Our Thriller...

Copyright Free music...

In order to source copyright free music, I searched copyright free music in google. I selected music from the following website. http://freeplaymusic.com/.

Evaluation...DRAFT

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
There are a lot of ways in which our media product portrays a real life thriller.

Conventions we have used:
-use of enigma- questions such as who is that? why is he following her? should be asked in the opening sequence of our thriller. We used this to make it more like a real thriller.

-draws audience in- after asking them questions, they will want answers, so therefore will make them want to watch on and see what happens. In our thriller the audience will want to watch more to see what happens to me.

-establishes the narrative, the viewer will expect something to be resolved.

-complex narrative- for example, you might think something is going to happen, then it suddenly twists round and makes you wonder.
-extraordinary events in ordinary situations- for example in our thriller, I am just walking home and then suddenly I am being followed by a stranger. This gives a sense of realism.

A title sequence is a main part of a thriller. It should draw the audience in and make them want to watch more. Films that inspired us for our opening were Sin City and Control. Sin City is fairly modern and we hope our film comes across that way too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c2_B_cWK_M



Some themes used in out opening sequence are ones such as, threat, intimidation, vulnerability and power.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Social groups are represented in our film via the mise-en-scene. We have chosen our location on a park, this represents youth. We chose me to act because then it gives a sense of realism because I look young and vulnerabe. We chose to do our film in black and white to give a mysterious, creepy edge to it, we got this idea from watching the film Control. The music we have chosen is upbeat and creepy. This represents tension and anxiety.

When chosing our actors/actresses we decided that Dan Walker should be the stalker, we decided to make him dress smartly so he didn't actually look like a stalker. We chose me (Holly Costema) to be the girl being stalked as I look young and vulnerable. To make me look vulnerable, we chose something that would make me look young and girly. To make Dan look scary, we chose black because it represents danger. We chose to put his hood up so his identity remained a mystery.



3.What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The institution that might distribute our media would probably be Momentum Pictures. They distributed Control, and I feel our media is similar to that film.

Momentum Pictures distributes low budget films like Control and Lesbian Vampire Killers. Momentum Pictures,an Alliance Films company, is one of the leading companies in the UK and releases approximately 20 theatrical films a year. http://www.momentumpictures.co.uk/flash/hello/about_momentum#main

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
I think our media is for the young adults ranging from 16-25, mainly because it makes them aware of the dangers they can face on a day to day basis. Also from my audience research task I found out that “thrillers are generally particularly popular with the under 25s and have a slight female skew. With moviegoers in an attentive and focussed mindset, they provide a highly effective, distraction free advertising environment”. http://www.valmorgan.co.nz/nz/audiences/profiles/thrillers/

5. How did you attract/address your audience?
We attracted our audience by analysing different thrillers to get ideas and then put them into our thriller, for example we used the black and white theme from Sin City and Control. Also from our questionnaire that we did for audience research we found out that most people like to watch thrillers that are black and white, so we took that into consideration and decided to put our film in black and white. We also addressed some issues that young adults could face e.g. we used being followed by a stranger.

All of our shots are filmed in a public area, this is to create a sense of realism. For the cast, we used ourselves, so the target age group could relate to us.

Feedback:

-"The film was very well shot, and the music gripped me, however, at times I think the filming could have been better" anon

-"I enjoyed the black and white effect applied to the film, and the costumes appeared to match the characters well" Becky Rosser

-"Unfortunately I failed to feel involved as an audience member, and I couldn't really follow the story" anon

-"I think the opening was very well done, and it created enigma and excitement. In order to improve it next time, I think the group should think about how to recognise the location and story better" anon

-"The film, I enjoyed watching. The music I found was exciting, and encouraged the suspense the audience feels" Megan Royce

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt to make sure the battery is full on the video camera before taking it out to film. To make sure you have your tape! To do a lot of takes of the same shot, because you can always chose the best one. We used a Panasonic DV camera for both the preliminary task and our final thriller, it was quite easy to use. It was good practice to use the camera in the prelminary task, so therefore I was more confident with it in our thriller.

To edit we used Adobe Premiere Pro. It was fairly straight forward to use, thanks to Mr Wheatley who went through the programme before we started editing. For the editing we changed the basic colour, to black and white, which was easier to do, although we did want to make it darker, so therefore you go into effect controls and you should be able to change how dark or light the black and white is.To go from one shot to another, we used a dissolve, this made the film 'flow' more easier as there were not just cuts on to the next scene, which would have made it look jumpy.

