After the comments

The last lessons, we decided to work harder with the editing because time was running out. With two of our members constantly not here, it was pretty much up to Steph and I. Steph liked doing the editing, and was much more confident editing as well as composing the garage band. I assaited her on what we should put in where, i was like the 'idea man.' As we could not film anymore, we put the test shots together. Since there were test shots, we decided that clips of the test shots would fade in and out so it would look professional. Although these test shots were not intended to be put in with our finished footage, the editing made it look as if it was part of it.
We felt that we had such a big task ahead of us, as we only had three lessons left to compose our original soundtrack, mass amount of editing and titles.
Somehow we managed to finish the editing and titles and make it as professional as we could in the last two and half lessons.
Our next task was the soundtracking and I thought it would take a while and be quite hard but we have already done half of it and now that we have one more lesson to complete the soundtrack, we feel more confident that the thriller sequence will turn out fine. These feelings of confidence however were not there at the begining of the week. Frustration, anger and anxiety is what we felt, because I really wanted to do well in the thriller and hopefully put the grade forward instead of the kidstv sequence instead. So when people did not show up, I started feeling nervous and let down as did Steph. However they did contribute at the start but near the end, which where we needed the most help, no one turned apart from Steph and I. But we worked around that, if we had not done the test shots, then we would have been in troublen and our sequence would have been extremely short. We have worked round it and are happy with what we have accomplished so far.

test shots

We still need to do 2 parts of filming and that is the kidnapping and the room where all the victims are. We also need to find locations for the shots.We are still remaining with the idea of the bathroon scene where Colette is seized. As for the room we had some trouble finding a location for then Daniel and I thought of the Media suite. There was a balck room and we thought that would look good because black gives that sense of abandonment and a little mysterious because no one would be caught being in such a place. Colette, Steph and I did some test shots in the black room. Since Daniel was not there, one of us had to film while two had to take their positions as unconcious victims. This could not enable us to see how it would look for all three of us in the shot. But I filmed Collete and Steph to see how their unconcious bodies looked with the dim light that Andrea supplied us with and it looked really effective. I then filmed Steph by herself while Collete was handling the light. She was swinging it because we wanted to get the effect of what other thrillers had done and that is that they had a swinging bulb from the ceiling and it swung so that in the shot there would be light then not. We did not have a swinging bulb but had a lamp which we could swivell from side to side. Colette did that while i filmed Steph and the camera kept going blurry because it was trying to adjust to the light everytime Colette swang it away. We then thought that we could not do it but then noticed that the blurry effect looked really good. It was blurry while I was zooming slowly towards Steph's feet.It sort of gave that effect similarly to when people are waking up-when they eyes go blurry tyring to adjust to light. The blyrry effect showed that they were coming round to conciousness.
The actions that we wnated the victims to do were, slight, light movements that showed helplessnes and confusion on their part. For example, Collete would have her hands tied. The camera would then zoom in on her hands and you can see that she starts twitching and trying to free her hands but she can't because they are tied. She struggles but lightly because she is still half unconcious. Steph is lying close to her but she wakes up suddenly as if in a bad dream she then stares round looking scared and perplexed. I am lying against Colette and i move my head but i find it difficult to lift it then groan in pain. We just act what we think it would be like for an unconcious person. We should then have some sort of transition which will lead to the slow zooming in of the corridor to the room that they are in. We also fit Daniel in a shot where he rips up the picture of the three girls he had kidnapped. We still need to fix those things quickly so that we can focus on the soundtrack fitting in with the actions.

I also found a song that does not suggest that our theme is a horror. If we went with our original idea to put echoes of screams, heartbeats and footsteps, then it was as good as a horror. The music that is in a thriller can suggest the type of genre so i found a song called ANGEL by Massive attack. It seems a little fast-paced and also does not have the high strings or sudden drums that can make you jump. It is the type of sound that suggets that action will take place and not necesarily bloody violence. This song has a steady deep bass and light drums and an ocassional instrument that can make the audience tense. There are some lyrics but not right at the begining, which we might use unless the others have any other suggestions as well. It could start when the slow zooming in begins then carrying on for the titles. It is still undecided of what type of sound we could use in the room. But most decisions should be made in todays lessons.

Danger of being a horror

Although we have good ideas, i think that our thriller opening is becoming more like a horror which is what we need to stay clear of. Instead of having screams at the end we should have some sort of music which suggest otherwise. This is something that needs to be discussed so that if it is true then we can alter things quickly before it is too late.

Costumes

Daniel being the kidnapper he is wearing all black, although it is the stereotypical perception of villains and enemies. So instead of weraing just balck, we decided to add accessories like a black hat he wears underneath his black hoodie, black trousers and shades that hides his eyes and a white cloth that covers his face from the nose, which id also a contrats from his black clothing. If he was not waering black clothing then it would decrase the suspicion that he is the kidnapper therfore adding more mnystery which makes up a thriller convention, however, the costume was satisfactory and worked out better than we thought. The kidanpper being completely hidden shows the audience that it has identity themes.

