TRACKING SHOT into bedroom. WIDE SHOT of room, Beth is pictured far right, crying on her bed.
MIDSHOT of Beth crying. Camera pans downward to the photo in her hands.
MIDSHOT and LOW ANGLE of past (Beth receives gift and share a kiss followed by a hug).
CLOSE UP and POINT OF VIEW SHOT of photo being ripped in half.
WIDE SHOT of Beth’s room. An argument takes place.
Back to POINT OF VIEW SHOT of ripped photo falling onto the ground.
LOW ANGLE and MIDSHOT of conversation held between Beth and her boyfriend.
Blurry CLOSE UP of phone on bed.
EXTREME CLOSE UP of photo on wall. Slow zoom out to reveal more photos.
OVER THE SHOULER SHOT, Beth’s arm reaching to a photo on the wall.
Slow zoom in.
Various close ups and point of view shots of photos on wall whereby they are quickly snatched off; right, left, low angle.
POINT OF VIEW SHOT, pan of camera following hand, LOW ANGLE two photos are ripped off, camera pans left and focuses on the scribbling of the photo on the wall.
MIDSHOT of pen dropping onto bed.
CLOSE UP of table, the bottle and the uncrushed pills.
SLOW ZOOM into the tablets until it is out of focus.
MIDSHOT of bottle being opened and substance being poured into bottle.
SLOW ZOOM follows until out of focus yet again.
MIDSHOT of room, Beth grabbing bottle and slamming door shut.
Blackout. Title follows “Behind Closed Doors”
SCRIPT – DIALOGUE
SOUND OVERLAY – non-diagetic SOUNDTRACK IS PLAYED.
0:06 – pleonastic sound of crying is heard followed by heavy breathing.
0:34 -BETH (looking at her boyfriend) “Thank you”
0:37 - *tearing of photo*
0:53 -GEORGE (sitting on the bed) “Things have just gotten complicated. Your right, it’s over” *handclap*
0:58 Vibration of phone is heard and a blurry image of a blackberry is seen.
Pleonastic sound of heartbeat is played.
1:01 a one-sided phone conversation is heard from a FRIEND“Hey, I just got your text
you sounded serious, are you okay?
Don’t do anything stupid...
Beth, Beth..Beth..Beth?”
Photos’ being ripped off the wall violently is heard.
1:37 Beth takes pen and scribbles harshly on photo.
2:01 *heartbeat stops*
2:05 Bedroom door is slammed shut and soundtrack begins to fade out.
Storyboard
1.Soundtrack begins (Nitruzz - Strangers) and plays throughout opening.Dark hallway outside of bedroom, midshot of the door being ajar.Sound of crying coming from within.Slow zoom towards door which opens slightly until we see Beth sitting on the bed.Credits appear every several seconds.
2.Midshot of Beth crying whilst looking at a photo of her recent relationship, sniffing.Close up of her face then a pan down to photo.
3.Black and white past, memory of George giving Beth a present.Beth says “thank you” and they embrace.
4.Back to coloured present, close up and point of view shot of Beth holding same photo.Tear falls on it.
5.Black and white past, memory of Beth and George arguing.We do not hear what they are saying.Large arm gestures by George demonstrates anger, but Beth mainly stands still.She throws something at him.
6.Back to coloured present, close up of Beth ripping the photo vertically halfway.
7.Black and white past, memory of both sitting on Beth’s bed.George says “it’s over” and walks out.
8.Back to present with a Sepia tint.Slow zoom out from centre of a picture to a wall full of pictures, Beth’s hand appears in the frame to rip one off quickly.A one-way phone call is heard, Licia says something along the lines of “Beth I just got your text, you sounded serious, don’t do anything stupid. Beth. Beth! Beth? Oh no.”Heartbeat begins.Various sped up shots of Beth snatching pictures.
9.Over the shoulder shot or point of view shot of Beth scribbling over a picture.Low angle shot of the pen falling on the bed.
10.Close up of a bottle with an unknown substance and a sheet of paper will pills.Beth crushes the pills with a hammer-like object.
11.Extreme close up of the paper being used to pour the crushed pills into the bottle.
12.Tracking shot of Beth grabbing the bottle off the table until there is a wide shot of her slamming her door, instant blackout then title appears.
