Thriller Storyboard

- The storyboard for my thriller filming is looking into every aspect into its smallest detail for the first time. A wide range of techniques and skills need to be recognised, all camera angles need to be evaluated as to what will be right for the quality of each shot. As we now know the location and what we roughly want to film, it becomes easier to visualise what order the shots will be in. Cognitive thinking and mental rehearsal of what is going to be filmed can enable me to think about what ambient sounds or music is going to be used at what points.

• Firstly there will be an Establishing Shot of the Abandoned Railway (location) with the antagonist in the background. With the Antagonist in the distance this will add a mysterious element to the piece. The camera will then zoom in to an extreme close up of the antagonist that dissolves into a flashback.
• Flashback will be shown in a long shot with the antagonist walking through the woods. During this ambient sounds will be heard in the background.
• There will then be an eye line match of the antagonist looking around the woods to show the audience what he can see.
• Another close up of the antagonist will be shown going into a flashback. The flashback will include a range of high angle extreme close up shots of the victim under water.
• There will be fast cuts back to the antagonists reaction and the the extreme close ups of the victim. This is to create suspense.
• A close up of the victim (girl) under water will be shown in slow motion, when she opens her eyes and raises up out the water.
• The scene will then go back to the woods where the girl will be seen in a low angle shot walking where the antagonist is walking.
• The antagonist will appear in a medium shot looking round to show his increased fear and to build up the suspense.
• The camera will pan up as the girl walks towards it so the audience are able to see her costume and facial expressions.
• The antagonist will then be shown in a long shot running to then wood which will remain in a long shot of him climbing onto the railway.
• There will then be a medium shot of the antagonist looking sideways at the girl, which will then transfer into an over the shoulder shot of him looking at her (so the audience can see what he can see).
• The over shoulder shot will then be shown over the girls shoulder looking at the antagonist, which will flow into a two shot of them showing the antagonist walking back onto the track.
• After a close up shot of the antagonist will be shown so the audience can clearly see his emotions.
• Finally the camera will zoom out to a long shot of the girl walking towards the antagonist, and then this shot will be repeated without the girl to show she is actually in the antagonists mind.

Thriller plot

The thriller plot is finalising what is our vision of where we want to film, and what will be seen in the shots. The storyline after numerous brainstorms and ideas that have been over complicated get finalised into one main plot at this stage.

Previously, ideas that we have wrote up have been over thought and far too complicated for our skills at this level. In a way this has it's flaws as it is time consuming with us having to go back, however shows our initiative for a good eye for detail. 

Thriller mindmap

- This thriller mindmap that me and Amelia both did was to just state the clear factors that we need to take into consideration.

The most common feature of thrillers is low key lighting. Through watching various opening sequences of different thrillers, ambient sounds are used with low key lighting. This creates mystery in the audiences thoughts. Imagination can lead to the plot becoming more complicated than it actually turns out to be, and making the audience intrigued to watch it more than more once.

Audience Questionnaire and Results

1: Are you male or female?
Male: 5
Female: 8

2: How old are you?
10-16: 3
17-19: 10
20+: 0

3: Have you ever watched a Thriller?
Yes: 13
No: 0

4: If yes how often do you watch them?
Weekly: 7
Monthly: 5
Few times a year: 1
Other: 0

5: Do you think it's better viewing a thriller in the cinema?
Yes: 9
No: 4

6: What location would be best suited for Thriller?
Woods: 2
Abandoned Railway: 8
House: 2
Other: 1

7: What Character would you rather play the victim?
Young Girl: 6
Young Boy: 2
Older Girl: 1
Older Boy: 2
Other: 1

8: What Character would you rather play the murderer?
Young Girl: 1
Young Boy: 3
Older Girl: 1
Older Boy: 5
Other: 3


These questions will help to decide the final plot for our thriller.

We asked a selection of students from our college to answer these questions. A few of these are doing media themselves so they have an understanding of what we are attempting. The answers that we have obtained from this were in our favour and finalised our initial brainstorms and planning.

The most influential question that we asked was the location of the thriller. This was answered to what we had planned, to be at an abandoned railway.

The characters that we have chosen are also preferred by our questionnaire participants which gives us more confidence to what we have planned to be good ideas.

