Yr 12 Group 5 Double Dealing

Group 5 Update: How well we stuck to the Conventions 15.02.11

10 Conventions Of A Thriller

1. Battle of justice vs injustice
2. Price to be paid for the conclusion of the story
3. Growing sense of threat of danger
4. Normally two main characters
5. Characters appear smartly dressed
6. Essential in building up suspense
7. Urban setting
8. Dim lighting
9. Normally point of view and close up shots
10. Fast pace editing

With the 10 conventions of a thriller that me an my group agreed on, we will now go thought it and see if we have stuck to the conventions.
The first convention is battle between justice and injustice and that is clearly seen in the first part of our opening sequence when Fredrick is tied to the chair and Damon comes out from the darkness. Then there was the price to be paid for the conclusion of the story, this is not clearly shown in the opening sequence but from Damon's voice over it shows that he is jealous that Jane always talks to Fredrick when he is about. The third convention was a growing threat of danger, and that is show at the beginning and towards the ending when Damon walks away really angry. Then there are normally two main characters, and this is kind of shown when the beginning of the open sequence when the story is based on Fredrick and then towards the end the story is based on Damon. The fifth is one character appears smartly dressed, but this is the convention that we challenged but it isn't very clear if people didn't no that one character is usually smartly dressed. Then and essential build up in suspense, which we did towards then end when Damon seems like he is turning evil when he walks off and angry music starts playing and it make the audience wonder what he is going to do next. Then it should be set in an urban setting and in the first part you cant see the surrounding so the audience are unable to tell, but then in the cafe it doesn't really look urban. The eighth convention is dim lighting which we use at the beginning when Fredrick is tied in the chair. Then the camera shots used are normally point of view and close ups, which we also use at the beginning when fredrick is tied up in the chair. finally its fast pace editing, which we use towards the end when Fredrick is walking into the cafe.
All together we did stick to the conventions, but conventions seven is hard for the audience to tell and convention five is the one we challenged. Therefore apart from two conventions we did successfully sick to them.

Group 5 Update: From Feedback 15.02.11 (screen grab)

After listening through our feedback about our opening sequence we decided to put in a voice over to let the audience no why the character Damon is walking off. The reason for this is because some of our classmates were confused to why he walked off and a voice over was a good way of letting the audience no without filming another clip. Then because the person who played Damon left our group we had to use Daniel but he used a deeper voice so that it didn't sound the same as the character Fredrick that he plays. Then because we slowed the clip down to orginal speed we were able to have a longer voice over, therefore making our opening sequence exactly 2 minutes.

Group 5 Update: Feedback from questions about opening sequence 14.02.11

Group 5 Blog Update: 08.02.11 (screen grab)

Here is  screen grab of our opening sequence. This lesson we added some music and SFX to create atmosphere and tension, we done this by adding in a backing track's and water drops. After we finish adding in music and SFX we decided to trim down some clips to make sure we had either 2 minutes or a bit less. Then we started polishing up the opening sequence to make sure everything flowed and it didn't jump. We also slowed down the title in the some of the clips so that the titles stay up longer so people are able to read them, and we also changed what on of the titles said which was 'created by' to 'a film by'. Finally we realised that having a red filter on some of the ending clips did portray anger bit it didn't go well with the rest of the clips, so instead we added some angry music and it has a much better effect.

Group 5 Blog Update: 01.02.11

Blog Update: 31.01.11 (Screen Grab)

This Lesson we have research what type of transitions thrillers use, so we are able to incorporate it into our own work. We also used live type to create title sequences which we are going to put into our opening sequence.
I found out that most thriller films have blank transitions, and we would also have a choice weather to put the title sequence at the beginning of the opening sequence or in the middle.

Screen grab of Live Type: 25.01.11

Here is a screen grab of us creating a clip for our production name.

Group 5 Blog Update: 25.01.11

Asking for permission to use a song

Here is a screen grab of group 5 asking for permission to use a song from youtube.

Screen Grabs: 17.01.11 & 24.01.11

17.01.11

 24.01.11

Filming Update: 21.01.11 & Soundtrack Production

Due to not being able to film in Chiquitos and beccontree tandoori, we filmed in Castle green cafe. We decided to develop on some of the original shots we had on our storyboard and add some new shots to make more footage.


