Props

We created some maps by sticking four A3 sheets together with tape.
To make them seem more used and worn, we creased them before sticking them together, and then tore them in certain places.

                                                                                                                      We went up to the art department and borrowed some objects.

We also borrowed some dark, heavy fabric from the art department which we will use to cover light from the windows, and cover the table. This will help to create the gloomy mysterious effect that we want for our opening sequence.

Lesson plan

Finish Collect props
Put maps together

Lesson Plan 27/02/12

• Test out Huda's video camera- We will be filming the shots involving cigarettes outside of school, as we can't smoke indoors at school
• Enlarge area map on the printer in the library

Prop Delegation (Props due Monday)

-Pictures of the 'police': Each member of the group will take two work office-style pictures of men in their family
-Blood orange: Jess
-Bowl to put orange segments in: Art department
-Newspaper: Art department
-Local area map: Print off from the internet then enlarge to A3 on MONDAY
-Paperclips: School library
-String to hang pictures on: Marnie
-Case studies of crime cases: Jess
-Alcohol bottle: Jess
-Alcohol glass: Jess/ School
-Apple juice (to act as alcohol: Jess
-Brown envelopes: Everyone
-Documents to go in envelopes: Jess

To be filmed at Huda's house

-Cigarette buts: Collect them from road outside
-Ash tray:Borrowed from class member
-Old scissors: Art department

-Cigarettes: Borrow from class member

15 Cerificate

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised. - The only 'dangerous' behaviour in our film will be smoking and alcohol consumption, but these aren't glamourised. We will also be using scissors, but only to cut paper.

Violence

Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable.

There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification. - Violence is only implicitly foreshadowed

Theme

No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.

 

Lesson Plan 23/02/12

• Come up with our final film title 
• Delegate who is going to bring in each prop

Location Ideas

                                                        

This is one of the locations we had in mind, the school cleaners office. We thought this would be an ideal set because it is a small, secretive and confined area good for our storyline. We also thought about the lighting, as it is a secretive location there is not a lot of lighting which goes well with our storyline. 

Lesson Plan 21/02/12

• Look over storyboard to see where we would like to position the titles
• Find a location and take photos 
• Think about casting
• Start to think about soundtrack and carry-on next lesson
• Think of title for the film

Goodfellas (1990)

I want to imitate the way the lighting is used to create atmosphere in Goodfellas. A lot of the bar scenes used low lighting to create an underground, mysterious atmosphere.

After watching this film I think it would be a good idea to set our Thriller in the same time that Goodfellas was set because I think it will add to the dangerous, tense atmosphere we want to convey in the film.






In order to create this kind of lighting, we are going to have to shoot in a dark area and not use too much light.

I also think it will be better to use artificial light as a pose to natural light as it will create more of an 'underground' feel.

Prop List

-Cigarette buts
-Ash tray
-Old scissors
-Pictures of the 'police' (our own pictures)
-Blood orange
-Bowl to put orange segments in
-Newspaper
-Local area map
-Paperclips
-String to hang pictures on
-Case studies of crime cases
-Alcohol bottle
-Alcohol glass
-Apple juice (to act as alchohol)
-Envelopes
-Documents to go in envelopes

Title Research

After analysing these titles, we have decided like the way the titles are embedded within the diagesis of some of these films rather than being laid over the frames. We also think it's more creative using this method because the titles actually become apart of your story.


We are now going to have to look over the storyboard and see where we will include the titles.

Opening Credits Order

(NAME OF THE STUDIO)
Name of the studio that is distributing the film.
(NAME OF THE PRODUCTION COMPANY)
Name of the production company that actually made the film or name of the investment groups or companies that financed a substantial part of the film.
(PRODUCER NAME) PRODUCTION or/and (director only) A FILM BY (DIRECTOR NAME)
Director's first credit, often "a film by XY or "a XY film".
STARRING
Principal actors, (Sometimes the stars' and director's credits will be reversed, depending on the star's deal with the studio)
(FILM'S TITLE)
Name of the film.
FEATURING
Featured actors.
CASTING or CASTING BY
Casting director.
MUSIC or MUSIC COMPOSED BY or ORIGINAL SCORE BY
Composer of music.
PRODUCTION DESIGN or PRODUCTION DESIGNER
Production designer.
As a variation some of the below may be noted:

• SET DESIGN
• COSTUMES or COSTUMES BY or GOWNS (older movies)
• HAIRDRESSER
• MAKE-UP ARTIST
• SOUND RECORDING (older movies)
• VISUAL EFFECTS DIRECTOR or VISUAL EFFECTS BY

EDITOR or EDITED BY
Editor.
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of photography.
PRODUCER or PRODUCED BY, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Producers, co-producers, executive producers, 'also produced by' (credited for various reasons according to contracts and personal scrutiny of the principal producer). Often, though, the name of the producer will be the next-to-last opening credit, just before the director's name is shown.
BASED ON THE BOOK (PLAY, GRAPHIC NOVEL etc.) BY or FROM A PLAY/BOOK BY (older movies)
If based on a book or other literary work.
BASED ON THE CHARACTERS BY or BASED ON THE CHARACTERS CREATED BY
If based on characters from a book or other media.
STORY or STORY BY
Person who wrote the story on which the script is based, gets "story by" credit, and the first screenplay credit, unless the script made substantial changes to the story.
WRITER(S) or WRITTEN BY
Screenplay writers.  If each works independently on the script (the most common system), they are separated by an "and". If more than two persons worked on the screenplay, the credits may read something like "screenplay by X & Y and Z and W" X and Y worked as a team, but Z and W worked separately.
DIRECTOR or DIRECTED BY
Director.

Lesson Plan

-Go on http://www.annyas.com/ and research titles
-Research order of credits
-Take photos of storyboard for animatic (if we have time)
-Do a brainstorm of different sound sources we can use

Blood Orange

This part of the opening sequence links to the part with the blood orange in Dexter 

Thomas takes a segment of orange from the bowl...

He takes a bite out of it (sound will be emphasized here)...We will then film a close up of the orange being bitten so we can see the juice.

A bit of red juice from the orange will land on one of the pictures of the policemen to suggest that he is the next one to die. (The juice symbolizes blood and violence)

Initial Storyboards

Here are the initial story boards for our final video. We still need to add the details for sound, length of shot, movement in shot and editing details. The order of these shots may also change

Our idea is basically to go down the symbolic route by showing various objects on Thomas's table as he plans his next murder. Each object reflects on how he has murdered his previous victims.

We have decided not to feature any acting because it might ruin the quality of our work, and the actor might turn out to be unreliable. It would also make continuity more of a problem. However we will be featuring certain parts of the actor such as the hand and mouth.

Dexter (2006) Opening Sequence

Dexter is an excellent example of symbolism being used to hint at themes and narratives. They have filmed his morning routine in a way that suggests murder and violence. They have also increased the volume of certain parts of it (such as when he is cutting into some meat/ squeezing and orange), which I think would be a great feature to mimic.

When a knife cuts into the meat we are made to think that it is cutting into human flesh, which is quite gruesome and shocks the audience.

A blood orange is used here as a pose to a normal orange as it looks more like the insides of a person. The sound of the orange being squeezed is emphasized so that it makes it sound even more like human flesh is being cut into it. A blood orange would be easy and cheap for us to get hold of and would work really well in our sequence.

Quick Storyboard Ideas

Ideas for Final Opening Sequence

Brighton Rock (2010)

Yesterday I watched Brighton Rock on Film Four as part of their Great Directors Season.

The screen-shots here are taken from a scene where a fan is used to create a flickering light effect which creates suspense and mystery surrounding the main character, Pinky. The fan is placed in front of the light source so that as the fan goes round the light flickers on and off Pinky's face. This effect suggests to us as viewers that Pinky has two sides to him.

In our final piece I think that this kind of technique would be great to mimic, as our main character has two sides to him.

Another feature of the film I found really interesting was the use of sound combined with editing to disorientate the viewer. For example the film cuts from a man holding a gun to a woman, and then a man takes a photo of her and the sound of the camera is made louder so that it sounds like a gun.

Pinky sits in a darkly lit room as the fan creates flickering light over his face