storyboard for thriller

In the first shot we have a vanishing point shot of a girl walking down the road. A view from the back of her, walking on the left hand side of the pavement. In the second shot we have a tracking shot up the body to reveal her costume, and to finish a close up of her face. In the third shot there is a long shot of the girl from the front, after the tracking shot. In the fourth shot there is a close up of the man's feet. In the fifth shot there is an over the shoulder shot of the girl walking into the park. In the sixth shot there is a mid-shot of the girl walking and looking over her shoulder kind of panicked. In the seventh shot there is a mid-shot of the guy walking and the shot is off his side his face still remains hidden. In the eighth shot there is a long shot from behind of the girl walking around the side of the building. In the ninth shot there is a shot through the bandstand railings which creates the feeling of being watched. In the tenth shot there is a side shot of the girl walking past the pond. In the eleventh shot there is a reversal shot between the boy's feet and the girl's feet, and their feet speed up throughout the shot. In the twelth shot there is a close up of her face looking over her shoulder. In the thirteenth shot there is a mid-shot of the girl looking confused, like she is searching for the guy who was following her. For the fourteenth shot there is a long shot of the guy walking away through the trees. For the fifteenth shot there is a close up of the girl taking her shoes off. For the sixteenth shot there is a tilt shot of the girl running away.

Collecting quotes from audiences about relevant thriller films

I have been researching audiences reviews on films which I have linked to my own thriller opening.

SIN CITY:
'think my favorite character is Deadly Little Miho..the only thing more terrifying than someone threatening you till you collapse is someone who doesn't say a word. then, you have no idea what they're thinking and knowing nothing is always scarier than knowing at least something...even if it is a lie...frank miller just kills me' - this reviewer is focusing more on the character aspect of the movie, but also how the actor portrays this certain character.
'Brittany Murphy (1977-2009) R.I.P' – audiences focus on the actors in the mainstream movies, and when something happens in their personal lives the audiences get involved.
'the actor line up is freakin all-star haha, i mean really? come on. insaane' - shows that they are viewing the movie for the actors line up.
Focusing on the song in the movie, a lot of quotes about the trailer's song so they are attracted to the movie because of the song on the trailer heightening it's suspense not what the trailer is showing you.
'best movie! great cast, superior dialogs, excellent camera work, brilliant story' 'Sin City is unique and will be remembered for a long time. It is so atmospheric and beautiful at the same time.' 'This movie was amazing. The plot, the character development, the gore and the brilliant use of colour.' - this quote shows that the reviewers enjoyed different aspects to the mainstream movie.
PSYCHO:
'‘Psycho’ is the original great horror movie. It’s the ultimate spine-tingler, the definitive creep-show, the perfect chiller.' - this reviewer is telling readers that it is the ultimate thriller, but doesn't go into detail about why it is a great thriller but the readers want to see it because they want to see if this review is correct.
'From master of mystery Alfred Hitchcock, ‘Psycho’ is the sort of film that’s simply impossible to forget about.' - this reviewer is focusing on the director of the movie, and the status this director has which is really high in the movie world.
'This isn’t a gory film, and what few instances of violence take place with relatively little actual on-screen violence. In fact, it contains just three big shocks, with the rest of the 110-minute running time devoted to setting scenes, building suspense and playing with our minds. But those three shocks comfortably better practically anything from the modern day canon of horror fair – Hitchcock sees to that nicely.' - this reviewer reveals what sort of movie Psycho is, and the reviewer doesn't like horror movies which Psycho isn't, and Psycho builds up suspense well and sets the scene well too.
HEAT:
'Heat is a masterful cops and robbers tale that shows both sides of the law in exquisite detail. Strong performances by Pacino and DeNiro (the scene of them sitting across the table from each other is possibly 5 of the most memorable minutes in film history). Excellent cinematography and perhaps the best gunfight (if not, one of the most intense) since Hard Boiled. More than worth the 3 or so hours.' - this reviewer points out two extremely famous actors who always bring a strong performance to a movie, so they are attracted to the movie because of the cast but then goes on to say that the movie has good cinematography, and one of the best gunfight scenes which indicates this movie is high budget.
'The human side of the characters is perfectly explored, especially concerning De Niro's character (Neil). His personal conflicts are as strong as his determination and skills as a gangster. This is the magic of this film and only two fantastic actors like Pacino and De Niro could represent it so totally. Congratulations to Val Kilmer that shined and performed exceptionally well under the huge shadow of Pacino and De Niro. A must see !' - this reviewer is also attracted to the two actors in the movie, Pacino and De Niro, and doesn't really discuss conventions of a thriller but does discuss the ways in which the actors portray the characters.
''Heat,' a film of epic proportions on a common placed scale, provides all the essentials of a great crime drama and then some. With a fascinating storyline, involving characters, and Mann's sometimes poetic, sometimes gritty directing, 'Heat' is arguably one of the best crime dramas.' - this reviewer doesn't mention the actors De Niro and Pacino but does mention the characters, but also says that the storyline is appealing which shows that this reviewer thinks that the storyline is the biggest aspect of a movie.

Notes on 'White Girl'

Genre: Social Realism (also how stereotypes are challenged)
White Girl is a BBC TV Drama from a season called The White Season.
Focus: construction of white working class, ethnic minorities and gender.
The clip opens up with a young girl on a small little girl bike which indicates that she could be quite poor and she cannot afford a new bike.
A shot of the father holding onto the young girl's finger shows he has a lot of control over her and the family by the stare he gives her.
The family runaway from the father which shows he is possibly abusive and not a very nice person to live with.
The young girl is clearly unaware of foriegn people living in England by the expression on her face and the mid-shot of the girl getting a closer look of her new neighbours.
The soundtrack is from an ethnic background which shows that the programme is mixing two worlds together.
The programme shows the older sister, Leah, taking care of her younger sister and this could point to their mother being incapable of looking after them by herself.
When the young children go to school they are the only white children there and they feel lost and confused and the teacher is doing bible teachings from the Qu'ran when the children are Catholic.
In the beginning Leah is rude towards the people who are different from her because she is confused about them and their lifestyle and she is shown to be ignorant towards other things.
There is a two people shot of the children which shows innocence within them because they are too young to be seeing acts of violence from their parents.
Close up of each character's face in the cafe engages us into their emotions and it is revealed that the wife does a lot more for the husband, than he does for her.
Reverse shot between children and the mother shows how hard the mother is trying to cope by herself while the children feel isolated and confused in the new city.
The mother comes home in one clip and she is excited about twenty pounds, this shows that the family have never had a large amount of money because they are excited over this small amount.
Low angle shots of the birds indicates the freedom Leah strives for.
In the programme there is a flipped reality with the white children lost in a school full of muslim children and not the other way around which is how other television programmes portray it.
Sterotypes are broken because the teacher is shown to be wise, while the mother of Leah's family cannot read or write and it is also revealed that she never went to school.
Leah is starting to obey the new school rules, while her younger brother is doing everything he can to break them which shows that he is looking up to his father in a bad way.
There is a tracking shot up Leah's body which shows the annoyance she feels through her body language.
There is a mid-shot of the mother's feet running away and abandoning her children, and the audience feels pity for the mother because the children want to see their dad while she is trying to protect them from him.
Focus on the bottle of alcohol, then the focus on the mother, then focus on a coca-cola can which is filled with alcohol shows that the mother is starting to lose control.
A shot through the eyes of Leah of the mother and father putting the children to bed while Leah is isolated and is just an onlooker.
Leah begins identifying with Islam and using it as a way to escape from the family home, she steals a bible book from the school.
When the mother lets the father back into their lives it shows the mother is falling apart and that she cannot cope by herself.
Leah hides the prayer book from her mother which shows she cannot confide in her or communicate with her.
The pashmina, which Leah wraps around her head, is brighter than most of the things within the mise-en-scene.
Tracking shot around the mosque shows it is different and it is a new discovery for Leah.
Leah is upstairs away from the father downstairs with the young children who are asleep on the sofa which is irresponsible to let children stay up late.
Parents are shown to be racist because of the way they treat them and their beliefs and by throwing away the milk that they give them when they move in.
Blue scarf signifies religious differences, protest, declaration of faith and identity and Leah uses the blue scarf as a weapon againist the parents.
The two houses next to each other has a low wall separating them and through the programme it is like a barrier between the Islams and white people but because the wall is low it can be stepped over. The barrier between them signifies the separation of two cultures and attitudes to family and children.
When the white family moved into the neighbourhood the Asian family accepted their new neighbours for who they are, the acceptance is unconditional. This is illustrated by them offering Leah's family a pint of milk but because of irrational prejudice Leah's family throws the milk away.

Representation of Social Class in a clip from 'Monarch of the Glen'

Clue to region (Scotland): Location, accent, title of the show, aspects that are within the mise-en-scene, the soundtrack which goes with the clip which are pipes (non-diegetic)।
Genre of the television programme: Family drama because it is clean with no violence, no sex, no swearing and realistic problems like the girl who runs away from school.
Girl coming up to the Boy sweeping, shows social class because of the job he is doing. The Boy is in a grey jacket, and the colour pallette is dull, dismal and drab.
Within the mise-en-scene there is a washing line with towels which shows that the people are not wealthy, but the terraced housing and a lot of the objects within the mise-en-scene are working class signifiers.
(00:23) The washing line is a symbol of social realism which is always associated with working class. Casting two teenagers for Monarch of the Glen attracts a wider viewing audience for the show.
(00:32) Low angle shot of the boss makes him seem more dominant, and that he is from a higher class because he gives the orders and he stands over everybody else.
(01:34) The headteacher comes looking for the girl which shows she has runaway from a private school because if you ran away from a public school the headteacher wouldn't come looking for you but just contact your parents by letter/telephone. The headteacher coming to look for her also shows she has lied to everyone.
(01:45) Old fashioned representation of the headteacher - tweed jacket, jumper, tie and patches on his jacket which all point to him being traditional.
(01:53) Archie MacDonald is of Upper Class Gentry because he has a lot of money and objects within the mise-en-scene point to all of this. Crystal glasses, well-bound books, panelled walls. Archie MacDonald portrays wealth and authority. Archie MacDonald doesn't fit the 'Monarch of the Glen' because he is dressed down and previous shots show him to be very 'hands on'. Modest dress sense shows Archie is of old money, and doesn't like to show off the money he does have.

shot list of thriller opening

1. Close up of the girl with her head on her knees.
2. Close up of the girl raising her head and she looks scared and she has a lot of jerky head movements to show she is scared.
goes into a flashback
1. Vanishing point of girl walking down the raod
2. Panning / tracking shot up body
3. Long shot of girl
4. Close up of man's feet
5. Over the shoulder shot of the girl entering the park
6. Mid shot of the girl walking and looking over her shoulder and she appears to be on edge
7. Mid shot of the man on the side in a hoodie under a steet lamp
8. Long shot of girl walking around a building and this will be shot through the railings of the bandstand
9. Side mid shot as she walks past the pond
10. Close up of the man's feet, reverse shot gouing from close up of his feet to hers and when you get to the end of the reverse shot both pairs of feet begin to speed up
11. Close up of the girls face as she looks over her shoulder, the mam has dissapered.
12. She turns completely around, and her expression looks like she is searching for him.
13. Then a long shot of him walking away from her through the trees.
14. Tilt shot of the girl running.
flashback ends
3. close up of the girl looking scared again, and she starts questioning herself and what happened that night.
4. close up of the girl and her head drops back onto her knees.
fade to black

Treatment for thriller opening

The scene will open with the girl in her room, and she is clearly traumatized by something. The opening will then go into a flashback of a night where the girl is walking home from work through the park. In the flashback we introduced another character, and through the scene we have used shots to make the boy character seem like a stalker to trick the audience into thinking that is what he is. The boy character goes the same route as the girl to get across the park and the girl thinks he is following her which makes her panicky, but when the boy disappears and he goes another way she looks around like she is searching for him. Then she runs across the field in the same direction she was heading, then the flashback ends and we are back in her room. She lifts her head and then she seems like she is having a conversation with herself saying things like: 'Did I do it?' 'No I didn't do it.' 'He was following me.' 'Of course you did. Its always your fault.' The things she is saying indicates that the girl is not in the right frame of mind, and may also be slightly crazy. The last thing she says will leave the audience in suspense, because they don't know what exactly she did, or what happened next, or was the boy innocent all along?
For the location we are using Eaton Park because at night time it can seem quite mysterious and it has interesting features for filming - like the trees around Eaton Park, and also the streets which run around the perimeter of Eaton, but also the bandstand the railings which we are going to film through. For the costumes we have put the girl in clothes which indicates she has just been to work, so she will be wearing a skirt, blouse, tights, heels and a coat to go over the top so the coat shows she is now heading home. The girl has blonde hair, and brown eyes and is quite short and has a small frame - we chose her because of these features, she seems innocent and you wouldn't suspect of her hurting somebody else. The boy will be wearing all black and a black hoodie which is very important for our filming because this hides his identity but he will also be wearing trainers which shows he could be a teenage boy, maybe the same age as her even. We weren't very particular when it came to choosing an actor because the character's identity will always be hidden. We are using a lot of close ups to engage the audience into the expressions on the actor's faces, and a tilt shot when the girl runs away to create disorder and confusion.
We don't have a particular age group which we are aiming this film at, but if we filmed the rest of the movie the genre would be police/crime which would probably depend on the audience's tastes in movies not their age. The movie would be independent, not mainstream even though the stalker theme does seem quite mainstream and like its been done several times but there aren't many modern police/crimes thriller genre movies which the movie would be if we filmed an entire movie. If I had to link my thriller opening to a movie I would link it to the independent movie 'Brick' where a girl is found murdered and her ex-boyfriend is trying to solve the mystery behind it. The reason it reminds me of it is because someone is found murdered, and even in the opening of my thriller they are questioning a girl about it.
Written by Laura Lewis

