Group Meeting 12th December - storyboard

Quentin Tarantino

To finally finish my research on directors I decided to find out more about famous director Quentin Tarantino who is probably my favourite out of the three I researched because I find his movies very exciting. I also like him because he acts in his own films so he is involved on screen as well as off.

Quentin Tarantino is a director, screen writer, producer, cinematographer and actor. He has produced very successful films such as ' Kill Bill', 'Inglorious bastards' and 'Pulp Fiction' which are all thrillers so this is why I took a huge interest because I am a fan of him but i admire his work and it can help me make my own opening to a thriller. His movies are characterized by stylistic influences from kung fu, grindhouse and spaghetti western films. He starred in his own film 'Reservoir Dogs' aswell as producing it and directing.

Chris Nolan

After researching Alfred Hitchcock I decided to expand my knowledge on directors and producers for thriller films and I chose Christopher Nolan because other than hes a famous director his movies are more modern which i prefer because I am more familiar with his productions.

He doesn't use such complex techniques when he makes films but many of the films he has released have been a big hit because of the action, including the batman trilogy what took his career to another level. He also bases some true events in his films for example in his film Momento he wrote and directed it based on a story involving his brother which shows that he gets inspiration from real life situations which I think is important because it can make the film seem more realistic. He is a director, producer and a writer and many of his films were associated with Warner Bros.

Alfred Hitchcock

During my research I wanted to use examples of real films and understand how to be a director and producer for a thriller movie. Alfred Hitchcock is a famous example so I found out a bit more about him and his work.


I found him interesting because many famous directors and producers are American but Alfred Hitchcock was British until he moved to Hollywood to develop his career further. He pioneered the use of a camera made to move in a way that mimics a person's gaze, forcing viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism. He framed shots to maximize anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative film editing. His stories frequently feature fugitives on the run from the law alongside "icy blonde" female characters.Many of Hitchcock's films have twist endings and thrilling plots featuring depictions of violence, murder, and crime, although many of the mysteries function as decoys or "MacGruffin" meant only to serve thematic elements in the film and the extremely complex psychological examinations of the characters. 


A vast amount of his films were thrillers so this could influence my film and I like the way he always uses twists in his movies because it makes the film so much more interesting and gripping. I also looked into some of his famous films. 

Production Company Logos

In our thriller opening we will have to include our own production company and logo so to get some inspiration and ideas i researched some companies that are famous and used in the media industry

 Universal is a famous production company and as you can see there animation is simple but effective. The image of the world behind the text relates to it being universal and all around the globe. Its dark black background makes the audience focus on the center of screen where they are showing there trade mark.

 Columbia pictures is different and the text comes in later. We know that this is an american production company because the image of the statue of liberty holding the bright light, this creative logo has a lot more color and background.

 Warner brothers (WB) has its logo again bang in the middle of the screen so it catches the audiences attention similar to universal. The text is wrapped around the logo and the gold stands out on top of the blue. Also the background has the blue sky affect with clouds linking with the blue in the logo.

 20th Century Fox Television wants people to know that there films are produced in the 20th century and it is more modern. The text of their title gets smaller as it reaches television at the bottom the biggest is the 20th symbolizing this is the most important to the production company. Again like Warner Bros they have used the sky background and the gold text to stand out but this logo has lights shinning next to it to add that effect and make them look more professional.
Lastly Paramount is another famous production company and they have used the effect of the tip of the mountain to represent their title. I think the reason they used a mountain was because there called para 'mount'. The use of the sky in background again is used to create this cold mountain environment and the white text to tie in with the clouds.

Expectations Of A Thriller

I had a classmate ask me questions what I think a thriller should include and my expectations

History Of Thrillers

To help my production making I decided to take my research further and look into the history of all the different Thrillers including the first thriller film ever made all the way up to modern films. I used a website called time line to see the list of thriller films in the generation. I only picked the most famous films in the years

1923- Safety Last

1931- M

1940- Rebecca

1944- Double Identity

1946- The Big Sleep

1951- Strangers On A Train

1953- The Wages Of Fear

1972- The Godfather

1973- Dont Look Now

1974- China Town

1974- Reservoir Dogs

1994- Pulp Fiction

1995- Usual Suspects

2009- Inglorious Bastards

2010- Inception

What I Learnt

I learnt that when filming our thriller opening we need to take into account to use the three important shots.

 Match On Action Shot







Shot Reverse Shot

180 Degree Rule

Shot And Schedule List

Risk Assessment

Call Sheet

Title Sequence Research

I had to research how other thriller films presented there title sequences so I drew a brief time line of the titles and the times when they appear on screen. I chose the film Final Destination, I got the opening title sequence from this movie on a site called Art Of The Title.
http://www.artofthetitle.com/

Weather Check

Our film is being shot on a certain day so I had to check the weather forecast for that date incase the weather affects our movie.

Asset List

To be fully prepared and organized for our film I made asset list so we can see a description of the equipment, props and costumes for characters what are needed.

Shot List For Our Film

1. Mid Shot
2. Mid Shot
3. Close Up
4. Close Up/ Match On Action Shot
5. Close Up/ Match On Action Shot
6. Wide Shot
7. Mid Shot
8. Close Up/ Match On Action
9. Long Shot/ Match On Action
10. Over The Shoulder/ Match On Action
11. Mid Shot/ Match On Action
12. Mid Shot
13. Extreme Close Up
14. Close Up
15. P.o.v ( Point Of View)
16. Two Man Shot
17. High Angle Shot

Screen Shot Of Story Board

Parity Shot For Shot Remake

 

After watching a students thriller we had to make a shot for shot remake of there short film. There were no actors outside our group.