The Editing Process

Day 1
Today we decided to separate the group into two, this was done to enable us to get more work done in a small space of time as the deadline date approaches closer and closer! Half of the group: Me, Anna and Thegla were assigned to the role of editing our footage whilst the other half: Elena.C, Natalie.M and Natalie N seeked out music that would fit our thriller opening. The aim for the group was to look through the whole of our thriller and to begin editing. Before going our separate ways to our assigned tasks, we sat down as a whole group to look through and pick out the shots that we wanted to use. This took longer than expected, taking up a lot of time going through the MANY shots we took making these tough decisions.

Our ideal goal was to have nearly the whole clip edited and ready to add additional factors including sound effects. However once we had begun to look at our clip closely we immediately noticed some faults in the way we had shot a number of the scenes and there were many continuity errors present. This had an effect of the way our work was being perceived. As we want to be able to achieve the best of our potentials we have decided that to aim for the higher more "professional" look we are going to have to re-film these shots. Overall we think that this is the wisest choice for all reasons stated above.
Although things didn't go to plan we were still able to cut and edit the scenes that we did shot well and there is the saying "it could have been worse". The good thing is that the scene that we will be re-shooting is the easier less time consuming and due to our successful pieces of work most of the footage is usable. We are intending to fix these mistakes during the Easter break, were we will have enough time to mend them.

Further analysis of thriller openings

Although we have analysed many thrillers in lesson I have chosen to analyse a further two openings of a thriller for additionally research. Here is a list of the current top twelve thrillers, two of which are highlighted (which i will be watching and analysing):

1. The Godfather (1972)

2. The Godfather: Part II (1974)

3. Pulp Fiction (1994)

4. The Dark Knight (2008)

5. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

6. Rear Window (1954)

7. Cidade de Deus (2002)

8. Fight Club (1999)

9. The Usual Suspects (1995)

10.Psycho (1960)

11. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

12. North by Northwest (1959)

Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction (1994) is an American film directed by Quentin Tarantin . The film is known for its mix of humour and violence and pop culture. The film has been awarded for best original screen play and has been nominated for seven Oscars.
I only watched the opening rather than the whole film in order to offer more ideas

for mine and the groups final piece. Before any credits or scenes begin the film starts with a title card of two dictionary definitions of the word "pulp". This immediately gives the audience an insight to what the film is going to be about. However I could not see how this would relate to a thriller
film. After the title card of definitions are shown, the film goes straight in showing a shot of a couple. The couple have a conversation about robberies and crime in which the audience can pick up the relevance this has on the film. Although I felt there was a slight confusion. As the couple discuss there plan to rob this cafe after a violence start, sudden gangster music begins. Where after the credits begin to roll on screen. The credits run for a long time and from the change of gangster music, upbeat music begins in the background the credits are still rolling. Instantly after the credits the film shifts to an introduction of two men. Close ups are shown of the two in suits, a slick look about them sitting in a car. They begin to talk of humour and again the topic of crime emerges. The film includes a cultural watershed influence to it which audiences can relate to.

Although this film does not relate to our final piece much it was still a good opportunity for me to view different methods directors use. Contrasting it proved to me that i didn't feel our credits should roll for as long as this film. However the action that occurs before the credits is entirely relevant to this film. In our product we will also use this system. The young woman walking into a house following a trail of blood immediately shows our product is a thriller.



The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight is a film directed by Christopher Nolan and it is based on the DC Comics of Batman. It has won a number of awards from best picture to best special effects.
Without any credits the film immediately begins. There is a moment of silence with the image of water dis merging and with an explosion the music starts a sudden loud drum noise. Where after the audience is shown a scan of the top of the buildings. As glass smashes and we are shown a number of men with clown masks, action music plays. This music is represented like a clock ticking, these men are under pressure to rob the bank and get out as soon as possible with the stress of restricted time.

