improvements.

Regarding to the comments we got from other Media study students, i improved our timeline for our thriller opening. Some people said we needed to say more about your props and credits and most said we needed to give more information on our music we have in mind therefore I have added more to the timeline blog post to improve our timeline and give viewers a better understanding.

Font credits ideas.

We looked at fonts from a website to get ideas for our credits and for a thriller title to put on our thriller opening. Ideally, we wanted a font which was bold and easy to read with out any extra decoration so it would be straight forward for the audience. Also, we didn't want to be too creative, feminine, busy, etc as we want to represent the genre.

All these fonts are what we are considering for our thriller film.

Font one:

We considered this font as we think it looks imaginable on a thriller film. We like how the 'A' has a extra edge but still keeping it readable.

Font two:

We didn't like this font as we felt it looked like a font for a children's action film. Also, we didn't think all the letters were clear enough to read in the amount of time the credits stay up for.

Font Three:

We thought this font was good as it's the thickness we want and easy to read but it's not a font that relates to the genre of thriller.

Font Four:

We like how this font was different from the others because of the extra white outline makes it more eye catching. However, we felt this font looked more suitable for a horror as it comes across as a creepy font which would be better for a horror.

Font five:

We thought this font was good as it is bold and thick like how we imagine our credits to be but it could look too simple on our thriller.

Font Six:

We like this font as it's simple but has a unique shape compared to the other fonts. We imagine this font to look good against the white lift background where we plan for our credits to be.

Evaluation for filming.

Filming of the second scene:

On the 9th February in our media lesson we started our filming. Finally after finding a location that we were allowed to use (the cleaning room in our college) it ended up being an ideal place.
We room was dark and dirty which made our setting good as it was one of many thriller conventions.

All filming went well for us as we all compromised with each other and were organised as we all each brought in the props we all planned to bring in.
We had our storyboard with us as it helped us follow and know precisely what we needed to do. However, while filming we all thought of new ideas while we were filming which we ended up adding in.
Overall, filming went well and to plan and we managed to successfully complete everything that we had to do.

Filming of the first scene:

On the 11th February we filmed the first scene in the college lift. Everything went to plan but unfortunately Tania was unable to come due to an emergency.
Whilst filming we decided to add in from extra shots from what we planned to make it more understandable of what was happening. We remembered all our props but while filming, as it was the end of college there was cleaners around so there is a possibility of hearing hovering in the background and there is two people you can see in an office window in the background but we think it could add to showing it looks more like an office.

Overall, we are happy with what we have done and can now move on to editing.

Advice for filming.

Film one shot several times

When filming you should film the same shot such as tracking shot or close up more than once so you can pick the best one.

Be aware what is in the shot

This is very important so that the story has continuity and there is nothing in the background which doesn't relate to the rest of the filming and there is no changes to costume, hair, etc.

Film shots for longer than you think

filming shots for longer than expected will be very helpful when you come to editing which we found out from the children's film project as it allows the audience to see shots for longer as sometimes shots move on too quickly.

Always use a tripod except when 'handheld' is wanted.

Tripods allow the filming to be very still which makes it look more professional.

Get the distance right

The distance when filming is important as the distance identifies if a shot is a long shot, close up, etc.

Call sheet.

We will be filming on thursday 11th february after college. We will be filming the first scene (Yasmin in the lift). We will be filming the second scene of the our opening in tuesday lesson.

We have booked the camera and tripod to collect at 4.10pm on thursday and to be returned at 9.00am the next day.

LOCATION:
We will be filming on the college site as we have found a good place which has a lift and looks particularly like than office which is what we want our setting to look like. The health and safety we need to consider is usual health and safety from an average day and be aware of possible incidents that could occur.

LIGHTING:
The lighting won't be anything we will change or consider as the lighting needs to be normal lighting.

POSITIONS:
Yasmin will be the only actress in this part of this filming who is playing Tania's (Character name Annie) friends who is a business woman while Tania, Sian and Briarly will be filmers/directors/organisers.

PROPS:
The props we will be using are a phone - for the missed call, bag - to complete yasmins business woman look, costume - for it to be understandable she is in an office in an office outfit. Briarly will be bringing in the phone, bag and blazer for Yasmin and Yasmin will be bringing in the rest of her outfit.

The Grafton location emails.

We thought that we were definitely going to be filming in the Grafton lifts until we got a Email which stopped us as the college was unable to pay the Public Liability Insurance.

The Email:

Briarly

Thanks for your email and I hope that we can accommodate your project!

We will need to have a site meeting early next week to understand more of your requirements to see if it is logistically possible. After 5.30 pm when the shops are closed would be a much better time. Also we can't proceed at all until you confirm that the college can provide Public Liability Insurance to a value of £5 million for this project. We will also need to involve the City Council Car Parks as they control the multi storey car park you also want to use!

As they say where there's a will there's a way but we will need to be aware of Health & Safety requirements etc.

