Emailing for enquire about a police cap

Above is where I emailed Deenside Limited to enquire about purchasing a police marks man cap. They came back and said 'Unfortunately we would be unable to sell you this product as it has a police logo on it'. It is a great shame, but we will keep looking for the most realstic.

Casting List

Casting List.

Armed Robbers: 

Jason 

 

Remy Martin

 

Dave Fonska

 

Policeman:

 Phil Ward

 

 Adam Grant

 

Ian Barter

 

 

Above is our casting list for our thriller. I found this very diffcult to find the perfect cast, as it is has to be right and the most realetic experiance characters. For the armed robbers, we have chosen characters which look the part for acting as a armed robbers, and who look like they are rough and ready. For the policeman, they also look like they are rough and ready, and ready to tackle anything. We have chosen all teachers, as they all look older and more realatic, that this would happened day to day. If we have chosen teenagers, they dont look the part for playing either armed robber or policeman. I think we have chosen the right cast for our thriller, to make it as realatic as much as possible. 





Thriller pilot

Focus group - Questions to answer

Focus group - questions to answer: 

What were the key points that the focus group have told you about your pilot?

The key points we have learnt as a group from the focus group was the positive feedback of our pilot. I think most of the focus group would agree that they found the CCTV footage, a strong part of the pilot and how it helped them understand of what the thriller was about. It was very difficult to make the audience establish what the thriller was about, because of the locations we had to use at school, it didn't really make it clear that we were trying to establish it was a bank robbery. 

Did they understand what the film was about?

Overall we got a lot of positive feed back in the terms that they established that it was about a robbery. It was unclear to them however, who the different characters were such as: the policemen outside they thought were robbers looking out to check it was clear to proceed with the robbery.  However, we will be able to make the different characters clear to them when we use costume and props as we will have the correct police uniforms for the different types of policemen and black hoodies and balaclavas for the robbers, to clearly distinguish between them.

Were they thrilled, if so what by, if not, why not?

We had a lot of positive feedback on the CCTV shots as they said that this made the situation clear and created suspense. They also liked the close-up on the policeman’s eyes as this also created anticipation. They did say however, that some shots were too long and resulted in the tension, suspense and sense of isolation being lost. Also they thought that the cast was too young and immature as one of the actors was laughing and this took away from the verisimilitude of the piece.

Were there any aspects of the film that they criticised if so what?

They did not understand Fady (the policeman down the alley way) his body language was awkward and fidgety and his facial expression was also nervous and suspicious as his eyes were looking around resulted in them thinking that he was a robber. This highlighted to us that we will have to rehearse with the cast to make sure that we do not give off the wrong impression. Also they didn’t have a positive feed back on some of our shot lengths. For example they said that some of our shots were too long and resulted in them loosing interest and not being thrilled by the piece.

How are you going to improve the shooting, mise en scene and editing of your thriller to make it more effective?

For the policeman outside the bank we need to determine what shots we can use to establish that they are in similar locations outside the bank to create a realistic and believable atmosphere. We also realised how important our costumes are to help distinguish between characters and create verisimilitude. It was also brought to my attention that the cast is hugely important as if they do not look like their particular character or old enough it is not believable and results in the audience being unable to fall into the world of the thriller. We will also reconsider the shot lengths so that the audience will not lose interest and use them to our advantage to help create the theme of isolation and claustrophobia to create an authentic and accurate atmosphere. We are also going to include another prop: Walky-talkies in the scene of the robbers inside the van. Not only will this create a more realistic atmosphere but it will also give the robbers something to do inside the van and result in this scene not being as awkward and having some meaning to it. 

Audience research interviews

What key points have you learned from the interviews?

I think the major point that I have learnt from interviewing everyone, no matter their age they all commented on the impact of the sound and how that important when they watch a film, not just in the cinema but also at home. Another important point which was spotted was a good plot. I think most people said there has to be a twisted to the story line, as that what makes it exciting to watch. I also learnt that a lot of people do really enjoy thrillers and do look for this genre when choosing a film, most commonly for teenagers, they what these when they are with a group of friends. 

Do different aged audience members go for different films or do they enjoy different aspects of watching films?

