Evaluation by Alex Stirling

In what ways does  your thriller use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a thriller?

In our thriller opening there are only 2 characters. Like in all thrillers there is a protagonist and an antagonist. 

The audience is introduced to the female protagonist played by Holly and the male antagonist played by myself. We have aimed to use camerawork, mise en scene and sound to make it obvious to the audience that this is the case.
I feel that our thriller develops conventions of thrillers such as enigma. however it has some unexpected characteristics of characters, especially the male antagonist. 


However i feel that it mainly follows traditional thrillers in the scene that there is always a protagonist and a antagonist. Also it follows traditionally stereotypes. Such as the fragile young girl is the protagonist while the stronger, overpowering male is the antagonist. This makes it very easy for the audience to understand the characters as there is may film where stereotypes are in the same situation such as 'The Disappearance of Alice Creed' and 'Se7an'. 

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our thriller opening there are only 2 characters. Like in all thrillers there is a protagonist and an antagonist. 

The audience is introduced to the female protagonist played by Holly and the make antagonist played by myself. We have aimed to use camerawork, mise en scene and sound to make it obvious to the audience that this is the case.

To create a contrast between the two character we use different camera shots to provoke different feelings and views by the audience.

Throughout, we have a number of close ups and extreme close ups of the fragile female protagonist. This is so the audience  can sympathies with her and feel her emotions of sadness. This makes the protagonist seem fragile, week, helpless and inferior to the antagonist male. This enables the audience to instinctively chose a side between the protagonist and the antagonist and will make the audience get hooked to the storyline. Ultimately enjoying the film.

Age

• The male antagonist played by myself is middle aged. The audience knows this from his cloths, house and possessions. We aim to make the audience feel negatively towards this character as he is the antagonist and his unusual and creepy obsession with girls less than half his age. There view may also reflect modern views on child abusers and pedophiles and we assume this man falls into both those category. I feel that this fits in with his age as many child abusers and pedophiles are in that age bracket. I feel that we feel even stronger about this due to the non- diegetic news report in the background which brings our thoughts back to remember real life event which follow similar actions in our thriller opening.

• The female protagonist acted by Holly is a a much younger character who is in her late teens. She is fragile, scared and insecure which is represented to the audience was she is crying and rocking back and forth. Her age may represent her immaturity as an adult and that she has at that age not experienced the real dangers of the world. 

Social class

• The male antagonist is reasonably well off and has a nice house. He also has expensive objects which may represent that he has specific tats and is sophisticated which is in absolute contrast with his actions kidnapping young girls. We assume from his wealth that he is not kidnapping the girl for money as ransom but sexual pleasure which is disturbing and unnatural. He dresses smart casual around the house which may show that he has some pride which again is in contrast to his gruesome actions. Wealth is often associated with good, honest people who work hard to earn their fortunes, however from the actions of this male we may consider that he did not get it by these means.

•  

• The female protagonist is assumed to be a lower social class than the male. This is possible because of her week position as money is often related to power. ‘money talks’. This may be reinforced by the trend of camera angles which demote her power and control over the situation. However we don't know this for sure but it seams un-relevant as money is unlikely to get her out of this situation. Also due to her age she is likely to have a low social class as she is a minor and may not work.

Gender

• Our 2 character follow stereotypical characteristics gender wise. Having the male in a strong, commanding position while the female is week, physically inferior, trapped and in an uncomanding position. 

• The characters gender is assumed but is reinforced by mies en scene.  The males clothes are classic with a white shirt and jeans. Nothing outlandish or offensive which suggests very little about his identify and past which creates enigma. He female has also got a while top and dark jeans. Her makeup strongly represents her female gender and along with her cosmetic hair makes her seem out of place in an old attic. This also emphasizes her fear and naivety about the situation.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

• For our media product, a thriller I was considering using a game distributor instead of a movie distributor like ‘Fox’ and ‘Universal studios’. I thought that this would give us the same result as they are both distributing on screen products using the same marketing and promotional techniques. Therefore I think a company like ubisoft could distribute our product. This may also be the first movie to use a predominantly game distributor which may make headlines, further promoting our product. However I think that they wont be interested as it will be a small film on a tiny budget and may not be financially viable for them.

• As our target audience is 16+ I think a modern method of distribution as well as cinema will suit our audience and our film. I think that our thriller needs to be in a cinema so the audience have the option of getting the best experience. The sound, visual, darkness and atmosphere in a cinema will be perfect for our product as it will create a realistic experience without distraction ( such on portable devices) which will further get the audience gripped and on the edge of there seats. Also the cinema will be a good source of revenue as tickets cost from £5-£10.  The type of cinema is key. I think that a small independent art-houses will create a better atmosphere and are likely to charge high prices than multiplexes such as Odien and ciniworld. 

