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- 2. Video Brief 7: opening sequence from a new thriller with storyboard : Firewall I worked with Marcus Allan & Alasdair Gibson. We made a thriller film opening entitled Firewall. The genre of our film is a hybrid of thriller and spy. I took specific responsibility for the majority of the editing, e.g. the many switches between the kidnap victim in the garden & Arthur on the laptop. I was also responsible for almost all the directing, such as the handheld camera effects during Arthur’s son’s kidnapping. I also wrote up the treatment I was the cameraman for the opening of Firewall.
- 3. Research into similar films We conducted intensive research into both TV and cinema thrillers. Taken (Pierre Morel 2008) A great inspiration for writing our treatment for ‘Firewall’. It gave me the idea of danger in a seemingly safe place such as when in ‘Taken’ the girl is kidnapped in her hotel and in our film ‘Firewall’ where Arthur’s son is kidnapped in his garden. Unknown (Jaume Collet-Serra 2011) In ‘Unknown’ there is great suspense, mystery and enigma. This is similar to ‘Firewall’ as there is mystery in relation to the identity of the person who is hacking Arthur’s computer. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher 2011) The opening extreme close up of the man opening the parcel showed the parcel’s significance and created tension, suspense and enigma. This gave me the idea to use an extreme close up on the briefcase in ‘Firewall’. The silence at the start adds lots of enigma and puts emphasis on the opening of the parcel. Inception (Christopher Nolan 2010) In inception the viewer is tense due to the fact that there is so much suspense as the viewer does not fully know what is happening and there is an air of mystery throughout the film.
- 4. Research into film openings Before I begun to create my film opening I decided that it would be a good idea to research other film openings. I did this by watching film openings on ‘the art of the title’ and then evaluate them. 300 (Zack Snyder 2006) Iron Man (Jon Favreau) 2008) Lord Of War (Andrew Niccol 2005) Casino Royale (Martin Campbell 2006)
- 5. Our Target Audience Audience profile: our target audience is likely to be both genders aged between 15 and 35. They are likely to have seen these films recently: The girl with the dragon tattoo (David Fincher 2011), Inception, (Christopher Nolan 2010) The dark knight (Christopher Nolan 2008) and Taken (Pierre Morel 2008). They are likely to go to the cinema once or twice a month as well as see films on DVD and downloads on their computers Audience figures show how popular the thriller genre is. Box office returns for films similar to mine show the following figures (source Box Office Mojo): ‘Shutter Island’ ($294,803,014)
- 6. The forms and conventions used in our film Opening: The opening of our film immediately portrays the film’s realism in this crime drama as a boy who is apparently safe in his own garden is shown to be in danger and the viewer immediately senses that he is not safe due to the POV shots from behind the bushes. The sense of danger is confirmed when the cyber threat is shown through the POV shot of his father in his house. Titles: Our titles were shown in easily readable places such as in front of the black briefcase. This makes them stand out and easy to read. Mise-en-scene: The shots of the boy in the garden were given great effect by being filmed from behind branches and leaves. It makes the viewer feel that they themselves are spying on him and really adds a sense of fear and danger. Also, the laptop scenes add great realism to the film and give it a lot of very similitude. These also add fear and danger as the threats are very severe. Finally enigma is added too as the viewer does not know who the person typing the messages is. Costumes: The boy just wore jeans and a polo shirt as that is what the average chid relaxing in his garden is likely to wear. We gave him an iPod as it shows how oblivious he is to the threat of danger. Arthur wore a suit and a smart jacket. This immediately shows the viewer that he is some sort of businessman. SFX:. The choice of having no spoken dialogue came from the aim to create as much suspense as possible. We also added the sound of insects at the start to give the false impression that the boy is safe in his garden.
- 7. Forms and conventions (continued) Sound: We choose to use only music and the sound of insects. This is because having the same piece of music throughout gave the opening lots of fluidity and the sound of insects at the very start gives the false impression that the boy is safe in his garden. We choose not to include any spoken dialogue to add as much suspense as possible. Music: We used the same piece of music throughout as it gave the opening lots of fluidity. Atmosphere: We created two different atmospheres. Firstly the boy seems very safe in his garden. However, the viewer then begins to realise that he is not as we are shown point of of people watching him from behind bushes. The sense of danger is increased when his father starts to receive cyber threats on his laptop. Suspense and Enigma: We created great suspense by not ever showing the kidnapers or the person who is typing the cyber threats. This leaves the viewer wondering who these people are, what do they want and why. The point of view shots from behind the bushes show great anger and give lots of enigma.
- 8. Audience feedback We put our video on YouTube and asked people to watch and comment on it:
- 9. How successful our project is as a film opening Our project turned out to be hugely successful as it contains all of the ingredients needed to create a successful thriller. These ingredients included suspense, enigma a danger and tension. We gave the audience enough information to follow and understand the story but kept enough secret from them to leave them asking questions as to who the villains are and what are their motives. The comments we received from putting it on You Tube proved this as the comments were all of praise and saying how much tension and suspense we managed to build. Another area of great success was the use of the laptop screen. Without this our opening would not have been able to make. This was once again proved by the comments we received on You Tube as many of them stated how it added tension and conveyed the story line well.
- 10. How successfully the whole project answered the brief I feel that ‘Firewall’ has answered every question that the brief asked of it. It has great tension and enigma, many different camera angles, an easy plot to follow, fantastic special effects in the laptop scenes and good music and sound effects. All this results in ‘Firewall’ being a fantastic thriller opening as the audience is left gripped and wondering what is going to happen, who the kidnappers are and what they want. Not only that but it is so different to every other film due to fantastic special effects used in the laptop scenes which convey massive amounts of tension and danger and also moves the story forward.