Titles

The titles will be shown in the second half of the opening sequence so that they can concentrate and become hooked at the beginning. Like many other thriller films we choose to use a plain white font on a black background. The title of the film 'premonition' will be in capital letters, bold and in the centre of the frame so it is noticeable and the audience will remember it. The title will be shown between the first and second scene of the opening sequence just before Damien wakes up from the dream the audience would have just viewed. The title 'premonition' will allow the audience to understand that the scene they just say was in fact a premonition and will link the title with the rest of the film.

Casting

We chose Ryan Clark to play Damien as he is of average height, innocent looking - but not necessarily weak. He is dressed smart throughout the film to reflect his intelligent nature. Damien works as a clinical psychologist with a keen interest in Cognitive and Psychodynamic psychology (hence his later interest in dreams)which means he wears a suit mainly during the film, but in the opening sequence we do see him dressed in nightclothes alike the picture shown at the top. The character is of around 21 years old. The audience should instantly relate to and like his character, we chose a fair haired actor to further ensure this as explained previously. Ryan also has GCSEs in Drama. Written by Katie Lee.

Character descriptions

For our main character (Damien) we want him to be a normal height and weight. We want him to wear a suit in the opening sequence which will make him look smart as well as a dressing gown. He should look smart and healthy like the man below. It will allow many men to be able to aspire to be like him as well as find similarities between themselves and Damien. It will appeal to men as they can imagine themselves as the role of the main character by trying to know what he is going through and whether they would do the same things he would. We want the audience to immediately like the character and want him to succeed in what he is doing as register him as the hero of the film.

Shooting Schedule

Lists of Props, Costumes and locations

Props

For the first scene there will not be many props but the ones we do use will be important to the storyline. We want to have some clocks scattered around showing different times which hope to get the audience thinking that it is not real and is a dream. Another prop we will us in this scene is a small box that will have the symbol inside it. The second scene will use a lot more props as it is set in a home. The props that will be important to the story are a toilet, cup of tea, bread that will be toasted in a toaster and a knife and butter. Smaller props will include a set of keys, plates and other items that are around a normal home.

Costumes

There are two main costumes that the main actor will be wearing. The first one being a blue dressing gown which he will be wearing in him premonition and also while before he gets dressed in the next scene. We decided to put him in the dressing gown in both scenes to link the two scene together and to help to audience understand that the first half is a dream. The dressing gown will be blue as it is the main colour scheme. The other costume will be a grey suit which he will put on in the end of the second scene. The suit will show that the character may have a good job and cares about his appearance.

Locations

We thought very carefully to wear the film would be set and decided to set it first in a forest followed by a scene in a house. We decided to do this as it scored highly in our questionnaires we created in the research stage as well as linking well with the story and ideas we had as a group. We decided to set the forest scene in Nonsuch Park as it fit well with our ideas. For example we knew it had paths of which we can film up and many surrounding trees that will block out anything as well as creating an extra frame. The forest also create a sinister feel as many of the leaves will have fallen of the trees and it is also very quite and still. The second scene we decided will be set in Katie's house as it fit in well with our ideas of having blue as the main theme as the kitchen is blue themed.

Photos taken by Katie Lee

Storyboard

Above is the storyboard we produced before shooting our film. This helped us work out the timings for each shot so we could have an estimated time for our product. Storyboarded our ideas also helped us while filming each shot as we knew exactly what we needed to shot and what needed to be in each frame. Furthermore the storyboard made sure we followed rules such and 180 degree rule and 30 degree rules.

The storyboard also helped us while editing as we knew the order of each shot as we didn't film it in the correct order. Additionally it assisted us in adding sound effects, transitions and other edits as we had already planned it and knew what we had to do.

Although the storyboard was very helpful while the filming and editing we had to change a number of things. For example we had to change the costume and props in the first scene. This was because we were unable to find a prop was the same size as the present in our plans so we had to use a much smaller one, this however worked very well.

Sound

There are going to be two different types of soundtracks throughout the opening sequence of our film. The first scene will have a low resonant sound that will be played throughout. This will create a sinister feel to the beginning and make the audience feel as if something is not right. As well as this we might add sounds of footsteps or a clock ticking to add to the effect of the dream. We also thought about putting a slow child like melody over the top of this to make it feel like something is weird and that it is not really happening and maybe be in someones head. The second scenes music will be completely different to show that they are not the same thing and that the main character is living a normal day. Similar to the first scene we have thought about adding sounds over the top during the editing stage or make some more exaggerated for example the toaster. As a group we decided to not include any dialogue in these scene to not reveal too much to the audience and allow them to become familiar and focus more on what is going on inside the frame.

Forest sounds: http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=48411

Clock sound: http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=30608

Low resonant sound: http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=453

Shot lists

In the first scene of the film we hope to use many titled angles to suggest that something is not quite right in the film. These will hopefully start the audience thinking that it is not really happening and that it is a dream. These titled angles will be used with a range of long shots, mid shots and close ups to allow the audience to see a different things in the frame. The first shot will be a tracking shot which will start facing down at the leaves and move up a path until it reaches the main character and then track up his body and hopefully stops straight on is face. It will then go to an establishing shot so the viewer can become familiar with the location. The audience will the see the main character look around his surroundings and taking in the different objects. They will see this through eye-line match so they can see what he is seeing as well as long shots and close ups to see the things at a better angle and more detail. Other shots that we hope to use is an over the shoulder shot of him looking into a box where he sees the symbol and mid shots of him looking around.
The second scene will start with a long shot of the character waking up suddenly from the dream and then to an over the shoulder shot of him looking at his arm. It will then continue into a number of different close up (inspired by Dexter) to show him getting ready. Hopefully this will create a sinister feel to everyday activities like eating breakfast and getting dressed. The last shot will be a long shot of the door being closed and as the main character walks away the symbol will appear.

Film synopsis

Premonition:

Our main character, Damien, has continuous premonitions in his dreams involving specific reference to a symbol (pictured to the right).

As these dreams become increasingly frequent and vivid, Damien becomes fascinated by this symbol and makes it his own business to find out what it means within the real world. The symbol is on advertisements, clothing and other manufactured products and although it seems to go unnoticed, Damien realises that people are becoming emotionally affiliated with it. As well as this, he also faces troubles at home when his girlfriend begins to turn against him.

Damien's intense research into the symbol produces no deep results and is he is kickstarted into physical action when he discovers a tattoo of the symbol on his girlfriend's neck while she sleeps thus explaining the way she's been acting.

The next month Damien spends examining the REM of his girlfriend in order to discover as much information as possible, the name of a man is repeatedly evident. He tries to find the man to no avail and later realises the man only exists in dreams/premonitions. People in the world around all seem to be becoming brainwashed by the symbol and eventually people are spending 23 hours a day asleep - the only place they can see their Master.

Damien finds out that if he applies pressure to the tattoo on his girlfriend's neck it allows him to intercept her dream, he there interrupts a meeting with the organisation and its followers with the intention to kill the master...

Written by Katie Lee

Initial Ideas

While discussing our ideas for our film we created the above spider diagram to note our suggestions and allow us to improve on each one if we needed to. The diagram above was written by Katie Lee. The idea for a film is that it is supernatural and from that we created ideas that would link in with this film. As shown above we decided to create are opening sequence in 2 parts, one set when the main character is in a dream-like state which will be set in a forest and show him seeing a symbol. After this we will see the character wake up suddenly and get on with his day as usual. At the end of this scene we will once again see the symbol.

The initial ideas for the forest scene was to make it obvious to the audience that he is in a dream. To do this we will use shots types that suggest something is not quite right, for example the use of tilted frames. To also help show it is a dream the main character's costume would be just a dressing gown and socks which will be what he wakes up in or puts on in the next scene. The forest will also have a number of surreal items like clocks in it to make the audience think what they mean and to create clues to the main story of the film. This first scene will also be slow paced to lead the audience into the film and set the tone of the rest of the film. To create tension and a unusual feel to the scene we want to use a low resonant sound and maybe exaggerate other sounds like his footsteps or the clock ticking.

The second scene will be set in a house and show the main character getting ready but in a sinister way. To do this we want to use a lot of close ups similar to the beginning of Dexter. This second scene is going to be noticeably different to the beginning scene through the music which will be more upbeat. The main colour scheme for our opening sequence is blue which is a common connotation for magic which will had to a supernatural feel.

Audience Research 2

In our groups we created a questionnaire and asked a suitable age group to complete it. All of the people I asked were between the ages of 15 and 18

which is our target market for the film. I asked an equal amount of males and females so we could analyse the results effectively.

The results.

What type of characters do you expect to come across in a Thriller genre film?

-character with a bad past

-female characters (seen as bad girl - femme fatale)

-creepy person

-victi

m

-funny person

-teenager

-mysterious

-suspicious

-sly/ smart

What type of location do you find most fitting with a Thriller genre film?

What type of approach to Thriller movie openings do you find most interesting?

How would you describe the Psychological Thriller genre?

-Very good

-Good x2

-Bad

How do you feel about a Romance/Thriller mixed-genre film?

-Good x2

-No opinion

-Average

The information I gathered from our questionnaire will be very helpful in helping us develop our opening sequence to fit the correct demographic and make sure they enjoy it. From the data we collected it tells us that perhaps we shouldn't set our sequence in a forest, dark street or on a train and that most people think that an abandoned park is a good idea. The results for the type of thriller we fairly similar with only a slight change between each answer.

