Ultimatum Shot List

Ultimatum Shot List

Characters:

Jack Stockman: Jack Stockman

Daniel Bruce: Daniel O'Connor

Connor Crosby: Unknown Caller

James Ellis: Roberto Rodriguez

Alice's Younger Brother: Zack Stockman

Below is a shot list which the Director of our group, Daniel, created. It consists of every one of our shot sizes throughout our Opening Thriller Sequence including a detailed description of the actions and movements of the characters within those particular scenes.

Shot	Size	Description
1	Long Shot	Jack and son Zack are sitting on the sofa with one another watching television, establishing Father, Son relationship to audience.
2	MCU	Camera switches to the television program the pair are watching, further establishing the scenario to audience
3	Medium Shot	Jack in the morning putting his suit on getting ready for work, could also show his son Zack putting on school uniform, showing audience occupation of both.
4	Establishing Shot	Jack in a work/office environment representing that he has a well respected job, could be typing on his computer or making a phone call etc.
5	Two shot	Daniel enters Jack’s office handshake establishing friendship to the audience, both dressed in suits and so both have good jobs.
6	Medium Long Shot	Jack sitting in his office alone late a night still working, showing signs of stress to the audience, and potentially making phone calls.
7	Close Up	Close up on Jacks phone, as it appears that an unknown number is calling him late at night in his empty office.
8	MCU	Shot shows Jacks confused facial expressions as he begins to realise the caller is interested in his past life
9	Medium Shot	Jack is getting his instructions and writing them down on a pad and then the printer starts printing a document in a background, as Jack turns to see what the document contains he realises that, its all of the information on the target he must kill.
10	CU	Close up on the document containing information on Roberto Rodriguez who Jack must hunt down and kill if he wants his son to live and if successful means he will be payed 20 million pounds for the job.
11	Long Shot	Jack arrives home greets his son and goes to bed.
12	Long Shot/ Establishing Shot	Both Jack and Daniel are sat on a park bench watching Jacks son Zack play on the equipment, the shot is behind both Jack and Dan to focus on Zack
13	Medium Shot	The camera is now in front of Daniel and Jack as Jack hands the document to Daniel explaining what he was told to do.
14	Establishing Shot	Montage plays of the dark past life of both Jack and Daniel, montage then switches to present with Jack walking home with son and then back to past life montage which is in slow motion.
15	MCU	Jack laying in bed at night looking up at the ceiling questioning his future, possible flashbacks of past lime and interactions with son could appear (pushing son on swings, Long Shot)
16	Long Shot	Perhaps a shot of Jack sitting in the back of a car in the evening on his way home from work, looking out the window thinking about the task he will be performing in the next few days.
17	Medium Shot	Jack enters garage to collect weapons from his past life that he will use on one last job
18	MCU	Camera focuses on garage light which flickers at first, giving off an eerie impression to the audience.
19	Close Up	Camera shows jack dusting off an old case/box which contains a clean box which Jack then opens, containing various knives and guns.
20	ECU	Camera zooms and focuses on individual weapons as Jack polishes them and prepares them for use in the following days, various ECU’s used in a montage focusing on weapons and clothing.
21	CU/MCU	Roberto Rodriguez who is the target then has to be established to the audience, shown in mainly CU’s and MCU in darkness not giving to much away however letting the audience see his cuts and that he is a villain
22	ECU	Used to show the weapons that Roberto is carrying, establishing his role as a target and villain, ECU of his shoes and him walking through deserted dark places also creates sense of fear in the audience.
23	Establishing Shot	Daniel and Jack enter a car to show them on their way to where the target (Roberto) is located
24	Montage, Multiple angles	Daniel and Jack on their way to find the target, montage creates sense of time passing and tension building.
25	Establishing Shot	As the pair walk to the house of the target the high establishing shot which is behind them shows the pair in all black with hoods up and weapons ready
26	Long Shot/ Two Shot, CU	As Jack and Daniel close in on the house the camera shows both facial expressions of anger and concentration, shot then changes to Two shot behind the pair of Roberto running from his house and down a darkened alley way.
27	Multiple long shots, Dolly shot, Tracking shot and Handheld camera	Multiple shots picture Roberto on the run from both Jack and Daniel, various shots show a sense of rush and thrill, all shots are also showing the pace of the chase which is getting closer and closer to its conclusion.
28	Extreme long shot/Establishing Shot	Used to show the sheer size of the barn in the deserted field that the chase has led Jack and Daniel too, the pair walk slowly towards the building with the shot still zoomed out
29	CU	Close up used of both the legs and shoes of both Daniel and Jack to build tension, establishing a sense of getting closer to the end goal as they get closer to the camera.
30	ECU	Emotions of both Daniel and Jack are shown on camera as the camera focuses on both their muddy-scarred faces pictured in the darkness of their hoods.
31	High angle Long shot	As both Daniel and Jack arrive in the abandoned building it then becomes clear to everyone in the audience that all characters are in the final shot
32	CU	Used to show the audience the scars and mud on Zack’s face who has been tied up and kidnapped by the Unknown caller
33	ECU/ Two Shot	Picturing both Daniel and Jack who are now helpless as the emotions rise because Jacks son is in serious danger
34	Medium Shot	Both the Unknown caller and Roberto are pictured with evil grins on their faces as the Unknown caller puts a gun to Zack’s head and begins counting down from 10
35	MCU	Both Jack and Daniel look at each other and nod with mud and sweat pouring off their endangered faces.
36	Medium Shot	In first fast pace which is then slowed down in to slow motion the pair both quickly pull out their guns to shoot down both the Unknown caller and Roberto
37	ECU	The shot then shows the end of Jacks gun as he quickly takes aim, Jack’s face is out of focus however the gun is perfectly shown to the audience, editing added where the gun will ripple and the screen immediately goes black and finishes the opening sequence.