I was able to determine that all aged groups agree that sound is an extremely important aspect. However, middle-aged women are more interested in having a good plot with interesting and surprising twists, suspense and an over all really good story. In contrast, for teenage girls it is more about having well known actors and a film that is new and not dated. It was also highlighted from these interviews that teenagers do not decide on a film based on the awards that it has won, they do however, care about the films reviews and will decide on films based on whether or not it had a good review. 

Who do you think the target audience for your thriller sequence will be?

I think the target audience for our thriller would be more for teenagers as from the research, it has been made aware to me that teenagers seem to enjoy thrillers and watch them a lot especially with groups of friends. I think our thriller, as it will have an intense atmosphere and an exciting plot may catch the attention of a 
middle-aged audience, however our main audience will be teenagers as this genre is more appealing to them. I feel that because of the atmosphere within the cinema and the suspense and atmosphere that it provides we will get a range of audiences as from the interviews I was able to conclude that the thriller genre, as well as the action genre, is the genre that people enjoy most to go to the cinema for.

What do you think are the key things you have included in your thriller that will appeal to your target audience?

I think the theme of isolation and suspense is a key element as to why this will appeal to our target audience: teenagers because this will create a tense atmosphere which is what appeals to this age group. I also think that our use of sound will appeal to our target them because when we did our pilots and we didn't use sound - or sound wasn't one of our key elements that we focused on- we found the opening sequence was awkward and didn't create the tension or suspense that we had wished. We now understand how important sound is to establish our theme and how valued it is by audiences in every age group. 

Editing our thriller prelim

On friday's lesson, we download all of our footage from our iphone's on to the mac, on to a programme called iMovie, then we started to edit them to create our first rough version of our thriller. We did this through using our storyboard and then cutting the clips to match what we originally had. There were a few shots which we weren't able to shot and one of those was the CCTV footage in the bank, so we got footage from the bank to fill the gap on the storyboard. 

Through editing our thriller prelim, it showed the strengths and weakness of us filming and were we need to possible change our storyboard. I think the most important point which was spotted was the sound, I think this has to play a massive part in our thriller, as I think that is what will make the thriller. We want some sounds which gives the atmosphere of anticipation of waiting which is of course realistic. 

Rough shooting our prelim thriller.

Today we went and shot a rough version of our thriller opening sequence. We got some actors who had a free period that were able to help us. These will not be the actors in our real sequence as we want to  make our thriller realistic and so are going to use teachers as they are older. Today helped us to think about shot sizes and angles that we want to include within our real opening sequence. From today we established that the van scene is too quiet and awkward and we therefore came to the conclusion that we need to have the robbers doing something such as loading guns or putting on balaclavas.

We also found different locations to shoot the roof shots as we felt the original location on top of the theatre was too unsafe as Tilda (the actress) felt as if she was going to fall off. We therefore looked at a different roof where we could film but you could see mountains in the background and took away the verisimilitude of the piece. Therefore, today we came to the conclusion that we also need to find a location to film the policeman on top of the roof that is safe and realistic.

Above is us a group filming our prelim of our thriller.

Location

When sorting our props, we were also thinking about the locations. It brought to our attention that we had to decide where we are going to shoot our thriller. This was because we were originally thinking as a group that we wanted to shoot our thriller in Cranleigh (a local village.) However to do this we would need to contact the police as we would be using toy guns and because, we want to spray them black to make them more realise, and the police maybe informed by the public. 

The next stage to do this is to contact the police to inform them that we are filming for our media A- level. But we need a written confirmation from the police and have that on set, so if the police did get in contact with us when filming, we could show that we have confirmation from them. 

Above is an image of a bank in Cranleigh, which we could use for filming our thriller. 

Now it has been made aware that we don't actually need to film our whole sequence outside the bank. This is because we only need to film robbers inside a van, police down alley ways and on a roof, all of which we are able to do at school. However, we will need to shoot a wide shot of the bank to insert so that the audience are able to know where the action is taking place and therefore establish the setting for the rest of the film. We are also going to try and get some already existing CCTV footage to include within our thriller.

