Opening scenaration - Miss Miller

In the first 4 frames we did we used many different editing styles and iconography to try and create an everyday atmosphere to also create suspense. This was because if the audience see an atmosphere they an relate to it will engage them into the scene and leave them oblivious to what else is going to happen. We used a car as many people own a car and use it on a daily basis which, like i said, makes them relate to the relevance of the scene. We also used a cell phone, this again is something that people in everyday life use. And again this puts the audience into the characters shoes and engages them which we can then use to scare them more. 

In the fifth frame we introduced the killer. In this frame we hid the identity of the killer because we do not want the audience to know his/hers identity because this creates suspense throughout the whole of the opening sequence because they wont know their identity even after the opening sequence is finished. We did this by using a POV shot so that we can see from his point of view which also allows the audience to put themselves in their shoes and make a conclusion whether they like him/her or not. We did this by using a mask and filming the scenes through the wholes on the mask which gives it that POV effect. 

In the sixth, seventh and eighth frame we introduced the wife. We did this by using things which are relative to an everyday situation, like a bath and getting changed. This creates a relationship between the audience and the wife because they can relate to her situation which also creates suspense as the audience may be waiting for something to happen to the wife but aren't sure when or what will happen to her. We can then tear apart the relationship created by killing her off which the audience may not expect and create a sad atmosphere in which is were the surprise element comes in. 

In frame 11 we used two candles to create a sad an eerie atmosphere. We did this by using them to portray the husband and wife and to create tension for the audience by blowing one out to show the wife is dead. We did this instead of showing the wife being dead as it creates suspense before hand as the audience may not know if she was dead. This also creates a relationship between the audience and the husband as they empathise with the fact his wife just died and he is oblivious to the situation which also creates suspense to whether the male character is going to die.

In frames thirteen, fourteen, fifteen and sixteen we started to introduce the male character properly. In these frames we showed how oblivious he is to the fact there is a killer in his house. We did this by showing his facial expressions clearly and showing him coming home from work just like normal and acting like nothings happened, which he thinks. His facial expressions start to change when he realises his wife is nowhere to be seen although he had just rang her and she was at home. To show how his facial expressions we used close ups on his face throughout to make it clear to the audience on his situation as well as to create suspense on whether he finds out or whether he gets killed.

Planning opening Credits- Miss Georgiou

Credits are important in films as they are there to credit people who helped during the production of the film or actually acting in the film. This gives recognition to these people and give them more of a name in the industry for future director who can look at what they've done in a film and maybe hire them. This also allows the audience to research these people if they have seen something they like.  They are usually shown as text on a blank screen or static pictures, or sometimes on top of action in the show. Some opening credits are built around animation or production numbers of some sort. By analysing different sequences we have been able to look at four main points which include:

• The colours used in an opening sequence
• The Style of Credits used
• Thriller Conventions
• Order of Appearance

The first film I will be looking at is Se7en, this film was created in 1995 by David Fincher and was a huge hit with the thriller audience. The opening sequence was very effective as the colours used suggested death, blood and plain. This was because the writing flashed out at us and is coloured white and red. Another reason these opening credits are effective is because they use a lot of conventions, such as the order in which the credits are shown, eg producer first. This is key because it gives the most important people more credit than the less key people and by putting the more important people first will always suggest they are more important.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEq-4fua3lM

In this opening sequence the director uses 3 colours to portray many different ideas. The first colour used is red, this portrays death, blood, evil and sins, The director used this to let the audience decide why they used this colour and to leave them in suspense to whether what is going to come in the rest of the film. Although this could also show colours of love or romance which could also suggest this thriller may be about a romance which is destroyed by gruesome deaths or maybe a love of god which is destroyed by sins. Another colour used in this opening sequence is white, this tends to show purity and maybe innocence which could suggest that this thriller may be about innocent and pure people, lovers of god, being killed. The last colour used is black, this connotes dark and evil which could suggest this thriller has something to do with the devil or evil spirits. This colour contrasts with the white which shows the good verse the bad and also makes the white stick out more to the audience and make them concentrate more on the people in the credits

  

The next thing I noticed was the style in which the credits were written, the font of the writing was different but very conventional to the thriller genre. This is because it sticks out to the audience and makes them remember the names but at the same time the font used is one I've never seen before. In addition the writing is in a way electrified and as looks as though its Moving, shaking and pulsating. This pulsating makes the audience remember the names in the writing as well as giving them an insight to what may follow in the rest of the film. This adds effect to the thriller as the jerky movement of the writing makes us as the audience feel on edge and feel uneven about the film.

In this opening sequence there are many conventions which are used, many which are used a lot by many other thriller films. The first convention used is the colours used, this is because as i said before they represent may different things like death and blood, this is conventional as death and blood are things that tend to be used alot in thriller films. Another reason the colours are effective are because they are contrasting which make the writing pulsate out at the audience which is conventional as most directors want the audiecne to notice these peoples names and give them credit for what they have done. Another convention used is the low key lighting, this is used throughout the whole opening sequence and is used to show evil and gloom over the audience. This is conventional as many directors use low key lighting to portray doom and gloom aswell as to create shadows. It also is conventional as it creates suspense as the audience cannot see much happening apart from the main prospects. Another convention to a thriller is the sound. With it being diegetic sound it creates a realistic atmosphere over the film as well as an unrealistic atmosphere at the same time. The sound makes everything more intensifying and makes the audience feel like they are in the thriller. This is conventional to a thriller as it engages the audience into the scene as they can put themselves into the scene as it seems realistic.

