Set Design Idea.

We are planning on building a coffin. It will be a rectangular shape box with detachable sides that we can detach in order to film. We will also build it in the studio. To build this we will need wood and something to hold it together but that will also let us take sides away. I think the only problem we have with building this is will be the practicality of it. We would like it to look like a coffin as we are unable to buy a coffin and bury it in the ground and then film it. 

Locations.

Our opening sequence is mainly set in a box (which we will be using as a coffin) as the theme is all about being trapped and confine so therefore we will film this in the studio at school. It is a possibility we might film a few panning shots in Peaslake graveyard to show where the coffin is underground, but this is still a possibility as we aren't 100% if we want to include this yet. If we decide to do that then we will need to shoot in Peaslake graveyard as it is the closest graveyard to school and we don’t want spend a lot of time travelling to and from a location.
                                 

We may need to ask permission to film for an hour in the graveyard but Tom is going to look into it and find out what we need to do. If the weather is raining that may also be a problem so we will have to keep checking the weather forecast the week before.

We will ask if we can get on one of the school mini busses that goes to Peaslake in order to get there and if we are not allowed we will get one of our parents to drop us off there in the morning. We don’t intend on being there for long as we only need to film one shot that is a pan out so we can see the whole graveyard. So we will be there for about an hour.

As you can see Peaslake graveyard is not that far away from school so we will allow 20 minutes travel time.

We have chosen the graveyard as we see the girl in the coffin and the audience are wondering where she is and why she’s there. They then figure out she is buried alive. Next it pans out and we see the whole graveyard and figure someone wants her dead and then the screen goes black. Creating suspense and it will make people want to watch.

Costumes & Props Possible Ideas.

As we only have one character in our opening sequence, we only need one costume. At first we thought maybe the girl could just be in casual clothes as she is a teenager, so we thought jeans and a top would be fine. After discussing this, we thought it may look plain and boring and it would look much better if the girl was dressed up in something like a wedding dress as it would create more questions to the audience and it would also create more suspense, which is a main convention of a thriller.

We are going to buy the wedding dress from a charity shop or we are going to look at home to see if any of us have anything remotely similar to a wedding dress, which will save us money. If something goes wrong, we will just go back to the original plan of the jeans and t-shirt as they are easy to get hold of, or we could possibly just find a white dress to use.

We don’t know the exact cost of the wedding dress yet as each charity shop varies in price, the jeans and t-shirt wont cost anything as one of us will just bring them in from home (and they will be old clothes that we don’t wear anymore.) As mentioned above we are going to use the wedding dress to create more questions and tension and we are also going to cover it in mud which creates even more questions. For example: where has she been? And why is a teenage girl dressed in a wedding dress covered in mud?

As our actress will be trapped inside a box, we don't really need any props as the space is very confined and any props may help her be able to get out. However, we will need a digital timer which we will use as a light source. 

Institutions.

Since our group are making a small budget thriller, we would like to make as much money as we possibly can out of it. Therefore, advertising and marketing is crucial. I think it would be a good idea to release the film sometime in October as it is close to Halloween and more people will want to go and see it. We could use things such as convergence to help advertise our film. For example, we could get twitter, facebook and snapchat and release things on there that will get people interested, we could also host competitions to gain even more interest. 
Our film would probably be shown in smaller cinemas as it has a low budget and no big names star in it so big cinema chains such as Odeon and Vue would not show it, However, we would release the film on DVD and sell merchandise along with it.

After doing some research I discovered several film production and distribution companies. I decided to choose Vertigo Films, this is because they are produce a lot of low budget British films, which is exactly what our film would be.  They have made many different films over the past few years and a lot of them have different genres. 

However, they made WΔZ, which is a Horror Thriller, which is what our film is going to be. Watch the trailer below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCgdGfobM2E

This is similar to our film as it involves a lot of mystery. A body is found with coding on it, and in our opening sequence, a body is trapped in a coffin. The trailer also focuses on the eyes a lot, which is what we planned to do in our opening sequence, Finally, there is the mystery of what the code means and why is the girl in our opening sequence in the coffin.

I think our film would be perfect for Vertigo. As I mentioned before, they produce low budget, British films, which is exactly what our film (opening sequence) is going to be. I also think our film would fit in great on their website:

 http://www.vertigofilms.com/films.php#.VInRqDnUXFI

Looking at the films that Vertigo have produced and distributed, I would say that target several different audiences, this is because they have a wide range of films that cover lots of different genres and obviously different types of people will like different genres. I think this is good because as a film and distribution company, they have a wide range of audiences. Meaning that if some of that audience see the film on the website and have liked all the other vertigo films, they will probably like this one and therefore brings in a bigger audience for our film. 

