Final Cut

This is the final cut of our thriller Those Who Kill. It is kick ass.
Hope you Enjoy

Quick inputs

On our last two days of editing we took some pictures ofme (brendan), as Sammie the Lynch Jr. in a police line up.
We did this as an establishment of some sort of background to the character, showing that my character is a criminal, as it was not clear before.
Here are the Photos.

We added the middle finger shot to show personality into the character. To be able to add this into our footage we have required a photo shutter sound and have thought to blended it in very well with the clips.

On the note of sound, we have also managed to re-record cleves speech and combine it with a fire crackle so that it keeps well in with the established surroundings. Also we have managed to find a suitable gunshot so that you know what has happened and no sketchy disbelief has occured.

EEEP LAST WEEK OF EDITING!!

OKAY. this is our last week of editing as we have to hand in our final cut on the 19th!! However, we are going to keep calm, very calm and pull through.

We all know what we have to do; for example. Cleve and Pete have to record the voice overs so that cleve's most important speech is done precisely and consistantly and sounding 100% natural and from the heart. We also need to record a backing track, which fits in with Cleve's acoustic guitar.

The editing has caused some worry amongst some group members especially after the class evaluations, however, i am sure that we will edit the clips perfectly so that each piece of continuity is unnoticable, with no questioning of how, well the hows will still be asked but thats to keep the audience interested in the film.

Class feedback

From the task in class. Each group would go around and give feedback on what they felt was good and what could be improved in each video.
The comment most commonly said which was good was the good angles. And also a few groups liked the editing,
This is the full list of comments:

• everything...
• good length
• good angles
• story line
• "trippy"
• good angles
• good editing
• Cleve's acting
• Good camra angles
• editing is fast and cuts nice.

What was suggested that could be improved was mostly about the sound issues and light issues in which some bits are very hard to hear over the fire and at points when the fire was getting going it has caused a clip or two to be quite dark. However we have already blogged about how we plan to change these and we have already realised these problems. The other notable critisim was that the cuts in between at the end were too fast. This is due to the clips we have not being that good. We could of done with a lot more shots when doing the scene and so it currently looks quite strange how quickly it goes and almost too strange for example how they get from place to place.There also seems to be bits of what we should of filmed missing and so bits of the fight are not there. We plan to solve this problem with heavy editing as we are not allowed to re-film. So time will tell if it will work out or not.
By Jonny.

Our Rough Cut of ~ 'Those Who Kill' a 3+Emo production

For our rough cut we have had to quickly piece together the two scenes, this is not how we are going to have it in our actual final.

For our final we will infuse the two scenes so that they over lap, mainly over cleves speech scene. By doing so it gives us prime opportunities to add in little credit snips, also we have discovered that some of our clips are encountering some major continuity so where that happens we shall also have some credits.

We have been concupting ways to have cleves preparation scene and we thought it was best having it during cleves walk clip, we had it then as it shows that cleve is well prepared and that he is the clear dominant within the face off; it also makes it seem as if i have no weapon and going to meet cleve blind heartedly.

As said in a previous post we shall need to do a voice over, this is prime as we need cleves speech to be smooth, consistant and sounding natural; having him do it again we can alter the speech giving cleve's character breathers, so we can have credits and also emphasis on the face off scene, and also gives chances for that scene to have special effect noises such as gun shots, punch sounds and of course the splash.