The Se7en opening credits are in a simple order which tends to be used by many of films.

• Title and Production
• Characters - Brad Pitt & Morgan Freeman
• Title of film - Se7en
• More actors involved
• The Director
• Producers
• Company Name
• Actors (2)
• Title
• Director (Twice)
• Music Producers
• Costume Designers
• Editors
• Production Team
• Camera Operators
• Co-Producers
• Producer
• Written By
• Director

We can see that the directors name is said twice which is used to show his significance in the production in the film aswell as the main actors are mentioned first to show the audience who the main characters are and imply their importance as well as the directors.

The next film I analysed is The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, this film is very similar to se7en as it uses alternate colours and used both white and black. It also uses many conventional items like low key lighting to portray different things aswell as giving away ideas about what may follow.

The first thing i noticed was the colours used by the director. He uses white and black which are alternate colours and make the writing clearer to the audience which is just what the director wants to do. These colours contrast with each other as they make everything more bold and it makes it stand out more so that the audience take more notice of the people in the film and the people who produced it. This is used as it is very conventional aswell as being very effective at making the audience remember the names of the people involved. The colour white suggests the innocence of the victim, that is brutally taken away when they are murdered. And the colour black suggests the evil nature of the villain in the film or the way he kills his victim.

In the background of the opening credits we can see a lot of ink flying around which relates to the title of the film, The girl with the dragon tattoo, this is used to show the audience that the name has relevance to the film as is something they should remember. Another reason I believe they used this in the background is because ink has a dull colour and could suggest the films villain is a dull person and may have weird ways of killing people. In addition we also see fire in the background, again this shows the relevance of the title as the fire could resemble the dragon tattoo which lets the audience know what the film to follow will include.

The Writing in the opening credits looks hand written and is very small. This is because the cast of the production is very big and the director didn't wanna waste a lot of time mentioning everyone's name one at a time. Another reason small writing is used is because the director did not want to cover the things which were going on in the background, like the fire and ink, which are key into creating suspense for the audience. I believe the credits were made to look hand written because this creates a sense of reality for the audience which then creates suspense as they are waiting to see what happens in the film in which they can relate to. This is also very conventional to the thriller genre as many thriller credits tend to create a sense of reality for the audience so they somewhat feel reassured but then are surprise with what actually happens in the film.

 

The order in which the production roles are set out is simple and is very simular to the se7en credits;
 

production company first

director

actors

title

actors

Filmer

costume designer

co-producers

sound man

music man

Editors

Production designer

director of photography

executive producers

producers

screen play

director

We can see again, just like in se7en, that the directors name is mentioned twice to show his importance to the audience and to make them remember his name and to maybe research him and buy some of his other work. In addition we can also see in these credits there are two lists of actors, first being the main actors to show their importance and then followed by the less important but still important actors a few frames after.

Group discussions of research and what your credits will say

Analysis of fonts/ Styles/ Colours of own credits.

Production Roles - Miss Miller

In the production of films people are assigned roles, this is because if one person was in control of every single role the production would be very slow and wouldn't be very efficient. This is because they would be working hard all the time trying to do every thing whereas if the roles where allocated to different people the individuals can perfect their role and make the production good and then in return get more profit. In addition if people have individual roles and something goes wrong with a specific role the person in charge can sort it out instead of everyone rushing around and getting in one another way. People who are good at certain things are allocated roles which are specific to their ability which allows the production to be more successful.

Some of the roles used in productions are;

• Producers - is a person responsible for the financial and managerial aspects of the making of a film. 
• MES co-ordinator - This is someone who controls costumes, make-up, iconography etc
• Screen Play writer - A screenwriter or scriptwriter or scenarist is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media such as film
• Directors - A person who is in charge of an activity, department, or organisation.
• Director of photography - A cinematographer is the chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, and responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image
• Sound technicians - They prepare, operate and maintain technical equipment to amplify, enhance, mix or reproduce sound.
• Editors - Somebody who makes the film flow by editing the scenes and cutting things out

In my group we allocated eachother a specific group so that our production runs smoothly and so we can create the opening sequence without any hick ups or any problems. This will make sure we all have an individual task and will help us to film it and organise it a lot faster than if we allocated all the duties to one particular person. 

I have been allocated the role of the director of photography, sound technician and the editor of the opening sequence. I believe i was chosen for this as i have a lot of experience using cameras and editing software so my group know I am very good with these things so decided I would do this job. I wasn't allocated the role of being director as i believe i am more of a listener than a talker so i wouldn't have done the role well and told my group what to do. We also allocated each other roles depending on their skills;

Director; Vasil Nikolov
Mise-en-scene coordinator; Danniella Cross
Producers; George Miller, Vasil Nikolov

We chose Vasil to be the Director as he is a very good speaker an can control a group of people well, making sure nothing goes out of line and everything moves perfectly. We also chose him as the Director as he is very good at working with a team and is good at communicating with people to achieve what he wants to achieve without being horrible. We also decided that he would be a producer as one role may not be enough for him and isnt fair that everyone else has 2. Another reason we chose him to be a producer is because he is very good at working with the financial side of things and is also good at managerial aspects, this means he is able to go round and watch what people are doing to see whether they are doing things correctly and to correct them if they aren't.

