Ghost Productions

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The following pieces of work focuses on the planning for our film opening, it includes images, written plans, ideas, character analyses as well as practice takes for our final film opening. Our storyboard is also here, to show the step by step process of our opening, moreover, we have ideas for locations and the consent for us to film in that specific location.




Here we discussed potential ideas for our film opening. we settled with thriller as each member of the group contributed an idea which helped us decide on what the final genre/idea should be. The genre thriller is also included in most movies expanding our ideas even more. 

By Tajul Islam & Imran Ali

THE ACCUSED - (PREVIOUS IDEA)

Main plot:

  • A man gets flashbacks as he walks through a busy street. He stares at people, which triggers flashbacks connected to what they are doing or what they look like. There is a protagonist and an antagonist.
  • The good guy is portrayed as the bad guy.
  • At the end, it is revealed that the guy is the good guy and is the person that got beaten up.
  • The face is disclosed at the end.
  • Dialogue at the end; "I'm ready".
  • Flashbacks
  • Snippets of the guy getting beaten up.
  • The guy will be wearing a suit but with one arm out.
  • The arm is broken.
  • The camera from the main character's point of view - point of view shot.
  • When the protagonist blinks; it is shown on the camera.
  • This makes it more realistic.
  • There are shots of people passing by; while he is walking down the busy street.

Flashbacks

  • What triggers flashback: someone budges him on the street.
  • At the moment of impact of the budge, he gets the flashback.
  • This flashback is of when he got the broken arm.
  • The person that budged the protagonist says "sorry mate" but he does not respond.
  • The person's face is shown by the use of a point of view shot. This is from the protagonist's view.
  • What triggers flashback: he is walking past the shops and looks into a jewellery shop and zooms into the rings on display. 
  • He gets a flashback of the antagonist washing blood off his hands in the sink. 
  • The antagonist is wearing a wedding ring.
  • In the last scene, when the protagonist is out of the flashback, it zooms out of the ring that triggered the flashback.
  • It is focused on the ring and then the reflection of the protagonist is shown from the shop display window.
  • He is looking at himself and it is revealed that he has bruises on his face and a broken arm. 
  • It then focuses on his reflection.
  • Dialogue of the protagonist.
  • The flashback shows the protagonist on the floor but his face is not shown. 
  • The antagonist legs are shown.
  • Shows action of the antagonist kicking the protagonist on the floor.

Actors
  • Main character:
  • Protagonist: male
  • Mysterious
  • Average height – preferable tall
  • Formal clothing – suit
  • Antagonist
  • Another male
  • The character that budges the protagonist

Location

  • Oxford Street
  • Walking down the busy street
  • Use the shops
  • Reflection from the display window
  • Canary Wharf
  • Millennium bridge

    We chose Canary Wharf as a second option for our location as we need the setting of the long row of shops throughout our film opening, in particularly, the last couple of scenes. Our idea is to use the display window of the store to reveal the character by showing his reflection. Canary Wharf is a suitable location for this as there are a variety of stores that are available for this scene. Millennium Bridge was another option for our location as it is an iconic setting and it emphasizes on the surrounding of the character. However, Oxford Street was our ideal location, as the atmosphere would be portrayed by the weather and the time of the day such as a dark sky. Whereas, this would not be shown in the location of Canary Wharf as the stores are in a shopping center and this time of day wouldn't be presented.

    Titles

    1. Mistaken
    2. The Accused
    3. Retribution
    4. An eye for an eye
    • Mistaken and The Accused were the two that were most liked within our group
    • The Accused chosen and got most votes from our class

    By Shanaz Ahmed

    This is the idea that we had initially chosen for out film opening. However, we figured that this is too long as the opening and it gave away the main narrative to the audience. Due to these, we decided to think of a different idea within our genre and came up with a new idea. This idea is simple, does not give away the story line to the audience and we are hoping that it leaves the audience intrigued and wanting to know what happens.


