Lighting of the props shot

This brief picture shows how we will set the lighting for our tracking shot of the props.

Roles of Team

Camera Operator: Tanzy. Her job involves working closely with the director to ensure all shots are what they expect and accurate to the shot list and story board.
Key Skills include:

• a good sense of visual composition, perspective and movement
• physical co-ordination and strength
• ability to combine creativity with technical skills
• precise attention to detail
• effective communication skills
• ability to collaborate, and to work as part of a team
• diplomacy and sensitivity when working with artists and crew
• knowledge of the requirements of the relevant Health and Safety legislation and procedures.

Director: George. The director will have a crucial
SkillsDirectors must have exceptional artistic vision and creative skills to develop an engaging and original film. The ability to act as a strong and confident leader. Directors must constantly make decisions, but must also be able to delegate, and to collaborate with others. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills are vital to get the best from the film making team. They must have good attention to detail, and the ability to remain calm and think clearly under great pressure.

Editor: Conor. Editors check the technical standards, as well as the emerging sense of story, and the actors' performances. Because scenes are shot and edited out of sequence, select the best takes and edit them together to create scenes. Then Conor will add all sound on top of the film sequence
Key Skills include:

• ability to be creative under pressure;
• imagination and an understanding of narrative;
• excellent communication and interpersonal skills;
• developed sense of rhythm and timing in story telling;
• highly developed aesthetic visual awareness;
• ability to lead a team;
• patience, attention to detail and good organisational skills;
• knowledge of the requirements of the relevant Health and Safety legislation and procedures.

Actress: Louisa. The Actress are the visual interpretation of our story board and visual ideas. She also has to ensure she portrays the character well so the audience has a true understanding of how the director and our teams wants to show her. The actress will also have to put forward on her ideas on how she thinks the main character should act and how the character would behave.
Key Skills:

• Accommodate script changes
• Learn Lines
• Temporarily assume other identities, and also to be made up, dressed, positioned and directed by others.
• Assume a different body shape or language, depending on the age and fitness of their character
• Good observation, in order to learn from others' body language- create believable characters
• Be aware of Health and Safety issues

Technician roles e.g. lighting, sound, props, costume designer will be played by everyone as we all have opinions on how we want our opening sequence to look like. Everyone is also involved in decision making and the overall image of our production however we all do have allocated jobs to ensure everyone view is taken in to consideration e.g. editing will use shots that we all agree is the best.

Mood Board

 

 

Here is my mood board which explains the initial ideas which we came up with through images and words and one phrase. This helped me figure out what I wanted from our filming and what I want to put across to the audience which is a psychotic heart-broke women and her thoughts. It also helped me think of what I want to include in the opening sequence which is different pictures of them, located in a small and cramped room and I would like to include a shot of  her eye. I also want to put across her emotions and how she will feel.

How to Build Suspense and Silence of the Lambs

To Build Suspense

• Peaks and valleys-  These are when there are sudden intense moments in a film then there are calm parts
• Music- in many old fashioned films organs were used to create suspense such as in Dracula however now they have been over used so there are mainly strings being played to build suspense.
• Shot Sizes- varying the shot size can build suspense also as tracking inwards from a medium shot to a close up could show worry. It is unlikely to see long shots being used to create suspense unless used in a certain way for instance how the editor cuts the shots..
• The Cuts- How the editor cuts the clip can create suspense as for example: if you see the villain from  far away then cut to the victim then cut back to the villain closer to the victim to before, this shows the audience something bad is going to happen as you didn't see them move.
• Lighting- Low Key lighting is normally used as it creates shadows so the audience can only see part of the shot which creates mystery and spots lights are normally used for the same effect.

Silence of the Lambs suspense techniques

• Heavy Breathing
• Point of View shots
• Camera focuses on main character, this makes you feel like you are part of the scene
• Use of night vision- the main character can't see anything but villain can see her
• Long shots are not used
• Use slow motion to capture every movement but the switch back to a faster pace

From looking into how to build suspense I now feel more confident on building it myself, I hope to use the right type of music and shot sizes in our opening scene and also include some peaks and valleys to keep the viewer engaged in the action as well as building suspense.

Prop Ideas

Here we have outlined some our initial prop ideas we are thinking of using in our Thriller opening, we are thinking of using the idea from the thriller 'Seven' where there was many short frames and mainly focusing on props rather than the characters. So for us to create our own we need many props.

 

 

 

Our Thriller Ideas

Here are some of our first thoughts of thriller ideas, we came up with some like a kidnapping of a small child after doing some research into it (watching other thriller opening scenes) we decided we didn't want to carry on with it as it has already been made many times and we wanted to do something a little different. So we came up with a couple breaking up however the female is still totally in love and attached to the guy, and she can't get over him. The opening sequence will consists of many short frames of her, pictures of them together, pictures of just him, his clothes, notes and teddy bears.

Target Audience Questionnaire

 

Target Audience Questionnaire

(1) Are you male or female?

(2) How old are you?

(3) How often do you watch a Thriller Movie?

(4) What makes a good Thriller film to you? A- Enigmatic (mysterious, difficult to  understand) Narrative B- Tension based C- Realistic Acting D- Realistic Narrative  C- Sound and Lighting

(5) Which of the following films are you favourite? A- Inception B- Seven
C- The Machinist D- Shaw Shank Redemption E- All of  the above

(6) For the opening scene would you prefer to see what the film is about completely or for it to be gradually unveiled?

I will be using this to find out roughly what people enjoy and what they look for in a Thriller film for certain age ranges and then  incorporate some ideas in our Thriller Opening.