This is our thriller

Shoot and editing

Over all the shooting went well but when we got to our location we found out that there wasn't as much light coming in through the small window and that the floor wasn't concrete so we couldn't write on it, so we got a piece of wood and hid it under the mud, it looked exactly like the floor so that was the first problem. We lit more candles so that the extra lighting didn't look artificial, and it worked the lighting looked natural.

                                       This is the room we filmed in(flash on the camera makes it look lighter)

                                                       These shots are from the day
We also realised that we couldn't shoot the snake eyes scene with the contacts in, in that location as our hands were mucky and it'll be dangerous to put contacts in your eyes with dirty hands so we went back to my house and filmed the scene there, yet getting the same light was difficult as my house has more light then the location did as we had candles set up so we found the darkest room and lit a candle so that it looked like the candle in the barn was reflecting on the actors face. The hardest part was definitely putting the contact lenses in as none of us had done it before but we got there in the end.

Editing


During editing we had to choose the best clips from all of the shoots because we had a lot of snake shots and a lot of different shots from the location. We decided to darken most of the snake shots so that they looked more natural and so that no background could be seen. We also darkened and added contrast to some shots. the main problem we realised was the shaking on some of the shots from the location, we stabilized each shot as much as possible yet there was still shakiness.

Snakes

Reptile Mania in whittlesey is where we got our shots of snakes from, at first we got shots of a smaller snake, yet after a while we noticed we needed something bigger and scarier so we asked if we could get the python out. the python was 8 foot long and we got perfect shots of its body and face, with its tongue flickering and it moving.

The problem with working with animals is that you can't tell them what to do, so it was difficult following the motion of them and making it look natural. The smaller snakes were moving too fast to get good shots or would change direction or go out of the shot completely. The bigger snake was easier to work with because it wouldn't change direction and was quiet interested in our equipment, so we got some good close up pictures of the snake.

Props

 These are the props we will use are candles, chalk and the actor will be wearing a cloak to give it a sense of mystery. For our titles we decided it would be good to do them in chalk as it fits in with the whole theme, and the candle light will make good lighting for our thriller.

we chose this place as it has a sense of creepiness that we wanted in our thriller. It also has plenty of space to film in and different sections which could be used. It is abandoned and over grown so it has the perfect feel to it and no permission will be needed to film in there.

Story Board

This is our story board for our thriller opening.

As there is no speech in our thriller opening we didn't do a script for it.

No Country For Old Men analysis

No country for old men begins with an opening sequence of vast landscapes, just straight on, establishing long shots. The landscapes are just plain and desert looking , with isolation the first thing coming to mind as you cannot see anything or anyone else then these vast landscapes. The place where these shots are based are somewhere like Texas in America. The land looks exhausted and the voice that is the only sound that is heard, is reflecting this. The person speaking over the top is speaking in a monotone american voice, talking about another man, this makes the audience question who the person is speaking about and who they are giving a sense of mystery to the start, yet in a different way to typical thrillers. The shots show time passing, yet everything stays the same and it all just connotates no life and despair to the audience. It also shows the audience the scale of where this movie is taking place, which is yet again giving off a sense of isolation.

Shot two. This is a long shot of the man being led to the police car by the policeman. This shot confuses the audience as from the vast landscapes it just pans onto this shot. It is a shot from behind and uses the rule of thirds as the man and policeman are the along the centre of one line and the vast spaces and road is the centre of the other line. This makes the audience focus on the mysterious man being escorted to the police car and the emptiness to their side. The outfit the police man is wearing looks like a sheriffs outfit and the car looks old, therefore giving clues that maybe this was set quiet a while ago. The amount of shadows present give off a sense of mystery as we also cannot tell who the man is, as he's blacked out.

Shot 3. This is a medium shot just above eye level. We can see the shadowed figure in the back of the police car, the fact that he's shadowed could be connotating the sense of evil or danger, whilst when the "sheriff" gets in the car he's lit up. so a sense of good and evil are present. Not only does the shadowing of the criminal give a sense of evil but also a sense of mystery and suspense as the audience are waiting to find out who this man is. Yet again there is no story, leaving the audience confused, or any sound except the diegetic sound that's already present.

Shot 4. Shot four is a close up of the detective speaking on the phone which zooms out to show what will happen. At this stage the audience finds out a little more of the story, of how the criminal has a weapon and this is backed up when the criminal attacks the sheriff. The full focus is on the sheriff whilst the criminal is out of focus, yet again hiding the identity of the criminal, leaving the audience in suspense. The fact that the attack is unexpected makes the audience uneasy, and how the killer sneaks up on the sheriff whilst he's oblivious, yet the audience can see what is going to happen, giving the sheriff a sense of naivety and vulnerability.

Shot 5. This shot is a birds eye view long shot of the killing taking place. Yet again the sense of good and evil are present with the killer shadowed, and the sheriff lit up. The main focus of this shot is to show the struggle that happens and the calm and concentration in the killers face and body, like he's determined not to let the sheriff live, the saying " like a lamb to the slaughter" come to mind when looking at this scene as everything was so unexpected. There is no noise except the sheriffs shoes against the floor, really adding to the sense of the struggle.