THRILLER THEORIES/CONVENTIONS

CONVENTIONS:

- Low key lighting 

- Shadows 

- Quick cuts 

- Suspense music 

- Montage of shots

- Protagonist 

- Antagonist 

THEMES OF THRILLER

- Reality 

This is when the characters try to determine what is true and what is withing the narrative

-Perception 

Seeing the world through a persons own interpretation using their senses, often in the fil the characters misperceive the world, or perceptions are altered 

- Mind 

The human consciousness can also be used for a narrative conflict in the plot , where characters battle their own minds to reach a new level of concept

- Death 

Characters either have a fear or fascination with death

Many theorists also believe that thrillers stick to a set cycle of events which reveal the plot. This begins with equilibrium , followed by disequilibrium , caused by the main source of the problem in the plot. This then leads to attempted repair and then a new equilibrium.  

TEST SHOOTS

Here we have created a video which brings together all of our test shots. Taking test shots was important to us because it allowed us to see a variety of different ways we could take the shots and what obstacles we may face, which enabled us to sort them before filming day. For example we found it hard to get the steam on the mirror as the bathroom didn't steam up as much as we thought it would so used a kettle instead and placed the mirror over it as it heated up to get the steam. However we found that it was hard to read and faded quickly so we came to the conclusion that we are going to put something dark in the reflection of the mirror so that it will stand out more and also take the shot quickly so that it doesn't run before we take the shot.
Also from taking the shots it allowed us to start to visually seeing what our final product will look like. From seeing this we further experimented with colouring that we could use over the top of the shots to create more of the mise-en-scene which we want.

TEST SHOOT TIME - LAPSE

Here we made a time lapse of us filming our test shots to add to our evidence of planning. By doing this it enabled us to explore a variety of ways in which we could film our shots.

TARGET AUDIENCE

Here we created an avatar to show a rough demonstration of our idea of who our target audience. Firstly we thought that our opening would be aimed at more females then males as we feel like women are more likely to watch this because of the themes and genre. Furthermore we thought that our opening is more likely to be watched by people who have more time and don't have a full time job , such as uni students and people who are at the beginning of their careers. Moreover we think that people who are more likely to enjoy watching this type of TV would be working class or middle class. 

TITLE IDEAS

How we came up with our title: BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES

Firstly we discussed the use of using the word 'the' in front of the main title word. we decided to explore this idea as by looking at many film titles, many seem to have used just the one singular word didn't seem to be as popular and we thought sounded more cheesy. Next we researched words linked to the subject of our opening, exploring words connected with the theme of being possessed and the idea of drowning and being trapped. However we struggled to come up with titles that we liked following this route, so then decided to try and find titles following the theme of phobias, however this led to us researching words related with eyes, as we felt that eyes can be symbolic for many things. Finally this led to us deciding on our title as "before your very eyes".  

SHOOTING SCRIPT

0.        INT    Bath – Evening

Woman sits in bath, still, arms resting on the side of bath. Long shot of full bath. Dripping sound towards end.

1.        INT    Bathroom – Evening

Close up of the tap at the end of the math. No movement but the edge of the bath is seen. No dripping yet. Cut in to next shot.

2.        INT.   Bathroom – Evening

Extreme close up of  tap at end of bath. Dripping water from tap.

3.        INT.   Bathroom – Evening

Panned extreme close up moving from left to right. No movement of object. Motif enters quietly

4.        INT.   Bath – Evening

Long shot of bath showing girl sliding into the water.  Motif continues, Cut straights to next shot

5.        INT.   Bathroom – Evening

Close up of hand on side of bath. Hand slides into bath leaving blood smudge. Sound is motif and dripping.

6.        INT.   Bathroom – Evening

Medium- establishing shot of a still of clothes. Motif continues. Cuts in to next shot.

7.        INT.   Bathroom – Evening

Close up still shot of label on item of clothing which has credit on.

8.        INT.   Bath - Evening

Medium close-up of actor going under water. Shot taken from overhead. Motif gets muffled as if also underwater

9.        INT.   Bathroom – Evening

Medium still shot of small round mirror, showing name written in condensation. Motif continues with dripping sound

10.     INT.   Bath – Evening

Medium shot of woman in bath – as still as possible.  Motif continues and dripping but muffled as she is underwater . Straight cut to next shot

11.     INT.   Bathroom- Evening

Time- lapse medium shot of the sink as the paper dissolves into the sink. The motif continues.

