Our completed Thriller opening; 'The Routine'

Final things to note:

- 'The Routine' so called for its repetition of this ordinary mans daily repeated life. He is described as to have OCD, an obsessive compulsive disorder, in which would mean that many of his days are laid out the same as he likes things to happen in a certain way or order- this was made to emphasise the disturbance created by the villain. This is where the name 'The Routine' came from.

- The song choice of 'Oh me, oh my' by 'The 99's' was used for two reasons:
   1- It is a young modern song who's listeners also happen to be the age of our target audience.
   2- One of the first lines used it 'Every day we seem to turn around im on my back again'. This            sense of a routine used within the song emphasises the routine within our film.

Looking back at your Preliminary Task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the product? [7]

*PLEASE NOTE THIS VIDEO WAS OUR FIRST ROUGH DRAFT AND NOT THE FINISHED PRODUCT*

What have we learnt since the preliminary:

- Firstly, and probably most importantly, i have learnt about a whole new range of technology's. Whether it was filming with our Sony camcorder, editing clips on SonyVegas or editing our sounds on Fruitloop, it was all completely new to us and we had to teach ourselves and learn how to use them all efficiently. In a way, you could also say this has taught us to become more independent and less reliant on teachers etc.

- Also, i have learnt a range of ways on how to present work. Whereas before, i wouldve typed everything, ive learnt know that there are many different ways to present the work you have. Sometimes just adding some pictures or videos helps, but then there's also programmes and software like Prezi.com and Microsoft Powerpoint.

- I have also learnt how to gain a better idea of your audience. Whether that's for a Thriller opening, a TV ad or a music video, we have learnt the ways to achieve the appropriate evidence we'd need. For instance, there's many other ways than just a simple survey or questionnaire to get answers, we also used surveymonkey.com, which enables people to fill in your quiestionnaire online. Also, focus groups, which also helps with small chunks of advice anyone is willing to offer. These are skills that can be used with most things in media, and therefore becomes very useful.

- Although with our preliminary task we still planned out storyboards, they were minimal and simplistic. Through this Media project we have learnt how to create detailed storyboards including a short analysis on each individual shots. Writing them in such detail also meant i became much more familiar with camera angles and shots.

- Along with this idea, i learnt the importance of mise-en-scene within a media presentation and how to use it succesfully. For example, waiting for the right time of day to film our morning scenes within our Thriller opening, keeping the man undressed to look like he'd just woken up etc. And through this, we noticed just how much of an effect it really does have an a film.

- I have learnt how to analyse other short media clips. In preparation of creating our Thriller opening, we watched both past students work and clips from professional Thriller films. Rather than just focusing on the plot like i wouldve usually done, i had learnt to start analysing in a bit more detail, making notes of the lighting, mise-en-scene, camera shots and angles etc. Something that became very easy to do by the end of it all.

- I have learnt how to work efficiently with the same group of people over a long period of time. Me and the three other members of my group had to work near enough everyday together for several hours in perfecting our Thriller opening. I learnt how to exchange and collaborate with ideas, teaching each other different skills, working more as a team than four individual people. Teamwork was something i'd struggled with previously, having little patience and an over-attentive passion for leadership, so this project has really taught me how to work with others, as well as showing me that teamwork can sometimes mean better work.

What have i learnt about technology through the process of creating our Thriller opening? [6]

This is a Prezi presentation for the above question

How does our Thriller opening appeal to our target audience? [5]

As earlier stated, our target audience was people aged between 16-20 and of both genders. I believe we have successfully appealled to our target audience through using several different techniques.

Firstly, the soundtrack to the beginnning of our Thriller opening is a modern upbeat track that most people of the mentioned age to could relate to listening to; by using a song that our target audience can associate with it automatically draws in thier attention.

Secondly, we also added a large amount of suspense to our Thriller opening, drawing a younger audience who get more excited at Thriller films containing a lot of tension (see target audience questionnaires)

We also used actors of around that age group, yet again giving the audience something to associate with, as if putting them in the shoes of the character more easily and drawing them in quicker.

Lastly, our Thriller opening contained no extreme violence, only mild nudity, no sexual references or bad language, and no horror scenes of which may disturb a young audience. By keeping these above topics to a mild degree, we make the Thriller viewable to a younger audience.

Also, due to the fact the protagonist was male, and no other females seemed to feature within our thriller opening, we kept the villain masked, therefore suggesting it could be female, and maybe then drawing in a female audience also.

Who would be your target audience for your Thriller? (pt 2) [4]

What kind of Media institution might distribute your media? [3]

What kind of media institution might distribute your media

View more presentations from chloebencini.

