Thriller Pitch

Sound

The soundtrack I will use comes from the Royalty Free music site FMA. There are over 6000 pieces of music of tracks on this site. I modified the track in Final Cut Pro, altering the pitch and slowing it down.

Thriller Pitch

Thriller by Kareemtamam

Why 'Water's Edge" ?

The title of a thriller is very important as it is one of the first things that the audience use to judge whether or not they want to see your movie. I initially thought "Lake Sang", but that was a bit cheesey. I then thought to myself that if I was to make this film with Hollywood Blockbuster kind of money, I would name it after the lake where the murder takes place. However, my lake was called Ruislip Lido Family Park, which doesn't really scream thriller at you! The inspiration for the thriller title actually came whilst scouting for locations. When I went in person to check out Ruislip Lido, I realised the location would be perfect to film. After a long day's scouting I was hungry, so I went to grab a bite to eat at the restaurant. Below is that very restaurant.

The name of the place was WATER'S EDGE. The name immediately sounded like a possible title for a thriller and upon asking people what they thought of the name, I decided to use it. The word "Edge" has dark connotations and of course water is a lynchpin in my murderer's modus operandi so the name seemed to work on several levels.

Costume + Wardobe

My Main character will wear a plain black suit, to suggest he is a young professional working in the corporate world. He will wear plain black shoes to accompany this.

















My main character will change into the outfit on the left, when committing the murder. The choice of the camouflage hoodie and dark coloured clothes is deliberate because it blends in with his surroundings, when committing the murder.






















My victim will wear clothes that are typical of a young girl- a skirt, a top, tights and simple trainers. This all stereotypically what a girl aged 8-12 might wear.







I have decided to keep wardrobe simple for both characters.

Shot List

Filming Locations

When scouting locations for my thriller video, I adopted the same method as in my preliminary. I used Google Maps and Street View and pictures of train stations on Google images to decide what station would be best to use. The hardest thing to find was a lake or river or reservoir to film by, because my narrative required a murderer to dump a body in water. I looked at satellite imagery of Harrow and surrounding areas to find the nearest reservoir and this is what I found:

This is what I saw. I started zooming in on the various masses of water and did a little research on them. I eventually agreed that Ruislip Lido would be the ideal place.

As you can see, Ruislip Lido is home to a huge man made reservoir and is surrounded by acres and acres of forestry making the location ideal for the shoot. It would be quiet, eerie and the place that one might actually go to dump a body.










I also knew some of the places I wanted to film, like Canary Wharf station. However, what I did not know was where to film in Canary Wharf station. So I used Google and had a look at the images that came up when you googled 'canary wharf station' to see if there was anything iconic about it, whether there was a specific part of it that really screamed CANARY WHARF! This is what the google search returned;

One picture that came up several times as you can see was the dome like structure with the giant escalators. It was for this reason that I decided to include the shot below in my thriller.

Filming Underwater

For my thriller, I wanted a shot of my victim underwater. The purpose of the shot is to make the thriller opening more exciting with a variety of shots and to show my victim lifeless underwater. However, filming underwater at the actual location (as shown on left) was impractical for several reasons. Firstly, the water was extremely cold meaning myself and the actor wouldn't be able to stay in there for long. Also, the lighting underwater because it is so murky, is very poor. This meant that the footage would be terrible and the lighting would be too low for the NIKON D3200 to record high quality film. The solution was to film in a tank/swimming pool where lighting is far better and alter the shot in post-production to make it look it actually happened in the murky lake.





For the underwater footage, organisation was important. Many local swimming pools said no! The main reason for this was because, filming isn't generally permitted in public pools. Also, a lot of pools have stringent policies on entering the pool with non-swimwear clothing. I rang up a large number of swimming pools, utilising Google to find local pools.












Literally all the pools in Harrow, of which there aren't many, said no to the filming.

I decided to extend my search to Brent and eventually found a place that were willing to allow the filming as long as it was after hours. The place is VALE FARM SPORTS CENTRE. I filmed at 10pm and got a variety of shots using the GOPRO HD BLACK EDITION.

A problem with filming was actually trying to swim underwater, whilst keeping the camera stable under the victim. The camera itself is designed to float as a safety precaution incase it is dropped underwater, which meant I couldn't leave the camera on the swimming pool floor. I managed to get the shot in the end, so it all worked out, but it wasn't the easiest shot to film.

Time Lapse Preparation + Filming

The time lapse in my thriller is one of the integral shots in terms of ensuring fluidity and facilitating the plot. I wanted to literally get as high as possible for the time lapse and considered actually getting arial footage initially. The problem with helicopter tours is availability. The next best thing in my opinion, was London's tallest building, THE SHARD, which is where I went. 

My thinking was that due to the The Shard's height of 1000ft, it would be ideal for obtaining the footage above London that would signal a day has passed to the audience. However, a few unexpected problems arose on the day. Despite actually ringing the 'View at the Shard' and asking them with all the rules to filming and being told that I was allowed a camera and a tripod, on the day the tripod was confiscated from me. 

Filming a time lapse without a tripod is like trying to eat soup without a spoon- not very easy! I persevered by actually placing the camera on the floor by the floor to ceiling windows at the Shard as seen on the right. It was very awkward to try and position it and adjust the focal length so that the reflection behind the glass is not visible. 

 This is the view from the Shard and this photo was taken with my iPhone so hence my reflection is visible. However, this view was ideal because it overlooked Canary Wharf which is where my main character is from. It also shows the River Thames and London Bridge which is iconic to London, firmly placing the setting of my thriller in London.

As time progresses the city gets darker and more lights come on showing that day has ended.

THRILLER PRELIMINARY- Reservoir Dogs Recreation

This is the Preliminary and below is everything prior to being able to create this recreation of the opening to Reservoir Dogs.






Planning Stage:

The very first thing I had to do in order to recreate the opening to Quentin Tarentino's legendary film is actually watch it. Upon watching it several times, I noted the types of shots I would have to execute, the amount of actors I would require, type of locations  and every other little detail. This is what I came up with.

Actors

The opening sequence of Reservoir Dogs has a total of 8 actors in it and six of them are dressed in sharp black suits. The other two are wearing different clothing; Chris Penn is wearing a retro style American jacket  and the other is wearing a black shirt without a blazer. So immediately I had to start gathering the actors because I knew this would logistically be very hard given the short time frame.

Filming Locations:

Finding the right location for each shot replication was paramount. The majority of the opening revolves around a tall brick wall. This was hardest to find. Rather than physically go scouting with the crew around Harrow to find a suitable wall, I utilised Google Maps's street view with a little local knowledge and after about ten minutes of digitally surfing the streets of Harrow I came across this.

I decided this would be ideal as the road itself was quiet and was wide enough to get the tracking shot.

Also I had intended to use a place I knew near Harrow Bus Station for the last scene of the opening but whilst actually filming, I stumbled upon what I saw as a better location so decided to film there instead.

Storyboard: 

Storyboarding was integral for this task to ensure perfect execution because it was a recreation task and so I storyboarded the entire opening of Reservoir Dogs by taking screen grabs from Youtube of every shot of which they are a total of 11.

Props:

Props was important in making our recreation as close as possible to the actual thing. After going through the opening sequence countless times, I concluded I would need cigarettes, cigars and toothpicks and a gold chain worn by Chris Penn.

Equipment:

We ended up using two DSLR cameras; a sony and one NikonD3200, a tripod, a H1 Zoom (for the voiceover), an iPad and a car (Range Rover).

Execution/Filming Stage:

Filming this wasn't as easy as I had envisaged and I faced a number of last-minute problems. As I already mentioned the original had a total of eight actors but due to last minutes personal affairs, two actors who had agreed to be in the prelim pulled out on the morning and I took the decision to do it anyway, as I had six actors there all suited and booted and rescheduling wasn't feasible due to weather and limited time. I had to compromise and anyway, the show must always go on. We also didn't film the shots in the order they appear on screen but from most time consuming to the least time consuming. Furthermore, to the shoot I took an iPad with a downloaded copy of the opening of Reservoir Dogs which enabled me to watch the opening over and over and ensure things like framing was right and also as a guide to the actors.