Test Footage.

We decided to film our test shoot on the football pitch at school, as we didn’t have access to a graveyard. We filmed our opening sequence for our Thriller idea. We filmed a man standing at the back of a funeral and then we see a close up of him texting the words ‘you’re next’ and it cuts back to the funeral and he has gone and we are left seeing a girl looking worried and panicked.

As said above, we were unable to get access to an actual funeral\ graveyard so we therefore had to compromise. We filmed the opening sequence on our school football pitch and had to use actors that were16-17 year olds in their own school clothes (not funeral attire) We also didn’t have a coffin or a hold in the ground to bury it in so we just had to pretend that there was one there. Finally, we had to use me instead of the creepy man who stood at the back as Tom was missing from our group.

We used a lot of panning in our opening sequence, to put into perspective how big the space was and how close the actually was to the girl and was also wanted to pan so you are able to see the location of the funeral. We also used a few close ups to show emotion on the girls face to make the audience empathise with her and so we could see what the man was typing on the phone.

                                      

Starts with a mid shot then pans out to an extreme long shot.

               

close up of a phone to see what the text says

Midshot of faces.

                                                        

                                                  

mid shot that pans to show rest of group. 

I thought this process was very useful as it enabled us to see our idea was not good enough to be our opening sequence and it also was to short. It also didn’t create much tension. The pace was also very slow which made it boring and uninteresting to watch. There were a few elements that we thought were good such as the close ups and the pan to put things into perspective so therefore we are going to carry them through to our next idea. We are also going to take through the coffin idea but are going to scrap the funeral element of it. Taking all this into consideration we decided to change the idea to make it more tense and interesting. We pitched the idea and also took the feedback into consideration. We decided to changed our idea so that the whole thing is set in a coffin

Minute Meetings.

17/11/14

What have you done?
We planned locations and angles for scenes. Decided what props we need.Decided how much time we will spend shooting at each location. 

Targets:
Tom: To ask if you are allowed an hour out of the music video. Freddy: Think in more detail about the Pavilion scene. Claudia: Make a Facebook group and add us all so we can share pictures etc from the lesson.

What went well and why:
Decided where we want to film and how we will film scenes in the classroom.
What went bad and why:
Didn't discuss fully what we are going to film at the Pavilion & the angles we will use. Didn't have enough time as we thought of the idea at the end of the lesson.

18/11/14
What have you done?

Today, we focused on our thriller length and complexity, and decided it was too long for an introduction sequence. We completed our story board for tomorrows practice lesson. We created a Whatsapp group so we could communicate more easily. We fitted our sequence into around two minutes and finalized the locations and props for tomorrow.

Targets:
Tom: To find time from the music video to go and take part in the practice film session. Eliza: Finish the storyboard drawings. Freddy: Check over the original idea, make sure we haven't missed anything that could make our sequence more thrilling. Claudia: Contact each of the group to make sure Whatsapp works.

What went well:
We established a way of contacting each other easily, so we can organize things when we are at home. We also managed to decide on a story that will fit roughly into the timespan.

What didn't go well:

We wasted a little time deciding on ideas that would fit into the timespan and still be tense.

20/11/14
Today we filmed the reccy shoot filming each shot in chronological order, each in one take. 

Targets:
Claudia-upload videos onto laptop so we have back up copies. Tom-catch up on what missed and go through what problems came up. Group- discuss ways to lengthen the sequence. Maybe we could write some dialogue so that there is more substance to the shots so they don't seem as long. 

WWW- it was useful to see how the shot pieced together and it helped us to get a more visual idea of how our thoughts worked together, therefore making it easier to adapt and add in ideas to our sequence to improve it.
WWB- we need to discuss in more detail how to extend the sequence as it only came up to a minute. so that held us back as we were running out of ideas and we need to discuss in more detail how to adapt our idea. 

21/11/14
What has worked well:
To increase the tension we positioned 'claudia' in the background to show a hooded figure in the background which the girl cant see. this worked well we thought as it shows the thrilling side of the opening scene opening the question of "who is the person in the background?"
Another thing that worked well we felt was the camera angle we used to show the girls face expressions of fear and vulnerability. we used a closeup which worked really well to show these emotions to the audience and increase suspense of whats going to happen to her.

What didn't work so well:

We felt the general pace of the opening scene wasnt quite right and we maybe need to work on that to make it quicker and therefore more tense or slower and slower. This definitely is a weakness of the piece at the moment as it isn't flowing very well with the pace we used in the tester film.

