Second Detective Costume

We chose this suit for our second detective, which we modified by adding a tie, which would give this detective a less formal look compared to the other detective, due to cost we had to use a different suit but yet again it has the same effect.

Detective Costume

This is the preliminary costume of the first detective. This shows that this detective is more formal and serious about his job, due to the budget we were restricted to other suits, which look similar but has the same effect.

Villains Costume

This is an example of a preliminary costume of the Villain. We considered many factors when deciding on the villains apperance. Firstly the cost of the particular costume exceeded our budget and so we needed to change the look of the costume. Firstly for the mask we decide we would use a plain white mask to hide the villains identity. The theme of the black overalls was kept but we are going to update for a more realistic feel, for instance a black coat which also fitted our budget.

Locations Shots

We wanted to use a variety of different scenes throughout the film, to keep the audience interested and engaged and so it was a very careful process when deciding the locations.

This particular shot is going to be a first person shot of a chase scene which will effectively create realism. This also helps to vary the types of camera shots and keep the audience interested.

We wanted to create a gritty and dark feel to the film and so we tried to get a location of an industrial setting, which we had t

hree scenes to choose from, but we decided to go with the third location as its more enclosed which this also leads onto the busy road which is when the detectives loose the villain, this next shot is of a busy road which create tension as he escapes to the general public and gives the audience the impression their will be another murder.

This particular shot of of the interior of the house in which the killing has taking place, this was to represent the average household and to play on the the audiences minds. The second location, is of the exterior of the house this again connotes the average household, and build suspense for the audience as its residential and suburban which the majority of the target audience is from.

Our Film Title

When we began discussing the title of our piece, we all came to the conclusion that the most effective titles were short and snappy, with a clear meaning behind them while not containing any ‘spoilers’ for the film goers. After many discussions, the group decided on ‘Motive’. We felt this title had a clear meaning and link with the villains story, while not being overly informative. This would intrigue audiences in the plot, and the film overall.
But was we begun drafting storyboards and preliminary filming, the plot element of ‘the list’ began to take a prominent role. Discussions then arose about changing the title to The List. We felt that this would provide a clearer link to the film itself, while also increasing the interest in such a vague title. Finally, we felt The List provided better branding for our film as a whole, as viral marketing campaigns could take advantage of the vague yet intriguing nature of the titular list. Our choice became final around the time we finished the rough cut of our opening.

Film Pitch

Our pitch for the opening of our film is to create an action-style chase scene involving the main Villian and our Detective characters, who will be the main protagonists and the vehicles for the rest of the story. We want to create a fast-paced opening to instantly create excitement for the audiences, drawing them into the world of the film as quickly as possible. We want the first shots in the film to have a rough, visceral feel, creating a realistic and gritty outlook for the rest of the film. We will aim to achieve this by using as little SFX as possible in the editing suite, with us trying to include any effects we need on day of the shoot, with appropriate camera angles and movement.
The second part of our opening will have a distinctively different feel, becoming slower and much more story-focused. This will allow us to effectively further our plot, while also leading the audience into a false sense of security after the frenetic pace of the initial chase. In this section we also want to introduce the idea of a non-linear timeline, with us using flashbacks as a narrative device. This will create an uncertain timeline for the viewer, and will become part of an overall enigma throughout the film.
Our narrative will be based around the Villain's string of attacks, and discovering the reasoning's behind his selection of victims. We want to have a ‘list’ of victims found early on in the film to help guide the narrative. But by also having this rigid plot line outlined early , it allows us to capitalise on twists and surprises later in the film; as the audience will expect the killer/detectives to follow this plan, while the story could deviate dramatically.
Overall, we want to create an opening which achieves in two key areas: Firstly, we want to show that the film will have creative and exciting action set-pieces, appealing to an audience looking for a genuine action thriller. But we also want to start an intriguing narrative strand early on in the film. This will appeal to audiences who would like a strong storyline to follow and an enigma to solve for themselves, drawing them further into the film. If we can achieve both of these points, our opening should be effective at hooking audiences in.

The Thriller Genre and its conventions

We have chosen to film our opening sequence in the style of an action-thriller. Thrillers use suspense and tension to keep audiences on the edge of their seats, and often use an enigma in their central plot to draw viewers into its world, with the storyline gradually building up to a climax at the end of the film.
The Thriller Genre can take many forms, often appealing to more than one sub-genre at a time, while still having the overall set-up of a thriller. Prominent sub-genres are Crime (Se7en, Taken, Ocean’s 11); Psychological (Suspicion, Phone Booth, Psycho); Disaster (2012, Twister, Poseidon) plus many others. The thriller genre has become so prominent that it has also spawned some of the most popular shows in recent television history, such as 24, Prison Break and CSI.
One of the most renowned directors of this genre is Alfred Hitchcock, who’s style and techniques changed the way thrillers were conceived and filmed forever, and his legacy has a resounding effect on the cinematic world today. From 1940-60, Hitchcock won the Oscar for Best Director five times for his work in the thriller genre, including for films such as Psycho and Rear Window, both regarded worldwide as top thriller movies.
In recent years some thrillers have been heavily influenced by the horror genre, and we have studied horror’s quite closely in our theory lessons, so we are considering adding an element of this genre to our overall piece.

