Detailed Shot List

Close up of a girls feet on what seems to be of a train track, the audience assumes from this that the person is in a dangerous situation involving possibilities of themselves in a life trading position.

Camera then moves onto a long shot behind the girl showing her balancing on the edge of the rails as well as her laughing, this is used to give the audience a different impression that she's free instead of her being in danger. Followed by a medium shot of her playing with the leaves around her.

There is then a series of binocular/POV shots in which the audience is given the impression that somebody is watching the girl from above as well as implying dominance and power over her.

Camera then returns to the girl playing with with sticks and smiling to herself when a figure appears (not yet showing them) this is used to bring tension and mystery into the mix in the audience's prespective.

After the conversation the man takes the girl by the wrist which is shown using a close up shot to again show dominance the man has against the girl.

(New scene) There is then a jump cut where the camera follows behind the man taking the girl into a shed or warehouse.

Medium shot of the girl speaking to the man which then jumps to behind the man replying to her again not showing his face to continue the suspense in thinking who he is and what he looks like exactly.

A Medium shot is used to show the man shutting the door of the warehouse/shed in where the girl is being kept as well as a close up shot of him locking the door which tells the audience in a way that the girl is being kept against her will and the male character is seeming to be of an un average person.

The last scene or shot is taken back to the train track area where the girl has left a message made out of sticks hoping someone passing by might try and help her which shows that she is in a difficult and desperate situation.

Film Timing Schedule

 For Sunday the 5th of February.

11:00 - Leave and head to filming location.
11:30 - Will and Harry arrive at the filming location.
11:45 - Start setting up to film.
12:00 - Film scene we need on the tracks
13:00 - Have a break to discuss what we have achieved so far and talk about what we still need to do.
13:30 - Finish filming the scenes on the track with the close up on the ending shot of the message.
13:45 - Walk to second film location.
14:00 - Film on the second location.
14:40 - Review what we have achieved and see if there is anything else we need to do.
15:00 - Finish filming if everything is filmed.

This is our timed guideline of what we want to achieve on the day of filming, we have done this in order to make sure we get as much footage as we can possibly get and to make the most of our time filming.

Maps of Location

Here is the map of our intended location and the one to the far bottom shows the map including the deserted barn.

Black circle - the train track location.
Blue circle - where we start.
Red circle - the cricket club.
Yellow line - route.

Green circle - the deserted barn.

Transport Update

On the 5th of February Harry and Will will be traveling down to Coopersale as they are getting a lift from, Harry's mum. We will then be able to walk to both our locations easily from Rubie's house. Once we have finished filming Rubie will drive us to the station so we can get the train home.

Deserted Barn Photos

These are a few pictures I found from a while ago of the outside of the barn and one birds eye view of it from google maps. Here you can see the padlock and the gates. This would fit in with the use of gates and padlock mentioned in past props and storyline posts.

Risk Assessment Final Update

Once again after we had to change our location for our opening we decided that our risk assessment need updating so creating another one was necessary.

Location - Deserted Train Tracks

Risk - Tripping over loose rocks or logs.

What we can do to reduce the risk - Check the area in which we plan to film for any loose rocks on logs and remove any if spotted, not only this but we can have someone always on standby with a mobile phone in case of an Emergency

Location - Travelling to and from Deserted Train Tracks

Risk - Being run over or involved in accident.

What we can do to reduce the risk - Be careful when crossing roads or walking along pathways, drive responsibly and always have someone on standby with a mobile phone in case of an emergency.

Location - Coopersale Cricket Club 

Risk - Tripping over rubbish or anything loose on the ground as well as possible slippery surface (if raining/snowing).

What we can do to reduce the risk - Make sure there are no trip hazards within the vincity of where we intend to film, always have someone on standby with a mobile phone in case of an emergency.

Location - Travelling to and from Coopersale Cricket Club 

Risk - Tripping over rubbish or anything loose on the ground as well as possible slippery surface (if raining/snowing) and being run over or involved in accident.

