Thriller sound

Sound

 

This area was our groups weakness when producing the draft opening sequence, so we paid extra attention to it this time in order to make our final thriller a success.

 

The sounds that we planned would work well with our footage were:

 

• Heavy breathing
• A phone ringing
• Dialogue
• Leaves rustling

To create these sounds, myself and Laura-Jo got a flip video camera as the sound quality was better than the other camera we were using to film, and came up with ways to produce these sounds so that they were clear enough to understand on the footage. 

 

 

 

 For the heavy breathing, I came up with the idea of breathing into an empty plastic bottle as the noise echos making it sound more creepy and the volume is louder and clearer. Laura-Jo did this as I filmed her and this created the heavy breathing sound effect. When I imported the sound into the editing program, I selected this video and dragged it onto all of the clips which were showing the hand held point of view of the man walking as it made him seem more mysterious. The sound we recorded was short so I had to copy the sound clip in and crop it to avoid any excess noise several times.

 

The phone call was the easiest sound to create as I simply played my phone's ringtone and recorded it on the camera. In the scene where the boy picks up the phone, I had to make sure that the ringtone played long enough so that it stopped at the exact moment he put it to his ear. This made it seem believable as his own phone ringing yet it was clear what was happening in the plot.

Straight after the phone rings, the boy has a conversation, therefore the dialogue needed to be clear enough for the audience to understand the next part of the sequence. Laura-Jo recorded him saying the dialogue at the same speed as he did in the original footage so that his mouth matched the speech. I then imported the clip into the program and took some time trying to match his mouth to the dialogue so it seemed as though we hadn't added any extra recordings. This was the hardest sound to put onto the footage as it had to match perfectly to work.

Finally, me and Laura-Jo recorded the sound of leaves rustling and we did this by me running next to a bush so the leaves rustled against my coat as I did it and this produced a convincing sound. I then edited this into the final shots where the boy is pulled over the bush and adjusted the volume to quite low as he is distant to the camera in the shot and if it was too loud it wouldn't sound correct.

 

 

I also found music online which was under the category 'Dramatic and Eerie music' as this was the type of atmosphere we wanted our thriller to create. After listening to lots, I found two pieces which I thought would work best and imported them both into the program. I then decided to use the dramatic music on the titles and the eerie music would continue throughout everything, overlapping the other track and sounds in the footage to make an unusual effect. Once all the sounds were in the correct position on the timeline, along with the music, the sound was a huge improvement from the draft and a success.

Thriller titles

Titles

 

 

I was nominated for the role of creating the titles for our opening sequence, and as I didn't like using the same program as the footage and sound was edited on to create them, I decided to use a different program called Adobe After Effects which allowed me to add transitions and focus entirely on the titles.

 

I opted for a simple layout for the titles which was a black background with a bold, white font as this would stand out and look professional.

 

The first title would be positioned right at the start of our sequence and therefore represented our group with our production company's name which was a mixture of the first two letters of each of our names LaNiCh.

The name of our thriller was then projected onto the screen 'Snatched' which represents the idea of the boy being kidnapped. I added a transition which would then lead into the opening sequence footage so I knew it had to be powerful and dramatic, and I was able to create a shattering effect of the text which along with the music worked well.

 

The titles at the end of the opening sequence were all the same font and layout. I then decided to keep the transitions for each title the same and these entered with a transition which slowly developed the word letter by letter until all of the text was on show.

After the text has been on screen for around 2 seconds, another transition occurs where the text begins to fade in waves.

This transition continues and the text exits through a fading spiral of the letters.This continues throughout all of the titles that come on screen.

 

Titles

 

Produced by Laura-Jo Bowler, Nikki Brown and Chloe Burrows

Directed by Chloe Burrows

Script Writer Nikki Brown

Casting Director Laura-Jo Bowler

Editing by Laura-Jo Bowler, Nikki Brown and Chloe Burrows

Titles by Chloe Burrows

Sound by Laura-Jo Bowler

Costumes and props by Nikki Brown

Starring Neil Bowler and Mitchell Bowler

 



Thriller editing

Editing

 

We decided to make a schedule of when people were able to edit as this allowed us all to individually edit the footage and add any effects etc that we thought would look good and were therefore constantly improving each others work, and all had input. This also allowed us to meet the deadline as it was a speedier process.

 

We started the editing process by uploading all of the footage and shots from filming onto the program in the correct order. We then cropped the necessary shots to the correct length and played it as a whole to see if it needed further editing. We all had different opinions on the order of the shots such as I edited more footsteps nearer the end by using a previous handheld point of view shot of the footsteps on the bark and imported it a second time towards the end as it made the plot easier to understand. As we all had different opinions, the order of the shots got changed during the schedule for editing, but we all came to an agreement and stuck to it.

 

After all of the shots were in the correct order, we were able to see the areas which needed further editing. In comparison to the draft, there were little shots that required a transition as we planned our filming more wisely this time and managed to make the shots link together smoothly.

We decided to fade into the first shot of the footage as this would enter after a small title and would therefore link together better and also introduces the scene better as the lighting improves suggesting the reality of the plot.

 

 

In a couple of areas we needed to add the cross dissolve transition as without them the scene appeared to be jumpy and would make it harder for the audience to understand the plot, therefore we linked the shots together with this transition.

The other transition that we added in was at the end of the footage as we thought that it would look good if the shot wiped out to reveal the titles. This was the most difficult transition to apply as it wasn't as simple as dragging the transition across to the timeline and I had to look at tutorials to find out the correct way of applying it. I then managed to add it to the footage successfully, completing the editing for the visual aspects of the sequence.

 

The timeline at the end of all of our editing on the sequence

 

 

Thriller filming

Filming

Last time we filmed for the draft, we filmed on one day and then didnt retake any footage to make corrections which led to it being jumpy and hard to understand. This time we scheduled two days to film so that after the first day we were able to upload all of the footage onto the editing program, put it together and see which shots were missing or needed re-filming which enabled us to create a better opening sequence.

 

We decided not to use a tripod when filming this time as many of the shots were point of view from the man and as he is an unusual character, the camera being shakey added a nervous and slightly spooky effect on the filming which we liked. We made sure that we took numerous takes of the same footage in order to get successful shots. We also took note of the previous poisitionings of the characters and background so that we were able to make a continous effect when edited.

 

We each took it in turns to film using the handheld camera and as my role as director, I made decisions of the positioning of characters and the different shots which would be effective at that point in the footage.

 

Different Shots

Close-Ups

We used close up's to show detail such as the football prop and the location of the man behind the bush as it informs the audience and gives them more background details to what is happening.

 

Handheld Point Of View

 

We used a handheld point of view shot various times when presenting that the man was walking as it showed his footsteps or his view as he walked of the ground which informs the audience that he is on the move, and leaves a mystery as they are unaware of his location to the boys.

 

Long Shot

 

 The long shots allowed the audience to see the park as a whole showing the characters whereabouts in the background and showed reality in action.

 

 

Mid Shot

 

 By using mid shots, it enabled us to show the characters expression without zooming in to a close up so that the location and characters in the background were still visible.

 

 

Pan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We decided to use a couple of pans as they gave us an opportunity to diisplay the location of the man through a point of view pan where it showed the whole of the view infront of him which shows he is always on the look out and alert as he checks his surroundings.

 

Point of view from the swing

 

 

As I had the role of director on the shoot, I decided to add in an extra shot which was filmed by me as I sat on the swing in the position of the man in the sequence. I think swang back and forth and held the camera directly infront of me as I did to create the motion that he would be experiencing as this let the audience know who it was looking as they know he is on the swing.

 

 

Upwards tilt

We used upwards tilts after the handheld point of view shots as this was a way of continuing the shots without jumping from the floor shot to a mid shot etc and it looked effective as a point of view shot.

Zoom In  

 

We experimented with the zoom option on the camera and found that it looked good when we zoomed in on the man on the swing in the background of a long shot showing the boys playing football as it reminded the audience that he isn't far away from them adding a sense of danger.

