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.