Props

In today lesson we were sorting out our props list and what we need to buy and what the departments in school may have. We went to our theatre department and asked if they have any of the props that we need and could we use them instead of buying them. This was great as we could identify were we need to get props. 

We would use the bottom, orange one as this is more realistic. However, we would spray paint it black.

      

Above is a rifle, this can be used by the mark men. 

Then here is a pistol, and this can be used by the robbers. 

Getting ready to film a rough version of our opening of our thriller.

In today lesson, Our teacher left us some work for us to do in order to prepare to shoot a descent title sequence for our thriller. The questions that helped us plan for tomorrow were:

1: Where will you be able to film inside the van (to make it feel the same, any small dark enclosed space will work)
Back of the studio as this will create verisimilitude.

2: Where will you shoot the police staking out the bank/waiting around the corner (alley?) to respond?
On the roof of the theatre- policeman with sniper as the top of the bank
Alley way behind the media studio/rooms- police with guns
The van with the robbers would be filmed behind the studio.

3: Have you got anything you could use as a disguise rather than balaclava's? Bear in mind would they really have these on whilst they are driving to the bank anyway?
As a group we have decided to not wear balaclava's at the beginning of our thriller because they would not wear these in real life at this point in the robbery and we are trying to create verisimilitude within our thriller. However for the ending of our thriller opening sequence, in the real thing, we shall wear balaclava's. Tomorrow we are going to go and ask the theatre department if they have any balaclava's that we could borrow for our rough version of our thriller.

4: Can you borrow Al's gun?
We were unable to contact Al, before the lesson. So we are going to try and catch up with him tomorrow in a free period. 

5: One of you pop into PS to politely see if there is any extra's you can enlist to help you tomorrow during that period. Ask permission from the person running PS before you start approaching people. 
There were very limited people in PS today so tomorrow at the beginning of our lesson we will go and quickly choose six people to play 4 robbers and 3 policeman. 

Locations: 

During today's lesson we went and looked for locations for the policeman to be filmed when on the top of the bank. We will film this on the roof of the theatre. For the policeman down the alley way we will film this down the back of the media rooms to create a realistic atmosphere. Also the robbers will be filmed behind the studio as this has the best settiung however, we shall not film much/or anything outside as we want  to create the theme of issolation and claustraphobia so most of this scene will be shot inside the van.

 This is where we will film the robbers on top of the bank as if we used a low-angle shot we would only get the walls and no trees or surroundings so would be a realistic shot.

We were thinking that we could film the policeman with the snipers on top of this wall but we decided against it as we want them to essentially be on the roof of the bank.

Sound for our thriller

As a group we wanted to disgust how the sound was going to be like in our thriller. We looked at the sound of 'Se7en' and how they created the suspense for their opening sequence. We understand that we can't copyright the sound for 'Se7en', but it has given us ideas on how we are going to create the sound for our opening.

So we spoke to our teacher on how we are going to create the sound as well as creating suspense at the same time. Therefore we want to use non- diegetic music to create the nervous atmosphere creating the suspense and waiting time for the robbers as well for the audience too.
So for example, when we will be filming in the van with the robbers we want the sound of the vehicle engine moving, as well as the hustle of the robbers getting ready.

As we want to create the sense of nervousness, as this is what it would be like in real life, with the robber and policeman all ready to go, all the waiting will create the suspense as everyone is nervous of what is going to happen and what the outcome of the robbery will be like. We really want to seduce the audience slowly so they feel part of the nervous atmosphere. So therefore, we must create a realistic atmosphere which the audience feel part of.

Versimilitude

In today lesson our teacher introduced us to a new concept called 'Verisimilitude'. As I was researching for police costumes and props, we had to make sure that we make the police as realistic as possible. 
The police costumes are so important to get it right so it doesn't look false. I had to remember that we are filming in the U.K, so I didn't want any American costumes, which were mostly coming up. I then researched on what our police in our country wear, remembering that it is a bank robbery. So I researched in to getting bulletproof black jackets which the police wear, when riots and bank robbery happen.  

