Filming report dated 25th November 2015

Below is the schedule that I used to film of 25th November 2015.

Below is my introduction clarifying details.

For this shoot, I filmed a large quantity of my shots that were a spread between Scenes B,C and D. However, most of these shots were in Scene B where the officer is outside the building and ends up shooting the little girl. I still have more shots to cover but feel that after editing these shots together, I will have a clearer perspective of how much time I have currently filled of my two minute limit. Depending on this length, I will be able to gague if Scene A will fit within this limit and if the scene is necessary or requires to be shortened. At this time, I feel that Scene A will most likely require some shortening.

At this point, I have filmed 21 shots which works out to just under half of all my required shots. Seeing that I have two more weeks to film (and have taken about the same time to film this half), I feel confident that I will be able to finish my shoot on time.

I have not uploaded the raw footage for each shot and instead am using this post to address the existence of the shots that were not detailed or addressed in other filming reports.

Filming report dated 24th November 2015

Below is the schedule that I used to film of 24th November 2015

Below is the raw footage acquired from filming.

B5

I found that shot B5 was quite easy to achieve apart from finding an appropriate angle to shoot at and keeping the keys in the center of the frame. At first, I was concerned that the shot would be too long but found that it fit into the opening perfectly.

B6

I found that shot B6 had issues with being able to see the reflection of the camera in the dial screen. I had to manoeuvre the camera to an angle that stopped this reflection from being visible. I also had to make a decision of to change the shot from a speedometer to the on screen lights as they not only provided better lighting, but also stood out more in the shot. I then had to choose which of the lights on the dashboard that I should use and which lights fitted into the frame best.

B7

I found that shot B7 was not as possible as I planned. I found that setting up a camera at the back of the car caused an issue with lighting and that a darker shot was required. I ended up using the interior light of the car door that turned off when the door was shut. With the shot, I had problems with the light not turning off when I shut the door as I had not closed it properly and also framing issues. Finally, I was able to solve these problems by opening the door further which ensured that the light shut off and that I had time to re-position the camera.

B8

I found that shot B8 did not match my envisioned shot as the radio did not have a dial to turn to increase the volume. I tried to create the illusion that I was turning a dial but found that this did not look realistic enough. I ended up choosing to just press on the volume buttons to get the shot. 

Filming report dated on 22nd November 2015

Below is the schedule that I used to film of 22th November 2015.

Below is the raw footage acquired from filming.

DS5

I found that shot DS5 was somewhat difficult to shoot as I had trouble sourcing a zippo lighter and instead had to revert to a cheaper red lighter instead of the more expensive and branded zippo lighter with a lid. I had never used a zippo lighter before and firstly struggled with getting a flame to appear without moving outside of the shot. I took 3 takes and chose to use the above take which is the second take.

At this point, I have completed 5 shots and have begun to place the shots in the corresponding order on a project using the program Pinnacle.

What have I done to improve my blog? 20th November 2015

Post blog review amendments

As in my last post, I identified that I needed to increase my use of ICT on my blog. Below are some of the few examples of when I used a more unique version of ICT and the blog this was done on.

• Prezi used on my blog which was an analysis of the opening to Leon: The Professional
• Prezi used on my blog which was the screenplay and script for my film opening
• Slideshare on my blog about the character elements of the police officer in my film opening
• Slideshare used on my blog about considering representing Disability in film opening
• Addition of mp3 file on my blog about music and sound in my film opening
• Links to Youtube clips on my blog about sound in Thrillers
• Bubbl.us used in blog about coursework brief and initial ideas
• Bubbl.us used in blog about choosing a genre and the conventions of that genre- Thriller
• Spicynodes used on my blog about actors and character elements for film opening
• Spicynodes used on my blog for script and screenplay for film opening

I have also added more detail to my blog about actors and character as well as adding more detail to my blog about props, costumes and hidden secrets.

What is lacking from my blog? 18th November 2015

Self Blog Review

After peer and self reviewing my blog, I was told that this blog has few errors/problems apart from a few details about the actors and costume. I agree with this and will include more detail to clarify how these are applicable with my genre of Thriller and the film opening that I am creating. I also feel that I need to clarify how I would like the audience to respond to my film opening.

