Rough Cut - Miss Miller

A rough cut is important to consider because it allows you to collect feedback from people who watch it and improve on the constructive criticism they give you, this helps make the final opening scenaration better as you get the audiences opinions on the clip that resembles the final finished product. Without a rough cut, the clip may not be seen with its full potential, meaning if it was submitted it would not get as many marks as it could of had. 


Audience feedback is also very important to consider, this is because it gives you a different and fresh perspective on our opening sequence. It allows us take into consideration the audiences constructive criticism to help us improve the elements that may not be working, but also tell you what they feel the strengths of the clip are and are effective, allowing us to know which parts to enhance, or ensure we do not cut them out or shorten.

My group and I created a presentation for our class to allow them to get the understanding of our clip by telling them about our narrative and what we wanted to achieve through our opening scenario. This enabled them to give us feedback as they were able to give their opinions based on how well we pulled it off by comparing it to how we explained what we wanted to portray and achieve. Our presentation included;

• Our individual ideas for a narrative.
• Those ideas put together to make our final narrative and what that was.
• What we wanted to create and how we think we have created it.
• How is it conventional to the thriller genre.

After the presentation, we then showed our class our rough cut of our thriller sequence, which we had exported to youtube previously, which allowed their feedback to be given through comments on the video. 

When receiving feedback, we were told that we had many strengths and weaknesses. Our strengths included;

• Good use of low key lighting - conventional
• Good variety of shots used - high angles, low angles, eye levelled shot, handheld, etc
• Good variety of shot distances - Close up, Extreme close up, long shot, aerial shot, etc
• Good use of sound - builds tension/suspense.

Our weaknesses included; 

• An unclear confusing plot.
• Not enough credits.
• Transitions between frames was 'messy'.

We took the weaknesses given to us into consideration and decided to act on them by changing them or deleting parts. Starting with the making the plot clearer, for this, we are going to add in some footage which shows the older sister in our narrative placing the gloves used to kill the little girl into a bag and throwing this into the forest. This would hint to viewers that perhaps the older sister was involved in the killing, and so would leave them wondering what her motives were. Although this was a weakness, it was also good because we wanted to leave the audience feeling confused, which we did, but having gained the feedback, now know that we should be leaving the audience questioning what happened, instead of them not knowing what they have just watched. 

The weakness of there not being enough credits is a fair comment, simply because we had not finished all of the credits yet. It was good to show the few credits we had made as there were no comments as to the fading and blurring on/off of these credits, and so I have assumed these were effective, although it is hard to tell without them all being completed. 

The tranisitions between the frames needs polishing, as it was commented that they looked messy. This probally occured whilst cutting down the clip to under 2 minutes, as the sounds that originally matched the images, no longer do. To improve this, it will mean slowly going through the entire clip, and making sure that all the edits and sounds etc match the images.

The feedback given to us will help us finalise our thriller opening sequence as it has given us ideas and a different perspective of ways in which we should improve our clip. This has now given us the understanding of the audiences reactions and opinions meaning we can adjust and alter certain elements to help bring out the full potential our thriller could possibly have.

Opening Scenaration - Miss Miller

Within our opening sequence, our narrative was adjusted only once. This was when we put all of our individual ideas together and altered it into one group idea. This final idea consisted of a little girl walking through a forest alone, and whilst she is walking, she experiences several flashbacks. These flashbacks show the audience the happy memories the little girl is reminiscing on, including her and her older sister playing in the forest she is currently in. The story develops through these flashbacks as the audience begin to get a better understanding of the characters and their relationships with one another. In one of the flashbacks, there is an underwater fight scene between the little girl and the killer, this is triggered by the little girl looking into the river she is killed in. Once this flashback has taken place, the little girl comes to the realisation that she is in fact dead, this is portrayed through the iconography of the white rose. There is some confusion and an enigma created as to who the killer is, this is because we wanted our killer to have a hidden identity but at the same time give hints that the killer could be the little girls older sister. We wanted to end our opening sequence on this cliff hanger as the audience are left in shock and are left wondering what the motive could of been and how twisted the killer must have been to commit this murder. We thought by ending the scene on confusion the audience would want to see more and watch the rest of the film to obtain answers which is the main purpose of the opening scene of films, to draw the audience into the film.

