Our brief was to construct the opening sequence of a thriller film, including titles and a wide range of camera shots. This opening sequence was to be aimed at audiences of 15 or 18 certificates.
Firstly, I analysed different existing films within our set genre, including Psycho, The eyes of Laura Mars, Basic Instinct and Fatal Attraction and from these examples, I was able to analyse the codes and conventions of a thriller film which we could exercise in our own project. The codes and conventions of thriller films were evident. The purpose of the genre is to create anticipation, and to keep the audience guessing throughout the film. The purpose of an opening sequence is to leave subtle hints to what the film may include, creating an air of mystery or enigma code, leaving the audience questioning the outcome of the plot; the answers to which are revealed at the films ending. Music, lighting, camera shots and mise-en-scène are used effectively to show the protagonist and the antagonist of the piece, as the openings of thriller films is basically the establishment of the main character.
Todorov’s theory of steadiness where any potentially opposing forces are balanced and Levi-Strauss’s narrative structure in terms of binary oppositions are vital roles in thriller movies. In our film, we believed that Levi-Strauss’s theory played an important role as we wanted the opposite values of normal and strange within the antagonist and protagonist characters. Although these theories apply to the whole film, not just the opening sequence. The opening never shows the solution and restoration of the equilibrium, as seen in Todorov’s theory, as the audience needs to keep speculating the outcome of the events shown.
I ascertained that in most openings, there are few obvious features shown, just a sufficient amount to discover the protagonist of the piece and the antagonist, and to state the clear difference between the both. This is not necessarily revealed exclusively through dialogue, but also through more effective factors such as body language, lighting, music, camera work, costume. I have found that most opening sequences contain little to no dialogue, because this keeps the audience debating the state of mind and emotions of the characters displayed, this lets the audience feel a part of the film.
Low-key lighting is often used, to create an eerie atmosphere, due to the heavy shadowing it creates. Jump cuts are not always essential to create atmosphere, simple cut edits create a focus to the speech and body language of the characters and doesn’t distract the audience to impressive transitions and perplexed editing.
Orchestral music is commonly used in thriller films, which speeds up or increases in pitch to create drama and tension as the sequence develops. Woodwind and strings are usually used in thriller soundtracks and the music is typically in a minor key. The titles reflect this classical aspect, as the credits are simple, brief and of an archaic font. They are usually in monochrome colours, to reflect the darkness and eeriness of the production.
When we started planning our film, one of the factors we discussed was locations. We wanted a definite vagueness to the events of our thriller, so we decided to film it in a suburban house. We decided that my household would be perfect for this, It was away from any town noise and congestion, and was situated by a quiet road, vaguely used. The location was perfect, as we did not have set times to work by, and it was simple to organise filming as my team lived a mere couple of minutes away. This would also help the audience relate it to their own lives, and their own homes. We decided to not show any actual crime in our opening sequence, but we use a lot of subtle suggestion, as usually perceived in most opening sequences.
In our opening sequence, we wished to utilize techniques from the examples we had researched. So we decided to use simple shots, with no dialogue, so the audience could concentrate on the in-depth narrative and the complex character’s personas and attitudes. We wanted to use a low-key light to give a sense of creepiness. Our protagonist character was the idea that did not change throughout planning. We named this character “Miss Red”, a connotation of the verb ‘misread’, which means to misinterpret someone or something. We decided the character would also focus around the colour red, her costume consisting of a black dress, red coat and red shoes. We decided that this obvious presentation of red, which is stereotypical in thriller films, is an association with blood and death, giving our character an underlying darker persona which causes the audience to question how this will develop throughout the film. We used the theme of red throughout the film, using in costumes and props. The couple’s bed sheets were red, as was the top that Miss Red picked out and the lipstick that she put on in the mirror. We also had a clear idea of what we wanted Miss Red to be like, so we left her hair curly and natural, and left her legs bare, extended by the heels to create a persona of sexiness and dominance. This protagonist character is not a general convention of thriller films, as usually there is a dominant male as this character and a helpless female as the antagonist. We decided to go against this general theme, because our film was influenced through so many other films, we wanted to create uniqueness in our film.