I have been given 15/20 marks which is the top of the third band of marks. The main reason that I am limited on gaining more marks is because I am lacking in my use of ICT including: prezi/slideshare/spicy nodes even though I have already used prezi once for my screenplay. I will now be sure to increase my use of ICT and change some past blogs so that they are presented in different ways.

Dated: 18th November 2015

Filming report dated 11th November 2015

Below is the schedule that I used to film of 11th November 2015.

Below is the raw footage acquired from filming and my report on each one as well as an introduction clarifying details.

I shot in the order of: DS18,DS8,DS11. This was because I shot the first two shots on a bench and so did not have to change the setup until the third shot. For all the shots, I used my hand and not the hand of the character that would be doing it. This may create slight continuity problems so I may have to consider reshoots if my arm looks drastically different to the actor's arms in the other shots. I used a strong lamp light behind the camera to brighten up the shot. I tried using a more direct torch but found that it was too powerful and caused a glare in the shot.

DS18

I found that shot DS18 was at first difficult to setup to get the gun and the badge to stay upright but not fall on each other as I had to pick the gun up without the badge falling over. I shot 2 takes to be assured that I had the shots that I wanted and found that I was eventually able to support the 2 props up against the bench without falling over throughout the shot. I did a trial of the shot beforehand to ensure that it would work before I started filming.

DS8

I found that shot DS8 looked odd in the viewfinder on the camera as the ridges of the circle were 'popping' whilst filming. After looking at the footage, I found that this problem was not visible.

DS11

I found that DS18 was very easy and the only problem was that the piece of paper did not look like a booklet being pushed forward. To combat this, I added a sketch book below the piece of paper which made it more convincing. I had the angle the camera downwards on the tripod and was concerned that the angle was too extreme but instead am comfortable with how the shot turned out.

Actors and character elements for film opening

Actors and character elements for film opening

I have found a volunteer actor who is willing to star as the police officer in my film opening. This actor will do most of the acting in the opening. As well as this, I will be using a female child actor for the innocent who is accidentally killed by the officer. Additionally, I will use a female adult for the wife of the man who is a victim of his domestic abuse.

Below is evidence that I have organised my actor through email (censored for privacy reasons)

In terms of how the character of the officer should be presented by the actor, I have created a Slideshare to list the character elements about the character

Character elements of the police officer from samuelpilsworth

Below is a Spicynodes used to show how I would like the audience to respond to each character element

Considering representing Disability in film opening

Considering representing Disability in film opening

After coming to the end of planning my film opening, I have considered using disability in my film opening as a means of showing the worsening state of the officer's mental ability. Before deciding to do this, I will choose to do some out of place and last minute research about how disability is represented in media. I have chosen to not use an extract from a piece of media that is the genre of Thriller as there are few examples that do not give a clear example of how disability is exactly represented. Instead, I would like to look at an extract from the TV show "Glee" and how disability is represented for the character of Artie who is bound to a wheelchair.

The link to this extract is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKxyZYeEO_4

The link to this analysis on Slideshare is:

Representation of diability in glee from samuelpilsworth

After analysing this extract, I have come to the conclusion that I will not represent disability directly in my film opening. Some inference of mental disability could be taken from the officer’s decline in mental state. I have chosen to do this because I feel that disability like being wheelchair bound would make the profession of a officer working in the street seem unrealistic and would not fit into the actions of the character. I will however, consider representing disability in my A2 music video project after realising the strong connotations that can be made from including disability in a piece of media. 

Storyboard for film opening

Storyboard for film opening

Below is the storyboard for my film opening broken up into scenes: B, C, D Intro and D Song. Scene A's actual storyboard has not been included as that is only dialogue over matching text and so does not require a storyboard but does have a shot reference page for each line.

