Consent form (Dowsby Hall)

Actor auditions

Actor auditions

 

These auditions show that we will need to pick an actor that can show fear well. This is important because there will be a lot of close ups in our opening which need to  show that the person is scared to create a sense of realism for the audience, this will make them more scared and will create more tension.

 

Also judging from these actor auditions it will be better to pick a female actor because they are typically more vulnerable and weak.  

Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene

Costumes
Our Opening only features two characters, the Protagonist (Victim) and the Antagonist (Kidnapper). The victim will be a teenage girl, this is because the girl will be seen as stereotypically weak/vulnerable. The weakness enhanced by her costume being mainly light grey and black connoting innocence that has been tainted but still lingering showing that she has been through, and is still going through, a traumatic experience that has left emotional damage. The Antagonist will wear mostly black to connote darkness/evil and the clothes will be big and baggy, this is to hide the shape of the person portraying the antagonist which creates an enigma as to who the kidnapper is and what the possible motive they have is. The most significant part of the antagonists costume is the big black boots that will be seen briefly following the path of the victim, this is significant as the audience will see the contrast between the flimsy grey shoes of the protagonist and the large, black, tough boots which will connote the growing sense of helplessness the victim is experiencing as the harsh style much over-powers the small grey shoes.

Protagonist:

 

 

Antagonist:

Props:  

We will be using props to display our titles. Firstly we are using nails and paper to nail titles to trees as our protagonist runs past them in the woods. Also we will have an old rusty chain to follow up to where our victim is inside the house, this will connote danger in the area as this helps the area to look unsafe creating more fear and tension in the audience because they are unsure as to where the place is and why the victim has been brought there. The last props we will use are leaves as we hide some titles with them so that the get uncovered as the victim runs past and trips over them. We decided not to use any main props and to not use lots of props in general because the aggressiveness in our thriller is suggested through the bruises and state of the victim (e.g the ripped tights and messy hair) instead of being explicitly shown through a weapon, this again creates an enigma as the audience are yet to find out exactly what happened to the girl and why. Because we do not clearly show the situation the characters are in we believe that it will intrigue and perplex the audience causing their interest in the rest of the film.

 

Lighting: When we film in the woods we will be using the natural lighting as we are filming mid-day meaning we should not need any additional light sources, however we will edit the clips in post-production to make them seem darker to create a more mysterious setting. When filming inside the hall we will be using industrial lights as we will be filming after dark, this will ensure that while the setting will still be eerie but will not be grainy and of bad quality. The darkness that we will create for our opening will add to the tension for the audience as it will be slightly harder to see all of the shot so it will seem as if something is hidden and this creates a feeling of foreboding as it will seem as if something is going to happen that we cannot see.

Actors:  Protagonist (Victim): Becky Girard (Age 16). We decided we wanted Becky to be our victim as she has an extensive background in the Performing Arts that no one in our group possessed and we believed that to make an effective opening with our idea we would need a person who can portray our terrified/weak character well so we believed Becky is the best person for that job. Also Becky is the right age to portray our character as she looks young enough to connote vulnerability. Antagonist (Kidnapper): Anni Wilson (Age 16). We have Anni as our

antagonist as she is our group so she will definitely be available for our shooting sessions and also she is very different to Becky in personality meaning she could have the right demeanour to be able to portray the collected and eerie killer. Anni also had many of the costume items needed for the character such as the boots and trousers, meaning that they would fit her and we would not have to buy a pair for a different person.

Makeup: The only makeup we will use for our victim is a fake bruise on her eye and messy/sweaty hair. This is to create a more convincing scene of an escaped kidnap victim because it is suggested that the kidnapper had harmed the victim causing the bruise and the victim will be sweaty from running and will not have cared for her hair since she was kidnapped. These small things create a more realistic, and therefore effective, opening. The kidnapper will not have any makeup done to them because their face will be obstructed from view the length of the opening by the hood they are wearing so there is no makeup needed.

Setting:

The two settings we have chosen are Bourne Woods and Dowsby Hall. We have chosen the woods because it is an isolated place that is easy to get lost in so our escaped victim will have to find her way out to be free which seems impossible, creating tension that builds as the protagonist gets more deeply lost. Also the use of the woods would suggest that the place the victim escaped from in in/near the woods meaning it is isolated making a larger sense of seclusion and fear as it is unlikely that there is any people nearby. We decided to film in Dowsby Hall because it has an eerie style which works well with our narrative and the rooms inside are un decorated and bare making it look like a stripped down room to hold our protagonist, also the hall has an extremely long drive which we plan to include in sped up shots as if it is a rewind of the victim’s escape which get faster as the victim gets closer to capture and the drive and view of the house works perfectly for this purpose.

Typography and production company

Typography and Production Company (This was also the script used for the Pitch)

For the fonts, my group has decided to do non-superimposed and to hand write or type the titles onto paper and have them featured in the opening on trees, in puddles, leaves and on the actress's body. This is for the main titles such as director and actor. We thought this would be effective because it will fit with our sub-genres of mystery and psychological, and it will reflect the corrupted mind of the protagonist and reflect the isolated landscape.

For the other titles such as costume designer and make up artist will be hand written and scanned in just like the opening of se7en.

For our main title we will use Broken Detroit as it was voted the best out of our options, We will get this off the website Da Font. We like it because it is very bold so it stands out, it also slight gives off the effect that something is sinister and wrong because it has slight acid wash in the corners of some of the letters.

The influence of this style is from the thriller opening 'Se7en', because we liked the way it was written and superimposed into the opening as handwriting, and the way it jumped in and out of place to represent how the mind of the protagonist is depraved, it also gives off a sense of schizophrenia making it disorientating for the audience to watch.

We have experimented with normal A4 paper to see how our ideas would work, before actually doing them in our opening. We used A4 paper, mud, puddles, grassy areas and a normal black biro to scribble on the paper where the titles would be and then placed them in the grass, puddle and mud and then photographed them so we could see what effect the different conditions where. We think it was successful because it connotes a creepy vibe because of how the paper gets changed in different ways as it is placed in different conditions. It also links with our sub-genres of psychological because the mental aspect of the protagonist is shown by the way the paper changes and the way the natural elements destroy it the way a mental illness can destroy the mind.


We have chosen the production company Universal Studios because we think it will benefit out thriller because it is a well known company which has made some good thriller films in the past such as Jaws, The Purge and Psycho. It was founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmie and is the world's fourth oldest major film studio.

Time line

Concent form (Bourne woods)

Thriller pitch

Poll results (font)

Created with Padlet

Audience profile

Production schedule

 

Consent form

A Level Thriller Opening scene
Sunday 15th and Monday 16th November 2015

Discharging and signing of this document will let our A level media group film and take photographs of the surrounding area and the premises. 
Dowsby Hall will be filmed on Sunday 15th November and we will be needing the basement, attic and the stairs. We are hoping you will be able to let us film here to create a sinister affect for the whole opening. 
Bourne Woods will be filmed on Monday 16th November and we will need to have access granted so we will be able to walk round the premises and film in the location we desire. Much obliged. 

Member of Dowsby Hall, Please sign here: _________________
Member of The Bourne Woods Team, Please sign here: ____________________

Location scouting

Risk assessment

Risk Assessment by Mia Gillan

Thriller typography ideas

Initial ideas

Created with Padlet

Soundtrack

Production company influences

Shot List

Storyboard

Job Roles

Thriller ideas