The target audience for our opening sequence is both males and females within an age range of 15 to around 18. Above is an image showing the type of audience I would imagine our film appealing to and during the questionnaire I asked people that are similar to the people shown.

Audience Research 1

We created a questionnaire assist us with making our thriller opening sequence. We hope the questionnaire will give us new ideas and help develop the ones we already have. I will be asking teenager (16+) as these is the target audience we hope the film will appeal to. I will also be asking a range of both male and females who like a range of film genres to get a better understanding of what types of thriller films are good and what in them makes them effective.

The questionnaire provides a range of questions including detail about the person filling it out as well as actual information to do with the thriller genre like locations and characters. There is a range of open and closed questions to allows the participant to express their ideas without going too off topic by filling it out with answers that will not help us. This is the questionnaire:

Wallander

The first 4 shots of Wallander tells the audience what has happened straight away. The first shot is an establishing shot of where these event are taken place. It zooms in towards a car and two girls walking away from it. The second shot show the two girls backs who could be perfectly ordinary however it is interesting as you can not see there faces and is very ambiguous. The next shot you see the next shot of a man in a car with blood everywhere. This shot creates loads of questions and the audience assumes that the two girls have tried to murder him. In this shot the camera is focused on the blood and his taxi card which shows us who he is and what has happened to him. The sequence uses bright colours like red and green which contrast with each other and make the sequence feel different.

These two extreme close ups show that the man is still alive by slight twitches he does. This creates tension as it makes the audience want to know what is going to happen although it makes them feel weird as they feel scared for the two girls even though they have just tried to kill him. Other shots in the taxi show different things about the man which makes us feel sorry for him as we learn more about him and get clues as to why they girls had done what they did.

The title Wallander does not give much away about the film. You find out that it is the name of the main character. The title sequence is shows a black background with what seems like random bits of yellow but as it develops it turns into the title. The yellow and black are shocking and could symbolise a crime scene as it is the colours of tape that you see at crime scenes. It also has many sharp angles which could represent the sharp knife that one of the girls dropped.

The sound in this sequence is very important. The beginning the audience hears a sort of humming which sounds like the wind. This gets slightly louder as the camera tracked towards the land. This is a low residence (echo) sound that is similar to jaws and other thriller films which connotates danger and fear. The sound is getting louder and faster which makes it feel as if we are zooming in even though it is tracking in. Before the credits are shown there is not much sound only the wind, slight music from inside the taxi and the girls breathing. After the credits the same area has much more noise from the police, people talking and birds in the background. I think this whole sequence was good as all the shots are beautifully composed and interests the audience.

Kiss Me Deadly

The opening sequence to Kiss Me Deadly puts the audience straight into action by showing someone running. This is a low angle shot which tells the audience that she is a victim and does not have much power. It begins with a close up of a women’s legs running along a road. It shows us that she has no shoes on and as it cuts to a long shot of her we she is wearing a trench coat which suggest that she has little or no clothes on. As the women is running the camera tracks her.

The shots of her running towards a car and trying to get their attention is repeated a few times which looks interesting and shows the audience the event that is happening while letting them become familiar with the main character. It then shows her standing in front of the car with a mid shot of her. This shot introduces the character but she is not in the centre of the frame. It shows that she thinks she thinks she might get hit but risking it anyway which shows she is desperate to get the car to stop. The setting suggests the film is a thriller as it is set at night which is a typical convention of a thriller films. The women on her own on an long deserted road except for a few cars going past. The man is introduced to have more power than her and us shown as an anti-hero as he is reluctant to help. The man is wearing a suit which suggest he take care in his appearance and has some money. The first thing he says to the women is about his car which shows he cares more about it than knowing if the women is OK. His car is white which connotates bravery and heroism .

The opening credits to Kiss Me Deadly is shown over a clip. The credits scroll from the top to the bottom in a white font. They are bold and take up nearly all the frame which suggests that they are very important. The actors are shown as are the distributors and others like the director. The title Kiss Me Deadly suggest that there is romance in the film as well as something sinister which links with its genre. The titles are designed to make you think. It is all filmed in black and white even though they could have done it in colour. This creates a mysterious feel to the film and exaggerates the lighting, mist and fog of the film. Throughout the opening sequence it creates questions in the viewers mind that make them want to watch on and see what happens ans see if their theories are correct. Clues are also often shown at the beginning of most opening sequences to make hints as to what happens in the end of the film and they also set the tone and atmosphere of the film which are relevant to the plot of the whole film.

