Storyboard

production schedual

For our opening sequence we will need to film in four separate locations. The locations are a police interview room, Starbucks, the female characters alley to her house and the top of a hill in Croydon.

We will film the police interview room shots during school time as we can stay within the school site and find a basic room to convert into a police interview area. This is our best believable attempt of making a police interview room, because we do not know of any other buildings we can gain access too that contain suitable rooms or gain entry to a real police station. Therefore we will film these shots during our media lesson on Wednesday 2nd December. Luckily lighting in this scene is not an issue, because if there is a lack of sunlight in the room we can effortlessly turn a light switch on. Consequently we filmed as the sun was setting from about 2-4pm.

For the Starbucks shots we shall film these the same day we will film the scene of the boy on the hill. This will be beneficial to us because the whether conditions needed are roughly the same for both scenes so we do not need to make two trips. These conditions will need to preferably be not too wet. There also needs to be a fair amount of sunlight available as the scenes are to be shot during the day in the afternoon-ish late morning time. Subsequently we will film these shots on Friday 4th December, between 1-4pm.

For the last shot, of the boy and the girl walking down the alley way outside the girl's house, we need the conditions to be sun setting/dark so it gives the effect that the characters are going to the girl's house after a day out. For this location we shall use my own Nan's house. This is because this property is the house that most looks like the home for students or young persons to be living at that our group knows of. We shall film this Tuesday 7th December after school time between 3-6pm.

main target audience

Our thriller film is going to be a psychological thriller, following the story of a mentally ill young man. Our opening sequence is therefore aimed at mainly young women, late teenagers and especially young men. This film will also aim at older adults, but mainly younger people due to the main characters being involved are of the rough same age.

Men will be targeted more than women because the film will feature some violence throughout and this appeals more to men generally than it does to women. Also most of the characters included in this film will be male, therefore the film becomes quite a manly film.

prop list

the props we will be using are very basic and easy to come by.

interview room

in the interview room we will need and table and two to three chairs. this is to show that people we in here recently. We will also need a tape player to play the tape that will be hear over the top of our entire film, and we will also need a cup of water spilt over and a few papers, this is to show an interview has taken place.

the lookout point

at the lookout point the main prop we will need will be the box of matches. this is because the matches play a key role throughout the film, as the boys tick is lighting matches over and over again when he is nervous. also we will have him smoking as this gives the impression that he doesn't care about his health and he is not a good guy in the film.

the coffee shop

in the coffee shop we won't be using any shots, as we don't want to divert concentration from the main action of the two meeting and getting on with one another.

taking the girl home

again we won't use any props in this shot as we want to show the bond between the two of them growing and becoming stronger as she invites him into her house.

character information

the boy

the boy is the main character in our film, aged 16 and with dark hair. he is an odd character and has an obsession with lighting matches. he is the only character that we see properly but we never actually see his face. this adds suspence as we never discover his true identity.

the boy: played by jake

the girl

the girl plays a very small but vital role, she is the boys friend and she speaks on the voice over throughout the film. she is also aged 16 and with long blonde hair.

the girl: played by ellen

location information

we are using a few different locations in our film, this is to enhance impact so the audience can take in the surroundings and see how it blends in with the mood of the shot.

boy on the hill.

the location for this is going to be in croydon, in the middle of a wooded area just next to coombe lane tram stop, called "the lookout point." this place has a large concrete-wall which can be sat on. in front of it is a layout of the whole of London, and surrounding it is wooded areas on either side. We chose this place as it is easy to get to, has a very god view and is quite quiet, so we can film without any interruptions.

flash backs

for the flash backs we are using two locations. the first will starbucks in croydon high street. we picked this location for the exact opposite reason that we did the woods. there will be lots of people walking around and traffic, this shows that they are in a busy area with lots of people, and it makes it seem like the audience are just a person watching them from the other side of a road. the only problem we may have with this is filming in public, meaning we will need special permission from the coffee shop owner. if this doesn't work we are going to have to film somewhere else or film our few seconds and then move on.

our next flash back will be at jakes Nan's house, we chose this because it is easy to get to and the house it is quite small, making it easier to film. also we know the owner, meaning we can actually use their house.

the interview room

the interview room we are going to use isn't actually going to be a police room, as we aren't allowed to film inside of one. instead what we are going to do is black out windows in a room with black walls and set up two chairs and a desk in a corner, we are then not going to film anything outside of the corner. this is going to be filmed in one of our teachers offices as it is easy to access.

shot list

Shot 1: black screen, cassette started.

