We were asked to create an opening for a movie for our AS Coursework. The genre of our movie is a Thriller. The blog is separated into 3 sections: Research and Planning, Construction and Evaluation.
Tuesday 13 December 2011
Thursday 1 December 2011
Research and Planning
Camera Shot/Angle/Movement:
A variety of various shots have been used within the opening sequence of the film Panic Room. The three main shots used are as followed: establishing shots, wide shots and long shots. The purpose of the use of these shots is for the audience to be introduced into the setting for the sequence. The long and wide shots are used to give a sense of depth and dimension to the city buildings. Within most of the shots there is a pan movement used on the buildings. The camera pans from left to right on some of the buildings; this is very effective as it shows the audience the buildings and city in a little more detail. There is also a low shot of one of the buildings which makes it appear to be an important building and potentially hold some significance to the rest of the film. There is also a high angle shot of one of the buildings which looks down on the streets of the city where cars and people walking around can be seen. At the end of the opening scene a female character is introduced by the camera panning down from a building onto her.
A variety of various shots have been used within the opening sequence of the film Panic Room. The three main shots used are as followed: establishing shots, wide shots and long shots. The purpose of the use of these shots is for the audience to be introduced into the setting for the sequence. The long and wide shots are used to give a sense of depth and dimension to the city buildings. Within most of the shots there is a pan movement used on the buildings. The camera pans from left to right on some of the buildings; this is very effective as it shows the audience the buildings and city in a little more detail. There is also a low shot of one of the buildings which makes it appear to be an important building and potentially hold some significance to the rest of the film. There is also a high angle shot of one of the buildings which looks down on the streets of the city where cars and people walking around can be seen. At the end of the opening scene a female character is introduced by the camera panning down from a building onto her.
Sound
During the opening sequence, non-diegetic music is used in the background. The music is very fitting to the sequence as it is bold and grand. This resembles the buildings which are being shown on screen. However throughout the opening scene some diegetic sound is used in the form of pedestrians walking past and the sound of the cities traffic. Towards the end of the sequence the music begins to pick up pace giving the sequence a far more dramatic feel to it which ties into the conventions of the thriller genre. Right at the end of the sequence there is more diegetic sound in the form of dialogue from the two female characters that the audience is introduced to.
During the opening sequence, non-diegetic music is used in the background. The music is very fitting to the sequence as it is bold and grand. This resembles the buildings which are being shown on screen. However throughout the opening scene some diegetic sound is used in the form of pedestrians walking past and the sound of the cities traffic. Towards the end of the sequence the music begins to pick up pace giving the sequence a far more dramatic feel to it which ties into the conventions of the thriller genre. Right at the end of the sequence there is more diegetic sound in the form of dialogue from the two female characters that the audience is introduced to.
Editing
The editing of the opening sequence is mainly based on cutting from shot to shot as there is a lot of use of transitions with the lettering that has been chosen. The lettering fits in very well with the scenery as it looks ad if it is part of the background and purposely constructed in such a way that it is parallel to the buildings. An interesting point that could be picked up from the editing style is that the names of the cast members are placed on the buildings as if they are company or firm names just to emphasise their importance. Even though there is no main action that takes place during the opening sequence no serious editing is needed having said this there are many various shots within the opening sequence so a lot of cutting is necessary.
Mise en Scene:
There are lots of tall skyscraper buildings and huge billboards in the background of the opening sequence which inform the audience that the film is set in a big city. The yellow taxis suggest that the setting is an American city, perhaps New York. As there is not a lot of mise en scene to report on it could be said that it appears to be just an ordinary busy American city.
There are lots of tall skyscraper buildings and huge billboards in the background of the opening sequence which inform the audience that the film is set in a big city. The yellow taxis suggest that the setting is an American city, perhaps New York. As there is not a lot of mise en scene to report on it could be said that it appears to be just an ordinary busy American city.
Characters:
There is an absence of characters for most of the opening sequence until the final seconds where the audience are then introduced to two female characters. The first character seems to be a middle aged woman who is well dressed with a long coat. The second character is standing almost behind the first character; asking questions. The second lady is significantly smaller than the first and wears glasses. These physical attributes make her to appear inferior and a less important character. The audience get the impression that she is perhaps the personal assistant of the first character. This brief introduction to the two female characters does not give the audience much information about whether they will dominate the rest of the movie or even if they are antagonist or protagonists. However considering that the characters talk about a big house and are well spoken and dressed the audience can assume that they are upper class. Locations:
The location of the opening sequence is New York; the audience can immediately tell that this is the location due to shots of the famous Hudson River and New York’s renowned highly modern and developed skyscrapers. The location of the sequence portrays a busy city, this is shown by the many cars driving past and the busy not stop city life of hundreds of people walking around at one single moment in time. This build up the notion of not actually knowing what is around the corner.