• I also think that we should distribute our product online. The thriller would be sold to purchase or rent on stores such as the ‘iTunes” store and nokia multimedia center. I feel that this would really be attractive to our audience who may want ow watch it on the move. Also the beauty of selling the product online is that anyone can purchase it as long as they have a computer or smart phone. This opens the market up globally and makes it much more convent for people as they don't have to go to a shop a buy it was a DVD. It will also keep the costs down as we don't have to produce 1000’s do DVD’s. Instead people can get the same product online ( download) which costs us no extra cost per unit. The one disadvantage of this is that some people may illegally download our movie therefore getting it for free and not making us money.

• To promote our product we will be using Tv adverts on sky movie channels and sports channels along with on more mainstream channels after 9.00PM. This will be expensive but will reach our nationwide and it will be easy for us to target our audience according to the relevant channels. We will also be using billboards at bus stations and on the side of double-decker busses. This will used in cities and will target an older market as they are more likely to be walking to work in particular areas of the city. Online we will advertise on youtube, google and netflicks ( huge USA multimedia center)and iTunes . There we will have trailers of our movie. This will also be used to monitor how many views our trailer has got and where people are viewing it from. Having a youtube account I use this feature often to see how many vies my videos have along with a world map showing precise locations of the viewers. This will act as efficient, cheep market research for us and may show us new markets to brake into in other countries after its initial launch in the UK. Along with the above the Internet will be great for targeting our audience and I feel that it is the best and cheapest advertising technique.

• Our release will be nation wide with a certificate of 16+. This fits win perfectly with our target audience as I believe that this will be the audience of this age will be able to understand the storyline better as they are more mature. I also think our product should be released on a nationwide scale. This is because we will then hopefully get more sales and nationwide recognition further enhancing the brand.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

• Our product being a realistic thriller with real story lines is designed to be a mature, thought provoking movie. Therefore I feel that it would be aimed at the young adult and adult market. I believe that this movie would not be suitable for minors who would find the realism of the storyline frightening and would be unsuitable for somebody aged 15 or bellow. Therefore I feel that the target market for this product would be between 16+ and for both females and males. By this age, the audience would be old enough to understand the storyline but en be to frightened by it and would have the maturity to fully appreciate the film. I think both me and women will enjoy this film and are likely to view it together as a coupe in cinema's or on DVD. However I think that 60+ will not view the movie as it is not something at appeals to them. The storyline may be to depressing and would be something that an elderly couple would go and watch. 

• I think on a global scale that is product would best suit the modern world ( UK, USA, Europe). This is because the audience can more easily relate to the real life storyline and the characters but the movie would expand to Asia where there are big opportunities to make money. 

• Our products main storyline is similar too ones in “The Disappearance of Alice Creed” which also follows similar kidnapping trends in there storyline. This movie was promoted before and after the premier at the London Film Festival in 2009 on Facebook. “reports that 80% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 84 reviews and it has received a number of four star ratings in the UK press.”

• Financially this age group is independent, wealthy and has a knowledge about new films.   I feel that this is also a benefit to the profitability of the production as they are more likely to go out and see the film. Many people in this age group will have jobs or carries and so some money to spend on a trip to the cinema or to purchase the DVD or download els ware. This may be opposed to an over generation who maybe don’t understand DVD’s and downloading films as easily as a younger audience.

How do you attract/ address your audience?

• The audience is key for any movie product; financially and socially and I feel that our audience of 16+ will throughly enjoy our film due to its themes, camera work and believability.  This enables the audience to engage and ‘get ion’ the product. Our aim is to have the audience at the edge of there seats and out of breath from the first few scenes. However this is hard to achieve.

• In our 2 minuet opening we have aimed to make the two characters very stereotypical. One being a venerable, young girl and the other being an older, middle ages man. These are two very stereotypical characters. This is partly due the lack of time we were allocated and we wanted the audience to instantly recognize the position of each character and there role in the film. Also we wanted to focus the emphasis on other aspects of the film, not on deciding on the characters positions within the film. This gives the audience instant knowledge of the characters. The lighting, along with facial expressions helps to reinforce the stereotypes. For example the girl in the loft were the lighting is dark to represent sadness and pain and her facial expressions ( crying) reinforce there sadness venerability.

• Obviously we were on a very limited budget with only a month to, from the ground up produce the product. Therefore we were unable to use special effects and expensive locations but I feel that our locations were ample for our needs and I think that our audience will find the settings fitting for the storyline adding to the realism of the film. I think that the key to this films success is the realism and believability of the film as these events happen all over the world in real life. I think the audience will enjoy and be gripped by the film most if they make the link between reality and what they see on the news and the film and will play on their sense of fear. Along with the location props and everyday items and actions such as cutting up a bagel and getting a drink of water add to the realism. The decor in those shots is in a normal kitchen which in a normal home which further ads to the realism which is key to the success of the product.The kidnapping theme is quite a modern theme for films and is one which I think our target audience will enjoy.

• We will also try and attract our audience by marketing and promoting the product using TV adverts, cinema adverts, Internet adverts and billboards around stations and bus stops. This will ensure that our target audience will know about the film and go and see it. We hope to carry our dark theme onto our promotion’s in our font, backgrounds and audio. I feel that this is as important as the product itself as the power of marketing and promotion is enough to get people watching the film. 

