Editing

Today our group are editing the shots we filmed yesterday. Gracious working on the titles of the thriller opening. Louisa and Anissa working on editing the shots!

Pictures!

After a long wait, pictures are finally ready to be posted!

Having trouble with the tracking poles! 

After major difficulty we finally managed to get the camera, tripod and the poles sorted ready for filming.



Mr. Gibbs tracking shot.

 



 

 Props...

 

 

 

 

After filming, wasn't such a bad day at all...

 

 

 

 

Back to the classroom, n'awww Louisa...

 

 

Filming Process

After major difficulty with the tracking poles, our group finally managed to film the shots with Mr. Gibbs.
The main shots that were taken were the toilet shots and of Mr Gibbs walking past the toilets with the trolley.

Pictures will be on the Blog shortly.

Tracking Trouble!

First day back after half term and so resumes our second day of shooting!

We filmed all the shots that we needed Mr. Gibbs for and all of that took about half an hour. After battling with the massive tracking poles, the BCH - that is, Burntwood Crush Hour, of course - and a mega troublesome trolley, we think we've come out relatively unscathed and with a whole lotta footage!

Planning where the tracks will go

Setting up the camera; ready for filming!

Titles Research

Whilst researching some good titles, i came across a very interesting title;













i thought this title was different and suited our storyline. The colour red shows the love that the characters had for each other. Also the darker areas of the titles symbolised the darkness and mytery the relationship had.

Thriller Opening Research

Casino Royale 

As part of my thriller opening research, I chose one of my favourite films of all time; James Bond's Casino Royale. This film was to show the beginning aspects of 007, first love, how that took a turn on him, also how claiming the licence to kill can really play with one's mind. 

As the opening credits start, Bond has just beaten up someone in the toilets, as he picks up his gun, the antagonist that he just knocked out, gets up again  to shoot Bond. In retaliation Bond does the all time 007 classic, shooting at the audience, and the black rings are formed around him using editing. This is to show that he is a one man army, he stands out, and nothing stands in his way. Then blood is streamed down on the screen, also using various ways of editing, to signify the number of murders he has done whilst just starting his new career. This part of the sequence is black and white. showing he has no mercy in his murders.

I really liked the way they had done this particular Bond movie, as its shows the beginning of his career as a 007 Agent, and how the licence to kill makes him go crazy into killing people whoever stood in his way. 

The opening sequence gives the audience a insight on how the movie may be, for example the layout of poker cards, in each shot a different card is show, for example the King of spades to be Bond, and the Queen of hearts to show whom he falls in love with. 

Throughout the sequence they show Bond's rage for murder, he takes the licence to kill to a whole other level. 

The soundtrack used isn't the normal Bond theme track, its a different one to show how this is the beginning of how Bond was formed according to circumstances that happen during the movie. 

Se7en

One of the most distorting thriller openings is Se7en, I haven't seen this movie but after watching the opening sequence, it created a very dark and creepy feeling about this film. 

Throughout the opening sequence, you see various close ups of human parts, for example finger nails, or dead skin. This created a very distorting image, even though its human skin, and human parts, the image that was given from it made it look too disgusting to look at. The colours that were part of the sequence were dirty yellow, signifying human bodies, a very distorted colour, like damp colours. 

Also the title sequence looked like it was written, giving it a creepy feeling because the handwriting wasn't orderly lined. Giving it a darkness, and mystery behind it.

The sound used in the opening was a distorting soundtrack, made the audience sit on edge whilst watching it. like razors and knives, screeching all together. It really set my teeth on edge whilst watching it. 

Definitely one of the best psychological thriller openings I've seen till date. 

Thriller Opening Research

Black Swan

 

 

 

The opening scene for Black Swan is very dramatic, as Nina the main protagonist is having a dream of a dance sequence she wishes to fulfill in her dancing career.



In the beginning of the dance sequence, Nina is wearing a white dress dancing in a pitch black studio with only a spot light shone on her. This could indicate her innocence in her ballet career, as she seems lost in her dance routine. The way light is shone on Nina, you can't clearly see her face, therefore gives some sort of mystery behind her.