The location of the opening sequence is New York; the audience can immediately tell that this is the location due to shots of the famous Hudson River and New York’s renowned highly modern and developed skyscrapers. The location of the sequence portrays a busy city, this is shown by the many cars driving past and the busy not stop city life of hundreds of people walking around at one single moment in time. This build up the notion of not actually knowing what is around the corner.Narrative/Plot:
From this particular opening sequence not a lot of clues or hints are given about the actual plot of the film as the sequence does not give any information other than: where the film is set which is in a city due to the high skyscraper buildings and billboards previously mentioned. Throughout the opening sequence there are several shots of the location and at the end of it a shot of two characters talking. This does not give enough evidence to assume what is the narrative/plot of the film as there is not much dialogue or any action meaning that the audience are left indecisive and in suspense about what is going to happen during the rest of the film. However the tile of the film gives away a bit of the narrative as the audience expect it to be some sort of thriller revolving around a ‘room’ hence the films title ‘Panic Room’. The dialogue at the end of the opening suggests that the ‘Panic Room’ may be located somewhere within the house that the woman talks about.
Themes/Genre:
The opening sequence again does not give much evidence for the audience to understand the theme or genre of the film. However the title of film ‘Panic Room’ gives the impression that it may be a thriller because of the word ‘Panic’. Also the director of the film is David Fincher, who is known for directing other thriller movies such as ‘Se7en. It could be said that a major theme through the theme of psychological thriller. Having said this there are not enough thriller conventions to make such an assumption but the audience are still able to get a sense of a thriller any mystery due to the soundtrack used throughout the sequence. There is also voyeurism used at the two women sharing some dialogue at the end of the sequence, voyeurism is a common convention of a thriller. According to the Pearl & Dean website, this clarified to me that the Genre is a thriller; before we researched this, the theme of the film was rather ambiguous.
The opening sequence again does not give much evidence for the audience to understand the theme or genre of the film. However the title of film ‘Panic Room’ gives the impression that it may be a thriller because of the word ‘Panic’. Also the director of the film is David Fincher, who is known for directing other thriller movies such as ‘Se7en. It could be said that a major theme through the theme of psychological thriller. Having said this there are not enough thriller conventions to make such an assumption but the audience are still able to get a sense of a thriller any mystery due to the soundtrack used throughout the sequence. There is also voyeurism used at the two women sharing some dialogue at the end of the sequence, voyeurism is a common convention of a thriller. According to the Pearl & Dean website, this clarified to me that the Genre is a thriller; before we researched this, the theme of the film was rather ambiguous.
These are the demographics for Panic Room. I got these from the Pearl & Dean website, they show me that 60% of people who watched this film was men, and that 42% of people who watched the film was aged 15 - 24. This therefore means the target audience for this film, must have been men aged 15 - 24.
Opening Sequence Analysis (Sin City)
The opening sequence begins with an establishing shot of what could potentially be an American city at night time. The shot gives the audience an awareness of both the sequences setting and a rough idea of the time of day to create a sense of atmosphere. 
Connotations of the colors: Black- Symbolizes traits such as: Power, authority and to some extent even submission. A character dressed in black may be considered to have a dark side or evil. We are soon after introduced to a male character wearing an all black suit, tie but a white shirt. White is often viewed upon as being a color of innocence and purity, a reflection of light. This may be why the directors have meticulously chosen to contrast both the darkness of the man’s suit and the darkness of the city with a slight hint of white as a sort of paradox between light and darkness; perhaps even the good and evil of ‘Sin City’. The camera then focuses on a yet unidentified female protagonist. It is clear that she is of some form of importance due to the: bright, red, flowing halter-neck dress that she is wearing. The color of the female characters dress is sharply contrasted with that of the almost pitch black city landscape before her with the exception of what appears to be a slight illumination from some lights within the buildings.
The color red may have been chosen for the female character as a sign of emotional intensity and a traditionally universal color of love. Red is an extremely bold and eye catching color-Some may even argue that it is an attention seeking color wore to provoke a response. Red has once again been used in the application of lipstick onto her lips to accentuate her seductiveness. 
