Planning: Animatic

This is our Animatic storyboard, which gives us and our focus group a vague idea of what our storyboard will look like. We will show this to our focus group and collect feedback.

Organisation: Time Management

On Sunday 12th, we took our main actor, Sophie, out to our location and took pictures for our animatic storyboard, and for our risk assessment. However, the camera we were going to use was out of battery, and we couldn't find the charger, so had to use my mobile phone. Then there was problems uploading the pictures on the computer from my phone, as I don't have a USB lead. Instead we had to load them via facebook, and this took more time then expected, and so didn't get our pictures saved until the 14th. 

Organisation: Shotlist

This is our chronilogical shotlist. This shows the types of shots we want to use and will film. It also shows the order in which we want to  put them in when we come to the editing process after we shoot.  However this is only a rough draft and if some shots don't give us the effect we want when filming; we will try a different shots.

SHOT 1 :  Extreme Close Up  of Sophie's mouth, all you can hear is her breathing heavily.
SHOT 2 : Camera Tilt/ Pan downwards  see what Sophie is wearing and her feet walking.
SHOT 3 :  Pull away, long shot, see Sophie from her attackers point of view, hear a branch snap, and sophie turns around.
SHOT 4 : Match on Action shot, handheld we cut back to Sophie's POV of her looking around behind her.
SHOT 5 : High Angle shot We see Sophie start to walk quicker through the woods.
SHOT 6 : Cut away to sue and sean walking to the front door.
SHOT 7 : Match on action of Sean and Sue walking into the house from opposite angle.
SHOT 8 : Extreme Close Up of Sophie's shoes as she starts to walk a bit quicker.
SHOT 9 : Cut away back to house see Sean and Sue sit down on sofa .
SHOT 10 : Medium close up from behind Sean and Sue watching TV.
SHOT 11 : Panning shot to turn around and see Sean and Sue happy on the sofa.
SHOT 12 : Hand-held shot of attackers feet walking
SHOT 13 : Whip Pan up to the back of Sophie in the distance
SHOT 14 : Tracking shot of Sophie suddenly starting to run behind her
SHOT 15 : Tracking shot of Sophie running from in front of her
SHOT 16 : Close up Sean and Sue's faces, all happy.
SHOT 17 : Pan up to the counter above them to see pictures of Sophie and them.
SHOT 18 : Hand-held shot of Sophie's feet as she runs from her attacker
SHOT 19 : Whip pan of her hair in the wind
SHOT 20 : Medium Whip Pan from the side, see all of her body running.
SHOT 21 : Match on action shot of her feet, she falls and trips over
SHOT 22 : High Angle single shot of her lying on the floor
SHOT 23 : Medium shot from the side of her lying on the floor
SHOT 24 : Low Angle single shot of her lying on the floor

SHOT 25 : High Angle shot of someone's feet walking up to her on the floor
SHOT 26 : Long Shot of Sophie leant against the wall
SHOT 27 : Medium Shot of the front of Sophie leant against the wall
SHOT 28 : Panning Shot of Sophie walking off to the right

Time Management

At the moment we still need to take photos for our photo storyboard. Kate and I have decided to do this in our desired locations on 12/12/10. We can then quickly produce our anematic in the lesson after.

Audience Research: Updates

We showed our focus group our storyboard. We wanted to know if they liked our idea and storyline. We will listen to their comments and interpret them into our final piece





Lauren Hornabrook: "I think the last shot of the girl suggests a twist in the tale. The setting of the woods is very traditional of a thriller genre. The running sequence sounds exciting and scary."

Holly Adams:  " I think the sequence will really capture the audience. One shot in particular, the last one, looks like it would be really effective because it gives the start of the film a sense of mystery." 

We showed part of our focus group our cast list and props and costumes and this what they had to say:

Emma Parker: "The parents cast in the role , as they are already a married couple, will be comfortable together and as they are in their own home it will appear even more realistic.

Rich Emsley " I think the young girl cast for the main character is perfect. She looks innocent and also looks like she could have a dangerous side, in many thrillers characters are not what they seem" 

Organisation: Props and Costumes

Costume/Prop       Source                 Potential Cost     Person in Charge
Flowery dress   -   Lauren Hornabrook    N/A                       Kate Parker      


Wooly tights     -    Sophie - Jo Lusted     N/A                       Sophie- Jo Lusted


Brogues            -   Sophie- Jo Lusted      N/A                       Kate Paker


Wooly Scarf     -   Laura Court-Jones      N/A                        Laura Court-Jones


Jacket/Coat    -   Holly Adams                 N/A                        Laura Court-Jones

                            


 


Costume/Prop       Source                  Potential Cost     Person in Charge


Winter Jumper+
Jeans +
Slippers                        -  Sue Parker            N/A                     Kate Parker


Mens Jeans +
Mens winter Jumper    -  Sean Taylor           N/A                     Kate Parker

Organisation Casting

Sophie-Jo Lusted
Age: 16


For our title sequence we have decided to cast Sophie-Jo Lusted for the main character of Isabell Hartley. She is currently studying Performing Arts at Worcester Sixth Form College, therefore has an interest in acting and agreed to do the part. She is very reliable as she has 
near perfect attendance. 