Verisimilitude is a philosophical or theoretical concept that distinguishes the truth and falsity of assertions or hypotheses. In film verisimilitude is created through the costumes,set,props. These all create the audience to get swept up in the film and submerged within it. 
So I started to search the internet what the robbers wear when the a robbing a bank. There were many footage of the robbers in all in black with no skin on show. So as our thriller we want to take that on board and incorporate that image for our robbers. 

Therefore we started looking at what robbers actually wear, we did this by watching real footage of bank robberies on Youtube and looking at images on google.
We then realised that we also had to think about what type of policemen we want in our thrillers so that we can make our characters the most realistic they can possibly be and then determine the type of police uniform we need to invest in to create this realism. 

Thriller Planning

In today lesson I have been looking in to where we can shoot our opening sequence of our thriller. I looked at banks in Cranleigh, which is a nearby village to school. I looked up on the internet of the numbers of the banks which are in Cranleigh who would be interested of we could film outside of their bank, as well if we could use some of their previous CCTV footage. Of course we understand that we won't be able to go inside the bank as it is against the regulations. 
The banks which I looked up were: 

Lloyld TSB 

HSBC Bank

Nationwide Bank 

Natwest Bank

I then moved on to looking in to costumes and how it is so important that we get the characters realistic costumes, because if they are wrong the audience will be turned off straight away. I searched the internet of what the robbers could wear. The main site I found costumes for them was amazon. We want to have the robbers wearing balaclava, black turtle necks, black loose bottoms, black thin gloves and then black plimsoles. We discussed as a group that we want the robbers to have no skin revealing, as it is more threatening to the audience as you can't see their faces and what their identity is. After researching amazon and how we can imagine what the robbers are going to look like, I had to think about a money budget and to not spend to much money.  So I recorded all the prices on amazon which they were charging for each of the items.

Narrative Action Of Our Thriller

"Narrative Action of “Karma”

1.     Get a view of the city/ where the bank is

2.     Then see the robbers in the back of the van meditating to get in the zone

3.     Point of view shot focusing on the robber leader

4.     View of the bank that’s going to be burgled

5.     Shot of the pc plod and the gang waiting for the arrival of burglars

6.     Another shot of the robbers but a close up

7.     BCU of one of the robber’s eyes under the balaclava

8.      Close up of robber holding a gun

9.     Wide shot of the policeman on roof top of building ready to attack

10.  Another shot of a policeman hiding behind a wall in the alleyway

11.  Close up of another policeman outside the bank into the alleyway

12.  Back to the robbers in the back of the van shortly before attack

13.  CCTV high angle shot, view of the bank

14.  Zoomed in the CCTV camera of the footage of the previous page

15.  View of the bank and everyone in there (cashiers/ customers/ etc.)

16.  Back to the policeman waiting in the alleyway

17.  BCU of police badge to establish the contrast in characters

18.  Shot of the police vans to highlight to audience how many are there and seriousness of situation

19.  BACK to the robbers chilling in the van

20.  BCU of a static policeman

21.  BCU on robbers eyes in the police van

Creating our story boards.

During the beginning of this week we have been creating our story boards for the opening sequence of our thriller. After doing lots of research of how we are going to open our thriller as well of drawing the story board of how we imagine it will be like. When discussing with the group, we want to start the opening sequence in a van with the robbers, we wanted to create as much tension and atmosphere in the van as possible, showing the audience the suspense. The process of writing our story board was choosing the shoot types and sizes, this had to be carefully done as we want to make the thriller theme as isolation and suspense. 
We then also thought about using an effect of CCTV footage from inside of a bank to add more realism and establish the location for the audience. 

As we establish our thriller is based around on lots of suspense, so we decided that we were going to have a slow editing pace in order to show the character, location and theme. So therefore we don't have many shots in our story board as we feel that if it was a fast editing pace the audience would feel lost, as it would be too chaotic to watch. So understanding that we are going to do slow editing pace between the shots it would make it much easier for the audience to understand, also having a slow editing pace would add more suspense. 
The last image is the final copy of our thriller story board, we understand it will be adjusted from now to when we shoot. 

Watching backstage of the A2's music video.

