Thriller: Evaluation 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back at my preliminary task I feel that I have learnt how to involve the audience in the film, as in choosing the right shots and angles to make them think and feel insecure and in point-of-view shots in the right places. A good thriller needs props that show the scenario and the mood. In my opening I feel that I have accomplished a thriller atmosphere in the way that the props are shown, but I was strongly trying to not create a horror scenario, this was to make audience feel tension and anxiety like a normal thriller should intend to create, not to make the people watching the film get scared at the opening. The location was what I really wanted to get right, because in the preliminary task we just used a classroom and a hallway to film the sequence, so for the thriller task I wanted to set up the locations in my house to make it seem believable and realistic, like an everyday house could have more things going on behind their closed doors.

In the preliminary task I worked with someone to create a short sequence that involved some speaking and a selection of camera shots, but for the thriller task I decided to do the thriller opening by myself as I had enough ideas and skill to produce an opening using camera equipment, editing software, also finding adequate sounds to suit the mood of a thriller. For me, preparation was the most important point to get right. This was to save time and get it right first time, although filming the thriller task for the first time was not perfect as the types of shots and length of the sequence were not all right. I thought that I had created a basis to make some slight improvements for the final edit that should be the best of what I have learnt along the way in the course.

Overall I think that my media project came out good as, I did an effective work by working by myself. There were some problems that where resolved to the best of my ability.

I asked 20 people if they enjoyed my opening to a thriller. Most people said they enjoyed it but a couple said that they did not understand what was happening in the scene and it didnt look like the person was dreaming the person sharpening the knife. But this shows that most people enjoyed it and will want to watch the rest if it was ever made.

Thriller: Evaluation Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

During my thriller, learnt to use the camera both on a tripod and handheld. On a tripod, I used it for shots that had to be steady, such as for pans, for example in the first part when the man arrive with a briefcase. I used the camera handheld when doing tracking shots like when Tom was going into the kitchen. My weaknesses is when using the camera handheld it stutters and moves slightly. Also when doing pans it does not not look natural to the film.

A problem I faced was that the opening was filmed in wide screen, but the footage was in an unknown format, so I had to change the format from .MOD file to a .MPG file, and this turned the footage to not wide screen. So when editing the footage was not in wide screen and in my opinion it changed the quality of the film. A problem I resolved in the footage was in the second part of the film. I refilmed the kitchen scene was too bright so the mug could not be seen clearly, to resolve this in the editing stage I had to change the brightness using the effects in on the effects toolbar, and adjusted the clips to be slightly darker.

Using a new program that I have never used as quite staright foward as I learnt as I went along. Also using websites and video tutorials to help me. Like when I needed to know how to add titles I searched different websites and looked on youtube.

Videos like this one >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT8uxleLMrI

Thriller: Evaluation Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

My primary research helped me to understand what to put on the opening sequence for the thriller, I asked selected amount people what they thought a thriller should include that enjoy, most of the people that I asked said there should not be a death at the beginning because it would be too soon to have a character die, also I ask the people what sort of location would be the best to make them think it was a good thriller would be a good thriller. The secondary research, as in previous thriller analysis, shows me that thrillers have to be mysterious but not scary as in a horror film would try and create. The build-up to the films I have analysed is very effective not revealing to much as in the story of the film but some indications of what might happen or what the film is about.

Thriller: Evaluation Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my film would be people who enjoy watching thrillers; the certification for this film would be 15+ this would be because I have included as there is blood in the opening and potentially during the film there would be a death. This film I would say would be more appealing to young adults more than older people; this is because of the genre and the characters. This film would be successful as there is a good potential storyline and it would be economically viable as the props used are cheap to buy and there is not much need for a specific location as anywhere could be a normal location that would make the audience this it could happen to them.

Thriller: Evaluation Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Similar films are distributed in different ways, they are Cinema, when the film is high budget and the money is gathered from the ticket sales, when a film is on cinema it get more publicity. When a slim goes straight to DVD and Bluray it gets money from the sales of each DVD, the good thing about DVD is that the company can get revenue continually even if the film is not that popular. For the customer they can watch it over and over again. When a film is sold to a television network so they can broadcast, revenue is received from the film being sold to the institution, selling it to a television network allows the film to hit a larger audience and allow the directer to get publicity. There are two ways that films are distributed on the Internet some are put on so people can download it and there are websites like YouTube that allow short, low budget films to get money from advertsing.

