Codes and Conventions

The camera angles we used in our thriller was a range of shots, we used low angle shots where we could see the feet of the person who was walking/running. We used low angle also when the woman was looking in the cupboard for the young boy while playing hide and seek. We also used high angle shots, for example when the woman is walking up the stairs in her house looking for the young boy again. Another shot we used was medium shot, which we used most of the way through our thriller.

Some other shots which we used are:
Long shot
Mediun shot
Close up shot
Exstream close up shot
Eye level shot

We used these shots mainly becuase we know films are more successful when there is a range of shots. It makes the film more interesting and easier to follow and makes our film build suspense.

The thrillers that we watched at the start of the topic, use most of these shots and more, we tryed to include most of the shots they use, mainly because they are succsessful with the making of their films and they worked when they edited the shots together.

Section 9 - Production Schedule

Paperwork	Date Started	Date Completed	Group Members
Thriller Research	4th November	30th November	Kelly, Senga, Emma, Ryan
Treatment	30th November	2nd December	Kelly, Senga, Emma, Ryan
Synopsis	30th November	30th November	Kelly, Senga, Emma, Ryan
Character Outlines	3rd December	6th December	Senga, Emma
Shooting Script	6th December	9th December	Senga, Kelly, Emma, Ryan
Location Sheets	7th December	8th December	Senga
Storyboard	13th December	13th December	Kelly, Senga, Emma, Ryan
Graphs	7th December	13th December	Emma

CONSTRUCTION

Location	Data Started	Data Completed	Group Members
Outside house	16th January	16th January	Kelly, Senga, Emma, Ryan
Living Room	16th January	16th January	Kelly, Senga, Emma, Ryan
Hall way	16th January	16th January	Kelly, Senga, Emma, Ryan
Stairs	18th January	18th January	Kelly, Senga, Emma, Ryan
Landing	18th January	18th January	Kelly, Senga, Emma, Ryan
Bedroom	18th January	18th January	Kelly, Senga, Emma, Ryan

EQUIPMENT

·         Camera

·         Battery 

·         Furniture

·         Battery Charger

CAST

Actor	Part	Name
Josh Nuttall	Child	Josh Nuttall
Lisa Nuttall	Mother	Lisa Nuttall

Section 8 - Production Meterial

Story Boards

 

The story boards are in the order in which they where filmed in, and they way we want to filming to be. The storyboards where drawn before the filming so when we were filming we knew what order things where going in, which made it a lot easier for us. It also helped us before we filmed because it makes you realise what shots that are needed, rather than filming before doing this, becuase when filming we wouldnt of known what shots we wanted and it would of been a lot more complicated. The storyboards are only rough drawings, but it gave us a guide to follow.

Section 7 - Recce and Location Sheets

LOCATION SHEETS

These shots show where we did our filming, Most of the filming we did in side my house which will be shown on the Location sheets which are below and they show a plan of my house and which rooms we filmed in. At the very start of our filming we filmed outside my house on the front drive, which we can see in the top picture and in the bottom picture its in the black outlined box. When we filmed here it was darkish with the street lights on, which set the scene for the film, rather than it being light which wouldn't fit with the opening scene. When we look at the filming of the outside of the house we can then relate this to the filming so we know where the camera has been set up from and where its been filmed from too.

ABOUT LOCATION SHEETS:

The location sheets are useful because we can see what area of the house was filmed in and we can see the layout of the room which was filmed in which helps a lot with matching the filming with the room layout and where the camera had been shot from, and which angles too. The thing you cant tell from the location sheets are the sizes of the rooms, which you can then see on the filming of the story.



