Behind the Scenes - Filming

Below are some pictures that were taken whilst we were filming certain scenes of our opening. Within the pictures you are able to see the equipment that we used and the angles that we took the shots from including mid shots and long shots.                                                                                                            

Behind the Scenes : Directing

Attached above is a video showing the directing of behind the scenes where each of us took part in deciding which bits would look the best for our opening.

Props and Costumes

For our thriller opening, we will be using a few different props in order to give the opening the right feel that we need for the opening. 

One of the props that we will be using is a mask. This can be seen on the right hand side. We decided that to use a mask would be a lot more suspenseful rather than not. This is because it hides the persons identity, allowing for the audience to be curious and suspicious as to who the intruder is. The colour of the mask being black allows for the theme of the opening to be seen throughout. This wouldn't be as effective if we had a different coloured mask because it doesn't portrayed the mystery that we want.

We also want to have our antagonist dressed all in black in order to continue the theme of mystery. The idea of dark clothing give the idea that the person has a dark personality. Furthermore, the use of long sleeves and long trousers allows for the identity of the protagonist to be unknown.




For our protagonist, we wanted her to be portrayed as a typical teenager. This is why we decided to have our actress wear what she thinks would be appropriate. It helped that our actress is also a part of our group, meaning that she knows exactly what we want from the costume. We decided on having our actress in ripped jeans and a crop top. This shows that she is just a normal teenager being targeted as an innocent person. We also included a phone and a laptop as part of the props. This shows that she is of a younger age and also allowed us to incorporate easily, different parts of the storyline that we felt was necessary. This would be where Izzy talks to her 'boyfriend' over the laptop and her best friend over the phone.

Production Schedule

This is our production schedule for filming our thriller opening. Above is listed the dates we will be filming, the equipment we will need and then where we will be filming. In regards to location, due to us filming in the same place (within a house), we have also specified which rooms will be used for filming on these days. Furthermore, a lot of our props will be the same throughout the filming because we want to keep it consistent for the entire duration of the filming. We will also be using our own camera and tripod due to it being very high quality. This then means that we don't have to worry about using any of the school's equipment.  We are hoping to stick to this schedule of filming in order to keep on track and on top of our editing as well as filming in order to meet our deadlines.  

Institutional Research

Warner Bros.

Warner Brothers was founded in 1923by the four brothers that are Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner. As an American entertainment company, film studio and film distributor, it is one of the six biggest major American film studios. Headquartered in Burbank, California, It all started when the brothers found a projector and started playing to mining towns of Pennsylvania and Ohio. Now the company have a library consisting of more than 79,000 hours of programming, including nearly 7,500 feature films and 4,500 television programs. Some of these films include, The Harry Potter Series, The Dark Knight, American Sniper, Inception, and Gravity.

Lionsgate

Founded in 3 July 1997 by Franks Giustra, Lionsgate is known for some huge names in the film industry such as La La Land, The Twilight Series, The Hunger Games Series and America Psycho. Formally known as Cinepix founded in 1962, Giustra bought out the film production company and made it the household name that it is today. With it's headquarters based in California, United States, it is now run by  Jon Feltheimer and Tom Ortenberg after Giustra left the firm in 2000. Having 719 people work for the production company, Lionsgate is now worth a huge $842 million.

Universal

Universal was founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane and Jules Brulatour. Carl Laemmle become president of the company in the July of 1912 and then bought out all the shares in the company. On 15th of July 1964Universal opened Universal Studios Hollywood as their first theme park and it was a hit. Still open today, it is one of the biggest theme parks in America. It was last reported in 2012 that the revenue for Universal is $4.239 billion. Universal gives it's name to many famous films such as Despicable Me, Fast and Furious, Jurassic Park and Word, and E.T.



Test Shots

For our thriller opening we had to decide the best qualities that we wanted our characters to have. For this we took some test shots of a few people in order to see who we think would look best in front of the camera in order to play the role in our opening.

Kenadi 

The first person that we looked at is Kenadi to play the role of the protagonist. We decided to take test shots of Kenadi because we felt that she had the ideal feminine look for a protagonist within a thriller; almost a 'damsel in distress'. As you can see from the pictures, Kenadi is obviously comfortable in front of the camera and isn't afraid to 'act up' when she needs to. You can also see that she is okay with taking normal pictures as well. However, we didn't manage to get any serious photos of Kenadi because she said that she didn't feel like being serious in front of a camera was something she was comfortable with. This was a problem for us because this is one of the main things that we would be looking for within an character with it being a serious, thriller opening. Due to Kenadi's role within the opening also being someone that would have to act scared, she told us that she wouldn't be able to do this because she would get too awkward and maybe start laughing. This would take up time for us when filming which is a problem because we have to get the filming done at a specific point of the day where the lighting changes a lot. Although Kenadi's style is of one we are looking for, she said that she doesn't really have black clothes to wear for the filming process. After speaking to the rest of my group, we thought that it might be a better idea to find an alternative actress to play the protagonist within our thriller opening.

Rhiannon

Another person that we looked at was Rhiannon to play the role of the antagonist. This role would be ideally played by someone masculine to conform to the typical stereotype of an antagonist within a thriller film. Due to us being in an all girls school, we don't really have a wide variety of masculine people to choose from but we knew when looking at potential actors, that Rhiannon would be the perfect fit for our antagonist. We decided to choose Rhiannon to play the role of our 'intruder' because she is the right height and stature to play someone intimidating and aggressive. It is clear to see that Rhiannon has an androgynous style and when talking to her she said that she would feel comfortable with wearing dark masculine clothing. This allows us to create the right mood for the opening and shows the type of character that Rhiannon is playing. We explained to Rhiannon that there would be some scenes involving dragging another person along the floor, and potentially jumping over a fence and she said that she would be happy doing that. 

After talking, me and my group decided that Rhiannon would be the best person to play the antagonist and that she would make for the perfect 'intruder'.  

Isobel

The final person that we decided to look at to be in our thriller opening was Isobel. We are lucky in the fact that Izzy is in our group and also agreed to be in the thriller opening. This is perfect for us because she fits the profile of the protagonist that we had in mind. Izzy is petite and feminine, meaning that she conforms to the typical protagonist stereotype which is what we wanted. Izzy is also very confident and said that she is up for being in the opening and playing the role that we need her to. Another positive about Isobel is that because she is in our group, she knows what we want from our thriller and the people that play in it.

As you can also see from the pictures, Izzy has the right sense of style and clothing in order for us to use them for a costume of our protagonist. This would not only be more comfortable for Izzy to wear her own clothes, but also that it would be a lot more realistic as our protagonist is going to be a teenager anyway.

You can see as well from the pictures due to her poses, that Isobel is comfortable in front of the camera. This helps us because we would be able to film quickly and confidently as Isobel as our protagonist. This is why me and my group decided to have Izzy as the protagonist in the opening as she would make for the perfect 'victim'.

Location Research

Within this prezi, I talk about the location that we want to use for our thriller opening.