We also made a brave decision to not film our protagonists face, as we thought this would add mystery and suspense within our audience. It would also make her seem like a perpetrator, the audience cannot connect with her as they cannot see her face or any important features. In contrast, the shots of the antagonist character are all close-ups of her face, making her seem open and vulnerable. We also used close-ups of “Miss Red’s” actions such as her hands and feet, adding to the anonymity created by this character.
When our film was nearing completion, I started to undertake research into what production company I would like to produce our film. If we had the opportunity and the connections, an American production company such as ‘Twisted Pictures’ would be an obvious choice. ‘Twisted Pictures’ is known for producing mainly horror and thriller films, so we would obtain the correct audience interested in our genre. Also due to ‘Twisted Pictures’ reputation and availability to high budgets for filming and advertisement, would increase the professionalism of our piece and its popularity, creating a higher profit and an increase in audience reviews. There could be a risk of losing control with larger companies like this though, a bigger budget means there is more people working on the film, resulting in a possible overruling of the original film makers ideas and opinions.
Small independent film companies would be more likely to produce our film. A company I would be interested in producing our film is “Film 4” as they welcome amateur ideas and films to adapt and produce for television and cinema. ‘Film 4’ is known for producing films of many different genres, giving us an extremely large audience who would view our film on.
‘Film 4’ is a production agency from the UK, and the UK, unlike America is known for the encouragement of young and amateur screenwriters to improve and adapt their own screenplays, unlike the American companies who are known for buying the ideas and employing a professional to tweak and change the story to increase its effectiveness. Due to this, by using an America company, we would not even have our name against the film we have created or any rights to it, but by using an Independent company we would have more rights to our film.
When choosing a location for our film to be played, a small, eerie building such as an art house would be effective. As the dark and dismal atmosphere of the place, would reflect and enhance the atmosphere and emotion in the film that we wish to convey.
There is an old, abandoned cinema located on Brewery Lane in Bridgend, it has not been used in almost ten years, and was first opened back in 1939. This building would be an effective place to show our film if it was safe to use and still in moderate condition, but unfortunately it is not useable. It would be effective to use a suburban house, decorated maturely to show our film, as it would fit into the plot of the film, making the audience think that they are actually apart of the film.
The target audience of our film was aimed at a 15 certificate, an audience who generally enjoys thriller films. We also chose this certificate as we believed that this is the lowest age group who could really understand the complex narrative. Our location also says a lot for our target audience, a suburban area relates to ordinary people in modern day society, which is our target audience. We chose this as they would be able to relate their own lives to the story. The natural title for our film was “Miss Red” as we wanted to centralise the importance of this character. In every single one of our storyboards, the murderess did not change, so she was obviously a very important idea to the group. I believe that this characters appearance would relate to our target audience as they might be able to imagine her motives in their own personal lives. Also with the connotation to the verb “Misread” it gives you the idea that you should not misinterpret the force and darkness of the main character, even though she is perceived as beautiful and sophisticated, we wanted to show that there is a darker side to even the best. This persona and atmosphere can help the audience relate it in some way to their own relationships that may have ended badly. We also made up a production name “JABD productions”. It is the first initials of everyone in the group involved, we used this as it had a nice ring to it and we wanted to have our names put against our project because we were very proud of the outcome. We didn’t want to waste too much time on the production title also as there were better and harder things to work on. Due to the production name being simple and basic, it helps the audience remember our production and aspect of the film. This could eventually create a larger audience and popularity.
Our first storyboard was completely different to our final one. The first storyboard we created consisted of a murderess killing her boyfriend then going back to a house, in which the event took place. We decided to use flashbacks to show how the murder happened and we wanted her mock his death. We filmed this idea, but we made a lot of errors, including wobbly camera shots, inefficient lighting and too many ideas being put into a small amount of time. After reviewing these film clips within the group and others, we decided that this idea was not going to work as it was too complicated and over thought. The people that reviewed our first idea, such as our media studies teacher and friends, said that the idea was of good quality, but we needed a lot more time and more technology to fulfil it.
