Planning: Film Storyboard

Note: This blog would not allow me to upload the scanned images of the sheets that were in in Microsoft Word, so these images are taken from photos of the sheets leading to a decrease in quality.

Planning: Location for Film

Ideally I would have liked a laboratory, but this was not possible, so this computer room at a local school is what I chose. As you can see it has a large amount of technology in it, which is heavily realted to science, so the actors can appear to be working. There is also a space where they can stand up at address each other. I will try to minimise dirtect shots of the wall on the left as it contains work form the school that would look out of place at close inspection.


This corridor will be where the janitor will be sweeping when he overhears the conversation. The door at the far end on the left of the shot has glass windows at it's centre which will be perfect for the character to look through to spy on the scientists. The long corridor also is a means to show him escaping after he is discovered.

Planning: Props

• 2 laboratory coats
• 1 pair of glasses
• computers
• a broom
• cleaning trolley
• wallet

Planning: Casting

In order for me to organise this fairly easily, I will use actors that I am familiar with and are therefore around my age. I know people who attend drama lessons and I am going to attempt to use them in my film. The main character for the opening part of the film will be a male and I will need two extra actors to play the scientists, those would preferably be one male and one female, but it does not matter if they are both male either.

Planning: Plot Details

My Thriller movie will be a hybrid of a conspiracy thriller and a medical thriller. The main idea of the plot is that a young man overhears heads of a pharmaceutical company discussing the possible dangerous implications of a new drug they are testing. He is spotted whilst doing so and leaves the building in a hurry, forgetting his wallet. The pharmaceutical company then uses it to track him down and test the new drug on him unwillingly to see if it is indeed dangerous. It is slipped into his food at a restaurant while he is with his girlfriend. He then suffers adverse side effects later and becomes dramatically ill on the way home where he is abducted by scientists and stuffed into a truck. It is then the girlfriend's quest to find her boyfriend and uncover the circumstances surrounding his illness.

I do not intend to film all of these scenes, but this gives adequate background information on the plot.

Research: Suspense

One of the main components in creating a compelling Thriller film is the correct execution of suspense. Through this, the audience becomes more intrigued in the film and finds it easier to feel more involved with the storyline as they can feel some of the same emotions as the characters are feeling.

The most relevant definiton found on Dictionary.com was this:

1. a state or condition of mental uncertainty or excitement, as in awaiting a decision or outcome, usually accompanied by a degree of apprehension or anxiety.

I feel that although there is an element of excitement in awaiting the outcome for the audience, the general feeling for them is apprehension or anxiety if suspense is pulled off well during a film.
It is my aim to create suspense during the opening of my film.

Research: Definition of Thriller

The best definition I could find of the Thriller genre was this:

'Thriller is a genre of fiction in which tough, resourceful, but essentially ordinary heroes are pitted against villains determined to destroy them, their country, or the stability of the free world. Part of the allure of thrillers comes from not only what their stories are about, but also how they are told. High stakes, non-stop action, plot twists that both surprise and excite, settings that are both vibrant and exotic, and an intense pace that never lets up until the adrenalin packed climax.'

I agree with this definition because I feel it encompasses the main aspects of the genre, namely the importance of a plot that makes the audience have to think and which intrigues and surprises them, and the build up of tension throughout the film. The ability of film to draw the audience into the world of the Thriller through the settings and the ability to relate to the main charcter/s is also essential.

Research - How a movie from the Thriller genre creates a distinguished opening sequence

The movie I am analysing the opening scene of is the 1993 film Cliffhanger. The film opens with a scene of two climbers perched on the side of a mountain, it is connoted that they are in need of rescue from the fact that one of them has a flare in his hand. This scene immidiately establishes a connection between it and the title of the film. A variety of extrme long shots, 360 degree shots, and bird's eye shots are used to highlight the scale and height of the surrounding mountains, connoting a vulnerability of the climbers stranded there.

The main protagonist is also immidiately established as Gabe (played by Sylvester Stallone) through his involvement in climbing the mountain to rescue them, upbeat non-diegetic soundtrack is also used as he's climbing to show he is confident in climbing and is there to 'save the day'. When he reaches the perch where the fellow climbers are, low angle shots are used on Gabe to show he is the one in control, whilst high angle shots are used on the other two to show they are not. Gabe's confident, jokey nature also makes him a likeable character to the viewer.

