Opening Sequence of a Thriller!

For my main task i have been told to create an opening sequence to a 'thriller', which should have a duration of 100 - 120 seconds. The thriller must also include both titles, and opening shots. Other Students in my AS Media Studies Class are working as a group but i will be working solo due to being put in a pair with another student whos ideas and views are in a different contrast to my ideas and views on a thriller.

PLANNING/BRAINSTORM
To create the opening sequence of my thriller, ment that i had to go through a planning process before i started filming and editing. First i created a brainstorm on the theme 'thrillers' and listed what a thriller contains to then adding ideas to what my thriller could be about. After i annotated the brainstorm, i then chose what ideas of mines that i liked best and what sub-genre my thriller was going to sectioned under. I then brang all my ideas together on a piece of paper to create the Storyboards of my thriller.




STORYBOARDS
My storyboard consists of numerous shots showing images of each shot and including sounds, effects, mis-en-scene and what is happening in each shot. This storyboard will help me within the process of filming the opening sequence to my thriller.



SYNOPSIS
Tyler Coast, aged 17 is sitting at home eating a bowl of cereal while watching the news to see what is happening around the streets of London. As he is watching television, East Londons biggest M.O.B 'Bloodshed Hunters' are learking outside his house plotting the right moment to run into his house leaving him in a mouse trap and either killing him or beating him real nasty, due to him being a former member and messing around with Tony Feccetti, Bloodshed Hunters Don/boss. Tyler hears two workers from the Bloodshed gang and makes a quick escape from the living room to his room rushing to find clothes to put on before making a backroute escape from his house after his front door has been broken down by the gang members. He makes a rapid escape dodging numerous routes blocked by the gangs members and makes a tremendous escape while being chased. He meets up a friend who he calls to meet him with a change off clothing so he can mismatch his dresscode/identity fooling the gang members. He then rips off a poster the gang members have placed around his local area sayin 'wanted, reward given if he is caught!', with his face placed on the poster. A gang member at this point walks past Tyler being absolute fooled by his change of identity/clothing and tyler has a little laugh to himself. The question left is will the Bloodshed Hunters get their hands on their man they've been trying to get for the last year and a half?

SHOTLIST:OPENING SEQUENCE

• Close up of television.
• Close up of protagonist face.
• Establishing shot of car outside house.
• Close up of boy watching television.
• Close up of television.
• Over the shoulder shot of character in the car.
• Extreme close up of hands.
• Medium shot of protagonist running up stairs.
• Medium shot of protagonist putting jumper on.
• Long shot of door and character.
• Medium shot of protagonist escaping throught the back door.
• Birds-eye shot of protagonist and other characters.
• Establishing shot of two characters.
• Close up of characters feet.
• Establishing shot of protagonist and another character.
• Close up of protagonist ripping of a poster.
• Extreme close up of protagonist smiling.

Preliminary Task

For my preliminary task me and my group had to create a short piece of footage based on different camera shots/techniques that are shown within TV Dramas. We had to show an Understanding of the 'three important rules', which are:

• Match on Action.
• Shot/reverse shot.
• 180-degree rule.

With these rules in mind, we went off to film our footage before transferring it into Final Cut Pro and editing the footage to create a final footage with the three rules in place.
Me and My group decided to base our footage on the sub-genre 'Crime'.

PLANNING
Me and my group first began our piece by planning out our footage onto a storyboard. The storyboard contained drawings of the different type shots. Under each shot we wrote down the name of the shot, the transitions within the shot and the sounds that was happening within and around the shot. While doing the storyboard, we kept to task, making sure our piece was simple and making sure the conventions of a TV drama where kept to its expected level and not gone over the top with fancy effects, difficult angles etc.
After drawing and labelling the storyboard, we then wrote up a script/dialogue of what the characters within the footage where going to say or what their speech was based along along with stage directions. Noting that the shots and the three important rules where the main focus, we kept the script at a minimum level.

STORYBOARDS




SCRIPT

Long shot/establishing shot of corridor for 2-4 seconds.
Mid shot of front door.

Officer opens door as camera is in a close up angle of officers face. He delivers his line before taking seat.

Officer: Hello Ms.Geeta, I'm PC Paul you are being held here today due to the murder of Patrick Mackenzie. What ever you say will be given as evidence.

Girl: Whatever man!

Officer: Now Ms.Geeta, please can you tell the recorded tape where you was on the 17Th of May 2009?

Girl: I was at my mothers house! Why do you want to know so much man!

Officer: That's not what our CCTV cameras show us Ms.Geeta.

Girl: I've had enough of this man!

Girl stands up

I'm out!

Officer: Ms.Geeta! Sit right down!

SHOTLIST

• Establishing shot of door.
• Mid shot as character begins to open the door.
• Close up of characters head, as it enters through the door.
• Establishing shot of character walking across the room.
• Shot/reverse shot of characters having a conversation.
• Close ups to show characters facial expressions.
• Over the shoulder shot Showing the important character of the shot.
• Long shot of character exiting the scene.

SHOOTING
When shooting our footage we made sure kept focused on the conventions of a TV drama. We did this by shooting every shot at least 3 times and shooting the same shots for both characters. (This was so that we can have a wider range when editing.) An example of this is an over the shoulder shot. Each character would have contained an over the shoulder shot, which was recorded three times or more. An over the shoulder shot features the 'most important' person within the shot on the left hand side. This is because the audience analysis the text on the screen, reading from left to right. This was kept in mind to make sure that the layout of each shot was correct. We also shot our footage from one side of the room, making sure that we don't break the 180-degree rule.

EDITING.
Once we finished filming we had to edit our footage individually using the software Final Cut Pro. Before i edited i had to transfer the footage onto a Apple Mac. I did this by connecting the Camera with the tape inside to the Mac using a USB Cord. The Camera was then detected by the Mac, and i imported the footage into i-movie before transferring the file onto Final Cut Pro. Once the file was on Final Cut Pro, i had to move it from View mode into the canvas. At first the footage shown in the canvas wasn't playing any sound so i had to render my footage which took approx 10 minutes. Once rendered i began cutting up my footage and placing shots into what i felt was its designated area. While cutting and placing shots into there position, i kept in mind the 'Match on Action' rule, making sure i cut carefully and making sure the final product made sense.