Locations (Lauren)

Locations

We will be using two separate locations to film our Thriller opening, however in the film they will act as the same place. Tirrels woods will act as the woods as it will more practical for filming where as we will be filming the scene involving the stream and corpse floating in said stream in in the marshes in Flordon as this area has streams galore and is more practical as for filming the body in slightly deeper water.

Script (Lauren)

Actors and Costumes (Lauren)

GEORGE ACTOR

Josh Holt

13 years old

CORPSE ACTRESS

Lauren Bryant

17 years old

Title Explanation and Title Font (Emily)

Our title for our opening of a thriller is 'Out of the Woods'. The woods implies that it is an isolated place which is in the middle of nowhere which hints their is no help near and the boy is alone. This relates to the plot because it is about trying to get out of the woods and not being able to. It is short and snappy and reflects how the killings in the film are quick and unexpected.


CF One Two Tree

This font is very spooky because of the reaching branches from the letters. It connotes mysteriousness and the idea that something or someone is watching you. This would be a good font to use because it reflects the idea of the woods and the nature. However the font seems over the top and maybe too eccentric for a title of a thriller.


Nightmare 5

This font is very edgy and the random bigger words imply the jump scares that will happen in the film. The scratches through the letters could suggest someone has scratched it like a monster or a knife which connotes to normal thriller conventions. However, it is very similar to Bewilderwood (a childrens outdoor treehouse adventure park) which could connote a childish film which is the opposite of what we were intending the title to connote.

Black Asylum

This font is quite simple but is handwritten which makes it messy and rushed. It seems to be written with ink or a fountain pen which connotes traditional or old fashioned writing. This font would be good to use because it is simple, however it doesn't seem to reflect the plot or the meaning of the title in any way.

Street Art

This font reflects the title because it looks like it has been carved into wood or a tree. It also reflects the conventions of the splatters on the title which hint at blood. This font would be good to use because it fits with the story line and the idea of the forest. However the font maybe too complex for a title.

Our chosen font for the title is Street Art. We thought this was the best font to use because it connotes the idea of nature, while portraying a realistic thriller title. Also it can be integrated into the opening scene onto a tree which makes the idea that no one can get out of the woods when they go passed the title.

Thriller Plot Synopsis (Abbie)

The woods is where George spends almost every day, it is his home. But one day, out in these very woods where he feels so free and safe, he discovers something dangerous lurking in the undergrowth. After discovering a corpse, he finds himself trapped, unable to escape the depths of the woods. What exactly is stalking him, he doesn’t know; but what he does know is that he is incredibly lost and running for his life.

The Pitch (Abbie)

A boy finds a dead body in a forest. He tries to get out but can't and ends up getting lost and being chased by a monster.

Mind Map of Initial Ideas (Lauren)

MIND MAP OF INITIAL IDEAS

Here we can see the initial ideas we had whilst planning. After having analysed the opening to the film Inception as a research task it became apparent to us that a scene set in a daylight, reliant on camera angles in order to conform to a Thriller genre, was something we were interested in. But, we ultimately ended up feeling not incredibly inspired and without many ideas as to where would take the plot so we decided an idea based entirely on the intertexuality of Inception was not for us.
         After this we explored a stereotypical thriller story, dark alleys, stalkers, invaders, large urban settings or very isolated houses, this would mean we could really aim to use shadows and mise en scene to create a very atmospheric opening. After our preliminary task it was clear that we were not the best at filming in a night time setting. Although since then we have improved, we were still drawn to the idea of a daylight setting, at which point we thought of woods.
        Woods can be creepy and eery in daylight just as much as in the dark, and because fear and horror was not our aim for our thriller opening we began to consider the sub-genre that is a physcological thriller. With this we could explore the idea of your mind playing tricks on you when you hear noises within the woods, and what this could do to a child's imagination. This idea would lead on to be our synopsis for the whole film, but for now we could explore the child like innocence of playing in the woods whilst paralleling some of the shots seen in the opening scene of the Hunger Games of Katniss hunting thus giving our piece intertexuality. The opening of the Hunger Games does use a lot of clever shots to show Katniss moving about the forrest and this is something we wanted to draw from and use in the opening of our piece.

Camerawork in Pyscho Opening Sequence

  Camerwork in Psycho Opening Sequence

In the opening sequence to Pyscho, Alfred Hitchcock uses several different cinematographic techniques to form suspense and tension. The film opens with a pan shot of a large urban landscape, gradually beginning to zoom in toward a building in the distance, this then fades into a shot of the camera zooming in to a window, creating a very claustrophobic feeling due to the increasingly smaller amount of space within the sequence. This shot infers that we as an audience are zooming into a scene, not yet being able to see what is within the scene and creating a very uneasy tone for the audience, it is establishing the secretive nature of the scene, that we as an audience must enter through a window in order to see the events that will unfold.

Then Hitchcock sets the scene and allows the camera and therefore the audience enter into the room, to see a mid-shot of the character Marian, lying promiscuously on a bed, a shirtless man standing over her, the audience quickly learning that she is having an affair with this man, immediately asserting to the audience that she is not to be trusted. This point is then furtherly reflected later on in the sequence when she is seen to be in a car, driving. The scene begins with a mid-shot, cutting to a point of view shot of the road ahead, every time it cuts back to Marian, closing in, this creating the idea of the audience closing in on the character and her thoughts, understanding her emotions more and more. It also creates a sense of unease, the audience now in anticipation for something to happen between these long cuts between POV and close up. The idea of claustrophobia is also shown here, as the space around the character becomes smaller and darker.

Hitchcock also uses pathetic fallacy to represent the emotions of the character, who, upon closing in upon her face, we can see she is distressed, the pathetic fallacy of the rain reflecting this. The lighting in this shot is very shadow orientated, the characters face brightly lit, to her left darkness, this perhaps referencing her darker side, showing that she is evil or manipulative, and the fact she is travelling under the cover of darkness only emphasizes this point. The camera angles remain at mostly mid shots throughout this sequence, suggesting that maybe Hitchcock wanted the audience to focus mainly on the character's face and interpret scenes and emotions that way, without having to delve into too much action or dialogue, something which may be interesting to explore in our Thriller opening. 

Mise en scene in film noir