Planning opening credits - Miss Georgiou

Credits are important because it lets the audience know who the actors, director, camera men, editors, music editors, costume designers and producers are. Also the style of the credits and how they are presented gives the audience an insight of what the film will be like.

The se7en credits are very effective as they use very jerky text to create a disturbed reflection of the film to the audience, also the weird font creates tension to connote the strange happenings that will occur in the film. The colour of the credits are white, contrasted by a dark background, this can connote the good and evil, this is used in many thriller films to give an insight of the good and bad characters that will be seen in the film (protagonist and antagonist). The images shown in the background of the credits include a mysterious man who's face we do not see, this creates enigma before the film starts as the audience are unsure of who the man could be and who he could be in the film and if he is good or bad. The soundtrack played over the credits in Se7en is eerie and strange, this creates tension as it again gives another insight of the narrative of the film. The book seen in the images during the opening credits creates a mysteruious feel towards the audience as they dont know if it is a bible which relates the film with religion, on the other hand the book could be an imoprtant object in the film and be a significant part of it.

As a group; me Cara and Joe decided that we were going to do similar credits to the film 'Insidious' because of the strange clips going on in the background panning through a scary house at night time to give the audience an insight of what could happen in our film opening. We are going to use a similar font from the credits of 'Se7en' it is strange which will create mystery to the audience as the font can reflect the film narrative. The soundtrack Joe made on garage band was inspired by 'American horror story' as the eerie piano sounds create enigma and tension because it sounds like it is building up to a climax ofr horror. Like 'Se7en' our credits will have contrasting colours within the font and background to represent the good and evil throughout thwe film and characters.

Planning cinematography - Miss miller

Cinematography is the art of motion photography, it is important in a film because it portrays clearly what is happening on screen. Also the use of different camera angles can connote different feelings and emotions to the audience, I will be analyzing the cinematography that my group will be using for our thriller opening in this blog.

First of all we are using a zoom-in shot at the beginning of our opening, the camera will slowly zoom in to highlight the significance of the boy playing in the garden, this is because the zoom brings the camera view very close to the boy so the audience can clearly see what he is doing and not confuse them as it might do from a distance. This use of cinematography at the beginning of my opening scene is conventional because the audience need to have a good understanding of the storyline so they are intrigued and not confused.

We also used a panning shot to show where clip is set, we are using a pan shot to show the audience the garden in which the majority of the opening scene is filmed, the way the pan sets the scene allows the audience to again, have a better understanding of the scene. The pan of the garden makes the audience suspicious of what killer or mysterious character could be hiding behind the trees, this creates enigma which is conventional to the thriller genre.

A hand-held camera shot is used to create an emotional link between the audience and the characters, when the babysitter runs through the house the hand-held camera shot is used, the audience will feel her emotions and fear as the shot makes them feel as if it is them running. The emotional link created makes the audience feel the fear of the characters which is very intriguing when watching a thriller film, the fast pace of the camera movement creates the element of excitement to the audience which is typical of a thriller film.

A POV shot is used in the garden when the little boy looks up to his window, this creates alot of tension as the audience do not know what could be in the window when he looks up. The face that they see this from a little boys point of view creates empathy as the boy is helpless which refers back to Aristotle's theory which our opening is based on. These feelings and emotions are conventional to thriller films.

A reaction shot is used when the door knocks and the babysitter looks over, the use of a fast transition to the door creates a surprise to the audience, and also put the audience in the babysitters point of view as they will wonder who it could be and why. This creates enigma and makes an emotional link between the audience and the characters as they have similar thoughts and feelings which is typical of films in the thriller genre. 

I think that the camera shots and angles used in our thriller opening clip will create fear, horror, suspense, enigma, tension and many other conventional thriller aspects which will entice and engage the audience. Sticking to Aristotle's theory we will try to evoke empathy as much as we can which these shots will do.

