Possible changes needed

Matt came down to speak to us again and we briefed him on our new idea. We all agreed that this was a much better idea. Although we were all happy with this idea our group as a whole as well as Matt and Adam had some concerns about the sequence instantly becoming categorised as a 'vombi' movie.
After having a long discussion we felt that because we had the evidence and the basis of the story as something that has happened in the news this was a realistic part of the idea.

We all decided that over the half term we would go and look at some more thrillers and look how they are presented this sort of idea and gain more inspiration.

Making Progress

We thought it would be a good idea to sit down and start looking at people we might want to star in our thriller. While each of us had people we wanted to use in our thriller it came down to the people that we though would be best suited for the role.
We worked out we only needed two actors for the idea we had so far, we needed a girl (this would be the person taking the pills) and a doctor.

We decided these roles could be played by:
- Lucy Gavin
- Nick

Obviously these are not set in stone and could change at any point during the course of time between now and when we shoot.

We also began story boarding. These were not proper story boards however they were just a rough outline of what the thriller was going to be like so that we were able to better visualise it. After looking at the story board we realised that some shoots could be taken out and some added in. After analysing it some more we also though that there may be too much going on so we could cut out some shots we felt unneeded.

Our Research

This link shows a video from the Daily Mail under the main title "Pictured in hospital: Miami cannibal victim 'awake, alert and walking' after most of his face was eaten off by naked man high on 'bath salts'" We have decided to take this as the main theme in our trillers. At the moment we have an idea to use pill pots lined up for the opening with our names and credits written on the pills pots before they medication is switched over and the drugs are taken. However, this is just and idea and it could change depending on what other ideas come up.

Back to the drawing board

Here are our 4 new ideas once we returned back to the board room and did our research on the BBC news. We have decided to go with the first idea because we felt this was something different i would be good fun to shoot and we also have a lot of research with this idea. 

A girl who is on medication. Her pills get switched over and she begins to go crazy. Flashes of lights, in-between the flashes you see her turning over, fitting etc. A nurse comes in the lights go out and you hear crunching noises and scream, the light comes back on and her face turns round and zoomed up on her dirty bloody mouth.

    

Same idea of a family going into a new house except the young girl is ill and is hooked up to hospital equipment with a private doctor or nurse attending her. While the mother is talking to the nurse flashes come up of the nurses face on a newspaper of her being wanted for child abuse. Mother doesn’t know this but the audience do. She has been wanted for many years.

A prisoners last day in jail before he gets sentenced to death. Execution. Scene opens with him tied up as he’s mentally ill and is a danger to others. Film on a handheld camera to create more of an effect. Flashes of him trying to get free, people come up to him and laugh, spitting at him and making jokes about him. It is filmed at a creepy house that could look like a jail. Scene ends with man being dragged into a room and the door being slammed.

Bomb/Terrorist attack, Have everyone/families sitting at home watching the news, sirens start going off and suddenly we see everyone running out of houses and doors everywhere. Everyone shouting, people confused.

Presenting Our Ideas

Today we went a presented our ideas to Matt, the media technician. We presented our ideas for our thrillers. After we presented all four we had a long discussion and came up with the conclusion that they all had the similar paranormal theme. This made is quite hard for some people to relate to although they may have been our own personal fears. Another problem was also that some of our ideas may be too large to fit into 2 and a half minutes. Also our themes would be to hard to put into an opening sequence of a film.

So with this feed back and help from the media technician we went back the drawing board and re thought of some ideas. We went on the BBC website to help gain some inspiration. The reason we went to the BBC news was because we could use some of these stories that will quite possibly scare people and will enable people to relate to the story more. 

First Production Meeting

We immediately went into our new groups and started to discuss our ideas. We listened to all of our ideas and then took these ideas and either used them or adapted them. I found that when discussing our ideas many of them changed due to other members of the group having a different twist on it or new idea to make it better or more interesting. I feel that discussing our ideas and adapting them together made the ideas a lot better because we got everyones input and ideas. We picked four of our favourte and strongest ideas, although some are stronger then others. 

Our New and Adapted Idea's

  
 A family move into a new house, the house is very old. There is a young kid and they put baby in the crib straight away and so they can unpack.  Above the crib is a photo/painting of an old lady in a rocking chair hold a baby. They have a baby monitors. In the baby monitors you hear a rocking chair, children singing/or an old lady singing ‘hush little baby’. The baby then starts screaming, the mother runs upstairs and sees a dark shadow of an old lady about to pick the baby up, the head turns and the door slams.

A girl gets up early to go running (misty). You hear her music loud. She begins get shiftier and you hear her breathing heavily. She starts to look behind her but we do not see what she is running away from or what is scaring her. She runs into her house and closes the door, leaning back on it. She then turns round and looks through the peephole and you’re a see creepy zoom of a young girl scream into the camera (muddy face, blood down her face). A child hugs her round the legs and says ‘mummy your home, you were gone so long’. She turns round and is it the same child but normal (cute and clean. 

A woman is watching the news and it is about a tragic death of a man. When she see the picture of the guy she breathes in heavily and goes pale, zoom into a shot of her eye and she is tearing up but we don’t know why. She keeps thinking she is seeing him and so do we. When she says to her friends look that him he’s the guy that was on the news this morning it is a completely different person.
 

A family goes and looks around a house. Whilst they are looking round there son goes off and they lose him. They go up to the attic and they ask him how he got up here and he says Alice showed me. They ask who Alice is and he points the other side of the room and says ‘Alice she is over there, can’t you see her’. The parents say they should go and they make there way to their car. As they drive out the drive way the kid turns round in the car and looks out the back window and see the little girl up at one of the window waving he waves back.

What is a Thriller?

A thriller is a type of film which is designed to keep the viewer on edge. This is achieved by suspense. A thriller is often described as a piece of literature and can be presented in a film, television program. Tension and excitement are the main elements in the thrillers, these all help create suspense. Thrillers change the views mood giving them a high level of anticipation, uncertainty, suprise, anxitery and terror.

The aim of a thriller is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seat...waiting for something to happen. The film in almost every case will emphasise danger. Tension should be built throughout the film and leads to a highly stressful climax. 

A thriller can also provide a sudden rush of emotions, excitement and suspense that drives the narrative.  The way that the plot is constantly building to a climax keeps the audience excited because they are waiting for something to happen although they are not completely sure what that is yet.

Our task is to create the opening title sequence of a thriller, we have to be careful with this to make sure we do not reveal to much to soon. We need to build up the tension to the audience experience suspense and tension but leave them asking questions.