Preliminary task storyboard

Opening timeline inspiration

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Scrip to thriller opening

Script for our final production

Script

 

 

With our final production there is only a small dialougue that sets up the scene and immediatly adds tension, suspence and mystery into the opening scene. This we got inspired by the start of sherlock Holmes and how very little dialougue was used at the start but is extremly effective at creating tension and suspense.

 

 

 

(Black screen) *phone starts to ring*

 

Aaron(The detective): "Hello?"

 

Kyle: "Is this DI Bailey?"

 

Aaron: "yes, yes it is how can i help you?"

 

Kyle: "I'm calling in regards of a case 3 years ago in which your partner sadly died, we have recieved some new information and we feel its best to have you on the case"

 

 

*stopwatch clicking starts with a long puase from the detective*

 

 

Aaron: "Of course."

 

*stopwatch sound cresendos untill case files and folders are slamed onto the table*

Company Ident

Company Ident

Props, costume and lighting

Props, Costume, Make-up and Lighting

Props, costume, make up and lighting

Props:

In our thriller opening there are a few different props but the main prop (or more like a series of props) that we are going to be using is a massive file/folder containing case notes and images made to look like an old detective case file and notes. The file will be worn and slightly burnt in places giving it a sense of age and a gritty detective feel to it. This is an extremely important prop as it gives inklings about the narrative and its where the titles for the characters and the production companies and editors and so on will be situated; The titles will roll after a detective is called by one of his colleagues and is told that the murder of his old partner 3 years ago has new information and the case is being re-opened and he is the detective on the case again once the call stops the old case file (the prop containing evidence and documents from the investigation 3 years ago) will be slammed onto the table with force yet enthusiasm, then the detective will start looking through the case and as the pages turn on each new page there will be a title for the editor of whoever is in the titles etc, the title will be surrounded by writing to simulate case notes (also the addition of finger prints and foot prints etc and that kind of stuff. Also it will be used to link the present scene to the old crime scene by using photos as a gateway for flashbacks to where the main detective was investigating 3 years ago , for example when the title for the actor playing the main detective comes up there will be a picture of him at the scene the camera will zoom in on it and a flash back will play , after that it will zoom out of the picture back to the present and the detective will continue to go through the file and the titles. This prop we decided to use really compliments the detective/film noir genre of thriller as that would be what you normally see in old time detective films used to store important documents that will help towards a case, the fact the file will be worn and a bit gritty and the detective still has it shows a strong connection between him and the victim (his old partner) this creating passion and the eagerness to help and use this mysterious “new information” to help find who killed his old partner. The whole use of the phone call and the trawling through the old case file creates tension and suspense straight from the start grabbing the audience’s attention to carry on watching seeing what unraveled 3 years ago and it being used as a segway to the investigation what is going to start again after the titles have finished. Other than the case file etc smaller props such as evidence markers will be used in the flash backs giving the whole investigation feel, shoes to make foot prints in the mud with and maybe a murder weapon all giving off the gritty detective genre perfectly creating mystery and suspense.

Costume:

The detective:

In flashbacks:

With the main detective the kind of costume that he will have will be quite smart yet has a little gritty look and sometimes maybe a little messy to give the detective a persona that gives of smart and intelligible yet now afraid to be all gritty and get hands on. The costume he will wear is a white shirt with a black tie, black trousers and shoes all under a longish black overcoat/jacket. This simulating the typical detective attire of smart yet gritty and hand on.

In the present time:

As time has passed since the actual first investigation we wanted to show a slight change in costume to show that maybe since then the detective may have degraded a little, this will be shown with his costume being less formal but also still keeping it a little smart, the costume will be a white shirt maybe with stripes and a waistcoat with trousers and shoes but no tie and his sleeves rolled up , showing the slight untidiness and less formal showing a slight change in persona due to the events happening.

The victim/old partner

The sort of costume the victim will be wearing will be almost exactly the same as the main detective during the flashback, smart clothing but this time worn in a messy way to emphasize the fact he has been attacked on the job, some clothes may be slightly ripped and maybe a bit muddy. This all coming together to give the audience the idea that the victim may have had a struggle and was quite overwhelmed by whoever decided to kill him. This giving the victim  slight personality; the smart clothes giving him intelligence but the fact they are untidy and messed up showing he was lacking in physical strength, this giving the audience a feel for the character that has been killed.