Our second storyboard, contained a new character, a current girlfriend of the male, we wanted to perceive the murderess as a crazed ex-girlfriend, coming to hunt the current girlfriend. We had the murderess threaten the girlfriend with a gun and then fading to black with a gunshot. We decided this idea was much better than our last, as it was simple and effective, but when reviewing it with our media studies tutor, she explained there was no after story, the film was not able to develop as we had put all the action in the opening sequence. We agreed with this opinion, and once again brainstormed a new storyboard.
Our third, and final storyboard, consisted of the boyfriend leaving the girlfriend alone in the house. The murderess then enters the house, with a key; too create history between the boyfriend and the murderess. She then enters the house and moves upstairs, searching through the girlfriends bedroom, going through her clothes and possessions before moving to a photo of the happy couple and slamming it down, creating an impression of hate and jealousy. Throughout this, shots of the girlfriend are shown, who is oblivious of what is going on in the house, showing a sense of vulnerability, so the girlfriend is seen as the antagonist of the piece. When displaying our ideas to our media studies tutor, we received back excellent feedback.
When creating titles for our film, we researched other openings to see what names and titles were mentioned. We decided to only include the actor’s names, the production company and the directors, as we did not want any more distraction from the film itself. This way we could achieve a larger audience as they are more interested in the film rather than the named actors in it or the production company. We used classic, archaic writing, commonly used in thriller films, to show our knowledge of the thriller genre. The actual title of the film was of a different font. We gained this from dafont.com, a website specialising in different fonts. The font we used was called “biro script” which is a distorted handwriting, creating a personal but dark touch to the protagonist character. We used this right at the end of the opening sequence, where the screen fades to black and in white the text reads “some people are often misread” then “Miss Red” appears, in white and red. We used white and red as a contrast of white being pure and innocent and red being the colour of blood and death. This connects with the characters persona, a sweet, beautiful appearance, but a dark inner mind, overwhelmed with a sense of jealous insanity and a thirst for revenge. When our film was completed, I designed a DVD cover and poster to advertise our film, using the same font we used in the film. This archaic font may draw people to watch the film, as it’s interesting, and leaves a lot to the audience’s imagination.
During a Year 12 open evening, we broadcasted our final piece of work to the pupils in year eleven debating whether to return for sixth form. We received back brilliants reviews of our film that were recorded by one of my team members. Our film was deemed “impressive” and the majority of the audience wanted to know the outcome of the story.
Throughout our film, we made mistakes, often the camera would not be straight, or the shot would not work against the last due to continuity differences, and we were obliged to go back and film again. Overall, we spent four days filming, but it was all worth it. I believe as a team we were strong and very independent. We met our deadlines, and worked to the best of our abilities. During the whole of this project, we did have disagreements and petty arguments, as everyone in the A/S level class found the project stressful, but we got through this professionally. I believe I have learnt a lot throughout this experience, and am incredibly proud of our finished result. I believe that we have all worked to the best of our ability with the resources available.
Miss Red has a sense of realism within its plot. The film shows, that gender is not an important role when displaying murderers. In the real world, it is proved that there are more male murderers than female, but I believe this film shows how a woman can be as domineering and as vicious as a male, and it proves that you do not need a male to indicate power and strength within a character. Although, on the other hand, any visual text needs to grab the audience’s attention straight away, so some actions and storylines need to be exaggerated in thriller films to create the cliff-hanger effect necessary in the first couple of minutes within the film. Opening sequences need to contain a lot of mystery and they need to leave availability for questions to be asked, this is why realism needs to be extended, to keep the audience guessing.
When creating titles for our film, we researched other openings to see what names and titles were mentioned. We decided to only include the actor’s names, the production company and the directors, as we did not want any more distraction from the film itself. We used classic, archaic writing, commonly used in thriller films, to show our knowledge of the thriller genre. The actual title of the film was of a different font. We gained this from dafont.com, a website specialising in different fonts. The font we used was called “biro script” which is a distorted handwriting, creating a personal but dark touch to the protagonist character. We used this right at the end of the opening sequence, where the screen fades to black and in white the text reads “some people are often misread” then “Miss Red” appears, in white and red. We used white and red as a contrast of white being pure and innocent and red being the colour of blood and death. This connects with the characters persona, a sweet, beautiful appearance, but a dark inner mind, overwhelmed with a sense of jealous insanity and a thirst for revenge.