What we can do to reduce the risk - Make sure there are no trip hazards within the vincity of where we intend to film, always have someone on standby with a mobile phone in case of an emergency and Be careful when crossing roads or walking along pathways, drive responsibly. 

New Location Photos

As I hadn't been to this field in a while I didn't realise that the old plain black and white club now looked like this however we are still going to see if our scene will work using this as the doors are still black and the graffiti may actually be effective within our thriller. If not I have found a back up location which is a deserted barn with gates at the front of it that have padlocks which will help to create the desired effect we are looking for within our thriller opening. 

New Location Update

Following on from our last updated location post we have since had to change that location to one that is closer and more plausible to get to. As the locations are now less than a 10 minute walk away from each other the continuity will be a lot more realistic. The weather changes will also be less drastic and it will be a lot more efficient to film all of our footage in one day at one area.

Above is our new location, the Coopersale Cricket Club. It will be great to film as it looks old and somewhat unused which will fit the criteria for or opening perfectly. However there is a strong possibility that we might not be able to go inside, although we are going to see if we can get permission to enter the building as this is what we did originally plan to do in our storyboard. However we also have another location in which we could also use close to the cricket club a deserted barn which would also fit perfectly with our storyboard and storyline as well new props such as a gate and padlock as mentioned in a previous post. Below is a birds eye view of the deserted barn from google maps and a picture of it's iconic gates.

Filming Update

We originally planned to film today however the little girl we wanted to use in our opening was unfortunately unavailable today as she was ill, and didn't leave us with much notice to reschedule or find someone else to film that day. Therefore we think we will be filming all of our footage on Sunday the 5th of February as everyone will be available.

Meeting 9 - 26/1/11

Today we had another meeting in which we all attended and discussed our plans for monday in which we plan to film the warehouse scene of the opening. We finalised all the details regarding transportation to and from the warehouse and we have also begun to look at different types of software we plan to use when it comes to editing our thriller opening. Not only this but we've also started to look more in depth into possible credit sequences and how we can use them effectively within our opening. We will post about further progress in they very near future.

Transistions

The use of transitions will have an important impact on how effective our opening is, and especially during the credits.

Fade in/out
A fade is usually when an image gradually fades/turns to a single colour or  when a picture appears gradually onto the screen. They're most common at the beginning and at the end of films.

Dissolve

The dissolve is similar to the fade but instead of transitioning from a shot to a single colour. They can be used to make a link between two different objects. The dissolve is basically when a shot changes gradually into another shot.

Lens Flare
Lens flare is commonly used to deliberately add a sense of drama to an image or clip. It also adds a sense of realism which will be useful when we want to get the audience to relate to our opening film clip. The lens flare implies that it is a original, un-edited image of a real lie scene.






Wipe
A wipe transition is when one shot replaces another, going from one side of the frame to the other. The shape of the wipe can be done in different shapes. This is the least effective of these transitions as it could come across as tacky even though it is a unique style of doing things it wouldn't be suitable for our opening as it isn't the style we are intending to do.

Garage Band Software Consideration Music And Audio

Garage band is a recording studio exclusively made for Apples devices, it offers a range of different instruments allowing us to experiment with different sounds that match together as well as sounding suitable for particular parts of our opening film. We can also create and edit voice overs that are of some relevance to some parts of the opening such as the creepy laughter playing over our film productions titles. This is a very basic type of software making it easy to use as well as being faster due to being not complex however this also does mean that it is not highly professional and may affect our movie opening by not being convincing or likable to the audience's prospective. Garage band is also compatible with Final cut which is why we taken this software into consideration about using, we can transfer the project/document form Garage band and then import into Final cut to put with our opening film.

