Risk Assessment - Miss Georgiou

My Risk Assessment 

A risk assessment is simply an examination of what, in your work could cause harm to people or the workers. The purpose of a risk assessment is to iron out all the potential hazards and risks that could happen and what you can do to prevent it in order to work in a healthy and safety work place. 

The importance of a risk assessment is to inform me and my colleagues what potential risks could occur whilst filming our opening thriller sequence. The risk assessment will provide us with the efficient knowledge of what hazards could happen and how we can prevent them to stay safe whilst creating our thriller. If I was not to have a risk assessment, me and my group members will not be fully aware of the possible hazards that can occur within making our sequence, so it'll be dangerous because we would not know how to prevent them. An example of a hazard that could happen whilst filming our thriller would be to be careful of the roads as the antagonist lays there most of the time. What we thought that could prevent this potential risk was to have a person look out for the cars whilst filming the road scenes so that we are fully aware that the roads a clear and safe to film on. 

When filming the road scenes, where the antagonist lays in the middle of it, we knew that this would be a risk as cars may come and pass by. To prevent from any of us being harmed or not aware that theres a car coming, we had a friend who kindly came along to help with us and have her watch out at the end of the road to see whether cars are coming or not. The risk of being ran over or having drivers speak to us about what we were doing was easily avoided by having someone look out for the incoming cars coming on the road. 

Another risk we came across whilst filming which wasn't on the list was being aware of what was in the forest, because it was night time we were all not fully aware of what was in there. When it came to filming the forest scenes, we prevented not being aware of our surroundings by having a few people light up torches so that we could see what we were doing and what was around us. 

The risk of the weather being wet or unsuitable for our film was avoided as when we were filming it did not rain, however the ground was muddy and quite slippery. We all avoided this by wearing the correct footwear to walk on whilst being in the forest. Also to prepare for any wet weather we carried around an umbrella so that we could continue filming whilst being dry. 

In conclusion, the risk assessment helped us with filming as it provided us with a guideline of all the possible hazards that could occur when we were filming and how we could avoid them. Moreover, the risk assessment prepared us for what was to come when filming and helped us be aware of all the risks we could come across. 

Individual Storyboard - Miss Miller

A storyboard is a sequence of drawings, typically with directions and dialogue, which represents the shots planned for a film or a television programme. Storyboards are important because their the best way to show your vision of the production your creating. The visual aspect allows you to share and explain your vision to your other group members, showing them how exactly your video is going to be mapped out and look like. Also creating storyboards help guide us and structure what will be included in what frame, and the order they would be in. Creating individual storyboards will be helpful as it allows every member to express what visuals they have which they believe will be conventional to our thriller opening scene. Once we have our individual storyboards we will merge all ideas and agree on what to include within our thriller to make it a successful one which follows all the conventions. 

Frames 1- 4 

Overall the whole thriller will be in low-key lighting as it is set in the evening, however there is a flashback which will obviously contrast the normal lighting to show that this is a flashback. The low-key lighting will foreshadows that theres going to be a dark atmosphere within the thriller opening. Within the frames 1- 4 the aim is to create curiosity in the audience. The sequence begins with a boy laying down in the middle of the road, beginning with this will puzzle the audience as they do not understand why anyone would put themselves in such danger. Throughout these frames, it begins with the boy with his eyes shut which implies he must be dreaming or something else. But after this the use of the editing style dissolve will incorporate that theres a change of scenery and that the audience are not where they were at the start of this. The use of the editing will introduce our flashback showing a swing in a mid shot so that they can see the location of where it is at, which is a park. To emphasise the flashback we will enhance the colour making it look more gloomy and misty to convey to the audience that this is not reality, it is a dream that is taking place. Which will hopefully make them feel suspicious and tensed as they do not know what is going to happen in this flashback in the meantime. 

Frames 5 - 8

As its the end of the flashback in frame 5, there appears a little boy swinging on a swing. This will shock the audience as before there was no one on the swing and it was moving by itself. After the next two frames will be of the boy waking up and sitting up as he hears distant chatter,  there will be no sound in this which exaggerates him concentrating hard to listen to the noises. Lastly in frame 8 it'll introduce two more characters which are girls with a two shot, this will automatically inform to the audience that they are the possible protagonist as girls as victims are conventional to a thriller due to their innocence. This drama will also show the state that the girls are in, which will be in a unable state as they are coming back from a night out. The use of this will exaggerate their vulnerability and will make the audience create a closer relationship with them due to their lack of stability so they won't be able to defend themselves if anything was to happen. 

Frames 9 - 12

In these frames it'll mostly be focusing on the two girls, and will give a more insight on who they are and what they're like. Firstly, in frame 9 it'll show in a panning shot the girls walking down from the bus stop. The parallel sound of cars in the background will give the audience a sense of normality, so they can relate to the girls and build a closer relationship with them. This carries on onto frame 10 where the girls finally reach to the location where the mysterious boy is who is the antagonist and one of them notices him and wants to check on him. After, frame 11 will be taken in a point of view shot as one of the girls decides to go on check on him, the slow editing added will create suspense and tension within the audience as the slowness suggest something unexpected is going to happen. I was inspired from the scene in Scream 4 - Olivia's death where he friend slowly walks up the stairs towards where the murder was. I chose to use slow editing because like the girl in scream the slow editing and the slowness creates suspense within the audience especially because they know that the antagonist was there or is there. Also behind this will be a non-diegetic sound which will mirror the girls heartbeat which increases as she gets closer to him, this will make the audience feel apprehensive as they do not know what is bound to happen. Now this section will end with a jump cut to the girl who is on the phone, this will gradually shallow focus her surroundings so that it makes the setting look more blurred. This will make it harder for the audience to see whats happening in the background and also feel tensed as they have just seen her friend walk away towards the antagonist who is on the road. 

