Format of the title

1. HamProductions Presents
2. A Film By
3. Danny Boylan
4. Starring
5. Ellese Lee
6. James Gardiner
7. Matas Vireikis
8. Also Starring
9. Kamie Rose
10. Georgia Fortt
11. Ropafadzo Mugadza
12. Editing By
13. James Gardiner
14. Costume Design By
15. Ellese Lee
16. Music By
17. Matas Vireikis
18. Screenplay By
19. Danny Boylan
20. Producers
21. Matas Vireikis
22. Danny Boylan
23. A film by Danny Boylan
24. Directed By Danny Boylan
25 Title - Disappearance

Mood board

What is an Enigma

An Enigma is a question that the audience will have that will not be answered immediately.  Examples of this can be found in all manner of different genres, especially crime dramas. For example when a murder or any other crime is committed the audience will want to know what has happened but this is not clearly explained until the end of the film.

Script

Chase scene:

Studio indent 

                  + Music starts up.

                     Music fades out 

*Punch Sound effect*

 

Torture scene:

Matas: Oh, look who is waking up!

James: Where am I? Who the f*** are you?

Matas: I will be the one asking the questions today...

James: This has got to be a misunderstanding... I-.I don't know what you want with me.

Matas: Peter I know who you are... and what you have done.

Matas: Revenge is what I want Peter, and you know it. 

*Gunshot*

*Music starts again as the murder walks away*

Costumes and Props

After watching our finished thriller or even the rough cut, it becomes very clear that we did not put a great deal of emphasis into our costumes and props. We used normal every day clothing as though nothing were different.





The only two things in the whole thriller that are not so ordinary is the fake blood we used to imitate a cut, and the gun that put the antagonist in a position of power.


At one point the plan was to show several tools that can be used to hurt someone on camera but we decided against it as the gun seemed more fitting for the scene.


Another note is that despite the fact that not many specific costumes and props were used, the clothing worn was still appropriate for the film. Both the antagonist and the protagonist were wearing completely normal clothing. The clothes that can be seen in all the scenes of the thriller would not outline either man as a member of a dominant or subordinate group. The clothes also do not affiliate the characters with any specific group, it would not be immediately obvious that one of them may be in a gang or associated to a certain profession.

Past Student Thriller Analysis

The first film I will be looking at is called Independent Law. The font of the title and the text used to introduce the director heavily implies horror or thriller themes. The first 10 seconds make it abundantly clear that this film will not be a peaceful one with a happy ending. Independent Law is an interesting title, given the fact that laws are used to control the masses to stop them from doing bad things, there is a heavy implication that a specific individual or a group of individuals wish to operate by their own rules and break away from the control that is put in place by regular law. This leads me to believe that the film will have a focus on illegal activity.  The first scene shows an excellent manipulation of light, it is constructed in such a way that we can make out a character, but none of his or her features, this is the perfect way to introduce an antagonist as well as obtain and maintain the attention of the audience. The fact that they chose to fade the film in and out and present the names of the actors and editors during these fade outs interrupt the flow of the film in such a way that stops the audience from getting a clear understanding of what is going on at the beginning, this was deliberately done in order to build up for something big in the middle or at the end. It is later revealed that the main character is a murderer or a cereal killer of some sort, this was done through a good variety of camera angles and techniques. The medium short that follows the first killing displays a sinister look on the characters face, confirming her as the antagonist. They continue to use the light in order to to show that this character is one with bad intentions and their deliberate camera work further supports this. There is a good amount of mystery in the scene too, when the supposed antagonist states ''you have one last chance'' the audience will want to know what the male character has done in order to land himself in that situation in the first place, which will encourage them to continue watching. The shot right at the very end is a very effective one, the antagonist marks their next target, the audience will want to know how they go about dealing with this target, so they will continue watching. Overall, a variety of techniques when it came to camera angles, lights and sound were used to make this a great thriller opening.

