Research into costumes

Research into costumes 
In our opening sequence there are only two characters, so therefore their are only two characters to designate costumes to.

Our first character is Jared Black who is a fake FBI agent, so in the opening sequence he has to be dressed as much as he can as an FBI agent. In order to fool the women at the door. Therefore we will need our fake FBI agent to be dressed in a black suit with a white shirt, and tie. Also our actor will have a belt on so that he can hook his badge onto it. He will also just wear normal, black leather shoes.

Our next character is the victim who is a women. She will just be in casual clothes in order to make her attack look even more unplanned. She will be in jeans and a casual top.





We think that having the right mise-en-scene will make targeting our preferred audience much easier.We have two characters in our film, one of them is a clever and manipulative killer as he disguises his identity. So we chose an actor who was middle aged and dark haired, as well as American because thats what an FBI stereotype tends to be, as our character is disguised as an FBI. His characters name is Jared Black, but the actor were using is called Aree. Our next character is a normal, motherly women so we just chose a character who we thought would suit the role. Our actress is a middle aged women called Sian.

Research into props

Research into props

1. We need a fake FBI badge. We found one from Amazon that we will purchase. It costs about £2. This will go on Jared Black’s belt, we will see him put it on his belt when he’s preparing in the car.

2. We also need a fake FBI identification card/wallet for when the women asks for ID from the man at her door. We will also buy this from eBay, costing about £6.

3. Black leather gloves will be needed, so that the ‘FBI agent’ doesn't leave any sort of clues behind; but there also look professional and blend in with his façade. Jared Black will put the gloves on before he takes the badge and id out of the plastic bags. We won’t be needing to buy a pair, as we have already. If we were going to buy black gloves we would buy them from eBay and it would cost around £5.

4. We will need plastic bags for when the man gets the badge and wallet out of the plastic bag, showing he keeps them safe and that he doesn't wear them all the time- just when he is using his fake identity. We also have these, so won’t need to buy any. If we were going buy plastic zip lock bags, we would buy them from Tesco and they would cost about £2.

5. Because most of our opening sequence is based in a car, we need a car. We are using one of our parents car, we picked the best one out of all of the cars that we think is best suited. We went with the silver Mercedes, as it looks sleek and sophisticated like a real FBI agents car would be.

Research into locations

Research into locations:

The location we hope to film on is going to be a Suburban street, just like from the film ‘The Long Kiss Goodnight’. By doing so we can make the storyline seem as realistic as possible but arranging the set as accurately as we can with real life props on the scene; for example cars, trees, lampposts etc. Therefore by filming on a Suburban street we are able to set the seen more accurately, especially as we are filming a low budget British film.

The film is set on a normal street where middle class family would live. It’s a quiet street just like the location we are planning on using. This relates to the thriller genre as it represents mystery and tension because it is an unlikely place for crimes, killings and other dangerous things seen in thrillers to happen in a normal, quiet suburban street.

This is the location we are planning to use, its similar to the street from ‘Long Kiss Goodnight’ as it a typical, quiet neighbourhood where not much drama occurs. Also it’s a street where families live with young children, which gives the impression it’s a safe neighbourhood- just like the street from ‘Long Kiss Goodnight’. The street were using is located in North West London. This will be used to help create the narrative and mise-en-scene as it adds to the mystery, tension and drama that this could be any street and any
house and the audience won't know where it is or what's going
to happen. It also show the woman's innocence because she
lives in a normal street where something so deadly and threatening,
like the crime in the thriller, would never be likely to occur.

Research into characters in films similar to mine

Research into characters in films similar to mine 

In the film ‘Drive’, Ryan Gosling is a driver. He can drive stunt cars and getaway cars, and he can also fix cars. Then one day, things don't go so well. Lots of violence happens. Not much of a talker, his acts of violence were literally breath-taking. Similarly to our character Jared Black also drives a car at night, in our opening sequence. He is also violent like the driver from ‘Drive’. He also doesn’t speak like our character, which creates mystery because our character only speaks a small amount.