12.     INT.   Bath- Evening

Medium shot of woman in bath breather bubbles after 5 sec. Muffled dripping and bath water noises

13.     INT.   Bathroom- Evening

Close up still image of fallen over shampoo bottle leading to label on the bottle.  Motif without accompaniment

14.     INT.   Bath- Evening

Medium shot of woman in bath breathes out bubbles, muffled bath noises

15.     INT.   Bath- Evening

Medium shot of still image, slightly distorted with motif with accompaniment

16.     INT.   Bath- Evening

Medium shot with woman starts to emerge from water with loud dripping

17.     INT.   Bathroom- Evening

Long establishing shot which consists of slightly distorted still image, loud dripping with soft motif

18.     INT.   Bath- Evening

Close up of woman in bath were woman comes up and breathes with a loud high-pitched ringing. Jump cut to

19.     INT.   Bath- Evening

Extreme close up of eyes opening. Dripping sound continues, fading into a ringing.

LOCATION SCOUTING

BATHROOM 1

Bathroom 1 is more likely to be suited to use for our location for filming our project because of the mies-en-scene it creates. The use of black and white fits with out theme, and it is also empty adding to the miesn-scene creating a sterile feel. Secondly once the bathroom is cleared it conveys a more stark look which matches more of the feelings and atmosphere we are trying to create. 

BATHROOM 2

Bathroom two we thought would be less suited for our project for several different reasons. Firstly one problem we would encounter is that the mirror, as it is large and we would have our reflection whilst filming. Secondly the colours in the room created from the old begin to set a mies-en-scene which wouldn't fit with the theme. even though we would be able to get a good long shot of the bath, the bath from bathroom 1 would be more suitable. 

MAKEUP, COSTUME , HEALTH AND SAFETY

PLANNING OF PLANNING

PLANNING SHEET

PROP LIST   Scarlett (prezi)

Bar of soap - £2

Mirror (scarlett bring)

Clothes (everyone bring couple of items)

Fake blood- £3

Contact lenses -£20

Basket (alex already has)

Shampoo bottles, bathroom items (alex has)

COSTUME AND MAKE UP Scarlett (prezi)

Swimming costume  (strapless bikini and shorts)

Pale foundation 

Light coloured eyebrow pencil

Mascara 

Dark eyeshadow 

Mascara

LOCATION SCOUTING scarlett ( prezi) 

Compare two locations , annotate good and bad

Analysis

HEALTH AND SAFETY – (prezi)

TARGET AUDIENCE – Avatar Jasmine

16-30 years old 

Female / couples

Students / people at uni

Working middle class 

Western Europe

Annotations 

MUSIC Alex 

SCRIPT ( MUSIC ) Alex

ANIMATION FOR FILM COMPANY  LOTTE 

(silverline film)

4 designs 

Annotations 

Colours used and why

Animation ideas

MEET ON 15^TH JAN evening

£6 EACH FOR PROPS

HISTORY OF THRILLER

1920s - 1930s
The first popular thriller films were made in 1920s by a director called Alfred Hitchcock, and he made several popular thrillers , including some silent films , such 'the lodger' which is a Jack the Ripper based film. Alfred Hitchcock was especially important in the development of thriller history as he was the first director to really expand the thriller genre, particularly by focusing on sound , therefore creating more suspense. Several other British thriller directors included Walter Forde and Victor Saville , however their work was mostly produced after Hitchcock's'.

1940s
In the 1940s Hitchcock continued to direct suspense thrillers and in this period of time he produced two films and one of which was Oscar Winning. His films continued to push the boundaries of the genre, and constantly brought new ideas. He also released several other popular thrillers in this time such as 'shadow of a doubt'.

1950s
Again in the 1950 Alfred Hitchcock was the main leading director producing more classics such as 'strangers on a train'  and 'to catch a thief'. Some other thrillers were made by other directors such as 'Niagara' by Henry Hathaway, however in this period of time little development of the genre was made.

1960s
During the 60s director Michael Powell's film 'Peeping Tome' was released prior to to Hitchcock's 'Psycho'. Throughout this period of time thrillers developed significantly and more and more were being made, which furthermore lead to the making of more spy films, as Hitchcock began to produce less work

1970s - 1980s
The 70s bought a violent wave of thrillers and started off with Hitchcock's first British film in almost two decades which was given an R rating for its violent and explicit content. Moreover in this time the first film about an individual being obsessed with their idol was made and produced. During this time thrillers became more engaging as better quality of films developed and more realistic plot lines were used.

1990s - present
The 90s started with Rob Reiners 'Misery' which was based on a book written by Stephen King. Many new thriller directors then made popular thrillers, such as 'Silence of the Lambs' and 'Seven'. Overall in this time new technology has expanded the quality and how engaged the audiences.

STORYBOARD ANIMATION - ALEX, JASMINE, LOTTE, SCARLETT

Here is an anamatic version of our storyboard, which we created by hand and added in details to help when it comes to filming underneath each one. The aim of this was to further enhance our vision and allow us to clearly see what is going to be filmed. Overall we aim for this to be a paper version of our opening sequence, and by editing it together,it can visually demonstrate each shot.