Rough Cut Thriller

Name The Characters:

• Dr Jefferson : Mr Parry
• Aimee : Chloe Shepherd
• Coletta : Molly Clifton

Outline Of Thriller:

Aimee (protagonist) has been attempting to drown herself. She does not go through with it. She is being haunted by Colletta (antagonist; Amiee’s conscience). Amiee cannot get rid of Colletta haunting her. Everything she does a flashback of Colletta comes back to haunt her. Aimee can’t take it anymore and results to commiting suicide to kill her conscience.

Thriller Conventions:

• A narrative pattern of establishing enigmas which the viewer expects to be resolved. The flashbacks makes it obvious to the audience of the experiences Aimee is going through, which give a reason behind her actions at the end of the film.
• A protagonist who is systematically dis-empowered and drawn into a complex web of intigue by the antagonist. Aimee is being pulled down by Colletta, there is no way she can be stopped.
• Themes of mirroring. The first part of the sequence shows the protagonist’s attempt of suicide, this is mirrored at the end where she takes our her actions for a second time.
• Themes of voyeurism. The protagonist is being watched throughout the film by the audience and the antagonist. References to mirrors are used alot to catch the action of the main character without making it obvious someone is watching her.
• Protagonist with a ‘flaw’ which is exploited by the antagonist. The protagonist’s thoughts of her conscience is being exploited by the flashbacks that are occuring with the power of the antagonist.

Changes to Storyline

We have decided to change our storyline after watching further thriller opening sequences. Our new idea we believe will create more drama, as the opening shots show action, rather than our beginning at the moment having to wait a long time to get into the film. As we made a group decision to cut the first flashback, we believe that our new opening will keep the interest in the opening before the main action of the flashbacks start. There will be no real loss if we take out the first flashback, and replace it with a completely different opening. We have decided to instead start with the main character showing an attempt to kill herself in the bath. To conclude the first shot the character will be shown not going through with the suicide and shooting up from under the water, panicing and catching her breath. This idea has been influenced from the beginning of the film ‘What Lies Beneath’. After this sequence we will start from the end of the first flashback, from the girl sitting in the corner after the suicide attempt. This will then continue with the rest of the film, with the radio flashback being the next in sequence.

Thriller Shooting Experience

In preperation for filming our Opening Thriller Sequence, we arranged a date that all group members could attend. The way in which we organized ourselves varied in different ways:

• Risk Assesment: First of all, we decided on different risk assesments that we would take into account when flming. As a group, we discussed what risks we would have to think about and we wrote them down and put the ideas onto our blogs. Our risk assesment ensured we would be safe during the process of our shooting experience.
• Costumes: We discussed what costumes we would need for the characters in the Thriller. We assigned each person with an item of clothing to bring with them on the day of filming. We also made sure we had back-up costumes prepared just incase there was a problem with the costumes.
• Props: In terms of props, we worked out everything i already had at home as this was the setting we used for filming. We wrote down everything that i didn’t have, within the group each person bought different items we were using for the props.
• Setting: We had decided that we would be using my house as the setting, as my bathroom was very minimalistic and this was what we needed for the setting. We made sure that my house was ready for use for the filming. 
• Storyboard: We made sure our StoryBoard was planned out perfectly and that our whole group agreed on the shots we would be using.

During filming, we faced a few problems:

• Our actress was late as she had other commitments. The way in which we solved this problem was we decided to plan what order we would film and set up the background, so it was ready when she arrived.
• One of our camera’s ran out of battery so we had to waste time waiting for it to charge. If we’d of planned it better we should of made sure they were both charged.

Apart from a few little things that went wrong, the majority of the filming went really well.

Changes To Rough Cut

We made a rough cut for our thriller project so that we could look at it after the first edit and make changes to improve the final product. We showed our first rough cut to our teacher to see what he thought we can improve, we also reviewed our first cut as a group and planned possible changes that we thought that we should make.

