final cut

Q7

Research and planning

Our preliminary has helped us with the research and planning part of making our thriller as we planned our preliminary task so we had a rough outline of what to expect. Also, we looked at quite a few preliminary tasks which helped us when we did our thriller as watching openings helped us figure out what we wanted to do.

Also, using the cameras first helped us as we had an idea how they worked. We also had an idea about positioning of the camera and lighting.

Time management

Doing our preliminary task helped us with our time management as we had a short period of time to do our preliminary tasks which helps us to do shots quickly and manage our time.

Our final project is much more professional than our preliminary task due to our varied camera angles and more experience. We were able to go from basic shots to more complex and sophisticated ones. Also from editing our preliminary tasks we had an idea of what to do and we were able to edit more efficiently and effectively like adding titles.

Q6

evaluation: question 5

question 4

question 3

evaluation Q2

evaluation: question 1

We like the idea of having blood in our opening as it represents guilt. Our inspiration for this was Macbeth as she has the famous line ‘out damned spot’. So we used fake blood and added some shots of me washing blood off of my hands to represent guilt and intrigue the audience as to where the blood has come from.

 For our music, we were inspired by the Jaws theme tune as the simple piano notes created an increasing amount of tension. On the left is a picture of our music on garage band. It contained long low piano notes to create tension.

In the ‘True Detective title sequence there is a shot of the setting. The outside, spacious environment makes the audience feel isolated. We wanted to create the effect in our opening that the character is isolated. This would also build tension as she is vulnerable. We made sure we included shots of the trees bearing down on her to signify to the audience that the character was isolated and vulnerable.

We have a close up of a character carving an X into a log. We used inspiration from’ Seven’s’ title sequence as there are a lot of close ups. These close-ups give the audience a sense of wonder and mystery as to who the character is and what they are doing. More explanation here using the term connote

We wanted our font to be simple but effective. In the ‘Seven’ title sequence their font is in white over a black background. The white connotes innocence and purity whereas the black connotes death and evil; we wanted this kind of contrast to come across in our opening. Also, the font is like scrawled writing, we weren't sure about this as we didn't know whether it would fit in our opening as it could look unprofessional but we like the ‘edited by’ font as we believe it is clear, simple and effective so we decided to use something similar In our opening.

There is a scene in ‘A Tale of Two Sisters, a Korean horror film, of a bloody bag being dragged through a hallway. We took inspiration from this and decided to do something similar but apply it to the thriller genre. So we decided to drag a bag through the mud. The bag creates a sense of mystery as the audience will want to know what is in there.

In ‘Memento they created a successful effect by putting some shots backwards. This creates a feel of disorientation and confusion and gets the audience asking questions such as, is she going back in time? We decided to put some of our shots backwards to also get this effect.

In ‘Leon’ one of the main characters is an innocent young girl. We wanted an innocent girl in our thriller to create tension as the audience automatically assume she is the victim. Also, an audience are more likely to feel sympathy for a young female as stereo typically speaking; women are seen as less capable of defending themselves.

The 1975s music video ‘Robbers’ is a short film in itself, in it, a character leaves a bloody hand print on a white background. We took inspiration from this and decided to incorporate a similar shot into our thriller opening as it creates a shock factor and enhances the seriousness of the danger the character is in.

We believe our opening is conventional as we incorporate conventions of the thriller genre for example, the black bag, the character and the blood. We used the black bag to create mystery and suspense. There is lots of suspense and unanswered questions in thrillers so this is why we did this. We picked our location to be unique as there aren't many thrillers set in woods, so this was unconventional of a thriller film. The character was used to create tension as she is alone in the woods this is common in thrillers, to have a vulnerable character, so this is conventional of thrillers. We used the blood to add more of a dramatic feel to the opening. We put some shots in reverse so or opening wouldn't have a clear narrative to intrigue audiences and to make it more interesting to watch. 

preliminary task

music analysis

Our thriller music includes piano and violin. The piano has low key notes played at a slow pace, which builds the tension. This goes into high key violin at a slow pace which gives the atmosphere a creepy feel. The slow pace and  tension suggests that something bad is going to happen. The piano notes last for a long time, this is to create an mysterious feeling for the audience so they second guess what is going to happen. The high pitch of the violin is similar to the violin screeches in the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, which suggests to the audience that our character is in danger.