We chose Danniella to be the Mise-en-scene coordinator as she is a good artist and is good at doing hair and make up and this is needed throughout our opening scene to create suspense, shock and surprise. We chose her as we do not want to get these aspects wrong as it may not then create the 3 S' and she is the most talented in our group at this aspect. She is also good at creating costumes which is essential for our opening scene as costumes are needed throughout. If we were to choose somebody else to do this we may end up with rubbish costumes which will make our thriller look tacky and cheap. Danniella is also good at keeping things organised which is another reason why we chose her, she will be able to control what goes on set and will not forget to bring props to the filming which will then stop the production from moving slowly. 

Danniella did her job very successfully, creating the costumes and doing the hair in the right way. By her doing this, the thriller itself allowed the audience to engage into the scene as the costumes were every day outfits in which the audience can relate to. On the other hand I decided to take over Vasils role as he wasn't doing the job to the best of his ability and I believe i would be better at being the director as I know what should go where and what creates the 3 S's. After the change the production went very smoothly and allowed us to film a lot of footage in which we could edit to create the best opening sequence possible. If we were to do the production again I would have liked to have more people to work with and i would've like more effort from Vasil. 

Narrative Theory - Miss Georgiou

Aristotle - themes
Propp - charceter
Tolerov - equilibrium

Planning Editing styles - Miss Georgiou

In a thriller, editing is used to engage the audience into the scene and create suspense, shock and surprise. Editors do this by using editing such as a fade, this creates the 3 S’ as it shows emotion as its slow and might show someone’s life fading away.

In my group we decided to use these editing styles

Fade

Jump cut

Slow editing and many more

We first used slow editing. We used Slow editing when the girl is in her room and hears a knock at the door. She knows that the person knocking isn’t her husband. We used slow editing when she is walking towards the door, this builds up tension and creates suspense. This is because the audience know who’s knocking at the door and are waiting for her to open and be killed. This creates a relationship between the girl and the audience as they know her fait and feel sympathy for her as she is portrayed as innocent and is about to be killed by the killer. This is conventional to the thriller genre as many editors use slow editing to build up tension and create suspense for the audience.

The next piece of editing we do is jump cut. We use a jump cut when the man arrives home from work and the killer is waiting in the corner of the room. We see this scene from the killer’s point of view. We used a jump cut here because they are used when the editor wants the audience to suddenly focus on something, in this case the killer in the corner. This puts the audience in an uncomfortable position, as they know the killer is there and want to help the man but they cant. This creates a relationship between the character and the audience as they can put themselves in his shoes and realise he doesn’t have a clue who is in the room. This is conventional to the thriller genre as mostly every editor uses a jump cut to make the audience focus on something scary or something mysterious.

The last piece of editing we use is a fade,. We have used this as the screen fades to black and it will often signify danger or that something is going to suddenly take a dramatic change for the worse. This is used at the end of our opening sequence, straight after we see the killer pop up at the mans car window. We used this here because it is the end of the scene and creates suspense for the audience, as they do not know what will happen to the man. This engages tem into the sequence, as they will want to watch the rest of the thriller to find out what happens to the man. This is conventional to the thriller genre as editors tend to use this to show something dangerous is about to happen or someone’s life is ending or about to end which is just how we have used it.

Filming schedule - Miss Georgiou

A filming schedule is key for a director and everybody involved. This is because each person who is a part of the production will have one which will direct them to where they need to be and when they need to be there. In addition for the prop person, the schedule will also have what props are needed which tells them what to bring to each scene or each day. This also makes things a lot easier for the group when filming as this will make sure everything runs smoothly, and avoid any arguments or disruptions. By having a filming schedule for our group, we can get the filming done as quick as possible and edit it as quick as possible, this is because the schedule tells us where to be and when to be there. As we only have a week to film our opening scene, this schedule will allow us to film lots of footage which we can analyse and take the best parts.

Risk Assessmant - Miss Georgiou

Risk Assessment
Risk assessments are needed in the filming industry to make the actors feel safe which will then allow them to act to their best of their ability as they wont be under any risk of being injured or hurt. A Risk Assessment is aprocess of evaluating the potential risk that may involve in a project or undertaking. 

Inspirations - Miss Miller

To create a thrilling and engaging thriller we need different inspirations. We get inspirations from many different things like other thriller films that we have watched, I have watched at a few different award winning thriller films and looked at the different sounds, camera angles and the mise-en-scene used by the directors. You can so take inspirations from personal experiences or other people who have ideas. Our group took many inspirations from films such as shutter island, scream and halloween. We looked at different clips from these films that created tension, surprise, shock and suspense.

One of the clips I looked at was one from Shutter Island were Leanardo Di Caprio was walking through the prison. The lighting used in this clip inspired us as it create suspense as we cannot see what is ahead of him and are waiting for something to happen to him. This is because the only light in the corridor is the flame he is holding in his hand and this does not light up the whole corridor just the space in front of him. This creates suspense as anything could be out of reach of the light and waiting to attack him. This makes the audience on the edge of their seat waiting for a killer or anything to scare them. This inspired me as in my piece I want the audience to be on the edge of their sets and what the director of shutter island did in this clip is something i want to do in my thriller to create suspense.

