Prop Plan

Props needed for the man dragging the bag:

• Large black bin liner
• Large cushions or old clothes as filling

Props needed for the young girl:

• Her dog
• Her Iphone

We have decided to use very basic props as they will be easy to gather if any filming was needed to be completed. Also the simplicity to our props will add to the narrative enigma of our thriller opening scene.

Recce Shots

We took photos of possible locations to shoot our thriller opening sequence. Both of these locations share similar attributes as they are both wooded areas.  By giving ourselves more than one place to shoot we can choose to film parts at one location that may suit the narrative more accurately.

The first photo is of the woods on Chetwynd Barracks.



The second shots are of the woods near Toton Sidings:

Emily and I decided to film in the woods near Toton Sidings because there is a clear natural pathway for the characters to walk down, giving us better shots. Also the natural lighting at Toton Sidings was better as the area is less over grown and the trees do not hang over the area we decided to film in. Another reason for us choosing Toton Sidings is a park is near by which also fits our narrative idea of the young girl and her mother playing nearby.

Actors Plan

Costume:
Harry is wearing going to be wearing all black outdoor clothing while completing our narrative. The black clothing reflects his sinister, mysterious character. 
 




Emily will be wearing 'normal' everyday clothing to match the theme of her character. Emily's outfit will portray the vulnerable nature of her character.


Actors:
To complete our narrative we need three characters. 

A male character dragging the bag, this role is going to be carried out by Harry but we have arranged to have a backup in case he isn't available (Jay). The reason we have chosen Jay and Harry is because they are often around and would be easy to get a hold of if any re-filming needs to be completed.


 
The girl is going to be Emily, my work partner, the reason we have decided to have Emily in our thriller is because she fits the role of being the young, innocent girl. Due to her and I working together, Emily will have to be around to film so is therefore reliable and would be available to complete any re-filming that may be required. 

 

Also to make our narrative more believable and make more sense we have decided to have Emily's character walking her dog through the park before she sees the man. The dog we will be using is Emily's dog Jack. Again, Jack would be easy to use if re-filming is needed and is going to be obedient for Emily, making the filming process much easier. 

Thriller-Story Board of each shots

 Story Board of the narrative:

Above is a detailed story board showing each of our shots we are planning to film. Emily and myself worked on the storyboard together.

Title Practice

In today's lesson Emily and I attempted to make our title sequence. We experimented with different effects and colours (See results above). Neither Emily nor I have used Adobe After Effects before so it took us a while to learn how to use the program. Now we have experimented with the tools and know how to work them, because of this we have a general idea of what we want our title to be like. Also, I feel better prepared to create the title for our final piece.

Filming Schedule

Emily and I completed a precise time table of each part of our filming. By creating this schedule and following this schedule we will be able to meet our deadline and complete all parts of our filming accurately.

Risk Assessment

Emily and I wrote down the potential risks we could face while filming. We looked at ways we could overcome these risks and rated the severity of them before and after our prevention measures.

Narrative and Shot Plan

Our thriller opening scene is going to start off in a foggy wooded area. From watching other thrillers and from audience feedback we decided to switch from long shots of the trees and close up of the man's body parts. Our first shot will be a long shot of some trees before going to a close up of the man's walking shoes. The next shot will be from a different angle of the trees then to a forward tracking shot of the man dragging the bag. There will be another shot of the trees before a close up of the man's tight grip on the black bag. The final shot of the trees will be followed by a close up of the back of the man's head. Our next shot is of the girl walking her dog in the field area of the park. This will be demonstrated with a close ups, a low down shot, a pan and a mid-shot. During the walk the dog is going to run off into the bush area of the play park, the girl will go to collect the dog where she sees the strange man disposing of the bag, our final shot of the opening sequence will be an extreme close up of the man's eye before cutting to our title sequence of 'Hidden'.






Questionnaire for Ideas

After we narrowed our ideas down to two we created a questionnaire to ask our peers what they thought of our ideas.

We asked the following questions:

• Which one sounds better?
• Which one do you think creates the most suspense?
•  Which one would you rather watch and why?

These are our results:

Most people thought that our first idea of the man dragging the bag through a field was the best idea as it created the most questions for the audience as they all wanted to know what happened next. 

As a pair we decided to go with the first idea as it follows the conventions of a thriller closely. 

Thriller Planning

We made a mind map of our ideas for what our thriller could be about. We came up with four ideas. (See above)

After discussing these further we decided to pick between two of the ideas. 
These ideas are:

• A man dragging a large bag through a field before dropping it in a ditch. When he looks up there is a girl opposite him watching what he is doing. The man then walks towards the girl before it cutting to a close up of the girl's scared face.

• A man sat in a messy office looking through lots of pictures before stopping on one and staring at it for a long time. He then puts the picture in his pocket before leaving his house with a gun. The last image seen before the titles appear is a close up of the gun clutched in the man's hand.  

The reason we chose these ideas over the others is because we feel that these two ideas would create the most narrative enigma for the audience. The locations we would use for these ideas are easily accessible. Also the characters only need to wear basic costumes these could easily be recreated if any re-filming was necessary, we feel these two ideas would be the easiest to complete yet the most effective.