 The first shot that we used in our opening sequence was an eye-levelled shot/from the ground shot. This shot was not originally planned to go into our clip but we decided it would be a good way to introduce and place the first of the credits into.The credits used in this shot show the name of the company name 'Dark Productions' in white, the effect for these used is called tracking which we used for the majority of our credits except our title 'Nostalgia'. We used low key lighting in this shot. For the music, a paceful intense piano harmony is played to begin with. A sound also included in this shot is the crunching of leaves beneath her feet. The scenery is in a forest.
(Use screenshot of shot from youtube)
The next shot is a long shot of the little girl walking away from the camera. Here, we again used low key lighting but with some light coming through the trees to make it visible. The credits in this shot display 'A film starring' again in white to make it stand out, with the same 'tracking' effect. The music is the same as in the first shot; the intense piano which is used in most of the parts where the little girl is walking through the forest with the crunching sound of the leaves as well. The little girl is wearing a pink dress as she is throughout the rest of the opening scene.
(Screenshot)
A mid shot and panning of the little girl is then used with dim lighting and the same music as used previously. The credits displayed here show the name of a main actor 'Yasmin Bhatti'. This then goes on to a point of view shot of the little girl looking at a tree, whilst zooming into the tree the music gets more intense and deeper, around the tree are dark shadows to emphasise its significance. The lighting therefore appears darker than the previous shots. 
(Screenshot)
A shot of the same tree is then shown but this time the lighting is alot brighter and the image is blurry to show that it is a flashback. The characters in this shot are both the little girl and her older sister playing around the tree in a happy memory. here, the main sound is the diagetic sound of laughter, whilst the main piano sound has been turned down for this particular shot. They are both in casual clothing and here the little girl is wearing a pink scarf which is going to go on to be the main iconography in the clip. The credits here display my name, one of the main actors, 'Ayesha Bhatti', we put my name here as this is when I first appear in the clip, this again is in the effect 'tracking' and in bold white.
(Screenshot) 
Another longshot is then faded into the clip showing the little girl walking in her pink dress with dim lighting, with the main music of the piano turned back up, but also still hearing the crunching of the leaves beneath her feet.This then goes into a side panning midshot of the little girl walking past the pink scarf on the tree with the same music which then changes for the next shot when the music gets sharper and the beat gets deeper. The music changes as there is an over the shoulder shot whilst zooming into the scarf. Around the scarf there are dark shadows, the same used when zooming into the tree in a previous shot and the lighting has also been darkened here to reflect the dark music. The credits here display 'Director of photography by'.
(Screenshot)
After this, it then goes into a flashback the little girl is experiencing of the older sister putting the scarf of the little girl. Here, the lighting is bright due to it being a flashback and the sides are blurred out to enhance the change from reality to the flashback. The little girl and her sister shown are in casual clothing with the use of the scarf as iconography. The scenery again is in a forest. The music used is of the main track played throughout most of the clip - the intense dramatic piano, however, due to it being a flashback the volume is lowered to focus on the deeper sound added in. There are no credits displayed in this particular shot.
(Screenshot)

The next shot is of the little girl walking up to the camera with the main sound being the crunching leaves but also the continuous piano subtly playing in the background. The lighting has been dimmed and she is wearing her pink dress. Here, the credits shown display 'Deanna Mathers' following the previous credit saying 'Director of photography by' this is in white with the tracking effect. After this, the little girl then stops, and it zooms into a close-up of her emotionless face with the same music and dim lighting.
(Screenshot)
This then fades into a quick high shot of the back of the little girl kneeling by the river. The lighting is dim and the music is the same piano. However, this soon changes when the sound turns into heavy breathing and running and the lighting is completely black due to it being a blackout, after these sounds are played through for a few seconds we then introduced a sound of a little girl screaming leading to the sound of a splash. As this shot was completely black we thought this would be a good opportunity to introduce our film title 'Nostalgia' as this would bring more attention and focus to it. Unlike the rest of our credits in our clip being all white and in the 'tracking' effect, the title is white with a red glow and is in the effect 'glow'.
(Screenshot)
Following the last sound heard which was the splash, the next shot was underwater. Here, we see the little girl in her pink dress getting strangled and drowned by her killer wearing a long sleeve black top. The sound of the piano is turned back on to pick up the pace and intensity. The lighting is dim and we changed the coloring of the swimming pool to more brown-green to make it appear more like a river. Due to it being underwater, we decided to put the credits saying 'Director of Underwater Photography', back to the same effect of 'tracking' in white.
(Screenshot)

Production Roles - Miss Miller

When filming our opening scene, people need to be allocated specific roles in order to get everything done and completed efficiently. By doing this everyone is secured with their own jobs to get on with and can contribute their small part to the making of the film. The possible roles within creating a film is the director, producer, the actors, directors of photography (cameramen), sound technicians, screenplay writer, MES co-coordinators and the editors.

