I decided to show my working piece to a focus group of girls that suited my demographics to see their reaction and get their feedback on issues:
They helped me by giving me feedback:
- increase the jack in the box effect by a POV shot
- Add more of a dramatic effect on the introduction of the killer - quicker shots flicking between!
- cut one my shots (done already) because i lost her head in the shot.
So music these days are all under the copyright laws... ugh! So i needed to find some music from websites that have their music freed from the copyright laws... not illegals ones, But some such as:
So recently i have watched a series called 'Scream' on Netflix and it was filled with typical Thriller aspects but yet was also filled with many ideas that i could incorporate into my movie...
However he is a type of inspiration that is defiantly for my movie, as the whole series starts with the opening of the nursery rhyme "Daisy... daisy..." This foreshadows the use of a character called Daisy and a crazy killer (i'm half crazy...) I like the use of this because its creepy and sets the series up in one song.
The series also so glimpse of other inspirations such as this clip below shows a door scene that i was going to incorporate in mine... However it's also made me think what if i put a jack in the box outside the door? Just like Emma discovers a box outside her door... plus the use of the doorbell ringing and and no one there indicates something scary!
This series is extremely good... it's got history, it;s got murder, creepy masks, creepy text messages etc... My main inspiration now believes to be this!
With my new developed storyline the title needed to change firstly on my trial runs. Plus also with my new found knowledge of sounds and how to create/listen out for sounds i added them too my trialling video:
If you listen out you can here the foxes in the background just to bring on the sub conscience feeling of outside and loneliness (just like in my interviews of what expected one lady mentioned a lonely environment). Also the Nursery Rhyme has been modified to sound creepier.
This is just a developing piece as i add/ change/ modify/ re-adjust clips or sounds to create my perfect Thriller.
SOUNDS are of huge importance to a thriller but they all have to be non-plagurised. So i had a go about making my own sounds, just by listening in everyday society to things around me.
Here are a couple:
So first up is a train, i never noticed before but a train can make the weirdest sounds... screeches, drones, placing baselines... all sounds needed for a great thriller to be jumpy! The first sound video are weird sorts of sounds almost E.T. with a low drone. Then there is the second video, sounds slightly different with more of a pace but still very interesting. See i plan on using the pacing baseline behind this video my movie to allow tension to be built up over time also the screeching of this video in a thriller allows the pace to be subtle then a big unexpected screech frightens the view causing the jump.
Next i recorded owls, they made an echoy creepy sound. There sounds made my spine shiver as it add the element of establishment plus also that element of nighttime. I can add this at the beginning to set the scene of night time.
Sound is so important at the beginning because if you have ever tried watching a film with no sound you want to switch it off because it's boring. So sound at the beginning is the deciding factor between
whether your movie is switched off or not!
Something prominent about my movie is the fact i have nursery rhyme. Nursery rhymes are often associated with children and if sung in a specific way can be creepy as if something bad is going to happen...
Of course here i've put a voice effect over my voice but i sang it in a strange key so it would be even creepier when played over the top of a video. Plus with this video i've added a drone behind the sining to add creepiness as well. I took this idea off the opening of 'Paranormal Activity'.
Here is a screenshot of the voice effect on Movie Maker you can add:
Following from number one i wanted to improve the effects on screen better because it was very basic, so i looked up some scary techniques used in effects.
Inspiration i got was to do like a muffled telly screen, such as when the TV doesn't quite tune and its left to produce weird fuzzy colours...However a better one of these i saw was this short paranormal activity opening:
So i took the idea of a TV screen effect and applied to my opening...
USING THE GREEN SCREEN EFFECT PREVIOUSLY LEARNT I CREATED THIS EFFECT VIA MOVIE MAKER. I like this effect because it adds a sense of confusion and later on in my movie i will pass by the TV where it will reference to a particular killing a year ago e.g. the babysitter killing or something close to that. To link the TV to the EFFECT to the Guy in the house
So i decided that i have done quite a lot to do with my movie, but i hadn't yet actually practiced how to do it. I needed to put someone videos to sounds to create a sort of prototype of a part of my movie.
