Influences from the Expendables

             We thought it would be good to try and make an Expendables-type film, using some of the camera work and shots they have used, which look effective and make for a good sequence. We are going to try and imitate the look shown in this poster for the Expendables.

                  This is the opening sequence from one of the films we are trying ot draw inspiration from, The Expendables, we want to use the same font for our title, and also we want to go for the same look as these guys have in the film. We want the mercenaries to look "badass" and to be people who the audience can easily side with, rather than them being ruthless killers.

Schedule of our thriller shooting day

9am – 5pm

Schedule.

9.00 – 9.30: Arrive at destination and set up cameras

9.30 – 10.00: Rehearsing the shoot with actors + Make – up.

10.00 – 11.00: All Close – ups, such as the mercenaries, weapons and car shots.

11.00 – 12.00: Tracking shot of Actors running & Car

12.00 – 1.00: Focusing on the car and shots inside

1.00 – 2.00: Wide shots + Long shots

2.00 – 3.00: Shooting shots.

3.00 – 4.30: Extra shots and takes.

influences from Saving Private Ryan

               
                while we were watching Saving Private Rayan we spotted the camera shot that they use which is hand held shot this has a big influence on us because  In our thriller we decided to use hand held shots where the mercenaries are running and prepare to attack Ted. we want to use this because it helps us to give the scense of realistic and tension.

Script for our thriller

Gregory.Fellows

Script Our opening sequence doesn’t include a lot of talking, shouting, screaming or any sort of dialogue. The only aspect we want to focus on is delivering interesting and well shot shots. Breathing will be the closest to dialogue as possible, however the

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Script

Our opening sequence doesn’t include a lot of talking, shouting, screaming or any sort of dialogue. The only aspect we want to focus on is delivering interesting and well shot shots. Breathing will be the closest to dialogue as possible, however the only dialogue we will include will be the sequence’s ending line of Yuri before he kills his victim showing that he is the main character within our sequence.

Shot lists for our thriller

From filming a preview of our thriller, our pilot, we can now see which shots work effectively and which wont, also we can clearly see which shots are going to be easier to film, and thus take less time on the day, and those which take longer.

 

Firstly, the tracking shots of the mercenaries running, could be one which we can either get right first time, or it could take a long time. We think that this could be the most effective shot and it would really add to the suspense and the tension of the sequence, showing these men running, about to attack Ted and James.

Secondly, the shots of the sniper, the close-up and medium shots, look good on our first previews, and will look even better we hope when we can get costumes, a gun, etc. all sorted, we do not think these shots will take too long, but they will hopefully look good.

The point-of-view shot from Ted looking up at Yuri from a low angle, looked especially effective when we filmed our first preview, it looked very good with sunlight, giving the effect of blurred vision, which we are going to try and re-create for our final shot.

We have filmed a shot which we are very happy about and looking forward to seeing how it will look with a real car. We are leaving the camera on the floor, and getting the car to drive as close to it as possible, this will hopefully create a sory of eerie feeling and tense moment, as tthe audience will know that the car is being followed alongside by these mercenaries, but Ted and James will not know, so this will emphasise that they are being followed.

initial casting

Gregory.Fellows

For the elitist group we wanted to use scary and obscure looking characters to indicate their profession and an audience could feel uncomfortable in their presence. Also, wanting them to meet the stereotype of a Russian killer/assassin. We also discussed that

9:19 AM

For the elitist group we wanted to use scary and obscure looking characters to indicate their profession and an audience could feel uncomfortable in their presence. Also, wanting them to meet the stereotype of a Russian killer/assassin. We also discussed that we wanted the characters to be physically imposing, as well as looking foreign, preferably Russian due to their advanced Military training in this country. You can't really tell due to the pictures we provided however, looking older than a characters actual age is very important. The characters we would like to include should obtain clear adult-like features such as rugged facial hair.

Using Ted Jackson we think is very import. For one, we would like to use his Range Rover as this is a very important prop within our sequence and he is the only one eligible to drive it. Another, is that he is older which shows a stereotype of age supposedly symbolising experience.