Total number of shots (using storyboard)= 45 shots
Total length time (using storyboard)= 85 3/4 sec= 1 min 15 3/4 sec

Real estimate of total number of shots= 48-50
Real estimate of total time (Considering addition of Scene A and other shots)= 110 sec= 1min 50 sec

Editing for film opening

Editing for film opening

In my film opening, I will not use many effects due to me wanting to make the opening seem as realistic as possible and feel that the implementation of some effects may detract from this feeling. I will be relying quite heavily on practical effects where I am actually filming with real props like using an actual car for shots in scene B. A lot of shots will have inferred effects like the addition of sound effects like a gunshot sound without showing the muzzle flash. Most shots will only have been cut and not had many extra effects added to them. However, I will add some color effects to brighten and darken certain shots.
I will include standard cuts in my opening that are done in chronological order with continuity editing. This will help to show the order of events in a clear and logical manner as the shots are of the audience looking onto the character and not taken from the perspective of the character. I that was done instead, the who events would be presented in a different order due to him experiencing this downfall and so is unable to properly keep track of which events happened when.

Shooting schedule for film opening

Shooting schedule for film opening

Here is a list of all the dates that I will be filming. A more in depth plan can be found on each filing report for each date that I filmed on.

1. 11th November 2015
2. 22th November
3. 24th November
4. 25 November
5. 6th December
6. 8th December
7. 9th December
8. 17th December

Filming locations for film opening

Filming locations for film opening

For my film opening, my set will be the exterior and interior of my home. Both of these locations allow for me to use lighting appropriately and also have a strong Thriller 'feeling' with the vast and ominous feeling in the exterior location and the dark and recessive feeling in the interior location.

Scene B and C will mostly be shot at this location which are the shots where the officer gets the dispatched from the 911 call and him on scene looking for the shooter and killing the child. Although these different scenes are set in different locations, I am shooting in the same area and location but will use trick photography to make them appear like different locations. I will film against the building itself for scene C but will film around the brick wall area for scene B.

 Here is the interior dining room used for some of the interior shots of the song like of the gun and badge, the drinking, taking drugs and the shot of the family division page.

Music/sound for film opening

Music/sound for film opening

For music in my film opening, I am using the song "Great Day Today". I decided to use a remixed version of the song and edit the song down myself to cut out the opening to the song and some of the middle lyrics to shorten down the song.

Here is the link for the original remixed version of "Great Day Today": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmoPrwIgoy8

For the song used in the film opening, I will be using this edited version of the song:

The reason I chose to use this song is because of the cryptic lyrics that have strong metaphorical meaning which is common in Thrillers as films of that genre use vagueness and hidden meanings as a way of telling the story. The accompanying and matching use in this song helps to emphasise the genre of Thriller in this opening. The deep base of the singer in the lyrics also helps to show the officer's downfall in this opening by not using uplifting and positive sounding lyrics. The beat of the song and accompanying use of instruments also help to show the fast speed of this downfall that is not too fast but definitely allows time to show the sped of this character's development.

From a filming standpoint, each line of the lyrics allows for a single shot each which means that I will not be cutting between shots too often (with each shot during the song averaging around 2-3 seconds) but will cut enough to show the fast development of the character without me having to film a vast amount of shots.

I did not use the original version of the song and instead chose the remixed version because the original does not have any distinct elements of the genre of Thriller.

The reason that I have cut the song down from the original remixed version (2:54) down to a shorter version (1:19) is mainly because I would like to build the narrative before using this song with other scenes and so that would not be possible if using the original remixed song. I also did this because I felt that some of the lyrics failed to present the Thriller of genre so I kept the lyrics that did do this. I may cut this shorter version down again depending on the real length of the other scenes and how the fit together to create this penning. If I did cut the song down, I will most likely cut out the opening (or at least shorten it) as I feel that it is quite long and that I do not have the shots to fill the full 20 seconds. 

Below is proof that I emailed Domino Records requesting to use the remixed version of "Great Day Today"

During scene D,  only the music will be able to be heard. However, during the other scenes; there will be diegetic sound present.

Costume/props and hidden secrets for film opening

Costumes/props for film opening

For the props in my film opening, I have a hard rubber training handgun that will act as the police officer's weapon that he will use to mistakenly use to shoot a child. This will also serve as this character's inspiration for his domestic violence. Another prop is the officer's police badge that adds authority to the character and stands as a sign that he is a respected member of the community.



