Synopsis- (Mell)

Caroline is a traditional housewife, who is morning the loss of her husband with whom she has two children. She leads a very stressful life, which revolves around looking after her children. Her world is deemed even more tragic when the disappearance of her children occurs. She is then on the hunt for her children battling to find the person that has taken them - who she believes to be her sister (Hannah). It is later revealed that she herself is the one who has taken her own sisters children. She is then on the run trying to keep what she believes it rightfully hers.

Props (tally)

Knife- to symbolize danger and make the audience think something is going to happen to the children.
Apron - Shows that she is probably a stay at home mum.
Picture Frame - we will have a photo of the woman with two children, and then the same photo of the woman by herself. We will use this to show that the children were just part of her imagination.

Locations (Mell)

The first location will be at Maidenbower park (empty)
The second will be at my house (Mell's) - outside and inside

Media lesson (31st January) (mell)

From researching many different Thriller openings we have decided to have no dialogue or very little in our opening because it works well to create suspense and makes the audience ask questions.  

Jaws (Tally)

Camera:
Tracking/establishing shot. Medium close up of boy and then shot/reverse shot to Chrissy, fast pace between cuts. Tracking shot of Chrissy and the boy running, showing them distancing themselves from the other people. Shows them being alone and isolated. Low angle medium long shot - Jaws’ point of view looking up at Chrissy. Zooms in as he gets closer to the girl. As if the audience are underwater.
Editing:
Graphic match. The speed of the cuts gets quicker as theyre running, changing from both of them.
Sound:
Parallel sound. Waves from the water, on screen - enhanced sound.
Opens with jaws’ theme tune, soundtrack. Boy playing the harmonica, people talking, dialogue - digetic sound. Bell sound, can be heard but from a distance when with the boy much louder when in the water. Shows the distance between the two people and how she was isolated from everything.
Mis En Scene: props like bottles of alcohol, shows that they’ve been drinking so they’re not going to be of fit state, makes stupid decisions.
Lighting:
Dark/low key lighting, orange light coming from the bonfire. Artificial lighting, from the moon/sun - shows time of day. All you can see id the shadows/outlines of their bodies.

The Dark Knight (Tally)

Camera:
Establishing shot at the beginning sets the scene shows the audience the location of the characters. The match on action, of the window smashing. The camera zooms into the window and then as it smashes it changes to a medium shot of the other side of the window.
The camera restricts the audience view by only showing the body waist-down. This makes the audience ask questions about ‘who the figure is?’ etc…
Tracking shots/panning shots are used lots to follow the characters from behind.
Shallow depth of field, before the man is shot view of the man standing behind him with a gun. Also used when close ups of items in hostages hands.
Sound:
Parallel sound in this scene is used, the sound of the guns being loaded and the glass smashing has been enhanced by sound effects of foleys. Dialogue throughout the scene - diegetic sound.
Mis En Scene:
The continuity of the masks and the fact they zoom into it tells the audience that there’s some kind of significance of it. They’re costume is them in dark/black clothing and minimal, don’t want to draw attention to themselves or stand out. This tells us that maybe the characters are up to no good.
Editing: the pace of the cuts are slower at first but then get faster and remain at a faster speed.
Lighting:
High key lighting, daylight and natural.

Pulp Fiction (Tally)

Camera: There is very little camera movement in this scene, throughout it just shot/reverse shot, medium shots and close ups are used. The framing of the shots are positioned low down.

Sound:

Diegetic - dialogue, normal conversation. Everything is normal there is nothing out of the ordinary.

When the gun is being slammed on the table to sound is emphasised this could have been used through Foleys.

Non - Diegetic - soundtrack, the music in the background is classical its quite calm and quiet.

Parallel sound is used, this is reflected by the body language of the guy which is laid back and casual.

Mis En Scene:

The setting gives us a good idea of their location because we can see by the booths that they’re sitting in an American diner.

