Research and Planning - Costume Ideas (Group)

Main protagonist's costume:

Main Antagonist's costume:

Supporting Character's Costume: 

Planning: Initial Ideas, Pitch and Feedback (Group)

Initial Ideas

Relapse (thriller)

The opening begins with the character is drawn to an abandoned house however, he does not know why. He trips over the door frame which triggers a memory of a past life where he is at a dinner party just as a toast is about to taken following the chime of a wine glass. He goes back to reality where the chime is on going leading to the beginning of the thriller.

By Evan de Roeper 

Lost (psychological thriller)
Set in the present, the female protagonist reminisces of her lost child whom was taken from her at birth by a masked cult. With her memory of the events somewhat fragmented, she begins to recall small pieces of what happened but can't quite piece them all together to fit the puzzle. The protagonist then embarks on a journey to piece all the pieces together; to discover what happened, to find her child, and to find who has the answers...

The opening will begin with the protagonist in a coffee shop or other public area when they notice a masked stranger across the street from them. This triggers a flashback of the protagonist on an operating table, screaming. The opening cuts back to the protagonist in the street as they begin to walk to work. Throughout their journey to work they begin to recall more about the events. They notice the stranger again, triggering a more violent memory of them with the stranger in an operating room. The protagonist begins to follow the stranger but loses them along the way and returns to work. Music will stop when the flashbacks are on screen and then resume when the action returns to the present day.
By Elliot Stahlmann 5214

Initial Pitch
Below is our initial pitch where Evan and I presented the concept of Lost to a focus group. We received some feedback and will use this to improve the initial concept of the thriller opening.

Feedback and Response to Pitch

From our initial pitch and the feedback we received from the focus group it became clear to us that the concept of our thriller needs minor tweaks whereas the execution of the opening needs more focus. In terms of the concept we have decided that using a baby would be difficult to execute successfully and also hard to obtain, hence, we have decided to cut the child from our concept and exchange those scenes with scenes of the woman screaming and of scenery that the woman would remember. This is something that is achievable for us and can be well executed. 

Notably, the group were unsure whether it would be easy to distinguish between flashback and the "present". As a result, we concluded that the music stopping and resuming was too jarring and so the music, we have decided, will need to fade in and out during the flashbacks where sounds of screaming and other diegetic and non-diegetic sounds can be heard. Moreover, we have decided that through editing, the flashbacks will have a flash transition to make it clear that we are viewing a flashback and also put the flashbacks in slow motion in order to capture the action.

In addition, to distinguish between flashback and the "present", when filming we have decided that we will film the "present day" scenes closer to the summer months so that we can capture as much natural lighting as possible. We will film the flashback scenes closer to winter where we will be inside, using more artificial light. The contrast of artificial lighting against the natural lighting will also help to set apart the flashback scenes from the "present".

Lastly, due to confusion with the title "Lost", we have decided to rename our thriller "Broken" as we feel this title is short but sweet and will captivate an audience immediately. It is synonymous with the theme of fragmented memory and fits well with a psychological thriller. From the outset, the title will raise questions for the audience - establishing a sense of enigma, something that is conventional of thrillers. Likewise, it is not a particularly positive word and will therefore help to create a dark tone and atmosphere to the thriller from the point of reading the tittle.

Research - Thriller Conventions (Evan)

Conventions Of A Thriller:


Within the Thriller genre, sound, mise - en - scene, camera angles and editing are vitally important so that a successful thriller can be created.
Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960):
Sound: Every genre of film uses sound diegetic or non-diegetic to create atmosphere. This is more true for the Thriller genre as fast or slow paced sound has different effects for this genre. An example of this is the infamous shower scene in Psycho where Norman Bates kills the woman. The use of non-diegetic Violins implemented as the curtain to the shower is drawn quickly enhances the atmosphere. The rapid violin notes along with the Norman Bates knife indicates to the audience that the lady will soon die. This scene ends with the Cello and Bass playing long held notes as the lady lies dead on the shower floor. For a successful thriller, suspense is vital. Seen through Psycho's score, it is possible to attain suspense through sound.