I choses to do the beginning because that needs the most effort as it's the decider for people whether to turn your movie on or off,
Here are the photos of my computer screen as i experimented with different sounds:
I defiantly needed to do this because it was a lot harder than i imagined... working with sounds and video is extremely hard! Took me at least an hour to get to the point i am at below and that is far from where i want it. So below is the running piece so far:
I used typical elements of thriller movies here, such as the beginning establishing shot then the low breathing to add tension. Followed by the scenery of night time where things are a lot more scarier! I also used dull music to compliment the high pitched NURSERY RHYME - which is creepy. Finally i used a shocking loud sound to startle the the viewers. This i star from perfect such as the transition between the shots are appalling bad and the sounds still need altering. Plus i need to get a better screeching sound but you get the idea of where i'm coming from.
A films sounds or audio tracks has a profound effect on how it communicates meaning to an audience and how it creates the filmic world. It creates mood and atmosphere by aiding out means of interpretation of characters or action, whilst linking together sequences and moments.
Sound effects are classified in three different audio elements,
Dialogue - all the words and vocal expression of the actor
Music - the music soundtrack that may be in parts or all of the sequence
Effects - other sounds such as footsteps, gunfire, cars, for example
We watch movie in front of us but we here sound in 360 degrees. When I talk about 360, I mean watching a movie, you don't just here dialogue but you might hear all the sound effects you can't see, such as a street you could here talking, bustle of bags, footsteps and birds along side the dialogue of the people on screen.
'Dialogue' and 'Effects' is referred to as diegetic sounds because they exist within the film, the characters can also hear and see them if they are happening.
However 'Music' is non-diegetic sounds, this is when the characters can't hear it, the music overlay is their to prompt out expectations and emotions to create a reaction in the audience. This can also be a voice over.
When filming is taking place then the sound team will mainly concentrate on recording the dialogue. The sounds of what is occurring around the action will probably be added later. Not just added, they will be created.
In order for me to make my two minute opening as good as possible, i decided that i will do some research on the iconic sounds connected with the genre. The reason for this is because i wanted to find soundtracks that will relate to my genre very well and help me deliver the content of the film to the best of my ability. I personally believe that in films, sound is a huge impact and different types of films have different types of tempo. For example, action type films may have fast paced, quick tempo type of music, where a romance may have a slow high pitched music.
In order to find out more about iconic sounds connected to thriller genres, i decided to undergo some research and watch & listen to come sound tracks of thrillers.
One that has been a constant theme throughout my blog is SCREAM the movie, so i went straight to that movie opening to see how they used sound:
This movie's opening title is someone screaming and a slammed door but the first noise we here is a phone ringing. The phone ringing is iconic because its a silence breaker plus it adds the sense of unknowns. The ring would be an overlay of music. The voice on the phone would also be an overlay, but this unknown voice adds the fear to the scene. The opening then carries on to a swing in the wind, you can hear the bustle of the leaves and the creak of the swing. The creak is a well known iconic thriller noise, its to add effect to the swing, originating from a haunted house years ago where the joints would of been stiff, yet the creepy legacy of the creak has lived on. The next sound is the pop corn, as the pop corn pops faster and faster it adds subtle build up of suspense. The piano sounds come in when a a significant moment happens to highlight her emotion for the audience easily. Dog barks in the background could mean danger, as a dog barks at strangers as if someones coming. Now finally this is when they build up the music, starting off with typical strings and then the piano, building up tension followed by the bass and cellos... until a sudden cut off. This is a typical iconic sound effect of building and building up then sudden cut off.
The genre I have chosen is still all new to me, so now I know kind of the way I would like to go with the 2 minute Coursework Task i'm producing, I need to look up the key features and conventions that make a thriller good.
Here is a few slides I produced after researching about it and then put to sounds and music etc...
Although I've mentioned sound and editing i'm not focusing on that in this blog, I am focusing on the conventions of a thriller and how the different techniques
A very close type of genre to my Thriller one is Gothic Horror, as I noticed they consist of the same features however there are gothic horror conventions I like that aren't usual thriller features:
- The camera strategically placed behind something e.g. a window/ bars - to give the effect of the audience being trapped.
- Filming the feet first to add unknownness to the character
