PLANNING: Our location

We choose London Bridge as our main location because its very central and would give our spy thriller a more professional look. It's a good area because its a busy area and would give the opening a more realistic aspect.


Here are some pics of our journey to the location

RESEARCH - Title Sequence Timeline

Title Sequence Timeline


There are many ways the title sequence can be shown. The most conventional way is shown on The Roommate. The order of titles that is shown is :

• production company ident + name
• second production company
• movie title
• cast names (leading with most important)
• casting director
• costume designer
• music supervisor
• music by
• editor
• production design
• director of photography
• executive producers
• produced by
• written by
• directed by

An example of an unconventional movie opening is in the film Sleeping With The Enemy:

• production company ident + name
• producer
• film by (director)
• cast (important)
• movie title (supporting)
• music
• casting director
• costume designer
• editor
• production designer
• director of photography
• executive producers
• written by (based on a novel)
• screenplay by
• produced by
• directed by

There is a strict order in which names and jobs appear because they represent how important they are. For example, if you are a really famous director, then your name would appear at the beginning. All the people that have the important 'big' roles would appear near the beginning of the title sequence whereas the people with the individual creative roles would be shown towards the end of the credits.

PLANNING- Thriller opening ideas

My idea for the thriller film is for it to be mysterious in order to engage the audience. For example the film could start off not fully introducing the character, but to show the the main character busy with something, possibly an important project, with pictures in the wall of a suspicious person taken from a distance and maps on the wall.

The images in the scene would be laid out similar to this image.

RESEARCH - Holiday Homework 2

PANIC ROOM

Conventions of a thriller film

One convention is that thriller films are usually set in cities. In Panic Room, the film is set in Manhattan, New York.

Another convention is that there is always an element of violence, crime and murder showing society in a dangerous way. In panic room, the three robbers carry guns and other weapons. They use this to try and break into the panic room.

Another convention is that the protagonist is often an ordinary character. In this film, the protagonist is a divorced mother of an only child. They are both normal characters that live their life just as others would.

Another convention of a thriller film is that the identity of the villain is shown from the beginning as opposed to being shown later. In this film, you see the three robbers faces as soon as they make an appearance in the film. Well all except one (Raoul) because he just wanted to wear a mask. He later shows his identity.

Another convention of a thriller film is that the protagonist tries to overthrow the plans of the villain themselves. In the film, Meg (mother) tries to get her daughter out of the panic room because she is with two of the robbers.

Another convention is that there is a dilemma to which the audience can somehow relate to. In the film, While the daughter is stuck in the panic room with the two robbers, her health starts to deteriorate because she is diabetic and her blood sugar levels are running low. It is up to Burnham whether to inject her or not to make sure she's still alive. In the end, he ends up giving her the injection and you feel some remorse for the character as he isn't all that bad.

Another convention is that there is often a happy ending where antagonist is either killed or arrested. In the film, Junior and Raoul end up dying whereas Burnham gets arrested. And at the end, meg and her daughter are seen to be in a park house hunting.

Another convention of a thriller film is the element of suspense and tension where you think the actions of a character are almost impossible and that they are not going to be able to do it.

 

PRACTICE: preliminary behind the scenes pictures

Here are some pictures from behind the preliminary film exercise.

We had to take many shots of the same part as it had to look professional. From this experience we learnt that to make a good video we should always divide the film into little parts as it gives an interesting narrative to the audience.

PLANNING: ideas for thriller openings

My idea is to do a spy thriller. I especially like the idea because a spy thriller is very intriguing and a large number of audience watches them.

By combining spy and thriller together, it creates an interesting merge and can easily captivate the audience.

The actual filming is very simple but camerawork will play a major role as it needs to create emphasis on the surrounding objects. This makes it more dramatic and exciting.

PLANNING: Thriller Opening Possibilities

My idea is to do a thriller that has elements of horror as well as action. I was thinking that we could involve a murder in the beginning. And the shots that are used are highly stylised and contain lots of close ups of props and the character. Something where you can't fully see the character, just a few hints. Stuff like probably their eyes or hands or hair. This is because I think it would create more suspense and it would make the audience very curious as to who she is and what they are doing

PRACTICE: more editing pictures

Here are some more pictures of editing the clip

RESEARCH: Student film opening

Inside: Student film analysis

The use of sound is very effective as it creates tension and suspense. The tone of the sound is very deep and this makes the audience more aware about the situation.

The editing equally plays an important part in the construction of the opening. The short cuts is very effective and again creates more suspense. The fast motion is really important as it gives the audeince a sense of the atmosphere that the characters may feel.

Mise-en-scene plays a major role in the opening.Cars and buses are used to create effectiveness of live in a busy city.

RESEARCH: Timeline of a Title Sequence

In this title sequence analysis, I analysed the title sequence for 'Sleeping with the enemy'.

In the opening, it's shows part of the film with the titles which makes it more interesting.

PRACTICE: Preliminary storyboard

Here is the digital storyboard that we produced for our practice preliminary sequence.