Picture of our first filming session.

we began filming our thriller today and we managed to sdet everything up that we needed, which was placing the photographs that where taken of me up on the wall and, write things all over them. we also had to clear the furniture out of the room, there where 2 chairs and a table.

story board ...

?Ideas for the film?...

The initial idea would be to to start the film with:
-Narration (the main character speaking)
-close up shots of the main character waking up as she narrates
-the camera would zoom in to the charaters face and the eyes would open abruptly
-the main character would sit up and scream
-the camera would cut into various flash backs of the characters past giving the audience an idea of what the character has been through and where she is.
-the camera would cut back and fourth through her flashbacks and the shots of her awake and affraid, this will hopefully leave the audience with a lot of enigma codes.
-the narration would be ongoing through the whole 2 minute opening section.

I would have a second idea for the an alternate opening for the film but me and my group are really set on the ideas above and have been for quite a while!

Questionaire and Analasis

PLEASE ANSWER THIS QUESTIONAIRE

What age are you?
- 10/14 (2)
- 15/19 (14)
- 20/24 (4)
- 24/28 (3)
- 28 + (0)

Are you male or female?
- male (1)
- female (23)

Are you employed, self employed or unemployed?
- employed (7)
- self employed (0)
- unemployed (17)

How often do you go to the cinema?
- once a week (3)
- twice a week (0)
- once a month (12)
- not very often (8)

What type of film would you usually go and see?
- horror (4)
- comedy (18)
- thriller (2)
- chick flick (6)
- action (1)
- fantasy (0)

Do you like thriller films?
- yes (11)
- no (4)
- they're alright (8)

Do you like the films to start slowly, or would you rather it start with a bang?
- slowly (8)
- start with a bang (10)
- other (5)

What would you expect to see in the opening 2 minutes of a thriller film?
- not a lot (1)
- something strange, but establishes the main character (15)
- something that makes you jump (4)
- a lot of dialogue (0)
- not much dialogue (3)

Anything else you'd like to add about what you like about thriller films?- it depends what you class as thriller I guess... I don't like things that make me jump, I think of that more in horror films... if films like Speed are classed as thrillers then I like the tension of wondering if things are going to go badly or if it will all be fixed in the last minute.

- more in relation to the last question, i'd expect there to be something of a sort of mystery to happen, that is basically what the plot goes down to solving. i don't really watch that many thriller films, but when i do i like to have to guess what's really happening, rather than it all just being laid out on a plate from the start.

- the twist at the end. i think a good thriller knows how to create an ending no one would suspect, leaving the audience wanting more.

- they should star johnny depp. that's a helpful answer, right? yeah thought so.

- i think it depends on your definition of a "thriller." i'm not very fond of movies that always have something jumping out at you to make you jump. i think it's because it gets me every time. i also don't really like blood and gore, so horror movies are not really my favorite genre. i don't mind movies that are just suspenseful, those can actually be quite good.

- an awesome twist.


ANALASIS OF THE QUESTIONAIRE

Through my analasis I understand the conventions of a thriller film opening to be something strange that intoduces charaters but that is unexpected and leave the audience with a lot of inigma codes. From the responses to my questionaire people like a big bang at the start of a thriller they liked to be suprised and 'THRILLED!'
Our target audience will be 15- 26 year olds as these are the kind of people you would expect to watch a thriller style film.
Therefore i plan to meet the conventions of a thriller opening by including lots of jumpy unexpected turns and using music to create tention. I will include the introduction of charaters and let the audience know their roll in the film. we also hope to create a story yet leave the audience with plenty of inigma codes to keep them guessing.
However I plan to challenge the conventions by not dragging out the opening of the film and using narration from the main characters point of veiw telling the audience little bits of information, but not giving anything away! we got the idea of narration from twighlight as bella narrates over the opening of the film and explains her feelings to the audience and also fills them in on information they need to know before they watch the film.

research on film oppenings and genres...

There are loads of different film genres to choose from and it could be quite difficult to choose a genre to do my film on some of the genres i could choose are-



- action/ adventure... not really a possiblity as it would take a lot of time and equiptment to create a really good convincing oppening to the film!

- horror... a definate possibility as they are relativly easy to make convincing!

- comedy... also another possiblity as all you need to show a comedy is the appropriate music and diologue.

- romantic comedy... romantict comedy is much like a comedy and would be realativly easy to potray as a genre in a 2 minute oppening.

- thriller... thriller is a popular and very easy to do option as it is so simple to do with little or no diologue and just music and camera effects!

- gangster... it depends what type of gangster film i would do it would have to be a very simple mordern interpretation and it could be a little difficult!

- science fiction.. a definate no go for this project as it needs special effects and lots of planning to make it look even slightly covincing and with the little filming experience i have it would be a big challenge.