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?

Shot 1 and 2

Here we see an overhead shot of the male antagonist on our thriller opening on the left and on the right is a medium shot of Freya in our preliminary. We can clearly see that the shot on the right (preliminary) has not had the white balance set correctly unlike the shot on the left ( thriller opening) where the white balance is set correctly and we see true white instead of white with a yellow tinge which makes the shot look unnatural. Therefore we have learnt how to use white balance and set it correctly. 

Shot 3 and 4

In shot 3 and 4 we see both the titles of our thriller opening called the Forgotten and our preliminary project which we did at Christmas time. We can straight away see the difference in quality as the shot on the left ( thriller opening) has themed text and font to match our themes in our thriller. It is also in contrast with the black background and is bright so is easy to see with no distraction. 

The shot on the right is unclear, pale and doesn’t offer the audience and ideas of whats about to come.

Overall it shows our level of understanding about titles, the font, text positing and audio and I think it shows in our titles.

Shot 5 and 6

Shot 5 and 6 show the lighting that we used in both our thriller opening on the left and our preliminary on the right. In our preliminary we used one light to enhance the look of natural light on Freya’s face.In our thriller opening we used a the same lighting to give the same effect. This was when the male antagonist is walking up the saris. Between projects we learnt more about lighting and the different types of lighting equipment, different effects they give off such as high key and ambient lighting and how and when to use them. In the end we decided to use the same lighting as in the preliminary.

Shot 7, 8 and 9

Shot 7, 8 and 9 show the differences in location that we used. In shot 7 ( preliminary)we see a bland, boring set, but one that suits the theme. However in shot 8 and 9 ( thriller opening we see a much more complexed set with a meaning to help the audience get an idea about characters in our openings. We took the extra time in our thriller opening to position props and decor to reflect the male antagonists personality and traits such as an OCD in tidiness and cleanliness which is in contrast to his actions.

BY Alex Stirling

Our Final Film

Evaluation - Bradley Mills

1. In what ways does your media product use , develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Typically an opening sequence includes titles, music, and heightened suspense -

Music

The Generic music of a Thriller opening is an eary non Diagetic soundtrack that is there to create suspense such as the soundtrack used on the movie 'The disappearance of Alice Creed',  we chose to use a generic soundtrack in order to trigger the automatic response from the audience upon hearing this soundtrack which is associated with this specific genre.

Titles

The Titles we used were inspired by our research of titles from the movie opening 'Se7ven' as you can see from these screen shots comparing our titles to the titles used in the movie 'Se7en', our titles flickered and appeared with an electric sound effect from garage band, to add to the movies feeling of uneasiness, this is typical of thriller movies using the titles to display the sense that something is wrong.

'Se7en' titles

'Forgotten' titles

We tried to create a Feeling of heightened suspense via the use of cross cutting, we showed longer shots of the male character than the female character particularly at first, as the suspense started to build we shortened the length of the shots of both characters and made quicker cuts to the other to give the audience the feeling that they were about to cross paths, this is a classic thriller technique as seen in the movies such as 'se7en' and 'The disappearance of Alice Creed'.

 These Openings combined are similar to our 'Forgotten' opening because we took a lot of inspiration for our opening from these two movies, being our first project. Our opening sequence develops typicality's of the traits of the antagonist character by making him seem almost emotionless, which is similar to most antagonist characters in thriller films.

The only part that challenges stereotype is the use of costume for the antagonist character who is wearing white, which is generically a color of the protagonist character because it symbolizes innocence and purity, however we used this technique to create confusion within the audience.

We tried not to be too different in order not to alienate our audience, as you can see by the shots below taken from our opening not all the pictures out of context look like they have been taken from a thriller movie, but thrillers are not all about scaring the audience from the start of the movie but there has to be time taken in order to build up suspense with shots such as the pan used in the middle picture in column 3 which just shows a wall in the house, also establishing location.

other shots Show low key lighting which is generic of the film genre, and none of the screen grabs display identity of characters.

2.  How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our thriller opening we introduce to the audience two characters, one being the generic damsel in distress which appears in most thriller movies, she is first introduced to the audience in a very fettle body position suggesting that she feels helpless also establishing her character and role in the film.

The other Character shown is a male character but we did not want to give away his identity with close shots of his face early in the sequence, to create an enigma about the character we also had him performing everyday activities such as watching TV and making lunch.

In thriller movies there is the idea of antagonist characters vs the protagonist characters, we tried to establish these roles early in the film due to the short amount of time we had to display our film genre we skipped the equilibrium phase at the beginning of the movie and replaced it with a confusing and conflicting imagery, with both characters wearing white which is a generic symbol of purity and suggests to the audience that they are 'Good'.

For our casting of characters we needed people who were going to be defiantly available for shooting, but they would also have to conform to the stereotypes of the characters we tried to portray.