In the lesson on monday, we when to watch for 5 minutes one of the A2's shooting their music video. It was so interesting to see what goes on backstage when filming and how as a group they were coping. When walking in to the studio, I loved it how they were filming the video, and how the set was. When realising that they were filming it, as if it was underwater. I thought to myself would this work? But I got that completely wrong, as it looked amazing, having fun and realistic. 

So as they wanted to create a underwater effect, the models were wearing flowing white dresses which were ripped to give the effect of floating in the water. They also had flans to blow the ripped dresses as well as their hair.  

I also found their make up really strong on camera, they had glittery lips which went really well with the white flowing dresses. 

When watching the A2's shooting, it really made me think of the day we shoot our thriller. It really inspired me how the A2's were so calm and relaxed, that is how I want it to be like on the day of us shooting our thriller. 

Thriller ideas

So we brainstorm again and came up with the idea of bank robbery. We came up with lots of ideas with it. As a group we liked the idea of showing the city, like what they did in 'Pelham 1,2, 3'. I think that was really effective because showing the city, characters with out giving the story away. There was also no dialogue which also added suspense to the audience.
We also looked at 'Reservoir dogs', which is a fantastic action thriller which gave us lots of ideas. One of them was zooming in to the characters to introduce them, then have a traditional style background. So then we came up with the idea of being set in a white van where the 3 robbers are getting ready and having that suspense in the van. Then cross cut to the bank which they are going for and shoot as if they are having a normal day at work, but not realising that what is about to happen. We are also trying to include the police but we are still in process of where we are going to include them in the sequence. But we have discussed that in the background we are going to have that busy city sound with police sirens in the distance.
As a group we have chosen to go forward for the bank robbery and have further ideas and how we can move it forward to make a brilliant thriller.

Writing our synopsis

In Today's lesson we started to think about the plot of our opening sequence. We started looking at the cross cuts, then we wanted to establish our theme and characters, we wanted to have a chatic a fast paced opening. We also looked at cosumes, lighting and music, all of these would inculde the intensity of the atmosphere in the city. Below we have wrote as a group the synopsis of the opening squence.

Plot of narrative action in ‘Karma’

The thriller opens with a view of the city followed by a fast cross cut to three robbers inside a moving van. Inside this moving van there is a tense atmosphere as the lighting is dim with the robbers getting ready by putting their masks on and getting their guns loaded creating a very fast pace. The sound within this scene is very loud with a fast tense beat. The robbers will be wearing all black with black leather gloves and black balaclava. We then concentrate on this scene, as it will be the main one of our opening sequence. We then cross cut to the bank with the police standing by waiting. The police will be wearing uniform and have body suits to protect themselves from bullets. They also will have guns and dogs, which will help set the atmosphere of the opening. We see a line of police vans and the sound suddenly stops and it is silent followed by a policeman saying: ‘Standby’. Then there is a loud sudden sound/music and the titles begin.

moving thriller ideas on...

During this week we have been discussing as a group how we are going to move our thriller on and further ideas. When looking on the news daily, we came across a story line of the plane evacuation which was at Glasgow airport. One of the public members had filmed this dramatic moment of the people getting off on his phone. This made it more dramatic because it was juttery of the person film was hissteric of the fear of the people on the plane. We thought of some ideas of what would of happened if these people had got stuck in the plan.
* Lock in the plane
* Crashed and then can't get out

* Dead bodies everywhere
* A dream of people getting on the plane for a holiday and then a suspicious guy comes in and looks like he maybe up to something
These ideas above were a quick brain storm of what it could of been like.
Then after looking into the idea of the plane evacuation. We realised that we were that keen on doing it, as we thought that we couldn't go anywhere with it.

Above is Glasgow International Airport is where the plane evacuation happened.

Below is the people getting of to evacuated airplane down the slide.

Thriller Idea's - Set Up

Title Sequence

In yesturday lesson we studied all about title sequences.

 Traditional title: The first one we looked was the traditonal, which is a blackground with text, and then the text starts. For example we looked at 'One Hour Photo', which is the traditonal opening. I found this title opening really effective becuase it sets a tone, this is done by the font, colour, movement, extra graphic, music. In 'One Hour Photo', they use colour of the font fade away in to the background, which make as if the font is being developed. Also when the font flashes up on the title we see around the colour font there is camera function. So as audience we suggest that it is something to do with camera.

