IMOGEN

After deciding to scrap our last idea, we came up with something completely new and fresh. This was because our last idea was quite complicated, and we didn't think that it was simple enough to be able to shoot as a opening which would last only two minutes. Our new idea incorporates the loss of a child, and the film would go on to show the struggles the parents face after such a tragic experience and also the police investigation as to how the child died/was murdered. Our film is entitled IMOGEN, and we are doing it in the style of a psychological thriller with elements of the crime thriller also. 

The opening of our film will take place in an empty park, where the audience are able to see a "child" playing with a rag doll whilst the discrete titles are taking place. The camera will never show the person playing with the rag doll, however, and at the end of the opening it will be revealed that the person playing in the park is actually an adult and not a child (the father who is grieving over his lost daughter).

The opening of our film will be thrilling because we will lull the audience into a false sense of security; they will be led to believe that they are watching an innocent child playing in a park. However, when they are shown it is an adult male, they will become confused and intrigued. We decided to name our film IMOGEN because we wanted to use a female name (the name of the dead child) for our film title, but we wanted a unique name which is not common or cliche (such as naming her Emily or Lucy, for example).

PHANTASTICUM

[note: we have decided to completely change our idea, so 'phantasticum' nor any of the ideas posted on this blog will feature in our film. we have decided to leave this blog here, however, to show how our ideas have developed and changed.]

As a group we have been discussing further ideas to develop our first concept, which was suicide incorporated into the relationship of a teenage boy and girl. These ideas have included the title of the film, possible locations and the wider picture of our storyline.

Film Title

We have decided to call our film PHANTASTICUM, the Latin word for "imaginary". This is because it is revealed at the end of our film that the girlfriend actually does not exist; she is a figment of the boy's imagination. He suffers from some sort of illness, and ends up killing himself after finding out that his 'girlfriend' has committed suicide. He is obviously unstable.

Possible Locations

Some of our film will be filmed in Tom's house, because he will play the boy who will attempt to phone his 'girlfriend' from home. The other aspect of our location will be SUICIDE BRIDGE, a famous bridge in Archway where several people have been known to commit suicide. We thought this appropriate because of the suicidal themes in our film.

Wider Picture

We have considered what the whole film would be about, and not just the opening. I have already mentioned the main ideas of insanity and suicide. Here is a brief outline of the main things that would happen in our film if we were to shoot all of it - 

• Girl commits suicide.
• Her boyfriend tries to get in touch with her via phone - she does not answer.
• He finds her suicide note.
• Boyfriend sinks into depression.
• He questions reality.
• He cannot cope with her 'death'.
• He is taken to a mental institute.
• He commits suicide.
• It is revealed at the end that the girlfriend was only a figment of his imagination; he has been mentally unstable all along.

Research into Locations

After watching THE SHINING for the first time, I have been inspired to research more into the area of suitable locations for a thriller film. The location of a film is essential because it can make or break it, because it is a great way of incorporating suspense and atmosphere into the film. Similarly, if the location isn't correct/realistic (i.e. filming a suicide scene in a college classroom) it can ruin the whole thing. Because most thriller films don't take place in college classrooms, this blog will encompass my research into more suitable locations.

THE SHINING is a good film to analyse for locations because it is set in a desolate hotel, where the main character must remain inside for five months. Because of heavy snow, he (and his family) have no way of going outside. Essentially, they have no escape. This, together with the fact that the hotel has a history of a man murdering his wife and two kids, sets the scene for a fantastic (and stereotypical) thriller/horror film.





IDEAS OF TYPICAL LOCATIONS IN THRILLERS -

• a church/a churchyard. I think that this is a very typical location for a thriller film, because a lot of thriller films have ideas of demonic creatures which must be fought by either religious people, or those who gain faith after such experiences.
• hospitals for the insane/prison cells.
• forests, because of their desolation and seclusion.
• hotels. big, empty, and often creepy.
• strange, unknown houses. For example, those films which go down the 'babysitter' route, in which the main character stays in a house they are unfamiliar with to babysit demonic children!
• mansions/houses with history.
• empty parks, because of the convention of using little children in thrillers because their supposed innocence can be quite disturbing when juxtaposed with horrific events.

 Some of the listed locations would not be possible for us to film in, for example, empty mansions and hotels. However, we would be able to film in forests, churches and parks. However, because our developing idea at the moment is the concept of suicide woven into the relationship of a teenage boy and girl, it doesn't seem like a forest or a church would be suitable or realistic for such a scenario. 
That leaves the option of a house - which could be tricky because our homes would need to be transformed into something more practical for a thriller film. However, the opening of our film would not need to be shot in only one location - we could easily blend more than one concept into the same idea. For example, the boyfriend could be filmed in the house whereas the girlfriend could be filmed elsewhere (for example an empty park, such as the one in the picture above).

