Planning editing styles

Editing is important in films as you need to create an effect on the normal film to create suspense and tension as a convention to the thriller. With the editing throughout the film it can also make it look real and get the audience involved and if anything has happened they can relate to real life circumstances.

The first edit we will include is slow editing, this is when Brittany is sitting down at the start reading the newspaper when she realises what she has seen, there will also be another use of slow editing when the stalker is looking over the girls through the window.

Another edit involved linking shots, this is when you link a number of shots together to create a motion effect, this will be when the ouija board first goes wrong and the girls are running around and getting scared bringing an effect to assume they are scared.

Jump cut will be another edit used, this will be used when the lights are flickering from different rooms and the camera will switch from the girls to outside and back creating suspense and shock to see what is going to happen.

All of these edits will be conventional through our thriller film as they will create suspense and horror the whole way through keeping the audience on the edge of their seat and then when the stalker comes the slow edit will come in the show horror and the audience may feel to interact with the girls shouting for them to get out.

Opening Credits

The purpose of film credits is so the audience knows who the actors are and who everyone is in the film such as the director and other things. Film credits also help the audience to get a pre-judgmental guess on what sort of genre the film will be, due to font etc.

Opening to se7en;

The colours used are all dark mostly black and white with some red intwined suggested blood and murder.
The style of the credits are thin font and flickery, occasionally getting bigger and are emphasised this suggests an act of building of suspense and horror. The generic conventions of the thriller are that of the use of dark imaging, the enigma behind who the man is in the credits and the diagetic sound when the pen is writing or highlighting all links and creates an eery setting along with the background tracking music which is slow and spooky, all tying together making the conventions of a thriller film.
Order of appearence;

New line - Production Company
Arnold Kopelson Production
David Fincher - Director
Brad pitt - Actor
Morgan Freeman - Actor
Se7en - Film title
Gwyneth Paltrow - Actress
Richard Roundtree
R. LeeEmrey
John C.McGirley
Julie Araskog
Mark Boone Junior
John Cassini
Peter Crombie
Reginald E.Cathley
Micheal Massee
leland Orser
Hawthorne James
Richard Partnow
Richard Schiff
Pamola Tyson
Billy Hopkins  - Casting
Suzanne Smith - Casting
Kerry Borden - Casting

The sixth sense opening scene

The background music behind the opening credits is slow and has a good effect to build suspense and ere. The font used is white against a black background and flickers occasionally this is conventional as it is bold and you can see what it is, the flickering is included to create suspense and will also draw the audiences attention to who's name it is which is a good trick so they know who is in the film and what sort of genre the film is if they don't already know. The writing will also occasionally smudge which is a good effect to create suspense, another thing is the diagetic sound as when a name comes up a typing sound will start as if the opening credits were being tyepwrited which is a spooky image.

Order of appearance;

Hollywood Productions - Production company
Spyglass entertainment  - ' '
Bruce Willis - Actor
Haley Joel Osment - Actress

This will be the font we will be using as it looks spooky and would match our narrative for our opening scene. And the faded effect on the font would also look significant of a ghost. We had also chosen this particular font as we felt it was completely relative to thriller films and with the effect on the font the audience may get a clue of what type of genre the film is and what the villain may be.

The opening credits will appear at the start and during the opening scene coming in and fading over the different shots, the order will be ;

Twisted Productions
Brittany Terrelonge
Katie 'o' Shaughnessy
Tayler Coe
Will Stacey
Presents Film title

Filming Schedule

A filming schedule is important to have so you know what your going to do and when your going to do it, you also have timings so you can tell if you are on track or not. We did follow the filming schedule completely kept in timings and done what the schedule suggested.

Shot	Date and time	Location	Content/action	Shot type and duration	Costume/hair/make up	Iconography	Personnel	Equipment
1	18/11 7.30pm	Wills house	Sitting on sofa talking about  playing with the Ouija board then go on floor to play	High angle	Pyjamas, hair tied up	Sofa  Ouija board	2 Actors Director	Digital Camera Batteries Tripod Lights
2	18/11 8pm	Wills house	Actors still playing with Ouija board in front room beginning to become scared at what's happening	Panning	Pyjamas, hair tied up	Sofa Ouija board	2 Actors Director	Digital Camera Batteries Tripod Lights
3	18/11 8.30pm	Wills house	Actors running away after Ouija board blows away towards the window and sitting by the windowsill	Hand held	Pyjamas, hair tied up	Everything in room Hairdryer	2 Actors Director	Digital Camera Batteries Lights
4	18/11 9pm	Wills house	All actors staring towards the camera with the demon standing tall behind them looking down upon Kate and Brittany .	Zooming in	Pyjamas, hair tied and demon in full black	Window Sofa Tv Knife Chair	3 Actors Director	Digital Camera Batteries Tripod