'DAMSEL IN DISTRESS'

Character in 'low key lighting'

For this character we used a girl of the late teen age range which is appropriate for this character, we chose an attractive girl, with a weak and run down body language to represent there being a disturbance in the equilibrium, we used low key lighting to create a feeling of loneliness and danger, she is wearing very neutral clothes with a white vest top which suggests purity and also lack of protection and comfort. This representation of the lead female Character is Very common in movies but particularly Thriller movies, and this seems to be a proven way of representing a female character, however traditionally audiences do not respond well to movies which challenge this role with most movies portraying the female as being a lead action figure the films usually are unsuccessful.

Villainous Character

We Tried to create a definite contrast between these two characters making the male character appear very unemotional in contrast to the emotion displayed by the female lead character who is shown crying;  For the male lead 'villainous' character we attempted to reduce any typical human emotions from him in order ton create separation from the audience where as we wanted the audience to feel empathy for the Damsel Character. we decided to make this character an older man to suggest power and status.

Research

we all watched various different thriller openings to take inspiration for our own movie, we looked out for use of Camera work , Mise en scene, Sound and Editing.

 Camera Work:


The main objective of the camera shots of the 'damsel' character was to create a bond between the audience and this person, the movie relies on this closeness with this character to give more meaning and empathy towards her and her situation. In order to create this using camera work was to use close ups, which allow the audience to see facial expression and therefore emotion. We also used longer shots to show her body language as being fragile in the opening shot of the film. There are no low angle shots because this coveys power and status and in the situation she is in she has very little power, instead we used mainly high angled shots to convey to the audience this feeling of lack of power and control. We used a shallow depth of field because she was in the foreground and we wanted her to be the focal point of the shots.

Shot obscured by objects
 (from The Disappearance Alice Creed)

The audience is first introduced to the male 'villainous' character with a long shot obscured by objects, giving the audience the feeling the they are looking in on the situation, tracking shots are also used with this character to convey this feeling of observation of the antagonist character this technique was also used in the opening to 'The disappearance of Alice Creed'. We chose not to reveal his identity fully because it was the beginning of the film and we wanted to create an Enigma about the character we achieved this by a mixture of tracking shots and angles that did not reveal his face .

Birds eye view shot not revealing identity

Mise en Scene

We had to take in to consideration all the areas of Mise en Scene and how each decision we made would effect the audience's perception of the character.


Body Language Was key for creating the contrast between the Two characters, where the female character showed weakness and vulnerability with her body language the male character showed little sign of emotion and his movements were very logical, simple and precise demonstrated in the kitchen scene.

Our 'tear shot'

Facial Expression - This was only used to represent the female character because we wanted to conceal the identity of the male character, we used close ups with the female character to reveal her emotional facial expression, she is shown looking down to represent that she is feeling down and sad this is further exaggerated by the use of 'Tears' we researched different methods of achieving this online.  ( Our Research material) How To Cry On Demand


We tried to create a very neutral costume for the female character using a plain white vest, little makeup and curly hair however the girl is lit so that only her face is in focus and the rest of her body is in the shadows. This neutral appearance creates a feeling of normalcy about the character therefore creating empathy with the audience and limiting Pre-Judgment from the audience.


The Hair, Make-up and Costume of the girl were all significant in creating her appearance, the main effect was the make up, we made her make-up run as if she was crying, adding to her weak, vulnerable appearance allowing us to empathize with her.

The male Character we tried to keep simple also because of his lack of emotion in his actions we tried to limit emotion and character in his outfit, we had him wearing a white shirt which generically represents good in movies but this just ads to the enigma of the character.

Setting, props and decor show a certain amount of wealth and tidiness with the character with the ornaments on the shelves and the neat layout of the room this creates a contrast to the emptiness of the room that the female character is being held captive in.



Sound

Clock sequence
( by use of editing created suspense and a sound bridge)

From our research we watched various different thriller openings such as 'The disappearance of Alice Creed' which used an eary instrumental and used no dialogue to open the movie with, we used this technique to add to the feeling of suspense in our movie making the non dietetic sound such as the soundtrack the focal point of the sound, we also added sound effects such as the clock creating a sound bridge with the ticking getting louder closer to the clock, and becoming quieter further away such as upstairs in the attic , we added footsteps which we had to cut and paste in time with the action on screen, we added an electric sound for the titles which matched the flickering text. and we also added in a news report relevant to the story.


The audience for this type of movie genre is wide but the main target  audience is with teenage boys and girls. Appealing aspects to this target audience is anything sexual, scary or tense and i think in our opening we have managed to create a lot of tension particularly with the parallel editing and use of non diegetic sound.





3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Production

Anamatic shot

Shot used in our opening

We had to produce a opening of a film that would be marketable and appealing to the main target audiences of this genre, this stage involved pre production (story boarding, planning, brainstorming, tests ect) filming of the footage itself based on the animatic story board and then finally editing using final cut pro and adding non diegeteic sound effects using garage band. the end result is the movie that is intended for a potential audience to see.


Distribution

I belive that our movie is not a blockbuster type film with alot of special effects, which are usualy released by big distributor companies such as universal however or film is low budget and would be better suited as an independant release.