Also to improve the piece we think that we could add more to it whether thats mroe sound or another twist or even cut things out and replace them with other ideas because most of the group agree at the moment the story line isn't strong enough to create that thrilling effect on its own but needs more to be successfull.

24/11/14

What have you done:
Noticed our idea was still too complex and we were trying to channel too many ideas into one, Decided final idea, of being at a funeral, we see a lot of sad people and then the camera pans down to the coffin & we see the woman is alive. It then cuts to a man laughing. We also talked through a few points for the pitch
Targets: Eliza: prepare pitch for tomorrow. Freddy: create a story board for the pitch tomorrow. Claudia: inform tom on what he missed in today's lesson.
WWW: Today we discussed what was bad in our idea and what we could do to make it better, we finally decided our final idea & everyone is happy with it. Decided who was going to present the pitch & who is going to write feedback. 
WWB: Left it quite late to decide our final idea, which made our overall summary & opening sequence suffer. We didn't really have a clear pitch, we just talked through a few ideas of what we want to include, as eliza is presenting the pitch, she is going to finish it at home. 



11/12/14

What have you done:

Today we discussed the props, costume and set.

Targets:Eliza:describe and make notes on the costume. Try and find some possible and affordable dresses that we could use.

Tom:Try and find a set where we can film the graveyard establishing shots.

Claudia:Catch up on new ideas about costumes and props.

Freddy:Think more about props needed.
 

13/1/15

What went well?

We researched wedding dresses and decided on the look we want, we also finalised our idea for the coffin, which should be made later in the week.

What went wrong?

We didn't manage to finish a scene outline.

Targets

C: Research wedding dresses

E: Catch up on the things you missed

F: Come up with ideas for our scene outlines

T: Ask Adam about using Peaslake graveyard

15/1/15

WWW: we narrowed down the exact look and style of the dress which we are all going to look for for friday

WWB:we didn't find the dress that we originally wanted online

targets:

Eliza- got To Cranleigh ad look for a dress in the charity shop.

Freddy- make sure we have all the props listed and together so we know if we need anything else.

Tom-make sure all the minute meetings are covered from this week and last so we know if were missing anything and to ensure all the targets have been met my the group.

Claudia-buy a dress if Eliza cant find one.

18/01/15
WWW: we discussed further the exact sequence of events for our thriller and the scene outline
WWB: cant agree on an order
everyone- write down the order of events you want

21/01/15
WWW: we decided on the order of events for the scene outline
WWB:  we didn't manage to finish the story board
Claudia: write up the exact actions in the specific order for the scene outline
Freddy: write up the different potential camera angles and movements that would be suiting for each of the actions. 
Eliza + Tom: in an enigma set aside the slot to draw up the storyboard for the shooting day.

127 Hours:
28.01.11 
Produced by: Everest Entertainment, HandMade Films,Warner Bros. Entertainment, Film4 Productions,Cloud Eight Films. Directed by Danny Boyle. 

Similarities: James Franco who plays the part of Aron Ralston, is hiking in Blue John Canyon in Utah, when a boulder falls and traps his arm, making him unable to move far. This is like our thriller because our actress is also trapped inside a coffin, unable to move far. 

Differences: 127 Hours is a adventure film as well as a thriller where as we would like our film to be a straight thriller. 





Lovely Bones:
24.11.09
Directed by Peter Jackson
Produced by Carolynne Cunningham, Peter Jackson, Aimée Peyronnet, Fran Walsh.

Similarities: Both films use a male killer and a female victim and try to get the audience to 
feel sympathy for her by doing so.

Differences: Lovely Bones focuses on the point of view of one person, Susie, where as we 
would like our film to focus on both the killer and the victims point of view.












Kill Bill, Volume Two:
16.04.04
Directed by Quentin Tarrentino
Produced By:A band apart & Mirimax.

Similarities: Both films have a scene where there is a female stuck inside a coffin. 

Differences: Kill Bill Volume 2 is a more of an action film, although it is also a thriller, Whereas our film Beneath, is much more of a straight thriller.  

Moodboard.

We liked the idea of someone being trapped so found images of people trapped in coffins. It is set in a graveyard so we added some pictures of a graveyard and a grave that was about to be buried. There is a timer as time is a big element in this opening sequence as the timer is counting down but we never reveal what happens when it gets to.

In the top left, we see two hands banging on some glass, the person is obviously trapped or stuck somewhere, we liked this idea as we wanted our actress to be stuck in the coffin. I also thought the idea of us being able to see through the top of the coffin, so it looks like were looking down on them would be good, however, this is difficult to achieve as we would have to make the top of the coffin glass, all though we could just take the top of the coffin off and this would give the same effect. The fifth image down on the left also has this effect.

