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.