Mark My Words First Edit

This is Chloe and I's first edit. This is a basic edit, with only one title and very limited sound effects. Over the next month Chloe and I will add more sound and brush up the areas that are weaker than others.

Location recce shots

Chloe and I wanted to film our piece in a room that had a dressing table, so we wouldn't have to fashion one out of a normal table. I have a dressing table in my room but it isn't big enough to fit all the camera equipment in, so the shots wouldn't have been as effective. Charlotte's room is perfect as it is quite girly and I feel it is quite representative of our character. The room also doesn't give anything away there is nothing in the room which would make the audience suspicious. Charlotte also has a mirror in her room which prevents us from having to buy one. Charlotte room is quite spacious so we should be able to set the camera equipment up very easily. 

Shot plans

Close up:

• The first time her face is shown.
• When she blows on her finger nails
• Barbie dolls face.
• Chloe's shocked face as the calls appear of the phone screen

Extreme close up:

• When she applies mascara
• When she applies lipstick
• Various shots of doll's facial features
• On phone when the calls and messages pop up

Mid shot:

• At the very beginning of the scene when she is brushing her hair 
• A side view of Chloe and the makeup table
• When she is seen from the back answering the phone
• When Chloe puts the mascara down and picks up a lipstick

Long shot:

• When guy is visible in the mirror as well as Chloe

Filming schedule

Chloe and I have planned to film on Wednesday 9th December after school at our friend Charlotte's house. We would have done it on Sunday 6th December, but due to complications with the availabilty of charlottes house we have had to post pone to after our mock examinations, which we all finish on Wednesday. If we don't get all of our filming done on wednesday or we think of more scenes we need, we will film on the sunday following the 9th.

Risk assessment

• We are using lighting equipment from school which has long cables, this is a harzard as someone could trip over, hurt themselves and/or knock over the light causing the glass to smash.

To over come this we will use masking tape so that the wire can't trip one of us and if for any reason glass breaks we will make sure it is cleaned up propery so we dont cut ourselves.

• If one of us were to drop the camera while filming. Not only would it hurt us, it would also damage the camera which is very expensive.

To overcome this we must ensure we always have a firm on the camera and stay away from any dangers that could cause us to trip and/or drop the camera.

Audience resesarch - Responses

Male Actor costume

Guy will be wearing an all black outfit this makes him seem mysterious and possibly dangerous. He will be wearing black shoes, black skinny jeans and a black hoodie. This creates tension as he is not giving much away and with the hood up it is somewhat concealing his identity. His outfit will immediately cause the audience to suspect him as the villain. Guy won't be wearing makeup as it is not necessary to his character, he may have to wear some foundation powder, just in case the lights make his face appear shiny.

Analysis of Other Students Work - Sacrament

The second video from a previous student I watched was called sacrament. The sound in this clip is good and despite the scene being filmed outside there is no sound of wind or other unneeded non-diegetic sounds. The pace of the clip is quite slow and the shots are very simple but just seeing the little girl in a bright red coat in the woods is enough to create suspension. The sound placed over the top could have been done a bit neater but overall it was very good.

Analysis of Other Students work - Torn

The first video from a previous student I watched was an A grade example called Torn. I decided to watch this video as it would give me inspiration for my piece as I am aiming for a high mark. The camera work in this clip if very good, it has multiple different shots and the camera angles are very good. Chloe and I took inspiration from the various things flashing up from this video. It creates suspense really well and caused the audience to question what is going on. The mise en scene in this clip is done really well, his costume makes him seem quite normal, if not a little bit geeky. It causes the audience not to suspect him of anything, the lighting being very bright an natural also makes the scene appear quite normal. However the music juxtaposes the setting and lighting. The drawn out high pitched sounds create and eerie feel to the clip, that's what creates the most tension in the scene. The font and colour of the titles work really well, the white sans-serif font appearing over the scene is simple enough not to distract away from the scene but bold enough that the audience realises they are there.

Female Character Costume

Chloe will wear a simple outfit, it will be noting too fancy or over the top as she is only supposed to be a normal girl. she will be wearing just a plain white top and a black skirt. This does not reveal anything to the audience as to where she will be going or what she will be doing, though it does make her seem more girly which will cause the audience see her as the victim. Her makeup at the beginning of the scene will be very minimal with only foundation, this will make her appear flawless and less washed out by the lights. It will start with only foundation as she applies her makeup throughout the scene.

