Pitch Presentation video

Thriller Storyboard Audience Feedback

'The storyboard is well thought out and the main idea is good but some more detail on the types of transitions from each shot/title editing process.

- Will Beans

Good, the shadows add to the feeling

- D Hoyles

The drawings were very good and it was very clear, some more detail would of been good.

- Chrissie Rouch

I thought the story board was very clear and thought out. It will look good.

- Charlie Haddow

The Rationale Behind Our Idea

We felt that we had a good set of three idea to work with. However our espionage idea was original and we believed if we could do it right, it could go very well. Our location and availability of props was a large part of choosing this idea. We had access to a 1958 Morris Minor, this gave us the chance to make our 50's setting as authentic as possible. We also knew that not alot of other thrillers had access to a 50's car, so our options of having a thriller set in different time periods gave us the oppurtunity to come up with more ideas than just a modern day crime thriller. Our location was also a part of this, as we lived close to Stamford we felt a 40's/50's time setting could be pulled off if we found the right areas. This is due to the fact Stamford is a very old historic market towns with alot of the buildings dating back to the 1800's. We also found that parts of Stamford looked very 'Parisian' style, so we knew a Thriller set in 50's Paris could be done.

 Our other ideas we felt, were too similar to other Thrillers that we had been shown or seen ourselves. We tried to make them as unique and different as possible, but overall, we decided our Espionage idea stood out from other productions.

Our audience feedback gave us alot of positive responses on the idea of a 'post - war Paris were Germany had won the war'. People felt, like us, that it was different and could be done very well if done correctly. This is another reason we chose this idea. We spent alot of time deciding whether or not to put the whole production in black and white or just to film in standard colour to make it feel more like a modern day Thriller that was set in the 50'sinstead of trying to get a look that made it look like it was filmed in the 50's. Overall, due to our survey questions, we decided to keep the production in colour.

Our main inspiration was Quentin Tarantino's 'Inglorious Basterds' which was set in the 40's during the war and a large majority of the film was also filmed in France. The violent feel to the film was something we wanted to try and re - create as best we could, and at the same time, use our props, costume and general mise-en-scene to keep authenticity. We also took inspirtation from Stanley Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange' as he uses some classical music in certain sections of violent scenes. We decided to incorporate something similar in our killing sequence.

 

Thriller Test shots

2 Shots that we pre planned to use in our Thriller. We wanted to create a proffesional feel to our thriller with these shots. We didnt use these shots in our final production.

Thriller Feedback from AUDIENCE

Changes to our Thriller

Over the course of editing we were decided to re-shoot as we did not have enough variety of shots that we needed in order to produce our best outcome.

We took alot out, added a few things in and built on the best sections we had in our first planning phase. For example we completely took our two characters that were going to be in the thriller, the two German guards idea was completely scrapped as we felt the strangling section of the film could be done very professionally if we built on it, and thats exactly what we attempted to do. Stamford as a location was also completelty scrapped as we only needed one location for the strangling scene. The extreme long shot for the opening of the thriller was also completely taken out as again. Our story has completely changed.

We also made a soundtrack allteration for the second half of the production which we took inspiration from Tarantino's films such as Inglorious Basterds, kill Bill and Resevoir Dogs.

Due to our re shoot we now have a brilliant set of shots for our killings scene which looks very professional and a variety of shots throughout the rest of the production.

Preliminary Evaluation

I feel like our Prelim went very well taking into account our short filming window. We had to shoot more than once however, in order to get a shot variety that we wanted and to give ourselves editing options when it came to it.

I feel like our framing and our composition were spot on for what we wanted. At the start of the video we wanted to focus on the main character (Harry) as much as possible. We therefore knew that framing and composition would be crucial in achieving this. Our plan was to draw in the audience to focus on him in order to build up to something, this is was the end scene, for the audience to do this and not become distracted by any piece of mise-en-scene in the shot, our framing and compostion had to be very carefully planned and executed. For example here are a couple of stills from the opening:

All of our shots and tracking were done on a tri-pod, we did think about doing a couple of shots using free hand to give us more variety, but we decided not to use them in the final production. I think overall we chose our shots very well.