Our film is distinctive as the protagonist character is of the opposite gender usually found in thriller films, and we have no dialogue throughout the whole piece, leaving the audience to focus on the body language and movements of the main character. We used various camera shots, including a reflection of Miss Red putting on lipstick in a mirror. This was a very professional shot, as we had to make sure the camera was not caught in the reflection, or any of the crew, as we did not want anything to ruin the atmosphere. We also used very good establishing shots. We created one long shot of the suburban house, then another from outside of the living room window, in which the boyfriend and girlfriend were sitting, and finally a medium shot inside the living room, where the activity starts.
We decided to use artificial light when filming outdoors, as we chose to film at night, not to ruin the continuity whilst the film got put together. We used low key lighting, to create shadows and dullness. Low-key lighting is generally used to create a mysterious devious atmosphere, which is exactly what we wanted to distinguish in our film.
When we completed our film and started to edit it, we used Imovie, a movie editing application found on Apple Macs. This technology was extremely impressive and we were able to run our film smoothly and easily with tools such as precision cutting and cropping, so any small mistakes that were obtained, could be easily fixed or cut, without the need to film again. We didn’t want any impressive transitions after every shot, as we wanted simple cuts throughout our film so the audience focussed on our content rather than our effects. We slowed down the last clip of Miss Red slamming the photo of the happy couple down, to increase the tension and the jealous aspect we wished to present, and also echoed the noise of the picture slamming. We used a cross blur whilst Miss Red was walking down the hallway, as we felt the clip went on for too long, so we cut the clip and added a transition. We chose this transition as it caused the clip to go out of focus; this may confuse the audience about Miss Red’s prerogative, creating more mystery for the audience.
Whilst editing, we muted our film due to noises from around the house that ruined the continuity, we always planned on having a soundtrack so this factor did not affect us. Our original soundtrack was going to be Rihanna’s “Russian Roulette”, we were aware we could not use the actual song due to copyright, but we were planning on using the songs instrumental, slightly changing it on “Garage Band” or “Windows Movie Maker” but instead went a different direction and used a track from the Thriller Soundtrack CD located in the Media Studies department. This track consists of a main piano theme and strings, which is commonly heard in thriller films as it leaves a sense of sorrow and ambiguity, so we believed it would show a good understanding of the research we did. We finally decided on this piece because as our film ends, the soundtrack ends with slow pulsating beats, almost similar to a heartbeat which intrigued the group. Before finishing our film, we decided to put “hard light” on some of the clips in the house. This effect darkened the shadows already created and accentuated the colours in the shot, effectively bringing out the reds in the bedroom and on the character.
When we first started video production, we were instructed to make a continuity exercise to help us learn the basic rules of what to do when filming. Although this process is a much basic exercise than making a thriller opening, but it gave us a lot of practise and a good introduction to the technology we would be using. The sequence had to be simple, with no transitions or music, consisted of only cut edits, and had to last a maximum of 45 seconds, a mediocre task compared to our thriller sequence which had a time limit of roughly two minutes. Looking back onto the task, it helped me realize the lengthy process of filming for a clip that may only last a short amount of time, and the patience and determination you need when things go wrong, at the start of the process I underestimated how much effort and work has to be put into the project and I didn’t take into consideration how much pre-production research had to be carried out. The exercise also helped me realise that you cannot just start filming immediately, you have to stop and brainstorm your ideas before even picking up the camera and you need to have a firm idea on what is going to happen exactly in every different shot. You also need to research objectives such as target audiences, to know exactly the attitude and story you need. This task improved my knowledge of filming and helped me gain the vital information that I lacked when beginning media studies. I found researching other influencing openings in the same genre helpful also, as it helped me realise the stereotypical codes and conventions of a film opening that my group and I could use in our own. My group tended to over think everything, as we are very determined people who wished to create the film to the best of our abilities and due to this, I think we were very obnoxious and arrogant of our abilities. I believe that the preliminary exercise was an impressive learning exercise which not only helped me realise the solid effort needed to produce a simple film, but helped me learn about the world of media and the technology used which I could adapt to my own work.