Here is our Thriller Rough Cut:

Changes:

• Opening- there is a slight pause before Chloe opens the bathroom door. This can easily be rectified by cutting of a fraction of the clip so it begins when Chloe is moving rather than when she is still standing still.
• Add a close up shot of Chloe opening the door. This will have to be done when we film the ‘pick up’ shots as we do not have this footage at the moment, although this is a quick change that can be made.
• Flash back periods to be made longer. This is important as it will make it more obvious to the viewer that Chloe is having a flashback.
• The Use of titles and director names. We need to add in titles to the opening sequence as this is a convention of a film opening and we need to follow certain conventions in the opening.
• Cut the first flashback where Chloe is sitting on her bed and the lights mysteriously go out. We made a group decision to cut this first flashback out completely from the opening because we felt that it was an unnessesary section that was not aiding the plot in any way.
• Add in other noises over the top of the soundtrack. This will aid to the production as it will make the viewing more enjoyable and add to the thriller experience.
• Cut a few frames off of certain shots in the beginning of the sequence. Some shots are too long, to change this we will just drop a few frames off of some shots which will make the production flow better.
• Enhance Flashback. Add shots of random memories in between the flashbacks as this will make the flashback more believable, also make it clear that Chloe is having a flashback -  for example show her looking at the object that forces the flashback so the audience are aware that this is the trigger.
• Remove fade at 0.32. This fade was unintentional and is not needed as no time has passed between the two shots.
• At 0.42 add in jump cuts and zooms to speed up and also enhance viewing. This should create more tension for the viewer.
• Frame Chloe’s face at 0.45. We will need to re-film this part to create better framing of Chloe, this will allow the viewer to focus more on Chloe’s heavy breathing and therefore increase the fear.
• 0.48, remove Chloe’s first head turn. Chloe turns her head twice which makes the second time less effective.
• 0.55, speed up Chloe turning her head. This is important as we need to create a sense of urgency for the viewer which at the moment is not there as it is too slow.
• When Chloe turns off the radio, there should be complete silence as this will add to the editing through the absence of sound- will add suspense.
• Move Chloe’s shocked eyes to after she turns the radio off. Re-film to make an extreme close up.
• 1.16, remove taps. Here we break the 180 rule and also the shot is not needed as we already see Chloe washing her hands, it is insignificant.
• 1.17, cut out speech. Somebody is talking in the background of the shot, we need to cut this sound out from the thriller.
• 1.51 add close-ups. Here we should add in some close-ups of Chloe’s hands on the wall, Chloe’s hand in her hair etc, this will create a wider shot variety.
• 1.56, when Chloe gets into the bath her legs are jumpy, we will need to sort this out before our final edit.
• At the end, we need to turn up the volume of Chloe’s heartbeat. In the rough cut it is too quiet so we need to make it louder and more pronounced.
• Overall we need a wider range of shots- we need many more close-ups as at the moment most shots are mid shots so we need more variety.

These changes above will be made for our final cut as they will improve the project and make it more enjoyable for our target audience.

Editing process/ Programs

To edit our Thriller Opening Sequence, the main program we used is Serif. This is because it is the only editing programme that everyone in the group is familiar with. However to create the titles we also used Sony Vegas 9, this encouraged us to use different effects that we aren’t able to use on Serif. The special effects offered by the programme helped us produce an effective title which ties in with the meaning of our title and storyline.

The main features of the program that we used is cut, fade, text, audio properties and pan and zoom. {Click picture to see larger.}

These properties helped us create the mise en scene we wanted which we weren’t able to create when filming. Also using these effects created new ideas for us, changing the perception of the film in some way, for example zooming into a part of the picture on screen helped emphasise the importance of it to the story.

Being able to add sound to the film increased the atmosphere. Sam created a soundtrack which added the extra ambiance to increase the obviousness of the genre. On serif we were able to cut the soundtrack when needed, also to change the volume on parts of the film where the sound wasn’t needed. Finally we were also able to mute the soundtrack when organising the other sound included in our film for example; sound effects and the diegetic music from the radio.