Regards

Michael

Our reply:

Hello, Unfortunately our college in unable to provide the Public Liability Insurance therefore we cannot use The Grafton.
However, we are thankful for you offering the The Grafton to us and appreciate your time.

Thanks again.
Yasmin Bean,Tania Miah, Sian Bell, Briarly Jeffrey-Mann.

Therefore, we are now filming on the college site and still waiting to confirm where we will be filming as we have a few ideas in mind however we will be using a certain lift in the college which we know we have access to.

Time line of our thriller opening:

We decided to create a time line which was broken up in ten seconds for our 2 minute thriller opening. In our time line , with every ten second we included what kind of shot is going to be used and whats going to happen.

Props:

First scene: - mobile (40-50 seconds)
- bag (office bag to create character)

Second scene: - rope (on tania all through second scene)
- torch (for added light and for sian to use 100-110 seconds)
- duct tape (on tania all through second scene)
- eyeliner (on tania all through second scene)

Music:
First scene (0-60 secs) The music will be fairly fast pace but not too over the top as we want it to be quite casual but still with a sense of it being wary.

Second scene (60 secs) a sudden first beat will happen
(65 + secs) The music will stay in a faster pace to show the audiences it is a scary and vital part.

Timeline:

0-10 seconds: this is the opening shot therefore it will introduce the location and give a feeling of the genre of the film. Were going to have an establishing shot of the lift, so the audience will understand this scene will be in a lift.

10-20 seconds: the next shot will be a mid-shot of Yasmin our protagonist standing in the lift waiting to walk out.

20-30 seconds: This shot will be a long shot of Yasmin standing in the centre of the lift, waiting to walk out, she will be time conscience and this will be when all the credits will appear around her as a train of thought.

30-40 seconds: Credits continue to appear and Yasmin still is in the moving lift.

40-50 seconds: We broke this 10 seconds into 2 5 seconds because 2 short shots were going to be used again.

40-45 seconds: Yasmin walks out of the lift and she brings out and checks her phone. This will be a long shot of Yasmin walking out.

45-50 seconds: This will be a close up shot of Yasmin's phone and it will have a close up of the mobile screen which would appear to say "one missed call".

50-60 seconds: Once again we broke this 10 second shot into 2 short 5 second shots.

50-55 seconds: This will be a mid-shot of Yasmin with her phone replying back to the person who called her. The audience will only see her standing afar typing in her phone.

55-60 seconds: This will be a long shot of Yasmin walking away into the distance.

NEW SCENE

60-70 seconds: This half way point during the 2 minutes will have a change of scene and will not include Yasmin(the protagonist) but now the film will include 2 more new characters Tania (victim) and Sian (antagonist).

60-70 seconds: This shot will introduce Tania the victim in this film. It will be an extreme close up of her face. As she has been captured this shot will show the fear in her face, which will leave the audience wondering what had happened and why she is trapped?

70-80 seconds: A long shot of Tania being tied up in a dark, dull, dirty, deserted room. Tania will be placed in the corner of the floor looking very scared and worried. She will be tied up and it will clearly show the audience that she has been trapped and is being harassed.

80-100 seconds: We thought this shot will be quite detailed and intense therefore we expanded the duration to 20 seconds.

80-100 seconds: this shot is going to be a slow pan shot starting from Tania sitting on the floor in the corner , this shot will move around the whole room. We decided to use a pan shot so the audience can see and feel the sort of atmosphere throughout the film. As the pan shot moves around Tania around the room, there will be a voice in the background of Sian (antagonist) she will be leaving a voice mail in Tania's phone , then the camera will stop dramatically on Sian's face.

100-110 seconds: this will be a shot of Sian finishing off her conversation on the phone and then looking at Tania in a very evil way. This shot will be a low angle shot to connote Sian's power. Sian will be using a torch at this point for her role of being a powerless antagonist.

110-120 seconds: This shot will be a high angle shot, as previously a low angle shot was used to show Sian's power, this shot will have a high angle shot of Tania which shows the level of power each of these characters have and who is more superior. Tania will be placed on the corner of the floor looking very worried.

120 seconds : This will be a pitch black background and then the title of the film will zoom in slowly.

Different Locations...

After being turned down by the Grand Arcade and the Grafton we have now decided that our only option left is to film in college, we took some time out and went exploring around college grounds, we came across some interesting locations which wasn't previously aware of. We now hope to film in these locations as they have a dark sinicter feel to them and will evoke a good atmosphere for our film.

Below are some photographs we took of the locations we found in college:

Panic Room (2002) Opening Credit Analysis.

We looked at the film 'Panic Room' to see how it opens the film and how it indicates the genre.
Most of the beginning is little clips of Establishing shots to show the setting of where the film will be and it represent what kind of people the characters will be.

The credits:

The credits in this film are all moving in different angles by the camera doing pan shots. This is an interesting and different way to show the credits which makes it more fascinating compared to credits that don't move as it makes it more accessible for the audience to read as it moves along the page.

