The Revelation

This is our completed thriller opening called The Revelation. It was filmed at the Red Hall in Bourne and was directed by Beth Pattison, camera work by Jessica Hammond and features Mia Shaw. Some of the sound effects are from freesfx.co.uk

Feedback From Early Cut of Opening

During the editing process we created a rough cut of the thriller opening to show other media students for them to let us know how to improve and what parts of it they think are effective. We have not yet added sound or music for this cut, and it still has to be shortened at the moment.

- A suggestion was to cut down the time of the opening by getting rid of a lot of the outdoor shots. These take up a lot of time and are not essential. Also by getting rid of them it will be a more concise opening and will get to the climax sooner but still have time to build enough tension

- There is a pause before the girl decides to enter the door. An idea was to have a reaction close up on the girl's face as she thinks about whether or not to go into the house. Another place where a reaction shot could be effective is when the girl has entered the house and is looking round in a concerned way. We could put a close up of the girl's face in here so we know her emotions at this point

- To put a filter effect over some of or the whole of the opening. This can make the film look more old-fashioned, which would be fitting with the style of the doll, house and dress that the girl is wearing. Putting an effect on the film that may make it slightly darker may also make the blood look more realistic

- At the moment we have a panning shot that goes across the table so that the audience can see all of the items that are on it. This is a shot that takes up quite a lot of time, and someone watching pointed out this almost gets rid of the tension because it lasts so long. They put forward the idea of splitting the clip and putting in lots of short freeze frames of the rubbish in the room. This will build up the pace of the editing and will also reinforce the point that this place is very untidy and dirty 

Justification of the Props and Costume for our Thriller

Justification on the props and costume for our thriller opening

·         A sliver bracelet- The girl character in our opening is wearing a silver bracelet. During the opening the audience discover that the two dead bodies photographed are wearing the same bracelet. We have done this because it connects the character to the dead bodies, creating mystery and adding tension. It is common in thriller films for a prop to be a main part of the storyline as it is something for the audience to notice and work out for themselves- making a more interesting storyline.

·         A white dress with black pumps- This is the costume the girl is wearing in our opening. We have chosen this costume because it gives the impression that the girl is innocent and pure. Also it is not a normal outfit for a teenage girl to be wearing creating more mystery and making the storyline seem more abnormal. It is normal for a victim to wear white in a thriller films as it make the audience sympathise with them more. 

·         Old fashioned doll- This doll is going to appear and disappear throughout the opening. We have chosen this prop because it fits in well with our setting of the Red Hall as both are very old. Not only this but the old fashion doll is very creepy and gives a sinister feeling and because it keeps disappearing and appearing emphasises the fact our thriller is psychological/religious. This isn’t a common prop used in thriller films as it can only work in certain genre of thriller film, so we are using it to be original as we believe it’s a great prop to use to add tension and mystery.

·         A tatty Bible- The girl is going to pick up this prop when looking around the room. The Bible is going to be very tatty- with missing pages, rips and ink covered in it. We are using this because it gives clues to the audience about what kind of person owns it, as it’s not normal for a bible to be tatty. It also emphasises the fact our thriller is psychological/religious. This prop would only be used in a religious thriller but can be very significant to a storyline which is something we wanted to do in our opening.

·         Empty packs of food and alcohol bottles- These are going to be scattered around the room that the girl is looking around. We are using these to suggest to the audience the person who owns the room is a messy person and not ‘normal’. If relevant to the storyline, this sort of thing is done a lot in thriller films as it help to show the audience what kind of person lives in the space and create the feeling of abnormality.

·         Newspapers clipping relating to death- These props are going to be placed on the table the girl looks at. We have chosen these props because it create mystery and add tension for the audience.  Also it makes the character who owns the room seem more sinister. This is done a lot in thriller films (especially crime thriller) as it can help keep a character identity secret and help create more mystery.

·         Images of two dead bodies (Jessica and Beth)- These props are going to be placed on the table the girl is looking at. We have chosen this because it helps develop the storyline and create more mystery for the audience. As they will realise that the person who owns the room has something to do with the death, suggesting the girl looking around the room is danger. Also we are using these images to help film our credits. This is very typical for a thriller to show at least one dead body in a film because it disturbing for the audience to watch and can really help create an atmosphere in the storyline.

·          A mattress and sheet- these items are going to place in the room that girl is looking at. We are using them because it suggest that person who owns this room sometime sleeps there, which isn’t normal- adding more mystery and tension for the audience. This isn’t a common thing seen in a thriller film but we want to have it in to make the storyline seem less normal that real life.