Soap Opera – Evaluation

Evaluation

Planning: Our main influences were from programmes such as Skins and The Inbetweeners, which helped in thinking of our storyline. The planning got very confusing as everyone had different ideas and we changed the idea many times. A lot of the ideas were very unrealistic as the only setting we were able to use is the school and we had no money to spend on props and costumes. We chose to use ourselves as the characters, which we later found out was a bad idea as a few people felt uncomfortable with their roles. Also, because each of us were playing a character, we didn’t have enough people to do the filming.

Filming: The filming of our soap didn’t go to well as it wasn’t well organised. We didn’t have any costumes and there was a lack of props which therefore changed a lot of the ideas we originally had. We only had one person filming which made it very difficult to get different angles and camera shots. None of us were very sure of the story line and the characters they were playing, so most people weren’t very enthusiastic about it.

Editing: We have not edited our soap yet so I cannot evaluate it.

Characters

Daniel B: A guitar player but a secret opera singer.

Alex O: A chav but secretly likes reading

Rachel H: Head girl but a secret bully

Molly C: Popular flirter but a secret virgin

Sam T: Supposed to be gay, will young wannabe, but was ill and not present.

Joanne H: Weirdo but likes to film people

Emily S: Geek but a secret druggy

Mike S: Cool guy but drug dealer

Luke D: (Filming) Narcoleptic

Mr G: Cool teacher

All characters are supposed to be representing stereotypes and to show how people are different to what they are supposed to be like just the way they look.

Story Board

Above is the story board that we have made for our thriller opening sequence, the storyboard is complete with examples of sound effects and techniques that we are going to use at our editing stage.

Soundtrack Research

We need to do some research into what different soundtracks are used in thrillers. This is because when we make our thriller opening sequence, we will be using a soundtrack at the beginning as this will make it much more professional and it will also create an effective mise en scene for the viewer. The soundtrack will create a mise en scene that denotes fear into the audience’s minds which will create suspense and tension as the action begins.

In order to see how professional thrillers use soundtracks in their openings, we had to research and analyse different horrors to see what effect they had and how this aided their production. The first thriller that we looked at was ‘The Butterfly Effect’, here it is below; 

The sound for a soundtrack is non-diegetic as the characters in the shots cannot hear this type of music, it is purely for the benefit of the audience, this is because the soundtrack is there to add to the mise en scene. In the opening of ‘The Butterfly Effect’ the soundtrack begins with an ambient sound that changes in dynamics to create a crescendo that develops through the opening sequence. This type of music creates a sense of suspense for the audience. The soundtrack then gradually turns into a fast paced drum beat that mimics that of a heart beat denoting that central character/possible protagonist is tense about something, it also connotes to the audience that the character is experiencing fear. The sound matches the action on screen as the character is seen to be rushing around, the character then hastily scribbles a note which leaves the audience wondering what has happened. 

The soundtrack used in ‘The Butterfly Effect’ relates to our media project as we will probably be using some form of ambient sound during our editing process. This type of music creates the effective ‘horror’ mise en scene that we are trying to create with our opening sequence. The heartbeat is also extremely effective in the soundtrack, we could try to use this style of drumbeat in our editing to create tension for the audience.

Another thriller that we looked at while doing our research into thriller soundtracks was ‘Creep’. Here is the first 6 minutes of the opening sequence: 

The first 2 minutes and 40 seconds play a non-diegetic soundtrack to accompany names of the people who made the film, including the directors and producers. As the titles play, the soundtrack is that of again an ambient sound. This sound however is combined with other sound motifs for example the sound of a train pulling into a station and the sound of a train’s breaks screeching as it comes to a standstill. These sounds have been added to the ‘Creep’ opening sequence as the setting of the film is an underground train station – I think that adding in these extra sounds creates an excellent mise en scene for the opening, it sets the scene while denoting the setting to the viewer in a subtle manor. 

The soundtrack for ‘Creep’ is very successful in creating the right atmosphere for the viewer and I think that when we come to edit our opening sequence, we will use some of the techniques that ‘Creep’ uses. An example of where we could use this would be to add things like running water into our soundtrack as parts of the opening for our thriller are set in a bathroom. 