The middle picture on the top row is where I picture our coffin to be, deep under the ground. This image puts it into perspective. You can also see this in the 5th picture down in the middle.

In the top right we see a girl stuck in a coffin, i liked the was it was lit in this coffin as it is just enough to see around, however, i didn't like the idea of a lighter. We also see people stuck in pictures: 2down on the right and left and fourth down on the left. We also see a woman stuck in a coffin in bottom left, this is from Kill Bill.

Third down on the left and third down in the middle and fifth down on the right, we see a grave yard, This is where we will cut to to show the audience where we are.

There are two images on this mood board to do with time, a clock and a timer. This is important and time is running out and she needs to get out the coffin before it does, so time is important to help create and build tension.

There is a black square which represents darkness, as thats what it will be like inside the coffin.

Finally, I wanted to put the image of the eye on there as one of our first shots is going to be her eyes opening. Also you can see emotion through the eyes and I liked the little help image inside the eye.

Genre, Audience and Institutions.

Blog Post 4. Genre, audience and institutions.

Genre is relevant to the audience because most people would want to know the genre before watching the films. Some genres are targeted at certain audiences, for example, stereotypically, it’s men who like to watch action, thriller and western films and women like Romantic and comedy films. However, that’s not to say women can’t watch action films and men can’t watch romantic films.

Genre is important to the film production companies because they need to know what to include in their films in order to make it a certain genre. For example, they will have to think of the conventions that they want to include to show what genre it is. They also need to think who the film Is targeted at and what they can include in the film to interest them even more. Finally, if the production company has produced a lot of action films that have been successful, they are most likely going to produce more action films as they know it will most probably be a big hit and it would be a risk to produce any other genre of film such as romantic or comedy.

Finally, It is important that the distribution companies know and understand the genre as they are going to be advertising and marketing the film(s). They will have to think of techniques to engage with their audience. For example, creating a poster that doesn’t give a lot away but intrigues the viewer and makes them want to watch at the same time. They need to get as many people as they can to view the film so they could use convergence and could attract more viewers on social media sites etc. They need to advertise the genre. 

Sub Genres.

All thrillers are different. There are several subgenres within the thriller genre, these include Action thrillers, disaster thrillers, crime thrillers, Psychological thrillers, medical thrillers, legal thrillers, religious thrillers and supernatural thrillers and they are all different from each other. In other genres such as western and Sci-Fi, there aren’t as many sub genres so the films don’t vary as much. However, although there are a lot of subgenres within thriller genre, there will still be things such as character and pace that will be similar. I think my group’s idea of a thriller includes aspects of and …… This is because…..

Below are 3 posters (Flight Plan, Taken and In Time) that share the same subgenre. (Action Thrillers) 

Through the use of mise en scene we can tell a lot from this poster. The lighting in this picture is very dark and the picture is mostly in black and white, which contrasts with the colour of the font which is very bright.  We also see a man and woman standing very close together and they are holding guns, which is a convention of thriller and action genres. The poster is also very simplistic. 

This poster is also very dark like the In Time picture. However it is covered in big words that stand out. It says ' I don't know who you are but if you don't let my daughter go I will find you and I will kill you. It is big so very noticeable and is an enigma as we want to find out who has taken his daughter. We see an outline of a man behind but can't see much of his face which is also an enigma. Finally, the title of the film is in red which represents danger and hate.

This poster is very different to the posters above. The background is quite a bright blue colour, not black unlike the others. We also see a woman on the poster and stereotypically we would expect to see a man as they are usually represented as powerful and strong. This poster however, is similar to the in time as it is quite simple and doesn't give much away, which makes us want to watch. The poster does not look like the stereotypical thriller action poster.

Genre Difference, Repetition and similarity.

Genre Difference, Repetition and similarity.

The thriller genre is a lot different to most other genres. This is because there is such a wide range and they are all completely different and involve and include different things. For example in Shutter Island and Gone girl. 
Both these films are thrillers but they are both very different. They are similar because through the mise en scene, we see elements that allow us to identify the genre straight away. We see weapons, quick cuts and short duration of shots, all creating suspense.
  However, I find Gone Girl is much more tense than Shutter Island. I think this is because there is a lot of action and suspense in Gone Girl and Shutter Island is a little more relaxed. We also know the story of gone girl, we know what’s going on as we watch it whereas in shutter island, we are watching it through the characters perspective so we think he is an investigator, when infact he has a mental illness. You would think this would build suspense, but because of the way we are shown, it is portrayed as he is there as an investigator, so that’s what we think, it didn’t really feel tense to me. These films have different subgenres, Gone girl being an action thriller and Shutter Island being a psychological thriller.