Thriller Research: Adjustment Bureau

When researching film "The Adjustment Bureau" one of the techniques you notice straight away is the door portal. I like the way portal can take you anywhere and after the first two times director introduces it, the audience stops questioning it and just goes with it. It feels like a liberating thought to me. It is also very enjoyable and has a deep meaning if you think about it enough.

Second Production Meeting with Matt

On 14th of November, 2012 we had our second meeting with Matt discussing our final idea for our thriller opening sequence. New details were introduced for example in order to make "making steps" scene more interesting and spooky, our main character will be holding tape measurer while counting the steps. This will give the audience more information who the character is. Also characters actions have to be precise in order to deliver to viewers the importance of his mission.

The Narrative Action for our Thriller Sequence

·      Establishing shot of countryside

·      

Changes to shot of a car, alone in the empty sad car park

·      Shot of a rugged man, overweight man. Establishes main character.

·      The shot pans around the car to show a backseat full of rubbish (junk food) and pillows. This represents that the main character lives in his car because there is only one thing he truly cares about and it’s Area 51.

·      There is a shot of him reaching for a soda can, he drinks it fast to show that he is both nervous and impatient.

·      We Pan to the left, slowly to show huge pile of books on conspiracy theories

·      We focus the camera on the titles of the books which go like “Who’s watching” “The NASA Conspiracy” and “Conspiracy 365” (Extreme close-up)

·       The man looks at his watch, the audience hears the accentuated ticking noises.

·      There is another mid-shot of the man, the ticking noise is still there

·      Close shot of his hand reaching for the radio, he tries to find the channel but no matter what channel he turns, there is no signal. The audience hears the noise of buffering

·      The man looks at his watch again. Then reaches to get out of the car.

·      He gets out of the car and looks around

·      He begins to take steps in the forwarding, marching direction. He counts the amount of steps he makes. He knows exactly what he is doing and where he is going.

·      There is a close up of his feet taking small and steady steps

·      There is a long over the shoulder shot of the man as he stops his steps.

·      He reaches up and presses with his both hands on the air like there is something there. It is a close mid-shot.

·      He is finally able to break the invisible barrier and open the portal that leads him to AREA 51.

·      From looking inside the portal, we see a deserty area which represents that it is settled in the deserts of Nevada.

·      Rough editing transition. There is a close shot of the “WARNING AREA 51” sign.

·      There is a long shot of him putting his oxygen mask on and preparing to make his way through the portal

·      The portal begins to close behind him but the camera (like a form of evidence) is still fixated on the disappearing figure who is now lost in the desert scene.

Group Work

Yesterday we worked on our storyboard. We will be done with it by Friday. Hopefully...

Final Idea for the opening sequence of thriller

Last week my group and I finally completed the script for our opening sequence. We thought of the conspiracy theory that was perfect for the ending of our sequence: Area 51. It is both mysterious and spooky which is exactly what we need. So the film starts with normal guy is in an empty parking lot He is waiting in his “Nissan type” car for something to happen. He knows that there is an event which is going to happen at the specific time any minute now. From the overview of his car we can see that he pretty much lives in his car. His blanket, bunch of food leftovers, all those objects indicate that he spends his life on the road chasing “something”. Very important maneuver is that in the passenger seat next to him the camera zooms on a pile books on conspiracy theories which feeds the audience with more detail about our mysterious character. He waits for that event in anticipation, tries to switch a radio to get more relaxed but no matter what channel he turns he cannot find signal. He looks at his watch, its ticking rapidly as the tension builds up. The time has come and the character leaves his car, walks steadily straight, counting the amount of steps he makes. He finally reaches “the spot”. The character knows that there is a specific invisible barrier that prevents him from going through so therefore he tries to push the gravity of it with his both hands, when he is finally able to “break that invisible barrier” and open the portal, it leads him to “Area 51”. We know this because the scenery is as “deserty” as the Nevada since the Area 51 is based in there and also there is a sign that says “ WARNING Area 51”. He puts his oxygen mask on and makes his way to the area, the portal closes but the camera is still fixated on the disappearing figure that is now lost in the desert scenery. This idea was heavily inspired by my favorite film "Donnie Darko". This idea was approved by Matt, one of the Media Studies teachers and we cannot wait to shoot our sequence! I have a feeling its going to be great.

The part that inspired me from Donnie Darko

New Addition to our Dream Team

Today Bo has joined our Media group. This is exciting because now it means that we have another person who can contribute ideas towards the final AS opening sequence project. With four of us working on the sequence, the workload will be easier and also more fun. 

Discussing ideas with media teachers

Yesterday we have spoken to Matt about the three ideas my group and I have prepared.  Going to the editing suite, where the discussion was held, we were prepared for our ideas to get scraped down all together but the meeting went better then we thought it would. Although Matt didn’t like the opening sequence of “The Act”, he thought it was too theatrical and too similar to the “Awolnation” music clip, also he suggested that Emma’s idea about a psychopath wont be terrifying or thrilling enough due to the non-originality of the plot, Matt liked the idea of “Taped”.  He liked a lot the idea of knowing something about the specific events that the others are not familiar with which was the running theme in the Taped. Though the idea of CCTV is not realistic due to it filming so slow and that it will slow down the chase and the thrill the chase would have brought. So it was crucial for us to modify it. In the future lessons we will be discussing what kind of the event will be happening in the sequence. Seb and I came up with the idea of an alien invasion that a regular guy in the car was viewing and had the chance to film. In order for our opening sequence not to look foolish, we thought that we could portray the alien invasion with the use of white light exposing like in the Awolnation Sail music video. On Monday, Emma, Seb and I will discuss other ideas for the opening sequences that we will be able to present the following week to the media teachers.