Section 6 - Shooting Script Including Dialogue and Character Outlines

1.(xls) of the house/environment that we filmed in. (my house/dam)
2.(big close up) creepy smile
3.(ms)her in a car, reflection of her face.
4.(Close up) of mother counting to 10.
5.(low angle shot) of child running past the camera.
6.(Medium close up) of mother counting lower numbers.
7.(close up) of the boy trying to find a place to hide
8.(Medium long shot) of her sat down - finishing counting.
9.(Medium long shot) Side view.
10.(long shot) Of her getting up and walking out of the room.
11.(Close up) of her at the door looking both ways.
12.(medium long shot) walking one way camera behind her following.
13.(medium long shot) see a shadow and the camera tilts  suggesting somethings there.
14.(close up shot) From the front of her as she turns around to see whats behind her.
15.(medium long shot) Shot from behind and her turning back around and carry on walking.
16.(P.O.V) of the mother from the little boys view of the mother walking round the corner, (we hear him laughing) we can tell the boy is running away and hiding under the table, we see her walking towards the little boy.
17.(P.O.V. Low angle shot) of the mother walking up to the table, looking under and not being able to see him.
18.(long shot) shot of her looking for him, camera stays in the same place but watches her as she looks, can see the little boy under the table while doing this.
19.(close up his P.O.V) of the boys view.
20.(medium long shot) We see boy in reflection, mother panics.
21.(long shot) shot from the other side of the room and see her panicing and boy in the door way stood still.
22.(medium long shot) we see her turn to see him.
23.(low angle shot) his view of her.
24.(medium long shot) shot from the other side of the room, see her hugging him.
25.(close up) of her face over the little boys shoulder.
26.(medium close shot) we see her smiling, and we see the little boy run off and go and hide again.
27.(extra close up) Mother sits down and starts to count.
28.(close up) side view of her counting.
29.(long shot) shot of the boy walking through the house, not sure where hes going though, gives mystery for us.
30.(close up) shot back to the mum and see her still couting.
32.(medium close up) of her standing up.
33.(close up) of her walking and looking in places seems chilled out, not worried anymore.
-----------(long shot) of her looking in all different places.
31.(extra close up) of her face while looking.
32.(low angle shot) of his view of her looking for him.
33.(close up) of her face when she starts to get worried when she cant find him.
-----------(high shot P.O.V) of where he was hid but isnt there.
34.(cut) to the graphics of the film.

Character Outilines

Ellis – Mother of one, pschiatric patient just released from hospital but not fully treated at the hospital and she is started to get carried away with her imagination. Always wanted a child of her own. Quite a young a mother, 25. Brown hair, small build.

Ozzy – Child of Ellis, blonde hair. Cheeky 4 year old boy, innocently wanting to play hide and seek with his mother. Loveable character, audience wants him to be safe.

Sam - Police officer - Not shown in the beginning of the movie. Tries to find out what happened to Ellis and why she was permitted to the hospital. Curious and won't let anything get in his way of finding something out. Dark hair, dark skin. Not married, no children.

Section 5 - Synopsis and Treatment



Synopsis:

Is hide and seek just and innocent game. We think not. 5 years ago today mother of one was released from Warrington’s mental health institution. 5 years on she has a beautiful little boy, a gorgeous home and the beginning of a new life, what could go wrong…

Treatment:

START:

Five years ago today a woman and mother of one got released from a psychiatric unit. She and her child were playing hide and seek when suddenly things start to get strange. The mother is oblivious to the danger which is about to take place. Little does she know she’s the main danger to her child? We don’t show her face until later in the film which adds suspense to the opening scene. This also makes the audience asks questions, and makes them wonder. She starts to see things which aren’t happening and starts to picture weird things happening. For example in the game of hide and seek she pictures the child in places where he’s not. She starts to get worried, but when she sees his face pop out (P.O.V) then we go back and see he’s not there. The child then appears at the other side of the room. We can see his reflection in the window. When they go to play again she can’t find him this time and is looking for him everywhere. When she’s looking around really rapidly this is when it cuts into the graphics. The graphics we are going to use will be bold since on our largest result was for the graphics to be bold. We are going to be using creepy music, and also in the graphics we will have the psychiatric papers saying the date they went in and came out and other results from the psychiatric unit. In the opening credits the there is bold writing saying ‘ 5 YEARS AGO’ which shows what’s happened that date however what is going to happen in the present day and whys 5 years ago is so significant, this is not yet clear and with them going back 5 years will have the audience guessing what’s to come. There is an image of somebodys health record in the credits which represents someones, unknown to the audience, health, mental or physical you don’t know which will keep you wondering if this has any important role in the film.