Bus Poster

In order for the potential audience to see the movie we will need the movie to be marketed, there are various ways of marketing your movie from the traditional bus posters such as this public advertisement for the movie 'Despicable me' 




Talk show plugs (A common form of advertising) is to get the star of the movie to go and do 'promotion' by appearing on talk shows (Tv and radio) and mentioning/talking about the movie and when it can be seen, this is a symbiosis creating positives for the movie in the form of advertising and the show gets to have a guest to appear on the show to provide entertainment.

Other forms of distribution include merchandise (usually more suited to a younger target audience)


Trailers (there are specialist companies that will create a trailer for your movie)

The job of the Trailer is to convey the mood of the movie, displaying the best parts of the film in a short time frame making the audience want to see more.

This tailor is exciting and does its job to create excitement about the movie but it gives away too much of the plot, i would try to replicate something along these lines but without giving away too much which is the main point of a thriller movie to withhold information from the audience.
Film Posters 


Magazine articles such as Empire or total Film magazine

These three highlighted promotion tactics are best suited to our product.

The soundtrack album

And video games which in the past have been a disappointment for gaming fans due to the lack of investment into these products but now are becoming increasingly more important to the movie makers them self's and there is more communication between the film makers and the game developers. 


Exhibition

This is the stage where the final product is seen by the audience itself, usually by cinema audiences followed by DVD sales ect, this is where the producers and the Distributors will try to gain there money back, money spent on salaries, sets, filming costs, advertising and so on.


Our movie was low budget so we would break even with minimal income generated however if we paid for advertising we would have to make more money to break even, this means making back the money you put in, any money in advance of this is considered profit, which is shared between the Distribution company and the producers.


4. who would be the audience for your media project?


We tried to make a thriller movie for people between the ages of 15 - 30 as our primary target audience, with mainly males of any ethnicity being targeted, however we have not gone for a niech audience with our product, but instead we have made a film opening with intentions of a wider potential audience, being a British made thriller film we expect the majority of our successes to come from the UK, because British Thriller films so far have not been huge successes overseas.


Females may also be interested in this film due to the lead character being a female, but classically the male audience will be the primary audience for this type of film due to the violent nature of the film and the subject. 


Through my feedback on Facebook and Youtube I have discovered that the most praise and support for our film opening has come from female teenagers in our target audience 


(quotes)



Josh Aged 19 said -

' Its very good and tense and suspenseful, I like the credits they reminded me of saw'





Betsie aged 16 said - 
'its really good! like ridiculously so, did you make it?'

when asked what in particular did she like she replied


'i liked the flickering of the credits and the news report at the beginning'

Hannah aged 19 says

'the use of amplified sound adds dramatic effect, which is what i expect to see from the thriller genre'


Kelly aged 16 says - 

'thats wellgood! realy freaky'

Tom Aged 20 said -

'It was good, the soundtrack made it scary'


James aged 17 said -


'I like the part where he walks up the stairs and you hear it creek, it reminded me of other thriller movies'

Being in the target range myself my main critique of the movie opening is the end part where the Forgotten comes into the screen over the top of the footage, which although i think is good it doesnt realy flow well

However I am proud of the product we were able to produce with no budget and little free time, the highlights of the product for me is the tracking shot in the kitchen which we used a remote control car as a dolly for the camera.

Also the edited version or the film opening is a massive improvement from the unfinished product we had with out sound editing, so we did a good job at editing our product on garage band.

5. how did you attract/address your audience




Camera work


There is an enigma created about the antagonist character because you never see characters face We made this decision in order to draw in the audience early and have the audience wondering who he is, does he have the girl captive and what are his motives?

it also gives the audience the feeling that they are looking in on him, rather than the closeness and almost bond they feel for the female character who the audience are made to feel an emotional bond with due to the use of closeups which show her emotion and facial expression.




'i liked the camera angle, when you filled up the glass with water from the sink, and i liked the camera angles in general' - Betsie



 We used close ups also with the male character but not to show emotion or facial expression but to hide his identity, the shot where he is shown walking up the stairs was popular because it creates suspense which will make the audience want to continue watching to find out what is going to happen.

James aged 17 said -


'I like the part where he walks up the stairs and you hear it creek, it reminded me of other thriller movies'

We used Mid shots to introduce the female character this showed her body language and body position she was in to immediately convey to the audience that something is not right, this involves the audience in plot of the movie and creates confusion.

We also used some long shots to show setting and to mix up the different shots in order to create a visually more interesting film.






Narrative




We added in a voice over of a news in editing which added to the narrative of the story, The news report talks of a 'missing' girl which provokes the audience to start thinking why they are overhearing this news cast, and they should start asking questions such as whats that got to do with the house that they are seeing, why has he taken the girl if he has taken her.... this  pulls audience in.


'i liked the flickering of the credits and the news report at the beginning'

Characters


The nature of the characters brings questions to audience why has he abducted her? is it to do with attraction, money, is he holding her for ransom ext, these questions are not answered in our film opening.

