Star Crossed Films

Timeline

To whom it may concern,
Current year 12 students studying AS Media have been given a task of creating a thriller opening, which is vital for their coursework. This will count towards their final grade this year. The thriller opening will be done out of school and so will include videoed clips of the surroundings, this will of course include people who are chosen to act.
The film opening will be short and aimed at audiences of 15+, male and female.
I am writing to you to request permission on the use of videos that you may be included in, this will be used for only educational purposes, however if chosen to do so, the clip may be posted online and will be open to the public to view. This is a possibility but overall a personal choice, it is however guaranteed that the opening film will be seen by examiners.
This consent form is specifically done to hear to your request, whether you wish to be included or not.
Please indicate your decision by removing the option that does not apply; by agreeing to this form and by signing below confirms that you agree to the use of yourself being included in our film.
Kind regards,
Terence Burns
AS Media student

I do/do not give permission for the use of my photos and video in the thriller opening
Signed…………………………………………………………………………
Date………………………………….

Auditions

Acting

This is our auditions tape for the roles of the innocent victim. Auditions were hard to take and analyse on who would be best suited for our thriller due to the lack of dialogue we will have in the film and so we had to analyse purely on the way they position themselves as a dead or almost dead victim.

Our first actor was Sam Payne, through looking at the tape we found Sam good at not moving around a lot and actually look as if dead, he made it seem realistic. Also Sam's specific build and size is great for the role of the innocent victim as he would be deemed as potentially more vulnerable in the eyes of the audience.

The second actor was Luke Crane, although he has many experiences of acting due to he is studying drama, we feel that Luke is more of a person who would be good at playing an exaggerated lively character rather than a role who is not so much in the spotlight. As you can see we want the victim to be seen dead, however Luke is unable to stay still, leaving an unrealistic look. A thriller is good when realism is incorporated into the film, Luke is unable to do this and so we will not be including him as an innocent victim.

Finally we have Matthew Bolland, he has no experience in acting and can not simply act dead. Matthew is a charismatic individual who would rather do comedy film types and make scenes more funny, unfortunately this is not what we was looking for due to we want the thriller to be portrayed as serious. We will not be casting Matthew as the innocent victim due to we feel that Matthew will not depict a vulnerable person.

Overall we have chosen Sam Payne to cast as the innocent victim due to his well preformed audition, we feel that Sam can be more easily deemed as a vulnerable person and so we will use this our advantage to heighten tension in our thriller.Acting

Timeline

In the first shot the people that will we be shooting is only Luke we shot just him as it will be real time

Titles

Our titles for the thriller opening,  we thought of three names that all relate in some way to our narrative, in addition to this we chose two different fonts; ‘Mom’s typewriter’ and ‘Albertshal’, both were our most favoured fonts and seemed  to cohere to our genre.

 

They represent our genre as it relates to a type of investigatory theme, the typography is rough as if someone had stamped it onto a page; this is typical of a hybrid genre of a crime thriller as we normally see this type of lettering on case files. The first chosen title ‘Classified’ relates to our narrative and genre, classified is a term of ‘hidden material’ which is of course kept secret, this relates to our thriller as the narrative is all about the hidden truth behind a crime scene, we want the audience to think of the question ‘is the government involved in this murder?’.

 

The second chosen title is ‘Veteran’, this relates solely to our narrative, again relating to the question of is the murderer a veteran, trying to cover a case which the detective should not have seen. Finally our third chosen title is ‘Lawless’, the term meaning a society without rules and regulations, giving this sense, the audience are manipulated  into believing is the government becoming corrupt in that laws are no longer valid, the film shows hints of the murderer carrying military equipment- relating to governmental individuals.

 

Overall these titles relate and adhere to our hybrid of a crime/thriller as it gives a mystery vibe – convention of a thriller, and a sort of investigatory feel- relating to ‘crime’, the rough lettering relating to incoordination and struggle, also depicting hopelessness as the titles show no neatness. This type of typography relates and represents our audience through its mysterious look; it expresses an eerie feel. We feel that 15-25 year olds are looking for a sense of mystery, which are active and wish to think and resolve problems as they watch a film, so making a title that gains a sense of mystery already into why is the film titled as that, leads to an attraction of these audiences.