Soundtracks are used in openings to films for many reasons, they help ease the audience until a film by adding non-diegetic sound into the mise en scene. For example, in a comedy the music would be light and cheerful with high pitched tones to add to the lighter side of the film whereas in a horror the music is likely to be more subdued and of a lower pitch – this represents a different tone of feeling for the viewer. A soundtrack could also be used to make the opening more enjoyable for the viewer as an opening needs to grab the audience’s attention right from the start – a soundtrack helps to achieve this. 

When we edit our thriller we will need a good soundtrack to accompany the footage on screen. We will be using different types of sound to create a soundtrack that is effective with our thriller opening, in order to do this we will be using sound effects and music in our soundtrack. I think that a sound that will definitely be used in our soundtrack that has been decided through analysing different thriller openings will be an ambient sound as this is used in lots of thrillers as it sets the correct mise en scene that he editors desire. Other sounds that we will probably add to our soundtrack will be the sound of a tap dripping, a heartbeat (in order to create tension), a light switch turning off, heavy breathing and screaming. These sound will either be made by my group, or taken from a database and added into our soundtrack. 

A further thing that we will have to consider when we make our soundtrack will be our target audience. From their views, we will make a soundtrack to see what they prefer in a horror soundtrack. This will assure that the soundtrack that we create will be popular with our target audience and therefore, they will enjoy the opening to our film.

Storyline/Setting/Title/Roles..

Roles;

Acting-

• Chloe will be playing a teenage girl, who is haunted by her conscience in a ghost form, and the ghost is from a past life.
• Molly is playing the ghost, who haunts Chloe.
• Sam is playing a doctor in one of Chloe’s flashbacks.

Camera work-

            I think the camera work will be done mainly by Rachel and Alex as they aren’t acting in the scenes which gives them the time to film it, and this way they will always remember what they filmed.

Editing-

            We are all going to edit the video ourselves, because we all have different editing styles that we would like to use.

Soundtrack-

             Sam will be making the soundtrack using, Freesound.org and other sound effects and music sites.

Story Title;

            To start out we weren’t sure on our title, until we developed our whole storyline for the thriller although we wont be filming it all. Our title is ‘Mort De Conscience’, the reasons we choose to use french is because something happened to Chloe the main protagonist in a past life, hence why her conscience is haunting her, and to try get away from it she moves to france but it doesn’t help her for long.  Mort De means death in french because Chloe kills herself, and Conscience because Molly is Chloe’s Conscience in ghost form to show that she’s in her head. Another reason we used french is because we looked at other AS media thrillers and the titles were boring or dull for example: Tracker, Redemption,  Unworthy and Illegal Justice.

Setting;

          Main setting of our thriller opening will be mainly in Alex’s bathroom because thats where Chloe kills herself. She also will be sitting in the bathroom before she has her flashbacks. One of the flashbacks is into a school toilets, for this we will use the lower school black as its easily accessable. Another one of the flashbacks is into a doctor’s surgery, for this we will use the medical room because its the closest thing we could get thats like a doctors. And the last flashback is  of a creepy house down Alex’s road. We also have a shot of Chloe walking down a road, for this we will use the road Alex’s lives down which is Burnway.

Filming Risk Assesment

Item	Level Of Risk	Methods of Avoidance
Chloe doesn’t arrive at location	2	We will text her or call her the night before we are due to film to make sure that she remembers and that she arrives on time.
Camera Doesn’t Work	3	We will take two cameras to the location to avoid the risk.
Camera Runs Out of Battery	4	We will fully charge the battery for the camera and take a second spare battery incase the first one runs out of charge.
Chloe drowns in the water	1	We will not allow her to be under the water for longer than necessary and we will check with her that she is able to breathe.
Unable to use the bathroom location at Alex’s house	2	Check with Alex and her family to assure that the location will be available for the entire filming time.
Chloe scared of being under the water	1	Check with Chloe that she does not have this fear and if she does, hire another actor.
Sam unable to join the group filming because of the location (girl’s toilets)	5	Film in the location after school times so that he will be able to join the group as everyone will have gone home.
Cameraman or actor becomes ill	2	Make sure that we have a backup camera man and actor to ensure that we can stick to the deadlines
People getting in the way of filming.	6	Film at a less busy time (e.g. after school)