Rough Cut

Rough Cut

When making a production like our opening thriller sequence it is important to gain feedback. Feedback is information and reactions to a product or a performance of a task, which helps to create a basis for further improvement. Feedback can help to identify strengths and weaknesses within the product to help with knowing what needs to be done in order to improve. This could be anything from minor small errors that need to be altered slightly, or a dramatic change within the product which is beneficial to dramatically improve the final result of the product. Our rough cut was the best that we could achieve in the time and with the resources that we were allocated in our opinion, however by getting audience feedback from peers, and comments on our YouTube with the rough cut uploaded, this enabled us to get constructive criticism and feedback of small things people have noticed to help improve the production further. Furthermore, feedback is not only about what is wrong or could be improved with the final product, it is also about what is good with the product you have made, this is so this part of the product is not altered as the peers and people giving feedback think this is an essential, and good part of the production.

Once we had completed our rough cut of our opening thriller sequence we received audience feedback from our target audience by the class screening our production in class, including our teachers which have helped us throughout the process. By showing this to our target audience, we know that the feedback that they have given us would need to be taken into consideration, as this is what they would like to see in a thriller opening sequence and is representative of other people in their age group. The group gave us verbal feedback on what they enjoyed and what worked well in our thriller opening sequence, and what was conventional to the thriller genre. Next were suggestions on how we could improve our opening thriller sequence. This included suggestions such as we need to make the brightness lower on specific scenes to match the rest of the sequence. This is easily done when we go back to editing our opening thriller sequence as we can simply turn the brightness down on the screen which will make the scenes look like they were all filmed continuously on the same day. Another feedback comment was that we should take into consideration the transitions. This is because some of the transitioned moved to quickly into the next seen and seemed too quick in some peoples opinions although the actual transition worked well with the scene. Again this is easily changed as we will adjust the time of the transitions of Final Cut Pro X, I think this feedback is very helpful as not only will it slow down the rate of the transitioning to improve the sequence, but it will also add to the suspense and tension building as the audience are waiting to see what will happen next.

The feedback we received from the screening of the production to our class benefits both our production and the film industry. This is because we had an opinion from a different point of view of what our opening sequence was like when somebody watches it for the first time. Once you have watched your own sequence so many times, you begin to become oblivious to any slight errors or minor mistakes as you forget to watch out for them and focus on main points of the sequence instead. This is helpful to have someone else watch the sequence as they can point out any of these errors that may have been missed out. Overall, the production and industry both benefit as any good or bad comments are pointed out, allowing us to improve our production making it more successful and conventional to the thriller genre.

Here are some comments left on our YouTube video of our opening thriller sequence "Obscurity":

When receiving comments and feedback, positive feedback is useful and helpful to as it has given our group an insight of what elements do not need any additional changes and why they have helped to make our production successful. We have taken these comments from both the screening of our production and the comments left on the YouTube video that we uploaded of our thriller opening sequence rough cut. Firstly our feedback suggested that our transitions were well selected, in the way it wasn't too obvious that we were transitioning into the next scene and swiftly changed into the next scene keeping it professional looking. Another comment made was the fact it was clear in what our narrative was. I personally think we spent alot of our time making sure it was clear for the audience to understand the order of our thriller and what the narrative was, so this feedback was very helpful showing that our work in trying to reach this has worked. Another positive comment from our feedback from our YouTube video was that the sounds that we ended up using on our opening sequence, which were many overlapped created a good effect. The person giving this feedback suggested that the overlay of all the different sounds and effects really help to build up the tension in the seen and created an eerie sense that made the audience want to continue watching. The selection of the sound effects that we used took a long time to decide on as we wanted to create the right effect for the audience when they were watching the sequence. To hear that spending a long time on choosing the right sounds is beneficial to us at it has proved it was worth spending the time doing so and has made a good effect for the audience which is also conventional to the thriller genre.

