Animatic storyboard.

Our storyboard was created by taking pictures of our drawings of our rough thriller opening plan.  we have been inspired to do a mysterious and Psychological thriller because as teenagers we mostly watch these kinda of sub genre because it keep us on the edge which want us to want more.

Full story board

The pitch for the opening of our thriller

Thriller Planning (Slow Motion)

For movie, we had to do research on how to make our movie better and unique. So going through my notes and watching short clip films. I had an idea how to make our movie stand out. I thought that "would slow motion create a tension and suspense?" I then thought about it and concluded that it would work depending on how we use it. I may consider using slow motion in my thriller film. Down below is some example....

As you can see, when it is played a normal rate we couldn't see such detailed of how each object is moving. But when we play a object or scene in slow motion we see every movement and it allow us to focus on the subject more. Analysing the second clip, we know what is going to happen at the end (as we see the women who is lying on the floor dead) tension is still built up because of the slow motion and we get to see every detailed movement of the car and of how it hit the women. Seeing someone being hurt or abused in slow motion also makes it more disturbing and terrifying to watch which may be a good technique to use.

Inspiration

As you well know by now, we are inspired by psychological thrillers such as Momento and Seven, after watching the opening sequence to them we decided we wanted to do our opening sequence in the same way.


First we would use close up but not to reveal too much to the audience and making it suspenseful and mysterious, this is so that it keep the viewers entertained and wanting to watch the rest of the film.
We also liked the idea of having a narrative opening, titles running throughout the opening as this contrasts with what is happening in the opening and keeps the audience busy, watching what is happening as well as reading the titles. 

Pitch Planning

On Mondays lesson our group will be pitching our idea to the class. We have to decide upon what our title of our movie would be, our treatment, what kind of thriller sub genre it is, our location and props, costumes, our storyboard, preliminary ideas, production schedules, risk assessment, institutional details, and our target audience

PRELIM FILM

Thriller Audience

We have to take in to consideration that the majority of the audience who watch thriller movies, as this group will be our target audience. Our target audience is for the slightly younger generation, around 16 years + to 28 years even older.

Here is some information about genre and gender

I did a bit of research and found out that in 2009 503 films were released in the UK from many different genres, yet only 31 were thrillers.

Out of this 503, 52% of these films were either action, animation or comedy. I think these genres are most popular mainly because they appeal to a wider target audience instead of just one main one. For example, 'Toy story 3' which was release on the 19th of July 2010, appealed to its usual young audience, yet in order for them to be able watch the the film they would have gone with an adult. I also know teenagers who went to see this film as it was a continuation of a classic Disney production.

In 2009 Thriller films only accounted 4% of the UK's Box office which is a very low proportion compared to many of the other genres. I think this was the case because most thrillers tend to have a certificate of 15 or 18 which is meant for older or mature people. Statically, more teenagers starting from the age of 12 attend the cinema more than adults, yet they wouldn't be able to get in to see a thriller as they would be too young.

Thriller Audience

Target audiences are vital in creating a successful movie. Our group carefully considered out target audience; those aged between 16-40 because we can relate to that age range more as we are in the same category.

The following table shows that:

1. 31 out of 503 films were of the suspense/thriller genre.
2. the highest grossing film is Angels and Demons, Knowing and Harry Brown.
3. Suspense genre was no match for the other genres in terms of generating money as it only recieved a mere 4% of total film income.

Further research shows that action/comedy/animations are the most money generating genres, thus accounting for 51% of all box office income.

This diagram shows the gender favourites between males and females. Women usually like the romance, period and suspense genres, wheras men prefer the Action sci-fi genre. Both males and females like Comedy and horror, as each respectively brings in a large amount of money.

Opening Sequences

In all films, a certain style is used throughout the opening sequence.

There are 3 styles of opening sequences.

A narrative w/ titles:

Used in A Touch of Evil, Casino and Stepfather.

In the stepfather, the title sequence is very simple. The music is suspenseful whereas the style of writing is ordinary. This helps create the effect of being 'out of place'.







Another structure used is a discrete title sequence. This type of sequence is used in the film 'se7en'. The audience are kept in suspense throughout the title sequence due to things such as close-up and fast cut scenes. These bring on the effect of mystery and suspense.

