Production Roles - Miss Miller

Having people allocated to specific roles makes the filming process simpler and quicker. Each member gets given an role to focus on so that it is evenly spread out making the work less stressful. The one role to one person rule makes the planning and filming easier this is because they only have one subject to work on and don't have to worry about other parts of the film, they will not be as rushed and the whole filming work will more organised. In our group we were given these roles; Producers, director, actors, music producer, screen play writer, MES co-ordinator, editors and directors of photography.

We decided on these roles by discussing who had more experience and knowledge of which one. As a group we went round saying who would be better at which role and from their we shared out the work evenly so that each group member had the same amount of work and the roles that they would be best at. We decided on these; 

• Producers - Jess, Charlie and Ryan - This job was given to all three members of our group. We decided this because the film was a group effort, everyone has added something to the work and we all discussed everything making fair decision on what everyone wanted. This role meant we all had to over look to project and make sure it ran smoothly.
• Director - Charlie - We chose Charlie to be the director because he has a past with making films he has done it before meaning he know more about what looks bet in shot. The job in this role is to watch the actors and shot when filming and direct how they need to look and how the actors need to he portrayed
• Actors - Harry Osborne, Ella Sawtell, Morgan Boughey and Molly Van-Wijngaarden 
• Music producer - Ryan - Our music producer is Ryan, he was picked to do this job because he has an interest in music so everyone thought he would be best at picking the sound track that would suit our opening sequence. Ryan was in control of finding suitable soundtracks to emphasise the film and worked well.
• Screenplay writer - Jess - I am the screenplay writer because the narrative was based on my individual narrative. This means that I know what the film needs to look like and how it needs to be given to the audience, allowing to be easier for me than other group members to write the screen play.
• MES co-ordinates - Jess - I am also the MES co-ordinator because the group thought I would know the most effective element to emphasise on our film. Also I have previous experience with make-up, iconography and lighting because I have had to plan them for a school dance show meaning I know what looks good to the audience.
• Editors - Charlie and Jess - Charlie and I are the editors. We decided on this as Charlie has had experience of editing before from his previous course in GCSE when he had to make his own film. I have also been chosen to help Charlie with the because I have had a couple years experience on the equipment from school and home. Our role here was to add all the shots together adding credits, soundtracks and editing techniques so that the opening sequence became on hole thing.
• Director of photography - Ryan and Charlie - The group chose on Ryan and Charlie to be the cameramen this is because both of them have had experience with the equipment before also due to their previous media course in GCSE. They could run the shot smoother and quicker as they know how everything works. Director of photography is basically the camera men meaning they were in charge of positioning cameras and  filming the shots.

We each had to be given more than one job because our group is small but as it is not a full film, just and opening sequence it wasn't to difficult and we could still keep organised. Giving each role to a different person made the filming process a lot quicker and easier. most roles were allocated to a specific person who would be best at it due to experiences and their knowledge. This meant the work got done quicker with less mistakes as most people knew what they were doing within their roles. The different roles made the filming easier because the jobs were evenly spread out decreasing stress and the duration.
Everyone worked quite well with their roles, there were rarely any problems and it ran smoothly, we benefitted from having allocated roles because it spread the work across a load of people allowing the it to get done quickly. One of the issues we faced was with the music producer this was because of the technology, Ryan found some of the soundtracks we wanted but due to copy they was difficult to get into our sequence this meant we had to find other sound which was possibly less effective. If we could some parts within our opening sequence we would make the music producer in to a two man job so that it was done quicker matching with the other roles.






 

Group storyboard - Miss Miller

The point of a group story board is to have a final plan of shots to follow when filming. It is used to describe each shots micro elements and other asset like actors and description, this makes it easier to know how the film is going to look with all the shots put together. Each member of my group made a individual story board of how we pictured the opening sequence looking. We then took our separate ideas and merged them together taking the best assets to make our group storyboard. We went through each one deciding on what was most effective for a thriller film and what wasn't to important to include, from this we joined the parts we preferred together make the group storyboard best of the three individual ones.