Intertextuality

I will be researching intertextuality and how it could help me when I am planning for my opening of a thriller. Intertextuality is the moulding of texts within the original text.

For example in the film 'pyscho', the famous shower scene was taken and re-made in many other films such as the 'Simpsons' but in a more comical way which I could take into consideration whilst thinking of ideas for my thriller opening.

Early planning ideas

Brainstorm

What is foley sound?

Foley sound is the reproduction of everyday sounds for use in filmmaking. A lot of films use this method to create sound effects, it goes un noticed by the audience. This helps to create a sense of reality in the scene as without them the film would feel un-natural and uncomfortable.

This video shows very good examples of foley sounds. Usually, in the film industry, foley sounds are created by mimicking the sound in a recording studio. Since we do not have a recording studio we had to take our camera and use an attached mic to record the sound.  This is our results -

Some good examples of foley sounds are:

• Corn starch in a leather pouch makes the sound of snow crunching
• A pair of gloves sounds like bird wings flapping
• An arrow or thin stick makes a great whoosh
• An old chair makes a controllable creaking sound
• A water soaked rusty hinge when placed against different surfaces makes a great creaking sound. Different surfaces change the sound considerably
• A heavy staple gun combined with other small metal sounds make good gun noises
• A metal rake makes a great fence sound (it can also make a great metallic screech when dragged across a piece of metal)
• A heavy car door and fender can create most of the car sounds needed but having a whole car in the studio is better
• Burning plastic garbage bags cut into strips make a cool sound when the bag melts and drips to the ground
• ¼” audio tape balled up sounds like grass or brush when walked on
• Gelatin and hand soap make great squishing noises
• Frozen romaine lettuce makes great bone or head injury noises
• Coconut shells cut in half and stuffed with padding makes great horse hoof noises
• Cellophane creates crackling fire effects
• A selection of wooden and metal doors are needed to create all sorts of door noises but also can be used for creaking boat sounds
• A heavy phone book makes great body punching sounds

All of these examples of sounds were taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foley_artist

Prelim final with foley sound

Prelim final without foley sound

This is the prelim final that we recorded without foley sound.

Arlington Road Remake

As part of our film project in media, we were given clips of the opening to ARLINGTON ROAD and we had to put them into a new chronological order which made sense, and edit it. This was an interesting task because there was no one correct way to order the clips, and so we went by what we thought looked best rather than what we thought was the original sequence.

            THE ORIGINAL -         

OUR REMAKE -

Ellie's Prelim Evaluation

In my previous blog, entitled Ellie's Prelim Video, I posted the final version and of mine and group 11's prelim video, a short clip in the style of a crime thriller showing the interview which takes place between police and suspect. In this blog, I am going to evaluate that video and describe what I thought worked and what could have been improved upon.

To begin with, our short video did not follow our storyboard exactly. This is because some of the clips which we filmed turned out to be unusable (because they were either too short, or people were laughing in them). This meant that we didn't actually have enough footage to cover our entire storyboard, making it only 50 seconds long when we planned for it to be more like 1 min 30 secs.

This also meant that the video didn't even follow our brief properly - it was meant to start off with somebody walking into a room and sitting opposite another character. Although we planned for this, and filmed it too, we had to cut it out during the editing process. I have learned that it's important to check that the footage you film is useable and what you want it to be, and to do it lots of times also to make up for any problems you may have later.

However, having said that I don't think it was a total disaster; we worked with the footage that we had and it turned out to flow quite well and it made sense also. There were a few other small problems with the video, such as the fact that you can see somebody standing outside the door waiting for their cue to walk into the room about 30 seconds before they were meant to! But overall I think that our prelim video was a success because we demonstrated our understanding of the 180 rule, and we also created some nice over-the-shoulder shots (another aspect of the brief).

Incorporated into our prelim clip was also the use of sound effects - when we watched the video after editing it, we realised that you couldn't properly hear the knocking of the door before the 3rd police officer walks into the room. For this reason, we added the sound effect of a door knocking from Soundtrack Pro during the editing process. We would have also included elements of foley sound, however there was not much need nor time. On reflection, this could have been a nice touch to our clip and if we'd done it to a better standard then foley sound would definitely have featured.

Ellie's Prelim Video and Editing Process

 

And here are some stills of the editing process -

Ellie's Prelim Pictures

Here are some still images that I took of the filming process for mine and group11's prelim mini project, showing the actors and the camera-woman in action.

Ellie's Prelim Storyboard Animatic

 

Because I was not present in the lesson when my group planned/filmed/edited their prelim mini-project, I done mine separately with a different group (Group 11). Our basic storyline was a police interrogation on a young woman who was suspected to have information on a serious crime committed by her brother (we decided to create it in the style of a crime thriller). In our short clip, we had to show that we understood how to film match cuts, over the shoulder shots and also that we were aware of the 180 rule. Above is a slideshow (animatic) of our storyboarding process, and below this text is the storyboad set out as a whole.

