Our final thriller sequence

this is our final, edited, thriller sequence ' Red Rose'. this received mainly positive feedback as well of a few constructive criticisms, as you can see below.

Class Feedback

Cinematography:
Loved the fight scene as the camera looks up.
like the shot through the tree.
liked all angles except escape angle.

Editing:
Like the white wash
liked the blur at the end
liked the flash before suit scenes.
black and white connote 'old'
shows reference to past.

Sound:
Yes especially the stringed instruments
subtle music works well with violence
the music fits really well, liked the change between diegetic and non diegetic

Mise en scene:
liked the red rose
love the red rose
college doesn't work well for thriller

Overall effect:
Its good as it leads to suspense and lots of different questions.
Yes looks interesting and action packed.
the young actors make the target audience younger.
would change the arrest scene as slightly comic.
I like it :)

Feedback was good thanks to Lloyd, Jamie, Alex, (partly Ren) ,Tanya, Molly, David, Paul, James,Sophie,George,Florence, and everyone else apart from Charlotte and crew.

Our final thriller opening credits

All three of us, Lloyd Howarth, Alex Forward and Jamie Burrows, feel that all of our hard work has paid off with a fantastic thriller which we are proud of!!!!!!!!!(we also believe that its shit hot).

I, Alex, believe that our final project has worked out very well. We decided to go for a thriller that has the actors introduced early on so that the story can start straight away, instead of building up to it. For our idea this works well. If i were to do this again I would like to experiment by using no people in it. i took part in the filming, acting (playing a bully and the protagonist....how ironic) i also had a big input to the editing of the thriller alongside Lloyd. Ren left halfway through the project which was a big loss to the group...but we pulled through successfully. its allllll good :)

I believe that our thriller is excellent as we have really worked hard to get it right. the element of going of site gave us the ability to get certain shots that were key for our thriller. Even though it was a team effort there are elements of our thriller which i largely contributed too: i starred as our Hitman(in a flashy suit in which i obtained a few looks from the ladies ;)) i filmed the bullying scene, i did a lot of editing(with aid from Alex of course) and helped with the creation of our music, even though i contributed a lot to our thriller i am happy that i got support from a great team!!!!!even though we had a few technical difficulties, and a member of our group, Ren Mack, left halfway through, we remained determined to make a shit hot thriller and that's what we've done.
Lloyd 'Bankzy' Howarth


Its been an enjoyable project to be a part of. I came into the group when the foundations had already been set, and the story all-but completed. My main role was as a paedophile, a role I excelled in, I also played a bully and a dead person. I helped with the background music at the beginning of the project and helped in any ways I could with the filming and the editing. I want to reiterate the groups sadness at the loss of Mr Mack, it was a shock and we all miss him =(. It was a good project to be apart of and I honestly believe it was a genuinely shit-hot thriller.
Jamie "J-Money' Burrows.

Views on final Cut Thriller

After the evaluations from our rough cut, we decided to edit more of our thriller taking the audiences criticisms to mind. we started by changing the flashbacks to black and white, this was a previous idea that we were planning to use. this decision worked out well for use as it adds to the atmosphere of our thriller but also the audience had a clear understanding that they were in the past. to make the flashback even clearer we decided to add in dates as to when the flashback happen, this emphasised his journey through life, which may explain why he does what he does.

another criticism we received about our thriller is that even though the credits worked well some were not as clear as they could be. we overcame this by moving the credits into darker areas of the scene and we also made them bolder if they were still slightly faded.

the final criticism we received from our audience was that one of our suit scenes, in which the camera tilts up the body of our Hitman, was to dark to see what was happening. to solve this we changed the brightness of the clip so that the audience can see the body but not loose the emphasis of the darkness.

Films similar to our opening

there is not just one film that is like ours but there are a number of different films with elements that are similar to our opening sequence. the films we decided that had elements referring to ours were: Hitman, V for Vendetta, The Punisher and maybe some others.


Hitman - this has elements to our opening sequence because the element of symbol's, murder and costume. This has a strong similarity to our 'Hitman'.


V for Vendetta - this has the element of leaving a symbol to emphasis his existence, and the item usually means something to the person. in our thriller the flower represents a specific part of his childhood which he can clearly remember.