As more action occurs the music becomes more dramatic. The breaking of the bank begins with five clowns, each assigned to specific tasks. As the clowns go on with the robbery they begin to shot each other in order to achieve a bigger share of the money for themselves. Although they are unaware that they are being deceived by the "Joker" himself. At this point quick, fast shots are taken erupting the audience. The bank manager who has also been shot by one of the clowns, warns the remaining clown that he will pay for this. As the last clown takes off his mask to reveal himself as "The Joker" , the man immediately stops talking in a state of shock and we the viewers know that he is harmful. This shows the authority and reputation the Joker has. He is a dangerous villain. The film then goes on to follow the journey and investigation of the rising threat of the criminal the "Joker".

Similar to "The Dark Knight" the music which was used a sort of clock ticking sound which represented the pressure of the time and the action that was occurring, our product has used a piece of music which sounds like drum beats this represents the pressure of the characters safety. As well as quick and fast shots we used this when cutting from the young woman in the basement to the sharpening of the knives. In this film it can be picked up on the reputation of the Joker and we are aware that he is a dangerous person likewise the hazardous character in our film as he appears in the shot with the young woman she begins to scream anticipating he is a harmful person to be dealing with.

Filming Process, Day 3

Tuesday 24th March
Today our aim was to film the final shots of our thriller and I can now say that this was achieved. From previous experiences we met at a earlier time enabling us to have enough time to discuss and to film the final shots we wanted to take. After a two hour period of filming we were glad to discover we had finished!

Our filming skills have greatly improved and through these past few filming days everyone has had a chance to practice using the camera. We have learnt that shots can be taken in the most rigid of places and we were able to improvise in these difficult situations. However filming is not as easy as we had imagined and it was a tricky job shooting the different scenes in the allocated locations.

Now that all the filming is done, as a group we will able to move on to the next steps in our coursework process which include the editing process. We are planning to do this early in the time of next week as this process could take a long time. A date will soon be scheduled.

Soundtrack Research

" Silence of the Lambs"

For further research in support of our thrillers we watched specific scenes from the film "Silence of the Lambs" analysing the use of soundtrack music used.

The psychological thriller is based all around the story of the case on the vicious serial killer Buffalo Bill of which FBI student trainee Clarice Starling has been assigned to. In need of an insight to get the case going Starling visits the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane where she requests the help of Hannibal Lector, the imprisoned cannibalistic serial murderer.

The film has many times been regarded as the best psychological mind twisting thriller and it has been rewarded by a number of Oscars, including: Best: Actor, Actress and film which is a huge achievement for just one film.

First scene of analysing - The opening

The opening of the film has a eery , dark music which makes the audience feel immediately uneasy although nothing actually happens. The first view shots are of the main character (Clarice Starling) running through a forest. Although the sudden thought of a young woman running through a forest may seem like a threat the audience soon establishes what is really going on from the clues given in the props. These show equipment matching to an assault course of some sort of training. From the start the music is an eery kind of classical music yet has an unsettling effect on the audience. In fact the audience is lead on by the music which makes us predict something in the visuals, expecting and waiting for something dramatic to happen.

The Interview

The interview is taken place in the hospital/prison of the Criminally insane between Hannibal Lector and FBI Clarice Starling. Red lighting is used which adds to the suspense of the atmosphere as red is often connected to blood, anger and evil. The music that is played in this scene again is an eery similar soundtrack that is used in the opening. As Starling walks towards the Hannibal Lector edging closer and closer the cold, eery music is used to unnerve the audience without going to its full tempo. Also the way the shots are angled showing the surroundings of this unpleasant place and showing close ups of this calm yet potentially viscous man.