A trailer? What is this contraption?!

The movie trailer stands alone as its own work, and usually completely independent from the film, It defines, in about two minutes or less a story that has absolutely nothing to do with the movie itself, but makes us believe that it does. Hints are given that may make the audience think that they can just predict what will happen, but are easily mislead. Catch phrases from the film are an element in which many films advertise in the trailer as it sticks in the viewers mind and can sometimes even irritate them that much that they need to go and see the whole film.

- It is often that in sequels, new characters or antagonists are introduced. The new scene and new opponent that faces the reinforcement of the law always captures a viewers imagination. An example of this is the big bad Bane in the Batman film 'The Dark Knight Rises' directed by Chirstopher Nolan in 2012.

 

The whole objective of the character Bane is to cause mayhem throughout the world and defeat the samaritan hero that is Batman. This one shot of Bane is a low angle shot, looking up to him. This gives him the sense of even more strength.


- It is commonly used that major blockbusters hit the big screen with big names such as Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds can instantly attract any audience. This therefore doesn't really need much advertising as the majority of people know what their acting abilities are like. This is a very simple but effective advertisement, explaining that a two minute long action packed trailer doesn't need to be made.

- 'Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith' directed by George Lucas in 2005. Like many trailers coming  towards the climax, a cut is used to some text at the end. The text shows all the details in one shot that you'd want to read quickly about who is in the movie. This also has a very simple but effective method of attracting audiences with likeable names in the picture.

Taken Trailer (Olivier Megaton, 2012)

The Taken trailer is a perfect example of how it can entise a mass audience to come and watch a film. Fast paced cuts and effects such as fades and dissolves at the beginning of the sequence maintains a flow that can sometimes take your attention away from the rest of the trailer if not done correctly. Too many fast cuts that are just jammed together like a puzzle can sometimes be misleading to a viewer and cause distraction to what's actually happening.

 

The body language and speech throughout the trailer help to recognise the characters relationship. If filmed and acted correctly, aspects such as body language can indicate how strong characters relationships actually are and what role of importance they serve to the plot of them film. Throughout the trailer there is many props used to help build tension. One major prop is a phone because throughout the whole clip many characters use a phone to contact each other which could suggest that communication is a massive key throughout the film and that they may not in fact know the other person on the end of the phone.

Throughout the trailer there is a non-diegetic soundtrack quietly playing throughout which is also played beneath certain bits of diegetic sound. The diegetic consists of a lot of speech which I found to build tension for instance the screen from the daughter when she's dragged from under the bed.

Mise-en-scene at the beginning of the trailer suggests a typical setting and normal as the locations throughout the trailer doesn't look different from everyday life at the beginning demonstration normality as the main locations are houses.

There are many different camera shots and angles which helps draw the audience into the action. In the trailer there is an establishing shop of Paris which helps show the audience the different location which is used through the movie. As there is many conversations throughout the whole trailer as well as the movie so shot reverse shot is used a lot to demonstrate conversations as well as over the shoulder shots. Also in the trailer there is a close up of the phone which shows an points out to the audience that it may be a very important prop and may have a big impact throughout the movie.

 

Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)

- a Legendary Pictures film
- Syncopy

Low brass instrumental when opening sequence begins. Dark, dull lighting with Legendary Pictures dropping into the picture, this all contributes to creating a tense atmosphere. The feeling that something quick paced and action packed is coming. No texts are introducing any of the cast before the film.

 

After the initial production titles an establishing shot pans from right to left, shooting the tides of a beach. The classical brass instruments that are playing in the opening sequence stop as it cuts to the beach. Ambient sound plays, noises of the waves clashing together are heard. This is a very calming and peaceful shot. This quick contrast of sound used and use of a quick cut indicates how easily a mood can be changed in a thriller, used often.

We then see Leonardo Di Caprio washed up on the beach. Slow tempo, single notes are hit on a piano. As he looks up, the camera is purely focused in on a close up of his face, portraying his emotion. It is obvious to the audience that his thoughts are troubled as he is struggling to remember or come to terms to where he is.

Disorientated music accompanies his emotion as he looks up and sees two children playing on the beach. This simple shot is peaceful to look at, a jump into any action packed scenes hasn't happened, it's a slow build up creating suspense. However it is still uncertain to where he actually is and why he is there. This mysterious and sudden cliff hanger makes the audience think from the very beginning to use their own imagination to why this is happening.

