- 2 minutes long
- Dark, ambiguous sequence
- Perhaps black and white for dramatic effect
- Someone walking
- Climax, suspense building up to something that occurs at the end
- Eerie music
- Abstract and weird sequence, potentially unconventional
- Cuts to disturbed and grotesque images
- Physchological thriller
- A lot of editing
Our storyboard
This is our storyboard, as an animatic (at the bottom of this post). It depicts a rough idea of how we would like our piece to turn out. It follows a dark, hooded character walking to a dark, derelict building. Everything is ambiguous, and the audience know little about what they see. We see 3 grotesque still images. It then cuts to black, and fades up to white. A heartbeat is heard, which slowly increases in pace, as it fades in and out of focus on a blurred black figure on a plain white background, until the climax and the titles can be seen. Throughout the clip, constant static can be heard, and random noises, perhaps a slight tune can be heard. All music and sound will be recorded by myself and Ben, or created using the music programme Reason. (Storyboard to be added at home as will no upload at school)
Analysis of questionnaire
Ben and myself created the following questionnaire:
Questionnaire – please tick next to the answer that applies to you for each question.
What sex are you?
Male
Female
How old are you?
10-15
16-20
21-25
26-30
31-40
40+
What genre of film do you watch the most?
Action
Adventure
Comedy
Horror
Romance
Thriller
Other
How often do you watch thrillers? (Tick which closest applies)
Once a week
Once a month
Twice a month
Rarely
What draws you into watching a thriller? (Tick as many as you wish)
Characters
Settings
Plots
Suspense
Intrigue
What was the last thriller you watched?
How important is the opening of a thriller to you?
What do you expect from the opening of a thriller?
We found 20 people in our school and college, and asked them if they would fill out our questionnaires. From our 2 results, around 80% of those who we asked enjoyed watching thrillers, even if it was not their preferred genre of film. We also found out that key attractions of a thriller are suspense and intrigue, and so we will look to use those within our clip. We have also realised that suspense is needed in the opening sequence of a thriller to draw in a majority of our potential target audience, and that these opening sequences are extremely important and need to engage the audience, which we will be aiming to do.
Internet Research into the Thriller genre: What is a thriller?
What is a thriller? Using the Internet I found out the following:
- Thrillers take place in regions around the world
- Thrillers can take ordinary people into danger or extraordinary circumstances
- Thrillers often overlap with mysteries
- Heroes in thrillers must thwart plans of an enemy
- Thrillers can be influenced by both the horror and the action genres
- Physchological thrillers commonly use monstrous elements to heighten tension
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(genre)
Analysis of 'Mulholland Drive'
I watched the opening sequence of 'Mulholland Drive', an unconventional thriller, for both inspiration for my final piece, and to understand how opening sequences of thrillers work.
Mulholland Drive Analysis
The opening sequence of ‘Mulholland Drive’ is a very unique and interesting thriller. It is unconventional, makes little sense, and possesses a complex narrative structure.
It begins very shadowy. The Jazz music and energetic dancing is quite confusing, as it is a thriller. The audience question this montage, wondering who is dancing, and why? What is the occasion? Strange fades and layering are used to show three people, glowing white due to over exposure, and we then ask who are they?
There are then dark colours, and along with this dark pink, there is heavy breathing, and intriguing narrative enigma. This also creates interesting sexual overtones. The name of the film is then on the sign, letting the audience know what the film is based around. Flashing lights also show the idea of fame behind the plot.
Filming schedule
Below is the filming schedule Ben and I will follow to effectively use our time, and successfully begin editing ahead of schedule.
Thursday 26th February 2009
At around 6pm we will film, for the right natural lighting needed. Torches may be needed to provide light in some circumstances. We will film the dark hooded figure walking towards the abandoned building.
Monday 2nd March 2009
We will film the last piece, the dark figure on the white background, and then begin to edit.
Actors
We need just one actor for our clip, a dark hooded figure. A good friend of myself and Ben, Sam Gibbons has agreed to help us. We chose Sam as we know him well, and know he will take it seriously, as he is also working on his thriller clip, and knows the circumstances we are working under. He is a good build to film for our scene, as with a hood up, and in dark clothes, he can give off a threatening and ominous feel to the audience. He is tall, and quite big which helps to emphasise this idea of the character being ominous and threatening. Ben and myself will be using ourselves as the outlined, dark figures in the second part of the clip. At the top of the blog are images of Sam.
Costume
We plan to use this black hooded coat with the hood up to make our character look mysterious. We also want to use it as obviously with it being black it makes the character look dark. The use of the hood will not only make our character look mysterious but it will also hide his face to pose more question to the audience that we will be appealing to keeping them on the edge of their seats making them want to watch on to see who this dark hooded character is. We are also going to use black jeans. Again, the use of black will make the character look dark and mysterious; it will also mean they are harder to see and their identity will be concealed as we plan to shot our opening at dusk, this will again mean there will be a more mysterious look to our character. We plan to make our character look as dark and strange as possible to pose many questions to our audience keeping them interested and keeping them watching. Below is an image to give an idea of what the costume will look like.
Location
These are the Location shots. We chose this location and area because it encompasses the mood and feel that we wanted to encorporate into our thriller. The derelict and abandoned building shown looks scary, unused, and intriguing, and the surrounding bushes and trees creeping up it and around it make it seem menacing and scary, which is what we wanted from our location. The broken and overgrown path leading up to it also makes it look abandoned, and is perfect for our hooded character to walk down. The area will also look particular good as light is fading, as it will cast shadows, and look even more intriguing and scary.
Risk Assessment
This is the risk assessment both myself and Ben created so we are careful and sensible when filming our opening 2 minutes. It lists the risks we believe we will be faced with, and how we will ensure that we film carefully and don't allow these risks to happen, making sure we stay safe.
Working in the dark. To make sure we are careful when we are working in the dark about double check where we are going. Make sure we film effectively and not lose the light and look we hope to get.
Cars. Check the roads before crossing and make sure we have general road safety around rounds and cars.
Lights. Make sure the wires will not be getting in the way so no one can trip and also make sure people are not touching them as they may be hot.
Working outside. Make sure we are wearing suitable clothing and shoes whilst we are doing our work outside and make sure that we are looking what we are doing and where we are doing it so we are always safe.
Pedestrians. Make sure if we do catch other people on camera they are willing to be on and also make sure that we don’t walk into anyone or cause anyone any danger by getting in their way whilst filming.
Weather. Make sure that we not only keep you safe by wearing the correct clothing in the weather but make sure we look after the equipment that we are using in our outdoor shots.
Buildings, surroundings. Not just the terrain we are working on but the surroundings such as streams, rivers and cliffs. Make sure we know where we are and what is around us. Make sure the buildings we use in our shots are safe as well.
All of the research above is a result of the following lessons:
- 9th February 2009
- 11th February 2009
- 23rd February 2009
- 25th February 2009 (conducting questionnaire)
We also storyboarded our ideas over half term, meeting up on the 22nd (the Sunday). It was a very successful session. We worked well, and came up with a great idea we were both very pleased with. I am very happy to be working with Ben, as we work well together.
This is the animatic storyboard.
We have also decided to insert a logo for an, at present, unnamed production company right at the start, on the black background.
