Adam Bailey

Unburied evaluation

When creating an opening scene to a thriller movie a great number of considerations and research needs to be done to make sure the genre is accomplish suitably. From my previous continuity exercise I had gathered an idea on what it takes to make a short scene for a movie, however it needed to be more polished and authentic.

To begin with our group began by pitching ideas for thriller opening ideas. After much consideration and lots of ideas we had a storyline set. The next step was drawing up a story board and writing a script. Again this took a while to complete as group discussions of shots and cuts had to be determined. Once a complete story board was drawn up and a script written, contemplations on non-diagetic sounds and music were debated for the editing to make the opening feel more like a thriller.

As are thriller idea was based in an abandoned house we needed to find a perfect location that not only had a thriller looking exterior but also a broken down inertia. This wasn’t easy to find so to compromise we used a different house for the establishing shot but edited the shots to make the establishing house look like the house we shot the rest in. In addition for the scene where the main character is searching for his girl friend had to have a wood like natural environment to juxtapose the broken down uneasy house.

When filming lighting was a huge key. Originally we had planned to keep the lighting behind the scenes, however once the filming began we realised it would look more authentic to have the lights in the shots as the house was broken down and was having work done on it (the audience can see this from the tarpaulin and work men lights.) this also worked well in our favour as because the lights were behind the characters during the tense scenes it made the characters look more silhouetted in the frame.

From research into other thriller films it seemed repetition of shots in different contexts seemed to be popular in the genre. We incorporated this in the shot of the boy walking up the stairs looking for his sister. This was shot the same as where the drugged girl is being led upstairs by a potential rapist. In addition the shot where the three arsonists break into the house reflects the shot of the boy breaking into the house looking for his girl friend.

After all the shots were filmed they were put onto a computer for editing. Here the non-diagetic sounds and music were added and all the shots were cut and placed together. A lot of shots that were filmed didn't end up being put into to finished piece however we tried to shoot every shot more than once to make sure we got everything we needed. As well as this the lighting was edited to make it more low key and thriller like. When choosing the music to put into the scene we had to make sure it not only kept but added to the feeling of fear and uneasiness. We ended up using the prodigies "Spit fire" for the party scene as it had a good party like rhythm but also is a song that gives off a vibe of anxiety. However for the rest of the picture we decided to use more orchestral music; pianos and strings. But to keep to the thriller genre all music that was used was in a minor key and had a low slow droning rhythm.

Overall the outcome of the opening scene turned out better than I could of hoped. From following the story board and plans for music and lighting the finished sequence conformed to the thriller genre and I am very happy with finished result.