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production log

Our setting could relate to the audience as we believe most people will be familiar with a forest. We picked this  location as it is isolated an it helps build the tension as the character is alone. However, we are filming in a public place so we need to be aware of pedestrians and other ambient sound. Our character will be in dressed in a school uniform style, which contrasts with our setting as uniforms connote order and our natural setting suggests the opposite. 

gender representation

We have no male characters in our opening, we did this as we wanted the lead to be female to oppose the traditional stereotype of having male leads in thrillers. Woman are commonly portrayed as being dependent on men in thrillers, we wanted to change this. Lead female characters in thrillers often have masculine traits, we oppose this in our opening. In thrillers younger female characters are often portrayed as being weak and vulnerable, this is no different from our thriller .
Mathilda in Leon opposes the traditional stereotype of female representation in thrillers.

character inspiration

We wanted to use uniform style dress to suggest that the girl is young and innocent. We want the audience to automatically assume that the girl is the victim.
In the film Leon, a young girl is one of the main characters although she opposes the traditional stereotype as she doesn't play the typical victim, but the audience assumes she is as she is young. We want our audience to assume this of our character to add to the  interest when some of the shots portray our character not to be the victim.

production log

We have decided we are going to have a lead character in our opening, so we will have more of a narrative to it. We have looked up thriller opening and have found that women usually play the victim. We are going along with this stereotype to appeal to a wide range of audience. We have also decide on our title 'natural instinct' we decided on this as our opening is set in a forest and the word 'instinct' suggests survival which means that there will be some sort of danger in our opening. We have yet to complete all of our filming.

initial ideas

This was our first planning session for our opening. We wanted a range of shots and we knew we wanted the setting to be in a forest so we thought of ideas for shots and wrote them down. We could have improved in this by putting them more in an order and adding more of a narrative.

production log

ideas
We had a range of ideas for our opening. I suggested we had no dialogue to keep the tension and I was afraid dialogue would ruin the tense atmosphere of the opening. We wanted a collaboration of shots, like something similar to the Dexter opening. We wanted something simple, but creepy.

production log

Our preliminary task was very beneficial to do as it got us working the cameras and experimenting with different shots as we had to do a range of shots in it. So, when we went out to film we had some knowledge of working the camera and using a range of shots.

filming

At first we were filming during school hours so we didn't have any props, but when we first had the camera for the weekend we brought our props and got a lot done. Me and Rhiana both had a go at filming and  Rhiana's shots were better, so we decided that I was to be the actor. the first couple of times we went filming we got distracted and filmed random things that wouldn't fit in our thriller, we soon realised that we needed more of a story line so it was then that we started to film our match-on-action shots. 

An improvement we could make would be to know what shots we would film before we went out,  as we wasted time coming up with ideas. Also, we should have used the tripod more as a couple of our shots were shaking and unprofessional.

production log

On one of the first days we started filming we got a couple of decent shots, although, we were doing it in a free period so we didn't have long to film before we had to go back to school. We had started filming in a random order starting with the simpler shots first, this was good as we had time to learn how the camera worked and improve on the more complex shots, although, when it got round to adding our shots onto final cut pro it was more difficult. So, maybe next time we will do our shots in order and work on our time keeping.

behind the scenes

This is Rhiana when we first got to look at the cameras. We were put up the tripod and learned how the camera worked. Which helped us when it came to filming.

This is us making the music for our opening. it didn't take us long an we were pleased with the outcome.