When planning our opening credits our group had to make up some names so that there wasn't the same names being repeated throughout, this would make the film opening appear unprofessional. However, we still had to divide the names between the three people in our group, me Deanna and Lilian in allocated roles.

During the planning of our narrative for our opening scene, we decided to include 3 characters, a little sister, an older sister and the killer. We decided on me playing the role of the older sister as the little girl playing my younger sister is my actual little sister so we thought this would be appropriate in looking more realistic and truthful. An actors/actresses role within the film is to be prepared to follow the directors instructions to ensure their carrying out their role appropriately with the right emotions, they also need to learn the lines of the character they are playing if dialogue is included. In our opening scene there is no dialogue as we discovered that silence is conventional to the thriller genre in creating a more tense atmosphere. Our filming is made up out of two days that the actors would have acted out in each frame of our group storyboard, the first footage filmed in the forest, and the second in a swimming pool for the underwater scene, where the actors are required to have a reasonable amount of patience and also swimming ability.

I was designated the role of the producer and also the Mise-en-scene coordinator. We decided on this because I decided on the location of the filming in the forest. Also, me and my sister were the actors so it was easiest for me to figure out the costs etc. I was also able to plan the costumes due to us being the actors, as i could decide on what would be most suitable for our narrative whilst at home for the both of us. My role as producer included working alongside Lilian, the director to assist Deanna with deciding on shots we may be unsure of whilst filming. I felt that I carried out my role at a good standard as my chosen location of the forest looked good and fitted well with our clip, also my idea to use the school swimming pool worked out well as once the underwater scene was edited you could not tell the little girl was not in a river. I found it easy choosing costumes as I only had to dress myself and Yasmin in clothes we already owned. I also provided the iconography which we also had possession of, this meant that our group did not have to pay for anything apart from the underwater camera which we did not have to begin with.

The role of the director, who ensures everything is going to plan and running smoothly by ensuring that all the roles have been allocated and completed by people to good standard before the deadline was to be taken on by Lilian. We came to this decision as for one Lilian wanted to do this, following by the fact I was already acting in the opening scene so would be unable to control everything and make sure things are completed. Me and Deanna also played various other roles so by giving Lilian the role of director she would be equalled out with her contribution as this is a big and important role to play and would have plenty to be getting on with. Unfortunately, Lilian was absent during the filming of both the underwater scene and in the forest, therefore leaving me and Deanna to split the role of director. This did not cause too much disruption as we compromised and made sure everything was running as planned between the both of us. Despite me and Deanna having had several other roles to be completing I felt we were able to carry out role as director sufficiently which helped us with production as we guided one another and Yasmin through their allocated roles and what we/they should be doing.

Deanna was the director of photography. We decided for her to have this role as it was the most suitable role for her due to Lilian directing and me acting she was left to operate the camera and decide on the various shots included. The role and jobs of the director of photography included looking at both our filming schedule and group storyboard to assist her in what specific shots to film and carry out, this also guides the actors in making them aware of what they need to be doing and portraying in the certain shots. Deanna will be in charge of the filming taking place in the forest and also the filming underwater in the swimming pool, this means she must decide on what shots will look best and suit our narrative most appropriately. I felt that Deanna completed this role perfectly by providing us with all the footage we needed at all the right angles and shots. She was able to operate the camera with no issues and was also patient with the actors when having to repeat shots that had gone wrong. When filming the underwater scene Deanna was able to film great shots at hard angles to capture with an underwater camera she was unfamiliar with. By Deanna carrying out this role it helped us with production massively as we got masses of good footage for us to work, edit, and perfect on.

It was also decided on that Deanna would be carrying out the role of the main editor. This leaves her in charge of all of our footage, with the assistance of me and Lilian. We thought this was suitable as Deanna has the basic understanding of the final cut c pro editing software being used as she edited and put together our preliminary task. We therefore thought Deanna would be able to familiarise herself with the software faster than me and Lilian could, leaving us to complete our opening scene by the deadline given. However, when it came down to editing I ended up taking on the role as main editor as I very quickly familiarized myself with the software with few complications. This therefore meant that we were able to edit everything at a faster pace then expected and whilst doing so Deanna and Lilian gave me their opinions on what they thought looked good and what they didn't like meaning we all contributed in this specific role which was helpful in producing our final piece.