We created a group storyboard so that the layout of our opening sequence is a joint effort incorporating everyone's ideas, advantages and disadvantages to make it the best it can be. An example of an advantage from one of our storyboards is an over the shoulder shot from Charlie's individual work. This was inspired by the research we did in class from a "Shutter Island" clip. We have picked this to be in our group idea because we thought it worked well with the other shots in the scene and follows good conventions for a thriller. The over should shot used was looking past the antagonist at Cathryn. It is effective because it shows the antagonist is targeting her it make it clear to the audience so that they can understand the intentions of him. This shot builds suspense because it is clear our victim is being watch and in possible danger.


Another idea we thought would be good to have was the handheld of Cathryn walking with her phone. This shot was from my individual storyboard and we chose it because is was effective for the audience as they could relate and react to the characters actions and situation. This shot was an inspiration from the research I did into "Mama" there was a lot of hand held work in the film which I thought added to the emotions. I have used this on our victim because it emphasises on her instability and weakness over the other character in the film. It is effective because the audience can relate to this and expect something bad to happen to her. This also show that it is conventional because the audience expect to see her get hurt or expect her to be target by the antagonist.


We also got some other ideas from Ryans individual storyboard, one was the establishing shot he used at the beginning of his storyboard he has an establishing shot of the forest. We decided this shot would set the feel for whole film, showing the mystery from the low key lighting and isolation of the forest. This is effective because the audience become immediately intrigued into what the film is about and why it is set in a forest. The establishing shot show all the conventional assets of our film before any characters are involved giving of an enigma for the audience making them want to continue watching.


Each shot we chose to use is picked because it adds to our narrative, the group story board will have different shots to create different emotions and meanings. Each shot will be incorporated together to make the film runs smoothly, they will be made to fit in with everyone's ideas.




I think our group storyboard went well, we included as many of eachothers ideas as possible. We analysed each individual storyboard to make sure we used the best assets from each one. The end result was extremely good it included everything we needed to know about each shot and also had them in a good order. We did have to make a few changes to some of the shots because they didn't look as good when actually trying to perform them for example the establishing shot couldn't be a high angle because we didn't have the equipment need to make the shot, in stead we have to do a low angle looking up at the forest because it was easier to film. If we had the chance to do the storyboard again I would the duration of some of the shots and also some of the cinematography assets of the shot to the frames more effective and conventional.

Opening scene narration - Miss Miller

The narrative brief for our thriller opening sequence is about a girl who is left walk him eon her won through a forest and gets kidnapped by a murderer. Here it is in depth -

The first image shown is an establishing shot of the forest, this immediately sets the low key lighting for the whole film. Next there is a group of friends walking through a forest on there way home from a night out. They are all alone, well they think they are. As they walk down the main pathway they are talking and laughing, everything is normal. Having the girls whole bodies in shot shows the mise-en-scene, their hair and make up is very natural and their costume is light colours to show innocence. Our main character Cathryn is placed in the middle of the friends to show she is important in the film and needs to be watched closely. There are lots of shadows and dark areas due to the low key lighting we used to create mystery. This scene has an extreme long shot to show the girls situation, which is them being set in an isolated setting inform the audience they are far from help. The editing for this scene is slow editing so suspense builds. When the girls come to the end of the path they all say goodbye and venture of. Cathryn, our victim goes down a different smaller path than her friends. For this scene it is still low-key lighting and most cinematography shots are used to show her vulnerability for example high angle and long shots, also starting here is non-diegetic sound of slow eerie music. As Cathryn walks down the path further away from her friends she beings to get slightly scared, so the slow editing stop and changes in to normal straight cuts, she continues walking whilst texting on her phone not looking at her surroundings. All of a sudden she hears a twig snap, this is off screen sound, she looks around to see a dark shadowed figure in the middle of the trees. Invisible editing is used here to emphasise her panic. As Cathryn turns her head the shot changes with her and moves with her face. This scene is when the timing of shot begins, the more panicked she gets the fast the editing becomes. When she sees the antagonists silhouette she gets scared and walks away quickly trying not to show that she is worried. The non-diegetic music start again and this time it pace is fast rapid. This shot shows the antagonist for the first time, he is wearing dark clothing to show death and evil, also he is higher up in the frame to show strength and power. As she is fast pace walking up the path the camera is hand held to empathise her movements and actions clearer. The antagonist follows her so she starts running away, she drops her phone, the antagonist is faster than her so soon catches up. This is when the iconography is used the antagonist has a knife in his hand and when he gets close enough to Cathryn he uses the handle of it to hit her on the head. The fast editing ends hear suddenly to emphasise her being hit. The scene goes quiet silence is used the foreshadow Cathryn unhopeful future. Cathryn is knocked out and falls the ground, a canted angle is used looking though a high angle down on her to show her instability and weakness over the antagonist. Last she gets dragged away semi conscious leaving the audience unaware of her outcome. A fade to black is used and then her phone which was dropped further on in the sequence is shown in a close up. The lighting here is extremely low key, a message appears on her phone and the screen again fades to black.

