Props

UPDATE- 14th January 2015
Our thriller will now need these props due to the change in ideas and storyline:

A naked bulb
Straw Rope
Tear Stick
Chair x2
Table
Blindfold
Car
Landline Telephone (old)


We will get the table and chairs from our school. Bern will provide the blindfold. We will also need to ruin the old telephone by putting scrapes and cracks on the phone itself. The straw rope will be found from my house and we will borrow our teachers car for filming. A tear stick will be purchased online, however, it is currently out of stock so it is debatable whether we will use this.
























For our thriller we will need these props:

Two guns
A naked light bulb
Chair x2
Table
TV
Radio
Tear Stick
A selection of special effects make up
2 Stands for the guns
Coca cola bottle 2 litres x4
Wires and crocodile clips
Chains/ Traps
Rope/String

We will need to create the bombs out of the coca cola bottles using wires and crocodile clips. In addition we will need to attach the gun to the stand with string wrapped around the actors finger (the lady).

We will borrow the majority of the props from our college, however we will have to get string and rope from a DIY store and coca cola bottles from Sainsbury's. Isabella has special effects make up which she is able to bring in, however, we will order some off Amazon in case we need more.

The props we have chosen are necessary as they all help to build tension in the thriller, such as the gun pressed against the victims heads and a bomb under the table. The radio is also likely to be playing non-diegetic sound which is likely to be contrasting the scene with ironic up beat music.

What kind of institution would produce my film?

I think that if my thriller was made, that 20th Century Fox would be the production company. This is because they have made iconic thrillers such as Skyfall and Taken both of which have twisted areas and unexpected parts to the film. A similar film to our thriller is the popular feature, Taken. As our thriller opening title sequence will feature montages and jumps, this scene in Taken shows the similarity of what we are aiming to create.

Our thriller would fit the ethos of the production company because the thrillers they create are usually unpredictable and intriguing. As my thriller's opening title sequence is two people trapped, unknown to where they are, this resembles Taken's ethos well as a man is trying to find his child who is unaware of where she is. 20th Century Fox create high budget films with well known stars which I could imagine our film following in these footsteps as many of the twist and turns may need high amounts of technology during filming as well as well established actors.

Here is a link to the 20th Century Fox website: http://www.fox.co.uk/

The main advertising technique that would be used to market our thriller would be to provide advertisement through cinema adverts, talk shows and posters as they are a large business. The film would be shown in all main stream cinemas as well as a DVD release. It is unlikely there will be much merchandise for the thriller, however T-Shirts may be created if the film was to become popular. 20th Century Fox specialise in thrillers and suspense as the website shows with a huge list of thrillers coming out every year. However, due to the size of the company, they do not target a specific audience as they create a huge range of films from family to action. Thrillers such as Taken, Saw and Shutter Island will have the same target audience as our thriller. The ethos and target audience of the company is everyone, as they create many different types of films from different genres, however, they have created some of the most iconic thrillers to date, and therefore I would like my thriller to be part of that.

Storyboard

Here are the final storyboards created for our thriller. Many different shot ideas are used, especially close ups and extreme close ups as we believe this will create the most tension. The TV will have random footage on it, playing in a montage to spook the audience with something completely irrelevant to the scene which will make them question themselves, however it will also have family pictures of the victims to scare them and pshycoligically play with their minds.

Review of Test Footage

This is the test shoot of our thriller. Since the test shoot, many aspects of the sequence have changed. We filmed two people, male and female, who are sitting down opposite each other with a table between them. A gun was central on the table pointing at the girl. We couldn't use the real set in our pilot so we turned the tables over in the classroom to create an enclosed and claustrophobic environment which is the environment we want in the real thriller.  The main camera angles that have been used and tested in the shoot include: close ups, extreme close ups, over the shoulder shots and mid shots. 


Extreme Close Up
Here is an example of an extreme close up used in the pilot. It looks effective as it shows how tired and disorientated the characater is which was our aim.

Close Up
Here is an example of a close up used in our pilot. It's effective because we are drawn to her face, which shows her worried expression. It also means the audience are unable to get distracted on parts of the mise-en-scene, which is likely with a long shot.

The reason we used these is because it reveals less to the audience about who these characters are which builds tension. However, after watching it make I think that it isn't clear enough where these characters are so we believe that we will use more establishing shots and extreme long shots in the real thriller.

I found this pilot process very useful as we were able to see which camera shots did work and which ones didn't and adjust accordingly to that. The main camera shots that we will carry forward are the close ups, extreme close ups and over the shoulder shots as well as the pace of the shots. These all worked well with the genre of thriller.