Another prop is the police badge which represents this officer's authority and power that has been given to him as he acts as a public servant to defend and help people. This also acts as a memory of his past and shows how much he has fallen from this turn of events and downfall after killing this innocent.





For the costumes in my film opening, I have a tactical vest that the officer will wear when responding to the call about the shooting. This vest holds important police equipment like a radio and allows him to be recognized as a police officer. This vest also shows his preparation for a shootout as the officer is wearing a tactical vest which is designed for such events.

For my 'easter eggs' or hidden secrets, I had a poster that would have been on the wall in Scene C. This poster reads "Look for the light"which is a reference to the video game 'The Last of Us' where this line is part of the slogan for the anti-government group 'The Fireflies'. This line matches and fits this opening perfectly as it is a warning to the police officer about what will happen and that he should look for a way to prevent this downfall from happening. As he walks past and ignores this warning (as he is more focused on responding to this 911 call) he destines himself for what will happen. Sadly, I was unable to use this prop in my film opening as I had to cut out the shot where this poster was present as the take was too long and messed up the pacing of the scene that needed a greater sense of urgency.

I also used the prop of a coffee cup used by the officer to show his boredom and he stands leaning against his car waiting to be called out to respond to a situation. This prop changed to a beer bottle later on in the film opening to show the development in the officer's downfall from coffee to alcohol.







Another prop that I used was cigarettes. I considered using real cigarettes but decided against it based on the high cost/danger of doing so and for moral reasons of not wanting to support the tobacco industry. Instead, I sourced some fake cigarettes off of the internet and used them instead to show the development of poor choices made by the officer that is a part of his eventual downfall.




To show the audience what has happened and to give them greater context as to why the officer's downfall begins, I created a front page to a newspaper using a newspaper generator website online. Here is a link to the website that I used http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp
Below is the contents of the front page that I entered in on the website (the rest of the article was automatically filled with other pieces of writing in the other columns)

"An unidentified officer of the LAPD shot and killed an 8 year old girl this last Monday after responding to reports of shooting at an undisclosed household in the LA area. The officer was freed from police custody and is currently under review based on their actions. The call that the officer was responding to was reports of shooting and a suspected home invasion that led to this officer responding to the call and subsequently shooting an 8 year old girl. Police have refused to release the 911 calls made by victims of this situation as well as refusing to release body cam footage of the officer. The officer was described as "unstable" and is suspected by many to still be dangerous. The 8 year old girl's parents released a post on social media regarding this event as a "tragedy" and that this officer "should face the death penalty for their actions"."

The title of the newspaper is: The Daily LA Times
The title of this article is: Killer Cop Slaughters Young Girl of 8

The original intended date on the newspaper was Friday, October 15, 1999. However, this was not possible as the website did not allow for the date to be changed. The reason that I choose this date was because it was the release date of the 1999 film 'Fight Club' who's genre matched my products genre of Thriller and acted as an 'easter egg' in my product. Instead, I used the name Tyler Durden as the author who is a character in the film 'Fight Club'.

Script and screenplay for film opening

Script for film opening

Below is the Prezi for my screenplay and script for my film opening, I have presented it in this way so that the order of events are clearer to the reader

Below is a Spicynodes used to summarise what happens in each scene

Media timetable

Below is a timetable for the dates that I will keep to finish this project. I have used these dates as I feel confident that I will be able to meet them and may even excel them and be more efficient than I expected. Please note: some posts may be uploaded on dates that do not coincide with the dates below based on the fact that the post had been completed but not uploaded on the date it was completed and kept as a draft until it was uploaded.

Date	Task	Notes
Friday 30th October 2015	Screenplay fully completed	Done on time
Friday 6th November 2015	Storyboarded fully completed	Done on time
Friday 13th November 2015	Confirmed actor agreement, locations and props	Done on time
Friday 13th November 2015	Planning finished (final date)	Finished on 11th November 2015(early)
Friday 13th November 2015	Start filming film opening	Started on 11th November 2015 (early)
Thursday 17th December 2015	Finished filming and completed necessary reshoots (final date) and started editing	Done on time
Friday  1st January 2016	Film opening finished (edited)	Done on time (uploaded on blog on 7th January 2016)

Film synopsis and overview of film opening

Film synopsis, overview of film opening and thoughts about the opening

I will now begin planning my film opening. After having researched the genre of Thriller, I am confident that I would like my film opening to be the genre of Thriller.

