Opening Titles Finished

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okhFfY_rJ3Y
Uploaded to my Youtube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSvhCud_x0Y-

2nd version of Opening Titles which is improved from the original after peer to peer feedback on the lack of mise-en-scene, and the likelihood an audience member won't understand what is going on at all, as the case is meant to be the whole focus.

Opening Titles: Filming Vlog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzsjfZqvzE0&feature=youtu.be
Uploaded to my Youtube Channel

Opening Titles Editing Stage

What we have collected from our research into general Thriller films is that the opening are often  very simple, repetitive scene like the lift descent at the start of Speed , or begin as if its any old romance/ dull or boring, or even a happy/ light-hearted film such as the psychological thrillers The Birds, Pyscho, and even the more modern ones such as Malice (which I intend to review some time soon- after fining out my parents were recently watching it after I interviewed them on paper).

I did my job in doing the building blocks of the editing for my other 2 peers whilst Sam got on with the vlog. When I imported that shots, it seemed to not take up the whole screen on the preview, so I did the thing of enlarging each shot to fit the screen which wasn't a big deal (Ctrl + Drag).
It became quite a challenge at one point, as when I walk into the office, there's shots of Sam hiding behind the door which involves having to cut shots and switch back and forth- where we decided to do  a series of hard cuts (no fades) to keep the viewer focused on the screen whereas the rest of the piece involves tonnes of swift/ soft fades to each shot.

For the piano shots, I had made 2 versions of my piano track; a simpler 2 handed version that Sam could easily mimic when we filmed him on the piano. In this piece we plan to keep this new version of the track, so it fits with the shots we've taken regardless if the viewer knows a lot of music theory or not.

We collectively added in a 'film/ cross dissolve' video transition on Adobe Premiere to make the whole opening feel smooth with the soft, dark music rather than a bunch of hard cuts to each shot; the only time we use hard shots is the part I am walking into my office where it constantly switches to Sam who is hiding behind a door for the right time to pounce.

My peer Bradley took on the editing from the building blocks I had left which was all the scenes in the preferred order all the way to the end. With this we both worked on the scene I get my neck broken by Sam and agreed the lightning was too light on my face, so he got my face darkened to make it realistic to the dim light scene I was in.

My peer Jack took control of laying out and creating the credits for us (including made up names for roles such as Executive Producer and Costumer Designer that would be legitimate in the actually film industry (but not necessary at our stage).

Opening Titles Filming Stage

Us 4 in these 2 pics to the right and the top split the roles up in the final piece;
Me (white shirt guy in the middle)- focused on the electrical music , acting, and a large proportion of the 1st version of the opening
Sam (Hooded guy on the right)- did the final piece of editing for the 2nd revamped version of the opening titles, as well as playing the assassin
Bradley (white shirt guy to the left)- cameraman as well as minor acting and editing towards the 2nd version of the opening
Jack (white shirt guy to the right)- main cameraman and guy behind the typography/ credits of both tasks, and actor

 Last week, we begun the majority of the filming; making sure we kept the continuity in our hairstyles & outfits. A picture of me, Jack & Bradley (my peers) at the top shows us as typical-looking
 businessmen in a black & white clothing to set the thriller scene with the white corridor/ window scenes (quite area of the school; especially during lessons) we were going to have in the top of level of our school.
My friend Sam on the left is equip with his dark hooded Assassin look to contrast the other characters who are working with each other in some way, and as we've decided this opening should be recorded without a mic, and left with my made- up thriller music/ theme (that runs for 2 minutes), it's a good idea to have this contrast, so that the viewer can distinguish possibly who's the bad guy/ opposing side.

We will be probably uploading 1/2 video blogs soon about us explaining, as a group, our different roles, and what we have done to make the opening in a nutshell to these blogs.

After talking a lot between ourselves, we got my peer Jack primarily to guide/ direct what was happening in the opening, and regardless of planning a story before, we did make up what we were going to do on the spot, as we feel this works so much better for us if we plan what is going to happen and worry about the location on the day by mutually agreeing.