The Punisher - this film has the element of revenge on people who have harmed him or his loved ones in the past. this is linked to our thriller as our main character takes revenge on those who have harmed him, he also has a symbol which is the skull, this is also linked to 'The Hitman'.

Rough Cutt

This our rough cut thriller project, even though it isn't completely finished the main ideas are still here. there are elements that need to be changed but they will be done in editing.

this should be lower down however members of the group have been absent and technical difficulties have prevented us from doing this quicker.

Lloyd's Views

throughout this project i have had a large influence, not just cause i was the main character, i also aided in what shots we should film and did a large amount of editing. i feel that this project has gone very well, even though Jamie came in half way through, we adapted very well and have created a very good thriller.

i feel that there are some elements, from our rough cut, that could be improved however these are only a minor and can be changed before the final piece is finished.   

Animatic stills

This is our animatic stills, these would aid us in deciding what would happen for our thriller. They are in the wrong place as the computer had to be changed due to technical difficulty.

Garage band:
After making our animatics, we decided, as a group, that we should take a considerable amount of time to work on our soundtrack to go along with our animatics which would eventually be used in our final sequence. throughout the making of the whole project we didn't have a definitive soundtrack as we kept changing ideas and adding didn't pieces of music to tie in with the thriller concept.

How its been going

The majority of the filming was done at long road apart from the scene where I (Alex Forward) wake up after a dream, this was filmed at Lloyd's house. The project has been going well so far even though we have had some troubles with the computers which have slowed us down. in the thriller project i play the part of the protagonist, which isn't obvious at first. I also did quite a bit of the filming, for example i filmed the slow rising shot of Lloyd in his suit and also Lloyd getting arrested. I also took part in much of the editing of the opening credits. I have found this project fun and also challenging. 

Rough cut feedback

Use of Mise en Scene

One area too dark so not able to see/understand.

Dark areas - during attack to obscure faces and suit scene to see only the red worked and was a nice addition.

Cinematography

Great variety of camera shots.

Like the use of hand held camera (especially when beating the guy up).

Very good during the attacks. First person lead to a surprising twist.

Like the dark shots and the atmosphere it creates.

Editing

Well edited and good changes from clip to clip.

Text was difficult to see, but good transactions.

Some clips would look better if they were darker.

Sound

Appropriate music however a bit repetitive.

Liked the music.

Genre conventions

All worked

What We've Been Doing =)

We did all of our filming on the Long Road College site, except for one scene where Alex wakes up from a disturbing dream, which we filmed at Lloyd's house. All the filming went well, we got about 10 minutes worth of footage in the end, but much of it was outtakes, so it should be no problem cutting the sequence down to the intended 2 minutes. Were currently working on putting text into the sequence, such as character names, Four Wise Men Productions, the director, the editor etc.

My (Jamie Burrows) experiences from this project are good. The films been done well with everyone having some sort of input. All 4 of us are in two or more scenes in the project and overall it was a good team effort to get the filming done, not only on time, but a couple lessons faster than everyone else in the class.

The Shot List

First Shot:
the first shot would be of a black background with red dropping into it giving the bloody effect. This will be taken from a mid-shot. this is when the main titles come up, these are:
Four Wise Men Production
Director:Jamie Burrows
Co-Director:Ren Mack
Producer:Lloyd Howarth
Editor: Alex Forward

Second Shot:
This shot starts at the main character feet , slowly panning towards his shins. this would be taken close up. there would also be more titles which will appear.
Lloyd Howarth
Alex Forward

Third Shot, First Flashback:
this will be taken from the main characters point of view shot which shows his father,Jamie Burrows,beating a family member up while he is shouting. this will be a long shot to be able to fit everything in. there will also be a vase of roses which add to the dramatic irony.

Fourth Shot:
This shot is the camera panning from the knees up to the waist line from close up. The titles of the last characters will appear in this shot as well.
Jamie Burrows
Ren Mack

Fifth Shot,Second Flashback:
This shot will be taken again from the characters point of view however it will be from the floor pointing upwards to emphasis the bullies dominance over the character (preferably in the rain). Two of the characters will have clothing over most of their faces. The camera will also jolt every time a punch has been thrown. this shows the power behind the punches.