Overall, the allocation of roles to each of us in the group helped speed up the process of both the filming and the editing and guided us in what to do without any confusion. I felt that we all worked hard on the roles given to us in making sure our opening scene turned out as planned and expected. The only thing I wish we would have done differently was make sure all our group were present during the filming as this would have equalled out our roles as some of us had too much to do at some points. Excluding that all roles were completed how we wanted them to be and turned out to be a success in our eyes.

Planning opening credits - Miss Georgiou

Credits are important in the opening sequence of a film as it makes the audience aware of who is involved in the making of the film, it also sets the scene when introducing the audience to what the film is going to be about. Credits can do this with the font for example, if the font was sharp, black white and/or red, I would assume the film is going to be a thriller, whereas if the font were pink and red I may think the film is going to be a romance. Credits may attract viewers more into the film as famous actors/directors are introduced which makes the film seem more appealing. When creating our opening sequence planning the credits we use is important as we have to ensure the credits we use are both conventional and appropriate to the thriller genre as we want to immediately make the audience feel on edge and get into the tense atmosphere of our clip, we also want to make sure they match up to the images and music within our clip.

The order of credits used are typically:

• Production company
• Director
• Actors/Famous actors
• Title of film
• Actors continued
• Casting
• Music costumes
• Editors
• Production
• Camera operator
• Co-producer
• Producer
• Writing director

When looking at the opening credits of thriller films, I analysed the film 'The Orphan' as the credits used appealed to me and came across really creepy. The clip is below.

When looking at this clip I looked at different aspects of the credits which were:

• The font and style of the credits
• The colours of the credits and background/images
• The orders in which the credits appear
• Thriller conventions of the credits

Within the opening credits of The Orphan clip, the font 

Having researched into how opening credits are presented and why they are presented in that way, we discussed in my group the credits we wanted to include for our opening thriller, which are;

• Company Name - Dark Productions
• Actors - Ayesha Bhatti & Yasmin Bhatti
• Director - Lillian Amaning
• Title - Nostalgia
• Casting By - (L) Katie Mitchell
• Music By - (A) Olivia Edwards 
• Costumes by (D) Daniel Woods
• Hair & Make up by (A) Laura Smith
• Editor - Deanna Mathers 
• Production - Ayesha Bhatti
• Director of Photography - Lillian Amaning 
• Director of Photography (underwater) - Deanna Mathers

• Used contrast between white and black to represent good and evil, victim and villain
• Ink smudges- realistic as its acessable. Could be a metaphor saying that film will not run smoothly - negative as audience will guess there will not be a simple narrative.  Also, could guess that an accident will happen., as ink spillages are accidental. 

• put eachothers ideas together.
• Used red colour for credit with a black outline to make audience think about meaning of word. 
• Used red, black and white to show the difference between good and evil, villain and victim. 
• Changed the colour of the ink to make it seem like blood which is conventional to thrillers. 

Ink idea - Deanna 

Contrast of colours - Lillian 

representation of blood - both 

• used red - conventional - blood -- foreshadows something bad will happen - death
• used lined paper - more realistic as everyone can acess paper. 
• contrast between black background + red + white colour to show difference between good and evil (victim + villain)
• Style - Sharp font + bold to emphasise the title and make audience think of its meaning. - gives them an idea of what the films going to be about. 

Risk Assesment - Miss Georgiou

Before filming takes place risk assesments are made to ensure the safety of the actors and the camera crew. It involves you identifying the hazards, examine any possible dangers and evaluating how you can prevent these risks.

Our groups risk assessment can be seen below;

In our risk assesment, we went over the locations included in our filming, a forenst and the schools swimming pool. By making this risk assesment it has highlighted the importance of preventing any accidents from happening during the filming process for me. In our group, Deanna communicated with a member of the PE department about using the pool, and he agreed to supervise us whilst using it, without the risk assement we would not have made these arrangements and an accident may have occured.

Planning editing styles - Miss Georgiou

There are various ways in which editing is used within the thriller genre. Editing in the thriller genre usually contributes the mood or feeling in a particular movie, it also makes the film and opening sequence both more appealing and engaging for the audience and directors. Without editing within thrillers, three main aspects in thrillers would be absent which are shock, suspense and silence. 