Another clip we looked at was the original scream, this gave us all sorts of inspirations about mise-en-scene. This is one of the best films when analysing mise-en-scene, it includes things like iconography, setting, hair and make up, costumes. All these things are conventional to the thriller genre as many thrillers have a few of these elements but I chose this one as it has the most conventional things. The conventions Used in this film inspired my group to use some of the same conventions as they creates a lot of suspense, shock and surprise. We have decided to use a villain who's identity is unknown, just like from scream, as it creates mystery within the audience as they are unsure of whom the killer is and also allows them to have their own suspicions of who the killer is. Although our killer isn't seen throughout the whole of the opening sequence until right at the end. Another idea we took was the murder weapon, we decided to use a knife as the murder weapon as this is very conventional and the audience will expect to see a knife. We took an inspiration from scream because it created tension and suspense for the audience as they are awaiting the death of a specific character, in addition the use of a knife means that the girl might not die instantly which will make the audience sympathise with her because she is suffering.

We also looked at a clip from Saw V, from this clip we analysed the cinematography used and suggested why they might have used different camera angles. This clip has a lot of different camera angles in it which is why I analysed it. Me and my group looked at this clip and a few camera shots inspired us. One shot that inspired us was a high angle shot, this shot was used in Saw 5 to portry the inferiority of the charecters in the scene. We will use this shot from the point of veiw of the killer to portray his superiority and the victims inferiority.  This is very effective as not only do we get a high angled shot we also get the point of view of the killer. This shows that the killer is looking down over the victim which implies he has loads of power of them and can do what he likes. We will use this shot to create a negative relationship as people might frown at the fact he is looking down over them. Another shot that has inspired us was the shallow focus shot used when focusing on the keys in the box which is the most important thing in the shot. This makes the audience focus on the importance of the keys and think about what they mean and the significance of it. This shot is used to create a relationship between the character’s and the audience, this is because the audience can empathise with their situation and therefore like the character’s more. I will be using this shot in my opening sequence when we focus on the 2 candles at the table and one blows out to show the death of the wife. We used this specific shot as it will make the audience focus on the candles and think why one is blowing out and not the other. This creates suspense as the audience are either waiting to see whats happened or to see whether the other one will blow out. This shot is effective as it is only concentrating on the candles and nothing in the background, this means that the audience can look at nothing but the candles. 

In The Strangers clip I analysed, the director uses Mise-en-scene very well to create suspense, surprise, shock and tension. From analysing this clip I can take diffrant ideas about mise-en-scene and use them in my own piece. I can take ideas about all 5 elements of mise-en-scene and use them to try and portray certain ideas to my target audience and make them feel shock, suspense, surprise. From analysing this clip I have also learnt that thrillers don't tend to have a lot of dialogue in it and so replace this with music. I am going to use minimal dialogue in the thriller to try and create as much of the 3S' as possible. I have also noticed that you dont need that many props to create a good thriller just a good setting, low key lighting and a unknown killer covered by even the simplest mask. One of the key elements of Mise-en-scene that has inspired me is the idea of an unkown killer through costume. This inspired me as it creates the 3 S', This is because in my opening sequence we do not want the audience to know who the killer is and will not know throughout the film but will want to know who the killer is. 

In the Jaws clip i watched and analysed, the director uses sound very well to create surprise, suspense, shock and tension. From analysing this specific clip i can take a few ideas as inspirations. I believe that sound is the most effective method of creating suspense, shock and surprise as if there was no sound we wouldn't have a clue what was going on and when to expect the unexpected. I will also use this clip as the sound in this sets the mood and creates an eerie atmosphere and that is exactly what i would like to do in my thriller clip. It helps the audience to connect with certain characters by putting them into the mindset of that character, which helps the audience to respond emotionally. One sound technique used in this clip that inspired me was the diegetic sound at the end of the clip when the man is surprised to see a shark. We hear a hammock swinging which shows the atmosphere is quiet which shows the shock and surprise of the characters. I will use this in my thriller as I believe it helps the audience create an emotional relationship with the characters as it shows how scared the characters are. 

Overall i have found looking at other clips very useful as i can look at the good parts and use the ideas of it for my own thriller. In addittion i have found this useful because as we gathered many ideas and inspirations for our opening scene, this enabled us to make our thriller more effective and enaging for the audience. By researching, we were able to see what sort of iconography and camera shots professionals used and whether they created suspense or surprise. This helped us make our group narrative more realistic therefore making the audience more sympathetic for the victims and more hatred towards the villian.

Planning Sound - Miss Miller

Sound is important within films as it creates an emotional atmosphere within the scene. The sound of a sequence gives depth to what is going on and allows people to understand what sort of film they are watching. In thrillers, the producers tend to use sounds that create shock, surprise and suspense. They use sounds such as

• Diegetic sound
• Non-diegetic sound
• Off screen sound
• On screen sound
• Parallel sound

In our thriller opening sequence we have used all 5 of these sounds. We will use mostly use on screen sounds as we want to make our thriller as realistic as possible as this will engage the audience and create more fear throughout the audience.