The Escape Scene

The escape scene - I thought that this scene specifically was very cleverly planned to trick the audience into believing. The scene opened with diegetic classical music playing. This musical suggested the peaceful scene and the audience was not expecting what they were about to see. As soon as the action began the music immediately switched into a dramatic musical tone increasing the tension. The scene cleverly joined two different sounds together and the high tempo soundtrack created an immediate sense of anxiety for everyone. As Lector's job is done the soundtrack again goes back to the calm classical musical that we originally heard at the beginning of this scene. Strangely enough the audience is intrigued as Lector conducts the classical musical acting as if nothing has even happened.

Buffalo Bill is killed

This was the final scene that we analysed. Clarice has just drawn her weapon out to Bill and follows him to the basement. Soon later the lights go out and she is left in total darkness. This alone makes the audience feel on edge. As Clarice staggers around in the darkness of the basement the soundtrack builds up to its highest peak until to all of our satisfaction she shots him dead, this is when slowly the music dies down. This soundtrack is already familiarised by the audience in the earlier scenes of the film. At this part when the music is so loud it can in a way be draining which adds to the emotions the audience feels.

The beginning of the film Clarice running through a forest, alongside the eery music already sets the scene and tells the audience what sort of film they are about to watch. We also used this type of establishment. We introduced the audience to firstly a shot of a young woman approaching which could potentially be a normal house although with the anxious music sets the mood. As in many thrillers there is almost always a person that is dangerous to the main character therefore we decided after watching "Silence of the lambs" we were going to add a killer which would be a man. Although stereotypical we feel this is most effective in this type of genre film.

Filming Process, Day 2

Friday 20th March

Our second day of filming, we aimed to have all of our filming done by the end of today in order to begin editing next week. Although things didn't go according to plan. When we reached our location after taking only a few shots we faced some technical difficulties and the lighting outside was too dark to film these shots, therefore we could not achieve the right effect we wanted to establish.

So consequently the group has decided to re schedule a filming day for Tuesday 25th March . Learning from our mistakes we have decided to meet on this date at an earlier appropriate time where the lighting will work well for our shots and making sure the camera is in full working use. Although we encountered problems today and it was a huge disappointment for everyone the time didn't go all to waste as we still managed to take a few good shots which we could used in the final clip.

Pictures from the filming process day 1 "Behind the scenes" are now available to view on our group blog.

Filming Process, Day 1

Tuesday 18th March 2009
This was our official first day of filming. Before shooting any scenes we all met up at 9am and discussed our storyboards, planning how we were going to come about shooting these difficult angled shots.

After going through everything and the end of discussions, we were ready to begin filming. Preparation was done and props were placed in their positions setting the scene of our thriller "number 24". The main reason why our group worked so well was due to everyone knowing what they had to do, working together and everyone was assigned to a specific role ranging from make up artist to director to prop manager to assistant, we all had a job to do.

Am glad to say that our group worked really well together , everyone was willing to do what they were assigned and everyone put in a lot of effort. Throughout the day most members of the group had a turn in filming (Me, Elena.C, Thegla and Natalie.M) the different shots.
Additionally for every shot we took a number of them to enable us to have a variety to choose from, when we begin editing. This will mean we will have a range of shots from different angles giving us the best possible outcomes and effects. Although it was a long and tiring day reflecting back it was an overall success. The group managed to film most of our opening, meaning now we only have to shot the establishing shot which we will be filming on Friday 20th half 6 - +.


Soon pictures will be uploaded of the long , eventful day which will be posted on our group blog.
Our future plans include filming on Friday 20th. On this day we will be filming the establishing shots and aim this to be our last day of filming. We will need to ensure we plan carefully taking into account continuity and other important aspects. Further skills that need to be developed include the steps when filming although this was not our first day using the cameras it was still difficult to get the shots that we wanted to create, however we did do very well taking into account our small surroundings in which we filmed these scenes. An overall success, well done to our group.

Developing knowledge of a thriller - Memento

To help us with ideas for our coursework and our own opening scene we watched a number of thrillers, one of which included the successful film "Memento" directed by Christopher Nolan. This thriller works by creating an air of suspense and mystery. As the name of the film rolls up onto the screen the impact of the one worded title has an effect on the audience, they immediately think of memory as a big factor in this film and something that has been lost yet may can still be restored in some way.