He is captured off the beach and taken into a strange and unseen room. The setting of the room is bright and warming. The design of the room is to an Asian traditional style, Asain men are also speaking amongst themselves with subtitles shown to the audience. Leonardo's character sits down in his clothes in which he was founded in on the beach and within a short cut, he is sat in formal clothing like the rest of the men. Questions are now being asked by the audience as to how this has been achieved and why

Se7en (David Fincher, 1995)

New Line Cinema presents:

an Arnold Kopelson production
a film by David Fincher

Brad Pitt
Morgan Freeman
Se7en
Gwyneth Paltrow
Richard Roundtree
R. Lee Erney
John C. McGinley
Julie Araskog
Mark Boone Junior
John Cassine
Reginad E Cathey
Peter Crombie
Hawthorne James
Michael Massee
Leland Orser
Richard Porthow
Richard Schiff
Pamala Tyson

* Casting by Billy Hopkins/Suzanna Smith, Kerry Borden

* Music by Howard Shore

*Costumes designed by Michael Kaplan

* Edited by Richard Francis - Bruce

* Production designed by Arthur Max

* Director of photography Darius Khondi

* Co producers Stephen Brown, Nana Greenwald, Sanford Panilch

* Co executive producers Lynn Harris, Richard Superstein

- Executive producers: Gianni Nunnari, Dan Kolsiud, Anne Kapelson
- Written by: Andrew Kevin Walker
- Produced by: Arnold Kopelson, Phyllis Carlyle
- Directed by: David Fincher

• Sans Serif text writing - Tends to be more modern. All the texts that appear in the opening scene are fractured and dislocated. They scratch away from eachother, no real organisation to how they are presented which purposefully portrays the image of a strange, wierd story plan. The black background used to cut away from the shots create suspense. Dark, dim colours and lighting always make suspision in the audience to what's happening and what they're missing. Mystery can make the audience think more about it which can sometimes be worse than actually seeing anything bad happening.

• Distressing shots are used throughout the opening scene of the main questionable Antagonist. It's unsure to the audience at this point as to who this person actually is and what purpose does he serve to the rest of the film. First impressions are quite horrific as close-up shots of childrens photos with their eyes blacked out can play on the minds of the audience. The 'David Fincher' text is clear to make out, however the 'A film by' text just before it is blurry and mirrored.

The Usual Suspects (Bryan Singer, 1995)

In a lesson, we were told to make notes on the thriller The Usual Suspects  (Bryan Singer,1995) Making these notes will give us a better understanding of what factors are involved to make a thriller:

• Antagonist, the criminal. With this, there is usually reinforcement of the law e.g - Police officers
• No vibrant colours used, dull contrast
• Slow takes, establishing shot used in the opening sequence pans from left to right very slowly to maintain tension
• Classical music is used. Strings being played at high or low pitches is daunting. Nothing is ever really upbeat, creates suspense
• Dim lighting, shadows and various other horror movies elements are used in thriller filming
• Low key lighting creating mystery
• The opening sequence is used as a sort of mouthwatering prospect to grab the audience's attention. It does not give any of the storyline away, also keeping the audience thinking.
• Quick changes in tempo and pitch in the music focuses on an immediate change of mood or to indicate that something is going to happen.
• Contrast of scenes that differ from mise en scene, lighting and sound - highlights changes.
• Tends to be that there isn't really any attention focused on any ambient sound, only in certain scenes to create an effect. e.g dog barking whilst silience occurs for intimidation. Main focus is on dialogue throughout.
• During dialogue, slow zoom ins on characters' facial expressions to portray their emotions to the audience and creates more intimacy.
• Shot reverse shot and over the shoulder shot are often used during dialogue.
• Cuts of the shots are done in time to the music and beats of the music. When tempo changes, the camera cuts to another shot. This represents a sense of realism to how the person watching would react in that situation by looking around them.
• Don't show the entire enviroment in some shots as playbacks are a common use in thrillers. This compares to pieces of the puzzle being put together towards the climax of the film. Pieces that have been left out on purpose but evidently are there when shown at the end.