Thriller Planning

 Planning:

- Detailed Summary:

A woman is at a party and has to leave early, so she starts walking home alone. She starts to hear noises like footsteps and rustling bushes, etc. She gets a phone call from an unknown number and answers. There’s a man’s voice “I can see you!” She laughs thinking it’s her friends. “Stop (Laughs) stop joking around”. The man repeats himself several times. She starts to get scared and realise it isn’t her friends. She walks through a subway (back lighting, but very dark). She stops and shouts “Who is this?” The man is now standing behind her with some light on his face, which is sweating and covered in blood. He says “I’m guna get you!” (Blackout cues by woman’s scream.

For the titles, there are going to be stalking photos of many people with crossing outs drawn on them. Also, shocking images of possible weapons for each death (each photo will be positive turned into negative image to show that something has happened to them). Lastly, there is a picture of a woman, another stalking picture to show that this could be the next victim.

The next scene is the next morning, the police have found the body, the investigator and police are talking about how the death could have been committed, etc.

- Short Summary:

A woman walks hoe alone from a party, gets a phone call from an unknown number. She walks into a subway and a man is on the phone and says “I’m guna get you!” The next morning, the police investigate the body, while a police member and an investigator talk about how the death was committed.

- Setting List:

• Subway - Where the first murder is shown.
• Street - When the girl is walking home herself.
• House - A house party is taking place.

- Character Description:

Investigator: Doesn’t like the site of blood, it makes him feel ill. He has been really good at his job but not so much recently with this new murderer. He can’t seem to work out any clues because there haven’t been any clues left. He dresses very casual in a long coat when he is investigating a murder.

            Women Killed: Left from a party early, killed for reasons not clear at the beginning. She is dressed in party clothes.

            Police Member: Doing his day to day job. He does private work for the investigator because he was also employed by him to help with the blood situation. He is dressed in police uniform.

            Murderer: Knows who he goes for, every time. He plans everything before he kills a victim. He doesn’t leave any clues. He makes sure he isn’t found. You don’t see what he is wearing. You just see his face covered in sweat and blood.

- Script:

Scene one:

            At a party, girl getting ready to go while everyone is still having a good time. She leaves the room. See her walking down the street, she hears footsteps, etc then her phone rings.

Girl: (answer phone) Hello!

Man: (Creepy voice) I can see you!

Girl: (Laughs) Stop it guys?

Man: I can see you!

(No reply)

Man: I can see you!

(Girls start to get scared)

Man: I can see you!

(Girl stops in subway)

Girl: Who is this!?

Man: (standing behind her) I’m guna get you!

(Blackout)

Scene Two:

            Near the subway, tape around the entrance, people police/further investigators in background checking the area and body. Investigator and police member enter.

Investigator: So, what do you think has happened?

Police member: We have no idea.

Investigator: (look surprised) what no clue at all?

PM: We think it may be stabbing or shooting, but we can’t be sure, so much damage has been made!

Investigator: (look concerned and worried) OK! Thanks anyway. I need to check back with the office

(Police member walks back to the crime scene, investigator walks off scene.)

Shooting Schedule:

Green = Proposal Idea
Location - House/Living Room and Front Hall

Camera Angle ‘Long Shot’ of room with everyone dancing – 1-2 seconds

Camera Angle ‘Medium Shot’ of girl getting ready to go – 2-3 seconds

Camera Angle ‘Long Shot’ of girl walking out of the house – 1-2 seconds

Location - Street/Path

Camera Angle ‘Moving subject walks into space’ of girl walking in the street –2-3 seconds

Camera Angle ‘Over the shoulder’ of walking behind her – 2-3 seconds

Camera Angle ‘Long Shot’ of girl looking behind her – 1-2 seconds

Camera Angle ‘Close – up’ of phone ringing – 2-3 seconds

Camera Angle ‘Crab Left/Right’ of girl walking while talking on the phone – 5-6 seconds.

Camera Angle ‘Crab Left/Right’ of girl walking into the subway – 1-2 seconds

Location - Subway

Camera Angle ‘Close-up’ of girl stopped in the subway – 1-2 seconds

Camera Angle ‘Close-up’ of man standing behind the girl – 2-3 seconds

Blackout while hearing a scream – 1-2 seconds.

Location - Unknown (Titles)

Camera Angle ‘High Angle’ of past victims with crossing out drawn on them – 4-5 seconds

Camera Angle ‘High Angle’ of first weapon – 4-5 seconds

Camera Angle ‘High Angle’ of second weapon – 4-5 seconds

Camera Angle ‘High Angle’ of third weapon – 4-5 seconds

Camera Angle ‘High Angle’ of fourth weapon – 4-5-seconds.

