Our plot and beginning our storyboard!

We have now begun the process of making our story board, we already have a clear idea of what we would like our film to look like on completion; we are aware of what our plot is majorly focused upon; also, we have acknowledged what we would like the filming to be like (shots etc). 

Our film is focused around two girls, who are singers performing on stage with a mysterious male figure emerging from behind taking pictures of them; a stalker.

 In the opening sequence we see our production name 'M.A.S productions' appear on screen, then the title of the film, 'Stage Girls'. The title will appear on a mirror written on in lipstick, we will create this on the computers. Our initial idea was to have a hand appear and wipe off the lipstick and the stalker man's face appears on screen grinning and the camera will zoom into his eyes, creating mystery; However, this would be a bit too complex for us to do considering this was our first time using this type of technology! So we opted against that idea... then we had the idea of the camera will then zoom out to another scene of two girls performing on the stage, one singing and one playing the piano, a establishing shot followed by panning shots of the girls on stage, finished of with focus on the girls with close ups and mid shots. Then, we had the idea of using the camera to zoom in on one of the performer’s red lips, followed by a jump-cut to the little dark room in which the man is looking at pictures on the walls. (Jump cuts are effective in psychological thrillers, they are confusing cuts which do not follow obvious rules of cause and effect, they also disrupt the audience’s attention in order to create shock, and they are also used to suggest a main characters instable state of mind.) The jump cuts fit perfectly with our plot as they help portray our stalker brilliantly.  The audience will be able to hear the man heavily breathing as he is sticking another picture to his growing collection of pictures of the two girls on his wall. The camera will then zoom in onto one of the pictures and use a camera flash to show a 'flashback' of when the man was taking the photo. We will use an over the shoulder shot of the man taking the photo and then will fade back to the man in the room kissing the picture. The shot will then switch, but we don't know what transition to use yet, back to the girls performing. Also; a recurring shot will be used on numerous occasions throughout the film; a flash of a camera... getting the audiences attention back to the idea of having a follower/stalker watching the girls every movement.

Today we are editing our storyboard. Mainly, sorting the timings out for each shot to ensure the shots on completion are within the time slot of 2 minutes. We previously had issues with our shots being too short and therefore not making up to the whole 2 minutes, so we have to spend time on making sure we have enough build up of shots.

Reaction after watching opening of psychological thrillers for inspiration/research...

Reluctantly just watched the opening of 'Murder by numbers' a psychological thriller about'Two gifted high school students execute a "perfect" murder - then become engaged in an intellectual contest with a seasoned homicide detective.'- IMBD


The film itself is focused on Richard Haywood, a Californian high school's coolest kid,  who secretly teams up with another rich kid in his class, a nerd Justin 'Bonaparte' Pendleton, whose skill is in forensic matters, the fact that he is intellectual allows them to plan elaborately perfect murders, just for the kick, for which they set up Richard's marijuana supplier, their school's janitor Ray Feathers, as a psychotic serial killer.


The opening sequence consists of a storm which comes across in a establishing shot, a voice over intrigues the audience as it creates an element of mystery. The opening act is that of  suicide which gives an insight to the audience as they then know what the film is going to be about...a dark atmosphere is created. After this scene there is a scene in a classroom however this particular scene shows no element of psychological thriller therefore I'm not going to write about it...the other scene which shows elements of thriller was set in a secluded, isolated area around sea and a demolished, old remains of a house.  





Even the look of the poster/advertisement has elements of mystery which intrigues the onlooker. e.g the eyes and the font of the writing looks frightening and sadistic.

looking at psychological thrillers...

The Silence of the Lambs  came out in 1991, it is a brilliant American film that blends elements of the crime and horror genres.
The movie was directed by Jonathan Demme and stars Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, and Ted Levine. It is based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Harris, his second to feature Dr. Hannibal Lecte, a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer.
In the film, Clarice Starling a young FBI trainee played by Foster, seeks the advice of the imprisoned serial killer and cannibal Hannibal Lecter, played by Hopkins, to help apprehend another serial killer, known only as "Buffalo Bill".
The film ultimately received widespread critical acclaim; Silence of the Lambs received a 96 percent positive response from critics. Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster also received praise for their performances. Roger Ebert specifically mentioned the "terrifying qualities" of Hannibal Lecter, and has since recognized the film as a "horror masterpiece", alongside such classics as Nosferatu, Psycho, and Halloween. However, the film is also notable for being one of two multi-Oscar winners disapproved of by Ebert's colleague, Gene Siskel, the other being Unforgiven.