How does my media product represent particular social groups? [2]

How does your media product represent particular social groups

View more presentations from chloebencini.

How does your Thriller opening challenge conventions and forms of real media products? [1]

From our thriller we have noted that there are certain aspects that we have added that differentiates us from regular thrillers produced, for example;

-From the rest of the villain's costume we see that he shows signs of youth. Wearing converse trainers it makes the audience recognise the brand as something that younger people would generally wear. This then adds another level as well as we begin to slowly put some of the peices together on this characters possible life. Even though we barely see him, we are able to slowly gain an idea on who and what this man is, and some of the psycological reasons why he is doing what he is doing.

-Our film keeps the secretive, tense tone that thrillers are known for doing, creating suspence.

Uma Thurman- 'Kill Bill' 

-The way in which the villains gender is secretive means it is up to the audiences to decide whether it is a woman or a man. Not only does this mean interactivity, but it gives females the chance to consider that the villain is too a woman, this being a rarity in films. An example of this being Uma Thurmen in 'Kill Bill'. 


-Our Thriller differentiates from most Thrillers by not including a Maguffin (atleast noticable in the opening).

Late film analysis: 'Ground hog Day'

I have only just watched the film 'Ground Hog Day' (Directed by Harold Ramis, 1993) and i can see a very large similarity between that and our own Thriller opening. This technique of repeating a man waking up every morning is used in both, but i've only just seen it. Although it makes our idea seem a little less original, it's nice to know that it's an idea that has been successful before, despite being used for a comedy rather than a thriller.

What would we have done differently within our Thriller opening if we'd have had a chance:

These are the problems we encountered whilst creating our Thriller opening and how we would have changed/resolved them if given another chance;

- Firstly, the first few storyboards we created were far too extreme. I'm not talking blowing up buildings and gang gun fights, but for the time, money and rescources we had it was just impossible to do. This meant each time we came up with another extravagant idea we wasted yet more precious time. If i could go back i wouldve created a simple storyboard that would have been easy to follow straight away.

- Also, we only had one day to film our Thriller opening where all four of our members where available, so we had to either film it all in this one day or have nothing to hand in at the end. This meant it was all planned in a bit of a rush, this led to us not only forgetting things such as fake blood and changes of clothes for the main actor, but also the camera and tripod itself. This was resolved by a friend lending us his camera and us actually using a washing line as a tripod. Although it still worked well, it meant we couldnt edit our shots on our school iMac computers, and therefore had to film it on a different computer which used SonyVegas editing software. This meant yet more time was wasted as it took more time and effort to edit our clips as we could only use this one computer. If we could change it, im sure we would have just used the camcorders given to us, even though the Sony camcorder we did use was much better quality.

- Another thing i would change would have been the ident. The ident was actually one of the very last things we did as we near enough forgot about it entirely, leaving it right to the last minute. This meant we had very little time to teach ourselves how to use the programme and how to create a proffesional looking ident. What we ended up with was something we all did like, but im pretty sure we all think we couldve done a bit better given we had enough time.

- I would also change the song to our Thriller. I dont know whether its the fact i had heard it be played hundreds of times by the end of creating our Thriller opening, but by the end it just didnt seem to quite fit. Although the song was young and catchy, perfect for our target audience, and the ironic lines about repition used once or twice, it seemed like the song wasn't as obvious as to why we picked that particular song to go with our Thriller as we would have hoped. So i perhaps would have gone back and looked harder for a replacement song.

- Also, there is one clip within our Thriller opening i'm not particularly keen on. The moment when our main character of the topless man's head collides with the door then fades into a shot of him lying on the floor. Although i like the effect of this shot, i believe it is much too quick after the rush of the attack and would've prefered to have extended it a little longer to add a little most hesitation and tension.

Sound Effects within our Thriller

Fruit Loops Logo

To add extra effect to the tense moments within our Thriller opening, we used a low frequency bass sound to emphasis the fact that something is not quite right, and to put the audience on edge. This happened when the main character discovered the knife and when the villain walked past the mirror. This sound was edited on a programme called Fruit Loops, created by using the sound of a 'kick drum' and lowering the pitch.

Fruit Loops User Interface Screenshot

Here is an example of what the programs user interface looks like. On the far left there are many instrumental sounds which can be selected and edited just like we did.

