Props

     We are going to use various props to help tell our story:

 

•       A pram will be brought by Alexia and used in the thriller simply as Sarah walks towards the house.
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• A cot will also be provided by Alexia and will be used when Sarah puts the baby to sleep and later on while she discovers her baby's disappearance.

• A Baby Monitor will be used to highlight the sound of the whisper which will create tension and mystery.

• A toy will be brought by me and will be filmed being dropped on the ground outside the house.  It will be used again when it is left in the baby's place after she has been taken.

• A black hoodie will be provided by Frankie and will be used to mask the mysterious male character during the encounter with Sarah.  The darkness of the clothing will connote evil and therefore make the character seem intimidating and scary.

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Cast and Costumes

The main female character, Sarah, will be played my me.  We made this decision as I have experience in acting from taking part in various school productions and it is also convenient for the group.  I will be wearing a black skirt with formal shirt and jumper to reinforce the fact that the character is supposed to be older.

The mysterious male character will be played by Alexia.  Again this is because it is convenient.  She will be masked therefore it is not an issue that she is female.  She will wear all black which will include a black balaclava with a black hooded jacket  and jeans.  These colours will represent the bad and evil in her character.  We wanted to keep the character unknown similar to that in 'Ils (Them)' as we found this to be very mysterious and effective.

Alexia's niece, Grace will act as the baby in our production.  We chose to use her as we are going to be filming in Alexia's house. She will wear white knitted pants and a jumper.  She will be dressed in white to connote her innocence and this will act as a binary opposition against the black hooded character.

Storyboard

We use story boards for a number of reason, firstly they help in establishing framing, they provide blocking and focus information, they help in planning actor movements and action and also they plan camera movement.

We found we used the story board as a personal checklist, by making story boards for our movie we not only created a form of sequence, but we had made a checklist of every shot you need. Using storyboards also helped us revise our material Because by knowing your material and what you need to make your story work, we were able to quickly and wisely make the necessary changes when unforeseen circumstances force changes.

Storyboard from Rosie Chatterjea on Vimeo.

Shot List

1.    Establishing long shot walking with the pram

2.    Medium close up of hooded figure

3.    Point of View shot of him looking at woman and pram

4.    Long shot of her behind

5.    Long shot of them bumping into each other

6.    Close up of toy falling to the floor

7.    Extreme close up of toys eyes

8.    Ellipses to a long shot of her unlocking the door

9.    Close up on keys

10. Cut away to bush medium shot

11. Point of view from bush on her

12. Match on action shot going through the door

13. Close up on face looking scared/shocked

14. Medium shot of oven

15. Extreme close up as she turns the oven off

16. When she walks away camera pans to the window – see man

17. Ellipses

18. Camera tracks her walking up the stairs – low angle

19. Medium close up of her rocking baby

20. Pans to her putting baby in bed

21. Close up of baby sleeping

22. Extreme close up of the baby monitor as she turns it on – dissolve – music

23. Ellipses to her in bed – hears creaking

24. Extreme close up on eyes as they open

25. ‘shh’ on the baby monitor – zoom in

26. Camera tracks her as she runs in room

27. Close up on mosses basket – baby is gone – toy is there

28. Dissolve to titles

Location

We filmed our production in and outside of Alexia's house.  To start with, the filming took place outside on the road and by a river.  We wanted to incorporate a river into the production as it adds to the sense of equilibrium before the disruption occurs.  

The majority of filming however took place inside the house including the kitchen and bedrooms.  We chose this location because it is convenient, cheap and also fits well with our plot. The road had a hedge running along the side so we used this to almost mask the character.  In the interior, we used the kitchen, living room and bedrooms mainly. The kitchen had a large window which we were able to use to our advantage when we shot Alexia's character looking through from outside.  The lighting when we filmed in this location was low key high contrast lighting which creates a sense of mystery. 

When we shot in the living room, the lighting was very low key which created the idea of night time and darkness. The bedroom walls upstairs were cream white which connotes the purity and innocence of the family before the child is taken.  

Script

EXT. WALK – EVENING

SARAH walks up a deserted and slightly eerie country path towards her home with her baby, GRACE.  She notices a MYSTERIOUS MAN approaching.

SARAH
Oh sorry.

