First Trailer Opening - Draft

This is our first draft of the trailer's editing.

 

-TO CHANGE:

 

This is the opening scene of the trailer, to edit this further we are going to make the editing a lot faster so that it slowly builds. We also need to add the non-diegetic sound of music to build the tension. As well as amplified sounds of children and banging on the window. This is also to build tension as the loud noises will put the audience on the edge of their seats. We also want to dim the lighting as we feel it is too bright as this is unconventional of a thriller film.

• A decision has also been made that this is no longer the opening scene, as the slow pace will not be an effective opening to the trailer and we need something initially to grab the audiences attention.

Production Blog - 16/12/2016

We went to the Regatta Meadows Friday the 16th of December to finish the filming of our trailer before we continue with the editing and bringing it all together. Here are some images which we took to show the locations we used, and a few props as well as shots we intend to use within our trailer. We had issues whilst filming in this location as we has to avoid the noises from the wildlife surrounding, as well as any members of the public walking by. This is in addition to that of the light sensor that we had to cover up when working in the office location as it was far too bright.

Pitch Idea's

Our Film Pitch

 

We pitched our film to our class to get across our initial idea's for plot, narrative, and stereotypical trailer and genre conventions for a trailer. We also in our pitch discussed our plans and idea's for target audiences, and also asked for a title for our trailer - Which we titled 'Delirium'.

We did this pitch mainly for the feedback in which we received, in which prompted us to change our target audience to make it more relatable for viewers. We changed it to around 40. we also got crucial storyline and plot details from class mates, which we then incorporated such as certain shots types such as close ups and POV shots. We also got the idea to use fades with POV shots to give a sense of verisimilitude.



Delirium - Location List

Office-We plan to film in an office where the protagonist will be working. This office will be situated in the sixth form centre of Longsands Academy on the 4th floor. We are planning to include the office in a fast montage of cuts where we see the protagonist as constantly stressed. In the office there will be a hidden bottle of whiskey which he drinks to cope with the stress. Also we plan to implement distractions into the scene to show his frustrations even further such as teenagers banging on the outside of his office window and the clock ticking. This connotes to the audience that he is in a state of psychological deterioration where he is failing to cope with everyday occurrences.

 

 

This is a wide shot of the main parts of the office with the large table where our protagonist will be working.

 

 This shot features the office desk that is yet unused in the filming but it has conventional miscellaneous items.

 The white board in this frame is where the kill board will be. The only character in our film will be shown pacing around very frantically looking at the kill board on the white board. The scene will also culminate in our character kicking the filing cabinet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our character will also look through these blinds in anger when he hears knocking on the side of the window. We have implemented this to show that he is frustrated and stressed with his work life which will later be shown to spill into his personal life when he repeatedly shouts at his wife. This links to my research as in the trailer for Se7en, you can see the protagonists working in an office environment to show a separate aspect to the narrative. Therefore I felt it was necessary to add this location.

 

 

House of group member- We will film the main montage of the film at this house because it is a suitable location to see the main protagonist fractured home life  The montage of shots will increase in pace with the music's tempo and pitch intensifying. This synchronous sound as well as the performance will make the audience believe that something significant will happen further in the narrative because the performance of the protagonist is already disturbing for the audience. A similar location was seen in the trailer of Psycho, which showed a house environment  in which we wanted to replicate. Our house is fairly different as it is not shown to be as isolated and in fact is located within an estate. Therefore I felt this created verisimilitude and linked to the realism we was trying to create within Delirium, giving the idea that this could happen anywhere, in anyone's town.

Riverside park which has tremendous natural Greenland will be ideal in foggy conditions. This is because we will use eerie diegetic music in conjunction with the on screen content. Forest environments are a stereotypical location for thrillers because people have been socially influenced to anticipate fear in dark forests due to increasing paranoia about unknown environments.

  

This is a pathway at Riverside park that we filmed at for the main sequence of our film. In the shot to the right is our sole actor in the film.

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

Delirium - Editing Idea's

Editing Techniques:

 

 



We have several idea's for editing that we plan to incorporate into the final trailer we use.

• We decided to use fade's accompanied by our POV shots. We chose to use this as it creates a sense of realism and verisimilitude as it shows the view from our protagonist's eyes, which will emotionally invest the audience as they feel like they are there in the scene, adding tension.
• We have also decided to use fast-paced editing to build suspense and tension. We plan to make jump cuts in time with the music in synchronisation to mimic the heartbeat of the audience as it will invest the audience emotionally, which will make the trailer have a larger impact on them.