Frames 13 - 16

Within the frames 13 - 16 , this will clarify to the audience what character representation is which. Frame 13 is simply an extreme close up of the antagonists eyes opening which will be accompanied with an alerting, non-diegetic sound which will make the audience jump. After this a reaction shot will occur in frame 14 which will show the girls facial expression to her response of the off screen screaming she hears whilst being on the phone. I took this inspiration from the scene called Olivia' death in the film Scream 4. This reaction was shot was used when the friends were in the opposite house looking across the window witnessing the horror of their friend being killed. This inspired me to use a reaction shot so the audience can see the reaction from the girl which they can relate to her as they're just in the same shock as she is in Behind all of this, there will be an non-diegetic, alerting, screechy music that will represent the shock and horror of the audience and the protagonist of just happened as the mysterious boys body is gone but left is the girls friends dead body. 

Frames 17 - 20

These last few frames are all about the chase scene that includes the victim and the antagonist. In frame 17, the girl is running away from the scene where she saw her friend dead and is running towards the forest. Forests are conventional to a thriller as they are dark and isolated so if anyone was going to be in danger, they'll have no help. The next frame will be shot with a handheld camera, this will make the audience relate to her movements as she is running in the woods. I chose this because it will make the audience put themselves in her shoes and feel tensed because if there was something to suddenly change, they'll jump as it is unexpected. After, in the frame 19 it is shot from a low angle of the protagonists perspective as she has fallen onto the ground after tripping over. The low angle will gradually look up to the dark figure that is distant from her path way, this will suggest that it is the antagonist as you cannot see his identity which is conventional to a thriller. As this is a low angle this will portray the girl as weak and the dark figure as more powerful as he is more upper and dominant because she is on the floor. The editing of this will be slow as it will create suspense and tension whilst the girl looks up to the dark figures direction. What inspired for me to include a screechy, non - diegetic music like The 'Heres Johnny' Scene from the film The Shining. This was included when the antagonist was getting closer to the bathroom door where his protagonist was hiding at, the music quieten down the closer he got to the door. I'll incorporate this in my thriller when the girl slowly looks up to see the dark figure as the music will quieten showing that the antagonist is in power and is going to win this chase. Finally in the last frame it will jump cut to this frame and will be a point of view shot of the boy who's wearing a mask looking down on the girl who's fallen over. When this is shown, an alerting, non - diegetic sound will go off which will make the audience jump as it is unexpected to happen and also the on screen sound will be of the girl screaming as she sees him. Both sounds will imply that the chase is over and the girl is in danger due to her reaction, this could also suggest that she is going to be killed by him. The whole opening sequence will finish on a fade of this frame which will creates suspense and curiosity within the audience as it is left on a cliff hanger and they do not know what is going to happen to the girl, whether she dies? or escapes the antagonist who is in her way. 

I believe that my storyboard flows very well, and the audience who watch our thriller will understand the narrative. The editing, cinematography and sound used carefully links each frame together making it easy for the audience to watch and also it helps create suspense, shock and surprise within the audience and conventional to a thriller. The improvements that I'll consider within my storyboard is to include different kinds of sound to give a more impact within the thriller, I feel that the sounds I've included are a little bit repetitive which will eventually make the audience feel bored. But I will discuss with my group this slight problem I have and see if they agree or disagree to include more sounds onto our group storyboard or just to leave it as it. 

When I get into my group, we will all discuss our different types of individual storyboards and evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each so that we understand more in depth what we would like our thriller to be like. This will allow us to see if we like any of the ideas and choose to incorporate specific ideas into our group storyboard or whether we simply follow one individual storyboard depending on how conventional it is to our narrative and a thriller. 
There are certain things that I think all my team members will agree on including from my storyboard and that'll be the extreme close up of the antagonists eyes opening. I believe all my members will agree on using this as it shocks the audience and also exaggerates that he is awake after having the flashback making the audience feel tensed. 

Planning our individual storyboards was very efficient in regards with filming our sequence because it sets a guideline of what were going to include in each frame. So that when we are actually behind the camera recording, it wouldn't be as time consuming and chaotic as we know what were doing because were following the group storyboard we have came up with. Also with having a storyboard it is easier to visualise as it is a brief plan of what your going to do and include in the sequence, this is helpful because because we can see through pictures and brief writing what we need to do when actually filming. 

Group Planning - Miss Georgiou

My group consists of three girls; myself , Ella and Rishika. Each week we have a lesson where we have a group meeting and discuss the individual ideas we have created and gathered for our final thriller outcome. Group meetings are essential as they allow us to all communicate face to face and share our ideas on improvements for our planning. Also it allows us as a group to evaluate what we have done well and we could do better to make our thriller opening successful.The planning lays all the flaws and mistakes within our narrative, so this will make us prepared before carrying out the actual film because we will adjust to it which will allow to make our opening scene flow smoothly.