This is me editing our opening this was when we had nearly finished.

filming

We are yet to film some of our opening, as we believe it can be improved to get to the next grade, but we are nearly finished. We do not have much more to add,just a few shots.  We want to make our opening the best it can be. 

filming log

We have nearly got everything filmed for our opening, we still have ideas we would like to add as we think our opening can be improved to get a better grade, so we are going to have to work fast on editing as we are coming up to deadlines. We still need to get a final cut of our film.

setting analysis

Our location was convenient as it was near the school and was a forestry setting. this setting was perfect for our thriller as it fitted our plan of having nature in our opening.


Although the limitations of our setting were that many dog walkers pass through, interrupting our filming and as we decided to film outside, rainy days and days with minimal lighting prevented us from filming, nut on a couple of days we were lucky with the lighting as we managed to get some nice light rays.

filming log

Our first day of filming didn't go well because at first we couldn't find our location, then we realised we hadn't pout film in our camera, so the next time we went out we made sure we were fully prepared. We didn't have much time so we only filmed a few shots. The next time we went filming was very successful as we got a lot more done, we continued at this pace, filming then reviewing our film and seeing what needed to be added.


old footage

We filmed this piece at the beginning of filming our thriller, so everything was rough.  here is  a high angle shot and was meant to show leaves falling to the river, gracefully. We filmed this on a cold day, where it was quite windy so the leaves weren't traveling in the directions we wanted them to. We decided not to include this in our thriller as we didn't think it was professional enough and we already had enough footage showing natural imagery. Also, the footage isn't really relevant to the rest of our thriller as we felt it held no deeper meaning.

rough cut

This is our rough cut. We still need to add our production logo and our music.Our rough cut has background noise, which doesn't give our opening the right effect,We believe adding music will create the tension and complete our opening. We also need to finish our typography. We are also going to try and make our shots more fluid and more fitting.

production logo

This is or production logo. We decided we wanted something simple so we played around with Photoshop. We believe the messy disorientation of the colours relates to our thriller as one of the characters is disturbed. We decided to make our font white so that it stands out and is easy to read. 

production log

We had a few plot changes and discussions and we have finally come up with our final idea. After editing we have around 2 and a half minutes of film but it is not fully completed. We used final cut pro. Our music is nearly finished but we still need to work out how to add it to final cut pro.

This is a screenshot of our opening on final cut. Final cut pro didn't take long to get used to. We were editing almost straight away.

This is our rough cut. We like the shot of me walking in the reflection of the water. Water symbolizes life, so we wanted the reflection in our opening as I am the victim, so we wanted contrasting messages coming across. We also think that our blood hand shot is effective as the red hand print stands out in the natural setting and we wanted the unnatural image to get the audiences attention. We need to add our music as we believe this will complete our opening and we also need to finish our typography as we need to include things like editing.

production log

We immediately decided on our location as we had both decided on the set. We had decided we wanted to be inn a nature setting and I knew a place that would fit our thriller. But when we first went out to film we couldn’t as we didn’t know exactly where the place was. We did eventually find it, only to find that we had forgotten to check if there was a memory card in the camera. We still need to finish off some of our filming.
 This is our location.

production log

We have yet to complete our story board. Though we know where everything is going. We discussed the costume and the props and agreed on most things. We have looked up similar opening and have decided what kind of style we want ours. Our thriller is set in the forest and is about a victim being hunted so we came up with our title ‘natural instinct’. We now need to create the production logo and finish filming.
This is the costume.

Thriller inspiration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5_HFbGBAkM
One opening we were very inspired by a student opening. We watched the opening as it was also set in a forest so we were interested to see what camera angles and lighting techniques they used so that their piece was not too dark.

. Some of their shots were edited backwards. We think we are going to put some backwards shots in our opening as we believe it is eerie and effective for the thriller genre and it also creates a sense of mystery.

We like the unnatural red against the background. We also like the  yellowy filter they have added to their shots.This makes me feel unnerved because it suggests someone is sick or ill. The flares flash up and create disorientation for the audience.