The final feature is the title over a blank screen, followed by the opening of a film. This is used in Donnie Darko. The opening includes sounds whilst showing a blank screen, this slowly arouses the viewer into wanting to know what happens next, thus creating more mystery.

A unique style of opening sequences is the styled opening. This was used in 'the taking of pelham 123'. This type was used because music is used throughout and the video also goes with the beat of the music. This type of openings draw a sense of uniqueness so that the viewer can gather more hints as to what will happen in the film.

Fonts

Fonts are vital in making an impact on the audience. This is because fonts are used to relate to the movie, which is being shown.

There are 2 main fonts which is used in everyday media.

Serif fonts such as times new roman gives the viewer the hint that the thing they are viewing will be old fashioned, formal and high class.

San serif fonts such as Comic sans tells the reader that the following item they are about to view is going to be friendly, modern, informal and child-like.

We looked at 2 film covers in class.

In pearl harbor, the film is very old fashioned and formal as it is an old war time film. This theme is emphasis through the use of the font. The palatino font is used to create the formal effect, which relates to the film.

The layout of the title font may also be detrimental to the impact the font is trying to make. The letters are all in one, orderly size which may suggest that the letters relate to the soldiers in the film.

We also looked at the rocky film cover. This cover used the Franklin Gothic Heavy font, which is part of the San Serif format of fonts.

The letters are big and bold which may suggest that the film is trying to make a statement about rocky, the main character in the film. This font also tells us that rocky is not very well educated, this is created because of the san serif font which is seen as child-like. The fact that the title is stretched to the edge also shows that rocky is bold and chunky. It also means that their is more to rocky than one can see.

Font Analysis. :RESEARCH

Fonts
Fonts might seem important to the viewing eye but it has such an positive impact on the movie industry. Also it sends a message of what type of movie genre the movie will be about.

There are basically two types of font :










Such as Times and Garmond. It suggests about:

• old
• classical 
• formal 
• traditional 
• old fashioned
• higher class 

Such as Optima and Comic Sans. It is :

• comical
• modern 
• friendly 
• childlike
• informal

In PEARL HARBOUR, the font being used is Palatino it is Serif Font. It is all in white colour and in capital letter. It might have references to a soldier in the row. Also the military clothing is very well organised as the letters are. As the soldiers are in their uniform, the title represents an order of neatness as the letters of the title are all in the same length in height.
























 

In Rocky, the font being used is Franklin Gothic Heavy it is Sans Serif. It's big and bold and easy to read. It tells that the character is not a traditional person. Rocky is not educated. He is simple, but hard working. The title suggests that Rocky is Brave, strong and paunchy. The woman next to him, tell the audience that he has two sides. In the middle, he is soft, kind and carry. As Rocky is uneducated they decided to go with an font that is simple and easy to read, this also fits in to Rocky's mind type. As Rocky is of the lower class and Sans Serif is more of the lower class typr, that's why Franklin Gothic Heavy was used for the poster.

Animatics of Pre-lim: Edited

We used Final Cut Pro to edit the shot of the jelly babies.

We Chose the shots and clipped them to the shots we needed for the scene to look good.

We rendered the clip and are ready to upload.

Response To 'Watching' Documentary

1) What does Thomas Sutciffe mean when he says "Films need to seduce their audience into long term commitment. While there are many types of seduction, the temptation to go for instant arousal is almost irresistible". 

-What he means by this is that the most effective way to catch and keep the audiences attention is by making the first scene dramatic. This hooks the audiences, making them pose questions, therefore making them want to continue watching the film to answer those questions.

2) According to Director Jean Jacques Beineix, "What are the risks of 'instant arousal'?

-Director Jean Jaques Beineix says that the risks in 'instant arousal' is that you have to live up to the opening. If you have a dramatic opening then the rest of the film has to 'live up' to the same expectations, therefore answering all of the audiences questions.

3) Explain why "a good beginning must make the audience feel that it doesn't know nearly enough yet, and at the same time make sure that it doesn't know too little"

-'Dont give away too much, however, keep the audience engaged'.

4) What does critic Stanley Kauffmann describe as the classic opening? why does this work?

-Critic Stanley Kaufman describes a classic opening to be the camera establishing a New York building, going up following the sky scrapper then into the setting of the building. This is good because the audience are shown the location, the class of the character and also where and who he works for. This allows the audience to feel like they are following the characters life. 