The colour of the font is simple but shows up well against the backgrounds as the 3D effect on the writing makes it easier to see. The style of writing is modern which fits with the modern buildings therefore the writing relates to the style of the film being set in a modern surrounding.
Also, the writing is bold and capital letters which indicates the style of the film possibly having a strong storyline with serious events as the writing theme is strong.

Six feet under- credits analysis

We looked at the main sequence to this TV programme which has a unique way of presenting the credits to the opening scene. We liked how they were each individual for each credit and shown in a special way, this immediately entices the audience to watch more. They used special animation to make the words disintegrate which made it look very professional and interesting. They also had the credits popping up in different unexpected places. This has influenced our plans for our own credits in our opening scene to the thriller. We are also hoping to add animation and had previously planned that our credits are going to appear randomly to add more suspense and effect. We have also chosen the font we wish to use which is the same font which we used to create our ident, the follow through of this font will look effective.
Also they made the credits appear on the props which we also thought made them stand out more and drew attention to the props.

Permission from the Grafton.

From the Email we sent to the Grafton, they replied and have given us permission to film in their property.
Their reply:

Briarly
 
Thanks for your enquiry. 
 
With certain proviso's I am sure we can come to an arrangement for The
Grafton if this is where you want. 
 
Regards
 
Michael

Our reply:

Thank you for replying and letting us film at the Grafton, it is the Grafton we would
like to film at.
Could we possibly change it to the next day (Thursday 11th February)
We will be there at approximately 4.30pm and will leave in a maximum of an hour. 

I hope this is all okay and we are grateful for generosity. 
Thanks,

Yasmin Bean, Tania Miah, Sian Bell, Briarly Jeffrey-Mann. 

We are now waiting for a confirmation for a definite date.
Therefore, the location has now to the Grafton Lift and car park
rather than the Grande Arcade.

Music Terminology

Below is a short summary of the music terminology that we have applied to our work:

Diagetic: The audience can see where the sound is coming from (e.g. radio, traffic, background noise).
Non-diagetic: Sound effects added after filming (e.g. music added or sound effects to enhance to the filming and make scenes more intense).
Sound Bridge: Used to link sounds together (e.g. two scenes).
Asyncronise: When the sound doesn't reflect/match the image.
Narrator: Someone speaking in the scene (a character)
Ambient sound: Natural sounds.

Gargage Band Practise.

This is Yasmin's and Briarly's Garage band soundtrack for the opening for the film 'Identity'.

We used a mixture of different sounds to create our soundtrack and used all of these sounds to create tension and suspense for the audience.
This gave us practise and experience for when we do our thriller because it taught us what kinda of music and effects we can use.
We thought the beginning music was a good soundtrack because it gave the opening a wary feel to indicate it will be a thriller.
We also liked how the music started fairly slow then built up to a faster pace to match with the images from the opening of the film. Then, it calms down to create a more relaxed feeling as the pictures on the film was of the man thinking therefore the music related to the pictures that were on at the same time.
We could have improved by blending the ending music better from the music before so it moved along more smoothly. Overall, we thought our soundtrack went well with the opening to the film and it helped us learn more techniques on garage band which could be useful for our thriller.

Garage Band Practise

We made a music soundtrack for the opening scene to "Identity"; we had to create a non-diagetic sound track which would fit in with the content of the scene and enhance the filming to its advantage.
We found doing this was extremely helpful in learning what would work the most, we can now carry out these skills and techniques to create our own music soundtrack for our thriller opening more successfully and professionally.
We found that our music which we created was very successful and had good feedback from our peers and teacher. We used a range of sounds to create a intense scene, as the scene progressed the music followed. We varied the lengths of times of different sounds to make it more varied and interesting.

Below is a screen shot of the program garage band with our music on it:

Filming at the Grafton

We wanted to film at the Grande Arcade local shopping centre, but they replied to our email saying we cannot use their property to flm.
Their reply:

Good morning

Thank you for your email regarding Grand Arcade.

Unfortunately we cannot allow you to film in the Grand Arcade lifts. The reason for this being it will cause considerable disruption to our shoppers and visitors and therefore we cannot give you permission to film here.

The car park is run by Cambridge City Council and therefore in order to film there you would need to contact them in order to obtain permission.

We apologise for not being able to allow you to film in Grand Arcade but wish you the best of luck with your project.

Kind regards

Lauren Sapsed

Customer Liaison

Management Suite

4th Floor

Grand Arcade

St Andrews Street

Cambridge

CB2 3BJ

As the grande arcade won't allow us, we have sent an Email to The Grafton asking if we can use their lift and car park. If this fails we will use the lift in college.

Our storyboard and Planning.

These are our storyboard to show our plans of our opening. We wrote about the camera angles, the location, the props we used, etc as this will help us so we are doing so our filming will run smoothly on the day.

We did this storyboard to help us do our filming more easily as we have something to follow along and it shows us the structure of our piece. Also, as we wrote down the camera shots it will show us what will be happening and what we have planned so we don't forget.