Story Board Images

These images are the images of the story board of our thriller opening. We have drawn each scene and written what is going to happen in each scene to give a vivid picture of what the film will look like.

The storyboard also shows details about the scenes, the sound and the camera shot movements used in each scene, and it also shows the length of all the scenes.

The storyboard is important for the planning and the filming for our thriller opening and considering the ideas that we have come up with that is put down on paper in the order in which we would like our opening to be set out.

The film treatment

 

This girl had everything she wanted in life; a good school, great friends she could count on to help her out and a loving family. That is until one day, the very day that changed everything for her, she found herself at the wrong place at the wrong time and ever since that day nothing has ever been the same since.

One night Elizabeth Smith (Played by Stephanie Chase), who was once an ordinary 16 year old girl, had to stay at her school (St Mary’s High School) late one night. As she was walking along the empty school corridor, she hears something that startles her, as she opens a nearby classroom door she sees Timothy Edwards (Played by Sarah Khan), who was a boy she is in love with and she eventually gets the biggest shock of her life!

What Elizabeth saw in that classroom that day changes her entire life and it effects everyone around her and those who care for her which makes her the only one that can save them.

When Elizabeth runs out of the classroom she tries to find the safest place in the whole school which was up in the loft of the other side of the school building.

While she is in there she finds herself trying to keep alive by finding objects in the loft which would help her go to the underground library where no student should ever go unless there was a serious emergency. However if a student goes there they must give up something valuable.

As Elizabeth looks for objects she has flashbacks of when she thought the school was normal and how there were no secretes. During the flashbacks Elizabeth thought of Timothy a lot and how they were madly in love with each other and how they used to go on dates often. Then suddenly she thinks of the classroom and realises that Timothy is a vampire.

Then she finds all the objects she needs as well as a map of the school ventilation system.

Elizabeth goes through the ventilation system and starts making her journey towards the underground library.

While Elizabeth is on her journey Timothy has sent all his followers to find her at the same time we have a flashback of his past which shows he is the crown prince of the vampires.

Elizabeth eventually makes her way down to the underground library finding what she gives away was much unexpected.  This was because to find out how to get her life back to normal and to save everyone, she had to give up her life force.   However, it was a tough decision for her because if she wanted everything to be normal, Timothy would have loose out being the prince of vampires and remember who he used to be. 

In the end she decides to turn into a vampire herself because her love for Timothy was too great; she didn’t want him to lose his titled position as a prince.  Her love was strong enough (or so she thought) to get her through this and she could be with her love.  



Annotated Mood Board

My group and i created a mood board, which shows the theme of our thriller opening which is about vampires and romance. The arrows show the different pictures from the mood board that links to our thriller opening.

Target Audience

My group and I decided our target audience would be from ages 12 upwards, So  the certificate of our film would be 12. This is becasue we wanted to target a wide range of ages so that there is an opportunity for our target audience to watch our movie, rather than limiting the amount of people who are able to watch. This also encourages all ages from 12 upwards who are interested in the genre of our movie to have the chance to view our movie. Also certificate 12 allows younger children to view our movie but only when accompanied by an adult over 18, this again allows our movie to be viewed by as much people as possible, which is our aim.

We researched many films that have a certificate of 12 and we were able to identify what was allowd in a certificate 12 film and what was inappropriate which we had to avoid

Harry Potter is one film which we researched, as 'Harry Potter' has a certificate 12 and we were able to see what what is appropriate for an age 12 certificate. we had to consider what ideas we have come up with that are appropriate for a certificate 12 film. This is where we researched the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification).

 http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines/12a12 - this is the link to the BBFC website, which we used as a giude.

Discrimination

Discriminatory language or behaviour must not be endorsed by the work as a whole. Aggressive discriminatory language or behaviour is unlikely to be acceptable unless clearly condemned.

Drugs

Any misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should not be glamorised or give instructional detail.

Horror

Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied, or appear pain or harm free.  Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Language

Moderate language is allowed. The use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’) must be infrequent.

Nudity

Nudity is allowed, but in a sexual context must be brief and discreet.

Sex

Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Sex references should not go beyond what is suitable for young teenagers. Frequent crude references are unlikely to be acceptable.

Theme

Mature themes are acceptable, but their treatment must be suitable for young teenagers.

Violence

Moderate violence is allowed but should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by the context. Sexual violence may only be implied or briefly and discreetly indicated, and must have a strong contextual justification.


The above headings state what is allowed in a certificate 12 film, this enables me and my group to understand what we can include in our film opening.

These images are the surveys of our tatget audience, we asked people who fit the teenage age group to answer a series of questions. This helped us identify their intrests and helped us with what we can include in our filming based on thier responses.

Research Into Exisiting Thriller Movies

My Group and I researched two exisiting thriller movie openings (As you can see above) to give us an idea about what a thriller movie's are like.

We also evaluated what sorts of effects that were used to help us get an idea about the thriller genre and what makes it individual.

We commented on mainly  the:

- Camera Shots and camera work

-  Editing

- Type of thriller

- Body language and movement of characters

- Meanings of different elements

This enables us to see what sorts of emotions are expressed in thriller movies and what the elements of a thriller movie are

So overall we are able to get ideas about a thriller and the kind of audience we want to target.

Codes And Conventions Research

Codes and Conventions of the Thriller Genre

Mise-en-scene

·    The setting and the objects/props in it are used to help give insight into the film’s plot

·    As a convention of the thriller genre, mirrors are used as a reflection of the soul and inner self, sometimes representing the darkness within a character  (an example would be ‘Mirrors’ by Alexandré Aja)

·    Stairways and narrow corridors create a claustrophobic atmosphere

Sound

·  Sound and music is used to create an atmosphere of tension and suspense,
Non diagetic sound which is what the audience are able to hear creates suspense
Diagetic sound which can be heard by the actors/ characters that are in the scene

Costume

·    Colours play an important role in the thriller genre. The contrast between black and white is often used to represent good and evil, white represents innocence and purity and black represents corruption and evil (an example would be ‘Psycho’ by Alfred Hitchcock)

Light and Shadow

• Shadows and low light create tension and eeriness, sometimes showing the darkness within a character
• Darkness is used to give a sense of claustrophobia.

Camera Shots and Angles

·    Quick camera shots gives the effect of tension and suspense

·    Camera shots (e.g. point of view, close-up, etc.) subtly gives an insight into the plot and situation

·    Camera angles (e.g. high angle, low angle, etc.) gives a vivid image about the characters and their situation

Costume

• Colours play an important role in the thriller genre. The contrast between black and white is often used to represent good and evil, white represents innocence and purity and black represents corruption and evil (an example would be ‘Psycho’ by Alfred Hitchcock - This is when the female character changes from wearing the colour white- meaning purity and innocence to black- meaning impurtiy and darkness)

Editing

·    Fast pace editing and quick shots create a disorienting effect, often used in important scenes.

·    Flashbacks are a convention of the thriller genre, they give insight into the past and create a sense of distorted time




My group and I researched the codes and conventions of thriller movies so that we could get an idea about what kind of tasks we had to do to make our thriller opening a suitable thriller genre opening and also the specific elements of a thriller genre.

Thriller Rearch

Research into the Thriller genre

·        Genre of Literature

·        Use of suspense, tension and excitement In films and television

·        Characteristics – Menace, Violence, Crime and Murder

·        Sometimes ends with a happy ending- Villain/Criminal is arrested

·        Use of literary devices – plot twists, red herrings and cliff hangers

·        Change in mood

·        Use of gritty tone, slick and lurid

·        Cover-up of important information from the viewers

·        Psychological thrillers – mind games, stalking

·        Sub genres – Crime Thriller, Disaster Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Supernatural Thriller etc.

I researched about the thriller genre so i could get an idea about what elements a thriller has that makes a film have a thriller genre.
I found my research on the internet, i typed into google 'the thriller genre' and many different sources of information was provided that helped me to understand all about the thriller genre and what kind of elements