For Next Time

From listening to Matt and Luke’s feedback, my group and I will respond to their comments positively and constructively. For example, we will start to rebuild and construct new fresh ideas for our thriller opening sequence and now know that we need to start with something small and tight instead of thinking big. I have found our aim is not to try to scare people, but to think of it as a thriller and not a horror.

From listening to Matt, I understand that we need to look and start thinking about situations of what’s going on in the news, and get ideas from current news articles instead of ideas from our heads or convocations. This is because, I learnt from Matt and Luke that ideas work when individuals rebuild real things that have happened in their lives or which they have been affected by or through research and therefore this then creates accurate, successful results.

Feedback from Matt and Luke

Feedback

Overall, Matt and Luke did not like the concept of our idea, as they thought it was based too much around a horror, rather than a thriller. Matt started out by stating one of worst ways to end a thriller is on that end beat of it all being a dream as it is too predictable to do as an opening sequence. However, they thought our ideas were cool and thoroughly thought out, as they were admiring the imagery we created, the props picked, and the location of a maze. They also pleasingly said they liked the idea with an arc and Cassandra complex, of the idea of being able to see into the future and can’t do anything about it and no ones listening to you; but we need to draw close attention to what are trying to show and what we want to do.

So therefore, Matt considered ways of approaching this, for example, he said maybe its better to progress forward by moving on wholesale with the idea as the practicality is going to be hard, for instance filming in a maze and they said a maze is a film cliché. By filming in a maze, only you can personally experience it and not the viewer, so after we’ve filmed opening shot/ establishing shot, the maze could just be three hedges as audience wouldn’t know. However they stated three key problems, getting our equipment there, fear of getting lost and the risk of no leaves on the hedges due to the weather or season. Also, they said shooting mirrors are really difficult to film and work with.

Therefore, they said we’ve got good opening salver of ideas and it is all really well thought, for instance, as we tracked down the maze and considered using a drone and they also appreciated the thought of the lantern as this is sticking to a different time era and portrays aspects of Victorian times. But, they concluded that its time to start thinking of next set of ideas by considering what’s around us, what we’ve got access to, what we’ve got abundance of and also remembering when film making, one could either go massive or really small but we don’t loose the concept of the idea as its still the same level of effectiveness.

One of the main problems was the practicality within filming in a maze, however my group and I were fully prepared by saying we have contacted different mazes, for example, Heaver Castle, Hampton Court, Tulleys farm and we had also contacted Denbies vineyard as a back up and alternative. From coming prepared with contacted information, Matt and Luke were very impressed and fell more engaged into what we were saying, but there were still obstacles in the way.

Overall, they concluded we’ve gone too big, and found problems within practicality of the maze, and they found it hard to connect to our character. So therefore, we need to start thinking of something small and tight and move past what is scary and go find something, which is thrilling.

Preparation for pitching to Matt and Luke

My group and I pitched our chosen idea to Matt and Luke on Wednesday. In preparation we produced a presentation including relevant, appropriate information towards our idea. Our presentation also consists of the problems Mike came across in our last pitch and how we’ve overcome them or considered other possibilities. Even though we had already been given constructive criticism from Mike, my group and I were prepared for more from Matt and Luke.

 

Media pitch from hannahbeapalmer1

Test Shoot

Feedback from our pitch to Mike

On Friday 27^th, we pitched our chosen idea to mike. I felt everyone in my group spoke with confidence and were able to suggest immediate possibilities if Mike had any concerns during our pitch. We all balanced our pitch equally between each person and were felt fully prepared for any constructive criticism. We pitched our idea, remembering not to quote any technical aspects or large details, as this was not necessary at this point in time. We all notably kept in mind, the idea of ‘one element’ and were able to consistently be aware of that throughout our pitch.

Overall, Mike gave us beneficial feedback and I made notes throughout his comments, as this allowed us to immediately respond to all the comments made; we responded by successfully carrying out research towards improving our idea. I am very appreciative of his comments as they made us realize some potential problems and helped us to try and over seize them.

