Production Log 7

Group Allocation Task 7

Sound Effects Board Blog

Sound effects board Explosion

 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M27_cYTcZJI

 2. http://soundbible.com/tags-explosion.html 

I think the sustainability for the first sound effect is the best as it is more of a bang and it doesn’t drag on for too long. It is also good as it isn’t over exaggerated so sounds more realistic. The sustainability for the second sound effect is good as it is a more of a realistic sound but it goes on for too long so it might not fit the timing of explosion. I am choosing the first sound effect as it goes with the motion of our explosion and it doesn’t drag on for too long so it will make everything flow and seem like its actually happening.

Car crash

 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV6DC5tpU44

 2. http://soundbible.com/tags-car-crash.html 

I think the sustainability for the first sound effect is good as it sounds more realistic and it goes on for how long a car crash should last for. It also has a clear sound of the actual crash of cars. The sustainability for the second sound effect is that it has more of a realistic sound and atmosphere so it would be best for us to use this. It is also very accurate on what you should be hearing when a car crashes. I am going to choose the second sound effect as it is the one that suits more and will make our opening sequence sound more realistic.

Screaming

 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R04fILxFl3I

 2. http://soundbible.com/tags-scream.html 

I think the sustainability for the first sound effect is good as it sounds better as it is clear and accurate due to the screaming sound being more realistic. It is also good as it gets straight to the point of how screaming should sound. I think the sustainability for the second sound effects is good as it gives a range of effects you can choose from. It is good as it gives more of a realistic sound so it doesn’t sound so fake and scripted. I am going to choose the first sound effect as it the most realistic sounding effect and I think it will work well in our opening sequence.

Glass smashing

 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OtBEJCSIb0

 2. http://www.freesfx.co.uk/soundeffects/glass/

I think the sustainability of the first sound effect is that it gives off a good smash without it being too exaggerated and over done. It also sounds realistic so will go with the glass smashing that we are trying to create. I think the sustainability for the second sound effect is good in some ways for us to use as it has a good repetitive sound so makes it sound realistic. I am going to choose the second sound effect as I think it will work best with our opening sequence and it will make it flow better.

Heartbeat

 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgZjYIPPe50

 2. http://soundbible.com/tags-heart.html 

I think the sustainability for the first sound effect is the best as it is more of a heartbeat and it doesn’t drag on for too long. It is also good as it isn’t over exaggerated so sounds more realistic. The sustainability for the second sound effect is good as it is a more of a realistic sound but it goes on for too long so it might not fit the timing of explosion. I am choosing the first sound effect as it goes with the motion of the heartbeat and it doesn’t drag on for too long so it will make everything flow and seem like its actually happening.

First Page of Script Doc

Potential Client Questions Blog

10 questions 

1. The detective’s son is 4 and when we later see him he’s 16. Will you be able to find two individuals who look similar if aged?  

2. How will you clearly show the correlation    between the antagonist and the number 4? 

3. How will you show a car accident? 

4. Chadwell heath is heavily Asian, are you sure you can fill your character roles? 

5. What time will you shoot the scene of ben being kidnapped? If it’s too dark, it might be problematic. 

6. Are you going to invest any money into your film? eg for props  

7. How will you help the audience understand what’s going on in the opening sequence? We will use a newspaper with a story of a dead girl 

8.  You are planning to fill 30 seconds with a range of shots of characters and props, is that the best uses of 30 seconds? 

9. Is the killing of families and children suitable for your given age rating? 

10. Do you think that your 2 minute opening sequence is smash mouth?   

Location Recee Blog

Proposal PPT

Production Log Week 6

Task Allocation Grid 6

Script Planning Document

Production log for week 5

Task Allocation Week 5

Production log of initial idea

Production log

 Dilly: We had to go through all our notes to get the gist of our idea.

 Zahra: We have to add more characters

Dilly: I’m going through all the events in the story that happening and writing it down in the blog and thinking of any change that needs to be done. Try and add elements of my idea.

Zahra: The main antagonist is the person who had lost his daughter at the age of 4 and now obsessed with the number 4.

 Dilly: There’s a family and the parents die. It turns out that the son who is 15 murders his parents but no one knows. The sister is the protagonist who has an abusive boyfriend and everyone thinks he murdered the parents as he had gotten in an argument with them the day before. He son could be the antagonist as well.

 Zahra: Make up an antagonists name

 Dilly: Damon is the antagonist’s name. Why did he take his son? What did the protagonist do to the antagonist to make him want to take his son?