Mise-en-scene: For Norman Bates, the lighting used is Back lighting. This completely darkens Norman Bates. This was done intentionally so that the audience could not tell who the murderer was.
Camera angles: The camera slowly zooms into the shadow creeping up to the shower curtain. This is followed by a close up of the shadow as he attacks the lady with various shots of the two people's point of view.
Editing:  A key example of editing in this scene is when the shot of the shower hole slowly transitions to the right eye of the lady on the floor. This clarifies to the audience that she has died.



The Sixth Sense (Shyamalan, 1999):
When this film was initially released, it received critical acclaim. This thriller however incorporated a chilling twist at the end. Bruce Willis' character was a ghost since het met the child. This thriller pays special attention to the editing and special effects of the ghosts that are in the child's house and school. The infamous 'I see dead people' scene starts of with no sound at all however non-diegetic Violins gradually creep into the scene until the child says  'I see dead people' to which a whole ensemble of stringed instruments play a slow, sad tune until the end.

Taken (Morel, 2008): Another infamous scene in Thriller films is when Liam Neeson's character hears her daughter being taken. While Liam Neeson explains to his daughter what is about to take place, non-diegetic violin notes are being played quietly along with the loud thumps of a bass drum. As the close up of his daughter is shown, diegetic sounds of the floor boards creaking as well as the slamming of doors is in harmony with a string ensemble creating an eerie atmosphere until it suddenly fades to a double bass playing low long notes. The non-diegetic sound resumes with the Timpani being hit twice. This combination of strings and percussion continues quietly until the people after the daughter leave the room to which the non-diegetic sound pauses for a while allowing the daughter to speak thinking that she is safe when she is suddenly dragged out from under the bed and screams in terror.

Broken.- Animatic - (Group)

Animatic

Research - Distribution logo (Evan)

Distribution Logos

Technical - Three-Point Lighting (Group)

What is Three-Point Lighting?

Theory of Three-Point Lighting

In preparation for our thriller opening and by researching other thriller openings, we found that lighting plays a key role within thrillers in order to establish atmosphere and so Evan and I experimented with three-point lighting. Three point lighting is one of the oldest lighting techniques used in shooting video and essentially it consists of three lights - a key light, fill light and back-light.

Experimentation

Key Light ONLY

Key Light: The main source of light. Usually the strongest and it has most influence on the look of the screen and highlights the main, but not all, features. This lighting is more often than not used to expose the whole or most of the scene. Placed on one side, rather than directly, it creates toning a definition to the subject by creating shadow on the opposite third. We found this lighting to be best as it creates a focus for the shot by creating definition to the subject.

Fill Light ONLY

Fill Light: A supplementary light used in photography or filming that does not change the character of the main light and is used chiefly to lighten shadows. This is secondary to the key light and often placed on the opposing side. This lighting is not so harsh and subtly highlights features, exposing the other half of the subject to more lighting. Despite this, we found this lighting to only reveal a faint overlay of the subject as only a small portion of the figure is exposed to light.

Back Light ONLY

Back Light: This light creates lighting from behind the main subject or focus point and is used to add an outline to the image. Opposed to direct lighting, this lighting is often used to add definition to features and highlight features around the subject from behind, highlighting the objects outlines. We found this lighting to be effective but very difficult to use as most of the figure is placed in darkness. 

Key Light AND Fill Light

Key Light, Fill Light AND Back Light 

Conclusion

From this, we have learnt that the positioning of all the lights is a crucial and delicate element of three-point lighting. Simply by misplacing the lights in respect to the subject can make the image appear washed out and seem two-dimensional. In other words, if used correctly, three-point lighting can establish an image by defining main features with shadow, allowing the subject to appear 3D. Moreover, the key light should be placed down first. In so doing, the key light acts as a guideline for the placement of the other lights, which are used to add to the key light and enhance it.