The second thriller I have chosen to analyse is ''The Routine.'' The first thing I noticed is that their ident was a very simple one. a very generic logo following the company name, this may be the case because they did not spend a lot of time on it and wanted to focus on the film itself. Examples of both diegetic and non-diegetic sound are showcased instantaneously, with the alarm clock serving as the diegetic on screen sound, and the music being the example of non-diegetic sound. A relatively normal and cheerful atmosphere is created at the beginning of the film through the use of the sound and all that can be seen is a male character following his morning routine. The routine is an excellent title for this film as that is what is shown on screen as the first part of the film. The routine that is being followed is showcased several times, the music continues to play through all of the repeats apart from the last, this indicates that something is out of the norm, the same sequence of events that gets followed every single day gets shattered which foreshadows trouble and danger for the main character. The change in camera angle, which is most likely deliberate, when the protagonist is brushing his teeth indicates that things continue to change despite the fact that the audience was lead to believe there is a set pattern this person will follow every single morning. The suspicion of trouble is confirmed when a figure dressed in black walks past the main character, with a loud, unpleasant sound following his appearance in order to emphasize his significance. Shortly after the protagonist finds a sign that says ''you're next'' which indicates that it is time for the antagonist to make his move. The man then gets knocked out and upon waking up realizes that he is now in a different location.  The rolling shot as well as the background transition while keeping the character in focus was really well done. This shows an excellent understanding of the editing software and techniques that they were given. An excellent opening.

The third and final film opening I will be analyzing is named ''The Betrayal.'' The noise that accompanies the ident is very unpleasant, however it makes it very clear that the company will be working in the thriller/horror genre.  Right from the very beginning the audience is gripped in as they are presented with a figure who is tied to a chair, it is not clear whether the character is dead or alive and the scene is instantly highly tense which encourages the audience to continue watching. The character who is in focus in this scene is shown from several camera angles in quick succession, but this still does not answer many questions that are raised, such as how did he get there, is he alive and what will happen next. The scene that follows is a party, and a positive and cheerful atmosphere would be expected, however good manipulation of the light and editing keeps the atmosphere tense, as well as alerting the audience to pay attention for any clues as to how the character at the beginning ended up in his position. We see that the character we were presented with at the beginning of the scene had a drug substance added to one of his drinks which rendered him unconscious, meaning the antagonist could do as he pleased with him, that is how he found himself in his current predicament. The constant switching back and forth between the substance being added to the drink and the drink being consumed will raise tension in the audience as it is a perfect example of dramatic irony.  As the antagonist approaches we are shown the title of the film, meaning we do not actually get to see the interaction between the supposed protagonist and antagonist. This would be a good tool to make sure the audience continues watching after the two minute intro. Overall, a good selection of techniques was used to create this film and it is a good opening which could easily be developed further.

Font Analysis

The font that will be used for the title and credits of our film will be simple. The reason for this is that there is no deep or hidden meaning to it. It is only there to tell the audience what the title of the film is. Allowing the audience to see and understand the title at face value allows us to put all of our focus into the film itself, we are not limited by matching any implications made a complicated title font or sequence, which is an advantage.



Boris Black Bloxx is a font that we may choose to use as it is perfect for what we need, it is simple but it is also bold and stands out, effective for delivering a clear message.

Title Sequence Analysis.

The opening sequence I have chosen to analyse is from the series Broadwalk Empire. This is an effective opening to a series for multiple reasons. It begins with a man stood in front of an ocean with his back to the audience, this is done in order to have the audience assume that this character is a shady one who may be heavily involved in illegal activities. This suspicion is confirmed when shots of the man continue to appear but he is never fully in focus, indicating that he cannot be trusted, or that he has a face which cannot be seen by the public eye.

The shot of the clouds developing indicates something negative, this is because it implies that the character has no control over time and that it is slipping away from him, it may also be used to imply that he regrets actions from the past.

The bottles of alcohol appearing in the ocean are also an effective tool used by the director. The whole shot forged in such a way that makes it look surreal and juxtaposed. It also suggests that the character the audience is presented with is a heavy drinker, he may choose to drown memories that have had negative impacts on his mental health in alcohol, just to force himself to forget the bad deeds he has done in the past. At the very end of the title sequence, the character walks towards buildings visible in the distance, as though he is now ready to face the reality of whatever his situation may be. None of these things can be said for certain, but they are ideas that may be developing in the mind of the audience through a perfectly executed title sequence.

The music in our thriller.

This is the msuic that we used in our thriller. It is important that we did not breach any copyright laws when using this music, so we had one of our group members send an email to the owner of the song asking if it was okay for us to use it despite the fact that the video description says it is okay to use the song for non-profit projects. Once we got the confirmation that it was okay to use the song we edited it into our thriller.

Vox Populi

Vox populi, often shorted to vox pops, translates from Latin to ''voice of the people.'' This refers to the spontaneous gathering of peoples opinion regarding anything in the media industry. They are used to gather a wide range of opinions from a non biased sample group and are often used by broadcasters to show a contrasted and balanced opinion regarding a controversial topic or a topic where a difference in opinion on a person to person basis will be present.