Her voice sounds timid.

The man walks very slowly and remains silent as she passed him.  She seems scared by the encounter and when she arrives at her doorway she looks around as if to check that no one is there.

INT. KITCHEN – EVENING

Sarah enters the kitchen and closes the door behind her.  She turns around to face the window and gasps in horror when she hears the noise of a sudden bang.

INT. BEDROOM – NIGHT

Sarah takes her baby to the bedroom and puts her to sleep. She kisses her goodnight as she leaves.

Sarah leaves the baby to sleep and continues into her living room.  She sits on the sofa and watches the television.

MAN
(through baby monitor)
Ssshhh.

Sarah hears the noise from the baby monitor and jumps up in shock to rush to Grace, only to find that she is no longer there.

Synopsis

Crime thriller - On the way home from a walk with her baby, a young woman names Sarah has a strange encounter with a mysterious person, as she walks past him, she has an odd feeling about him. She thinks little of it, but senses that something isn’t right. She carries on walking home, trying to push aside her uncertain and unsettling feelings, jumping slightly at innocent things. She puts her baby Grace to bed, again pushing aside her uncertainties, and goes downstairs to watch television alone. After hearing a hushing noise coming from the baby monitor she jumps up suddenly to check on Grace, to find that she is no longer there.

Analysis of a Hollywood Thriller - 'Seven'

Open Seven from Stephen Adams on Vimeo.

The film ‘Seven’ is a thriller based in an urban American city. As the film begins the first character, Detective Somerset (played by Morgan Freeman) is introduced in his apartment through an establishing medium long shot.  An over the shoulder shot of him looking in the mirror shows him wearing a white shirt which could connote that he is a good character throughout the film. Here there s lots of diegetic noise outside which creates an atmosphere of chaos.  This suggests that the film takes place in a busy city.  The apartment is shown to be extremely organised and neat which implies his character has a rather obsessive and compulsive nature.  This is particularly evident when there is a close up of his belongings lined up in order on the table reinforcing this idea of obsession as he has to have all of his things laid out in a precise way.  As he goes to pick up his jacket, he picks a small piece of fluff off the sleeve which again suggests that he is very clean and organised.

An ellipsis fade edit cuts to a dark, seedy and decrepit crime scene where the use of chiaroscuro lighting created an intense and mysterious feel.  A body lies in the middle of the shot as the camera pans in a upwards motion.  A medium long shot then shows Detective Somerset walking towards the crime scene whilst conversing with a colleague.  The lighting is still low at this point to keep the sense of mystery and intensity.  A number of shot reverse shots are used as the man talks to Freeman’s character as he is focusing on something and doesn’t respond.  Detective Mills (played by Brad Pitt) then arrives at the crime scene and the camera tracks his movement. 

An ellipsis edit then takes us to a busy street outside where a low angle two shot is used to connote their importance.  It is raining with a slightly blue filter being used on the camera which emphasises the fact that it is a dull day.  The diegetic sounds of rain and a busy road create a sense of chaos and possible impending danger and that fact that lots of people walk in front of the camera, blocking our view of the two main characters, makes the audience feel almost as f they are there due to the natural atmosphere.  Ellipsis dissolve edits are used throughout the opening of the film to link all of the different scenes together.  These edits add interest to the editing and create enigmas as it makes us think about how and why the scenes are linked.

In the next scene, an ellipsis edit takes us to the night time where Morgan Freeman’s character lays in bed under chiaroscuro lighting created by one bedside lamp.  The diegetic sound of cars and dog barks outside his apartment are still present even though it is apparently late at night, again implying that the film is set in a bustling city centre.  He then places his glasses on the table and sets off the metronome.  This steady beat is used to ‘fight’ the chaos occurring outside.  The camera begins to zoom in on Detective Somerset, and then on the metronome, then back on him.  This zooming motion creates a sense of intensity and uncertainty as he falls asleep.