I have chosen that the best way to distribute my film is on YouTube getting a small distribution company, like Eyepatch entertainmen. I have chosen this way because of a wider audience will be able to watch it, also it is free, quick, and easy. My film would be a low budget film so I think it would have more revenue if it goes straight to the Internet so people can give positive and constructive criticism.

Thriller: Evaluation Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My main character Tom the person in the second part of my opening, is represented as a young adult/teenager around 17/18 years old, his age is quite young to be living alone, and people a similar age might watch this film. He is shown a male victim uncommon to thriller stereotypes, normally female characters are victims and shown as weak. The character is shown to be of a middle class as the pyjamas this indicates that he might be a working person, or studying something. The race of my main character is not important as anyone could watch the film.

Thriller: Evaluation Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

From my list of thriller opening conventions: ,

-Tracking shots

-Close-ups

-Shadows

-Close-ups

-Non-diagetic sound

-Low-key lighting

-Common setting

-A victim involved.

I can see what I have included and why. I have used the camera movement conventions I have found which are tracking shots and pan shots, I have used tracking shots in several parts of my opening sequence, such as in the part when Tom wakes up from the bed and then walks to the window to check the blinds and also the part when Tom walks into the kitchen.

I have used shadows to create the sense of mystery in one part of my opening. The effect this has on the scene is that it make it seem more mysterious, the audience will be affected as the scene is disturbing, as there is also blood on the table.

<<<<<<

When framing the shots I have included close-ups, to show the facial expressions in the second part of my opening and in the first part when the man is putting on the gloves. I have decided to do close-ups because the audience can see what is happening, and see the facial expressions on the characters face. The image on the side < Shows the scene when Tom is waking up and he is shoked it was just a dream.

I have used non-diegetic music because this is a convention to thrillers which make the thriller itself seem abnormal not everyday, for example in my film when Tom was in the kitchen there were that sounds he could not hear. I used royalty free music from a site called Incompetech. I found it easy to look through different genres of music and hear them as I went along and the sounds I chose fitted my theam and my video, for the first part of my video I wanted to add music that sounded like the opening of US TV series Dexter, one of the videos I analysed.

The sounds are typical to this genre, and the build-up of sound in places increases the tension. The volume increases when some actions on screen have been done, so the audience feel on the edge as something is going to happen, this add to the mysterious effect I tried to create in my film.

In the first scene I used low key lighting to add mystery to the setting. The setting is a make-shift kill room as the ones Dexter used in the TV series I have analysed.

I have used a common setting/ location; this is to enable the audience to empathise with the victim because of the place he lives. The location I have chosen is a house a middle-class looking house that anyone could live in.

A victim character is used as in most thrillers. I think that I have portrayed the victim as vulnerable as he can not do any thing to prevent what is going to happen to him. I made him seem vulnerable by using high angle shots, making him seem smaller than what he really is.

Thriller: Final Edit

Thriller: Re-Editing

I re-edited some sections I had done previously but I added the new footage and made crosscuting and made shot and snopy cuts to add tension. I also had to adjest the brightness and contrast on the filming that I did in the kitchen as the cup and the counter.

Re-Filming

Schedule:

30 mins- Prepare props and locations

20 mins- Filming in kitchen

20 mins- Filming in bedroom and stairs

The second time filming went well, as I knew want I had done wrong in the previous attempt. I set up the location, and I started filming first in the kitchen as that was the location that would take the least amount of time. I used different angles of shots too show the main characters emotion, and make the film easier to watch, without braking the 180 degree rule. When filming in the bedroom I had to make sure that the points that the people said about my draft edit was changed, for example the duvet and the lighting. As I was going along when filming I changed my plan of action and improvised what looked better. One criticism was that the film was too short and that the ending was abrupt so I added sections in between the important bits to add tension like something is going to happen, for example i added when Tom walked down stairs and walked to wards to door. Also to like the first sequence to the last I added the shot sequence of a man apparently the same man as in the dream (first part) was walking towards the other mans' house, to link it I use the same prop, the briefcase, but did not show the mans' face.