Planning mise-en-scene - Miss Georgiou

Mise-en-scene is everything you see in a camera shot in a film, it is made up of five different elements: Setting and iconography, costume,hair and make up, facial expressions and body language, lighting and colour and positioning of characters or objects. Mise-en-scene helps the audience into understanding the conventions of a thriller in more detail. 

Why is mise-en scene important within a thriller film?

The elements of miss-en-scene are important within a thriller film because they make the clips more understanding.
The lighting can show if it's day time or light time, it can also give the audience a sense of foreboding if it is dark as the characters can't see what is in the darkness which creates tension.
The setting shows the audience where the scene is set so they understand the film better.
The positioning of characters enforces the 180 degree rule and gives the audience a better understanding of what is going on in the clip.
The costume, hair and make up shows the audience what type of person the character is and also make up and costumes can be used to hide a killers identity to create suspense.
Facial expressions and body language helps the audience to see how the character is feeling and relate to their emotions.

What is the mis-en-scene of your thriller and why?

In my thriller film we are using mise-en-scene elements inspired from other films which create enigma and mystery throughout the film opening.

We will use a lot of low key lighting to create suspense as the audience will not know what could be hiding in the darkness, we are using small lights in the corners of a room to make the room seem mysterious and eerie. The scene will be set in a house so the audience can relate to the characters and also so the film seems more realistic which adds more fear to the film and audience. The positioning of the characters in my opening will be behind the main character and only the audience will see the mysterious killer, this will make the audience frightened for the characters. the costume, hair and make up we are using is old Victorian costumes to show what era the film is set, also the hair will be messy make the girl seem scary and create horror to the audience. Also the facial expressions and body language used involves the killer standing mysteriously behind the babysitter which creates enigma.

Our thriller film can build a relationship with the target audience because we are using characters the similar age to our target audience which allows them to create an emotional relationship and share their feelings of fear and horror. Also the use of a normal house setting with nobody home allows the target audience to relate as they are at the age where they are left home alone and can imagine these things happening to them.

Individual storyboard - Miss Miller

The purpose of a storyboard is to help manage the timing of production, gives a better understanding of each shot and storyline and also give a description of the scene during a shot.

In my storyboard I have done 12 different frames, they each portray different camera angles, iconography, sounds and lighting. The storyboard has helped me have a better understanding of what will happen during each shot, how long each frame will last and the different aspects of mise-en-scene which will be included in the shots. The storyboard also breaks down the scenes into smaller parts which is easier to film and see what aspects need working on and how this could be done such as: adding different sounds or lighting. I got inspirations for my storyboard from a film called 'The strangers' the use of masks enticed me and thats why I wanted to use a masked killer, and also my target audience in my questionnaire were intrigued by the idea of a masked killer. Also from 'The strangers' the use of shallow focus shots, zoom in shots and panning a lot which I have used my storyboard.

In these storyboards one of my frames include a zoom in shot, also it includes young child toys which misleads the audience as you wouldn't expect a child to be a killer. Furthermore this includes slow editing to make the audience feel in the characters point of view as the clip runs smoothly as if it were happening in real time.

Preliminary Task - Miss Georgiou

For our preliminary task we was asked to shoot a short clip within our groups and upload it to youtube to demonstrate that we knew how to use specific shots for our thriller film opening. We also had to edit the clip to make it look smooth with the changing of shots and dialogue.

In our preliminary task, me and Daniel were the actors and Cara filmed the clip. Our group worked well because we were all comfortable with our roles and all knew what we were doing and enjoyed it. This task has helped me to understand when to use certain shots within a clip, such as a shot reverse shot which is used to show the audience the different characters who are speaking. Also the tri-pod which the camera was on helped to do panning shots which will be good to use in my thriller opening. When editing the clips, I found that it was quite simple if you stop filming after every different shot, this is something I can use to help put together our thriller opening.

This task helped me and my group to practise filming different shots and learning how to edit the clips together so they look smooth and professional. Also, it allowed us to see what difficulties we may find when filming, and give us time to see how we can resolve these issues, the preliminary task also allowed our group to discuss different opinions when filming which we will also need to do when filming our thriller opening.