Lastly when the female character takes a drag of the cigarette that the male character had given her, her eyes briefly turned green. The color is commonly associated with a variety of different things from symbolizing: growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility to money associations and even suggesting stability and endurance. However sometimes green denotes a lack of experience and dark green is also associated with ambition, greed and jealousy.
The sequence commences with the non-diegetic soundings of what seems to be soft jazz music playing in the background as the diegtic sounds of the wind calm breeze can be heard alongside with the miniscule tapings of the female characters footsteps. Within the first few seconds of the sequence there is no direct speech from the characters, the only speech that can be heard is voice of a male first person narrator. It is only afterwards that it becomes apparent that the narrator is actually the male characters voice. The soft jazz music continues to plays on throughout the entirety of the opening sequence right up until the point where the male character shoots the female character.
Opening Sequence Analysis (Se7en)
Camera Shots/ Editing
From the opening sequence of se7en I can see that the camera shots used are mainly close ups and extreme close ups. I think the director did this to show more detail on the objects shown, for example the extreme close ups of a man’s finger nails which look rough, cracked and dirty, this shows to the viewers that the theme running through the film isn’t going to be set on a cheerful plot because the character shown in this sequence doesn’t care for themselves, he also has bandages wrapped round his fingertips which can mean different things, however I noticed he sews so he may prick himself a lot purposely or because he is unstable. I also noticed the camera is close up focusing on a book through-out the sequence. The camera is perhaps positioned in this way to show the movement of the pages turning. So through-out the camera is zoomed on each of the objects with a range of extreme close up shots, this could be used to give the audience a sense of mystery before watching the movie.
These extreme close ups show us in strong detail that the character is creating something, with newspaper clippings, film, by sewing etc… however we do not know the final creation made so this engages the viewer into watching the film, we do see a very disturbing image of a man with a metal rod stuck through his head from the back to the front which tells the viewer already that this character may have psychiatric issues, which therefore shows us that the films genre could be possibly be a horror.The movement and angles used by the camera differ in a majority of the shots, most of the time the movement of the camera is used to follow the man’s steps of what he’s making, like I said extreme shots of his hands and fingers turning over pages, sewing etc... There is some unusual angles used too for example the pages of the book being turned. There not exactly high, low or eye level angles, there extreme close ups.
Sound The sound used in the sequence is very spooky and chilling; it almost already tells us that this film may have aspects of horror or a thriller genre; it gives the audience a spine tingling sensation whilst watching it. The music is like sound effects to what the character is doing in the sequence, for example when he’s cutting up the film this sounds like scratching of a cd to show a broken effect like the characters broken up mind. The sequence music starts of slow and speeds up at the end this may be to get us more engaged into the sequence or to show us that the film has a slow start but a very fast paced ending, backs up how this film may be a horror/thriller, because we all know horrors begin and end like this. It’s also an example of non-diegetic sound as it has been added into the sequence for an affect.
Editing
The editing used in it is quite simple, there’s a shot which is cut, then there’s another shot and so on… to show us a short but detailed incite onto what is happening and what is going to happen in the film, each shot shows an extreme close up of an object or prop then the next one shows credits which dissolve together and so on…there’s also editing when there’s a shot with a pen that runs over another image with the same pen, with like a ghostly effect adding to it. The cuts were all very quick so each of the shots was clear. We get a good look of certain objects used in the film to show the genre of it, we call these conventions because when we see some blood, disturbing images such as a rod through a man’s head, spooky sound effects and music. We already get the impression of something to be a horror or a murderous story.
Mise-en-Scene
Mise-en-Scene
There is mise-en-scene used…the lighting is quite dull, dark and low-key. One of the main colours within the whole sequence is black, the credits & titles are white over a black background. This colour represents death, evil and mystery. There’s also a lot of shadows used which we associate with horrors, there’s also some flashes of the colour red in the sequence, which we associate with blood & danger. The props we see being used are mainly books, scraps of paper, a sewing needle, film. I get the impression that the character is hunting down people killing them off, because there’s a man’s face which gets scribbled over like he’s been killed off and he’s ready for his next target. Due to the dark and dangerous objects used to create this sequence, the audience gets a sense of mystery and horror like I said before. There is no costumes, makeup etc… used in the sequence; however I don’t think this is necessary to be used as the opening already tells us the genre of the film and what might happen in it, after watching the opening sequence about 6 times I understand that he may be making a scrap book of his murder accomplishments, which is definitely backs up what I said before about how the man may have a mental aspect to him.
