First Draft

Draft Titles 15/12/15

Font: Copperplate Gothic Bold

First draft titles

Filming 10/12/15

Today was the first day of filming. The weather was overcast, which is what we wanted because we thought that it would help us to create an eerie atmosphere. We completed all of our outdoor filming and managed to incorporate the interruption of rain to our production. We got a shot of the rain bouncing off and into a puddle and then had George come into shot and walk through the puddle, we chose to do this as once edited it would help to set the scene. 

The problems we faced were minor and were easily solved. For example our location was littered and ruined the mise en scene so we cleared it away and continued with our filming. The second problem we faced was with Amy and George because they were un sure on how to perform a certain scene where George grabs her forcefully, however once we had conferred and re assured them, they were comfortable and performed it well. Abi and I took it in turns to Film and direct as we were aware that we had to evenly split the jobs. We helped each other by assisting with the set up of the equipment and we consulted each other with each decision we made. For example, when George wasn't sure where to stand, together we made the decision for him to be completely out of shot to start with and the walk into the shot. We made this decision because we thought it would allow his character to make more impact to the production and emphasise his role in the film, because he would be starting it.

We helped ourselves because we had already drawn a storyboard with specific shots on. As a result of this we were able to limit the time in which we spent filming because we were not making it up as we went along. 

Location shot of George Bartram and Amy Jowett:

Here is an image of Abi and I setting up the Tripod:

Here is an image of Abi and I reviewing a shot that we had just taken:

I was filming a shot of George walking onto the scene, but just of his feet. Because the tripod does not go that low i was struggling to get a steady shot, so I used Abi's foot to rest the camera on in order to get a steady low shot of George. 

Here is a image of us getting the shot:

Props

Our Thriller require minimal props, but the main props needed are essential in order for our film to flow.
A backpack is needed because the male protagonist will need to store another prop in there. It also adds to his character as it leaves the audience to guess what he keeps in his bag.

The second prop needed is hair extensions, these are essential for our thriller, because the whole storyline is based upon the male protagonist's obsession with hair and one of the most significant scenes will be him cutting up the hair in his workshop. We do not require a specific hair colour, but either brown or blonde would be best, because the female characters in our thriller either have brown or blonde hair.

The third prop that we will require is scissors, it is very important that we have this prop because we will need it to film one of the most intriguing scenes: where the male character is cutting up hair. We also need them so record some diegetic sound of them opening and closing in order to add some sound to our film.

Risk Assessment

Risk: Production member tripping over some of the equipment.
How to prevent: Ensure the production crew and actors are aware of the equipment and ensure the equipment is is tucked away if possible.

Risk: The camera falling off the tripod and hitting someone.
How to prevent: Ensure that the camera is secured onto the tripod firmly

Narrative

This is an image of our original, less detailed narrative: 

Our narrative is as follows: 

The opening shot of the Thriller will be a low angle shot of feet walking aimlessly towards an empty film. The angles will vary with this scene from head on, to the side and over the shoulder shot showing the male character walk onto the field. It will the cut to a shot of a male character standing will a female character on the far side of the field. The female will have long hair  which it what draws the male to her. Throughout this scene there will we flickering shots of close up shots of the male character with a handful of a woman's hair smelling it and various signs in his workshop/office at home. The narrative is kept simple as it is only the opening of the Thriller, so we want the audience to think for themselves as to what happens next. There will then be shots of the man cutting off women's hair. The opening scene will finish will a close up of a females mouth and then the male character suddenly covering her mouth.

Actors and costume

Filming schedule

The date that we have chosen to film is Thursday 10th December, we have booked the camera, tripod and some lighting.

Test filming shots

We took 3 test shots of my hair blowing in the wind, to see which looked the most effective. I faced different ways each time to vary the shots.

 

Shot 1:

 

Shot 2:

 

Shot 3:

 

 

Storyboard

In lesson we drew a storyboard outlining the basic scenes that we will include in our production.

Questionnaire

I created a questionnaire on Survey Monkey. The link to the questionnaire is: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/N9KTJ7Q

The results from this questionnaire help us to gather a general opinion of our Thriller opening and allowed us to make decisions based on the feedback we were given. The questions we asked were about the narrative, lighting and general questions regarding our ideas and the Thriller genre.
I got results from 46 people.
Here are some graphs created from my questionnaire results:

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

Question 6

Question 7

Question 8

Brainstorm

Here is an image of a brainstorm that Abi and I created prior to filming and in our planning stage.

Location Recce Shots

In Tuesday's lesson, Abi and I decided to go out and take some test shots and shots of the location that we will film at when filming our final piece. We took multiple images of the location, but we then decided to practice some specific shots to see if they would work effectively when we come to filming. For example, we found to locations where reflections are easily captured as we will incorporate these shots into our final film.

Reflection shots:

Shots of the location where we will be filming:

We also took images of props that we will incorporate into our filming as part of the mise en scene.

Images of props:

We took a couple of shots to test the angles and lighting in that specific location: