U1-31 : THRILLER PROJECT 2008/9

Inspiration for our thriller.

2008-11-01T07:56:00.000-07:00

Our project was created with the idea of our film being a crime thriller presented in Film Noir fashion. Whilst creating the protagonist and story of the film we drew inspiration from the Max Payne game series and the film Memento, both of which have a storyline revolving around a revenge seeking hero. If we were to make the entire film on a Hollywood scale budget we would most likely shoot it in a style that blended together the techniques of the films Shoot 'Em Up and Sin City (Both of which star Clive Owen) who I personally think would make a great Jeff Grim.

Chris.

Evaluation of the Roughcut

2008-10-23T07:11:00.000-07:00

There are a few obvious problems with our rough cut. the most clear one is that there is no sound. There is no music, or the monologue which is essential to the plot of the opening. We also need to make all of the titles and perfect the font, size, effects and timing of them. We have a list of the titles and need to make them. We have also made a Soundtrack and it will be added to the final cut. We need to finish writing the monologue and need to record it, the put it onto Final Cut Express and put it onto the Soundtrack. We will then need to prefect everything as much as we can.

Credit List

2008-10-21T05:41:00.000-07:00

The following credits are in Chronological order:

Twinstone Studios Presents (against black, blurry at first fade out)
A Partydawg Production (Against Black Fade in across the screen, fade out)
Derek van de Ven
Chris Cooper
Jennifer Garner
With Morgan Freeman
Directed by Christopher Ramsden
Assisted by Adam Taylor-Creek, Tom Winter and Derek van de Ven
Produced by Tom Winter, Adam Taylor-Creek, Derek van de Ven and Christopher Ramsden
Screenplay by Jean-Luc Baptiste
Sound editor Adam Taylor Creek
Assisted by Derek van de Ven
Executive Producer Jan Itor
Grim Reality

Evaluation of Filming

2008-10-17T04:17:00.000-07:00

There was one very obvious thing that went wrong with our filming, We assumed that we would be allowed to film on site at Addenbrooke's, However, 10 to 15 minutes into our filming someone came and told us that as we had not got permission we had to leave immiedietly and record over everything we had filmed. Next time we need to make sure we have permission as it was a good location. After that we came back to School to film and found a location that was ok, but it was not ideal, but we had no choice due to time. We were able to get suitable footage, which could be better however. I feel it is obvious that it was very rushed. Next time we simply need to be better organized. The filming at my house took a little longer that i first anticipated, but I was still able to get a lot of footage to work with. There were only a couple of hitches, my cameraman was too short for the camera, but that was easily sorted, setting up the scenes needed more thinking than I thought it would, and the camera ran out of battery and it took a while to work out how to plug it into the wall. Overall I thought it was stressfull but successful, need better organization.

Shot List

2008-10-14T05:17:00.000-07:00

Location 1: Day Filming - Addenbrooke's Car Park

Shot 1 - Jeff Grim (main character) is smoking a cigarette. We see only his hand tapping the cigarette. For this we need a fake cigarette or real unlit cigarette. We need only Derek to act, as he plays Jeff. We obviously need the camera and need to make sure there is nothing obstructing the shot. We only see Jeff's hand, so Derek will need to have his white shirt and his winter jacket.

Shot 2 - Jeff Grim takes a drag on his cigarette, but as Derek does not wish to really smoke, if necessary we should adjust the camera angle so that we do not see him put the cigarette in his mouth, but it looks like he is, half of his face will be in view. We will need Derek to be in full costume , this is suit, black tie, black shoes and winter coat. There should be no background noise, and we need to make sure that there is nobody in the way of our shots. we will need the camera, tripod and fake cigarette.

Shot 3 - Here Jeff stubs out the cigarette with his foot. For this we will have to only have the black trousers, coat and black shoes.

shot 4 - Here Jeff leaves the scene, walking slowly, being filmed from behind, from a low angle to make Jeff seem more powerful. Derek will need to be in full costume (suit, black shoes, winter jacket) The setting is still the Addenbrooke's car park.

shots 5-7 is Jeff walking around in the car park, as the whole group has not seen the setting we will decide on what is best to do at the time. These shots will last a couple of seconds.

shot 8 - This shot will be of Jeff cocking his gun . The audience will only see him holding the gun down and the n cocking it. The audience will see most of his body so Derek will need to be his costume. We will obviously need Chris's fake pistol.

There should be a shot of Jeff Grim standing still, with a blank expression. In the editing room we will make this look better with effects.

Location 2: Night Filming - Derek's house (a.k.a Partydawg's crib)

shot 1 - All these shots will be of Jeff Grim discovering mysterious things in his house. The first one will be of him discovering the TV on, with no one around = and the TV is on static, or a news programme about a murder. Jeff will be in his suit, and there should be little lighting for a spooky effect.

shot two - This shot will be of Jeff discovering a light turned on in a room where the surrounding rooms have no lights turned on. Jeff will need to be in full costume, but adjusted slightly, as this is a flashback, but the style should be the same.

shot three - This shot will be of Jeff walking into a room discovering a CD playing depressing music on it (e.g. Gregorian chant). Jeff will take a look around, walk up the the CD player and turn it off. Jeff will need the same costume as shot two. The lighting should be dark.

shot four - This shot will be of Jeff Grim discovering a window in a room open wide with the curtain flappping. Derek will need to be in full costume for this. The Lighting should be as dark as possible.

shot five - This shot will be of Jeff discovering a trail of blood leading to the back door. He then hears a distant scream and realizes that his family has been taken.

