Planning: Animatic

This our Animatic storyboard, giving us and our focus group a vague idea of what our actual title sequence will look like. We will show this to our focus group and collect feedback.

Organisation: Time Management

On Sunday 12th, we took our main actor, Sophie, out to our location and took pictures for our animatic storyboard, and for our risk assessment. However, the camera we were going to use was out of battery, and we couldn't find the charger, so had to use my mobile phone. Then there was problems uploading the pictures on the computer from my phone, as I don't have a USB lead. Instead we had to load them via facebook, and this took more time then expected, and so didn't get our pictures saved until the 14th. 

Planning : Shotlist

This is our chronilogical shotlist. This shows the types of shots we want to use and will film. It also shows the order in which we want to  put them in when we come to the editing process after we shoot.  However this is only a rough draft and if some shots don't give us the effect we want when filming; we will try a different shots.


SHOT 1 :  Extreme Close Up  of Sophie's mouth, all you can hear is her breathing heavily.
SHOT 2 : Camera Tilt/ Pan downwards  see what Sophie is wearing and her feet walking.
SHOT 3 :  Pull away, long shot, see Sophie from her attackers point of view, hear a branch snap, and sophie turns around.
SHOT 4 : Match on Action shot, handheld we cut back to Sophie's POV of her looking around behind her.
SHOT 5 : High Angle shot We see Sophie start to walk quicker through the woods.
SHOT 6 : Cut away to sue and sean walking to the front door.
SHOT 7 : Match on action of Sean and Sue walking into the house from opposite angle.
SHOT 8 : Extreme Close Up of Sophie's shoes as she starts to walk a bit quicker.
SHOT 9 : Cut away back to house see Sean and Sue sit down on sofa .
SHOT 10 : Medium close up from behind Sean and Sue watching TV.
SHOT 11 : Panning shot to turn around and see Sean and Sue happy on the sofa.
SHOT 12 : Hand-held shot of attackers feet walking
SHOT 13 : Whip Pan up to the back of Sophie in the distance
SHOT 14 : Tracking shot of Sophie suddenly starting to run behind her
SHOT 15 : Tracking shot of Sophie running from in front of her
SHOT 16 : Close up Sean and Sue's faces, all happy.
SHOT 17 : Pan up to the counter above them to see pictures of Sophie and them.
SHOT 18 : Hand-held shot of Sophie's feet as she runs from her attacker
SHOT 19 : Whip pan of her hair in the wind
SHOT 20 : Medium Whip Pan from the side, see all of her body running.
SHOT 21 : Match on action shot of her feet, she falls and trips over
SHOT 22 : High Angle single shot of her lying on the floor
SHOT 23 : Medium shot from the side of her lying on the floor
SHOT 24 : Low Angle single shot of her lying on the floor
SHOT 25 : High Angle shot of someone's feet walking up to her on the floor
SHOT 26 : Long Shot of Sophie leant against the wall
SHOT 27 : Medium Shot of the front of Sophie leant against the wall
SHOT 28 : Panning Shot of Sophie walking off to the right

Time Managment

As we are unable to meet to produce a photo storyboard in the week, we are meeting on Sunday with our main actress, to take the pictures for the storyboard, we will also take pictures for the risk assessment then. During the next week we will then produce a animatic storyboard, and complete our risk assessment.

Audience Research: Updates

We showed our focus group our storyboard. We wanted to know if they liked our idea and storyline. We will listen to their comments and use them to improve our final piece.

This is what they thought:

Lauren Hornabrook - 'I think that the last shot of the girl looking and smiling suggests a twist in the tale, and the setting of the woods is very traditional of a thriller, and the running sequence sounds exciting and scary.'

Holly Adams - 'I think that the sequence will really capture the audience; one shot in particular, the last one, looks like it would be really effective because it gives the start of the film a sense of mystery.'

We then showed our focus group our cast list and this is what they had to say:
Rich Emsley - 'I think the young girl cast as the main character, is perfect. She looks both innocent and also looks like she could have a dangerous side, in many thrillers characters aren't what they seem.'