Stright in to the film and then title on: The second clip we looked at was stright in to the film and then title on the top. This title sequence really grabbed my attention. It gently feeds the audience the information. We looked at the 'Stepfather'. All we get in the first 2 minutes of the 'Stepfather is a guy calmly and methodically changing his appearance. As the audience we don't know what has happened, but we understand it is Christmas in America, because of the decorations on the house. 

Discrete title: This title we looked at was one of bond's films. 'Casino Royale'. When the opening sequence starts it is separated from the rest of the film. So there is weapon, casino, gabbling, fighting scenes. sexy bond girls. However we don't know anything about the characters or seen any of the scenes or events. I think this title sequence is really effective because it is not giving anything away from the film, which as a audience member is really good. 

Stylised title: A combination of straight in to the film and then title on and the discrete title. Because the film began and the audience are meeting the characters and narrative events are happening, like the discrete title. So it stands alone in a sense as a action thriller

Editing

After filming our prelims we had to edit them. The programme we used was final cut pro. Is a very good and quick programme, which is used by some big editing companies.

As I have never used this programme before it was all new to me. So as a class we were shown how to work it. The two main folders, which they use in editing, are called rush bin and log bin. The rush bin is for all the clips you have filmed, then the log bin is the clips you think will be useful and to be used for making the film.

We had to watch all of the clips, which we had filmed. Then place the useful clips in the log bin, then the not so useful clips in the rush bin. It is always good to keep all the clips, as you never know if you want them again.

Then we started cutting and moving the clips around to make it flow. This process takes time and concentration to do, but when you have finished it is very rewarding on what you have filmed and edited.

When looking back at all of the clips we had filmed, there were obvious mistakes, which we need to take in consideration when we film our thriller. I think the main mistake was the placing of the camera, and the outcome was that the sounds were all different in each shot.

I really enjoyed doing the editing, and looking forward to editing my thriller in a couple of month’s time.  

This is the programme which we use for editing our prelims, (final Cut Pro). 

Genre

A Genre is where it is a type of something; in this case it is all different type of films. So there are comedies, horrors, thrillers ect. So for example a western film might share in common the mise en scene, so there clothing maybe the same, the locations will look similar as well. The character will also look the same and act the same, so they may all look like cowboys with their horses living in the desert. They will also have in common the events, so have a big shoot down with big powerful guns.

On the other hand, thrillers are completely different type of genre to other type of films, as they action packed on what is going to happen next. So for example two different films ‘Se7en’ and then ‘Jaws, which are two completely different films in a way of characters, mise en scene and the narrative events. The two key difference between them both is ‘Jaws is about a shark eating people and then ‘Se7en is completely different of a psychotic cereal killer, who chases people, but how both of the story lines for both of the two films, you can see that they are two thrillers and very similar.  The two films have in common their audience response because both of them make the audience feel as if they are on their edge of their seat. They also have in common the same characters and narrative structure, because someone is opposing a threat then someone is trying to stop a treat.

As a whole thriller’s are very much the same in the way they show their character, themes, events and mise en scene. But within the thriller genre there is a high degree of similarity. From these 3 posters are so similar in the way they show the characters and events. All of these 3 posters similar in terms of characters, themes, events and mise en scene. All of these posters are shown suspicion with the characters; the events all look as if they are very action packed and that there is violence involved. All of the posters show that their outfits are very sexy and revealing which shows that the character could be defiant.

Genre helps the audience members to choose on what they want to go and see and what they are expecting with adverting. Helps them enjoy the film. Pleasure of what they are expecting but then there is also on what they are unexpected.

Genre helps production companies, as they need to find the best actors because they have got to be the right one for the part. This can be done with previous films they have done and auditions. Genre gives them a recipe to follow.

Genre is useful for distribution companies because if distribution companies understand more clearly who they are trying to sell to (because there is an existing fan base for that genre) they can target them more easily. It also helps the distribution to communicate to the audience such as on movie poster where establishing the genre is one of the key functions.