Domestic Box Office
Opening Weekend	$13,766,814
% of Total Gross	10.5%
Close Date	10 October 1991
Total U.S. Gross	$130,742,922
Worldwide Box Office
Total Worldwide Gross	$272,742,922

     

Hannibal is a 2001 psychological thriller, which is the genre we hope to focus our short sequence on...hopefully, by the end of the research we will have come to a conclusion on how we want to film it! Directed by Ridley Scott,  this psychological thriller is adapted from the Thomas Harris novel of the same name. It is a sequel to the 1991 The Silence of the Lambs that returns Anthony Hopkins to his iconic role as serial killer Hannibal Lecter. Julianne Moore co-stars, taking over for Jodie Foster in the role of FBI Agent Clarice Starling.
Set ten years after The Silence of the Lambs, the premise is that Dr. Lecter's only surviving victim, the extremely wealthy Mason Verger, is determined to capture, torture, and kill him. The film's locations alternate between Italy and the U.S
Hannibal was a highly anticipated sequel. It marked the third film appearance of Lecter, a character first portrayed (as "Lecktor") by Brian Cox in the 1986 film Manhunter, based on Harris' novel Red Dragon.
The "bumpy" development of Hannibal drew a large amount of attention, with Silence of the Lambs  director Jonathan Demme, screenwriter Ted Tally and actress Jodie Foster all eventually declining involvement. Upon release, Hannibal broke box-office records in the United States, Australia, Canada and the UK in February 2001.



Red Dragon is a 2002 thriller film based on Thomas Harris' novel of the same name and featuring psychiatrist and serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The film was directed by Brett Ratner and written by Ted Tally, who also wrote the screenplay for The Silence of the Lambs; it stars Edward Norton as FBI agent Will Graham and Anthony Hopkins as Lecter, a role he had, by then, played twice before in The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal. The film's story takes place before the events in The Silence of the Lambs, after Lecter's original capture and incarceration.

Main source- Wikipedea

Psychologic thriller research continued...

Psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the broad ranged thriller and Horror genres. However, it often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre, in addition to the typical traits of the thriller genre.
In this specific genre (Psychological thriller) – Characters are no longer reliant on physical strength to overcome their brutish enemies (which is often the case in typical action-thrillers), but rather are reliant on their mental resources, whether it be by battling wits with a formidable opponent or by battling for equilibrium in the character's own mind. The suspense created by psychological thrillers often comes from two or more characters preying upon one another's minds, either by playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the other's mental state.
Many psychological thrillers have emerged over the past years, all in various media (film, literature, radio, etc). Despite these very different forms of representation, general trends have appeared throughout the narratives. Some of these consistent themes include:

• Reality – The quality of being real. Characters often try to determine what is true and what is not within the narrative.
• Perception– A person's own interpretation of the world around him through his senses. Often characters misperceive the world around them, or their perceptions are altered by outside factors within the narrative.
• Mind – The human consciousness; the location for personality, thought, reason, memory, intelligence and emotion. The mind is often used as a location for narrative conflict, where characters battle their own minds to reach a new level of understanding or perception.
• Existence/Purpose– The object for which something exists; an aim or a goal humans strive towards to understand their reason for existence. Characters often try to discover what their purpose is in their lives and the narrative's conflict often is a way for the characters to discover this purpose.
• Identity – The definition of one's self. Characters often are confused about or doubt who they are and try to discover their true identity.
• Death – The cessation of life. Characters either fear or have a fascination with death.

Source- Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_thriller)

Thriller films utilize elements of suspense, tension and excitement, the primary sub-genre is usually 'psychological thrillers'. Thriller movies aim to create a suspense atmosphere to cause a feeling of fear and anxiety to audiences. 

Sound and editing are extremely important elements of a Thriller film, for example rapid, speedy cuts and camera angle changes, music that gives off an aspect of tension when appropriate. It can also be to do with lighting, in particular the utilization of shadow.


We have decided to make our sequence focusing on the 'thriller' genre. We came across this picture on the internet which highlights main thriller/ horror movies of our generation.

As a group we have decided to work on a thriller, however not just a basic thriller...a psychological thriller which highlights themes of mind games, psychological themes, stalking death traps, horror-of-personality and obsession. Our sequence will hopefully have elements of all these.



This is a long shot at the beginning of the sequence and our production title 'M.A.S'

This is a close up of character 1 opening the door

This is a match on action shot used to cut from one shot to another that matches the action and pace of the previous shot

this is an example of a shot reverse shot

this is example of a over the shoulder shot

Planning and ideas for our 2 minute sequence!

To begin with, as a group we have come up with three different ideas for plots for our opening sequence. The first  concept we came up with was an idea of a talent audition where people come on stage showing off there artistic skill e.g. singing, dancing and playing the piano; which would then lead into a story of a auditionee who failed to get through the second audition and their tough journey in hope to find fame. 
The second idea was girls singing on stage being followed and stalked by a mysterious man, the man only being shown in shadow form, the plot would then lead to the stalker finding and killing the girls. 


Now, we have come up with an old fashioned thriller in black and white. It will consist of two young women performing on stage singing and playing the piano. During their performance on stage, cuts will be between both scenes showing a man in a dark print  room looking at photos of stage girls and show the two girls performing. This will then lead to a plot of the man stalking the girls and eventually harming them or even killing them.

Preliminary opening sequence M.A.S Productions

This is our first attempt at a short video! We used a range of shots such as shot-reverse shots, midshots and a close up, it was our first experience with using a video camera...it was thrid time lucky for us because we were in hysterics most of the time as we didnt have a clue what to do...after a chat with our media studies teacher we fully understood what we had to do, considering it is our first attempt with a video camera and the equipment i think it went really well.. take a look for yourselves!