The first piece of sound we use is some off screen sound of the mans wife on the phone. We put this at the start as it creates an everyday atmosphere for the audience as the man is just arriving home from work on his anniversary when his wife phones to find out if he's almost home. This happens on a day to day basis in every married couples life, the audience will then relate to the sequence which will engage them and get them more focused n the scene. This is off-screen sound as we cannot see the wife but we can hear her although its not non-diegetic as its not added in the editing stage and is happening when were actually filming. This is conventional to the thriller genre as many directors use a phone call to create a realistic scenario just like I did. They do this to get the audience engaged into the scene, lead them into a full sense of security and then twist the scene and scare them.

We then use some on-screen sound when the wife is walking down the corridor we hear her footsteps. We did this because this creates suspense as everything is silent and we are waiting for some loud noise to occur and scare the audience. This puts them on the edge of their seat, waiting for the killer to attack the women which will then throw them into the back off their seat. In addition this will also engage the audience as when you are home alone and you walk across the landing, you hear your own footsteps. This will bring them closer to the characters as hearing your own footsteps is realistic and allows the audience to put themselves in her shoes. This will then frighten them more when she is killed because they can relate to it and think it could happen to them. This Is on-screen sound because we can see the source of the sound which is the woman's feet and its not diegetic because it isn't added in the editing stage. 

Another piece of sound we use is non-diegetic sound in which we use as a soundtrack. We will use this to create surprise, shock and suspense throughout our piece. We will use this as the music sets the scene and i believe if we get the right track it will make the sequence more intense and scar for the audience. In addition it also creates suspense for the audience as they cannot hear whats going on in the scene so they will not know what is going to happen which allows use to bring something scary into shot without them having a clue its going to happen. This will bring the characters closer to the audience as they do not know what is going on so they empathise with the fact that the characters may also not know whats going on. This is conventional to the thriller genre as all opening sequences have a soundtrack which creates suspense, shock and surprise for the audience. 

We will be using sound techniques such as parallel when the girl is in the kitchen listening to music, as we want to make her be portrayed as vulnerable and innocent, that she is is actually oblivious to the consquences and the situations that are about to happen. this also creates suspense as the girl wont be able to hear whats going on around the house so she will be oblivious to any noise of somebody trying to kill her. This creates a relationship between the characters and the audience as they sympathise with the fact she cant hear anything and also to the fact most people listen to the radio so they are engaged into the sequence and make them more on the edge of their seat. This is conventional to the thriller genre as most thriller directors use parallel sounds to create shock suspense and surprise for the audience. 

Planning Cinematography - Miss Miller

Cinematography is important in thriller films as it creates an atmosphere for the audience and also creates emotion throughout. The different camera angles can suggest different scenarios within the film which helps create a relationship with the audience and build tension within the film. Camera angles are also key because they create suspense and surprise for the audience as they might slow down the pace of the film or suddenly change the atmosphere. Planning is required to produce excellent sequences because without planning it is easy for us to go off track and lose sense of what our plan actually is within out thriller. The plan for our cinematography is critical so that it makes our scenes more interesting and effective making and inspiration a reality.

In our group we looked at many different camera angles and analysed whether they would work well in creating shock, surprise and suspense in our thriller. There were a few shots that stood out in creating these things, they were

• Close up
• Long shot
• High angle
• Low angle
• Point of view

We will use these shots in our opening sequence as we believe they create an emotional atmosphere and engage the audience into our thriller.

We will use the point of view shot in our piece as it engages the audience into the scene. This is because this shot puts the audience in the characters position as they can see what the character is seeing. We will specifically use this shot when the killer is entering the couples house and takes a knife from the draw, the shot makes the audience feel as if they are the killer as they can see what he sees which creates a relationship with the audience as they believe they are in the killers shoes adding suspense as they feel guilty for what the killer is about to do. This shot will also make the audience sympathise with the wife's situation as she is about to get killed and the audience can see it from the killers POV so they feel like they are guilty for whats going to happen. We hope this shot will create shock and surprise for the audience through the fact they don't know who the killer is and that he has taken a knife from the drawer. This would be conventional to a thriller as if it creates suspense and tension for the audience as directors like to make their audiencee feel both of these elements. 

Another camera angle we will use is a close up shot. This is because these shots focus on a characters facial expression and body language, this would be good in our thriller as throughout our thriller the characters will be frightened so close ups would show there un settled facial expression in great detail. This will create tension and suspense as the audience will not know what he character has seen but know that it is something to be scared of. We have used this angle when the women opens her bedroom door to the killer standing broad and intimidatingly at the door. This angle is effective as you can make the emotions from the characters create a relationship with the audience, from changing to sympathy and regret, to suspense and dread of what is going to happen next. This is conventional to the thriller genre as the facial expressions focused on are ones used every day which creates a sense of reality in the audience.

We have also used a high angle shot in our opening sequence when the killer is in the loft and looking down on the husband. We have used this as it shows the superiority of the killer and the inferiority of the man who's life may about to end. This creates suspense and tension because the audience are wondering who is looking down on the man and why they are in the attic. This creates a relationship between the audience and the husband as they feel sympathetic for him as they know that he is about to killed and they will feel helpless. We want this angle to make sure the characters are portrayed as vulnerable so that the audience feel sympathy for them making them create a relationship with the characters themselves. This is conventional to the thriller genre as many thriller directors use a high angle to shot to portray the inferiority of a character who is in danger from a murderer.