Software Being Used And Considered

Final cut is a professional video editing software available exclusively on Apple's Computers which we are going to use. Final Cut allows us to edit our videos that have been imported from our present video camera to the software from then on we can organise and put together our clips the way we want them to be shown. Additional features include video effects and audio effects which are highly relevant in making a high quality opening scene, we can also experiment with different styles and options best suited to the video as well as our audience that the application provides. However being more professional also means we have to spend more time editing the film so we must take this into consideration in planning out our time for doing this.

iMovie however is a very basic and limited filming editing software also exclusive for Apple's Computers which we are going to use. Video clips from our camera can be imported onto the applications as well. The interesting thing about iMovie is that after editing your video on the software we can then import that document into Final cut and then adding more towards it. We should then take into consideration using both of these softwares when going through editing our piece of filming work.

Motion is again a exclusive software for Apple's computers to produce professional effects for video clips making it perfect for our use. Motion has built in templates as well as being editable for us to alter to meet our needs, this makes it suitable for creating opening title credits for our film production or film titles. Motion is also compatible when transferring saved documents/projects to Final cut which is the main software we are going to edit and organize our opening film in.

Booking Out Equipment

We have booked out the camera and equipment we plan to use after finalising the two dates we have chosen and intend to film. The picture below confirms that camera one is in our care for the following days.

Equipment Being Used In Our Opening

iMac - The apple computer has specially made software for the device such as iMovie and Final cut which is exclusive for it allowing our group to be able to edit and organise our selected and wanted clips from our school video camera to the computer making it look more professional and believable towards our audiences. We also have past experience when using Apple's computers which won't affect us instead if we had to take more time to understand the functions of it.

Panasonic HDC-SD9 - This video camera is compatible with the iMacs when transferring the video clips over as well as being able to edit them on the software that we have chosen to use which makes the product suitable for out purpose. The camera also has a battery life that can last up to an hour which is just right for the small amount of filming we have to produce due to us being away from a charger because we will be filming outside mainly it won't hopefully affect us when filming if it shuts down.

Tripod - The tripod we are going to be using is fully compatible with the video camera that we are also going to use. This allows us to produce steady camera shots when filming therefore making our opening film more professional looking. Its also is portable allowing us to easily transport it to one location to the another (Epping to Saffron Walden.)

Eqiupment We Plan To Use

We decided to make a post identifying the equipment we plan to use when filming and editing as this would be a useful piece of information look back on an evaluate at a later stage.

Panasonic HDC-SD9 

We plan to use this panasonic hand-held camera when we actually film our thriller opening. Reasons for choosing this particular camera are mainly because it the only camera of this quality that is available for us to use. The quality of this camera is good because it can shoot HD (High Definition) footage which will help us a great deal when it comes to not only filming our thriller opening but also when we come to edit our opening, this camera will help with the presentation of our work and make it look far more professional. Another reasons include, it's functionality and it's simplicity to use and operate. We also plan to use a tripod with this camera when filming our opening to give a steady hand and improve the quality of our shots. It's portability is also an great asset.

                  Apple iMac

We plan to use this when it comes to actually editing our opening. This is again is mainly because the iMac is available for us to use to edit our thriller opening. This is really beneficial to us as the iMac's we plan to use have Final Cut Express pre-installed which is a high quality piece of software we can use to edit our thriller opening making it effective and progressional which is what our audience expects. We also use the iMacs to do a lot of blog work such as posts like this one.







Overall we believe these two pieces of equipment will have a significant impact on the quality and professionalism within our opening. They will also help our thriller opening become more effective and successful which is what we are looking for and so are our audience.

Meeting 8 - 23/1/12

Today we had another meeting in which we all attended and discussed all the remaining posts we need to accomplish within the next two weeks. We have recently posted several entries to blog such as, new location, filming update, script, credit draft, logo's and more. We have now set about discussing what final posts we need to make, for example as a group we have decided that we need to post about equipment and software we plan to use as it will be an effective way of remaining organized and efficient. We also plan to blog about location permission, transitions and new props. We will post our progress shortly.

Transportation

It is important to know how we are to going to get to and from our desired filming locations safely. As a result of this we have organised for Rubies mum to take us to Saffron Walden on the January 30th when we intend to film the warehouse/cellar scene. She will then take us back to school after we have finished filming.

