First day editing

Today we began the editing process of our thriller. We basically just got the ball rolling by selecting all of the clips with the best shots that we were going to actually use. We then just put all the shots in order so that we could get a rough visual idea of how the sequence wood look, and then after that we just began to trim down some of the clips and really begin to edit.

There were a few things that we edited that we took some time to make a decision on, such as how long we should have the text message shown on screen, as it needs to be there just long enough so that the audience can easily read it, but not too long so that it feels like its been dragged out. Another clip we had to play around with was the shot of the clock as we had to figure out how long it should be shown for.

Today was a good start to our editing and I look forward to doing some more.

Research for similar opening sequences: This is england

After doing research into 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo's' opening title sequence, which is a Hollywood movie, I thought it would be a good idea to do some research into the way that an independent British Drama film presents their credits, as this is probably what our thriller would be if it were a real film in the real world. So I decided to study the opening sequence to 'This is England', a British independent drama produced by Warp Films.

The sequence has a definite pattern with the way it presents its credits, it presents them in order of importance, beginning with the most important names, the credits then decrease in importance and they then begin to reveal more important credits again near the end of the opening title sequence.

They start with the production companies, which is most important for the film as it is the most important factor for it's success, they then move on to actors as the hierarchy of importance travels downwards, as these films don't rely on big names but rather actors/actresses who aren't necessarily well known as they have a low budget, but they hope to uncover new talent and have a cast who can produce a good performance.

Towards the end of the sequence they begin to show some gradually more important credits such as costume designers, and the general members of the production team, ending with the directors name who they also credit for writing the film.

Research for similar opening sequences: Credits in girl with the dragon tattoo

I thought it would be important to analyse a blockbuster, as they may have a different approach to the way they introduce the credits, and the way they order them. The Girl with the dragon tattoo, is a high concept film with A list actors including Daniel Craig from the James bond franchise.
At the beginning of the sequence, the credits shown are mainly just the production companies. The next credit is 'A David Fincher Film' who Is the director, and next is Daniel Craig, obviously an A-list world known actor and Rooney Mara, also a lead actor who is well known.
The next credit is the title 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' and then a bunch of less well known actors are listed. After this they list the Casting managers, producers, editors, sound designers, executive producers, co producers, and then the credits introduce that it is based on a book.
The final credit is 'Directed by David Fincher'.

Because this film is a high concept film, the credits really highlight the cast as this is an important factor in films like this. The director is also an important credit which is shown twice. The members of the production team are also well noted in the credits as the film is high concept.

Research for similar opening sequences: The Violent Kid

'The Violent Kind' opening credit scene, is very different to ours in terms of aesthetic, however, the violence involved is similar to that of ours, as it does involve a person getting beaten up, which is exactly what happens in ours. Whilst this is not a bullying scene it is still an opening credits scene full of intimidation and violence, which is definitely relevant to ours.

What we also found it would be important to look at, is the order that the credits come in. So this is the order that they come in, so we can use them as guidance for when we insert our credits into our opening sequence:

Cory Knauf
Taylor Cole
Bret Roberts
Christina Prosalis
Tiffany Shepis
Nick Tagas
Joseph Mckelheer
Samuel Child
Mackenzie Firgens
Ilea Mathews
Joe Egender
'The Violent Kind'

What they have done here, is basically name the cast in order of appearance/relevance. They then ended the credits with the films name. I think that this could work for our thriller.

Summaryof shoot day.

On Monday 20th January, Harry and I conducted our shoot for our thriller. I started the day feeling confident about the shoot, and excited. We were fairly organized, especially as we had Harry's schedule which basically meant that we knew exactly what we needed to be doing and where we needed to be shooting at every moment in the day so that every thing ran smoothly.

In preparation for our shoot day, Harry and I went to the town of Cranleigh, which is close to our school, to look for some good shoot locations for the shots which involved Ethan, the victim, walking home from school. Whilst there, we found some great spots to shoot, involving some unexpectedly urban looking locations, including a wall which had graffiti on it which will work well.