Male Actor

Chloe and I picked Matt for our thriller because he is our friend and he is convenient for the role as her will be available most of the time. Matt is also good for the role because he is a very tall male and with the right costume we can make him seem more muscular than he is. Matt does not look like the typical villain as his face is not that harsh or scary but his face wont be shown that much as he will only appear for a few seconds in the background of a mirror.

Female Actor

Chloe Mar-Gerrison will play the female character in our thriller. She is perfect for the role because she can look like an young adult which is what we wanted from our character. Chloe also has quite a petite frame which will make it easier to portray her as intimidated throughout the opening scene. She isn't very muscular so this makes it easier to show her being helpless and vulnerable. It was also easier to pick Chloe as she is in my group and will have to be where we were filming anyway. Even with Chloe acting in the scene, she will still have to take part in filming.

Props

These are the props we will be using in our final piece.

Mirror
Stool
Table
Makeup (various lipsticks, mascara, blusher, etc.)
Nail Polish
Hairbrush
Phone

These props all fit really well in our opening scene of our Thriller as they all go well with the narrative. Though none of the props are really representative of thrillers the opening scene is not supposed to be the main source of action, it is just setting up the story and creating a bit of tension. The props are also very simple and easy to set up.

Storyboard

Chloe and I have drawn our story board which shows a rough shot by shot, this will give us a brief outline for when we are filming. Though the storyboard is not perfect, it does not show every exact shot we will take but it gives us an outline to go by.

The beginning of the video will fade in from black, it will show a close up of a girl brushing her hair, the camera will then pan round from the back of her head to the front of her face. There then will be a high angle shot of the makeup table she is getting ready at, this is to show her location and to show there is no danger around. after this there will be a close up shot of a girl blowing on her fingernails in an attempts to dry them. This is when the first doll face will flash up on the screen, this will appear at various points during the scene. It will the cut to an extreme close up of the girl putting mascara on.

There will then be a shot of her putting her mascara down and her picking up a lipstick. Before we see her applying her makeup a phone will flash up on screen showing an unknown caller is trying to reach her. It will then cut to a shot of her looking down at her phone with her lipstick lingering near her lips, there will then be an eyeline match that will show her declining the call. As she actually applies the lipstick it will flash to many shots of text messages appearing on the phone. The phone will then ring again.

This time she picks it up and says hello. The next shot is her looking into the mirror as a man appears behind her, she gasps and then the screen will fade to black revealing the title of the movie.

We have not yet decided on a name but Hidden is one we have been thinking of using.

The Narrative

Our narrative is:

A girl is getting ready to go out in the morning and while getting ready she gets a call from no caller ID. When she doesn't pick up the phone she then receives texts from the caller, she starts to be more frantic while finishing her makeup. when the phone rings again she answers, says hello, a man then appears behind her and she sees him in the mirror.

Brainstorm

Chloe and I brainstormed ideas for our final piece, we wrote them all in a mindmap. We had three ideas, I felt like 'searching for friend in the woods' was a weak narative and could have been difficult to film as their are no proper woods around my school. I also felt as if this was too like a Stalker/Slasher film and  we were told to stay away from these sort of ideas.

The 'room full of girls mugshots' is what another group was doing so we wanted to have a more original idea so they werent simliar.

we picked 'girl getting ready in the moring, we thought this idea would be very intresting and think we could make it really well. This idea is very simple but wont be that easy to do, we are going to do lots of different camera angles.

Primary Reasarch - Questionnaire

These are the questions I asked in my questionnaire.

1. How old are you?
2. Male/Female?
3. Do you enjoy the thriller genre?
4. What was the last thriller you watched?
5. How often do you watch thrillers?
6. What colour do you think would be most appropriate for titles in a thriller?
       - white         -red        -black      - grey      -dark blue
7. What kind of character is most appropriate for a thiller?
       - Young man   - Old man   - Young woman   - Old woman

This will really help me in the process of making my thriller as it will show me what my target audience is and it will help me make difficult decisions such as who should be cast and font colours.