 

 

As we filmed most of the shots on one day, we found that some shots were missing to complete the footage and were able to shoot these on another day which overall made a great improvement from previous filming for the draft.

Thriller planning

Planning

 

 

As we had decided as a group to completely change the opening sequence of our thriller, we sat down and discussed different possible scenarios of which we could use as the plot. We decided to stick to a similar location but not the same park as we didn't feel this was best to film on due to the camera positioning and the traffic noise pollution which caused interference.

 

We discussed possible ideas for the narrative and decided that it would work best as a thriller if we based it on something that could happen in reality as this makes it more thrilling for the audience. We decided to have the plot of a child being kidnapped by an older man as this could happen in reality unlike the previous idea in the draft which was unlikely. We then progressed the idea by deciding that the characters in the footage would consist of two younger boys on the park and an older man who is watching them and will at the end of the sequence eventually kidnap one of them.

 

As we shared ideas, we created a mind map of everybodys suggestions so that it was easier to combine ideas and come up with the other details to create the opening sequence.

 

 

We decided on the location to be a park as this would work best with the narrative that we had created, and chose a local park as we were then familiar with its layout and different areas of which we could film from.

 

The costumes will be casual wear so that it seems to be reality in the scene therefore creating a more eerie atmosphere for the audience as they believe it could happen.

 

The props that will be used from these suggestions are the football as this allows the boys to be doing something as the man watches, a phone which will provide an opportunity for the boy to leave his friend after a phone call asking him to come home. We will also use a bike for the boy to leave on as this will make it more dramatic when he is kidnapped and suggests that further on in the thriller that somebody will find the abandoned bike. The swings and bark will be used for the kidnapper's shots as they will have shots of them walking along the bark and sitting watching the boys on the swings.

 

The camera angles which we will use are mid shots to show general action such as the boys talking to each other playing football, zooms on the man watching them in the background, long shots of the park to show location, a variety of pans to show different points of views such as the park and the boy riding his bike from the kidnappers point of view. We will also use the tilt to slowly show the kidnapper from foot to head so that it builds tension as his identity is slowly revealed.

 

The most likely editing techniques which we will use from our suggestions are the fade or cross dissolve to stop scenes looking jumpy, the wipe across at the end from the action into the titles and possibly some fast editing depending on the pace of the sequence.

 

To improve on the draft, we have planned the sounds of which we will record separatley and edit in to ensure the audio is clear for the audience. I think we will use the breathing as the kidnappers foot steps are shown, dialogue between characters and as a phone will be used I suggest we use a ringtone and dialogue of a phone conversation.

 

Story Board

After we had shared ideas and decided on which things we would use from the mindmap, Nikki then created a storyboard of the opening sequence and wrote the script for any dialogue and the final plot of the story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The overall plot of the first page of the storyboard is that it will begin with the two boys playing football in the caged section of the park. We will then see a shot of the mans footsteps walking along the bark towards the boys, however he does not approach them. We then jump to another shot of the boys playing football and this is followed by more footsteps. This time in the shot of the boys playing football, we are able to see the man in the background adding mystery to the scene. The man then walks towards the swings where he watches from a distance at the boys, at this point the audience may begin to notice that the man is watching the boys closely and this creates an eerie atmosphere.

The plot then continues on the second page of the storyboard with a point of view pan of the park from the man, which then zooms in on one boy in particular. This boy receives a phone call off his Mum telling him to come home and this gives him the opportunity to leave his friend and exit the caged area. As he does this, the man leaves the swing and walks across the bark again. Another point of view pan shows the boy approaching the man on his bike and as he gets closer, the man pulls the boy off his bike and kidnaps him. Then the shot will wipe into the titles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Changes from the draft to the final edit

Changes

After seeing our draft video, we decided that it would be better to start again with a completely new idea and footage.

 

We decided to do this as the draft didn't look as professional and clear as we would have liked and from feedback from others we found that the plot wasn't easy to follow or understand.

