Editing

Today me and Anam did some editing. We worked on where would be best to put the titles and credits, where they would come inbetween the shots. Also we edited the music to fit in time better with the atmosphere and pace of the scenes.

Final Days

We only have one shot left to shoot which is a shot inside the car with Mr Pratt. We realised during an editing session that we need to add a linking shot between a shot of Mr Pratt adjusting his mirror and another of him kidnapping Heidi create better continuity shots.

Motifs

A motif is a typical conventions of a thriller, auteur such as Alfred Hitchcock is recognised for his detail and symbolisms. Such as he uses round objects in Psycho like the extreme close up of the eye, the toilet, the shower head, the protagonist’s mouth and the drain. These were to represent and reflect the idea of eyes and being watched. In our Thriller we decide to use a motif of Mr Pratt’s gloves. The gloves are large biker gloves and the audience will recognise them as a symbol of threat and danger as they appear menacing and quite distressing. There are close ups of the gloves such as in the car on the steering wheel, also when he posts the letter. The gloves represent something out of the ordinary, they look surreal and odd as he posts the letter or waits in the car, it appeals to the audience primal fears.

Monday 30th March

On Monday we re-shot the scenes when Dr. Tamworth opens the letter. This time we closed the kitchen door so the chairs and the school table where not visible in the mise-en-scene. This re-shoot went really well and the shots we have produced improved.

I think the beginning of Blue Velvet is very effective openning,
it's setting is in a stereotypical America suburbia. This reflects to the audience a certain type of lifestyle, such as white picket fences and neat, tidy lawns. Blue Velvet uses motifs, in the opening shot it uses white picket fence and beautiful roses which symbolises romance, passion and blossoming families. There is a long shot of the street, to show every day daily life. It almost seems fake and surreal the way everyone appears content such as the waving fireman on the fire engine. The music reflects the
atmosphere of the neighbourhood, it is a 50s style song and in the lyrics it uses the phrase ‘blue velvet’ to reflect the title of the film. It has an upbeat tempo which enhances the surreal atmosphere. There is a shot of a man hosing his garden which then cut to a lady watching television. On the screen there is an image of a gun. The gun connote something bad is going to occur as the audience recognise the gun as a symbol of death. Typically of a thriller the peaceful setting is disrupted by a distressing turns of events. The man hosing his garden gets his hose stuck on a bush and then he has some sort of attack and dies. The hose getting trapped represents his veins or arteries becoming tight or blocked to cause his death. Using music is an important convention of the Thriller genre as it is used to increase tense and suspense. The upbeat tempo and the style of music create a tense and surreal atmosphere. The ending shot was a zoom from a long shot of the man lying on the grass to an extreme close of worms and bugs under the surface of the grass. This is very effective as it keeps the viewer engaged. It makes them curious as to what is happen as it is disturbing and makes the audience uneasy. From the opening conventions the viewer realsies this is not a mainstream production but more of an independent film.

Wednesday 25th March

Me and Anam shot the scenes within the bungalow using Mr Gibbs as Dr. Tamworth. Firstly we shot Dr Tamworth making tea in the kitchen. This shot conveys the conventions of a thriller as usually in an opening of a Thriller they portray the mundane, daily lifestyles and then as the opening continues begin to build up tension and suspense through the use of music, mise-en-scene, narrative etc. We also shot him picking up the letter of the floor, opening it and reading it. This was difficult to achieve as we needed to get an over the shoulder shot of him reading the letter so the audience can read what the letter says as well. We also had to shoot him dialling his phone and making a phone call. This would link to the last scene as it is of him ringing Heidi. This is where the audience makes establishes the relationship between Dr. Tamworth and Heidi.

Editing:
When we were editing we realised that in the mise-en-scene there were two chairs that were not meant to be in shot. This is because they are school chairs and do not match the decor of the rest of the kitchen. So we had to re-shoot the Letter opening shots.

Ideas for the name of our Thriller

-Daugther for a Daugther (As in an eye for an eye)
-An apple a day keeps the docter away
-Daddy's Little Girl
-The Clinic
-The Surgery
-Emergency
-Operation
-Flatline