Double Indemnity

The opening of the film shows a silhouette of a man walking towards the audience which the audience will assume is the main character. After this there is someone driving a car dangerously which is shown by having the car drive through stop signs. The music all increases in tempo when the car is in the frame which changed the mood of the film. As the man is walking towards the screen the opening credits and the title of the film appear. These are very large and take up most of the frame. It is a white font which contrast with the background and makes them stand out. The opening shows some of the actors names larger than others which allows the audience to know the main people in the film. The title ’double indemnity’ puts ideas in the audience’s head that the film will have something to do with money and a death. The title is shown to be important in the film as it is very eye-catching and feels up most the frame.

The audience becomes familiar with the setting through the car journey. As the car is seen to go down many roads it is suggested that he live in the city (LA) where it is busy. The main character pulls up at a building which turns out the be a work place where he has an office. The main character is revealed by going into the building. As he is wearing a hat similar or the same to the silhouette at the beginning the audience assumes it is the same man which starts questions like why is he on crutches? The man is shown to be wearing a suit, trench coat and a hat. This suggest that he is upper class and may have a bit of money and cares what he looks like.

I think some interesting shots are the ones in the car as they are all similar and show dangerous driving but in different places. These few shots create questions and make the audience wonder why he is in such a rush and what could be so important that he does not care about his safety or safety of others.

Most the sound in this sequence is non-diegetic as it is a soundtrack. The soundtrack when the car is shown creates a fast atmosphere and the tempo speeds up. The diegetic sound in this sequence includes the brakes of the car which allow the audience to realise that the car is going fast and that the person driving obviously need to get somewhere.

After the credits are shown the audience is shown straight away a fast paced situation that they quickly have to analyse and think about what is happening. This hooks the audience as they want to find out the events that have lead to the situation that is shown to them and how the rest of the film with unfold.

Brick

The opening sequence to Brick creates a lot of questions in the audiences mind that they want answering. The title of the film creates questions even before the film begins like what relevance is the word ‘brick’ to the film. The title also does not reveal anything and references to a brick can been seen throughout the opening sequence. The title is shown in big, black and a bold font. The letters are capital which looks slightly out of place considering the event that the audience has just seen. The title of the film is shown to be quite simple and it does not give anything away or suggests what the film is about however the title is obviously important to the film as it is shown so obviously in the frame and opening sequence.

The setting is revealed slowly as it pans across and close up of some dirty and wet bricks until it reaches someone’s shoes which then fades into and extreme close up of a boys eyes showing he wears glasses and has curly hair. After that it establishes the setting of a dark tunnel in daylight but it has a lot of shadows to create a sinister feeling. This shot also reveals a shocking situation which immediately grasps the audience. A young girl is faces down dead while the boy is looking at her from a distance. This creates many questions like why is she dead? and who are they?. After a while the films cuts to what happens before this event and it is set in a school which is shown through typical connotations of an American school (lockers and a school bell).

The costumes the girl is wearing could reveal clue as to what has lead to this event. She is wearing a dress and heal which suggests that she was going to a party of some kind that she dressed up for and did not intend to get dirty or die. Her heal show signs of mud which makes the audience think about why they are and that maybe she has been running from someone. The clothes she is wearing make the audience think straight away that she is a teenager due to the plastic bracket and dress.

There is a lot of interesting camera work in the opening sequence including the extreme close up on the boys eyes which shows us that he is looking at the girl. Another interesting piece of camera work and editing is when it cut from the girls dead arm lying in water to her arm alive and moving (wearing the same clothes) two days earlier. It is interesting as her arm is in the same position in both frames and also reveals to the audience that it is the same girl and that the film started at the end.

Fargo

The opening sequence shows many features of an opening sequence and also has a lot of good ideas. The transition used at the beginning in cross dissolve which give the sense that time is going slower and we are seeing a sped up version. The black titles on the pale blue background are eye-catching and allows the audience to know who is in the film. The surnames of the actors are bigger and more noticeable than their first names as many actors surnames are well known. The beginning shots are mainly composed of establishing shots, extreme long shots and long shots. These shows the audience the setting and lets them become familiar with it. The audience feels slightly uneasy as you can not see everything however this is effective as it makes you want to continue watching the film the find out more.

Once the scene develops we are introduced to the main character. This is done by a close up on the mans face. The two men he meets are both shown together in the frame which suggests that they are as important as each other to the film and that they are together. The main character is also given a lot of dialogue and screen time which makes the audience focus on him and understand he has a main part in the film. He also gets many close ups which shows is facial expressions. There is a lot of dialogue in the opening sequence which establishes the situation the characters are in and the roles they will play within the film. During the conversation they stick to the 180 degree rule and use shot reverse shot as shown in the picture above. During this dialogue the audience is straight away presented with a shocking situation which makes them want to carry on watching to find out how the situation will unravel.