Production Ident

We felt it would be best to continue using the name that we created for our prelim task, which was ‘Hashtag productions’.  For this we have decided to make our production more professional by creating an ident, which is shown below for our thriller opening. We wanted to do something a bit more creative than just writing it out, as a group we brainstormed some ideas and came up with an idea of having the ‘ashtag’ and ‘productions’ to come in, then followed by the four lines of the hash tag (#) with a specific sound effect. This ident will be placed at the start of our thriller with our title and credits. 

Title Ideas

Below are a handful of ideas we came up with to use for our title, our thriller left us with a lot of ideas we could play on to link with our title, such as, we could use Nocton in the title as that was the location it was shot at, we could have used love and pain, memories and revenge as they all interlink with our thrillers history. As a group we have decided to either use Nocton Hall or Discarded.

After discussing these two names, we felt that Nocton Hall was a bit too simple for our thriller, so we have chosen Discarded, We chose this because the meaning behind the word is that you are left alone and forgotten about, it also plays on the word ‘scar’, which it clever because our character is scarred from the fire of the building.

Storyboards

Below are our storyboards, these will help to give us the initial basis of shots we would like to use.

Production Changes

From our first production idea, I feel we have made a few changes to develop our thriller into a smoother, more professional production.

As a group we have made specific changes to improve the overall outcome of our production. We have taken a few things out and added innovative, daring ideas to try to improve the quality of our production. One thing that we have taken out is the typewriter scene, which was placed at the beginning as we felt that it didn’t hold the tension and made our thriller seem very dull, we took this out and replaced it with our titles, these were originally simply going to be placed at the end. We spent a lot of time thinking about our titles and realised that they worked too well to just be put at the end, so we decided that we would cut them up and include them in the opening scene, we feel this has work out effectively and helps keep the tension high.

We have also had many discussions about our chosen music, we started with ‘tiptoe through the tulips’, but when putting it against out video we realised it again didn’t quite work, for the simple reason that it was too upbeat. We tried to find a different track but then came up with the idea of slowing the track down to give it more of an eerie effect, this worked and fitted in well, we then left some of the non-diegetic sound in, such as footsteps and added diegetic sound, like the breathing on the spy shots to build up the tension.

Shot List

• Tracking shot of the exterior of the building with the credits intertwined within it
• Panning shot of the exterior of the building
• mid-shot of character walking
• long shot of character stepping over wire
• long shot of character walking from inside the building
• long shot of character from behind walking
• returning back to long shot of character walking from inside the building
• long jib shot of character walking into the front of the building
• low angle shot of character approaching the front of the building from inside
• close up of character's foot stepping
• long shot of character climbing over the rumble
• low angle shot of the character from a person's perspective
• mid jib shot of character walking through the corridor
• high angle long shot of character walking through the corridor
• long shot of character walking down the corridor with clips of the burnt boy flashes on screen.
• Mid shot of character opening the door
• close up shot of character walking passed the camera
• long shot of character walking down the second corridor
• mid shot of character through broken glass
• side tracking shot of character walking down a ramp
• front on tracking shot of character
• mid shot of character through a gap in the false wall
• Bird's eye view of character
• long shot of character
• mid shot of character walking through a door frame
• long/mid shot of burnt boy rocking
• long shot of character peering in the room from a person's perspective
• long shot of character looking round the wall from inside
• returning back to boy rocking
• long shot from inside the room of character walking in and finding the record player
• close up of record player being switched off
• long shot of burnt boy standing up in the background
• mid shot from the burnt's boys perspective standing up
• close up shot of character turning around the find the burnt boy in his face
• long tracking shot of the exterior of the building

Credits Planning

We wanted to play on the buildings past to create a deep thriller. We thought that it would be a good idea for us to dress up in the uniform and make ourselves look as realistic as possible, set for a world war time eerier. We would have it set on one of the people, in a freeze frame, then quickly smin across all the photos till it reaches the next person and carry on till all of our group have been shown. The names will also be in a typewriter style to add to the old style look along with tea stained paper. To then make it more realistic we are going to put pictures of other old RAF / Military men around us, with different photos from that time period.

Questionnaire Results

Questionnaire Results

 

 

After asking only 15 people, we found a few questions were being answered the same. The first one was the fact people preferred the story of the thriller to be set as soon as the story starts, we also found that people liked newer thrillers than older ones, this may be down to the fact we have more technology and special effects to enhance productions. The main answer that jumped out at us was the fact people preferred a thriller to be set in an everyday setting, this is quite unconventional of a thriller, however we think this will be so that the audience can relate to the situation  which will no doubt enhance the effect of the thriller.

Soldier Photos - Credits

These are the photos we took as a group of each other, we wanted to look as much like a 'RAF officers' as possible, I then took the images and edited them to make them black and white and make the black more intense, we then coffee stained them to make them look like the other photos we have taken off the internet of soldiers and old style planes.

Our Initial Ideas

IDEA 1

This idea starts with a self set up camera from the protagonist, it’s meant to be his last video diary from the events that have been happening since he took a diary from a museum he visited a while ago, there will be jumpy cuts to him in the museum to explain the storyline , then he leaves his camera on whilst he sleeps, as the film gutters the little girl appears in his room staring at him, and then at the camera, then no one is in the room, he has been taken. We wanted to make this idea a psychological thriller because we wanted depth to our film, playing on spirits hunting him down and also the way he will constantly be being taunted by the spirit. The location of the museum will be Ayscoughfee Museum.