When they are waiting for the helicopter to set up a rescue line, there is a relaxed, light-hearted nature among the trio which makes the sudden change to a life threatening situation even more tense for the viewer. As the helicopter sets up the rescue line, forboding non-diegetic soundtrack briefly plays, hinting at something possibly going wrong. As the female character crosses the line, high angle shots are used to show that she is not in control and unconfident. Extreme close ups of her harness breaking and reaction shots are used to highlight her sudden terror at the situation unfolding. The non-diegetic soundtrack immidaiately changes to high-tempo, suspenseful music to fit in with the characters terror. As Gabe is attempting to pull her up, reaction shots of extreme close ups of both their faces clearly detail the emotions they are experiencing and the desperation of the situation.

The sudden death of what appears to be a significant character immidiately establishes the genre as a Thriller and also intrigues the audience as it hints to more twists and possible deaths in the plot to come. The themes of the plot are also made fairly obvious to the viewer, such as fear, guilt, suspense, and trauma.

Research on Thriller Genre

An article on the website suite101.com breaks the thriller genre down in to 12 different sub-genres. I have then wrote a small paragraph to briefly explain the sub-genre with an example of a film that would fit into it:

Action Thriller - action and excitement is the main focus of the narrative, but elements such as mystery and crime can also be heavily involved. Example: Die Hard (1988)

Conspiracy Thriller - The protagonist must uncover/prove a truth in order to avert looming danger. Example: The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

Crime Thriller - these films centre around the consequences of a successful or failed attempt at a crime for the authorites and/or the criminals. Example: No Country for Old Men (2007)

Disaster Thriller - these films concentrate on the events surrounding a man-made or natural disaster and the effects on the people involved. Example: The Day After Tommorrw (2004)

Erotic Thriller - a thriller which encompasses some sort of sexual theme. Example: Basic Instinct (1992)

Legal Thrillers - thriller's that involve some sort of legal case where there are greater risks for the people involved. Example: A Few Good Men (1992)

Medical Thriller - a medical proffessional must find a cure for a frightening medical problem. Example: Awake (2007)

Political Thriller - the protagonist must fight for the stability of government against those who wish to benefit from it. Example: The Crying Game (1992)

Psychological Thriller - thrillers that play with the theme of the characters mind and where the action is usualy driven through the characters. Suspense is used widely. Example: A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Religious Thriller - based on religious teachings or customs, are usually controversial with how they portray the subject. Example: The Da Vinci Code (2006)

Spy Thriller - the protagonist is a government agent who must thwart a rival organisation. The theme of deception is prominent. Example: The Bourne Identity (2002)

Supernatural Thrillers - are similar to horror films, but incorporate less violence. Paranormal forces are the main subject of the film. Example: Carrie (1976)

Ofcourse all of these genres can overlap each other in films. The depth of the thriller genre gives me a lot to work with in my film.

Planning: Genre for my film

I have decided that the genre of my short film will be the thriller genre. I have made this decision because the thriller genre can encompass aspects of many other genres, such as romance or horror. This will allow me more options with the way I shoot the film and the script also. Thrillers also regularly employ the use of devices such as cliffhangers and suspense, which as I am only shooting the opening of the film, gives me a lot of possibilites to make the clip interesting for the viewer.

Reflection on continuity exercise

Through the process of making the video, I found out that continuity editing is the process of editing together seperate shots so that they have a logical coherence to them to allow the viewer to relate more to the action taking place. I also know now that various media techniques are used to create this sense of continuity such as the 180 Degree Rule and the use of shot/reverse shot.

The next time I use continuity editing techniques, I will think more about how I could edit the footage together before I actually shoot it. This way I will not find myself with difficulty editing the clips together because there are obvious differences between the shots.

A thing that I could have improved my video with is to not include a zoom in the shot, as this does not fit in with the continuity theme. On another note I could think more about the lighting in the shots to improve the clarity of the film.

Preliminary: Shot/Reverse Shot and Video

Shot/reverse shot is a technique used in film where a shot of one character looking at another is followed by the other character looking back towards the first character. In these shots, the 'other' character may be off-screen, but the viewer gets the impression from these shots that the two characters are looking at one another.
The use of these shots is to create a sense of continuous action for the viewer so that the shot sequences seem logical to them in terms of the plot.

180 Degree Rule Presentation and Video

This is my presentation detailing the 180 Degree Rule for Media Studies along with my video of a short film where the rule is broken.

The 180° Rule

View more presentations from ThomasSibbald.