Alongside our positive comments which we received, we also received constructive comments which helped us to reflect on our opening sequence rough cut, and helps us to decide which changes should be made in order to improve our final product. The first piece of constructive advice we received and the main piece, which more than one person commented on was to add more credits to the sequence. I think this is a beneficial comment towards my groups opening sequence as we have many more credits that we can include. To improve from this constructive comment we will add more credits along the course of the opening sequence with roles of the crew and the casts names. This will help and improve our product as this will ensure it stays looking like an opening sequence rather than a short film. Another piece of constructive criticism given was to draw out the protagonists journey on her way towards the forest. I do slightly agree with this, as it can help to build more tension and anticipation for the audience, however myself and my group will have to carefully decide on how to improve this as we do not want to have the audience watching alot of footage of the protagonist simply walking towards the forest as this may be uninteresting to watch. However, to improve this we could have more significant events of the protagonist walking to the forest that are giving her signs not to enter, keeping on building the anticipation and keep the audience wonder whether the young girl will actually enter the forest or not. Lastly, another piece of constructive feedback which we received was we could extend the use of footsteps and the heart beating sound effects to build more tension. I agree with this comment because by extending these sounds we could build up the tension even more then we have already created, this will then add to how conventional our thriller is as we have created one of the main elements which is needed.

Production Roles

Production Roles

Producers: Hannah, Ollie and Ella

Directors: Hannah 

Actors: Ollie and Ella

Directors of Photography (Cameraman): Hannah

Music Producers: Ollie

Screenplay Writer: Ella 

MES Co-ordinates: Hannah, Ollie and Ella 

Editors: Ella and Hannah

When creating a film people need to be allocated specific roles. This is because it enables every member of the group to have a significant and individual role and to contribute into one specific area. Each individual has a different role as we all have different qualities which will make us suitable for different roles rather than others, so we can each focus on a different role for a better production. The main roles within the crew are:

Directors - This role has the most control of the creative aspect of the project which is ongoing and who is in charge and oversees an activity, department or organisation. The director helps bring to life what the crew have envisioned for the project by following the script and guiding the crew and actors to create the project. Furthermore, a director ensures that all departments are running smoothly and there is no reason why there are any hazards or problems in the way of producing a professional final result. 

Producers - Producers help to prepare before the filming begins as they have overall control on most aspects of the films production either with conventional aspects, or to  supervise the production process whilst filming and presenting the final product and to create a suitable and environment where the cast and crew to create a successful production.

Director of Photography - A Director of Photography is also another important role which is always used when creating a film. The Director of Photography helps to oversee all of the camerawork, lighting and crew members working on any film production. If anything is wrong or there are any errors within these departments it is the Director of Photography's job to solve the issue so the filming process can start running smoothly again. As well as this, Directors of Photography are also responsible for any technical and main decisions to do with the film, if they do not agree with the way something has been filmed or shot they can make the casting decision on what they would like to do to change the scene if they feel that this will benefit the overall production

MES Coordinator - A mise en scene co-coordinator ensures that everything within the scene to do with, costume/hair/makeup, lighting, iconography and the setting is all in order and place and is ready to be filmed on schedule.

Editor - The role of an editor is to edit and finalize the entire opening thriller sequence.

Music Producer - A Music Producer helps to choose and decide which music and sound effects are suitable for a particular scene or moment within the thriller opening sequence and overall helps to improve the production by adding soundtracks and effects.

Screenplay Writer - A Screenplay Writer is the role of the person who comes up with the idea for a story and writes the script/narrative for what is going to happen throughout the sequence. A screenplay writer practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media such as films, television programs, comics or video games are based.

Actors - Actors and Actresses are also important for creating a film as we need people to act within the opening sequence. This is to make it more realistic and without the actors and actresses we would no be able to create our opening thriller sequence.

We decided that every member of our group will take part and take on the role of Producer in our film. This is because we did not decide to use one of our individual ideas as the final narrative, and have incorporated all of our narratives together. Having all our individual ideas and input into the opening sequence will work better than one persons decisions and ideas, as we can discuss ideas to develop ideas further, making the best opening sequence we possibly can. We thought it was important that all three of us helped to make the decisions as all of our input is important to the success of the thriller. However, I did find that by all three of us taking on the task of the producer this made the role much easier and enjoyable as each of us had never had taken on a role like this, or similar so we were able to help each other making it fair.

