Research for Females costume (Jo)

As we want to make sure our female character's costume is most authentic in showing she is a down to earth character with a mysterious, mental twist, we thought we would do some research in the choice of costume female characters wear in successful Thriller films.

The disappearance of Alice Creed

In the scene of the kidnapping in The disappearance of Alice Creed, the character Alice Creed is wearing smart clothing to imply she is a wealthy young women. The large pearl necklace and pink low cut shirt are significant pieces to show her femininity and provoke her womanly assets. As we want to steer away from pursuing our teenage actors, this would be a good outfit to upgrade in showing a young women.

              Inception

The main female character that is approached in Inception is seen mostly wearing clothing in a laid back manner with a slight hippie edge. I feel it suggests a teenager's approach in style which is not what we want to represent.

                                                                                                The lives of others

This is not a film I am familiar with personally, but I encountered it on IMDb. The women seen alongside the male character looks extremely highly classed by her pencil skirt put along with kitten heels and a white blouse. I believe she is some sort of business women. Compared to the other female characters i have established, I think she is an older women due to kitten heels mostly stereotyped towards older, higher classed women as i know young women steer away from the particularly low heels.

In conclusion, I think The female character in The disappearance of Alice Creed is the most suitable for our costume we want to achieve due to establishing a young, wealthy women. From this point we may vary in the styles and colours around this outfit. No dialogue will be said from either characters throughout filming so representation is entirely based on appearance and choice in actions.

Onscreen Title(T&E)

In our short film we intend to present our title within the film.  For example in the film '44Inch Chest' they use this technique. Below i have taken a few screen shots to show how it flows. 

In '44Inch Chest' they fade the title in, this is effective as the music that was present in the previous shot, continues to flow onto the clip where the title is shown, the sound then slowly decreases in volume until there is nothing to be heard, silence. This is an effective technique as it is a powerful and fits the mood perfectly.

(Not Finished)

Anamatic

Here we have our anamatic. Our voice over gives brief details of what our storyboard entails. This shows the shots we plan to film and the general plot of our opening. The anamatic shows that throughout the scenes the character both enter the same shots are different creating dramatic tensions - a key filming and editing factor for our opening. 

Example of cross cutting and pace/time(T&E)

Here we have a clip from the BBC series of Luther. we have posted this clip as we feel it is a good example of showing pace and time, this is also a good example of the editing tecvhnique, cross cutting. All of these techniques shown in this clip we will hopefully be using in our short film, however the content and the way we shoot them in our short film will differ. We aim to increase the pace toward the end of our film to create tension and suspense.

In this particular clip the pace is determined by which character is in the shot. if the antagonist is in the shot the pace picks up, creating a panicked tension, however if the camera is on Luther the pace is decreased, yet despite the pace still being fast there is a sense of calm upon Luther.

Our aim is to use pace/time

to be continued  

Characters (Jo)

This is our hopeful main male character who will be wearing a suit to imply he is a middle classed person with a good job working in an office. We chose him as one of our two main characters as he is mature looking to steer away from a teenage manner. 

Tegan will play our female character to portray a physically calm character. She will be dressed down in casual clothing with high heels to portray a classic young women. We don't want it to suggest any particular stereotypical style she is trying to pursue as we want to leave the audience to question her character.

There will be no dialogue at all from both characters as they will not approach each other nor anyone else.

Permission for filming

 

We now  have definite permission for filming in my (Jo's) mum's work place for our entire Thriller introduction. We are definite to film on a weekend for an empty department for less distraction in the shots.

Pre-Production Planning

I am now going to show which roles each person is responsible for. This is to ensure that everyone in the group is doing their part and and to ensure each role is shared equally within the group.

• The script for any dialouge - Tegan and Ella
• Arranging the location - Jo
• Prop research and justification in terms of character and story - Tegan
• Health & safety, including risk assessments for filming and use of equipment. - Tegan, Jo and Ella

• lighting decisions -Ella

• Filming - Tegan and Jo

These roles may change or vary as our project continues,  but presently we are happy with the fact that our roles are shared equally; each person is involved in 3 or 4 tasks. Some tasks we are all involved in , this because these tasks are imporant and should involve everyone in our group.

Hopeful Filming loccation (Jo)

Hopefully today I will recieve permission for filming in my parents work place in an office block to relate to our initial idea for our Thriller intro.          

This photograph I found on the internet is similar to what the loccation I hope to film in looks like, although I want to idealy film in an emty environment. To do this I will try to film on a weekend when the office is apperently empty to capture our chosen character walking through the individual desks as seen in our stroyboard ( that will be uploaded this week). It is loccated in the Crawley industrial estate in Gatwick of which i can travel to easily with parental guidance. 