Risk Assessment

It is important to consider risks before filming as you have to protect the actors and actresses and make sure they don't trip, fall etc and hurt themselves. It also important as you must make the movie professional and if someone falls over during the film it will ruin the entire scene. The risk assessment will help us with filming as we will know what could go wrong and therefore nothing should impair our scene in any way. We now know what could happen and we could completely counter any tripping etc.

Planning Cinematography

Camera Shots

Camera shots are important to include into a thriller film as they give off effects that may intise the audience and make them feel emotion, it can also build tension or suspense or give off that something is about to happen.

One of the camera shots we will be using in our opening scene is high angle, this is when the camera is positioned above the object and this makes the image look smaller but only really focuses on one thing. We are going to use this camera shot when the girls are on the floor/bed playing with the Ouija board, this is relevant and it may build suspense as your only focusing on one thing.

Another shot we will be including is zooming in, this is when the camera moves in towards and object increasing its magnification, this can be used to draw in the relationship between cast and audience. We are using this particular shot when the movie comes to an end and when i appear in the corner of the room and grab brittany by the throat, this will be used to build suspense and tension and will make the audience feel as if they want to watch more to see what will happen.

Hand Held shot is to produce a jerky, bouncy, unsteady image which can be used to create a sense of chaos and immediacy. We are going to use this shot when the girls realise what the Ouija board has spelt out the name of the stalker and they begin to panic, this is when the hand held shot will come into place, this is conventional as it creates a sense of fear and chaos.

The other shot we will be including is panning, this is when the camera is on a stand still but is moving from left to right. This will be used when the stalker is looking over the girls when they are looking at the Ouija board trying to figure out what it has spelt out, The camera will move from left to right however it will focus on the stalker staring down. This is conventional as it allow the audience to know someone's in the room but creates the enigma of what it is and what will it do.

Overall my target audience will build a relationship with the cast with the specified camera shots in different ways;

High angle - The audience will get a feel for the cast and what they are doing with the Ouija board and may start to feel scared for them as they may think what if it was their daughters.

Zooming In - The audience will build a relationship as the camera will be zooming in on them and the audience can see their face and get a feel for their emotions and may start to create some emotions for the cast themselves.

Hand Held - This will effect the audience as they will sense the chaos and may start to become scared for the cast and think about what they would do if they were in the same situation.

Panning - This will reach the audience as they will feel as if they were in the room and start to feel the emotions and feelings that the cast would be acting out.

Character representation

It is important to have a variety of characters so it makes the story line more interesting and allows the audience to view different people and feel different emotions for different characters. With all different varieties of characters it is more likely to become less bored of the film quickly as more is happening and with different personalities the audience will be able to connect with all the kinds of people.

Tayler Coe
16
Male
White
White British
I will be playing the stalker that has been following the girls ever since my escape from prison.
I doubt i will appeal to the audience as i am the 'evil' one that is stalking a 16 year old girl at a sleepover.

Will Stacey
16
Male
White

White British
Will is the director and camera man in the narrative
Will is not applicable to appeal to the audience as he will not be viewed in the thriller scene.

Brittany Terrelonge
17
Female
Brown
White British
Brittany is one of the girls in the sleepover that does the Ouija board and realises what it spells out.
I think brittany will appeal to the audience at the start but as it gets later in the scene they will realise how loud and annoying she is and will grow sick of her.

Katie O'Shaughnessy
16
Female
White
White irish
Kate is the same as brittany playing a girl at the sleepover but with Kate she is only there with brittany and the stalker does not approach her.
I think Kate will completely appeal to the audience as she is innocent but not loud enough to annoy the audience.