Here is an example of a Vox Pop clip which is a part of our audience research.

Ident Analysis.

Production companies are represented by logos known as idents. Idents are always shown at the beginning of a film and never anywhere else. A production company will always use the same ident.

The ident of each company is unique and develop over the course of the companies existence. The image is usually relevant to the name, for example Paramount has an image of a mountain and Universal has an animation of the earth from outer space. The Dreamworks ident is interesting because it shows a child floating up holding onto a handfull of balloons, as though they were drifting off into a dream.

Thriller Rough Cut

This is a rough cut of our thriller as it is approaching it's final stages. There are still some bad edits that need to be ironed out before the piece is finished, but overall the group and I believe that it is good.

Certification Research

The british board of film classification is a non government organization funded by the film industry who's job is to classify all films within the UK into one of the five categories shown above. 

To expand on the meaning of the images above:

U - suitable for everyone

PG - Parental guidance, it is advised that parents are present when young people are watching films rated PG.

12 - Suitable for individuals at or above age 12.

15 - Suitable for individuals at or above age 15.

18 - Suitable for individuals at or above age 18.

Filming: Day 2

The second part of our thriller filming was done in Ellese's shed, this is because it was away from the public which allowed us to put fake weapons on camera which allowed us to create a more effective and authentic torture/kidnap scene. We managed to maintain continuity in our film by using the same clothing as we did on the first day. The clothes that were stained during the first day of filming were kept dirty for the purpose of showing continuity.

These images help the viewer understand the atmosphere in the room. You can see that it is a messy room, the location of this room is unclear, which adds mystery and makes it look like a more realistic kidnapping.  

Story Board and Animatic

Misse-en-scene

Misse-en-scene focuses on everything currently visible in the scene. When describing the misse-en-scene is typical to focus on several things, these include:

Settings and props
Costume, hair and make-up
Facial expressions and body language
Lighting and color
Positioning of characters and objects in the frame.

The setting is where the scene takes place and the props are the objects that are found in the scene.

Costume hair and make-up focuses on the appearance of every character on the screen, this can be manipulated to make the audience feel a certain way about a character or scene.

Facial expressions and body language are often used to express the way a character is feeling, this is used in order to draw feelings from the audience such as sympathy or anger based on what the character is actually doing.

Lighting and color can also effectively be used to reflect a characters feelings and emotions.

Positioning of characters and objects in the frame can be used as a method of foreshadowing what will happen next.

Survey

We have created a survey by using surveymoneky.com in order to help us collect information on our audience, this asks questions such as what a persons favorite thriller genre is as well as how they prefer to watch their films.

The survey can be taken here:

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Analysis of Production Company Name

We decided to call our production company HamProductions. The reason for this choice is because one of our group members already has a youtube channel with this name. We also thought it will be effective because it is not a usual name, it is catchy and easy to remember which could potentially give our company an edge over the competition. 

Studio Ident

This is our studio ident which will be shown at the start of our thriller.

Sound Effect Analysis

At the beginning of our Thriller, we had a song with no lyrics over the chase scene, we chose to do this because there would be no dialogue during this scene and we believed that it was the most effective part of the film to show non-diegetic sound. The music matched what was happening on camera and it helped portray fear and anger during the chase. 

The second part of our thriller focused on diegetic sound. There was a conversation that took place between someone who was captured and the person that captured them. 

There was also a scene where the captured man tried to make his escape but he gets shot. We edited in a gun shot sound for this scene to add some authenticity to it. 

Overall we used sound relatively effectively, but we could have added faint music in the second scene to add extra effect. Another thing we failed to incorporate into our film was off screen sound. We may have been able to use this effectively but we chose to leave it out. 

Thriller title

We decided that our thriller will be called Disappearance. This is an effective title because it implies a kidnapping to the audience, it is also short and easy to remember, meaning it may stick to people if they see it in an advertisement.

Filming: Day 1

The goal of our first day of filming was to capture a chase scene through a forest. We wanted to film this in such a way that gave no context as to why the chase was happening, so the intro to the thriller was more gripping.

We travelled to Hainault forest by bus. The journey took approximately fifty minutes and overall the day was quite productive as we did manage to capture the entire first scene as well as an intro for the thriller. 

We believe we did quite a good job as we were able to use a lot of filming techniques and even managed to improvise a crane shot, seeing as we could not climb any of the trees we managed to hang the tripod on a branch of a tree which created a similar effect.