Roles

Schedule

DATE	SCENE	DETAILS	LOCATION	PROPS/ACTORS
17/11/2014	Setting	An extreme long shot will show the setting as a whole.		N/A
17/11/2014	Doorway	Low angle tilt of Luke entering building.		Luke Crane.
17/11/2014	Tracking	Tracking shot of Luke walking into crime scene.		Luke Crane.
17/11/2014	Evidence 1	Close up of knife.		Knife and evidence marker.
17/11/2014	Weapon use 1	Knife is shown being used on the innocent victim. Close up and then zoomed out.		Knife, Matthew Bolland and Sam Payne.
17/11/2014	Notice board 1	Close up of a section of the board introducing the actor.		Board, polaroid picture, string and pin.
17/11/2014	Emotion	Medium close up of Luke.		Luke Crane.
17/11/2014	Evidence 2	Pan’s to baton.		Baton and evidence marker.
17/11/2014	Weapon use 2	Weapon is shown being used on the innocent victim. Close up and then zoomed out.		Baton, Matthew Bolland and Sam Payne.
17/11/2014	Notice board 2	Close up of a section of the board introducing the actor.		Board, polaroid picture, sting and pin.
17/11/2014	Final evidence	Pan’s to rope.		Rope and evidence marker.
17/11/2014	Murder	Innocent victim is strangled with a rope. Close up.		Sam Payne, Matthew Bolland and a rope.
17/11/2014	Notice board 3	Panning to the third and final actor and pans to director.		Board, polaroid picture, string and pin.
17/11/2014	Dead body	Tracking shot of Luke walking to the room of the murder where he then see’s the body.		Luke Crane and Sam Payne.
17/11/2014	Unaware	Mid shot of Luke where the antagonist is stood behind him with a rope.		Luke Crane and Matthew Bolland and a rope.
17/11/2014	Main title	Pan’s to main title – ‘Classified’.		Title card and the notice board.

 

Pitch

 

 

 

 

 

Thriller Opening Pitch

Schedule

DATE	SCENE	DETAILS	LOCATION	PROPS/ACTORS
17/11/2014	Setting	An extreme long shot will show the setting as a whole.		N/A
17/11/2014	Doorway	Low angle tilt of Luke entering building.		Luke Crane.
17/11/2014	Tracking	Tracking shot of Luke walking into crime scene.		Luke Crane.
17/11/2014	Evidence 1	Close up of knife.		Knife and evidence marker.
17/11/2014	Weapon use 1	Knife is shown being used on the innocent victim. Close up and then zoomed out.		Knife, Matthew Bolland and Sam Payne.
17/11/2014	Notice board 1	Close up of a section of the board introducing the actor.		Board, polaroid picture, string and pin.
17/11/2014	Emotion	Medium close up of Luke.		Luke Crane.
17/11/2014	Evidence 2	Pan’s to baton.		Baton and evidence marker.
17/11/2014	Weapon use 2	Weapon is shown being used on the innocent victim. Close up and then zoomed out.		Baton, Matthew Bolland and Sam Payne.
17/11/2014	Notice board 2	Close up of a section of the board introducing the actor.		Board, polaroid picture, sting and pin.
17/11/2014	Final evidence	Pan’s to rope.		Rope and evidence marker.
17/11/2014	Murder	Innocent victim is strangled with a rope. Close up.		Sam Payne, Matthew Bolland and a rope.
17/11/2014	Notice board 3	Panning to the third and final actor and pans to director.		Board, polaroid picture, string and pin.
17/11/2014	Dead body	Tracking shot of Luke walking to the room of the murder where he then see’s the body.		Luke Crane and Sam Payne.
17/11/2014	Unaware	Mid shot of Luke where the antagonist is stood behind him with a rope.		Luke Crane and Matthew Bolland and a rope.
17/11/2014	Main title	Pan’s to main title – ‘Classified’.		Title card and the notice board.

Risk Assessment

Risk assessment

Risk assessments will be taken before filming our thriller opening to ensure the health and safety of all the individuals involved. We will be filming at an abandoned house in Bourne, where we will shoot a short clip of a thriller opening.

Possible hazards and risks:                                                           Risk levels: 1-2 low, 3-4 medium, 5+ high
 

1.       Injury by falling or slipping (4)

2.       Falling through unstable flooring (2)

3.       Injury caused by sharp props e.g. knives (3)

4.       Tripping by rough grounds and debris left behind (4)

To control these risks we will:

1.       Pay careful attention to the surrounding area

2.       Stay away from structures that look weak

3.       Use dangerous props with care

4.       Remove all debris and litter from the set