Close up shot of the mercenary's weapon

         In order to make the mercenaries look profeesional and dangerous, we came up with the idea that they should use machine guns instead of pistol because this will make them look professional as that they are prepared for their mission.

shot of Ted in the car, swerving when the sniper shot the tire

      This is the shot of Ted driving the car,swerving when the tire has been shot by the sniper. we want to find the way to stop Ted's car so we came up with the idea that we should make the sniper shot Ted's tire so that the car will be stop.

Shot of Ted driving along the road

         Initially we want the shot of Ted, the main victim as a druken guy driving a car. but then we came up the idea that we don't really need Ted to be drunk because the people who will take him down are the mercenaries which obviously are professionals. however, this is the shot of Ted driving along the road looking abit drunk(which is our initial idea).

Close up at Yuri

this is an example of the close up shot that we going to use on our main character,Yuri to show that he has the power over all ther other characters.

sound choice for our thriller

Sound

With our opening sequence we are expecting to use a wide range of different sounds including diegetic and non-diegetic: For non-diegetic we would like to include some suspense building music however we are unsure on what genre to use. We are struggling to decide between hard rock indicating the aggression behind the mercenaries, electronic to build the pace and suspense and classical to juxtapose the action thriller genre.

Diegetic sound is a lot easier to finalise as we want to include obvious firing gun shots to show the intelligence and trained mercenaries, another would be heavy breathing to show tension when the mercenaries are waiting to strike. Also, footsteps is important as we want to capture them running and including this sound could work well to an audience, showing an audience the realism of the film.

Props for our thriller

- Guns

 

- Car

 

- Cigar

 

- Russian army uniforms

 

- Fake blood

 

 

Location –

 

filmed the thriller's storyboard

We have now filmed a few practice shots of the real shots that we will use in our final thriller. Having seen what they looked like by playing them back on the computer, we can see that we are happy with our new ideas, especially our final shot of the low angle looking up at Ted pointing the gun, and the tracking shot of the mercenaries running. We think these will be especially good and effective shots and we hope that we can pull them off on the day.

 

Also, we have now realised the difficulties due to conflicting ideas with our teachers, on what we both think will look most effective. In our initial storyboard we were showing that Ted was likeable and also that he was drunk, rather than giving the camera time to Ted, we want to spend more time with the mercenaries, as they and Yuri, are the main focus point of the whole story. At first, our intial ideas for our shots were making Ted look like the one who we wanted the audience to sympathise with and support, however this is not what we want, we want Yuri to be the one who the audience lieks and support. Finding the balance between showing these mercenaries as good men who the viewer should follow, and just cold blooded murderers who are just killing for no reason.

Influence from the Expendables (Fonts)

After we looked at the opening sequence of the Expendables, we noticed the font that they use and think that it might be useful to us because of the genre of our thriller and plot are quite similar.

finalise for our thriller

          We have come up with many different ideas, but have now finally come up with the final idea for our thriller, having confirmation from the media department. The new idea consists of a seemingly wealthy driver but is forced to look bad from the audience's persective. Then a group of older looking students dressed as army troops come to attack Ted as they are portrayed as being good. Tracking shots and the use of cross cutting between Ted and the soldiers (good and bad). We will follow different soldiers as they hide in the bushes and then eventually they will force the car to stop. Our inspiration came from films such as The Expendables and the A-Team. However we are looking to add more of thriller aspect to it, make it more serious and not over the top.

further changes on our Thriller

At first we wanted to have a car travelling down a dark road, alone, with children in the back. A man was going to appear and shoot them. We rethought our idea and realised that we probably would not be able to incorporate this into an effective thriller sequence. We then decided to change our idea but still keeping the car idea that we originally wanted.

 

We have now decided to change our idea completely. We are going to have a car (Black Range Rover) driven by Ted, driving down the road, we will be showing closeup cross cutting between Ted, the car, and a group of elitists army soldiers from Russia, hiding down the road, waiting for Ted.