I/V With Editor

I/V With Editor

In continuation from my previous blog post Editing Thriller, I mentioned our class would be asking questions to an editor named Michael Harrowes, who is well known editor currently working on a British Horror Drama. 

Our class wrote down a series of questions which we then asked Michael during a Skype Conference Call we hosted during one of our media lessons. We asked him multiple questions, but the majority of them revolved around what we could improve on/add to our Opening Sequences, which we are currently in the process of filming at this moment. He responded to the questions with some very useful feedback which our class, and our group in particular, will be taking into account. We had already accomplished some of the things he explained to us, however the majority of information he told us was new and therefore very beneficial to us.


The questions our class asked him were as follows:

• Can you name 3 keys things we should aim to achieve when creating our thriller Opening Sequences.
• Do you have any useful tips about what we could add to our Opening Sequences to improve the overall quality?
• What would you consider the most challenging aspect of editing?
• How would you say the way editing differs from when you go from editing a comedy to editing a thriller.
• How has the use of Foley enhanced the quality of your films in the past?
• How, using editing alone, can you increase the intensity of a film/opening sequence.
• Can you tell us about the importance of pace and rhythm within a film?
• How closely do you work with the Director in a film?
• In terms of editing, how would you describe the thriller genre itself and how it should be portrayed through editing.
• What element of the editing process do you yourself enjoy the most? 

Michael Harrowes - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0366037/

Editing Thriller

Editing Thriller

A Skype call with Michael Harrowes has been organised in a few weeks time. Michael Harrowes is quite a well known editor who is currently working on a British Horror Drama. He has also most recently worked on other TV series such as Mr Selfridge and Agatha Christie: Poirot which are two popular dramas both aired on ITV 1.

Questions I Will Ask Him:

 

1). What were your inspirations for going into the media industry?

2). What do you enjoy about your editing job, and are there parts of the job which you don't like?

3). Do you have any useful tips on what we can add to our Opening Title Sequences?

 

Michael Harrowes - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0366037/

Prop List

Prop List

Mug of Coffee - This mug of coffee will be one similar to the one seen in the picture. It looks like it was a gift and the audience are presumed to assume that it was a gift from his son, this reinforces the bond between the son and his father to the audience. This particular part where the mug is seen will be in the shot where he is playing with his son - the father will be playing with his son, perhaps playing with some of his toys, and then the camera switches focus to behind the father and son where his mug on the table will be sitting. A title may possibly be spanning around the mug, perhaps the Producer or Editor, something like that.

Newspaper - The newspaper is another possible prop which could be used in the same scene just before the son comes up to his father to ask him to play with his toys with him. Alternatively, it could be used in one of the first scenes where the father discovers there has been a series of mysterious deaths, but he knows they're murders. This could be an important part of the plot because its when the father starts getting dragged into the story.