Sue Parker
Age: 47

Sean Taylor
Age: 48


We interviewed a range of parents and found that Sean and Susan, as a pair worked perfectly and suited the role as Isabells parents. 

Storyboard Synopsis

We will start with a variety of shots of our main character "Isabell Hartley"  running through a wood. There will be close ups of body parts, we will never see her face when she is running. We will take some shots from behind  her running with a hand held camera. Hopefully we will establish that there is someone chasing her. Our sequence will then start to cut to her family in the living room watching T.V happily. We will have paning shots of baby pictures or Isabell. We will have alternating shots of Isabell running and the family. We will then see Isbabell fall over in the woods, then a shot of someones feet. Afte this the title of our film will fill the screen and then fade away. Our last shot will be of Isbabell lent against a wall smirking in a creepy way.

Genre Research Summary

From the research we have done, it seems that thrillers commonly have block titles that fade in and out slowly. Often the titles are simple, either in black and white. The titles used in 'The Usual Suspects' is a prime example of this effect. 

A mix of non diegetic music and diegetic sounds are often used in thrillers to create a eerie, spooky effect. 'The Usual Suspects' uses examples of this. The main opening sequence music; is slow orchestral music, the main instrument used is a violin. Diegetic sounds at the end of the sequence are used to set the scene and bring the audience back to reality.

In the opening sequence to 'Arlington Road' the character introduced at the beginning, is distressed and maybe in trouble, we assume this because his shirt is blood stained. The music in the background highlights a sudden suspense and shows the characters panic. In 'The Usual Suspects' only one character is established at the end of the opening sequence; although he has no lines the dark lighting makes us assume that he could be a dark, evil character.

The Mise-en-scene in the final shot of 'The Usual Suspects' uses fire in the background, often symbolises danger in thrillers. The lighting is also dark, and creates a shadow effect.

Audience Research Focus Group Meeting Analysis

From the feedback we got from our focus group we have decided what ideas we had that would work and would attract our target audience. We also found elements of our ideas that we would need to alter to suit our target audience. We have chosen to keep the theme of family from our moodboard. We will use it as our main theme. Our focus group commented that close family relationships are common in thrillers they have seen. 

Audience Research Focus Group

These are people in our focus group and their comments on our Genre Moodboard, and ideas.

Lauren Hornabrook - Aged 17

" I like the idea you have of using a family, because its always more traumatic when something happens to a close family in a film. Lots of thrillers use families in them. My favourite genres are Romantic Comedy, Comedy and Horror. ' Typically in Romantic Comedy's there would be two people who meet, fall in love then something happens to rock their relationship but it normally ends happily.  I thought the title sequence of 'The Usual Suspect' made the film look like it would be spooky, but it was a bit boring and repetitive. From the title sequence it looked like fire and water might have something to do with the storyline, the film defiantly is set up to look dark and spooky. "

Emma Parker - Age 19

I liked the moodboard, I thought there was a lot on their that typically represents thrillers. However I was a bit confused by the picture of the dummy, maybe this is supposed to represent children, but there already was a picture of a child. My favourite types of films are chick flicks, thrillers and indie films. In a thriller typically there would be murder, children being kidnapped. I liked the 'Arlington Road' opening sequence I thought it was quirky, I didn't like 'The usual suspects' I thought it was a bit boring and unimaginative. In 'Arlington Road' we are set up to think that the boy is the one of the main characters, so I think the film might have something to do with children"

Richard Emsley - Aged 20

I thought the genre moodboard was effective, it had scary and creepy images. I like to watch horror and thriller films most of the time. Things you would typically see in these genres would be death, supernatural quite a lot of the time ghosts and monsters. In most films there is some kind of superhero character who 'saves the day'. I liked both the opening sequences they were both effective in different ways, but I found 'Arlington Road' more intense and more interesting to watch because the there was lots going on at once. Judging by this opening sequence I think maybe the story is set in a typical American neighbour hood 'gone wrong' or something about it not right or 'normal'.

Holly Adams - Aged 16

"I like the moodboard, there are certain images that really remind me of thriller movies. My favourite film genre's are romantic comedy and horrors. In romantic comedy's the main story is normally a love story and something dramatic happens to break them up. However normally they get back together in the end. I didn't really like either of the clips, none of them really interested me I found' Arlington Road' confusing and 'The usual suspects' boring and uninteresting. I couldn't really tell what was going to happen in either of the films but that they were both going to be a bit creepy and weird."

Target Audience

This is our target audience mood board, and what we consider our target audience to be interested in. Our target audience will be 16-24 year olds, in the pyschographic group of mainstreamers. However, it may appeal to a more individualistic audience. On the socio-economic scale our audience will be of B, C1 and C2, and will be mixed gender