Thriller: Feed Back Draft Edit

Class:
The feed back the class gave when seeing my video for the first time.

The Ending is abrupt, as in too short not a proper ending.
The camera is shaky
Second section not as good as the first part,
Misc-en-scene not appropriate for second section.
Try and add credits on different objects

Teacher:

Too short
More titles, remove colons from later titles.
The title of the film needs to be changed
Camera too jerky as Tom wakes up
Too dark kettle shot.
Stops too abruptly

What I have gathered from the feedback, I think I have to re film the second section watching out for movement and jerkiness of filming. Also use lighting that is appropriate not too dark, also adding different shots to increase length.

Thriller: Draft edit (video)

Thriller: Finding Music

To find sounds and music for my video, I needed to find copy-right free music and on moodle there was some links of websites that could be used to find the legal music. I have found a website that I could find good music (score) for my video the website is called http://www.freesfx.co.uk/eesfx.co.uk/.




I went on the horror sector because they music was better at adding tension. I chose three different files for my video, one for the first part of my video, one for the part when the main person is walking up until the door knocks and the last is until the end.




This website is specifically royalty -free music, I found it by searching 'royalty free music' on Google. On this website there was better variaty of music and I found good score that added tension effectively.

http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/

Thriller: First editing

To edit the draft filming, and I was planning to put the sequence in order to see how the the film looked together. I just did straight cuts and added the titles to the film.

To add the titles I went to the top tool bar and when in the section that says 'Title' and then went on the different types of Default settings. I expreimented with the styles.

The window to choose the titles was easy to use you could add text and shapes (from the left toolbar) anywhere on the canvas. The different fonts for the text were at the bottom of the window, and the colour of the font was on the right side and also the sizes.

Thriller: Filming

The filming took place on the 27th of Febuary and it went well, I set up the location and made fake blood to add to the kill table and added the plastic sheets on the walls and on the . I started to film with my first actor which is the person who arrives to the scene where there is plastic on the wall and plastic on the table. The filming followed the storyboard and the first shot was the shot of the first character arriving to the location, then at he opens the briefcase and remove the contents onto the table. He then puts the gloves on, this shot I took twice from different angles. The last shot with this character

Thriller: Actors

Actor 1 -
Actor name: Tom Hall
Character name: Steven Watson,
Profile- He is a normal everyday person. However he has dreams and nightmares, that effect his life, for the good and bad. The first scene he appears to have a realistic nightmare, where he is in a place where he has been beaten and tortured. He then appears to be to wake up, and get up to put on the kettle to have a cup of coffee. While he is switching the kettle, there is hard knocking on the door.

Actor 2 -
Actor name: Guillermo Guzman
Unknown character name
Profile- He is one of the people torturing Steven and other victims, he takes care killing victims after they have been tortured. He is dresses formally as he is has a normal job, as a business person, and he is in charge of his other a conspiracy. He is not properly seen as Steven, is drowsy and waking up in his nightmare.

Filming Location

The location I have chosen for this thriller is a apartment, with a few rooms. The first scene will be set in a room with white walls, a table with fake bood and a knife will be added. The main character will be strapped at the wall on one side looking at a door, what a man enters. The second scene will be done in the same place but different rooms, the scene starts in the bedroom and then goes to the kitchen and finally at the corridor, with the main character looking through a peep hole.

Risk Assesment

There are some risks, that have to be judged to see how likely they are to happening, and what can be done to prevent and or reduce threat. The risk might involve people or equiptment.

They are:

Mise-en-scene

Props I will need:

Knife

Alarm clock

Kettle

.

.

Costumes:

1st scene-

- Man charpening knife
Wearing black and white suit.

- Person tied up (Only see sleaves)
Shirt colour to be chosen at a later stage

2nd scene-

-Man outside door
Only for a brief moment through the peep hole.

