Production Roles - Miss Miller

In order to create film, you'll need a film crew which are a group of people hired by a production company for the purpose of producing a film or motion picture. A film crew is divided into different departments, each of which specialises in a specific aspect of the production. The purpose of having different production roles in film making is because if one was to do all the work it will be time consuming and when the one person doing all the work makes a mistake, the blame will all be at them which will be unfair as they were working by themselves. Furthermore, it is easier to separate jobs within the production crew as everyone can do what their best at which will be helpful towards the creation of the film to make it as successful as it can be. The main roles in a film crew are:

Directors - Their role has a creative control over the project which controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, and visualises the script while guiding the technical crew and actors in the perfection of that vision.

Producers - A producer has an overall control on every aspect of a film's production. They bring together and approve the whole production team. Their key responsibility is to create an environment where the talents of the cast and crew can succeed. 

Director Of Photography - This is the person who is in technical charge of how a film is lit and shot.

MES coordinators - This person or group of people are in charge of the Mise en scene within the film e.g costumes, iconography and hair & makeup. 

Editors - Simply cuts the film together 

Music Producers - Are in charge of the sounds and music included in the film to make it better

Screenplay Writer - A screenplay writer is a writer who practises the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media such as films, television programs, comics or video games are based. 

Actors - are the characters included within the film, otherwise there would be nothing to film 

As this is a group production, we decided to allocate each other multiple roles that suited our strength as this will be benefit our final product. The reason why we split the roles between each others is because it allowed us to each have a job that we believed we can do and also feel comfortable doing making the work environment calm as everyone knows what they're doing. 

The roles I'm responsible for is the screenplay writing, director and producer. We allocated these jobs for me as the narrative for our thriller was mine so it made sense that I was the screenplay writer. Also because the narrative was my idea the directing and producing of the scene was in my hands as I was the one who understood the narrative more, so it was easier for me to visualise what we wanted our thriller to look like. As I'm experienced with drama as well, I know a lot about directing and creating a piece of drama as I have acted in one before, so being the director was easy for me to do. 

The responsibilities Rishika took on, was being the director of photography and editor. We decided to give Rishika the role of the being the director of photography as in our preliminary task, she was the one who was behind the camera shooting the clips needed. Due to her the success of the photography she shot in this task and how comfortable she was using the camera, it was only best if we gave her the job to control the camera movements in our thriller. Also, giving Rishika the role of being the editor was simply because of the way she edited her Opening credits which we decided to follow at the end. Like using the camera, she is comfortable editing on the software Final Cut X pro which will  be beneficial to our thriller making it run as smoothly as possible. 

Finally, the roles we allocated Ella was being the music producer and MES coordinator. We chose to make Ella in charge of the Mise En Scene as she knew where to get all the needed iconography such as blood capsules from and also as Ella is good with doing make up, it would benefit us as she will do the makeup and decided what the girls are wearing for our thriller. Also we gave her the role of producing the sounds for our thriller because Ella knows how evaluate and listen carefully to a sounds and reflect back onto them. So with this speciality she can figure out the sounds online for what we will need our thriller to make it more engaging to watch and successful. 


I believe that the roles we gave each other suited us best and helped make our thriller the best it can be. I would not change anything about the jobs we individually had as we done them so well and it was easier to work around with as everyone had an idea in their category on what they were doing. An example of the great outcomes of the jobs we had each is that I was the director. Since none of us were actors in our thriller, I had to tell the 3 actors who kindly agreed to participate what the narrative was and guided them on what to do in the frames they were in. This was very helpful for the actors as they hadn't of been planning with us so it would of came to a surprise on what they were doing but with the help of my directing they understood what to do and what the narrative was about making their acting more conventional to our thriller. 

Also what Ella did well within her role of being the MES coordinator, she helped the actors in our thriller have an understanding of what they will need to wear in the scenes so that'll be appropriate to our thriller. Also, when filming Ella directed and ordered the actors on what body language and facial expressions they should express in order to match our expectations for our characters. When editing our thriller, Ella was in charge of the sounds so she went online and searched the most conventional sounds we could include within our thriller. I helped her with this but if I suggested something that I thought would be perfect, I would inform her to make the final decision. 