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I felt I learnt a lot from the preliminary task for example, I learnt to make sure everything is continuous, as we had trouble with the lighting in our preliminary task because we shut the curtains on some parts and didn’t on others. Working in a group, you have great responsibility, you have to be flexible and make sure everyone gets an input.

Working with others in the preliminary task helped a lot as we had to learn to share the roles out and get eveyone involved. However, it also would have been good if I worked independantly, although I would have needed help from friends with acting etc. I could have filmed whenever and all the ideas would have been my own. No argueing just getting straight on with things. I do have to admit, we changed our ideas quite a lot because different people wanted different things in my group so therefore re-filming was needed. If I worked alone problems like that wouldn't have occurred.

This clip is a perfect example of bad continuity. The lighting changes when we switch shots. This made me more aware when filming our thriller. We had to take into account the time of day filmed because we couldn't film it all in one day, to make it look continuous.

19th March-Final Editing...

Today we came in in the morning to complete our final draft. We just did some last minute finishes to the editing and then added the music. The music was a long track so therefore we decided to use the razor tool and cut them up into sections and just used the best bits of the song where needed. We then burnt it onto a CD and handed it in.

16th & 18th March- Editing...

In these lessons we edited nearly all of our thriller, we put some effects on and realised that we needed to slow the scenes down because they were too fast. We realised then we didn't have enough time to actually finish the editing so decided to go in Thursday morning and finish it off.

11th March- Filming and Editing...

In this lesson we captured our filming and started editing. Amy and I did some of the titles that we are going to use and Dan did most of the editing in this lesson, next lesson we will take it in turns on editing. We also decided to make the whole film into black and white to give more edge to it, we got the idea from the film Control. I think on Monday 16th March if we decide theres no more filming needed to be done then we will finish editing and do more titles and most probably add the music!

9th March- Filming...

Today we did more filming, we decided to do all the scenes again so then when we were editing we could choose the best one. At first we had trouble filming one part because we needed all of us to be in the shot, so we waited and finally Harpreet came along and helped film that scene. Another problem again was with the other members of public just stopping for a chat. But overall a more productive day than last time we filmed as we got more done and better quality scenes were filmed. On Wednesday 11th March we decided to do editing and then if there are anymore scenes we need to do we will arrange to film another time, most probably Monday 16th March.

4th March, Editing...

Today we put the clips onto the computer, we had a little trouble at first as the clips are mp4 and they wouldn't upload into adobe premiere pro, but Mr Wheatley helped us and they finally came up. We then looked through them and put them in an order and edited the bits we didn't need. By doing this we could see what other filming needed to be done. We have decided to do some filming on Monday 9th March depending on the weather to get the clips we need. Overall this lesson was productive and helped us realise we have quite a bit more we need to film.

2nd March, Filming...

We started filming today, we did lots of different shots, but didn't finish filming. We encountered some problems on the way, members of the public having little chats stopped us from filming at that time. We had to take into account that we couldn't use the weapon so had to reconsider and changed the knife to a photo of us. Dan looks at the photo and there is a point of view shot used to see the picture.

Location...

By Dan Walker.

It will be in and around the two alleys running alongside Queen Elizabeth's Park in Toton/Stapleford. Here are some location shots.








We chose this location because we thought it would go well with our plot. The covered up grafitti on the alley makes it look like a rough area and also a alley is isolated from everywhere else and gives a scarier feel because theres no where to go but straight on.

Risk Assessment...

By Dan Walker.

For the course of our filming there will be minimal risk of danger, however it is essential we take maximum precautions anyway.

Location- Because we are not in college, we must ensure that we return at the times negotiated to ensure the teachers are aware of where we are. Also, we must not cause nuisance or damage to any other pubic citizens we may meet in the process of filming. The only other risks about our location is the common sense risks like coming into contact with strangers, or prevent getting lost. We will ensure this by not filming out of day light hours.
Equipment- We must ensure the filming equipment is looked after correctly, and not damaged or exposed to water, fire or too much sunlight. All equipment borrowed must be returned in the same condition.

Filming Schedule...