Anika Rahman, Bethenay Longley, Licia Johnson, (and initially Daniel Andrews). For HarrisCrystalPalace, Media AS
Address
HarrisCityAcademyCrystalPalace
Maberley Road, London, SE19 2JH
It is proposed that the film opening will be of two minutes duration.
Finance:
The only finances we need to consider is cab travel expenses from Beth's house to Harris, which is £5 that will be shared between the three of us each time. Cab travel is needed to carry the camera back to Harris, but to lower costs we may just walk to Beth's and back. However, it takes half an hour to get there via walking and five minutes via cab, so taking a cab would allow us more filming time. All of these will be taken into consideration.
Possible limitations and constraints:
- Not being able to keep the cameras overnight means we will have to figure out ideal dates and times which will suit all of us. If one of us cannot make it, then filming would most likely be cancelled which would hold us back.
- The majority of the opening will be in Beth's room, so three people maneouvering around may be difficult.
- We are most likely not going to be using a tri-pod as there is not much space and we have not contemplated on tracking shots, so we will have to hold the camera steadily ourselves.
Initially, our idea of the film was: Daniel is Beth's ex-boyfriend who is now with Anika. Beth is distraught and her deep emotions are shown in the opening to the point where she would seem insane.
(3) A door shuts, Beth is seen in her bedroom, crying and angry, surrounded by ripped/scratched photos. She rings her best friend Licia for comfort and support. (4) Licia is angered by Daniel's betrayal, but can she sit back and ignore it?
Initially, our summary of the plot was: Beth split up with Daniel, and he is now with Anika. Beth has become obsessed with Daniel and the opening shows the extent of her mentality and jealousy. Beth phones Licia for consolation (there is a split screen of the phonecall), and Licia tries to calm her down. Licia, Beth and Anika used to be best friends, so Licia is furious at Anika's actions. In her temper, Licia murders Anika in her home, but everyone believes that it was Beth due to her insanity and the fact that Beth's bracelet which Licia burrowed was left at the scene. Beth is imprisoned, but only she knows that Licia did it as she remembered the loaned bracelet.
Initial first ideas:
Credits include pics of each couple.
After credits, there is a split screen of a phonecall between Beth and Licia.
Beth burns a picture of her and Daniel which fades into a flashback of a happy moment before the break-up.
Rapid cut back to ECU of Beth's face with mascara running.
Flashback of Beth and Daniel arguing.
Cut back to Beth.
Flashback of Beth watching Anika and Daniel.
Cut back to Beth. She's getting ready to go out and something tells the audience she's going to do something bad. At the front door she turns around and throws something at the camera and the screen shatters.
Initial Shot List
Tracking shot into the room
Close up of Beth’s eyes
Close up of mouth (heavy breathing)
Close up of pictures on wall
Black and white shots of past
Coloured shots of the present
Birdseye view of beth falling on bed
She releases her inner anger out by dashing objects off the surface of a side drawer
Point of view of object being thrown towards camera or wide shot of room and a slammed door is left to end the scene (and end our film)
(1) Credits roll with pictures in black and white of Daniel and Beth in happier times, then fade into pictures of Anika and Daniel in colour, where black and white represents the past and colour the present.
(2) Beth bumps into Anika on the road and they seem to be friendly. Anika has recently started dating Beth's ex-boyfriend and is asking her how she feels about it. Beth seems to be fine and understanding.
Unfortunately... Daniel left due to personal reasons so he was replaced by Beth's real boyfriend George Tasker and we had to drastically adapt our idea to ... (1) We see Beth crying in her room. There are photos of her and her ex in her room. (3) There are flashbacks of her and George in a happy relationship. (4) She rips down the photos angrily, makes a 'potion' and runs out with it. What is she planning?
New shot List
Tracking shot into the room
Close up of Beth crying
Alternating black and white scenes of the past with coloured scenes of present. First scene of past is them as a happy couple, the second is them arguing, the third is George declaring the split-up
Close up of a phone ringing. A phonecall/ one-way conversation can be heard.
Zoom out of pictures on wall
Rapid cuts and blurred scenes of Beth ripping them down
Close ups of a potion which Beth is making
Beth snatches the potion and opening ends with a wide shot of Beth slamming her door.