Our female character is in the age range our target audience, and is also a neutral character with her costume and makeup, giving her a wide appeal amongst the audience.


sound


We inserted suspenseful non diegetic soundtrack into our opening which played throughout.
' the soundtrack made it scary'

Location/setting


We used dark and dingy house which conforms to the audiences expectations of a thriller movie, the lighting was very low key, particularly in the attic scene where we had to create lighting to reveal the subject without creating too much light to eliminate the darkness. This lighting gives the audience a feeling that her situation is unusual and arises suspicion.




6. what have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product


Lighting and camera


During  my Preliminary task i underestimated the necessity of using specific lighting, but since then i have realized that the subtle aspects of thriller films make a big difference, I had screen tests with different types of lighting but decided against going for the convenience of the small tablet light, because the light generated was too obvious on camera that it was special lighting used.


The Generic lighting that you would expect to see in a thriller movie is a low key lighting because it hides areas of the screen in shadow allowing for disguise and possibility for something to jump out of the darkness, adding to the suspense and the enigma of the film.

The setup for low key lighting

 I also learned how to operate the camera properly as well, in regards to the light balance which if not set correctly can jeopardize the visual experience of the movie.




Final cut pro


The most important technology we had to use for our product, it allowed us to upload our footage and we cut and arranged our footage into an order, we decided to have the 'Damsel' character appear first on screen but for a short amount of time because we wanted the audience to wounder who this character is early on, and the news report we would later add in in garage band would provide a clue to who she is.

I learnt that when editing there does not have to be constant dialouge or action on screen but there should be some sort of a build up, which you can create in editing provided you have enough shots to use.


We also made our title sequence in Final cut pro, using an effect called earthquake at first but later realizing that we could create this kind of effect ourselves, by having the text appear and disappear shortly creating a flicker effect also we would sometimes move the text slightly to create the feeling of movement.


Garage band was my favorite part of the process because i was not entirely happy with the product pre garage band, but we were able to create a real feeling of suspense by the use of added diagetic and non diagetic sound, the Soundtrack we chose was simple but was successful in creating the eary tone we were looking for.

We added an electric sound over the image of the text appearing to match the image, we also added a ticking sound which was used as a sound bridge between upstairs in the attic and the downstairs, in order to effectively pull this off we had to enhance the sound near the clock, (downstairs) and the further the camera moved away from the clock we distorted the sound and made it quieter, this worked well with the shots of the damsel upstairs establishing her location, we used the same technique with the news report.

I have learned that by using garage band you can really effect how the audience interpenetrate what they are seeing, just by adding an eary soundtrack the footage became more tense because of how we as an audience associate this type of soundtrack with thriller movies.


I have also discovered the importance of camera angle, in my preliminary task I did not use a good variety of camera angles, i have learnt that by using high angles you can create a fealing of inferior status upon the subject, and that a low camera angle will convey a feeling of power and status about a character.




DIFICULTYS -
I started off this task not knowing whether i would have a team to work with or not, I sat down and brainstormed by my self in lessons and wrote notes on ideas i would like to explore such as creating a feeling of unease in a community with shots of people looking 'shifty' whilst a sound bridge of a radio show would be playing both non diegeticly and diegeticly, talking about the people going missing over night in the community, i pictured the camera cutting into a house with a woman closing her blinds or locking her doors with the radio in the background, whilst the radio report is happening, i was going to try to achieve this by writing to local radio stations to possibly get a professional DJ to create the sound clip for me if not i would have asked someone with a believable voice to record.

This was the key idea of my original plan but with short meetings with my teachers i was told i needed to join a team because the burden of work would be too large to complete alone.

I was lucky to be able to join a very capable team with such late notice, but due to the nature of my late arrival into the team I was not in position to completely get the team to go along with my film idea, however certain aspects of my original ideas were used, such as the news report and the idea of missing people, however not in the way I envisioned it.

Other problems included transport and communication as the group I was put into were all based in Brighton and I am from Burgess Hill it was difficult for us all to be available at the same time and be in the same place for filming.







7. looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

In this video I discuss the movement from my original project to my final project.  I have recognized the faults from the preliminary and have been able to reflect on these.

EVALUATION BY FREYA

1. In what ways does  your thriller use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a thriller?

Conventions of a thriller:

• Suspense
• a threat
• enigma
• victim
• protagonist
• antagonist

• In our media thriller production we definitely used a lot of these identifiable codes and conventions of a thriller to establish our film within this genre.  Since our production was an opening we wanted to specify our audience straight away, and hook them by using enigma and suspense, as well as a victim for them to sympathize with.
• In our film the threat is not clear straight away, but as the cross cutting continues it becomes apparent that Alex is the threat, and Holly is the victim.  The relation between the two is similar to that of  Ethan and Jessica in 'Cellular.'

 THE VICTIM       VS             THE THREAT

Our production created Alex as a threat by using specific camera work and mise en scene to convey an antagonist.