Risk Assessment

RISK ASSESSMENT FORM
Assessment by:	Ella Marcham, Jo Webb & Tegan Mills	Assessment for:	Filming out of college		Date:	08-02-12

Activity	Hazard	Risk	Persons in Danger	Existing Control Measures in Place	S	L	R	Control Measures Required	C
Walking to and from filming (Tui specialist work building)  Student groups maximum of 5 students. Maximum duration 2 hours.	Traffic	Being knock down	Learners (16 years +)	Safety talk Experience of Highway code Supervision. Talk covers using the crossing during trip.	3	1	3	Attendance register to be taken before and after visit. Lecturer to have a detailed list of locations and contacts on the booking forms.	A
	Uneven Paths	Slip/Trip/Fall	Learners	Safety talk Experience of Public areas Supervision	2	1	2		A
	Other Pedestrians	Bumping into others Falls	Learners	Safety talk Experience of Public areas Supervision	1	2	2		A
Misbehaviour	Injury	Slip/Trip/Fall	Learners	AUP for all equipment gone through. Technician to report to lecturer any signs of equipment mis-use.	1	1	1		A
Walking to and from Tui specialist work building	Illness / Injury	Slip/Trip/Fall, General Illness, Faintness	Learners	Safety talk Experience of Public areas Supervision. Make sure students with Mobiles have college number.	1	2	2		A
Walking to and from Tui specialist work building	Getting Lost	Not being able to get back to college	Learners	Map given to students of area. Pairing students together where those who do know where they are with those who are unfamiliar with area					A
Carry filming equipment 7KG maximum weight	Strain Slips, trips and falls	Injury Slips, trips and falls	Learners	Students to be given manual handling information before going to film. RA to signed by tutor which explains how equipment will be transported and whether this is within a safe distance to carry equipment or if transport has been arranged what type, who and the safety of this. E.g. parent/student’s own vehicle. Equipment is counter signed by both tutor and technician to avoid students borrowing equipment without tutor’s prior knowledge.	2	1	2	Continued reinforcement of proper forms prior to filming.	A
Theft	Assault	Injury	Learners	Learners must film in agreed production groups. Booking form has space for mobile(s) to be written down. Safety talk given by tutor prior to filming. RA by students to be signed by tutor who will look at where the student proposes to film and the safety of this.	2	1	2	Continual awareness Continued reinforcement of proper forms prior to filming.	A
Filming	Environmental factors. Slips, trips and falls Uneven paths	Injury.	All staff	Recce  (Location Survey)to be completed by student and seen by lecturer. Students informed to make sure area is clear and kept clear of camera bags etc. All equipment to be properly installed in accordance with Acceptable Usage Policy of the college.	2	1	2	Continual awareness Continued reinforcement of proper forms prior to filming.	A

Key:	S =	Severity I (low) to 3 (high)	C = Conclusion [insert ‘A’ for adequately controlled] [insert ‘N’ for not adequately controlled] WHERE ‘N’ IS THE CONCLUSION, AN ACTION PLAN IS REQUIRED
	L =	Likelihood 1 (low) to 3 (high)
	R =	Rate = S x L

Plot

Our final idea for our Thriller intro is the revenge coming from a female character that inflicts pain onto our male character. The two characters shared a previous relationship but he is now in a new relationship with another women. She is the outsider of the love triangle as she is still obsessively in love with him. Our female character appears physically calm and relaxed yet is mentally attached but this is not visible to our audience within the 2 minute intro. It will be based around a work office department that will be his workplace, yet she is mostly seen in this location throughout our intro as she is invading his personal space due to her trying to find an item of his that she can hold against him in a vengeance manner. When filming this specific shot she will hold up the item, eventually covering her face, so the back of it is facing the camera which is not in the audiences view, to raise questions. After this shot we view our male character in the car park outside of the building who realizes he left his car keys in the office which our female character is just about to exit. From this point a cross cutting technique is used to cut between the two characters. They will eventually collide in a shot where our female character is in a lift with the doors about to close as our male character is just entering the frame, just 'skimming' past each other. Another shot we will use in the car park is our opening shot of our female character inside of a car watching over our male character exiting the building. This will be filmed from behind the drivers seat to view the back of their head, yet hopefully see part of their face in the wing mirror.      

pre-production planning

- the script for any dialogue,

- list of roles (see pre-production planning advice)

- images of locations and decisions about locations,

- prop research and justification in terms of character and story

- health and safety, including risk assessments for filming and use of equipment.

- lighting decisions. 

Thriller opening ideas

Three point lighting system

This is the classic setup for standard interior and even exterior scenes.

Here is a tutorial on three point lighting we found on youtube.

Most light setups are adaptions of the 3point system, for example, 'High Key' lighting or 'Low Key' lighting.


High Key Lighting.
Having the key light and the fill light on high or full will produce soft edges, invisible lighting, no shadows, and upbeat mood.  Film makers may also use high exposure to let more light in when filming.

Low Key Lighting.
Having your 'Key light' on or slightly reduced power, your 'Fill light' very low or off and your 'Back light' low or off can be crucial to the thriller and horror mood as it is expressionistic, of emotion and mood, also is symbolic of  character traits.