IDEA 2

This idea will play on the history of the building, we will use Lincoln Mental Asylum as our location, as two teenagers (one with a camera) decide to go and look around an abandoned asylum, they hear music being played, they try to find the source of the music, not realising what they have walked into going into the building, as they get closer to the source the music gets louder and cuts become faster, until they find the music being played from a room, however they are not alone, there is a girl in a straight jacket, rocking back and forth, waiting for something or someone to find her, she then runs at the two teenagers, to which it will cut to black.

IDEA 3

For this idea we have chosen our location to be RAF Nocton Hall, we would like to play on its history of it burning down in the second world war, to start we will use a typewriter to set it back to an olden style, we will use the typewriter to type out of the past time of the building, it will then cut to the protagonist walking towards the building and into it, there will be music playing from inside the building that will gradually get louder as he gets closer to the room, as he is walking, there will be cut shots to the man rocking back and forth, looking possessed. When the character finds the room, he will walk in and ask the guy if he is alright, when he gets no reply, he decides to turn off the music, this aggravates the man in the chair, who goes crazy and attacks the protagonist, however it will cut to black as he stands up, this will hold tension and give it a jumpy ending.

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) are basically a large group of people who are in no way linked to the government, which provide legal classification for every single film sold in the UK.  The decisions that are made are usually respected by others, however can be overridden.

Every film that goes through the BBFC is assessed by at least two examiners, usually the examiners are able to come to stern agreement about the film, but if there is disagreement or concern occurs then a decision may be made by the senior directors. The main focuses are language, nudity, sexual scenes, discrimination, drugs, horror and violence. However, if it shows nudity for an educational purpose, then the film will be given a lower classification. If a movie was to be released on DVD, then there is a chance it will have a higher classification as it is more easily accessible to people of the wrong age.

There are seven different classification certificates that are given out, these are listed below:

Universal (U) - All ages admitted, there is nothing unsuitable for children.

Parental Guidance (PG) - All ages admitted, but certain scenes may be unsuitable for young children. May contain mild language and sex/drugs references. May contain moderate violence if justified by context (e.g. fantasy).

12A – Films under this category are considered to be unsuitable for very young people. Those aged under 12 years are only admitted if accompanied by an adult, aged at least 18 years, at all times during the motion picture. However, it is generally not recommended that children under 12 years should watch the film. Films under this category can contain mature themes, discrimination, soft drugs, moderate swear words, infrequent strong language and moderate violence, sex references and nudity. Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Sexual violence may be implied or briefly indicated.

12 - Nobody younger than 12 can rent or buy a 12-rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game. The content guidelines are identical to those used for the 12A certificate.

15 - Nobody younger than 15 can rent or buy a 15-rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game, or watch a film in the cinema with this rating. Films under this category can contain adult themes, hard drugs, frequent strong language and limited use of very strong language, strong violence and strong sex references, and nudity without graphic detail. Sexual activity may be portrayed but without any strong detail. Sexual violence may be shown if discreet and justified by context.

18 - Nobody younger than 18 can rent or buy an 18-rated VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game, or watch a film in the cinema with this rating. Films under this category do not have limitation on the bad language that is used. Hard drugs are generally allowed, and explicit sex references along with detailed sexual activity are also allowed. Scenes of strong real sex may be permitted if justified by the context. Very strong, gory, and/or sadistic violence is usually permitted. Strong sexual violence is permitted unless it is eroticised or excessively graphic.

Restricted 18 (R18) - Can only be shown at licensed adult cinemas or sold at licensed sex shops, and only to adults, those aged 18 or over. Films under this category are always hard-core pornography, defined as material intended for sexual stimulation and containing clear images of real sexual activity, strong fetish material, explicit animated images, or sight of certain acts such as triple simultaneous penetration and snowballing. There remains a range of material that is often cut from the R18 rating: strong images of injury in BDSM or spanking works, urolagnia, scenes suggesting incest even if staged, references to under age sex or childhood sexual development and aggressive behaviour such as hair-pulling or spitting on a performer are not permitted. More cuts are demanded in this category than any other category.

After looking into the films I have analysed and seen what certificate they are, I feel if we planned on sending our thriller to the BBFC, it would get a 15 certificate. I believe this because it is hinted throughout the film that someone has died an unpleasant death. We feel it shouldn't be an 18 because there is no strong language used or any sort of sexual references.

History of RAF Nocton Hall

RAF Nocton Hall was a 740-bed hospital under RAF control from the 1940s until 1984. It was used by civilians and forces personnel until 1984, when it was leased to the USAF as a United States Air Force wartime contingency hospital. During the Gulf War, over 1,300 US medical staff were sent to the Hall and many were billeted at RAF Scampton. Fortunately only 35 casualties had to be treated. In its later days 13 American personnel remained to keep the hospital serviceable. RAF Nocton Hall was handed back to the Her Majesty's Government by the USAF on 30 September 1995.

Make-Up Idea

As the location of our chosen place burnt down many years ago, we wanted to play on that history, so we have looked into having burns on the face of the character that was left in the fire, we took inspiration from 'The Dark Knight' when Two-Face is first revealed.

We have completed some trial runs on the make up and it ended up being very successful.

Here are some photos of our trial run. 

 

 

 

I feel that the trial run was very successful and will give our production a very professional feel.

Media Pitch

This is our media pitch, we had to preform this pitch in front of our class and teacher, this was to show how confident we were about our ideas and also to gain positive and negative feedback to help us build on our chosen idea.