Sound used was dramatic orchestra, to create tension and suspense. Also to indicate her struggle whist danicng, showing her emotions.

After the main crescendo, Nina is relased by the Prince, and she walks off, becoming a blur on the screen, a white figure in a black screen, showing a journey, also how she managed to escape a struggle and safely leaves in peace. Like a swan.

 

 

 



Audio Research

For our audio research im torn between a more
abstract composition of music or either a more
conventional tone of music in relation to the thriller opening.
As our storyline is unconventional and has a twist in the end, a more abstract sound would create suspense and ambience, also adding a meaning behind to our thriller. However as our thriller is more mainstream and would be produced by film production companies such as paramount pictures, 20th Century Fox , Universal etc.

Composed by Balthazar, the first soundtrack is from Winter Voices, a game a narrative-driven, episodic, role-playing game set in an imaginary and timeless world at the start of the Industrial Revolution. The battles' music reflects the intense emotions of the young character and the dreamlike atmosphere in which they take place. The electronic soundtrack first starts off with a drum that slightly sounds like a metronome, the music then builds and an electronic piano comes in as the music crescendos, different instruments then follow creating tension.

 

The next sound track starts off with a drone, following orchestral violins and other string instruments with a drum. This composition has a great effect as it keeps the audience guessing and if used in our thriller, it would keep the suspense going and also would createa spooky ambience. As sound is a very key aspect of any productions, we have to keep in mind what effect we're trying to convey and what sound would best suit to it.

 

 

Thinking outside the box: Foreign Expectations Of A Thriller!

Hansel and Gretal (2007)

After a stressful day, and spending the night in, I decided to watch a Korean Horror film Hansel and Gretal. The film is subverted from the original Brothers Grimm tale and similarly reminded me of Angela Carter's Bloody Chamber series.

The film starts off with Eun-Soo driving whilst
 talking to his pregnant girlfriend. A quarrel arises which leads him to crash and becomes unconscious. He suddenly wakes up to find himself in the deep dark forest to which he sees light from a lantern that a young girl is carrying. She introduces herself as Young-Hee as they head for her house where she and her family live. Their large house is in the middle of the forest called the "House of Happy Children". After entering the House, many cynical secrets are discovered and revealed  to Eun-Soo which he tries to run away from.

Watching the first two minutes of the movie showed traits of both a thriller and a horror film. The beginning is first set to introduce us to the deep dark forest which gives the sense of entrapment, being lost, a claustrophobic impression. The Soundtrack for the two minutes similarly remind me of The hand that rocked the cradle in the way that the music sounded childishly cynical.



At the start of the film, extreme close up shots were
used to show the toys the children would play with. however with the low key lighting accompanied by the cynical soundtrack, an element of unease is created within the audience.



The use of showing children's toys in a faded sort of effect look almost washable, as if it were only vivid memories. The shots look as though there are two shots of two different locations applied to on which confuses the viewers as we aren't what images should our eyes be concentrating on.


Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the twisted unexpected end to the movie. Even though this film is a horror, however i felt that the plot was creative in the sense that it was simple and unexpected at the same time.

I'm listening... Slender Man Sounds- Audio Research

As I do with my free time, I venture out into playing games and one which has recently caught my eye (or should i say ear!) is Slender Man. The successful horror game is where you are set in the dark forests with a torch and the aim is to go find these pages. however doing this you get the Slender San who occasionally appears in front of you, or to which you might run into. If you stare at the Slender Man or you hover around the are he is in or too long it is game over for you. Whilst playing this game I was influenced by the backing track of this. The emphasis of the footsteps and the crunch of the leaves made me feel cautious of where i was moving my avatar. With this sounds of the wind, birds tweeting were also accompanied to make the experience seem more realistic. The static electric guitar sound give it an edge to the audience as the obscured sound rounds off the game when you die in the hands of Slender Man. Even though this isn't a film and is only a game, I think that the influence in anoher media concept could be applied to our coursework. Both the game and out film have similar motives in which they are able to start to scare or in fact literally scare the audience. What we want for our audience is to be able to experiance the thrill and the rush of adrenaline to which i think the soundtrack of Slender Man does extremely well whilst also playing the game.