name change

After filming on the second location for my thriller opening I have decided to change the name of the my thriller from "Slice" to "Who am I". This is because the last image to be seen is a dairy entry, where the words read "Who Am I"

UPDATE: THE NAME WILL REMAIN AS SLICE

Footage from the second location

on Thursday 20th March, I shot the last scenes for my thriller opening. When shooting and reviewing the footage on the camcorder, it seemed to be ok, however after viewing the footage on a computer with a larger screen I realised the footage is too dark possibly due to the position of the lights. To correct this, I hope to shoot the footage again on Monday the 24th of March.

For the second try of this shoot, I will draw the curtains because during one of the shots, the reflection of the light is visible.

Transition test

For today, I am testing different transitions to use for the affect of the home video. I can not make use a handful of transition because they do not provide the feel of a home video. The ones I have tested here are simple fading transitions.

Title names and credits

This opening sequence shows the name of those involved. For my thriller opening, I am going to include.
A Lion Entertainment production
Actor, Anjali Derashri, April De Alwis, Roshni Mepani
Director of Photography: John Reed
Special effects: Arron Dellwis
Casting by: Donna Robbie
Costume design: Kate Brewer
Make-up: Alan Kennedy
Sound track by: Purple Planet
Edited by: Heath E Wigg
screenplay by: Ricky Lincoln
Directed by: Roshni Mepani

Effect Test

For the effect of the home video, I shot the footage using a HD camcorder  so I now need to edit the image to make it more like a home video.  For this effect I could use the "bad TV" effect. I could also change the saturation of the image and make it more like a home video shot by a group of friends on day out in the park.

Alternatively, I could simply blur the video to make it appear more like a home video shot with a modern camcorder.

Storyboard for second location.

BBFC

Considering the content of my thriller and the guidelines provided by the British Board of Film Classification I would say my thriller would possibly be rated at 15.
These are the characteristics of 15 from their official website:

How much strong language is allowed in a 15?

There could potentially be a great deal. At 15 there is no upper limit on the number of uses of strong language (e.g. ‘f***’).
Occasionally there may be uses of the strongest terms (e.g. 'c***'), depending on the manner in which they are used, who is using the language, its frequency and any special contextual justification. However, continued or aggressive use will not normally be passed 15.

What about discriminatory or offensive terms?

There may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory language, and the work could explore themes relating to this.
However, at 15 the work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.

How much sex and nudity is allowed at 15?

At 15 sexual activity can be portrayed, but usually without strong detail. Some sex scenes can be quite long at this category.

Though nudity may be allowed in a sexual context there will usually be no strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.

There can be strong references to sex and sexual behaviour, but especially strong or crude references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context.

Sex and sex references are treated the same irrespective of sexuality

Can there be strong violence?

Yes, at 15 violence may be strong. It should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury, however, and the strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.
Strong sadistic violence is also unlikely to be acceptable.

What about sexual violence?

There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence (for example descriptions of rape or sexual assault in a courtroom scene or in victim testimony) but any portrayal depiction of sexual violence must be discreet and justified by context.

Similar films

*MENTAL IS A LIGHT HEARTED COMEDY HOWEVER I HAVE TAKEN THE MESSAGE FROM THIS FILM FOR MY THRILLER* 

Mental is a film released in 2012 directed by PJ Hogan and stars Toni Collette. The last film Toni Collette and PJ Hogan worked on together was Muriel's Wedding. This film was based on a real life event that the director PJ Hogan faced. Muriel's Wedding was about PJ Hogans sister and her wedding. While on the set of this film, Pj Hogan and Toni Collette were talking about Hogans nanny - a woman named Shaz. Hogans' dad had seen a woman waiting to go somewhere and decided to help her out and trusted her based on the fact that she had a dog. He then asked her to act as a nanny for his children because their mother had been taken into an institute.Hogan had said Shaz was the one person who helped his family through the time even t though "she was nuts". Within the first few days she was instantly able to better the girls' lives and towards the end she was taken in to the same institue as girls mother. So the young sisters broke in and helped Shaz to escape. Over the course Shaz helped the girls to see they did not have mental disorders but those around them did.

This is similar to my thriller with the aspect of the disorder. The main character in my thriller suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). If the film was to continue past 3 minutes I would show one of the friends in of the main character swapping around the medication so that the condition would not be able to be controlled. Towards the end, it would represent something similar to the end of Mental. This would show the different sides to normality, the friend swapping the medicine would be seen as the troubled one and one character with DID would be seen as the perfectly "normal" person.

This here is a review of the film which explains the concept of the film:

Here is the trailer of the film.

soundtrack for Slice

For the soundtrack for my thriller I want something slow paced with an eerie sound. Possibly a track similar to this song:



This song has the mystery effect of the unknown similar to the main character. This is because my main character watched a home video with a which features her but she is not sure who the people in the video are. She can be seen with them and she is seen laughing and having a good time but she can not place them in her memory, she also does not recognise the place and is in a state of confusion.

After doing some research I found 3 tracks that I liked which emitted a similar effect.
Orphanage
In My Nightmares
Is Anyone There

This is the policy for Purple Planet - Royalty Free Music


All of the music in our free section (available at the links to the right) can be used for just about any project where music is needed - this could be your website, blog or a sharing site such as youtube, vimeo etc.

We simply ask that you add a link in the text to your video that credits us as:

Music: http://www.purple-planet.com

Please don't forget the 'http:// 'part as it creates a clickable link.

If you are a member of the youtube partner programme, it's fine to use our music. If you credit us, youtube will know the music is licenced correctly.

Increasingly, youtube are very hot on copyright infringment. If you don't credit us on youtube, that's fine, though you will probably be sent a copyright ID match. If you simply ackowledge this, ads may run on your video for which we receive a share. This is not the same as a 'copyright strike' and your account status is not affected.

This does not apply to other sites. if you put a video using our music on your own blog or website, there is no chance of it being content ID matched.


Situations requiring a paid-for licence

Pre-formatted licences can be automatically purchased and the details filled in by you, the user. These cost $8 for up to five separate tracks and are valid on a 'per-project' basis.

You will need a licence if a third party, ie a distributor, asks for one.

For example:

-Integrating our music within a game or app. A distributor, such as' google play',
will need to see proof of licensing.

-You have created a product for someone and have no control over how it is distibuted.

-Integrating our product within an audiobook that you sell, for example on amazon.

-Publicly playing our music where the venue owners need proof of licensing.

-Broadcast on radio/TV where the station requires proof of licensing.

Preparation with actors

when considering who I would ask to act in the thriller opening, I took into consideration the age of the characters and if the actions would be typical of a person in their teens. Thinking of this, I decided to go with quite a young person. The people I asked are between 14-19, although someone of that age does not typically take the role of someone who has a breakdown or someone who has Dissociative Personality Disorder or is not asked to because the majority of people suffering from this or from something similar are aged or are diagnosed when they are slightly older. However there are some younger people who are showing symptoms of Dissociative Personality Disorder but they are a minority so their cases are not publicised as much.

For this scene the location was:

Shot List

Two shot, two actors (April and Anjali) one on foreground, one in back ground.
Two shot, Low angle two actors (April and Anjali) on climbing frame.
Two shot, two actors (Freya and April) dancing around
Two shot, two actors (myself and Anjali) dancing around
Three shot, Three actors, on a swing (Freya and Anjali)
shot with four people, walking off camera to show "home video"

SECOND LOCATION
Mid shot from back, actor sitting on bed
Close up showing confused/state of shock of actors expression
Close up from the left
Panning Mid Shot of Laptop showing video
Mid shot of person standing up
Tracking shot from back showing person walking
Mid shot from Right showing person writing
Close up from front showing what the person is writing
Mid shot from from Right showing person writing in diary on desk
Pan up to see another actor near door, looking into room.

Inspiration for first scene of "Slice" *possible name

This is a short video that was filmed from a phone. The video shows two friends dancing around and another friend in the background laughing. This was the inspiration for my thriller. For my thriller, I want to create the atmosphere and feeling of home video with a similar effect of this video. Another aspect I like about this video is the image is not very clear, the lighting casts darkness over the two people dancing and the sound of the person laughing is distorted alike the song in the background.

Another inspiration for the beginning of the thriller is the opening to another film called "A Model Daughter: The Killing of Caroline Byrne". This film is based on true events and is the reason for the home video at the beginning. Although the atmosphere is different to the first video, they have similar effects. The lighting in this opening is fairly clear because the outdoor lighting.





Here is another old home video. This video is not of the effect I want because is a little too clear, and it does not look like something negative is about to happen. However, it is a home video with the general atmosphere of a home video.