    By Shanaz Ahmed and Naseha Yasmin

    HEAVEN SENT

    Our initial idea was to stick with The Accused however we decided to change our plot as we realised that the plot for The Accused was very generic for thriller films. Therefore, we decided to go against the typical expectations of a thriller movie by changing the narrative, we wanted to subvert the stereotype by having a female for our lead. In The Accused, we came to a conclusion that too much was happening for a film opening whereas in our current opening, it is mellow and doesn't reveal too much.

    By Tajul Islam & Naseha Yasmin

    STORYBOARD

    By Tajul Islam

    SYPNOSIS

    A young woman (Ava Chambers) is having trouble with controlling what she sees. Her ability to see horrid events in advance and not being able to do anything about it, consequently makes her feel exhausted. The protagonist feels isolated due to her condition and as a result wants to commit suicide. As she is on the verge of ending her life, a man (Steve Brooks) with the same condition as her sees her in danger and prevents what is yet to occur. However, one day she realises she is able to tackle it by sacrificing things that are important to her as well as falling in love with the man that saved her. Towards the end of the film, they realise that they need to be apart for the premonitions to not take over their lives. However, they realise that without each other they have visions of their lives in the future, without one another.

    By Naseha Yasmin

    CONSENT FOR OUR CHOSEN LOCATION

    LOCATION ANALYSIS

    We analysed several fonts and title opening to inspire our one. Most of the movies we looked at had font which matched the genre therefore we made sure our title sequence had font to match our genre of thriller. This would reinforce our genre to the audience at the start of the film. The font also matches the setting in which the movie starts with; therefore our one will have to start with the font behind a thriller setting.

    By Imran Ali

    SOUND

    This is a sample of sound that inspired us to create our sound. This sound is eerie and spooky and creates a sense of mystery. We used this piece of sound from the opening of 'The Sixth Sense' as inspiration to create sound for our film opening. We used this sample to help us create a sound that matches the eerie atmosphere to the one which is in 'The Sixth Sense.'

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    By Imran Ali

    CALL SHEET

    SCRIPT

    RISK ASSESSMENT 

    By Imran Ali

    LIGHTING

    By Shanaz Ahmed

    OUR CHARACTER - AVA CHAMBERS

    Our researched show that women in thriller movies were dressed casually at home and in relaxing clothes. Also it showed how at home they would have no/minimal make up at home. When shooting we will dress our actress in relaxed clothing and will be wearing socks. This will show her relaxation of her own home. We couldn't show this in the pictures we took as she was in a different environment then her home. As we only have one actor/actress in the film opening this meant we had to concentrate our opening on her.

    By Tajul Islam

    We decided to go with Nikita Jahan to play the role of Ava Chambers as she fit our initial idea more. Although we changed the colours of the costume, surprisingly it helped us further as colours such as baby pink and white, give connotations of innocence and purity, thus reinforcing on the kind of image we originally wanted.
    By Naseha Yasmin

    SPECIFIC CONVENTIONS IN OUR FILM OPENING

    SOUND

    -music; slow tempo, relatively quiet but slowly builds up, in order to make an impact on the audience as well as creating a sense of mystery

    -we were inspired by the opening of The Sixth Sense; the non-diegetic music manages to create an ample amount of suspense

    -our aim is to also start our film opening with similar music, the lack of dialogue can sometimes create more of an impression on the audience as it builds up tension.

    LIGHTING

    -different levels of low key lighting, in order to create a mystifying atmosphere, as well as creating apprehension 

    -when the title appears, it can be written or coloured in a specific way to show what kind of film it is

    -colour is a vital factor and direct link to thoughts and emotions, therefore dull colours and dim lighting will create feelings of uncertainty and confusion

    LOCATION

    -home environment, in order to show that due to her condition she spends most of her time indoors

    -we will use specific objects (props) within the household in order to help determine the narrative and help identify what the character is like

    -the opening will be filmed in a living room, which is slightly enclosed, the use of this specific claustrophobic space will help portray the possible entrapment that protagonist may be feeling

    ACTORS

    -one female actress, plays the role of Ava Chambers

    -we wanted to subvert the typical idea of having a male lead, instead we decided as a group for the protagonist to be a female

    -the reason why we chose a brunette female was to show that she’s slightly independent as well as intelligent as the connotations of having brown hair implies that women are decisive and assertive

    COSTUME

    -naturalistic clothing and make up makes the acting more believable as to how we portray the characters and how the audience perceive them

    -simple makeup/lack of makeup, makes the character appear to be more natural and more like an everyday person

    PROPS

    -teacup; home environment

    -laptop; connotations of intellect, wealth, possibly surfing the internet is a hobby

    -medicine(pills); needs medication, connotations of illness, desire to get cured

    -glasses; associated with intelligence, innocence

    By Naseha Yasmin

    By Naseha Yasmin

    DRAFT WORK

    This shot is possibly one of the hardest things we've had to film, as the focus of the object keeps changing which made it difficult for us to film. However, we practiced this shot repeatedly in order to get it accurate, we wanted to blur her face out to have enough emphasis on the object she's focusing.

    By Tajul Islam

    This video shows the countless amount of times we had to shoot this specific shot and explains why we had to make it as accurate as possible. It shows the difficulties we had in focusing on the pills as well as the pot. Moreover, it shows the little errors that we couldn't include in our overall draft as it is obvious to the audience and would simply make our draft incomplete.

    By Naseha Yasmin

    This video shows the number of shots we had to take for this scene due to specific faults and it explains what the faults were. It shows the difficulties we had in making sure we get the focus accurate and in the correct position. 

    By Shanaz Ahmed

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    In these clips i played around with Motion and created a few draft of our actors name; 'Nikita Jahan'. In the first clip it was just a simple one with only her name and only thing modified was the font to suit our genre. The second clip shows me include the effect of fog which gives it the effect of it being a spooky film. The last clip shows me including sound to the original clip to show spookiness and add to the tension. All these pieces of draft work will help us create a final title for 'Nikita Jahan' which is appropraite for our genre and one that creates tension.

    By Imran Ali

    PREMONITION - SOUND EFFECTS

    In this clip, we used a high pitched beeping-like sound effect during the premonition. This was one of number of sound effects we looked at, however, we did not choose this sound effect as it does not create a sense of mystery and an eerie atmosphere. Also, it sounds like the machines that beep in hospitals, which does not fit in to the sound we intended to use. 

    In this clip, we used a radio frequency-like sound effect during the premonition. This was one of the options, however, we did not choose this sound effect as it does not suit the role for the premonition. The sound builds up, but it does not create the eerie atmosphere that we intend to make. 

    In this clip, we used a mix of high pitch and frequency sound effect during the premonition. This was one of the two, chosen sound effects to use during the premonition. However, we did not use this sound effect because at the time 'Ava' comes out of the premonition, the sound effect does not match to the role that implies the end and it sounds on going.

    In this clip, we used a wind-like sound effect during the premonition. We did not choose this sound effect as it does not crease a tense and eerie atmosphere. It sounds as if there is heavy wind during the filming of the scene, in which we edited it to match the times of the premonition. Also, it does not suit the role for the sound effects during the premonition.

    This is the final sound effect we have chosen to use during the premonition. We have chosen this sound effect because the high pitched sound effect that is used at the time 'Ava' receives the premonition and at the end of the premonition, creates the sense of awareness of the premonition. This is because it portrays when 'Ava' got the premonition and when she came back to reality. The wind/frequency-like sound effects during the premonition create the sense of mystery and suspense and it emphasizes on the character walking up the stairs, with his back towards us. This makes the audience ponder on who the character may be.

    By Shanaz Ahmed and Imran Ali

    HOW THE SOUND WAS CREATED

    This is a screen recording of how I created the soundtrack for our film opening, using Logic Pro. The different soundtracks that are used are shown seperately, to the outcome of the final soundtrack for the final film opening.

    By Shanaz Ahmed