Soundtrack Ideas

These are the soundtracks we found that could be used in our thriller, "From the Dark". We ended up only using a select few, but they are all focused around building suspense and tension, and so assisting the feeling of being stalked in our thriller.

The soundtrack is a vital part of our thriller. Without the extra suspense built up by the soundtrack, the thriller loses a lot of the fear factor we have tried to achieve.

http://www.freesound.org/people/tradeshowmusic/sounds/136721/

http://www.freesound.org/people/Robinhood76/sounds/82299/

http://www.freesound.org/people/suonho/sounds/58962/

http://www.freesound.org/people/hello_flowers/sounds/32424/

http://www.freesound.org/people/imaginaryband/sounds/79417/

http://www.freesound.org/people/imaginaryband/sounds/79418/

Furthermore, we needed a loud gunshot for the start of our thriller, when Jonathon Cody wakes up. These are the possible sounds we found for this gunshot:

http://www.freesound.org/people/Audionautics/sounds/133966/

http://www.freesound.org/people/Shades/sounds/37236/

http://www.freesound.org/people/tradeshowmusic/sounds/136721/

http://www.freesound.org/people/steveygos93/sounds/91572/

This will be the noise that is heard when Jonathon wakes up. It could either be a sign that something bad has happened, or the end of a nightmare giving a bad omen about what might be about to happen. It could also be thought of as something that foreshadows later events in the thriller.

Cast List for our Thriller

Joshua "J" Cody from Animal Kingdom

Jonathon Cody

Teenage Boy - Played by James Winterburn

Jonathon Cody is the main character of our thriller. The reason behind his first name is that Jonathon is usually associated with good people. Jonathon also means "gift of god". This compliments the sense of him being a character you want to support.

The second name is inspired by the main family of criminals from Animal Kingdom. This provides an intertextual reference and a thriller signifier. It also relates the character of Jonathon to crime and murder, as well as the character of Joshua (or "J") in Animal Kingdom - another person caught up in their family's dark secrets.

Eve Cody

The mother of Jonathon Cody - Played by Mrs. Winterburn (James' mother)

Janine "Smurf" Cody from Animal Kingdom

The name eve has been inspired from the Adam and Eve story - this makes the mother into a loving, good figure that is slightly tainted by greed and darkness - like the angelic Eve that steals an apple from the Tree of Knowledge.

The surname Cody has already been explained. Just like the character of Jonathon Cody relates to "J" from Animal Kingdom, Eve Cody relates to the mother in the criminal family from Animal Kingdom. This character is called Janine 'Smurf' Cody. Just like the mother in our thriller, she is a loving mother who cares for her family, but she also has a dark, secretive and mysterious history and background.

The Enigmatic Group

The enigmatic group will have a link with Eves death as well as her son, Jonathon.

We have had many discussions concerning the enigmatic gang following the Cody family. We had decided to use a linked 4-digit code (like binary) as the mark on each character's hand. This would tell the audience that the family is linked to the gang, as both the gang and the family would have the code - but each code would be slightly different e.g. 0001 and 0002 for two different members of the enigmatic group. This would also have linked with the surname Cody - we were thinking of having the surname of Codey to link the code aspect in more significantly. However, after debating this aspect of out thriller with our teacher, we decided to remove this code as it was becoming too confusing for the audience, and it would be hard to explain the code in two minutes without speech. We then went back to our original idea of a mark (hence the temporary name of "Marked" for our thriller), such as a crescent moon that would reflect the fact that the group is dark and hidden, or a deadly, stealthy animal e.g. a cobra symbol. However, we have decided to completely remove the mark now. We will edit our footage so that the characters are linked. We will do this by following shots of an enigmatic figure with Jonathon Cody, and so on.

Examples of mark designs:

Cobra symbol

Crescent moon symbol

First Attempt at Filming our Thriller (Unsuccessful Clips)

These are the clips from our first attempt at filming our thriller. We encountered a significant problem with these clips - while we were trying to set the thriller at night, the footage was much too dark to be used - as you will see in the clips above, it is difficult to see anything in some of the clips. We got around this problem by using a different camera, which has been much more effective for lighting.

Location Shots for our Thriller

This is the boy's bedroom which will be used in the first few shots of our thriller. The cluttered, unorganised room could reflect the character's personality, while the posters and objects can reflect his interests and nature.

