Editing-Part 1

 I am editing the thriller opening using Final cut because it is an easy program to use and has good final results. The image to the left shows the screen where you go through the video clip and select which part of it you want and the length you want it. It is then dragged onto the timeline. This part of final cut is useful because it clearly shows what the final shot will look like and this can help because it lets you focus on a certain part at a time.

This shows the timeline with the video footage on the top line while sound underneath. This lets you edit the sound and video separately. I am going to put the titles in the middle of the different scenes. This will make it run smoothly and would not have any jumps between scenes

In this image it shows that I have decided to delete the sound and just leave the video footage. This is because there is no speaking and I am going to put music there to enhance the eerie atmosphere.

Opening title

We created the opening titles on live type. These will be put into the the opening at specific intervals and will say things such as Directed by and the actors name. We made each title the same font and had the same effects on them all so it will look more professional. They also go in the same order as in the film openings we looked at so it is more authentic.




We had to make up names so we used our own first names and made up random last names. The effects we chose look like shaking and we chose this because it is showing that the main character is not stable and is not an easy person to deal with. The image to the left shows the screen that shows how the titles will look and where we can change the placing of the titles. The image lower down shows the order of the titles and that they are all roughly the same length.






We took inspiration for the titles from silence of the lambs and Seven. In Silence of the lambs the opening titles reflects the main character by being very bold which is what the main character would have to be, so she can be successful in a male dominated society. So for the titles we chose to used cracked style to show that the main character is cracking and can be seen as not being completely there. Some of Seven's titles are white on a black background and shake. So our titles are white on the black background and shake to represent the main character not being stable.

Filming the thriller opening

After preparation was finished we met at the setting which was a group members friends house to film the opening. We brought all the equipment we needed from the schools media pod.

Setting: We required a setting that had a windowsill, wardrobe and a bed central in the room and this persons bedroom fitted this criteria. It was also a good setting since it was located very close to school and so we did not have to carry the equipment very far. We were able to easily change the room around for it to match the initial ideas which was key.

Lighting: For lighting we closed the curtains and turned off all lights to try and achieved a dark atmosphere. We used a led light that we borrowed from media to highlight certain aspects, for example Nikita's face when she was opening her eyes and the hanger swinging to show the dress not being there.

Filming: After we had get the setting done we started filming. This was not too difficult but had some problems such as Nikita who was playing the main character could not keep a straight face, this meant we had to do many takes (however I don't think I would of done better). After a few takes it got better and we got a variety of shots done when filming. Me and Kelly took it in turns to do the filming including different shots such as panning, extreme close up and eye level shots. I found filming enjoyable due to relaxed atmosphere and the tripod making shots such as panning much easier.

Props: We required many props for the thriller opening including;
- Two dresses, white(signifies purity and innocence) and purple(power)
- A trench coat, whiskey and cigarette which are all common props for a film noir thriller
- Empty photo frames and a clock, the clock placed upside down to show the abnormality of the individual.
- Red lipstick and nail polish where used to show her as being flirtatious, but still dangerous.
- We had posters from other films such as Fatal attraction and double indemnity, these were used to show the character being obsessed with thrillers as well as being a homage.
- We had a homage to the silence of the lambs by having powerful words stuck to the back of the bedroom door.

This image shows the back of the bedroom door and the trench coat hanging off. We made the trench coat very obvious due to the fact it is almost iconic in this type of thriller. The rope can bee clearly seen underneath the trench coat and adds the the thoughts that the person is a bit crazy. The powerful words on the back of the door are a homage to the silence of the lambs when they had similar words on a tree on the edge of the woods. The words were used to describe the character, so pain is to do with her past and how she had been let down. Power is used to show that she has a powerful way of manipulating men into doing what she wants and the words fatal and attraction are used as a homage for the thriller fatal attraction.






This poster was from Fatal Attraction an is one of three on the wall of the characters bedroom. These posters show the characters obsession with thrillers and how it is an important part of her life. This particular poster is important due to the character imitating her positioning in one of the opening shots.











This is the second poster in the characters bedroom and was from the postman only rings twice. This poster is seen in the panning shot in the opening and reinforces the idea that the character is obsessed with thrillers.









These two images show the empty photo frames and the clock placed upside down. The empty photo frames not only show that the main character is a bit strange but also quite alone. The clock shows that the character is very precise with clock time (12:12) reflecting the time pause on the film Fatal Attraction.













This picture shows the dress in the closet. We chose to have a purple dress because purple shows power and mystery. The dress will be hanging by itself to highlight its significance and in a later scene the hanger will be left swinging to show it has gone.













This is a newspaper we made to highlight the main characters intentions when she circles the face of the person. We made him a millionaire who has won more money because she is very poor and this could be one of the reasons behind the main character targeting him.

Thriller opening shots

We went through all of the different takes and picked out the best ones and then organised them in order of them appearing in the opening. This way it makes it easier to select the scene that we wanted to put into Final cut and in the order I want. This did not take that long due to the fact that we had already written down what take of each scene we preferred when we were doing the filming. However we still need to film a couple of more scenes which we have not done yet due to not having the props available, when we thought we did. This will then be updated when those scenes are available.

Thriller opening-Behind the scenes images

These images show my group filming and working on the thriller opening. It shows how we filmed the shots and how we used the equipment to get the shots we needed. These images also shows what was just out of shot and what the camera did not see.

Kelly using the equipment for the first shot.

Picture showing preparing for the shot.

Showing how we set up a shot.

Looking back on the most recent take.

Just going to start the next take.

Getting ready for next shot by imitating image on the wall.

Me using the tripod to get a panning shot of the room.

Target audience

Film noir's have very different target audience depending on the film itself, for example Black Widow (1954) and Kiss of Death (1947). Black Widow being more mysterious whereas Kiss of Death focuses more on crime.

The target audience for our film would be those more interested in the thriller genre but also want something a bit different due do the use of film noir. The primary age group target will be late teens/early twenties, due to the high level crime, violence, language, drugs and sexual references. It would also appeal to the younger audience because it is different to what there is at the moment. However due to the mystery and crime elements it is not completely different to mainstream films that continue to attract a large audience, especially with thrillers such as the Bourne legacy and Argo being very popular at the moment.

However a second target audience for this specific thriller could be those between 60-80 years old due to film noir being very large in the 1950's so these people would of grown up watching them with their parents when they we younger, when film noir's were common. Since they would also know more about this film genre they would be more likely to recognise the homage in the film.

Most Film noir's were given a 12 or 15 rating, so our film will have a 15 rating due to it being inappropriate for younger audiences because of violent scenes. Other reasons why it would be a 15 is because strong language used throughout and sexual references.