Roles for Thriller Opening (By Becky)

List of Roles

Cast

Female Character               Jess Brayne

Male Character                  Greg Littlejohn

Mysterious Body                Becky Fermer

Crew

Lighting                           Jodie Cruttenden

Camerawork                   Jodie Cruttenden

Setting/prop set up          Becky Fermer, Jess Brayne, Jodie Cruttenden

Photo shoots                   Becky Fermer

Equipment Supervisor     Jess Brayne

Editing and Production    Jess Brayne, Becky Fermer, Jodie Cruttenden

Health and safety (Jodie)

In order for our Thriller opening to run smoothly we need to consider aspects of Health and Safety. The first thing we need to be aware of is the lighting. The lights are extremely bright so we cannot look at the light, we also need to have at least one sandbag to weigh the light stands down so they don't fall over and tape to cover the wires so we don't trip over the wires. Secondly, the cellar steps are quite slippery so we need to be aware about this when walking down the steps. It's also dark in the cellar so have to be extra careful. One of the props we are going to use is a knife, knives are sharp so the male character will have to make sure he doesn't cut himself.

Prop research (by Jodie)

The props that we have decided to use in our two minute Thriller opening are...

• Tools/Knives

We have decided to use knives as one of our props because it will be used when the man is sharpening the knives/tools. This will then create a tense mood, the audience will be asking themselves, what is going to happen? Which is suspense.  

• Car

For our thriller to work we also need the use of a car, which we have got one to use. The car is a very useful prop as it allows us to get one of our characters from her workplace to her house, where the man is. You realise they are going to meet when the girl pulls up onto her driveway.

• Kettle   

The kettle is used in the thriller opening when the characters turns the kettle on. I think this is a good choice of prop to use because all of the suspense from the crosscutting, turning the kettle on will bring some 'normalization' for the moment.

• Sheets

The sheets will be used to cover objects in the cellar that we don't want the audience to see.

• Chair

The girl will be sitting on the chair whilst she is tied to it. This will create some distress to the audience because they will want to know why is she being gagged as she appears to be an innocent character. Any chair will do, preferably an old one. 

• Rope

The rope is going to be used to tie the girls feet and hands to the chair. We need to ensure we get some rope which looks strong enough to tie a girl down.

• Blanket

To cover the girls body in the cellar with.

Animatic (without sound) by Jodie, Jess and Becky

Storyboard photos and annotations (by Becky Fermer)

Storyboard Photos and Annotations 

Low angle, close-up shot.
5 seconds

Man unlocks the cellar door, although his character is not revealed to the viewer. The character will be wearing dark, black clothing and gloves, in order to enhance his suspicious character.

Eye level, long shot.
5 seconds

Girl leaving her workplace in a different shop, in order to manipulate time. 

Eye level, long shot
5 seconds

Girl getting into her car and preparing to head for home.

Eye level, medium shot.
3 seconds

Male character covers up bits of furniture and objects with old rags and sheets. This shot is designed to make the audience question what he is doing.

Low angle, long shot
5 seconds

Female character drives down the road in her car. 

Eye level, medium shot
3 seconds

Another shot of the male character, covering up furniture.

Very low angle, long shot
5 seconds

Girl's car pulls up onto her driveway. This starts to raise suspense, as it appears that the two characters are going to meet.

Eye level, medium shot
3 seconds

Another shot of the male character throwing sheets over objects.

Eye level, long shot
5 seconds

Girl gets out of the car. We see the house in the background.

Low angle, long shot
3 seconds

We see the man in his context, the cellar. A chair with ropes is placed in the middle of the room.

Eye level, close-up
2 seconds

A close up shot of the man strapping ropes to the chair. This raises questions to the viewer. What and why is he doing this? 

Eye level, long shot
5 seconds

Girl walks up to the house and opens the door. (Match on action)

Eye level, close up
3 seconds

Following on from the previous shot, we see the girl opening the door. (Match on action)

Eye level, close up
5 seconds

Man sharpening knives and tools. This produces suspicion and a tense mood. Somethings not quite right.

Eye level, medium close up
3 seconds

Girl puts the kettle on. 

Low angle, close-up
5 seconds

Man walks up the stairs and out of the cellar. 

Low angle, close up
3 seconds

Man puts chloroform on a cloth. 

Low angle, medium shot
3 seconds

Girl walks into the living room, her facial expression looks shocked. (Eye line match)

High angle, long shot (slow pan from left to right around the room)
5 seconds

We see a body under a blanket in the middle of the lounge floor. (eye line match from the previous shot)

Low angle, long shot (Slow tilt up from the floor, to the girl)
5 seconds

We see the girl's body language and facial expression, in response to the mystery that lies beneath the blanket. The audience are faced with questions; who is it? what's going on?