Mise-en-scene

iconography- we will be in a living room with various props like a lamp, sofa, television, table, this links with our thriller idea as our title is paranormal sleepover which in the title suggests would most likely have to be staged in a living room and therefore that is the idea we are going for. Extra props included will be an Ouija board which links in with the paranormal aspect of our title, this all intwines to make our opening scene relevant to our group narrative. This is conventional to thriller films as the set of the living room will be relevant to our title and can be staged easily with space.

facial expressions and body language - our facial expressions and body language at the start of the scene will be happy and joyful as anyone young teenager is when there with their friends at a sleepover telling secrets etc, but towards the end of the scene when the mishaps start to occur it will change completely and the expressions will turn into scared and shocked. This will link into thriller films as the face will change showing shock and horror towards the audience which will allow the audience to be able feel the emotions the cast are going through.

location - We will be using a freinds house locating in Barkingside, this location was used as it can relate to a real life place which may make the thriller opening more scary.

costumes -  We will be using 'lazy' clothing such as tracksuits and pyjamas as we are at a sleepover however the demon will be dressed in all black with a hood so the face in concealed creating an enigma towards our scene.

lighting- Our lighting will start fairly light while focusing on the girls however whenever the stalker is in picture or something bad is happening there will be dim or no light used this is to emphasis that the stalker is not good and the audience will realise that with the use of dark lighting.

position of characters - The main cast consisting of the girls will be in the centre of the camera throughout the whole of the scene however there will be various jump cuts to that stalker, this will link in to the thriller genre as the stalker is always around the house the victims are in and may be seen by the audience as creepy or eery.

Production Roles

Camera Operator

Whether movie set, television or commercial shoot, directors and cinematographers (also called the director of photography or DP) rely heavily on the camera operator. On most productions, the DP doesn’t touch the camera. This is why the camera operator must intimately know the equipment selected for a production.

A camera operator has a unique position in taking instruction from the director and DP that must be relayed quickly to a camera crew. For each scene, the director and the DP devise a plan for conveying a mood or emotion. The camera operator then executes on that plan, using technical skill and their personal style to get the desired footage.

While revered within the industry and a close proponent to directors and DPs, camera operators are not always recognized in the public eye, at least not in the way a director, cinematographer or editor may be. The reward is good pay and being at the frontline of the action with actors and sets in getting that perfect shot.

Editor

The film editor works with the raw footage, selecting shots and combining them into sequences to create a finished motion picture. Film editing is described as an art or skill, the only art that is unique to cinema, separating film making from other art forms that preceded it, although there are close parallels to the editing process in other art forms like poetry or novel writing. Film editing is often referred to as the "invisible art" because when it is well-practiced, the viewer can become so engaged that he or she is not even aware of the editor's work. On its most fundamental level, film editing is the art, technique, and practice of assembling shots into a coherent sequence. The job of an editor isn’t simply to mechanically put pieces of a film together, cut off film slates, or edit dialogue scenes. A film editor must creatively work with the layers of images, story, dialogue, music, pacing, as well as the actors' performances to effectively "re-imagine" and even rewrite the film to craft a cohesive whole. Editors usually play a dynamic role in the making of a film.

Location Manager

Location managers are responsible for making all the practical arrangements for film or photographic shoots taking place outside the studio. Productions are made in a wide range of places and location managers need to research, identify and organise access to appropriate sites.

As well as arranging and negotiating site use, the role usually includes managing sites throughout the shooting process. This involves working to strict budgetary and time limits and maintaining a high standard of health and safety and security. The demands of organising crews and dealing with a range of people make this an intense and varied role.

Actor

An actor communicates a character and/or situations to an audience through speech, body language and movement. This usually involves interpreting the work of a writer under the instruction and support of a director, although some work may require the actor to devise a character or improvise the reactions of a character to a situation.

Work varies enormously, from live stage performances of the classics and community theatre to soap operas, radio work and film parts. An actor's role may also involve education, training or therapy, as well as entertainment.

An acting career inevitably incorporates periods of unemployment, underemployment and alternative employment.

Sound Technician

Sound technicians are required to assemble, operate and maintain the technical equipment used to record, amplify, enhance, mix or reproduce sound.

They identify the sound requirements for a given task or situation and perform the appropriate actions to produce this sound. Sound technicians of different types are required in a range of industries including film, broadcasting (radio or television), live performance (theatre, music, dance), advertising and audio recordings.

Film Director

Often called the captain of the ship, the Director is the primary creative force behind a Film. He or she is the person who translates the screenplay onto the screen through a definite vision. In doing so, he is aided in equal measure by a host of creative & talented technicians, such as the Director of Photography, the Editor, the Actors. But the entire visual language and the final say rests with the Director. It’s the Director’s unique interpretation of the story and of the characters told through an individual cinematic aesthetics that makes the Director the torch-bearer of a Film.