 

The main reason for changing our idea was that we thought we could more successfully put together an action scene rather than trying to film in the dark and successfully build up suspense in a way in which we had not really thought of. So by doing this new idea, we have now decided to name the thriller "YURI" because the film will be based upon the leader of the army group, who is called Yuri, and it will be about how they, being mercenaries, go around murdering anyone they are told to.

 

For our main character Yuri, we are going to use one of the A2 students who we believe will be a very effective actor for playing the role of a Russian leader.

Changes to our thriller ideas

At first we wanted to have a car travelling down a dark road, alone, with children in the back. A man was going to appear and shoot them. We rethought our idea and realised that we probably would not be able to incorporate this into an effective thriller sequence. We then decided to change our idea but still keeping the car idea that we originally wanted.

We have now decided to change our idea completely. We are going to have a car (Black Range Rover) driven by Ted, driving down the road, we will be showing closeup cross cutting between Ted, the car, and a group of elitists army soldiers from Russia, hiding down the road, waiting for Ted.

The main reason for changing our idea was that we thought we could more successfully put together an action scene rather than trying to film in the dark and successfully build up suspense in a way in which we had not really thought of. So by doing this new idea, we have now decided to name the thriller "YURI" because the film will be based upon the leader of the army group, who is called Yuri, and it will be about how they, being mercenaries, go around murdering anyone they are told to.

For our main character Yuri, we are going to use one of the A2 students who we believe will be a very effective actor for playing the role of a Russian leader.

Shot by shot breakdown for our thriller

1. Close up of Elite group 's weapons and equipment
2. Closeup of Yuri's facial expression, symbolising his power and status within the group
3. low angle shot with a static camera of the car approaching then passing by
4. medium shot of Ted driving the car, introducing who the driver is
5. high angle shot of him trying to change gears, and him swaying - signifying he is drunk
6. longshot of the sniper setting up to make his shot on the tyre of the car
7. closeup of the shooter looking determined and aggressive
8. Close up of the shooter in front of him preparing for the aim of his shot
9. scope shot, we can see where the sniper is aiming at (POV), at Ted, then his aim drifts off to the tyre of the car
10. Close up of the sniper actually firing at the tyre and held at this shot for longer, for the viewer to hear the tyre puncture and not see it to avoid complications in post editing
11. Medium interior shot of Ted swerving
12. close up on Teds facial expression looking worried, disorientated and puzzled
13. POV with a slow shutter speed of Ted indicating he's drunk used until he gets out of the car
14. In the same shot he stumbles and falls
15. Half way through his fall an over the shoulder shot of an elitist is used to see the remainder of Ted's fall to the ground
16. OTS shot of Yuri looking at Ted, and then we see Yuri turn round and look past the camera, towards his group of elitists to tell them to move in
17. tracking shots of the group running towards Ted
18. closeups of each man and their facial expressions indicating who they are and their order of importance and them all communicating to each other
19. cuts to Ted, his drunk and blurred vision is what we see on the screen through the POV of Ted, there is a clear contrast between the shots we see of the elitist group running and Ted being vulnerable
20. cuts to a black screen, with muffled sound then the sound becomes clearer and you can distinguish the sound of footsteps coming closer and closer
21. camera shot opens up looking at the sky, then we see Yuri's face and he points a gold Desert Eagle in the face of Ted
22. as he pulls the trigger the screen cuts instantly to black then we hear the sound of the gun shot and the name "YURI" slams onto the screen with a metallic sound
23. for the dot on the "I" there will be a gun shot and the dot will be like a hole made from a bullet with a metal sound.

props for our thriller

Firstly, we have decided to use a black Range Rover for our car. We wanted to have a car which symbolised the driver's class, upper class - successful businessman type of man, who is probably an important figure, the reason for him being murdered.