Risk assessment - Miss Georgiou

Risk Assessment

When filming the risks should always be discussed and considered, this is to prevent any mishaps. It is important to consider risks so that when the filming is taking place all the right precautions are taken to avoid mistakes and accidents. We examine the dangers before filming so that when we actually film we are prepared to deal with the issues making the process smoother and safer.

Our risk assessment will help my group when we are filming by not only making the set safe but making sure nothing goes wrong in the shots. An example of the precaution we have taken to keep the set safe is to do with knife prop, having a knife around a large amount of people could cause a potentially life threating accident if the knife was to hurt someone. To prevent this we have are going to make sure the knife is put away safely when it is not in use, it will be keep away for the production team and cast so that their is a smaller chance of injury. A major example of how we are going to make sure nothing goes wrong with the camera equipment and shots is to keep the camera charged. If the camera was to run out of battery it would cause a big issue meaning we wouldn't be able to finish filming, elongating the finish date. To prevent this we are going to make sure every time we film the camera is fully charged and maybe even take a spare battery. The risk assessment to asset us when filming our opening sequence by preparing us for issues that we could face meaning we can deal with hem quickly without wasting unnecessary time. When filming we did encounter an issue that could have been a risk to filming which was passers by getting in the shots. Because we were in a forest filming on a public footpath it meant anyone could walk through. To stop this from happening we had to have someone looking out asking them to wait or telling the filming to stop until it was safe to continue filming. We knew how to over come this risk by looking at our risk assessment to find a solution to the problem.

Filming schedule - Miss Georgiou

Filming schedule

A filming schedule is an order of the shots going to be filmed, and the details to follow when shooting. It is important to have this schedule because it makes the filming of the opening sequence run smoothly, it makes it clear of what needs to be shot and what is included within the frame. Without this there would be many debates and issues of what needs to be done causing a longer filming time and possibly making the work bad quality. Schedules help when reminding the cameramen and the production team how each shot needs to look and what cinematography needs to be used. It also organise when the filming is going to take place, with the date and locations. It reminds the make up artist of how each character in the shot needs to looks they are prepared if any changes need to be make between shots. The film schedule also includes what iconography is need in shots, what personal will be needed and the equipment needed for filming. All of the information on the filming schedule makes the filing time quicker because it organises and allows the team to prepare for the shots. 

My group followed most of our filming schedule, we followed the shots and the content of them. We used the right equipment and had the personnel on set when they were needed. The iconography was used correctly and the hair and make up set up was stuck to. There was one issues when filming that we couldn't stick to the schedule for which was the date. On the date stated we filmed half of the shots but it ended up becoming to dark to film the camera couldn't pic up the characters or main features within the frame. This meant we couldn't finish filming, so we had to go back the next day in order to complete the shots on the schedule. This showed that we didn't think ahead enough about how long our lighting would stay for, we should have spread the filming our over a couple of days so that we could keep the lighting the same for the whole opening sequence. Apart from this mistake everything else was on time and ran smoothly. The filming schedule made the filming process much easier, the production team and something to follow which meant everyone knew what was happening where and when.

Individual storyboard - Miss Miller

I created a storyboard so that I could make a clearer image of how i wanted our opening sequence to look. The purpose of it is to plan out which shots and frames go in what order and to put in the microelements that go into it. Within it the time is also decided of how long the shots will remain on screen which is useful when cooperating the editing in, for example I used slow editing which I was able to plan by elongating the shots to the duration I needed.  A storyboard gives a visual of what the sequence is going to look like, the storyboard is important to make the production easier. It gives an idea of what the shots should look like in the film, and gives a guideline for the shots to be based on instead of being made up as it goes along.






