This is an initial script its very basic as there isnt any dialogue as of yet. This is just to outline what i will be doing but as i carry on with my thriller i can allways update and change anything i need to.

This is my Story board for my thriller opening as you can see there are rough sketches with explanations of what is happening and how it also gives a brief explanation of how it will be filmed i.e camera shots/angles plus a little bit of story to go with it.

Opening Sequence Analysis

    Panic Room:

• Camera Shot/Angle/Movement : there are many different shots and angles and lots of movement. When the opening scene starts it is an establishing shot of the city in this case New York. The camera pans across to reveal the names of the actors. the main shots in this are long shots that show the buildings and sky scrapers.
• Sound: The Diagetic sound in the opening scene has orchestral music with a tense tone and you can hear the hustle and bustle of the city e.g sirens and car horns, the sound of a clock ticking starts to add tension then the dialogue starts.
• Editing: The opening scene has a vast amount C.G.I graphics the names of the actors and the staff behind the film are floating in front of buildings in shiny font.
• Mise en Scene: The mise en Scene in the opening scene of panic room conveys a very dark industrial feel due to the city and the music, and also camera angles give the film a very eerie undertones.

• Characters ( No characters to analyse in the opening scene)
• Locations: The location is New York right in the heart of the city with skyscrapers and office towers dwarfing the cars and the people below.
• Narrative/Plot the narrative is found by the only section of dialogue in the scene as the woman speaking suggests she is looking for a new house and is speaking to an estate agent.
• Themes: there are no clear themes i can see in the opening but the use of high up camera shots and surrounding buildings can give a scene to vertigo or entrapment.
• Visual Style: The visual style of the scene is very dramatic and eerie.
• Genre: the genre of the film is a thriller.

Opening Sequence Analysis

Se7en

• Camera Shot/Angle/Movement:In the opening scene there is a close up of the characters had as the write and cut and stick objects in a scrap book.
• Sound: The sound for the opening sequence is very stark and bold there is a vague sound of a typewriter and also the sounds of a radio and scratching sounds over the top of a bold backing track.
• Editing: in the opening sequence there are cuts between credits and between shots of a man with rough scarred hands cutting and sticking camera film into the same scrap book.
• Mise en Scene the mise en scene together creates a very eerie voyeuristic quality to the whole trailer and the colours are very faded and dry which gives the whole video a dirty unclean quality.

• Characters No characters just the hands of a man who is fumbling around with a scrap book and stationary.
• Locations Just one location we do not get to see too much of but it is believed to be this mans house.
• Narrative/Plot
• Themes/ Dark eerie undertones creating a sence of tension in the trailer .
• Visual Style/ In the opening scene you can see a variety of objects in great detail like you can see the wording on a razor blade and the roughness of the book he is cutting as he turns the page.
• Genre/ From the opening scene i have found that this genre is Thriller but with elements of horror.

Children of men          

• Camera Shot/Angle/Movement- The first shot we come to is a mixture of shots an establishing shot, a mid shot, and a reaction shot as we can see a coffee shop filled with people all fixated onto a television news channel the next camera shot is a tracking shot of the main character walking down the road.
• Sound/Sounds begin with news reporters talking of a murder. then as slow classical violin begins to play over the scene alongside  the sound of cars and scooters then finally the sound of an explosion ends the scene along with car alarms. 
• Editing/ The editing in this sequence is hard to pinpoint accept the start were they have chosen to start the sound before the actual scene.
• Mise-en-sene/ The whole opening scene is very sterile in the way it comes across everything is grey and Smokey creates a sense of depression and hard times for these people.
• Characters/ Apart from the extras we have one character a male tall dark hair dark clothes.
• Locations/ London England in the business district.
• Themes/ As the same as the last dark theme there is an air of depression surrounding the people.

Hostage.

• Camera/Shot/Angle/Movement. The camera angle in the opening scene of Hostage is randomised. the shot is a panning shot which pans through cartoon drawings of skyscrapers and armed police then it cuts to real life of a man with a gun to his head screaming down the phone. the camera then zooms directly out of the window and up to the roof of a car park overlooking the crime scene.
• Sound/Sounds. The music in the build up to the scene is very tense and is similar to the music in the opening scene of spider-man, then the sound of a handgun being cocked starts the real life scene then the sound of police cars and helicopters drowns out the mans swearing and screaming.
• Editing. in the build up to the real life scene there has been allot of editing to create the cartoon parts in which the first credits are displayed.
• Mise-en-scene. The Mise-En-Scene is very dark and bold there is a very hysterical man with a gun so the scene could go in any direction but this creates an un nerving feeling.
• Characters. We have a man who has blocked the door to his house and has taken his family hostage. we see a few police from distance but he is the only person we see in detail.
• Locations. The opening scene is located in Los Angeles. 

The Warriors.