-Person in bed
Night wear (i.e pyjamas.)

Storyboarding

This will be a point-of-view shot from a character who is apparently about to be killed. The shot will show a table with blood and a knife of it. The camera will have some hand held movement,as the person is moving his head looking around.

The shot they after a a few second shows the door opening.

A man walks through the door with something in his hand. He is wearing smart formal clothing.

The person struggles and make a few noises as he tries to get loose.

A fast cut to the man in suit as he sharpens his knife, the noise of scraping the edge of the knife will be loud and powerful.

A fade cut to a person in bed moving about as he was having a nightmare, the camera switches to the nightmare and back.

The camera closes up showing the emotion and fear as he wakes up.

A long shot of the person getting up and the camera pans as he leaves the room.

The walks into the kitchen and turns on the kettle at have a cup of coffee.

The camera closes up as he flips the switch.

and zooms in until the light of the kettle switch goes red.

the camera then switches to the door as the door knocks.

The person gets worried and it is shown with a close-up.

The camara shows the peep hole on the door from the inside.

and zooms in from the outside to see the other person looling out and the camera fades to black and titles are shown.

Mind Maping Ideas

I have been thinking of 4 main ideas that could possibly be used in the opening sequence of the thriller.

Description of main ideas that I have thought about, they are:

Idea 1: A stalker that follows a person from his house, to the meeting place that the stalker told the person to be by phone. The person realises that he has been set up, by the location of the meeting and the other person not showing up. Props needed:

• 
  
  Phone

Actors:

1 visual actor, 1 voice actor (for phone conversation).

Costume(s): Normal clothing (smart casual)

Location:

• 
  
  A house




• 
  
  Forest/ woods for the meeting place




• 
  
  Time: Nighttime

Conclusion of idea

Cons: The idea is not unique, it has been done a lot before. Also the idea has some dialogue and if the dialogue is not of a high quality it would not be believable. It does not match any of the thrillers I have researched.

Pros: The idea is simple to film, and the locations is not very hard to find and props do not have to be done or simple to find.

Idea 2: (Main idea)

The idea will be in the style of The Stepfather and Se7en, two different styles linked together the idea of normal life interrupted (Stepfather) with the low key shadow effect to add mystery (Se7en). The credits will be included in the scene with in the shadows created. The plot of the story is a male character waking up, he is tied up in a room. The shot will be blurring as he is not fully awake. Another character is entering a room with a knife sharpener, he is dressed formally. The room will have white wash walls and one table with what appears to be a knife and blood all over the table. When the other person enters the room the person tied up wakes up more and looks round with heavy breathing. The other person starts walking towards the tied up man the camera zooms in to the characters sunglasses reflection and the shot switches to a shot of a person waking up as the person was having a nightmare. He checks the time and gets up he goes straight to the kitchen and turns on the kettle and as soon as he flips down the switch he hears the door band a few time and runs straight to the door and looks through the peep hole and he sees a person and the title shows up. and fades to black.

Props:

• 
  
  Rope or chains




• 
  
  Knife




• 
  
  Knife sharpener




• 
  
  Pool of blood




• 
  
  Clock radio




• 
  
  Kettle

Costumes:

Victim

• 
  
  When he is in the room you will not see much clothing but the clothes you see are the slaves of a shirt.




• 
  
  When he is waking up from his bed he is wearing nightmare (pyjamas)

The other person:

• 
  
  Formal wear black suit, white shirt and black tie. - showing the type of suit syle of Resoviour Dogs




• 
  
  Sunglasses - adding mystery of his identity

Conclution:

I think that this idea is the most different to anything I've seen, the idea is not a horror but a thriller with a phychological feel like his mind is playing tricks. I think I will expand this idea and think about the shots when doing the storyboarding.

Starting planning

For the thriller task, I will be working by myself as I have a few ideas, the skills and confidence to produce a high quality opening to a thriller. I will not be acting in the film because I will be filming and directing the sequence. I have some ideas as the actors and props I will require for the filming. The editing will hopefully not too stressful, but I will make a few experiments with the footage having different: score/ music, length of shots and cuts.