Each member of my group made an individual storyboard of how we wanted our opening sequence to look. We did this so that we had three different versions we could merge together to gain the best results for a our group storyboard. We will analysed each one and chose the best elements from them to include with our main storyboard.  


I included some ideas from my inspirations post into my individual storyboard, for example the slow editing.  I have used this through the beginning half of my story board. This was inspired by the research I did on 'Scream 2'. I have made the shots durations longer so that the changes are far apart. This builds suspense for the audience because the anticipation of what might happen to our victim gets more intense and the sequence goes along. I think this editing technique is effective for the thriller genre because it adds to the suspense of the film by making the audience intrigued into the outcome of the victim.
 I also used a lot of non-diegetic sound of slow eerie music that builds tempo. Non diegetic sound is used throughout most of my opening sequence because with out it the film would be bland and boring. I have being using this because it creates the right emotions of tensions and suspense. This sound and the emotions it creates are conventional to have in a thriller film because they allows the audience to feeling worried for the characters meaning they can relate to the film. This shows how effective the non diegetic sound is because of the suspense it builds on the narration.


One of the shots I out in my storyboard was a high angle on the victim just as she spots the antagonist in front of her. This shot is looking down on her to show her weakness compared to antagonist who she is facing. It shows the audience her vulnerability and the danger that she is in, this causes them to feel sympathetic for her. The high angle shot allows the audience to understand the relationship between both characters and they can recognise the antagonist dominance over the victim. This is conventional because it portrays the typical conflict between the two main characters and who is most powerful.






I think my storyboard is good but it could be improved, this would be done by blending some of my ideas with my other groups members. Things like the angles, positions and movements could be changed to be more effective, I have chosen simple, less creative cinematography elements. When we are making our group storyboard I would changed them so that the opening sequence was more effective and exciting.

Planning Opening credits - Miss Georgiou

The opening credits are used to inform the audience about the producers, directors, cast, the title e.t.c They give the people who were a part in the making of the film credit and notice. 

Sevens opening credit analysis

In class i watched the opening credits sequence for Se7en i focused on four different points that are important when creating the credits for the our opening sequence. Firstly i analysed the fonts colours, they were white on top of the duo background of blacks and greys. These colours were used in a very clever ways to represent the characters and foreshadow the future of the film. The white speaks for the victim, it portrays innocence and vulnerability. The black foreshadows death and hurt further in the film, it also represents the antagonist and their their emotions. 

Another asset i looked at was the style of the credits apart from colours, i watched the way that they changed and their font.  The font was thin and almost looked sharp, the corners of the letters were pointed. As each credit changed it twitched and stuttered. Both these different elements were conventional for thriller credits because they infer threat or danger, the sharpness and twitching show the film as unpredictable and foreshadows someone being a target of murder attempts.
In the opening credits of se7en there were many conventions of a thriller, for example the iconography of weapons such as blades and the images of victims, the low key lighting and slow editing. All these things make the clip effective because they are stereotypical of the shock suspense and surprise on the genre. They add to the tension because it make the audience aware someone is planning to do something evil.
The credits are shown in an particular order to shown important and to give the people involved with the creation of the film recognition. In se7en the production company was the first credit that appeared, next was the director them main actors, title, more actors, music, editing etc. They are shown in this order so that audience remember the most important of the team and who needs more thanks. 

My idea

This is my idea for the credits to use in our opening sequence, I have made it as conventional as possible so that is as effective as possible. The font is white on a black background inspired from the Se7en sequence, i chose this because the colour connote stereotypical emotions for a thriller film. The white connotes innocence and purity of the once again stereotypical victim, and the black portrays evil of the antagonist in our narrative and the deaths he causes. 

The font i have chosen is normal square shape but it looks like it has been drawn i chalk, there are some gaps or scratches and the certain letters are filled in. I thought the font being unclean and jagged  would make the clip look more unstable, relating to our antagonist mental state. I created the credits like this to emphasise our narrative and the characters. 

The position of the writing on screen is going to be changed in each shot, in some places it will be high up or to the side and in others i will be centred or low down. I have done this again to represent the antagonist unstable mental state. The credits being scattered portray the antagonist as being unpredictable and  unreliable. 