 Zahra: Find out who the other characters are. His divorced wife.

 Dilly: Ohh yeah the divorced wife can be the sympathetic character

 Zahra: We’ve got a sympathetic character

 Dilly: Explosives to bomb parks.

 Zahra: We have to think of a suitable location.

 Dilly: How did the antagonist’s daughter die? You put me off my mojo.

 Zahra: We’re having 4 bombs

Dilly: Could the protagonist kill the daughter maybe he had alcohol problems. And when he was driving he was in an accident that had the antagonist and his daughter inside the other car.

Dilly: I’m going to add in the divorced wife. We need 4 characters.

 Gurjit: She could have another child. That child is going to have the typical thoughts of a brother.

Gurjit: The child’s name is going to be Ben. Ben could be Damons surrogate son.

Dilly: Car crash

 Zahra: We should start off where he actually loses his daughter.

 Dilly: We could have a toy car

Zahra: I’ve got a good idea what we could do for act 2.

 Gurjit: He kidnaps the guy’s son. We jump in date.

Zahra: We could add a flashback to show when his daughter died.

 Dilly: How are we going to show the son getting kidnapped?

 Gurjit: The son puts the bomb in the park. We see the son do this and he has a flashback of his childhood. The child is under the bed and he’s hiding. When he’s under the bed he sees someone walk across the room in black boots.

 Gurjit: We could have the antagonist kidnap the son, and we see this through a CCTV camera.

Zahra: We have to decide whether it is going to be linear or non-linear. It is going to be linear with elements of being non-linear.

 Gurjit: How are we going to conceal the bomb?

Zahra: We could have the bombs in a black bag and it having a small ticking sound.

 Dilly: He could receive a phone call from Damon.

Gurjit: Everything is normal even in his drinking state. Our antagonist is happy with his daughter and they are living his life. Jason is drink driving and causes a crash with Damons car and kills his daughter. Attempt to repair the damage where Jason tries to bring Damon to justice.

 Dilly: What other ideas could we include?

Gurjit: He has one goal.

Written Synopsis Blog

Content

The events that happen in our story is that a detectives 4 year old son goes missing and he is fighting for the rights to see him. He would do anything it takes to bring justice into law breakers. The antagonist has kidnapped the detectives son who has been held captive for 11 years.
 The antagonist has been raising the child as his own, however has been manipulating and brain washing the detectives son and has taught him to kill, and learn how to develop explosives to bomb up parks containing families as he believes he has no family.
The antagonist does criminal activity with the number four as he bombs four children, mothers, fathers and bombs four different locations every year. He has a strong compulsion with the number four and does everything in fours in honour of his 4 year old daughter.
The protagonist has been trying to capture this man for years, trying to track him down, however the antagonist is always one step ahead of him.


The angle of article portrays the point of view from which the screenwriter tells the story. This plots out the stories behind each protagonist, antagonist and sympathetic characters and how they are illustrated in the story.
The protagonist's name is Jason where he is a detective who's been going through a rough divorce for 11 years now. This had happened after his 4 year old son had gone missing and had gotten kidnapped.  The protagonist had a previous drinking problem where he had done a DUI after finding out his divorce from his wife. He had caused an accident containing father and his four year old daughter which he had not known as he was seriously drunk and emotional. After getting sober, he had realised what had happened the next day and wanted to make amends for his actions, he was left feeling utter guilt and could not live with himself for years. He tried to find the people in the car to apologise to them, to find out whether they were alive or not but had found no record of the people nor any information the car crash ever happening.

The antagonist who is called Damon, wants revenge on the detective as he caused the death of his 4 year old daughter who was killed in a car accident. After the incident, he had hid his identity from everyone and became a serial bomber, to plot revenge against the person who killed his daughter who is Jason. He found his home address and one day kidnapped his son and manipulated him as the years to make him against his family and make him feel extreme hatred for them. Damon had taught and made him develop bombs and plannings out of anger because he thought his parents had left him. Damon's background story is that he was living a simple life before the crash and now he turned into a criminal mastermind.

The other antagonist is Ben who is Jason's son and he lives a life of hatred where he believes that his family had abandoned him. He thinks that he was taken in by Damon who had helped him live a better life.
The sympathetic characters are Jason's wife and daughter who we sympathies with because they have had to suffer 11 years without their son and brother.

