We widen our knowledge we researched various media one of which contained newspaper articles related to Thrillers. From this we found an article on the 2008 Maui Writers Conference in which Gary Braver, a bestselling thriller writer (Skin Deep), explained Thrillers, ‘dread drives thrillers. You know who the good guys and bad guys are. Dull moments will lose an audience, and writers can't afford to lose an audience, even for one page.’ From this we learnt that in order to make our Thriller a successful one we needed to make it interesting and maintain the viewer’s interest as well as make the good and bad characters known.
He also identified 10 key points to include in a thriller, these are listed below…
1. You need to have a good story.
2. Write about the underdog.
3. Multiple points of view give great range in a thriller.
4. Have an action scene in the introduction
5. Reveal what the protagonist fears and aspirations are.
6. Make your characters miserable.
7. Your main characters have to change.
8. Pacing must be high: Strong Narrative Thrust.
9. Show—don't tell.
10. Teach the audience something.
Monday, 30 March 2009
Sunday, 29 March 2009
Risk Assesment
This is the risk assesment as of the first group meeting however, changes are likely to happen if the locations change.Any changes will be posted onto the blog.
Location: living room
Fire Starting: There is a door and a window in the living room and so I will make everyone aware of the keys to the door, so that they are aware of where the fire exit is in case of a fire.
Injuries whilst moving furniture: Because the furniture may be heavy we will all move the required furniture together. Not only this but wee will also go through the correct way of lifting up objects; in a way that will not damage the back or create accidents.
Tripping over camera equipment: In order to avoid this hazard I am going to make sure that the whole group is aware of where the camera equipment is, so that the possibility of accidents taking place is minimal. However, if there is an incident then a first aid kit will be with us on location.
Location: Kitchen
Slipping: Slipping may occur due to water being left on the kitchen floor. In order to avoid this hazard I will ensure that the floor is dried, before any filming takes place.
Location: Front garden or outside of someone’s house (in front of a house door)
People passing near equipment: could accidentally slip or break something.
To avoid this I am going to ensure that the area is not very busy whilst filming, and so the chance of this happening will be reduced.
Cars: Might get hit by cars.We need to ensure that passing cars are not a hazard and so we will ensure that the area we film in has a low driving speed and is not very busy.
Bad weather: Equipment may be damaged and the atmosphere that we want will not be established.In case of bad weather my group will go and film under a shelter so that the equipment does not get damaged. However because bad weather will sabotage the happy atmosphere we want to create, and so another filming day will have to be scheduled for this scene.
Location: living room
Fire Starting: There is a door and a window in the living room and so I will make everyone aware of the keys to the door, so that they are aware of where the fire exit is in case of a fire.
Injuries whilst moving furniture: Because the furniture may be heavy we will all move the required furniture together. Not only this but wee will also go through the correct way of lifting up objects; in a way that will not damage the back or create accidents.
Tripping over camera equipment: In order to avoid this hazard I am going to make sure that the whole group is aware of where the camera equipment is, so that the possibility of accidents taking place is minimal. However, if there is an incident then a first aid kit will be with us on location.
Location: Kitchen
Slipping: Slipping may occur due to water being left on the kitchen floor. In order to avoid this hazard I will ensure that the floor is dried, before any filming takes place.
Location: Front garden or outside of someone’s house (in front of a house door)
People passing near equipment: could accidentally slip or break something.
To avoid this I am going to ensure that the area is not very busy whilst filming, and so the chance of this happening will be reduced.
Cars: Might get hit by cars.We need to ensure that passing cars are not a hazard and so we will ensure that the area we film in has a low driving speed and is not very busy.
Bad weather: Equipment may be damaged and the atmosphere that we want will not be established.In case of bad weather my group will go and film under a shelter so that the equipment does not get damaged. However because bad weather will sabotage the happy atmosphere we want to create, and so another filming day will have to be scheduled for this scene.