Film Schedule

It is important for us as a group to plan when and where we need to be filming so that we can organise ourselves in a way that will see us arrive, film, leave efficiently and successfully.

As a group we have decided that we will be filming the cellar/warehouse scene after school on Monday 30th January between 4pm-7pm

Weather Report

We believe it is important to take into account the predictions for the weather forecast for the days we plan on filming. One of the days we originally were planning to film on it was forecast to rain so therefore we all decided on the filming date of Monday the 30th of January as it is suitable weather wise for filming our opening.

The second day we want to film is the 5th of February 2012, we have also looked at the predicted forecast for this.

Progress Report

Following on from previous posts, I decided to update how we're doing. Today we had a group meeting in which all of us attended and decided that as we have had to adjust and add new posts regarding new location, costumes and transportation ect that we are going to work together and present them as group posts as it would be a more efficient way of making up for lost time after the adaptation of our original idea's and plans. We hope to have everything finalised and in place by the 28/1/12. We will post how we get on later this week.

Filming Update

We had planned to film our opening on January 22nd however Rubie was ill so this prevented us from doing so. Nonetheless this was not a bad thing as it has given us more time to prepare for when we next plan to film which is Monday 30th of January.

Credit Experiments

I decided to sit and experiment a little before I made a potential credit draft. I did this to get used to the software and have a look at some of the possible effects and sounds I could use. As a result of this, I am now more aware of the possible credit sequences I can now create. It was definitely a usual thing to do.

Credit Draft Extended

This is an extended version of my credit draft, this time I included some audio using a sound effect template from imovie:

Credit Draft

Using the text we had chosen for our credits I decided to make a very short draft just testing out the impact of the text. This was so i could then analyse how effective it is and see what others in the group thought about what i had done and whether they had anymore ideas relating to our credits design.

Opening Credits

Opening credits commonly include the following names:

• Studio Name.. basically the name of the studio who is distributing the film, and may or may not have been the studio to produce it. 
• The Production Company Name.. this is the name of the company that were the ones who actually made the film. So when it comes to our credits we would use our companies name here so it would be something including Sirius, 'A Sirius Production'.
• A Film by.. (Directors Name)
• Starring.. the names of the principal actors. In our credits it will be the names of the girl, stalker and dog walker.
• Films Title.. the name of the film.
• Featuring.. (Featured Actors)
• Casting by.. (Casting Director)
• Music.. (Composer of Music)
• Production Design.. (Production Designer)
• Edited by.. the name of the editor of the film.
• Produced by.. the name of the producer.
• Written by.. (Screenplay Writers)
• Directed by.. the name of the director.

In our credits we are going to include the titles that have been made bold/italic. Although depending on where we get our music from we may need to include that in our credits as well.

Chosen Title

Following on from previous posts we have since come to a conclusion regarding our title for our thriller opening. The title we have chosen to use is  'Misplaced' we feel this is a suitable title for our opening as it fits in perfectly with what our opening is and what our storyline entails.

Other titles we considered were:

Missing
Lost
Absent
Forgotten

However, we felt that Misplaced was the most suitable for us to use and we hope it will create an effect that will keep the audience wanting more.

Final Cast And Crew

Here is the list of our final actors:

Young Girl called Rosie: (Amy Lacey-Kerr) She fits the young girl criteria and she has past acting experience as she does a lot of acting outside of school and in the west end. As well as being young and looking innocent she is also smaller than Will and these are all important factors to take into account when wanting to create an opening that is successful and fits our audience criteria as they can empathise with a young girl. Also she is available for days that we have discussed to film.

Antagonist called Nigel: (Will Tickle) He achieved a B in GCSE drama and is passionate about acting. He does also have previous experience as an antagonist which is beneficial to us and our opening. It also is helpful that he is part of the Sirius media group and is available for the dates we intend to film.