Audience Research Questionaire

1. When watching a thriller where do you prefer the location to be? :
a) A place you recognize (The city, the country etc) - 2
b) Somewhere exotic (Rainforest, desert etc) - 2
c) Somewhere unknown to you (Different planet etc) - 5

2. What do you prefer the soundtrack to be? :
a) Instrumental - 8
b) Soundtrack you recognize -1
c) None
d) Other: - written soundtrack

3. What sub-genre do you prefer a thriller to be? :
a) Action - 2
b) Crime - 1
c) Psychological - 6
d) Drama
e) Spy - 1
f) Other

4. What aspect of a thriller do you think is most important? :
a) Characters - 3
b) Plot - 6
c) Costumes
d) Location - 1
e) Other

5. How should the killer in the movie be presented? :
a) Obvious (You know it's the killer when the movie opens) - 2
b) A mystery (You are unsure of the killer until the ending) - 7

6. What time period do you prefer a thriller to be set in? :
a) Future
b) Past - 1
c) Present - 1
d) Doesn't matter - as long as all the thriller aspects are within the film - 7



The audience who answered my questionaire preferred the location to be somewhere unknown to them, like a different planet or somewhere fictional. Audiences preferred the soundtrack to be instrumental, instead of a soundtrack they recognize. Audiences preferred the genre to be psychological and that the plot is the most important aspect of a thriller. Audiences preferred the killer in a thriller to remain a mystery until the end of the movie. Audiences said that it didn't matter what time period the thriller was set in as long as all the thriller aspects were within the film.
The thriller questionaire will help with my thriller because it has given me an idea on what audiences prefer in a thriller. I won't consider all of the answers when going to plan my thriller because I have my own ideas, but I will take on board what audiences like especially the music because before I didn't know what sort of music to use but from this questionaire I have an idea of what audiences will like.

Ideas for our thriller opening

Location

Eaton Park, and the streets around Eaton Park. We decided Eaton Park was a good place because it is quite mysterious and has a lot of places where somebody could hide. We are also using a bedroom, doesn't matter which one because that whole scene will just be close ups of the girl's face so you won't actually see the location.

Casting

Girl - Georgia Sinclair. Georgia is very small, and looks very innocent and quite childlike. Somebody who you wouldn't think would be able to defend themselves against someone else.
Boy - I have asked a boy to do this, but it doesn't matter who plays him because his identity will always be hidden by a hoodie, and there are going to be a lot of shots of his feet so he remains a mystery. We want to create a 'stalkerish' feeling around this character to trick the audience into believing he is a stalker.

Costumes

Girl - We have styled the girl to be wearing a knee-length skirt, blouse and black tights with heels. A costume which would suggest the girl has just finished work and she is walking through the park to get home. We are also going to make her wear a jacket over her work clothes to cover her up more, and to also show that the park is cold.
Boy - We are going to make the boy wear all black, and trainers. We chose trainers to show that the boy is like any teenage boy, and the trainers should make him seem less suspicious. The boy will be wearing a hoodie which is important because this will hide his face and make him seem more mysterious because we don't know the identity of the boy.

Plot

The thriller will open where the girl is in her bedroom and she is clearly traumatized then we go into a flashback of a night where she is walking home through the park. There is a boy walking behind her and he follows the same route as she does and she slowly begins to panic and thinks he is following her. Then there is a shot of him walking away from her and then the last shot of the flashback is her running across the grass. The audience believes she is running away to the safety of her home. Then the last shot of the thriller opening will be her face and she say's, 'I didn't mean to do it. I thought he was alive when...' then she stops talking and rests her head on her knees and the opening ends.