MIDDLE:

Ellis becomes seriously paranoid as her innocent game of hide and seek with her child turns into this game which leads to her believing if she doesn’t find her son then her son will die. Ellis becomes more worried when she keeps seeing images of her son covered in blood and in scraggy clothing as if somebody has attempted to kill him, the images become worse as they begin with his sweet and innocent face and end up becoming a child who looks possessed and is ready to attack or even kill someone. The child then has a mixture of saliva and blood drooling from his lips almost as if he has been attacked, the mother then carries on looking for her child and still there’s no sight of him. Ellis then sees a human figure with a child but their faces are hidden as it is night time and the street light close to their house is usually constantly flickering has now totally broken so all you can see are two bodies but no face. The woman instantly phones the police to report the missing child however she realises the phone wire has been cut and as she glimpses up a shadow is seen leaving the house Ellis sprints to the door however nobody is there and then the woman begins to scream. Her screams get louder and louder then there is a slow drumming noise in the background (diagetic) the music gradually quickens but then all you hear is a polite whisper, the camera sharply changes focus to an old looking person asking if the woman is ok however their face is also hidden. You hear footsteps but aren’t quite sure who it is but when the camera moves back to its original position Ellis has gone out of sight, the camera then changes scenery and shows a gang of people hanging around a music store but is mainly focusing on the man who’s identity is unclear. There is then a gun shot, however no scream, the man runs towards the gun shot to see if everything is ok but when he gets closer to the direction that the gun shot came from in the corner of his eye he sees a figure slowly walking away holding their arm as if it is causing them pain, he asks the woman if she is ok but she repeats the words ‘she’s coming’ three times the man looks at the woman who is wearing some sort of work-type clothing and is quite small and skinny and looks as if she is crazy, but not all is clear yet. ‘BANG’ another gun shot goes off echoing in a otherwise silent and dark night. The man is now stuck between either finding and trying to stop the person responsible for the gun shots, or looking after the woman who has blood pumping from her upper arm which seems to be like a gun shot wound, the man then asks the woman if she had been shot and she then repeatedly swears as her wound is causing her severe pain. The camera then switches to another man who is walking down the street where the injured woman and man are and thus showing us his point of view of what is happening around him, the man who seems weak and exhausted runs towards the injured woman and man and instantly phones the woman an ambulance who then takes the woman away for treatment. Then the man who phoned the ambulance now alone in the street sees two figures standing in the shadows stops in his tracks, runs the other way and frantically makes a call, then you hear police sirens.

END:

Upon hearing the police sirens the two figures step out of the shadows revealing themselves as Ellis vacantly staring into space holding a gun and a child we know to be her son from the begining of the film. The camera then cuts to the kind stranger staggering and out of breath, he senses someones behind him he turns and sees ellis aiming the gun at him. She starts pointing at her child and screaming at the man to apologise for attacking her child and calls him evil. The kind stranger looks confused and the audience are shown ellis is alone and pointing at fresh air he realizes she's delusional and tries to take the gun from her. Then an epic battle enshues between the two with ellis eventually winning by removing her shoe and hitting the kind stranger with it. As ellis is about to pull the trigger the police arrive at the scene and wrestle her to the ground.
Flash to 5 years later and we see ellis in a room wearing a straight jacket with a crazed look in her eyes screaming at a psyche nurse to help her to find her son.

Section 4 - Results

Question 1. Are you Male or Female?
We have asked the same amount of people of each gender so we can get an equal view from each one for what they want a thriller to contain. This us asking an even amount of people then we will get a fair point from each one so it will appeal to both instead of us asking more of one that the other which will make our thriller suit each one instead of it appealing to one gender more than the other.

 

Question 2. What age are you?

