Preliminary task

pre production discussion video part 3

Third Part

pre production discussion video part 2

part 2 pre production video.

pre production discussion video part 1

Three part video discussion of pre-production work.

Animatic storyboard explanation

Making the animatic storyboard for the thriller opening, I tried to convey in the drawing the mood that we would attempt to create in the intro itself. I made the drawings slightly messy, and tried not to make them too polished, to give them a more dynamic feel, and give the actual storyboard more of a thriller atmosphere. I didn't go into the small details of the pictures to give them character. I could have taken hours doing them, and put every tiny detail of peoples faces, and their surroundings, into the picture, but I felt that this would take something away from the overall effect of the storyboard. Using photoshop, I created two layers on one of the drawings. One was moved across the other in different parts of the storyboard to give the impression of someone walking across the shot.When drawing the storyboard, I attempted to convey certain thriller conventions in the way that the scenes were composed, trying to give them a mysterious nature, as if something is being hidden from the audience. In the beginning shot, I tried to depict a typical interrogation, however not showing the other character in the scene, and instead showing only the person being interrogated head on. Behind them, I drew in a wall filled with photographs, to give the sense of foreboding that the person in the scene is but one of many similar victims.

During the making of the storyboard, I learnt more about using photoshop, and about using a trackboard, which I both found relatively difficult beforehand.

Sound

I have done some research into sound effects that could be used for the thriller opening. There are some possibilities, but in parts of the opening I think it would be beneficial to keep sound (digetic and non-digetic) minimal, as this could have the effect of creating tension. Having too much sound in the intro could clash with the genre. Thrillers often have large parts that are relatively quiet, or silent, to contribute to a build up of tension. Here are a couple of ideas from freeplaymusic.com:


-The under world (1:08)
-No reflection (1:18)
-Forever sleeping (1:10)

They're not brilliant, but their better than most.

Character costume ideas

For my groups thriller opening I have a few ideas to contribute in the area of costume. The two characters have to show they have a connection, but the costume must also hint at their moral allegiance. Due to the conventions of the thriller genre, and indeed most genres, I suggest that the benevolent character should wear lighter clothing, and the malevolent one dark. This is due to dark clothing having connotations of evil, and lighter colours, generally having more positive connotations, alhtough this can change due to the particular colour, it's shade, or in which situation it is used.

The female character, Emily Gates, could wear a long coat (a light colour, such as yellow or light blue), a scarf (perhaps contrasting with the coat, perhaps dark colour to connect her to other character Josh), and gloves. Her being wrapped up as if in cold weather could symbolise her protecting herself from the outside world, and not wanting to be reminded of the loss of Joshua Moore.

Joshua Moore, the male bad character, should probably wear darker clothing, to make him appear more sinister in the dark, and to tell the audience of his part in the whole film. Plain clothes would probably be more appropriate, as this would show he is essentially a "normal" person. We may wish him to have something on his person to connect him to Emily Gates.