Prop and Costume list

2008-10-14T03:47:00.000-07:00

Props

unlit cigarette
fake gun

Costume

White Shirt
Black Tie
Black Trousers
Black shoes
Black Trench Coat

Location Infomation

2008-10-13T11:36:00.000-07:00

Our First location will be a car park at Addenbrooke's. We feel this is a desolate looking location and it will be easy to film in. We will film all the daylight footage there. The desolate location should work with our character's personality. We do not know if we need permission to shoot there, due to time we will have to hope, if we do and get thrown off we will film it at school, for example on the basketball courts or outside the gym, or on the back field.
Our second location is Derek's house. all the nighttime footage will be there. Whilst it is not a desolate location, it is easy to make it look spooky at night. We think it may also show that our character had a family before he searched for Gangs.

Storyboard Animatic

2008-10-13T03:30:00.000-07:00

More Thoughts

2008-10-07T06:05:00.000-07:00

We have changed our idea, instead of one man discovering things in his house, he is walking around a "desolate landscape" reminiscing about things in his life that he should have done or gained. The main source of communication with the audience is not through sight, but sound. There will be a running monologue, where the main character, Jeff Grim talks. He will be dressed in black trousers, white shirt and tie, black shoes, black suit jacket and a trench coat.
The soundtrack will be mysterious,using a lot of synth, dark instruments, a little piano and various other instruments. There will be no clear beat, as we feel that will ruin the mystery of the sequence.

Our Preliminary Task

2008-10-07T05:23:00.000-07:00

Here is the preliminary task for Derek, Chris and Tom.

Idea Summary

2008-10-07T05:21:00.000-07:00

After discussing our ideas the group came to agree on a few ideas which will be included in our project. We came to the conclusion that our sequence would be a mixture of our protagonist walking and clips of an event from his past, we have decided to mute our footage and will be putting a monologue and music over the video.

After sharing our idea with the rest of the group it was criticized for being more action than thriller. Although our idea for a narrative may seem like an action film, it will be the way that it is presented that will cement it as a thriller.

My first idea for plot

2008-10-05T13:20:00.000-07:00

My opening shot would be a man coming home after work to a house with odd lights on, by this, I mean dark rooms surrounding a room with one light on. The garage should be three quarters open, and the front door unlocked. As he walks in he can smell dinner, and walks into the kitchen expecting to see his wife, but all he sees is the table fully set, except for for the cups, which are on the counter, one cracked. he then walks around the house, puzzled by the lights, and sees only a couple of odd items on the floor (such as a sweater, purse, phone etc). He then notices a tap was left running, with a toothbrush with toothpaste by it. He also goes into the living room where the T.V has been left on, and his wife's glasses are on the couch next to it. He then hears a scream from the kitchen and runs toward it. Once there he sees an open door, moving forward and backwards, and an open window, with the curtain flapping and the wind moving slightly as well. after three seconds the phone rings.

Welcome

2008-10-02T02:04:00.000-07:00

My first thoughts of "Welcome" before even looking at the detail of shots etc was that it looks like a really watchable film which i think is important. Another feature of the opening scene i thought was good was the soundtrack. The soundtrack is crucial to buliding tension in those first few shots which they managed to do successfully from my point of view. The film also contained most of the shot types neccersary to add diversity to your film. Establishing shot, close-up shot, match on action shot etc. A slight criticism i would add about the filming is that I think the lighting could have been made better. I know they wanted to create a tense thriller like atmospere but i just think it was a bit unclear and sometimes hard to establish what was going on. Overall I rate the film well and give it 53/60

Max Bromley

Real Thriller Opening Analysis

2008-09-30T19:41:00.000-07:00

I like this thriller opening especially because i think the idea of 'less is more' plays an essential role. With the shot of the polaroid developing in reverse taking up most of the opening time, yet it seems to make you want to keep watching to actually see what is going to happen next. It isn't till nearer the end of the shot you actually notice that its developing in reverse, then it eventually moves onto the next shot which then you understand a little more of what is happening in that particular scene. By the end of the opening, you get the impression that there has been a murder of some description and this character has taken a picture of it for unknown reasons. The opening is effective because it leaves alot to be worked out by the viewer without giving so little that there isn't anything to hook them in.

Student Thriller Opening Analysis

2008-09-30T19:28:00.000-07:00

I thought that this opening was very well shot and looked very much professionally done aswell as setting the scene well. There isn't much i feel that could be improved since most, if not all, aspects have been covered to make it a successful opening. In particular, the first thing i noticed was the use of flashbacks to when the character was constructing the bomb which i feel is very effective. The music fitted very well, and the varied use of shots were executed very professionally. The acting also was good along with the props which made the clip seem very real. All in all, i think that with a decent budget, i feel this film potentionally could be quite successful.