Firstly, I analysed different existing films within our set genre, including Psycho, The eyes of Laura Mars, Basic Instinct and Fatal Attraction and from these examples, I was able to analyse the codes and conventions of a thriller film which we could exercise in our own project. The codes and conventions of thriller films were evident. The purpose of the genre is to create anticipation, and to keep the audience guessing throughout the film. The purpose of an opening sequence is to leave subtle hints to what the film may include, creating an air of mystery or enigma code, leaving the audience questioning the outcome of the plot; the answers to which are revealed at the films ending. Music, lighting, camera shots and mise-en-scène are used effectively to show the protagonist and the antagonist of the piece, as the openings of thriller films is basically the establishment of the main character.
Todorov’s theory of steadiness where any potentially opposing forces are balanced and Levi-Strauss’s narrative structure in terms of binary oppositions are vital roles in thriller movies. In our film, we believed that Levi-Strauss’s theory played an important role as we wanted the opposite values of normal and strange within the antagonist and protagonist characters. Although these theories apply to the whole film, not just the opening sequence. The opening never shows the solution and restoration of the equilibrium, as seen in Todorov’s theory, as the audience needs to keep speculating the outcome of the events shown.
I ascertained that in most openings, there are few obvious features shown, just a sufficient amount to discover the protagonist of the piece and the antagonist, and to state the clear difference between the both. This is not necessarily revealed exclusively through dialogue, but also through more effective factors such as body language, lighting, music, camera work, costume. I have found that most opening sequences contain little to no dialogue, because this keeps the audience debating the state of mind and emotions of the characters displayed, this lets the audience feel a part of the film.
Low-key lighting is often used, to create an eerie atmosphere, due to the heavy shadowing it creates. Jump cuts are not always essential to create atmosphere, simple cut edits create a focus to the speech and body language of the characters and doesn’t distract the audience to impressive transitions and perplexed editing.
Orchestral music is commonly used in thriller films, which speeds up or increases in pitch to create drama and tension as the sequence develops. Woodwind and strings are usually used in thriller soundtracks and the music is typically in a minor key. The titles reflect this classical aspect, as the credits are simple, brief and of an archaic font. They are usually in monochrome colours, to reflect the darkness and eeriness of the production.
When we started planning our film, one of the factors we discussed was locations. We wanted a definite vagueness to the events of our thriller, so we decided to film it in a suburban house. We decided that my household would be perfect for this, It was away from any town noise and congestion, and was situated by a quiet road, vaguely used. The location was perfect, as we did not have set times to work by, and it was simple to organise filming as my team lived a mere couple of minutes away. This would also help the audience relate it to their own lives, and their own homes. We decided to not show any actual crime in our opening sequence, but we use a lot of subtle suggestion, as usually perceived in most opening sequences.
In our opening sequence, we wished to utilize techniques from the examples we had researched. So we decided to use simple shots, with no dialogue, so the audience could concentrate on the in-depth narrative and the complex character’s personas and attitudes. We wanted to use a low-key light to give a sense of creepiness. Our protagonist character was the idea that did not change throughout planning. We named this character “Miss Red”, a connotation of the verb ‘misread’, which means to misinterpret someone or something. We decided the character would also focus around the colour red, her costume consisting of a black dress, red coat and red shoes. We decided that this obvious presentation of red, which is stereotypical in thriller films, is an association with blood and death, giving our character an underlying darker persona which causes the audience to question how this will develop throughout the film. We used the theme of red throughout the film, using in costumes and props. The couple’s bed sheets were red, as was the top that Miss Red picked out and the lipstick that she put on in the mirror. We also had a clear idea of what we wanted Miss Red to be like, so we left her hair curly and natural, and left her legs bare, extended by the heels to create a persona of sexiness and dominance. This protagonist character is not a general convention of thriller films, as usually there is a dominant male as this character and a helpless female as the antagonist. We decided to go against this general theme, because our film was influenced through so many other films, we wanted to create uniqueness in our film.