In my thriller film out of the group i will be the ghost that is haunting the group since they made a mistake on an Ouija board letting out a demon, i have chosen this role as i feel i am most suited being the tallest and dressed in black can make a good effect of a ghost/demon. Will be taking the role of the director and camera operator, Brittany and Kate will be actors in the opening scene acting as two school girls at a sleepover.

Thriller films history

Thriller is a genre which is used in literature, film and television to create suspense, excitement and tension. The most common use of this subgenre to thriller are mystery, crime and psychological thrillers, however there are also many other subgenres. Thriller is also very closely coincided with the horror genre, To which both use suspense and atmosphere to cause feelings of dread in their audiences. The genre of thriller film developed from well known novels. Then later these novels were studied and adapted and later reproduced into a thriller film.

A film is portrayed as a thriller when the storyline gives the audience thrills, and keeps them on the ’edge of their seats’ as the plot builds up towards the climax. The tension is usually built up by a character being placed in a menacing situation, a mystery, or a trap which seems impossible to escape. There is also use of life threatened during a thriller film, as the main character is usually unsuspectingly or unknowingly involved in an extremely dangerous situation.

The common plots in crime thrillers are ransoms, revenge and kidnappings, which are elaborated on for the effect on the audience. In mystery thrillers, the common methods are investigations and the ‘whodunit’ technique. This is technique when there is a complex plot of a detective story where the audience is provided with clues of the identity of the criminal. The elements which are usually shown in a psychological thriller are mind games, stalking, death traps, obsession. These elements are generally combined to a certain extent, where it creates a complex plot which creates thrills the audience.

The atmosphere in a thriller film is also enhanced through the lighting and use of music. An example of this is from the opening of the film ‘Alien’ by Ridley Scott in 1979. In the opening of this film, the lighting is minimal and dull, this creates the atmosphere of suspense and mystery which links into the thriller genre.

One of the most well known and popular thriller films is ‘Psycho’ which was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and was produced during 1960. This film is a psychological thriller based on the American 1960‘s time period. The film was adapted from the1959 novel which was written by Robert Bloch also called ‘psycho‘. Both the film and novel are based on the cases on convicted serial killer Ed Gein, this therefore allowed the directors of the film to associate the film with other genres such as horror, drama and mystery, as well as the thriller.

Overall, the genre of thriller is used in various ways to create an atmosphere which excites, thrills and entices the audience to carry on watching a film. This is done in several ways, such as through the use of lighting, mise-en-scene and also with the added use of non digetic and digetic music. The thriller genre was a popular genre during the past fifty years and is still increasingly popular within the industry today.

Prem Task

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5roAGVk8Sg

This is our group prem task where we decided to go on how two students ( katie and brittany ) decide to have a cigarette in the toilet before a lesson but a teacher ( tayler ) comes up and catches them in the act. This was basically a test of the directors ( will ) camera work and a group test on the editing side of things. The prem task was a test before we went into doing our opening scene, as a group we felt we learnt a lot from our prem task and feel our opening scene is now better off then it would of been without this practice.

The strengths of our Prem task is how the teacher (Tayler) is coming up to catch the girls is the sort of suspense that we could use in our thriller opening sentence letting the audience get into the movie and wanted to tell the girls to run and get out of there.

The weaknesses of this prem task was that it dosent help to much with our thriller it seems to be more of a comedy than a serious thriller which is a shame but i still felt we learnt a lot with the different camera shots etc.

Evaluation

•  What is the purpose of a target audience?

The purpose of a target audience is so that you know who your aiming your movie at. A target audience, is a specific group of people within the target market at which a product or the marketing message of a product is aimed at. For example when your creating your movie you need to know who your aiming it at because you need to put an age certificate on the film and you don't want to put the wrong age certificate on your film.

•     what types of research did you carry out and why?

We carried out primary research because we went and got all the data ourselves we went round school and asked different ages of people our questions and they answered. 

•         How many people did you survey and why?

      I surveyed 40 people i asked them questions from my questionnaire and they gave me their answers. I choose the number to be 40 because i wanted a wide range off answers from different age groups and audience

Were the vox pops successful and how will you with planning your thriller film?

      The vox pops were successful because we have got evidence of the answers from the questionnaire on camera. We got members of the publics point of view and what they thought this is also a good use of vox pops.

