Essam Ghalia

Question 7: looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?

1. When we originally planned this we have a vey different script in mind, which we had already started planning. This sequence focused on the discovery of the kidnap with no dialogue were a women walks into a kitchen sees her charge is missing screams and runs of to find her. This involves close ups POV shots revered POV shots and tracking the running women, only using sound textures to create a dramatic tension. We argued about this because I felt this idea did not demonstrate enough technical competence or narrative interest to make a good opening. I suggested a new idea which I ran by the other students and they were happy to take my lead on this new idea, this new sequence which was the basis for the finished product, demonstrates the 180 degree angle, action shots, close ups, low angle shots, dialogue exchange and an interior moving car shot and an external tracking shot of car pulling off and following it down the road these faster paced elements, with inclusion of realistic dialogue several locations and suspense accent sound effects, I felt would give the opening sequence more ‘wow’ factor in this version we actually see the kidnap, following the old adage ‘show don’t tell’.

2. The opening to a thriller film: this period was all about pre-production and research. Research that we did, which was mainly Youtube based involved watching trailers and opening sequences of major thrillers, to give us ideas and inspiration for our own sequence. Preproduction is were actors are hired, script is subject to final re-writes, lighting is designed and the type of sound effects that are added in post production will be considered. This is also where the director, discuses camera shots with a cinematographer, location is decided and any props or costumes are decided upon.

1

2

At this juncture it was decided to strike the opening sequence which presented the heroin and kidnap victim, gazing out of the barred windows of her luxury Knightsbridge home. The reason for this was time, we felt setting up this location to film it from both internal and external POV would take too long. We decided to film this in the octagonal former ball room of my parents home in Knightsbridge.

3. Planning a narrative sequence that is generic, a typical narrative sequence for a thriller following a Todorovian arc involves the characters going from state of equilibrium to disequilibrium and back again. With a thriller the catalyst is a crime threat or mystery, which much be solved or defused. Therefore In our own narrative sequence we decided to place this threat or mystery at the

3

beginning leaving the sequence open ended to suggest further twists and plot development.

4. We were originally going to use friends with some acting ability in our film, then I remembered that we knew a few students at LAMDA one of the leading UK drama schools. We cast three actors from the first year who were eager for the experience, and they brought with them one of their tutors to play one of the older, father figure. Since the dialogue required a convincing Russian accent it was also felt that professional actors would be the best choice.

5. The pitfals of an over-complicated plot which doesn’t come from your range of experience. Obliviously the world of Russian mafia and the kidnapping is not within my own range of experience. However I do live in Knighstbridge and I am observant of the Russian expat community here. One has to imagine these scenarios to make them believable. However in the first draft of the script we were going to use a laser pen to simulate a laser rifles sight trained on our protagonist Brodsky, but this was so beyond our range of experience and technical expertise that we dumped this idea in favour of a bomb dressed up as a present which although not something I’ve experienced its easier to imagine. In the end simplicity won the day.

6. Soundtrack, Most edit suits come with a preinstalled range of sound effects, jingles and Foley. Also royalties free and copyright free sound package are widely available on the internet to be downloaded for a small fee, so sourcing sound is not a problem.

7. Editing, we edited this on a linear system Adobe ProCC, this is a very easy system to use with a linear timeline into which shots can be placed in any order, and an audio track underneath into which sound effects can be placed or to match the footage.

8. Working from a brief/blueprint/time frame. There is no shortcut to making a film, except when following a brief, blueprint or timeframe. There is no other way to make a film, if you left your own devices to no limits or boundaries to what you are doing you would never get a film made. Following a brief gives you boundaries in which to work and the generic blueprint for a thriller gives you a path to follow, and a timeline gives you a deadline. I found following these steps very profitable and helpful.

9. Titles, titles and credits were inserted after making our rough cut. Our title was in red on a black background in the middle of our screen in big letters. The use of the colour red connotes danger, and the black background symbolizes the unknown. Which are two themes in the film. The editor used a title generator to create this effect.

4

10.Mixing

diegetic and non-diegetic sound, this film relies mainly on diegetic sound, the Foley added was the telephone ringing. The non-diegetic sound was the suspense music accents used to heighten the drama of the scene.

11. Footage problems, because we used natural daylight we were fortunate to not have to bring in artificial studio lights. So the quality of the footage was good in terms of lighting although there was once sequence, where the camera looks of the shoulder of Brodsky reading a letter but that was out of focus so could not be used, but overall we were lucky with the quality of our footage and sound.

5