Opening Sequence Analysis (Children Of Men)
The future London is being represented (2027) its set in a time when no one has children anymore. It’s being represented as a not very safe time anymore, no new life is being born, and everyone gets old and dies which means one day mankind will end. Negative representation is been shown, which is being created with a dull environment being set out, People trapped in cages isn’t a very positive atmosphere, a bomb going off in London shows that this city is no longer a safe environment, this bomb may be terrorism. 
The people who are getting older are being shown & the main story at the start is about the youngest person who died. The audience are able to identify the main character and protagonist though at the start of the opening because the camera focuses on him through it. The hero in the film is the man at the start of the sequence could be, this is because the camera following him in the sequence, He's a hero because he seems to be unhappy with the world at the moment. He has strong feelings against what’s happening. Which is usually what a hero thinks, and with these feelings this is how he becomes a hero, how he solves the situation. 
Woman are represented as a dying race, because there infertile, there seen to not be needed anymore, there seen to be totally worthless. I noticed that inside the cafe where the camera goes over a group of people all watching the news on the TV. The camera does not focus on one particular woman, but shows the male protagonist barging straight into a female and doesn’t seem to care about it. Also women are represented as very weak due to the lady crying about the boy dying, which is another negative representation of women. The future is being represented as a dangerous bleak place, the world is falling apart, and every country is at war with its self. There are explosions in most cities around the world due to riots or terrorism, and a bomb goes off in London which I’m showing in the picture. However it does look like London’s technology is more advanced as I noticed moving advertisements; this could be portraying one positive aspect. I noticed other social groups such as immigrants, that are being deported back to their countries from England. They are represented as worthless as they are in cages ready to be deported like they are animals, this representation is being constructed because they are being squashed in cages, and people are just walking by like they don’t care, like it’s a normal occurrence that happens.
The camera work is continuous, there’s no editing or cuts in the first part of the sequence. It’s called a track shot as the camera is following the man out of the café and onto the street. This shows us the importance of this character. When the explosion happens, the camera continues to follow the man and makes the audience become aware that this man is a hero as he escapes the explosion and appears to be perfectly safe with no injuries after it. These camera shots make the audience feel like there in the film, as if there seeing what’s happening and if them there self’s are following the man and watching the explosion. We follow the man into work, when he gets off the train and then meets his friend.
There’s no editing in the first past of the film before the title. It’s a continuous shot, with no cuts, editing starts off with the title of the film. It makes the text bolder, like you weren’t expecting it to come, as the text stops the continuous shot. After the title there are cuts when the main protagonist goes into work, and there’s also used when he’s talking to his boss. The pace of the editing changes, in the beginning the pace is quite slow as there no cuts, however when cuts begin to happen, the pace gets quicker and speeds up the sequence.
The sound has been constructed in a particular way, In the beginning the sound is the news reporters in the café, narrating in the background. After he leaves the shop there’s sounds effects of traffic and vehicles which is the usual noise you associate with London. Later on in the sequence he goes to work, and there’s sad music playing the background while a woman is mourning the boy that died, which adds to the gloomy depressing situation the nations in. A major sound is the bomb going off which is a loud, thunderous and explosive sound. The sound is constructed differently to most opening sequences, as it changes throughout.
The Mise En Scene: The location of the set has been created to look very futuristic due to mise-en-scene. An example would be the high amount of rickshaws on the streets which you usually get in poorer countries which shows how London is degrading and the rubbish bags everywhere, to show how depressing and dirty London has become, that there may no longer be rubbish collectors. The locations in the film have been created by TV broadcasts of how each location in the world has been affected by this epidemic.Well in the opening sequence it tells the audience the location which is London & time which is 2027 and the situation is told by news reporters.The Genre of the film is Disaster - Sci Fi. I think it’s a disaster movie as there’s a worldwide disaster happening due to woman being infertile and not able to have children. The entire film is set in the year 2027 and shows all the futuristic aspects, this is why it’s a sci-fi. The film begins with a news channel in a busy cafe in central London. The audiences are then quickly able to tell the narrative of the movie. The narrators are the news reporters on the channel who are telling the characters in the film what’s happening in the world, which is explaining to us what’s happening the film, it’s quite a clever way of getting points across.