Here is the list of our final crew:

Camera: Harry Byford and Rubie Striker

Editing: Harry Byford, Rubie Striker and Will Tickle

Director: Rubie Striker and Harry Byford

Script

In order to make sure our filming runs smoothly we wrote out a script and gave it to all the people involved.

(Rosie is on train tracks, looking down and walking along the edge balancing. Play with leaves and sit on the railings.)

(Nigel figure appears from trees.)

(Rosie reacts in a fearful way)

Rosie: "Oh it's you (pause).. do we have to go back now?"

(Male figure takes her by wrist.)

New scene

(Nigel leads girl into cellar/warehouse)

Rosie: "When can we next go out again?" (nervously)

Nigel: "Maybe next week.. (pause) if your good."

(Nigel walks out and closes the door behind him.)

Music For Our Thriller

Within our thriller we plan to use at least two possible aspects of music, as we believe this will help our thriller opening become more effective which is exactly what we want but also help improve the authenticity and presentation of the opening.

So far we have chosen two possible pieces of music for our thriller opening from the website:

http://freeplaymusic.com/

These pieces are "1619 Broadway" (5:49) and "Floatate" (2:33) which I both found in Ambient Figures Vol 1 within the website.

Both pieces of music create a tense as well as sinister and unmoving effect which is perfect for what we are trying to accomplish within our opening. Both these pieces will work really well for us as they are exactly what we are looking for, sharp, tense, sinister, simple and effective. As a group we hope the music we are considering and are likely to choose will also help make our opening more authentic as well as exciting something else our audience expects from us.

Sound Research

There are numerous different types of sound which we have to consider to use during our thriller opening. Sounds within films are either Diagetic or Non-Diagetic. Sound from within the scene is Diagetic and sound that is added in is Non-Diagetic.

Direct Sound - This is live sound, which has a sense of freshness, spontaneity and authentic atmosphere however it may not be acoustically ideal. We need to take into account any unwanted direct sound that we get on our recordings and when filming we may have to pause and wait till the unwanted sound has gone for example the sound of birds when there is dialog although the more realistic the sounds around are the more realistic our opening will appear to be. This will be helpful when setting the surrounding scene for example although we need to be certain that there is continuity within the direct sounds.

Selective Sound - Is the removal of some sounds in order to make significant sounds more recognisable or dramatic.  This is helpful when creating an atmosphere and making it meaningful and emotional. It will be useful to consider how we could use this within our opening.

Sound Bridge - Adding to continuity through sound, by running sound (narration, dialogue or music) from one shot across a cut to another shot to make the action seem uninterrupted. We could use a sound bridge within our opening to add continuity, this would make it flow better.

Sound Effects - Is any sound from any source which is not dialogue, narration or music. Sound effects may add to the illusion of reality and help keep the situations as realistic as possible to the audience.

Music - Music helps establish a sense of the pace of the next scene. Music rhythm usually dictates the cut rhythm, it also helps to set the mood. Background music is music which accompanies a film and it is not normally meant to be to over powering or noticeable. Also the use of repetition can link shots and scenes. Through repetition it can also link shots, scenes and sequences. It's key that we choose the perfect music for our opening as it dictates a lot of the mood and pace throughout. 

Alternative Camera Shots

Establishing shot of the train tracks/forest (audience get a feel/connection to the location and also understanding more of the storyline.)

Camera then moves onto the character Rosie behind (not yet showing her appearance) and can be seen standing on an abandoned train track.

Medium shot of Rosie playing with the leaves around the tracks

POV or binocular view overlooking Rosie from above (gives the impression some ones watching Rosie presently as well as representing dominance over the character perhaps.)

Returns back to Rosie still medium shot and slowly zooms out from her then appearing a black hooded figure from over the right shoulder (hiding the figures face to bring tension to the audience into thinking who they are.)

The figure then gets closer to Rosie while she's speaking to him (camera follows him) and then a close up shot of him taking Rosie by the wrist (showing power/dominance again.)

(Next scene) Low shot looking high showing the black hooded figure taking Rosie from behind right into the abandoned warehouse/cellar.