We planned and we have filmed a death scene to go in our titles, but if we come to the editing, and find that after a bit of research, not many other thriller opening have death scenes e.g. breaking of necks, we will probably scrap the strangling and leave the opening unclear as opening should be to an extent i.e. the hint that the assassin is probably going to kill the businessman (I).


Without planning exactly for any particular weather, it turned out to be raining outside by the window/ staircase we were going to film with me, Jack and Bradley (guys focusing on directing and filming this piece) meet up with a briefcase and move to our work stations whilst the Assassin is following us. If the rain is noticeable in the shot of the final opening, that would go well with a miserable, dark, black & white mood.
The filming studio, which is right next to the staircase (where the Assassin will come in to kill me whilst working at a desk) has got a lot of empty boxes and lightning dotted around which involved us having to move this stuff to the other end of the room away from the filming- specialized computer; the Tricast, so that nothing unnecessary was in shot of me walking to the desk, sitting down, and having my neck broken whilst working.

During filming the staircase/ window scene, we filmed a medium a shot of me in a smart/ broad posture gazing out of the window at the poring rain; waiting for Bradley to come up a staircase to hand me a case- and then with a silent, gestured discussion, Jack comes into shot and instructs us to follow him out of the shot down a corridor- leading me to singly go into the studio (my workplace to be unknowingly killed). With the staircase, the other camera filmed a shot of the Assassin in the corner of the shot looking up from the bottom the staircase; watching us 3 interact and walk off (pretty much a POV shot).
These shots where a lot of the characters and surroundings are still should make putting in the opening credits simple enough of a job in terms of similar colour, layout etc. etc.


Whilst filming in the studio, we noticed with all the lightning and other equipment was a health and safety hazard with their wires going across the floor, and likely to trip us up, so when we were moving all the stuff to one end of the studio, we made sure the odd wire was tucked/ put somewhere away from where I would be walking into the room and sitting down briskly.

For the studio, we turned the room light off and replaced it with a dim lighting facing me at the computer to make the screen's brightness stand out more, and the focus of the shot to the audience.
With my friend Sam's creativity, we got the 2 HD Cameras to film my death scene, by one of the cameras being hidden underneath of the 2 monitors looking up at me, as well as a medium shot of seeing me side on; having my neck broken by Sam- that way, when it comes to the editing, we have more choice in shots available.
We collectively set up dim lit lightning onto me whilst i'm working at the desk to give that dark/ eerie feel, and even a sense of insensitivity.

For the editing,  my peer Bradley and I  plan to share a role in the editing of the film, an fortunately I have the software adobe Premiere at home which should come in good use when working outside of lessons with my peers/ individually- with obviously coming to a general mutual agreement on what to include and how we should do it.

Opening Titles Development 7; Music & Costumes

For the opening, we will be having 2 characters; an assassin and 2 guys/ men who look like they are in a business (simple black and white dress code which hints at the deathly/ thriller theme of the opening). The main work came to thinking up of a good costume for the assassin and between us 3, we came up with the best ideas shown in these pictures of my friend Sam. Sam came up with a choice that we either cover his whole face, under the hoodie, in his buff to look very mysterious and that the killer could be anyone/ anonymous, or bring it down a bit to reveal his eyes only to look mysteriously creepy to the viewer.
For thriller it would seem strange to have a pianist who is also an assassin, and that way I think we can create a really good opneing.

I personally have been making an electrical piece on the music software, FL Studio, which is an eerie/ thriller theme that last just over 2 minutes. The software used a virtual keyboard to visually place notes and their lengths. 

For this piece, me and my friend Sam worked practically on a keyboard with another friend called Toby who takes Music,and found the D minor scale would be best suited to this opening.

Doing this will mean more originality and issues with finding/ sourcing music that isn't copyrighted.

After a play-through with Sam on a piano in a music room in which all 4 of us agree to film the piano scene, for his sake (regardless of small takes rather than a long cut of Sam playing the whole song) he asked me to make the piece easier to play with 2 hands and possibility ridding the little quick improvisation parts that are across the piece.

I have now create an easier version of the theme for Sam which should have a lower key range with using both hands separately.