Narrative

The beginning of the story, a clip is shown of Jason drinking recklessly and suddenly drives into a car which keeps flipping over. However, what he does not know is that the car contains a father and a daughter. The inciting incident is that Jason drives off and leaves the incident behind with the crashed car and the fathers dead daughter. The father who was in the car is now planning his revenge against the person who was driving the car and turns into the antagonist of the story. 

For act 2 we see action happening in the Jason's house where we see the camera under the bed showing Ben scared and crying as a intruder has entered their house. The camera shows the door with a man walking towards the room and with black boots and then suddenly pops out the antagonist who drags Ben who is 4 years old in the scene and takes him. You then see Ben screaming and kicking as the man walks away with the child and then you see Jason knocked out on the floor and it fades out black. 

It has now passed 11 years where we see Damon and Ben together as Damon has raised him as his own. We show them planning bomb locations in four places where they plan to bomb in a children's park for one of them and it shows them bombing 4 children, four mother and four fathers and after their death they lay rose petals over the bodies. At the bombing scene the camera shows families screaming and panicking when they see the bomb. 

We then show Jason who is in his office as it shows he is a detective trying to track down these bombing that he has heard about and wants justice to be served for this vile crime. He thinks that they are terrorism attacks and does not know that they are happening in an act of revenge against him. 

Jason begins to have flashbacks of the car crash as he receives a phone call from Damon as he tells him to recall what had happened on the night of the car crash and that he killed his daughter. Damon then tells him that he had kidnapped him son. 

The story is going to be non-linear as it has aspects of flashbacks showing the car crash that Jason had caused and when he receives a phone call from Damon he starts the reminiscence the events that happened at the car crash. 

The equilibrium is with Jason being an alcoholic and just generally going through a divorced. Damon is happy with his daughter and living his normal life. 

The disruption of the equilibrium is that Jason is drink driving and cause a car crash with Damon and his daughter in the car which results in with the death of his daughter. We then have the bombing scene. 

The recognition is when Jason realises that he had cause the crash and then we have the bombings caused by Ben his son. There is then an attempt to repair the damage where Jason tries to bring Damon to justice by trying to capture him and arrest him and get his son back. 

The narrative devices that are used in our story is a devices from MacGuffin which is a plot device in the form of a goal, a motivator that the protagonist pursues. Our protagonist has the goal to capture the person that has been bombing locations and killing innocent people, however he learns that he has more then one goal to achieve which is to get his son back from the person causing all the bombing activity. His son is the desired object.
Another narrative device is Flashback where we shown at the beginning a scene where Jason is drink driving and causes an accident. This is recalled repeatedly as Jason has flashbacks about his tragic incident. his son also has a flashback during act two, he flashbacks about his kidnapping. 

Genre

The three thriller conventions are that it is psychological and had aspects of action in there. The location is set in an urban city where they both of the characters are alone and have their difference. 

The story had a lot of enigma that makes the audience ask questions about why Damon had taken Jason's son and why they are bombing families in an act of revenge when he should be after Jason. Why should innocent people have to suffer?

Another thriller convention is that we have a clear protagonist and the story is told from his perspective. 

Our sub-genre is a action-thriller as it shows elements of violence and bombings in scenes. Also elements of action are car crashes, explosions and also chasing the antagonist to arrest him and also to find his son. The story also has aspects of psychological-thriller as Jason keeps thinking about the car crash and what his actions of drinking had caused. Also, Damon thinks about how Jason had killed his daughter and that he will never forgive him or let others live their lives in peace and therefore begins to bomb people as he has gone mentally ill. 

The thriller themes that the story include are death, revenge and fear. Death is shown at the beginning as Damon's daughter dies. It is also shown in in when Damon and Ben plan bombs in locations and kill innocent people. There are images shown of the bodies and rose petals laid upon them to signify their deaths. Revenge is denoted as Damon kidnaps Jason's son and raises him has his surrogate as Jason lives the rest of his life in misery just like Damon. Fear is portrayed when the people in the park see the bomb and they know it will go off any second and there is nothing they can do about it. All they can do it wait for their death to come.

Style

A camera shot we will use is a close up shot of a childs hand hanging out of a crashed car which portrays blood dripping and smashed glass everywhere. To show this we will be using fake blood and also get an empty bottle that we will smash and safely lay out in the scene where we will then throw away once we have filmed the scene. Another camera shot we will use is establishing shot which will be of a park showing families walking around. This is the location that our bombing scene will take place.
For the post production, we will be using final cut pro to add edits into our film and put all the cuts and footage together. The editing conventions that we will add in an explosion effect that will happen in the park after the bomb goes off. Another editing convention is a fade in and a fade out at the beginning and ending of the film to start and finish it off.
A thriller sound convention is the sound of the ticking bomb and shows a glimpse of a bomb hanging out of a backpack which will be a very tense moment for the audience as the rest of the diegetic sound in the background will be muted to get a more silent effect as everyone is just waiting for it to go off. Another sound effect we will use, is also the car tyres screeching when there is a car crash. The noise of the screeching represents the danger that the audience first see and hear and also the loss of control that Jason has of his car. 