We begun the day meeting with our cast. Since we were pretty much ready to shoot and ahead of schedule, we decided to rehearse the fight scene in the alley at our school which we had decided would be the best location for the fight scene. We did this a few times and used our phone cameras just to check what the shots would look like. After we felt we were ready to go, we got on the bus to Cranleigh with Jake to shoot the walking home scenes, all that we needed in preparation for these shots was the camera and tripod.

Once we had the camera set up, we began to shoot Jake's walking scenes around Cranleigh in the urban areas that we had found, and I think that we got these to look pretty convincing, in terms of looking like he was walking in city area, and so I think that we managed to create the look of our concept pretty well, and I am pleased with the outcome.

We evenly split the filming between myself and Harry. We both came up with different ideas for shots as we shot the walking scenes, for example Harry came up with some great handheld filming, and also created a lot of great shots, I also came up with the idea of shooting the reflection in the puddle of Jake walking. For the fight scene, I focused on sound as Harry came up with the fantastic concept of filming hand held and up close, so he filmed the entirety of the fight scene whilst I managed the sound as there was some really quiet dialogue in this scene which we needed to use a special microphone for. Whilst one of us acted as camera man, the other would take the role of director. I am happy with the way we divided the different roles and responsibilities.

Personally, I think that what I did well was coming up with a few different ideas for shots including the puddle reflection shot. Harry was definitely the better cameraman as he was great at doing different techniques etc. whereas I feel I managed to contribute some good ideas, as did Harry. I am quite a creative person as I do Art and Photography as well as media, and I think this helped me to find good compositions for shots as this is definitely one of my strengths.

We didn't really have many problems, as the majority of our day went to schedule. However one problem we did encounter was whether the profanity would be appropriate for our thriller. As we were shooting a bullying scene, we definitely felt it was important for the bullies to be verbally abusive, but we did spend some time deciding where the line was. In the end we did feel that it would be necessary for there to be some crude language in the thriller, just to convey the intimidation from the bullies across to the audience. So to compromise, When there was swearing, we did decided to remove some of the emphasis from the swear words and rather make them said at a lower volume than the rest of the dialogue. Other than this we did not encounter many other problems.

I think that the most successful part of our shoot was definitely the fight scene, as we were really lucky to have such a great cast who gave really convincing performances especially Elina, who really gave an intimidating performance which worked really well. The alley way that we used was also perfect for the shot because it gave a claustrophobic feel, which made for a perfect setting. For me this was the best scene, as it was well acted and the shots were also good, as Harry managed to get some close up hand held shots which were fantastic. For me this was both the most successful and the most enjoyable scene.

One part of the shoot that probably could have gone a bit better was the scene we shot of Jake sitting in the classroom, as when you look in the background you can see a lot of foliage, which could throw the audience as it does give away that he is perhaps not in an urban setting, however we feel that this will not be much of an issue as there is not much we can do about this, and it still was a good shot, and it is not that noticeable.

I really look forward to seeing the fight scene in the edit, especially when we put the different shots together, as I am really excited to see the hand held shot parts which were close up that Harry shot. I am really happy with the way he shot these. Those are definitely the shots I look forward to most in the editing process, as I have a feeling it is going to look great.

 

Overall, myself and Harry worked really well as a team. We had no arguments and agreed on most things as we had a similar vision for the project. We also weren't afraid to contribute ideas to one another and we communicated well. We have worked really hard to make this thriller great and I think that we have done a great job. I am really glad that I was paired with Harry for the project as he had lots of good guidance with regards to the acting for the actors as he is experienced in that area, and he also did a great job with the handheld filming.

One thing that I will take away from this for the
next time I have a shoot, is maybe to focus a bit more on time management, as whilst we managed to get everything on time and according to schedule, the classroom scenes which we shot at the end took longer than expected and it would have been better if we got these done quicker. However, It was a great shoot and I look forward to the editing process!

