Planning

Story Board

Before we started to film our short film we were in need of a story board, so we all sat down in a group and exchanged ideas is what we wanted to shoot, what angles, camera effects and locations.  During making the story board we were throwing shot types back and forth, and ended up using many; such as long shot, mid shot, high angle shot and many more.

These pictures below shows are story board we created; when we were filming we wanted to stick to this storyboard/plan and much as possible.  When filming we did go off track slightly, but this caused us to get better shot which turned out better than the ones we planned in the story board.

Chosen actors

When I came to casting, as a group we decided to just keep it within the group.  This is because if we were to get more friends into the film, we wouldn’t get as much done as there will be less motivation and more messing around. Also for the start of the film me and Ashley were able to make our idea of a car chasing a character possible as we had the help of Phil Dixon driving the car.

Chosen costumes

When we were thinking of costumes, we did start thinking of big black suits and black sun glasses “the typical agent”.  Due to none of us having any suits and if were to keep the suit idea we would have had to hire/rent them which would put all four of us out of pocket. So we all decided to stick to casual clothing and with this it will still fit into the film and not look out of place and randomly filmed.

Location Scouting

All four of us went out in search for a location to shoot our short film.  After looking around, as a group we finally decided that the school grounds would be the perfect place to shoot our film.  Our location is perfect as it is equal distance from each other’s homes.  This will make it a lot easier when it comes to filming as there is easy access to the site, and I can be used any day of the week.  When we were looking around the site we found it was perfect for building and items around the area. Such as the long drive way for car scenes and tall buildings for establishing shots.

Props

For our short film, we are needed of minimal props.  The main prop needed was a gun. Josh managed to find some cheap plastic guns, which we managed to spray black to look real towards the audience/viewers.  These guns would be used by Phil and Josh “as good guy” chasing the “bad guy” me.

Thriller Research Task

For my media research task I have watched opening scenes to two blockbuster films. (HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY & I, ROBOT), these two films have the same style of opening theme but at the same time show completely different story’s and give the viewer a different feeling.

First off ‘Hell Boy’s’ open scene opens with hell boy as a young lad.  This starts the film giving the views the feeling of a normal life.  It then proceeds to fade into the CGI effects (Computer Generated Imagery) with an overlay transition of cogs. All of these images produced in the opening scene fit into the story of the film and the theme of it. (Cogs and fire which are sown to representing hell boy) During the opening scene it is giving the viewer the feeling of going down to hell, but with the light “orchestral” soundtrack which doesn’t imply it to be a horror thriller.  In this open scene there haven’t really been any camera shots apart from a point of view shot of the ‘Hell Boy’ looking at him dad at the start.

The second opening scene does the opposite to the hell Boy Scene. It starts off with CGI effects then right at the very end they use a high angle extreme close-up shot of a character waking up with an alarm clock going off, implying to the viewer that the opening CGI effects were a nightmare for the character.  The soundtrack of the opening scene sound underwater, it is very slow and makes the viewer feel intense.  During the opening scene it is showing what look like flashbacks of a car crashing into the water (which explains the soundtrack) to the viewer to try and tell a story.

Hell Boy Opening Scene

I, Robot Opening Scene

The Aim Of a Thriller Film

The aim for thriller films is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats all the time. The storyline in these films always include a problem. For example  ‘an escape’, ‘a mission’, or ‘a mystery’. No matter what sub-genre a thriller film falls into, it will always so the danger that the Character faces. The tension with the main problem is built on throughout the film and leads to a highly stressful climax. The cover-up of important information from the viewer, and fight and chase scenes are common methods in all of the thriller subgenres.

Action Thrillers

this type of thriller would appeal to a younger audience compared to the likes of other sub-genres. This is because it involves a lot more guns, car chases and explosions and doesn't require much thought in some people’s opinion. These thrillers mainly attract a male audience although in some cases they have been aimed at a female audience, due to films like “Charlie’s Angels” and “tomb raider”

  

Horror Thrillers

These types of thrillers are mainly aimed at older people; this is due to most horror films being certificate 15 or 18.  This is mostly due to the content the film is portraying.  Due to the younger generation not being old enough to actually view the film it makes them want to see the film even more.  Horror films are most of the time aimed at a male and female audience.  Examples of horror thrillers include “Jaws”, “Psycho”, “Alien” and “The Exorcist”.

Psychological and Mystery Thrillers

Psychological and mystery thrillers mainly show the audience more mental or emotional footage rather than a real life situation or action packed car cases as you have scene in the other examples I have shown.  This would attract perhaps a female audience slightly more than a male audience.  Examples of psychological thrillers include “Shutter island”, “Phone Booth”, “Blue Velvet” and “Suspicion”.

There are many other sub genres of thriller like:

• ·         Comedy Thriller
• ·         Supernatural Thriller
• ·         Conspiracy Thriller
• ·         Disaster Thriller
• ·         Political Thriller
• ·         Religious Thriller
• ·         Techno Thriller
• ·         Erotic Thriller
• ·         Legal Thrillers
• ·         Spy Thriller

Classic Thrillers could include –

• ·         Se7en
• ·         Sherlock Holmes
• ·         Psycho
• ·         Hell Boy II
• ·         Alien
• ·         Hulk
• ·         Jurassic Park
• ·         And many more...

Famous Thriller Directors Include –

• ·         Alfred Hitchcock
• ·         Steven Spielberg
• ·         James Cameron
• ·         Quentin Tarantino
• ·         Martin Scorsese
• ·         Christopher Nolan
• ·         Roman Polanski
• ·         David Fincher
• ·         John Carpenter
• ·         David Cronenberg