I feel our shots as our main character walks into the room were very well edited in order to keep our continuity. We would want to use these kind of shots in our thriller. The way we did not give away the identity of the killer (Me) until he kills the main character is what we would like to build on for our thriller, we used this to create tension and mystery in the story and it gives the audience a good set-up for the rest of the film.

For the shots of the main character walking throught the corridor we used medium and long shots. We also took some close up shots to create more tension however we decided not to include these whilst editing. We knew again that our framing especially would be important when using long shots, so we planned carefully. For the shots of Harry walking into the room we used some elevated shots and  some close ups of the door handle to place emphasis on the event about to occur. Once Harry was in the room we used over the shoulder shots and a medium shot to show a possible relationship between the two, perhaps the charcters know each other ? We used mainly straight cuts throughout apart from a few 'fade to black' transitions when changing locations (corridor to room)

Overall our aim was to get the audiecne guessing about the possible relationship between the characters in order for them to want to see the rest of the film. I feel as though we achieved this using our soundtrack and editing techniques by putting it in black and white as it could mean it was in the past/future, and our soundtrack by trying to create a sense of sorrow as Harry is killed.

We can now build on our techniques of shots, editing and planning from this for our thriller. We have learnt alot in the course of filiming and there's alot to take from our experience.

Thriller idea 3 - psychological

Thriller idea 2 - Conspiracy

Thriller idea 1 - Espionage

Film Noir

Prelim

Actors for Thriller and Justifications for each

Helen Willcock - Assassin

Helen was our only female member in the group and our idea to have a 'fem fatal' meant she had to be our assassin. We used the appropriate make - up to fit the time the thriller is set and to highlight her fem fatal status. Many 30's and 40's early thrilers used fem fatals as one of the main characters, they were used to create a relationship with the main protaganist and then turn against them towards the end and often would attempt to murder the main protaganist, this is where we got our inspiration from. This is also why we decided to set the production in the 50's, our combination of this and the fem fatal shows that we got our inspiration from 40's and 50's Noir thrillers.

Harry Preen - Main protaganist

as our main protaganist Harry had to suit the 50's theme, and in our opinion his hari really suited the era. He was also a perfect build for our main protaganist, as he was just the right height. The hair was a big factor as some hair can completely ruin the continuity. As continuity is a very important part of our production, as we chose a specific time setting, We thought Harry's hair could easily pass for a 1950's style.

Questionnaire feedback response

After viewing our responses from our Questionnaire,The only decision we have made as a result is the idea to film in Black and White, our original idea meant we were going to film in black and white to give off the feeling of a 1950's thriller, however after reviewing our feedback, we found that people believe that black and white films do not give off more of an effect. Apart from that, We havent really made any changes to our primary idea. Our setting is very unique however, which could go well or could go badly as a majority of people said that the setting was what directors get wrong in Thrillers. We took inspiration from 'Boardwalk Empire' a TV series on Sky which is very successful and is a drama series set in America during prohabition. It is the closet thing we have to take inspiration from, and uses crime in the way that we wanted to. We found the information was helpful though and it was good to get other perspectives of what makes a good thriller.

Thriller Costume choices and Props

German Soilder costume
 for the two German soilders, we decided to use dark coats instead of actually dressing up as Nazi's to avoid the sensitive types. We decided to wear dark trousers and dark shoes. We had to pick every part of the soilders coustumes carefully in order to avoid continuity errors and to make the production far more authentic.

The main protagonist
for our main character we based his costume on other films and videogames. for example, a video game called 'the saboteur' which had a main character with similar dress to the one we wanted. Again it was important to remain authentic with the clothing.

 

Various other mise-en-scene

Our location was Stamford which really feels very parisian in some areas as it's a beautiful historic town. We thought it would be perfect for our time setting and genre. We chose our locations carefully in order to really give off the feeling of a 1950's Paris setting. 

we also used a vechile which suits our setting perfectly, for the ending scene we used a 1950's moris minor which really made the whole thing more authentic for the audience.

 

Questionnaire Feedback