Props

The props that I will use need to create the perfect mood and are very important to the mise en scene of the opening sequence.

Kettle

As the man is making a cup of coffee, we thought it would be interesting and somewhat necessary to include a kettle within the scene. As we are going to be shooting in Oliver's dad's kitchen, a kettle will not be hard to come by.

But the main reason the kettle is an important prop is because of the opening shot, of Man 2 flicking the switch on the kettle to boil the water - when the switch is flicked a red light comes on. The significance of red is danger and I used this very consciously.

Mug

The colour of the mug we will use has been thought out carefully. Because the opening sequence presents a character so deeply cut off from humanity that he could kill a man and then calmly make a cup of coffee, we have chosen a blue mug because it represents the cold-hearted nature of the character.

Gun

The people who completed my questionaire thought that a gun would be the most perfect and classic prop to be used within a thriller. Also the shot at the end, which starts on the gun and ends with the shot of the dead character of Man 1, demonstrates to the audience that the man has been killed by Man 1.


Originally, I had intended to use a BB gun with a silencer, to imply that he could murder someone in his own house and not have people hear the loud gunshot. However, we discovered that we could not find this prop, so settled on the fact that the film is clearly shot in a suburban area, so a loud gunshot could be mistaken for a car backfiring etc.

Credits
The background on which the title of the thriller will be superimposed on has an interesting story. Oliver's father is a teaching assistant and he deals with children who have psychological problems. When he assigned a student in Year 4 to write a short story, he repeatedly wrote the word 'dead' on 3 sides of paper. I thought this was very disturbing.

I think this would be interesting to include in our thriller as it would show the psychotic nature of the character of Man 2. It also reminded me of a scene within the Horror/Thriller classic 'The Shining' (1980), where the character who we think has been writing a novel, has actually in fact been writing one phrase repeatedly over hundreds of sheets of paper.

Scene from 'The Shining' (1980): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOBbJw0MLvk

Other props
We will need some milk, as the character is shown poring some into his coffee. This will not be hard to come by as we will be shooting in a kitchen. We also need a teaspoon and some coffee, and again this should not be hard to acquire.

Cast for Opening Sequence

Casting is one of the most important processes within film making as the characters are often the driving force within the narrative. Our opening sequence of a thriller will include two characters, so I will be able to focus my efforts on casting more because of the minimal characters.

Character: Youth 1

Actor: Oliver Morroll

The first character I will be casting will be the character we see the most in the opening sequence. That is the character of the man walking up toward the house and knocking on the door, who I will call "Youth 1" as both characters names are never disclosed.

Oliver is perfect for the role as it takes some acting experience, which he has in abundance, having acted in a lot of short films we have made. We entered the George Spencer School Film Competition twice between 2008-2009, coming third in the first and second in the last, consistently being the only ones coming in the top three within those two years of the competition.

This the film in which we came second, 'Picture This' (2009) and shows some of his limited, but effective acting talents: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLIVtP0voeY

Character: Youth 2

Actor: Jonathan Hawes

The man who is making the coffee and the villain of the piece I will call "Youth 2". This part has the only lines of dialougue in the film, which is greeting the man at his door with the lines, "Hey, come on in, man. Do you want some coffee?" The man must look quite sinister to the audience, but not to the other character, which is why he can win the other character's trust in coming into his home so he can kill him.

I do not have a lot of experience in acting but having directed a number of short films and I thought I could put my experience of the direction of others into my own performace.

Rough Storyboard

This is the rough outline of my storyboard. I felt doing a rough sketch would help with my understanding of the plot, the characters, but especially the editing of the piece, as the success of the film depends largely on the pacing and the building of the tension.

This rough sketch shows the film opening with the man, who is approaching the house, opening the gate, and walking through it. I will later change the opening shot to an insert of the switch on the kettle being flicked on, to boil the water.

Overall, this demonstrates that the idea of intercutting between the two actions is still firmly in place.

The first frame, shows that I intend to use the shot of the kettle switch as the first shot. The storyboard then continues from where the last page ended.

I intend to build the tension by starting on a medium shot of the man walking, which then cuts to a shot of the boiled kettle, then back to a close up of the walking man. This change from a medium shot, to a close up intensifies the scene and builds the tension.

The final stages of this storyboard shows the man reaching the doorway, intercut with the finishing of the making of the coffee. As the man knocks on the door, a figure appears and ask if the man would like some coffee. The shot then cuts to black for about 3-5 seconds to build the tension.

This black screen is also symbolic of the killing of the man. It also implies on the second viewing that the reason the audience are being given nothing in the way of image and sound is because this builds the tension; as humans in general are fearful of that which they cannot not fully understand or comprehend.