At first the opening scenes give a lot of confusion as they are played in an unusual backwards way, although after a while the audience soon seems to realise what is going on and is left waiting for Leonard to take his revenge on his wife's killer. I think that it is successful in a way as it makes us the audience feel just as confused as Leonard is.

The character of Leonard, in the mind of the audience is a sympathetic one as we discover his dilemma. He suffers from anterograde amnesia which means he has problems with remembering new memory although he is able to remember long term memory. To cope with this condition he is forced to write notes and tattoo these on himself in a bid to remember the important facts. Similar to a hero Leonard is on a mission to find his wife's killer and take revenge on whom this may be.

Although we feel sorry for Leonard it is also hard to trust him too, as he only remembers things before his accident it makes him a much vulnerable character susceptible to the dangers. Puzzled with the people he meets along his quest he will soon forget who they are to him reflecting in a way that could jeopardize all that he is living for.

Our first impressions of Teddy are uneasy. As he teases Leonard about his problem we take this as an offence and his reputation is immediately taken as a bad one. The audience feels that he is a threat to Leonard as we find out he is a possible suspect for his wife's murderer.

I feel that this film worked excellently in keeping the audience constantly on edge, which a thriller should do. The film includes many fast flash back scenes. In our piece we have used this idea and developed it. From walking around the mystery house a fast flash is shown of the young woman waking up in the basement and then again a fast pace shot cut from the sharpening of knives to the woman in the basement. As in "Memento" the character Leonard tattoos notes and facts onto his body in order to remember these important pieces of information, in our thriller the man carves numbers into his victims in order to remember how many he has killed.

Ideas for Thriller Clip

After being put into groups , of whom include: Elena Antoniades, Anna Philona, Thegla Savvides, Natalie Michael, Natalie Nicolaides and Elena Christodoulo. We started to think of possible ideas that we could use for our 2/3minute opening of a thriller. We came up with a few brief thriller pitches:

• Idea 1 - Person wakes up in unknown location, confused surrounded in a pool of blood.

• Idea 2 - Women chained in a basement.

• Idea 3 - Person lost in deserted forest.

Our group went through all of the above ideas and decided that we will be using idea 2 .
Final idea: Basement women (Number 24)
The main character is going to be based on a young woman,, she notices a trail of blood outside a strange deserted house, deciding to enter to only get kidnapped , waking up in a confused and unknown surroundings, tied up in a dark basement.

In our group we decided we wanted to get on with work almost immediately getting as much done as soon as possible. Therefore for this week we assigned roles and jobs to each person to make sure everything is done in order for our group to begin the filming process right away. In the lesson we all focused on making the storyboard. These are the assigned jobs and roles for the planned week ahead for all the group members to participate in:

• Me - group production schedule
• Elena. C - Booking form
• Natalie - Shooting schedule
• Thegla - Shooting script
• Natalie. M - Recce form
• Anna - Risk assessment

By the end of this week we plan to have all of these jobs done, forms filled in to ensure we have enough time to spend our time on the most important element - filming and editing the clip.
Our group has decided to begin our filming on Tuesday 17th March where we will aim on the opening scene of our clip. We plan to use two different location both of which are creepy houses to set the mood of the thriller.

"The Bourne Identity" - Opening scene

THE BOURNE IDENTITY

The Bourne Identity is a cross between a spy film and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) crime. The plot behind the story is that Jason Bourne - who is the leading character, is attempting to discover his true identity which he is clueless about. Whilst the CIA are trying to track him down to either arrest or even kill him. Along his quest he teams up with Marie, who helps him along the journey to learn about his unknown past. The film is followed by a sequel "The Bourne Supremacy" and thirdly "The Bourne Ultimatum".