On the 17th October in my media lesson, me and my group sat down and discussed the different types of narratives we have all came up with and decided which narrative we wanted to do. The importance of the individual narrative is that it allows each member to create their own ideas on what they believe will be a good thriller. If we weren't to create individual narratives, each member will not explore their ideas and when creating the group narrative some may disagree with the others. When we finished making our own narratives we came as group and reviewed each narrative, deciding which one we will follow. This was helpful as it allowed us to listen to each others ideas and also make up more ideas to improve the final group narrative. Once me and my group finished discussing each individual narrative, we finally decided that we will follow my narrative. This is because we thought that my narrative conveyed many conventions in a thriller which will make the thriller opening a successful one as it provokes suspense, surprise and tension. 


Our meeting that commenced on the 4th November we discussed the Mise-en-scene that we will include in our thriller. On a piece of A3 paper we divided it into the 5 elements of Mise-en-scene( setting & iconography, costumes & hair and makeup, colour and lighting, body language & facial expressions and positioning. This was to show clearly what was each in their sub headings, once we did this we started filling out the aspects of the each box of what Mise-en-scene we were going to include in our opening thriller. This allowed us to discuss together as a group all the different ideas we all had that we all came to agree with that we thought that would make our thriller successful. For example in our plan we wrote under the subheading lighting, that we would use low-key lighting due to the setting being in the evening and explained what effect it had on the film and audience e.g creates suspense and tension because its dark and it makes it hard to see the antagonist. The planning helped clearly as we gathered the important parts of Mise-en-scene within our thriller which made us organised and at ease. 

On the Friday 7th November, me and my group in the lesson sat down and made a plan of the all the cinematography we were going to include in our thriller. This involved camera angles, movements and positions that we believed would help make the narrative more interesting and shocking. Planning the cinematography helped us portray the different perspectives from both our types of characters protagonist and antagonist i.e and also show which one was more dominant and vulnerable from the two. The planning of these shots were very important because it prepared us on what to include when filming our actual thriller and also helped us establish the different shots that we thought helped tell our narrative clearly. As we planned the cinematography when actually filming it wouldn't be chaotic and we will know what we have to include within our film as we followed the guideline of the plan. 

As sound is very crucial to thrillers we had to make sure we understood why and how we were going to include the sounds that we planned to occur in the scene. We all sat down and made four boxes and explained the four types of sounds we will include within our thriller sequence. We came up with at least a minimum of two sounds for each box because of the importance of sounds within in thriller we made sure we had enough that we believed will have an impact on our audience. The sounds we gathered helped us communicate with each other and evaluate which sounds we thought would have an effect on the audience and get a reaction from them emotionally which will hopefully want them want to carry on watching. An example of sound we decided to use was a non-diegetic sound which will occur on the chase scene where the girl is running in the forest. The scene will mirror her running away but also how the antagonist is getting closer which will create suspense and tension in the audience. 

In our lesson on the 10th November, we made another A3 plan for editing of all the editing styles that we would include in our thriller. Firstly we all looked back on our inspirations post that we made earlier and looked at the editing that we were inspired to use. One of our inspirations was to use a reaction shot, we decided to include this on our plan as we wanted to show a reaction shot within our thriller so that the audience can relate to the character and build a closer relationship with them. This was because the reaction occurred when the girl finds her friend dead on the floor on the road which was part of our narrative, the reaction shot establish her facial expressions and how she was feeling. Planning editing was important because when we actually were going to edit our thriller it will be less time consuming because we knew what we were going to include that'll help our opening more interesting and effective to watch. 

In this lesson on the 12th November we wrote down on a piece of A4 paper the characters we were going to include in our thriller that represented the two roles antagonist and protagonist. Due to our narrative we followed that to gain ideas of what our antagonist would be and how he would look. We came up as it is a thriller, he would be wearing dark clothing as dark colours create enigma due to the colourfulness. Also we discussed how our protagonist will look like what their backgrounds were, we decided to make our two protagonists as girls as this was conventional to a thriller and the audience will sympathise to them as their innocent girls. The planning of our characters allowed us all of us to communicate our ideas and merge them together to make sure our characters included were conventional to a thriller as much as possible. Finally because we have a flashback that includes a young boy we evaluated how this character would look like, but after discussing we came to an agreement to have the boys face hidden just like the antagonist. All of this created enigma and that was our aim for the audience was to feel suspense and tension whilst watching. The planning was good and we would refer back to it when we tell our actors what they will need to do to show their characters in our film and make them look more realistic. 



After this, we all individually made our own storyboards that we thought our narrative should follow. This was helpful as it all gave us a chance to express what we all thought the narrative should run in. The storyboard consisted of drawing and a brief explanation of each frame in our narrative of what we wanted to include. I found this very interesting because when we actually came together and discussed our individual storyboards mine and Rishikas were slightly the same. However Ella's instead of starting with the antagonist laying on the road, she decided to start our narrative with the flashback of the little boy on the swings. Me and Rishika were amazed with this idea and very much liked it. So in our group storyboard we decided to follow Ella's as it was more interesting to watch and it flowed easier so that the audience could understand what they're watching. If we were not to plan our own storyboards and firstly done it as a group we would of missed out everyones ideas that they initially had in mind at first, so I am happy we did the individual storyboards. 

Finally, our last planning session was on the planning of our opening credits we all went off individually and went on the macs to go on the software Final Cut Pro x where we were going to create our opening credits. We done it individually again so that it allowed us to each express our different ideas on what we thought would be good for our opening scene. Once we all had finished our own opening credits we showed each others one by one and explained what the effect it had on the viewers and the film itself. After this we all discussed the advantages and disadvantages of each opening credit so that we all understood where each an every member was feeling towards our creations. Lastly we all came to an agreement that Rishika's Opening credit was the best due to its interesting effects and colours the helped convey the different character representations within our scene. This was helpful because it made us all understand how our final opening credit was conventional to a thriller and how it was applicable to our narrative. 