Make-up:

In our thriller opening very little if any make-up will be used, we want to add more to our characters by giving them a powerful authoritative feel and we believe this will be achieved better if no make-up was used but if the actors themselves didn't shave giving them a edgy gritty feel as they look quite smart yet too rushed off their feet with the terrible fact a partner has been killed so haven’t been able to have time to shave. If any make-up is used small use of fake blood may be used to help give the victim a sense of deceased.

Lighting:

When filming outside at the murder scene the lighting we will be using is the natural lighting, so that none of the shots outside at the scene look too artificial with added light, also to give the opening titles a bigger sense of a detective aged thriller we will be using a lower saturation filter to give it a slight film noir style and create a mysterious atmosphere. When at the present time we will use a desk light to emphasis the case file and the detective going through it, this also will a filter giving it a slight black and white feel adding even more to the suspenseful and mysterious atmosphere.

Shot List

Shot list of our final production

Shot number	Shot type	Reasoning
1	N/A	For the first three shots there will be no shots at all as the screen will be black and only audio will be playing, we have done it like this to add tension and mystery straight from the start of the opening sequence, the audio is between the detective and an unknown man in which the unknown man tells the detective that they have new information on a case 3 years ago in which his old partner died, this automatically gives the audience some of the narrative and immediately creates mystery as it gets the audiences mind running straight off the bat. (For more info on this scene look at the story boards where it is explained fully)
2
3
4	Jump cut from black to an Ariel shot	Straight after the black shots and the audio is finished there is a sudden jump cut to an Ariel shot in which the main prop file is slammed onto the table and then opened up. The use of the jump cut and the file being slammed onto the table has been used to add action into the scene to compliment the mystery, keeping the audience more on the edge of their seats.
5	Ariel shot/pan to close up	After the folder is opened the Ariel shot pans across the pages to show what looks like old case notes giving the prop a sense of authenticity and realism to the scene as it actually looks like an old detective case file. After panning across the pages the camera will then zoom in for a close shot of the first title of director, once stayed on the title for a little while it will then zoom back out to the original Ariel shot.
6	Ariel shot to close up and then pans to more close ups	Once the pages have turned a little more it will come to a double spread in which the camera will then zoom in for a close up for the second title, after this it will pan down to the third title, a pan diagonally upwards will go to the fourth title and then pan down to the fifth title. And back out to the Ariel shot.
7	Exactly the same as shot 6	And again exactly the same for shot 6 but for the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth titles.
8	Ariel shot	After zooming out from the ninth titles and again more pages have been turned it will then come to the main double spread of the detective and the victim, this shot more prominent than the others to emphasise them being the main characters.
9	Zoom to close shot	After the Ariel shot of the main titles of the characters it will zoom to a close up of the picture of the detective and his titles what will be the graphic match to a flashback of the investigation 3 years ago.
10	Medium shot	After the graphic match to go into the flashback has occurred it will then be a medium shot of the detective at the scene of the investigation in which he will be walking towards the murder scene.
11	Long shot	As the detective walks towards the murder scene the shot will turn into a long shot.
12	Zoom out to Ariel shot and then close up of victim title and picture	After zooming out of the moving scene to the Ariel shot of the folder, after this the camera will then zoom to a close up of the victims title and a picture of him and again this will be used as a graphic match to the next flashback of the victim
13	High angle medium shot to long shot	After the graphic match, there will be a high angle medium shot of the victim (dead detective partner) laying on the ground or sitting against the wall or something like that what will then zoom out or cut to a long shot of the detective walking to the victim, crouching and inspecting the body with a small notebook and may cover the body with his coat.
14	Zoom out to Ariel shot	After the flashback has finished it will again zoom out of the flashback and again back to the Ariel shot of the double page spread of the main titles.
15	Again another repeat of shot sequence 6	Again another repeat of shot sequence 6
16	Ariel shot of ident	After the final set of titles are shown the file is then picked up and slammed onto the table again but this time the other way round what will then show our ident of ‘INQUISITIVE PRODUCTIONS’ presents..... And then a transition will roll into the main title of the film to be revealed.
17	Jump cut to black screen	A black screen will then suddenly appear and the main title of our film ‘ENIGMA’ will then be shown but in a more effective way , the tile will be spelled out letter by letter in a typewriter font and as each letter appears the sound of the typewriter keys will be heard.

