CCR #1 Research and Script

CCR #1 Research

Voiceover Script

Most thriller films rely on suspense, mystery, and danger to keep the audience engaged with the plot. Many films use mystery, isolation, dark locations, and dangerous situations to create tension, an uneasy mood, and a sense of danger to build anticipation for the audience. Many thrillers use the Enigma code to keep the audience interested in watching to find out the answer. You can see this in the talk to me, where there is a supernatural hand that controls the character. Another one is in Jaws, where the sounds and pacing create an uneasy mood.

(Jaws builds tension through sound and unseen danger)(Insert into production)

Our opening follows typical thriller conventions, including an isolated parking lot at night, a mysterious bag (enigma), sound and pacing, and characters placed in a dangerous situation. The bag carries the enigma convention as it creates an unanswered question, which is used so the audience forms questions to ask, like what is inside the bag, why was it there, and how is it affecting the characters, all of which build suspense. Similar to Se7en, the film creates suspense through mystery and unanswered questions surrounding the killer’s motives.

 (Talk to Me uses a mysterious supernatural object to create the enigma)(Insert into production)

While our opening does follow the conventions, it also challenges them. First, instead of having adult characters or criminals, ours uses teenage boys in a suburban setting, making the sense feel more realistic and relatable to the audience. Unlike films such as Se7en, which focus on adults, our opening centers on teenage boys whose curiosity drives the narrative. Along with our filming, we start with safety first, rather than beginning with danger. This contrasts with films like Halloween, which begin with immediate danger and a clearly established killer

(Se7en uses unanswered questions about the killer to maintain suspense)(Insert into production)

Our opening represents teenage boys in a realistic way as they are shown as casual, curious, and careless. And I know this is accurate, as my group is only made up of teenage boys. This shows how teenagers are seen in real life, helping the audience to make a further connection to them. The similar age of the target audience makes the film more relatable.

Overall, our product uses thriller conventions through mystery, suspense, and isolated settings. While at the same time challenging it by having teenage characters in a suburban environment. This balance creates a relatable and suspenseful film.

References:

Spielberg, S. (Director). (1975). Jaws [Film]. Universal Pictures.

RackaRacka (Danny Philippou & Michael Philippou). (Directors). (2022). Talk to Me [Film]. A24.

Fincher, D. (Director). (1995). Se7en [Film]. New Line Cinema.

Carpenter, J. (Director). (1978). Halloween [Film]. Compass International Pictures.

 

The Plan/Start of Editing

 The Plan/Start of Editing

Now we have started my least favorite part of a film project, editing. Luckily for me, I am not the main editor; my partner, Sebastian, said he is willing to edit if I help. We are editing in Clip Champ because it is what we have used in previous projects, and it allows multiple people to edit it at once. Sebastian is aligning all the clips together, and my job is to make sure everything is correct with the lighting, sound, and framing.

We have about 100 clips to choose from; when we were filming, we filmed multiple versions of each clip to create different options and different feels for each part. And I am happy that we filmed this much, as for our music video for our midterm, we only had 50 clips, and that is for a 4-minute video, so we cut it close on that.

Along with choosing the right clips, we also have to select the right sounds, including audio tracks, synchronize dialogue, raise the volume on important parts, and lower the background so it does not draw the audience's attention away. Also choosing where to place stings to add tension and suspense. Below you can see us adjusting the music so it doesn't take away from the rest of the opening.

For the color and lighting, we adjusted by lowering the brightness and adding color to make the parking lot seem darker and more mysterious. For some, we had to brighten, as one of the challenges we encountered was that some of the clips were a bit too dark.

We also need to adjust the angles because, when reviewing some of the clips, I noticed they look slightly tilted, which makes the shot appear odd, and we want to maintain realism.

Also, while editing, we are searching for spots to add our credits since most films place theirs in unused space. Although editing is challenging, it helps bring our concept to life and creates a real cliffhanger for the audience.

Screenshot of Editing Process:

We aren't done yet with editing, but we hope to finish soon so we can get a jump on our CCR.

