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

9:25 AM

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.