We also made a brave decision to not film our protagonists face, as we thought this would add mystery and suspense within our audience. It would also make her seem like a perpetrator, the audience cannot connect with her as they cannot see her face or any important features. In contrast, the shots of the antagonist character are all close-ups of her face, making her seem open and vulnerable. We also used close-ups of “Miss Red’s” actions such as her hands and feet, adding to the anonymity created by this character.
When our film was nearing completion, I started to undertake research into what production company I would like to produce our film. If we had the opportunity and the connections, an American production company such as ‘Twisted Pictures’ would be an obvious choice. ‘Twisted Pictures’ is known for producing mainly horror and thriller films, so we would obtain the correct audience interested in our genre. Also due to ‘Twisted Pictures’ reputation and availability to high budgets for filming and advertisement, would increase the professionalism of our piece and its popularity, creating a higher profit and an increase in audience reviews. There could be a risk of losing control with larger companies like this though, a bigger budget means there is more people working on the film, resulting in a possible overruling of the original film makers ideas and opinions.
Small independent film companies would be more likely to produce our film. A company I would be interested in producing our film is “Film 4” as they welcome amateur ideas and films to adapt and produce for television and cinema. ‘Film 4’ is known for producing films of many different genres, giving us an extremely large audience who would view our film on.
‘Film 4’ is a production agency from the UK, and the UK, unlike America is known for the encouragement of young and amateur screenwriters to improve and adapt their own screenplays, unlike the American companies who are known for buying the ideas and employing a professional to tweak and change the story to increase its effectiveness. Due to this, by using an America company, we would not even have our name against the film we have created or any rights to it, but by using an Independent company we would have more rights to our film.
When choosing a location for our film to be played, a small, eerie building such as an art house would be effective. As the dark and dismal atmosphere of the place, would reflect and enhance the atmosphere and emotion in the film that we wish to convey.
There is an old, abandoned cinema located on Brewery Lane in Bridgend, it has not been used in almost ten years, and was first opened back in 1939. This building would be an effective place to show our film if it was safe to use and still in moderate condition, but unfortunately it is not useable. It would be effective to use a suburban house, decorated maturely to show our film, as it would fit into the plot of the film, making the audience think that they are actually apart of the film.
The target audience of our film was aimed at a 15 certificate, an audience who generally enjoys thriller films. We also chose this certificate as we believed that this is the lowest age group who could really understand the complex narrative. Our location also says a lot for our target audience, a suburban area relates to ordinary people in modern day society, which is our target audience. We chose this as they would be able to relate their own lives to the story. The natural title for our film was “Miss Red” as we wanted to centralise the importance of this character. In every single one of our storyboards, the murderess did not change, so she was obviously a very important idea to the group. I believe that this characters appearance would relate to our target audience as they might be able to imagine her motives in their own personal lives. Also with the connotation to the verb “Misread” it gives you the idea that you should not misinterpret the force and darkness of the main character, even though she is perceived as beautiful and sophisticated, we wanted to show that there is a darker side to even the best. This persona and atmosphere can help the audience relate it in some way to their own relationships that may have ended badly. We also made up a production name “JABD productions”. It is the first initials of everyone in the group involved, we used this as it had a nice ring to it and we wanted to have our names put against our project because we were very proud of the outcome. We didn’t want to waste too much time on the production title also as there were better and harder things to work on. Due to the production name being simple and basic, it helps the audience remember our production and aspect of the film. This could eventually create a larger audience and popularity.
Our first storyboard was completely different to our final one. The first storyboard we created consisted of a murderess killing her boyfriend then going back to a house, in which the event took place. We decided to use flashbacks to show how the murder happened and we wanted her mock his death. We filmed this idea, but we made a lot of errors, including wobbly camera shots, inefficient lighting and too many ideas being put into a small amount of time. After reviewing these film clips within the group and others, we decided that this idea was not going to work as it was too complicated and over thought. The people that reviewed our first idea, such as our media studies teacher and friends, said that the idea was of good quality, but we needed a lot more time and more technology to fulfil it.
