Actors

Actors For Our Final Task
Below I have listed the actors Csenge and I have casted for our opening sequence, as well as the roles they will be playing.

For our protagonist role, I am being cast as Ivan, the son of the missing mob boss. Whilst I have not taken drama GCSE or A level, I believe I have accumulated experience through my lessons in drama in years seven through to nine. I believe that I have a decent understanding of how to convey our character, meaning I should be able to deliver a quality performance for the opening sequence. Csenge and I have heavily discussed how Ivan should be played, meaning we each have a shared understanding of how he should appear to the audience.

However, at the time of posting, Csenge is currently finalising details with a non-school friend, who, if available, would be replacing me as Ivan. Personally, I believe that this could be beneficial for our sequence as it would demonstrate a variety of casting, potentially increasing our marks for our opening sequence.

With regards to our antagonists, Csenge is enlisting two other non-school friends to play the roles of Tony A and Tony B. Similar to the role of Ivan, I believe that this could be beneficial to our production as it would provide an external input for our scene, which could in turn identify any problems or areas of improvement. 

Gautam, Jacob and Archie

For our background gangsters, I will be enlisting the help of some of my school friends: Josh Langfield, Sam Bunting, Gautam Manjunath, Jacob Knox and Archie Watson. I have decided to cast them as they requested that they have a minimal amount of dialogue and influence within the scene, meaning these roles are ideal for their preferences. These background gang members are mainly included in order to show the gang has a physical presence, giving the audience a visual representation of the gang.

Sam and Josh

Filming Locations

Final Filming Locations
Below I have embed and linked my Prezi presentation which details the prominent location of our opening sequence. 

http://prezi.com/anqjyssinzvf/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

 

Prop Planning

Prop Planning
Below I have listed the props Csenge and I will need for our opening sequence. The overall purpose to include props is to increase the verisimilitude of our opening scene, enhancing the narrative for the audience's benefit.

For the 'exchange' scene in the film, Csenge and I will require a cheap, sturdy mobile phone which will resemble a 'burner' phone. We will likely purchase one of these phones as they are relatively cheap and can be bought without additional payments or contracts. However, ideally we would need the phone to be able to receive calls, as the sequence ends with my character listening to a voicemail. Luckily, I think I own a phone that would fit our needs, meaning we will hopefully not need to purchase an additional phone. 

The phone plays a large role in the plot of our opening sequence as it contains the final message of the leader of the Hungarian mob to his son, Ivan. After receiving the phone, Ivan listens to the voicemail, hoping to uncover what happened to his father, as well as how he should go about running the mob.

 Also in the 'exchange' scene, our characters Tony A and Tony B will be sat in a large, empty space only surrounded by some additional gang members. However, Csenge and I agreed that we should try to differentiate the Tonys as much as possible. To do this, we thought they should be sat, as this would contrast with the standing gang members. I personally own some cheap, white chairs which would not draw the audience's attention away from the action.

In the second scene of our opening sequence, we will also require a small, knee height table on which the 'burner' phone will be placed. Ivan will place the phone onto the table in order to listen to the voicemail left by his father. Therefore, the table will be vital in the scene, however it would not be hard to source as we have no particular style in mind.

Blog Update - Remaining Research and Planning Tasks

Remaining Research and Planning Tasks
At the time of posting, I have exactly eight tasks left to complete before my deadline on the 27th of November. I am hoping that I will complete at least two of these tasks tomorrow, another two or three on Friday and possibly my final task on Saturday. Below is the list of tasks I have yet to complete, presented in the order I will complete them in.

• Prop Planning
• Actors
• Filming Schedule
• Finalised Storyboard
• Finalised locations and shot plans
• Secondary Thriller Research
• Analyse my response data

*I am leaving my data analysis until last as I will aim to gather as many responses as possible before discussing what the audience has told me.

Original Thriller Brainstorm

Original Thriller Brainstorm
Below is the original brainstorm which Csenge and I created at the beginning of the project. We decided to record our ideas in the form of a mind-map, as this would allow us to easily pick out our original ideas at a later date. 