A thriller mise-en-scene convention is the lighting which we will change to low key as it will create tension and shadows. It portrays predominantly dark tones which makes the scene look atmospheric and also allows the audience to follow the action or movement easy to analyze and guides their eyes. For example following the bomb in the backpack in the park.
The performance of the characters will have to be seriously delivered and create suspicion and tension to make the audience feel uneasy as to what is to be expected towards the end. Will Jason ever get his son back? Will he stop the bombings from proceeding? 

Brief Interpretation

A quote from the brief of the Thriller Chiller Film Festival is 'it should include all the conventions of a film opening' which include super imposed graphics, engaging music, enigmas and to introduce the production company as soon as the film begins etc. The production company we would have to create using Fireworks and Adobe software to produce our company name and logo design. Also, the super imposed graphics will be showing a scene of Jason drinking and flashes of explosions going off, maps and location being highlighted and this will all be shown behind the superimposed graphics. The superimposed graphics displays the directors, producers and characters names and anyone else behind the scenes. Our engaging music will create tension and will sound quite eerie to intrigue the audience.

Also, in the brief it mentions that it should be 'aimed towards a target audience of 16-24 year olds. We use the Jason's son Ben who is 15 years old to try to relate to the younger audience. 

It also contains quite a lot of action which they are intrigued with such as the explosions that we will show that Ben caused. There are many plot twists that are involved such as the antagonist Damon taking Ben for 11 years to take revenge on Jason . The audience learn after that Jason had killed Damon's daughter when he receives a phone call from Damon explaining everything. How he took his son, how Jason took away his daughter from him, Damon was the cause of all the bombings.

Another quote that we will include is 'many of the techniques used in the thriller genre' such as plot twists, the themes and characters that make up the thriller. Also, suspense is created as death and paranoia are displayed in slow motion to keep the audience off their seats and makes the audience have feelings of excitement, hope and anxiety which develops from unpredictable and surprising events.   

Production Log Week 4

Was written on 1/12/16

Task Allocation List - Week 4

Annotated Europe Script PPT

Annotated World Script PPT

Annotated British Script PPT

Production Log Week 3

Task Allocation List Week 3

Task Allocation List Week 2

Task Allocation List Week 1

Questionnaire Doc

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/VNL8QN3

This graph tells me that the target audience are more into thrillers that include tense music in the background. The target audiences attitudes to the thriller genre is that most people like thrillers that have tense music and prefer it better than high-pitched, electronic, orchestral and even dramatic. What I have got from these results about opening sequences from the people I asked is that no one really likes high-pitched music in opening sequences as they think it doesn't suit it being in a thriller opening sequence.
From this graph it has helped me with the decisions on the type of music I should include in my opening sequence and what will suit best. It has helped me think about what will make our opening sequence as tense as possible due to people liking the use of tense music and atmosphere.
It helps us develop the tensity of our opening sequence as well as narrowing it down by using one type of music background to get our target audience interested in it.
From this graph it also tells us that the target audience has a good interest and taste in thrillers and the opening sequences.

This graph tells me that the target audience like opening sequences that include blood as they think it is what makes a opening sequence more intense and builds that most suspense. The target audiences attitudes towards this is that they think it is appropriate to include blood in a opening sequence as it builds suspense on what will happen in the rest of the film. What I have found out from the results is that people don't like bombs being used in the opening sequence as they think it makes it look too staged and doesn't build much suspense.
From this graph people like the use of props, but the use of bombs is not popular. The tells use that the target audience like blood and
This graph has helped us develop our idea as it has helped us think about what props we should actually be including in our opening sequence. In our initial idea we have the use of bombs in our opening sequence, but from this graph it tells us that most people don't like the use of bombs in an opening sequence, so we will think carefully about whether to include bombs.

