Costume - Main Character

Our costume for our main character is what he would typically wear on a night out or a day to day basis. We wanted him to look as normal as possible in the surroundings of a car park so we figured that  by him wearing what he would usually wear it would fit in with out plot well.

Script

No specific dialogue is used in the film opening, but music is consistent throughout to create a strong sense of enigma. The reason why we have decided to not include speech is because our aim is to capture the attention of the audience and enable them to empathise with the principal actor and his thoughts and feelings. As a result, no physical script was used.

However, there were notes made before we went to film, with regards to camera angles and actor expressions. For example, we ensured that our designated cameraman knew to pan the camera accordingly to follow each actors walking passage. We also ensured that the victimised character made facial expressions which demonstrated a sense of unease and distress, again to create a sense of enigma amongst the audience, one of the principal qualities of a thriller opening.

The main notes used by the director were those recorded on the storyboard, which will be particularly useful in the editing process.

Location

Location

- Our chosen location is the car park of the Treaty Shopping Centre on High Street, Hounslow, London TW3 1ES.

- We have chosen this location because it is only a short distance of 5 minutes away from our school, and it has all the available amenities to suit our film - interior car park; lifts; stairwells.

- We plan to film at this location between the end of February to early March 2015.

Storyboard - Animatic

Storyboard - Still frames

Soundtrack - Ideas, feedback & decision

Titles and Credits

Our Chosen Title:
'Anniversary Killer' - the reasoning behind this choice is because of the order of sequence in which events take place throughout the film opening; starting with a flashback, then entering the present day at the end.

Our opening applies similar traits to that of 'The Sixth Sense', in that the spacing and style of the text used in the opening sequence are used on a black background. The flashback scenes in our film are also similar to the 'Sixth Sense', in that they follow subsequently from the opening credits.

Other titles we took into consideration were 'The Terminator's Alley', suggested by myself (Liam), based on a different storyline, and 'Gone', which was suggested by Callum, based on a similar storyline to the one we chose. Ultimately, our final choice was suggested by Tom, 'Anniversary Killer'

Credits:
Shot 1 - The opening frame is purely text - '12 months ago...' - this then fades into the opening visual shot, which begins the flashback of what did happen 12 months ago.

Shot 7 - The second piece of text which appears states the name of the production company - 'Bath Road presents...' - this appears on a black background. The text appears in the centre of the frame.

Shot 8 - The third piece of text appears after the production company, which is the names of the producers - 'A Nolan-Gilbert-Gordon Film' - centred text; fade to the present day text

Shot 9 - The fourth piece of text -'Present Day' - appears on black ground, and fades into the present day scene

Shot 23 - The final piece of text informs of us of the title - 'Anniversary Killer'. This appears at the very end, after all the action. This is a relatively common trend in films, which adds to the suspense and enigma of a typical thriller opening. The audience is enabled to see the action first without knowing the title of the film, and the fact that the title does not appear until the end of this thriller opening will keep the audience interested and engaged in what they see on screen.

A total of 23 shots have been planned, 5 of which are purely text, directing the order of sequence.

Foundation Portfolio - Logo Research

Examples of Thriller Production Companies Logos:

Group Idea for Production Logo:

Above: Original ideas for to be featured in the logo
Below: The official logo:

- Our Production Logo intends to encapsulate the area in which our thriller opening will be filmed, specifically in the Hounslow area of West London.

- Our school is located on Bath Road, hence the title of the production company.

- Within the logo, we have the local tube station (Hounslow Central) on top left, below that we have the local church, top right is the Bath Road sign, and bottom right is outside of our school. 

- The thriller genre is evident in this logo, with the use of dark shading and bold outlines and text used. 

- This gives the logo a bold and severe look, reflecting the genre of the film.

Technical: 3 Point Lighting

While filming our actual opening we may use the the key and fill light to enhance the image. It will be used in places that might be hard to see and the reason i think we wont use the backlight is because during our film the characters are almost always on the move and it will be hard to get lighting behind them. We hopefully wont need to use these lights as we have decided to film during the day so lighting shouldn't be a problem. Also the gels seen in this video are used for fun and to experiment, we wont be using these in our actual film.

Standard 3-Point Lighting Technique Information

INTRO:
The 'Three Point Lighting Technique' is a standard method used in visual media such as video, film, still photography and computer-generated imagery. It is a simple but versatile system which forms the basis of most lighting. The technique uses three lights called the KEY LIGHT, FILL LIGHT AND BACK LIGHT.

KEY LIGHT

This is the main light. It is usually the strongest and has the most influence on the look of the scene. It is placed to one side of the camera/subject so that this side is well lit and the other side has some shadow.




FILL LIGHT

This is the secondary light and is placed on the opposite side of the key light. It is used to fill the shadows created by the key. The fill will usually be softer and less bright than the key. To achieve this, you could move the light further away. Another option is to set the fill light to more of a flood than the key.





BACK LIGHT

The back light is placed behind the subject and lights it from the rear. Rather than providing direct lighting (like the key and fill), its purpose is to provide definition and subtle highlights around the subject's outlines. This helps separate the subject from the background and provide a three-dimensional look.

Planning

What will you film and where?

• All the filming will be done in and around the car park. We plan to film some of our scenes in the car, stairs and lift.

What will you need and when?

• It will consist of 3 characters, we plan to film over two days and roughly 1-2 hours of footage.

What equipment will you need and where will you get it?

• Our main prop would be the car, in which one of our group members has a brother with a car and they are allowing us to film in it.
• For our flashback we will be needing a mask and a baseball bat in which one of our group members has a suitable mask and a baseball bat.

Who will be film?

• as 2 out of our 3 members will be acting they will only be filming when they are not in a scene leaving one member of our group always free to film, although it will be a joint effort.

Who will edit?

• Tom will be leading the editing as he enjoys it and has had past experience in editing although Liam and myself will be helping and offering advice when needed.

Will you need any permissions?

• As we plan to film in a car park it is a public place and so we will need to ask the security if it is okay to film there before we start to film.

How long will you spend filming and editing?

• We plan to take as little time as possible filming as we already know exactly what we need to film which allows us more time to edit, although we must not rush our filming.
• We will try to leave ourselves as much time as possible to edit as we know from research it can take a long time to perfect and make look like a thriller opening to a film.

Audience Feedback on Concept - Group

WWW:

- Intriguing storyline
- Typical thriller theme - murder inquiry

EBI:

- Some questioned how we will ensure that such an intriguing plot will materialise into a quality thriller opening; e.g. it would be better to logically work through the story, by having just one murder rather than numerous ones at the beginning, and then the subsequent police investigation.
- We need to improve and work on the storyline to ensure its practical

There were no particular questions asked by the audience, only some suggestions on how it could be improved, which have already been mentioned.

How will the above suggestions shape our concept for the thriller opening?

- We will be able to integrate the above ideas into our original idea for the film.
- We will be able to keep the concept of murder inquiry as the basis for the film, but our intention is for the feedback from the class presentation to be utilised effectively in improving the practicalities of the filming process.