Shot List

1) Extreme close up of newspaper ad
2) girl pulls ad off her fridge- close up
3) midshot of girl walking out of her kitchen
4) ots of girl walking down her corridor
5) closeup of girl opening her door from inside
6) mid shot of girl closing her front door- tilts down to her shoes as she walks towards the camera
7) match cut to a boy's brogues walking then sits down
8) close up of rubber gloves being taken out of pocket
9) extreme closeup of a boy with headphones on- audience hear the music he is listening to
10) extreme closeup of experimenter putting on gloves- sound of gloves snapping on wrist is           emphasized
11) hanheld closeup of girl running
12) closeup of experimenter pouring water into glass
13) close up of a girl biting her nails- her nail varnish is chipped
14) experimenter clicks their pen
15) handheld close up of girl still running
16) close up of experimenter locking window
17) pan of participants' polaroid shots
18) pan of participants feet in the same order as polaroids- feet are seeing starting to walk
19) mid shot of pps walking into room from behind
20) mid shot of girl who was running rushing into the waiting room
20) wide shot of the same girl joining the line
21) wide shot of the people standing in the room
22) extreme closeup of the gloved hand locking the door
24) black

Treatment

5 kids. One newspaper ad. One psychopathic experimenter who is known for his highly unethical methods. It's survival of the fittest as they are locked in an empty room with only a glass of water and a handful of leaves to eat, which is delivered through a gap under the door. As each participant starts to suffer from extreme dehydration and hunger, the experimenter observes how their individual psychological make-up determines which of them will first die, take matters into their own hands or find their own way to escape.

Preliminary Task in the making

Product Research-Se7en (1995)

Preliminary Task Review

What Went Well
Match on action was successful. We cut from a long shot of Georgia from behind to a mid shot in front of her as she was crawling up the steps. We explored editing through changing the pace of the running-up-the stairs sequence. It helps to show the realism of Georgia getting from the bottom to the top of the stairs however, without boring the audience and showing the whole time that she was running.
Shot Reverse Shot
After completing our preliminary task as a group we realised that we didn't really execute "shot reverse shot" properly.  We didn't use it for dialogue as it is commonly used for.  Although we cut in over the shoulder shots from behind me, it only showed Georgia's movement rather than dialogue.
Jump Cuts
We also didn't focus on the fact that it was a continuity task and included jump cuts of Georgia flexing her muscles because we thought it was entertaining.
What Are We Doing About It?
We are going to focus on the task objective for our thriller openings to therefore meet the audiences expectations on the task.

Preliminary Task - SuperZero

Product Research: Knowing(2009)

Knowing is a 2009 American-British Sci-Fi Thriller film directed by Alex Proyas and starring Nicolas Cage.

In 1959, student Lucinda Embry hears whispers as she stares at the sun. Later, she writes a page of seemingly random numbers and adds it to her school's time capsule, set to be opened in 50 years.
In 2009, Caleb Koestler is a student at the same school. When the time capsule is opened, Caleb is supposed to read and write about some of the capsule's contents. He's given the page of numbers written by Lucinda. His widowed father Jonathan played by Nicolas Cage, a professor of astrophysics at MIT, notices the numbers have a specific set of sequences referring to the times and locations of fatal disasters over the last 50 years.

I found the opening really enjoyable as it sets an unnerving aspect throughout the clip. We first see this by the murmur at a fast pace joined by the titles changing from numbers to texts in an unnatural way.

We first see a close up of a young girls face. However her face looks a little bruised and she is looking up at something. It appears that it is only the little girl who can hear the voices which implies that there is something sinister happening. Then Lucinda ignores her teacher and countinues looking at the sky the rapid whispering stops and changes to music with a more haunted atmosphere.

The camera moves from the playground to an ordinary classroom. The teacher assigns them a task and the kids start drawing. This is when the camera tracks the teachers movements and suspicious music increases slowly. When the teacher gets to Lucinda and see'a that she was writing down numbers the music stops and changes to a more static and unnatural sound. This is made more abnormal by the whispers. 