In our thriller clip our group included a jump cut in our second frame. Jump cuts are used when the film suddenly focuses on something. We used this to speed up the time taken when we show the girl walking deeper into the forest, we also wanted to speed up the pace of the scene and a jump cut is a good editing technique to do so. By speeding up the pace, the audience are left feeling on edge as they aren't given the time to process what is happening. This therefore connects the audience to the victim with sympathy as their only focus is on her and what may happen to her, by leaving the audience trying to figure out the plot this creates tension and suspense due to the fear of the unexpected.

Throughout our opening thriller sequence there is going to be many straight cuts used, this is the most common type of edit, the straight cut results in one image being replaced instantly by another. We used straight cuts as it is an easy way to get from one frame to the next.

Planning Cinematography - Miss Miller

Cinematography is the art or technique of moving photography including both the shooting and development of the film. It is used to build a relationship between the audience and the characters through all of the different camera shots/angles used, which helps the audience gain an understanding of the film. If we didn’t plan the cinematography, we would not be able to film the scenes proficiently.

Our groups camera angles consisted of a point of view shot (POV), zooming in & out, a high angled shot, an extreme close-up, eye-levelled shot, and an over the shoulder shot.

POV Shot -

A POV shot is used to let the audience view what the character is seeing, putting them in their shoes. Our group decided to use a POV shot for when the little group looks at objects that remind her of the past causing her to have flashbacks, this gives the audience a clear perspective of the little that these objects link back to past memories and events. By putting the audience in the characters shoes this connects them as they are put in their current situation, like when the character is experiencing flashbacks it will make them seem more real to the audience therefore their emotions will be intensified. Point of view shots are conventional to thrillers because they make the audience feel as if the events happening to the characters are also happening to them, this leaves the audience feeling tense and on edge as they are put in the position of the victim, it also makes the audience sympathize towards the victim as they are feeling their emotions and understand their situation.
 

 

 

Zooming in & Zooming out -

Zooming in is where the camera moves towards an object/person the camera is focused on. This is to create the high significance of the object/person drawing the audience’s attention into it, building a closer relationship between the topic and the viewers. Our group used zooming in to familiarise the river in our narrative which has a lot of importance in our thriller clip. It was also an easy way to shift the scene from within the forest to the scenery of the river. Zooming in is conventional to the thriller genre as it involves and engages the audience with what the camera is focused on, allowing them to understand the subject more. On the other hand, zooming out is used to create an emotional distance between the audience and the character/object by moving away from it. Our group decided to use zooming out near the end of our narrative, where we zoom out from the high angled shot looking down on the little sisters dead body. We done this to emphasize the vulnerability and timidness of the little girl, also intending to build up tension. This is conventional to thrillers as it gives the audience time to reflect and wonder what they have just witnessed, building suspense leaving them feeling very confused. When the camera is zooming out of the little girls dead body it leaves the audience with many questions running through their mind leaving them feeling on edge as they are witnessing her life come to an end.

 

 

 High angled shot -

A high angled shot is where the camera is positioned above the object, making it appear smaller. High angled shots are stereotypically used for the victim in thrillers as they need to be portrayed as small and vulnerable, therefore in our thriller clip we decided to use a high angle mostly when showing the little sister as she is the victim in our narrative. An example of a high angle we are including in our thriller clip is during the underwater fight scene, the victim would be shown struggling, giving the audience the impression that she is feeble and weak, these aspects are typically highlighted in the victim during thrillers. Our group wanted to use a lot of high angles for the little sister to make it clear to the audience that she is the victim, leaving them empathizing for her throughout the opening scene of our thriller as something bad is bound to happen to her at one point meaning the audience are left feeling on edge until it does. High angles shots are also used to show that the victim is beneath their killer to show the killer has full control and a lot more strength than the victim, leaving the audience feeling tense as the victim is in a hopeless situation. They are conventional to thrillers because they are used as an indicator to viewers that the character being shown is the victim, connecting the audience to them as they are left feeling sorry for them.

 

Extreme close-up -

An extreme close-up is when an image fills the screen so that no background is seen, this put pure focus on the object/person. Our group decided for extreme close-ups to occur a few times in our thriller clip. The first time was an extreme close-up of the little girls hand to show the blood on her fingers, this makes it obvious to the audience that she has been cut on her head which may have been overlooked by them when shown in her reflection in the river. We used this shot showing the blood as blood is conventional and stereotypical to thrillers, blood leaves the audience feeling nervous causing them to worry for the girl and her life. Another extreme close-up we used was of her eyes to show the shock in them after witnessing herself being killed in the underwater fight scene, then fading into the same shot from the flashback to reality. The 2 extreme close-up of the little girls eyes are used to emphasise the shock and surprise she is in, shock and surprise are two aspects that are conventional to the thriller genre, this should build up a suspenseful filling atmosphere. Extreme close-ups are generally used a lot in thrillers as they draw the audience’s attention on significant things, making the subject clearer.