•          Pick 3 different questions and discuss the results that you received. Explain how your results will assist you and your group with planning your thriller film

          What is your preferred age certificate? 

7 people said PG    7 people said 12/12A    20 people said 15   6 people said 18

         What are your expectations of a thriller film?

3 people said Flashbacks   10 people said Night Scene  15 people said weapons   12 people said Protagonist / Antagonist

        What type of sound would you say works best within a thriller film?

    10 people said Tension building  10 people said Suspense sound  10 people said Horror sounds  10 people said Other

•        Were there any answers that you had to reconsider and why? 

   There were no answers that i had to reconsider.

My research will assist me in planning our thriller because as a group we have conducted all the necessary questions that will help us in creating it. We have got all the data from the public that we interviewed and we are going to listen to what they have said and will consider their views when creating it. Hopefully by listening to their views and doing what they have said we will make our thriller appeal to all members of the public.

Group Narrative

Out of our group we have each made an individual narrative but with all of them there will be advantages and disadvantages, by the end we will choose one of them and stick by it for our opening scene to our thriller film.

Brittany Terrelonge

For Brittany's narrative it is 4 friends sleeping over starting off as a normal sleepover watching films as discussing secrets when one of them decides to put across the idea of doing an Ouija board and they all end up agreeing to it. But when they do it one of them gets spooked and drops the glass, this is bad and as soon as it happens spooky things start happening around the house and they all become scared and what follows is unknown.

Advantages of this is that is has a good basis for a film and can easily include special effects that could show the house to be haunted and what things happen could be presented well. It is also is good as it relates to the age group as it is something that would happen at a sleepover but includes what could go wrong.

The disadvantages that come from this are that it may be hard to include all special effects as we only have the basics, it will also be hard to create a scene and make the house seem spooky and haunted. It will also be hard to be all serious about what is happening and will have to include some good acting which may be hard to do.

Katie O'Shaughnessy

Katie's individual narrative is that there are 4 people living in a house and one of them becomes possessed, this is because she is the youngest and most vulnerable, the other 4 get spooked out and decide to do an Ouija board and it spells out the girls name, and says other various spooky things, in the end the get in an exorcist to sort her out.

Advantages of this theory is that it is a good set for a thriller film, you could include various jumpy scenes, eery sounds and edits to make it seem as if the girl is truly possessed.

Disadvantages of Katie's narrative is that it would be very hard to edit it to a good standard to make the story believable and also have to include various props and things that may be hard to obtain, another down side is that it seems the narrative for the opening scene has all of the story embedded in it and what happens later on will just be little extras and no real surprise.

Will Stacey 

Wills individual narrative is that as a group we create a voodoo doll of Tayler so that when we do anything to the voodoo doll it happens to Taylor for example if we broke the leg on the voodoo doll Taylor's leg would break as well. The story behind the thriller is that brittany is obsessed with tayler and because she is mad and completely loopy she creates the voodoo doll of tayler so if he ever hurts her she has a way to get him back which is very twisted.

 

Advantages of this thriller is that there is a good background for suspense and thriller related conventions, the audience will also be kept on their feet and may also become frightened and start to feel feelings towards tayler in that they want to save him etc

 

Disadvantages of this however is that it would be hard to make what happens to the voodoo doll look real upon tayler and may look very fake causing the scary, thriller side of this story to lose its effect.

 

Tayler CoeMy idea for my thriller film is that there is a man that has been kidnapped and is left in a room all alone, where if he is not found within 6 hours new form of spider will be released upon him where it will eat and kill him. The character that is stuck in the room will be a black man that has been in a gang which has been robbing and killing people and is now karma is coming back on him. The enigma behind it is the man that is captured, carter ( the gang member ) is one of the people that was a victim to the gang but has survived and is now getting his own back on carter.Advantages of my story is that it will be good in creating horror and suspense as it will be showing the man in the room and then the others outside of that room trying to help and find him before its to late giving a race against time suspense effect.Disadvantages of this however is that there is no way we can get a giant spider or even cgi one that will look slightly real, it will also be hard to find the type of room i describe in my narrative to film in just around the are we live in.  The narrative that as a group we have decided to use is Brittany Terrelonges teh way we can make Brittanys narrative into a special effect, suspense filled thriller is overwhelming and we have therefore decided to choose Brittanys.