Overall I really like Knowing as it includes key elemenets of the generic conventions of a thrill such as a protagonist and a sense of mystery.

Product Research: Kill Bill (2003)

This particular thriller opening grabbed me because within the first second, I was engaged by just a black screen and the sound of heavy breathing. I was instantly asking questions as to what was going on and hooked by the time a close up on a woman's face appeared with cuts and blood over her. It appears in black and white which creates a dark and dangerous mood and also draws the audience in more.

We then see a shot of a person walking with just a close up on their shoes which introduces an element of mystery, one of the thriller conventions, and we associate this with the culprit. We're back to the scared, panting female but this time we hear the mysterious man speak. The same shot continues and his face stays hidden from our view. His hand appears in the frame and he begins to wipe the blood off the woman's face with a handkerchief with the name 'Bill' embroidered on it. We immediately realise who the man is from the title of the film. After Bill touches the woman's face, we can hear that he moves away by the way his voice quietens. 

We then hear what seems like him loading bullets into a gun and this is also suggested by the woman's facial expression becoming more alert and twitchy. She starts to speak, ''Bill, it's your baby'' BANG! He shoots the gun at her head, blood sprays out and it cuts to the credit of the director. It still made me jump even though I knew it was coming.

What I like about this opening was it's simplicity. The lack of editing meant it could stay on one shot for a long take but still keep me interested. I also liked the suspense it created through little sound and hiding the villain's face throughout the whole scene. The loudness and impact of the gunshot after the quietness and tension beforehand I think polished it off nicely.

Product Research - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

This is the 2011 American remake of the original Sweedish production of 'The Girl with the Dragon Tatto'

Symbolism - The colours used for the dark, liquid sequence are black, grey/teal and some shadows include slits of white. In some shots we see a blast of fire including red and orange, as well as the deep and ambiguous colour scheme, we have danger. The idea of mainly black, grey and white suggests a dark atmosphere and mystery that is yet to follow. The images in this sequence include dragons, a man, a woman, eyes, lips and a flower opening (symbolic of a new life). The dragon is superior to the humans, and this foreshadows an idea of danger and power. The contrast between the superior and the inferior is very effective because it involves us as the human audience therefore, puts us in a position of fear as we can relate to these human elements.The significance of USB's and keyboards are implied, we later find out that our main character is a computer hacker which has relevance to this being a detective thriller. Other images include fire and a flowing liquid that is suggestive of water to which are binary opposites; this again foreshadows a message, conflict. The fire, dragon and woman also represent the title ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ which shows to have a strong significance to the thriller that is about to proceed.

Editing and Sound - Fast pasted editing is used to flash images on and off of the screen in direct correlation to the synthesised punk styled music, flashing from 0.5-1 second each, ambiguous yet building up to all connect. The lyrics in the soundtrack include words such as ‘midnight’, ‘hammer’ and ‘fight’. Just from the musical component the audience can understand that violence and danger is approaching.

Soren Staermose is the producer of the original trilogy of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ also including ‘The Girl who Played with Fire’ and ‘The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest’. Soren Staermose produced all three films incredibly well with the intentions to shock the audience of which he did successfully. I think the fact that he made all three of the films gives him a place of power and is a producer to look up to. The original of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ was released on Yellow Bird productions, although is it all in the Swedish language it was released to fifty different countries, allowing it to accessible and global. This film is Scandinavia’s most successful production to date. The director of the new American version, David Fincher however, I also feel has the right to be rewarded for his success with the remake. He has produced other thrillers such as ‘Seven’ and ‘Panic Room’ which are both effective as thrillers yet different to ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ which shows his flexibility as a director and a person in the film making industry to focus on and research because of this. One of Fincher’s well known trade marks are to use low-key lighting sometimes with a green or blue tint. We see this trade mark in the opening of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ therefore; he has been successful with making the film his own.

The opening sequence for ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ is particularly successful as a thriller opening because of its symbolic images that are clues to incidents that will later occur and particularly those that concern us and our safety as humans. Involving the audience with the thriller shows to be very effective and is something to consider in the making of our title sequence.