First Ideas

I have been considering several different ideas for my own thriller film opening since the beginning of this project, and have come to the decision that I would like to create a psychological thriller film opening the most. They interest me because they are very disturbing and yet in many ways beautiful, because they deal with inner emotions and conflict. Here are some psychological thriller film trailers (many of which I have discussed before) which inspire me -

BLACK SWAN

SECRET WINDOW

THE WICKER MAN (2006 remake)

THE SIXTH SENSE

SHUTTER ISLAND

To be more specific, I have been incredibly inspired by the film THE LOVELY BONES, which tells the story of a young girl who was murdered. The thing that inspires me most about the film is the fact that the murder isn't the most important part of the film, nor is it the climax; the audience are aware of the fact that she is dead when she opens the film with the sentences - "my name is Salmon, like the fish. First name: Suzie. I was fourteen years old when I was murdered, on December 6th 1973."

My main idea at the moment is to incorporate an idea of intertextuality into my film opening by starting the film off with narrative about a young girl writing about how she died - however, to make it more interesting and different, I was thinking of showing flash backs to her writing it in black and white and coming back to colour, showing another character finding the letter and reading it. This idea at the moment is not very developed and would have to be discussed with my group, however it is a starting point and I am looking forward to developing it further.

Prelim Storyboard

previous students' work: THE LIST

In this blog I am going to analyse four different film openings that were made by previous college students. I am going to assess the MISE-EN-SCENE, CAMERA, SOUND and EDITING of the following films - 

ANGELDUST

VIOLET

VICTORIA

THE LIST

I have already analysed three different film openings (ANGELDUST, VIOLET, VICTORIA) and now I am on to my last of this blog sequence - THE LIST. Doing these blogs will/has really compounded my understanding of the ways in which films use mise-en-scene, camera-work, sound and editing effectively and how they help the audience to identify the genre of that film. It also will show me how thriller films make their openings grabbing and thrilling.

THE LIST
I think THE LIST achieved its aim in the first few seconds of my watching it. It was disturbing and creepy right from the moment I pressed 'play'. I think there's something very disturbing about watching somebody cut up food with bloody hands, and although this concept may not sound like it would work when thought about, the film opening actually worked very well.

THE LIST is my favourite clip out of all four that I have analysed, and it gained this title because of its artistic beauty. The group obviously didn't focus so much on plot, like others that I have assessed, but really captured the beauty behind the blood and gore. It was so simple and yet so, so effective.

The sound of THE LIST was one aspect of the film opening which was successful. Throughout the whole sequence, a freaky/creepy music track played in the background, but several sounds could be heard on top of this - such as the sharpening of two knives, shown in the picture above. This gave the opening a very precise and sharp feel about it, and made it feel professional and to the point.

 The still image above represents the beauty that was captured within the clip. The colours used in the opening - an aspect of mise-en-scene - were very simple, mostly being red against black or white. The simplicity of this made it easy to watch - I didn't feel bombarded with flying images or disorientated. I felt like I knew where the film was going, like I was on the same chapter, and that was a good feeling.

The camera was another aspect of the clip which added to its effectiveness; it often zoomed in on close up shots of disturbing/unsettling images, such as raw meat being sliced with a knife. Again, such a simple idea but such a thrilling outcome.

The editing of THE LIST also creates suspense and tension. The camera goes from focusing on the girl chewing raw meat to switching to the above image, which is not immediately clear to the audience. The added theme of mystery gives the opening a clearer sense of its genre also. After going back to the girl eating, smearing blood over her mouth, we are taken back to the above image, however we are more in focus this time (shown below). This is a simple but really effective way of introducing an idea to the audience without spelling it out completely.

previous students' work: VICTORIA

In this blog I am going to analyse four different film openings that were made by previous college students. I am going to assess the MISE-EN-SCENE, CAMERA, SOUND and EDITING of the following films - 

ANGELDUST

VIOLET

VICTORIA

THE LIST

I have already analysed the film openings entitled ANGELDUST and VIOLET; I am now going to go on to do two more, VICTORIA and THE LIST. Doing these blogs will really compound my understanding of the ways in which films use mise-en-scene, camera-work, sound and editing effectively and how they help the audience to identify the genre of that film. It also will show me how thriller films make their openings grabbing and thrilling.
VICTORIA

The film starts off with a ballet dancer, but the camera does not only film her - it also films her shadow on the ballet studio floor. I thought this was a unique and interesting way of filming a character and in only the first few seconds of the film already I wanted to watch more.