Shot 2: cu of cassette playing. On a table

Shot 3: ms of cassette playing and a coffee cup on a table, with two empty chairs in a interview room.

Shot 4: ms of the back of a boy, hood up, with the whole of London in front of him, woods surrounding him.

Shot 5:cu plan shot of London, then panning across to the side of the boys face his hood up.

Shot 5:ls of boy and girl sitting in a coffee shop.

Shot 6:two shot of the boy and girl chatting in the coffee shop.

Shot 7: cu side of the boy’s head, takes a pull of a cigarette then breaths it out.

Shot 8: bcu high angle of coffee trickling around a table to the edge.

Shot 9: bcu coffee dripping off the side of the table.

Shot 10: ls of boy and girl walking down a street, they then pause in front of a house and the girl walks in first followed by the boy, the door then slams.

Shot 11: cu of fan blowing and turning, with the paper attached.

Shot 12: ots shot with no people !!!

Shot 13: bcu of boy getting a box of matches out of his pocket

Shot 14: long shot of girl in café on her own in same stance as last time and same time of day.

Shot 15: ms of girl looking worried from outside.

Shot 16:cu of boy lighting a match, match is then followed up and you can see the bottom of the boys mouth. The boy the smiles and puts the match out with his fingers.

momento

Memento is the story of a man called Leonard, searching for a man who he believes raped and murdered his wife during a burglary. He also suffers from severe amnesia so he can’t store any new memories, so carries around pictures, note and draws tattoos on himself to remember vitale pieces of information.

The opening sequence consists of many things that grab your interest. For the start there is a man shaking a photo, we can’t see what the photo is of, where he is or know why he has taken the photo. But over time we can see that the photo fades into view and we can see it is of a dead body.

The next scene is showing a man being killed, which we can now make an assumption that the man taking the photo is also the murderer.

In the next scene the man is sitting in a bed in a motel. This has nothing to do with anything that has gone before, but we assume this is after the event that just occurred. This tells us that there is going to be a lot missing and jumpy bits in the film.

We understand this further in the next scene, when he says to a mechanic “I’m sure I’ve told you of my illness” and shows him pictures. From this I understand that the man has a memory loss problem, so he wasn’t taking a picture of the dead man for the fun of it, he was doing it to remember all of the horrible deeds he had done.

momento

The opening sequence of this film consists of a number of scenes which sets the plot for the audience. As well as setting the plot, it also helps build mystery and curiosity amongst the audience who are watching. It does this by the use of cinematography, sound effects, lighting, mise-en-scene and the use of certain special effects such as monochrome.In the first scene the audience are shown a close up of a photo in which at first the audience believe it to be just a normal photo that shows blood which starts to question the audience's mind. Then the photo, bit by bit, starts to gradually fade, while the camera is still on close up, and the audience realize the photo is going back in time and a reversing timeline effect comes into play. This signifies to the audience that there will be a time element within the film and helps keep the audience wanting to carry on watching as they want to know why it is going back in time and what will happen next.This is just the first scene of the opening sequence and as any viewer could say, it certainly grabs the audience's attention.

samuel L. Jackson

Samuel Jackson is an all time legend in the movie industry, and particularly famous for his appearances in thriller films. Born on the 10th December 1948 he wanted to be an actor, but was going nowhere until he met his mentor, the legendary Morgan Freeman. He then went on to be cast in his first major film “Pulp fiction”. He then went on to be in over 100 films, from “kill Bill” and “snakes on a plane” to getting one of the leading roles in one of the all time best ever films “star wars, the trilogy” and “Jurassic park”

steven spielburg

Born December 18, 1946 Steven Spielberg is one o0f the all time greatest directors, with a legend spanding from romance to horror, but his best films are thrillers. Steven has done classics like raiders of the lost ark, jaws and Jurassic park, which Samuel L. Jackson was in. He also went on to write films and produce them, and recently has been put in the list of the top 100 most important people of the century.

target audiences

The target audience for thriller films is usually younger people, although what type of thriller it is depends how young they are

Spy thrillers are usually aimed at people slightly older, as there are more sub-stories to understand and can contain a lot of historical references, which younger audiences may not be aware of.

Action thrillers are for younger people as the plots are more straight forward than most genre’s, and the explosions and fast cars are a lot more appealing to younger audiences. However sometimes these movies are rated 15 and 18 year olds and above only, making it very difficult for the younger generation to watch.