Graphic Matches

Towards the end of our Thriller opening, we use a graphic match for the continuity between two shots in different locations. When the main characters head is slammed into the wall, there is a slight pause as his head rests there, then blurs into that same shot but in a different location (changing angles by 90 degrees from horizontal to diagonal) we feel this is an effective way to continue the two shots smoothly and effectively.

Creating The Ident

Print screen of Ident creation on Final Cut Express

To accompany our Thriller opening, we had to create an ident for our 'company'. Although we are yet to find a suitable sound to play with the ident itself, the actual animation is complete. We named our production company 'CCTF' (a collaboration of the initials of all the members of our group). First, we added a background effect called 'fog machine' that created the eery smokey effect. Then, we added the text, which was made with the effect 'cat eyes' to help it find in and out. We then created a logo (unseen in the picture above, it is a directors clapping board on a white circle background) which also fades in with the text. We will later add this to our Thriller opening.

Filming Our Thriller- Mise en Scene

There were only two characters within our opening titles of our Thriller. This was an ordinary man (in the morning) and a villain. To exaggerate the fact that the villain was infact the villain, we dressed him in a mask (colouring in the gaps for the eyes for an extra creepy effect. The character of the ordinary man was then dressed in pajama bottoms and with no top to make it seem as if he has only just gotten out of bed. The whole opening (filmed just as the ordinary man has awake) was therefore filmed in daylight to support the fact that it was set in the morning. The house itself was made to look as if the man lives by himself (so no one bumps into the villain and the ordinary man can't be saved). This was done by making sure only one toothbrush was in the toothbrush holder, breakfast was only being made for one, the man spent most of the time alone etc.

detail in makeup (mise en scene)

Discussing further action

Morning mise en scene

Finished villain

Finding the right angle

Problems filming- No Tripod and Fake Blood

When the day arrived for us to start filming our Thriller, we realised that we had left both the video camera and the tripod. The camera situation was easily fixed by a friend who offered to lend us his own video camera. But we still had no tripod. Therefore, we had to create a makeshift one using a washing line and a shoe. Despite it's rather odd appearance, it was able to both hold the camera steady andalter the height and angle of the camera with much more ease than we could with a handheld shot.

Another problem was that the fake blood we needed (to put on the knife) looked TOO fake. It was too runny and too transparent of colour. To solve this, we had to thicken it, and we used peanut butter. Although probably not the best thing to use, it did thicken it up effectively.

Thriller Animatic

shot 1- (6s)
Camera/Framing- Over-shoulder shot from alarm clock, person laying in background. Maybe use pulling focus, alarm clock in focus first then pull focus to the man as he reaches for the alarm clock.
Sound&notes- Silence, the alarm goes off, man taps alarm clock and noise stops, backing music starts.

shot 2- (2/3s)
Camera/Framing- Close up of feet moving into slippers
Sound&notes- Backing music continues, diegetic sound hidden.

shot 3- (3s)
Camera/Framing- Closeup/midshot filmed into mirror (straight on)
Sound&notes- Man brushing teeth, diegtetic sound of brush included in the sound, along with backing track.

shot 4- (2s)
Camera/Framing- Medium shot, angled down.
Sound&notes- Man opens draw, pulls out knife, cuts apple, takes apple and leaves. Diegetic sound of apple being cut is included.

shot 5 - (2s)
Camera/Framing- Mid shot, straight on.
Sound&notes- Man spraying himself with cologne, music continues, diegtic sound of spray included.

shot 6- (3s)
Camera/Framing- mid/long shot, maybe angled downwards (shot from stairs)
Sound&notes- Man adjusts himself in the mirror, before walking to the right, opening the door, leaving and closing the door behined him. Diegetic sound of door opening/closing included.

shot 1 - 6 is to be repeated twice, getting faster each time, clips being cut shorter each time.


shot 19- (6s)
Camera/Framing- slight over shoulder shot (similar to shot 1)
Sound&notes- alarm clock goes off but is on the other side of the bed, man slams cudboard assuming clock is there, before waking up and looking confused.

shot 20- (5s)
Camera/Framing- Long shot, raised above bed slightly
Sound&notes- man looks around, stops alarms clock, picks it up and stops it, all slow and confused (music has stopped at this time, diegetic sound only from here onwards)

shot 21- (3s)
Camera/Framing- Medium shot
Sound&notes- Man looks at alarm clock, confused. Swings legs to hang off the side of the bed, sounds include squeaking of the bed.

shot 22- (3s)
Camera/Framing- Close up of feet, on ground level.
Sound&notes- Man goes to put feet in slippers, but one is further than expected and he has to find with foot.

