Credits

Today we also started to add the opening credits top our thriller opening. We have left a gap so that we can add the title and ident of our film later. We have not added any transitions as yet; we shall add them when we have all our footage captured and in the correct order.

Our Story Board With Credits

2nd day of filming

Today we managed to film all of the outside scenes, next lesson we should be moving on to the scenes that need to be filmed inside. We managed to film without any problems, because we had all of the props needed for today. We also managed to edit what we did because all of the shots so far are flashbacks, which we've tinted and raised the contrast. We had to change the filter settings slightly because it is darker today than it was yesterday.

Stills of Today's Shots

Our Time Line So Far

Editing the Flashback Footage

We decided that we wanted to make the flashback clips stylized to make the fact they are set at a different time more obvious to the audience. In the end we chose to make them high contrast, mid brightness and tinted blue. This is how they turned out.

The Video Filters We Used

1st Day of Filming

Today we filmed 2 minutes of footage; when we cut the outtakes we had 1 minute of footage left. We did not have the sunglasses necessary to film the agent from the front . This meant that we only got the outside shots from behind Andrew, without sunglasses. Next time we film, we should have all of the props for filming. We didn't encounter any large problems however the tripod would not move as smoothly as we would have liked for the pan shots. We also managed to get shots to incorporate into our storyboard to make it flow more easily. We managed to get all of the shots we could, with the props we had.

Stills of Today's Footage

Time Line

Call Sheet

We will film On 25th February, 2nd lesson (10:50 - 12:10)
Jennie shall pick up and bring back the camera.
We are going to film in the college car park. We chose this location because it is inside the college grounds and suits our needs. As we will already be in college we shall not have to organize travel. It is not a public location so we will not have to ask permission from an outside party. Health and safety wise we shall have to watch out for cars when filming and make sure we don't damage any cars.
We will be filming during the day so we will not have to supply lighting.
Apart from the three members of our group we don't need anyone else to be there. Andrew shall be playing our agent and has no lines so will not have to learn a script.
Ben and Jennie shall share the directing and filming equally.
Props:
Andrew shall bring a suit
Ben shall bring some sunglasses
Jennie shall bring some official looking documents, evidence photographs and post-it-notes.
If weather interrupts our filming we shall film the indoor scenes.
In this filming slot we shall try and film all of the car park scene.
We shall capture the long and close up shots of the agent in the car park. We shall not have to re-record any sound for this as we shall only be using non-diagetic music.

Thriller Poster Analysis

Here we have analyzed some Thriller film posters to gain inspiration for ours and to see how they are marketed to their target audience.

The Matrix (1999, Wachowski Brothers)

The poster is dark tinted with grey, this makes it look gloomy and mysterious. The semitransparent numbers down the sides of the image add to this mystery and hints at science fiction themes. All of the characters are holding guns, a commonly used prop in Thriller films. Neo is not only at the front of the group but also has the biggest gun showing that he is the main and the most dangerous character.
The font resembles corrupted computer text which again relates to the narrative conveys disruption to the viewer.
The black costumes show how serious the characters are and their lack of fussy items of clothing show that they are ready for action. Trinity's outfit in particular is used to draw a male audience through sex appeal because of it's tight nature.
The sunglasses, another commonly used item of Thriller film costume, dehumanize the characters making them appear emotionless and imposing.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009, Michael Bay)

The background is dark but with the sun rising, which shows a dark mood but good wins over evil. The main human actors are smaller than Optimus Prime (the Transformer) showing that he is the main appeal of the film and to attract Transformers' already established fan base. Optimus Primes' stance and position in front of the humans and a symbol of human civilization ( the Pyramid) shows that he is defending them from danger. This connotes to the audience that action and danger is a large part of the plot. This is enforced by the damage already shown on Optimus Primes' exterior. Once again sex appeal is used to draw in male audiences through Megan Fox's revealing outfit. Shia LaBoef is used to draw in teenage female audiences as admired by lots of girls of that age range. He is also attracting younger male audiences who want to be like him.
The text is an updated version of the 1984 Transformers TV series logo. Using a tarnished metal effect on the title makes it look battle scarred, which matches the age of the franchise and Optimus Primes' condition.

Awake ( 2007, Joby Harold)

The poster is largely black with a shaft of light connoting death and unconsciousness. The main characters' faces take up most of the space showing that the film is being sold on the back of the actors. The colours of the actors' faces are muted as if the scene is a memory however the colours of the operating theater are more vibrant and the image clearer showing that it is the reality. The large picture of the main character's face is half in shadow showing that he is in a different state from his female counterpart. The operating theater is in the center of the image which conveys that the plot is centered around surgery.
The poster features a small segment of text about 1 in 700 people being awake during surgery, this is used to unnerve the audience and make the film seem like it could actually happen.
The text is sans-serif capitals of glowing white which relates back to the themes of death and "The light at the end of the tunnel".
The surgeons in the operation scene are all turned towards each other as if they are conspiring which adds mystery as the audience wishes to know what they are plotting.

Our Chosen Font

We decided to use the font "Traveling Typewriter".



We chose it because it relates to the typed pages in our mise-en-scene. The font is serif but not ostentatious which matches our main character's formal but plain costume.

Test footage

This is our test version of our thriller film opening.



Our test footage went well and gave us a rough idea of what we will film and how long it will take. Changes we shall make are the location of the shots as we did not film in the car park and the sun caused allot of lens flares. Because we did not manage to film all of the footage we decided to use images from our storyboard as a substitute in the final project we shall use actual documents and photograph. We used a basic font for our Titles and credits as we have not yet decided on an appropriate font. Our test footage does not contain any music as we shall create non-diagetic sound during the editing process for our film.

Problems with costumes

Due to an unfortunate incident involving moths, the suit we were going to use is not in one piece. We will use Andrew as our agent character, due to him having a suit.

Test filming

Today we filmed some test footage related to our film, this included the outdoor scenes and the 'walking through a door' footage, and the part when Ben is looking through the pieces of paper.
This was to practice filming to be prepared for next lesson when we film. Also it was to film the harder shots so that we can see what problems we would have, for example the close-ups were showing too much background and the filming of the cup was difficult making the camera rise.

Tips for Filming

General rules

• Keep the shots steady - use a tripod
• Have a plan B if it is raining and you can't film outside
• Have a clear idea of what you want to film and shot lengths
• Always capture extra footage
• Bring your shot list/ storyboard so you know what yo are filming
• Capture a variety of shots
• Be aware of continuity
• Make sure the tape is in the correct place

Health and Safety

• Get consent if filming on private property
• Be aware of your surroundings
• Don't do anything that a passerby might be offended by
• Be respectful to the public
• Don't filming in a dangerous area

Teacher's Expectations

• No swearing
• No children in shots
• No weapons in public

Title

We decided to call our film "Ultionis", which means revenge, punishment or avenging in Latin. Using Latin in our title makes it mysterious and also make the audience want to know more about it because they don't know what it means. The one word title is a convention of the Thriller genre e.g "Se7en" and "Equilibrium".

Sample fonts for credits

Although no title has been found we decided to use one of these fonts:


However without a title a suitable title cannot be chosen

Finalysied ideas

Break down of each 10 seconds:

0-10:
The first ten seconds includes the ident and the title which fade into each other and then out. There will be an ambient sound as the ident and title is on screen.
11-20:
This 10 seconds shows the agent's desk and the back of the agent's head and white credits on a black background. The lighting is gloomy and the music is low and sinister.
21-30:
This includes a flashback of the agent walking out of a door. The music continues but the lighting is edited in Finalcut so that it to too bright and tinted blue. This 10 seconds also includes the beginning of a set of close ups and extreme close ups on a text document.
31-40:
Here the close ups and extreme close ups continue. After that there is another flashback of the agent walking through some cars.
41-50:
Again the close ups continue, this time of a typed document and photographs.
51-60:
This section moves on to another flashback in which the agent is in a deserted location. The agent then smokes a cigarette and removes his sunglasses in a close up.
61-70:
The Agent's hand, holding the sunglasses, returns to his side. The scene then returns to the present as the agent writes something on a slip of paper, the next shot shows him underlining an important section of text.
71-80:
The next shots show the agent highlighting segments of text from a folder and looking through more papers and photographs.
81-90: Then we shall go back to the flashback, with the agent looking around the area
91-100:
101-110:
111-120:

Shot list

This is our shot list, a written version of our storyboard for ease of reference when we are out filming.

Analysis of 'Six Feet Under' and 'Panic Room' credits

These clips, although not necessarily Thrillers, both show the starting credits in different ways other than films like 'Vertigo' or 'Quantum of Solace', where the credits are stationary and not generally different however in these clips the credits are animated and fit in with the background, they are also not in the 'black background' as seen in some films like 'The Matrix'.

In Panic room the credits are seen 'floating' near buildings within the background of the city, in which the film starts, This is also seen in the TV program 'Heroes' which uses it for the title and for the episode number, this makes the text seem to be more subtle than the credits for 'Vertigo'.

In the clip for 'Six Feet Under' although not a Thriller, it also shows a different way of showing the credits as it shows them as literally part of the mise-en-scene, this makes it diegetic for most of the clip for example the section with the corpse on the table with the tag on their foot with the credits.

Storyboard

This is our storyboard:
We included information on shot type, shot length and shot number in order to help us when we are filming and editing so that we can tell what we are filming and for how long.
We also included notes on when flashbacks start and end so that when it comes to editing the video we shall know which clips to manipulate.

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"Why Thrillers thrive"

We read the article "Why Thrillers Thrive". This is our summary.

• Audiences enjoy thrills to escape from the mundane nature of their lives
• These thrills are enjoyable because their subconscious knows that they are safe
• Audiences like thrillers because they can witness a scene of chaos, but from a safe point of view
• Thrills are more enjoyable for an audience than Horror because horror directors have to censor their work
• Horror creates "unnatural" excitement that puts the majority of viewers off watching
  
• Thrillers work best on screen as the viewer can see the danger as opposed it being inferred such as in theater
• Thrills can also be experienced through empathy for a character in danger.