animated thunder

http://www.layoutsparks.com/myspace-layouts/thunder_1 idea for use in the production logo.

finalcut testing title

 

This is me adding in fade in and outs which create the effect like in Deja Vu and Seven creating the effect of a thriller and a great title sequence.

This example is shown below and the effect it has.

opening credits analysis.

Final destination is a psychological thriller where people doing everyday things get hurt in unfortunate ways. final destination 3 is directed by James Wong and made in 2006.

The opening credits are very typical of a thriller with a murky shadow of colour around the writing to create and eary feeling.

The film title with a slight orange shadow around the writing

production company name with a blue shadow around the writing

opening credits from the film memento by Christopher Nolan in 2000, a psychological thriller. they use normal blue writing that fades in and out.

The writing fading out.

opening title ideas - deja-vu (2006)

http://www.putlocker.com/file/EWIVVL6GNWG0SWG# for the opening titles = 00:34
Below are screenshots of the film Deja Vu with the highlighting/ghosting effect of text with more then one layer, and a box coming in and surrounding the text, and at times the text flying off one letter by letter. This generates the effect of a crime thriller as its spotting staff/actors of the film like you'd see with a picture spotting a person in the picture and surrounding/boxing it.

Christopher Nolan

Christopher Nolan has directed many thriller films that have taken off in the Box Office in the Uk and in America. These films include: Batman Begins (2005) starring Christian Bale, Michael Cane and Morgan Freeman. The film had a Budget of around $150,000,000 and Grossed just over $200,000,000  3 months after it's release.

One of his more famous films Memento (2000) was a classic thriller that has gone down as one of the best ever. The film cost 5,000,000 to make (approximately) and in just over a year has grossed over 25,000,000. Memento was such a success as Nolan played with the genre of psychological thrillers while playing around with the memory of the protagonist, who cannot make any new memories.




Nolan is well know for typically ending his films with one os his characters giving a philosophical monologue. Also all of his films are known to give a reference to the film before it. He almost always employs a non-linear narrative which is one that does not go in chronological order and skips between the present time, the past and the future Frequently uses hard cuts when transitioning to the next scenes. This is most prominent in his films from 'Batman Begins' onward, especially in 'The Dark Knight', where, in some instances, the hard cuts he uses will go so far as to nearly cut off character's lines in order to quickly and efficiently get to the next scene.

Thriller Director - Brian De Palma

Brian De palma is one of the most well-known thriller directors in Hollywood today and years before. Brian has done many successful films such as Scarface (1983), Mission Impossible (1996) and Mission to Mars (2000).
Brian De Palma is well-known from going from extreme violent scenes such as Scarface, to the original style of thrillers by Alfred Hitchcock.


Types of camera/editing skills Brian uses; he often uses the split-screen technique, which is used optically or a split diopter (this is where the lens has a semicircular half of a close up lens in a normal filter old. This allows a close up object and a much more distant background, but everything in sharp focus).

split diopter

Brian uses this to build up suspense as it allows you to see what the cast can't generally seem to see as well. As well as engaging the viewers more further into the story.
Brian De Palma also likes to use Alfred Hitchcock's style of work, this is generally seen by others as he uses the same style of scenes, same camerawork and camera techniques, as well as using blonde girls as 'leading ladies'.


Another trade mark Brian De Palma is recognised for is the use of doppelgangers as femme fatales appear in his film a lot.
Brian shoots 'tense' moments without any filters or wide lens or zooming in, when he pairs this up with his reconisable extended shot it gives the viewer the feeling that they are in the scene.


Another trademark Brian has created of him self is the voyeurism (this is where is the sexual interest in or practice of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other activity usually considered to be of a private nature). These are generally used in his films as a protagonist who is voyeuristic by nature (can't help it), by profession (he/she's job) and by circumstance (opportunity occurs)

Production Company Research

There a many big production companies that could distribute our film. these include

Paramount Pictures who have made films such as: Vertigo, Italian Job, Mission impossible, Rosemary's Baby, Beverly Hills Cop.

Another production company that have made some successful thrillers is Fox Searchlight pictures who have made films such as: Black Swan, 28 Days later, One Hour Photo.

New line also make thriller films such as: Final Destination series, Se7en.

Fonts

Type of Fonts we'd like to use, listen below:

Example - OCR A Std

Example - Herculanum

Example - Handwriting - Dakota

Example - Andale Mono

Example - Lucida Calligraphy

Example - Matura MT Script Capitals

Example - Orator Std (italic)

Example - Monotype Corsiva

These fonts would possibly look good in red, which is also shown above. The titles will be in red, and will fade in and out, without the typewriter sound effects as this will not make it as effective for a thriller as it appears on the photo on the storyboard. The font we want to use is Handwriting - Dakota 'Example' which fits into our film setting and also creates more of the thriller feeling

Test shots.

We tested out two different ways of shooting our vertical foot shot; using a dolly and tripod, and then handheld.
We feel as a group that for our sequence the handheld footage will work better as we want to show the fact that he is walking is more significant and using the dolly didn't give us a smooth flowing shot.

We also used the colour corrector tool in final cut to give the two shots a more textured feel. it also made our shots seem darker and added to the creation of the atmosphere we would like.

Sonic Moodboard

Vengeance 

Thriller Storyboard

shot 1

Info: Panning across slowly over the photos on the clipboard

shot 2

 Info: Man walking down the hallway looking down with footsteps emphasised.

shot 3

 Info: Man standing in doorway of crime scene, looking down at body outlines

shot 4

 Info: Detective taking a photo of the dead body out line

shot 5

 Info: How the room looks like

shot 6

Info: The room according to the photo taken (different/missing objects in photo)

Risk Assessment/Health and Safety issues

Area; in a house so we need to make sure there are no other objects e.g toys that will be in the way on the floor when we film. we also need to be careful going up and down the stair if we are filming. both of these could damage the camera in case we drop it, or could harm the camera man and actors if they fall/trip over. 

Filming: we need to make sure we don't drop the camera or any of the equipment, e.g; tripod. we also need to make sure when we are not using the equipment that we store it somewhere where it will not be damaged.

thriller opening script...

Script

Starts in a boys room on a clipboard of pictures panning along the pictures of the father and his son who is dead and may have been murdered. after seeing all of the photos of memories the man walks along the hallway into another room(mid shot/point of view) and looks down at the floor where he sees a messed up room with a body outline on the floor:(high angle/point of view)

there is a detective in a dark long coat with a hat standing to the side of the room (long shot/establishing shot) and he takes a picture with a polaroid camera we see the room again and then the picture that was taken is different.(zoom/close-up) in the picture the room will be tidy and the body outline will be gone.

Shot-list

tracking

C/U

establishing shot

point of view

zoom

low angle

high angle

mid shot

long shot

Tops Things Learned from Amars Speech

Preparation is Key
Location Reece
Keys Things:

• Take Photographs 
• Diagnose any problems with that location
• Make notes about the location
• Source information about the location

Digitals Storyboard

• Use stills - take pictures of different shots to shows what it is likely to look like
• Print them for use when making your actual opening to help
• Possibly use google earth to get an overview of the location

Shot List

• Always have a shot list
• Helps to organise what needs to be filmed
• Be detailed and cover most aspects of your script

Test Shots

• Get a feel for the location your going to use
• Get used the equipment being used
• Identify any props/ costumes needed
• Doing test shots helps during the edit process

Shooting Schedule

• Make you aware of any restrictions people have
• Knowing what your filming, when
• Make sure everyone is available