The final shot will be a challenge, also, as it is one long starting from the gun on the worktop all the way into the next room to reveal the dead man. Long takes are a technique I admire from thrillers, such as 'Goodfellas' (1990) and 'Reservoir Dogs' (1992) and are often used to reveal something about the character or the plot. In 'Goodfellas' (1990), the shot of Henry Hill entering the Copa Cobana shows his power and success and the entering into the glitsy, glamourous world of a gangster. The long take in 'Reservoir Dogs' (1992) which shows a bank robber walking from a warehouse, in which he is torchering a kidnapped police officer, outside to his car and back again juxtaposes the unbeliavable, larger-than-life events that are occuring in the warehouse and the mundane peacefullness of suburban life outside of it. 

My film will incorporate the idea of showing that while something everyday and ordinary could be happening in one room, something terrifying and violent could be occuring in the next. Which is why I will juxtapose the shot of a man drinking his coffee, with a dead body in the next room.

The long take from Goodfellas (1990):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8DPiHCtQCw&feature=related

The long take from Reservoir Dogs (1992):
[shot begins at 2:58]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=komvFIGYBYM&feature=related

Mind Map

This lesson allowed us as a group to organise our ideas for the opening of a thriller. We outlined the basic idea: a man casually makes a cup of coffee, and the camera slowly tracks into the next room to reveal the corpse of a man, lying dead on the sofa. This is shown on the right hand side of the page.

Oliver then expanded upon this idea (see left hand side of page) by suggesting this be intercut with footage of the man we see dead at the end of the film, walking to the house, up the drive and knocking on the door, where he is then greeted by his killer. We have decided this will be our final idea. 

I will now assemble a rough storyboard. The reason I will be making a rough storyboard, is one: so I can organise my thoughts, and two: so I can plan the pacing and cutting of the shots.



Thriller Conventions

To replicate the opening two minutes of a thriller, I will have to have knowlege of the codes and conventions of the thriller genre.

List of conventions for Thrillers:

- The takes are either very short to thrill the audience with the pace and excitement, or very long to build the suspense and expectation.

- They often include villains and victims. Villains are often the most important, however, as they push the plot forward. The victims are often of minor significance, there existence based only around there death within the film.

- The brutality of the events is often implied through the use of quick, fast paced cuts.

- The narrative is often mysterious, with varying twists and turns in the plot that keeps the audience guessing until the very end of the film.

- The narrative is often based around a crime of some sort, such as 'Psycho' (1960).

- The location or content of the scene can be recognisable to audience, but is then often turned on its head in a brutal fashion to unsettle the audience.

Target Audience - Thriller Genre

Different films within the thriller genre have different target audience and appeal to either a specific gender or age. From my research, I have discovered that it is mostly males that are the target audience for thrillers. However, that is not to say that females do not enjoy the genre. For the 1999 film "Fight Club", the IMDb's ratings show that males gave an average vote of 8.9/10, with females not far behind, rating it 8.7/10.

The votes for "Pulp Fiction" (1994) on IMDb show that the highest ratings are from males under 18, at 9.4/10. This implies that the thriller genre is primarily aimed at teenage males who are willing to be shocked with violence and gore. This can be proven with the votes for females aged 45+, which came to a significantly less rating of 8.3/10. Yet the males are still the predominant target of this age group, with the ratings for females aged 45+ coming to 7.6/10.

The voting figures for the 1976 thriller "Taxi Driver" show that males have 125,036 votes, and females only have 12,775. This demonstrates that it is mainly males who have watched this film.

However, the thriller genre has sub genres which all target different audiences depending on age or gender. A film like "The Silence of the Lambs", which portrays the vulnerabilty and strength of a woman in a profession that has mostly male employees, the FBI. This realistic and modern portrayl of women defies the general concept that females sould be the damsels in distress and a challenge for the male characters to rescue. It also shows in the viewer ratings on IMDb that there is an equal vote of 8.7/10 between male and females.

Overall, thrillers are predominantly aimed at young males, but the sub genres, such as a horror/thriller (mostly aimed at teenage girls, e.g. Twilight) allows for females to enjoy this type of film as much as the teenage boy does.

Thriller Research

History/Background:

The main elements of the thriller genre are the use of suspense, tension and excitement.

Prime subgenres are mystery, crime and psychological thrillers.

A thriller is a villain-driven plot, whereby he presents obstacles the hero must overcome.