·         Images of the girl in the opening- There are going to photos of the girl in our opening which look like they have been taken by a stalker. We are using this because it connects the girl to the person who owns the room. Also it helps create more mystery and suggest the girl is in danger. This is commonly used in a crime thriller as it helps to suggest danger and there is a bad person in the film.

·         Two bloody white tops- There are going to be two bloody white tops place in the room which are the tops the dead bodies are wearing. We are doing this because it connects the person who owns the room to the deaths of these girls. Also it suggest to the girl looking around the room is in danger. It is very common for there to be blood in a thriller films as it make the audience uncomfortable to watch and help show the danger on this scene.   

     

Justification of the Title of Our Thriller

The Title of our film is going to be ‘The Revelation’. We decided upon this title because it is appropriate for the plot as the identity of a murderer is dramatically revealed. It also has connotations of religion because there is a book in the Bible called ‘Revelations’. This is suitable, because when the girl is looking around the old fashioned house she finds clippings from the Bible, with highlighted parts about death, sins etc. The title will appear at the end of the opening, in the credits. We will show it in clippings from newspapers, spelling out ‘The Revelation’. This will look effective because the room will be covered in rubbish, and it will be quite unusual and strange that the letters are arranged like this on top of the litter.

Justification of the Actress in Our Thriller

 

Only one actor is necessary for the filming, and that is one teenage girl. We have chosen to use Mia Shaw to play the character of the girl who finds the items in the house. This is because she is currently taking A-level performing arts so we know that she will be sufficient for the acting. Also, it is useful that she is in the media group because she will have knowledge of the type of film we are creating, and of media technique in general. For the plot, it was important that it was a teenage girl, so Mia is suitable for this. Also the character must be innocent, naïve and wholesome; as Mia has blonde hair and is quite short it will give connotations of these characteristics.

Justification of the Location of Our Thriller

The location that we chose was the Red Hall in Bourne, on South road. We decided that we would use this location because it is notorious for being haunted by a woman that once lived in the house. We felt that this was very suitable for the thriller genre; hauntings and ghosts are suitable for the psychological thriller, and this is the sub-genre that we have chosen. We also picked it because it is a very old building with an attractive stair case and old fashioned rooms and windows that we can use in our thriller film opening. There is also a big open green space in front and behind the hall, that will be ideal for outside scenes as there is plenty of space, and can make the house seem like it is remote, therefore people will not know what is going to happen there. 

The storyline of the film is that a girl finds an abandoned house, supposedly after she hears something about it, or about something that has happened there. Red Hall is appropriate for this because it is from the Jacobean era, so an audience would believe that it had been abandoned for a long time.

We think it is quite an original idea to film at the Red Hall also because no AS Level Media students have filmed there before, so it is unique and more interesting for viewers to watch our opening. 

We contacted the Red Hall to ask if they would allow us to film our thriller there, they gladly agreed that we were could and showed enthusiasm to see the completed film. We wanted to see the rooms we could use and what they looked like, so we arranged with the people at Red Hall that we would go to the hall on the 14th of November- before we were to film- to look around, take pictures and ask any questions that we might have. We took photos of every room we were allowed to use and the other parts of the house that we were keen to feature in the film, to give us something to look at to help us plan. We also used these pictures to do our shot lists and our equipment list. We are very grateful that they agreed to the filming.

 

By Jessica Hammond

Shot List For Thriller Opening

Shot	Location	Shot Description	Framing	Action	Sound effect	Actor	Props	Notes
1.	Outside Red Hall	The girl is running towards Red Hall	Extreme Long shot			Mia		Need to see red hall straight on and the curtain need to move slightly
2.	From the window on the 1st floor at Red Hall	The girl is running towards Red Hall	High angle long shot			Mia		Make sure it focus on girl not window frame
3.	Outside Red Hall	The girl is running towards Red Hall	Mid/long shot			Mia		Make sure she doesn’t in the same place twice
4.	Outside the door of Red Hall	The girl is running toward the door of Red Hall, audience see that the girl looks distressed	Mid/long shot			Mia
5.	From the right side of the door of Red Hall	The girl stops at the door, looking upset and hesitating before opening the door.	Mid shot			Mia		Camera need to be on the right side.
6.	From in the hallway of Red Hall	The girl opens the door and enters red hall	Mid shot			Mia		Make sure the fire extinguisher and the safety signs are out of shot.
7.	In front of the door facing into the girl in the corridor	The girl takes a few steps into the corridor she then hears the door close behind her. She looks round and stops.	Long shot		Door shutting	Mia		The girl must stand still for a few seconds and then the door closes