Toys - The kid will be playing with them during one of the scenes. As mentioned previously, the kid will come up to his dad in one of the opening scenes and asks him to play with him; the father has a conversation with him and then he goes on to play with him, and this is when the shot of the mug takes place. The toys are not particularly significant but they are a prop, and therefore required on the Prop List.

Phone - As mentioned in my Treatment post, the phone will be used when the father is out away from his son and his phone rings, only to be confronted with a mysterious voice on the other end telling him things about his son which he wouldn't otherwise have known without actually being near him, e.g. the clothes he is wearing. The point at which the phone is used is an important turning point in the story as it is when the father realises the true intent of what's happening, and the seriousness of it all.

Letter - This is yet again another prop which may or may not be used in the opening sequence. The father will be posting the letter in a post box and this is where the mysterious phone call takes place, after he posts the letter. The letter won't be significant at all, it could just be something like a Birthday Card the father is posting, but essentially it the letter is what would lead up to the phone call it is not a major prop in the story.
Car - The car hasn't been decided on, however we're not obviously going to be driving it, there will only be shots of us getting in and out of the car and possibly some interior shots of us actually in the car. The car will sort of act as a transition shot so when we get in the car the audience knows we're about to switch scene.

Knives - The knives probably won't even be used apart from in the shot where the father secretively opens the case to reveal the knives. The knives are there to create the effect of violence, and there might be a little montage clip of the father (Jack's Character) observing and cleaning the knives all thoroughly to give the audience the sense that the father is serious, especially when it comes to situations about his 'past life' which also involves his son.

Dusty Box - The dusty box is going to be the box in which the knives are kept, and it's going to be dusty because the father hasn't used them for years since he quit his shady job as an assassin. Because the box is dusty it creates the effect that he's going back to something he hasn't done for a while, and its sort of an "emotional" time in the story for the father as he quit his job long ago and now he is being dragged back into it all.

Booklet/Diary - I mentioned in my treatment that a booklet or diary will be present in the scene with the father and his best friend. This is still a possibility obviously, but the best friend (Daniel's Character) will hand the father a diary containing a page with a name/(s) and the father will rip out the page while looking over his shoulder to check if any body is watching, then he continues to put the ripped page in his pocket.

Gun - Not mentioned in my treatment as this was an idea which our group came up with and developed, but a gun will be used in a scene which will take place within an abandoned barn where the Antagonist (Connor's/My Character) will be holding the father's son at gun point. This is basically right at the end of the opening sequence so the chances are it won't be a very long scene, but it will be a tense moment as it is where everything in the opening sequence has led to.

Timeline for a Film

Timeline for a Film

 Below is a timeline me and my group produced within 20 minutes from the Opening Sequence of the film Zombie Land. It essentially consisted of watching the opening sequence and writing down on the timeline key parts, such as Main Actors, Producers, etc.; and we also had to note down the time at which each of these titles came up, hence why we used a Timeline. 

 

Through doing the timeline, it gives us an idea of how long each title should be on screen for, so we can then channel this is into our opening sequence and make it as realistic as we can.

Idents in Thriller Films

Idents in Thriller Films

 An Ident is a short visual image used between cuts at the very start of basically every film. Idents essentially work as a logo so that the audience know who produced or helped produce the film, many of the example images below will be very familiar to you, as they are perhaps some of the most common and most well-known idents in the film industry and in particular thriller films. The purpose of this post is to try and give myself insight into current thriller film idents so that when it comes to our turn of making an Ident it may be that little bit easier considering we have done a little bit of research into them.

20th Century Fox is one of the main producers in Taken, and the ident is shown directly at the beginning of the film.

Not so complex as the 20th Century Fox ident but Warner Bros. Pictures is one of the most prominent producers you probably would have seen in films; it was the ident shown at the beginning of the Thriller film Inception.

This ident is very simple as all it consists of is text and a cloudy background with some form of colour filter - and it still proves to be effective.

I feel that through creating my own Ident on either Photoshop or Adobe After Effects, which is more likely because it is much more complex than Photoshop in terms of video editing software, it would be extremely beneficial, because it would give that typical movie feel which is what we are planning to do throughout out Opening Sequence. It also gives that sense of ownership, because we made the Opening Sequence it will be good to put our "mark" on it as it were. As well as all of that I think it will definitely make our Opening Title Sequence look much more professional and aesthetically pleasing as we are trying to make our Opening Sequence as close to an actual movie Opening Sequence as we can, and adding an Ident at the beginning puts us that much closer.