Feedback

Mike started out by stating there’s a couple of things in terms of filming, firstly it is very difficult to film at night, reasons for this is if the only shots we film are at night and suddenly we want to make it day light to re-film parts, we can’t; but its also the case of practicality, for example, we have to get all equipment, actors, consider travelling and this could be a problem at night. Similarly, it is very difficult to film at night because of the lighting, even film sets and locations when they shoot at night have hundreds of thousands, if not millions of pounds of lighting, so therefore our sequence will look very dark if filmed at night. However, if filmed in the day, when editing can make our footage seem smoky, gloomy and foggy by adding effects; Mike said it’s a shame because the thought process of transitions and editing have been thoroughly thought through and also fond of the idea of the girl dropping the lantern and it suddenly cutting to black, but still other ways to achieve that effect in daylight. Mike was confused as to why a lantern, but we’re simply using a lantern because she is having a dream and individuals constantly dream of weird, random things in their sleep, so therefore we felt a lantern suited the sequence. However, seeing as we are not filming it at night, the lantern doesn’t make sense, so the girl will have a teddy as her prop instead of a lantern.

Mike loves the idea being centred around a maze, he feels it’s fantastic, as he’s never previously seen a thriller set in a maze before by Hurtwood students, so he likes he original aspect. Need to carry out productive research into mazes for preparation for matt next week and contact them, considering locations to be within half an hour/ forty-five minutes, so he said go for anything within an hour radius, prioritise the ones that our closer, because would work out really well and would be a fantastic location, so put in the effort to get one. So when pitching to Matt, not only say we want to locate it in a maze, but we’ve already called and got permission to film in a maze, soon as we say that, they will be happy because that’s a big problem. Even though Katie suggested making our own maze, mike said we would not have enough time or the resources or space to construct a maze and anything that looked like it would just look like a girl running round the school ground, but not same effect. However, alternatives for locations are research into buildings, for example could film in Bea Webb or Cornhill, etc. Mike was very fond of our plot of a girl in pajamas in a maze, bare foot and the idea of having the man to be dressed in a suit to juxtapose the diversity, and so viewers don’t suspect anything suspicious. He said, the girl being bare foot might be a health and safety risk, therefore can compromise to girl wearing slippers, but likes the idea that we never see the guy’s face as its lit in such a way that we don’t, Mike found this really nice.

Lastly, he said to get a full-length mirror that’s going to work could be a problem as they are heavy, hard to set up and expensive but also difficult to transport in and out of the maze as we are sourcing it our self. He was fond of the mirror idea, stating it works, lovely, fantastic idea, only issue is he doesn’t see how practically it can be done, unless you could build and make own but are you adding too much of your own thing. So preparing us from the feedback from Matt as he will say how are you going to get it in and out of the maze, so therefore we could compromise by going smaller or shoulder length upwards or using a road mirror as easier to handle or we could even use a light, cheap mirror and simply paint it or have cobwebs draping over it if its an issue.

So overall, my group and I will forget about it being shot at night because wont work. So the main two parts to consider are where can we film it, find a maze and don’t give up with it as he likes that were already thinking of other compromises, bringing back to the one element idea that if you took away the maze would it still work, yes it will still effectively work as its following the same concept of a girl in her pyjamas, and a man following her, it works anywhere just would be really complimentary to be located in a maze. He said he would personally, still shoot it and set it up outside, as there’s something really nice about the girl in her pyjamas outside. Therefore, overall I feel our pitch to Mike was successfully achieved and we know how to respond to his productive feedback in preparation for our next pitch to Matt.

“Idea is fantastic, no holes in it, nothing wrong with it, a wonderful opening sequence to a thriller, so well done for that as there's not many people that nail it first time, and it is also a fantastic opening sequence, now just try to consider the limitations of what we can do.”

Test Shoot - Reflective Questions

After finalising our thriller idea, we notably relalised producing a test shoot is a main and key feature towards making an opening sequence. This is simply because we can see anything that went well or any problems before shooting the real footage. Unfortunately, as we weren’t able to have any access to a maze in our test shoot, we shot in a similar location behind trees and bushes. I used my iPhone to complete this task and afterwards considered some reflecting questions.

Has your idea translated well to a film? Have you made a thriller, or is it a different looking genre?

I feel, our idea fits suitably in the genre of a thriller, and is also presented well in the sub-genre of a Psychological thriller, by covering many aspects of it.  For example, using mysterious, daunting music and soundscapes, such as heavy breathing, heart beats, etc. Similarly, our simple story line of our opening sequence and our story on the whole unpicks nightmare qualities of a frightening man following a young, innocent girl. From viewing our opening sequence, viewers can suggest what the film will be translated like and from knowing the whole story line, it has helped to construct and develop our personal opening sequence.

Does the pace work? Is the opening the right length?