Inspiration- Danny Boyle

One of our key inspirations is the director Danny Boyle. He is a world renowned British director, who has been nominated for the Best Director Academy Award twice and won once. While his number of films is comparatively small to other directors, almost every film he has directed has been met with success. He is known to tackle unconventional topics and screenplays, and in some of his works he has had adapt to difficult filming schedules and settings, while still achieving award-winning results. He also directs many of his films for UK production companies, supporting the UK film industry and homegrown talent, a position we are basing our project in. The two films of his that inspired us the most are Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours.
Firstly, Slumdog Millionaire was made with a comparatively small budget of $15 million, and yet it achieved the same effects, shots and success of many big budget films. We learnt after seeing a documentary of the filming of Slumdog Millionaire, that Boyle used simple methods and techniques to great effect, such as using skateboards to achieve the same effect as track shots. This inspires us as a team with an extremely small budget, to experiment with many more effects in our shooting process, and gave us the confidence to attempt some original shots.
Secondly, 127 Hours inspired us because of the challenges presented by the setting of a deep, enclosed canyon. The style in which the atmosphere is constructed in scenes where a singular camera is used provided huge inspiration for us. The way Boyle uses minimal movement, props and dialogue to create tension and drama allowed us to visualise what we could achieve with our limited cameras and budget, and helped us choose our shot types much more effectively.

Influence of Christopher Nolan

Christopher Nolan was the director of the ever loved films: Batman: The Dark Knight, Inception, Memento and more. Three films that make your eyes light up immediately. He has inspired millions with his mass of experience and the amazing job he did, directing them films at such a young age. However the film that inspired our team the most is Batman: The Dark Knight. We loved how he could portray each individual character with a single camera angle or just costumes that they wore.

First of all, we adopted his technique of camera angles and how he used them to help the audience see things in different lights, for example: ‘The Joker’ looks menacing normally, yet when Nolan gives him a hand held camera, ‘The Joker’ becomes more vicious and terrifying. This effect is what we wanted to take but for all characters. Comparing this to our film, the detective ‘Mason’ picks up the letter with a hand held camera. This is literally seconds, however, a lot is shown in such a short space. He panics and picks up the letter and you see the title of the film, this is very significant to the storyline as the plot revolves around ‘The List’ and the Mason’s determination and bravery is shown through his reaction. However, you see the other detective’s personality as well. He continuously chases, making him extremely brave, on the other hand, ruthless and careless. We took Nolan’s style and used it to show the protagonists personalities, giving the audience more information in literally 3 seconds of footage.

As well as this, Nolan has used fast paced action scenes with even quicker editing to symbolize multiple activities that are happening and to make the audience feel nervous and excited. We copied a similar style with our chase scene; we attempted to not use any transitions to create realism, like Nolan, and to make the chase much quicker than initially shot.

The Thriller Genre

Our initial plan for the titles in our sequence was to have them appear as part of the scene, much like one of our inspirations, Panic Room. But due to our budget and facilities, we downscaled our plans. We decided to embed our titles into the scene, in a similar fashion to the television series Heroes. We felt this would be an interesting and unique way of introducing titles, and that they would compliment rather than distract from the scenes.

Early on, while experimenting and editing with the iMovie software, it was clear that this would have been extremely hard to achieve, and the overall quality of the titles would have been poor. So, in keeping with our initial objective of interesting titles, we chose to have them as dynamic as possible. This is especially evident in the top-billing credits, with dynamic sweeping texts timed to match the slow-motion footage. We believe that while these titles weren't as ambitious as we had previously hoped, they were effective with the limited title options that iMovie provided.

Finally, we chose the font ‘American Typewriter’ for two reasons. Firstly, its style and appearance connotes the overall theme of the movie circling around ‘the list’. Its font is clearly recognisable as a classic typewriter typeface, further reinforcing this image to the audience. Secondly, the font also was clear, easy to read and effective in the different sizes and levels of ‘Bold’ that we needed, while still having a unique style.

Opening analysis - Tormented

The opening sequence in the film Tormented is effective in many ways. While being of a different genre to our planned piece, it still effectively fulfils many of the same criteria that we will need to follow. Also, by comparing an opening of another genre, it will help us isolate the differing trends and understand what needs to be included in our opening to justify the genre choice.

Firstly, the initial shot of a police car establishes the mood and story of the scene instantly. It connotes that the area is a crime scene where a serious crime has been committed, instantly suggesting to audiences a murder due to the genre of the film. When followed by the long shot of a large, questioning crowd, it denotes the increased profile of the incident and suspects.

The establishing shot of the school instantly denotes the main setting, making the subject matter of the film clear to the audience. But this shot combined with the tilted frame and jerky editing creates a sense of unease; especially when combined with the haunting non-digetic music. This sets the scene effectively, while leaving the audience scared, confused and wanting to find out more.