Eco-thrillers are for everyone as they have complex and educated plot lines, and also contain action and loud noises for younger people to enjoy.

thriller sub-genres

There are a few sub-genres in thriller films

Eco-thriller
This is a thriller in which the hero or heroine must change the corse of a major envirometal disaster. An example of this is “the day after tomorrow”

Mental – thrillers
In which the main character, good or evil, faces a battle within himself, whether fighting a second person inside his or her own body or trying to overcome a mental illness. An example of this is “donny Darko”

Spy – thriller
In which the main character is usually a govermant agent, and has to overpower a huge foreign plot. A classic example of this is “James Bond”

Action – thriller
These films usually consist of a race against the clock, for the main character to defy a plan, these films also contain alot of guns, fast cars and explosions. An example of this is “The transporter”

thriller music

Music in thrillers is used for a variety of reasons

Suspense
Suspense plays a big role in thrillers, and music is often used to climax the suspense. This is done usually on string instrument. This because strings give off a vary ghostly sound, and the high pitched noise that they can give off adds to the spooky feel, because they are incredibly unsettling sounds.

Action
Action needs sounds and music along with it to add to the engaging feel. For example it is usually faced paced music during a car chase, to show how fast the cars are going, where as in a fight scene the music wouldn’t be as fast but there would be very aggressive music played, e.g. metal.

Key moments
Key moments are also marked by different sounds. If the hero has triumphed then happy, uplifting 7music will be played to show his mood. On the other hand if someone dies then sadder music would be played, sometimes with very few instruments in them.

prelim task

This task we were set the goal to film a short extract with continuity. We were set goals which included using a wide variety of shots including an over the shoulder shot. We also went on to include extreme close ups, worm eye and long shots. We chose our groups and i was with Shanice and Ellen. We decided to make a sad film instead of a comedy.

First we thought about what we had to include. First we had to have scenes of someone opening a door, that person then talking, the other person talking back and then seeing the first persons response. then there should be an appropriate ending.

we chose to have Shanice sending a text, then opening a door. Then we filmed her walking down a hall and turning a corner and talking to Ellen. Then finally i filmed the both of them walking off down a hall and having a fade out at the end.

If i was to do his project again i would change a multitude of things. First of all i wouldn't do as much free hand work with the camera, instead i would rest it on a steady surface or use the tripod. Next i would pick a better location, as although the backdrop was good, the actual shots that we could get were limited by the space.

The next stage was the editing what we had filmed. This involved picking appropriate scenes, cutting them down to size and the putting a sound track on.

Upon looking at our film we decided it was a little cheesy. Because of this we decided to make a funny soundtrack, to make it entertaining.

i preferred the editing stage to any of the others as we were allowed to be very creative with what we had filmed. Also i am a music strand student, meaning i know how to use music to build effect and tensions where it is needed.

first filming experience

Today we were set an assignment to film a journey, using different types of camera angles. This task was used to introduce us to using the camera’s and being comfortable filming. Also it help us put to practice some new ideas that we had, and learn how to apply complex techniques within a short 45 minute time span.

We were put into groups of 3 people. In my group was myself, Ellen and Jake. The advantage of this is that Jake is an actor, meaning we didn’t have to worry about people being camera shy.

First we decided on a location, which we decided would be the front lobby of the school, due to the fact that there were high places and low places to have interesting shots from, a lot of space to use and various people to include as extras or just to add to the atmosphere.

Next we decided on a plot line. The obvious choice was to go for a comedy, as that is what we all most enjoyed. Then we decided on the plot content. At first we debated on the idea of running and chasing a ninja down the hall. The issue wit this is that it would be a very faced passed film with a lot of action and would be quite hard to film for a first attempt.

Eventually we went with the idea of Jake running to the toilet. We employed a few year 10’s to help us get some realistic shots. We used a variety of shots including long shots, worms eye view, panning and close ups.

first leasson

In our first lesson we were introduced to the teachers and other classmates. Then we were set a task of finding pictures for different types of shots, for example POV, over the should and low angle shots. After this we were told what our first main task would be, which is to create the start of a thriller film.

The teachers then put in a DVD with the previous year 12’s as thriller work. This was to give us some ideas for our films, and also to show us how al of the different styles of shots could be put into action.

introduction

hi I'm matt!

for starters i have never studied media before, but i am very eager to learn.

i have done a lot of films with my friends of them snowboarding and skateboarding, primaraly using thinks like fish eye lenses to get a good shot with all of the attention in the cnetre where the action is.

primaraly my favorite films are comedies. things like tropic thunder and the love guru.

however i also like things like oceans eleven and my favorite film of all time, train spotting.