In the film ‘Intruders’, ominous men approach the house. They enter the house and they enter her room and grab her –one of the men tells her they’re returning a secret to her, one she gave to them years ago. In relation to our film, an ‘intruder’ enters our actress’s house and harms her. However instead of returning a secret he grabs a suspicious object from the house, which he has been meaning to get. We don’t know what this object is, which adds suspense to the opening sequence. Our mise- en-scene of actors  is similar to the scene we looked at in ‘intruders’  because an actor as an FBI is used, just like ours and a women at home in casual clothing is also used in our opening sequence. Therefore our characters are similar to ones used in ‘intruders’ due to the way they act and what their role is in the film.

The last film we looked at was ‘Identity thief’. In the film a lady called Diana stole a guy called Sandy Pattersons identity and was living it up by spending all of the money he had on his credit card. This relates to our thriller as Jared Black in our thriller uses a fake FBI badge and hence uses a fake identity to get inside the womens house in order to get the suspicious object he was urging to get.

Research into real life incidents similar to our thriller

More research into real life incidents similar to our thriller:

·Craigslist: Richard Beasley was a Craigslist killer who killed three men he lured with job offers. He was using a secret identity in some sense which is similar to our thriller. Where the man pretends he is part of the FBI to get what he wants.

· Cat-fishing: The phenomenon of internet scammers who fake online identities and entire social circles to trick people into romantic relationships. By creating false profiles on social networking sites, these predators trick people into thinking that they are someone else entirely. They steal names and photos from other people online, often containing the experiences, friends, resumes and job titles that they wish were their own, providing a complete window into how these scammers want the world to see them. Sometimes the fake profile are only made in order for them to make someone ‘fall in love’ with them, so that they can use them to pay their rent, buy them new phones and pay their bills. Similarly to our thriller, we have constructed a characters buried so deeply under their façade, in order for him to hurt people to get what he wants.

· Peter’s story: Peter had his briefcase containing his wallet and chequebook stolen when he was shopping one day in Melbourne’s CBD. His wallet contained his driver’s licence, credit cards and Medicare card. He reported the theft to police and advised his bank immediately of the loss of his cards and chequebook. Two days later, his briefcase was found abandoned in the city with his papers and empty wallet but the cards and chequebook had gone. Peter thought nothing about it until two weeks later when he got a phone call from an electrical store saying that a cheque that he used to buy a coffee machine recently had bounced and he needed to transfer money to the store. Peter explained that his chequebook had been stolen and that thieves must have used one of his cheques. The shop person didn’t believe him and said he would give him two days to provide the money or he would turn the matter over to debt collectors. Over the next 12 months, Peter was phoned, written to and harassed by numerous people, either from shops or from debt collection agencies. This relates to our thriller in some sense because a man commits a crime, just to get hold of valuable objects, and also cause harm and distress to the victims. Who knows this man could do this to many more people, just like Peter; similar to our ‘villain’ we have created.

From this information we have discovered that our film has more of a basis in reality than we initially thought. However, in order to make it totally believable the mise-en-scene will have to be perfect therefore we will be using a suburban location that is not too dissimilar to films like The Long Kiss Goodnight and Intruders. This adds to the verisimilitude of the scene as we want to make the audience know that they are watching a believable thriller. The key to this is to build up suspense by making the film world believable and reach our target audience of 15 plus. We think that the majority of our audience will be over 25 as it is a low budget British film like Kill List and Sightseers. 

Research into films similar to my opening sequence

Research into films similar to my opening sequence

1.Drive – BBC three:

Plot: This is about a driver in Los Angeles who works for the Hollywood cinema industry during the day and for criminals at night. He is a driver for hit men.