This graph tells me that the target audience like murder in an opening sequence. The target audiences attitude towards this is that they prefer murder in an opening sequence over the rest as it makes it more tense and dramatic. This graph has helped us with our idea as we are including murder in our opening sequence.
This graph has helped us develop our idea as it has made us think about the different aspects of murder we could add into our opening sequence. This has helped us as we know not to include humour or car crashes as they aren't so popular in an opening sequence.
This tells us about the audiences personality and how they like the use of murder. This also tells us that the audience has a taste of a dramatic scene including some kind of blood or murder. The murder aspect is used in our idea and this research has helped us to develop our idea in more detail to make our opening sequence more suspenseful.

This graph tells me that the target audience have seen a lot of opening sequences and films that include psychopaths. The target audiences attitudes towards this is that they are more interested in opening sequences that include psychopaths as it makes it more tense and adds suspense to the whole film. The graph has helped us think about the different characters that will decide to include into our opening sequence.
This has also told us that bullies and teachers as bad people in a thriller is not that popular so we won't be including it into our opening sequence.
This graph also tells us about the audiences personality and how people like psychopaths in an opening sequence as it includes more of a dramatic story and makes everything more tense.
The psychopath aspect is used in our idea with the father and how is mentally obsessed with the number 4 as it was the age his daughter died, so the use of a psychopath will really benefit our opening sequence.

This graph tells me that the target audience favourite type of thriller genre is action as they think it includes the most suspense in it. The target audiences attitudes towards this is that they don't like opening sequences with the genre of legal or spy as they think they are very boring and not interesting, as well as not creating any suspense.
This graph also tells us about the audiences personality and how they are not into the law side of thrillers as it is not what they are interested in. This graph has helped us develop our ideas of our opening sequence further to include more action to grab the audiences attention when they see our opening sequence.
The fact the people like action will help us try to develop an opening sequence that will relate to the majority of people to grab the audiences attention. This research has helped us narrow down all our ideas and put the things that audience likes the most.

This graph tells me that the target audience have seen a lot of opening sequences and films that are psychological. The target audiences attitudes towards this is that they are more interested in opening sequences that include psychological aspects as it makes it more tense and adds suspense to the whole film. The graph has helped us think about the different characters that will decide to include into our opening sequence.
This has also told us that bullies and teachers as bad people in a thriller is not that popular so we won't be including it into our opening sequence.
This graph also tells us about the audiences personality and how people like psychological aspects in an opening sequence as it includes more of a dramatic story and makes everything more tense.
The psychopath aspect is used in our idea with the father and how is mentally obsessed with the number 4 as it was the age his daughter died, so the use of a psychopath will really benefit our opening sequence, he becomes psychologically obsessed.

This graph tells me that the target audience are more interested in opening sequences that include both camera angles and graphic due to it making it more better. The target audiences attitudes towards is that they might like specific types of camera angles to show tension in a specific scene or shot. Also people like the use of graphics as it shows detail in what is happening in an opening sequence so the audience is more intrigued into it.
This graph also tells us about the audiences personality and taste in how they like opening sequences. But apart from that the information in this graph clearly shows that the people that i had asked to answer this question don't like that of props as much as they say it makes everything look messy and makes it look less professional.
This graph will help us decide the specific types of things to add into our opening sequence to make it appeal to our audience more. This has also helped as in our idea we had decided and put our ideas together to use graphics to create tension.

This graph tells me that the target audience are more interested in crime than setting and disfigurements. The target audiences attitudes towards this is that they like crime as it creates the most tension and suspense and it is what they look for in a good opening sequence.
This graph also tells us about the audiences taste in thrillers as they like something that includes mystery and murder so create suspense.
This graph relates to our idea as they try to find out who keeps committing a crime by setting off bombs in unknown locations.

This graph tells me that the target audience like the movie taken as it includes more suspense and creates more tension. The target audiences attitudes towards this is that they prefer Taken as they think it is more interesting and gripping.
This graph shows that people don't really like Ex Machina and Memento as they are not popular and not really recognised as a movie as they are niche.
This graph also tells us about the audiences personality and the taste in what they like and what they are interested in the most.
This graph also show that the action thrillers are more popular as in them there are characters that most people know so people watch them.
This graph will help us with our idea as we will try to add more action so it gets our audiences attention and make them enjoy watching our opening sequence. This will also help us as this research has made us aware of what people enjoy.

This graph tells me that the target audience have seen a lot of movies that are set forests as it is a place where most bad things happen. This also shows that when people watch a thriller they don't see it set in a castle as they think it's a place where isn't really realistic for something to happen there. This graph also shows that people do see thrillers in other settings, but isn't that popular as it is limited in what you can do in those places.
This graph shows that the target audiences attitudes towards this is very particular as they are very picky on what they like and what they would watch.
This graph also tells us about the audiences personality and taste in what they are interested in and what prefer to watch the most.
This graph will help us with our idea as we will try and find a suitable location similar to a forest where there are trees or greenery. Also this research has made us think about the suitable location for our opening sequence.