Through all this group planning, I think it has helped me and my group understand everyones opinions and ideas on what they believed was best to include in our opening thriller to make it successful. It was interesting to see everyones own individual view of every element of our thriller. Without planning we would not know what to do when actually filming the thriller and it'll be chaotic making us stressed and not able to perform at our best. 

Planning Opening Credits - Miss Georgiou

Opening credits are shown at the very beginning and are a list of the most important members of the production. The order of the list usually starts with the director or the most famous actor/actress in the film, this is then followed with the title and then the rest of the members of the production. Credits are usually shown as text overlapped on a blank screen or static pictures, or sometimes on top of action in the show/film. Opening credits within a film are very important as the fonts, style and layout included is what helps convey and foreshadow what type of film the audience will be watching. In this post I will be evaluating the importance and techniques added to the opening credits from the film se7en. 

se7en opening credits

The beginning of the credits of se7en include a variety of extreme close ups of different objects, this gives the viewers an idea of what they re about to watch as it emphasises the size of the subjects. The use of the colour scheme of white and black helps convey that there is a contrast between both good and evil within the film, in a thrillers case protagonist and antagonist. Moreover, both colours represent meanings that juxtapose  each other e.g white represents life, goodness, hope and light. Whereas black represents darkness, mystery , power and death. The use of the two colours makes the scene calming and dull making the audience feel suspense to why the colours are so simple. Also at 0:36 - 0:38 the screen is filtered with the colour red over an image of a man in water, the use of the red filter foreshadows death, blood and murder in the film as red is associated with blood, fire, heat , desire and danger i.e. As the red filter comes unexpectedly this shocks the viewers as they are used to the white, black and greyish scenery that the film was portraying at first, this could imply that there may be an event that is unexpected and will shock the audience.

The Title 

The style of font within this opening credits is a font that mirrors a child's handwriting due to its lack of neatness, this could portray a character in the movie who has the mentality of a child so he could be a psycho in the film. When the actual credits are shown, the words are flashed into different sizes as they dissolve, this gives a 'trippy' visual which makes the audiences eyes widen as they don't expect it. The use of this could represent the mentality of the antagonist and show that his mind set is not balanced, this is conventional to a thriller as it helps portray the characters and make the audience understand a little more about them through the text. 

someone using a razor to peel their skin

The iconography shown in the opening scene of the se7en are sharp objects, drawings and pens etc , the use of these items imply that the person who is creating all of them is planning something that is dangerous which they'll use against their victims. In the scene, theres a hand shown and images but nothing else, this means that the person behind the camera does not want to be seen. The use of this hidden identity is conventional to a thriller as antagonists do not like to be seen as they like to have a surprising introduction in the film which shocks the victims and audience. However, as the audience cannot see who's behind the actions in the scene, they will create a distant relationship with who ever it is as they cannot trust them because they're not showing their identity which creates tension and suspense. The order of appearances and different production jobs are in the following : director, most famous actors names for example Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman,  the title of the film which was shown in larger bolder text,  the other actors that aren't as important as the first two, casting, music  costumes , editors, production , director of photography, co producer, executive producer, written by, produced by and who the directer is again. In this film the name of the director is seen twice, this is because he may be known and they believe the audience will recognise his name due to watching his other creations, so this will be beneficial to the film as it'll produce more sales the more profit everyone makes.

Individual Opening Credit

Individually all of my group members went on the mac and went on the software Final Cut Pro to create our own individual credit that we believed would be suitable for our opening thriller. Firstly when I started creating my thriller I searched for the font I believed had a weird, child look handwriting feel to it. This was the font Nanum Brush Script because the font was clear but a bit crooked which I thought could mirror my antagonist state of mind as when he was child he was traumatised so the font could represent him mentally.  After this I selected the colour font I wanted the writing to be, I decided to use the colour which will be seen on a black screen. The use of this is conventional to a thriller as it extinguishes the "good vs evil "( therefore protagonist vs antagonist). As this followed the narrative theory of Aristotle, I believed the two colours white and black will be perfect together as they both have opposite meanings to each other e.g black represents evil, darkness, death and power whereas white represents goodness, life , hope and innocent. After deciding what colour and font I wanted, I went on the Final Cut Pro x and looked at the effects they had to put on it, I chose the earthquake effect which was simply an effect that made the font shake slyly. I chose this because the shakiness would give the audience a jerky feel because the font wasn't stable. I took this inspiration from the Se7en opening credit because in theres the fonts would flicker and flash foreshadowing that something or someone is not stable within the film. In my film this person would be the antagonist as he has had a bad history so within the film his killing is his instability because he is unpredictable on what his going to do next. This is conventional to the thriller genre because it makes the audience feel tensed as the fonts is not balanced, also credits like this help establish to audience what type of genre the film is and give them an idea on what is going to be about. After adding the earthquake effect, I watched back my opening credit and I thought it was still a bit dull so I searched for more effects add on to the font. I came across the effect prism on Final Cut Pro x and this was simply making the font look more 3D like as the colours added were red, blue and green. The use of the colour red would connote blood, danger and action , all these meanings were essential to my thriller as it did have all three aspects in the opening. So again showing the bit of red will also help establish to the audience what they're watching and inform to them that there may be blood and danger included in the film. I was inspired by the se7en film because of the way it had the flickered font but within mine instead of doing that, I made the font into prism which helped it stand out more which will engage the audience more. Furthermore the positioning of my title will be in the middle so that it immediately grabs the audience attention when it appears. For the order of appearance I decided to copy the format that se7en had which was: famous actors, the title of the film , the actors with less screen time, casting, music, costumes, editors, production , director of photography, co producer, executive producer, written by, produced by and then the directer is again. This is because I believed that the most seen actors should be said first so that audience can learn to know them. When I get back into my group, I will show and explain to them why I made my credits this way and how so that they understand the purposes and why I believe my opening credit will be suitable to our opening thriller scene. 