The opening sequence of Drive is a getaway scene with the main character picking up a hit man. The main character is driving a car and wearing dark clothing with a nice watch on his wrist and chewing a stick in his mouth. The lighting is dark a gloomy but there is a small amount of light from nearby street lamps to show what is happening. The actors used are just normal looking men to try and make it seem like nothing dodgy is going on and the setting is a warehouse and then a normal town but at night so it’s fairly empty to add to the suspense and tension. The props used are a car, black gloves that the driver is wearing which is usually associated with crime and danger, a watch so he can time how long the men take and a walkie talkie which he has tuned in with the polices radios to see when the message will go through about the shooting. As the sequence starts, there is non-diegetic sound used which is a dark and mysterious tone of music, indicting something bad is going to occur. This is overlapped by diegetic sounds of the news on the radio in the car and police sirens. The police sirens indicate danger and the radio in the car signifies how the driver of the hit men may be listening to it whilst waiting or to hear if there is a news report about the incident in which he is responsible of driving the men involved in it and therefore to see how long he had before he needs to drive away. There are a few camera shots and editing techniques also used. There is firstly an establishing shot to show the city. There are then mostly close-up shots of the driver’s face and then eye-line match to show what he is looking at. Then there is a further close-up shot of what he is doing. These are to show his emotions and to make it look more suspicious like no one can see what he is doing because they don’t want to get caught. There are cuts between the driver and the warehouse in which the hit men have gone into to show that he keeps looking back to see when they come out so they can make a quick getaway. There is wide – shots when the warehouse is shown to display the size of it and then door roughly in the middle which the men come in and out from.

2.Identity Thief (2013):

Plot: Florida resident Diana (Melissa McCarthy) has a luxurious lifestyle as the queen of retail, buying whatever strikes her fancy -- and it's all free, thanks to Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman), a guy from Denver whose identity she stole.

This is a comedy film so is quite different from the film we will be making. However, the main story line is not too dissimilar. One of the main characters is a woman who steals other people’s identities and takes their money by copying their credit cards. In our film, the main character is a man and will create a new identity in order to steal other people’s things. The opening sequence starts with diagetic sound of a phone ringing and then shows a man in an office, wearing a suit, answering the phone and then the voice of a woman on the other end. The woman explains how she is from the ‘fraud protection department’ and that someone has attempted to steal the man’s identity. The tone of the woman’s voice and the way she is speaking makes the audience believe that she is in an office taking and making calls to various people. However, there is a cut to a woman sitting in a shopping centre on her mobile wearing quite casual but over-the-top clothing who is actually the woman on the phone. This immediately tells us that the woman is danger as if she was really from a fraud protection department we would expect her to be in a working environment and dressed for work. The lighting is bright and cheerful indicating the movie will be fairly light-hearted, funny and upbeat. The non-diagetic music that comes on as the title of the film appears also makes the film appear to be humorous and it doesn’t seem to match the main characters characteristics as it says “bad girls” which, if we didn’t know the true personality of this character, we would not expect from her. As the film then cuts to the next scene, the lighting gets slightly darker indicating something bad is happening in this scene. The medium shots and slight panning done by the camera too show the woman in her home is used to try to capture the normality of her house by letting the audience see some of the décor she has. However, we see the true reality as there is a cut to a close-up of a machine that the woman puts a pin code into followed by more close-up shots of many fake identifications in the form of driver’s licences placed on a string hanging up in her house, a credit card coming out of the machine and then the card being placed on top of a pile of many other stolen credit cards. The close-up shots of these items indicate to the audience what she is actually doing and the crime she is committing as well as the equipment she is using to fake other people’s identities. The next scene of the woman entering a bar, we have a fade out shot of the woman as she holds up the stolen card to the bartender and the card is seen clearly whilst the woman fades out slightly, telling the audience she will be using the card and for awful purposes. Overall, this opening sequence is used to indicate who the main characters are, establish their roles and to set the scene for the plot of the rest of the film.  Although this is quite different to our thriller film, we will be incorporating some aspects into our opening sequence. The main aspect will be the plot of fake identities as the man in our film will have a fake identity as an FBI agent. However, we will also be using the close-up shots of the equipment being used for the crime in our film as, like in this, it signifies the crime and the action being carried out to the audience. 

3.Intruders – BBC two (season 1 episode 1):

Plot: Paranormal mystery thriller following a secret society devoted to chasing immortality by seeking refuge in the bodies of others.