Focus Group Questions and Stimulus

With a group of 16-18 years olds, we had discussed the genre Thriller and what they liked about the genre. Me and Gurjit had then shown them the opening sequence for Se7en where we had seen their reactions and heard their hilarious commentary.

What do you think about this trailer? (Taken)

I had asked this question to my first focus group to get more opinions and thoughts about professionally made thriller films that have already been made and that they could get an idea of thriller movies and what conventions are seen in them.
I had gotten the group of 5 to watch the trailer of Taken and express what they had thought about it. I had asked them how the trailer made them feel. My first response was Jasmeet who had replied 'Scared', however, Simeran had then disagreed and said 'I don't think that it was more scary, I think that it was more jumpy because you don't really know what to expect'. To get more answers out of the, i had also asked them 'Why did it make you want to watch it?' and had gotten multiple responses back such as 'intriguing', 'exciting', 'suspenseful' and 'ambiguous'. Simeran also said 'You don't actually know what's going to happen and doesn't give too much away'. Kishen had given a similar response that the trailer 'It was appeasing you, but it wasn't giving too much away that you wouldn't want to go and see the movie'.
These brilliant responses have helped me and given the group ideas to; what to include into our initial opening sequence idea such as flashing images, and that we should prevent giving too much of the storyline away. The audience liked in Taken, the idea of not giving away too much information in the trailer and would want to go and see the movie via the suspense created. 'Will he ever get his daughter back?'

How does this opening sequence make you feel? (Se7en)

The group had shared their opinion about what they thought of the opening sequence for Seven and Darren thought that the movie was not a thriller and therefore we clarified that the film was psychological thriller. He also made the conclusion that the film was creepier and less scary.
Michael had thought that the opening sequence was interesting and Amina said that the film scared her and she wasn't want to watch the movie'. Amina is the type of person who does not prefer psychological thrillers if they were gruesome, yet still watches them. she prefers films such as The Girl On The Train. She also said that the slow edits "puts you in the zone". I asked the question "Did you like the sound effects?", Amina then responded with "it's quite sinister" and Michael commented on where the music fits,"The music is really good, maybe for an intro, not an actual film"
Michael liked the music choice which was good for the introduction of 'Seven' and had gotten the audience engaged into the film instantly, and so when creating our own opening sequence, we will most definitely consider the music choice in the background to start of the movie.

What are your favourite thrillers?

The groups favourite thriller movies are:
Darren-Taken
Michael - Inception
Amina - Girl On The Train
Milan - Orphan
For Darren and Michael, from their thriller movie that they have both chosen, it shows that the sub-genre they mostly prefer are action thrillers. This is helpful and tells us that they prefer the elements of action in the movie such as car chases, fighting and a lot scenes that are shown quite fast pace which my group can use in our opening sequence as it appeals to the specific audience.
Furthermore, both Amina and Milan had mostly liked Psychological thrillers which uses the conventions of plot twists to tension and suspense and also keeps them out of their seats, not knowing what to expect next. My group can use plot twists when we use a blackout scene with background sound effects of explosions to create suspense and eagerness to see what is happening that they can only hear and would be unexpected.

Why do you like them? What aspects do you like about the movie that gets you excited or tense?
Michael had said that Inception "the cinematography is amazing and the soundtrack is amazing, the characters are really good, the script is really good, I just liked the film in general and have seen it quite a lot of times", I had then asked him "what aspects of the movie got him tense and excited?". About Orphan, Milan and Amina had said "Psychologically it messes with your mind as well as the person in the movie'. Amina is referring that the emotions that the characters are feeling in the movie Orphan, is how the audience will also feel, and they have built a connection with the character throughout the film.
 This is very effective and we also want our audience to feel what the characters in our opening sequence are feeling, what they are experiencing to be put in their situation. The effectiveness of stimulation puts the audience in the shoes of the actors and my group what this effect to happen to our audience by the use of graphics and background music to portray what emotion we what the audience to be feeling with the type of sub-genre theme.

What ideas do you have for a thriller that I can use to improve my initial idea?