8.	Just inside of the door at Red Hall	The girl turns to look back at the door, hesitates then walks along the corridor.	Close up into a mid-shot			Mia		Make her turn head to the right and don’t look directly into the camera
9.	The bottom of the stairs at Red Hall	The girl enters the room where the stairs begin, she looks around and start to walk up the stairs	Long Shot	Camera moves from right to left		Mia
10.	The bottom of the stairs at red hall	The girl starts to walk up the stairs with an old fashion doll comes into shot	Long/mid Shot			Mia	Old fashion doll	Make sure she doesn’t walk up the same stairs twice
11.	The bottom of red hall	The audience can see the girls feet walking up the stairs and the doll more closely	Close up			Mia	Old fashion doll	Make sure she doesn’t walk up the same stairs twice
12.	The second lot of stairs at Red Hall	The girl is walking up the stairs.	High angle shot			Mia		Make sure she doesn’t walk up the same stairs twice
13.	The second lot of stairs at Red Hall	The girl has reached the first landing and continues to walk up the stairs	Long shot			Mia		Make sure she doesn’t walk up the same stairs twice
14.	The second landing at Red Hall	The girl continues to walk up the stairs before reaching the second landing	Long shot into mid shot			Mia		Make sure she doesn’t walk up the same stairs twice

 

15.	The second landing at Red Hall	The girl looks around on the landing and sees a door slight opening. She walks toward it.	Mid/long shot	Camera moves left to right		Mia
16.	Outside the door on the second  landing at Red Hall	The girl reaches for the door handle and opens the door.	High angle mid shot			Mia		The camera need on the right side
17.	Inside the room at Red Hall	The door opens and the girl walk into the room.	Long/mid shot			Mia		Make sure the door doesn’t open too much.
18.	Inside the room at Red Hall	The room is shown from the girls point of view and the audience can see rubbish, old furniture and paper on all around the room	A point of view shot	Camera moves around the room			Rubbish, old furniture, papers, old fashion doll, a Bible, sheets, mattress and old pillow	Make sure no items move between shot.
19.	Inside the room at Red Hall	A series of close up showing the what is in the room in more detail	Close-up				Rubbish, old furniture, papers, old fashion doll, a Bible, sheets, mattress and old pillow	Make sure no items move between shot.

 

20.	Inside the room at Red Hall	A close up of the girls face as she looks around the room	Close-up			Mia
21.	Inside the room at Red Hall	The girl slow walks across the room. As she is walking she a noise turns to realise there is nothing there, so she walks a bit quicker	Mid to long shot		An eerie noise, for example a thudding sound	Mia	Rubbish, old furniture, papers, old fashion doll, a Bible, sheets, mattress and old pillow	Make sure no items move between shot.
22.	Inside the room at Red Hall	The girl walk towards a table covered in bit of paper including photos, bible pages and newspaper clippings.	Low angle shot			Mia	Rubbish, a table, papers, a Bible, newspaper clippings and photos	Make sure no items move between shot.
23.	Inside the room at Red Hall	The girl looks at the table and pick up a tatty Bible and starts to flick through it.	High angle, over the shoulder shot			Mia	Rubbish, a table, papers, a Bible, newspaper clippings and photos	Make sure no items move between shot.
24.	Inside the room at Red Hall	From the girl point of view the bible is placed back on to the table and the camera pans along the table, showing the audience in more detail what is on it. At the end of the panning shot the audience see images of dead bodies.	A point of view panning shot.			Mia	Rubbish, a table, papers, a Bible, newspaper clippings and photos	Make sure no items move between shot.

 

 

25.	Inside the room at Red Hall	Close up on the girls face as a gunshot noise is heard	Extreme close up		A gun shot	Mia
26.	Inside the room at Red Hall	The audience can see the girl’; s hands covering her left side of the torso covered in blood-showing she has been shot	Close up			Mia	Fake blood and bracelet	Make sure no items move between shot
27.	Inside the room at Red Hall	The audience see the girls left hand come into shot covered in blood with a bracelet on. The camera then pans from to the right where the audience see an image of Elizabeth Pattison dead, Jessica Hammond dead and Mia Shaw as if being stalked. After that a pieces of paper with letters from a newspaper spelt out ‘The Revelation’	A panning shot	Camera moves left to right		Mia	Fake blood, a bracelet, image of Elizabeth, Jessica and Mia, a pieces of paper with ‘The Revelation’ on it and the old fashion doll	Make sure no items move between shot