Location Recce
Initially, the basment scene was meant to be filmed in Aya's living room; since no one in the group had a basement, we planned on acheiving a basement setting by covering the windows with black card, using a low voltage light to create a dim atmosphere. Fourtunately, Serhan Velettin got permission from his cousin who owns a travel agent (Jet travel) which has a basement, it was agreed that the setting was really suitable for the scene which we were shooting and we decided to use it, it really gives it a realistic atmosphere: the size of the room, the untidy look of the room (boxes, fans, uneeded materials and many more objects which is contained in a basement). The kind of props used to create this realistic atmosphere is the following:
Props/ Reasons of use :
- The room's untidy look is to emphasise that the room has uneeded things, and is a room just for pointless and uneeded things i.e. planks of wood, broken bicycles. Keeping the male character, Serhan, in there, strapped onto a small chair with brown tape shows his value towards the female character, Aslihan. The crowded room gives a claustrophobic feel, where it would be hard to move around. This emphasises on the "one-on-one" feel of the characters, and the idea that Serhan cannot escape from Aslihan .
- Using the light stand as the only source of light also emphasises on the narrow atmosphere. Facing the light onto Serhan is to cause him stress and discomfort, that he is "highlighted" and is needed to acheive the female's goal - revenge. The light also creates shadows, the film noir effect because of the low-key lighting. This allows a sinister feel lingering and floating in the atmosphere, however, it is still mysterious about who is the "good" or "evil" character...
-The costumes of the characters do not explicitly show the difference of the characters' persona, i.e. white represents good, black represents evil. Both the characters are wearing black however, Aslihan is wearing a tight black dress to show the femininity of the character, and the softness, the high heels again emphasises on these points aswell. Serhan is wearing a black suit (both characters are wearing professional-like clothing) this clothing is meant to show his power over his occupation, and the conflict of this image, his powerlessness with the female before her.
- The make-up used on Serhan was meant to seem as if he had been hurt deliberately to get him to the basement. We did not use special make-up, we used a combination of daily make-up: eyeshadow, eye liner, lipstick/gloss and we got the effect we had wished to by smudging certain parts of the applied make-up.
Whether someone else hurt Serhan for Aslihan, or Aslihan had hurt him herself is not clear, but it is clear that everything has been planned and expected; that she has a plan and reasons to what she is doing.
- Other props were used by improvising on the day of the filming. Since we had not seen the props before other than the day of the shooting, we had only agreed on the setting by images that Serhan had taken from his mobile phone. We took a closer look at the props on the day and removed objects which could be obstacles when filming, such as bricks lying around on the floor. During filming we noticed that there was a small cabinet with small glass doors, there is a reflection of Aslihan's hand where she is holding a small picture; we thought the shot was good and decided to keep it in the final peice.
Props/ Reasons of use :
- The room's untidy look is to emphasise that the room has uneeded things, and is a room just for pointless and uneeded things i.e. planks of wood, broken bicycles. Keeping the male character, Serhan, in there, strapped onto a small chair with brown tape shows his value towards the female character, Aslihan. The crowded room gives a claustrophobic feel, where it would be hard to move around. This emphasises on the "one-on-one" feel of the characters, and the idea that Serhan cannot escape from Aslihan .
- Using the light stand as the only source of light also emphasises on the narrow atmosphere. Facing the light onto Serhan is to cause him stress and discomfort, that he is "highlighted" and is needed to acheive the female's goal - revenge. The light also creates shadows, the film noir effect because of the low-key lighting. This allows a sinister feel lingering and floating in the atmosphere, however, it is still mysterious about who is the "good" or "evil" character...
-The costumes of the characters do not explicitly show the difference of the characters' persona, i.e. white represents good, black represents evil. Both the characters are wearing black however, Aslihan is wearing a tight black dress to show the femininity of the character, and the softness, the high heels again emphasises on these points aswell. Serhan is wearing a black suit (both characters are wearing professional-like clothing) this clothing is meant to show his power over his occupation, and the conflict of this image, his powerlessness with the female before her.
- The make-up used on Serhan was meant to seem as if he had been hurt deliberately to get him to the basement. We did not use special make-up, we used a combination of daily make-up: eyeshadow, eye liner, lipstick/gloss and we got the effect we had wished to by smudging certain parts of the applied make-up.