“A genuine, standalone thriller is a film that provide thrills and keeps the audience cliff-hanging at the "edge of their seats" as the plot builds towards a climax. The tension usually arises when the character(s) is placed in a menacing situation, a mystery, or a trap from which escaping seems impossible. Life is threatened, usually because the principal character is unsuspectingly or unknowingly involved in a dangerous or potentially deadly situation.”

“These are types of films known to promote intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension. Thriller and suspense films are virtually synonymous and interchangeable categorizations, with similar characteristics and features.”

Thrillers often include themes such as political conspiracy, terrorism, or romantic triangles with the end result often being a murder.

Key films:

-       Psycho (1960)

-       Se7en (1995)

-       Memento (2000)

-       Rear Window (1954)

-       Vertigo (1958)

-       No Country for Old Men (2007)

-       The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Key directors:

-       Alfred Hitchcock

-       David Fincher

-       Stanley Kubrick

-       Martin Scorsese

-       Brian De Palmer

-       Ridley Scott

Key actors:

-       Cary Grant

-       Robert De Niro

-       Janet Leigh

-       James Stewart

-       Leonardo Di Caprio

-       Jack Nicholson

Sub genres and contemporary examples:

Some thrillers include elements of other genres, such as:

-       Crime thriller (Hostage, Ocean’s 11)

-       Disaster thriller (Poseidon, Knowing)

-       Mystery thriller (Shutter Island)

-       Legal thriller (A Few Good Men)

-       Erotic thriller (Eyes Wide Shut, In the Cut)

-       Psychological thriller (Misery, Cape Fear)


Analysis of Se7en (1995) - Opening Sequence

Se7en (1995)

Mise en Scene

The use of shadows, when we see the picture of the deformed hands creates a sense of tension and mystery and the audience does not know specifically whose hands these are. It also makes the audience want to carry on watching to find out.

Technical Codes

Fast paced editing builds the tension as it implies the quick thinking, quick acting, psychotic mind of the character who will be revealed to be John Doe, the serial killer in the film.

Over layering of shots during the titles sequence builds the ambiguity and implies the chaotic nature that will follow in the rest of the film.

Narratives/Plot

A sense of narrative and plot is unclear within the opening title sequence. It is clear we are seeing snapshots of the life of a very sick man and this makes the audience feels unsettled and curious.

Characters/Locations

It is revealed to the audience that the man within the opening title sequence is a very disturbed man. He is shown cutting the skin off the tips of his fingernails and highlighted passages of the bible. This conjures connotations of an metally unstable, bizarre, religous character.

Analysis of 'Psycho' (1960)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tek8QmKRODw

Psycho (1960)

Mise en Scene

After the title sequence, Hitchcock cuts to an establishing shot of a city. The scene is set in the day and is meant to imply the calm before the storm. This builds tension within the audience as they are on the edge of their seat, waiting for something to happen, which the music at the beginning implied.

Technical Codes

The opening title sequence uses quick editing, with the credits whizzing on and off screen, with a fast paced, screeching strings soundtrack, composed by Bernard Hermann. This builds tension as the music is intense and ambiguous.

The camera uses a series of shots to focus from the vastness of the city scape to the apartment window, which seems dark and empty. This creates suspense as the audience is made to wonder what is in the apartment.

Narratives/Plot

The title sequence implies chaotic horror, which is then juxtaposed with the calm landscape of a city. The music has now changed to dreamy, but it still has an underlying threat to it. The nature of the plot is unclear from the opening sequence but it is clear we are focusing on someone from a city.

Characters/Locations

The city implies that the character is hard working and is not happy, as her life is dependant on work.

Storyboard Screenshots/Analysis

22/1/11

This is our storyboard. We have indicated props and also parts of the costume such as the murderer should where a hoody as it makes him look threatening and like a thug. We also addressed editing techniques such as the cut to black at the end of the film to build the tension and suspense within the audience so they do not know what has happened. In our storyboard, we have also incorporated filming techniques such as panning, point of view, insert shot, low angle and close up shots (eye shot).

We are almost ready to start filming as soon as possible, now our main goal is to organise props and costume to film within lesson time. This storyboard provides the backbone for our film and it will be used like a Bible when filming commences.

Preliminary Task
FINAL EDIT:

Finishing Storyboard

21/1/11

Once we had all established the main parts of our task, such as the basic story and shots, we began to think about props and sound. We realised we would need a sound effect for when the man slaps the murderer. Also we realised we would need a set of handcuffs as a prop as the entire crux of the story was based around the fact that as the film opens we realise that the murderer has freed himself from the cuffs that are holding him to be interrogated. It also implies he is a very dangerous person. Oliver realised that his younger brother had some handcuffs, and he said he is going to bring them in on the day of filming.