In the cellar/warehouse over the shoulder shot in front of the figure still hidden while Rosie in the background is speaking to him and responds to her and then walks in front of the camera which fades into the next section.

Medium shot behind the black hooded figure shutting the door, close up on him locking the door (tells the audience that she's being kept there against her own will which brings fear for whats to happen to her later.)

New scene where the camera returns to the train tracks and zooms into a message that Rosie has left behind hoping someone will find and help her.

We have considered different camera shot techniques to see which seems the most suitable for our opening film as well as preparing us before filming it so we know and understand what camera shots we are going to use for it.

Shotlist

This is a post on the type of camera shots we intend to use within our thriller opening. It is key for us to plan to type of shots we have in mind as it will mean we will have a good organized structure of how we want to capture our opening in the most effective way possible.

Close up of Rosie's feet on the train tracks
Long shot of the Rosie balancing on the edge of the tracks
Close up of her playing by the tracks (with leaves)
Medium shot of Rosie sitting on rails by the edge of the tracks
Close up of Rosie's face
POV shot(s) of Nigel watching the Rosie
Possible binocular shot of Nigel watching the Rosie
Close up of Rosie's face again
Medium shot of Rosie turning round and discovering Nigel
Close up of Nigel taking Rosie by wrist
Two shot/tracking shot of Nigel ushering Rosie into courtyard of warehouse
Medium shot of Nigel about to close the door on Rosie
Close up of Rosie asking Nigel when they will go out again
Two shot of Nigel replying and shutting the door
Close up of Rosie's message at the deserted train tracks

As a group we believe these particular shots are suitable for the effects we are trying to create and capture within our thriller opening. These are also useful to look at when filming so we know what type of shot we are filming when.

New Costumes

After changing our thriller opening we also tweaked our costumes. This is what our costumes now entail:

The 'young girl' character called Rosie will need to wear an outfit which portrays a sense of innocence and vulnerability. This is because Rosie is a young girl who we want to audience to interrupt as innocent and sweet, by dressing her in this way we believe we can create the effect or image we are looking for. Example:

The male character will need to wear a dark, mysterious outfit which gives the audience an impression of power and darkness. This is because we want our male character to be mysterious to the audience as well as un-move and entertain them, by dressing him in this way we hope his character will be enhanced and the audience will experience the effect we are looking for. A good example of this is Professor Snape from Harry Potter:

New Lighting

Since publishing the last few posts about lighting within our thriller we have totally changed one of our locations. We still want to include a mixture of soft and hard lighting within the opening. Completely opposing to what we previously wrote we want the footage we film outside to be a lot brighter and then the footage we capture inside, at the warehouse, we want it to be darker. However the same reason for this is that each locations have two very different meanings which we will be able to represent through the lighting. When filming we need to take into account the natural lighting so the time of day, and the weather are important factors for us to monitor and take into account when choosing a filming day.

New Props

The gate is an important part of our thriller opening as it symbolises that the girl is trapped and under the control of Nigel (trapped). It also shows how he is on the free side of the gate, how controlling he is and his authority.

The padlock backs up this interpretation by showing that Nigel has the power to lock someone in, he has the key and he knows how to use it. The girl behind is defenseless and without a key to this lock.

The writing/message left by Rosie is a signifcant prop within our opening as it shows her weakness and is a cry for help. It also shows how innocent she is by using leaves or twigs to make the message is something a child would do although it is a very clever thing to do at the time.

Risk Assessment Update

After we changed our thriller opening and location we decided that our risk assessment need updating so creating another one was necessary.
Location - Deserted Train Tracks

Risk - Tripping over loose rocks or logs.

What we can do to reduce the risk - Check the area in which we plan to film for any loose rocks on logs and remove any if spotted, not only this but we can have someone always on standby with a mobile phone in case of an Emergency

Location - Travelling to and from Deserted Train Tracks

Risk - Being run over or involved in accident.