If more information is needed there is more details on how the shots and the mise-en-scene fit the genre and the meaning we want to create this info will be found on the analysed storyboards seen earlier on my blog in the planning section.

More location scouting

Pictures of our filming location

Pictures of our filming location

These are pictures of the place our opening thriller will be filmed. We are using the remains of a railway bridge in Bourne. There is an area under the railway bridge that we are going to be filming, however, we are also going to be filming on top of the bridge. The reason for choosing this area to film is because it is isolated and there is a lot of vegetation around the bridge creating an isolated area, creating a thrilling effect. Because of this we are going to use this place as it is an ideal place to film our opening titles for a thriller film.

Analysed Storyboard

Job Roles

Created with Padlet

Risk assessment

Hazard	Possible Risk	Prevention
Needles (H)	The reason for the needles is because at the wellhead bridge there have been reports of drug abuse in this area.	To inspect the area for any evidence of drug abuse, if there is any evidence then we abort the plan of using the wellhead bridge.
Broken Glass (H)	The reason for having this is because there have been reports of ASBO’s in this area which have resulted in people acting drunk in the area.	This will be prevented by the group thoroughly checking our filming area to make sure that there is no glass to harm us.
Slippery Surfaces (H)	Due to the age of railway bridge ,  the supports used are concrete and over time have been covered in moss creating a slippery surface.	To prevent falling over due to the slippery surfaces, we will make sure  that we wear appropriate footwear that  has a good grip. We will also make sure that we are aware of our surroundings, this will ensure that we don’t step on any slippery surfaces.
Fall off the Bridge (L)	The railway bridge we  are using is no longer being used, this means the railings aren’t as strong as they once were. This means they aren’t as  reliable .	This could be prevented by our group being wary of the surroundings and to make sure that when we are filming we are far away from the edge of the bridge.
Tripping over (M)	Due to the railway bridge being old there are bricks and rocks that fall off the bridge. This means the terrain is fairly rock and can be sharp .	To ensure we do not fall over and possibly cut ourselves or break something, we will  make sure we are careful about where we are filming, how we are filming and our general surroundings.
Loose Bricks/ Falling Debris (M)	Due to the railway  bridge being old , it means  there will be parts of the bridge  that will being to flake off because  of its age.  At times due to whether especially if  it’s windy, loose bricks  and debris will  fall  onto the group.	To prevent this from happening we will  make sure that we film at  places that  aren’t as  weak and fragile, to minimize the risk of loose bricks and falling debris. We can also minimize the risk of this happening if we don’t tamper with the bridge and make sure that we aren’t too forceful with bridge.

Inquisitive Productions- Enigma Pitch

Production company reaserch

 The production company I would use

Warner Bros. Entertainment

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc is an American producer of film, television, and music entertainment. Warner Bros. Entertainment is a global leader in the creation, production, distribution, licensing and marketing of all forms of entertainment and their related businesses.  Warner Bros. Entertainment stands at the forefront of every aspect of the entertainment industry from feature films to television, home entertainment, DVD, animation, product and brand licensing.

Warner Bros. Entertainment is one of the production companies I have considered using because of their vast library, which is one of the most prestigious in the world consisting of more than 61,000 hours of entertainment. This includes feature films and television programmes grossing more than a record breaking $5 billion. Warner Bros. Entertainment have produced successful hybrid thrillers such as 'Training Day' ,'The Devil's Advocate' and 'I am legend' two highly grossing films. Due to the success of the two films and the success of Warner Bros.  I believe that if my movie were to be produced by Warner Bros. the film that the group have created would achieve the same success as the two films of the same genre.  However, Warner Bros  has a younger demographic than what our film is targeted to and are mostly know for doing either family friendly or action adventure films, for this reason  do not think Warner Bros. would be a good decision.


Polygram Filmed Entertainment

 Polygram Filmed Entertainment was based in England and invested heavily into British and European film making and was Europe's competitor to Hollywood. PFE was very successful in reviving the British film making industry in the 90's creating successful films such as 'Fargo' and 'The Unusual suspects' both of the thriller genre.

I have also considered PFE as a production company because they have been able to held produce successful thriller films and have a more mature target audience. Becasue our film is a hybrid thriller it would be a good decision. However, the company is now defunct and had more unsuccessful thrillers than successful thrillers for example film such as ' Terminal Velocity' and 'Final Combination.'   