If the weather is bad, we would re-schedule, most probably we would do the filming when the weather was ok.

Props...

I was allocated to do props and actors:



Handbag. We chose a handbag because stereotypically girls wear handbags.




Dan is going to hold a picture of us to show the audience that he is following us. This picture also shows we are young and like having fun, stereotypical teenage girls.

Actors...

This is Holly Costema & Amy Selby, they play the two girls who are getting chased by the unkown man. We chose us because we are a teenagers and are a suitable age for the role as we are getting followed by a stalker. Also its because we are in the same group and we are free at the same times.





This is Dan Walker, he plays the unknown man chasing the girls. We chose Dan because he is in our group and he would be free whenever we were so it was just easier.

Storyboard Animatic...

Costume...

By Amy Selby

In this lesson we discussed what costumes we are going to wear:




Holly's Costume:


We chose casual because it would give the impression that it is just a normal day.

Dan's Costume:









For Dans costume, we chose a hoody and jeans because he can put his hood up to give a more scary feel because you can't really see his face. It also gives a threatening or mysterious feel because the audience will want to know who he is or what he is going to do.

Final Practical research...

Films
According to www.imdb.com/chart/thriller The Godfather is the number one thriller of all time with The Godfather 2 coming in second and The Dark Knight in third place. The Godfather won 3 Oscars including Best Actor, Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay. It also had another 19 wins and 17 nominations. On the opening weekend the gross at the box office was $302,393 and it opened in 6 screens in the USA.
Examples of films:

• Phone Booth is a thriller about a selfish man trapped in a phone booth by a deranged sniper. Framed for the murder of a pimp, he finds himself surrounded by police who have no idea of the sniper's presence.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(genre)#Film
• The Bourne Identity was adapted into a movie starring Matt Damon which used many of the thriller conventions of the plot. Though its sequels, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, depart significantly from Robert Ludlum's storyline, the conspiracy-thriller genre is still well-preserved.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(genre)#Film

Genre

Amy researched the thriller genre.

Thrillers have a wide variety of genres including, literature, film, televison and gaming. Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action, and resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more-powerful and better-equipped villains. Literary devices such as suspense, red herrings and cliffhangers are used extensively. There are a lot of sub genres within thriller for example, action thriller, crime thriller, medical thriller, drama thriller etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(genre)#Sub-genres

Industry

Dan researched into industry and looked at the best thrillers of all time

1.The Godfather (1972)

2. The Godfather Part II (1974)

3. The Dark Knight

4. Star Wars Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

5. Rear Window (1954)

6. Cidade de Deus (2002)

7. Fight Club (1999)

8. The Usual Suspects (1995)

9. Psycho (1960)

10. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

The source was: http://www.imdb.com/chart/thriller

Final Practical, Lesson 2- Storyboard...

In this lesson, we discussed and changed our minds on the final idea, we then all contributed to making the storyboard. The storyboard gives us an idea of what is going to happen and shows us what should happen next. We decided to have the titles in red to give a sense of blood or danger. We have chose Take me into your skin- Trentemoller for our music because it is mysterious and creepy to give a sense of tension.

Preliminary Task Final Video...

Preliminary Task...

Preliminary Storyboard

This is our storyboard, it helped us put the sequence together and gave us an overall idea of the camera angles and shots that would be used

Preliminary Planning

We brainstormed a few ideas on the costume, location and the plot;

Preliminary Evaluation

Overall, it went well, there was only one problem with the lighting, we decided to shut the curtains half way through the filming, so the lighting changed, this was good that we did it in the preliminary task because then in the actual thriller we can take these things into account. But to overcome this problem we changed the whole clip into black and white and you never know any different :)

Final Practical, Lesson 1- Research, Planning & Brainstorm...

Today we chose our groups, in mine there is Amy Selby and Dan Walker. We brainstormed some ideas of what we want in our thriller for example:

• Locations e.g. Park, House, Shops
• Costumes e.g. skirts, jeans, t-shirts, hoodies
• Camera angles & Shots e.g. long shots when the girls are running or close ups to see their expressions
• Mise-en-scene e.g. Dark lighting to create suspense
• Characters e.g. protagonist, antagonist

We then made a more detailed final plan which included what exactly is going into our thriller. After that we constructed a questionnaire, which we will hand out and collect information from. Some of the questions included are; what do you like to see in a thriller, who are your favourite characters and how often do you watch thrillers.