Format

• This is a birds eye view long shot of Holly.  It creates enigma for the audience because it's one of the first shots and raises immediate questions; where is she, why is she there, why is she huddled on the ground?  This shot is an example of restricted narration, because, like the character, the audience is unaware of where she is and why.  This shot shows Holly as a vulnerable character, she looks small and weak from this angle, like a child-alone and exposed in this frame, which lets the audience feel sympathy for her and see her as a victim.  Her costume is dirty, telling the audience that maybe she's been there for days, and her white top connotes innocence. Her hair is long and curly which connotes feminine freedom, but it's messiness reflects her hopeless situation.  Her body position is child like; her hands near her face which creates a defenselessness.   Her setting is dark and wooden, making her seem lighter and more frail in the middle of the darkness.  The props around her are simple and eerie, a gold edged mirror, cardboard boxes and some old flowers; all which create enigma for the audience as we are mystified by these objects.  This shot has both non diegetic and diegetic sound to it.  The non diegetic sound is the music; low and eery which helps create a sense of foreboding.  The diegetic sound is the ticking of a clock, but coming from far away.

• This shot is part of our title sequence, telling the audience that this product is 'a CSS film.'  The white writing stands out on the black background, similarly to how Holly stands out of her setting in the previous shot.  The font is creepy, scratched and blotted.  The way the writing flickers and shakes along with an electric buzzing sound connotes a light bulb going out, which is also shown through the color of the white writing against the pitch black background.  The writing is very small and is in the corner of the frame, which suggests it's importance is not obvious and it is weak, which is again similar to Holly in the last frame.

• This is a close up with a shallow depth of field, so that the background is visible but blurred.  The prop within the frame is of a silver, expensive looking dog statue.  This prop suggests riches, but it's purpose is for the audience to notice Alex in the background after concentrating on the dog in the foreground, and then to make a link between the two.  It suggests that maybe the man is vicious, protective of things that belong to him and has animalistic urges.  Alex is not only blurred, but a bright light near his head also hides any facial features from the audience.  This continues to create a sense of enigma and danger around him, because his face is continually hidden from the audience.  The faded red background has a creepy, aged look to it, like the house has been gathering dust, and also connotes aggression because of the color.    The non diegetic music continues, making everything seem more sinister, as the diegetic sounds continues too.  The clock ticking continues but is suddenly very loud which suggests that Alex is near to Holly, which is a sudden threat and makes the audience worry for Holly.

• This shot is a mid shot of the back of Alex's legs as we follow him into the kitchen.  Diegetic footsteps are heard as he walks, along with the diegetic sound of the clock which becomes slightly muffled while the eerie non diegetic music continues.  This shot shows that everything Alex does is very purposeful, his stride is determined and the use of a low angle shot makes him seem more powerful, which help create his character as a threat.  Along with the non diegetic music this walk becomes sinister, making the audience wonder what he's about to do.  The lighting is very different in this shot, brighter within the kitchen.  The setting seems quite normal which is frightening because of the subtlety of the antagonist.  The narration is definitely still restricted, the story unraveling without us having any inner knowledge, creating enigma.

• This is an extreme close up of Alex cutting the bagel.  In this we heightened the sound of the bagel being cut to emphasize everything Alex does, a method shown in 'The Disappearance of Alice Creed.' By doing this suspense was built because the audience feels the importance of every act, and wants to know why.  The knife used here is a very suggestive prop, it's big and threatening, making an almost saw like sound which connotes violence; continuing to build up this feeling of a threat.

• This shot is an extreme close up of Alex's foot as he begins to climb the stairs to the attic.  The back lighting makes his foot an ominous silhouette, which reflects him as evil: a creeping shadow. The diegetic sound; creaking footsteps, build suspense as the audience realize he's getting closer and closer to Holly, and like the last shot the sound is emphasized so the audience really feels that the footsteps are leading up to something.  This shot creates enigma because of the restricted narration, we still don't know who Alex is as we can't see his face.

• This last high angle mid shot of Alex shows him climbing up towards the darkness, suggesting that he's entering a secret, hidden, piece of his life.  The props in his hands make more sense ass the audience suddenly understand that he's bringing food to his hostage  The loud footsteps continue, and the music eerily drowns out.

• This last shot gently zooms out, Holly's face disappearing within the second 'O'.  The soundtrack becomes a twanging bell like sound that echos out, leaving the word title in its place.  All these effects connote this idea of being 'forgotten:'  Holly's face disappearing, the word zooming away from the camera as if being left behind, the eerie bell that fades out and the text itself which font suggest an old blotted word that's aged on forgotten paper.

2. How does your thriller represent particular social groups?

• In our thriller we show only two characters, but none the less they represent certain social groups, such as class, age, sexual orientation and gender.  In our thriller we are presenting Alex and Holly:  

Alex: A middle aged, upper middle class, straight white male.

Holly: A young, middle class white female.

• SOCIAL CLASS Our thriller shows Alex as upper middle class; quite rich.  This is shown through his costume, setting and props.  His setting; the house, is big and has many menial objects and collectors items.  This social class is reflected as creepy; a man who's rich but has nothing to do with his money.  The house around him makes him seem small and isolated instead of wealthy and powerful, which we convey through our camera work using long shots of him within his house.  Holly's social class is unclear, all though we assume she's lower than Alex because of her vulnerable situation.