Costume is used well because the open shirt gives the audience an idea of the characters personality, confident and relaxed because he’s comfortable sitting with his shirt open.

Lighting:

High key lighting is used in this scene its very natural and comes mainly from the windows, this gives the audience and idea on the time of day.

The Girl In The Dragon Tattoo (By Mell)

Camera-

• Shallow depth of field is used well when focusing on a flower which I think works well because it makes the audience question why they should focus on that.

•   Shallow depth of field is used again when the girl is standing in the crowd. I think this works well because it makes her stand out so therefore the audience know who they should focus on.

Mise en scene-

• Costume is used well because the girl is walking in the streets with her hood up to portray mystery to the audience.
• Costume is used well again with the man wearing gloves, it works well because it makes the audience understand that he is a very clean person, the setting also shows this as his whole office is clean and tidy.
• Low key lighting is used well because it sets the mood to be dark and mysterious.

Editing-

• Slow cuts are used which works well because it sets the mood to be dark.

Sound-

• Non-diagetic sounds such as the soundtrack works well because it is calm which adds mystery.
• In this scene some sounds such as the knife cutting the rope is enhanced to make sure the audience notices it and to make sure the soundtrack doesn’t drown out important sounds.

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2735866905/ 

Angels and Demons (By Mell)

Camera Work:

•Tracking is used when circling around an object that is unclear to the audience as to what it is. I think this works well because it makes the audience ask questions which is one of the main objectives of a Thriller.

•There are lots of still frames used in this which seems to be a common thing for Thrillers which I think works well as it sets the pace of the scene. 

Sound:

•The soundtrack is used well because it gets faster and faster therefore making the audience’s heart go quicker wondering what is going to happen when the music ends.

•Dialogue – There was no dialogue however there was a voice over, I think this worked well because it made what the people were doing clear to the audience once the voiceover started.

Mise en scene

•A close up shot is used on a man when he looks around at the other characters, I think this works well because it allows the audience to see that his face expresses sorrow and sadness.

•Unlike the previous Thrillers that I have watched, the colour in the one isn't dull or dark. It is quite bright and colourful which I think works quite well as it shows that even though there is sadness which is clear through the soundtrack, there is also some happiness portrayed as even though the Pope has past away, people still want to celebrate him.

Editing:

•There are lots of shots used in the scene which i think works well because it allows the audience to see separate bits rather than focussing on everything it allows them to focuss on one thing for example the ring.

 http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1394934553/ 

2012 (By Mell)

Camera work:

•Three VERY slow pans are use in the opening showing the audience two different planets and then the sun. This works well because already the audience can tell that the film is going to involve the climate.

•A medium close up shot of the Sun was used which i think worked well as it signified danger due to its flames and its bursting lava.

Mise en scene:

•The lighting was very dark apart from the planets which were visible then as the camera was moving down to the sun it was all dark until a sudden flame burst up into the frame, I think this worked well because it shocked and surprised the audience.

•The location was used well for the opening scene as it was clear what the film was about however the audience still didn't know what was going to happen.

Sound:

•I think the soundtrack was used well because like all the other thrillers it was a very slow however each time there was a cut there were drums which i think worked well as it sped up the pace as well as creating tension. 
*No Dialogue

Editing:

•The editing was used well because it only had 4 cuts which faded out, the reason I think this worked well is because it kept the pace steady and slow, making the audience want to keep watching to find out more.

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3444113945/

Enemy at the Gates (By Mell)

Camera work:

•Shallow depth of field is used in the first shot looking between branches and focussing on an animal. I think this works well because it helps the audience understand where they should be looking.

•A close up/extreme close up shot is used here to create confusion for the audience as you cannot tell what animal it is until a the slow pan finally meets with the animals eyes where the audience can just make out that it is a fox or wolf.

Mise en scene:

•The colour in this opening scene has a blue tint to it. This works well because it represents coldness and death which fits into the scene as someone is about to shoot the wolf.