- western... i dont really see a western as appealing or easy for me as we would have to make a set and have accents and it would take quite a while to film right!

- chick flick... chic flicks would be a challenge but not impossible we would need quite a lot of diolgue at the starts and lots of shots to introduce everything to the audience.

- historical films... just dont appeal to me atall and they would be a challenge as we would have to find a set and cosumes and do a lot of research about the time we where conveying.



I am thinking of doing a film using a horror possibly a thriller, genre i have researched the oppenings and they usually involve no ore little diologue and a really scary slow music that build the tention. When watching the oppening to a horror genre you can usually tell that it is a horror film right from the start, the use of camera, music and the colours used will give the genre away.


'Horror films are movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from viewers. Their plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness. Many horror movies also include a central villain.'

I would like to have the opening sequence in a hand held camera mode and all in black and white i would also like camera in another angle like the person is being watched! i think we would have to do a really thorough plan for the filming so we really know what we are doing and where we want to go with the shots! I think the person should be imprisoned in a blank empty room and possibly be narrating over the top explaining what had happened and really introducing the audience to the genre!


I have decided on a thriller genre as I love going to watch thrillers and they an be more scary than horrors as they really create a lot of suspense. pyscological thrillers are more the type of film that really plays with your imagination and makes the veiwer think, as the aim of the film is to show as little of the evil as possible so the veiwer has to imagine what the person or thing may look like.

Questionaire:

1. why would you go and see a thriller film?



2. what is it about thrillers that you like best?



3. what is your faveroite thriller film


PARANORMAL ACTIVITY ANALASIS:



http://www.paranormalactivity-movie.com/

Paranormal activity is the perfect example of a phycological thriller it really messes with the audience and makes them imagine what the spirit would look like. They use a hand held digital camera throughout the film which is held by Micha (the main male character in the film) he films his girlfriend (Katie) as she believes there is an evil spirit/ demon haunting her in the house. The camera is held by Micha during the day and then placed on a tripod during the night times. The use of hand held and the fact that they have portrayed it to be just Micha and Katie filming makes the audience think that the film is real and the actors Micha and Katie use their real names and there are no credits at the end of the film! all of these factors freak the audience out and make them really scared this is a perfect example of a horror.
The film feels like a home video which makes it seem really realistic and dosnt make you see the special affects as the camera is hand held and it makes everything seem alot more real.
As the camera is allways in handheld mode their isnt any conventional camera movements or angles.

The film itself begins with a shot of a telivision screen in a house it looks like a music chanel is playing and then you realise the camera is handheld as it moves towards a mirror. in the mirror you see micha holding the camera he pulls a funny face and then walks away from the mirror and film the house a bit, he shows us the stairs and then walks into the kitchen where you can hear a phone ringing! he answers it 'oh hey whats up' the camera then cuts to the front door and micha opens it, outside a car pulls up micha says ''hello baby'' katie, (the woman in the car) looks at micha and is shocked and says ''thats a giant ass camera!) she seems pleased and we immediatly know that micha and katie are propably a couple. Katie gets out of the car and walks into the house. we then find out that micha bought the camera to try andfind out what is haunting his girlgreind katie!


ANALASIS OF DISTURBIA:

Disturbia, is another really good thriller film, it leaves the audience gripped and wanting more, it is a good film that is set at a really good pace. The story line is relativly simple, it is set in a small neighbourhood in america and the main character 'Kale' played by shia labouf is a troubled teenager in high school who dosnt give a damn after he witnesses his father being killed in a freak road accident after a fishing trip together. Now it is just him and his mother and he is slowly driffting away from everything. He ends up under house arrest for 3 months after punching his spanish teacher in the face. Kale becomes exeedingly bored after being stuck in the house day after day, he takes up the hobbie of spying on his neighbours and he gradually becomes very familiar with all the goings on and the daily routines of everyone of his neighbours. He finds out that he is living next a serial killer and him and friends try and investigate what is going on and try to frame the neighbour and catch him in the act!

The film beggins with an establshing shot of the countryside and a riverand it then switches to a two shot of what looks like a father and son who are fishing. The son (played shia lebouf) is waiting for a big fish that he has spotted and he pictured in a long shot with his dad behind him as he casts his line, they are chatting and concertrating on the fish. The camera does a shot reverse shot on the pair and the fish, the camera then cuts back to the fish and follows it as it swims down stream. Then the camera cuts to the father and son as the son manages to get the fich on the hook, the camera stays locked on a two shot with the father telling the son what he should do get the fish in, The camera cuts back to the fish and it jumps out of the water in slow motion, the camera switches back to the father and son and the fish gets away, The camera is in a two shot as they shout and the son throws down the fishing rod and the screen then dips to black and the title 'disturbia' appears in a faded white colour on the screen.