 

Issue with Editing

Issues with Editing

Now that we have started editing, as I mentioned earlier, we encountered some problems when uploading the clips at school; it wasn't working, but once we got home, I used my computer, and then it finally worked. The second problem is that Sebastian's computer isn't meant for editing, so we have said it takes some extra time to work on, which is why I have started contributing more to the editing, as my computer, which I use to edit photos, is a better fit for editing the opening. 

We hope to finish the editing process soon so we can then focus on our CCR. Otherwise, so far it has been going smoothly, and I got really excited to see some of the clips because they look like actual movie scenes, like the shot of all the boys looking down at the bag. I will update you guys when I am finished and mention any other problems we encountered when filming.

Screenshot of all the clips we had to put in:

Issues when Filming

Issues when Filming

So, we encountered an issue with our original filming plans. We were going to film on Saturday, but it turned out Christian had an unexpected soccer game that came up. Since it was the first game of the soccer season, he had to attend. Because of that, we needed to film on Friday or Sunday, and since Sebastian wasn't going to be here on Sunday, we chose to do Friday, but since my brother had a baseball game on Friday, he couldn't show up, so we asked around, and one of my friends, Teo, who has a car said he could fill in the role. Which ended up being a lifesaver; he had a car and a license and was free when we had to film.

Although it was a roadblock, it came with some advantages. First, Teo had AICE Media Studies himself so he offered some useful tips, that he knew could improve our film. Next, he drove an electric car which reduced engine noises that would come from the gas car. One problem, we encountered with the switch was that Teo wasn't as reliable so he ended up being late which caused the sun to already to start going down.

Teo (Character: Christian)

Another problem we encountered when filming was the lighting because our film was in the evening time the sun set quite quickly now on the GoPro you can really see it, but on the main camera it should be different. When we get to editing we hope that we can fix it by upping the exposure.

Start of Filming

End of Filming

Finished Filming

Finished Filming

On Friday, we finished the filming process for our opening scene. We filmed in total around 100 clips, we had encountered a couple of problems like lighting issues, cars passing through, and actor availability, but otherwise it went smoothly. I brought two cameras, one for the main filming and one for behind the scenes filming. I was directing the film while Sebastian was the cinematographer.

One clip that I think was really successful was when (Ethan) fell into a trance. It was very important to get this shot correct, as it is what contributes to get the audience interested to the watch the rest of the film. Sebastian suggested we which should put our phones into the bag to get a glowing effect which one of my classmates had also recommended during our group meeting. The shot is a low angle of Ethan opens the bag, a bright glow appears, hinting that something inside is taking control of him.

Here are some of the behind the scenes clips:

If those don't work here is a link to see them: Film Clips

Now that we have finished what I think is the easy part we now have to do the editing which I think is the most time consuming and the part I dislike the most.

Production Company Logo

Production Company Logo

When creating our production company logo, we couldn't decide what to do. I came up with the idea of putting our 3 initials into a name. At first, it was SCK, which to us really didn't sound right. Sebastian mentioned that if we pull the M from Matias, we could make it look like a camera and change the K to R from my last name, which turned into SMR. Which sounded pretty smooth, so we decided to keep it. 

The name itself is too short, as I said earlier, that is why my partner recommended making the M look like a camera. Coming up with the design was easy, and the more challenging part was forming. We wanted it to look appealing and professional, as many other companies' logos are really memorable, and even with some films, they add a special spin to it that follows what the film will be about. Below, you can see the process of our logo creation

 

You can see that our logo has evolved from a set of letters to a full logo. I like the touch of how the M looks like a camera, and if you were wondering where the green came from, it turned out to be all our favorite colors. Now, because we are not a professional production company and don't have much of a budget, we decided to work with what we had to try to animate our logo.

Below is the progression of our logo:

Here is our animated logo:

 

Casting

Casting

To film, we need actors, and the ones we need aren't very special. We require four boys aged 14-18. One of them must have a car and a driver’s license. Also, we want them to look like friends. Christian and I both have siblings, and they said they can be actors. For the other two roles, Christian and I decided to be the actors ourselves. My brother drives and could use the his car.

Part of the reason we included our brothers in our film is that it is easier to know their availability and convenience for filming. Since we had our four actors, we checked if they had outfits that matched our needs, and they did, which saved us some time. Although none of us had acting experience, it wasn't going to be hard because there is nothing crazy, they have to do.

Kai-Group member (Character: Chris)(Director)

Sebastian-Group member (Cinematographer)

Christian-Group member (Character: Sebastian)

Christian's brother (Character: Ethan)

Kai's brother (Character: Christian)

Sounds for our Opening

Sound

Sound is a major factor that adds tension and suspense to our thriller opening. We will use both non-diegetic and diegetic sounds to enhance our opening. Sound will be an important part of our opening, as there is limited interaction between everything; it will help convey the mood.

Each Type of Sound We will be Using

At the start of the opening, we will have the diegetic sound of the car running, which will continue throughout the opening, along with foley and non-diegetic sounds of the outside environment. Then, when the camera switches to the inside of the car, we will have non-diegetic, copyright-free music playing, and diegetic sound of the boys talking and movement. This creates a mood of safety as nothing will happen.

Now, as we start heading towards the rising point, one of the boys notices the bag. We decided to add an extra shot of the boy lowering the music volume, then communicate to the other person about the bag lying there. Followed by the diegetic sound done by foley of him jumping out, opening and closing the door, and walking over to the bag, which we will raise the volume to add a sense of intensity. We thought of putting a non-diegetic heartbeat or hum, which we will pull from online from copyright-free sounds, in the moments he approaches the bag, adding to the supernatural nature of the bag, and then a diegetic sound of the zipper of the bag created through foley, which we will make louder to make it seem important.

Once he opens the bag, he falls into a trance. We will have the diegetic sounds of the car's windows rolling down, followed by the boys yelling at him. This is followed by the diegetic sound of the two other boys getting out of the car, opening and closing their doors, and their footsteps walking over to the boy and the bag, done through foley. Then, when they're all in the trance, the non-diegetic heartbeat or hum begins to fade.

When the boys are placed into the trance and the scene cuts to the tracking shot of the fourth boy, the non-diegetic sound of the sting or heartbeat will cut out, and there will be diegetic sounds of his footsteps and the natural sounds around him. Then, once he sees the boys' items on the ground and the diegetic car alarm sound (done through foley), which we will increase in volume to create a shock moment, he will say his final lines, and the opening ends.

Collected Sounds

Copy Right Free Sounds

Here is our Storyboard for a better understanding.

Below is our script for what the boys will say.

Shot 3  
Friend 2(Sebastian): 
Bro, he said he was going to be here ten minutes ago 
Friend 3(Nicolas): 
He is always late 

Shot 4  

Friend 1(Ethan): 

What is that there 

Shot 6  
Friend 2(Sebastian): 
What is it? 

Shot 7 
Friend 1(Ethan): 
There’s a bag out there 
Friend 3(Nicolas):
So? Someone probably just forgot it 

Shot 8 
Friend 2(Sebastian): 
Bro just leave it alone 

Shot 11  
Friend 1(Ethan): 
What the hell 

Shot 15  
Friend 2(Sebastian):
Yo! Just leave it alone 
Friend 3(Nicolas): 
Is Ethan deaf 
Friend 2(Sebastian): 
Let's go check it out 

 

Shot 16 
Friend 2(Sebastian): 
Why did he go out in the first place 

Shot 22  
Friend 4(Chris): 
Guys? 

Shot 25  

Friend 4(Chris): 
Where did you guys go  

 

Wardrobe Selection

Wardrobe Selection

An important element of our mise-en-scène for the film opening is the clothing. In our story, we mentioned that the boys are there because they are heading to a party, and we will show this through the use of cues, including clothing. The clothing we are aiming for has an energetic vibe.

Our group agreed that the actors should wear outfits that realistically reflect what teenagers today would wear to go to a party. We thought of party casual clothing, including graphic tees, jeans or sweatpants, and matching shoes. This carefree outfit, along with the music and their behavior, will provide the idea that they are waiting for the fourth friend to arrive before going to a party. We have checked with all our actors whether their wardrobes meet our needs, and all of them do. If they don't on the day, we will be filming Erik, one of our actors, who mentions he has extras if anyone needs to borrow something.

Examples

To provide some more detail about these outfits, below are some examples. These examples help as a reference for what each actor will wear to match the scene’s tone and context.

Outfit references sourced from PacSun (pacsun.com)