I will borrow a camera and tripod over half-term and I am planning to film the sequence in one day/night, but there is the possibility of having two days or more to film. The props will hopefully be bought and made before half-term to know if the final idea I have is possible or not

Questionnaire results

To have audience research and opinions I have produced questionnaire, asking a few people what they think of the genre Thrillers. I have asked 10 people what they think about things like actors, plot and location. The results are shown as pie chart as they are easily comparable showing proportions of each answer:

Credits on opening scene

I have been researching the how common it is to have a full credits with cast and other things in a thriller. I have desided to include the names on top the clip, like in The Stepfather.

From Wikipedia in the page about opening credits for all kinds of films it shows the order of what comes first from studio name to director name.

The order is :

• *Name of the Distribition Studio*
• *Name of the Production Company*
• Producer name/ Director name
• Main actors
• Film Title
• Featured actors
• Music/ score / composers names
• Production Design
• Editiors
• Director of Photography
• Producer
• Story
• Writer
• Directors

I have found a animated video on youtube, that shows the order of the credits in a clever way using animation. The sequence is from the if 'Catch Me If You Can' it is 2:33 minutes long a bit loger than the video.

Coventions of Thrillers

From the lesson we have done the conventions of thrillers, I will be taking to consideration when planning the Thriller. As a class we found some that are:

• Rapid, Straight cuts- showing the impression as there in insecurity and anxiety, a lot is happening.
• Score and music - that adds anxiety, this important as the audience wants to be involved in the film as they are part of the film.
• Low key lighting- Adding to the mysterious effect.
• Common setting - So the audience thinks it could happen to them, so they feel anxious
• Mysterious Plot - There has to be an enigma to make the audience think about the film.
• A main aspect of the plot- What the thriller is based on, what is happening to make it a thriller.
• Victims and bad people- Show the difference between them as the plot evolves

This is a slide show I have found that shows some conventions of thrillers on different aspects.

(Below) From Slideshare

Conventions Of Thriller Films

View more presentations from bobsled.

Thriller Analysis

Se7en

Textural Analysis of film Se7en;

Camera angle and movement:

The use of the camera in this opening sequence is very good because the angles of the shots are high showing that the person writing is isolated and alone. This adds to the intensity of the thing that he is writing. The camera is close-up in order to see what this character is doing and show the details of the the props used and created for this scene. Minor camera movement, but slight adjustments to the camera when the hand moves.

Sound:

The sound in thrillers is considered one of the most important factors, and in this opening the use of the beats and score is very effective, because the first time I watched this it made me feel anxious, and I also played it with no sound and there was a significant difference. The grinding and scratching sounds added when the change of shot is done also adds the to the atmosphere, adding the feel of something sinister is happening particularly when the person is shaving his fingertips, trying to erase his finger prints.

Editing:

The sequence consists of mainly straight cuts, this is mainly because of the continuity. The scene is put together in the way that the shots where not too long, and some shot lengths where short adding to the tension of the scene. The overlapped section adds to the irregularity of the scene also making the audience think what is happening. What I found very effective was the editing effect of the camera reel having brake-ups giving a rustic feel to the shot.

Mise-en-scene:

The props created for this opening scene is really good, because it has a simple lined paper pad with words and sketches on it, also a razer and geometrical equipment is also used as props. Shows that the person is planning something, like a crime or conspiracy.

The credits are shown in a black screen with white handwritten style font. This shows that link between what the person is downing with that titles.

The lighting is low-key this adds to the mysterious effect of the sequence, showing that he is alone and isolated doing mysterious things that people will not see.

Thriller Research

Although not a film the opening sequence of US television series 'Dexter', is effective is an beginning, to every episode. The genre of Dexter is a 'dramatic thriller', that makes watching it and using the opening as inspiration and research for the thriller project.

The opening is a normal day-to-day routine but with hidden meaning, everything Dexter does reflects what he does with his victims when he kills them, from tying shoe laces to shaving. The music help the scene to add in normality but not tension, this is an effective way to start a thriller as the audience is not aware of what the character is showing.