• Camera/Shot/Angle/Movement. The camera in the opening scene of the warriors starts facing the gang with them getting on a train the angle is a high angle and the movement is short shots of characters in pairs having conversations. some in low lit area some in brighter areas of the train station.
• Sound/Sounds. The opening track is typically 80’s with a synthesiser over the top of the scene the music is ominous which builds to a crescendo this is when we see the other gangs introduced.
• Editing. The editing stitches scenes together so we see the main characters then we see the next gang all on there way to somewhere making there way through train stations.
• Mise-en-Scene. The mise-en-scene creates a strange dark atmosphere everywhere the camera goes there is lots of graffiti this makes the scene allot more urban.
• Characters. in this scene we have our 9 characters who are members of the gang the warriors then we see the same amount of people from different gangs all with different styles and themes.
• Location The Bronx New York. Coney Island. Various underground Train stations.

Comparison Between Se7en and Children of men

There is quite a difference between these two opening sequences. Children of men has very urban dark theme to the scene as we can see a livley city cente with different shots and angles of the main character it is very different compared to Se7en because se7en keeps a continuous close up/Depth of field shots of a mans hands the colouring is different .

Opening to Thriller Planning

Title of the Film : Disappearance  (Still to be decided)

Setting Location: I have thought about where i am going to set my thriller and have had a few ideas. I Need to use a narrow alleyway to film the mid point of my thriller as this is essential to my work as i am going to film my character running away through the alley using specific camera techniques.

Costumes and Props: Dark Clothing will be what i want my main character to wear this adds a harsh realistic feel to the film as i do not want the audience the be able to relate to the clothing i.e designer labels/makes this takes away the dramatic strange nature of the character

Camerawork And Editing: I intend on using a variety of camera angles and techniques to create a sense of drama and suspense. In the Film i plan on not revealing the characters face this will need careful camera work so i do not stray towards the characters face. I also intend on using the most basic of shots to show that i understand how and why the shots are used. As with my preliminary i plan on using fading and shot stitching techniques as well as experimenting with effects to truly captivate my intended audience.

Title Font Style: Not sure as of yet but for ideas i plan on using simple font to make sure i do not over stylize my thriller.

Story and How the Opening Sets up: The Story is Based around a lone character dressed in black the plan is that the audience will bot know wether or not the character is chasing someone or running away from something.  The camera will start at floor level Facing down a narrow alley way its silent to begin with but the sound of running gets louder and the suspenseful low toned music starts to fade in as the character runs past and down towards the end of the alley. 

The next section of the film will be a panning shot of our character running past the camera but remembering that the head must not be shown so just the torso is in view. Then to the crescendo of the film which is when the character is now facing the camera but quite a distance away still running and as he gets close the the camera they drop to the floor where i will use a point of view shot which will show the person who's point of view it is examining the character on the ground then the camera will return to a birds eye shot (As high as i can film from) of the Character being dragged away.

Genre and How the opening suggests it: The genre Is thriller and this can be identified from the start because of the suspenseful dull toned music and the panic feeling as the character runs past the camera in the opening scene.

How Characters Are introduced: The character is first seen running as i have explained there is no formal introduction because i plan for the audience to decide how they feel about them e.g. if they are the one doing the chasing or the one being chased or even could be running to get to a destination at speed. but as i have explained i would like the audience to make there assumptions as i do not want to hand it to them on a plate, because it can be more rewarding as a viewer to have you own ideas of what's going on.

Special Effects: I plan on using Effects to fade in-between shots because it builds drama i also want to find a way of distorting the characters face as he runs towards the camera in the final scene as the shot i will be making means from a distance the characters face will be visible and i do not want this because it will take away the element of suspense and not knowing.

Thriller Re-Search

For my thriller i aim to captivate and to convey a sense of suspense and uncertainty as i have asked my class and these are the areas they find need to be included to be able to make a decent thriller opening and these are also the criteria to a decent thriller multi million dollar movie the principles are the same.

In my thriller There will feature fast paced short sequences to keep the audience captivated then it will build to a crescendo where i plan to change the pace and revert back to a solemn dark eerie feel to the movie.

films i have researched which have similar pattens to how i am going to film and edit my feature are: Speed, Fast and the furious and Creep.

Pre-lim .mov

 

This is the movie i have created as a preliminary to my media project before i create my thriller opening. In this movie i have used different filming techniques such as camera angles and different shot types and even have used certain editing techniques.

The Video starts off With a Tracking shot, this is then followed by a point of view shot to show  the subject opening the door. After a second Fade into the door being opened but now from the other side the subject then walks to the table sits down and in this motion the shot used is a pan shot, after another fade the shot then switches to an over the shoulder shot to view the conversation between both subjects.

The only sound in the video is diagetic natural sound i.e the door being opened and the conversation that takes place between both subjects

The Editing is very subtle i have used certain fade effects to switch and fade between each shot this is also shot stitching and has bee used to make the scene flow as one.