Final Film Opening

This is our final film opening 'Hostage'

Graces bruising

After screening our first draft we were informed that the bruises on our hostage looked unrealistic and the makeup used shimmered, making it look unprofessional. Therefore when re-filming i used different techniques in order to make Graces bruises look more realistic; i used different eye shadows which had no shimmer and was able to blend purples greens and browns in order to create the right effect. We chose to apply a bruise to these areas of our hostage because the neck is commonly seen as one of the most vulnerable places.

Sound

 

This screenshot shows our build up of sound in the film opening. We hope to add more after re-filming, we used our own foley sounds (such as the plate smash) as well as the inbuilt sounds from iMovie with no copyright issues.

First Draft With Directors Commentary

This is the first draft of our film opening. We have included a directors commentary in which we discuss the things we need to change about the opening and the feedback we got from our first screening.

Questionnaire Results

4 people said they like our use of sound, and the build up of it, the other two like the storyline.

Some things people thought we should add are more context.

In response to this feedback we have received, we are going to re film some of our shots to make them flow better we are also planning to add some more context in order to increase the length and make the opening make more sense.

Credits

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opening_credits 

When putting credits onto our opening, I used this link in order to know which order the credits went in. As well as think webpage, I have also used the research we did earlier in our research and planning process.

As we have a screening coming up for the first draft of our opening, i had to rush the credits and they are therefore not the font we would like. We would also like them to last for longer in our final opening which we will go back to after modifying and editing our new and final footage.

Location Update

On the day of filming one scene for our opening (the grown man and his hostage) we had a change of location. Our location changed to this isolated and derelict barn situated in the middle of a field. The barn was a perfect location because from the outside it looks shabby and run down. From the inside the barn was well lit, so we had no problem with lighting, it also had hay and dirt all around which helped add to the atmosphere and build a more psychopathic look.

 The barn also had an extra cove which was where we filmed our hostage. Inside, the cove was full of hay and dirt which helped make the setting more realistic to the genre, we also managed to light the corner of the cove using a torch, held by the psychopath, which gave us some interesting shots and helped heighten the mood of the film.

We changed our location because on the day of filming, it began to rain therefore we were unable to film outside for many reasons (for example the actors makeup would smudge and the film equipment would be ruined). We overcame this obstacle by finding this barn very close to our original one, this location was easily accessible as it belonged to a family member of the group and overall worked better than our original location would have. 

Preparation

This is the preparation for our film opening initial filming. Here we are applying make up to the actors on their wrists, neck and eyes. We prepared the actors costumes of basic attire. We also applied water to our actresses hair to make it seem wet due to the rain.

Justification

Our film opening included some aggressive language and props, therefore we needed to justify why we included them to make them appropriate. We included aggressive shouting in our opening, which may have been offensive to our youngest actor of age eight. Therefore, we recorded the shouting afterwards and overlaid the sound in editing, so he didn't have to hear it.
We use violent props, such as a hammer, which we used to suit our genre of psychological thriller better. Extra care was taken when we were using these objects, and we have created a separate health and safety post to explain these.
We consulted our teacher before using these features to see if they were allowed on the syllabus and it said that we could use violent language and objects to an extent. The parents of the youngest actor and all other actors gave full consent to this.

Black and White

This is an important part of our research as we were inspired by the use of black and white in films such as the Human Centipede 2 (See Film Inspiration Post), therefore we are definitely considering using black and white in parts of our film opening. It was then important to research why films are put in black and white and the effect that has.

Location - 1

Location 1 - Weald, Sevenoaks

Near to where one of our group members lives, there is an open cricket pitch surrounded by a woodland area and we believe this would  be a perfect setting for sections of our film opening. It is very isolated and is a large open space so that could work well or on the other hand we could use the woodland to our advantage. 

Basic Narrative Outline

After researching what is included in a thriller, we found out that some of the key themes are perception, isolation and violence. We based our narrative around these themes.

• Our film opening will start with an extreme close-up of our protagonist's face, with no sound. (Black and white)
• The film will cut to the production title, after a blackout.
• We will have our child actor sitting on the stairs with violent commotion in the background. "You're a cancer to this family"
• He runs to his room, shuts the door and turns off the light. This action leads to a sudden black screen.
• Then we cut to a close-up of a woman's face, in a canted view, of her screaming and crying. (Black and white)
• Then we cut to a close-up of the woman's hands tied behind a tree. This then cuts to black again. (Black and White)
• We then have a sudden close-up of our young adult actor's face. The light in this shot is only from him struggling to, then switching on a lighter.
• We then have a close-up of our main character's hands imaginarily trying to flick the lighter with the same action as the previous shot. (Black and White)
• Cuts to a close-up of a woman's neck, muddy and clearly struggling. (Black and White)
• Close up of the woman's face again. "I've got a..." and "You're a cancer to this..." (Black and White)
• Extreme close up of main characters eyes opening suddenly. (Black and White). Heavy breathing and sobbing is the only sounds you can hear with a few birds also. "...Family"
• Longshot with main character in the foreground out of focus, and woman in the background in focus distressing. (Black and White)
• The main character is then rummaging in a tool box, and pulling out a hammer. (Black and White)
• The woman is in the background, in focus, screaming. You can then see his hand in the shot, but it's out of focus. He then becomes in focus, and she goes out of focus, as a focus pull. Then as he walks closer to the woman, you can see he's holding the hammer and eventually the majority of his body can be seen. (Black and White)
• Cuts to a extreme close-up of his mouth and he just smiles with no guilt, very much like a psychopath. (Black and white)

There is a build up of sound as the opening progresses that stops at the point of the main character opening his eyes.

Below is our rough storyboard plan.