Lastly, Rishikas role was very much well suited as again she was brilliant and comfortable with editing the preliminary task but when me and Ella were not in the lesson where we had to edit, Rishika took upon her role and edited the whole 2 minutes of our thriller to an acceptable standard. Even though we were not there to give opinions or anything, She done well with creating a small rough cut for us to work around with and improve when we were all in the lesson together which was very helpful. Also her directing with the camera was also good as she was the only one who was in control with the camera, unless it was a point of view shot. When filming Rishika knew exactly what kind of shots she needed to use with the guide from the group storyboard but also, when it was the shots from the characters perspective she helped guide them on how they should hold the camera and record.

 Overall, I believe the production roles we each had were suitable for our individual abilities, and helped us create a successful thriller opening scene. I honestly think that if we were to do anything differently we wouldn't have worked as well as we did with the roles given when filming, so again I am proud of the success we have made. 

Opening Scene Narration - Miss Miller

Our narrative starts with a couple of mid shots which will be linked, of a flashback of a little boy on a swing at the park and his there alone, the credits will be shown on top of the image. This will be filtered in black and white, combined with a bright lighting state to show that this a flashback. But in the first few frames, there would be no one on the swing but the swing moving by itself. With a dramatic entrance because the audience were used to not seeing anyone on the swing, the little boy appears positioned in the middle and is rocking on the swing, the audience will hear eerie music within the background. Behind this whole flashback there will be a non diegetic sound of a sort of humming eerie noise creating enigma in the audience. included with this sound, there will be a non-diegetic sound of children laughing and playing, also with a dominant off screen dialogue of a child saying " come out and play with me" which gradually gets louder and louder.

Suddenly, there will be a jump cut zooming out from the antagonists forehead as he is shown laying down in the middle of the road, with his eyes closed. The lighting will differ from the bright lighting shown in the flashback and it'll change to be a very low-key dark lighting as the setting is at night. This will be the lighting for the rest of the thriller. The boy will be wearing dark, ragged clothing and the iconography which is a mask will be besides him on the road. Behind this frame will be an eerie non-diegetic soundtrack to create a mysterious atmosphere whilst we see the antagonist. A straight cut will take place to show a two shot of two girls arriving at a bus stop drunk. The sounds the audience will hear will be the normal, parallel noises of the street e.g vehicles driving past, distant voices which will emphasise the location that they're at. Also they'll be diegetic sound as the dialogue the girls will be discussing how they're getting home that evening at the bus stop. After finally deciding on walking home instead of waiting for the bus, they are followed by a panning shot showing them walking down the pavement until they suddenly stop as Josie's Phone rings. After a straight cut will happen when the girls are shot through a mid shot at the top of the road bickering as Shona wants to carry on walking but Josie is on the phone. A over shoulder shot from Josie's shoulder will happen after to show Shona's frustration through her facial expressions and body language and then further down the antagonists body which will be hardly focused on. Behind this will be an eerie suspense non-diegetic soundtrack that will gradually become louder when shona decides to leave her friend as she spots the antagonist laying on the floor. From a point of view shot, Shona will begin to start walking towards the boys body and the editing will be slowed down as she gets closer to create tension and suspense. The sound that would be heard in this frame would be an eerie, heart beat symbolic sound track which will occur representing her fate. After this a shallow focus will focus of Josie who is talking on the phone but behind her Shona is walking towards the antagonist, the iconography used in this will be the phone and mask which is laying besides the antagonist still. Instantly, a jump cut will go to show an extreme close up of the antagonist waking up will be edited very fast and also a non-diegetic alerting sound will be heard to emphasise his wake. Next an off screen sound will be heard of a distressed scream which sounds to be a girl whilst Josie is on the phone which will be shot in a mid shot. After a reaction shot, an over shoulder shot will show that she has turned around to find her laying on the floor dead. Quickly hanging up her phone, the panning shot will follow her running towards her friend who's on the floor dead panicking as she goes to check on her. At this point the only sounds we will hear is the dialogue from Josie as she is horrified about what she has just seen. Meanwhile, as she is crouching down next to her friend, Shona rises slightly and coughs out blood which will be shot as a close up so the audience can see the blood being shown. An eerie sound will be heard whist this happens and then Josie decides to get up and run away from the scene as she is traumatised from the horror she has just witnessed. 