 On 20.01.11 Jamie created a creepy soundtrack to go with our opening sequence. He used just two pianos and a bowlglass effect. He recorded it on an iphone so as not professional quality, but it still works well.

Group 5 Blog Update: 24.01.2011

Group 5 Blog Update: 18.01.11

Update: 18.01.2011

From where we have time in lesson to film we decided to film the shot scene where Fredrick is attacked by someone, the only things we really need are:
-Camera
-Tripod
-Two male actor's

Update: 15.01.2011

We were unable to film on saturday the 15.01.2011 from where are request to film in Chiquito's was sadly declined, but from where we had a back up place which was the Indian restaurant at Becontree we still have a place where we can film.

This is the email reply to Jamie letting us no that we are unable to film there:

In spite of us being unable to film the restaurant scene we were still able to film the scene where Jane in found in her bed dead.

Here is photo of where we shot this scene and the clothing that was worn:

Update: Filming After School 14.01.2011

Today we filmed shot 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 from our storyboard but we found out that some shot didn't work to well, so we played around and tried some other shot and angles.

Here are some photo's of us while we were filming, this documents where we were filming and how the camera was set up in some shots and it also shows the lighting we used.

Fredrick's Flashback Script (for voiceover)

Shot 1
"Grunts"


Shot 2
"help.."


Shot 3
"HELP!"


Shot 4 & 5
"Where...am...I?"


Shot 6
"Jane.."

Shot 7
"...died"

Shot 8
"Wasn't me.."

Shot 9
"*sniff* my head !!"

Shot 10
"Jane...(2 second pause) I loved you"

Treatment Re-Write

From the result that me and my group got from our questionnaire we found out that only half of our target audience didn't like murder mysteries, and our narrative is on the lines of one. Therefore we would need to have an opening sequence that doesn't really seem like an obvious murder mystery and gets the audience thinking at the end of it and wondering what will happen.


Treatment Re-Write

Title: Double Dealing  
Set: In West London (posh)

An original screenplay by Armani, Jamie, Reece and Daniel, which is set in present times.(production Company Name) JARD, which presents a (genre) psychological thriller film about an office worker, Fredrick, who's best friend, Jane, is murdered. Seeing the authorities seem to dis-reguard the case, he feels he has to take the law in his own hands to find the killer. His brother, Damien, who owns a firm and didn't get along much with Jane, due to a rocky past. Still he decides to help Fredrick figure out who the killer is but leads him on a false trail to cover his own back. As the story unfolds Fredrick starts to realise his brother's dark alter ego, which leads into a dark criminal empire of loan sharks and mob bosses. He discovers Damien & Jane's long buried feud. A history of lies, scandals and deceit. Damien is driven mad by these happenings and forms an unhealthy obsession with the innocent Jane. Jane's life is taken in a bitter brawl between the two characters. Damien is angry when his brother decides to dig deeper into murder, using his underground connections, he deals with Fredrick. The audience is left in suspense as the life of Fredrick is left in the palms of Damien.
We intend for the audience feel betrayal and fear, which parallels Fredrick's emotions. We made sure there was one female character because even though mostly men watch thrillers, women do also. This ensures the film is not dominated by men.


Outline of the opening sequence
Fredrick is sitting in a chair, tied and gagged. We can just see the silhouette of his head and shoulders. He is breathing heavily and sweat runs down his face. He is asleep until a bang of a metal door wakes him. he stares into the camera with glazed over eyes. The camera does a CU for around 5-8 seconds as the camera zooms in on his eyes (creep). 
Shot then switches to a hazy flashback (montage) of the preluding events leading to his situation. We see brief shots of Fredrick. Fredrick is shown yet vulnerable with low and high shots, and being shown in dark and light lighting. Damien is shown as powerful, with worm eye shots and in dark lighting. Jane is seen as the sweet, vulnerable damsel in distress with light lighting and high shots. 
The montage shows the relationships and happenings of the story in chronological order.

Group 5 Treatment Presentation