Secondly, for our costumes, we are going to dress Ted, the driver, in suit but with his jacket off and his tie off and top button undone, this is becuase we want him to look quite rugged and drunk, which he is. For the soldiers, we will try and get some Russian army-type uniforms for them to wear, and for Yuri, the leader, we want him to be wearing a different hat, to symbolise his importance in the group and so we can distinguish which person he is.

For the weapons used by the soldiers, we will use airsoft guns of the same type, to show how the members of the group are equal, however Yuri will have a large pistol, showing his importance, and signifying how he is different from the others in the group.

 

Survey on thriller

Favourite thriller & Why?

What do you look for when watching a film.

               We manage to do the survey on 'what do you look for when watching a film?' and 'what is you favourite thriller and why?'  the reason for this is we wanted to find the reason of what make people go to cinema and see the film, what makes them want to watch it. so we can use the answers to devolop our thriller ideas.

initial ideas for thriller

Psychological thriller

          In this post I'm going to talk about the Psychological thriller on what it looks like, how can you separate this sub-genre from others sub-genre.
          Psychological thriller always involved the main character having mental or emotional problems. Their problem can illness can either cause by an accident or by the fact that they were born that way. In this kind of sub-genre, if we look at the film then we will see that the most common main theme is the main character tries to fight with their own mind. The perfect example of the film of this sub-genre is the film called "Secret Window" directed by David Koepp and starring by Johnny Depp. This film is about an author (Johnny Depp) who suffers from mental breakdown after he found his own wife in bed with other guy. While he suffers with the mental breakdown, without himself realized he accidentally creates another identity of himself.






Here is the trailer of the movie

Prelim Editing

                    After we finished with filming the prelim, the next process is edit it to make it into a sequence of a thriller. In order to edit we use the software called "Final cut pro". In our group, we spent 1 hour doing the editing and we came to the conclusion with 2 similar sequences. The first one we did, we didn't consider on screen time of the main character, on showing who we want to be the subject of the story so we re-do it. There were a couple problems that we faced as well. The problems were the we didn't know how to cut the sound out to make it easier for editing to make the sequence looks smooth. Another problem is we didn't have the take that requires in the story board so we have to fix this problem, by use the most similar shot to where the story board ask. In the second option sequence, which we like to call it the developed one. We discovered the false in the first one and decided to do the second one. After many time of watching the first one, we found out that the screen time between the two characters are quite equal so we decided to focus on one person so that the audience can be dragged into the story more. We did focus on one character in the second one and we can see the significant change in the story.

Opening Sequence Of Drive

                     The opening scene that I choose to analyses is from the movie called "Drive" (2011). In this opening scene of Drive we can divided into 2 parts the first part is sequence of 1 minute which  is as soon as the film start there is a voice talking while the screen is still black then you can see the driver (Ryan Gosling) talking on the phone in the dark hotel room turning his back to the camera. From these elements we can suggest that he doesn't want to be seen, he might also has secrets to hide. The dark lighting also signifies the danger and mysterious as if the driver is about to do something bad and he is a bad guy. 
                    
                      The second part of the opening sequence is the "Getaway" scene. Which I was able to find a video. In this second part of the opening scene we can see the driver in the car looking nervous but then calm in the same time. In term of sound, at the beginning while he is waiting for another guy to come out of the building there is a very fast pace non-diegetic clock ticking sound. This used to build up the tension and as soon as the other get in the car the non-diegetic clock ticking sound then stops. In term of camera, they used a lot of close-up shots to build up the tension and also to make the audience feel uncomfortable and want him get way as if they were there in that car with him. There are also a few use of low-angle shots these were use when he pulled over waiting for the police to go pass. The use of low-angle shots can represent the power that he has over the police in the scene or at that very moment. As the scene goes on the camera focused on the police in front of the driver's car, in this scene we can see the police car clearly while on the reel mirror we can see that the face of the driver has been blurred. This can represent the contrast between good and bad which in this case the driver is the bad guy and this can also signifies the higher status that the police has over the driver. In term of editing, we can see that the driver has the most screen time this can signifies that the driver is the main character in this story and this also makes the audience feel like they on his side.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