Rishikas Tile part 1 

Rishika's Opening Credit

In Rishikas opening credit she chose to use the colours white and black for the word ' Humanity' , the font white and the background black. This was to show good and evil within the film, because in our thriller there will be an antagonist and victims which follow the Aristotle narrative theory. The font she used is Octin Spray Paint, this font looks quite odd as it is all in capitals as well as making a bold statement to the audience that this is the title of the film. I think this draws the audiences attention and also the boldness states that something or something big is going to happen within the film which will have an impact on the viewers. The effect she added onto the credit was the underwater effect from Final cut pro x , the use of this made the title move around the screen as if it was wave. This could suggest theres going to be a ripple effect within the film which impacts characters in it, also the underwater effect makes the title look more gloomy making the audience want to continue watching the movie. Secondly in Rishika's title there are two parts, one being the "Humanity" and the other being "Off". The Off occurs straight after seeing the first part, this exaggerates its placement and also emphasises on the word off suggesting that something or someone is going to behave differently. As you

Rishika title part 2

see above, the Humanity is coloured white, however the off in her title is still white but with a red outline. This suggests to the audience that theres going to be blood involved as the colour red indicates death, blood and danger. I think the use of the change of colours of the outline emphasises the danger the protagonists are going to face in the film and plus like the sudden change in the title, it could also imply theres going to be a sudden change in someones life in the film. The advantages are that the separation of the two parts of the title suggest that theres going to be a clear divide between the antagonist and protagonist but as the off is outlined with red, it suggests the victims will be caught by the antagonist. This makes the audience feel curious and tense as they want to know who the antagonist is. Also because the title has a wave effect on it, it makes it catch the eye of the audience and make them want to follow the waves of the title, like they would want to follow the narrative. My only disadvantages are that the use of having two separate parts of the title may be time consuming within the clip, considering this is only the opening thriller it might make the audience feel bored. Also as Rishika stated that she may include an earthquake effect also with the underwater effect, I think this would be too much and distracting for the credits, as the most important thing we want is for the audience to pay attention to our actual thriller opening. In spite of that, I think Rishika's idea communicates all important things across within our thriller to the audience which is very essential.

Ella's Opening Credit

Ella's title included a coloured background which had a ghostly effect as it had a vignette affect but in the colour white. Also in the shape of which could be a splatter of blood, is the title in a dull normal font saying the full title ' Humanity Off'.  As white connotes life, hope and innocence, the colour of the blob like the vignette background could represent the protagonist in the film suggesting they're vulnerable. In contrast the font of the title is black like the soft focus in the middle of the frame, this could represent the antagonist as black usually connotes danger, death and power. When played, the title does flicker and shakes which can be used to show the antagonists life as disturbed and a blur and also how they're feeling. The advantages of her credits will be that theres a clear example of defining that theres going to be an antagonist and victim in our film due to the two colours black and white being used together. Also the flickering and shakes in the title makes the title look more interesting to look at which draws the audiences attention to the title. However, the disadvantages of Ella's credits will be that the use of an X-ray like filter, could be misguided and inform to our audience that the film is a sci-fi thriller, which it isn't and it doesn't really suit our narrative. Also I think that theres too much of the colour white, which could be seen as the film is about the victims when it is really about the antagonist and his power. To conclude, I don't think Ella's credits really connect with our narrative and I wouldn't recommend it for our final credits due to its lack of conventions for our personal thriller. 

The Opening Credits we decided to go with was Rishika's. This is because of the interesting way she introduced the title with the underwater effect, this exaggerated the antagonist mind, implying it is always the same as its a ripple effect and will effect others. Also she use the colours white and black which establish the different roles in our thriller i.e protagonists and antagonist. Moreover the colour red which is outlined in the word off suggests danger, blood and action which is conventional to a thriller. I believe that our credits will be really interesting for the audience to watch because of the effects and the colours we have used and Rishika's opening credits follow the conventions in our thriller easily. Also the order of the production will be similar to the films se7en which was director, most seen actors ,  the title of the film , the other actors that aren't as important as the first two, casting, music  costumes , editors, production , director of photography, co producer, executive producer, written by, produced by and who the directer is again. We chose to include the production order this way because we want the audience to know who directed the film mainly and also the main actors that had a key role within the thriller film. 

Planning Characters - Miss Miller

Characters are very essential to a any genre of film, because without characters theres no story or nothing to be interested in a narrative. Characters within a film help build the narrative and through this process, the audience build certain types of relationships with them. There are two main types of characters in a thriller film, protagonist and antagonist. A protagonist is usually the hero, victim or someone that tries to stop the villain, this builds a closer relationship with the audience. In contrast, a antagonist is the villain, 'bad guy' or killer (in a thriller) and the audience tend to have a distant relationship with them. In this post I'll be explaining the different characters I will include in my thriller which I believe would be successful for my opening thriller scene. 

Protagonists

In my thriller opening, it will consist of two protagonists that know each other and are best friends that are students. One of them would be aged 17 and the other aged 18, this is because in the scene they were coming back from a birthday celebration that they had. My protagonists are stereotypical to a thriller as they are young adults, and the antagonist usually goes for the young females in their teens as there seen as more oblivious and vulnerable than men. The fact that the two are roughly the same age and are students that go to sixth form, it is easier for the age certificate that I've chosen which is a 15, to relate to them as the film includes characters that are close to that age. The actors that will be playing these characters will also be either 16-18 as they will come from a sixth form, this is essential as it allows the audience to build a closer relationship with them, so if anything was to happen they would sympathise them and put themselves in their shoes. I believe that these two characters will make my thriller opening scene more interesting, as they convey the difference between themselves and the antagonist. Also because they're seen as innocent, the audience will be shocked and surprised when they actually see them go through this tragedy on their birthday celebration. These two girls will be conventional as one of them will be blonde, and as blondes are stereotyped of being quite clumsy, vulnerable and simple-minded, this will automatically inform the viewers that she is a victim just because of the colour of her hair. However the other girl will be brunette, even though she is not blonde, it'll come to a shock when she actually gets put in danger as the audience do not expect what to happen. 

Antagonist- Flashback

As my thriller has a flashback in it, the little boy who will be included in the flashback will be the antagonist when we was younger. To portray his character, he will be dressed again in dark clothing that hides his identity, this will assure to the audience that the antagonist has always been the way he is due to the similarities of his clothing which portray darkness, death and power. His background story will be that he was abused by his single mother, who somehow had a certain hatred towards her son ever since her husband had died in a car crash with him inside of it. This is conventional to a thriller as antagonist often do have a background story that has affected them badly enough to influence on their present life. The little boy in the flashback will be aged 7-8 so that the audience can sympathise with him as he in young, also it'll create suspense because they do not know if the boy is safe or not as children are often used in thriller films to provoke suspense , tension and shock within the audience. In the flashback the audience will not see his face as he will be be facing his back towards the camera, this will suggest that the boy may be never noticed or seen by people that he is comfortable with hiding his identity. The use of this will create suspense and tension in the audience as they will be intrigued to see what the boy looks like. 

Antagonist - Present day

The main antagonist who will be the killer in our thriller opening scene, will be aged 17-18. This will show the audience that the little boy from the flashback has grown up and also create suspense within the audience as the target age certificate can relate to his age. This will make the audience feel shocked when they find out that he is the one killing the girls because they can relate to his age, making them surprised that someone their age is capable of such a sin. Like the boy in the flashback, the antagonist in the present day will be wearing dark clothing to convey his darkness and powerfulness, and so he can almost camouflage in the night which will be seen as hidden identity. This is conventional to a thriller as antagonist usually do not want to be seen by his victims so that they will never be caught out on their actions due to their lack of identity. Also the background story for him now, is that as he has grown up he has been in an abusive relationship with his mother, but he had killed her when things got too far. Furthermore, he went to school but dropped out due to his lack of focusing and socialising with other students, all these factors have influenced his behaviour now making him mentally abused as he feels he doesn't care for the world anymore. To portray this character I'll have a tall boy that is in sxithform , so that the audience can relate to him also his height would threaten the victims and viewers showing that he has power.

The characters I have created for my thriller opening are conventional to a thriller film, as the victims are girls because of their innocence and lack of power and the antagonist is a male who has been traumatised all his life by his own family. Moreover, the iconography I'm using e.g mask is conventional to a thriller because antagonist often hide their identity, this makes the audience feel tensed and suspicious on who he is. I believe that the characters I will have in my thriller are suitable for the genre due to the thought and process of planning them, me and my group made sure that each character will show most of the thriller conventions to make it successful. The planning for characters was very important as it helped me and my group members discuss and evaluate what type of characters we would like in our thriller that would help us achieve the best possible outcome within our thriller. It also gave us a picture in our minds on how the audience will see the characters and helped us create emotions within the characters so that the audience can relate, fear or build closer relationships with them. When creating my thriller I will look back to the post to help me understand what the characters I have chosen need to convey in the thriller to help the audience understand the narrative more as well.

Planning Editing - Miss Georgiou

Brief plan of editing

Editing in film is the process whereby shots from a scene are selected and constructed together to create the final edit. Editing styles create meaning in the film through collages, tempo and timing through the scenes. Which helps highlight the significant parts of the film and also editing styles are used in thrillers to create shock,surprise,suspense. Planning the editing will be useful as it will allow me and group members to discuss and plan the possible editing styles we will use in our thriller opening to help create relationships, engage and connote first emotions with the audience. 

Timing of shots (slow editing)

The first editing style me and my group have decided to include was the timing of shots, this was going to be used when the girl walks towards the antagonist who is laying down in the middle of the road. As this will be slower, it will create suspense and tension in the audience making them feel anxious of what might happen next. The use of this editing technique will help mirror the fact that the girl is walking slow, which will also reflect on the audience as they'll be full of suspense as she is taking her time to approach the boy. This will help build a close relationship with the girl as the slowness of the editing will make them feel tensed as well as she is, so the shared emotions between the girl and audience is that they'll be feeling apprehensive about her walking towards the boy. Slow editing is conventional to a thriller as it creates enigma and suspense to suggest something will happen but you don't know when. 

