Feedback from Final thriller opening sequence

final lesson

it's our final lesson and we're having to rush our editing!!

we needed alot more time - it seems we finished our kids tv sequence very quickly, now it's the opposite....

it's hard finding jobs for all 4 members of the group.

it was good in a way that we didn't have footage to begin with, as we were able t do all our music and titles quite quickly.

extra shots

to improve on our rough cut, we have had to do alot of extra filming. due to our location it's made this very difficult as it's hardly to get to.

we've managed to get a few more shots, but we still need more - so we're going to have to complete our editing VERY quickly.

Rough Cut Feedback

Feedback -

the critisisms we got were as expected...

- needs more close - ups (variation in shots)
- little hard to follow - make storyline clearer
-bit quick and fast paced
-short
-can see dates

we are using widescreen which will get rid of the dates

we are adding more clips this weekend t make it clearer and include close-ups


good points -

-clear narrative
-good location and name
-good sounds, fits well
-camera work good
-good costumes + setting
-editing so far good

to improve, we are going to add more shots, then edit. when editing we need to put it in reverse and perhaps give it a grainy effect/black and white.

the extra clips will make it less fast paced and make the storyline clearer.

Shooting the Sequence

When shooting our sequence, it went fairly smoothly, although we did face a few problems.

When we got to the location - an abandoned house near Horseheath, we took pictures of the setting. After this, we filmed all of our shots. The main issue we had was lighting. There was only natural light in the house and, although it was a bright day, it still proved difficult to make the image on the videocamera light. We learnt that this gave it quite an eerie effect, however.

Another problem we experienced was that it was hard to move about the house, as there were lots of bricks and rubble on the floor.


We repeated all shots so we have enough to choose from.

As we haven't uploaded our video yet ( :< ) we're unsure whether we need to shoot more...although we think we may have to.

We have alot of editing to do, so we're going to be very rushed. We need to incorporate blood, slow motion and a reverse technique.

Jason - Cameraman

Charlotte - Director

Alex - Murderer

Jamie - Victim

We stuck almost entirely to our storyboard.

credit list for thriller opening sequence

*A Vex'd production presents

A Reflex Film

Robert Hakker

David Brigham

Film editing
Carrie Smith

Cinematography
Vladimir Dvorak

Directed
Emily Johnson

AFFLICTION

stills

here are some stills from our sequence location -

props/mise en scene

we only have 2 props - gun


dirty bathtub!



we will be filming on monday 11th february with our own camera.

Shot List

Here is how our sequence will progress-

Shot -

1 - screen red, camera gradually zooms out as blood becomes clearer. we will do this using effects on Final Cut.

2 - continues to zoom out, image of a body becomes clearer

3 - quick cut of a man running near the abaondoned house. pace of shots chnge dramatically.

4 - cuts back to body in bathtub becoming even clearer

5 - cut back to man running, you see gun in his hand

6 - cuts again to man in bathtub. red colour pracically clear now.

7 - close - up of man running loading gun

8 - body in the bath tub comes up for air. previously, these clips would have been in reverse, now they are in real time along with the man running.

9 - man who was running towards the house stops outside room where the man is in the bathtub

10 - as man climbs out of the bath, man with gun appears in the doorway with gun in his hand.

11 - screen completely blank, but you hear a gunshot.

in amongst these clips there will be opening titles, introducing character, director, camera etc.

title - AFFLICTION

Setting

Our setting will be in an abandoned house near Haverhill. It's camoflagued in leaves and trees. All the rooms are empty apart from a bathtub in one room. it's incredibly dirty so we'll have to whip out the wet wipes.

When we get to the location we'll take some pictures.

IT'S VERY ATMOSPHERIC THERE. There is wall paper peeling off the walls. bricks on the floor, mud and planks of wood everywhere.

Animatic

Here is the animatic for our storyboard -





We did this so we were able to have an example of what we want our sequence to look like, and to show it to others so we can find areas of improvement.

SCARY EFFECTS-MAKES CLIP LOOK MYSTERIOUS

Extra Ideas

We've added ideas to our originial plan -

Instead of just one long clip, we'd added-

1 clip (in amongst the camera zooming out) of a close-up of the bodies eyes. Some opening titles appear across the scene.

2nd clip - a close-up of the bodies arm, another titles appears across

last clip - film title -

OCCULT

New Film Idea

We're not doing the originial idea anymore -

First - Image of A bath full of blood - The blood covers the whole camera clip

Second - Image of a man in the bath becomes clearer

Third - even clearer etc....the blood becomes clearer (back to water)

ALL THE SAME CLIP - PLAYS BACKWARDS

End clip - Blood completely clear - just water. You can see the persons face much clearer. Man comes 'back to life', leaps up from the water and takes a breathe

IN REVERSE

Camera gets further away as the clip progresses

idea came from -




'Memento'

Our Opening Idea

Our current idea for a thriller opening -

- Camera angle wide from far away - a body is lying in a dump/abandoned area

- Seems as if the person is dead

- The camera zooms into the body, it's not moving so you assume he's dead

- The camera zooms to a close-up of the man's face

- Instantly the man opens his eyes (WIDE)

- There is a sequence of very short flashbacks of him either torturing someone or someone torturing him

OR

a sequence of short flashbacks where you don't gain mcuh information of what's happening in the flashback, only that they have an effect on him (eg.he jumps back before each flashback)

Example of Student Opening Title

This is an example of a student opening thriller title.

It starts with a long clip of what seems to be blood running down something - we know that this was blue ink dripping in a bath tub, and the colour was changed to red when editing. Each time we see the blood it's introducing a title, for exampl director.

It quickly cups to a number of shorts lips of a girl being tortured. We aren't told who she is, who is torturing her or why. The close ups are so close we don't even know the location - VERY MYSTERIOUS.

The only mise-en-scene are the two characters, who aren't introduced clearly.

The theme music creates a very good sense of tension. It doesn't follow a specific format/tempo - very slow. Without the music it was not be as scary. When the girl is being tortured you can here some diegtic sounds of her screaming .

Welcome