Personally, I believe the pace works well throughout our opening sequence, as we beneficially considered ways to build the tension and suspense through pace. Therefore, our sequence consists of a slow, mysterious introduction and steadily builds to increasing measures. I also believe our opening sequence is the right length to grip and engage viewers, and beneficially doesn’t give too much information away but leaves members of the audience asking questions and longing to watch more.

Is your idea clear to the viewer?

Our idea is clear to the viewer, as we hugely considered that ‘less is more’ throughout our thriller, as we felt the audience would be more engaged with a simpler effective opening sequence, rather then confusing the viewer. Similarly, we only wanted to use two characters throughout our sequence, so we do not complicate the viewer.

 

Has tension been created?

Tension in our thriller is viewed throughout, from mysterious encounters to being chased by a daunting older man. I found to build tension and suspense in an opening sequence is very important as this allows audience members to feel engaged and this also helps viewers clearly remember the sequence. As we feel silence plays a huge role in creating tension, we allowed pauses and silence where appropriate to continue to build the tension. However, we do steadily build the tension throughout as this varies the dynamics and creates more tension for a bigger climax to be created.

Have the angles and camera movement you used work? Or could they be developed?

I felt the camera angles we experimented with did successfully work as we were able to explore a variety of angles we wished to, personally I feel the low angle, close up shot of feet walking through the rushes worked the best and looked most beneficial. However, if we had more time I would of experimented more by using some more over the shoulder shots, but I have no worries to use over the shoulder shots in real footage as all the other angles used worked. If we had, had a proper camera and not an iPhone, I feel our shots would of looked and worked better. I feel we still need to consider using some more different angled shots for our real footage but from experimenting different shots in our test shoot, it allowed us to be constantly thinking of ways to visually explore shots further and continue to develop them for our real shoot.

Do you need to add or take away anything from your test shoot? If so what? And more importantly why?

 From our test shoot, I don’t feel we need to take away anything, but later in development and planning we might have to examine some footage so our sequence does not seek any possibilities of becoming complicated or too busy. I believe we should maybe consider adding a few more shots, for example, over the shoulder shots, so viewers can outline a range of different, varied, effective shots.

What has/ hasn’t worked well? And or could be developed further?

Overall, my group and I worked well to create an effective test shoot and have continued to work well together as a team to produce quick, successful work. I feel everything worked well and we experimented with different shots and movements. From some shots that didn’t work as well, we were able to consider improvements to be made. Everything went according to plan and even though some shots could be developed further, to explore the best outcome, we all worked very effectively and always listened to each other if one had any suggestions to be made.

Preparation for Next Time

Based on our discussions for our initial ideas, my group and I are going to organise ourselves with more research into our ideas for development and carry on getting lots of inspiration. To achieve a successful, effective opening sequence we need to carry out and investigate into a lot of information and research for particular details used, for instance, I am going to research into possible mazes, as location is a key feature and element to our thriller. From carrying out research, this will allow me to consider alternatives for our location, as we will be fully prepared if there is no access to a maze, therefore I will also research into woods or buildings to create the same effect. I will also collectively gather information on possible cast we could use. Similarly, for preparation I will continue to consider ideas for sound possibilities, for instance, I will find sound effects of the wind howling or the intensive music that will appear throughout our thriller. I will also appreciate the use of silence in our thriller at times, as ‘silence can be the most powerful scream.’


From recalling all possible drawbacks, I
know I need to carrying out research in preparation for next time, therefore I will find information on possibilities for mazes and contact them as soon as possible, for instance, either 'Hampton Court' or 'Hever Castle'. I will also research, how far away they are and availability, etc. Similarly, I will also research into mirrors and lanterns and find out the most appropriate beneficial costings, weight, size and shapes, either found on websites of 'home base, ikea, eBay' or 'amazon' to be prepared. From researching into mirrors, it has automatically led me onto developing ideas to cover the mirror, for instance, using cobwebs or painting the mirror with a gloomy spray.

Process of Initial Idea

When I found out my group, I was very pleased and felt confident with my group as I had already worked with two members of my group, and previously we had worked successfully together to produce previous work. My group consists of myself, Jess, Fran and Ella.