•The props used in this scene was a gun, I think that this works well because you can immediately tell that something dangerous is about to happen however it makes the audience question why.

Sound:

•I think that the non Diagetic sound such as the soundtrack worked well with the pace of the scene because it was quiet and peaceful which also works because it was contrapuntal and the sudden sound of the gun breaks the peacefulness and shocks the audience.

*No Dialogue

Editing:

•There are very few cuts in this opening scene which seems to be a common thing in lots of Thrillers. I think this works well because it makes the pace slow and therefore keeps the audience interested in what is going to happen.

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2163409689/

The Bourne Identity (By Mell)

Mise en scene:

Setting:

•On a fishing boat that is out in a storm. The boat represents danger as it is excluded and in the middle of nowhere.

•The storm along with a little boat being the only thing in sight makes the audience feel tense and wary about what's going to happen as storms in the middle of the ocean usually have dangerous outcomes.

Sounds:

Diagetic sound

•Thunder in the storm which creates fear for the audience as lightning is dangerous, especially when in the ocean on a small boat.

*No Dialogue 

Non-Diagetic sound:

•The soundtrack is slow and deep and at times is drowned out by the loud thunder which I think works well because it sets the mood of danger.

Camerawork:

• A low angle shot is used looking up at a floating body at the beginning of the scene. I think that this works very well because it makes the audience ask questions such as ‘are they dead or alive?’

Editing:

•The pace seems slow due to few cuts. This works well because the slow pace makes the audience intrigued about what and when something is going to happen.

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3051750169/

Shot reverse shot

A shot reverse shot is usually use with two characters exchanging dialogue. The camera is positioned behind person 1 and then the scene is repeated with the camera behind person 2. This makes the conversation more interesting for the audience to watch and can see both characters facial expressions.

Click here for an example

180 degree rule

The 180 degree rule: Characters and cameras must not cross an invisible line between characters, in order to maintain spatial coherence.

Click here for an example

Tally and Mells final video

For our video there is a moment where we almost broke the 180 degree rule however we decided as it doesn’t confuse or disorientate the viewer that we didn’t need to redo the shot.

Match on action

A match on action shot is when shot A is completed in shot B, or an action in shot A is mirrored by an action in shot B, for example when we cut from character A in location A reading a letter to character B in location B reading the same letter.

Click here for an example

Team Roles

Storyboard artist - Mell will draw and Tally will write what shot it is, camera movement, angles etc
Location - Tally
Prop Manager - Mell
Casting Director- Tally and Mell
Director of filming- Tally
Editing - Mell

Story

Our story is about a man called Jake waiting for a blind date that he met on a dating site. We will film her journey on the way to meeting him using techniques like ‘match on acting’, ‘tracking’ and ‘point of view shots’. We will film him waiting for her using an ‘over the shoulder shot’, ‘point of view shot’ and a ‘medium close up shot’ to show the audience his facial expressions (which will imply impatience, anxiousness etc). When they meet she is disappointed as his profile picture was not what he actually looks like so she decides to leave. We will have him call out to her and then use a ‘medium close up shot’ to allow the audience to see his facial expressions as being disappointed as well as his body language. After this last clip we will have a title saying something like ‘don’t want this to happen to you? … then join www.theperfectdate.com.....where everyone is who they say they are’.

Props

As this was a realistic story we decided to have the Archetypes in regular clothes such as jeans, T-shirt etc. We created two dating profiles using the computer to make the audience understand that the characters were meeting for the first time on a blind date thanks to a dating site.

Actors

We decided to use two people named Adam and Sarah in our clip however when it got to filming it Adam was not available so we had to make a last minute change and use two people in our class.

Location

For our location we decided to have it outside and use benches for the actors in our clip to sit on and exchange dialog; however on that day it was raining so we had to find a new location. We decided to have it inside, that way the weather wouldn’t be an issue and we wouldn’t have to change our story bored. This also worked out well because the lighting wouldn’t change depending on the day, it would be the same.