 Charlie and Ryan's ideas
Both Charlie and Ryan's ideas are similar they have chosen quite bland plain fonts which i think is a disadvantage of their work. It doesn't really contain any conventions of a thriller they are simple meaning they can not connote a lot about the narrative of our film.
Ryan's positioning isn't very creative, the credit is placed in the centre side of the screen making it quite simple again. Also his font size is too small the credit he has use for his example it the title, i think the title should be big or in the centre of the shot but Ryan has chose to have the font extremely small.
Charlie's font is almost the same as Ryan's is it small and plain, which isn't very helpful when trying to create conventions of a thriller. Although i would say his is slightly better than ryas because of the size, Charlie has chosen a medium size font so that it stand out better, which is clear when comparing the two.
Both Ryan and Charlie have picked to have the font white against a black background which is also what i chose.  This is an advantage for all three of us because the colours connote the conventional emotions for a thriller film.As explained in my idea the white connotes the victims innocence and the black portrays the antagonists evil and the deaths he causes. All of our colour ideas have considered the narrative of our opening sequence and have been used the convey the characters in the stereotypical way.

Ryans 

Charlies

 

Looking at all three of out ideas we have chosen to base our opening credits on my design because we think it follows more conventions than the others. The colours foreshadow the stereotypical characteristic of the character in our narrative, for example the victims innocence. As our opening sequence isnt very long this means we have to fit in the more releveant and nessicary people or companies first going in order of what or who helped the most. For the order of out credit we are going to have the main people who where important to the creation of our opening sequence. We are going to have the production company first then the title, the main cast, directors, more cast members and them the title again. We have done them in this order to give the most important team memebers notice for their work and so that the audience rememeber main figures involved.

Planning of characters - Miss Miller

In our film we have two main characters the victim, Cathryn and the antagonits, who is unnamed. The purpose of having characters in a film is so that the audience can build some relationships within it. These relationships emphasise on the emotions and situations making the narrative exciting they make it relatable and easier to follow.

Cathryn


The victim out of our two main characters is Cathryn. She is a sixteen year old student who lives and normal life with any major complications. She has blonde hair and pale skin with red rosy cheeks. We have chosen for her style to be like this so that she is a stereotypical thriller victim. In our opening sequence my group has decided to put her in a isolated situation so that she is portrayed even stronger as the target of an antagonist.
We made our victim as conventional as possible by making certain elements connote her as the antagonist focus, one of the connotations is the colour of her hair, she has blonde her which infers innocence, this is also shown through the lightness of her skin the lighting colour we have used on her display her vulnerability. All of this makes the audience create emotions about the character they become sensitive to her situation in the film and worry for her.
The audience can see that Cathryn is a normal teenage girl with an average life. They can see this because of her friends and her age, the age suggests she is a student and her friends look just and normal as her. This allows them to relate to her knowing she doesn't deserve for anything bad to happen, but the other connotations suggest that the opposite is going to happen to her making them feel sympathetic. They can build a relationship with Cathryn as they can relate her back to their lives and people they know.




Antagonists
Not a lot is known about our antagonist the audience don't know his name or anything about his background. Throughout the opening sequence he isn't clearly shown, only glimpses of him are visible. My group and I have also made the antagonist stereotypical because we thought is was important to make him as alarming as we could for the audience.
He is wearing a black hoodie and baggy trousers for all the opening sequence this is so that he is hard to catch an eye of in the low key lighting. The dark clothing connotes death and that the character has no conscience stating psychological issues. The audience automatically become aware of the antagonist being dangerous for the other people in the film and they can see his is unpredictable and that the characters need to be cautious of him.
Our antagonist is conventional because of the little amount known about him. The audience and characters don't have any information on him, they don't even see his face clearly. All they can tell from him is that he is dangerous, they can see this because of his slow movements and his darkness. It is also clear that he is clever and has planned what he was going to do in opening sequence, the audience see this because he places trick figures around his victim, Cathryn to scare her. Not knowing much about the antagonist it stereotypical in a thriller film because it builds tension and suspense as no one is aware about what they could do, because he is unpredictable it makes the other characters and audience apprehensive about him.

