Final Edit - Leverage

Rough Cut Feedback

I had many diffent responses from class members, family and friends regarding my rough cut.
Below are some examples of their comments:

• It's great to have the breathing before the visuals
• Good film title
• You should mix the soundtrack with the video noises instead of cutting it out.
• You should bring back the breathing at the end.
• You have obviously used editing to help build the narrative.
• Good variety of camera angles.
• Nice effects with the camcorder.
• Your other titles need finishing.

Here is a video of some of the comments from different people regarding my rough edit:

I have considered all of the above comments and decided to keep the soundtrack running all the way through the sequence and also, I used the breathing recording at the end again to add to the narrative.

Rough Cut - Leverage

Leverage

My Thriller Title - Leverage

After researching what many different words meant, I came across the word 'Leverage' which is defined in the dictionary as 'the power to influence a person or situation.'

I felt this was appropriate for my thriller as there is the stalker who feels he has the power over the dad and whenever he feels ready, he will kidnap his son. Also, there is the man who keeps getting the dad to pursue drug dealing so he thinks he's in control of his life. I believe this title really indicates the themes of my thriller.

I checked to see if there were any other films with this title as I wanted something original. there was reference to a TV series however, there were no recent films called Leverage. 

Leverage Sub Genre

My thriller is a psychological crime thriller making it a hybrid. Originally my thriller was only

going to be of the crime genre however, during editing, I realised that if I change the order of 

my shots it could be viewed as psychological as the shots are not being shown in 

chronological order. 

The Inspiration for my Thriller

Memento is the film that inspired me to create my thriller. The use of crime and the twist to create a psychological thriller really intrigued me. Although I made my film quite different, I used the sub genres used in this film and put my own ideas to it.

I was originally going to have the stalker taking photographs of the family which I got the idea from this trailer with the camera sounds however, I realised when editing that it would be more successful if I show the rewinding and fast forwarding which is more interesting to watch and represents the stalker watching the videos back. 'Memento' also uses a rewinding effect when the man is shot. Here is an example from both 'Leverage' and 'Memento' whereby there is a rewinding effect to go against generic conventions of going back in time. 

I chose to use the rewind effect during the drug deal to symbolise the stalker watching the video he has taken. I think this is effective because the constant change in time means that the chronology doesn't have to be in order like other thrillers. 



 In 'Memento' we can see the bullet is rewound into the gun after the shooting and the gun is rewound back into his hand. I thought this was effective because you get to see it happen again to show it's significance.

I was inspired to change the chronology of my thriller after seeing it being done in 'Memento' as Nolan has chosen to tell the story backwards. He starts at then end and finishes at the beginning. To reflect this in my own opening, I have started with heavy breathing on a black background to create tension and I have ended my opening with that same breathing with the visuals to show the audience why he was breathing like that. I like how this created suspense from the start and makes the audience want to know whats happening so it helps build the narrative and keep them engaged. It was not my original intention to adjust the chronology of my thriller when I first started editing however, I wanted to be more creative and intrigue my audience, therefore, I thought it would be good to make my thriller different to most.

I was also inspired by a thriller called 'The Call' which was released in 2013. The plot of the film focuses on the role of 911 operators in law enforcement. Specifically, it follows Jordan, an operator who is still suffering emotionally from a bad experience with a teenager who she couldn't help in time and therefore, died which she feels responsible for. This links to the backing story of my thriller where the dad had something to do with the stalkers daughters death and therefore, his revenge is kidnapping his son. The idea of a kidnapping was used from this film because I think it was filmed really well and I like the man playing the kidnapper which is also a convention I chose to use. This was the main inspiration of my narrative whereas 'Memento' inspired my edit.

'The Call' focuses on kidnappings and murders however I have only used the idea of a male antagonist being a kidnapper. I also chose to stick to the conventions of not revealing his face to keep a sense of hidden identity until the audience see the entire film.

Soundtrack

I had intended to create my own soundtrack on garageband however, I looked online first to see if there were any tracks suitable for my thrillers narrative. After searching through all of their soundtracks, I discovered one called 'Night in the City' which I thought was very appropriate for mine with the outdoor scenes. When I added it to my footage, I automatically started to like it as it went really well with my narrative and contributed to the sense of mystery. I downloaded my soundtrack off of a website called 'Purple Planet' which is not copyrighted.