Thriller Idea's 3 and 4

Idea 3:Whole film:There are three men trying to run away from their past. They want to change their ways but sometimes no matter how hard you try you just cant outrun or outsmart some people. These men who now only do petty crime seem to be wanted, why they are not sure but whoever wants them is sending clues ahead of them. Its like a mouse and cat chase each time they think they are safe they are dragged right back to where they started, now however they have a plan they believe they can outsmart this guy but how many innocent people will get hurt along the way.

Idea 3: Opening Scene: They are on a Random lane in the middle of nowhere. Three guys are trying to think of a plan to trap a vehicle so they can steal the car, they manage to make the car crash then threaten two innocent passengers in the car and with a gun pointed at their heads make them exit the vehicle. These two women are hurt really bad and cannot speak the guy’s just drive off and leave them for dead on the side of the road. An hour or so into the drive they hear a cry coming from the back on the car, having pulled over they look at the back seat there is a baby crying. The last shot is one of the men getting his gun.

Idea 4:Whole Film: All about a mother stopping at nothing to find her child. One normal day and then everything changed but why her? This film follows a mother in a desperate bid to find out why someone is having their revenge on her. Was it the affair that kick started it all.

Idea 4: Opening scene: It’s a normal morning and a mother decided to take her little girl to the play-ground,as per usual the park is so busy people everywhere mum’s, dad’s, kid’s and dog’s as far as the eye can see. Mother starts pushing her child on the swing they are both laughing having a great time and then she gets tired so goes to sit on the bench and watches her beautiful daughter from there. Her phone rings so she answers it soon she is in a deep conversation so turns around whilst talking just for a minute max. When she turn back around her daughter is gone the swing still swinging like any panicked mum she runs around screaming her daughters name. People start looking but no one says anything but why? Why does no one help her look for her daughter, then on the ground by the swing she see’s the polka dot scarf her daughter had been wearing just minutes before.

Thriller Idea 2, feedback and my response

Idea 2: Whole film: There is a group of friends who head out on a normal day, to do a normal thing. The question is how could a dog walk with your friends end so badly? Three friends with three different secrets, we learn that sometimes telling the truth can save you. The film follows the horror and heartache that people can cause each other. But the question is who is the killer? And what is their motive?

Idea 2: Opening Scene: Four friends get in an argument they decide instead of sitting in their flat arguing they should head out so they take their dog and go for a walk. Half way through the walk it is still absolute silence no one has said a word we just hear the leaves crackling beneath their feet. Next thing you know. THEY HAVE LOST THE DOG. They split up in two’s and one follows a trail of the main path they find a trail of blood so immediately start running, whilst the others soon hear a scream just like the sound of a dog yelp they thought they had just previously heard. They start running towards the cries but why do they not seem surprised? They pause from running and look at each other for a few moments then carry on.  The scene then ends with the last camera shot focused on one of the friend’s shoe that has fallen off but no sign of the friend.

 Idea 2: Feedback

Positives: They liked the cliffhanger, and that it is very tense and action packed keeping the audience captivated at the beginning, and agree I have all the right ingredients for a good opening scene with girl’s, wood and killer but need to change it a bit to work better and match the genre more closely.

Constructive Criticism:

It is more a cliché of a horror and I am trying too much to get across the plot line of the whole film in the opening scene, which is not really the purpose of an opening scene. It is not a bad thing that it’s a cliché but it does need to be changed to work successfully. The main issue is the genre and that it is too much of a horror film and not so much a thriller. Some people also questioned how you could film with a pet (dog) it could be tricky and complicated when under a time pressure and getting it to do what you want at the right moments in time. 

Idea 2 my response: 

The first thing I would focus on is simplifying it to make it more like an opening scene rather then trying to convey the whole plot line. I would scrap the bit when they are in the flat having an argument and start it right in the woods but the friends would not yet split up instead they would hear their dog yelp out and all start running together towards the sound making it less revealing and adding more mystery as to what is going to happen and hopefully less like a horror with the trail of blood that I originally thought about using. I have thought about scrapping the dog however I do like the idea of using an animal and although it may prove challenging I would like to try and make it work.

Thriller Idea 1, feedback and my response

Idea 1( The beach invasion) The whole film: Group of professional men who are planning to take over a small town and all is going to plan until this “good” nosey citizen works out what is going on. He will do everything in his power to stop it and find out who’s behind it.  He will stop at nothing and let nobody get in his way, but does he go to far and end up hurting those he was trying to protect.

Idea 1: opening scene: Set on West Wittering beach (ideally a foggy/wintery/gloomy day) A man runs down to the beach, he is being chased by serious looking men who know what they are doing, each carrying a gun over their shoulder at first they don’t shout they just run and try to catch him however very soon this all escalates into the men shouting/screaming at this man who is trying to run away. At the bottom of the beach there is a rib or ( a truck/defender something big which is waiting to pick him up and escape. Eventually he manages to jump into the rib/car and they dramatically drive away. Whilst a few seconds behind the group of men in suits come running after them. They stop just before the water front so the sea touches there shoes and one of the three men aims their gun and the camera zooms in on the target through the gun and down towards the man about to pull the trigger then blacks out as he pulls the trigger signifying the end of the opening scene.