                  The poster that we are going to analyses in the post is the poster from the movie called "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo". The first thing we can see in this poster is the red dragon. In term of colour, the use of red colour can signifies danger and pain. In term of the gesture of the dragon, it poses as if it's looking down on the girl this can signifies that she is in danger or maybe she is protected. The contrast between the background and the girl face can represent the heroine character. If we focus on her face, we can see that half of her face is covered by her hair, this can signifies that she doesn't want to be seen, she is hiding or maybe she is trying to blend in to some societies. If we look at her eye we can also see that she doesn't look into the camera. Instead, she is looking over it. This can signifies that she is trying to ignore everyone and doesn't care about what people think about her.

As thriller

                  The thriller is called "Firewall". In term of the sound, the low-tone non-diegetic music has been used quite a lot in this thriller, which I think is quite affective because by using the low-tone non-diegetic music it helps provide the tension with in the scene. Camera shots are also one of the main elements to help create the tension for example, this thriller use many close-up shots with this it can turn out two ways depends on the actors, if the actors are good at facial expression then it will turn out great. In the other hand, if they terrible at it then it will turn out badly. However, in this thriller the actors did their job very well on showing their facial expression that's why, in this case the close-up are very effective. In term of costume, by the fact that this thriller based on high-class, top-secret, national-security type. Therefore, all the characters have to wear formal clothes, which is again nicely choose. In term of lighting, the dark lighting is often used. This is used to signify the sense of darkness as if there is something bad or big is going to happen. The props that mainly used in this thriller are computers and electronic equipments. This helps to convey that this thriller is likely to be involve with mysteries and dangers. The thriller is set in the office and in the hallway which again by the dark lighting makes us think it is set in some kind of underground secret base.

The secret window

                 In this post i will analyses the poster from the movie called "The Secret Window" . From the poster, we can notice that the actor is in the lighting which fairly dark. this can signifies that he might be in trouble, danger. And by the fact that he is also in the shadow of the window at the same time as he is in the dark lighting this can signifies that he might be hiding from something. Also the way that he looks signifies that he is wait and hiding from something. However, there is a white light behind him, which can represent the hope of he trying to escape from this trouble that he is facing. The shadow also goes across the actor face this can represents that he has a split personalities. The red colured text can also signifies danger, violent or maybe death. 

        By the fact that this poster used a lot of red and black colour which both signify danger and death. We can assume that the movie is targeting to the 18 to mid-20 years old audiences.

The ghost writer

                  The poster that i choose to analyses for this task is the poster from the movie called "The Ghost Writer" from the poster we can see that there is a man wearing all black, holding a bunch a paper in his hand while there are papers which may slipped out of the same bunch in his hand flying around. from that information we can tell by the fact that he's wearing all black because he doesn't want to be seen and he might have secrets to hide. the paper in his hand and the text in the poster can signifies that he is a writer. flying papers can represent the sense of chaos or trouble that he got himself into. there is also a poster of another guy on the wall behind the writer. by the fact that the guy in the poster is bigger and position higher than the writer this can signifies that the man in the poster has more status and power than the writer. the text is represents in red colour this again can signifies danger and pain.
               From the deconstructing, we can assume that this movie is about a writer who got himself into some kind of dangerous situation. therefore, we can tell that the movie is aimed the the audience age around 13 to mid-20s

Prelim task

            In the prelim task I worked as the continuity man, which I have to make sure that every movements that the actors do in each take are the same.                                                                                                           I did enjoyed working with the actors and the crew. One of the reason I enjoyed working with them probably because I’ve never done this before, so in a way, this is the whole new experience to me. In the process of making a film which require working with other people helps develop the team-work skill and also leading skill in this process we have to learnt to respect other people opinion. Even though, we had a lot of fun working as a group, we still have some different opinions about some shots, which we couldn’t find an agreement this takes a lot of time for us to come up with the sensible agreement this is the only problem we had and what I like least. Considered by the fact that, our group has 3 people while other groups have 4 people, this makes us feel like we have to contribute more than others which in a way it’s quite a motivation for us to give it the best. Looking at the result I think we did fairly well, however if I have a chance. In term of lighting, I would make the room a little darker so that it looks more mysterious. The location that we used is in the studio, and the setting was the living room in the house. 