I think both characters in my groups opening sequence are extremely stereotypical and conventional. This is due to their image and backgrounds, we have portrayed our victim as innocent and vulnerable which is need in a thriller genre to make audience fell sympathetic and we have made our antagonist mysterious and unpredictable so that the audience are scary. These portrayals are important when creating and thriller genre film because they create shock suspense and surprise for the audience. The planning for our characters helped my group make them as effective as possible, we had a chance to make them conventional and we could think in depth about how we could make them relatable for the audience. This made our opening sequence characters as best as we could get them because we were allowed to discuss in detail about what worked vest within the thriller genre.

Planning sound - Miss Miller

If films didn't have sounds it would ineffective, the sound is what makes the film feel realistic they make the audience aware of everything in the film world as well as building their emotions. Planning is essential to do when organising our opening sequence, we can elaborate on how we want to be effect and also on what where the best place to use them would be. The sounds almost always links in with the shot on screen, they relate to what the audience are seeing, and evolve on the feelings the audience feel.

Non-diegetic


At the beginning of the opening sequence we have added  non-diegetic sound, it is as the girls are walking down the pathway and then go their separate ways, it also stay for some of the section and Cathryn is walking down on her own. throughout this scene there is going to be music playing, we have chosen an eerie, slow track which isn't going to be played to loud. We picked this because we thought it was best when creating the suspense and tension for our film. By using this non-diegetic sound we wanted to emphasis on the fact that the victim is becoming an easier target further and further into the opening sequence as she gets deeper in to forest and separate from her friends and only chance of help. The suspense built makes this sound technique conventional because it is the most effective emotions to have within in a thriller film, it engages the audience and leave them with an enigma. The audience become intrigued and in suspense about the action that are being foreshadowed in the film, they also feel slightly sympathetic for Cathryn as they can she her vulnerability.

Silence

There first sound we are going to use is silence, this is when there is barley any sound in the scene, so there is either little sound to completely no sound at all. My group are going to use this as Cathryn (our victim) has left her friends and is alone walking through the forest. The scene is not going to absolutely silent there is going to be natural back ground sounds from the setting for example there could be falling leaves or birds. We are looking to create a sense of loneliness and vulnerability for the victim or to show the audience that she is far away from any help, this sound emphasising on her isolation. This is conventional as she is the stereotypical victim and the sound we are adding to the scene emphasises this by showing her as an easy target. It makes it audience fear for Cathryn, it also builds suspense for them adding to further actions in the opening sequence.

Off screen

My group and I decided to use an off screen sound also as Cathryn has left her friends and is on her own walking through the forest. We are going to use crunching leaves in the pattern of footsteps, which the audience cant see the source of. My group chose to use this sound because we believe it will add to the tension of our opening sequence, it will do this by explaining to the audience that our victim is not alone and that she could be in danger. It portrays he innocence and vulnerability. The unknown footsteps are mysterious and intriguing which engages the audience to concentrate on the films surroundings, this then build suspense and adds to the shock and surprise. This is conventional because of enigma it leave with the audience as the are engaging with the film. The footsteps also allow the audience to build and relationship with the Cathryn as they feel sympathetic for her because she is on her own with no help making an easy target for the antagonist.


Parallel


Another sound technique that is going to be included in our opening sequence is parallel sound, we are going add this to the scene when Cathryn catches a glimpse of the antagonists trick figure. As she turns around and to see the fake silhouette of her murderer she starts to panic, this is when the heavy breathing of her becoming alarmed begins. We chose to have parallel sound in our sequence because we thought it added to the characters emotions as well as the audiences. We hoped to create stronger rapport with the character and audience by making the scene as effective and possible and making the emotions of the characters extremely clear. This sound is conventional to the thriller genre as it builds the stereotypical effects for the audience, it creates suspense and leaves an enigma, making the audience want to continue watching. The audience again feel sympathetic for the victim as result of the sound element, it makes it clear to them that she is worried and beginning to panic. This makes them what her to find help, but they know that she is isolated and in a lot of danger.

Adding these sound into our opening sequence creates macro-elements and deeper meaning into the actions and scene. The sound we have chosen create effective emotions and reactions from the audience, they make the film more intriguing and exciting whilst watching it. They add to the conventions of a thriller by build on the audiences emotions and leaving them with an enigma. The sound planning and preparation was useful for my group and it because it aloud us to think in depth about how we wanted the sounds to react with the audience and how we wanted them to add to their emotions and the characters emotions.