The editing of the clip was similarly interesting; it overlapped different images, such as shown in the below screenshot of the character's body and feet. I thought this was a nice touch to the clip because it gave it a very abstract feel, suggesting very subtly that it was a thriller and would go wrong somewhere down the line.

 The sound of the clip started off as a quiet ballet backing track which seemed sweet and innocent, however, after the title of VICTORIA it slowly faded and got slower and changed into a more creepy sound. The point of having it after the title was simple but effective - it suggested that the character of Victoria herself was strange and disturbing. This was demonstrated through the mise-en-scene of the clip, in which Victoria covers a scar/wound, suggesting that she has something to hide.

 VICTORIA was a really inspirational sequence to watch and it included so many elements/conventions of film openings which I have previously analysed (such as discrete titles and the intertextual references to BLACK SWAN). However, although I found it interesting and inspiring, I think the ending ruined it completely. They added the sound of a woman laughing evily... which really destroyed the tension that they built up and made it so cliche. I am glad that I have assessed this because I see it as a warning - avoid cliche, cheesy endings!

previous students' work: VIOLET

In this blog I am going to analyse four different film openings that were made by previous college students. I am going to assess the MISE-EN-SCENE, CAMERA, SOUND and EDITING of the following films - 

ANGELDUST

VIOLET

VICTORIA

THE LIST

I have already analysed the film opening entitled ANGELDUST; I am now going to move on to VIOLET. Doing these blogs will really compound my understanding of the ways in which films use mise-en-scene, camera-work, sound and editing effectively and how they help the audience to identify the genre of that film. It also will show me how thriller films make their openings grabbing and thrilling.

VIOLET

The first thing that I noticed when watching the opening of VIOLET was the use of a shaky camera, which immediately gave me a sense of disorientation and confusion. This could perhaps signify that the film would go on to encompass elements of mystery and/or secretive themes. The shaky camera also makes it quite disturbing; this is reiterated by the mise-en-scene of the clip, in which the girl is wearing a white gown streaked with red blood. The juxtaposing colours (white signifying innocence, red signifying danger) suggests that the girl has perhaps lost her innocence.

The editing of the clip is also interesting. It shows lots of flashing images, such as a bloody bath tub, a bloody knife, a violet in a forest and a slaming door. It is also fluctuates between images in colour and images in black and white, differentiating between what happened in the past and what is happening in the present. This is an interesting way of narrating the different tenses and is used a lot in thrillers.

There was music running throughout the whole of the opening to VIOLET, quite a sinister sound which connoted, to me, innocence and chilren. Because the girl was murdered this could highlight the idea that she was too young to die/died wrongfully. 

I enjoyed this piece of work which was created by previous students, however it has taught me a lot about film openings and how not to do them. I found VIOLET to be extremely cliche with no new ideas or concepts - and I found the acting to be quite dead. It has shown me that although we do not need to plan a whole film sequence, plot is important because it needs to be interesting enough for the viewer to want to watch on. VIOLET did not make me want to watch on.

previous students' work: ANGELDUST

In this blog (and the following ones too) I am going to analyse four different film openings that were made by previous college students. I am going to assess the MISE-EN-SCENE, CAMERA, SOUND and EDITING of the following films - 

ANGELDUST

VIOLET

VICTORIA

THE LIST

Doing this will help me understand the ways in which films use mise-en-scene, camera-work, sound and editing to signify what genre they are placed in, and how thriller films in particular make their openings grabbing and thrilling.

ANGELDUST

This film opening uses sound very interestingly; because it tells the story of an online stalker/murderer, the sound of a person typing can be heard frequently in the background. This theme also runs through clearly in the title sequence, where the letters appear one by one, mirroring the way words are spelt on computers.

The music used in the clip is another way in which sound is used, and it is slow and quiet, but evokes a sense of eeriness and fear. The editing of ANGELDUST is very complicated, and often goes from the main character's vlog to a fictional networking site - facespace - showing the murderer typing messages to her. The mise-en-scene of the clip is the one aspect that really accentuates the fact that the film is a thriller; the facespace template is white, suggesting either innocence or neutrality. However, in contrast, the template for artbox (the website which the murderer uses) is black which makes it look a lot more dark and creepy. The boxes in which the murderer types in is red, which connotes blood and danger.

Another aspect of the sequence which I am going to analyse is the camera-work. Throughout most of the clip, the audience can see close up shots of the girl's face, which makes us sympathize with her. This makes the whole sequence thrilling, because the audience are aware that she is in danger and yet they feel as if they are on her side.

I thought ANGELDUST was an incredibly unique piece of work which has really inspired me. The plot was really intriguing because, although the idea of an online stalker is not particularly complex, it is not overdone in films and is a topic which is not often explored. For this reason I have been inspired to come up with something new - to not remake a film that has been done several times, but to try and think of something individual and meaningful.