This is our mind-map. As you can see Csenga and I included several branches as we felt it was vital to record as many ideas as possible, despite their potential drawbacks. The mind-map will, and has, be used as inspiration for our final production as it will allow me and Csenge to evaluate our original ideas, adding to them as we progress through the making of the film.

Here, the reader can notice the 'Location' and 'Plot Ideas' branches of our mind-map. These branches served for both me and Csenge to think of any potential plot we could convey as well as where it could be set, adopting a 'clear skies' method of creativity as we were not prohibited by potential problems. As you can notice, several ideas were originally created, each of which has had an influence over our final plot.


This picture shows the 'Props', 'Order' and 'Editing' branches of our mind-map. The 'Order' branch was mainly implemented to list the sequence order for our opening scene, providing a basic structure for what our final film should resemble. The 'Props' branch, as its title suggests, was used to list the potential props Csenga and I could use in our opening sequence.


Here, towards the bottom of the mind-map, we also included separate branches for 'Costume', 'Camera' and 'Sound'. Some of these branches heavily linked with the 'Plot Ideas' aspect of out mind-map, allowing us to predict which props we would likely need for our final piece. In regards to the 'Costume' branch, Csenge and I shared an idea of a 'hierarchy' of clothing, allowing the 
audience to differentiate between a character's influence by judging their costume.

Character Profiles

Character Profiles
Protagonists:

• Name: Ivan
• Character Age: Between 15-18
• Played By: (At time of posting) Me, Edward Barker
• Character's Attributes: Son of a notorious mob leader
• Character's Background: After the disappearance of his father, Andras, Ivan has begun to take an interest into the running of the crime syndicate. Now Ivan is beginning to take control of the mob, as he believes he has inherited his father's role. However, Ivan is aware of his considerable young age, and acknowledges that many of his father's employees will no longer hold loyalty to their new leader.

Antagonists:

• Names: Tony A and Tony B
• Character's Ages: Each between 20 and 30 (However their precise age is not overly important as long as the actors are older than whoever will be playing Ivan)
• Played By: At time of posting, Csenge is still finalising who shall play the two Tonies
• Character Attributes: Each highly skilled in killing however they share few similarities, each acting as a mirror image for each other.
• Character Backgrounds: Not much is known about the history of the duo, however they are notorious among the criminal underworld for their skill in killing, despite their contrasting methods.

Storyboard Breakdown

Storyboard Breakdown
Below is an embeded Emaze presentation which I have created in order to show the basic storyline of our film. Csenge provided each scene description however we each agree with what events will take place in the film.

 http://prezi.com/l1ru0hvn_c79/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Our Initial Storyboard

Our Initial Storyboard
Now me and Csenge have finalised our initial storyboard, which shows the basic plot of our opening sequence as well as some of the shots we will use for each scene. We will use the storyboard to act as a basic template for our storyline, allowing us to have a shared understanding of what our final film should resemble. Later in the planning stage, Csenge and I will produce a finalised storyboard which will detail the final order of our film, as well as any changes we may make to the plot.














Later, Csenge and I will create an in depth analysis of each frame of the storyboard, detailing precisely what each shot entails as well as how we will go about producing it.

Title Order

Title Order
Csenge and I have now planned the order in which our titles will appear in our opening sequence. Below is the embedded Prezi presentation which Csenge provided the information for, as well as the link directly to the Prezi.

http://prezi.com/jmtkonh8smdz/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Costume Planning

Costume Planning
The Protagonist - Son of the Hungarian Mob Leader
Csenge and I decided that the protagonist of the film should feature several elements of clothing, each of which would resemble a different characteristic of the character. Given that the character is the son of a mob boss, we thought that he should mostly wear dark colours, as these would reflect his villainous background.

As shown by the image to the right, the main character would likely wear a dark, expensive suit in order to convey to the audience that he is a character of wealth and sophistiaction. However Csenga and I would be sure to make our main character distiguishable from other characters in the scene, allowing the audience to notice differences among the various characters shown in the opening scene.