There is a scene near the start of this episode that shows a man watching a woman in her house late at night. There diegetic sound of rain and a quiet, low toned non-diegetic sound to signify tension. The sound increases as the man at the door grabs the woman’s throat and shouts at her. This is to symbolise danger. As the man walks up the stairs and into the boy’s room, the sound gets even louder, building up to the gun shot as he kills the boy and then the sound decreases again. The change in sound symbolises the increase and build-up of tension until the act. The lighting is dark however there is a dark border around the main picture which is slightly brighter so you can see what is happening. This implies that this is a dangerous and violent scene. The actors used a man, woman and teenage boy. The man looks normal but is dressed in a suit and wearing black gloves. The gloves indicate danger and threat. The woman is dressed in normal, casual clothing to imply she is a regular woman that may or may not know about or be involved in something suspicious. There are props used such as an FBI badge and a gun which add to the overall scene. The setting is an ordinary house but we don’t see the area it is in because of the darkness, adding to the mystery. There are a range of camera shots used. Firstly a wide shot to show the house and the woman sitting inside. Then a medium shot of the woman inside the house sitting down which opens into a wide shot as we see her walking up to the door and the furniture around her, showing she’s in a regular home. The camera pans round as she does this as well as it comes slightly forward to track as she walks to the door. There is a cut to the window to get closer to the action and a close-up as the man slams his badge against it. The low angle shot indicates the woman’s power and then there is a cut to an eye-line match as we see the woman and then the man at the door that she is looking at. The action then becomes quicker as the man pushes the woman to the ground and the roles are reversed using a low angle shot to show the man is now in power and has more authority.

Editing Techniques

The Art of the Title Sequence

The Art of the Title Sequence

The title sequence of a film is used to show many different things about the overall film. These are:

• The name of the film
• An understanding of the tone or atmosphere of the film
• Narrative information
• Introduce some or all of the characters
• A sense of the films genre
• Actors, directors and production company name are introduced
• Establish the location

There are four different types of title sequence used in most Hollywood films. they are as follows:

•  Discrete- Is like a mini film before the film and helps to get the audience into the mood of the film but not tell you what the film is about. It can give you a idea of the tone and the genre of the movie. A 'discrete' opening sequence also is often animated and includes a lot of editing work. Examples are Se7ven or The girl with the dragon tattoo. Another example is the opening of Spiderman which is an animated short film of the boy who is Spiderman actually becoming the superhero and various different things he does and villains he fights.  
• Traditional- A very good example for a traditional title sequence is the one of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. Although there is a slightly stylised element in form of the grey lines moving through the screen, we have a black background with white titles in front. Another good example is the title sequence of The Sixth Sense. This features a plain black background with white titles fading in and out for the first about two minutes.
• Straight into the film- A film that goes straight into the story and doesn't have an extra title sequence. A very good example for that is the title sequence of Wes Craven's Scream. There are no titles at all and the film starts directly into the action. This type of title sequence is far less commonplace and is more likely seen in action or horror. Another example of where it is used is in The Usual Suspects which goes straight into the story line for the film.
• The stylised opening sequence- A stylised title sequence is a combination of straight into it and discrete. The opening of the film starts straight into the action and then followed by a 'discrete' title sequence. The best and most famous example for that are the James Bond openings. This type is often used in stylish action films such as Casino Royale or Mesrine.

Feedback to idea for final thriller

Feedback to idea for final thriller

Overall, our idea for our thriller was good as it captures a lot of aspects of what thriller films usually show and are about. There are some small changes that we have to make,however, which will improve our idea for our opening sequence. The first is to have the man that is the main character just a fake FBI agent and not someone already in the FBI who is a killer undercover. The second is to have the man take the fake FBI badge out of a plastic bag which was in his wallet to show that it's fake and in fact this man is dangerous.Another change is that the women who get's killed by the man will already be in the house as suppose to the man watching her go in. Lastly, the man kills the woman and straight away goes to a certain spot in the house where something is hidden that he is trying to get, and he finds it but we don't actually see what it is.

Final idea for thriller sequence

Idea for thriller opening sequence based on a news article

News Articles for thriller ideas

News Articles 

• There are many news articles that can be potentially converted into a sequence for a thriller film. Some news articles contain elements of various sub-genres of thriller such as crime, political and psychological. Here are three news articles that I think would make a good opening sequence to a thriller film.