 

 

 

Inspirations post - Miss Miller

Before creating our thriller we need inspirations to guide us, and give us ideas. Inspirations can be used as springboards for ideas we can work around and expand on with our own twists.  Inspirations for our thriller clips can be taken from other thriller films, thriller trailers or even just films in general. Lighting, sounds, scenery etc can all be taken as inspiration from films.

When deciding on my individual narrative, I reflected on thriller films I had previously watched and thought about what ideas I could take from them. The first film that came to mind and inspired me with my underwater scene idea was 'The Orphan'. This film consists of an underwater fight scene betweem a killer and a victim, we included this in our openeing scene as when watching the struggle of the victim whilst getting attacked by the killer, it creates a suspenseful and tense atmosphere and left me feeling on edge. In 'The Orphan' the underwater scene is set in a froken over lake which gives a more dangerous feel to it as there is less chance of escape. However, when filming our opening scene we could not use the same idea due to the dangers, instead we gave the illusion that they are underwater in a lake when really we will be filming in a swimming pool. When creating a film, and there is an underwater or water scene the actors are usually not in the actual place they appear to be, instead they use plastic pools/swimming pools. An example of this is from the film 'Titanic' who used a plastic/paddling pool in the scene of Jack and Rose after the Titanic had sunk. This assisted us in creating our underwater scene as we know it can be pulled off and look realistic if not filmed in the actual lake/sea/river which made us confident in continuing and including the idea.

 

Planning Group Storyboards - Miss Miller

The purpose of a group storyboard is for our group to come together and combine each others ideas, helping us to create our final piece. This will allow us to improve on any ideas with other suggestions made by different members of the group that they came up with in their individual storyboard.

Inspirations were taken within our group such as point of view shots which is included in Deanna's individual storyboard where both me and Lilian agreed it was a very good idea and included it in our group storyboard. We came to the conclusion that this was effective as it allows the audience to feel what the character is feeling leaving them to sympathize for them and feel on edge being in their shoes and current situation.

When comparing and contrasting our individual storyboards together we discovered that me and Deanna had both included a parallel diegetic sound of leaves crunching beneath the little girls feet as she walks.

Planning characters representation - Miss Georgiou

The representation of characters is how someone is presented to an audience, how the audience judge someone by looking at their clothing, background and attitudes. In our thriller clip we will be using our characters to give the audience a feel of what the film is about by the way they present themselves.

In our group narrative opening scene we have 3 different characters, two of whom are played as the same characters but the audience would be unaware of this until the end, therefore could both be played by the same person. Our characters are: 

The little sister:

Name: Annie

Age: 10

Gender: Female, females are generally used as the victim in thrillers.

Race: Mixed race 

Background: Close relationship to her big sister, Ayesha. Their close bond will be portrayed through the flashbacks of happy memories between the two of them. In the flashbacks the girls are shown walking in the forest. Also, we see the little girl, Annie walking through the forest by herself, trying to uncover the events which happened which the viewers do not know about yet.

Purpose: She is going to be playing the victim. She will be portrayed as being innocent through her body language and facial expressions making her look sad and lonely.

How will the character appeal to an audience? The little girl will come across as lonely, confused and sad which will lead the audience into believing she is innocent and so may be the victim. They will therefore sympathise for her, meaning they are emotionally connected to her within the clip.

The Older Sister - 
Name - Ayesha
Age - 16
Gender - Female
Race - Mixed race

Background - She is the older sister to the previous character called Annie. They are very close which will be shown through the flashbacks in the clip. During the narrative, they go for a walk in the forest which is shown through the flashbacks. She is only seen in the flashbacks.

Purpose to narrative - This character will help to confuse the audience. They will begin liking her as she is close with her sister, but as the story develops and we discover that she may be the killer, the viewers may feel a sense of hatred or anger towards her due to the betrayal towards her sister. She is used to help create an enigma which is conventional to thrillers as it leaves the audience unsure of what has happened and so they question it and continue to watch to see what happens.

Killer - 
Name - Unknown / Ayesha?
Age - Unknown / 16?
Gender - Unknown / Female?
Race - Unknown / Mixed Race?