Treatment of My Opening Sequence

Treatment of My Opening Sequence

Here is the log line which was the most suitable out of all of the ones me and my group managed to come up with. "A retired assassin and single dad settles down with his son, but when his past catches up with him, he must take up his old line of work to protect the thing he loves most."

Originally, after discussing the idea with some of the members of my group, we imagined the first opening shot to the Opening Sequence being of a Middle-Aged man sitting on the sofa perhaps holding a mug of coffee/reading the newspaper while constantly peering over to his son to make sure he was ok, or perhaps even leaning over actually playing with his son. This would establish the relationship, between the middle-aged man and what would be his son, to the audience making sure they understand the significance of this bond before they get further into the storyline which would take place in the later scenes. I then came up with a few ideas of my own and imagined that in one of the scenes the father would be posting a letter into a postbox, or about to walk into a shop when he gets a "mysterious" phone call. The mood of the scene would then turn from total normality to dark and dreariness as the father picks up the phone and a close up of the fathers facial expression is presented. The shot would then cut to the father in a hurry sprinting home or driving dangerously fast to get to back to his house where his son is - while his facial expression of desperateness never changes. 

These first few seconds of the opening title sequence, where as mentioned he is in his house with his son, lays the foundation for the phone call scene when the father is away from his son. Me and my group then suggested perhaps having some "darker" scenes following the above talked about scenes where the father is revealing things from his shady past, such as a dusty box of pristine knives hidden in his garage above other normal typical garage junk. Also having a flickering light, while the box of knives is revealed would also set a rather eerie feel to the scene, and an Extreme Close Up on the eyes of the father at this particular scene would also fit well. Having the audience being introduced to other characters at this point would then also feed into the plot, and so then it would cut to a scene where perhaps the fathers best and close friend is introduced at a park sitting next to the father while they watch their children playing on a climbing frame - which would first be introduced with an Establishing Shot. The shot could show them discussing a secretive matter, perhaps the phone call, but only a few words are heard meaning that the audience are kept in the dark leading them to wonder what it was all about. While this is happening their is some low tempo chilling music playing quietly in the background building up. After the "secretive" discussion it cuts to close up of a booklet/diary which the friend is showing the father which lists a bunch of names which the father rips out and stuffs in his pocket while looking to see if anyone is watching.

While this is all happening, the titles including "Producer" and "Director" could be appearing in the background of shots so they are still noticeable but not too much that they audience cannot follow the story. For example whilst the father is opening the box of knives in his garage a title could appear behind the father in a serious sort of font, this would be too establish the genre to the audience. Following the talked about scenes, the audience could then be introduced to the Antagonist/(s) who are depicted in a negative light possibly standing underneath a street light at night time smoking a cigarette or making some shady transaction to a non-significant character down an alley way by giving him what looks like a rather weighty brief case which could contain anything for all the audience knows. All of the ideas discussed above will of course be refined when it comes down to making the final Opening Sequence with my group, it just became apparent to document the ideas I already have so I could perhaps come back to them when we eventually make our Opening Sequence and compare.

Below are some examples of what the fathers facial expression could look like when he picks up the mysterious phone call while he's out.

Below is a video clip of the above image (Opening Sequence to Scream 3), and although the situation and plot are going to be completely different, because Scream 3 is a horror and our Opening Sequence will be a Thriller, the facial expression and the way the man  acts in the video clip is the exact way the father would be acting in our Opening Sequence.

And below is an example of what the titles would potentially look like, not too big to drag the audiences attention away from the Opening Sequence plot, but just big enough to notice.

The film plot will more than likely revolve around what eventually happens in the Opening Title Sequence however it will be sort of spaced out, and nothing major about what happens will be given away only little hints to make the audience wonder. The general plot will be about the father taking up his old line of work, as the Log Line at the beginning of the post said, to protect his son from harm, which is what the phone call which I talked about above will be about. But the audience will never really get this through the Opening Title Sequence, which means it opens up a lot of opportunities for the audience to think about what the phone call is about, what the names in the diary mean, etc. But because we will only be making the Opening Sequence we don't need to go into the plot about the whole film, only the Opening Title Sequence.