Student Work Analysis

2008-09-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

I very much liked this student work from group P2-37 entitled "Delirium Tremens". I thought it was well shot, well paced and that the setting was excellent I also liked the way that the film wasn't very linear, seeing the opening has made me wish that there was a full length film. The group has portrayed a thriller film nicely and created a good sense of mystery with both the main character and the contents of the boot of his car. I think the titles blended well with both the video and audio of the project.

Real Thriller Opening Scene Analysis - Memento

2008-09-30T18:42:00.000-07:00

Having seen Memento I beleive that this opening scene is a good introduction to the film as it mirrors the general feeling of disorientation the film creates. The music throughout the scene creates a feeling of tragedy which is heightened by the graphic photograph being held by the protagonist. The fact that the sequence is actually in reverse interests the viewer, not only out of curiosity about what's happening in the story but also because it's an unorthadox way of filmaking. The fact that we don't get to see the protagonists face until the end of the scene adds to the mystery created by the rest of the scene.

analysis of student work

2008-09-30T06:30:00.000-07:00

The Student film I will be evaluating is "This Train terminates". Whilst the camera work for most of the shots was good, there were a couple of shots which I felt were there was tow much movement by the cameraman. Whilst for one or two shots it was appropriate, there were also one or two where it was not appropriate, e.g., the shot of someone preparing the detonator. On the shot of the two men getting on the train, you can see half of a pole on the train, which messed up the shot, as is the cameraman's finger was partly covering the screen. I cannot think of a shot which had things that was not appropriate, or a shot which needed something added. A variety of shots were used, i particularly thought that the shot of a chemical being poured into a beaker (the view point was the bottom of the beaker), it was an inventive shot. It set the scene well too; we know it is on London, not just any underground. We also clearly knew he was making a bomb. The Lighting was never so dark that we could not see what was going on, neither was it too bright, and the lighting in the lab where he was making the bomb gave an eerie effect. the editing was good, every shot was of a good length, and characters were always in the middle of the screen. The shots always moved into each other in the same way, never faded or flashed into it. Whilst this did not ruin the trailer, it may have been appropriate to have that at some of the bomb making scenes. The soundtrack was good, and overlapped with environmental sounds well, and the closing shot of the titles used the noise of a train which added a nice effect. The titles had a red dot and lines on them, which added a good effect, meaning they were not normal.
I would give this trailer a 53 out of 60, as some of the camera work could have improved a little.

Continuity Task

2008-09-25T03:39:00.000-07:00

Examples Of Infliuence

2008-09-25T03:05:00.000-07:00

We had ideas for our opening from two sources: a video console game called "Max Payne"and a little bit from a film called "The Bourne Identity". Max Payne was an ex policeman who lost his family to a gang war, and decided to hunt them down and get revenged, he also wanted to rid his city of gangs. Jason Bourne (The Bourne Identity) was discovered in the Mediterranean south of France and was taken in by some fishermen. They then helped get to France and he set off to find out who he was, and avoid those who wanted to catch him. from max Payne we took the idea of a person who lost his family and wanted revenge, from The Bourne Identity we took the idea of someone searching for his identity. both characters are good fighters so we took that idea, and the ex-policemen idea from Max Payne. We also thought that our character should look like Max Payne, especially one in the picture at the top, this is a promo picture of the Max Payne Film.

Evalauation of Real thriller Opening

2008-09-17T12:08:00.000-07:00

The Film I will be reviewing is "four Brothers". This is a film set in Detroit, in the poorer parts. It starts with a car driving to a store, the scene is very dark, which shows the mood and part of the genre of the film. It also shows snow blowing accross a car windscreen (close-up of Windscreen) and of two die hanging from the car rear view mirror. To Me this seems like a continuity edit, showing the film sticks to basic camera editing techniques. During a conversation it also uses only three or four camera angles. When we see two armed robbers come into a store, we cannot see their masked faces, and the wind is howling, here costumes and sound tell us that something bad may happen in this film. we see the light produced by two gunshots from outside the store, then the robbers running, which also makes it seem spooky. It uses little lighting in the store, and the costumes are dark. the Camera work and sound during the gunshots make it seem more horrible, like the flashes of light from outside and the amplified noise of the guns.

Adam's preliminary Continuity task

2008-09-15T10:55:00.000-07:00

Here is Adam's preliminary Continuity task

Welcome

2008-09-15T05:11:00.001-07:00

Escape

'Escape' the student thriller i have been previewing was a high rated piece of filming. Firstly the main point i could pick up was it all ran smoothly and creates great atmosphere with effects of lighting and sound which really show the thrillers best features. The story 'Escape' was a great thriller title and creates a good storyboard with well worked camera shots, however in points the camera work sometimes was a bit confusing and some shots blured or wasnt the right shot for the job. but overall the trailer was good student work and had all the techniques boxes ticked, out of 60 i would give it a 52

Lewis bird