The placement of cast names is also a good way to show the names of the actors and also keep the audience focused on the actions, the queuing is matching the sound irregularities as high pitch sounds are added.

This is the morning routine for the TV series Dexter video (Below)

Starting Researching Thrillers

I have seen a resent remake of a film called The Stepfather, the film overall was not very good, but the opening was very effective to add a sense of mystery. The original film stars Terry O'Quinn, which recently was part of the cast of US TV series 'LOST' as John Locke. The remake stars Nip-Tuck protagonist Dylan Walsh, the name of the character is different to the original, with a more common name and surname.



The original film was made in 1987 and the opening scene is similar to the remake, the main character Jerry Blake is cleaning his self and trimming his hair to change his identity because of something he did. The opening shot starts in a normal suburban neighborhood with a paperboy delivering the newspapers. The shot has some movement downwards, and as the paper boy gets closer to the camera the cameras pans showing a 'Normal' looking house and closes to the house to an upstairs window. The scene then switches to the inside of the house in the toilet as a man with medium length hair and a Beard. Every seams kind of normal until the camera closes on the man's hands and face as the have blood on them, the man cleans himself then starts cutting his hair and shaves his beard looking at the mirror. The shots are effective as they are close to the parts of the mans body he changes to look different, the man then smiles at himself when he is changed making the audience feel that them man is weird.

The sound in this particular scene is important as it sets the mood of the film from the start, without the sound the film could be any genre. Up to the point where he is cleaning blood off his body, I felt as something was not right about the setting, I was curious about the setting by just the sounds.

The opening scene is effective as drags the audience into the film like you are part of the film. The sequence also shows credits within the shot in corners, that is a requirement for the thriller task, they are red that could have been chosen for a reason because of the theme of the film.

Different types of thrillers

There are many sub-genres in thrillers, some examples are:

Crime

This involves some kind of crime, a good example of a Quentin Trarantino's first film Reservoir Dogs, this was a low budget independent film which was very successful for the genre and for the actors. The film is about a group of people with code names are doing a crime and they get found out by undercover police.

• Conspiracy
  

This sub genre involves a plot to be at the top of the chain of command, this sub genre shows how they do it and succeed or fail. A example of a film I have seen is Valkyrie it is an apparently true story set in the time when Hitler was in power and a Sargent who looses some limbs wanted to plot to demolish Hitlers regime.

• Phychological
  

Phycho is the best example of this sub genre because the emotional conflicts involved with the audience and the characters.

• Mystery
• Erotic
• Medical
• Political
• Religious

and more...

Thriller Introduction

The main task is a 2 minute opening sequence to a thriller, it is important to think about past thrillers, by researching them and also thinking about the whole idea/plot of the film to get an idea of what to show from the opening.

I will be looking at 3 main thrillers showing, how a thriller opening is produced adding tension but also showing the important information, as in the main cast, directors and distributors.

Looking at the list of best Thrillers from IMDb.com, I have found that there are a mixture of new resent and old thrillers in the top 10. Below are images of the top 5 thriller front covers, from the 5 top thrillers I have seen 3 of them.

This is the top 10 list at the colums are arranged by (Position, Rating, name and date of release, and (£) money made.

1.	8.9	Pulp Fiction (1994)	446,307
2.	8.9	Inception (2010)	294,471
3.	8.8	The Dark Knight(2008)	499,156
4.	8.8	Goodfellas (1990)	245,650
5.	8.8	Fight Club (1999)	411,511
6.	8.7	Rear Window (1954)	126,604
7.	8.7	Psycho (1960)	153,707
8.	8.7	The Usual Suspects(1995)	283,009
9.	8.7	The Silence of the Lambs (1991)	263,806
10.	8.6	Se7en (1995)	30,380

Preliminary: The final cut

Preliminary: Editing

In our group we edited the sequence together using Adobe Premier, none of use had ever used the program but we where used to Windows Movie Maker and iMovie. The editing was quite simple to get used to as it was self explanatory, and the biggest problem we had was the problem with the T drive set up, as it was not active the first day of editing. So we needed to use Mr Turners login to get on with the editing. Because we filmed on top of an existing tape we had separations because of the filming, so as we inserted the video into Adobe Premier we had to select the sequence we wanted and press the record icon to separate the shots. This was very time consuming but we manage to do this with no problem.