1. Whats your favourite thriller? ________________________

2. What do you think a good name for a thriller would be?
· The Unknown
· Kidnapped
· Gone
· Dead and Gone
· Other, Please state__________________________
3. What do you like to see in a thriller?
· Murder
· Action
· Kidnapping
· Cliff Hangers
· Other, Please state_______________________
4. Who are your favourite characters in thrillers?
· Good guys
· Bad Guys
· Femme Fetale’s
· Other, Please state____________________
5. Who is your favourite character in thrillers?
· Alfred Hitchcock
· James Bond
· Batman
· Other, Please state_____________________
6. How often do you watch thrillers?
· 0-2 weeks
· 2 weeks- 1 month
· 1-4 months
· 4-6 months
· 6 months-1 year
· 1 year+
· Never
7. Do you prefer to watch films in..?
· Colour
· Black and White
· Sepia
· No Preference
8. Where do you like to see thrillers?
· Cinema
· At home
· Internet
· Phone
· Other, Please state_______________
9. How long do you expect the opening to thrillers to last?
· 0-2 minutes
· 2-5 minutes
· 5-10 minutes
· 10+ minutes
· Other, Please state____________________
10. What do you expect from a thriller?

From our results we found out that most people's favourite thriller is Wanted.

The most popular names for a new thriller were The Unknown and Dead and Gone with 4 votes each. We therefore decided to call our thriller Dead and Gone. We think that this name will create an enigma for the audience.

Action was the most popular thing that people would like to see in a thriller. Therefore we have decided to do short, quick cuts to give the impression of action.

Most people prefer to watch films in colour rather than Black and White or Sepia. We are filming our thriller in colour as it shows realism.

Audience research

Thrillers are generally particularly popular with the under 25's and have a slight female skew. With moviegoers in an attentive and focussed mindset, they provide a highly effective, distraction free advertising environment. http://www.valmorgan.co.nz/nz/audiences/profiles/thrillers/

How to use a camera...

• Turn steady shot off when using a tripod
• When putting the tape in the camera, don't push the 'don't push button'
• Choose either wide screen or normal, don't keep changing the size
• Make sure the lense is clean, don't smudge it with your fingers though, use a cloth
• Set the camera to slow play
• Set the exposure to manual
• When you hit record, make sure you wait 5 seconds before filming
• Don't point the camera straight at the sun or any bright lights
• If your going to pan, make sure you have enough room
• Set the white balance up correctly, use a white piece of paper where you are going to film, and zoom the camera in until you can't see any other colour
• Record the room normal for the ambient sound, so you can use that sound when editing the cuts.

Analysis of real media products...

Fargo (Cohen Brothers 1996)
At the begining of the film, some writing comes up and it reads:

"This is based on a true story.

The events depicted in this film took place in Minnesota in 1987.

At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed.

Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occured."

This makes you want to watch the film more, like a sense of intrigue. The music creates a sense of sadness because it is slow, some instruments used include a harp or violen. They keep the writing on screen for about 40 seconds to let the viewers read it, it then cuts onto a light blue screen and it tells you some of the production companies, directors and actors, this may also want you to keep watching because you like some of the actors/actresses in the film or you like the director.

The music starts getting a bit more louder and there is use of drums to create suspension, then a car appears from a distance, this makes the audience ask questions like, where is it going?, who is in the car?. The car is towing another car so therefore also makes the audience ask questions and makes them want to watch on to see what happened to the car and where it is being taken to.

The car pulls into a bar, the music in the bar gives you an idea of what the people are like in there, it is country and western, so maybe there are cow boy type people in the bar, Jerry's clothes contrast with everyone else's because he is in a suit and tie, whereas Carl and his associate are very casual in a jumper and jeans. Jerry's personality and the way he talks also contrasts with Carl, Jerry is very shy and innocent with a posh tone to his voice, whereas Carl is upfront and has an accent. They both talk about 'Shep' but he is not in the opening scenes, so therefore people will want to know who he is and why he's such a catch. Also at the end of the opening scene Carl says ' You want your own wife kidnapped' so it leaves suspense on why does he want his wife kidnapped and whats going to happen next?. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=GEYPIO8DlY4

Lost Highway (David Lynch 1997)

At the begining there is 2 and a half minutes on just a road at night time, the headlights light up the road and it looks like they are going pretty fast. Where are they going? Who is in the car?, questions will be asked and make the viewer want to watch more. The music is kind of techno and has bass to it, so that also builds up tension, then the actors/actresses names appear, they have a comic font to them and they come from a distance and zoom to the front of the screen. There is a point of view shot all the way down the highway, with use of a handicam as well, this gives the audience a feel of what it would actually be like if they were in the car.

