)

"Two men from opposite sides of the law are undercover within the Massachusetts State Police and the Irish mafia, but violence and bloodshed boil when discoveries are made, and the moles are dispatched to find out their enemy's identities." (IMDb)