Thriller (Test Shoot) - Evaluation

After watching our test shoot a couple of times we have decided upon certain major changes within our thriller. First of all the action of the opening sequence no longer occurs primarily in the bedroom, but rather in the kitchen and at the front porch. Furthermore we have decided that the two characters present within the sequence will be a husband and a wife, as well as that a third character will also make an appearance. First of all the husband will wake up wasted in his bed and travel to the kitchen where his wife will be cutting up vegetables. The couple will exchange a couple of lines of dialogue before the house bell rings and the husband leaves the kitchen to open the door. At the door the husband/assassin will meet his contractor, which will complaint about an unfinished job. As the tension builds due to the conversation between the assassin and his contractor getting in to an argument, the wife will sneak to the front porch and assassinate her husband. Afterwards she will ask her husbands contractor if the job is still open. As a team we think that this type of sequence allows for a more dramatic build up, as well as higher amounts of tension, leading up to a shocking event that hooks the audience in a manner that makes them want to watch the rest of the film.

Thriller - Test Shoot

Filming a test shoot for our thriller introduction allowed our team to grasp a better understanding of what our idea might look like if we were to carry it out. Furthermore by trying out one of the two rough ideas for your thriller we have decided that the idea we have filmed is ultimately the worse idea alteration and will be switching to the second rough concept. Continuing after some thought we have decided to alter the opening sequence due to the lack of tension and action in the extract. My previous blog posts describe more in detail as in what changes we have agreed on subsequent to the recording of the test shoot. It is also worth mentioning that the test shoot allowed our team to visualise what types of shots would be best to represent the story, as well as what sounds and light would be fitting throughout the sequence. For Instance the lighting in the scene would at first be bright to symbolise the good atmosphere present in the first couple of establishing shots. Afterwards during the scene in the bathroom the lighting would become significantly darker in order to suggest the wicked nature and life of the assassin. Although once the assassin would enter the bedroom set the lighting would once again return to being well lit so as to allow the audience to denote that there is in fact nothing extraordinary about the situation in which the assassin finds himself in. Overall the test shoot allowed our team to decide upon the better rough concept as well as begin working on such key factors as lighting, sound, and shot type, which after certain moderations will all benefit our thriller introduction.

Thriller - Final

Through a number discussions and new ideas our team has decided to slightly alter our thriller concept. At this stage we have decided that after the girl kills the protagonist she will ask her contractor weather the job is still open, at which point he camera will cut black. Furthermore we agreed upon lengthening the conversation between the contractor and the protagonist as to gradually build tension and suspense. At the same time we want to attempt filming a sequence during which the protagonist speaks to his contractor through the phone, after which the sequence ends. We would like to try this out in order to see weather is it a function or broken concept. By filming a test shoot our group will examine which idea would be better to go with whilst proceeding towards the filming dates. After our test shoot we will be able to further develop upon the mise-en-scene, sounds, editing style, and camera angles/shots. It is also better for us to do things in this order as we are able to reflect upon our test shoot and have a better idea of where to go from that point.Generally speaking though, our group has two rough ideas for what we would like our final sequence to look like after filming it and editing it in the post-production process.

Thriller - Class Collaboration

The class that we are placed in has collaborated with our group in order to enhance/develop our thriller idea even further. At the beginning of the class we stated our thriller idea to our class after which we sat down and listened to our class give us some suggestions and ideas of their own about what they would change within our thriller. Some of our classmates suggested that we enhance the personality of our characters by giving them ingenious lines of dialogue. Other classmates told us that it would be easier for them to visualise our thriller if we could specify further what’s the type of music we are going to us and what’s the type of lighting we are going to use and how will id add towards our story. After a number of exchanged arguments our group agreed upon creating a storyboard and shot list to help others visualise what our thriller will look like. Continuing some of our other classmates gave us a range of other suggestions that we chose not to note down as we did not agree with them that it would enhance our thriller or we simply did not feel as a team that that was an adequate change to our concept. One positive aspect of this collaboration although was that we were able to see what are other people points of views on our thriller. Furthermore our class helped us fix some small details/plot holes within our thriller that we as a group have missed out. For instance it did not make sense for our thriller that the man sleeps drunk in the bathroom and the women sleeps in the bed, hinting at a fight the night earlier, but have them talk to each other as if nothing was wrong. Our group fixed that problem thanks to the help of our class by having the man wake up in bed with the woman in the kitchen at the beginning of the sequence. In general our class helped us a great deal with developing upon our groups thriller introduction concept.

Thriller - Exploring/Developing

After forming an initial idea for a thriller I have been placed in a group that together with me will create an opening thriller sequence this school year. During the past couple of days we had the occasion of sharing our opening thriller concepts. Each of stated what it is that they enjoy about their thriller idea and what it is that they would like to contribute from their individual thrillers towards the group project. By doing so our group was able to distinguish what all of us would like to see within our groups thriller and blend together our ideas in a way that at the end we were left with a fixated and comprehensible idea that we could improve upon further. We have done this through deciding on a certain motive and feel to the main thriller that we would like to achieve prior to even sharing our ideas.  So far our group is set on creating an introduction to a psychological-thriller. Ultimately we generated an idea that was composed out of more or less my plot line, together with Kami’s thrilling tension builds and Victoria’s idea for the sounds within the thriller, as well as the make up and props. One major change our group agreed upon was to switch around the ending and have the protagonist meet his contractor in person, after which the girl would shoot him down in the back of his head. Additionally we have gone into detail as in what sounds and music should be present throughout the sequence as well as what lighting should there be so that it corresponds to the mood of the media piece. From that point we went on to talk about the possible mise-en-scene, editing, and camera angles/shots we could potentially use/incorporate in our thriller. Overall as a group we have been able to establish a clear and developed opening sequence through group collaboration.