Reaction shot

a woman screaming after seeing the  antagonist

In my opening thriller scene, the girl will drop her phone when she hears a certain noise coming from where her friend was whilst she was checking on the mysterious boy on the road. Within this part of the scene, we will include a reaction shot to show the girl's facial expressions after seeing her friend lying on the floor dead. The reaction shot will show her face, which will be shocked and horrified as she cannot believe that her friend is hurt. This will create a sense of terror in the audience as it shows her emotional state, also the audience can relate to her reaction as they can put themselves in her position and reflect on whats happened. It also helps build a closer relationship with the girl as both the audience and she share the same shock to finding her friend mysteriously dead. A reaction shot is conventional to a thriller as it allows the characters to connect with the audience as it shows what emotional state their in which could also relate with the audiences. Moreover, it helps show the different character representation e.g victims will be seen screaming in shock, in contrast antagonist will have a straight face as if he has no remorse of what his done. 

Filter

black and white filter 

Within our thriller opening scene we will have a short flashback which will be showing a little boy swinging on a swing by himself. The editing technique we decide to accompany this particular part of the scene  will be a filter. The colour of the filter will be black and white or a tea stain effect, this will reveal to the audience that this precise bit is not in the present day and is in the past.
Furthermore we chose to use black and white as the filter as the colours both convey different meanings which will confuse the audience and make them want to continue to watch the film as they would want to find out why this specific flashback was included. Black shows death, mystery, power and darkness , whereas white indicates life, light, goodness and innocence, the two used together will question the audience whether the flashback is a good or bad one which will also help provoke the suspense and shock element when they find out what the use of the flashback was. The use of this editing style is conventional to a thriller as it helps establish to the audience that the particular part of the film is different to its normal state which makes the audience engage more to the scene. 

Fade

The screen gradually fading to black

Lastly the editing technique I will be using in my thriller opening scene will be a fade; often used when its the end of a scene or sequence. This specific editing style will occur at the end of the scene where the victim is screaming as she sees the antagonist in her way at the forest. The use of this technique will leave a massive amount of suspense and enigma in the audience as the do not know what will happen next due to the scene automatically turning black. It also gives the audience a breather and time to reflect on what they've just watched and whether they'll want to continue watching the film to see the final outcome of the girls fate. The fade also could represent the victims life as it gradually turns into dark, suggesting that her time in life is running out and that she may be unfortunate with dying later on. This creates a closer, sympathetic relationship between the audience and the girl as they both don't know what is going to happen to her at this stage as she in vulnerable position. A fade is conventional to a thriller as it helps provoke suspense and tension in the audience because it gradually fades into another scene or turns black and the audience do not know what is going to happen next, so they pay more attention to the film. 

Planning for editing was very helpful because it helped me and my group members discuss and evaluate the different techniques we will use to create a huge impact on the scene and audience. Editing styles are very important as it helps tell the narrative in a more interesting way, grabbing the audiences attention and building relationships with them and the characters. If the scene was to be in all one editing style, it will be very dull and boring and the audience will probably not continue watching the film due to its first impressions in the opening scene. I believe that editing styles that we have decided to include in our thriller opening are conventional to a thriller as they all either create suspense,shock or tension in the scene making the thriller more appealing to watch. 

Planning Mise-en-scene - Miss Georgiou

Brief plan of mise en scene

Mise-en-scene is the french term meaning of the arrangement of everything that appears in the framing.In simple terms miss-en-scene is everything the audience sees, there are five elements setting & iconography ,costume (hair and makeup), colour, lighting and body language & facial expressions and positioning. Mise-en-scene is very important within a film as it makes the scene more interesting to watch, also helps the audience have more of an understanding of what is going on. Planning the elements of Mise-en-scene will be very efficient as it will help me and my group communicate the different ideas we would like to consider in our thriller. Also because of the huge impact mise-en-scene has on a film, we will need to be prepared and organised of what were doing whilst filming or it would be quite chaotic and this could result of us not producing the best thriller opening scene we can.

Setting & Iconography

Forest 

In our thriller sequence, we have all decided to include two main locations that'll support the scene. The first setting would be of the street as the antagonist is laying on the road. I chose this because of the uniqueness and strange aspect, this gets the audience questioning his purpose of laying there. The fact that he is laying in the middle of road shows that he is fearless and likes to take risks, this suggests that he can be a powerful character because of his lack of caring for his safety. Also, in the part where the girls are walking down the pavement, this makes the audience relate to them as it is seen as realistic making them feel more tensed as they think that whatever happens to the victims could happen to them. The second setting I will be using would be a forest, me and
 my group members concluded that this will be a perfect location to shoot the chase scene. As a forest is a gloomy place because of its lurking tree's and narrow pathways, we believed that this would be essential to include as the claustrophobic atmosphere will also make the scene more tensed as it seems like theres no way out. In addition, this is conventional to a thriller because of the darkness of the isolated surroundings this will emphasise and mirror the fact that something dark is going to be in the forest that'll stop the girls escape and no one will help her as forests are quite big to explore in. 

White Mask 

The iconography I will be including in my thriller would be of a white mask. We chose to use a white mask because it contrasts his clothing which emphasises the the use of his hidden identity and that he is more alive when the mask is on. This also establishes to the audience that he is the antagonist and he shouldn't be trusted because he cannot even show his identity when he is in the forest. The reason why in the beginning when he is laying on the floor he is not wearing his mask, but it'll be next to him is to draw the attention of the victims. If he was to be laying on the floor wearing his mask, no one would approach him as it is kind of strange. But we decided if he was to just only wear his mask when he is actually chasing after his victim this will suggest that he uses the mask as a trap to pull the protagonists in. 