Sound Issues

Sound Issues
Once we put the footage we recorded over the weekend onto the computer and played back we realised we had a few issues with the sound.
The problems
1)The fire is making up much of the noise captured by the camera and is quite a bit louder than Pete when he is talking
2)Due to it raining for some parts to protect the camera and make sure no water gets on the lense we put a umbrella up above it. But the consequence is that for the scenes in which we record while its raining which is only a few scenes there is the sound of rain hitting the umbrella which is quite noticeable specially compared to the other scenes after it which does not have the same noise.
3)The guitar playing is good however at new scenes it completely changes for example it will cut during the middle of one bit and then in the next clip it will be a completely different tune. Looking back at it we should of got Cleve to only play one song throughout to prevent this issue.
To solve these issues
1)We have decided to do a complete voice over for a majority of the clips and hopefully get them lip synced well. We can then turn down the volume of the original clip so the sound of the fire will be a lot lower and the have the voice over quite loud. This should get us what we wanted which is a fire in the background but not being too loud.
2)Due to us voicing over again we can turn the original clips volume down and also with music in the background which we will put over the clip the noise should be unnoticeable.
3)We will create a song on garage band using a acoustic guitar and then import this onto the film. It will not be obvious we done this as the footage is Cleve genuinely playing the guitar so it looks realistic and we doubt it will seem that obvious what we have done.
This is how we plan to solve the sound issues that have occured during our footage editing.
By Jonny

Planned for lesson

For today's lesson we plan to sort the clips out by moving them close together and making sure all the bits unnecessary have been deleted. We also planned to do voice overs due to the sound not being good when we originally recorded the footage.
However only one of the people we will be using in the voice over is here and so we will make do with only recording one of them saying their lines.
Jonny.

TODAY 2/3/2010

today we have planned to upload the whole of our footage and piece it together and do some quick editing.

We have achieved our aims of uploading our footage and we have started to cut out our out takes and such like.
Next lesson we will continue editing and will be blogging too.

Trying not to kill both Pete and Brendan

Due to a change in the location we decided to use a bonfire as the source of our lighting for the lodge scene. Because the lighting was a little weak we decided to place an old kitchen wood top on the fire, which made it almost kill Pete. Thankfully on Pete's part it started to rain and everything turned out fine, though we could have done with more close ups of Pete.

Secondly was Brendan fall of the Marina bridge into water that was about -5degrees centigrade. We took all the right precautions, such as equipping Brendan with a full body wet suit, (that i just happen to have lying around), fresh clothes, hot cup of tea and some soup. Safety first!

OUR IDENT MOCK VIDEO =D

Sfx - Squib

SQUIBS
A squib is a small explosive device widely used in the motion picture special effects industry to simulate bullet impacts. For hits on persons, the squib is coupled with a condom or balloon of fake blood, and sometimes chunks of sponge to simulate shattered bone and tissue (this combination is sometimes referred to as a "blood squib"). For ricochets off other objects, items such as dust and small rocks or wood splinters are attached to the squib.

The use of squibs will look very effective when sammie the lynches kid might get shot.

We have been searching up ways of creating our own squibs, via youtube, this is very helpful as they do give simple ways of making them; however, a lot of these techniques do look quite painful. Seeing as we wont be able to send a shock through to make a squib, nor can we cause harm due to the painful ways of exposing the squibs (ethical reasons), we have decided to use the classic way of plain old ketchup, we will make it work.
here are some videos to show why we didnt use squibs:

Sfx - CGI

CGI Computer generated Imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics (or more specifically, 3D computer graphics) to special effects in films, TV, commercials, simulators and simulation generally. CGi is used for visual effects because effects are more controllable than other more physically based processes, such as constructing miniatures for effects shots or hiring extras for crowd scenes, and because it allows the creation of images that would not be feasible using any other technology. It can also allow a single artist to produce content without the use of actors, expensive set pieces or props.
In 1995, the first fully computer-generated feature film, Pixar's (The Walt Disney Company) Toy Story, was a resounding commercial success. 3D computer animation combines 3D modeling with programmedThis can look very effective but it wouldnt be much use in a thriller.

Thriller Title Icons

Our title icon has been derived from other such logos like from the movie 300 and The Spirit. The Titles have been shown in the style of the blood splatter, which imminently show that they are thrillers.

Here Is our Thriller Title Icon
Here is the 300 Icon

We may need to refine our icon so that it becomes a good/better standard

Sfx - Blue/green screen

BLUE/GREEN SCREEN Bluescreen (known in television as chroma key) is a term for the filmmaking technique of using an evenly-lit monochromatic background for the purpose of replacing it with a different image or scene. The term also refers to the visual effect resulting from this technique as well as the coloured screen itself (although it is often not blue: for example, with greenscreen).