Idea 1 feedback: Having pitched my first idea I got some useful feedback from my class and listened to a lot of points of view.

Positives:

 To begin with they commented on how it was good as it matched the genre of being a thriller as it is action packed and very tense whilst the audience are kept on the edge of their seats, with a chase, guns and guys in suits showing they are professional adding an even bigger climax. They liked the description in my pitch and said “they could clearly visualise the scene themselves” as well as the fact I had thought about shot by shot and what was going on particularly the last shot when the scene cuts out after the close up on the trigger being pulled.

Constructive Criticism:

The biggest concern they pointed out to me was that my location was good and different being ‘West Wittering beach’ however it is very hard to control the weather, tide and the boat so realistically in the filming stages this could be tricky. Secondly there is a lot going on and maybe too much, sometimes less is more.

 My response to the feedback for my first thriller idea:
 Idea 1 - Beach invasion.

I would change my idea slightly by tweaking it to make it better and more realistic to film. To begin with I would change the man from running onto the beach for a long time being chased to keeping him running for only a very short time then leaping into the rib maybe meeting an ally to add more tension. Making the most of the beach as a setting I would focus more on the boat and the action around that. I am not yet sure weather the boat is just to unrealistic and would be to complicated with weather and tides therefore I might have to consider changing it to a truck or defender as its so much easier to control on the day of filming. I would keep the ending as I got positive feedback from the idea of ending the opening scene with a close up of the man pulling the trigger for it to then black out and end the scene.

Prelim Part 2

Having shot our prelim video it was time to edit it. We went onto the computers and in pairs began to edit our different shots. We had to make sure that we paid attention to moving the video tracks and audio tracks as they could not overlap in any way because if they did there would be different voices out of time coming from different parts of the clip so we dragged the video down making sure we put it in an empty space.

We ran into a few problems when we wanted to change the order or duration of our shots as we kept dragging it on top of another shot. We eventually worked out how to drag it either below or above our previous shot so there were no clashes meaning our video did run smoothly. Another point we had to focus on was when we were trimming the shot as for the clip to look likes its flowing properly each shot needs to be cut at the exact right time and we often found that our shot transitions appeared slightly jolted so when thinking about filming our opening of a thriller, I definitely need to spend a bit more time getting those transitions to look better as it does effect the overall quality of the video.

I think I would defiantly make sure in the future that when filming I capture as many different angles as I can so that in editing we are not limited to what choice we have. A few more shots for our prelim would have come in useful. Secondly when doing the thriller I think it’s important to focus on how much each character is in the shot. We gradually got better at doing this but towards the beginning I think we had many more shots of the guy than the girl actor who wasn’t even introduced till over half way through luckily we did notice so changed it but it is something that is actually key if you are wanting to end with a good edited video.

I think overall it has prepared me for my thriller piece as all the small things that you wouldn’t think have a huge impact on the quality of your video are so much more important then I realised from overlapping your shots, cutting the shot at the correct time and getting enough variety to choose from all are crucial to your video and the end result. For the thriller we are now prepared and have hopefully made all the stupid mistakes now so that in our real thing we can focus on making it look as professional as possible.

Prelim part 1

We were put into groups to begin with and given a storyboard to which our actors had to follow. It contained a simple script we decided to develop the story line so that our two actors were in a house living room, and the boy is trying to convince the girl to set these peoples house on fire even though she doesn’t want to.

We started by setting the actors up where we wanted them and then connecting the camera onto the tripod. Checking the camera was straight on the tripod. We then focused on the 180 degree rule thinking about not crossing it whilst we tried to achieve the necessary shots. To make sure we didn’t have a continuity slip we had to use a sticky note to label exactly where each actor needed to stand whist we filmed so that when we go to edit the film it all looks good and makes sense. We used wide shot’s, behind the shoulder shots moved the camera along the 180 degree line also changing the height to which we shot the characters. For the male actor who was playing the dominant character we used a low shot to make him appear in charge and important. Where as we shot the girl actress from a high angled shot this created an inferior look in which she appears small and innocent. We then tried a few shots using a handheld shot.

We found it very tricky when filming with the handheld shot as it’s extremely hard to keep it as still as possible and prevent it from looking to shaky and unbalanced. After re-taking a few shots we managed to hold the camera slightly differently and it did improve the quality of the shot. We also fell into a few problems whilst trying to focus in on the actor pre filming, It would appear on the screen fully zoomed in and focused but when the actor started moving around and we shot the scene it came out slightly blurry. To solve this we took more time to zoom in on the actors face making sure the focus was exactly right and this made a huge difference to the quality of our future shots.

I think next time we could be more clear when telling our actors where to stand, it took us a while to get them in the right spot and keep them from moving which did waste a bit of time which we will need to make good use of when filming our thriller shoot. I do also think for our thriller we should plan the shots we want to use ahead of the shoot as its tricky thinking of what shot to use next when on set and your actors are having to wait. In terms of actors we should think about when the script may get more complicated. In the future we should definitely try and give them a script to learn before hand as it will help speed up the time taken to film and we can save time retaking shots for other reasons rather then as the actor forgot their lines.