Sixth Shot:
This shot is where the camera title from the lower waist to mid- stomach with emphasis on the gloves. this will be taken from a mid-shot mid angle but with a larger amount on the gloves.

Seventh Shot,Third Flashback:
This will be taken from a long shot at mid angle with three characters, and a car.

Eight Shot:
This will be of the torso from a mid shot but quite close up with a slow zoom on the rose in the upper pocket, this is when the title 'Red Rose' shall appear.

Ninth Shot, Fourth Flashback:
This will be from a mid-shot high angle. this will be the only flashback in colour and it will have a dead person on the floor with a red rose falling on their torso. the camera will emphasis the rose.

Tenth Shot:
This will be a long shot from mid-angle with a character lying in a bed with a red rose next to them. the shot will emphasis the characters fear.

Eleventh Shot:
This will be a close up of the back of the character to emphasis their point of view from when they see a shadow in the background. this will be taken from a mid-shot.

Most the shots will have the 'fade' transition to add to the tense atmosphere.

The Plot

Our initial idea,for our opening title sequence, is a 'Hit man' theme with him getting revenge on those who have done him wrong through out his life,for example one of the bullies or his mate that told the cops.We slowly tilt the camera, from feet till top of the neck, putting in flashbacks,from his past, at certain intervals. starting at the bottom the flashbacks would be at the early stages of his life and would show more of the characters past life further up the person. this connotes a type of time line which emphasis the idea that his mental state is unstable, just like his life.

The opening shot will be of a black background with red 'blood' dropping around it and the main titles will appear throughout.

Flashback ideas:
we are intending to have four main flashbacks which will be shown at specific points on the 'timeline' and they will be in black and white to emphasis the idea that it is a memory.
First flashback- This will be shown at a point around his shins and the flashback will be of an early memory of his childhood. the idea we have is his father beating his mother, while he is watching and shouting, there is vase of red roses that will smash. this gives him the idea of putting red roses on the dead bodies. This would allow the audience to question 'is this the reason why he is like this' and give them a small element of his character.

Second Flashback- This will be shown at the waist line and will be of him being beaten up by other pupils at his school.This might of given him a permanent disadvantage over others, which poses a lot of questions.

Third Flashback- This will be shown, with a close up, of his gloved hands and the flashback would be of him being arrested by several under cops for drug dealing.

Fourth Flashback- This is the only flashback that will be in colour, as it is the most recent memory.It will be of a dead person on the bloody floor with the emphasis on the 'Red Rose' slowly falling onto his chest.

the final part of the opening sequence is one of the bullies waking up, all sweaty and gasping for air, with a red rose next to him on his pillow, the camera then pans to the left where you see the 'hit mans' shadow and then it cuts.

Easy Target Analysis

This opening sequence is aiming to use thriller generic conventions. its follows a non linear sequence which works well because it adds suspense because the audience has to think.
The use of the weapon (gun) is more of the Action genre, but the other conventions used still apply it is of the thriller genre.
The music is more upbeat to a traditional thriller opening but works well with the sequence.

Se7en Opening Titles

Se7en is a classic thriller film using many thriller conventions which keeps its audience guessing about what happens next.

Cinematography::
There is a large use of close ups in the opening which shows things that are key to the plot which aid in the characters journey, for example there are lots of close ups of the antagonists scrapping his finger tips off, which shows that they have thought out their crime throughly and shows their mental state as well, this makes the audience question the antagonists motives and what their 'plot' is.

Mise En Scene:
Even though there is no clear indication at where it is set, the audience still get a message that something 'evil' is about to happen. The pictures of the victims are significant to the titles as it gives the audience a slight indication of who their targets are and gives the audience a chance to question it.
Another key part of the title sequence is the crossing out of words. Words such as 'intercourse' and 'transexual' are crossed out which shows that the antagonist may have a mental problem which is linked to sexual references. This makes the audience nervous as they have a feeling that rape may happen.

Sound:
The sound track has a very eerie and intense sound however there is a an element of a continuous beat which connotes a heart beat. The intense soundtrack makes the audience fell on edge as they do not know what is happening next.

Editing:
The use of quick cuts, to show the flashbacks, as to the intensity of the scene and also gives the audience a sense of the pace of the film.

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