Planning editing styles - Miss Georgiou

Editing styles are important to include in our opening sequence because they create the most shock suspense and surprise. They do this by changing shots in different ways to make the film conventional. They do this by placing it in such a way that the audience can relate and build relationships with the characters. Editing styles are used to make enigma and engage the audience into the film.

Example 1 -
One of the editing styles my group is going to be using is a jump cut, this is when the camera shot switches from on scene or location to another. This is going to be used at first on Cathryn, our victim, and then change on to the antagonist watching her. This is so that the audience can see both characters situations and views.
   Having this editing technique is conventional to the thriller genre because it creates shock. This will be the first shot that the audience realise the victim is being watched. Shock is one of the most important, effective emotions within a thriller film, it scares the audience, showing how the edit is conventional because it is what they want to have when watching a thriller. For this reason we have decided to have the jump here to create tension and build up to the shock.
   As the audience can see both characters positions they can build emotions of what is being foreshadowed. They can build a rapport with the antagonist and his intensions and with the victim and her feelings. They an clearly see that the antagonist is watching her and is preparing to attack her, they can also see the she is starting to panic about the sounds she is hearing. The audience can not only build a relationship with both characters they can also understand the relationship between both characters.
This editing technique creates shock and surprise for the audience because the speed of the change, the shot immediately changes onto the other emphasising the panic. Having shock and surprise within a thriller film makes the audience build a relationship with the characters because they can understand how they are feeling and relate to it.



Example 2 -
Another editing technique that's going to be in our opening sequence is slow editing, this means the shots last for longer and don't change as often. This will be used for the beginning half of our sequence whilst the girls are making their way down the path way approaching the split, and whilst they are saying goodbye the Cathryn. This will continue with her until the first trick figure appears and she starts to panic.
    Using this technique here will make the scene compelling because of how conventional it is. Having the scene slow and sluggish makes the suspense and apprehension more effective, this makes the audience tense and want know the outcome of the characters situation. These emotions are stereotypical of the thriller genre because they build up to the fall of shock and surprise.
    This then makes the audience feel worried for the victim and concerned for their future in the film. They can build a relationship on this because they feel sympathetic for the character as the foreshadowing is not hopeful.



Example 3 -
My group and I are also going to be using timing of shots editing. In the second half of our opening sequence the antagonist strikes the victim, this is when the shot going sped up so that the scene becomes energetic and exciting.
    The conventions of this editing technique are strong, the fast pace of the scene creates shock and suspense. It helps build the scene up so that the audience become intrigued, it creates the stereotypical emotions of panic and threat. These feeling are often needed in  a thriller film to make the narrative effective, they create suspense.
    The audience become worried when watching this scene because the fact that Cathryn is in trouble is emphasised by the fast moving shots. This then makes them tense as they are not aware of the future of the film, they are being tormented about the antagonists actions. Because the audience know Cathryn is in trouble feel panic and worry for her, these emotions allow the audience the relate and build a relationship with the character meaning they are more intrigued into the film.


Planning our editing techniques was useful because it allowed my group and I to discuss how we wanted it to effect the audience and how we wanted them to show the characters. We were given the chance to debate on the ideas and chose the one which would make our film most conventional and to make it effective for the audience. It helped us create the right emotions in order for out film to have shock suspense and surprise elements which make thriller films most successful.

Group planning - Miss Georgiou

My group includes myself, Ryan Samuels and Charlie Stewart, we have regular group meetings to organise and plan our opening sequence. We have these meeting so we can talk though or ideas and elaborate not them so that we can get closer to the final plan of our film. The meetings help us when trying to construct our micro elements and their meanings, they allow us to discuss how we want the content to look and what we want connote.

In our first meeting we were discussing our individual narrative ideas and inspirations. We were analysing them and choosing which plot we wanted to have or change. Our decision was to use my narrative but change it slightly. We reviewed the idea and made the adjustments so that our opening sequence was more effective and created more emotions for the audience.

We wrote down or ideas for our film, we discussed the target audience, codes and conventions, representations of characters, mise-en-scene, cinematography, sound and editing. Our group wrote what we are going to have for each of these categories, we made some rough ideas and decided on some important elements that are going to be used for example to characters names and the setting of our opening sequence. There are two A3 sheets which we put our ideas on, the points are not extremely detailed as we are going to elaborate on each micro elements in other group meetings so that we can focus on the different assets in depth.