• We have also decided to use a shot-reverse-shot for our trailer of the music building along with the repeated shot of our protagonist writing. This will build up to a climax in which our protagonist will reach his breaking point, we decided to make this reoccurring as it will show the idea of a constant cycle that our protagonist is in and will connote the idea of isolation and being trapped.
• Most of the cuts  in our trailer will be  jump cuts - this is because we believe this to connote the idea that the situation in which the protagonist is in is unstoppable, and uncontrollable as the cuts will be very quick and abrupt.
• Also when editing, we added a neutral saturation to our trailer to drain away any vibrant colours in our shots. We did this intentionally to make the world around our protagonist feel dull and very monotone. We believed it would express the harsh reality that our protagonist is living in, and would show his view on and of the world. This fits into the plot of our film as it shows the slow decay of his life,  and sombre mood of the trailer.

Delirium - Sound Idea's

Whilst researching thriller genre films, we often found that commonly in trailers they used large bass noises, we decided we may include this non-diegetically as we believe it to sound and mimic that of the noise of a warning siren/horn. We believed this would be effective as it connotes the  idea of a hidden danger, and the low pitch we find builds tension extremely well, which is a common emotion felt when watching a thriller film. We found this apparent in the trailer of Inception, in which we found this extremely effective.

Other sound we plan to include is slowly building non-diegetic sound which will add to the overall suspense, and excitement which the audience feel as they are watching our trailer. This will improve the overall impact that the trailer has on the audience as they will get a larger emotional investment. We also wanted to the use of dialogue to further plot points and narratives, as this is the most effective way to do so, we found in a trailer as it is such a limited amount of time, without using to many intertitles. We did not want to use too many intertitles as we found when researching that it takes away from the impact of the film slightly.

we also wanted to use amplified diegetic sound such as footsteps, heavy breathing and speech synchronously to build suspense and tension within our audience. Footsteps and heavy breathing connote the thought of the unknown, and we found this to be a common convention of the thriller genre. Such as  mystery characters, or antagonists which we found apparent when researching into Se7en & Psycho. We also wanted this to be synchronous as it will allow the trailer to flow easily, which will match that (hopefully) of the audiences heart rates/energy levels as the trailer continues to build.

We believe that the use of a sound bridge would also be very effective in our trailer as it connotes the idea of a chronological order in which these events are happening and they all lead in to each other. We believed  it to be a sufficient metaphor for the slow breakdown of his life as the previous events are effecting his current events, and it shows the deterioration of his personal self. We decided this would be carried out by the use of dialogue which may be repeated or pro-longed, as well as the bass noises, and diegetic sounds.

 

Initial Sound Effects -

• Clock ticking - synchronous - diegetic - amplified - Audience inside the characters head - sensitive to sound
• Heavy Breathing - Diegetic - amplified - All in his head, Connotes his stress and build up of aggravation
• Footsteps in leaves - diegetic - amplified - sound created by him, he is in his own world - personal - suggests his body language and his sluggish character - may suggest or indicate someone is following him, this could symbolise his inner turmoil.
• Pen Scribbling - diegetic - amplified - Creates chaos and stress within himself.
• Phone Ringing - Turning point of Todorov's Narrative theory = Disruption.
• Background noise - (loud conversations) Links to his inner turmoil and could imply that he's hearing all of these sounds which is conflicting in his head as he's delirious.
• slamming paper - Shows his stress within the work place.

We plan to include a lot of layered sound effects to show his mental instability and how he's lost within himself. We represent this as his mentality and character deteriorates as the trailer progresses.



Storyboard Initial Idea's

 

 

 Here are some images our storyboard's. We decided to use post-it notes as it enabled us to mix and match our shots for our montages so we could produce different orders and work out which one would flow and look better. We included the shot type, sound and setting of he shot. We also have a picture of Josh completing the final post-it note as evidence of this.

 

 

In our storyboard we decided to use a range of shots 

Production Schedule - Delirium

Date and Time Of Filming	Location Of Filming
Wednesday 7th December 2016 4:00-5:15	School Office (A11 Longsands Academy)
Monday 11th December 2016 5:00-7:00	Bedroom and Living Room of House
Friday 16th December 2016 1:30-3:30	Riverside Park (St Neots)

Final Script - Delirium (Post Edit)

(Once edited together will add)

First Draft of Script - (Changes may be made)

Introductory slow pace montage of him at work with small distractions e.g. people talking in the background, books placed on his desk etc and his home life: drinking alcohol, shouting at his wife. This all builds with a white noise sound effect going back and forth with him writing with a pencil. The breaking point is when he breaks the tip of his pencil and the white noise stops just before along with a phone ringing that links to the next scene.

