Our group started combining ideas and started to get a sense of what we wanted to achieve. We focused on a thriller about exchange and identity with a twist that lead on to be quite a complex story that could only really be understood with seeing the full film, which is what we wanted to achieve so that there would be questions in people’s head so that it would lure you to watch the rest of the film but still leave you with a feeling that was mysterious as you didn’t know what was going to happen. My character played a lady in her early 20’s wearing a blonde wig – that no one in my class realised it was I or it was a wig, which they would of if they watched the rest of the film. The other characters in my group were April, Tom, and Liz. Tom’s character was a mysterious man who was only in it for the money and wanted to be on everyone’s side so he could get what he wanted. Liz was tom’s ‘side kick’ that was under the impression tom was on her side even though he wasn’t really. April was an outside character that was bought into the action because she had the disk and then the briefcase that tom and Liz wanted but when April switched the disk with me to receive the case this confused tom and Liz so they went after both of us to get the disk and the money but Liz found the money wasn’t real. As you can see the plot is quite complicated and hard to explain without intricate detail so I will leave it up to just watching it. We wanted this affect of it being complicated so that there would be many unanswered questions for the viewer.
We thought of having our thriller in black and white so that the audience would focus on the action taking place rather than the surroundings and location even though the location was important to set the scene but to tone it down we put it in black and white so that the viewer could focus more on what was happening as well as getting a sense of atmosphere. All of the characters wore dark clothing to emphasis that something bad is going on also so we would show up well in black and white we also wanted to stand out from the members of the public that we happened to catch on camera – hope they didn’t mind. The location of our thriller was in an urban setting in the centre of Cambridge so that it was an everyday atmosphere.
We made a storyboard of our thriller so we could see what was lacking as well as well as what was good. We then turned these into shots adding shots as we went along that weren’t necessarily needed however we felt they added effect and gave the thriller a sense of tension and suspense. We thought our shots shouldn’t be too long however long enough to keep the audience watching and interested enough to want to see more. Our titles also helped to add suspense as they were long so they cut up the action therefore people want to see what happens next which means carrying on to watch the rest of the film.
To start our thriller we decided we need something simple so we decided on a point of view shot that looked onto the action. This shot was to lure the audience into the film and to intrigue them to watch more. We chose to use non-diajectic sound by using a soundtrack. We did not use any diajectic sound as we felt it could take the effect of the movie away also it could be muffled as we did not have high tech technology to make it professional. Also we thought diajetic sound would take the focus away from the action and we didn’t think it would be as affective and leave the feeling of tension.
Our music was fast paced, so that it would build tension. The music started and didn’t sound like it had thriller conventions however when the music got going it fitted in well with our product and gave it an effective edge that made it different from other thrillers. Our music was relatively fast paced whereas our action mostly was not which gave a good balance even though if we had of had fast paced music as well as fast paced action there would probably be a higher level of suspense but we wanted our thriller to be subtle and sophisticated without the fast paced adrenaline that all other thrillers consist off so this made our thriller different. The soundtrack we used was a song from a band called Nine Black Alps we used this song because it sounded quite rocky and gave our product a little extra edge, as it wasn’t the type of music you would usually expect in a film with this genre.
My group thought carefully about camera angles, where the camera would be and what type of shot we were going to use these were important to add effect to the product and we thought they were important to consider when filming our shots.
We used many different types of shots to give the audience a wider view of what was happening our shots included point of view shots – used at the beginning, close up shots, long shots, mid shots and extreme close ups. We used close ups to emphasis what was going on in the shot and to make the audience more aware of an important shot therefore making it close up. We used extreme close ups to build tension and also to emphasis the importance of the shot as these shots were to do with getting the story therefore if you didn’t pay attention the chances were you wouldn’t have been able to get the story line either. We also used close ups to hide the identities of my character and Tom’s character as we wanted the audience to think who were we? What were we doing? And why were we doing it. This was too add a sense of mystery to our thriller, which was a convention of a thriller film.
Our location of filming was not restricted which meant the mise-en-scene could pretty much be what ever we wanted it to be, it was an urban setting which meant there was a busy atmosphere with lots going on such as lots of people and traffic, which gave it a good atmosphere and didn’t take the focus away from us as it was in black and white and you mostly just focused on the action.
After filming our thriller we uploaded our footage onto the computer and started to edit it with detail to ensure all the shots were the best they could be and looked how we wanted them to look, we thought that we would just cut from shot to shot to give a more dramatic effect as we thought doing anything else would not be as effective. Also we thought as our action was slower paced we by having straight cuts from one shot to the other would do the product justice and seems the shots were already long it seemed like the most sensible and effective way of doing so without dragging the thriller on and on – this way the audience stayed interested. Also we liked how just cutting from shot to shot matched our sophisticated theme and simplicity and I thought worked really well.
When adding our titles we also wanted them to be simple yet effective so we used a typewriter font that was white was a black background to match in with our black and white theme. The titles last for approximately 4 seconds which does seems long but they added suspense as well as cutting up the action and to leave a cliff-hanger for many of the shots such as when you see the gun in a shot a title appears so you do not see the character actually get shot this happens twice to add suspense and for the viewer to wonder if the character had actually been shot.
Once we had completed our thriller we watched it several times and were all pleased with the final product. We then sat down as a class and watched each group’s thriller and then got some feedback from the class on what they thought about ours - what they liked and what they thought could have been improved the class agreed that the music worked well with the thriller as it was well paced and they said it added an effect to our product. They also like the fact it was black and white, which worked well because we were wearing dark clothes. Some of the class said the titles were too long and they dragged on a bit however some said they were good because they added suspense. People also said that there was a good variety of camera shots and we used the camera to the best of our ability. The class also said the thriller was edgy which was the desired effect we wanted also that the music was good how it sped up as the thriller was filled with suspense.
If I could have done it again I would have taken more time to plan the shots thoroughly even though we did plan it when filming the shot we seemed to think of a better way to do it therefore changing a lot of the shots that weren’t originally planned. Also there is a shot where my character is walking and you only see the back of my head at the start of the shot I am not walking however I then begin to walk it is probably not that noticeable but could have been edited better.
Overall I believe our thriller opening sequence met the demands of the task and we produced a quality new film thriller opening that we can be proud off. I think our location, mise-en-scene, camera work and sound all added to the effect of our thriller and made it what it was. I feel our group worked well together and we reached the targets we set for ourselves, which was the main thing.