The audiences that are being targeted is older teens, men & woman are both targeted. It’s not a film for children. After writing this I read online that the official age certificate for Children of Men is 15, which backs up what I said that it’s not a film for children under this age. But the film is showing the importance of both male and females. The fact that the story line is representing women as infertile portrays women as worthless but this could lead to a large number of females wanting to watch the film.
The film makers are trying to get the audience to think about issues in the nation at the moment. However there is no major current issues surrounding infertile woman at the moment but the film makers could be talking about how some women are infertile but majority of woman are not. I think the message of this film is trying to show what the world would be like if there was no fertile woman, how this scientific issue could affect the whole nation. It gives out a strong message about the human race and how the future could turn out however I doubt this will happen. There’s also a bomb that goes off which I personally think is due to terrorism. I know this film is based on how woman are now infertile in the future because it explains this in the clip because the youngest boy in the world has now died and he was 18, which shows from 18 years ago there was no more woman giving birth.
Opening Sequence (Dark Knight)
Camera shots/angles/movements
In the sequence we start off with an establishing shot of Gotham city, this shot automatically allows the audience to understand where they film is set. The camera then zooms into the interior of a dark glazed building. The glass window smash and the audience are presented with a high angle shot of two men, loading a gun, both characters wear very frightful looking masks, so the audience automatically becomes suspicious of them. A medium shot of another character from behind, holding masks adds tension and more suspicion. Then later on in the sequence have an aerial shot of a road, to show that’s it an ordinary day. As the sequence continues, there’s many close ups of the men in masks and then the men break into the bank, which adds a lot of tension. It’s a very fast paced moment. Through- out the sequence there’s a huge variety of angles, as there is a lot of action/dialogue occurring and a huge variety of camera movement too.Sound
The film starts in silence, then as the music begins so does the tension and action in the sequence. There is a loud smashing noise as the glass breaks in the building, there is mainly diegetic sound during the opening scene; we hear the sound of the zip wire and of the men landing. There isn’t a lot of dialogue, to maybe show that actions speak louder than words. When the men in masks enter the bank, there is a lot of sound and screams occurring.
Editing
The opening sequence has very quick cut shots to add a sense of speed to the film. To get the audience more engaged into what’s happening, and to show that the film is going to be fast paced and full of action. There is a huge editing change though, when there is a shot of Gotham city then suddenly to a zoom in to a building (establishing shot)
Characters
The characters that are first seen by the audience within the few opening minutes of the sequence are four men. The men's face have been heavily plastered with thick stage make up.Location
The opening sequence starts off with a establishing shot of Gotham city, where therefore shows the location to be In Gotham city, the audience know it’s a city due the high rise buildings. By the audience knowing the location at the opening sequence, they automatically know where the rest of the film is set. Narrative
Through-out the opening scene we get a lot of information about the plot of the film. We see five men in suspicious and very frightful masks, one of whom is the Joker, a known villain in the batman series. Two of the men break into the bank from the roof of the building. Why the other three with the Joker break in from the entrance and keep people in the bank hostage, Many of these men go against each-other and kill each other to get the money, however; none of them know the Joker is within them. In the end of the opening sequence the Joker is the only one living and the rest of them kill each other and he gets the money. Therefore; the audience know a lot from the sequence already and they realise how vindictive and evil the Joker can be, he got these four men to work for him but shot them all after they assisted him, the audience realizes he’s a very clever minded man to do this. The opening scene sets up for the rest of the film completely.Mise en Scene
Throughout the sequence, there’s mise en scene used for example the costumes the five men wore, three of the men wore suits and two of them wore leather jackets, all five of them wore very similar frightful masks, which impacts the audience and how suspicious they feel about the characters, due to us not knowing what the characters look like. The lighting in the sequence is not very bright, it’s quite dull which is foreshadowing the plot of the film, the low dull light is relating to how the film isn’t set on a happy plot. There’s other mise en scene in the opening, such as guns & money bags. The setting of the opening is first of two men zip wiring from a building to a roof of a bank, then other three men in a car driving towards the bank, the three men break into the bank and so does the other two from the roof. Themes/Genre
From the opening sequence, the audience understands the Genre of this movie to be Action and Thriller, due to all the action occurring in the robbery scenes and the amount of thrill in them it would make the film a Thriller. The themes going through out the opening sequence include the battle between good and evil, morality & right vs. wrong. The men in masks are the characters who are in the wrong and the people in the bank are the people who are in the right. The opening sets you up for the rest of the film foreshadowing what’s going to happen between Batman (Good) and the Joker (Bad).