OTS, close up
3 seconds

Girl lifts up blanket to see who it is. Tense music builds up suspense.

Eye level, close up
5 seconds

Girls is suddenly gagged with a cloth.

Fade to black
3 seconds

Low angle, close up
2 seconds

Close up shot of the girl's hands being tied up.

Low angle, close up
2 seconds

Close up of the girls legs being tied up.

Eye level, medium close up
3 seconds

We see the girl being gagged. The familiar setting of the cellar is reintroduced.

Eye level, close up
3 seconds

We see the man pick up his tools.

Eye level, close up
3 seconds

Another shot of the terrified girl is shown.

High angle, close up
3 seconds

Man reaches for his keys.

Eye level, medium close up
3 seconds

Another shot of the girl, but we see the mans figure in the background behind her.

Very low angle, medium close up
5 seconds

Close up shot of the man's footsteps walking up the stairs.

Low angle, extreme long shot
3 seconds

Man is a silhouette at the top of the stairs. We see his leaving the room.

Eye level, close up
5 seconds

Another shot of the terrified girl. We hear the sound of the door being slammed and a straight cut to black.

Cut to black
5 seconds

Black screen 
5 seconds

Working title of 'Cellar' appears on screen.

Synopsis of Thriller Film (by Becky Fermer)

Film Synopsis

Duration: 2 mins 6 seconds

The overall summary of our thriller opening is to build up tension and suspense in which we want our film to impose. We start off with an editing technique of crosscutting, between two characters and locations, in order to create anticipation. Our male character is a mysterious person, whose identity is never revealed throughout the entire film opening. The viewer is only able to see close-ups of his hands and shots of him from behind. This was inspired from one of our research thriller openings “The Usual Suspects”. We felt that this set dark and curious impressions on the viewer.

The Usual Suspects Opening Scene

• There is series of cross-cutting between the two characters at the beginning, where we see the female character leaving her workplace, getting into her car and driving off to her house. Meanwhile, in a different location and time, we see the male character preparing a strange and isolated room, equipped with pieces of ropes, knives and torn sheets, presenting the viewers with a series of wondering questions. What is he doing? Who is he? Why is he there?

Example of Cross-cutting editing in The Silence of the Lambs

•  The two characters finally meet, when the female returns to her house, to find a body in the middle of her lounge floor. However, the viewer never gets to see who it is, as the body is hidden under a blanket, before our female character is gagged with chloroform.



Close-up of Kaiser ("The Usual Suspects") who's character
is never revealed throughout the entire opening.



•  Following on from this, we see a fade to black, leading to her waking up in the room in which the audience are familiar with from the beginning. This results in the viewer suspecting that the man is up to something, and wondering what the female has to do with any of it.

The final shots are close-up frames of the girl being tied to a chair, before being gagged. The film ends on a cliff-hanger, where we see a tracking shot of the male’s footsteps walking up the stairs, in order to leave the room. We then cut back to the female character again, whose body language appears scared and horrified for her life. The lights then turn off, as we hear an off-screen sound of the door slamming, to reinforce the man leaving the room. As this shot ends, we cut straight to black, before our title “Cellar” appears on screen.

Initial Ideas for Thriller Film (by Becky, Jess and Jodie) (edited by Becky 27/2/13)

Initial Plan

1) Man unlocking cellar door. Close-up of hand. (character's identity is not revealed)

 2) Girl leaving college and getting in her car. Shot of the car driving down the road.
3) Shot of the man throwing sheets over furniture in the cellar.
4) Shot of car driving into drive
5) Girl arrives at house. Gets out the car.
6) Man places ropes and chair in the centre of the cellar.
7) Girl enters the house (Match on Action shot)
8) Man sharpening knives.
9) Girl goes through to the kitchen. Puts the kettle on.
10) Man walks up the stairs out of the cellar.
11) Man stands at top of stairs and puts chloroform on a cloth
12) Girl walks into the lounge. Sees a body under a blanket on the floor. (Eye line match)
13) Walks over to lift up the blanket.
14) Man grabs her from behind. (fade to black)
15) Shots of girl being tied to a chair in the cellar
16) Man picks up keys (Match on Action)
17) Man walks up the stairs.
18) Close-up shot of the girl
19) Door slams, cut to black
20) Title fades in

Initial time: 2mins 6secs

Female character is terrified of the kidnapper 

Characters

Female Character

Stereotypical  everyday college girl

Casual Clothes

• We wanted the female character to appeal to the audience as a normal everyday girl. Her character needs to be believable and innocent in order for her to appear harmless.

Stereotypical character

• Her costume is a crucial element of her identity. From the beginning of our opening scene, the male and the female character need to appear as though they have no connection with one another. 

Scared

• As we come to the climax of our film, the stereotype of a innocent and helpless female, is developed further, when she is trapped and held captive within the kidnappers control. She needs to express terror and alarm in her facial expression and body language.

Male Character (Kidnapper)

Kidnappers identity is always hidden

Dark, black clothes

• This suggests mystery and power. Throughout our opening sequence, the kidnapper needs to appear in control of the situation, therefore his character needs to be seen as superior and dynamic.

Identity is never revealed

• This is going to be used to build up suspense and raise questions to the viewer. We felt that this was a key aspect of a successful thriller, as it increases tension and intrigues the audience.

Bleak and disturbed character

• The kidnapper needs to appear suspicious and bitter, in order to make our thriller opening a success. Unlike the female character of our story, his personality is veiled by his mysterious doings and secrecy. 

Character to play the body under the blanket

Character's identity is never revealed

• We decided that the identity of the body should be concealed, to create a higher dilemma and to hide the unresolved story line. 

Setting

College (girl works at the college)

• We have decided to place the female character in a twenty-first century setting, to enhance that there is no connection or relation between the two characters that the viewers first see.

House - Lounge and Kitchen (girl returns home from work)

• The use of this setting is going to add normality of everyday life to our film, in order to show the females innocent character.

Cellar - Dark, cold room (mystery and suspense takes place)

• Compared to our previous settings, this area is where the most bitter action of our film is going to take place. The darkness and desertion of the room, creates an orphaned and mysterious mood. It merges extremely well with the kidnapper's character.

Props

• Tools/knives Used by the kidnapper when in the cellar.
• Car Used by the female character when leaving collge and arriving back home.
• Kettle/mug Used when the female character arrives home and puts the kettle on.
• Sheets Used to cover up and hide objects within the cellar.
• Chair Used as a base to imprison the female.
• Rope Used to tie up the female character.
• Blanket Used to hide the identity of the mysterious body in the lounge.

Health and Safety

• Cellar stairs can be slippery. These could cause harm and injury to our actors as well as the film crew.
• Knives are sharp. If misused or left in hazardous ways, they could result in minor or severe injuries to anyone close-by.
• The kettle gets hot. Boiling water can cause serious burns to the skin and be harmful if spilt on any open surface or floor.
• Rope left lying around. People could trip over or get caught up in a tangle, therefore when not being used, they should be moved out of the way.
• The big lights get hot. These lights can be very harmful towards an individual, possibly resulting in hospital ermergencies if burned by these lights. extra care must be taken in order to ensure everyones safety.
• Wires need to be covered. People may trip and fall over these, so it is important that no unnecessary wires are left loose on the floor.
• Watch out for other traffic when filming the car driving. The safety of the public and other people around you needs to be considered when filming in a public place. Protection from harm must be crucial for everyone and not just those who are involved with the film. 

Lighting Homework (by Jess and Becky)

Task: 

• Replicate two scenes from films/TV dramas
• Record results on still camera
• Capture a silhouette effect
• Demonstrate six types of lighting

 Exercise 1: Shot 1:

We used two lights and tripods to create picture A on the lighting exercise. We had a light on each side of the subject, in order to create a low key lighting shot.









Shot 2:

We chose to re-create picture B which was illuminating one side of the subjects face. This created quite a dark effect, which could be used in a thriller movie. It imposes mystery and suspense, all of which are key aspects to a successful thriller.








Exercise 2:

This was our re-creation of the silhouette effect. To do this we used natural light, by placing the subject in front of a window. This keeps the subjects identity hidden, but gives clues as to who the subject is.













Exercise 3:
In this exercise we had to demonstrate six different lighting techniques. To do this we had to think carefully about lighting positions so we got the right effect and didn't blind the subject.

Frontal Key Light Only

 This created a shadow effect on half of the subjects face.This would be good for revealing a certain character and it also creates mystery, as you cannot see all of their face.

Key Light and Fill

Bottom Up Lighting Only

Top Lighting Only

Side Lighting Only

This made the subject more visible and allowed you to see all their facial expressions. This could be used as a standard shot, when capturing a reaction.










This creates a dark and spooky effect, as the person blends into the background. It enhances fear and suspense. This could be used during a climatic stage of a thriller film.










This lighting technique creates another dark and creepy effect. It presents a bleak and bitter mood to the viewer, and could be used as a shot to create tension.










 This shot, expresses a split personality, lighting up one side of the face and blending the other side into the background. It can be used to suggest that part of the characters identity is hidden.

Backlight Only

This shot creates mystery, as the subject is not clear or visible to the viewer. It would work as a powerful shot, if you didn't want to reveal the identity of the villain.











Problems we encountered:

• Placing the lights in the right position
• Making more of the subject visible than we wanted