Shoot Schedule

Harry, in my group, has devised a shoot schedule to ensure things run smoothly on the day of the shoot, and to ensure that we are organised. With the shoot approaching soon (Monday) it is important that we have the day planned out like this. So here is the schedule for our shoot day:

8:45am - Meet at lower car park.

9:00am – Leave Hurtwood House

9:15am – Arrive at Cranleigh

9:40am – Be set up for walking shots

9:40am to 10:00am – Shoot walking shots. Storyboard number 7 (others to be decided on location.)

10:10 am to 12:30am – Shoot all fighting shots. Storyboard numbers 8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17 (Others may be added on location.)

12:30am to 1:00pm – Lunch.

1:00pm to 1:20pm – Set up school shots.

1:20pm – 3:00pm – Shoot school shots. Storyboard numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6.

3:00pm to 3:20pm – End shoot. Pack up.

Location Research

Sorting out and planning our locations for or shoot day has proved to be a difficult task for us. Our plan has always been to shoot at school for the scenes that involve classrooms etc. however our teacher (Adam) was concerned that this would not look convincing as our school doesn't look like a typical British school, and therefore this might confuse the viewer. In the end, we decided that the science classrooms looked quite convincing and the decision has been made that we will use these science classrooms for our classroom scenes. In Cranleigh, we managed to find some unexpectedly urban looking scenes including garage doors and graffiti which we are delighted about as it will make our shoot look more convincing

The other shooting location, is the location where Ethan gets beaten by the bullies, this can be shot anywhere on his walk back from school to home.

Props/costume

Costume
Ethan - (Glasses, black trousers, white shirt with school tie, school blazer, black shoes.)
Bullies -  (Black trousers, white shirt with short/fat tie, tracksuit jacket and hoodies, trainers, baseball caps.)

Props

• Fake cigarettes
• Credit Card
• Phone
• Fake Blood

Luckily, It looks like most of the props that we need can either be provided by cast members or us, and the rest we can get from the drama department at our school.

Character List

As a group, we have discussed on many occasions who we should cast in our thriller. The roles that need actors include three bullies who should be intimidating individuals and ideally people with some sort of experience acting, and for Ethan, the victim of the bullying, we wanted someone who was not physically intimidating and could act as well. In the end we cast Jake Pratt, who has experience acting on multiple TV shows and has also performed on the West End, and so we look forward to working with him.

For the three bullies, we decided that one of them should be female, as we think that this would add another layer to the dynamic of the bullies, as it would be even more humiliating for Ethan getting bullied as a girl would be bullying him. We have even decided to make the female bully the main bully who verbally abuses Ethan the most and to act as the ringleader, as we think this would make him appear even more vulnerable.

For the role of the female bully we have cast Elina Saleh, as we believe she will perform the role well, as she is good at acting and is keen to be involved. For the other two bullies we have cast two male A level Theatre Studies students as this means we know that they will  be able to be professional on the day, and they will have had experience in performing.

Overall, we are happy with the casting and look forward to shooting our thriller with them.

Ethan Bailey - Jake Pratt

Female Bully - Elina Saleh


Bully 1 - Jonnie Packer

Bully 2 - Owen Carey-Evans

Test Shoot

 

As a group we conducted a test shoot, using our storyboard to just get a visual idea of what our final outcome will roughly look like. Because this was just a test shoot, we did not have a cast and therefore myself and Harry acted in it. Harry has a lot of experience and is a really good actor, which was really helpful in the process as it made it easier to see what the final product would look like as it was well acted on Harry's part. I, however have not had much experience at all acting and so this was a bit of a challenge for me, but nonetheless we still managed to get out of it what we wanted, which was a basic sequence of the shots we were going to shoot in the actual thing.

Final Storyboard for the Thriller.