Comparison of Panic Room and Se7en.
Panic Room and Se7en are both directed by the same director, David Fincher, so therefore it is expected for there to be certain similarities between the opening sequences. Seven and Panic Room are both classed as thrillers so this indicates that there will be similar conventions.
Camera
Both films use very different camera shots, for example Panic Room uses mainly establishing shots where as Se7en uses more close up shots, however the way the shots are edited by being cut rapidly to the next shot, builds up the tension to give it more of a thriller kind of feel to the film.
Sound
Both scenes contain minimal diegetic sound, in Se7en the diegetic sounds is from the machinery, and in Panic Room the diegetic sound is from the very little dialogue at the end of the opening scene. However non-diegetic sound is used much more in both of the opening scenes, and in both of the opening scenes the music used fits in very well with the genre of film.
Lighting
In Panic Room the lighting is very bright as it is includes shots of only outside during the day. In Se7en the lighting is very dark and dull as it based indoors, in what seems like a dark, lonely room, which again is a convention for thrillers.
Editing
Both of the openings use lettering, yet they use very different fonts, sizes and styles of lettering in order to create different effects. In Panic Room the lettering is bold, big, clear and in a silver like color and the background is the buildings and this then allows the audience to see the location of the film. However the shots in Se7en include shots of the character working machinery, drawing on pictures, etc and then cuts to a black screen where small, white letters are used, then it cuts back to a scene where the character doing something else.
Locations
Both of the openings are set in two completely different locations. In Panic Room we can clearly see that the film is located in New York, due to the big buildings and the shot of Hudson River; also from the lighting we can tell it is day time. Se7en is located indoors, it is very difficult to tell wether or not it is daytime or not because of the lighting being so dark and gloomy.
Narrative/Plot
Both of the films do not give much away about the plot, however we can get more clues from Se7en. From Panic Room we can only get a real clue what the film is going to be about from the title of the film, where as in Se7en we actually see a character doing things. One of the biggest clues from the film is cutting the word ‘GOD’ from a dollar note, this gives us the clue that the film will have relations to God in it.
Screen Play - The Open Window
One of our first tasks was to read "The Open Window" which was a short story written by Munro, we have to recreate the story into our own screenplay, we decided to modernize it.
EXT SCENE DESCRIPTION. Master shot of the house to begin with, then a Close up towards Becky looking out off the window towards Mr Framton, then a long shot of Becky running down the stairs then opening the door for Mr Nuttle.
EXT SCENE DESCRIPTION. Master shot of the house to begin with, then a Close up towards Becky looking out off the window towards Mr Framton, then a long shot of Becky running down the stairs then opening the door for Mr Nuttle.
BECKY
“Good afternoon Mr Nuttel, my aunt will be down soon. For the meantime you’ll have to put up with me
FRAMTON
(Camera close up shows doubtful facial expression)
BECKY
“I know how it will be, you’ll bury yourself down here and not speak to a living soul. I'll introduce you everyone i know. Some of them are quite friendly"
FRAMTON
“Whats mrs Sappleton like?”
BECKY
“You’ll soon see. So do you know many people around here?”
FRAMTON
“Hardly a soul, My sister was staying here at the rectory, four years ago, and she told some people about me”
(In a tone of distinct regret)
BECKY
“Then you know practically nothing about my aunt?” (In a confident tone of voice)
FRAMTON
“Only her name and address” (Framton is observing the room he is in - extreme close to masculine items such as rifle guns)
BECKY
“Her great tragedy happened just threes years ago,that would be since your sisters time”
FRAMTON
“Her Tragedy?”
BECKY
“You may wonder why we keep that wide window open, on an october afternoon”
(long shot - Becky points, indicating the large french windows opened onto the lawn)
FRAMTON
“Quite warm this time of year, isn’t it? but what’s that got to do with the tragedy?