Background - Unknown - The killer could possibly be the older sister which would mean she is close to the younger sister as stated above. Or, if it is not the older sister then the audience do not know who he/she is as his/her identity is kept hidden. This creates an enigma which is very conventional to the thriller genre as it makes them eager to know who the killer is which keeps them engaged with the clip.

Purpose to narrative - The audience should react to the killer in a negative way. He/she should make them feel uncomfortable and should be responsible for creating all of the bad emotions the audience feel. This creates a huge shock when we find out that the killer could possibly be the older sister. The viewers should struggle to accept this as they thought they were two different people, which creates a sense of confusion.

Individual Storyboard - Miss Miller

When planning our group narrative, each of us created our own individual storyboards. By doing this it will assit us in planning what our final narrative expectations will look like. Because our group each made a seperate storyboard this will enable us to combine our ideas and begin to create a narrative we all agree on.

Storyboards are made during film making to give the film crew a visual idea of the scenes through illustrations, allowing them to plan for the film beforehand. Also, storyboards are time-consuming as film makers are prepared with a plan of the narrative, the director will know what to picture, therefore getting the film made quicker.

My storyboard consists of what camera angles we will be using in our clips, where each frame will be set, the lighting shown, what actors/actresses will be included, the sound used and what different editing techniques are going to be used, also a description of our narrative. These listed above will assist our group in what we must include within our frames, allowing us to get everything done quicker and more effectively as we would have a clear indicator on what we must aim for.

In my opinion, I feel my ideas within my storyboard will be useful in assisting my group with our thriller clip as we will be able do get it done as quickly and easily as possible. Each of my points has an in-depth, detailed description of what must be done.

*Add storyboard pictures here*

Target Audience Results - Miss Miller

From this pie chart we can see that the majority of people we questioned were female, therefore our thriller may not be reliable as females generally have different opinions on thriller films. By having a bigger female percentage, this does not allow us to see a wide range of perspectives, as males may have different expectations of thrillers.

When asking people the question above about sound, we discovered that each option of the question was selected and favoured by people highly. Tension building was the most popular as expected as thrillers are expected to leave you feeling tense. Silence followed closely with most picked as this is also a tension building sound. Therefore, when making my thriller I will focus most closely on tension building sound, and silence. However, all the options of sound were selected showing that all these types of sounds are important when making a thriller. 

When creating our question for age certificates we thought that most thriller films are either a 15 or 18 due to the scary content. The people we asked agreed with us as no-one selected a 12 certificate. Both 15, and 18 had a high percentage as thrillers are seen to be inappropriate for children in the publics opinion. However, the 15 age certificate was 20% higher than 18, therefore our group will certificate our thriller as a 15.

Our pie chart results of this question shows that 50% of the people we questioned watch thrillers as family and friends have recommended it to them, this would be helpful in assisting us with our thriller as we wont be using advertisement nor posters therefore word of mouth would be the option. Adverts were also highly favoured with 40% of people selecting it, where as posters were a small 10%.

The next question we asked was intended to allow us to briefly think about how the film would continue and what we wanted to give away in the first few minutes of the clip. To decide on a storyline we thought it would be best to decide whether or not the film could continue and so wanted to make the narrative as interesting as possible, so more films could be made.

Planning Mise-en-scene - Miss Georgiou

Mise-en-scene is important within a thriller film because it's the arrangement of scenery and properties to represent the place where a play or a movie is enacted. Without mise-en-scene there would be nothing to make the film out of.

The mise-en-scene of my thriller includes the 5 different elements, which are:

• Setting & Iconography

• Costume, hair & make-up

• Facial expressions & body language

• Lighting & colour

• The positioning of characters/objects within the frame. 

Setting-

Our group narrative consists of an underwater scene, therefore we thought it would be well-suited for it to take place in a river. Our group then decided to base the rest of the clips scenery around this and thought it would be relevant to film in a forest as rivers are found by forests. Also, forests are conventional to the thriller genre as it is an isolated area in which a victim would be unable to escape a killer, this would make the audience empathize towards the victim as they would have no where are no one to run to. The setting creates a relationship between the audience and the clip as they are left feeling tense and worried due to the confined and dangerous surroundings, this draws them into the current situation going on in the clip and focuses their attention on any potential negative outcomes.