shot 23- (4s)
Camera/Framing- Medium shot (similar to shot 3)
Sound&notes- Man brushes teeth. looks round suspiciously, sound of brushing included.

shot 24- (3s)
copy of shot 4


shot 25- (3s)
Camera/Framing- Closeup/medium shot, angled up.
Sound&notes- Man raises knife to identify blood, looks horrified, maybe a gasp included.

shot 26- (4s)
Camera/Framing- Medium shot on eye level
Sound&notes- Man chucks knife back in drawer in panic, starts to back up onto other side, knife banging into the drawer (sound included)

shot 27- (3s)
Camera/Framing- Medium shot, continuation of last shot
Sound&notes- Man carries on backing up, rests hands on side, turns (his right) and rushes off

shot 28- (1s)
Camera/Framing- Medium shot, eye level
Sound&notes- View of man walking off, maybe from behined

shot 29- (4s)
Camera/Framing- Mans feet is followed, camera rolls up from feet to head, medium shot
Sound&notes- Man looks into mirror, see's writing and looks scared. Writing says "you're no.11"

shot 30- (3s)
Camera/Framing- Angle changes to mans right, medium/long shot still
Sound&notes- Man carries on looking in mirror, another man appear in background, man 1 is oblvious to his presence.

shot 31- (2s)
Camera/Framing- Shot filmed as though the mirror was the camera, close up
Sound&notes- Man 2 rises behined man 1, although slightly unfocused. Sharp intake of breath included.

shot 32- (3s)
Camera/Framing- Medium shot, angled down
Sound&notes- Man 1 on floor, blood dripping from back, villain seen holding bloody knife.

shot 33- (6s)
Camera/Framing- Medium shot filmed from behined man 2 (standing behined the body of man 1). Camera rises from shot of feet to shot of face/back of head.
Sound&notes- Man looks into mirror and ticks off underneath the writing. His reflection is seen as well as the shot of the back of head, over the shoulder shot.

Collection of completed storyboards

Final Details

Final details include;


Name of film; Routine
Music; 'Oh me, Oh my' - The 99's (permission givevn)
Titles;
   "A CCTF Production"
   "Starring Conor Wilkins and Liamonas Andrejouskas"
   "Music By Tori Wheatley"
   "Casting By Conor Wilkins"
   "Edited By CCTF"
   "Directed By CCTF"

Script + Characters

There is no speech within our Thriller opening, therefore a script isn't necessary. Only two characters will be included, one being the man who's daily routine we are following and the other being the murderer/disguised villain. Although no speech is used, some onscreen dietetic text is used (the writing on the mirror)


Mic may be needed when recording sounds of body hitting the floor, teeth being brushed etc. Either that or we found the non-copy right sounds afterwards. Most likely we will record the sounds diegetically and if we found better sound effects later on, replace them.

Opening Titles

In class, we watched the opening titles of three Thriller movies; In The Cut, Se7en and Panic Room. Whilst watching these i took note of the basic opening titles (the order of the titles) These being somewhat like this;


"A ------ Film"
"Starring ------"
"Casting By ------"
"Music By -----"
"Edited By -----"
"Directed By -----"

*Panic Room opening titles*- an example of architectual font

The titles generally followed the same rule, they were all slow paced and the font matched the mood and atmosphere of the Thriller, all using slightly different techniques. Whilst Se7en used crackly, jumpy titles to set it's slightly creepy atmosphere, Panic Room used 3D-look titles that fitted in with the architecture of the shot. Panic Room also used ticking music in the background of the titles, giving the suspense aspect often given by clocks. The shots also lead from general to particular (protagonist)





My favourite opening titles to be seen so far have been that of Se7en; i feel that the crackling and reappearing font is highly effective, although im concerned as to whether this type of effect on our opening titles would match our shots. Watching these opening titles have both given us an idea of what to write for the titles and how to present them to fit out Thriller.

Location Shots

The whole Thriller opening is filmed within a house (Location at; Plaistow, London). The following shots are of areas to be included within the Thriller;

Hallway- Mirror will be used + written on

Kitchen- Area of knife/blood scene + murderers attack

Kitchen 2

Bedroom- Includes alarm clock scene

Bedroom 2

Bathroom- Will feature teeth-brushing scene

Note: All will be filmed in natural daylight

Audience Research

An example of one of the completed questionnaires

In order to research our target audience, we carried out a list of different things to give us a better idea of who they are, what type of people they are and what they look for in a Thriller.