BECKY
“Out through the window, three years ago to today, her husband and her two young brothers went off for their daily shootings. They never came back. When crossing the moor to go to there favourite shooting ground. They were all engulfed in a treacherous piece of bog. It was a terrible wet summer and there bodies were never recovered. That was the dreadful part of it.” (Change in tone of Becky’s voice)
“Poor Aunt thinks they will come back one day, them an the little brown spaniel that was lost with them and walk in that window just as they used to do that is why the window is kept open every evening till it is dusk, poor aunty she often tells me how they went out, her husband with his white waterproof coat and Ronnie her youngest brother singing “Bertie, why do you bound?” because she said it got on her nerves. Sometimes i almost get the creepy feeling that will walk through the window again”
MRS. SAPPLETON
MRS. SAPPLETON
“I hope that Becky has been friendly”
FRAMTON
“She has been very interesting”
MRS SAPPLETON
“I hope you don’t mind the open window” “My husband and brothers will be home soon from shooting, they always come in this way, they’ve been out in the marshes all day, so they’ll make a mess over my carpet today” (Medium shot - Mrs. Sappleton looking at the window)
FRAMTON
“The doctors agree in ordering me complete rest, no mental excitement and no physical exercise, basically coming here to relax”
MRS SAPPLETON
(Her face suddenly brightened up)
“Here they are at last, Just in time for tea and don’t they look so muddy”
FRAMTON
(He shivered slightly, and looked at his niece with a sympathetic look about the Aunt.)
In the deepening twilight, three figures were walking across the lawn towards the window, they all carried guns under their arms, they got closer to the house.
A voice said “Bertie why do you bound?”
(Framton grabbed his stick and hat and retreated in a quick pace. A Cyclist came along the road and had to run into the hedge to avoid him)
HUSBAND
HUSBAND
“Here we are my dear” “Who was that who bolted out as we came up?”
MRS SAPPLETON
“A most extraordinary man, Mr Nuttel” “He only talked about his illness and dashed off without a word of goodbye when you arrived, you would think he saw a ghost”
BECKY
“I expect it was the spaniel, he told me he had a phobia of dogs. He was once hunted into a cemetery by a pack of dogs and had to spend a whole night in a newly dug grave to escape with the creatures up above. Enough to make anyone lose their nerve”
Romance was her speciality (Fade out)
The Story Board
Our Preliminary Task
We had to do a preliminary task to compete before we started to contrust our final task. The purpose for this task was to show three different editing techniques. These were - Match on action, 180 degree rule & shot/reverse shot.
Our Screen Play
INT - A young girl called Afie is walking down a corridor towards a door. She is carrying a briefcase and its clear by her body language that she means business. When she gets to the right door, she opens it and enters the room.
Afie twists the door knob and opens the door.
Afie opens the door and comes into the room, cut as she opens the door, then move camera
inside the room and do another shot as she is entering the room.
Afie sees Rebecca.
Afie sits down opposite Rebecca.
REBECCA
I have been waiting for you
AFIE
I know you have, well I’m here now
REBECCA
Have you got the money?
AFIE
Its here, so is everything sorted? (Hands over briefcase)
REBECCA
Yes the next target is near.
AFIE
Good, Close by then?
REBECCA
Yes in front of me.
AFIE (Close up of reaction)
REBECCA
I have been waiting for you
AFIE
I know you have, well I’m here now
REBECCA
Have you got the money?
AFIE
Its here, so is everything sorted? (Hands over briefcase)
REBECCA
Yes the next target is near.
AFIE
Good, Close by then?
REBECCA
Yes in front of me.
AFIE (Close up of reaction)
The Story Board
The Preliminary Task
Questionnaire
We conducted a questionnaire and distributed 20 of them to friends and family. We did this so we knew what the audience would want from our thriller opening, we gathered the results from the questionnaires and made our opening to the tastes of what the audience wanted. Here are the results of our Questionnaire, in pie chart form.
1)What's your age?
5-10 11-16 17-22 23-28 29-39 40-50 51+
2)What's your gender?
Female Male
3) What is your most preferred type of thriller?
Psychological Supernatural Crime Action Paranormal Other
Forest Haunted House Suburban Area Other
5) What kind of villain do you prefer?
Monster Demon Male Female Kid Animal Ghosts Other
6) How long do you want the opening sequence to be?
1 minute 2 minutes 3 minutes 4 minutes 5 minutes Over
Day-Time Night-Time
8)How important is music in the opening of a film?
Very Not very Not at all
9)Would you like to know a lot of the plot in the opening sequence?
Yes No
10) Do you think that dialogue is important in an opening?