Iconography - 

The iconography we decided to use was a scarf and a knife. The scarf belongs to the victim/little sister which would be used as an effect of a distorted past memory. The scarf will be placed on a tree portraying that it has been misplaced which adds a sense of enigma for the audience as they are left wondering why it has been left there or what has occurred in that particular area. The knife is used to cut the victims face, but also acts as the murder weapon. This is conventional to the thriller genre as knives are typically used as the murder weapon in thriller films. The use of the knife would make the audience feel on edge as they know the victim is in serious danger. This builds a relationship between the audience and the victim as they are sympathizing and worried for their life, it also connects the audience to the killer as they are left in hope that they do not use the knife on the little girl to take her life.

Costume - 

Our group decided for the female characters in our thriller clip to be dressed in everyday,casual clothing for the audience to relate and connect more to them. In addition, the use of casual clothing is misleading towards the audience as our clip has a twist leaving the audience shocked and surprised which is conventional the thriller genre, this is due to the fact the female characters are portrayed to be normal everyday girls through their use of clothing. When portraying the killer in our clip we want to keep his identity hidden as this is very conventional to thrillers. Because of this we decided that he should be wearing black, by wearing black the audience would associate the killer to have a dark, creepy personality, this would make the audience feel on edge as they know the killer is capable of anything as he has no sympathy he's just dark. The killer is not going to be seen clearly within our thriller clip therefore it doesn't matter too much what we show them wearing as long as the clothing is seen to be dark and basic. Keeping it basic doesn't give too much away about the character therefore making the clip more tense as the audience will have the fear of the unexpected.

Hair & Make-up - 
Similar to the costumes the girls are to be portrayed as everyday young female citizens, therefore we decided their make-up and hair should be casual and basic. During the underwater scene we decided the hair of the girl should flow outwards and spread out to emphasize the reality that she is underwater drowning, making it more tense for the audience to witness. The cut on the little girls face shown in the reflection would come under make-up as we would be using false blood for it. Blood is typically used in thrillers and is conventional to the thriller genre as it makes the audience aware that an attack has just taken place, making them sympathize for the little girl as they know she is in danger. The audiences concerns for the little girl connects them emotionally to her and her safety.

Facial Expressions & Body language - 

Whilst the little girl is walking through the forest her facial expressions should be upset and lonely, to show this we would have her put her head down to emphasize her sadness. We also wanted to portray confusion through her facial expressions as she is unaware of her surroundings this would be effective as it would reflect the audiences confusion as to what is going on at the time. This is conventional to the thriller genre as is adds a sense of enigma making the audience feel on edge as they would have the fear of the unexpected. On the other hand, we are also going to be showing happy emotions on the female characters faces and body language of playing and skipping around due to the flashbacks that occur within our thriller clip. The idea of the flashbacks is to show the little girl remembering happy events and memories of the past, experiencing 'Nostalgia' which then lead up to her death.

Lighting & Colour - 
We decided that the scenery of the forest should be low-key lighting whilst the little girl is walking through, this is to limit the detail that can be seen, creating a mysterious atmosphere. This is conventional to thrillers as it builds tension for the audience as it is unclear for them to see what is happening. The dark and dull lighting could be used to represent the mood or emotional state of the little girl as she is currently feeling sad and lonely, this connects the audience to how she is feeling making them sympathize towards her.During and in the transition between normality and the flashback, the lighting needs to help show the difference clearly. It can do this by the lighting being a lot brighter in the flashbacks than in the reality parts. The colors in the flashbacks will be bright conveying happiness, the colours in the present tense will be dull and dark to convey sadness and confusion. The colour contrasting is conventional to thriller genres as it lets the audience in on the different emotions the characters are feeling, connecting them to them, this is effective as the audience find themselves feeling the emotion the character is currently experiencing, this builds a relationship between the audience and the characters.

Positioning of characters/objects within the frame - 

When discussing the positioning of the characters, we decided that whilst the little girl is walking through the forest we should have a long-shot of her and her surroundings. By showing the little girl within the surroundings we wanted to make her look small compared to them to convey her vulnerability. This is conventional to the thriller genre as victims are shown to look vulnerable and small - beneath their killers. We intend to do this with a high-shot of the little girl whilst zooming out on her to emphasize her timidness. This will connect the audience to the little girl as they would sense how defenseless she is and would empathize for her. For the killer, we wanted to position the camera as if it were the killers eyeshot and point of view, we would have them looking down at the victims dead body whilst their feet were in the shot to make it clear the image is through the killers eyes. This would connect the audience to the killer as they are his eyes and are left in his position looking down on a little girls dead body, making them feel slightly horrified at the sight.