This picture shows how blue screen can change the background, to a dark kind of scary atmosphere.

We can use this in our thriller by adding it into the bridge scene where Sammie the lynches kid is getting interrogated, this can make a good effective background, and also make it gloomy, and dark. like the story.

Sfx - Animatronics

ANIMATRONICS Animatronics is a type of special effects which involves building mechanized creatures like dinosaurs, imaginary animals, and others. Initially, the concept was developed for Disney Studios, which used a giant squid in the 1954 film version “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”.The name “animatronics” is used to refer to generic animatronic creations made by other film studios, while Disney has copyrighted “audio-animatronics” to refer to their creature creations. In combination with other special effects, animatronics can lend a level of reality and texture to a film that computer animation does not provide.



This Picture is from Jurassic park which is a sci-fi thriller.

This looks very good in films as it can give the impression that something is actually there when it is not. we could use this by adding objects into the scene. such as another person who isnt meant to be there.

Another slight change

I was looking over the costumes and i actually don't have a cowboy hat, so unless we can get one perhaps we should change Cids name to "The Wayfarer" as i do have a wayfarer hat. Just a little thing i was contemplaiting.

Rough idea and footage making

we made a very rough idea of how the caravan/lodge scene was going to work out. To do this we borrowed a classroom and play the scene out to give us a rough idea how it was going to go and how long it would be. We are currently debating the lenght and indeed the content due to the footage being more than a minute and half long.

our mock video =D

the main title

Brendan and Pete made the main title of , "Those Who Kill". It is simple but very effective, due to the red against black.

Another slight change...

Because we can't shoot inside the caravan, (still not clear why but we just can't), we decided it was best to use my lodge in the garden, this could work just the same, only we would need to light it a bit better. However, we would have to compensate for the fact that it does not look like the inside of one of the caravans, but that is just cosmetic and easily corrected if done correctly.

Original Indent

This was our "3 + emo" original indent that we were going to use in the thriller opening. We kept forgetting to upload it and today i finally got round to doing it. However now we have decided to go for a indent that will blend in with our actual opening and have decided it is a better idea.

Here it is:

Props/setting

Caravan area...
Gravel floor, Agricultural setting, Dark.

Inside caravan..
kind of messy. Shows Cids lifestyle
Could have fag buts everywhere.

Acoustic guitar.
Guns, as many it takes to put the point across.
Car, maybe a roughed up car to add to the effect.
Brief case to hold the $50mil, (obviously wouldn't have the money inside it, when its opened, the camera will be pointing towards Cid and the back of the briefcase)
Fish bowel, for the clip where Sammie the Lynch's Kid gets dunked, (if we use it).
Bag, for the clip where Sammie the Lynch's Kid shoots a guy in head, (if we use it).

Costumes

COSTUMES:

Cid:
Wears a cowboy hat, mabye a rough coat or a leather coat of some-sort, boots (Peter Storm hiking boots will do), tattered jeans (dark).
CHARACTERISTICS:
Unshaven, old, has an old timer 'Narm veterans kind of voice, a very weary yet unforfilled character. Head held low in the opening, with old cowboyhat over his face so you cannot see him.

Calais:
Dark suit, very clean, no hat, perhaps some gloves or a pair of shades, a pair of shiny black shoes. Similar to "reservoir dogs" but the suit will be with a black shirt, shows hes a very "dark" character.
CHARACTERISTICS:
Arrogant, ignorant, slimey, a business man, cool, little moral conscenceness and compass. Well spoken, knows his place.

Sammie the Lynch's Kid:
Should wear psychotic colours, purples, something zany, that contrasts with Cids relitively normal rugged look. Maybe something that shows his punk nature.
CHARACTERISTICS:
Is a phycho, young, arrogant, loves violence and chance, is a punk.