Tracking Shot:

This was definitely the hardest shot to film. When you have a limited range of equipment (camera and tripod) getting a tracking shot is difficult. I decided to do the tracking shot using a  car and what better than a Range Rover. RangeRover has dynamic stability control and you can adjust the suspension so that it absorbs all bumps in the road ensuring an extra smooth ride thus an extra smooth tracking shot. To the top is the tracking shot that was later edited and features in the video. I used the Nikon D3200 as the resolution is high and stuck it out the front window of the car as it was driven along alongside the actors.

Character Shots:


To get the shots where every member of the Reservoir Dogs team is introduced we used a stationary camera set up by the wall on a fully extended tripod as seen on the left. Then I made sure the actors were in their right positions respectively after they were all given their roles. They then walked up to the camera which i later slowed down in the editing.

Cafe Scene:

The Caf é scene was probably the most disorganised part of our filming. We had booked a cafe before hand but had not been round to see it. Upon arrival at the Caf é we realised it wasn't really ideal for replicating the first scene. We were fortunate enough to come across a cafe owner who was more than willing to let us film in his cafe and we ended up doing so.

Walk Away Scene:

The scene where all members walk towards the main road was easy to film. I mean this in terms of framing and actual capture. What wasn't easy was finding the right location. In the real thing they are a fair distance away but we simply couldn't get that distance due to location practicality. We compromised by placing the camera as far back as possible and using an 18mm, so very wide frame.


Editing/Finalising Stage:

The editing stage was really the moment when we were able to really review all the footage and realise all the mistakes we had made. It was edited on Final Cut Express. the most notable but was due to the street being a one way road -something we hadn't expected- we had teh actors entering the frame from the left and not the right. We solved this by flipping the frame which using Final Cut's "flop" function. We also rotated the image anti-clockwise slightly so they appeared to be walking downhill. The only effect I applied was at the end of the prelim where I darkened the frame so the title would be better visible. I used a H1 zoom in a confined space to record the voiceover so there was o ambient sounds as the microphone is very sensitive. I googled the font that was used in the original so that I could get the font exactly the same.

Problems that occurred:

As I already mentioned we had a number of issues. The most prominent problem was the lack of actors. Having the extra two actors would of resulted in not having to use actors more than once to fill spaces and a smoother finish. Finding the music wasn't as easy as I had imagined it would be. However, after searching YouTube we found a version of the sound track and changed the pitch of it so it sounded more like the original and converted it to MP3.


EVALUATION:

At the end of every task where I have a finished product to show, I ask myself the same question: Am I happy with it? On the whole I am relatively pleased with the end result but nothing short of perfection is nothing worth boasting about. If I could redo the whole thing I could make it considerably better. One thing I would definitely do differently is ensure the background is out of focus for the character close ups and also have a camera on wheels so I can move back as the actors move forward so they don't come too close to frame. I would also ensure I have the full amount of actors necessary and film in better locations.


What I've learned?

What this preliminary has taught me is priceless. I made many mistakes on the preliminary such as poor framing due to having a stationary camera/shot and not a tracking one. I will ensure all framing in my actual thriller is done perfectly so it looks professional and not kid-like. I have also learnt a considerable amount with regards to the logistics of actually bringing everything together. Everything from getting the locations right to getting actors dressed in the appropriate attire.

I look forward to implementing all the skills I learned through acquiring the footage but also the skills I picked up by facing unexpected barriers/obstacles. Overall, this has been a very useful experience and will aid me in my actually thriller.

Animatic

This is an animatic I have put together that will constitute as a rough plan for my rough draft for my final product.

PHOTO ZOOM TEST

One of my transitions that I know will be hard to complete is the transition that enters the newspaper and ends up in the lake where the drowning is happening. It will involve superimposing and then attaching the two shots together in AfterEffects. In order to practice this shot I decided to trial it using a standard digital camera. I recorded myself entering a room and took a recording of a picture on the wall. I then replaced the picture on the wall with the first frame of my video. This will mirror how I transition from the man sitting with the newspaper in his hand to the drowning in the lake.

Below is the practice shot:

Evaluating this shot: This shot achieves what I plan to do in my final product, but requires some improving. Firstly, the footage is far from brilliant , I didn't factor in lighting but the focus of this practise was the editing of the transition itself. I have also decided that it would be more dramatic and more effective if I slow down the 'zoom' into the newspaper based on this practice.