The films credits open with the thriller type of atmosphere. A dark and stormy night on the ship of a foreign fishermen which alienates the audience completely. One of which notices a floating body with two gun shots on his back. The camera movement is unsteady making the audience feel apart of the scene along with the rocky motion of the ship. The narrative enigmas builds up to the audience realising where the character is. The audience is plunged into the world with the same lack of knowledge as the main character. Although he discovers he can perform skillful tasks he still cannot remember anything about himself.

Non diegetic soundtrack music is used to create suspense and tension. The diegetic sounds include loud sounds of thunder , lighting and the creaking floorboards of the ship to create realism. We are shown a contrast of the cramped old rocking boat with the worried fishermen whilst back on dry land in the quiet office of the CIA there is a calmness about this environment.

Martin Rubin proposes that a genre to be called as a "thriller" there is no such thing. He says that "thriller" is in fact a metagenre that gathers several other genres under its umbrella. He explains how many similar films are categorised into so many different genres for example one is labelled a thriller yet another a Crime drama, "the range of stories that have been called thrillers is simply too broad". Rubin goes on to explain that films are diverse and many can be considered as thrillers. Although it is not possible for a film to be defined as a freestanding thriller thriller. Thriller components seem to work better amongst some genres rather then others. These genres that would work well with thrillers include spy, crime and horror but not so well with musicals or war films. In my own opinion a film that is labelled as a "thriller" should work in a way to keep the audience in a state of suspense and anxiety throughout the film. The audience should only know as much knowledge as of the characters therefore playing with the mind of the audience as there are always the unanswered questions that puzzle us leaving us waiting and wanting more till the end of the film.

I think that this piece of research may be the most useful for our group. We picked up a number of factors and ideas we wanted to use in our own product. Along with the credits, the film begins with a thriller opening of a dark night on a boat, we too used a thriller element of a scary location. For our piece we used a scary looking house, creating a tense atmosphere and opening with an establishing shot of this. In "The Bourne Identity" shaky camera movement was used to involve the audience. Our piece when the young girl (Anna) walks into the mystery house, the camera follows her feet and we used a shaky movement this worked really well to add to the suspense. Also making the audience feel apart as much as the character herself.

Shane Meadows "A Room for Romeo Brass"

Blog Entry one:

"A Room For Romeo Brass"

This film is based on the real life story of director and writer Shane Meadow. "A Room for Romeo Brass" was inspired by Shane's youth, like most of his films. All of his films are set in the Nottingham area. The films recall the kitchen sink realism of techniques. Many of Shane Meadows films consist of his autobiographical experiences throughout his real life. Shane is known to have a relaxed element to his directing style, encouraging the actors to ad lib to create a sense of reality into these films. He is known to be one of the rising stars of British cinema. The film follows the two young boys, the main character being Romeo and his best friend Gavin whilst they undertake a chaotic period in their childhood. Growing up with a tight knit relationship between them, things soon start to turn sour for the young lads.

The film starts with the rolling credits constantly skipping back and fourth to the boys playing around. It contains plain yet unique font with a black background, distincting the credits from the rest of the film. The soundtrack by "The Specials" (A message to you) sets the feel of the film a playful, upbeat and catchy tune. As the skipping occurs the shots of the credits, the volume of the soundtrack appears louder though when action occurs in the opening the credits tune a little lower in order for the audience to hear the characters yet still have the music playing in the background. As soon as the music ends this establishes that the credits are over and the film is about to begin. The credits are used to break up the action and involve the audience more in the story waiting to see what happens next. The film uses the local locations from an estate in order for this realism to happen. A gray and moody film with a biting story line that features the true unexpected real life twists.

Although this film is not a thriller reflecting it to our final piece of a thriller opening, we plan to use the technique of action first then credits back and fourth in between the action of the clip as i feel that this use of method works well to keep the audience watching. This technique will also help if we have any jump cuts to break them up. It will add suspense to our piece which is one of our main goals.