What we can do to reduce the risk - Be careful when crossing roads or walking along pathways, drive responsibly and always have someone on standby with a mobile phone in case of an emergency.

Location - Warehouse/Cellar

Risk - Tripping over rubbish or anything loose on the ground as well as possible slippery surface (if raining).

What we can do to reduce the risk - Make sure there are no trip hazards within the vincity of where we intend to film, always have someone on standby with a mobile phone in case of an emergency.

Location - Travelling to and from the Warehouse/Cellar

Risk - Being run over or involved in accident.

What we can do to reduce the risk - Be careful when crossing roads or walking along pathways, drive responsibly and always have someone on standby with a mobile phone in case of an emergency.

Train Track Location Photo's

Warehouse Location Photo's

Location Permission

In order to film at the warehouse in Saffron Walden we need to get permission from the owner. This is important because we need to have permission in order to be able to film in the locations we have selected. We have been given permission to use the warehouse to film on Monday January 30th.

New Location

As a result of changing our thriller opening we have made some changes our location. The deserted train tracks are still a vital part of our opening and they remain the same, however we no longer intend to use the girls house in our opening. Instead we have chosen to use a warehouse/cellar as this is now another key part of our opening. 

The warehouse will be a key location for us and we are hoping that it will create an effect in which the audience will believe in the situation and what they are watching. The fact that the doors have no handles creates the impression that there is now way in our out.  The overall impression of the building is an eery one which is exactly what we are looking for.

Not only this but the big iron gate that keeps the warehouse separate from the courtyard also gives the impression there is no way out, this is perfect for us as it is the kind of impression we are hoping to create.
Overall the warehouse is now a very key part of our opening and we hope it will provide us with the right environment and atmosphere that we believe it will.

Font Idea

I decided to have a quick search for any fonts relating to twigs which would tie in with the end clip in our thriller opening to use for our thriller title in our opening credits. I found one called Gill Tree on dafont.com and despite it being very effective I don't think it would be suitable for our opening as it doesn't strike me as a font that would be related to a thriller however it does look quite creepy.

Alternative Fonts

Reason - The leaf like font relates to a part of the movie where the character Rosie has left a message nearby the abandoned train tracks so that somebody will hopefully find and help her. This is drawn by hand.

MISPLACED

Reason - The bold text stands out making it eye catching to people who what to see a film, it also implies a thriller type film having a serious feel from the text/font compared to different genre of films. This was made using Microsoft Word's font toolbar.

New Font

Following on from previous posts I decided that we needed to re-evaluate our options and ideas regarding the style of font we intend to use for our credits within our thriller opening. Personally I believe that we now should use this movie style font as it will be more effective for us to use as it is subtle and adds a sense of mystery to our opening which from our audience research we found our target audience regard as a key element to a thriller.

I believe that this particular font will give us the effect we wish to create and give us a much better chance of having our thriller opening becoming a success as it appeals to an element in which our target audience regards highly and expects to see in a good thriller.

Following on from my own font research and taking into account the massive change in our thriller opening story line and also the research Harry has done, I also feel that this bold and clear font will be a suitable choice as it will produce an effective, clear and well presented opening credits sequence. I definitely believe it is a good, strong font to use.

http://www.dafont.com/movie-letters.font?text=We+Are+Sirius&psize=l

Implementation of Audience Research

I wanted to make a post about the importance of our target audience research and how we've implemented the results and information we have acquired into our final opening.

One of the questions we asked in our questionnaire was "How would you describe a typical thriller?" with nearly 50% of people answering tense. As a result of this we have tried to create as well as build up as much tension as possible in a variety of ways such as POV shots of within our opening to bring a sense of mystery and unknown, keeping the audience drawn in questioning what is taking place. This is a clear example of how we've listen to our target audience and implemented their thoughts into our opening.

Another question we asked was "What factors would make you watch a thriller?" 85% of people who answered this question said that an appealing storyline. Once again as a result of this we have tried to create  complex narrative structure that our audience will enjoy and admire. We want our audience to be drawn into the opening throughout asking numerous questions and wondering what is happening or going to happen next. This is yet another example of how we've implemented our target audience research.