Yes No
Questionnaire Analysis
From gathering the results of each question in the questionnaire, I noticed that over half the people who filled out are questionnaires were aged 17 - 22, but both genders filled them out equally, as shown in question 2. Which shows are results were equal, so therefore the information we gathered and used for our opening sequence was reliable, also in relation to our target audience, people who we were aiming this film for where aged 16 + which is good as most of the people who answered our questionnaire was this age, therefore the results we used for our opening, will be what our target audience wanted.
The information from question three shows me that people most preferred crime thriller, which is a positive thing as our thriller opening was crime & from question four I noticed that half of the people wanted a thriller opening to be filmed in a forest, which is good because a scene of our opening was filmed in a forest, this therefore shows we listed to what the audience wanted from our questionnaires and related it to our opening.
From question 5, I realise that most people want males to be the villain in a thriller, from these results we made the male (Sam) in our group the villain in our opening. From question 6, its showing that 30% of people want an opening sequence to last three minutes, which is good because our thriller lasts just over 3 minutes, which is showing that we related the information from the questionnaires to our own opening.
From question 7, I realise that half of the people who filled out our questionnaire want our opening to be set in the night, and the other half want it filled at the day time. This is therefore good because our thriller starts off in the day time, and ends when its dark in the night time. From question 8, I noticed that people think its very important to add music to an opening. In our opening we added music because of these results we got from the questionnaire.
The next question (question 9) asked "Do you think its important to tell the whole plot in the opening" and 75% of people wrote that they think its not important, therefore in our opening we did not show the whole plot, just a minimum amount of it. The last question was "Do you think that dialogue is important in an opening?" and 75% people answered yes, however; we did not add any dialogue in our opening, so we did not listen to the results.
Therefore from these 10 questions answered by people, we used the results to do our final task which was the opening of a thriller film.
Our Final Task
Our Final task was to create the opening to a thriller movie, all the research and planning we did, was to help us understand what to do in the opening. Our thriller is going to be based on a stalker, who stalks a girl named Afie, however; anytime he gets near to Afie, her friend Rebecca gets in the way and he murders her, however; the audience may get different interpreations due to them not seeing the killing.
Our Script
It is Winter & the college day has just finished, it is 4pm, it’s starting to get dark.
Int Shot - A young man, about 18 called Sam is looking at images of a young girl called Afie.
Ext Shot - The young woman called Afie is walking down a dark road home.
Int Shot - Sam is zipping up his black hoody ready to look & follow Afie.
Ext Shot - Afie is walking home and cuts through some trees.
Ext Shot - Sam is following her from a distance, however; he sees Afie meet Rebecca and cannot do anything, he looks from behind a tree.
Ext Shot - Afie walks down to an underpass, its getting dark. Sam is following from a distance in his hoody. However; Afie cannot see him following her.
Int Shot - Afie is walking along in the under-pass. At the end of the she meets the young girl Rebecca quickly, There is then a shot of Sam looking angry because Rebecca is always there with Afie and ruins things.
Ext Shot - Rebecca leaves Afie after the walk out for the first under-pass together, then Sam follows Rebecca, Rebecca sees sam and starts running however; He starts running after her, then it goes black.
Ext Shot - Sam is looking at an image of Rebecca & Afie, He crosses out Rebeccas faces like she is dead. However; Afie is still not crossed out, she is still to be followed.
Locations we filmed in
This is the first location we filmed in. This scene is where our opening started, Afie (the antagonist) is walking home and takes a shortcut between the bushes however; she doesn't know that Sam (The protagonist) is following her from behind.
This is the second location where we filmed our opening sequence, This is the scene where Afie meets Rebecca (Her friend). There is a shot in this scene where Sam watches and runs away as he sees Rebecca.
This is the third location where we filmed our opening, Its the second day & in this scene Afie walks down towards the underpass where she is about to meet Rebecca. She doesn't know that Sam is following from behind.
This is the fourth location where we filmed our opening. In this scene Afie walks under the pass and meets Rebecca underneath too, Sam is following behind, however he sees Rebecca meet Afie and gets annoyed and walks off.
This is the fifth location where we filmed, Its as Afie & Rebecca walk out from the underpass, and go home in different directions. Rebecca goes home under the other under-pass, with Sam following behind.
This is the sixth location where we filmed our opening, Its nearly at the end. Rebecca is walking under the pass, and sees Sam and starts running. Sam catches up with her and our opening fades out.
This is the what the other end of the underpass looks like, Where our opening ends and fades out.
Our Final Task
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