Feedback

Good Points
- Sound is really different and effective- Love it!
- Good location
- Dog is cute
- Good sound track- contripuntal sound makes it more creepy
- Contrast of the scene adds a sense of mystery to the opening
- Really like the use of close up shots are the beginning as this leaves the viewer in suspense and creates tension which is really effective
 - The combination between the diegetic and non diegetic sound is effective and builds up the tension for the audience
- The camera angle being on the side when the girl is laying on the floor is effective as it brings the audience down to her level which shows a connection between the girl and the audience which is effective
- OMG!
- camera work, angles, sound and concept are all really good
- nothing bad to say, amazing
- Brilliant!
- loving the actress (mum) and dog
- sound, camera angles, lighting, everything is brilliant!
- brillian opening, enough is given out to the audience without giving too much away
- in the last scene the tension is built excellently
- not a bad word to say about it
- good use of lighting in the barn- very dark and mysterious
- the soundtrack is excellent, it really fits each scene perfectly
- good use of camerashots, had a good variety of different shots

Improvements
- Talking on the phone/ voicemail was a bit cheesy
- titles disappeared a bit too fast
- a few more shots of the barn location could have worked
- unsteady shot in the kitchen scene is not as effective compared to others which are well shot
- i thought the tiger proguction abel didnt bleng with the theme the titles created, perhap a change here?
- it seems more like a horror than a thriller because of the way the scene ends.

Final Cut Disconnected

Taa Daa! :D

Thriller Film Panes

 

(Order from left to right, down a level and left to right again)
Image one: Thriller Conventions: This screengrab shows the shadow of the Antagonist who has kidnapped a teenage girl.

Image two: Thriller Coventions: This screengrab gives the viewer a sense of voyeurism.

Image three: Costume: A mid-long shot of the charater Jade's costume, with tears and mud all over her clothes.

Image four: Props: Jade is talking into a pink mobile phone.

Image five: Title: 'Disconnected' in a slightly distorted font.

Image six: Lighting: This pane shows how the barn in dimly lit.
Image seven: Location: This screengrab is of the barn location, it is dark and dirty.We chose this image because it gives a good feel of the overall scene and it shows a large amount of the scene. We also really liked the lighting and angle of the shot.

Image eight: Camera work: A close up of Jade's hands bound up over a bloody handprint.

Image nine: Camera work: This screengrab is a point of view shot from Jade watching the kidnapper about to smash the phone.

THE TEAM

Best and Worst Thrillers

The Top 5 Thrillers voted for on IMDB are;
1) Goodfellas
2) Fight Club
3) The Dark Knight
4) Inception
5) Pulp Fiction

The Bottom 5 Thrillers voted for on IMDB are;
1) The Hellcats
2) Way of the Vampire
3) The Barbaric Beast of Boggy Creek, Part II
4) Shark: Rosso nell'oceano
5) Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace

Our favourite Thriller films;
Michaela = Inception & The Taking of Pelham 123
Alistair = Shallow Grave & The Day After Tomorrow
Holly = Shutter Island & Premonition
Bekki =Leon & Taken

Rough Cut - DISCONNECTED

Rough cut Analsis:

Logo Research

 looking at various logos of production companies, we played around with words and came up with TIGER DOOR PRODUCTIONS, a bit of a play on the 'lionsgate' productions.
Holly drew the tiger and we scanned it onto the computer where we edited the background and text on photoshop.

Research for intro music in thriller

For the beginning of our film we wanted something a bit eerie but urban, combining classical music like piano or violin with drum beats and bass.

A great example for this is Kanye West's song Runaway

Font

 
This is the font that we decided to use for our titles,we chose it because of it computer geerated appearance.

Analysis of the opening of thriller 'Premonition'

'Premonition'-

 

Premonition is a 2007 American drama film/ physchological thriller directed by Mennan Yapo and starring Sandra Bullock and Julian McMahon, in which Linda Hanson (Sandra) lives the days of a very event full week in non chronological order. on Wednesday she discovers her husband has been killed in a traffic accident, but when she wakes up the next morning he is still alive.