5) Why is Kyle Cooper's title sequence to the film Seven so effective?

-It is a Discrete Opening Sequence and therefore we do not see the characters, simply close ups of someone. These closeups were speciafically made to allow the audience a first person view into the mind of someone who is obsessed, and is possibly 'crazy', through very intricate sewing, scribbling. etc.

6) What did Orson Welles want to achieve with his opening to the film A Touch Of Evil? What did Universal Studios do to it?

-Orson Welles managed to successfully shoot an entire 4 minute opening in one take, with no cuts. Although he wanted this scene to be left 'untouched', Universal Studios placed credits and music over it and to Orson Welles ruined the opening.

7) What is meant by "favourite trick of Film Noir"? What is the trick?

-The trick was to put the ending of a film at the beginning.

8) How does the opening to the film The Shining create suspense?

-The camera is shown to be like a 'predator', chasing the car. It also leads us to believe that the car is travelling in the wrong direction, or perhaps towards something they shouldn't.

Font Analyses

Fonts might seem unimportant to the untrained eye, but used correctly, it has such a positive impact on the movie industry. Font usually reflect a part of your personality, depending on which one you choose, it can allow the audience to see what kind of person you are, for example going for a serif font possibly shows you are intelligent, well-dressed, and very formal; although it may seem like we are dwelling to much into it, it is actually how audiences/people think without realising. However using it in a movie industry, would allow the audiences to get an idea of what the film is about, or possible the 'genre' .

There are basically two types of font :

A serif is the extra little 'Flick' at the end of each stroke of the letter.
Such as Clarendon, Rockwell and Courier. Usually are reffered to as a more traditional or Formal look.

Sans Serif on the other hand do not include the extra little 'Flick', Fonts which use this are Optima and Comic Sans. It is used to show a more friendly approach, and also to present views towards the audiences like comical, modern, childlike & informal.

In PEARL HARBOUR, the font being used is Palatino it is Serif Font. It is all in white colour and in capital letter. It might have references to a soldier in a row. Also the military clothing is very well organised as the letters are. As the soldiers are in their uniform, the title represents an order of neatness as the letters of the title are all in the same length in height. It is also intimidating, as soldiers are deemed to be.

In Rocky, the font being used is Franklin Gothic Heavy it is Sans Serif. It is big and bold and easy to read. It tells us that Rocky is not educated. He is simple, but hard working. The title suggests that Rocky is Brave & strong. Through the use of a very curved, smooth edged font it suggests that In the middle, he is soft, kind and caring. It helps the audience to empathise with Rocky and allow the audience to catch a glimpse into Rocky's mind type. As Rocky is of the lower class and Sans Serif is usually reffered to as a lower classed font, it seems be the perfect font to represent Rocky's personality.

Animatic of Prelim: Edited

To edit our Prelim on the Jelly babies, we used Final Cut Pro to cut unwanted parts from our video.

We then Used the edited videos, to create one final video, which we then inserted a soundtrack onto.

My Own Title Sequences

This is my very first attempt at making a Title Sequence using Adobe After Effects^

This is my Second attempt at making a Title Sequence using Adobe After Effects^




and as you can see i used the Stylised Editing Version to make this.

Title Sequences

DISCRETE TITLE SEQUENCES
Discrete title sequences are separately edited sequences that are completely separate from the film opening. They are usually edited the most and have nothing to do with the actual story.

Films which include Discrete Title Sequences are:

• Seven
• Arlington Road 
• Enemy Of the State

NARRATIVE FILM OPENING WITH TITLES

In some films the narrative starts immediately. We are shown to locations, settings then characters. The key enigma may be introduced. However, running over this may be the titles.

Films which include the Narrative Film Opening are 'The Shining'.

STYLIZED EDITED WITH TITLES
Stylized Edited Titles are usually 'full on' edited titles, which are focused alot more on the type of shots and the different uses and unique types of editing, sometimes referred to as 'signature' edits, or edits specific to the editor. The Film which uses Stylized Editing for its opening is 'The Taking Of Pelham 123'.