 

This time we will plan our filming more carefully working out particular camera angles and shots and where they will be taken from in the location. We will also take more shots to ensure that we get enough footage to edit together without having to continuously use transitions such as the cross dissolve. It will be more beneficial if we plan individual time on the editing program with particular roles as to how much each person must complete at a particular time as this will speed up the process and allow everybody to contribute any effects and ideas that they want to on the footage. The main thing which we need to improve is sound as this was unsuccessful in our draft opening sequence. We will improve this by planning the sounds which we need and recording them separatly, various times to make sure that we get at least one successful recording to then use. We have also decided to use a separate computer program to create the titles on as we felt that the titles were limited on the previous editing program and we were unable to create sufficient titles for our opening sequence.

 

Improvements which we will make:

 

• Plan ahead on the filming
• Create a schedule for each person's time to edit
• Record sounds separatly from videos
• Make more titles on a different program
• Make the plot easier to understand

First draft video and evaluation

First Draft

This is the youtube clip of our first draft of an opening sequence of a thriller which we have called 'Lost But Found'

Overall I am not entirley happy with the outcome of our draft as I believe a lot of improvements need to be made on it such as sound being recorded separetly and edited in so that any dialogue and background noises were heard more clearly and it was obvious to the audience what was being said so that they can understand the plot of the footage more easily. I also think that the camera shots could be improved by experimenting with different angles and effects and when trying to make a scene look continuous, I need to look at the previous shot and match the people in shot and the background exactly to the previous one so that it links together smoothly.

The things that I thought went well are the planning of our sequence as we all contributed various ideas and adapted them into one opening sequence. The filming went well as we got it all done in one day and were able to use actors etc and props in a location other than school. Next time we film I think we should spend longer before hand working out which shot to do and when different people need to be in the background etc.

Thriller titles for draft

Titles

 

For the draft, we didn't include many titles as we didn't have much experience with making them and didn't manage our time well enough to experiment with the different slides and transitions we could have created.

 

We used the same program for titles that we used for editing on the draft and found it was hard to understand. We inserted a simple title with a black background to represent the darkness of the final shots which add an eerie effect to the film. We then decided to use a white bold text so that it stood out and looked dramatic which then fitted with the previous action.

The title came at the end of the opening sequence and the first title was simple with the name of our company on it as from previous research, this is how many of the titles begin.

 

The last title we made was again a plain black background so that the titles linked together well and we changed the font and style of writing to block capitals in a misty grey so that the title of our film looked more mysterious. The name of the thriller was chosen by Nikki as she thought it was a good play on words of 'lost and found' and it gave the impression that the person that has possessed the girl found her for a reason. The rest of the group agreed to the title as it was catchy and suited the thriller we had created an opening for.

Thriller sound editing for draft

Sound

 

I believe that sound was our weakness in this draft as we didnt pay as much attention to it as we did on other aspects such as filming and editing.

 

We used the natural sound that was ambient in the background of the shots we filmed so that they were diegetic to the actors and therefore more realistic. This seemed like a good idea in the filming stages however at editing it proved to be an issue as not all dialogue was clear and there was often interference of the wind or other people.

 

Me and Laura-Jo spent time on the same editing program trying to edit the sound so that it was clearer in the sequence. We did this by going onto the sound options and altering the levels of volume at different points of the sequence. Although it still wasn't great, it made an improvement on the previous sound.

 

We decided that we needed eerie music to accompany the scene and Laura-Jo found a creepy version of 'Teddy Bears Picnic' nursery rhyme which fitted in with our sequence as it was age appropiate for the younger actress and it mentions going to the woods alone which is what the character has done in our opening sequence. She also found an eerie song which we used at the beginning to create an atmosphere as the child is going on an adventure on her own.

 

We added these to the sequence at the correct moments and added a fade in and out so that they seemed mysterious and more professional. The nursery rhyme fades in at the same time that the colour changes which looked good after editing. The music also worked well at this point as the girls eyes turn possessed on the last word 'alone' which is creepy and suits the genre of thriller well.