Miramax Films 


Miramax Films is a global television and film studio best known for their originality with  a library of  characters and groundbreaking story. With a library of more than 700 motion pictures Miramax Films have received 282 Academy Award nominations and 68 Oscars with 4 Best Picture awards, and includes such celebrated  as Pulp Fiction, No Country for Old Men and City Of God, all of the thriller genre.  Miramax Films has an impressive catalog of  thrillers such as 'Sin City' (2005) , 'Kill Bill' volumes 1and 2 and 'Jakie Brown'.  

I have decided to use Miramax Films as our production company because of their outstanding thriller catalogue . This would be the best decision because they have a lot of experience dealing with the thriller genre. Their demographic suits ours and have been able to produce critically acclaimed films such as 'Pulp Fiction', 'No Country For Old Men' and the 'Kill Bill' franchise. Due to this I believe it would be the best decision for our group to use Miramax Films as our production company.

Thriller Pitch

Thriller Pitch

 Opening title inspiration



Ive taken inspiration from Pulp Fiction when the opening titles first show the production companies. I have done this becasue generaly nearly all movies show the production companies first. I have decided to use this idea in my opening titles. When the opening titles start in pulp fiction the music fits with the editing of the titles. I have also decided to use the idea becasue it makes the opening titles seem entising and interesting. However, I have decided to make the soundtrack slower in my opening titles because the opening titles to our thriller are going to be more mysterious however are going to use the idea of the titles appearing in time with the soundtrack.

















The mise en scene of our opening titles have also been inspired by Se7en opening titles. This is because the opening titles of se7en show clearly the thriller genre. The opening titles also give an insight of the movie and give spoilers of the movie withot the audience knowing.  I believe this is a good way of showing the genre of the movie throughthe use of mise en secen. The blade in se7en suggests the thriller through its connotations. In our opening title we are also going to have a blade which also shows the genre of the movie through its conotations. Se7en is also a hybrid movie consisting of thriller and mystery and shows this through the mise en scene. Our opening titles are also going to show the hybrid genre of the movie through the mise en scene. We are going to have props such as case files and detective clothing to show the mystery in our thriller showing a hybrid movie opening.

Shining opening sequence that inspires me

The shining opening sequence

The shining opens with a lonely car travelling on a single rod in the country side. This already gives the impression of loneliness and isolation.  The opening credits begin with deep forestation which suggests life however gradually as the car travels the landscape becomes more barren and the terrain become rougher. This suggests the person travelling is trying to distance themselves from any kind of human life. The bird’s eye view shot used throughout while following the car give the audience an impression of the surroundings the contrast of the size of the car and the landscape, further giving the impression of loneliness. This also causes the audience to question the destination of the car and why the person driving the car is travelling to a place far into the wilderness.  The transitions of the opening sequence are quick to show time passing, this exaggerates the time and distance the car has travelled, this also show the change in the background adding to the mystery of the destination of the car.  The simplistic typography with the use of an icy blue colour adds a chilling effect to the opening sequence giving the impression of a mysterious movie. 

These opening credits inspre my own ideas because of how they have exacuted the thriller genre in an unconventional way. The only indication that the movie is a thriller movie is through their use of music. The ominous music accompanied by various long shots of the landscape makes the audeice question the destination of the car and makes the audiencequestion the safety of the people in the car. This then gives the opening credits a sombre feel as it shows one genre but through the use of asychronous sounnd, the opening credits show us the actual genre.

This screen shot shows a long shot of the landscape and the car in the distance. This suggests to the audience loneliness and isolation. However, this screen shot may also suggest to the audience beauty or something happy. However, this is then countered by the asychronous sound, giving the opening credits a sombre feel. This would inspire me because it is an unconventiomal way of showing the thriller genre. The mise en scene of the opening credits suggests to the audience that somehing beautiful can have a darker meaning, this is shown through the use of asychronous sound.




This screen shot shows an extreme long shot of the changed landscape. Throughout the opening credits the landscape changes from forestation to barren land. This gives the impression that the person driving the car is trying to distance themselves from civilisation.The Change in landscape may also suggest a change in the fate of the car. From good to bad? The use of the cresendo during this part ofthe opening credits suggests impending doom.

The icey blue typography gives an intimidating effect to the opening credits. This is becasue the eery soundtrack coupled with the introduction of the opening titles gives a thrilling effect. The lonely landscape also adds to the thrilling effect to the opening titles through the sound and icey bule typography.