Emma Parker - 'The parents cast in the role as they are already a married couple, will be comfortable together, and as they are in their own home, it will appear even more realistic.'            

As all of our focus group liked our actors and ideas for the title sequence, we dont need to change anything :)                                          

Organisation: Props and Costume

Costume/Prop Item : Girls Flowery Dress 

Source: Borrowed from Lauren Hornabrook

Potential Cost: Nothing

Person in Charge: Kate 

Costume/Prop Item: Wooly Tights

Source: Sophie's wardrobe

Potential Cost: Nothing

Person in Charge: Sophie

Costume/Prop Item: Brogues 

Source: Kate's wardrobe

Potential Cost: Nothing

Person in Charge: Kate

Costume/Prop Item: Wooly Scarf

Source: Laura's wardrobe

Potential Cost: Nothing

Person in Charge: Laura

Costume/Prop Item: Jacket/Coat

Source: Borrowed from Holly Adams

Potential Cost: Nothing

Person in Charge: Laura 

Costume/Prop Item: Women's jeans

Source: Sue Parker

Potential Cost: Nothing

Person in Charge: Kate

Costume/Prop Item: Woman's Winter Jumper

Source: Sue Parker

Potential Cost: Nothing

Person in Charge: Kate

Costume/Prop Item: Slippers

Source: Sue Parker

Potential Cost: Nothing

Person in Charge: Kate

Costume/Prop Item: Men's jeans

Source: Sean Taylor

Potential Cost: Nothing

Person in Charge: Kate

Costume/Prop Item: Men's Winter Jumper

Source: Sean Taylor

Potential Cost: Nothing

Person in Charge: Kate

Organisation: Casting

Sophie Jo-Lusted, is going to be our main actor; she will be playing 'Isabelle Hartly' the young girl running through the woods. Sophie is taking performing arts as a AS level, and so is at a good standard of acting, which will make our opening sequence appear more real and professional. She always attends dance rehearsals, and is committed to her responsibilities.

 After talking to a variety of parents, we have decided that my own parents are right for the role, and as the location they will be filming in is my own house, it would speed up the process of filming a great deal.

Storyboard Synopsis

Throughout our opening sequence, we are going to alternate shots of a young girl running panicked through the woods, with shots of her parents happily relaxing at home. 
There will be a variety of shots when Sophie is running for her life, close ups of her eyes, mouth, hair, feet never her face, and shots from the point of view of someone running behind her.
Slow panning shots of the family home, close-ups of baby pictures, and her parents happily watching t.v, will contrast with the fast movement of Sophie.
As she stumbles and falls, we see a single shot of men's feet, and then a black screen with the title of the film in white, bold text. 
In the last shot, Sophie is lent against a brick wall, staring straight ahead of her and then she turns her head to smile at the camera, and walks the opposite way. 

Genre Research Summary

In 'Thrillers', the titles tend to be in bold fonts, and in both Arlington Road and The Usual Suspects black and white are the predominant colours. Fading in and out quickly seems to be a recurring theme, it adds a spookier effect. 


Both non-diegetic and diegetic music is used, in Arlington Road the short scene of the man in the hospital, we can hear the sounds of trolleys being wheeled by, along with other usual sounds you would expect to hear in a hospital; The Usual Suspects uses non-diegetic through the majority of its title sequence, a violin is the main instrument, giving a creepy unnerving feel to the film.


In 'The Usual Suspects', there are no characters in the opening sequence, and yet it still provides a spooky opening; Arlington Road uses one character at the very beginning, however he is not creepy, or scary in any way, although he has blood on his shirt, he does not seem a threat to us. Throughout the titles of Arlington Road, there are no characters established, simply shots of children playing, and one shot of a dog. This shows that we don't necessarily  need to use a great number of people to produce a scary opening sequence. 