Now it is a case of finding a small music room in our school's music department which is free for playing on a piano (my peer Jack reckons a grand piano would best suit us) to film Sam playing the piano seen in his costume, and then we will do about the corridor scene (an easy place to film right outside our classes) which won't be a problem during lessons when people aren't making lots of noise across the area of the school we usually house in.

Pier Interview- Thriller Research

Here, we interviewed one of our friends at school (age 17) to see the late teenager view of thriller films/ conventions. This will help us in making final last minute decisions on the concept and filing orientation of the final product i.e. the editing we will use, sound, and possibly the camera angles/ shots.

General Research into Thrillers

In order to understand the genre we are working, I am writing on the Thriller genre in general in this post.

The genre is driven by the main aspects of suspense, excitement, anticipation; the need to get the audience 'on the edge of their seats'/ alert. These films have a tendency to be fast paced especially the action thrillers, and nerving/ increasing the adrenaline in the audience; getting the audience to expect one thing and reveal that it isn't the case and something unexpected occurs to keep the story fresh by reveal.

The thing with Thrillers is that they have a lot of overlapping themes with other genres, and subsequently also due to the variety in which Thrillers come as, they are split into sub- genres of which I've reviewed both psychological thrillers and an action thriller for the coursework, but seeing all the sub- genres that exist, I realize just how many Thrillers I've actually watched generally in my life time including; Crime Thrillers, Legal Thrillers, Science Fiction Thrillers, Religious Thrillers, Action Thrillers, Film Noir & Psychological Thrillers & even Erotic Thrillers.

............................

After accomplishing the Preliminary exercise, I'm wandering whether our short film would fall into the crime- thriller genre as it involves the cold, dark, mysterious killing of a suspect by a detective who could be considered a bit contradictory to what a detective does and seemingly the potential of an anti- hero character in how he seems to be the protagonist except his dark words/ actions seem uncertain between moral and unmoral.

............................

I've begun to questionnaire people I know about their knowledge and comments on Thrillers i.e. my parents.

What comes to your mind when you think of a Thriller film?
-Scary, Tense, exciting
-sitting-on-the-edge-of your seat
-holding hands to love ones
-Suspense, unexpected parts of film (equally expected parts- cliche's, but thrillers can sometimes cleverly bringing you into thinking something else; drawing you away from expecting an upcoming event)

What makes a Thriller good in your opinion?
-good build-up/ story
-good characterization/ familiarization with protagonist  from the usual thriller beginning being a normal day-to-day character with a causal/ normal day-to-day routine
-eerie music (psychological thriller)
-isolated, dark/ Gothic places- dark/ sinister

How would you start a Thriller off?
-daily casual opening introducing protagonist
-(action thriller)action/intense opening (007 films are similar but really a genre of themselves)- to catch audience attention

Name a few other sub-genres in the Thriller genre...
-Political thriller- how government works- popular dramas- certain politicians up to business they shouldn't be doing/ corruption- very popular for an older audience (older adults)

I also did a questionnaire which 10 of my colleagues where I developed a pie chart with every response from a person (they were allowed to say more than one thing hence why the pie chart do not add up to 10).

The 1st pie chart deals with my peers' first thoughts on the word thriller, which will help me think up of the direction we want to take for the opening titles e.g. more action packed over scary etc.

This 2nd pie chart shows what my peers expect when they are about to see a thriller- regardless of sub-genre. These are key words worth implementing into the final idea for the opening titles.

Recently, we have decided on taking a similar step to the main task as the preliminary in keeping the opening mysterious e.g. eerie setting/ music, and making the audience slightly nervous right at the end. The only ways we would emphasize or intensify the action concept (action packed being mentioned a quarter of the time from the questionnaire) would be in making jump/ hard cuts from frame to frame to increase audience interest in an increase of pace, as this piece isn't action based e.g. explosions, guns etc.

For the opening titles, we have taken on board aspects from this questionnaire such as dark settings making up a lot of a thriller's environment, but this will probably be challenged in our final piece as we plan to shoot in our school grounds in a couple of empty corridors (although in the editing stage we can dim the lighting if we wanted to).
Hopefully there are other ways of making it intense and exciting after than a dim lit setting e.g. sound; background music or effects.