Credits

We have not actually accounted for credits at the moment though i expect we will place them in certain positions of the screen during the opening. If this is the case then the right amount of care and consideration should be taken place that it does not look tacky and just put on last minute. The credits might also distract people from cids speech, so we will have to position them carefully in order to prevent people from getting to distracted as it is an important part to the story.

sound within the scene

The idea is to keep it simple but atmospheric. This means that it will be mostly diagetic, with pehaps a little abiant non-diagetic hum of sorts; something that just sits there and is only noticed when you look for it. This something that that will compliment the scene, or make it unique.

In Tarrateno films there is always a sort of unique jingle or soundtrak that sets the film appart. We want to be able to do that with this film, give it a sort of "theme tune" of sorts, (though not as epic as something like the James bod themes, though it changes anually).

General postions

Johnny Clark:
Camerman and co-director.

Cleve Roberts:
Cinamatographer, writer and co-director.

Pete Castell:
Assisstant Cameraman, additional sound technitian and co-director.

Brendan Franklin:
Artwork and set engineer, additional sound technitian and co-director

Acting parts

Cid, "The Cowboy", Elmwood:
Cleve Roberts.

Calais Price:
Pete Castell

Sammie the Lynch's Kid:
Brendan Franklin

Influences of "Those who kill...."

The basic idea of this opening was insired by various thrillers, for example, the black and white opening of Kill Bill, where the character of Bill is not scene, (though we all know that it is the late David Carradine, to which the audience only have to see his name in the end credits and then wikapiedia or google him. Rest in peace). This is simulair to the way Cid is portrayed in the opening scene as an enigmatic guinslinger, which is simulair to the old spagetti western characters.
Not only this but the opening scene is a flash back, (simulair to Kill Bill), but then transists into a scene later on, (or perhaps the end scene), which is simulair to the openning of The Butterfly Effect and Carlito's Way.
The characters themselves however are based upon the hyped up assassins off of films like Smoking Aces and the Deadly Viper assassination squad from Kill Bill, which were both based upon the old comic book villains, sci-fi heroes and the disterbing anime cartoons. The relationship between Cid and Sammie's Kid though resembles that of the two characters from the thriller "The Hunted" Starring Tommie Lee Jones and Benicial Del Toro, where the confrentaion is the bigger part, though unlike "The Hunted" there is a much bigger pitcher to the story and possable developement, (and i can honestley say that because i have seen The Hunted and it was awful, plotless and pretty forgettable. I mean, Del Toro's character has gone AWOL and for some reason is drawing attention to himself by killing people in Oregon. Confused? I was. Loverly knife fight at the end though).

the first script

THOSE WHO KILL...

Scene
(Night at the caravan, the establishing shot, which is cantered, is a fade in from the front of the caravan, then we see the first close up of Pete (aka Calais) in the same establishing shot. In this same shot he walks to the little opening between them, and then it cuts to a close up of his feet walking towards the door (from the front).the only sound should be the crunch of gravel and the gradual increase of acoustic guitar . The camera then shows his hand touch the door handle, he thinks he hears something, a quick close up of his face as it turns to the side to see the commotion. (Close up of hand on door frame), he goes in.

Inside should have discarded bottles, maybe some guns and magazines on the table. Dimly lit.
Inside the camera angle is cantered, you can see Cleve (aka Cid) in the corner as Pete walks towards him. The camera then cuts to Cleve’s feet on the table as Pete places the briefcase. Then the camera switches to behind Cleve’s feet).

Pt) “$50million for a job”. (Camera tracks upwards from behind Cleve’s feet to Pete’s face).
Cv) (Continues to play guitar softly, sound uninterested, face should be covered in shadow) “Must be one hell of a job. I heard you guys are a little tied up. And I’ll save you some time and say I’m not interested”.
Pt) “You’ll be interested when you hear the details”.
Cv) (Camera shot from behind Pete’s right side) “Try me”.
Pt) (Camera at the same shot) “Its Sammie and his kid”. (Guitar stops dead).