The three girls just wear normal day to day clothing, showing that they expect nothing of a kidnapping to take place.

Adenbrookes shots

We all went to adenbrookes to shoot the corridor shots. We ended up changing a few things like the ending part when Daniel was meant to rip up the photo of us and instead of panning out we zoom in very slowly so we could increase the suspense. As the door comes closer ans closer the victim's hands suddenly slams on to the glass of the window and the audience can get the sense that she is in danger. Now that we have the corridor shout out of the way, what is left is the bathroom scene for Collete and Daniel and the room that the victims are in. We decided that we still keep the shots of all the girls but instead of them being blindfoled and arms tied, they are unconcious but slowly awakening. We also want a close-up of one of the girl's eyes as they fly open suddenly. Those are things that still need to be done.

Real footage

On Tuesday, Steph Daniel and I went and filmed our real footage of our thriller opening. The location of the filming took place at Steph's house. Colette could not make it so we only filmed the two kidnappings.
The first shot was of Steph getting kidnapped and the part leading up to it, which was Steph entering her house. We wanted that because it was a good way to introduce the character. after that, we had a shot of Steph washing the dishes, we wanted two shots from the inside of the house and the outside so using 'The Gaze' it looks as if the kidnapper is watching the victim from the outside. But we could not film from the outside because there was too much natural light which interfered with seeing Steph clearly through the window. So we decided not to do that but instead do the shot from inside and make it seem as if the kidnapper is in the house.
The next shots were of the second kidnapping where I am in a room taking of ear rings. I have my back against the door so it makes me look vulnerable and maybe makes the audience feel vulnerable as well. We had another shot from outside the window so I am being viewed from the outside again making it seem as if the kidnapper is outside the window. What is left to film now is the corridor scene, which is a slow pan out and the use of diegetic sound of echoed screams, and heart beats. We decided not to use non-diegetic because we use it to build up the kidnapping scenes but we could change our minds if we need something extra. And the final thing that needs to be filmed is the third kidnapping where Colette is in her bathroom and she sees the reflection of her kidnapper, the bags goes over her head and the screen goes black which is followed by the corridor scene.

Shot list

Panning-effect of following the character
Low angle shot-when opening door
Mid-shot
Angled mid-shot
Point of view shot
Quick transition to victims face as bag goes over head
Black screen
Side-angled shot
Mid-shot
Black screen
Pan round character
Black screen
Close up
Slow pan out
Close up of hands
Low angle shot on picture
Slow pan out

500 Analysis on first week of filming

This week our group did not do a great amount of filming. Since most of the filming will take place at Steph's house, we could not do it in the college but test shots around the college defiantely helped just so we could get an idea of what type of shots and if it could work. The one shot that will not take place at the house will be at Adenbrookes hospital. We chose a corridor which looks abandoned and morbid which, fits our genre well. We could not do test shots there since we alreday asked to do our main filming there. Instead we chose a corridor in the college and filmed it as we would have when we film in Adenbrookes. We did not have any troubles when we were filming the corridor because we already figured out what type of shot we specifically wanted which, was a slow pan out. We chose this because it makes it seem eerie and mysterious. We also wanted to test another shot which takes place in a bathroom and involves reflection. When we were doing our test shot, we thought about how we could do it because the more we thought about it the more it seemed hard to hide the camera equipment. The idea was that the audience sees the reflection of the kidnapper which meant filming the mirror but also meaning that the audience would see the camera. We could have tried it out in the toilets but Daniel would not have been able to enter the girls toilets and vise versa. So that is why on Tuesday, we will be meeting early and dedicating a whole day on filming in the house so that if certain ideas do not work out, then we can quikly think up of other ideas as it will be the only time we have for filming in her house. Next week Tuesday is when the filming will begin in the house, on a Wednesday we plan to go to Adenbrookes and film the corridor. So in those two days our filming should be done leaving time to edit and complete our opening sequence and soundtrack as best as we can.

Thriller Opening Ideas

Our thriller idea concluded of 3 friends being kidnapped.
Each friend is going about their daily routines when a unkown person kidnaqpps them by placing a black bag over each characters head. Once all the friends have been kidnapped they then will wake up in an unkown destination and are each tied and blinfolded.
The unkown person dressed in balck enters into the room where the three friends are held and shuts the door behind them, this is where the opening titles finish but just as they are an echoing scream is heard to suggest that something has happened to the girls.

Shot types:
Slow panning of the corridor, to suggest that the girls are in an unknown area and are alone.

Close ups: Close up shots of the characters are needed to introduce them and beable to read their reactions easier.

Zoom outs: Shots focusing on the characters and then zooming out to reveal that they are tied up and that there is more then one character tied up!