However, as our character is young in comparison to his peers, we also decided to include noticeable features of the character's costume which allow the audience to notice his youth. By this, we decided that alongside the suit, my character would also wear bright, childlike socks, as well as simple trainers. We will include these additional features in order to highlight the character's innocence within his crime infested life.

The Antagonists - Tony A and Tony B as well as background Gangsters

Tony B's costume

Csenga and I have also decided on what our antagonists within the scene should wear. We each agreed that our main antagonists, Tony A and Tony B, should each wear dark, dull costumes. We chose to do this as it would follow typical thriller conventions, meaning our audience could easily identify the antagonists within our film. For Tony A, we have decided to dress him in dark, but shambolic clothing in order to reflect his chaotic personality. Whereas for Tony B, we have chosen to dress him in trim, cuited clothing which is juxtaposed by his sleek, calm persona.

Tony A would likely wear something like this

As for the background characters shown in the 'exchange' scene, they will also be dressed in dark suits and clothing, as this is typical of gangsters and mob members. We will likely focus more on our three main characters (The son, Tony A and Tony B) than the background gangsters, however we will still evaluate the effectiveness of their costume during filming.

 

Risk Asessment for Filming

Risk Assessment
Below I have created a risk assessment for Csenga and I to utilise in the filming of our opening sequence. The risk assessment will be vital for us as it will allow us to identify potential hazards that could occur during filming, as well as precautions we will take throughout filming. I created the assessment in Google docs as it was easy for me to embed the file below.

Analysis of Another Student's Thriller Blog

Analysis of Another Student's Thriller Blog
For this analysis I will be evaluating the blof of former student Isobell Humphriss, as I previously analysed her final thriller, 'Unorthodox'. Persoanlly, I believe that the blog is a prime example of what I think my blog should eventually resemble.

Here, similar to the other blog I analysed, the student has culminated their posts with corresponding labels. This makes each section, and individual post easier to find for the reader. This is something I have already begun when publishing my posts, as it allows me and any readers to easily access my blog.

Personally, I like the aesthetic of the blog, as it reflects the media subject as a whole, and does not become distracting for the reader. Now that I have been given admin rights, I have adopted a similar layout for my blog, making it visually appealing whilst not compromising its readability. 

In some sections of the blog, the student has presented posts in alternate mediums, giving each post a sense of idividuality, in turn providing engagement for the reader. This is an attribute which I have included in my own blog, such as in my analysis of Watchmen and my youtube analysis of Se7en.

However, personally I would take more care of the formatting of such external documents, ensuring they do not clash with the order of the surrounding blog.

The student has also given frequent screenshots and pictures of the events discussed in their post. This is helpful to the reader, as it allows them to easily identify with what the student is portraying. The screenshots, such as shown to the left, also show the continual progress of a student's project, making changes to the film noticeable to the reader.

 

Title Questionnaire

Title Questionnaire
As well as my thriller questionnaire, I have also created a survey regarding the titles of our film. The survey asks questions regarding the overall presentation of the titles, as well as what the film should be called. Csenge and I will attempt to collect roughly 10 responses each, resulting in 20 responses in total.

It is difficult to gain a representative sample when conducting a questionnaire; if we had a budget we could conduct a questionnaire on a much wider scale which would give a much more representative result. However, in an attempt to gain as wide a sample as possible, Csenge and I posted our questionnaire to many people in our email address books, and ensured we asked members of our family, as well as the standard method of asking students around college. 

Making our Opening Sequence a Definitive Thriller

Making our Opening Sequence a Definitive Thriller
Whilst planning and producing our opening sequence, Csenge and I must ensure that the opening sequence closely follows the thriller genre, ensuring it does not develop into a trailer or horror. This is crucial for the film as losing sight of the project's initial brief could result in the film no longer resembling what me and Csenge originally intended. In this short post, I will be discussing what our film could accidentally become, as well as what I will do in order to ensure this doesn't happen.