Editing Workshop write up

Having filmed our start sequence the previous week we joined our groups and in two’s sat at the computer connected to our camera that we used.

First we went onto premier, in the top left corner you have the project window which is like a finder window with folders, files inside it. When you add video, audio and text It all goes to the project window.

There are then two projects screens and a timeline at the bottom, which go from left to right. You have V1, V2 and V3, these are video channels as well as A1,A2 and A3 which stand for audio channels.

You then have a thing similar to a folder known as “bins” which is a film making term. If you need to make a new folder you go to file new bin.

The next term we were introduced to is “rushes” this is the footage shot that is still untouched its called this due to the fact that at the end of the day traditionally the film would “rushed off” to be developed overnight and ready for the next day so the producer and director can watch it and look at what they need to film and go from there.

When looking at the rushes you double click on the icon which looks like a film wheel. Then press the play button and footage will begin from there you can always use the space bar as well. There is also the play back head which enables you to look back and forth through the footage.

Cutting footage – Two principles and tools:

First the last moment and first moment out this means you keep the key bits on the screen. Last moment in is when just as the action happens you press “I” for in and “O” for out. You can also drag the pictures you want onto the timeline.

Secondly you should cut on movement. As if you cut before it looks odd and doesn’t work but if you cut on action and then continue to find the same moment on the next shot you can match them. Remember- Premier always plays the shot that is on the top of the bar. This is the basic’s to cutting your sequence.

Sound Analysis of the sniper scene from Captain Philips

I have chosen to use the sniper scene in the movie Captain Philips. In this particular scene the American Seal team have found the lifeboat and the Somalia pirates who are holding Captain Philips hostage, The Navy seals are right in the heart of the rescue.

The clip uses non-diegetic sound from the very beginning of the scene. The use of a soundtrack which sounds heroic as well as gradually increasing in volume as the tension rises in the scene. It gets louder and louder until we reach the absolute climax of the scene when the pirates prepare to shoot the captain. The seal’s jump into action and the soundtrack cuts out. The soundtrack may be representing the pirate and what he is feeling. The pirate is then shot and the soundtrack  “dies out” with the dead man. Prior to this when we think the pirate has control and will shoot the captain the soundtrack is very much alive, appearing to the audience to symbolise when a character dies as well as when a character survives to live on. The contrast helps to portray how closely linked life and death really are.

The first diegetic sound that plays one of the longest and more important rules in the scene is the dialogue. The initial dialogue we hear is from the navy seals who are in a completely professional zone and all focused on their job. Instantly we as an audience feel safer knowing they are taking control of the situation. The use of mise-en-scene such as the costume play a big part in setting the scene. They are in Navy seal uniform which is very patriotic and connotes heroicness and bravery the audience trusts them even though most of us don’t understand the fancy terminology to which they use, it sounds professional and that is enough to supply the watcher with comfort!

The dialogue then changes to the captain himself who is screaming but it is made purposely hard for us to make sense of what he is saying, this helps to convey his confusion about not knowing what is going on, and being unable to see this then translates to the watchers confusion of not understanding what he is saying. Very shortly after that the dialogue switches to the Somalia pirates who are shouting at one another in a panic, this is when we feel a brief moment of sympathy  towards the pirates as they realise their fate and try to blame each other. The last bit of dialogue is the navy seals giving the final command to “execute” the shot, This dialogue helps establish meaning for the audience by giving us all the information we need to piece together the puzzle.

We are then taken to a point of view which see's it through the perspective of the snipers head and the seal who shoots it. The use of the sound effect and the gun shot adds so much intensity to the scene as all we hear is the gun being shot, smashing through the glass and entering the body. Following the gunshot all sound is cut apart from Captain Philips who is screaming, shouting and crying. Beyond that the ambient sound of background noise when we  just hear waves hitting the lifeboat and the sound that echoes through the inside where the captain is tied up. The ambient sound helps to reinforce how lonely the character is in this moment in time, The contrast between all the previous action to nothing but waves crashing onto the lifeboat makes the audience feel the epic change in pace of the clip.

This scene uses lots of parallel sound for instance when the seals prepare to take a shot the soundtrack reaches its loudest and most fast tempo music to accompany the situation, This is yet another way of adding tension as an audience we link fast-tempo music to a build up to something, in this case the man being shot to his death.

In the clip they use the sound of the winch on the ship as a sound bridge from non-diegetic to diegetic this means as they stop the tow of the boat we hear a brief moment of waves then a gun -shot is fired. The change in pace keeps the viewer quite literally on the edge of their seats in anticipation for what’s to come.

Overall the sequence creates all sorts of varied emotions for the audience in a very short space of time. Through the use of non-diegetic sound we feel that our emotions are heightened. Then through diegetic sound we feel as if we are involved in the conversations right there with our hero Captain Philips even though in reality we are sitting on our sofa doing nothing at all. All these emotions are created by different uses of sound in the extract making it a great thriller scene forever keeping its audience alert and on our toes.