 

Thriller editing for draft

Editing

I uploaded the footage from the camera onto the computer and renamed the clips so it was easy for our group to then put the correct shots in the sequence when necessary. We used the program Adobe Premier Pro CS4 to put the clips in order and crop them until they blended together. After doing the prelim task, I had experience on this software and felt more confident when using it for this footage.

The first thing we did for editing was to import the clips into the computer program in the correct order by looking at the story boards that we planned before filming, to make sure the story was similar.

Once all of the clips were imported in order, we were then able to crop each clip to ensure that we didn't have shots that weren't necessary and therefore had to be removed. This then gave us an idea of how the sequence would look in terms of camera shots and angles and how the different shots would link together.

When it was my turn to edit, I decided that the pan which would follow the mid shot of  the older female walking off, should be reversed to show the young girls point of view pan to the park, and then using the same shot in reverse back to the girl which acted as an action match as we were able to see what she was seeing. I created this effect by importing the same clip twice, next to each other and on the one which I wanted to reverse, I changed the properties of the footage and made it reverse.

Another part of the sequence which I edited was the continuous still shots of the footprints leading up to the girl on the swing. I created this effect by selecting all of the photographs which I took during the filming stages and put them in the correct order so that the trail of footsteps linked together. I did this and although the images appeared in the correct order and it was clear that they were leading up to the girl, the speed of the shots were too slow to look convincing as actual footsteps. I fixed this by altering each of the pictured speeds to a much lower number so that the steps were on screen long enough for the audience to know what was happening, but not too long so that they linked together at normal walking speed.

After we had all edited the clips by cropping them and putting them at the correct speed and direction and in the right order, we then decided to add transitions between shots that didn't quite work well when linked together to distract from the jump in shots.

After experimenting with different transitions between the shots, as a group we found that the best option was the cross dissolve as it linked the shots together and gave the impression that time had passed since the previous shot, instead of being continous. I was able to insert the cross dissolve transition into the correct part of the sequence by dragging the transition onto the timeline where the desired clip was.

The first shot that required a cross dissolve was between the long shot of the females walking towards the camera, and the shot where they are stood still sharing dialogue. These shots did not link together well as there was no evidence of them stopping before having a conversation and therefore looked unrealistic without the transition.

 

Another cross dissolve was used when the girl approaches the puddle and the short close up of her jumping in it as once again there was no evidence of her stopping and approaching the puddle so it looked odd and with the transition it improved the flow of the sequence.

 

 

 The same cross dissolve transition was used on the scene where the two children are talking shown by a long shot of them on the swings as the conversation appeared to be too long and was hard to shorten without it sounding and looking odd, therefore an editing transition was needed.

 

At this point the editing was finished for the linking together of the shots and the length of each clip and transitions. After watching it several times, I decided that the lighting was too bright nearer to the end of the clip for the genre we were creating the opening sequence for and therefore decided to experiment on the program with picture lighting from the still shot point in the footage.

 

I found that I was able to create a fade in the shot as the boy left and the girl was left alone where a downwards tilt took place which would then lead into the mysterious footprints. I created the fade so that the colour and lighting went from natural and light to black and white as this had an eerie effect and allowed the audience to know that something bad is about to happen.

 

 

 

I changed all of the shots and images after this to the same colours and lighting as this and it created a divide in the atmosphere of the opening sequence as the start represented a happy normality and towards the end it began to become twisted and dull as the thriller side to the sequence kicked in.

 

 

We then decided to use my idea from the planning stage of the edited image of the young girl looking possessed at the end. We used a still image of her close up which would enable her eyes to be edited in more detail. Nikki edited this image on photoshop and made her eyes huge and black to make it more mysterious.