Horror: Some of the work of former media students resembled, in my opinion, more of a horror than a thriller. I believe that this is mostly due to students' misinterpretation of the brief as well as the thriller genre as a whole. This is clear in pieces such as 'The Ring of Trees' which follows a minimal amount of thriller conventions and instead adopts a more horror themed plot.

To avoid a similar outcome for our own film, Csenge and I will attempt to include as many thriller tropes as possible, meaning the audience finds minimal similarities between our film and modern horrors. We will do this by evaluating our narrative in order to ensure our scene resembles a typical thriller as much as possible. We will frequently ask our peers to evaluate any decisions me and Csenge may make in order to gain an outside view for our opening sequence.
.

Trailer: Another point that Csenge and I will observe, is the maintaining of our thriller as an opening sequence, rather than a trailer. The overall objective for our opening sequence is to create tension for the audience, creating a narrative enigma which would hopefully encourage the audience to take interest in the rest of the film. The opening sequence will likely feature a low amount of action, as it will primarily focus on the development of key characters and their role within the film.

This is contrasted by trailers which are used to show the audience the basic synopsis of the film, encouraging them to view the film based on their hopefully positive response to the film in its trailer. Trailers use various extracts from the film, each of which is used to give suggestion to the genre of the film, as well as the themes it may follow. 

Whilst I have not personally seen a student's opening sequence which resembles a thriller, I imagine it could be easy to unintentionally create a trailer rather than an opening sequence. Similar to the idea of our film becoming a horror, me and Csenge will monitor the structure of our opening sequence, ensuring it acts as one, continuous extract, rather than a montage of selected scenes.

Below is the embedded trailer for the 2016 release 'The Girl on the Train'.

Thriller Research Questionnaire

Thriller Research Questionnaire
Below is the questionnaire that Csenge and I will be collecting responses from for our thriller opening sequence. After collecting the data we will be able to change our thriller to suit the audience's preferences, making the opening sequence more enjoyable for our audience. (Credit to Csenge for creating the questionnaire)

Analysis of Another Student's Thriller Project

Analysis of Another Student's Thriller Project
This project is titled 'Unorthodox' and was uploaded by Isobel Humphriss on the 21st of January 2016. In my opnion, I think that the film is a perfect example of what my thriller would ideally resemble. I am informed that the film was awarded an A grade which I believe was well-deserved due to the consistent high quality of the film. I will likely use this film as inspiration for my own thriller, allowing me to observe what attributes my thriller would need to feature in order to be awarded a high grade.

Here the students behind the film have decided to produce their own title card for their own fictional production company. Similar to the previous project I analysed, this also inspires me to create a similar sequence as it makes the film immediately genuine, allowing it to resemble a real thriller.

The setting of the thriller, a suburban household has been used to great effectin the film. Due to the small time and financial allowance of the thriller, the students involved in the film have cleverly worked the ordinary, at first uninteresting location into the film's narritive. This therefore reduces any confusion that the audience may gain while watching the film, as the setting corresponds with the tone and plot of the plot. This is an idea which I would very much like to include into my own thriller, as it gives explanation for any factors the audience may not understand.

The black and white filter used for the thriller has been used to make the film instantly engaging for the viewer, as few modern films adopt this filter.

The close-up used in this scene has been deliberately used to give a sense of unease and discomfort for the viewer. The audience feels almost too close to the mysterious character, making the viewer uncomfortable while still making the film engaging.

The smart costume of the main character at first gives no negative connotations to the viewer. However, as the film progresses the costume plays an increasingly important role in the depiction of the character. For example, as the audience notices the orderly, sterile nature of the character's home, the simple costume begins to reflect the character's over-controlled persona. This is an attribute that I would hopefully adopt into my own thriller as it provides instant intrigue for the audience, simply through consdering how each character should be dressed.

The straight, unchanging size of each

 picture 

suggests the character may posses some form of OCD