Analysis-

In the opening sequence of this film, the micro elements, sound, camera work, editing and mise en scene, are used to relate the film to its 'thriller' genre.

Firstly in the editing of the film black screens with white text on top was used, with eerie and mournful music in the background, the white text stands out on the dark screen, it is also in a fairly simple font which makes it easy to read, the text fades in and out, the final two credits are the starring actress' name and lastly the name of the film 'Premonition' so it sticks in the audiences mind, these credits appear to flash before fading to black. then the diejetic sound starts whilst the black screen is still visable so the audience can hear clicking and banging sounds, this effect has the audience guessing as to what the noises are, the black screen then fades to the clip, which is a high angle shot of a woman with her hands over her face sitting in the front passenger seat of a car, at first it seems that she has been kidnapped, we soon learn that the sounds were simply the clicking of seat belts and the bang of car doors, the woman is then guided out of the car by her husband, this is where we discover that she has her face covered as she is being led to a surprise.

there is a sepia effect over the prologue of the film, this helps to show that it is a scene from the past. the music behind this scene is very happy, in contrast to the eerie music with the black screens, because the couple is portrayed to be very happy and in love. many of the shots of the couple are from a distance giving the impression of voyeurism, this is also shown through the use of hand held camerawork. when the scene changes from the past to present day the transition is a fade to white screen which resembles a bright white light, which is often associated with death. during the transition we hear church bells chiming in the background, we later relate this to the bells that chime during Jim's funeral later in the film.

the next scene is of the mother driving her children to school, there is no music however we hear children laughing and playing in the playground, these sounds represent innocence and youth. the setting, narrative and costume in the opening sequence are very everyday and ralateable, the routine the mother goes through in the morning is conventional of a housewife, the costumes of a suit for the working father, a conventional sheriffs uniform for the sheriff, school uniform for the two daughters and the dressed down clothes for the stay at home mum. we are shown the housewife working in the home with the use of tracking shots to replicate us following her.

the editing of the film on the whole is continuity editing however there is the use of montages later in the film, and in the opening sequence, whilst Linda is on the phone, parallel editing is used to show each of the womens' reactions. there are more credits over the top of the clip, they are in the same font, colour and size as the first credits at the beginning so the the 'house theme' is continuous.

there are reaction shots in both the scene on the phone, the scene with the sheriff and the scene with the answering machine, the camera is aimed at Linda and we hear the answer phone in the background, so we can see her reaction to what is being said. A sense of voyeurism is again created with the high angle tracking shot of the car, as if we were watching her from a distance, like spying o her. there are many conventions in the opening scene which relate to the films thriller genre and death theme, for instance the use of orchestral music, bright white light and the point of view shot of crows flying an the crow sound effect are elements associated with death and funerals. there is a tracking shot as Linda is running down the road, however the first thing we see is her shadow which is fairly eerie, we also hear footsteps and panting/ heavy breathing, these effects are associated with thrillers and at first the audience may assume that she is being chased, however the camera pans upwards to show her jogging and we learn she is simply exercising.

there are alternating over the shoulder shots paired with reaction shots during the conversation between Linda and the sheriff, at the end of the conversation when Linda is informed that her husband has died her eyes glaze over and she zones out, this is supported with the use of indistinguishable background noises, and an echoing effect on the sheriffs voice suggests distance in her thoughts. no artificial lighting is used in the sequence, it s all natural, to try and in keep with the everyday and real life narrative.

Filming Analysis

Good Points 

• We had our actresses assigned long before our filming began
• We didn't have to retake many shots because most were successful the first time.
• We had all props close at hand from planning.
• Our actresses had previous experience in amateur dramatics so they were confident.
• We worked well within our group and took on different roles to best fit our personal skills.
• We already had two locations available which were perfect for our scenes.
• Our two locations were easily acssessable as they were owned by members of the group.
• We had effective costume and make up.
• We got all the shots we needed from the shot list.