(At this point either a clip of Sammie’s Kid’s head in the fish bowel in which case it will be taken from underneath so it creates the illusion that he is underwater. This is a quick snip it.
Or, the camera does a quick zoom in (see Lock Stock, Snatch, Rock n Roller) sees Sammie the Lynch’s Kid cock a pistol behind someone with a black plastic bag over their head. Again this is done as a very quick snip-it)

Cv) (Cleve shifts as if uncomfortable, still has his face covered) “Then I’ll do it for free”.
Pt) (Medium-close up of face) “C’mon Cid, their must be something a guy, (camera switches to behind Pete’s right side, with Cleve still visible) like you could do with all this money”.
Cv) (Close up of Cleve’s face, which is still covered) "People like us? We don't think or act like regular people. I've done some bad stuff over the years even the Devil's starting to blush, and don't think you haven't either, coz you've indirectly pulled that trigger along with me. We've had nothing from day one, everything, including life, is borrowed and we just happen to be the bailiffs. Sometimes when I fall asleep I think of the things I’ve done, and you know what Guy, I sleep soundly but not proudly. There ain't nothing on this Earth that’s more corrupt then you and your god damn society, and there is nothing more blood thirsty than me and yet I’m always starving and empty. You see this place here, this is the only thing I’ll leave behind and the only thing waiting for people like us is a jagged pit in the ground where not even the crows will have the decency to pick us clean and the only company will be the people we put down there". (This speech should be spoken over the scene between Cid and Sammie’s Kid)

SCENE BETWEEN SAMMIE’S KID
(Throughout the scene in the part with the speech in the caravan, this will play in the background. This should be outside perhaps, (there is a nice bridge at the Isle ham Mariner which would work wonderfully). It should be done with a normal filter and colourings as it is what is happening in the present. At this point Cid is at one side of the bridge and the Kid is at the other looking beaten, perhaps he is on his knees holding a bullet wound, or maybe he is clutching a wound whilst he is staggering. The speech in the caravan finishes and the camera switches back to a close up of Calais in the caravan (Black and white filter), who asks:
Pt) “What kind of people are we then?”

(At this point the camera switches back to the bridge scene. The camera shows a side ways close up of Cid’s face from the left). Cv) (Takes off balaclava) “So a Punk and his daddy went to town then?”
(Medium close up of The Kids from the right on the opposite side. (180 degree rule of course).He talks with gasps and anger)Bdn) (Staggers clutching chest) “Fuck you!”.
Cv) “Now, Kid, that’s no way to talk” (Camera switches to behind The Kids Right shoulder, looking at Cid. Cid Moves closer saying): “Let’s just make this easy…” (Cuts off as The Kid quickly draws a gun)
Bdn) (Same shot), “Stop!!!!” (Points gun, camera shoots from a cantered lower angle from the right) “I’m not just some ‘kid’, you think because the shaman gave you name you can look down on me!? Too dangerous for name he told me…” (Cid cuts him off).
Cv) (Same shot from the left) “And he was right on the money, wasn’t he”.
Bdn) (Quick extreme close up of his angry eyes and then a medium shot of his body. He still has the gun pointed at Cid). “You think I’m joking!? You’re a has-been, obsolete, and I am now superior”.
Cv) (Close up of face from the left. Reaches like a cowboy in a shoot-out for the gun in the back of his trousers, (or holster if we get on). “Which comic book villain did you lift that quote from, Kid?”
Bdn) “If you don’t believe me I will show you!!!” (Sammie’s Kid does the same).

(They shout, “DRAW!!!!!!!!!” And then the big title of “Those who kill…” Appears).

The End
(Subject is in development, and as such, prone to any criticism that will affect content, length and development)

Film Age Ratings

We figured that our film should have an age rating, as do all films. Our film would either be a 15 or an 18, (but it is undecided at the moment). The reason for this is that it will be a mature film which wouldn't be suitable for young audiences as it will be violent and have very strong language. young audiences might find it offensive or wont understand what is going on in the film.