Subsequently a panning shot will show Josie entering the Forest entrance which will quickly switch to a hand held shot of Josie's face showing her facial expressions. After another hand held shot will show Josie's feet running through the forest. Behind this the sound that would be hear would be of an eerie, parallel soundtrack of her heavily breathing whilst running to show realism. As she is running the editing will be fast until she trips and falls onto her knees in the forest, as this happens the eerie music that was heard before will quieten down as she looks down on the floor. Then from a low- angle this shot will be slowly edited as she slowly looks up to see the antagonist who's further away wearing a mask in her way. Afterwards a straight cut will show a point of view show from the antagonists perspective through his mask as he walks forward and stares at the girl on the floor. This will be edited slowly and an alerting,screechy non-diegetic sound will occur, occupied with the girl screaming as she looks up to see that its the antagonist who is in her way. To conclude the whole thriller, a fade will be seen as the screen fades to black to show that it is the end of the opening thriller scene. 

Filming Schedule - Miss Georgiou

 A filming schedule is a project plan of each day's shootings for a film product. The filming schedule provides a plan of what is going to happen and be including in each shot of a film production. This informs me and my group members the brief subjects and equipment that are needed in each shot, so that we know what we have to do. If we were not to have a film schedule, we would not have a brief idea of what we would have to include within our thriller production, also it will be chaotic as we will be rushing and making up all the shots on the spot.

What is included within our film schedule: shot, time and date, location , shot type and duration, costume/hair/makeup, iconography, personnel, equipment and content action. 





Firstly, we did not follow the filming schedule in the beginning as we had planned on starting to film on the 3rd of December but then we realised that as its winter and it gets dark earlier, we wouldn't make it to the park to film the flashback. Also as the Wednesday was a school day, it would be hard for us film quick as possible because our school and my little brother's, who is playing the boy in the flashback finish at different times, so we would have to wait for my brother to come out of school as he finishes later. Furthermore as it is the winter period, it gets darker quicker so if we were to film the flashback straight after school we wouldn't of got the best lighting we would of liked for the scene. 

However like the film schedule states that we would continue to film on Saturday 6h December, we followed this and filmed the flashback which was the park followed by the bus stop scenes of the two girls walking down. As we wanted a gloomy effect in the lighting of the park scene, we waited for the sky to turn slightly darker so that it would reach to our expectations. However even though our plan was to finish filming the whole thriller on this date, we couldn't do this due to the fact that some people couldn't stay longer e.g ella had work to go to and also our thriller required a dark setting meaning it was already late. 

So we all decided to film the forest scene on the following Tuesday and finish off the whole thriller, the reason for the delay this time was because our camera ran out of charge. Therefore we allowed the camera to charge all day and then film the rest of the thriller where the protagonist is seen running away from the antagonist in the forest.


To conclude, the filming schedule was helpful as it made our communication skills within our group stronger but also we did face minor difficulties whilst filming causing us to not follow it as we planned to do. However with these faults it allowed us to make quick new adaptions to our plan of filming. 

Group 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 they're the best way to show your vision of the the production you are creating. The purpose of a Group storyboard is that it allows all members to evaluate and include all the ideas they've come up with within their individual to add onto the group storyboard. We got into our lesson and looked at the different types of storyboards each one of us made, and discussed the advantages and disadvantages within them and which best ideas we would collect to add onto our final storyboard. Group storyboards allows to show the final outcome of the narrative and what were going to include in each frame to make our sequence successful. If we were not to have a storyboard it would be time consuming when actually filming it as we wouldn't know what to do and include when filming nor editing which will be chaotic. Storyboards guide us on what to do and include within our own sequence for example lighting, sound and iconography i.e.