Naming the Film:
The first thing you can do before even starting to film or make a continutity sequence, is an idea. Any imagination or inspiration thoughts that came to us, we listed down as follows:
Names:
Psychopath
Retribution
Fatal obsession
Obsessed
Memoirs
P.S ... It's Not Over
P.S ... I hate you
Decided Name:
Behind Closed Doors
Music
For the track we will use Nitruzz - Strangers (R&B Instrumental), which is copyright free.
Treatment
The main character, Beth, has been dumped by her boyfriend. Her emotions spiral out of control, to the point of obsession. Now, she is out for revenge. George is her target.. but she does not care who she has to harm along the way!
Location
Originally we thought of doing something drastic and brainstormed ideas about going to places such as Central London and Crystal Palace park to film. However due to limitations and contraints, this prevented us from taking the cameras out after school hours and keeping them overnight. Also this would have been more time consuming due to extra travel, which could have possibly led onto more expenses. Finally, we decided the best place would be at Beths house, specifically her bedroom as it conforms to our changed storyline and she lives closer which would save us a lot of time.
Permission
Since the opening will be fully shot in Beth’s room we only needed permission from her mother, who approved.
Personnel organisation George will need to agree with us on a day to shoot his scene. The rest of us three need to agree on days on which to meet and film, we have decided on Mondays if it is outside of media lessons.
Equipment / Props
Main equipment we will need are;
> a camera to film,
> a phone for the shots where Licia calls Beth,
> a hammer-like object for when Beth is bashing the pills to make a ‘potion’.
Costumes
The clothing will be up to the personal decision of the actor and actress as we want a portrayal of realism in the film opening., we do not want it to look too set up and fake.
Audience feedback so far on our pre-production ideas
Some quotes are;
“It sounds like it will be really good, can’t wait to see it”
“If I saw a trailer or heard about an insane girl wanting to kill her ex I would definitely want to watch it”
“The name ‘Behind Closed Doors’ is simple but still ambiguous and kind of threatening. It’s nice, I like it”
“You won’t be able to do much in just one room, maybe consider more than one location. But if you have really good ideas then go for it, it might turn out to be effective.”
These comments make our opening sound very promising, so we are sticking to our idea. We considered using more locations, as the last comment suggests, but the way we have planned and imagined our opening to be we think that we can make it work using a single location. It would also provide less hassle for us.
Moodboard
I used these images to gather inspiration for our film, Behind Closed Doors. I created this moodboard on prezi.com because I have used it before so am rather familiar with it and it is a change from the usual format of a slideshow or A3 sheet of paper with pictures that you may see as a moodboard.
The pictures pertain to what our film may be about, i.e.
- the door being ajar symbolises the name 'Behind Closed Doors';
- the images of arguing is when Beth and George argue;
- the broken hearts represents how Beth would feel afterwards, broken hearted;
- the crying represents Beth crying over her ex-boyfriend.
Preferred film genre (the lower the total, the better response it received)
Horror/Thriller: 54
Comedy: 61
Action: 63
Drama: 68
Romance: 73
Sci-fi: 86 Average monthly cinema visits
< 1: 2
1-3: 13
4-6: 2
7-9: 3
Preferred film endings
Happy: 1
Sad: 3
Bit of both: 4
Cliffhanger:6
No preference:6
Encouragement to watch a film
Friends/family: 3
Film trailers: 14
Posters/advertisement: 2
Boredom: 1
Preferred film length (hours)
1-2: 11
2-3: 7
No preference: 2
Preferred film openings
In medias res: 2
Build up to action: 4
Suspense: 6
Twisted: 4
No preference: 4
Preference on how credits should be shown:
With sound: 10
During the scene: 9
No preference: 1
Preference on look of credits:
Animated, black and white: 6
Inanimated, black and white: 2
Animated and coloured: 10
Inanimated and coloured: 2
Our chosen target audience will be teenagers as we can relate to them and so we can incorporate conventions of thrillers which we like into our opening.
The result of the questionnaire came out as thrillers being the preferred genre, which is good as that is our genre.
Most recipients preferred cliffhanger for a good ending or did not mind how it ended. However, this does not pretain to us as we are creating an opening.