           While we were filming over the shoulder shots we found a slight problem, which is, there was a reflection of the cameraman at the window behind the other actor so we moved the camera back and choose to zoom in instead of put the camera close to the actor. We also put an additional shot into the sequence, which is the shot of the spray hit, the ground. We choose to use this shot to represent the fact that the character that got handed the spray has lost his opportunities to do what he was asked to do.

Camera work

            We had spent quite awhile in studio in order to learn how to use the proper video camera, tripods and the rules of 180 degrees.
            First of all, we learnt how to set up the tripods which is to unlock all of its legs - 3 to be exact, then lock it again after it reached the height that we want. After we learnt how to set up the tripods, we learnt how to handle and put the camera on the tripods, we also learnt that every time when we handed the camera we have to say "Yours" before we let go of the camera and the person who receives it has to say "Mine" this helps to prevent the accident of dropping the camera. After we put the camera on the tripods, first thing we have to do is to bubble the camera. To bubble the camera is to make the camera horizontal to the ground by use the measurer on the tripods which is the small green round thing which has water and bubble inside. The thing we need to do is to make  the bubble stays in the middle the lock it. After we finished bubbling the camera, we need to turn it on and do the white balance. The white balance is used for making the colour of the picture as realistic as possible. To do this we need to focus the camera on the white object then press the white balance button. 
           Other than the camera and the tripods, we learnt the rule of 180 degrees. The main factor of this rule is when two people or two objects stand together we only film form one side of it never go beyond the front or back. Otherwise, It will Confused the audience. 

The Children Of Men

                   The "Children of Men" is the poster that i choose to analyses for this post. We can see in the poster there is a broken glass in front of him this can signifies the violence, danger and the effort of him trying to break free. however, this can also means that something is falling apart and he has no protection from it. The dark-background with the light shinning on his face can signifies the heroic type that he is the hero but then again the contrasts between the dark background and the cold white lighting can also represent the isolation loneliness. the cold, harsh white lighting itself can also suggests that the story is based on winter season. The text that says "the year 2027" gave us a clue that this movie is the sci-fi and by the front of the text also suggests that this is the sci-fi/thriller.

The Shining

                We can tell right away that The Shining is a Thriller by looking at the poster. However, we have spent hours to evaluate The Shining's poster, try to find the elements that define the poster that it's a thriller. Looking at the poster, we can see right away a face of the woman screaming for help while the other guy has the smile on his face as if he is enjoying himself. Not just that, there is also the juxtaposition between them, using the weapons. We can tell from the facial-expression that the woman is using it for protection to protect herself against the other guy whom seems to use an axe to harm the woman we can tell by the fact that his axe is stuck to the wall. There is also the contrast in the background between the light and dark colours which make she looks more innocent while the dark shadow makes him looks devil-liked. Other than the lighting, the capture of this poster which use the face shot of the man signifies his power over the woman whom captured just half top of her body.

about me

My name is Shane Himathongkom. I attend Hurtwood House in Surrey, studying A-levels Business Studies, Maths, Accounting and Media Studies. I'm originally from Bangkok,Thailand. I was born on September the 5th 1994. I have interest in many sports but mainly football and golf, I've been Manchester United supporter since I was a kid. When it comes to music, I play a little bit of guitar so I like to listen to Blues, Reggae and Old Rock, however Blues is my favourite and the guitarist-singer that I like the most are Eric Clapton and John Mayer. My favourite films are The films by made Francis Ford Coppola called The Godfather and The Godfather II, I don't think the third one is up to standard when compare to the first two that's why it's not one of my favourites.