In the next meeting we are going to plan our miss-en-scene, we are going to discuss the five different sections of it to create their meanings and the emotions we want to from them. We will make a brief plan of the points we are want to include and then elaborate on them to make their effects stronger. This will help us to organise our opening sequence and allow us to relate it to the audience as much as possible.

In the next meeting we planned cinematography. We discussed how we wanted each movements, angle and position so portray the character, for example we wanted high angle looking down on our victim so that she look weak and vulnerable. We talked about how we could use them to allow the audience to relate to the characters and their situations.

Afterwards we will be looking at our editing styles. For this we need to consider each technique and how they will work with the actions and situations in the opening sequence. Some will need react when the shots changes and some will need to change pace. For example we want slow editing in the beginning half of our sequence so we are going to need to discuss how long each shot should last for in order for it so reach it's full effect.

Next we will talk about the sounds we want to use. There are lots of different types of sound within the film world and out of it, so we will discuss how each sound should add to the scene, what is happening and how they should relate or emphasise the audiences emotions. The sound is a very important asset to a film because it is what makes it interesting and exciting meaning the audience will want to watch on. Sound is used a lot to create suspense, shock, surprise and enigma in thriller film so we are going to plan out how to use them in order to build these feelings.

In our next group meeting we will discuss our characters. We have already decided on two main characters, a victim and an antagonist. But in this session we will plan their names, their background and their personality. Our antagonist will need to fill all the conventions of his stereotypical thriller character and the victim will also need to be conventional and relatable for the audience.

Last we will plan our opening credits for the sequence. In this we will need to consider who/what we are going to included and in what order the should run in. Another element we need to discuss is the font and colours of our writing they will need to be conventional of a thriller film, and foreshadow information about the film.




Group Meetings

In the planning of a thriller productions it is important to carry out meetings and  discussions so that the best results are achieved. Discussing the plan of the our opening sequence meant we could come to the best decisions on what works best and what looks best. The group meetings are important because they allow the group to talk about everyone's ideas and add in their own opinions. This led to the best outcome as the advantages and disadvantages are considered in each asset of the production meaning the group can work around them to make it as good as possible. These meeting and discussions are important to carry out because they help the group plan out their opening sequence in depth thinking about every angle of the production.
I think my group worked well together, we discussed all of our elements and took in each others opinions. Discussing our ideas meant we could adjust our work to improve it and remove any faults or disadvantages. It also allowed up to add to our stronger assets to make them even more effective. Although we had a few disagreements we still managed to come to best conclusions that benefitted our opening sequence.

Date	Action	To be done by	By whom	Discussions
13.10.14	To agree and decide on a group narrative	17.10.14	Whole group	Discuss ideas and concepts that group members have, reflect on the ideas and then decide on a final group narrative
21.10.14	Planning mise-en-scene	24.10.14	Whole Group	Discuss the mise-en-scene we will use and the effect it creates. Plan what iconography we will use.
2.11.14	Planning Cinematography	4.11.14	Ryan Samuels, Charlie Stewart	Discuss the cinematography techniques and start to plan the shots we will include.
5.11.14	Planning Sounds	7.11.14	Whole Group	Discuss the different types of sounds and plan what sound effects and music we will feature.
9.11.14	Planning Editing Styles	12.11.14	Jess Day, Charlie Stewart	Discuss the editing techniques we will use and plan how we will transition from each frame.
15.11.14	Planning Opening Credits	17.11.14	Whole Group	Plan how the credits will look and how we will order them.
18.11.14	Planning Characters	20.11.1	Jess Day, Charlie Stewart	Plan all the characters and how they would be conventional to thriller films.
22.11.14	Group Storyboards	24.11.14	Whole Group	Use our individual storyboards to create a final group version.
25.11.14	Filming Schedule	28.11.14	Jess Day	Create a filming schedule detailing dates and locations
29.11.14	Risk Assessment	30.11.14	Whole Group	Assess the potential risks and how we can make sure our filming goes as planned
1.12.14	Filming the thriller	8.12.14	Whole Group	Film all the scenes in our film