Xx Story boards for Nibiru.. continued xX

Xx edditing our work xX

Once we had finished filming our material, the task now came of editing with real life footage and after effects. The way the blood cells alone were created was by finding a still life image on google first, and then began to add filters adding to a more realistic effect as well as turning them so that there was some motiojn involved. This aprt of the editing comes straight at the beginning, juts after the zoom into the neck.

Now that this has been completed the i am pleased with the outcome so far, however, one main disadvantage, is that it is only 18 seconds long and the thriller must be 2 minutes in total. Therefore this has too be changed and extended, as having the rest of the thriller as just after effects may be a bit tidies and difficult to maintain the thriller aspect.

We are now working on after effects as a group such as the creation of the moving planets, so far this has been a challenging task, however once taught the after effects, all the pieces began too fit together, the hardest parts so far having been adding camera zooms as well as rotating the angles to create distortion for the audience .
Soon, we will be going onto insert titles into the filming, through the stars merging together as well as adding explosions and sounds to add to the suspence, however this will not be until a later stage.

Shoot Day

Xx The shoot day xX

On the day of the shoot I was making last minute preparations for my shoot such as the Newton’s Balls, the metronome and the prosthetics needed for my gashed neck.
The equipment used on the shoot day, was:
· A Sony PD 170 Mini DV Cam
· Fluid head tripod (including a horse shoe) to keep the camera steady for good quality filming.
· Sennheiser (shot gun) Directional microphone.
· 2 x AA batteries.
· Suspension mount /unit
· Boompole + XLR Audio Lead
· Rycote Softie
· Mini DV Cam tape Stock
· Redhead Video Lights + tripod.

In addition to these, special effects like prosthetics were also used such as a prefab latex base, liquid latex and fake blood made from corn syrup used for the effect of creating gore and a burn, as well as the use of Newton’s balls and a metronome symbolising the passage of time. I felt the application of this went well, however if I was to do it again, I perhaps would have had less blood in one place and perhaps more on my face, I also would compress the surface area of the gash, to create a more realistic effect, as too much blood could look fake and unrealistic.

Before we began filming, I and my group looked up some past opening sequences that perhaps could be used for influence and inspiration such as Andromeda Strain, and War of The Worlds in which there is a zoom into the leave, the rain drop, DNA etc. This is the type of effect me and my group are trying to accomplish. However, when experimenting with after effects, another problem that occurred was the fact that we were using 2 and a half D shape, meaning that only zooms through the shapes could occur, we were unable to go around them as this would take away from the effect and quality of the thriller, as the 2D dymentrics would be discovered.













When we then went on to filming, we fulfilled the elements of the Newton’s balls shots, the metronome and me running away from a mysterious occurrence. However, certain aspects were changed on the shoot day, such as filming my running sequence outside, compared to the blur the background in editing, as we realised to film inside with a blue screen to project swirling images onto was too complicated on the day to produce. Another aspect that was changed was the shooting of the passage through the red blood cells; this was going to be created by using lamination paper that was going to be painted red, and therefore the passage was going to be the camera moving through. This changed on the shoot day, due to the lamination paper becoming inaccessible and therefore this shot will need to be created on after effects.

The shoot day, generally ran smoothly with little conflicts or stress, however this was due to only having the one shot of me running form the mysterious occurrence. The editing and adding of after effects is going to be the true challenge of this thriller. Before we filmed the real running sequence, we practised running with the camera and the different effects of me walking in comparison to my running. We also did this, in order to experiment with the HD camera, to see what problems may occur for filming our shoot. One main realisation made by our group was, when I was to walk the sequence through the hand held camera was easy to use as a person moved along side me with the camera. Having said this when it came to running, this become more difficult as, as the actor, I had to make sure I wasn’t running too fast in order to not loose myself on camera. This took time, to find the right speed for both me and the camera person. Another issue that arose during filming was the steadiness of the camera as well as the difficultness for unnig backwards withg the camera as the it had to be kept focused and one levelled whilst running backwards. With pracitse this imporved and soon was not a big issue. Having said this, when editing we found this came to our advantage as the distortion of the camera added to the effect of uneasiness and therefore created deformation on screen and a sense of thriller for the audience.















This meant that when it came time to filming it was done quickly and efficiently which was vital as we filmed late in the evening and therefore we were loosing a lot of lighting. As a result only 4 shots were taken and we chose the best of the four.
I feel we had a lot of time just sitting around and waiting, during this time I feel perhaps a start on after effects should have been made so that, not only did we have real filming to edit with but also some captions from photo shop and after effects. This would have made the process of editing a lot quicker for the future, when time will be scarce and therefore stress occurs at a later stage.

Xx evaluation of past thriller productions xX

In my opinion, the opening is very effective, as it begins with an extreme close up of the girls eyes, followed by quick cut shots to her feet and hands supported by digetic soundscapes of feet curling, hands sweeping and sheets tearing. The mise en scene here is off the girl wearing a ragged white dirty night dress, this adds to the caution and uncomfortable nature of this thriller, adding to the audience’s uneasiness.
When the close up occurs of the girls eyes moving around, it makes the audience feel suspense and tension in addition to uneasiness as we are unsure of what is making the mysterious moving and banging sounds. The black out afterwards also contributes to this and makes you want to watch on.

