Pre-Production: Risk Assessment

A risk assessment is the evaluation of anything that could be a potential risk when carrying out a project. Therefore we had to discuss and evaluate the potential risks when carrying out our project which was set in the woods and a dilapidated barn ( both of which came with several risks). We had to make sure that every risk was evaluated fully, this could have been from water hazards to equipment malfunctions. Below is our Risk Assessment which we created to be put into our pre production pack:

On the Risk Assessment we included;  

-what the risk was, 

-who was going to be effected if it happened, 

-whether the danger was high medium or low, 

- the control measures we would put in place to prevent these risks occurring . 

By doing this we were able to solve any problem which happened on set  quickly and effectively so that we were able to continue filming.

Pre-Production: ANAMATIC

Animatics are animated storyboards. They are used for many different purposes depending on the medium for which they are being produced. They are used every day in the advertising industry to test commercials, and they're used to preview scenes of live-action films before they are shot. 

After the storyboard was completed, we created this animatic video from the storyboard in order to see how it would look before we went on to film and edit the sequence for our final piece. The animatic looked similar to how we had imagined and overall I was very happy with the way that it turned out.







                     


we also produced an animatics video from the recce we went on before filming:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX_FCWC1h9Y

Pre-Prodction: RESEARH

We did our research based on three main elements; Primary, Story and Setting, and Genre. 

The primary elements were things such as  how we wanted the overall story and plot lines to run,even after to opening we made. For these we decided that the story line is a quest that can't be put to rest until solved and the plot was the protagonists journey to solve the mystery. we found out that the two main themes of thriller as the desire for justice and the morality of individuals. This 'justice' is often presented through he need to protect the object of innocence in an otherwise corrupt world ( for example many use the journey to find a child that's been kidnapped as a story line). Finally, thriller tends to be that either by accident or on purpose each character is dragged into a dangerous situation that they're not prepared to handle, this fitted well with the enigma of 'The Visitor' as no one really knew her full potential as a supernatural power.

the story and setting research that we did was based around the protagonist's ( the visitor) inability to escape. this was portrayed symbolically through the woods which, more often than not, everyone gets lost in and no mater what sub-genre of thriller our film falls into, it emphasizes the danger all characters in the film are faced with. there is also the chase scenes that area critical to the conventions of a thriller scene, the woods combines the urgency with both the danger of unknown terrain underfoot and the sense of urgency that is ever present in a chase scene. they need to have an atmosphere of creepy menace and sudden violence, to be characteristically 'thriller'. they also often present both he world and society that they're set in as dark,corrupt and dangerous.

our research into the basis of the thriller as a genre showed an overlap with the mystery and crime genres. the main difference however was the structure of their plots; in thrillers the hero has to stop n enemy rather than discover what's happened as in the case of the mystery genre. thriller crime films are often lacking in violence but this also depends whether the film is set around a particular crime gang e.g. the mafia, where the violence will be more intense. 

Pre-Production: SHOT LIST

We completed the shot list at the same time as the final storyboard was being completed. Making the shot list really helped on set as it showed everyone where we were in the filming process and what shot we were meant to be doing next. By following the shot list, it allowed things to run smoothly on set. It also helped when it came to editing, as we could rename each shot on Final Cut pro to the exact name on the shot list and therefore it helped when piecing the sequence together. 

Below are the pictures of our shot list :

Pre-Production: STORYBOARD

A storyboard is a sequence of drawings that represents the shots that you plan to see when you begin production for Film or Television.Much like with the storyboard we created, many contain directions e.g.  of what the shot will supposedly look like.

A storyboard is compiled of three main points these are; to Define the parameters of a story within available resources and time, to then be able to organize and focus a story, and finally, to figure out what techniques and to use for each part of the story.

This is our storyboard for 'The Visitor':

         

Pre-Production: RECCE

The term 'RECCE' refers to pre-filming a location to work out its suitability for shooting, including access to necessary facilities and assessment of any potential lighting or sound issues, and is closely related to location scouting.

THIS WAS A SECONDARY LOCATION WE THOUGHT WE COULD USE IF NEEDED: