Thriller - Shooting Day

Group: Paula Riemann, Holly Finlay, Emily Benson Rhodes, Mehran Karimi
Cast: Helena, Ted Jackson
Locations: Cornhill Manor, Ewhurst Place, Staff Rest Room

 

Before we started filming, we organized the set, got our actress ready and arranged all the props. Holly went to the costume departement a few days before and got a red dress and black high heels. She also took her fur coath and a red bag. We tried to make Helena look as sexy and cold as possible, as she is supposed to be the gold-digging, icey Step-mother. I was in charge of the photography, as we needed pictures of Helena and Ted Jackson, looking like a couple. We put the pictures up in the whole house and later shot a few close-ups of them in order to give the viewer an idea of what is going on and who this woman is. Paula took the main role in getting Helena ready for the shoot. She did the hair and helped her with the make-up. Emily brought a lot of hygiene products with her which we needed for the shower scene we shot later in the day.

The day began in the studio were we checked if we had all our props and went trough our storyboard one more time. Soon we were already on the bus to Cornhill were one of the main difficulties immediately took place. The kitchen of the family was obviously used by a family consisting of parents AND children. In our original concept, the couple was supposed to be living on their own, without children, showing how selfish and cold the protagonist is. We improvised and changed her character to the cold,sexy and gold-digging step mother, which is made visual to the audience by her being very annoyed at things the children do. At first we were slightly annoyed that we couldn't stick with out original idea,but as the shoot went on we learned to embrace all the good things that came with the new idea. Apart from the very big change in the storyline, we changed a lot of small things aswell. Most importantly the ending. Originally we intended the burglar to be visible in the end. Luckily we changed that and only showed an over the shoulder shot plus the protagonists face in fear. If we would have shown the burglar at the end it would not have seemed right. You're not supposed to introduce the killer that early in the movie. We realized that we are shooting an OPENING SEQUENCE, not a short movie. The final product is supposed to slowly dive into the plot, not reveal everything there is to it.

One of the highlights of the day were Helena's acting skills. We casted her mainly due to visual reasons. She looked how we wanted the character to look. Surprisingly, her acting was superb. We thought that her italian accent was going to be difficult to convince the audience but it made the image of the cold stepmother even more convincing. All of us agreed that our casting choice was perfect. The fact that Helena looks older than people her age but still not old enough was perfect. She was the perfect rebound woman for "Teddy".  She was very professional and just

 

All four of us are very creative people, all of us in different and their own ways. At first our opinions how to do a certain job clashed but we succesfuly managed to incorporate everyones ideas. We dealt with the situation in a mature way and decided as a group trough votes, which idea we would take.

                                                    

                                      

Thriller - Shot List

The complete list:

1. Establishing shot of house, then we see car pull up.

2. Close up Shot of her shoe sliding out of the car.

3. Close up tracking shot, close up of her shoes walking up to the door.

4. Medium close up of her side, unlocking the door.

5. Close up of hand unlocking the door. Door opens.

6. Close up of bag and keys onto work surface.

7. Tracking shot of family pictures.

8. Close up of hands turning shower on

9. Wide shot of shower filling up with steam

10. Medium shot of phone ringing.

11. Focused on phone, we see her approach the phone.

12. Background mid shot of her on the phone. (dialogue)

13. High angle shot of dogs barking. POV

14. Medium shot, her reaction, confused, shadow in the background.

15. High angle shot of dogs barking. POV

16. Medium shot, of her on the phone shadow gone.(Dialogue)

17. Wide shot of her entering another room (muffled sound of dogs barking)

18. Medium close up of her on the phone (realises its her husband)

19. Extreme close up of phone falling out of her hand.

20. Match on action shot, floor close up of phone. Phone falls into frame.

21. Her reaction shot, medium close up.

22. Over the shoulder shot of the killer, facing womans back. She turns and gasps.

Thriller - Prop List

 To create the perfect atmosphere for our Thriller, we had to think about and organize our props in advantage. Here is a list of them. 

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Locations

The houses we choose for our characters home, are Ewhurst Place and Cornhill Manor. We used to oustide facade of Ewhurst as it is big, has a beautiful balcony and along the fancy cars parked out side signifies a lot of money. For the interior, we choose the kitchen of Cornhill Manor, which is a really luxrious one, again signifying the financial capability of the couple.

The Establishing shot of our opening sequence is a panning shot of Ewhurst Place, and a Ferrari 599 stopping at the house, followed by our main character getting out of the car.

Costume

This is where the costume of Helena comes into play. Holly organized a red dress, black high heels, a massive wedding ring, a red bag and a expensive looking fur coat. Helena plays the role of the cold but sexy step-mother which we tried to highlight in her dress choice.

Items

The fact that she drives a Ferrari 599, which Holly's dad kindly provided us with, again establishes her as an independent woman who is able to take care of herself. And she's gold-digging.

The other props were expensive hygiene products, Emily provided us with.  I was in charge of the photography so I had a photo shoot with Helena and Ted, making them look like a couple. Paula provided frames, the pictures would then be spread around the house.

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The Team

DIRECTOR - HOLLY FINLAY
PRODUCER - PAULA RIEMANN
CINEMATOGRAPHER - MEHRAN KARIMI
SOUND ENGINEER - EMILY BENSON RHODES

Thriller - The Script

The Script for our Thriller "The Hostage":

‘THE HOSTAGE’ – “Always lock your doors.”

January 17^th 2011

Woman enters house

(Sound of door closing)

Woman in bathroom

(door slam)

Woman – (wiping her face in the mirror) “Hugo, is that you? I’m in the bathroom…”

Phone rings

Woman – “Hello … (dogs barking) ah bloody dogs, hold on …”

Woman enters the next room. Husband on the phone.

Woman – “Sorry … Hello?”

Husband – “Hi sweetheart its me, Im gonna be late Im stuck on the M25 and ..”

Woman – “Wait, (confused) … Didn’t you just …? Who’s in the house …”

(phone drops)

Husband – “What are you talking about, Zara, whats wrong? Hello .. Hello?”

Woman – (under her breath) “Oh my god …” turns.

Thriller - Storyboards

Thriller - Final Idea

After several different Ideas, our group eventually decided to go for the idea of a woman being trapped in her own house with a stranger lurking around. The story resolves around a rather wealthy couple, the husband being much older than the wife, as she is supposed to be the typical gold-digging social climber.  Due to her husbands wealth and financial situation, the house should more fittingly be described as a mansion or a castle, with expensive looking furniture. The atmosphere is quite grim and klaustrophobic and forces the woman to fight for her life.

Analysis - Opening Sequence of a Thriller



We looked at different opening sequences from thrillers and horror movies, establishing how Mise En Scene, Sound, Camerawork and Editing make a Thriller a Thriller.

- Dark Sky, Not a lot of colours onscreen
- Rotten Boat
- Ciagrettes
- DiCaprio's character mention the Death of his wife which is underlined by weird music, indicating that this 
  will play an important part in the movie
- Creepy Crazy People encounter