- Suitable only for 15 years and older. No one younger than 15 may see a '15' film in a cinema. No one younger than 15 may rent or buy a '15' rated video.


Language: There may be frequent use of strong language; the strongest terms are only rarely acceptable. Continued aggressive use of strong language and sexual abuse is unacceptable.
Sex: Sexual activity and nudity may be portrayed but without strong detail. The depiction of casual sex should be handled responsibly. There may be occasional strong verbal references to sexual behaviour.
Violence: Violence may be strong but may not dwell on the infliction of pain, and of injuries. Scenes of sexual violence must be discreet and brief.
Imitable techniques: Dangerous combat techniques such as ear claps, head-butts and blows to the neck are unlikely to be acceptable. There may be no emphasis on the use of easily accessible lethal weapons (in particular, knives).
Horror: Sustained or detailed infliction of pain or injury is unacceptable.
Drugs: Drug taking may be shown but clear instructive detail is unacceptable. The film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug use.


Thriller films that have the rating of "15" include: RockNRolla, The Transporter, Shooter, Taking Lives, Brick, no country for old men,

- Suitable only for adults. No one younger than 18 may see an '18' film in a cinema. No one younger than 18 may rent or buy an '18' rated video. Until recently, 18 certificate films could not contain the depiction of actual sex acts. Although the BBFC allowed the depiction of simulated sex scenes in 18 certificate films, actual sexual acts were still not allowed to be depicted in 18 certificate films until recently.References or scenes of suicide, which can be easily imitated by youth, can lead to a DVD being given an 18 certificate due to that potential. Other means of violence is allowed and bodily dismemberment is also acceptable.

Thriller films that have a rating of "18" include: Kill Bill vol. 1 & 2, jagged edge, seven, Lucky number slevin, bad boys 1 & 2

Difference between the two scenes.

In the opening scen the conversation overlaps what is going on. For example, the conversation between Cid and Calais, (name not yet confirmed), overlaps the part wear Cid is interrogateing Sammie the Lynch's Kid. This first scene in the caravan should be in black and white as it is a flash back, and the scene where the interrogation takes place should have a normal filter as it is what is happening now, the present if you will.

Slight changes

After recieving the helpful critersism during our presentation, (which did not do this idea justice in anyway), and we have scince changed the names of the characters of the characters henceforthe;

Cid "The Cowboy" Elmwood
Calais Price (not definate, awaiting confromation)
Sammie the Lynch
Sammie the Lynch's Kid (NOTE: Sammie the Lynch's Kid has no name, he is Sammie the Lynches Kid, its his alias. He works for his dad, who is somewhat of a hotshot within the assosiation known as "The Provenance" (name yet to be confirmed), and therefore in his dads opinion he thinks his son has no right to his own name. He was never given one. Thats it, no more questions about Sammie the Lynch's Kid)

The length of the clip was also a consern as it should not cramp too much of the plot
into the openning. However that was not the original plan anyway, so focusing on the length is the main consern, as we only have about 2 minuites to tell the scene.
Also, because it is very Tarenteno like, it needs to be slightly kooky, off the wall, and most importantly, well acted.
Costumes will need to be collected aswell, here is the first things that spring to mind:

music and sound effects, both diagetic and non-diagetic

The James Bond serise set the apprpriet sound that a spy thriller should have. This is a clean guitar sound in the tune of E and G. This included a simle bass line underneath as well as an orchestra. This goes well with the elaborte ways of James Bond films, however, for less elaborate thrillers the use of synths and simple ambiant non-diagetic sounds.

Most of the diagetic sound in thrillers comes mostly from the effects the characters create; from gun shots and the empty shell echoing on the ground, to the simple hum of a computer and the clicking of the keys. this makes the scene relateable as they are familiar sounds that the audience would expect to hear, therefore increasing the effect of the scene. This also cuts down any cheesey over the top use of garage band and non-diagetic sound which may seem too unproffessional.