Using different camera angles will create many different emotions throughout our clip which is just what we want to do. These emotions will get more and more tense as the film progresses until the end of the clip where we leave them in suspense as to what will happen next. I believe that us planning what camera shots to do will help us do this as we can take the positives and negatives for each one and use the ones we think are the best at creating shock, surprise and suspense. this has also helped us with the preparation for the filming as it has broken down all of the elements we need to make out thriller more intensifying and scary and also means we know what to do instead of on filming day thinking about what shot we should use.

Group story board - Miss Miller

As a group we had a meeting regarding our whole storyboard. We looked and discussed eachothers personal story boards and took the best parts to include in our own group one. For example we took most of the ideas from Vasil as his idea was very good and very spooky all though his camera techniques and sound techniques were not very good so we decided to use my camera techniques and Danniella's sound techniques. Combining all of these together create a great idea which will be easy to film but will create a lot of suspense, shock and surprise. 

These are all the things that are needed within a thriller. The layout allows us to see both the visualisation of what we are saying and the technical. This shows as a group that we can have an idea and encorporate it fully. It also allows us to show and see how it will look on the screen, so we can see if it fits the conventions, looks effective, fits our target audience and that we are displaying what we want to in the best way possible for our thriller. As we can see from an example from our storyboards the use of it enabled us to put our ideas down on paper and see if they would work where as the group storyboard allowed us to finalise these ideas as a group and use for our planning. This story board will be used by my group so that we can follow it easily when filming so that we can get lots of footage in which we can edit in a short space of time. If we were to have an unclear storyboard we would take forever to film just small amounts of footage. 

Planning Mise-en-ecene - Miss Georgiou

Mise-en-scène is an expression used to describe the design aspects of a theatre or film production, which essentially means visual information in front of the camera. Mise-en-scène en scene includes setting & iconography, costume, hair & make up, facial expressions & body language, lighting & colour and positioning of actors.

Setting plays an important part in film-making and not just 'backgrounds' as they create the whole atmosphere and give us an idea of where the film may take place. In a thriller it will be most likely; haunted house, abandoned warehouse, graveyard or a forest at night. 

Or in a romantic comedy it will be most likely; in a open friendly house, daylight, in a city, or office. 

Sometimes sets are either built from scratch for a fantasy film or a film that deals with parallel universe or world. Or they chose a setting that already exists and is used again and again. 

Although some settings can manipulate an audience by building up certain expectations that a film might be happy, and romantic and that in a particular scene everything will be fine, yet the scene may take a wrong turn and change and a fight may break out in a neighbourhood where everything is sunny and normal. 

Costume, Hair and Make up: 

Costume, Hair and Make up play an important part in Mise-en-scene as well as it is an instant indicator to us of a character's personality, status and job. When you see for example a black suit you can either think of a spy or a person attending a funeral, or if you see someone in a dress which has bright colours it creates a nice turn of showing that, that particular person is a nice and happy constantly. 

Hair in a film is very important as it shows in a screenshot what happened to a person for example if the hair is messy then the it shows that there they either just got out of a fight or they just come out of a night out with a person, or if the hair is normal and neat then the character/person has just encountered a normal day and nothing interesting has happened yet. 

Make up also shows what has happened to the person so if on an actress the mascara is smudge and she looks quite unattractive then it shows that she has just been crying and is quite upset. Or if the make up is done up proper then it shows that she has done herself up for a party or a date. In a fighting scene making is used to show blood and cuts on their face or body to show that there has been a large fight and lots of people have been either killed or injured. 

Costume, Hair and Make up tells us immediately whether the film is set in the present and what society/or culture it will centre around. 

Facial Expressions and Body Language: 

Facial Expressions provide a clear indicator of how someone is feeling and how they react to a news or something, also body language is used a clear indicator too to show what the character is doing and how it effects the scene. If in a fighting scene the main character would stand at a very confident stance, ready to react to whoever would take a first swipe or attack at the character.

Lighting and Colour:
Lighting and colour is also important in a Mise-en-scene as it creates the atmosphere especially in a thriller as you use very dim lighting to create an eerie feel to the room and making us feel that we are actually in the room with the characters. The colour is also important as it is not right to have bright colours in a thriller or to have dark depressing colours in a romantic comedy, or just a comedy as it doesn't fit the mood.

Positioning of Characters and Objects with a frame: 

Positioning of characters is very important in a Mise-en-scene as a character which is close up and in focus whereas a character behind them is blurred and out of focused shows that this person in the front is very important and a main character and should be focused on him more as he is more important than the blurred character in the background. 

Also the objects within the frame is important as the object is in the center of the screen shot might be large and in focus where everything else around it is out of focused and not important as the actual main image. 

In our thriller opening scene we have decided to use 5 elements of mise-en-scene as we believe that these elements create suspense, shock and surprise which is what we as film makers want the audience to feel throughout our opening scene. 

Setting:

Our opening scene is set in a house in the middle of an estate, this is because when the audience see the house which is surrounded by other houses they can conclude that it is an every day place where people like themselves live. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it engages the audience into our clip as they put themselves in the victims shoes as they live in a similar house and realise the reality of the fact it could happen to them. This creates surprise, shock and suspense as they might not have expected things like murders happening in a estate just like theirs. 

