preliminary task 2

Introduction:

(Levi) Storyboard:

Checklist:

The title of the movie is called Vengeance. It is about a man whose loved one had been murdered and so he searches for the killer.

(Priscilla) Brainstorm: 

Changes to the idea:

The original idea was the main character would go to a computer geek's house to get information about the person who had murdered his younger sister. All the while there would be a stalker watching them through the windows which the other two characters aren't aware of. However, this original plot had many ideas to it which would have not been explained well enough to make sense in the span of 2 minutes. 

The new idea focuses more on two characters (the stalker and the main character) and using those character to create tension in the scene.  The other character has less focus in the scene but has a significant role in creating the tense mood of the scene. 

- change of setting- instead of the main character going to another person's house to find information about the person who had murdered his loved one, the main character will be at the house

- changing the role of the side character from a computer geek who would have given the note about the findings of the murderer to a pizza delivery guy. So, the prop changes from a note with numbers written on it to a pizza box. 

- replaced gun prop with kettle, plain blue mug, coffee and milk. Originally the opening scene was supposed to end with the gunshot sound before the movie title appeared, now it is ending with the chase scene in action.  It is only the opening scene so having too much information in the beginning at once would not be interesting for the audience to watch.  The kettle, mug, coffee and milk are all elements of the kitchen. It emphasises the setting of his house. 

- there is the additional idea of the stalker breaking into the house with the main character unaware of it 

Shotlist:

Call Sheet:

 Characters:
The main character is called Declan Hunt. He wants to find the people that murdered his loved one. He goes to work and this is represented by the blazer seen in the background which is on the dining room chair. He lives in a massive house which indicates he is quite wealthy. It should make the audience wonder why he lives alone. 

The antagonist is the stalker/invader. His name is George Wayne. He stands outside the house watching the main character through the windows. The reason why he is doing so isn't clear. The scene will end in ambiguity allowing the audience to interpret for themselves the opening scene. For this reason, he is a mystery. 



The pizza delivery person is a side character. Her name is Simone Owens. He plays an important part in breaking the tense atmosphere of the scene. 


Film message 

The film, Prisoners (2013),  inspired the plot of the movie. One of the themes in the movie is lost which will be seen in the opening scene as it is represented by a prop. 

The chase scene in the film, Brick (2006), is acting as the inspiration behind the on-foot chase sequence in the opening scene. 

The build-up leading to the chase scene is fast-paced and effective keeping the audience on the edge of their seats. The close-up shots obscure the audience from seeing the bigger picture helping to create a tense atmosphere. The shadows hide the features of the other person making it look like the moving figure is faceless. It portrays the idea of darkness coming towards the person and this is chilling because of the frightening connotation that is associated with darkness. During the chase scene, the camera is ground level showing the characters running towards it. This camera position allows the audience to see the character running from a far distance and it suggests the possibility of the chaser being able to catch up with the runner by jumping from the side. 

 Costumes:

The stalker wears a black oversized hoody and pants. As this is set in the night, he will be surrounded by partial darkness and shadows making him a creepy character which is supported by him lurking outside the main character's house. This will play on the audience fear as the main character is inside his house yet instead of it being a safe environment there is the feeling that he is in danger. The fact that the main character is unaware of this builds the tension and suspense in the scene. 

The main character wears a plain black t-shirt and pants. He has just arrived home from work- this hint is given by the blazer on the chair in the background indicating he has just gotten changed out of his work attire. Black represents him mourning the death of his loved one. It also represents the emptiness he feels because of this which is also emphasised by the massive space in the house which only he occupies. 

The pizza delivery person wears a plain red t-shirt with a cap. The red represents danger which acts as an irony device. 

Props: 

The pizza box breaks the suspense by removing the focus on the stalker and the main character. 

A kettle is an ordinary object. Yet, in this scene, it is given the human quality of voice as it calls the main character from the entrance door back to the kitchen. The whistling sound is haunt-like and sudden. 

Cup+coffee shows the main character is unwinding from his day. He is tired and not alert and this is terrifying for the audience as it means he is unaware of the stalker outside his house. 