In light of this, we will consider using three-point lighting as a way of establishing enigma and mystery in our thriller opening. A convention of thrillers is that the antagonist is usually revealed at the end and remains in darkness or low light throughout until the end. By using either the fill light or key light, features of the subject are defined whilst other features remain hidden in shadow - thus, creating a sense of unknown and mystery. This would hence help us to develop thriller conventions in our thriller opening. 

For future reference, we also found out that the best placement of the key light is around 40-50 degrees anti-clockwise from the camera, where the right side of the subject is exposed to light. The fill light should be placed 40-50 degrees clockwise and the back light 180 degree directly behind the fill light in order to create the most dramatic effect and establish an enigmatic element to a scene. As key light provides the most definition to the subject, it is vital to focus on the placement of key lighting within a scene. 

Research - Production Logos (Evan)

Production Logos

From the research gathered from other logos, we realised that the logo had to be simple, eye-catching and have a name that is very rememberable. Therefore we came up with the following logo:

Research - Production and Distribution Company Logos (Elliot)

Film Institution Analysis -

PARAMOUNT PICTURES
Paramount's logo is one that can be dated back to about 1914. It is rather simplistic and consists of a cascade of mountain peaks and a field of stars encircling the company name "Paramount" in script font. With the introduction of the coloured television and advancements in digital media, the logo has developed and progressed to the coloured 3-Dimensional logo seen today.

PIXARThe Pixar production logo sequence is one that appears at the beginning and end of most Pixar production movies, and features a playful desk lamp character. The 1986 short film Luxo, Jr. is the source of the small hopping desk lamp included in Pixar's logo and it is now synonymous with the company and is easily recognised by thousands. The font is simplistic, as are the colours, which is highly effective as this means the logo is easily remembered by its audience.

UNIVERSAL PICTURES
One of the six major movie studios, the Universal logo wholly consists of a main image of a World Globe, light is emitting from behind with the company name, Universal, stretched across. In the background is a dark sky with what appears to be stars. This perhaps connotes the accessibility of the company as it is recognised on a 'universal' level and has a widespread audience. Universal have worked on such film franchisee as Jaws, Transformers and Fast & Furious. 

DREAMWORKS
DreamWorks have worked on the likes of Madagascar, Turbo, Shrek and Kung Fu Panda, all of which have been great successes.  Their logo is a trademark logo, with a very simplistic look. The boy sitting on a moon, with a fishing rod is the most frequently used logo for this company. Interestingly, this connects the company with their branding image; the idea and works of imagination, where the sky is the limit. This is a good logo as DreamWorks mainly target young children and the image relates to the fable of The Boy On The Moon.


SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT

Working on films such as the Twilight series, the dark background of the Summit logo matches the theme to such movies well.Summit Entertainment's logo includes a simple design of a mountain peak. The background is black with white font in capitals and the logo outline fades colours from a blue to white. This logo is especially effective due to its simplistic style and easy-to-remember name.

After researching a variety of logos I have concluded that they all follow a rule of simplicity in design where less is often more, particularly for the most effective logos. In general, each company consists of  a small, straightforward, uncomplicated image so that is easily memorable to the audience and clearly distinguishable from other logos. Typical dull and mundane colours such as black, white, grey and blue are more often than not used for the background or font, and usually match up with the design of the logo itself. The logo design is usually a more bright hotter colour like red, orange or gold to make the name stand out. Also, in most of the examples above, the names are spelled out in capital letters and are in simple block colours. The more straightforward the logo, the more memorable it is for the audience, allowing them connect with it.Also, with each logo they all have unique theme songs playing over the top as the logo appears on screen, this allows the audience to connect visual imagery with sound, applying for more of their senses, stealing more focus from the audience.