The consistent flashing light did not work as it became distracting at times, however we will include it in our thriller, but use it my subtly. Also, the location didn't look right as we were unable to get the TV with family images and the dark misty room which is the idea we have at the moment. Therefore, in the next stage, we plan on having that location. Also, tension was slightly lost at some points in the thriller, especially in the middle therefore we need to work on what may create more tension, such as non-diegetic music. The main concern is that the pilot is far too short, therefore we need to think of ore ideas that we could include in the next stage to pro long it to approximately two minutes. These problems have all influenced me to use less prominent flashing and a wider variety of camera shots which will create more tension than in the pilot.

Minute Meetings

Minute Meeting 10- 19th January

Today we have:
Built are set ready for our shoot tomorrow, in addition we have got all of the props we need ready such as: table, chairs, bin liners, car etc.

Prep
Get ready for an early start tomorrow by making sure everything is ready the night before



Minute Meetings 9- 14th January 

Today we have:

Finalised out idea, ready for our shoot on the 20th January. 

Sorted out props, costumes, actors etc.

Designed our set in the studio for the inside of the thriller and prepared the location for the location of the thriller

Prep

Bern will continue to do the storyboard

Max will work on the props and costumes

Alen will work on location and set design

Minute Meetings 8- 12th January

Characters

Mike Niland- Victim 1/ Driver

Adam Grant- Victim 2 BU- Misam 

Georgia Packham- Car Victim BU- Hannah Nanton 

Cameron Watson- Guard

Roles

Max, Bern and Alen will each do a bit of everything when filming. Such as directing, camera work and mise-en-scene. 

On the day, Bern will keep an eye on continuity. 

Homework

Bern- Adding to storyboard

Max- Sorting out props and costumes including purchasing two large white t shirts, a tear stick and hairbands. 

Alen- investigating scenery options

Minute Meeting 7 -15th December

What we did well?

We discussed what we had to do with costume, props, set design and location.

We figured out our roles.

-Were we Productive?

Yes we were

Targets

Max- props

Alen- costume and location

Bern- Set design

Minute Meetings 6- 2nd December 2014

What did we do today?

We filled Bern today while she was absent, about the testing shoot. 

We changed the narrative of the film.

We presented our mood board to Bern.

Ran over what we need to do for our storyboard. 

Were we Productive?

Yes, we were.

Targets:

Bern: Draw up a page for the story board.

Max: Sort out the story board.

Alen: Minute Meeting and help with the story board.

Here are our original storyboards before the concept was changed.


Minute Meeting 5- 24th November 2014

What went well?

We created a powerpoint to present our idea ready for tomorrow.

We also collected clips together to edit for the TV montage during the opening sequence.

Targets

Max- minute meeting

Bern- more clips

Alen- practise editing 

Minute Metting 4 - 21st November 2014

What went well?

We managed to edit all of our footage into a pilot episode. 

Flashing light on characters creates tension for thriller

Extreme close up is very exposing on the characters 

What didn't go well?

Thriller was too short so we need more footage to get it to 2 minutes

Need to decide whether it should end with gun shot or not

Need to create family footage on small TV screen

Bern- find footage for TV screen clip

Max- minutes

Alen- find footage for TV screen clip

Minute Meetings 3- 20th November 2014

What did we find out?

We fulfilled the storyboard

We explored how we could use lighting such as using the lighting from the phone and flickering it

We used the room (tables) to build the scene

Targets for tomorrow

Max- minute meeting

Bern- develop storyboard

Alen- footage from TV / articles etc

Productive?

We were very productive today and we fulfilled our targets

Minute Meeting 2 - 19th November 2014

Subject

What have we done?

We have decided on what we need do for our storyboard on Wednesday. 

We found Liv to help act in our pilot.

What went well?

Max downloaded iMovie. Bern drew lots of the storyboard and Alen did the minute meeting last night. 

Targets

Max- minute meeting

Bern- complete storyboard

Alen- practise camera work for filming tomorrow

Minute Meetings 1 - 18th November 2014

What have you done?

We have decided to use our second idea ‘The Russian Roulette’, instead of our original idea. We made this change because we thought that the shots were too complicated and we decided to keep it simple.

What are your targets for the next meeting?

Our targets have changed; we have to use less mise-en-scene and no dialogues.

What went well and what went bad?

We think that we were very productive today because we already came up with so many different types of shots for our opening sequence and locations where we will be planning to shoot our thriller opening sequence. Nothing went bad; we think that all of us collaborated well.

Alen: Writing the Minute Meeting

Burn: Finishing up a page of the story board

Max: Needs to download iMovie

Moodboard

This is the moodboard I have designed reflecting our opening title sequence for our thriller. It shows the main characters that may be featured in the opening title sequence as well as props and words which are the key themes of the thriller.