When the titles appear they are of a simple colour such as black and white, this adds to the thriller as the colour is so basic and therefore not giving any clues about what is to come. They are also titled upside down causing distortion for the audience. This was a good choice made by the group and adds to the theme of the thriller.

Trembling sting of violins are heard also during these titles adding to the suspense and tension.

A close up of the girl’s feet is then seen; portraying the character as ambiguous as no long shot of the entity of the body has been seen and therefore no audience/actor connection can be made. The mise en scene of the walls are bare, there is nothing warmly to the house making the audience feel uncomfortable and scared. Additionally the colours are extremely dull, such as greys.

There are cut shots from the girl’s clean hands to dirty hands, representing that she has obsessive compulsive disorder and feels that her hands are never clean. This is portrayed through an extreme close up of her eyes looking terrified whilst washing herself, causing the audience to feel anxious. This is also portrayed through the close ups of the two brushes, as it shows her picking up the dirty brush representing to the dirt she feels inside.

She begins to cry, adding to the intensity as well as the red blood contrasting to the bleak dull walls, meaning the redness stands out and so has a dramatic effect. When she places these hands on the mirror and smears the blood on them the sounds effects of a machine can be heard giving the affect of the sound of hand scrapping down the mirror when friction is present.

When she sees the mud, boils, and blood on her hand the music and sound changes to a deep drum, in rhythm including pauses from the trembling strings; adding to the intensity.

When the girl enters the bath of water she enters slowly causing suspense and tension as the viewers watch in anguish to know what will happen next.
The thriller ends on a cliff hanger as she is drowning in the bath, the thriller being the question of does she die or survive as the ending is dark. The strengths are that tension is held throughout this piece as I wanted to continue watching. The sound effects and camera and editing work also contributed well to the piece.

A disadvantage is putting the title at the end and in such small font I think it did not add to the thriller and did not have a big enough effect.
It should have been at the beginning and in a dripping motion such as wording coming down vertical, to create the effect of water.
Overall I feel this was a strong thriller as suspense and tension was maintained.




The opening of the credits, are distorted as there are items hanging. I believe it to be to glass causing reflections and therefore distorted lighting.
The establishing shot of night and rain adds suspense and tension as generally in thrillers deaths and murders occur at night, as characters become ambiguous through poor lighting. The rain also contributes to the dullness; the rain is not physically seen at the beginning however the digetic sound of heavy rain drops adds to this effect.
The Mise en scene shows a girl wearing pink pyjamas, this makes her look vulnerable and makes the audience feel a connection as they sympathise with her innocent look.

When the over the shot angle of the ambiguous hooded antagonist is seen, this causes suspense as the audience are unsure as they do not know who they are.
This builds anxiety when she walks downstairs and out the door, as she walks out there is a cut shot to the antagonist, who’s only eyes can be seen portraying him as ambiguous and evil and therefore suspense is built.

When they meet you can see the girl and the hooded man starring at each other. Tension is held here, as the viewers want to watch on to see what will happen. The film ends with a twist as they kiss each other.
The tile “crush” then appears supported by a sound effect of glass smashing for an effect of the word crush, creating the effect of the title “crush.”

I found that this thriller built in suspense, especially towards the beginning as well as when the protagonist was seen. I felt the ending was a slight let down and did not find it to be an effective ending. I felt it also moved slowly, and this decreased the thrilling ness.
Overall, I felt drip had a better story line as well as maintaining the suspense and tension.
The ending also had a more dramatic effect and made me as a viewer want to watch on, as a cliff hanger was used here.

Overall, they were too very good Hurtwood thrillers that inspired me towards mine, and showed me how to build suspense throughout my own thriller.

Xx acount of research sources xX

Some ideas of images and pictures that i thought about using in my thriller are:

The Earth

Red Blood cells

Atoms

DNA

DIFFERENT ANGLE OF THE EARTH

These images are appropriate, because my thriller is set through the body and space and therefore these pictures would be perfect!!!!

However in terms of the space pictures such as earth, they will be zommed into and through and therefore having 2 and a half D shapes is hard to work with, as we are unable to go around them as this will loose the effect. This therefore meant we had to go through them or to go past but not bing near them thereby having no effect lost at all. As if this was to occur, then the thrill would be lost and therefore audiences will loose interest and focus.

Xx acount of possible thriller ideas xX

Our thriller is called Nibiru,

unlike other media thrillers. We hav decided to mostly use after effects and computer generated things, to create things such as a zoom through the planets and stars.

Our idea is about the end of the world and how it occurs; therefore our idea is a science fiction thriller. My target audience is teenagers/ young to middle age adults as I feel young children would not see the significance of the story.
I feel if this thriller was to be produced, I feel the channel 4 institution would create this. As I feel it is a serious and significant point. That this event may occur one day and that is part of the thriller aspect.