 While the main character is waiting for the water to boil he goes to the refrigerator to get milk. Match-on-action occurs when the main character opens the door of the fridge. The fridge and the lighting from it emanates a cool chilly feeling.  

When the main character has shut the refrigerator door he looks stares at the fridge for a while (looking at the photo on the fridge). A close-up shot focuses for a while on a photo on the fridge with a young girl on it (main character's younger sister that he believes is murdered). The close-up shot highlights the importance of the photo to the main character. It should the audience wonder who the person is and try to figure out the role of that character in the movie. An unpleasant feeling should be created because of the lingering shot on the photo and the cold fridge lighting. It gives the impression that something is not right because tells the audience that something had happened to them as now he is living alone without them. 

(Levi) Location:

Trying to get across the creepy house vibes, we have planned to film at Luci's house which is good because she has a lot of space and there are many windows which helps with out story as the lurker is watching through the window. 

 Since we are filming at late afternoon we will not have a nice dusk/noon look and will end when it is just dark but in post editing we will make it darker. Surrounding the house is trees and a couple other houses which we won't show this will give a sense of isolation and that he has nowhere to run.

Camera:

I have been put on camera. we have an establishing shot of the House from the front.

We have also have a close up shot of a mug when the main character is making coffee

When the man goes into the fridge when the door opens we chose to use match on action as he opens the fridge door it will be matched when the camera is in the fridge and he reaches in and grabs some milk.

When the pizza man hands over the pizza we used shot reverse shot to show the conversation between them:

 When the lurking man is looking through the window we get a close up shot of the mans eyes and eyebrows

Moodboard and script by Luci

The  6-15 Institutional/ Genre conventions we will include in the film to show the thriller film genre and why we have chosen these effects are:

1. Darkness. This is often used as a thriller convention because darkness has a lack of light, and represents evil and the unknown. Our video will be mostly in twilight so that it adds a mysterious vibe to the clip. 

2. Shadows. Shadows are like masks in thriller films, and they hide the identity of the bad guy which makes their identity unknown which adds an extra feel of eerieness. Our characters will all be in the shadows to some degree which shows the audience what they are doing is secretive and they don't want anyone to know about it.

3. Envelope. They often represent the pass over of money or important information that is needed or wanted by both the good and the evil sides. Our character Declan receives an envelope from Simon, and it obviously has something important in it because he gets chased for the information that is in the envelope.

4. Silence. There is going to be a lack of noise which creates an eerie feel as we have shown that this guy is secluded and by himself, so no one is around to save him.

5. Hidden identity. We are gonna do a shot where it looks like it was the stalker knocking on the door, but we discover its the pizza delivery. The people will think its the guy about to kill him so we can play on that effect by adding creepy music in after.

6. Door knob. We are going to show the door knob being opened from the outside as to show that the house is being broken into. it will be quiet so Declan doesn't hear.

7. Non-diegetic music. When the music is added at the end, we can add suspense onto the moments like the pizza delivery, and the door knob opening to show something bad is happening.

8. Diegetic noise. The kettle in the video is loud and screechy, so when we see the guy running out into the pizza girl, and she opens he mouth to scream but Declan doesn't hear because of the kettle it adds suspense into the clip- the audience knows Declans in trouble when he doesn't, so they sympathize with him.

9. Isolation. One of peoples biggest fears is being isolated and having no help, and since we show that Declans family has died by the picture on the fridge we can see that no one will hear him when this guy gets into his house.

Sound and Music

The sounds we will use while we are filming is dialogue, a kettle boiling, and all the diegetic sounds of walking around. Afterwards however, in the editing stage, we will put in a non-diegetic music to add to the susense. It could be something like this: 

(8) Use of credits and logos:

The logo will be made when we get back to school as none of us have any software capable of making a logo.

(9) Editing
This time i hope to take my editing to another level by implementing a lot of different techniques but not too much that everything gets lost, i am still reserarching different techniques and it will be in a separate blog post later on.