 In this opening, the events will occur in chronological order and will start with a 911 call with a woman reporting a shooting. The woman who is on the phone reports that everybody has been shot and that she is wounded. The woman then drops the phone (indicating her death). Then the opening will feature a police officer who receives the dispatch call and then leaves to respond to the shooting. Then the officer arrives on scene. He finds clues to the shooting and then sees a shadow pass in front of him. Thinking it is the shooter, he shoots at the shadow but then realises that he has killed an innocent instead. Then the song "Great Day Today" begins to play and a sort of montage begins which shows the officer's downfall into drinking, drugs and violence. The end of the opening wraps up this downfall by the end of the song.

If I were to continue the film past the opening, I would probably have the rest of the film be a sort of "on the run" film where the ex-officer is being chased by the police and has to uncover who the shooter was that caused his downfall. As many Thrillers feature a twist by the end of the film, I would probably have a twist in this film that shows that the officer was actually the shooter with multiple personality disorder and that he started shooting. Then, he responded to the call of the shooting as a police officer where he is looking for himself to stop.

In my opening, the message that I would like to convey is the weak nature of this character and how his mistake led to the breakdown of his emotions which made him violent and as bad as the criminals that he made a vow to stop. This weak nature element is quite obviously subverting the stereotype of male behaviour when looked at from a wide view. However, the representation of this character in the opening will show him as quite strong in his actions in this chaotic situation that is occurring around him and that he is not actually physically weak, but is mentally so. This representation is enforcing the stereotype of males when immediately viewed and will take an analysis by the viewer to fully understand how this character is in fact weak.

I am using a male actor based on availability but almost did use a female actress to film. This mental approach of mine was open to using either gender to film with and so I feel that my representation of this character is not affected by which actor I worked with and that no element of sexism was present in this decision.

I feel that my approach to domestic abuse, drug abuse, innocent people killed and general violence is being done appropriately and that these elements are not represented as positive things and instead things that bring negative events and situations into a person's life.

Titles ordering in Thrillers

The order of titles in the opening of Thrillers

The openings of films contain titles. These titles introduce the main contributors that allowed the film to be made like the director, producer and key actors. Thrillers often do not deviate from other films and also contain titles. Often these credits are placed over moving images that often relate to the film but are not important enough to be shown just on their own.Titles in the opening of Thrills may also credit the book that they are based on and the author that wrote the book.

An example of titles in the opening of a Thriller is 1999's 'Fight Club' where the opening titles are shown over a path of the protagonist's 'fear center'. These images move through various cerebral micro-landscapes and exit a skin pore with credits on each different shot. Then these titles conclude with a Smith & Wesson 4506 pointed into the protagonist's mouth which links to the fear center images.

Another opening is the opening to 1995's Seven where the opening titles are shown over the antagonist's crafty and meticulous hands as he writes in his diary, crafts different things together with scissors and clips and as he cuts off the end of his fingers to get rid of his fingerprints. 

Story/plot in Thrillers

The story/plot in Thrillers

These are often murder or criminal story lines that involve the uncovering of a crime or a mystery. Often, more complex plots are used to mislead the audience with clues and pieces of evidence that do not always make immediate sense. This builds suspense for the audience as they are filled with uncertainty and confusion about some of the plot and feel that they need to concentrate more. Then, shocking plot twists are used as a way of keeping the audience engaged and often occurs nearer the end of the film. This keeps the audience in even more suspense as they are unsure about what is going to happen next. The plot also often involves a lot of action and fast paced chaos as a means of disorienting the audience and keeping them in this spiral of confusion about what developments will happen in the story.