Finally we asked our target audience, "What makes a good thriller opening for you?" We had numerous replies but one read "Full of tension and suspense, doesn't give a lot away but slips in little clues and suspicious hints throughout with good and effective music" This particular response effectively sums up what we have tried to achieve with our thriller opening as we have included all of the above especially focusing on effective music and suspicious clues to help create tension and suspense throughout. Once again this another example of how we have listened to our target audience and implemented their thoughts and feelings.

In conclusion to this I believe listening to our target audience is vital to us as a group if we want our opening to be both effective and successful. From listening to our target audience I believe we have learnt a lot and now we can push on and cement their ideas in our opening further.

New Final Storyline

Following on from previous posts in which we discovered that our opening was too long and contained to much information we have had to change our opening and doing so our storyline. Our new storyline is:

Beginning - The audience is introduced to a young girl by the name of Rosie. It becomes apparent quite early on that Rosie is being held captive. The audience are immediately exposed to Rosie's type of living conditions in the cellar/warehouse and why she wants to so desperately leave. We see more of who Rosie is as the story progresses, a young innocent girl wanting to be reunited with her family.

Middle - As the story continues, Rosie is seen to be trying to plan an escape from her uncle and tormenter Nigel. Rosie begins to take risks and results to more desperate measures to escape this nightmare of hers. She is willing to put her own life on the line to do this and has come to realize that they may be no way out but she has to try and escape. Rosie's living conditions and lifestyle will get even worse as her torment continues therefore she has no chose put to take the appropriate actions relating to  what she believes is the right to do.


End - Rosie is seen taking her plan into action, she is faced with an explosive confrontation with her uncle Nigel this results in a climatic ending to the story as the audience witness her attempt at escaping which is successful.

The main character of our storyline however is a criminal investigator who is investigating Rosie's disappearance throughout and eventually aid's with her escape. However this investigator is not in our opening.

We believe that this is a great storyline to use as our opening fits in well within it. In doing so creating the effect that both we and our audience are looking for.

New Thriller Opening Summary

There is blank screen In which we will introduce some subtle credits all that can be heard is a tapping noise and the sound of laughter. The camera then goes to a close up of a girls feet on the deserted train tracks this is then followed by a long shot in which a young girl can be seen laughing and playing while dancing balance- beam style on the tracks. There is then a shot of the girl playing with some leaves and then she is seen sitting on a rail by the edge of the tracks. This is then followed by series of binocular and POV shots in which the audience is given the impression someone is watching the young girl. The camera then reverts back to the girl sitting on the rail in which she then hears the snapping of a twig she looks round and see's a man, she has a fearful look on her face but then says "Oh it's you... Do we have to go back now?" There is then a close up shot of the man taking her by the wrist. Following on from this there is then a jump cut where you then see the man taking the girl into a abandoned celler/warehouse/room and she is seen saying "When can we go out again?" to which the man replies "Maybe next week... if your good" the camera then focuses on the man shutting the girl away. There is then one final shot which goes back to the train tracks, a close up of the tracks into which the girl has carved/made out a leaves "My name is Rosie, please help me". Then clip then fades out and then remainder of our credits are introduced finishing off the opening.

Meeting 7 - 18/1/12

Today we had yet another meeting. However today we had some bad news, we were told that our potential thriller opening is too long and contains to much information for it be a success. This was hard to take, but we realised that if we wanted our thriller to be effective and successful then we would have change our plans. As a result of this we have had to tweak our opening. However we now feel that our thriller opening is now even stronger than ever. We have since posted a new opening storyline to the blog and we have also started to look into new locations, props and characters to suit our new opening. We plan to meet up again to assess how progress in the very near future.

New Animatic Storyboard

This is our Animatic Storyboard for our thriller opening. We wanted to create this so that others can see how we plan to execute our opening:

New Storyboard

This is our updated storyboard for our new thriller opening.