The protagonist wakes up (As if it was a dream) but he was woken up by a phone call.

He picks up the phone and answers the call.

Protagonist: What do you want?

Ex wife: I'm sorry to say this but your brother has died.

Protagonist comes to realisation and drops the phone on the floor with a zoom in shot of his face.

Panning shot of him looking at the bloody shirt and knife on the floor.

Fast pace montage of protagonist drinking whisky, at work, shouting at the camera, looking at a kill board

Inter title: Was he framed?

Inter title: Or a murderer?

Ex wife: Well you must know where you were that night!

Protagonist: I was drunk! I can't remember.

Title appears on screen 'Delirium'

Final shot of protagonist looking at the camera with a knife in his hand.

Initial Shot Idea's - Delirium

Shot List - Initial Ideas

 

Trailer Intro

Montage of Shots;

• Close-Ups regularly used; This connotes higher intensity and intertwined with camera movements such as zooms, it will result in the audience feeling much more involved in the situation and will result in them feeling a lot more psychologically uncomfortable.

These shots will involve;

• Intertwined 'work life' and 'home life' (abrupt quick shots) 
• paper slamming against table, pencil scribbling on paper (cross cutting back, increasing the pace and intensity every time it's shown), drink falling over and water spilling, quick laptop typing.
• Smashing bottle at home, arguing with wife, pills falling over/no pills left in container, sitting alone, away from family.

These shots could be pivotal in the beginning of the trailer as they could establish more pace and discomfort in the editing and beginning to leave the audience uneasy.

The connotations of these shots could be vital as they connote to the audience the beginning of the deterioration of the protagonists life - showing his psychological collapse and growing alcoholism.

The increasing speed alongside the continuing chaos of the pencil writing close up, emphasises the stress and mentality collapsing within the protagonist and the shot type heightens extremity of the situation. This has an effect on the audience helping them establish the plot within the non-chronological montage, and leaving them in suspense of what is to happen.

 

Dis-Equilibrium

Montage of shots (non-chronological);

• *Phone Ringing* distorted editing of mid-shots and close-ups establishing the protagonists mental collapse as the diegetic voice over indicates his brother has been murdered.

This allows the trailer to show the audience his rage, mixed with sadness, and establishes his seek for vengeance as he has nothing left to live for.

 

Resolution

Montage of Shots;

• close-ups and mid shots of kill-board, investigating onto his suspects.
• connotations of murder scene, body bags, police tape etc.
• more shots increasing damaged mentality, cross cutting with the work life
• continued work life and home life.

Ending

Cliff hangar of conversation;

• "why didn't you meet him that night?"..... "I was out, I was drunk"
• Extreme close up as protagonist says he was out.

Throughout

Jumpshot back to the scribbling pencil as it gets harder, each shot continues to get closer and closer until the pencil snaps and the title appears.

Risk Assesment -

Update - Production Company Logo

Our production company name is ‘Mortem’. We chose this name because it means ‘death’ in Latin. This is appropriate for the Thriller genre because death and danger is a common theme of the thriller genre as it is full of action and mystery.  We also chose this word as it shows simplicity which would make it easier for the audience to remember, which could also help with the word of mouth.

Colours & Font:

We chose the colour red because it stereotypically conveys danger, death and blood. These are all common conventions/themes associated with the thriller genre. As these all denote very clear narrative devices.

We decided to make the word ‘Productions’ the colour grey because this contrasts the red colouring of the devil. The effect of this conveys darkness and shadows, which are commonly seen throughout thriller films as a common conventions is the idea of silhouettes which also links with the mystery in thriller films.

We made the logo sharp and edgy, in a 'lemon/milk' font. This made the title threatening as it is bold. We added the devil above the text, This is because the devil is associated with the colours red and black, death and evil. Therefore it fits our production logo’s theme perfectly.

Addition To Props -

we have added other props to our list which we intend to use when we are filming our trailer. these include our protagonists personal belongings, such as his phone, wallet and keys. We decided to use these as it connotes that he has fully lost it, and his personal belongings are no longer worth anything. This is a metaphor for our protagonist being past all help, and he cannot go back. We have used this at the end of the trailer, as it leaves mystery as to what has happened to him.