We had them moved on from the other professionally made films to discuss our initial idea to the group, which we wanted to receive feedback from,so that we can improve our idea. After we had discussed the idea, Michael had said that with the bomb idea "the ticking noise can be incorporated into the soundtrack, so in the beat you can have a ticking kind of sound" which is a sound effect that can make the audience aware that a bomb is being shown behind the black background and give them clues. Michael had also given an example of what his idea was related to from a professionally made thriller film that was "Interstella, the docking music" that they had used. We will definitely consider using Michael's idea when making our initial opening sequence.

Who do you think would suit the roles really well to play the characters in my opening sequence?

Amina had brought up that the characters need to be someone that does not look young such as under 25 years old for example, as it would not look suitable to use a young boy or teenager to play the character of pretending to have a 4 years old daughter...it would not be appropriate. Our group have a good understanding and knowledge about the type of characters we want to use and they have narrowed down the antagonist choice for us which will make it easier for us to find the relevant cast to play the role. Amina answers were very wise and aware of our initial opening sequence idea, this portrays that she understands the elements and conventions of  the thriller genre.
Our idea will utilize the uses of an older male for our antagonist, in comparison the film will have a similar family structure of the main protagonist in inception. Our antagonist will be a similar age to Leonardo Dicaprio in the film. this will make the family dynamic between our antagonist and his daughter, a lot more realistic.

Is there anything that you do not like about my idea that would not appeal to you? And if so why?

I had asked the group who had any uncertainties or anything they disliked about the initial idea. Michael had commented that "bombing up 4 year olds is controversial and would have to be high rating if put in cinemas" due to the BBFC where they have different age rating for the type of content being shown in the film. He had thought that we were going to show a young girl being bombed in our opening sequence showing violence and gruesome images, however that was not the case as we are not showing 18 rating content that would be quite offensive towards the audience.
Our group will not be using vivid images in our opening sequence as it may be quite sensitive and therefore will not be showing the vivid footage, but will hear the sound effects of the screams and explosions with the ticking noises.  

What kind of music would suit the scenario?

When asking the focus group what type of music they would prefer to hear in our opening sequence, Michael had responded "quite tense music, and slow with the ticking noises and orchestral elements or electronic elements over the top". Michael is the type of audience who appreciates the aspects of music and how the sound is used to create a sense of emotion that affects the audience, such as when he said 'tense music', this impacts the audience by creating the mood worry and concern. The mood and emotion of the audience is very important and the idea of 'tense music' allows the escalation of tension until it reaches a satisfying climax.
The music is significant as it illustrates the characteristics of the antagonist and also how the protagonist is feeling, and it draws the audiences emotions to react to the film and this is what me and my group want our audience to experience when watching our opening sequence. We want our music to unravel the audiences emotions to feel fear, surprise and anticipation. We can use tense music when illustrating the follow up to the climax of explosions, to build the suspense, built their emotions and create anticipation.  

Production Log Week 2

Group Discussion & Rationale Video

Individual SWOT Analysis Grid x3

 

Individual Mind Map x3

Response to Brief & Past Experience Blog Post

Exclamation of Demographics:

The information I have received about my audience is that they are British from the UK and are targeted towards 16-24 year olds who are interested in the thriller genre. To ensure my thriller will appeal to my audience, it must include all the conventions and techniques of a thriller, for example, showing aspects in a film in a fast pace, weapons and explosions etc. The advantages of 16-24 years old being the target audience, are that they find thriller movies exciting via the plot twists and adrenaline that the tension creates.
When making the thriller, I may encounter some challenges to ensure it engage to the target audience, such as the right sound effects choice to make the audience at the edge of their seats and also making the most appropriate marketing that will appeal the our target audience to form their intrigue and urge to watching the film.

Conventions: 

The key conventions of a thriller and opening sequence are; using technical elements to create flashing effects to build excitement upon the audience. The technical elements that need to be considered when making a thriller are; mise-en-scene, camera, editing and sound. For mise-en-scene the producer (which is me) needs to consider the location, lighting, costumes, era, props and performance. Thriller movies are always set in an urban location but always gritty for example, the city and lonely places in the city where the lighting is artificial and tend to use low key lighting which creates tension and shadow. I will include this convention as my location will take place in an urban location. This effect is quite blue and gloomy. The era is mostly set in the present day and therefore the characters costumes are modern day clothing which can be casual clothing or suits. The props that most thriller movies use are blood, weapons such as guns, knives etc., cars, realistic and everyday props. Props are very important in thriller and in my thriller I will definitely consider using blood and fake knife to show that murder will be involved and that the main sub-genre thriller will be a crime thriller.
When editing the thriller, the editor adds a fast pace throughout the middle and end of the trailer and edits in explosions creating the excitement and making it eye-opening! I highly doubt the audience will get bored. The sound is the most important technical area for a thriller as it is mainly used during the sections that are fast pace to create the suspense and also edit in gunshot sound effects in the background forming enigma. 'Who got shot?' I will include sound effects in the background of my thriller to create chills and tension for the audience which is engaging.