Here it edits accordingly, like a music video:

Animatics Of Pre-lim (ScreenShots)

This was the Planning of our shots.(Abid)

The set we made:

The Door (made Fuzail), Path (made by Viet):

We used scissors to move the jelly baby, so our hands wouldnt get in the way of the jelly baby walking towards the door, OTS Shot: 

The Shot of the jelly baby walking through the Door:

Close Up Of Jelly baby's Expression:

With the help of Nahid, we got a shot of both of the Jelly babies walking towards each other, from either end also with the help of the door, the audience can tell which side they are looking towards:

And finally the Close Ups and Shot reverse shots, to deliver the dialoge:

To finally end the shots, we did the close ups like this^ because the camera just would not focus, this way atleast we didnt need to zoom in and had the entire scene shot in clear focus.

Jelly Babies Pre Lim

Final Version Of The Bag Swap

Livetype Introduction

Here is an print screen of what I've created in my first lesson using 'livetype'. As you can see I added an effect that allows the text to move around, this type of effect is highly popular when it comes to being inserted in to movie productions.


There are literally over hundreds of effects to insert in to the text, as well as numerous categories.


I didn't find it difficult to navigate around this software due to the fact that that you need very little knowledge to understand what buttons function what. However, I feel that if I had more time during the lesson I would of had been able to make the text look much more profesional and more appealing to the audience.


Some negative factors that I came across was that, there wasn't a way of getting a fade transition in to our title sequence, so instead of doing it on one file, we had to save the current work then open another Livetype file and then make it from there. That is highly stressful and time consuming.

Introduction To Livetype

We used livetype to edit out tile sequence for our bag swap scene. This software is very complex but is easy to use once you understand the functions and what the software is actually capable of doing. We created the title using the software, and we then exported the text to our final bag swap video. The software allowed us to be creative as we were able to change colours, fonts and animations.

Soundtrack Pro Introduction

We learned how to create a soundtrack on 'Soundtrack Pro'. This software allowed us to compose a soundtrack for our video clip. The program let us choose from an immensely large database of random noises such as ‘orchestral, electrical, dark sounds, natural sounds, nature sounds and animal sounds’. 

 

Our soundtrack had to be a suspenseful one, as out bag swap scene was a thriller genre. This meant that we used a lot of sounds which were fast and frantic in addition to many dark sounds to make the theft of the bag seem more sinister.

Introductory Skills To Editing

After we finished filming our ‘Bag Swap’ Scene, we used a professional software called ‘final cut’ to edit our video clip. This program was used on the Mac computers, which are designed to edit and redesign videos, images and sound clips. 

We used the software to cut out parts of our scenes which were unnecessary. This made the final video look more of a professional standard as it didn’t have the cut scenes which were used as preparation and bloopers. The final video was created by adding many videos clips together into one final video.

Introduction To Camera

In our last lesson, we learnt how to use and operate a video camera. Below I shall briefly explain what was taught.

The main thing we learnt was that the cameras are very important, and that we should treat it as our own as we will be responsible for the safety of the camera whilst out filming. We also learnt that the cameras cost a high price to replace or repair, thus we must take good care of it whilst we are out.

There are 2 ways to keep focus; Using manual focus or Auto focus. We were recommended to use the auto focus as it will be easier for us in different lighting situations. However if we do decide to use manual focus, there is a rubber slider at the front of the camera near the lenses to adjust focus on the subject.

The image attached, is the picture of the camera we will be using. In lesson, we learnt the basic functions on how to successfully operate the camera.

In the lesson, we also learnt how to use a tripod. The main purpose of the tripod is to reduce the possibility of the camera shaking whilst filming. The tripod has a handle on the side, this allows us to do pan camera angles without having to move the camera around, which will almost certainly involve the camera shaking. The tripod has to be tightened once placed on the top of the tripod. The tripod must also have its 3 ‘legs’ tightened if the legs are stretched.

 We learnt that we must be sensible when using the camera, this meant that we must use the camera during times and places which we felt were suitable. This means that we are not allowed to film in dangerous locations and locations which were out of bounds to normal citizens. We were also told to use the camera during reasonable weather, heavy rain means that we must stop filming and cover the camera to prevent damage.

The borrowing of cameras also meant that we must follow clear timetables on when to return the camera as others may be waiting to use the same camera, thus creating delays which affect other groups filming times.