This is the upstairs hallway of the house. The dark room at the end of the light hallway suggest a darker secret to this house - something could be waiting in the darkness. The hallway is narrow and claustrophobic, creating a generic thriller environment.

This is a high angle shot of the stairs down to the ground floor of the house. They are narrow and suggest claustrophobia, again, and the contrast in light from upstairs to downstairs creates a sense of mystery and danger at the bottom. The high angle shot also creates a sense of vulnerability.

This is the bottom of the stairs where the boy will come down as you see something flick past in the background. The Rule of Thirds is used here - two parts stairs, one part hallway. There is a vanishing point at the end of the hallway, suggesting that there is something hiding at the end.

This is the front door that is used by the main character, the boy, to escape the house. The contrast between the white door frame and walls and the dark outside creates a huge sense of unease, suspense, and danger concerning what lies beyond this door in the night.

When the boy leaves the house, he will go down this path. The cobbles highlighted by the light show his path, and are an intertextual reference to the cobbled streets used in "The Third Man" (1949, directed by Carol Reed). The light shining on the cobbles connotes nightmare and mystery about what lies beyond the house and it's path.

This is another shot of the path - this time from the perspective of the enigmatic figure who will watch the boy from this window. The spots of rain on the window cause a disturbance on the window - this connotes impurity and corruption. The high angle shot makes the path and everything on it seem vulnerable. The white van on the street also creates a sense of danger, as the white van is a thriller convention - it is used frequently by criminals in thrillers. This is similar to the next shot, where the white van's importance is further analysed.

This is the street outside the house that we will be using for the shots outside the house. The vanishing point at the end of the street creates a feeling that danger could be hiding just at the end of it. The street lamps are a great example of chiaroscuro lighting, as the few orbs of light from the street lamps light up the whole street, reflecting off the wet tarmac and cobbles - this is another intertextual reference to the cobbled streets in the aforementioned film "The Third Man". The white van further connotes danger as it is commonly associated with criminals and dangerous people in thrillers - a good example of this is in "Essex Boys", when Jason uses a white van in the opening scene of the film as he attacks someone.






These shots were taken by James Winterburn.

Storyboards for my Thriller

Cast List for our Thriller "Marked" with Costumes

Teenage boy: James Winterburn
Costume: Plain white top and striped pyjama bottoms. Connotes a laid-back, stereotypical teenage lifestyle.

Boy's Dad: James' Father
Costume: Nightwear to suggest he has been woken up (e.g. housecoat, pyjamas)

Enigmatic figure(s)/suggested murderer(s):

Costume: Enigmatic suit, similar to the suit and hat used in

classic noir thriller "The Third Man". This creates intertextuality and also gives the character(s) a sense of mystery and uncertainty.

Planning for my Thriller Opening - Shot List

Shot 1: Boy is in bed with diegetic sound of birds tweeting - very high angle shot


Shot 2: Hear a loud diegetic gunshot. Boy jerks upwards in bed, birds flutter away (diegetic sound). Heavy breathing. Cuts to medium close-up of boy in bed from front. Head and shoulders shot.


Shot 3: Single static shot of boy getting out of bed and walking into upstairs hallway. Shadow quickly moves at end of hallway without boy seeing.


Shot 4: Over the shoulder shot as boy walks down hallway.


Shot 5: Boy goes into parent's room - bed covers ruffled etc. POV shot opening door etc. sound rises in tension, volume etc. as door opens.


Shot 6: Very high angle shot down stairs as boy walks down them


Shot 7: Low angle shot at bottom of stairs as boy gets to the bottom - match on action - rule of thirds - two thirds stairs, one third hallway with shadow or reflection flicking by.

Shot 8: Point Of View shot of the television buzzing, and the father’s head seemingly watching it.

Shot 9: Close up of father’s head, and boy’s hand, nudging father, reveals fatal wound

Shot 10: Extreme close-up of crest (or mark) on father’s neck

Shot 11: Medium close up of the boy running out of the house and into the street

Shot 12: Over the shoulder shot of enigmatic figure in the boy’s bedroom reloading 1 bullet into a handgun.

Shot 13: Medium close-up of the boy running down the street. He turns round a corner to see a car with it’s headlights on in his way, blinding and blocking him.

Shot 14: Over the shoulder shot of another, similar enigmatic figure in the car.

Shot 15: Another extreme close-up of the mark on the second enigmatic figure’s neck.

Cuts to black, with the title “Marked” and the mark in the background (in a similar place as to where the mark was in the previous shot).