Pacing

The momentum of a thriller should the main contributing factor. Evn in thriller novels like the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child are told at break neck speed but have the copasity to slow down to an easily digestable state. This should definatley be the case with a thriller film, as there is as much point as a film that doen't make sence at there is one that is simply unentertaining. For example, the Bourn films are always told with quick, assuming cuts and shots that keep the story interresting even if the pace slowed down, like in the car scene when he is traveling with the woman in the car to Paris the scene is slow yet the pace is still ingaging.
However i found this not to be the case in thrillers such as "Public Enermies". It wasn't a bad film as such but it i kept inagining seeing the Film4 logo appear in between scenes from time to time. This was at the cinema, which is not good.
A thriller needs to be either quick and exillerating with snappy shot and cuts with interessting camera angles to take complete control of your attention, or, if it is slower in pace, needs be interresting enough to captive the audience and play on their couriosity of the characters.

Cids speech

Guy will say to Cid, "Think what people like us could do with that kind of money",
($50million), to which Cid resonds (over the top of the interogation scene):

"People like us? We don't think or act like regulair people. I've done some bad stuff over the years even the Devil's starting to blush, and don't think you haven't either, coz you've indirectly pulled that trigger along with me. We've had nothing from day one, everything, including life, is borrowed and we just happen to be the bailiffs. Sometimes when i fall asleep i think of the things i've done, and you know what Guy, i sleep soundly but not proudly. There ain't nothing on this Earth thats more courrupt then you and your god damn society, and there is nothing more blood thristy than me and yet im always starving and empty. You see this place here, this is the only thing i'll leave behind and the only thing waiting for people like us is a jagged pit in the ground where not even the crows will have the decentcey to pick us clean and the only company will be the people we put down there".

At this point Guy ,(he should sound arrogant and uninterrested), asks:
"What kind of people are they then?"
at this ponit the title, "Those that Kill..." appear on the screen. Intro.

quick idea, "Those Who Kill..."

the first idea we had was a story board in which an old time killer, Cid, (also known as "The Cowboy") is visited by his old friend, Guy, who asks him if he interested in revenge on Sammie the Lynch's son for $50million. This opening leaves many plot holes that, quite rightly, won't be answered in the opening.
The idea is to shot the scene in black and white, (as it is a flashback), and the rest of the little flicks to other scenes in colour to show that they are presently happening.
There is also the notion that not much non-diagetic sound will be used, as we found that many of the clips we saw had too much in-your-face, obvious garage banding over-use, and seemed cheesy and lacked proffesionalism. (see the "Shadow" clip to understasnd this reference).
The out door scene should be shot at night to give the mysterious feel to the scene, which will also show that the character of Guy, who is wearing a suit would fit right in with the darkness, which seems only fitting as he is a corrupt businessman working for somesort of assassination assossation. Also, the inside should be in a rustic setting, (we had the idea to use our friends caravan as it matches the discription we were thinking of). The interiour should be dimly lit, at least to cover Cid's face. Throughout this scene it will jump (at certain parts) to Cid interourgating someone with their head in some water, (like you do in such situations). To do this we shall use a sherical fish bowel and film underneath it to give the illusion of being shot underwater.
Throughout the end of the scene Cid will tell a speech, like in the Coen film, "No Country for Old Men", which will explain, briefly to the audience what sort opf person Cid is.

Mood Board

As we are going for more of a crime themed thriller we have created a mood board with images of crime films. Here it is in its moody goodness

Film Openings- black and white openings

Black and white film openings create a lot of tension and atmosphere to a filme, especially thrillers. The black and white effect is often brought in to represent an event, which, is being held in the past , it can also be used as composition enhancer, by taking out the coulour the focus would be drawn to what it is meant to be drawn to and not something within the background moving around.

An example of a black and white film opening is 'Kill Bill vol.1', the scene is simplistic, dark, and leaves many open questions to about the film which draws you in making you want to see it all. When you first see Bea, her face is lighted incredibly well as it is only lightened from one direction giving form and shadow on each of her features, whilst shading out the other side of her face. I think that the close up wouldnt have been as effective if it were in colour as you wouldnt be able to interpret the anxiety, pain, fear and also deffiance as well.