The first thing we tried out was a questionnaire. We printed off 20 questionnaires and asked people of a range of ages and genders to fill them out. They included questions involving their age, their favourite Thrillers, how often they watch Thrillers and what words best sum up a Thriller. Through this, we found out the majority of Thriller viewers are between the ages of 16-20 (a younger audience) and we found what they thought made a good Thriller- this being shown in diagram two via Wordle. We discovered that the main things a Thriller audience seeks in a Thriller is Tension and suspense, two musts for our own Thriller. 

Thriller Wordle (the most repeated words appear largest)

Our questionnaires have helped us to develop an idea for our target audience and age and are also helping us to develop the Thriller to that specific audience taste.


Through the above research, we have discovered our target audience age is between 16-20 year old film goers, whom seek mainly Tension in their 'to-watch' Thriller list must haves.

Chuck Jones 'Rules'

Before Chuck Jones created animated series; The Roadrunner (a segment with Looney Tunes) he had created a set of rules for the characters to obide by throughout every episode. For example, Coyote but always attempt to harm Roadrunner, but never succesfully do so, and the only sound Roadrunner could ever make would be 'meep meep'. This is an example of rules set in production.

Sound For Thriller Opening (continued)

After sending an email to a member of The 99's (found on unsigned.com) on asking permission to use their song 'Oh my, Oh my' we received a reply giving us the permission we needed. We can now use this song in the opening of our Thriller.

This is the song we are using;

Sound For Thriller Opening

During our search for suitable music for our thriller opening, we signed up to a website called mobygratis.com, a wbsite which others a range of copyright-free music, and are now officially members of the site, meaning we have our choice of any available songs on the site. We are currently searching the site now.

We are also searching unsigned.com, a website offering copyright-free music from unsigned bands, and have emailed a few bands in particular. We are awaiting a response.

Call Sheet

Date: Sunday 29th January
Location : My house (20 Gad Close, Plaistow, London). 
Cast:  Conor Wikins and Laimonas Andriejauskas. 
Crew:  Chloe Bencini-Harding, Frankie McFarlane, Tori Wheatley, Conor Wilkins.
Proper: Bed, alarm, clock, clippers, towel, knife, fake blood, shower, mirror, mask, cereal, toothbrush, toothpaste. 
Costumes: Main character has a suit, well dressed. Murderer is wearing all black and a mask.

Analysis Of Film Openings

Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000)

Conventions-

Tension used, black and white is used to represent flashbacks. The fact the beginning is played backwards confuses the audience and draws them in to watch more and find out what is going on.

Camera-

Mainly midshots/medium shots, basic camera movement (moving with characters)

Editing-

Slow paced editing builds tension and pull the audience in before the action.

Sound-

Nondiegetic, calm music. Also nondiegtic would be the voice over, diegtic sounds include gunshots and conversation between the two characters.

Mise-en-scene-

Protaganist wears smart, detective like clothes (typical of a thriller protaginist) the scratches on the protaganists face also suggests violent goings on (story could evolve around this) blood and broken windows also suggest violence.

Brick (Rian Johnson, 2005)

Conventions-

The slow paced tension build up is really effective, along with the flashback (if you could call it that) both frequently used in Thrillers

Camera-

The whole opening consists of mainly close ups/extreme close ups, only giving us one or two flashes of the area itself. The is really effective, like it's only giving you a taster of the film.

Editing-

This is a very slow paced opening, but suits it and works well.

Sound-

The mood is set and the tension is built with the non-diegetic song playing and through it's high pitched yet sad playing of the cow bells.

Mise-en-scene-

The positioning of the woman on the ground with the water washing over her slightly informs us that she is indeed dead, and we realise this straight away. Also, the costume plays a large role, towards the end of the first scene we get a closeup of the dead girls arm jewellery with the water running over it, this is then carried on in the next scene with that same item being shown on the girl whilst she's alive, telling us that what's coming up is in the past.

Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007)

Conventions-
Again. like the above two and most other thrillers, tension is one of the main conventions used in this thriller, in this particular one the tension is built up through a long worried silence and repetition of the same acts.
Camera-
This film uses the most camera movement of the three, including both rolling and tracking shots to run along with the car. It also consists mainly of long shots apart from when the two people are in conversation, in which it secludes them off from the area with a closeup.
Editing-
The editing is again quite slow paced, this seems like a usual thing for most thriller openings (builds tension before the action). Also, there is a non-diegetic caption added in at the beginning telling us that 'the following is based on true case files'. This automatically draws in our attention fully by giving us something to read and therefore pay attention to.
Sound-

The non-diegtic backing track is quite smooth and relaxed, so when it stops it makes us pay notice and hints to us that something is about to happen.