Our second storyboard, contained a new character, a current girlfriend of the male, we wanted to perceive the murderess as a crazed ex-girlfriend, coming to hunt the current girlfriend. We had the murderess threaten the girlfriend with a gun and then fading to black with a gunshot. We decided this idea was much better than our last, as it was simple and effective, but when reviewing it with our media studies tutor, she explained there was no after story, the film was not able to develop as we had put all the action in the opening sequence. We agreed with this opinion, and once again brainstormed a new storyboard.
Our third, and final storyboard, consisted of the boyfriend leaving the girlfriend alone in the house. The murderess then enters the house, with a key; too create history between the boyfriend and the murderess. She then enters the house and moves upstairs, searching through the girlfriends bedroom, going through her clothes and possessions before moving to a photo of the happy couple and slamming it down, creating an impression of hate and jealousy. Throughout this, shots of the girlfriend are shown, who is oblivious of what is going on in the house, showing a sense of vulnerability, so the girlfriend is seen as the antagonist of the piece. When displaying our ideas to our media studies tutor, we received back excellent feedback.
When creating titles for our film, we researched other openings to see what names and titles were mentioned. We decided to only include the actor’s names, the production company and the directors, as we did not want any more distraction from the film itself. This way we could achieve a larger audience as they are more interested in the film rather than the named actors in it or the production company. We used classic, archaic writing, commonly used in thriller films, to show our knowledge of the thriller genre. The actual title of the film was of a different font. We gained this from dafont.com, a website specialising in different fonts. The font we used was called “biro script” which is a distorted handwriting, creating a personal but dark touch to the protagonist character. We used this right at the end of the opening sequence, where the screen fades to black and in white the text reads “some people are often misread” then “Miss Red” appears, in white and red. We used white and red as a contrast of white being pure and innocent and red being the colour of blood and death. This connects with the characters persona, a sweet, beautiful appearance, but a dark inner mind, overwhelmed with a sense of jealous insanity and a thirst for revenge. When our film was completed, I designed a DVD cover and poster to advertise our film, using the same font we used in the film. This archaic font may draw people to watch the film, as it’s interesting, and leaves a lot to the audience’s imagination.
During a Year 12 open evening, we broadcasted our final piece of work to the pupils in year eleven debating whether to return for sixth form. We received back brilliants reviews of our film that were recorded by one of my team members. Our film was deemed “impressive” and the majority of the audience wanted to know the outcome of the story.
Throughout our film, we made mistakes, often the camera would not be straight, or the shot would not work against the last due to continuity differences, and we were obliged to go back and film again. Overall, we spent four days filming, but it was all worth it. I believe as a team we were strong and very independent. We met our deadlines, and worked to the best of our abilities. During the whole of this project, we did have disagreements and petty arguments, as everyone in the A/S level class found the project stressful, but we got through this professionally. I believe I have learnt a lot throughout this experience, and am incredibly proud of our finished result. I believe that we have all worked to the best of our ability with the resources available.
Miss Red has a sense of realism within its plot. The film shows, that gender is not an important role when displaying murderers. In the real world, it is proved that there are more male murderers than female, but I believe this film shows how a woman can be as domineering and as vicious as a male, and it proves that you do not need a male to indicate power and strength within a character. Although, on the other hand, any visual text needs to grab the audience’s attention straight away, so some actions and storylines need to be exaggerated in thriller films to create the cliff-hanger effect necessary in the first couple of minutes within the film. Opening sequences need to contain a lot of mystery and they need to leave availability for questions to be asked, this is why realism needs to be extended, to keep the audience guessing.
When creating titles for our film, we researched other openings to see what names and titles were mentioned. We decided to only include the actor’s names, the production company and the directors, as we did not want any more distraction from the film itself. We used classic, archaic writing, commonly used in thriller films, to show our knowledge of the thriller genre. The actual title of the film was of a different font. We gained this from dafont.com, a website specialising in different fonts. The font we used was called “biro script” which is a distorted handwriting, creating a personal but dark touch to the protagonist character. We used this right at the end of the opening sequence, where the screen fades to black and in white the text reads “some people are often misread” then “Miss Red” appears, in white and red. We used white and red as a contrast of white being pure and innocent and red being the colour of blood and death. This connects with the characters persona, a sweet, beautiful appearance, but a dark inner mind, overwhelmed with a sense of jealous insanity and a thirst for revenge.