Whether someone else hurt Serhan for Aslihan, or Aslihan had hurt him herself is not clear, but it is clear that everything has been planned and expected; that she has a plan and reasons to what she is doing.
- Other props were used by improvising on the day of the filming. Since we had not seen the props before other than the day of the shooting, we had only agreed on the setting by images that Serhan had taken from his mobile phone. We took a closer look at the props on the day and removed objects which could be obstacles when filming, such as bricks lying around on the floor. During filming we noticed that there was a small cabinet with small glass doors, there is a reflection of Aslihan's hand where she is holding a small picture; we thought the shot was good and decided to keep it in the final peice.
A Monday script
As our thriller contained dialogue between the characters of Aslihan and Serhan as well as Aslihan and Aya, we decided that it would be a good idea to write up a basic script that we could follow during filming. However, this is not the final script as we are also going to improvise whilst filming. The final script (with all the changes), will be posted on the blog after filming.
Scene: 2 Shot with the two protagonists conducting a conversation.
Serhan: Who’s there?...Where am I? [Silence] What am I d…d..do..ing he….
Aslihan: [interrupts] After you pay back for this [puts the newspaper in his face, showing him the newspaper article and walks round the hair in a slow motion].
Scene: Phone conversation takes place after the phone rings and female protagonist picks up.
Aslihan: hello [silence] helllloooo
Aya: Oh hey hunni what you up 2?
Aslihan: wel im living [in a low voice]
[silence] I have so much to tell you
Aya: ow I havn;t heard that for long!
Aslihan: well ill tell you tomorrow
Aya: tomorrow?!.. I be there in 5 minutes
[they both laugh]
Scene: 2 Shot with the two protagonists conducting a conversation.
Serhan: Who’s there?...Where am I? [Silence] What am I d…d..do..ing he….
Aslihan: [interrupts] After you pay back for this [puts the newspaper in his face, showing him the newspaper article and walks round the hair in a slow motion].
Scene: Phone conversation takes place after the phone rings and female protagonist picks up.
Aslihan: hello [silence] helllloooo
Aya: Oh hey hunni what you up 2?
Aslihan: wel im living [in a low voice]
[silence] I have so much to tell you
Aya: ow I havn;t heard that for long!
Aslihan: well ill tell you tomorrow
Aya: tomorrow?!.. I be there in 5 minutes
[they both laugh]
Sunday, 8 March 2009
Film noir and femme fatale research
We decided to research film noire because our film was a gangster thriller; the narrative was based around the female protagonist capturing a gangster in a bid to seek revenge for the killing of her partner. The location of where the filming was going to take place, in the basement combined with the lighting and camera shots we hoped to use, all aimed to create a mysteries atmosphere in which the viewer would be left to ask various questions (which is an important factor in thriller films). And so through researching film noire we would have greater understanding of how to create this atmosphere. Film noir meaning "black film" in French began in the 1930’s, with detective and crime noir as well as many gangster films, and remained strong until the early 1960's. Film noire featured themes that are more negative than positive, with an overall dark and shadowy outlook by being filmed in black and white.The dark lighting symbolising evil while good is sybolised through light lighting. Interesting camera angles, shadowy lighting as well as extreme close-ups are all evident in noire films. 'Stranger on the third floor', a film released in 1940 was the first recognised film noire film. The film aimed to create dark themes, and did so through it's use of dark or/and dim lighting effects and monotonous setting. Flashbacks are also a main factor in a lot of films in the film noire genre. An example of a film noire film showing this is in 'Sunset Boulevard', where William Holden explains what happened before his death with a combination of flashbacks of flashbacks and voice over. In film noire the main character usually is bought to ruin by the femme fatal, who's usually depicted as a beautiful woman who would do anything possible to reach what she wants.
Sunday, 1 March 2009
A Monday
As we can see in image two of Serhan the "gangster" looks fearless and careless, whereas in image one we see a more fearful and batted Serhan, feeling rather helpless of the situation he is in.
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