• GENDER Both representations of gender in our thriller hold negative connotations.  Alex is the threatening male, keeping a young girl locked in his attic.  His gender is shown through his costume and his body language.  His costume reflects this stereotypical middle aged man; simply a white collared shirt and jeans.  The way he walks from room to room has a very intended way about it; he knows what he's doing, everything is deliberate which can be associated with manliness.  He is in charge, dominant, aggressive and independent.
• Holly's gender is also shown through the areas of mise en scene; costume, facial expression, hair, makeup and body language.  Her costume consists of dark jeans and a white, tight top which emphasizes her curves and reflects her femininity.  She is very stereotypically feminine, she's a victim and weak, emotional, vulnerable, dependent and beautiful.  Her facial expressions and body language show this vulnerably and weakness; the way she slouches, shakes and cries as well as the look of fear on her face.  Her hair and makeup reflects this beauty, her long dark curly hair is associates with beauty.

• AGE Alex is meant to be a middle aged man.  Our thriller has very negative connotations for him as a middle aged man.  His age is shown as sinister having an obsession with a young girl, he's represented as a sexual predator.  He is represented as threatening, sinister and creepy.
• Holly is supposed to be younger, and her age is represented by being in a vulnerable situation.  She's naive, pretty and innocent, and the way she reacts in her captive situation (crying and rocking) suggests she's unable to cope when out of her depth: she has no aggression.  

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your thriller and why?

• I thought Sony might be a good media institution to distribute our film, because they're a huge company and probably have a lot to do with our demographic because of PlayStation games that are aimed at young males such as '007 racing', 'FIFA' and 'Die Hard.'  They are a huge industry that are popular and well known.  

4. Who would be the audience of your media product?

• Our audience would be young males in their late teens, because this kind of thriller would definitely address this demographic.  We found this out by researching popular film genres amongst different age groups by publishing a survey on FaceBook, and asking our family and friends then putting our results together:   

This graph show that only 4 woman aged 10 to 50 have interest in action thrillers.

This graph shows that out of the people we asked action thrillers were the second most popular genre with 10 to 20 year olds.

This shows the comparison between age and gender with action thrillers.

• Other action thrillers this demographic would be interested in: 

1. Cellular This has the same weaker female in a vulnerable position but with a strong protagonist and antagonist, the hero fighting for the females life.
2. The Disappearance of Alice Creed A  beautiful woman is kidnapped by two men, but circumstances change.  Unlike the other two the female has a stronger, more assertive role.
3. Taxi Driver  With a lead antihero this film again goes into a theme with an independent, aggressive man and a victimized woman who's then saved.
4. Taken:

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

• Since our demographic are young men we felt that a victimized, beautiful young woman would create a sympathy and attraction from them.  Young males like the idea of being a hero in such a situation which helps the thriller be of interest to them.  The shots we used increased her vulnerability to create this sympathy and attraction.  
• Even though the beginning of our product is quite measured and slow the suspense makes up for this, and this high tension is liked amongst our audience.  the fast pace of our kitchen scene is also interesting for a younger demographic; fast moving with enigma.
• I showed our thriller opening around and got a few remarks from our target audience about what they specifically liked:

"The kitchen scene seemed like a real film, it flowed."

 "The news report worked because it took me straight into the storyline, I knew what was going on."

"The sound was good, creepy and the clock thing was clever."

"Hiding the guys face worked, I really wanted to know who he was..."

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing your thriller? 

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?

• Since our preliminary task I have progressed in my development of technology skills, the use of camera, sound and vision editing, my understanding of construction of character and my ability in continuity editing:
  

  

  • Editing:  In the editing I have progressed fully, not only in visuals but in sound editing as well.  I now know how to use 'Final Cut' and 'Garage Band' with minimal help.  During are preliminary I had very little visual editing skills and we didn't add any sound to our project so I didn't know how to use that either.  I was much more involved in this task which helped me to understand.

  
  

  
  • Construction of character:  I now understand how to create a character by using aspects of mise en scene, sound, editing and specific camera work to show them in a particular way to my audience.  I was unable to do this in our preliminary because our characters were simple and didn't need to be manipulated in any way because our audience didn't need to see them in a certain light.  So our thriller opening was good in this way because I felt I progressed during the making, understanding that using certain techniques such as low angles can change a characters appearance to the audience, for example a high angle can show them as vulnerable.

  
  

  • Continuity Editing:  We used this both in our preliminary and thriller opening, and both were very useful.  In our preliminary I learned the basics of shot reverse shot and using the 180' line rule, which became second nature in our thriller opening.  With our thriller opening the pacing became more important and match on action was much more of a problem.  I improved by being more alert to mistakes, like a prop slightly moved. 
  
  

  

  • Camera: We used the camera a lot more suggestively in our thriller, as we were trying to convey our characters in a certain way, and we had more of a variety of shots because of this.  Since I was an actor in our preliminary I was unable to film, but in our thriller opening I filmed which help me understand how to work the camera, and personally create shots I liked.