Props

The props that we decided to use in our opening sequence inlcuded:

- Theatrical blood: This is used on both actors and as it is an opening sequence of a thriller film it really adds effect and makes it seem more real. The blood was used because it follows the codes and conventions of a typical thriller film. It is seen straight away, to capture the audiences attention from the start, and to hold it throughout.

-Face Paints: We also used face paints on the actors. This again added effect to create bruises and scratches. We wanted to use face paints because we thought that it helped create a sense of reality within the sequence making the actors look as though they have really been physically hurt, and shows that action took place.

-Eye contact lenses: Eye contacts were used also in our opening sequence. This created a creepy and scary effect, and it gives the audience a sense of evil in the atmosphere within our film. We wanted to use more obvious contact lenses, rather than just brightly coloured ones, so that the audience were able to understand the change in the character, and were able to identify this as soon as they saw her eyes. In the last scene, the contacts are used again when we are filming in night vision, and we thought that this created enigma, and held the audiences attention right to the last shot.

We thought that using these props would help to make our opening sequence more interesting for the audience and to keep the viewers watching. Researching other thriller films helped us to gain more understanding of what actually goes into a thriller film, and how props can really help the actors portray different charateristics within the film. The props also followed the codes and conventions of a thriller movies, and so the audience were able to identify with these.

Patrice Doe

Film Schedule

Tuesday 5th Jan, 2010 - This will be the first day we will be filming.
Location: Canal, Park Royal
Scene: Where Kay waking up middle of nowhere, and where she will be observing the area
Time: 3:30, we want the atmosphere to be quite dark later on.
Props: make up for the blood etc, jewellery, clothes

Friday 15th Jan, 2010 - Second time we will be filming
Location: Canal, Park Royal
To film the flashbacks
Time: 4:00, we want the flashbacks to lead to night time, for the darkness to arrive.
props: Make up, jewellery, casual pleasant clothes,

Monday 25th Jan, 2010 -
To film the flashbacks again
Location: Canal, Park Royal
To film some more flashbacks for back up
Time: Same time, 4:00, so we can match the setting when editing.
Props: Make up, Jewellery, clothes


Thursday 28th Jan, 2010 - final day.
Scene: to film the ending, where Jayde will kidnap Kay
Location: Canal, Park Royal
Props: Make up i.e. for bruises, Clothes, jewellery
Time: 7:00 in the evening, this is where night will occur.

Patrice Doe and Krina Gohil.

Problems We Have Faced...

-Our group has met up to film a few times now and everytime it has been quite dark, this has posed a problem for us as the quality of the scenes haven't been great. We tried to use torches and other lights around our locations, but this didn't make much of a difference, and so we have now altered some of our plans, and are going to film the majority of our opening sequence during the day time. We will then be able to edit the scenes and make them darker to look as though they haven't been filmed in broad day light, but still have a good quality to them.

-We have also found it hard trying to keep in mind that we are only filming the opening sequence as we have so many good ideas for the rest of the film - especially the ending! We have to keep reminding ourselves that it is only 2mins 30secs and that we cannot reveal too much about the storyline and characters.

-Next to our location is a road and we have tended to film during rush hour which has also affected our filming as the camera that we are using picks up sound quite easily, and so we have to make sure that there are as few cars around as possible when filming, especially the scenes with dialogue and diagetic sound.

-After uploading all of the content that we had filmed, we realised that we couldn't use much of it, and so we decided to re-film everything again. We knew that our deadline was in 5 days, and so we were determined to get all of the filming done in the one afternoon, and then we were going to upload and edit in the next few days. We ended up getting all of the filming done in a few hours, whilst it was still quite light, and we uploaded all of the stuff we filmed the next day. We then edited and managed to get the whole thing put together and finished in time for our deadline which we were quite proud of.

Laura Perkins

Locations: A Block

Another location that we looked at was in a school, this is a building within the school, and we took photos of what it looks like inside; this is the corridor. The building has 4 levels which means that there is a lot of space and on each of the levels there are a classrooms and toilets. There are a lot of stairs in the building because there are 4 levels, which can be seen as a challenge to the characters and it add suspense and tension. There is space in the building which means that we will be able to shoot easily, and there are many classrooms which we can use as well. The corridor seems long and on going which adds to the fact that it can be a challenge for the characters.

We considered this as one of the locations because it is a familiar place and since we will be shooting a thriller film, the building will have an aspect of it being a bit scary and creepy. Because we are planning to shoot when it is dark outside, it will be effective and add an element of thriller to the film.

Pooja Patel.

RESEARCH

QUARANTINE click on this title to review the clip

We researched on a few clips and Quarantine had gave us ideas of how to end our opening sequence. The clip revealed the main character screaming and being dragged across the floor, this had caught our attention because it left the ending as a cliffhanger leaving the audience wanting more. This is how we want our audience to react.

Also, the use of night vision we thought created dramatic effect of thriller and relates to the definition of the title 'Envy.' This is because the connotations of the title links to jealousy and the colour green associates with this very well, consequently, night vision would be appropiate for our opening sequence.

FLASHFORWARD click of this title to review the clip
We looked at this clip of Flashforward that helped us to come up with flashbacks in our opening sequence by the title of the programme, for the audience to understand the storyline of our film Envy or make the audience guess what the film could be about.
The flashforwards in this clip creates good effect of creating the shots unclear and the flash lights which creates more focus for the audience in order for them to see and understand what's happening.

The bottom left hand corner also suggested another idea that we could use a mask for the stalker, to add another ingredient of mystery. The identity is hidden therefore this is one of the investigations that could be solved in the film.

Also, the idea of the main character waking up in the first shot of our opening sequence was developed by this clip as it reveals some individuals waking up middle of nowhere. We thought we should imitate this idea to create suspicion and mystery for the audience adding elements and conventions under the genre Thriller. Here are some pictures from the clip to give examples. Although this is a programme, there are codes and conventions that fits under the category of thriller.

Krina Gohil