1. Woman’s 911 call for pizza may have saved her life

A former police dispatcher, Keith Weisinger, revealed one of the most powerful and clever 911 calls he ever received — and that tale is now going viral on Reddit.  

He first thought the 911 call he received from a woman saying she wanted to order a pizza was prank, but quickly realized it was a clever call for help from a domestic violence victim.

Dispatcher: 911, where is your emergency?
Caller: 123 Main St.
Dispatcher: Ok, what’s going on there?
Caller: I’d like to order a pizza for delivery. (oh great, another prank call).
Dispatcher: Ma’am, you’ve reached 911
Caller: Yeah, I know. Can I have a large with half pepperoni, half mushroom and peppers?
Dispatcher: Ummm…. I’m sorry, you know you’ve called 911 right?
Caller: Yeah, do you know how long it will be?
Dispatcher: Ok, Ma’am, is everything ok over there? do you have an emergency?
Caller: Yes, I do.
Dispatcher: And you can’t talk about it because there’s someone in the room with you? (moment of realization)
Caller: Yes, that’s correct. Do you know how long it will be?
Dispatcher: I have an officer about a mile from your location. Are there any weapons in your house?
Caller: Nope.
Dispatcher: Can you stay on the phone with me?
Caller: Nope. See you soon, thanks.

The dispatcher wrote that as officers responded, he checked the address’ history and spotted multiple domestic violence calls.“The officer arrives and finds a couple, female was kind of banged up, and boyfriend was drunk,”. “Officer arrests him after she explains that the boyfriend had been beating her for a while.” The woman’s boyfriend was arrested.

• I think this would make a good sequence to a thriller film as it contain elements of crime thriller with the abusive boyfriend and the 911 call but in a clever way that it would make quite a shocking but intriguing film. 

2.Phone-hacking scandal: timeline

How the story developed, from the 2007 conviction of Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire to the current eight-month trial. 

January 2007

News of the World (NoW) royal editor Clive Goodman and hacker Glenn Mulcaire convicted of phone hacking. Editor Andy Coulson resigns. News International says Goodman is a rogue reporter.

8 July 2009

The Guardian publishes an article claiming hacking was more widespread on NoW.

1 September 2010

The New York Times implicates former editor Andy Coulson, citing the now-deceased former NoW reporter Sean Hoare.

21 January 2011

Andy Coulson resigns as David Cameron's spin doctor, blaming coverage of phone hacking. Five days later, Operation Weeting, the Met police investigation into phone hacking, launches.

April 2011

Three reporters on the News of the World are arrested: Ian Edmondson, Neville Thurlbeck and James Weatherup. Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, is on holiday in the Caribbean and is advised by colleagues that she too could face arrest.

4 July 2011

The Guardian publishes an article online claiming Milly Dowler's phone was hacked.

7 July 2011

The Met police says there are a possible 4,000 targets of hacking. James Murdoch announces the News of the World is to close.

10 July 2011

The News of the World publishes its final edition after 168 years.

15 July

Brooks resigns. Les Hinton, her predecessor, now in New York running Dow Jones, follows hours later.

16 July

Rupert Murdoch apologises in full-page adverts, saying: "We are sorry for the serious wrongdoing that occurred".

17 July

Brooks arrested in relation to phone hacking.

19 July

Rupert Murdoch tells a House of Commons committee that appearing before it is "the most humble day of my life".

27 October 2013

The phone-hacking trial of Brooks, Coulson and six others begins.

• I think this could also make a good thriller sequence as it has crime and political thriller elements however it could also contain psychological aspects if the concept was changed slightly to portray the phone hackers installing a deadly bug into peoples phones all over the world and gradually it's affecting the population of the world and tormenting them. 

3.Missing Malaysia plane MH370: What we know

Almost six months on, mystery continues to surround the fate of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March.

Investigators carrying out the search are now focusing on a refined area covering 60,000 sq km 1,800km (1,100 miles) off the west coast of Australia.

• This could make a good opening sequence to a thriller and it contains mystery,tension and shock about how this plane could possibly go missing, if it will ever be found and what happened to all the people.These things are all key aspects of thriller films however I would have to come up with different ways of to film the story line as it is something quite difficult to film.