Again, all members of our group decided to take on the role as the MES Coordinator as none of us have any qualities that would specifically relate to this role which would help develop the sequence. I think this role would be alot for somebody to ensure was all running smoothly by themselves so with the three of us taking on the role we can all help each other and give ideas and input into what we think would work well when ensuring the mise-en-scene works well with what we are aspiring to create. 

Together we decided that I suited the role as a director of the filming process. This was only because I had taken GCSE Media and had also created a thriller opening sequence then, so we decided I could take information and tips I had learned from this and incorporate them into our current thriller opening. We also thought this as I also worked in a larger group and help to organize and manage the group well, so with a smaller group we decided that it would be easier to organize and I could suggest what I knew would work well and what wouldn't work well based on what I have learnt in year 11.  I have taken on this role of the director of photography for similar reasons to my other role, this is because I took Media at GCSE and have learnt about the camera skills before so could suggest to the other members of my group what camera angle/technique may work well in a particular scene. 

We decided that Ella suited the role of the Screenplay Writer the most. This is because Ella takes English at A-Level, and has the qualities which enable us to develop our narrative as much as possible to make it enjoyable for the audience and keeping the conventional thriller aspects to the opening sequence.

We also decided that Ella suited the role of the Editor of our opening sequence. We think that she suited this role as she took GCSE art and knows which effects/colours and schemes work well within the thriller opening sequence. Although this role is mainly Ella's, myself and Ollie still continue to play a large role in the editing phase of creating the thriller opening sequence as we all have different ideas and input of what we think works well, which will enable us to create a sequence that we all like and is developed to the best that we can make it.

We decided that Ollie would suit the role of the music producer as he volunteered as we have studied and researched which sounds and music is most effective to use within a thriller opening genre. In addition to this both Ollie and Ella offered to take on the role of an actor and actress within the thriller opening sequence as they both wanted to do this role as they enjoy acting and drama and suited the roles of the characters that we came up with.

Filming Schedule

Filming Schedule

A filming schedule is important to have as it not only keeps individuals organised, but it keeps the whole group organised as it keeps track of time and each member knows what they are meant to be doing, when, where and what time. The schedule also enables the group to plan outside activities around the filming schedule, so we can all agree on a day that we can film without a member of the group not being there. Another reason a filming schedule is important is because it helps us to meet deadlines of when we need to have filmed a certain scene, this helps with the editing phase as we will not be behind with work. It also helps to plan ahead so that we leave enough time at the end to go back and film any scenes if we need to.

We originally began filming with sticking to our filming schedule. The first scene that we shot was of the two girls walking out of the house taking their dog out for a evening walk. This night we also shot the scenes of the girls entering the forest, and also of the antagonist walking into the forest. However, once we reviewed the scenes we realized quickly that they were too dark and needed to be re filmed. At this point we had already not followed our filming schedule precisely. Two days later we decided to film again. We then realized that it was raining outside and could not film until it had finished as it could not be raining with dark skies in one scene, then not raining and clear, bright skies in another. During this time we decided to film inside the scenes were the antagonists sets alight the pictures of the protagonists. This was originally meant to be filmed last, but we changed the order as this time was more suitable and convenient and could be then out of the way. This was a good use of our time as during this time the weather cleared up, after allowing us to go out into the forest when it wasn't raining. We then filmed and re filmed scenes such as the antagonist and protagonist walking into the forest, the scene where the protagonist first sees the antagonist and the antagonist then leaving the forest on a cliffhanger. The scenes we now need to film are the original scenes that are too dark. This is when the protagonist is leaving her house to take her dog out for a walk, this lighting will match the rest of the scenes.

From using this filming schedule, and seeing that many changes were made to it when we actually came to film it has been beneficial as we will know how to plan a filming schedule in the future. Things that I have learnt from creating a filming schedule is that we need to take into account everybody's day. For example, on days that we filmed, we still needed to travel home from School before hand, therefore we should have taken this into consideration and could have chosen a location that was nearer the School grounds so that we did not have to take the journey home and let it begin to get dark out before we even started to film. Another aspect of the filming schedule I would take into consideration is the scenes that we would be filming on which day. We found it easier to film scenes in the same location on the same day instead of going to another location, this would have made sense at the beginning but we did not think of this. We decided originally to shoot our sequence in order, then found it easier to shoot scenes as an when we were in the same location which made the filming schedule less time consuming and actually found that we had finished the majority of the filming much quicker than we anticipated which benefited our group as we could start the editing process much sooner than we thought.