Anyway here is the clip...

Film Openings - starting from end

We have been looking at many thriller film openings and have stumbled across the idea of an opening from the ending of the film. This is a very effective way of making people want to watch more, as you want to find out what is happening. One we like is the opening to The Butterfly Effect, which shows him running into a room, it sounds as if he is being chased, yet you don't know why he is being chased or why he writes a note assuming his death. This film opening is very cryptic and leaves open questions for the viewers, it grips you in making you want to watch more.

In this video you should watch until 2:09 as that is up to what we saw and analysed

Thriller

Thriller is a broad genre of film that includes numerous and often overlapping sub-genres. Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action, and resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more-powerful and better-equipped villains.

Thrillers can be put into multiple sub-genres, For Example.

A political thriller is a thriller that is set against the backdrop of political power struggle. They usually involve various plots, rarely legal, designed to give political power to someone, while his opponents try to stop him from getting it. They can involve national or international political scenarios. World War II is a favorite scenario, as are US presidential elections.

Psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the wide-ranging thriller genre. However, this genre often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre in addition to the typical traits of the thriller genre. Also, occasionally this genre will border into the also wide-ranging horror genre.Generally, thrillers focus on plot over character, and thus emphasize intense, physical action over the character's psyche. Psychological thrillers tend to reverse this formula to a certain degree, emphasizing the characters just as much, if not more so, than the plot.The suspense created by psychological thrillers often comes from two or more characters preying upon one another's minds, either by playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the other's mental state. Sometimes the suspense comes from within one solitary character where characters must resolve conflicts with their own minds. These conflicts are made more vivid with physical expressions of the conflict in the means of either physical manifestations, or physical torsions of the characters at play.

A Crime thriller, is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal(s) rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasize action over psychological aspects. Central topics of these films include murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, and double-crosses are central ingredients.

Action thriller: In which the work often features a race against the clock, contains lots of violence, and an obvious antagonist. These films usually contain large amounts of guns, explosions, and large elaborate set pieces for the action to take place. These films often have elements of mystery and crime films but these elements take a backseat to action.

Preliminary Task 2 .. DONE

this is our finished preliminary task ... enjoy guys =D

thrillers and why they are so thrillery...

Thrillers tend to possess a similar trend and that they play mostly on the adrenaline of the audience. For example, the opening scene in Jaws show the camera view of the shark from a upwards shot, which causes the audience to see what is watching the woman and plays on the notion that people fear whatever is in the water when they don't know whats down there. this is also helped by the only diagetic sound of the woman, the waves and the gulls give the illusion of a calm and serene feeling. This is then runs parallel to the non-diagetic F minor orchestral score for when the shark is stalking the woman, (2 cords make an instant villain). the fact that the shark is not seen by the audience keeps the audience in suspense due to the mid-close up of the woman.

Jaws' opening scene tends to start slow and then the pace picks up, which appears in both the bank scene at the beginning of the first Transporter and the Parquor chase scene in Casino Royal. The tr use slow, and subtle swells of synthesized non-diagetic sound

Mise En Scene - The Dark Knight

Analyse the use of micro elements

How do they creating meaning for the audience?

In the scene they are wearing suits, gloves and a clown mask. Also in their hands they have guns. This gives the viewer the instant impression they are up to no good and implying they are about to commit a crime. They are also slightly intimidating with the masks and usually bank robbers are quite intimidating.

preliminary task :D

we are now going to be planning our preliminary task. we will use basic camera skills and editing skills and shot types.

our location will be...a classroom

Shot 1: Establishing shot, walking down hallway
Shot 2: Close-up shot, close up of hand opening door
Shot 3: Match on action shot, after close up of shows the door opening
Shot 4: Reaction shot, reaction of character 2
Shot 5: Long shot, shows both characters in the same clip
Shot 6/7: Over the shoulder shot, conversation between characters 1 and 2.

Welcome