Thriller Character Costuming

We researched into successful thriller films such as the ones listed below, in order to gain an insight into the types of costuming and types of character most commonly used; gender, age, physical appearance.With the exception of a few female psychological thriller actresses, such as black swan, the majority was clearly middle aged, physically able men usually with facial hair. 

This is definitely something to keep in mind when creating our narrative and casting as we need to develop a mature and relevant feel about our film opening so that will include choosing an actor(s) suitable to fit the typical character requirements.

Halloween Opening vs. Amelie Opening

This is our comparison between two opening scenes from completely different genres. This has helped us to look into different genres more and think about what each type of genre uses in the opening sequence. This will also help us to decide what genre we would like to use for our own film opening.

What Makes A Fictional Psychopath

As we know that our narrative and film opening will be based around the life/experiences of a psychopath, we decided to research the typical qualities and expectations of a fictional character of a psychopath. This will help us when we decide in further detail what our main character's portrayal and features will be like in order to make it as accurate and mature as possible.

Our Actors

For our film opening we will have 2-4 characters, the main character being a boy/man as he grows up. To find our actors we attended a casting of drama students held at school however, seeing as only one of the actors was male and didn't fit our description, we later decided to find actors outside of school. For our main character we will need three different actors in order to show his progress as he ages; one will be a child, one a young adult and one a grown man. In our opening we also plan to have one hostage and the child's parents, who will be arguing.

Our actor for the main character as a child is Kian:

We chose Kian because we wanted our actor to have dark hair throughout the opening as he progresses in age in order to indicate that it is the same person. As Kian is our child actor we need him to look sweet and vulnerable in order to evoke sympathy from the viewer. We believe Kian fits our description and as he is a close relative to our group (Amelia's cousin), we are able to fully and comfortably cooperate with him. 

Actor as a grown adult is John:

We believe that John would be suitable to play the role of our main character as an adult as he fits the requirements we need. He has dark hair which will continue the flow throughout the three different ages, he is also middle aged and will be able to wear the correct male asserting costume we wish to use. As he is also a relative of the group (Georgia's Dad) it will be easy to find out when he is available to film and is easy to cooperate with.

Our actress to play the hostage is Debbie:

Debbie is a suitable actress for the part of the hostage, she is the appropriate age to deal with the dialogue and situation. Debbie is also a relative of one of the group (Georgia's Mum) so it will be easy to indicate when she is available to film and easy to cooperate with.

Our actors to play the child parents are Amanda and Neil:

Amanda and Neil are suitable to play the parents of the child as they will be present at the same time the child actor is being filmed and therefore are easy to film. They're of the suitable age to deal with the dialogue and situation and are the parents of one of the group (Amelia) and therefore are easy to cooperate with.

Iconic Directors

Psychological thrillers cover a wide variety of problems and issues and different directors and screenwriters specialise in individual aspects. 

Perhaps one of the most iconic and well known directors of psychological thrillers is Sir Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock was among the most successful directors of his time and remains as one of the most popular and well known of all time. Some of his most famous films are 'Psycho', 'Rear Window', 'Vertigo'.

Dario Argento is an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. 'Four Flies on Grey Velvet' and 'The Cat o'Nine Tails' are two of his most successful thriller films both released in the 1970's. Argento is often referred to the Italian Hitchcock. 

Christopher Nolan is a British-American film director, screenwriter and producer who received a considerable amount of attention from his earlier on thriller films such as 'Momento' and 'Insomnia'. He then went on to become even more well know by directing 'Inception' and 'The Dark Knight Trilogy.'

Target Audience Research

 The genre of thriller has many sub genres including crime, horror or action, however we have chosen to focus on psychological thrillers. Within this sub genre, we discovered that the main characters involved will be faced with an element of unstable emotions or mental ability, therefore this may be encouraging to both a male and female audience.

 Psychological thrillers can also include an aspect of mystery or horror to increase the tension and depth of the film. With this in mind, younger viewers may find this sort of imagery disturbing and inappropriate whereas older viewers may find this exciting and engaging.

 Researching into different examples of thriller film openings, we have found that the popular psychological thriller 'Shutter island' is rated a 15 encouraging teenage audiences to view the film. However, there are some disturbing and violent scenes included suggesting it still can be unacceptable for some younger viewers.

Whereas some psychological thrillers which we researched into, such as 'Silence of the Lambs' are aimed at a much older target audience. This thriller also includes scenes of violence and sexual reference yet it is targeted to an adult audience, unlike 'Shutter island'. We have acknowledged that films which include controversial topics require a higher target audience, therefore as we are choosing to focus our opening on psychopathic issues, we will aim our opening towards an adult audience to avoid any conflict. 

Gender Representation in the Media

This presentation explores the ways in which gender is represented in the media. We have discovered through it, that gender is portrayed in various stereotypical ways, for example women are seen as passive and men are dominant, however this should not be generalised.

We have also created some other paper resources which show ways in which gender is represented in the media below.

This poster analysis explains the stereotypical ways in which the male model has been represented. 

Our Genre - Psychological Thriller

This Prezi indicates the features commonly used in successful psychological thrillers, we have included the main points and expanded on them. we will use this research as a guide for what to include in our opening, I have included the codes and conventions of psychological thrillers and when looking at our narrative idea, it is clear that we are following these instead of challenging them, this has led us to discuss our narrative and deliberate challenging some of these codes in our film, and in turn expand on our narrative idea.

We have also created a spider diagram of common aspects of psychological thrillers which is shown below. In this we have added some pictures for inspiration and some pictures of ideas we have for shots of our narrative, for example the close up of eyes and the costuming of the psychopathic woman. We also have the posters of our film inspirations on the poster.