As we filmed very roughly, we needed to cut and trim some of the shots testing, how the sequence flowed. We stayed with the transition as majority straight cuts showing continuity because it was the some time and place.

In the editing stage we made some decisions that were not planned as the black and white effect that we added to the video. We chose black and white because as we were looking at the possible effects that could be included in the video, black and white made the video look like it was expressing the scenario of a top secret meeting. Also we added a shot title of the film, because it separated the inside to the outside, we faded into and out of the title showing the setting had changed.

Preliminary: Filming

As a group we started filming, we checked the story board to know where to start. We decided to go through the story board chronologically, so we got a camera and a tri-pod and set up outside. I was filming and Tom Hall was the Actor playing as the agent, the filming went well but getting use to moving the camera to pan was quite difficult at the start, so we needed to take a few takes to perfect the the opening shot. After we where outside, we started filming in the corridor. The story board said we needed to track, but as we did not have tracks to move the camera on. I filmed Tom as he walked down the corridor, using the camera hand held, this also added to the feel of the setting and scenario. For the shot of Tom opening the door was quite simple, just two close shot of the handle from both sides making the shots flow. For the conversation scene we filmed both characters separate, running through the script twice. Lastly the handover of the package we filmed the scene several times in different angles so we had more footage to edit and choose what looks better.

Preliminary: Planning

In the group we had several ideas that could be used to make a short sequence, showing a conversation with at least 2 people. We First looked at some ideas, mind mapping anything we could think of, some of the ideas where: a bank robbery, a drug deal, and a meeting. In the end we decided we where using the secret agent theme, for a meeting to deliver top secret information inside a brief case. After thinking that though the idea, we though about location and props, because of the time we had we had to choose a in-school location, so we though the same room we where in would potentially be the meeting place, and for props a simple black coat/ jacket could represent the agents mysterious clothing, and the brief case could be a school over-shoulder bag.


Taking in considerations of the main filming rule of 180 degrees for continuity, and some action match and shot reverse shot, we started story boarding the scenario.



Story Boarding


This is an image of the story board we created, showing shot-by-shot explaining, what the shot is and the movement, and if there is dialogue in the shot, noted who would be speaking. We had an idea of starting outside as the agent is arriving at the location of the meeting. The use of camera following the agent in a pan, shows that he is an important character in the sequence. To add to the entrance to the building the agent opens door and as the door is closing the shot changes to a zoomed in shot of the door closing. The shot afterwards would be a tracking shot as the the agent arrives at the room, in the corridor. and as the agent reaches to open the door the camera zooms in and then for the action match the shot of the other side of the door. Inside the room to show the other person involved (the leader), we decided to use a over-shoulder shot of the agent looking at the agent, putting the audience in a high perspective to the scene showing the importance of the agent in the scene, the shot stays in an over-shoulder shot as the agent walks to his seat. To show the conversation, we decided to use shot-reverse-shot switching between the characters speaking about the mission, close shots of their faces with a space in front of their faces, showing they are speaking to each other. For the exchange of the brief case, we wanted to show both hands on the brief case, then an over-shoulder shot of the leader of the operation, as the agent leaves the room. The over-shoulder is to show that the leader has power because of the prop and its contents.

The dialogue


Tom and I then though of what the character would say when they where in the meeting, we came up with short dialogues, we then had to choose from the versions. The final dialogue most fitting to the scene and scenario was this, (A= agent, L= leader):


L: Ah, Wilson. I see you have brought the package.


A: Yes, I have.


L: Was it difficult to obtain.


A: Well, there were some complications, but they have been dealt with.


L: Of course, you're sure you weren't followed here?


A: I wouldn't be sitting here if I was.


L: That's true. Thank, you, Wilson. You have done well with this assignment.


After that point we though we where ready to start filming.