Frames 1 - 4 

The reason why as a group we created a storyboard is so we can discuss all of our individual ideas and evaluate what to include from each others work which we thought will be conventional to our thriller sequence. In Ella's storyboard we found that she started her narrative with the flashback of the boy who was at the park swinging on the swing. We all decided to follow this as we thought it was a brilliant way to begin our sequence as it shows a little of the antagonists past before actually seeing him making the audience feel curious and tensed. The use of starting with a flashback was also inspired from the thriller Halloween  (1978), because the opening scene was of a flashback of the antagonist Michael who is seen as a young little boy and he kills his own sister with a knife. We thought that starting with a flashback is very intriguing and conventional to a thriller as it shows an insight of a characters past which makes the audience start to understand the character more and create whether a closer or distant relationship with the boy. Even though we took the actual start of the narrative from Ella's storyboard, we decided that the camera shot for the frames would be all in mid shot which was an idea from my very own individual storyboard. The reason we decided to use the mid shot instead of a close up that Ella suggested in her storyboard of the swing is so that the audience can be introduced to the scenery of where the action is placed, which is a park. Also the mid shot shows the important background that needs to be seen in the shot and the character who is the little boy, which makes the audience focus on him even more as he will be positioned in the middle of the frame. 

Frames 5 - 8 

Within these specific frames, the majority of the ideas made were all gathered together from each of our individual storyboards as they were similar. An example of the similarities that we all had within our storyboards is in frame 5, we all had a two shot and diegetic sound. This was because the shot shown introduced the two protagonists within our thriller who are girls and only focused on them because there is dialogue which gives the audience more information about them and what they're doing. We believed this was conventional to a thriller as the two shot focused on our important characters in the frame which grabs the audiences attention and imply that they're the most important people right now in the scene. Furthermore as these frames are about the two girls in our thriller, the camera shot we used whilst they're walking was panning to make the audience automatically follow their movements of where they're going. In frame 8, we see the two girls nearly approach where the antagonist is located which creates suspense within the audience as they know that he is a dangerous to be around with. To accompany with this shot of the girls near the antagonist, we added a non-diegetic, eerie sound which was taken from Rishika's storyboard to help emphasise that the girls a close to the mysterious boy who is suggested to be dangerous as this is a thriller. The use of this sound will inform to the audience that something bad is going to happen that will effect the two girls as the mysterious music comes on when they're near the antagonist. This is conventional to a thriller, as eerie sounds are often used when the protagonist or victims are near the antagonist or vice versa because it helps imply that someone is going to be in danger and also it makes the audience feel on edge as they do not know what to expect.   

Frames 9 - 12 

The frames 9 - 12 are about all the characters in the thriller acknowledging each others presence. Firstly in frame 9, the shot will be from the perspective of the protagonist which will be a point of view shot of her walking towards the antagonist body which is laying on the road. The editing style included was slow editing which was taken from my individual storyboard. The use of the slow editing was decided to be used is because the slowness of her walking creates enigma and tension within the audience as they do not know what is going to happen next as they're forced to follow the guidance of where the protagonist is going as its a POV shot. This is conventional to a thriller as it puts the audience in the characters shoes which makes them relate and build a close relationship and also feel paranoid due to the lack of power of controlling what they're seeing on the screen. Moreover, in frame 11 it is shot in an extreme close up which was chosen by all members of the group to have in our individual storyboard and it was of the antagonist opening his eyes rapidly. The sound that is included in this shot was taken from my storyboard and it was of an alerting, non-diegetic sound that we thought would shock and make the viewers jump as it happens unexpectedly. The use of this sound is conventional to a thriller as is suggests to the audience and characters that something is going to happen as it has a huge impact when heard which makes the audience feel tensed and suspicious on whats going to happen next. 