Costume, Hair & Make up:

We decided that in order for the audience to relate to the two characters, we needed to portray them in an everyday manner. We therefore decided they should both be wearing everyday, casual clothes such as jeans and a top. In addition as in our opening scene you do not fully see the killer until the very end, we have decided thus that we do not need clothes for him to wear especially for the film. Although we will be using a mask to hide his identity at the end. This is conventional to a thriller film as when you watch a thriller you expect to see a killer with a hidden identity as it creates suspense and tension as you do not know who the killer is. Like with the costumes we want to portray the characters as normal everyday people to create shock and suprise for the audience. To do this we will have normal everyday hair & make up for the women and none for the man. Although when the man finds his wife dead she will have messy hair as though shes been pulled around and will have blood on her face and smudged mascara as though shes been crying.

Facial expressions and body language:

When the women is in her room and hears a knock on the bedroom door with no answer her body language and facial expressions will suggest her instability and her inferiority in the scene. We also see the womens facial expression when she opens the door to a mysterious man with a mask on, this facial expression will show how frightened she is and also how surprised she is. In addition when the man finds his wife dead in the attic his body language of him falling off the ladder will show how scared and upset he is about the current situation. 

Lighting:

Throughout out opening sequence we will be using a lot of low key lighting to portray an eerie and almost sad atmosphere around the house. This then creates suspense for the audience as they do not know what is to come and may not be able to see whats lurking around the house. This is conventional to the thriller genre as many thriller films use low key lighting to portray instability and to create suspense for the audience. On the other hand we will be using some high key lighting at the start of the sequence to create an everyday atmosphere for the audience.

Iconography:
The iconography of my thriller will contain the everyday kitchen use, for example a knife, a timer, an oven, kettle etc.. all of the regularly seen objects within a household which therefore creates a sense of safety but when this is jeopardised it creates a sense of fear. This is conventional to a thriller film as this is used by many directors to make the audience unstable as the things being used are items that every person who owns a house will have which will engage them into the film.

Planning character representation - Miss Georgiou

In this post I will be planning each of my characters representations, this includes their name, gender, age and background. In my narrative I have 3 characters because i believe if we had more tan 3 their would be too many to concentrate on and it wouldn't seem like an opening scene and more like a film. The three characters are;

Victim One
Name: Stacey
Gender: Female
Age: 35
Race: Eastern European
Background: Stacey is an everyday home maker. She spends everyday looking after all responsibilities within the home. Tasks involving cleaning the house, doing the washing, cooking nice home made meals -which we discover in the opening scene to allow the audience to relate to the character and develop some sort of relationship with the character. Stacey doesn't have any friends and her family consists of just her, Dave and their two sons. The reason for this is because both her parents were murdered when she had just married Dave. Stacey was a hard working young lady as a school girl, but bad influences made her drop out of school and ever since, she had always kept to cleaning houses as she had no other qualifications.

How character relates: 
Stacey's character appeals to the target audience. The reason for this is because at 15-18yrs old (stereotypically) girls are conscience of their appearance, and so to include a female character with very basic make up and her hair tied up shows a sense of vulnerability yet confident, giving a slight moral to the teenage girls that it's okay to look how you do. This makes Stacey approachable to the audience. Also, by her wearing an apron and having no make up on, her hair tied up.. it will make her look weak. By showing this to the audience, it's allowing them to have a prewarning of what could happen and that she is a weak character, and the scene's of which she is in will emphasise how helpless and weak she is. This makes the audience want to reach out and help, therefore allowing her character to appeal to the target audience.

Victim Two
Name: Dave
Gender: Male
Age: 40
Race: Eastern European
Background: Dave is a solicitor. He is currently on a case working as a defendant for a victim against a well known criminal who is full of anger and revenge for anyone. Dave is happily married with his wife; Stacey. They have two sons, a nice house. The family are strict Christians and are strong believers in karma, this belief is why Dave has become a solicitor. Dave has grown up with both parents who are still with him to this very day, he has two older brothers who are twins, and one younger sister. Dave is a very family orientated person, and he guards his family with his life. He's had an easy time growing up, and he comes from a wealthy background.

How character relates: 
The character of Dave appeals to the audience. This is because he comes across as a good soul who is willing to help. The fact that he is a solicitor and to do with the law, allows the audience to trust him because of his authority and would therefore hold him in high regard. His character also allows the male audience to look up to him as an inspiring figure and influencing a positive look on reality. The use of his outfit where he will be wearing a smart suit, along with a brief case show's that he is a sophisticated, strong character. It is important to convey the idea that this character is strong because it is a sense of security for the audience, therefore allowing him to appeal to the audience. The differene in clothing between him and Stacey shows the comparisons of a strong character and a weak character.


Killer
Name: Unknown
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown
Race: British
Background: This killer is currently facing trial in court for attempt of man slaughter, he has no friends nor family. As a young boy growing up, he was around a lot of nasty areas where he saw crime take place right in front of him - the main crime he saw was knife crime -  and he witnessed his mother getting aggressively stabbed when he was 11. Since then he hadn't been the same, he had studied hard at school until he was 16 and then left to go and get a job. At this job, he was treated with no respect and was bullied by his colleagues both physically and mentally. Seeing his mother getting murdered and witnessing violence through out his life, as well as being bullied, violence has been a big influence in his life and his actions. He has killed 5 civilians so far, but yet is still blood thirsty.