The most preferred opening is a suspenseful one. This tells us that our opening needs to use great techniques to grip our viewers into the film.
A sound/soundtrack being played whilst the credits are shown was the best preferred, closely followed by whilst the scene is being acted. Our group will need to decide wisely about which is best to create the desired atmosphere.
Finally, the preferred look of the credits is animation with colour, so we may utilise this information in our opening credits. Although, we have to keep in mind what will create the desired emotion in our viewers.
Prom Night
Seeing as the main character was going to be obsessed about her ex-boyfriend we wanted to do market research on films with an obsessed theme, but also has the codes and conventions of a thriller.
Prom Night, a 2008 horror film directed by Nelson McCormick, is about a teacher who is obsessed with his student and goes on a killing spree with the intent to find her and murder her. It is rated 15, directed by Nelson McCormick, and distributed by Screen Gems, Alliance Films, and Sony Pictures.It is certified for those above 15, but I think that it is particularly aimed at teenagers instead of adults as teenagers have school and college proms so the concept of a film being about a ‘prom night’ would be appealing to them.
Trailer
It is mainly horror, but by watching the trailer I can see codes and conventions of the thriller genre, for example:
> tense music and screaming at approximately 0:50 - this creates an intense atmosphere and builds suspense in the viewer;
> rapid cut-aways into darkness - gives a psychological response of the viewer being shocked;
> the teenager conforms to a stereotypical representation of females in thrillers as she is represented as being weak and alone at 1:15, like a 'damsel in distress'. The different point of view shots at various angles show that she is being watched, this also builds suspense.
Opening
Sound
Music Overlay (non- diagetic) an eerie, up tempo sound with an uncomfortable scratchy background is played as the credits are shown. Opening sound lasts for 2mins 33secs. Dialogue is exchanged, gets straight into the action, the conversation held talks about “prom night” which is the title of the film. A continue shot reverse shot is shown during the conversation. Eerie music overlay restarts, which changes to a rapid, heart pounding tempo at 3:29 till 6:08 as she first discovers the murder of her brother.
Mise-en-scene
White writing credits and black background is shown before going into the scene. Starts off from the ocean to set a calm/relaxed mood. The writing is standard and average size which is legible to the audience. As the scene continues to play, following the car over the bridge, the opening credits still show until 02:29 where the music overlay stops too so we can begin to focus on the scene.
Within the first five minutes we are hooked as an audience into the film opening. Although we find out it is a dream, it has drawn the audience in, which allows us to conclude on what a great impact the opening sequence has onto the rest of the film which we await to watch.
Obsessed
Obsessed is a 2009 thriller directed by Steve Shill. We chose to research the opening of this because of the name. It is about a psychotic temp who stalks a successful businessman, and only the man’s equally psychotic wife can stop her. It is rated 15, was directed by Steve Shill, it was released by Screen Gems Pictures, which is owned by Sony Pictures.I think this film is aimed at adults as they can relate to the characters who are of this age.
Sound
It opens with a soundtrack with a beat that makes you feel optimistic, this subverts to a usual thriller opening. The soft vocals create a romantic atmosphere which links in to the couple we see, who we presume are in love. There is no dialogue and the music is played throughout until 2:34, this maintains the romantic atmosphere throughout the opening as dialogue would have interrupted this.
Mise-en-scene
The setting of a sunny day also subverts to a usual thriller. The credits appear whilst the scene is being played and there is a simple transition of a slow sliding motion to the left or right.
Shots
There is a one take where the camera tracks the characters movements until 1:06. There are a lot of two-shots so both of them are in the frame. High angle wide shot at 1:11. The slow tracking and eyeline shots of them looking at each other at about 1:35 suggests they are in love. Over-the-shoulder shot at 1:52. Low angle shot at 2:21.
Vertigo
It is directed by Alfred Hitchcock and distributed by Paramount Pictures. A detective investigates the strange activities of a woman, becoming increasingly obsessed with her.