Opening Scene Narration

Opening Scene Narration

Our opening thriller sequence will be 2-3 minutes long. Our opening thriller sequence is the narrative which would be at the end of our film. We decided to do this because the audience will watch this, and want to know the entire story line leading up to the events that have been seen in the sequence. This has shown disequilibrium as we have shown the end at the beginning of our opening sequence. We believe that this will entice our target audience and make them want to watch on further. Our opening scene begins with a black screen, so the audience can concentrate on what is being said within the diegetic news report of the missing children around the local area. This scene then fades out slowly to show the audience a view of a living room which is dimly lit by low-key, natural lighting. The two young protagonists are sitting on the sofa discussing what they are going to watch on tv and the fact they are going to take out their pet dog later on that evening. Once the girls have finished discussing the news report about the local children going missing, and discussing the activities they need to finish before the evening ends, the camera zooms in slightly to reveal a close up shot of the dark, masked antagonist.  The scene fades and then unfocused slightly as it transitions into the masked protagonist walking away from the window, leaving the audience wondering where he has gone. 

Slowly, the scene transitions out with a simple blur and then continues to a long shot of when the two girls leave the front door ready to go for a late evening walk with the dog. In this scene it is evening time and has now become slightly dark, which helps to create tension within the scene. The camera then pans to the right as we then see the two girls beginning to walk down the long stretch of road. Next, we have the use of a handheld camera, which follows the girls as they walk down the road heading towards the forest. This then blurs out into the next scene of a flashback were the antagonist is setting alight pictures of his victims that are taped onto the wall which creates a sense of enigma as the audience wonder what and why he is doing this, and if the victims safety which pictures left not burnt are now in jeopardy, the scene then leads on to a close up of the last victims picture on the wall that is going to be set alight. The scene is then in slow motion as the flames begin to slowly burn the photo.

The scene then reverts back to the scene of the two protagonists walking down the long stretch of road, this time the camera is not following after the pair, and is a long shot so the audience can see where the protagonists are. The scene then blurs slightly to a mix of the same shot from different angles of another flashback to the zoom in shot of the victims picture being burnt on the wall. Furthermore, the scene then appears in the setting of the isolated forest and immediately pans around the tree as you see the rope which is tying up the young boy victim.

We then move on to film a mid shot of the girls as they have a casual conversation about what they have done that day and what they are going to do later on that evening. This then fades out to yet another flash back scene of the pictures being burnt on the wall, almost as a montage of the same clip repeated as it is flashing on screen to give a sense of enigma as this confuses the audience as they do not know what is happening. The camera then zooms into the scene of the picture to just see the fire flickering slightly, this helps to build suspense and tension. The scene then fades to darkness for a couple seconds as it then begins to reappear on a slight shadow of the masked antagonist on the forest floor behind the two protagonists. This immediately creates a sense of foreboding as it is unknown what is going to happen to the two girls.

The last scene then flashes up a quick scene of the mask in a montage shot, along with following shots to continue the montage editing of the girls within the forest, the boy that is tied up to the tree, the masked antagonist closely followed by screams and heart beats over the top of this scene to create a scene that is rushed, making the audience question what is happening.

Group Storyboard

Group Storyboard

After we each planned our own individual story boards, we have incorproated our decisions within each of our individual storyboards together as a group to create a final, group story board of 20 frames. Our group story board helps the group to create a final idea and make a final desicion on which techniques, editing styles and iconography we will be using. By incorporating each others individual ideas from our own storyboards this enabled the final storyboard process to be much quicker and easier. 