Industry Requirements:

The institution that my thriller opening is being produced for is Thriller! Chiller! Film Festival in Michigan Grand Rapids, USA. For further information about the film festival I have visited their website where i have found that they put together sci-fi, horror and suspense movies. The movies they make are made with bold determination and wild imagination and want the audience to remember it is about the fun of going to the movies. 

The advantages of working with this institution are that their blog mentions the award winners of the of the film festival from previous years which engages the website viewers and encourages them to take part. However, the disadvantages of the Thriller! Chiller! institution is that when choosing movies to program in the film film festival is always a difficult process and some get in and some will not and it is always more than a yes/no proposition. Another disadvantage is that it is viewed by a small audience in Michigan and will not get a lot of word of mouth to be noticed by millions of people. 

When making a movie, one must consider who the appropriate audience is for watching the thriller and what regulatory issues would be put under considerations in both the UK and US. In the UK the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) provide specific ratings based on aspects of the film, whether they are appropriate or not. My audience is 16-24 years old, so therefore would be rated a 15. In America they use a different classification board called Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) where a 15 rated movie in the UK would be rated an R which stands for Restricted. 

My institutional text must include the following with the institutions name which is Thriller! Chiller! Film Festival.

Medium:

The medium I am working for is Film Media, specifically opening sequences. The genre my type of text will fit best into is Thrillers where it show clear convention and technical conventions of a thriller, for example super imposed graphics, enigma, smash mouth openings and engaging music. 

Past Experience

Thrillers

Personal Strengths:
My key strengths is that I have watched many thrillers but mostly psychological thrillers, supernatural thrillers and action thrillers, due to the fact that I enjoy mostly watching the three sub-genre thrillers. I have a lot of understanding with the common storylines and themes of psychological, action and supernatural thrillers and their conventions which consist of  a lot of flashing images to reveal abnormal activity which can come across quite sadist and gives clues to how the antagonist behaves that are disturbing for the audience, yet also engages them. My knowledge on these sub-genres allows my intellect on it to be used when creating my thriller opening sequence.

My second strength is that I have previously had past experience in creating a thriller slash horror media text where I am aware of what techniques and conventions to use such as the various shot types for example, establishing shot and close ups which are very commonly used in thriller to create suspense and mystery for the audience. I have give sound effects and music a great importance as in my previous horror trailer that I had made two years ago I was given one of the roles of choosing the most perfect and creepy backtrack music to give the audience chills and I am great at this role as music is a great passion of mine.

Potential Deficiency:
My weaknesses in this area are that I have not seen varied range of sub-genre thrillers such as spy thriller, comedy thriller, conspiracy thriller and legal thrillers etc. which could help me immensely to having a wider insight on all the types of thrillers. Having knowledge on all of the thriller sub-genres will help me in creating my own thriller opening sequence based on for example, a spy thriller. However, due to the lack of intellect on spy thriller having not watched any, I will have issues coming up with conventions for a spy thriller and knowing what to expect. I would be left clueless. To improve this problem in future I intend to watch a variety of sub-genre thrillers including spy thrillers of course to improve my knowledge and understanding of all types of thrillers.

Film Opening Sequence:

Personal strengths:
My strengths when making my opening sequence are that when editing, I am strong with how to use the Final Cut Pro software and will be able to make an excellent smash mouth beginning by making some aspects fast pace so that it gets the audience thrown right into the action. This builds the audiences intrigue and creates enigmas which keeps them suspecting the action that is going to happen next. I can also create flashing images due to my knowledge of previous editing work that I have done.

Potential Deficiency:
My weaknesses are that I have not made an opening sequence before and therefore may not be so good at it or know how an opening sequence is supposed to look, depending on the storyline. I am only aware of the conventions of an opening sequence such as super imposed graphics and know why it is used, however I do not know how to make it and edit it on Final Cut Pro which may be a problem when editing the opening sequence together. In order to create super imposed graphics I am going to have to learn and be taught how to make it, to enable that graphics appear over the images that have an effect which links to the type of sub-genre the thriller will be.

Opening Sequence Conventions Sheet