The mise en scene for 'The Usual Suspects' is extremely simple, light reflecting on the water. It is it simplicity that makes it creepy, 'Arlington Road' takes the opposite approach. Lots of shots and pictures of the neighbourhood in different camera effects e.g black and white, sepia, negative, make it unnerving and uncomfortable to watch. 


Engimas are used thoroughly throughout 'Arlington Road', in the first sequence we ask ourselves, who is the boy? what happened to him?. When we are shown repeated shots of small children, we get the clear message that a predominant theme is children. 'The Usual Suspects', provides Engimas because we wonder who's point of view are we seeing the light reflecting on the water.


Fast cut editing is used throughout 'Arlington Road' to unsettle the audience, and make it appear like more is going on, and create more tension and fear. In our opening sequence we will use a lot of fast pace editing, to build excitement and tension.

Audience Research Focus Group Meeting Analysis

All of our focus group found 'The Usual Suspects' uninteresting; it was clear from our focus group research that it just didn't grab their attention,  I think it was not nessiccarly the lack of people, as Arlington Road didnt showcase people a great deal, but our focus group still all found it interesting. Rich said that there was a lot more going on, and Emma thought it was quirky. We have now decided to make our opening sequence interesting and intense to ensure we involve the audience straight away. Lauren liked the idea of using the family, and thought it makes the storyline more traumatic, we also felt this way, and so are going to defiantly use the theme of family throughout the film. We also want to make sure that our title sequence is creepy and has a dark and sinister edge to it, this would ensure the audiences understanding of our genre.

Audience Research Focus Group

These are people in our focus group and their comments on our Genre Moodboard, and ideas.

Lauren Hornabrook - Aged 17

" I like the idea you have of using a family, because its always more traumatic when something happens to a close family in a film. Lots of thrillers use families in them. My favourite genres are Romantic Comedy, Comedy and Horror. ' Typically in Romantic Comedy's there would be two people who meet, fall in love then something happens to rock their relationship but it normally ends happily.  I thought the title sequence of 'The Usual Suspect' made the film look like it would be spooky, but it was a bit boring and repetitive. From the title sequence it looked like fire and water might have something to do with the storyline, the film defiantly is set up to look dark and spooky. "

Emma Parker - Age 19

I liked the moodboard, I thought there was a lot on their that typically represents thrillers. However I was a bit confused by the picture of the dummy, maybe this is supposed to represent children, but there already was a picture of a child. My favourite types of films are chick flicks, thrillers and indie films. In a thriller typically there would be murder, children being kidnapped. I liked the 'Arlington Road' opening sequence I thought it was quirky, I didn't like 'The usual suspects' I thought it was a bit boring and unimaginative. In 'Arlington Road' we are set up to think that the boy is the one of the main characters, so I think the film might have something to do with children"

Richard Emsley - Aged 20

I thought the genre moodboard was effective, it had scary and creepy images. I like to watch horror and thriller films most of the time. Things you would typically see in these genres would be death, supernatural quite a lot of the time ghosts and monsters. In most films there is some kind of superhero character who 'saves the day'. I liked both the opening sequences they were both effective in different ways, but I found 'Arlington Road' more intense and more interesting to watch because the there was lots going on at once. Judging by this opening sequence I think maybe the story is set in a typical American neighbour hood 'gone wrong' or something about it not right or 'normal'.

Holly Adams - Aged 16

"I like the moodboard, there are certain images that really remind me of thriller movies. My favourite film genre's are romantic comedy and horrors. In romantic comedy's the main story is normally a love story and something dramatic happens to break them up. However normally they get back together in the end. I didn't really like either of the clips, none of them really interested me I found' Arlington Road' confusing and 'The usual suspects' boring and uninteresting. I couldn't really tell what was going to happen in either of the films but that they were both going to be a bit creepy and weird.

Target Audience

This is our target audience mood board, and what we consider our target audience to be interested in.
Our target audience 16-20 year olds, in the pyschographic group of mainstream; and in the socio-economic scale of B, C1 and C2, and are mixed gender. However it could also appeal to a more individualisic person, as it will have a darker grungy edge to it.