Camera Angle ‘High Angle’ of picture of possibly next victim -4-5 seconds.

Location - Subway Entrance

Camera Angle ‘Medium Long Shot’ of Subway entrance – 1-2 seconds.

Camera Angle ‘Medium Long shot’ of police member walking towards the investigator – 2-3 seconds

Camera Angle ‘Two shot-Medium Shot’ of Police Member and Investigator talking – 3-4 seconds.

Camera Angle ‘Over the Shoulder’ of police member talking to the investigator -3-4 seconds

Camera Angle ‘Over the Shoulder’ of investigator talking to the police member – 2-3 seconds

Camera Angle ‘Medium Long Shot’ of police member walking to crime scene and investigator walking off scene -2-3 seconds.

Proposal:

We would like to use a slow Cutting Rhythm but play with convention to make it seem tense, instead of relaxed. We think this would make our piece creative because techniques are there to use effectively and accurately and we think this could cause the audience to feel disorientated and that is the aim of Thrillers but we want to try it in a different style to make our piece unique.

First Storyboard:
This storyboard was created before we started planning and filming. As the process when on it changed in various ways which left us we our final product.

Filming Evidence:

This is evidence of when we were shooting a short scene for our second to last draft.

This is evidence when we were shooting a close up in the scene before the titles. Again this was for our second to last draft.

Evidence of Editing:

This is evidence of editing where we would shorten certain clips. As you can see the editing has improved and progressed throughout the images.

Email for Copyrights:

This was our email that we sent to Charlie Clouser for permission to use a soundtrack from 'Dead Silence' for our thriller opening.

Audience Feedback

We asked people from our media class which was our target audience some questions for our thriller and we got some useful feedback in which we can use to make our thriller opening more appealing to them.

'What has the film done to earn marks and make it successful?'   

The Feedback was:

· Sound Bridge to show the person is in the same place

· A Montage - shows creativity

· Music on the titles, the fit with the genre

· The range of camera angles

· Sound with the action

· And The framing of the shots

'What would you recommend the directors of the film do in order to improve the film further?'  
The Feedback was:

• To use a range/ more transitions
• To show more creativity
• Tense music at the beginning
• Create our own production company
• To  improve the shake of the camera during the end

This feedback was very useful, as it helped us to improve our thriller opening to make beneficial changes and then to make it to a more desirable quality.

Questionnaire Feedback:

We asked our target audience from outside of our media lesson on feedback from the thriller film so far. We wanted to make a wider audience research because it would show the different opinions from different audiences. This would help us with our thriller opening because it would suit more people and more people would enjoy it and would want to watch the rest of the film.

1) What do you think would make this opneing more interesting?

• You already have a cliffhanger which makes me want to watch the rest of the film.
• I find that your opening is already interesting and i don't think it needs any extra information.
• I think that you could establish that the man is constantly following the girl. 

With these results it was hard to show what we could have done to make the opening more interesting. There doesn't seem like alot of answers that is because most people agreed with each other.

2)  Is there anything in the opening that isn't needed in this opening so far?

• Most of our target audience said no. They think that we have covered the right information and story plot into the opening and that all of the information given is revelant to the meaning and plot of our thriller. 

With this results we were proud that we haven't made the opening too confusing and unclear. We are proud that they find that the information is revelant to what we want to get across.

3) Is there anything neede to make the opening clear and unstandable of the storyline? 

• Following the question before our audience found that the opening was already clear and that there wasn't anything in their opinion that needed any more information to show what we wanted to get across. Our target audience said that we had already made our story clear and understandable on what was going on.

Independent Study - Tips when filiming a Thriller Film/Opening



Step One: The Mind of the audience!

 Change everything in your screenplay so that it is done for the audience.  Nothing is more important than how each scene is going to affect the viewer.  Make sure the content engages them and reels them in. Use the characters to tease the viewer and pull them along desperately wanting more.
             Hitchcock knew why people are drawn to a darkened theatre to absorb themselves for hours with images on a screen.  They do it to have fun. The theatre audiences know they are safe.  As a film director you can throw things at them, hurl them off a cliff, or pull them into a dangerous love story, and they know that nothing will happen to them.  They're confident that they'll be able to walk out the exit when it’s done and resume their normal lives.  And, the more fun they have, the quicker they will come back begging for more.

Step Two: Frame the emotion!

Step Three: The Camera is not a Camera!

            The camera should take on human qualities and roam around playfully looking for something suspicious in a room.  This allows the audience to feel like they are involved in uncovering the story.  Scenes can often begin by panning a room showing close-ups of objects that explain plot elements.

Step Four: Dialogue means nothing!