How character relates: 
The killer may not appeal to the majority of the audience. This is because this character is seen as violent and morally wrong in his belief. However, taking this attitude on the character works because in order for a successful thriller, we need the enemy to be feared for the audience to not want to relate to the killer. Yet, despite the audience not relating to this character, they still do. By this, I mean that the fact that this character is despised, it makes the audience want to know more and engages their audience with a film so still relates to the audience and appeals to them because it achieves an effective reaction.

Individual Storyboard - Miss Miller

Story boards are used by every director, these are created to put down ideas of editing, camera angles, iconography etc. The director can then look at each individual frame and see whether it would work well or not. In addition they are also used to see what lighting or scenery would also work best. We did an individual one first as this allows my group to look at one anthers work and look and the advantages and disadvantages of each others work. This then allows us to pick the best frames for our final group story board which will then result in our final thriller opening sequence to be engaging and create suspense, shock and surprise. In my story board I have included what location in each frame, the lighting I will be using, the actors, iconography and editing I will use. This then means I don't waste time thinking about what things to use when filming which then means i can film lots of footage which i can then look at and choose the best clips. In addition i also drew images of what is going to be in each frame, this gives me a guideline to as what i'm going to put into each frame and so that I can see if the camera angle looks good.

Picture of storyboard

I have included my individual story board and have created many ideas from the camera angles and narratives of other thrillers I have been analysing in the different thrillers in previous posts. I have included lots of different camera angles, one being a high angle shot which I will use to show inferiority and to create relationships between the audience and my characters. This will immediately create the suspense I need in order to make the audience more engaged with my thriller. I have also included low angle shots to show superiority of the evil characters which will show that they are going to kill someone or do something bad. This will immediately create suspense for the audience as they are waiting for something to happen. I have used many different conventions of a thriller including eerie music when the suspense and tension is being created, iconography such as the knife for the killing weapon which is typically used in thrillers, and the costume, hair and makeup is conventional in my idea as the killers identity is always hidden and they victims are in normal clothing which makes the audience feel like it is a real scenario.  I have also included low key lighting to add to the emphasis of the darkness happening in the thriller, it will make the audience suspicious about what will happen next as it intensifies everything, as they won't be able to see all around them, only what's in front of them.

I have created an individual storyboard before I make a group narrative, because it will help us to generate more ideas as a group and enable us to help one another with the ideas we have cooperated in our individual ones. When in my group we will look at one another storyboards and individual ideas and take the positives from each one and combine them to make the best possible idea. I hope that doing this will make our piece more engaging and interesting for the audience. I hope that when we decide our final idea my group see's the the good aspects of my piece and use them in the final idea, for example i hope my idea use the idea i have about the camera shots as i believe they work well at creating suspense, shock and surprise. 

Questionare results - Miss Miller

This pie chart shows me and my group that the majority of people that answered our questionare are ranged from 22 years old to 30 years old. This may give us bias results as people of this age may have different opinions and ideas to someone of the age of 31 or above. In addition only 10% of the people we asked were aged 16-21, this may affect our results as our target audience is going to be 15 and above and we now do not have enough results to allows us to think about ideas to put in our clip. 

This chart shows me that 12 out of the 40 people i asked do not enjoy thriller movies, this means that my results will be bias as they might have ticked random answers as they might not watched many thrillers and do not know the answers. This also means that my future questions wont help me in planning my thriller as some of the answers are false and may be made up. This will make my thriller clip not as good as it would be if all 40 people enjoyed thriller movies. 

This pie chart helps me decide what people would use as a setting in their own piece, i asked this question as i believe finding out what people in my target audience would use would help me figure out what setting I will use. I also used this as a close question as i am only going to use one of the following; House, Derelict building, Forrest, School and if I would have used an open question i may have got other answers back and these would be any use to me. This has helped me to decide to use a house instead of the others as the majority chose house. 

This question, like one of the previous shows that some of my results are useless as 5% of the people I asked have never seen a thriller film which means that some of the results for other questions were made up by this people and do not help me in my research. Although this question has allowed me to know whether some results are useful or not this question is very brief and doesn't give me great detail. It does not help me decide what setting, ideas or themes to use unlike the other questions I have. 

This question is one of the best questions I asked, this is because this questions let me know what target audience my participants would select themselves which allows me to interpret what target audience I should chose. This is because I have a mixed range of answers which lets me analyse why people may have chosen the audience they did and use it for myself. In addition i did this question as a closed question as there are only a few answers which means this question wouldn't work as an open question. 

As well as asking closed questions I also asked a few open questions, I asked these so that I could have a variety of different answers for a question which couldn't be answer with options. This then allows me to analyse each individual answer and see whether it helps me in my research. For example one of the open questions I asked was "What can you expect to see and hear in a thriller film?" The answer to this question is opinion based, from the peoples opinions I can take all the things they would expect to hear and see and analyse each point and decide whether the sounds or things they would expect to see would make my thriller more engaging or scary. In addition another question I asked was "What interests you in watching a thriller?" again this answer is opinion based and could be answered depending on what films they have seen. These answers will tell me why people are engaged by thrillers and what sort of ideas, items, sounds etc create shock, surprise and suspense.