In the next scene, the use of close-ups on the main protagonist's face allow for emotion to be portrayed effectively to the audience. Her expressions of anger, pain and confusion correlate with the scene set, and give clues to the events that have happened within the school.

The use of a flashback, '5 days earlier', allows for an interesting narrative structure. This could be to further confuse and intrigue audiences, as well as providing a cyclical nature to the film.

Finally, the transition to the main titles uses the lasting effect of a crane shot to finish the opening. The crane shot allows for the entire setting of the entire town to be taken in, grounding the story in a clear location; while also removing itself enough to provide a clear wipe to the titles.

The stylised look of the title sequence further establishes the look, feel, setting and overall tone of the film. It resembles the underside of a school desk, with humorous images and graphic pictures being drawn onto the table. The theme of the titles draws on both the horror and comedy genre that the film is geared toward. They further entice the audience to stay with the film, leading them with images and clues about the later details of the plot.

Overall, the opening sequence to Tormented is very effective at introducing the films theme, plot and setting, while enticing the audiences with its unique style of titles, plot structure and shot selection.

Director James Wan Inspiration

James wan is a young director and always wanted to make films from the age of eleven, this drive at such a young age really got me interested in media and filming in particular. James wan first big film was Saw the first of the seven, which is grew it to a franchise. James wan has directed many other films such as Dead silence and death sentence. Even thou his type of films normally verge towards the horror genre their are many factors that i can take away and include in our film. The use of fast paced editing and the way in which James Wan used small and confined spaces really played on me as a viewer and which we've integrated into our film, such as the scene when a Victim is watching the killer from the stairs, which also gives the audience a sense of realism. Another important factor, is the budget of the first Saw film which was 1.2 million which is a very small budget considering the mass of the film industry worldwide, which is a very important factor in our film.

Film Opening Analysis Batman: The Dark Knight

The opening to the famous Batman film is absolutely genius. It instantly grabs the attention of the viewers. They first show the Warner Bros. logo with a very eerie silence and blue symbolizing a very cold effect. The Legendary Pictures sign, again given the same effect, follows this. A DC comic is then shown with all Batman comic storyboards in play. Giving the audience the insight of what will appear in the film. Again, repeating the blue filter that is meant to send shivers down the audiences’ backs. The silence continues. A huge black/blue cloud then shrouds the screen, confusing the audience until the huge black Batman logo shoots forward, remaining very hidden as it merges with the clouds. A crane shot then moves forward to show the audience a long shot of buildings, zooming into a particular window, until it smashes. The symbolism of the one broken window almost foreshadows the impeding chaos and disorder that the Joker's presence will bring to Gotham. There is no sound up to this point until the diegetic sound of the window smashing ‘sets free’ all sounds and the music gradually gets louder. The first villains are introduced and the audience recognizes this through stereotyping. They are in frightening clown masks and carrying weapons. Many camera angles are then put into action. First the zoom in on the main villains mask, this is to get the audience to recognise this particular mask, as the audience will be greeting new members of the villain’s team throughout the robbery. It switches to the first people zip-lining out of the window and the camera follows accordingly then instantly looks down to give the audience the fear of heights and the determination of the crooks. A long shot then reveals them in action across the buildings. A hand held camera is then placed inside the villain’s car, giving the effect that the audience is actually participating. The camera is then handheld, following the villains as they head into the bank. Many clean cuts are then used to distinguish each villain’s role in the ‘job’ of stealing the bank. This gives the audience the best view after following them as if they were to pick which role they would take up. An ordinary ‘hero’ is shown to give the audience someone else to follow, helping pick up the intensity in the film. When he is shooting at The Joker, the camera is on a track as he walks closer it moves back. Symbolizing he is growing in confidence, trying to stop the ‘bad guys’. When he finally gets shot, The Joker turns his head as if it were a tilted frame, showing his twisted nature. When they open the bank, the lighting changes to a ‘sickly green’ expressing that they have won at a disappointing cost. Also the green shows the betrayal side of the plan, creating chaos and greed, for money. Close ups are then used on the faces, this is very important to the scene; you see no facial expression other than the scary clown masks. Keeping them secret adds to the eerie nature and worries people. It also lets people imagine what corrupt people are behind the masks. It is also a way to keep characters non-important. Normally if the audience sees the face of a character in the beginning of the film, they will be mislead to believe that these could be the protagonist or somebody to follow. With the identity concealed, the audience knows not to get attached. This theory is used on the joker, the audience is introduced with him only holding the mask, someone to follow, his voice is only heard at the end of the robbery keeping him very mysterious.

The opening is very effective, action is filtered through and the audience has people to engage with almost instantly, keeping them active and intriguing them to get involved with the plot. We have tried to do this with our opening; the villain comes out and seems to disappear. We have tried to confuse the audience, so that they wonder what he has done. A chase scene immediately follows, exciting the audience and the audience due to the engagement loves the ‘heroes’. The audience wants to know what has happened and wish the villain to be captured.