When we got into our group, we quickly gathered all our ideas together and went through each individual’s idea picking out favourite specific details in each and considered ways to bring all the chosen details together to form an effective, successful opening sequence towards our thriller. For example, from my idea, my group and I particular liked the use of shots that I offered, including long shots, extreme close ups and many more of a young girl and a man. We also decided on who we wanted in our thriller by taking inspiration from my ideas, from the way I presented my two characters to look and appear, for example, having an older man wearing black dark clothes and contrastingly having a young girl featuring. Also for instance, we unpicked the best part of Jess’s and came to conclude we wanted out thriller to be located in a maze.

Therefore, my group and I primarily decided to mainly use Jess’s idea as her thriller was located in a maze, we wanted to set our thriller in a maze as we wanted to film something creative and original, and found a maze has never been used before within thrillers at Hurtwood, so this creates imaginative aspects and originality. However, when discussing a story line, we preferred Ella’s idea as a base line, so we confidently mixed the two ideas together as we found these two elements would effectively help build the tension and suspense within our new thriller.

Story Line:
Our initial idea consists of a girl that had a nightmare one night whilst she was in a maze and a scary man steadily followed her through the maze. The girl started to have a nightmare each night, but her consistent nightmares quickly flowed into a story, so it was not a new nightmare but a nightmare, which carried on. During the day the girl is seen to be stressed about the situation and would frequently start to get visions of her nightmare in everyday situations and routines. For example, if there were a mirror at some point during her day, she would see the exact same mirror in her nightmare too. The girl started becoming confused about what was happening but at the end she understands that her nightmare is actually her death and the visions were just signs of awareness leading to her death, to tell her the moment was coming. This nightmare carries on for 6 days until the seventh day while she was sleeping, the nightmare actually becomes reality and she ends with her death so she never woke up. The whole film is based on this nightmare and her visions and the struggle she has to go through to try and understand the visions and the idea of trying to chase time.

Opening Sequence:
The opening sequence is the introduction to her nightmare. We are met with an establishing shot of the maze to set the location and we will then have an immediate extreme zoom, so the camera suddenly enters the maze and immediately follows the girl, who is trying to find her way out; so we have many different shots of her running and walking around in the maze. It is all dark and smoky and the girl is standing in her nighty, holding a lit lantern and is very confused hinting aspects of frightfulness; she doesn’t understand why she is positioned where she is or what she’s doing. We then introduce a long shot of her walking oppositely to the camera and we have contrasting feet walking in front of the camera, appearing from nowhere and we are then met with a figure that is starting to follow her. We have many shots showing contrasts between the two figures creating steady build up of tension throughout the sequence. Then the girl starts suddenly running as she hears noises but is stopped by the reflection of herself, as she meets with a dirty, full length mirror. She starts to look at her reflection and notices how scared and terrified she is until she sees in the reflection, a figure of a man in the distance standing behind her, the same man that was following her. She then turns quickly around to see whose there and the figure is gone and nothings behind her, confused she turns very slowly around and instead of seeing her reflection in the mirror she realizes the mans the reflection and not the mirror. The girl gets so scared she drops her lamp and it suddenly switches off, leaving the audience with a black out screen.

Possible Problems:
From overviewing my thriller idea, I have created a few main drawbacks, however my group and I are prepared for any obstacles that might appear but we are prepared to carry on whatever the condition or situation. For example:

- The location could be an issue as we could have problems finding a maze, however we have thought of alternatives to either film it in the woods or in a building.
- Filming the maze could be a challenge as we wish to use a drone to establish our wide-angle shots but we might have difficulty in finding a drone.
- Weather could change our plans but it shouldn’t stop us from doing anything.
- Lighting could affect our shots, as we have to rely on daylight and a small lantern.
- If we decide to shoot in the dark, we are going to have less time to film.

Inspiration:
- We were inspired by ‘Harry Potter – Maze’ for our location as we found this clip every effective and useful for our thriller. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCR1gAurnoI)
- Similarly, for our mirror idea, ‘The Woman in Black – The window scene’, also inspired us, creating suspense and tension where appropriate. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od_XDxlOlUw)
 - We were also inspired by a previous thriller as they use a drone to the same effect as we want to.
- Lastly, when researching I found a young actress for our cast, named ‘Martha Dancy’.
- From completing research, we found a maze in ‘Hever Castle’ looks most beneficial for us and suitable for our thriller.

Presentation of Initial Ideas

On Monday 16th, we each had to present our favourite idea to the class, this was beneficial as we gained feedback towards our chosen idea. I felt I confidently presented my thriller ideas for my story line and my opening sequence with enthusiasm and positive energy throughout and therefore I was also fully prepared for any criticism or improvements to be made.

