Witness statement

'Virtuality' Thriller opening

Evaluation

For my media unit 23 coursework I have created the opening scene towards a thriller film. Overall I feel that opening has been created rather well, I feel the time spent on the opening was sufficient enough for it to be realistic and entertaining. The opening scene begins with a slow tracking shot which transforms into a medium long shot of a character sat down upon a wall, the reasoning of this shot was for the audience to take note of the character, where he is sat and the location around him. The range of shots I used throughout the film opening were varied but they fitted into the genre of thriller, I wanted to ensure the audience knew what time of film they were watching, and it helped them to feel more involved. I used various medium shots to show two characters at once, and also to show the setting around them, and also long shots were used so that it allowed the audience to view a character from afar, making them more curious as to what he properly looks like, who he is, and what part he has to play. I used close ups various times throughout to emphasize the characters emotions and facial expressions and this helped the audience understand the narrative and what’s going on during that scene.  I gained focus group feedback, and within that feedback I received a couple of comments which said that I should have included more camera angles within the film opening, this would therefore shown off the genre more and kept the typical conventions of a thriller in sight. Throughout the opening scene my main aim was to keep the audience involved and to include lots of use of suspense. To achieve this I ensured that dialogue was kept to a minimum so that the audience would try and guess things for themselves, but for them to be in for a shock or two as the film then progressed. The inclusion of no dialogue also remained in the typical conventions of a thriller and this was one of the contributing factors as to why I decided to do so.  When working as a group I found it hard to agree upon certain things with other group members, one example of this was the choice of sound overlaid on top of the video. One group member disagreed with me that the chosen sound suitable for the video, when in fact I felt that a faster paced track should have been included, which would of helped portray the videos genre to the audience much more clearly. 

Overall I feel that my thriller opening was as good as I could have made it, and had the group members not being a little too relaxed and laid back about it, I feel it could have been made slightly more professionally. However, I didn’t have as much time as the professional filmmakers do, nor the expensive budget they do either, had I of had the same time and money, I feel I could have easily created a much more exciting thriller opening. As location manager, along with group mate Alexander Dean, I feel the settings we chose within the film were well suited for the genre and enhanced the feeling of the film. We chose the co-operative car park as we felt the audience could relate to a supermarket, as its something many of us visit on a daily basis. Although I contributed with ideas towards the editing, colleague Thomas Wood did an extremely good job of editing the video and ensuring that it still made the film exciting and fast paced, and well within the genre.

Call Sheet 2

Call Sheet 1

Call Sheet

Production Planning - Initial Ideas Mindmap

Media Equipment Booking sheet

Detailed Feedback Questionnaire

Feedback.

After creating the opening to a thriller film, I have shown it to a group of classmates who study media and other A level subjects. I have asked them various questions regarding the film opening and how they feel about it. The questions and answers will be displayed below and I will show 2 answers from 2 different classmates.

How did the film show the typical conventions of a thriller film?

Classmate 1: The opening sequence to the film was extremely well thought through, the opening displayed clearly different uses of thriller conventions. One of the main obvious thriller conventions used in this film was the use of lots of different camera angles, these show the quick pace and tempo of the film and clearly show it to be a thriller. The fast paced music over the top and no dialogue included also shows how it’s a thriller, it wants us to feel more interested in what’s going on and keeps us involved and the non included dialogue makes us feel anxious and ready to see more and keep us guessing.

Classmate 2: The scene with the mans feet constantly being shown leading up to the part where the man approaches the boy sat on the wall shows typical conventions of a thriller, quick cuts are used and the feet are shown multiple times, the camera angle during this is low down so we get a sense of feeling from the characters point of view.

What was your overall opinion on the thriller opening?

Classmate 1: Overall I feel the thriller was filmed with good thought and it displayed the typical conventions of a thriller film, the sound chosen over the top of the video matched what was happening during the film, and it suited the genre.

Classmate 2: I feel that the opening thriller scene wasn’t as good as I hoped, the scene lacked action and the exclusion of dialogue made it hard to understand what was happening throughout. The music chosen over the top didn’t really suit what was going on in the scene and wasn’t to a quick enough tempo to match the genre.

If anything could have been made better what would it be, and why should it have been created better?

Classmate 1: I feel that the opening film could have done with even more camera angles just to ensure the film genre was over exaggerated, as I feel that a different audience may have found it difficult to get an understanding of the film with the exclusion of dialogue.  