 Bad Points

• The actress who played Jade got very cold, her arm actually going numb due to the unheated location used for the hideout scene.
• We had to wait for it to get dark before we could film the kitchen scene, to avoid continuity errors.
• Some of the shots in the hideout scene were too dark and had to be manually lit with a torch or edited in Final cut to make them visible.

Target Audience

The target audience for Disconnected would be teenagers and young adults. This is because conventionally thrillers are aimed at this age range. Younger children may find scenes disturbing.we are going to appeal to our target audience through the micro elements.

Focus test.

Certificate Rating

Our chosen certificate for Disconnected is a 12 because it conforms to the criteria of a 12 film from BBFC, which include:

Discrimination: Discriminatory language or behaviour must not be endorsed by the work as a whole. Aggressive discriminatory language or behaviour is unlikely to be acceptable unless clearly condemned.

Drugs: Any misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should not be glamorised or give instructional detail.

Horror:Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained.

Imitable behaviour: Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied, or appear pain or harm free.  Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Language: Moderate language is allowed. The use of strong language must be infrequent.

Nudity: Nudity is allowed, but in a sexual context must be brief and discreet.

Sex: Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Sex references should not go beyond what is suitable for young teenagers. Frequent crude references are unlikely to be acceptable.

Theme: Mature themes are acceptable, but their treatment must be suitable for young teenagers.

Violence:Moderate violence is allowed but should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by the context. Sexual violence may only be implied or briefly and discreetly indicated, and must have a strong contextual justification.

Story board

Font Research

Test Shots

 

The video above shows different shots, transitions and sound that we may use for our thriller opening. 

When editing the shots together we need to make sure the black screens inbetween shots are shorter then the film it self and so they keep the interest of the viewer withour being boring. In this video we have used a 'Fade in, Fade out Dissolve' for all transition between black screens, on the video this gets very repeatative however as there are going to be less shots in our opening we are going to keep the 'Fade in, Fade out Dissolve'

We tried different angles for the shots as we could not decide which would look the best, after watching through the test shots we have decided on which angles and distances we now want. For example, an extreme close up of Jades eye instead of a close up. a birds eye view shot of Jade lying down and with the phone next to her instead of a a straight angle from the floor. We also tried two panning shots, one using a tripod and the other hand held we decided to go for the use of a tripod.

The sound in this video is of 'Audio Track 33' which is of ambient sound, it was not long enough to fit to the end, therefore we had to have another to the end, however it does not truly fit as it goes quieter after building up the tension. In our opening we will either have a different sound or we will cut it so that the tension stays the same. 

In our thriller opening the kidnapping scene will be darker and Jade will be wearing torn and muddy clothes.

Analysis of Production company & Film comparison

For our Thriller Project the production company that would distribute our film would be 'Lions Gate Entertainment' as they do a range of films from comedy, such as 'Dogma' to horrors like 'The Descent' and thrillers like 'Crank' and 'Gamer'.
Because Lions Gate Entertainment has a wide audience from producing various different genres in film, this would come to our advantage as people will trust Lions Gate with previous films they've enjoyed.

Our Thriller opening is similar to the film 'Taken' which was produced by 'EuropaCorp' in 2008.
 'Taken' is about a former spy who relies on his old skills to save his estranged daughter, who has been forced into the slave trade.
Our film is similar to this film because a girl has gotten kidnapped and all the mother has left is a voice mail, and struggles to find her daughter with barely any help from the detectives, and in 'Taken' the daughter is kidnapped and her father takes matters into his own hands to find her.

Call Sheet

Location
- Kayla's house, Isleham.
-Alistair's pig sty, Isleham.

Props
- Mobile Phone
- House phone
- Rope
- Washing up plates

Kit
-Camera
-Tripod

When to Film

 

Film the kidnapping scene on a Tuesday.

Film the kitchen/house scene on a Wednesday.