Within this storyboard we have included shots of a black screen and a living room. This scene begins with a black screen which has a news report over the top of the scene about missing children in the area. This helps to build and create tension as it creates a sense of foreboding for the rest of the scene as it makes the audience wonder what is going to happen next. The black screen then fades out into the scene of the living room which helps to set the scene of a family room were there is no sense of danger. This immediately changes as the storyboards illustrates that a dark figure walks past the window and ruins this danger free feel as the audience automatically assume that the dark figure would put the children in danger, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats and keep them wanting to watch on to find out what is going to happen.

Within this storyboard that myself and my group have created it begins with a close up of the empty window. This is after the dark figure has disappeared. This makes the audience wonder where the dark figure has disappeared to and wonder if he is on the way to get his next victim, creating suspense and tension. The scene them moves on to the two girls walking down the road together. This also shows that the camera is being handheld by another person which is portrayed to the audience that it is the antagonist. This creates a sense of foreboding for the audience as it makes them think that the antagonist is following them around and can put them in possible threat and danger. This makes the audience empathise for the characters as they could not help but put themselves in this situation and wonder what they would then be feeling like. The storyboard leads on to show the flashback scene of the antagonist burning pictures of his victims and future victims on the wall. This creates suspense and tension for the audience as the un burned pictures of victims demonstrate to the audience that they are the next possible victims, making the audience want to continue to watch on.

We then created the third section of our story board. This was also another 4 different scenes. This storyboard begins with the two girls walking down the road again, this is because it has gone back to the scene to show that this is the current day after the flash back has already occurred. To the audience this could be seen as reliterating the scene to portray to the audience this is a significant event  of when the girls are entering the forest to suggest something bad is going to happen when they do. The storyboard then goes on to show the flashback scene again of the antagonist looking at pictures of the victims and then burning them. This automatically creates a sense of enigma to the audience as they wonder what the antagonist is doing and why. The audience will also empathise for the victims as it is unknown if they are innocent or not. 

The fourth storyboard we then created as a group began with the two girls in the forest wondering around, which immediately creates a sense of foreboding as two vulnerable, young girls are in the middle of an isolated setting without any escape or anybody near by to there them if they are in danger. The next scene flash  to the scene of the antagonist lighting the pictures of his victims. The purpose of this scene is to show to the audience that he is not going to stop untill he is finished with all of his victims, creating suspense and tension for the audience. 

We then went on to create our fifth storyboard for our opening thriller sequence. This storyboard begins with a scene of a shadow of the antagonist on the forest floor. This creates enigma for the audience as it is unknown whos shadow is reflected onto the floor, and why they are in the forest, and if the protagonists safety is jeoprodized. This scene fades as a raged transition flashes up a scene with just a close up of the masked, unidentified antagonist. This is to create a shock for the audience as they were most likely not expecting this to happen and has now kept them intrested. The scene swiftly fades out and into the montage scene. This is where lots of clips are edited together quickly, confusing the audience as they do not know what is going on, as they are waiting for the scene to end to see if something bad is going to happen at the end of it. The final scene on our storyboard is then a high angled shot of the two protagonists standing looking directly up at the camera seeming possessed. This creates enigma for the audience as they wonder what has happened to the girls in the short while they were not on the scene, this would encourage the audience to want to watch on further to find out the truth behin what is within the forest and what has happened.

Overall, I think that our storyboard works well as the scenes flow well after eachother. There is a range of different camera techniques throughout the opening sequence, including a long shot, point of view shot and a high angled shot so it is not one continuous mid shot scene. At first we did not include a close up shot, but it was Ella's idea to include one of the masked antagonist to show how scary and mysterious it looks to create suspense and enigma for the audience. We also included a close up shot of the victims and their eyes. This is conventional to the thriller genre as you can see the worried expression on the protagonists faces and how scared they are in this situation. The audience will begin to empathise for the characters as the target audience is of a similar age and cant help but imagine themselves in this situation. Our orignal group storyboard also did not include any flash backs to the scene were the antagonist is burning and circling pictures of his victims once he had endangered them and hurt them. The point of this was to cause confusion, worry and create a sense of enigma for the audience as this would make them wonder what is going on, and why the antagonist would want to hurt the vulnerbale characters.

Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment

Myself and my group created a risk assessment as it is important to consider risks before filming so we can ensure we are safe throughout the filming process and can eliminate any hazards that could have possibly occurred and ensures safety.

 Our first potential hazard was that wires could be leading from the plug to the camera if it was on charge, meaning would could trip or fall over them and end up with one of our group hurt or injured. To prevent this we decided that we will lay mats over the top of the wires to prevent any tripping or falling. Also we will ensure the camera is charged fully so we do not have to repetitively charge the camera with more chances for an accident to occur. 

Another hazard we could encounter is the uncertainty of the weather. The weather is very unpredictable and we can not have one scene with clear skies, then the next seen with raining, thunder and lightening as this would not be continuous and would be obvious to the audience that the scenes were filmed on different days. To avoid this, we decided filming when it was dark out would avoid the problem as there would be no sun, and if it was raining then it would not matter as it would add to the eerie overall effect and could make the opening sequence better with more sound. Another problem we could face regarding weather is that if there is any rain it could land onto the camera lense, damaging the camera. To prevent this from occurring we will take an umbrella out with us whilst we film to hold over the camera.

Another hazard that could be dangerous whilst filming is the amount of light we have. For example, if we are filming in the pitch black, or very dark lighting it may be difficult to see what is on the floor within the forest floor or uneven pavement, which could lead to a injury of one of the group members. To prevent this hazard from causing any danger we will bring extra sources of light such as a torch to help find our way round and watch out for any objects on the ground so we do not fall over.

In addition to this another hazard we may encounter during the filming process in the forest may be the amount of branches hanging from the trees or falling randomly, which may hurt if they were to fall on one of the members of the group. Furthermore, if branches have already fallen onto the floor this could be a hazard as they could be sticking out in different directions and could have someone tripping up over them. This relates back to my last point of lighting. If where we are filming is lit well, the issue of falling and hanging branches will not be an issue. However, if the setting is in darkness where we are filming, such as the forest it may be a possibility of not seeing the branches. Therefore we will use our extra sources of light such as a torch to help us see any hazards in our way.

Another hazard may be a risk of burns from the fire that we will be using for a scene of the victims pictures being burnt, or setting alight objects that are surrounding this scene. To prevent this hazard from harming or destroying anything, we will have a water source nearby to put out the fire if it somehow spread. If anybody was to catch any part of them in the fire, we will then  immediately place any burns that may have occurred in the freezing water so it will not leave damage and begins to bring down the wound immediately.

Weaponry that we could possibly use is a hazard that we could encounter and could be a problem when using in a public area. This is because the public do not realise that the purpose of the iconography is to create an effect for the

audience, creating suspense and tension to enhance our thriller opening sequence and may not altogether realise we are filming for an opening thriller sequence and think we are carrying weapons. To prevent any fear for the public, we will carry around the iconography sensibly and discreetly , and try not to use in front of anybody. However, if this is the case and the public do see the weapon we will politely explain to them why we are using the iconography so they will not feel any sense of threat and can continue on without worry that they haven't reported the situation.

Furthermore, another hazard could be the wildlife and animals in the forest late at night or in the darkness. We do not want to scare or cause the animals harm within the forest, so if they come near to us we will keep well away from the wildlife as this is their habitat.





The hazards listed above are what myself and my group have thought of which could set us off task whilst filming or could prevent us from filming specific scenes. These were the only hazards we could have encountered whilst filming. They are also what could happen when we begin filming so we have come up with ways which we can deal with the situation but also prevent the situation before it occurs. Planning ahead for any hazards is important as it helps us to prevent any potential hazards early so we can get on with filming. During filming we did not encounter as many hazards as we thought we were going to. One main issue for us was the lack of light we had available as when we began to film it was very dark and was barely visible on the camera. However, we used extra light sources such as a torch, however this was not a major issue as when we came to the editing phase we could alter the brightness of the scene. However, another issue that we encountered with the darkness is not being able to see obstacles such as hanging branches, or uneven surfaces on the pavement and forest floor, we used the torches to guide us when it was total darkness on our path to ensure that we did not trip or fall. Apart from the minor hazards we encountered this was all that could obstruct us from filming our opening thriller sequence.