Overall, I found my class responded well towards my ideas. For example, they all liked and appreciated the clear outline of my thriller and said I had thoroughly thought it through including many specific details. My class said they drew close detail towards the use of sound in my thriller ideas and found both the opening sequence and the location very effective and quoted there is “positive potential” in my ideas. However, my class did not give me any negative feedback as they thought it was all beneficial, although personally I feel I have too much happening in my opening sequence and therefore I will improve upon this in later work and consider options of how I could condense the sequence down, as I learnt simple is as effective, if not most effective.

Story Line:
I intend for my thriller to be about a cereal killer whose identity is unknown to the world and he is isolated from society. The whole plot is about many different people trying to find out who is killing all these young innocent children. Throughout the film we hear many gunshots triggered by the cereal killer, however only the audience know the killer is shooting the gunshots and this is how the film develops as the rest of the characters are trying to find out.

Opening Sequence:
I therefore intend for my opening sequence to firstly introduce sound. I wish for non-diegetic sound to play a big role in my thriller. For example, I will use a loud projecting sound track of a couple arguing to exaggerate a pleonastic voice over echoing in the background. So therefore, the characters seen in the sequence wont have any diegetic dialogue to portray. I wanted to do this so viewers can appreciate the characters movements more easily and allow the audience to not get distracted from the actions happening in the sequence, so this can clearly create steady tension building in the atmosphere. The voiceover will increase when actions become more grande. I want to have two characters to be seen, firstly, a close up shot of an older man, bald, wearing dark colours and making tea, so the audience do not at first suspect anything suspicious. My second character to appear in the sequence will be a young girl who is locked up in the closet. After the man has made tea and he puts on gloves and gets ready to hurt her appearing increasingly closer towards the girl. Camera shots will be taken through the point of view of the girls perspective, so we can just see the mans eye through the slates in the closet rapidly coming closer towards her. We hear pleonastic sounds of the girl’s heartbeat and then we then see his hand reach in to open the closet and the young girl lets out a loud scream. We hear the couple arguing shout “What is happening up there, I’m going to go up there myself, etc.”. A sudden shot is then forced to be angled at the door as we suddenly hear a loud knock followed by the words “Open the bloody door.” Then we cross to a close up of his hands suffocating the young girls mouth and throat, as he is stopping her from screaming and then goes black into the title of the film.

 My sequence is located in council flat, shows long shots of surroundings, everyone in the flats can hear every sound and most movements. I will have many props surrounding the man, including junk food and mess. I will also only have a plain bed, even just a mattress located in the center of the room and many Polaroid photos of young girls scattered around the flat and stuck on the wall. When the cereal killer has killed someone he crosses them off the tally chart using their blood. The wind will also be harshly blowing outside to build tension and suspense within the atmosphere.

Genre, subgenre and hybrid genre

I looked up meanings and definitions of important uses of words for a thriller. For instance, I researched these particular, important words:

Genre - The word 'genre' comes from the French word meaning 'type' or 'class'. Media genres appear within a medium (film, television) such as the "horror" film or the television "situation comedy". A genre can be recognised by its common set of distinguishing features.

Subgenre – A subgenre is when you combine two genres together. For example, romantic comedy.

Hybrid Genre – Hybrid means a mixture/fusion, so a Hybrid in film means three or more genres or mixtures of sub-genres. For instance, drama, action and natural disaster.

Subgenres

Action Thriller – Focusing on action within a thriller, this is common in movies than novels because of its visual appeal and effects, for instance violence seen and explosive aspects.

Example : ‘The Bourne Identity’

Crime Thriller – Crime thrillers are usually and most often from the criminals perspective. From this point of view, physical action is show usually shown including appearance from police collecting evidence from a crime scene.

Example: ‘Point Break’

Psychological Thriller – In this particular subgenre, mental contributes are shown instead of physical conflict. Usually psychological thrillers deal with a build up of dangerous situations causing uncomfortable scenes of battle inside and out of their heads.

Example: ‘Se7en’

Spy Thriller: Spy novels should normally always be shown in a thriller; because of this high action and physicality through actors are seen, normally creating accurate conventions of a thriller.

Example: ‘Berlin Game’

Disaster Thriller – In this subgenre, the protagonist usually try’s to control and stop a natural disaster. The effect of this is to normally save themselves before time had run out.

Example: ‘The Road’