One of your characters must be pre-occupied with something during a dialogue scene.  Their eyes can then be distracted while the other person doesn't notice.  This is a good way to pull the audience into a character's secretive world.
           “People don’t always express their inner thoughts to one another” said Hitchcock, “a conversation may be quite trivial, but often the eyes will reveal what a person thinks or needs.”  The focus of the scene should never be on what the characters are actually saying.  Have something else going on.  Resort to dialogue only when it’s impossible to do otherwise. 

Step Five: Point of View Editing!

Putting an idea into the mind of the character without explaining it in dialogue is done by using a point-of-view shot sequence the eyes of the characters and add something for them to look at.
- Start with a close-up of the actor
- Cut to a shot of what they're seeing
- Cut back to the actor to see his reaction
- Repeat as desired
           You can edit back and forth between the character and the subject as many times as you want to build tension. The audience won't get bored.  This is the most powerful form of cinema, even more important than acting. The audience will believe they are sharing something personal with the character.  This is what Hitchcock calls “pure cinema.”

Step Six: Montage gives you control!

Divide action into a series of close-ups shown in succession.  Don't avoid this basic technique.   This is not the same as throwing together random shots into a fight sequence to create confusion.  Instead, carefully chose a close-up of a hand, an arm, a face, a gun falling to the floor - tie them all together to tell a story.  In this way you can portray an event by showing various pieces of it and having control over the timing. You can also hide parts of the event so that the mind of the audience is engaged. (Truffaut)
            Hitchcock said this was “transferring the menace from the screen into the mind of the audience.” The famous shower scene in ‘Psycho’ uses montage to hide the violence.  You never see the knife hitting Janet Leigh.  The impression of violence is done with quick editing, and the killing takes place inside the viewer's head rather than the screen. Also important is to know when not to cut.
             Basic rule: anytime something important happens, show it in a close-up.  Make sure the audience can see it.

Step Seven: Keep the story simple!

If your story is confusing or requires a lot of memorization, you're never going to get suspense out of it.  The key to creating that raw Hitchcock energy is by using simplistic stories that the audience can easily follow.  Everything in your screenplay must be streamlined to offer maximum dramatic impact.  Remove all extraneous material and keep it crisp.  Each scene should include only those essential ingredients that make things gripping for the audience. As Hitchcock says, “what is drama, after all, but life with the dull bits cut out…”
          An abstract story will bore the audience. This is why Hitchcock tended to use crime stories with spies, assassinations, and people running from the police.  These sorts of plots make it easy to play on fear, but are not mandatory for all movies.

Step Eight: Characters must break Cliché!

            Make all of your characters the exact opposite of what the audience expects in a movie.  Turn dumb blondes into smart blondes, give the Cuban guy a French accent, and the criminals must be rich and successful.   They should have unexpected personalities, making decisions on a whim rather than what previous build up would suggest. These sort of ironic characters make them more realistic to the audience, and much riper for something to happen to them.
             Hitchcock criminals tend to be wealthy upper class citizens whom you’d never suspect, the policeman and politicians are usually the bumbling fools, the innocent are accused, and the villains get away with everything because nobody suspects them.  They surprise you at every step of the plot.

Step Nine: Two things happening at once!

Build tension into a scene by using contrasting situations.  Use two unrelated things happening at once.  The audience should be focused on the momentum of one, and be interrupted by the other.  Usually the second item should be a humorous distraction that means nothing (this can often be dialogue.)  It was put there by you only to get in the way.

For example, ‘in Spellbound’, Ingrid Bergman sees a note which has been slipped under her door.  Just when she grabs for it, her colleagues walk in and speak with her about the disappearance of Gregory Peck, completely unaware they are standing on top of the note from him! The end result is – the audience pays for attention to what’s happening.

Step Ten: Suspense is information!

“Information” is essential to Hitchcock suspense; showing the audience what the characters don’t see.  If something is about to harm the characters, show it at beginning of the scene and let the scene play out as normal.  Constant reminders of this looming danger will build suspense.  But remember - the suspense is not in the mind of the character.  They must be completely unaware of it.

In “Family Plot” Hitchcock shows the audience that brake fluid is leaking out of a car well before the characters find out about it.

Step Eleven: Surprise and Twist!

Once you've built your audience into gripping suspense it must never end the way they expect.  The bomb must never go off!  Lead them in one direction and then pull the rug out from under them in a surprise twist.

For example, in the climax scene of ‘Saboteur’, Norman Lloyd is cornered on the top of the Statue of Liberty as Robert Cummings holds him at gunpoint.  Just when you think it's over, Cummings begins to speak, startling Lloyd to fall backwards over the edge!