Thriller - Shot List

When working on our original thriller we came up with this for a shot list:

1. Establishing shot of Hurtwood House (time shot)
2. Zoom in to shot of door,
3. Panning shot of a Hurtwood bedroom - objects in the way, destructtion, bed tipped over, clothes scattered, etc. Shot reaches Emma huddled in a ball in the corner.
4. Sounds of laughter are heard (inside her head - distance, remevering what it was once like)
5. Suddenly back to the bedroom, Emma's head shoots up and she opens her eyes, clear signs of a disease which has afftected her, (different coloured eyes?)
6. Possibility of having the lostr shot we see of Emma she is being wacked around the head. Creates the thrilling, suspense amongst the audience, but could also implied that she has been kidnapped.

CLose ups of:
posters, showing tips for survival,
anti-bacterial bottles,
cleaning products,
masks

Thriller - Script

When we were working on our original idea of having a radio voice over the top as our soundbridging;



(Dying, struggling voice, sickly coughs, monotone news reporter's voice)


"I am sure those of you left are aware of the recent events taken place. I regretfully inform you that this is our final broadcast to date. Fortunately today's list is shorter than usual. These are the names confirmed: Amelia Duncan...Darran James...Georgina Woolcombe...Anna and James Smith...Emma Hodgeson...Alison Winter...Eve Cowley...Erica Wilson...Amanda, Terry and Josephine Fellows reported missing in the early hours of this morning. Henry Cable, Lindsay Taylor, Matthew Pull, Jack and Lisa Simon, Albert Ross and Maria Lorenzo reported dead!


Those of you still out there. Good luck." (*white noise* ... Titles)

Thriller - Prop List

We had to take into account which props we would need to use and also how we would present and place them on the day.

Lavinia made this sheet to show how we have laid out how we are going to get our props from either suppliers or ourselves.

I'm fairly worried about how we are going to get tarpaulin and boarding/ply wood and how we are going to get it onto the buildings. Hopefully it will pan out okay and that it will be less stressful at the time as I have measured the width and length of the media windows and doors. 

Thriller - Casting

For our thriller we have decided that we are definitely going to use Emma Hodgson for our epidemic idea.

The reasons I decided to pick her was due to the fact that she is an able actor as she is in my theatre class and I have had the chance to see her act, and that she has also been picked to participate in Acting Company.

Thriller - Costume Ideas

When we went up to speak to Matt, he gave us the idea of 'The Road' which is film based on the same events (an epidemic) as ours, and involves a hero who is basically geared up to survive, he has somehow ended up alone with his son walking around derelict America searching for sanctuary and survival.

We wanted to base our character like this as well, the thought of her being immune to whatever it is that wiped out the majority of the population, and her on her own making her way. We want the audience to see that she has been like this for a very long time, and for the audience to sympathise with her. In this image we see that he is wearing extremely old and worn out clothes, and the fact that he has a full grown beard suggests the lack of resources to stay clean and the fact that its so big and mangy suggests to the audience he's been like this for a very long time. This is exactly the kind of image we want represented through Emma (our girl we're using) obviously apart from the beard, but we want to gain the same sympathy and empathy from the audience that this man gained here.

Thriller - Locations

Last Friday, Tilly and I took photos of our location spots around the school and took a look into what we thought we could make scary and how we could adjust it to our scenario of an epidemic.

We also took photo shots of different angles of the spots to give us an idea of how we might like to shoot in on the day.

We went to the main school and tried to think about how we could drape tarpaulin over the windows and outer walls and how we would manage to get it up there. We thought about how it would better to only capture some aspects of the outside such as, the walls and windows which are barricaded with ivy to give off the effect of it looking as though it had been left for a long period of time to self destruct and go to waste.

Also we found a small and secretive bike shed which is hidden in ivy and draping leaves which we found very interesting as we could use it as a quarantine shelter because of its size and privacy.

Thriller - New Ideas

Now originally we weren't going to include people in our thriller (the beginning anyway) in order to set the scene and create a quiet eerie atmosphere. However Phil (our teacher) suggested that without a hero, villain, damsel in distress etc, how do we expect the audience to relate to it.

I find that it could work both ways, with or without a character. If we weren't to use a character I would limit the music as I find that silence is extremely suspenseful and allows you to soak up your surroundings and happenings.

However, if we should have to use a character, I would only use one if it actually had an impact on the audience. Because we are trying to create something suspenseful and disturbing, it would ruin it if we had somebody casually walking around like they did in '28 Days Later'. I believe that this character has to have an impact on the audience, by making them jump, making them scared, or allowing the audience to empathise with the character.

I watched 'Inglourious Basterds' and one of my favourite scenes is the very beginning, because there is so much tension its unbelievable. When the girl runs away I think this is really really well filmed, extremely cinematic and allows the audience to sympathise with her and almost be placed in her shoes. If we were to put a character in this I would like to do it like that, shooting somebody running away frantically. If we film it well I believe it could look really good.

Thriller - What We Have An Idea Of

As we are going to be shooting different shots of the school as I spoke of before, I like the idea of the main house (Hurtwood) being boarded up and derelict where foxes have scratched at the wood to get through to dead bodies etc. We want to give off the impression that this hasn't just happened over night.

This is a similar idea of how I picture our setting to be, very isolated and chilling.

I want to create a feel which is mainly based around, 'I Am Legend' with the grass spurting up through the concrete and there being a sense of neglect. 'I Am Legend' has really inspired me to take on board the project of getting fake grass and pushing it around the edges of the tennis courts.

I find this image chilling and I find that it is extremely effective to an audience and has an impact, making them question the amount of time this has been going on for and allows them to relate to it as it is in a suburban location, making it all the more thrilling.