Research and Planning 10: Composition

Composition is incredibly important in thriller films. They allow the audience to focus on more than one thing in the frame at any one time. It is key that our composition is balanced, otherwise having one character taking up too much of a frame can draw the audience away from the other sections of the frame. This can cause issues when trying to build enigma and tension, especially in films where the main focus of the frame is behind a character. An example of this is shown below.

This is a scene from the film Drive (2011) where the woman in the background is the main focus of this scene. As you can see, despite Oscar Isaac taking up half of the frame and Carey Mulligan being out of focus, she is still the main focus of the scene. During this shot, you can see her body language change and her facial expression, all while Oscar Isaac's character dominates the frame. The audience will be able to pick up on the subtle shifts in her facial expression and body language, even if the other character is taking up most of the frame.

This is what we will be doing with our characters in our sequence. An example where a balanced composition can be used is during the final sections of the chase between JD and Spark. Towards the end of the chase, we have an over the shoulder shot of Spark looking back, revealing JD in hot pursuit. This composition will be much like the example of Drive. Spark's shoulder will be taking up the bottom right/bottom middle section of the frame, whilst JD will be positioned in the middle/towards the top left of the frame. Despite the focus of the camera switching to JD, the audience will able to see Spark's shoulder and will even be able to make out his frightened facial expression as JD closes in on him.

It should be noted that although we intend the main focus to be on our characters and their chase through the woodlands, we aim to show the scenery of our setting using still shots and medium long/long shots. By doing this, we will be able to perfectly frame our characters' chase and allow the audience to notice their surroundings so that they can use this knowledge to raise questions about the characters' location.

Research and Planning 6: Props and Costume

Costume

A lot of thought has gone in to what sort of costumes our characters will be wearing in our opening. One of our characters, JD, will be wearing a mask to hide his face. Not only will this keep his identity hidden, generating a sense of mystery, but will also inflict fear upon the audience as he carries quite an eerie yet frightening presence. This too will create enigma for the audience.

(Erol will be purchasing this mask)

Our main protagonist, Spark, is part of a gang. Our film is set in the 1980's so we will be dressing the actor who plays spark in mobster clothing from that time period (e.g. black suit, black tie, perhaps a trench coat etc.). To make it seem more natural, we will be carefully adding mud, rips and tears to his costume to make it seem as though he has been running through the woods for a while.

Our other character, Bruce will only be featured briefly at the beginning but he will still be in costume and will wear similar clothes to Spark due to the fact that they are part of the same gang.

Representation of Social Groups

In terms of representing social groups through our characters, the costumes of our protagonists and antagonist are all similar. They wear black suits, ties etc. The fact that they all wear the same costume shows that they follow the ideology that gangsters must look intimidating and powerful in order to get their way. As well as this, their costumes help to represent class and order within their social group. Suits and ties are usually associated with businessmen, and it is commonly thought that if you deal in business, you're a wealthy individual who can afford luxuries. It also establishes order within the social group. Instead of the characteristics of their costumes making them look as though they're uncivilized swines, they are formal, which represents a civilized and organised ideology. It should be noted that their clothing shows signs of masculinity as men are well known for wearing suits.

    Props

In our sequence we will not require that many props, as it is mostly about the actual chase. We will need to get a gun for the section of the scene where JD shoots at Spark and also for the match on action shot. We may decide to use knives for the melee fight between JD and Spark but it is unlikely due to the fact that their fight is fast paced and there won't be much time to pull out knives to fight.

(Erol will be purchasing the gun highlighted above)

As I do drama I should be able to borrow props and costumes from the department with their permission. If I am unable to gather any of the props for whatever reason, Erol has agreed to purchase the props that we need.





Research and Planning 5: Storyboard and Continuity

(It should be noted that in the video, a lot of time we say angle when we mean shot. This includes things such as mid angle and side angle (We actually mean mid shot and side shot))

Paper plan of our shots (1-26)

shots 34-40

The final scene was planned in more detail as we believe this final scene is important as here it will be where our audience decide to carry on watching. 