 

Before Shot

After Shot

We added the before shot at the end of the sequence to present that she was possessed, however she returns back to normal suggesting that nobody will know she is possessed throughout the rest of the film, leaving a cliff hanger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Thriller filming for draft

Filming

 

The first thing we had to do was get the actors/ actresses for the filming and choose a location. Laura-Jo casted her two younger family friends to play the parts of the children who will be on the park and the main actress in it. We also asked a friend from sixth form to play the young mum of the girl as it made it easier for availability when filming. The location we chose was Toton park as it was local and we filmed at a time we knew wouldn't be as busy so we were able to film without regularly being interupted.

We used a video camera and a tripod to film the footage and took the story boards and mindmaps that we had made with us so we knew what we needed to film and in what order.

We took it in turns to film different shots of the footage we had planned, I went first, filming the shots of the Mum and daughter walking towards the camera and also took pan shots of the park and forest. I took mutiple shots to ensure that I could get a good quality and there was also a chance that one shot may have something wrong with it and this way I had back up for editing.

 

Print Screens of the shots from the opening sequence

I filmed an establishing shot of the park to ensure the audience knew the location of the film. I then used a pan to the left to show the positioning of the characters in comparison to the park and as I panned it showed the tree trunks in the woods suggesting to the audience the lack of safety as there may be somebody or something in the woods. The end of the pan introduced the characters into the footage with a long shot of them walking and sharing dialogue together.

 

 I then filmed the characters stopping infront of the camera so the shot was a mid shot showing their head and shoulders in frame. This allows the audience to see them talking and their facial expressions during the conversation.

We decided to add a double pan at this point in the filming as it would represent the point of view of the young girl looking at the park and then a reverse pan back to the girl stood on her own.

 

After this shot was filmed, we repositioned the camera and tripod on to the path which led to the park and the younger actress ran from the previous position in the shot before and ran towards the camera to make it look like a continuous action from different camera angles.

 

I then zoomed in on a puddle to create a close up shot of it and then the actress ran in and jumped in it which represented the childs innocence and usual behaviour for someone that age. This would then make the ending that we filmed seem more creepy as it gives the impression that it could happen to any normal child.

 

I then filmed a mid shot of the child from the back and she shouted 'Charlie' as she spotted her friend on the park, and the next shot was a long shot showing her running towards the park.

 

A long pan shot was then used to continue showing the girl running towards the park from a different angle and showed her opening the gate and entering the park.

 

We decided to add in a shot of her dropping her toy and then zoomed in on it to show her betrail of the toy and this would reappear near the end of the sequence. As the shot zooms in on the toy, it foreshadows that something bad will happen involving that as it is the main focus on the shot showing it's importance and children often have soft toys for the feeling of protection, which the child has disposed of.

 

 We used another long shot to show the children on the swings having a conversation, emphasising the reality of the scene so far.

 We then shot this same scene from a different location in the park to show a variety of camera angles and at the end of this shot, the boy is called by what we can make out is a Mum and told that he must leave the park, leaving the girl on her own.

 We then took many still shots of foot prints left in the bark on the ground which continued so when edited together it would appear as somebody or something walking towards the girl, and as there are no feet making the footprints it makes it more mysterious and thrilling suiting the genre.

The camera shot we then used, tilted upwards and zoomed in on the girl who looks possessed as the boy is stood with the toy and wearing a gas mask which creates an unusual and mysterious vibe and leaves the audience wandering why he has got the gas mask and toy and what he has done to the child. We took a still shot of the girls face which will then be edited to make her look possessed afterwards.

 

 

When filming, we made sure that we used different camera angles and shots such as using the zoom button to zoom in and out of shots and also created close ups and pans. This would make it easier to edit as there was a wider variety of shots to choose from and also looked more professional.

 

Problems when filming

The problem that I found whilst filming, was that the sound wasn't always clear and this would be an issue in the editing stage when dialogue would not be heard clearly. Also I found it hard to ensure that the positioning of the actors and actresses remained the same throughout shots so that it looked continuous, and this is something I need to practice and improve on for my next footage.

After looking through all of the footage we have filmed, I believe that we could of done a wider variety of shots throughout the filming and could have perhaps took more notice of the positioning of the characters and camera when trying to continue action through different angles as not all of the footage links together well and will need to be improved through editing.