The titles then begin to appear on the screen after the main characters have been introduced rather than being played right at the beginning which is commonly used.  The music used to accompany them is strange, disturbing and eerie industrial rock music with high pitched screechy noises which create an unsettling feeling for the audience.  A variety of images are displayed containing sharp objects like needles and razors which connote violence and death.  Other images include those of children with their eyes crossed out and this again adds to the suggestion of death and violence.  This montage of imagery is used to introduce the killer and imply their psychotic mind set.  The colours used also suggest this idea as white, black and red are mainly used.  These colours could act as a binary opposition of good and evil/danger which is quite a common thriller convention.  The font used for the titles is sans serif and looks as though it has been scratched into the screen.  They move very jerkily which creates a sense of chaos and panic.

Student Thriller Analysis - Nocturnal Windows

'Nocturnal Windows' production  

This student production is established as a thriller through key features such as chiaroscuro lighting, characters, sounds, shots and general mise-en-scene. The production opens with a high angle panning establishing shot which immediately sets the scene and makes the viewer aware of the location. The shot shows many different doors which implies there are perhaps many places to hide, thus reinforcing the mystery surrounding the scene. There are then several fades to black connected by left to right panning movement showing the location and establishing that the house is apparently empty but also creating a menacing feel that something or someone may be looking.  We then use a dissolve to an exterior of the house, and the characters walking towards it signifying that they are approaching the house we've seen because the interior shots were shown before the exterior shots. 

Alongside the opening shots, there is mysterious non diegetic music with piano notes being played, this creates a sense of apprehension building tension and mystery and it reaches a crescendo and stops as the shot fades to the exterior action. There are then diegetic sounds of footsteps and the door being open and then locked. The camera focuses with a medium shot of the door being locked and a close up on the character locking the door. The light switching off acts as an ellipsis fade which creates irony as the viewer knows that something may be inside the house with them, and they have just locked it in.

There is then an ellipsis into the bedroom, where both the characters are in bed. There is a medium long shot of the bed. The room is lit by a lamp, again there is chiaroscuro lighting establishing the opening as a thriller. The light next to the girl is lit, however the light next to the male is off, this could represent binary oppositions of life and death, as he dies shortly after. As the girl talks there is a medium close up on her face, this emphasizes the scared, nervous tones in her voice. The bedding is a bold red colour; this connotes blood and death which may foreshadow a later event that may take place. The male character reacts reluctantly to checking the house for his girlfriend, and in the end it can be assumed that he gets killed, this fits in with other thrillers we have watched as usually the person who is reluctant but brave enough to check dies.  The use of dialogue and continuity editing establish narrative themes.

As he walks upstairs there is a medium to long shot, we hear the diegetic sound of his footsteps as the shot fades to black, the sound of his footsteps fades away too. The fade to black denotes and ellipsis but could represent the uncertainty of his life.

The music starts again as she is walking upstairs in the dark with only a torch lighting the way. The darkness surrounding her and the torch is unsettling as it suggests something is hiding in it.  Here the lighting could have been better for example having the lights on, however that would not have created the same atmosphere. There is a low angle tracking shot of her as she walks up the stairs, the camera uses a night vision effect to highlight the darkness the character is seeing. The camera tracking behind her makes the viewer empathise and identify with her vulnerability at this point, wondering what lies ahead.  Non diegetic music starts again as there is a close up of her hand opening the door and the torch is shining on it, implying that this room is significant.

There is a non-diegetic sharp high pitched string sound as she witnesses what’s inside the room, and then a close up on her face showing her shocked, disbelief expression. We cut to a medium close up of her dropping the torch in slow motion which signifies the loss of life or falling into a hellish situation. The diegetic sound of the torch dropping on the floor is emphasized to make the viewer feel her shocking impact of the discovery even though we don’t see it.  Here there is a change of pace with faster edits and use of quicker tempo music.

The camera is hand held, with an extreme close up on her face as she runs which creates a sense of urgency and panic. Here, the music is faster than before although we feel it is not fast enough as it needs to create a greater sense of urgency.  It would have been more effective if the music had a faster tempo and sharper notes. There is a cut to a low angle shot of a mysterious pair of feet dressed in black, we don’t see his face which creates more mystery. As she reaches the door she is frantically looking for the keys which we knew were placed on the hook from the earlier medium close up shot but now they have gone, the killer closely planned this. The camera quickly pans round behind her and shows a black figure coming towards her with a knife. The music reaches crescendo as the camera focuses on a close up of the knife.  A splatter font is used as ‘Nocturnal Windows’ appears as a full screen title hinting at disruption and blood/violence.