Number of shot	Action in shot	Camera angle / shot	Shot duration (seconds)
1	Bruce falls to ground	Mid shot, low angle	2
2	JD turns to Spark	Over the shoulder shot	2
3	Extreme close up of Bruce’s face	Extreme close up	1
4	Extreme close up of Sparks face	Extreme close up	1
5	Extreme close up of JD’s eyes	Extreme close up	1
6	JD starts chasing after Spark	Over the shoulder shot of JD	3
7	Spark running through the woods	Shown through a POV shot	2
8	JD running after Spark	Show from a worm’s eye view	2
9	Bruce shown to be unconscious laying on the floor	Shown from a high angle	2
10	JD running after spark	Shown through a POV shot	3
11	Both characters shown to be running in frame	High angle, long shot – two shot	3
12	JD appears to be limping (match on action of his legs will show the determination of this character as it will show despite his injury he is still willing to carry on and fight. This will allow the audience to build up in their what sort of character he is. Continuity editing will help in this process)	Shown through a mid-shot and a close up	2
13	Spark appearing to be out of breath, stops behind a tree	Low angle, long shot	5
14	Spark leans on tree with his hands on his knees ( Spark will experience a blur in vision and as this is a POV shot which will help the audience understand what this character is going through and what he is experiencing. This will help aid their image of this character and how he is more vulnerable compared to JD.)	POV shot	3
15	JD shouts some German dialogue	Mid shot	3
16	Spark dodges bullet and make a run for it	Close up	2
17	JD drags his leg as he limps through the mud	Long shot	4
18	Spark falls over	Worms eye view	3
19	JD catches up with Spark	Over the shoulder shot	2
20	Spark brings JD to the floor	POV shot	2
21	JD falling to the ground (A match on action of this shot will allow the audience to understand the further determination but also the struggle this character faces during the opening sequence. The match on action is to illustrate the pain this character is going through.)	Mid shot	1
22	Spark kicks JD in stomach	Low angle	2
23	JD screams in pain	Extreme close up	1
24	Spark carries on running	High angle, Mid shot	3
25	JD fires a shot at Spark	Eye level	2
26	Spark dodges the bullet	POV shot from JD	2
27	JD is shown to be out of breath and in pain	High angle	5
28	JD attempts to get up (A match on action will be used in this shot to help illustrate the struggle this character faces through his injuries. It also shows how he is determined to get back up - which links with character building.)	Close up of JD	3
29	Spark runs but looks behind him to check where JD is	Extreme long shot	2
30	Spark looking over his shoulder	POV shot	2
31	JD picks up the pace	High angle – show increased pace in comparison with spark	3
32	Spark also picks up the pace	Mid shot	2
33	JD running fast	Tracking shot	2
34	JD looking angry	Worms eye view	2
35	Match on action of JD holding his stomach in pain	Close up	2
36	Spark continues to run	Camera is still, close up shot with JD in background	3
37	Run into an open part of the woods - more isolated	Over the shoulder shot behind JD	2
38	Spark looking scared	Extreme close up of Spark	2
39	JD fires a shot at Spark	POV shot of JD	1
40	Spark falls to ground immediately	High angle	1
41	Spark’s vision blurs as JD removes his mask. JD fires another shot after removing his mask. (During the final stages the audience will be able to experience what Spark is experiencing as his vision blurs in a POV shot. After this JD will remove his mask and shoot again. But because of editing it will be hard to tell the fate of Spark as it will cut to black.)	POV shot, Close up	10

Research and Planning 3: Sound

Sound Project

Type Of Sound To Be Used

The types of sound that we will be using in our film include On-Screen Diegetic, Off-Screen Diegetic, Non-Diegetic and Foley Sound Effects.

On-Screen Diegetic

For our On-Screen Diegetic sounds, this will include a number of different sounds, some created naturally, some created in post production.

 Our natural sounds include:

• Footsteps crunching leaves during our high angle shot of JD's feet as he's chasing after Spark.
• All spoken dialogue will be shown on-screen and will be said at the time of filming.
• When JD catches up with Spark and they fall to the ground, the thud of hitting the ground will be natural.
• The thud of Bruce hitting the ground at the beginning of the sequence so that the audience can feel the force of the impact.

Our post production sounds include:

• The dialogue that is spoken in Spark's head will be put in post production using a lapel mic.
• Depending on what gun we use for the filming, we may include an echoing sound of the gunshot. We will use sound effects from Garageband or a similar non-copyright sound effects website for this.

Off-Screen Diegetic

Our Off-Screen Diegetic sounds consist entirely of post production sounds. These include:

• The bullets from JD's gun ricocheting off of a nearby tree that is off screen when Spark is being fired at.

Non-Diegetic

Our Non-Diegetic sound will consist entirely of backing tracks from Garageband or a similar non-copyright backing tracking website. For this, we will either used premade tracks or create our own track. In terms of backing tracks that are suitable for a chase scene, we will need to use/create one that is upbeat and fast paced to match the fast paced movements/actions of the characters on screen.

Foley Sound Effects

At the start of our sequence, there is no chase, and instead pictures Spark about to be executed. Because the pacing of this is slow to build drama, there will be no backing track. Instead, we will be using ambient sounds such as gusts of wind which will be created using lapel mics and our breath. We have also decided that we will be creating foleys of:

• Twigs snapping underfoot.
• Heavy footsteps through leaves for the shots where feet are not visible.
• Breathing/Panting of characters during POV shots.
• (This one is a possibility. We haven't decided whether or not we will create the gunshot like this. If we decide not to, we will use Garageband or a similar non-copyright website and use a gunshot sound effect from there) JD's gunshots. We will make sure that the gunshot sound fits with the gun being used to fire it. The example of how we will create this sound (should we decide to do it) is shown below:

Script for Dialogue

In terms of dialogue, there isn't much included in it purely because we're focusing on making our sequence a fast paced chase scene. However, dialogue will be provided at the beginning of the sequence purely for enigmatic effect so the audience can begin to ask questions. Our dialogue consists of:

• Shot 2 when JD speaks to Bruce's corpse: "You never learn, kid. It's a shame that it had to come to this"
• Shot 2 when Spark accidentally snaps a twig after silently approaching JD: "Oh, shit!"
• Shot 2 when JD realises Spark is behind him: "You?! I SHOULD'VE KNOWN!"
• Shot 14 when we get a POV shot of Spark hiding behind a tree (This dialogue will be in his head, yet it will sound like he is panting): "Shit! What do I do?!"
• Shot 15 when JD can't find Spark: "I KNOW YOU'RE HERE SPARK. I KNOW YOU'RE HIDING!"
• Shot 23 when we get an extreme close up of JD when Spark hits him: "Aaargh!"
• Shot 41 when we get another POV shot of Spark on the brink of death (This dialogue will be in his head, yet it will be spoken slowly to show that he is dying): "I'm sorry, Bruce. Please... Forgive... Me"

How To Record Separate Dialogue Using A Lapel Mic

(It should be noted that you can remove the SD card in the voice recorder, plug it into a computer and move all voice recordings on that SD card to a designated folder. From here, you will be able to use Final Cut Pro to add the voice recordings to your film)