Frames 13 - 16

In the frames 13 - 16, the action taking place is of when the girl discovers that her friend is dead and the antagonist has disappeared. Also in these frames there is a change of location from the street to the forest. The inspiration of including a forest was from the film ' The cabin in the woods', this was because forests are conventional to the thriller genre as they are isolated places where people are un likely to get help from easily if anything bad was to happen. When the protagonist runs into the forest it'll be shot from a hand-held shot, this will give the frame a jerky, unsteady feel within the screen and the audience. The use of this handheld shot will give the audience the victims perspective and portray her fear and urgency of escaping from the antagonist. This will build a closer relationship between the victim and audience as they are put in her position as she is running away, meaning that they will share the same goal of escaping and being safe. The sound that will occupy this forest scene will be parallel as the audience would expect to hear her breathing heavily as she is running. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it gives a sense of normality meaning that the audience can relate to the protagonist. Also another sound will be of an eerie soundtrack that would represent the chase scene happening between the antagonist and the girl, the use of this sound will exaggerate that this is a chase scene as the tempo will be up beat suggesting this is chaotic. 

Frame 17 & 18 

These two frames were very vital as they show the two characters clashing with each other, meaning that the chase is now over. In frame 17 the camera shot would be of a low angle when the girl trips over and slowly looks up to see that its the antagonist who's in her way. This was taken from my own storyboard, we all decided to use this as it showed the difference between the two characters and who was more dominant in the situation. Even though the antagonist is not that close to the girl, the fact that she's on the floor and his standing establishes that she is vulnerable and he is the one with power as he is stable. This is conventional to a thriller as it shows the different character representations within the film, so that the audience know who is who and helps build different kinds of relationships with them. Lastly in the frame 18, the shot would be a point of view shot from the antagonist perspective through his mask when he is looking down at the girl. What inspired us to use this is that in the film Halloween (1978), the whole scene was shot from the antagonists perspective Michael through his mask also, this was very interesting to watch as when we were audiences watching this it made us think that we were the antagonist and also made us feel tensed as we had no control of the movements happening on the screen. In our thriller, we will use this shot to convey the antagonist point of view as he looks down on the girl, this shows that he is more dominant in the scene because not only is he more powerful than the girl on the floor, he is in power of the audiences sight as they're forced to follow his actions. The sound that happens in this frame will be a very alerting sound when the audience first sees the point of view from the antagonist, the use of this sound will help convey that the power is in the wrong hands. Also behind this shot there will be eerie music to create enigma within the scene as the audience do not know what to expect after, furthermore this sound will help make the shot more alive and interesting to watch. Finally the editing that we decided to include which was from my individual storyboard was a fade, this often happens at the end of a scene or film. We decided to include a fade at the end of our sequence so that it helps establish to the audience that it is the end of our opening. Also the fade is conventional to the thriller genre as this will make the audience feel tensed and curious as they just finished watching the scene so they'll want to find out what happens next as our thriller opening does end on a cliffhanger. 



I believe that our group storyboard is very clear and manageable as we all understand all the elements that we have included to each frame that we think will help make our thriller more conventional. It also portrays a good understanding of our thriller narrative and supports our goal of creating suspense, enigma, shock and tension within the film and audience. The way we incorporated each others ideas was very well done as the majority our individual storyboards had the same ideas anyway, so it was easy to agree on things when we discussed to each other why we thought our idea was the best to place in the final storyboard. There were a few compromises within our planning, for example in Rishika's storyboard she wanted to include her idea which was at the end of the scene where the antagonist hides behind a tree and looks at the girl who is in the forest. However we all thought that even though the shot showed that the antagonist was near his victim who is alone, it didn't really show their different character representations. So we decided to follow my ending which was of a low angle of the girl who's tripped over and of her slowly looking up to see the antagonist in her way. We all believed this was more effective as it showed the different statuses between the two characters and that the antagonist was more powerful. Overall I believe that we as a group have created a successful storyboard that helps convey our thriller narrative clearly and also guides us when we film so it won't be chaotic and rushed.