Sound
The opening to Vertigo starts with an eerie, non-diagetic sound which creates immediate suspense and atmosphere. The sound is exaggerated for when the credits are shown. As the music's tempo turns up slightly, a spiralling effect is shown to elaborate the effect this has onto its audience. The title sequence continues throughout the first 3 minutes into the opening. The music then changes to a suspensefel, peculiar and rapid sound and sets us into the scene as we witness a man being chased on the roof top. A gunshot is heard, followed closely by another one which hooks the audience and has successfully grabbed our attention which is what all films should do in their opening scene.
Credits
The first credit is shown 9 seconds into the film opening, with an exaggerated sound every time that a new name appears. The writing is in big, bold capitals with a white border around each letter which unique and stands out to the viewer.
Shots
A lot of close ups and extreme ups are used from the beginning. An extreme close up of the face/mouth/eye conveys a deeper meaning as we can clearly see any expressions made. This shows emotion and the audience can interact with what is going on. We could use this in our own film opening.
Seven
I chose to analyse ‘Seven’, directed by David Fincher, because it is a very effective and popular thriller opening which grips the viewer. Unlike 'Obsessed' this opening immediately makes the viewer know that it is a thriller. Personally, I would say it is one of my favourite openings as it is so well put together and different creative elements are combined really well so there are many techniques that could be used to improve our opening such as the distortion and methods used to create a threatening atmosphere.
The plot consists of two police detectives investigating murders, presumably by a serial killer, which are related to the seven deadly sins - gluttony, greed, sloth, lust, pride, envy, wrath.It is distributed by New Line Cinema which is owned by Time Warner.The intended audience is adults as the rating is 18, most likely because there are grotesque murdering methods unsuitable for ages below.
Sound
From the beginning, the sound is very scratchy and distorted and there are wierd unrecognisable noises which all create a sense of mystery and bizarreness. A mixture of robotic and what sounds like squeaking is heard along with cranking. Eerie haunting noises are then heard. The beat increases in tempo at 1:12 and again at 1:34. As the song is finishing, the first and only lyrics we hear is "you got me closer to God".
Mise-en-scene
This opening begins with someone who is collecting information and cuttings and pictures of people. Pages of a book are being flipped. The rapid shifting of the position of the credits create a scratching effect which matches the same effect of the music playing, and the credits also sometimes brighten in colour then fade again. Credits appear both when the scene is playing and when there is just a black background, and they are not on a straight line to add to the disorientation. At 0:15 the character takes a razorblade and scrapes up skin off his finger, this immediately shocks and disgusts the viewer who wonders why they are doing that. Their fingers look cracked, blistered, dirty, and they are later bandaged which seems threatening. At 0:32 an effect is used to blurred the hand writing with a pen, so there is an illusion of too, this seems dizzying. Large scissors being used adds more threat. A pen is used to cross out a man's eyes in a picture and then completely scribble out his face, this seems demented and can be considered the actions of a wierdo. The word 'God' being cut out is connected with the lyrics "you got me closer to God" that is heard.
Shots
0:08 high angle shot of two hands. 0:10 onwards are extreme close ups of the person's hand doing various things but we hardly see what is happening, and point of view shots occur. 0:49 the silhouette of the hand and the pen emerging from behind the paper is rather ominous. There are cutaways from the action so the audience is unaware of what the character is actually doing. Thus mystery and threat is felt by us. The cutaways seem to get more rapid as the tempo speeds up.
The Number 23
This openly mainly consists of a lot of lists of the number '23' being shown, but the spattered blood also shown adds threat and is a convention of a thriller. This slow opening contrasts with the rapid-pace of the opening of 'Seven'. It is directed by Joel Schumacher and distributed by New Line Cinema.The plot is about an obsession with the number 23 by the main character.It is rated 15 as there is not much violence so teens and adults can be aimed at.
Music Video - Bow Wow ft. Chris Brown
We used the beginning of this music video as inspiration into what our film opening may look like, e.g:
- extreme close up of eyes to show emotion;
- black and white effect to represent the past and coloured for the present;
- he voice over of someone talking to symbolise a memory;
- scrunching or ripping of a note/photo to empasise emotion.
Conventions of a thriller:
Dark lighting/setting - Thriller films are usually set in mysterious settings that are usually unpredictable and enigmatic for example the motel where Marion stays the night in Psycho. She is not familiar with the location.
Eerie music - creates an intense atmosphere, gives us a sense of what the genre is, and builds up tension.