Classmate 2: I think there are a few things, which could have been done to ensure the film was created better, I think this would be to include more action to show off the genre, also to include dialogue as I found it difficult to understand what was going on

Recce Shot 6

Recce Shot 5

Recce Shot 4

Recce Shot 3

Recce Shot 2

Recce Shot 1

Risk Assessment

Locations used for the filming of the thriller opening include;

• Wem Town Hall
• Wem Co-op car park

Wem Town Hall risks include the following;

• damage/loss of expensive equipment

In order to prevent this risk, someone will be assigned to keep track of equipment of all times, ensuring it is never left unattended, as there is a likely risk that it will be lost/stolen/damaged if left unattended.

• electrocution from setting up of equipment

This is a minor risk as long as everything is in full working order (for example - no exposed wires), however someone will be assigned to perform a complete check of equipment before it is used.

• trip hazard of cables and furniture

Serious risk if wires and furniture are left in untidy/un-organised states, so to prevent this, cables will be tied where possible and places under mats. Furniture will be moved and stacked if not in use.

• injury during moving tables/chairs etc

In order to prevent this, no equipment will be set up until the area has been cleared.

Wem Co-op car park risks include the following;

• damage/loss of expensive equipment

In order to prevent this risk, someone will be assigned to keep track of equipment of all times, ensuring it is never left unattended, as there is a likely risk that it will be lost/stolen/damaged if left unattended.

• damage to cars parked in area of use

• risk of injury from moving cars
• bad weather - concrete surface will become slippery and poses riskisk

Meeting Minutes 3

Present Members:

Alex Dean
George Dillon
Karla Edwards

We have decided on the locations for the thriller. The locations were decided upon because they were nearby and we thought that they would work well for the film. The locations we have chosen are the Co-operative car park, the Wem town hall may be used as the headquarters for the organisation seen in the film. We will do some practice filming as soon as possible so that we can then go on to film the actual thriller. The main problem at the moment is getting actors for the filming. We will ask around and we hopefully will have found actors by the time of the practice filming. These may be changed for the actual filming.

Meeting Minutes 2

Present Members:

Alex Dean

George Dillon

Karla Edwards

We have decided on what roles suit who, and that the roles indicated to group members were based entirely on their knowledge, and their strengths and interests. Some jobs however, we decided to share between two group members, as they have duel knowledge combined which will allow professionalism within that job. Alex bought to the meeting a draft of the treatment which he created at home, after looking throughout, we found little error, however some of the dialogue was changed based on a group decision, after this was corrected we were satisfied with it, and therefore decided no more changes were necessary. 

After discussing the treatment and job roles, we then went on to discuss props and clothing, we decided that smart clothing would be used for the members of the shadowy organisation as this would emphasise the authority they possess. We have decided that we shall discuss the locations during our next meeting, as we need to spend longer time discussing and analyzing which places are suitable for the opening to be filmed. 

Meeting Minutes 1

Present Members:

Alex Dean
George Dillon
Karla Edwards

As all of our members of our group were present, we discussed our roles for the team, who suited what role, and how they would achieve the most professional outcome for their work. We discussed our initial ideas for our thriller opening, the sub genre of the thriller, the characters and the clothing in which they were wearing, location, and style of our work. We spoke about how we wish to create an exciting opening, one which would make the audience eager to see more of the film and discover what is going to happen with the characters. As a group we decided that we kept the narrative fairly straight forward, finding accurate and suitable locations which would fit the genre and also ensure that we made sure we gave ourselves enough time to shoot the opening, and also give us time to obtain props and costumes so that they looked professional and matched the genre. All of these things shall be discussed in more depth once we created a treatment, and finalized the location of where our film opening will take place.

hey

http://thomasadamsunit23.blogspot.co.uk/

Initial Ideas

Our expanded ideas for our thriller opening film.

A young man is sat by himself in a shopping car park, completely innocent and unaware, the man is grabbed out of nowhere by a group all dressed in dark colours. The man screams and shouts and pleads his innocence, however before anyone has time to help him, he is dragged away and the distant noises of the man shouting is all that can be heard.

Job Roles

Directors Of Photography - Karla Edwards, George Dillon & Alex Dean

Camera Operator - Karla Edwards

Sound Recordist -  Alex Dean

Editor - Alex Dean & George Dillon

Graphic Design - Karla Edwards & George Dillon

Script - Alex Dean

Costumes - Carla Edwards

Make-up Artist - Karla Edwards

Lighting- George Dillon

Props - George Dillon, Alex Dean & Karla Edwards

Location Manager - Alex Dean, George Dillon

Karla is doing an A-level photography course which is why we have given her the camera-related jobs. She also has experience with make-up so she volunteered herself to be the make-up artist for the film.