Our film is distinctive as the protagonist character is of the opposite gender usually found in thriller films, and we have no dialogue throughout the whole piece, leaving the audience to focus on the body language and movements of the main character. We used various camera shots, including a reflection of Miss Red putting on lipstick in a mirror. This was a very professional shot, as we had to make sure the camera was not caught in the reflection, or any of the crew, as we did not want anything to ruin the atmosphere. We also used very good establishing shots. We created one long shot of the suburban house, then another from outside of the living room window, in which the boyfriend and girlfriend were sitting, and finally a medium shot inside the living room, where the activity starts.
We decided to use artificial light when filming outdoors, as we chose to film at night, not to ruin the continuity whilst the film got put together. We used low key lighting, to create shadows and dullness. Low-key lighting is generally used to create a mysterious devious atmosphere, which is exactly what we wanted to distinguish in our film.
When we completed our film and started to edit it, we used Imovie, a movie editing application found on Apple Macs. This technology was extremely impressive and we were able to run our film smoothly and easily with tools such as precision cutting and cropping, so any small mistakes that were obtained, could be easily fixed or cut, without the need to film again. We didn’t want any impressive transitions after every shot, as we wanted simple cuts throughout our film so the audience focussed on our content rather than our effects. We slowed down the last clip of Miss Red slamming the photo of the happy couple down, to increase the tension and the jealous aspect we wished to present, and also echoed the noise of the picture slamming. We used a cross blur whilst Miss Red was walking down the hallway, as we felt the clip went on for too long, so we cut the clip and added a transition. We chose this transition as it caused the clip to go out of focus; this may confuse the audience about Miss Red’s prerogative, creating more mystery for the audience.
Whilst editing, we muted our film due to noises from around the house that ruined the continuity, we always planned on having a soundtrack so this factor did not affect us. Our original soundtrack was going to be Rihanna’s “Russian Roulette”, we were aware we could not use the actual song due to copyright, but we were planning on using the songs instrumental, slightly changing it on “Garage Band” or “Windows Movie Maker” but instead went a different direction and used a track from the Thriller Soundtrack CD located in the Media Studies department. This track consists of a main piano theme and strings, which is commonly heard in thriller films as it leaves a sense of sorrow and ambiguity, so we believed it would show a good understanding of the research we did. We finally decided on this piece because as our film ends, the soundtrack ends with slow pulsating beats, almost similar to a heartbeat which intrigued the group. Before finishing our film, we decided to put “hard light” on some of the clips in the house. This effect darkened the shadows already created and accentuated the colours in the shot, effectively bringing out the reds in the bedroom and on the character.
When we first started video production, we were instructed to make a continuity exercise to help us learn the basic rules of what to do when filming. Although this process is a much basic exercise than making a thriller opening, but it gave us a lot of practise and a good introduction to the technology we would be using. The sequence had to be simple, with no transitions or music, consisted of only cut edits, and had to last a maximum of 45 seconds, a mediocre task compared to our thriller sequence which had a time limit of roughly two minutes. Looking back onto the task, it helped me realize the lengthy process of filming for a clip that may only last a short amount of time, and the patience and determination you need when things go wrong, at the start of the process I underestimated how much effort and work has to be put into the project and I didn’t take into consideration how much pre-production research had to be carried out. The exercise also helped me realise that you cannot just start filming immediately, you have to stop and brainstorm your ideas before even picking up the camera and you need to have a firm idea on what is going to happen exactly in every different shot. You also need to research objectives such as target audiences, to know exactly the attitude and story you need. This task improved my knowledge of filming and helped me gain the vital information that I lacked when beginning media studies. I found researching other influencing openings in the same genre helpful also, as it helped me realise the stereotypical codes and conventions of a film opening that my group and I could use in our own. My group tended to over think everything, as we are very determined people who wished to create the film to the best of our abilities and due to this, I think we were very obnoxious and arrogant of our abilities. I believe that the preliminary exercise was an impressive learning exercise which not only helped me realise the solid effort needed to produce a simple film, but helped me learn about the world of media and the technology used which I could adapt to my own work.