We aren't aiming our thriller at a specific age range as we want a point of view from a range of different ages. As this will help the thriller as it will then appeal to a wider age range that rather it being aimed to a specific audience. This will help the thriller as it will have more people watching it.

 

Question 3. Whats your favourtite type of character in a thriller?

people have their favourite type of character for specific reasons which is why there wasn't a clear favourite. There was a joint favourite between assassins and private-eye but they weren't favourite by many votes which shows that people's view on characters vary and that the characters play an important role but the characters don't need to be a certain type to have a great effect.

Question 4. What is your favourite sub-genre in a thriller?
This evidence shows the audience which have been asked prefer a psychological thriller which would be useful for our sub-genre. This shows that the audience like to be guessing what is going to happen rather than know that is going to happen.

Question 5. Should the Hero in the thriller live or die?
This is proof that the audience would like the hero to live as a this is clear to see by looking at the evidence. This works for our thriller because the hero will not die.

Question 6. What plot do you like in a thriller?
Kidnapping seems to be most favoured by the audience we asked so this could be useful to use as our main plot, so it fits with the audience that we want.












Question 7. Should a thriller contain blood and gore?In this graph, more people said that they didn't want blood and gore in a thriller. I think this is because most people we asked wanted a psychological thriller and they don't usually contain blood and gore. We will use these findings in our thriller.

Question 8. What gender do you think the hero in a thriller should be?

The audience clearly feel that the gender of the character who plays the hero should be male. In our thriller we will try and fit the findings of this graph.

Question 9. What gender should the villain should be in a thriller?

 This evidence shows that the majority of people that we asked wanted the villain in a thriller to be male. Just like the gender of hero. In our thriller, we will try and make sure that the villain will be male to fit with these findings.

Question 10. Do you think dark colours work best in a thriller?

The use of dark colours will be effective as more people said that they should be used rather than light colours. We will try and use dark colours in our thriller to fit with these findings.

 

Question 11. Do you think light colours work best in a thriller?

The use of light colours wouldn't be effective as more people said that they shouldn't be used in a thriller. We will try and not use light colours in our thriller to fit with these findings.

Question 12. Where do you think the setting for a thriller should be?

Most people that we asked would prefer a thriller set in a house. I think this is because it would seem like it could happen to anyone and it would make the film seem more real to the audience. We will make our thriller fit with these findings.

Question 13. Should the villain love or die?

Most people said that they would prefer the villain to die in a thriller. I think this is because they would feel like the film has come to an end when the villain has died. We will use this in our thriller to fit with these findings.

Question 14. Do you think that slow music creates suspense in a thriller?

Most of the people that we asked in this survey thought that slow music does create suspense because they feel that it sets the pace. We will use these findings to fit in with our music in our thriller.

Question 15. Do you think that fast music creates suspense in a thriller?

Most of the people that we asked in this survey thought that fast music doesn't create suspense because they feel that it over complicates the story line and makes the story feel like its going to fast. We will use these findings to correspond with our thriller and the music in our thriller.

Question 16. Do you think that the hero in a thriller should be in a relationship?

The result for this question isn't as certain as the others, the results are close but more didn't want the hero in a relationship. We will try and use these findings in our thriller.

Question 17. Do you think that bold graphics look better in a thriller?

Most of the people ask said yes to this question. I think this is because they think that it makes the words stand out more against the background. Also I think it makes them look important. We will use these findings in our thriller.

Question 18. What is your biggest fear?

Most people's biggest fear is kidnapping. These results will help us in our thriller because we can play on this idea to make our thriller more scary for our selected audience. 

Question 19. Do you think a thriller should contain children?

The majority of people thought that a thriller should have children in it. I think this is because they may think that if it could happen to a child it could happen to anyone and this makes it more frightening. Also, many people have children of their own and if something happened to their child it would hurt them and in a thriller, we want to play on this.

Question 20. Should the identity of the villain be shown at the beginning of a thriller?

Most people don't think that the identity of the villain should be shown at the beginning of a thriller because this takes away the mystery of finding out who it was. We will use this finding in our thriller.