Thrillers also contain a lot of movies about identity such as having characters who find out that their real identity is that of one that they were unaware of at the start of the film. This can be seen in movies like 1999's Fight Club where the Narrator finds out that he is in fact Tyler Durden and created this alter ego to experience a more fulfilling lifestyle that is filled with chaotic behaviour.

Another example of this is in Shutter island where Edward Daniels finds out that he is actually Andrew Laeddis. He is told that he is the hospital's most dangerous patient and Dr. John Cawley proves this by showing how his name is an anagram of the man who killed his wife which he created to hide from the truth that he is responsible for her death.. 


Other storylines include the revelation of events where the character finds out a major fact that alters the plot. This can be seen in movies like 1999's Sixth Sense where Dr. Malcolm Crowe finds out that he has been dead throughout most of the film and was killed near the beginning of the film by Vincent Grey (one of his former patients).



Thrillers may also be in the form of superhero movies that contain Thriller elements. This is shown in the Dark Knight with some aspects of the film such as when James Gordon and Batman are racing to save Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes. Another example is the chase scene between the Joker and the police where the Joker is going after Harvey Dent after he falsely admits that he is the Batman and the way that Batman involves himself in the chase to save Harvey Dent from the Joker.

Thriller movie specific narrative structures: Gone Girl

Thriller movie specific narrative structures: Gone Girl

The narrative structure of 2014's Gone Girl follows standard structure in its beginning with logical ordering of events and flashbacks to support what the narrator (Nick Dunne) is saying. However, this changes quite rapidly as it has a twist about a third of the way through that Amy Elliott-Dunne is actually alive and well after the start of the film pointing towards the conclusion that Amy was brutally killed and that the detectives and police should be looking for her body. This twist is revealed very early on and this breaks the norm of the twist in films as they often come at the ending.

Another element of this twist that breaks the norm is that Nick is completely unaware that his wife is alive and instead still believes that she is dead. This is abnormal as the twist in Thrillers often affects the main character in a direct manner and is often related closely to them as well as being based on their actions. After this, the movie starts to focus quite strongly on Amy and the abusive life that she created as a means to frame her husband for her murder. This element of the film breaks this genre from just a Thriller into the sub genre of psychological thriller as it follows the mind of a person suffering severe mental problems in detail with the audience aware of her broken mindset that is filled with evil preparation to frame her husband.

The film also has many moments of overlap to show the same event from the different perspectives of two different characters and keeps the audience in time with time stamps on screen that tell them how long Amy has been missing for.

This unique narrative structure has quite a shocking impact on the audience as they are unsuspecting of the different changes in the plot that are abnormal and out of place in comparison to other Thrillers. The director (David Fincher) is famous for Thrillers and so knew that the audience would be expecting him to keep to his standard narrative format. This changed acted as a 'trick' to add a unique feeling to Gone Girl that could be easily identified as a film where Fincher choose to change the norm and take on a new structure in one of his films.

Questions posed/narrative in Thrillers

The different types of questions posed about the narrative in Thrillers

In the opening of The Dark Knight, the first shot is that of a zooming shot on a building. This immediately makes the audience wonder of the importance of this building and why the camera is zooming in on it instead of using a wide angle to create an establishing shot. Then after the window is broken, the audience then ask why that is happening, what the intentions behind breaking the window is and the identity or type of person (e.g. criminal, civilian, police officer) who has broken the window.

Another question in the opening is when the shot of the back of a man on a street corner is shown and the camera is zooming in on them. The audience first of all want to know the identity of the person standing there, why they are standing there, what is in their bag, why they need a mask and what they are about to do.




In the opening of Lord of War, the first shot is a rising shot from the ground (filled with casings) upwards (to a man standing with his back towards the camera. This makes the audience question who the man is, what he is doing dressed as a businessman in a warzone, where exactly is the war setting and other context to the war setting like why the fighting is occurring.

After the audience see the creation and transportation of a bullet for a Kalashnikov, they question where it is going and who will use this bullet. The question about the fighting is asked again (as it links to the start of the opening) as the audience want to know why this fighting is occurring. The audience also question the importance of the bullet in this story and what role they play in Nicolas Cage's profession or interests.