Furthermore because we are including a flashback in our opening, the setting of this will be at a park because the little boy will be sitting on the swing. We chose this because parks are seen as places of happiness and joy specially for children as they play in there, however the little boy shown will look quite depressed.

Costumes & Make up

Dark clothing 

The costumes which I will use for the two girls is that they're dressed in dresses and heels as they are coming from a night out as its one of their birthdays. This exaggerates their vulnerability as they're not sober and not fully aware of what they're doing making them an easy target for the antagonist to kill them. In contrast, the boy will bed dressed in informal, scruffy dark clothing to represent his lack of life inside of him and that he is evil and dangerous. As his clothing is dark, he would almost be camouflaged to the dark setting as the lighting will be low-key because this will be shot in the evening. This suggests he would be hard to find creating suspense and tension when it comes to the chase scene. As the girls are coming from a night out, they're make up will be quite outgoing to show that they've come from an informal event. This will make the audience relate to them and sympathies with them because they have just been having a really nice time and now they're going to be apart of a unfortunate situation because this is a thriller. Also, I will be using fake blood to convey the injuries that have occurred on the victims due to the antagonists actions. As Ella is quite artistic, she will also add some bruises made from makeup to exaggerate the killing of the antagonist. 

Facial expressions and body language 

The importance of having valid facial expressions and body language in my scene is that because it'll enhance the scene to be more realistic so that the audience can build a relationship or relate to the characters. When the antagonist is laying on the road, his facial expressions and body language would be dead like as if he was spared out and not engage of what is going on around with him. This is will exaggerate his out place in the setting and that he is quite abnormal. The audience will feel curious of why he is not moving and why he is laying still creating suspense when the protagonist walks over to him because they do not know what he may be capable of and if he is sane. However, contrasting the antagonist, the two girls will have cheerful, happy facial expressions so they'll be smiling and laughing about their night out. They're body language will be quite unsteady as they have been drinking so they're lack of stability may worry the audience and sympathies them as they are in a vulnerable state. This is conventional to a thriller as the victims are usually seen as fully of life and quite adventurous however the suspect antagonist may look reserved and alone.In our flashback, even though we do not see the little boy's face as his back is turned to the camera, his body language will be slouchy with suggests that this little boy is not happy. This is conventional to a thriller as it'll make the audience question why he looks upset making them build a closer relationship with him as children are innocent and young. 

Lighting & Colour

Night time - Black, gloomy 

The lighting we will be using in our thriller scene will be low-key lighting because the major setting will be shot in the evening. As it will be low key lighting this will make it harder for the audience and the victims to see whats around them, creating suspense and enigma as they do not know what may happen. Also this will magnify the deserted area the characters are located meaning that if anything was to happen to them, no one would be able to help the victims quickly. The colours that I will be using are dark colours e.g black, brown. These colours will be what the antagonist is wearing showing how dark his personality is and how he has no emotion or feelings towards his victims. This is conventional to a thriller because the use of the colours helps the antagonist not be seen in the scene as he almost camouflages with the dark setting. However in the flashback we will use a filter which will be black and white to establish to the audience that this is not in the present day. We picked the colours black and white because they're both bland simple colours. Even though the white represents life,light, goodness, innocence when it is used with the colour black which associates with death,night,power and mystery, the two together confuses the audience and makes the think whether the flashback is a good or bad one. This is conventional to a thriller as the colours help build the suspense in the audience because they're unaware of whats going to happen so it'll provoke the shock element when they finally do see the point of the black and white filter. 

Positioning of the characters

Positioning within a drama is a key convention of mise-en-scne as it draws out attention to an important character or object e.g photographer may use positioning to show relationships between people. In my sequence there will be a various number of positioning that my characters will be in to help convey the narrative more interestingly. Firstly, at the beginning the antagonist will be positioned in the middle of the road laying down, this will create suspense as it is quite abnormal to be laying on a road. Secondly in the flashback showing the little boy on the swing, he will be positioned in the middle of the frame, this will emphasise the fact that he is alone. This is conventional to a thriller especially when they include children in the scene as it creates suspense and tension because it makes the audience wonder why a child is alone in the first place. It also makes the audience feel on edge as they do not know what the child might do next as he is just sitting there on the swing. Lastly, at the end of the scene it'll show the girl who has tripped over and fallen onto the ground in the forest looking up ahead of her pathway looking at the antagonist who is standing further away but in her way. The different levels that the two characters in show how powerful the antagonist in the situation and how weak the victim is and she is looking up to him. This will create tension and enigma because the girl is injured and is on the floor but the boy is standing right in front of her, this makes the audience feel tensed and build a closer relationship with her as they do not know how the girl is going to escape as she is in a vulnerable position, sympathising with her. This is conventional to a thriller because it shows the different power statuses between the antagonist and his victims which makes the audience kind of lose hope of the victims getting away.

Planning for the mise-en-scene that me and my group will include in our thriller sequence was helpful as it allowed us to share and conclude the final elements that'll use to make our opening scene successful and conventional to the thriller genre. Mise-en-scene we have decided to include will help create emotions within the audience as it highlights and shows how the characters are feeling and where they are which makes them engage more to the film. I believe that the elements of mise-en-scene we have selected are conventional to a thriller as they help build all the aspects together to create an apprehensive, tensed thriller opening. Also the audience can relate to them making them put themselves in the characters shoes increasing the fear they're feeling which is the whole purpose of a thriller.