We also like the harsh contrast between the still nature and the disturbing images.

The music of this opening is simple and slow and builds tension. We want something simple in this for our thriller.

Production logo research

We are going to make our production logo soon so I have decided to look at other film production logos to get inspiration from them.

I like this one as the colours are simple so it stands out. I also like the silhouette of the face as it relates to the audience watching the film.

 I also like this one as the colours are bold and it is clever as they are called FlashFilm and they have a reel of film in the shape of lightning. I would like to do something like this for our production logo.

I like the dreamworks logo as it relates to the genre of the films they produce. So for our logo it would be good if we could make it so the audience would know the genre of our opening

Music for our thriller

At first we had a rough cut of our music. It included lots of high pitch violin to create an eerie tension. We listened to this over our opening and realised that it didn't quite fit so we decided to change it. we started by making simple  low piano tones to build tension, we had to cut these down though as they weren't even, a bit like the jaws theme, we then added some higher notes that sound a bit like violin which we had to move around to create  tension and build the effect we wanted . We still need to add the music to our opening. We are currently struggling on how we can do this.  After we have added our music we can get feedback from it and we can edit it accordingly.

This is our new music, we have managed to add it onto our opening, and it fits but it is very repetitive. Our next job will be to edit the music so it has some range to it and keeps the audiences attention.

Typography timeline

I have looked up what order the names go in for the typography and have found this.

This is from the Catch Me if You Can title sequence. The production company comes first. The sequence fades in and the titles are already up. The black on the blue is bold so it immediately draws the audiences attention.The dark colour also set s the scene as it is night.

Next, the actors names. Leonardo DiCaprio's name fades in. There is a sign at the bottom of his name. This sets the scene and gives a hint as to what is to come in the film as it is set in an airport, this could also show the significance of the actor in the film as his name is above a sign where people would look..

After that is who created the titles. this appeared on folders. This is good as it also gives an insight in what is to come and it draws the audiences attention as that is where the audience would look.

Then, the music. This is good as the name is next to a piano so it is clear even with out reading it, what they did for the film.the white background behind the black makes the font stand out and draws the audiences attention.

Costume designer, the name fades in and you are immediately drawn to it. Also the figures clothes are bold so you also know what they have done in the film. The ends of the letters go into the animated characters. This will catch the audiences eye so they will be more likely to read it.

film editor, the name fades in. The audience are likely to read it as the pink stands out against the black. the name swings in and out, this makes the opening titles more appealing for an audience as it is more entertaining than watching words on a screen.

producer, the background goes back to the original dark scene, suggesting that the names on the screen are now more important. it also shows that these names are now people that worked on different parts of the film.

And finally the director. Sometimes the name of the film is shown last as well but in Catch Me if You Can it I shown earlier.

this image isn't shown last, this is because they focused more on who created the film. The 'me' in white font swings off to the side with the plane underneath it. This gives an insight as to what the film is going to be about and catches the audiences attention.

production log

We have done the first edit of our opening and it is not looking bad at the moment but it needs more work. We now need to sort out the typography and figure out where we want the names and how to edit the font.

what we need to do next
We need to figure out how to add the music to our opening.

meeting minutes

What we discussed
On our first meeting we discussed the plot of our title sequence. At first we had disagreements, but then we decided on our idea.
At first it was going to be from the hunters point of view, but we changed it to having the victim as the main point of focus.
We discussed our music as we had made a piece already, but we mutually agreed that it wasn't right for our thriller opening so, we made a new piece together.
At first I didn't want a major focus on a character as it was going to be from the point of view of the hunter but we decided that I would play the victim.
We also decided that Rhiana would do most of the filming as I will be acting in the opening, because of this, I took the lead role in editing.
We decided that we wanted the victim to look innocent so we decided on a uniform like costume.
We agreed on our location. We chose a forest as we wanted to be original as there are not many thrillers set in forests.
We have changed the editing a lot to find what we are both happy with.