It fades out to black after the 2 and a half minutes of the highway, and stays black for about 20 seconds, then a man comes up smoking a cigarette, but it is still quite dark, this makes the audience think, who is he?, why is he sitting in the dark?. It is silent for quite a while and the camera just stays on this man who we don't know who he is yet, then a buzzer goes off and it makes you wonder who could it be? The other mystery person says 'someone is dead' this creates suspense and makes you want to watch more.

He walks to the window and there is a point of view shot to see what he is looking at, no one is there and he looks stressed and nervous, why?. The camera pans onto the door and no one is there, this creates suspension, the screen then goes black. Whats going to happen? these questions need to be answered so therefore make the viewer want to carry on watching the film. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=iDUaDgzRiFE

Mulholland Drive (David Lynch 2001)

At the begining there is loud, jazzy type music on and people are dancing. Layering is used in the dance sequence, a white, ghost type woman comes on over the dancing, and three other people do as well, who are these people?, why are they being singled out?, this obviously links into the film later on so the viewer would have to watch it to know what happens, it draws you in right from the start.

After the dance sequence it is just red, and there is heavy breathing, you want to know who the person is who is breathing heavy, red symbolises danger or blood, there is like a sense of crime. The dancing is ok at the begining of the film, but as the film carries on, it is not linked to anything, so therefore you want to watch the rest of the film to see how it is linked.

The music then goes really mysterious and there is a camera shot on a street sign that says Mulholland Drive, it is dark and a car headlight shines onto the sign to make it light up. There is then a car that pulls out and it creates suspense to know who is in the car? and where are they going?. You can only see the cars headlights because its so dark and this is kind of scary and also creates tension.

The camera follows the car for 2 minutes just driving down a dark road, this is similar to Lost Highway where there is 2 and a half minutes of a car driving down a highway, it just creates suspense. It then cuts onto a woman whos in the car and she looks sad or annoyed, why? There is then a point of view shot from her perspective looking at the two men in the front of the car, who are they?, where are they taking her?, is she related to any of them? The woman then says 'what are you doing, we don't stop here' this creates tension and will make the audience want to watch on.

It then cuts onto two cars and there is a loud screaming noise and it looks like young adults in both cars just messing around, then it cuts back onto the woman, one of the men points a gun at her, what has she done to deserve this?, where is it going to lead?, all these questions will be answered in the film so therefore they do this to make the viewer want to carry on watching the film.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QyHv42SDxmU

What is a trailer?

A trailer is basically an advertisement consisting of short scenes from a motion picture that will appear in the near future.

Aims:

• generate interest in the film
• show off the stars of the film
• show the film to its best advantage
• create excitement
• tell people what the films about
• not give too much of the plot away
• showcase some of the best bits of the film
• give details about the production team

Opening of a film aims...

• Set the scene
• Engage audience
• Intrigues the audience

Thriller Conventions...

• Crime at the core of the narrative (often murder)
• Complex narrative structure with false paths, clues and resolutions
• A narrative pattern or establishing enigmas which the viewers expects to be resolved
• A Protaganist who is systematically disempowered and drawn into a complex web of intrigue by the antagonist
• Extraordinary events happen in ordinary situations
• Themes of identity
• Themes of mirroring
• Themes of voyeurism (to enjoy watching people, for example, big brother)
• Protaganist with a flaw which is exploited by the antagonist
• Titles often reflect an aspect of the characters psychological state
• Often a scene near the end in which the protaganist is in peril
• Mise-en-scene which echoes/mirrors the protaganists plight

What is a thriller?

A thriller is a book or film which is designed to keep the reader or viewer on edge with suspenseful action. Thrillers typically involve sudden plot twists and lots of red herrings, for example, keeping people unsure what is going to happen. Examples of thrillers include Sin City, The Dark Knight and Jaws.