emily prescott AS media coursework blog

Evaluation

2009-05-04T06:22:00.000-07:00

1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a real media product?
In my final media product ‘Next’ we used, developed and challenged the use of codes and conventions compared to real media products in a number of ways. Before the planning of our media thriller, we concentrated on existing media thrillers and the codes and conventions that are used to distinguish the sub-genres. From this I was able to know what is expected in a thriller opening. (See post ‘conclusion’ – Thursday 6th November 2008).

It also helped us develop our ideas of mise en scene we could use throughout our product to help establish our genre and the effect we wanted to create in ‘Next.’ One main aspect I noticed when analysing the existing media products where their stereotypical ideologies are used throughout. These being: colour is used at a minimum, cold colours are used to create uneasy environments whilst contrasting with bold colours, such as red which often connotes danger. A long first establishing shot is used which helps the audience immediately distinguish the narrative and the genre and over the shoulder shots are commonly used, helping the audience engage as it creates mystery and confusion. From my research I also discovered that the music is generally at a slow pace with the use of instruments like violins and piano, which further creates a sinister feel to the opening and a sense of tension. However, some films use the soundtrack in a completely opposite way; some use loud, fast paced music such as the opening for Casino Royal but this is often used to reflect the genre. As our thriller is a Romantic – mystery – teen thriller we chose to use a gentle piano piece.

I also discovered the beginning titles are symbolic to the narrative, whilst being attention grabbing, although titles differ due to the genre of the thriller. For example, when making the titles for my product, I was highly influenced by the thriller ‘Psycho’ – Alfred Hitchcock, seeing as it’s a psychological thriller with a similar narrative. The titles used are simply black with white text, which could represent a sense of good vs. evil between the protagonist and the antagonist. Not only this but the white text contrasts with the background, therefore creating an attention grabbing effect.

To further entice the audience and to use the codes and conventions of real media products we added fading transitions to the titles, representing the steam created by the bathroom where the protagonist drowns his victims.

2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our media product is about a teenage boy who is isolated from his school peers, leading him to become a psychopath. Seeing as our protagonist and the majority of characters in the thriller are teenagers, we used mise en scene to represent – clothing, surroundings, props, location and body language. To distinguish the characters roles within the thriller we represented their social status to portray their gender and age. This mainly applied to the main character, the psychopath. We used low key, blood orange lighting to reinforce his mental state and used dark clothing to produce a sense of mystery about the character. On the other hand, we represented the couple to juxtapose with the psychopath protagonist. We decided that we wanted them to look vulnerable compared to the protagonist. To do this their costume was smart and simple, the female character wore a dress, enhancing the attractiveness of the character. We also filmed their shots in daylight; we initially had planned to film on sunny days to assure high key lighting, representing their innocence and vulnerability. It also created a nice atmosphere and surrounding to intensify the fact they are happily in a relationship.

This screenshot clearly shows the contrast in lighting which we used to represent the characters roles within the narrative.

The locations we used also played a big part in how we represented our characters. The location of the protagonist is mainly in his bedroom, being a stereotypical place to represent isolation. We also used mise en scene to intensify this. In the first shot (see film - 48 seconds) the book shelf includes a number of education books, such as Spanish books and the dictionary, representing the character as nerdy – which stereotypically are cast out by the majority, becoming the minority in teen cultures. It also represents the teenage culture of today; the ongoing obsession and want for popularity, as modernity has made it – being the grounded rules for teenagers to become ‘individual’ and ironically fall into ‘unindivudual’ groups or groups with only the interest of friendship through their naivety.

3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Our product would be published by an Art house, which mainly aims at a niche audience. As our audience will be mainly aimed at men, an art house film would be most suitable as Art house publications are mainly aimed towards the male gender. From my research I believe New line cinema would most likely produce our thriller as they have previously published films with the same sub-genres.
One film that is similar to ours that new line cinema has produced is ‘seven’ – directed by David Fincher, which has a similar opening. Out film would be consumed through small chain of cinemas in order to create a unique factor.

4) Who would be the target audience for your media product?
The target audience for ‘Next’ is teenage – middle age. The BBFC that we thought would be suitable is a 15, seeing as the majority of the cast in the film are 16-17 years old.However after finishing the final cut and having analysed it myself, I feel it is border lining an 18 certificate. This being because the narrative itself is extreme and some of the shots used are explicit. If this film was to be further produced I would expect it to involve detailed portrayal of violence and maybe even sexual assault. However, because of our age restriction and the budget, we wouldn’t be able to include that. Not only this but such extreme shots are not part of the codes and conventions that are used to create a successful thriller opening. A previous film in which has a similar narrative to ‘Next’ is ‘ All the boys love Mandy Lane’ as it’s a romantic –mystery –teen thriller, which is based upon jealousy and the youth of today’s behaviour, especially when it involves the opposite sex. However, even though this film includes characters of teenage years, it is an 18, as it includes detailed convocations about sex and illegal drug use. Our thriller would also appeal to men more so than woman. The dominant sex represented in our thriller is male; this is because stereotypically men are seen as the dominant figure. The main character which we used is therefore male, his position in the narrative is that he stalks and takes notes of pretty popular girls around the school (stereotypical factor of teenage life). However he is mainly obsessed with the one girl, Abby Jones. This immediately shows the male dominance as the female character is shown as a possession.

5) How did you attract your target audience?
Within the film, we used a number of techniques to engage the audience. This mainly consists of violence and danger – key for any sub-genre of a thriller and also mystery – key for keeping the audience engaged. Part of our film which i feel worked successfully due to violence and danger is (see movie 1:36-1:57.)I feel the gradual pace of music that increases really intensifies that shot, the location looks hot and stuffy, also intensifying the shot as it increases the sense of suffocation and finally that the shot is filmed using POV, increasing the mystery. I also feel that the shot where the protagonist strokes the photo booth picture of the girl and her boyfriend worked successfully. The high key lighting reinforcing the fact that this is the character that envies the girl and her boyfriend, and that he is the one who is the psychopath protagonist. However, you don’t get to see his face properly throughout, yet in this shot you can only see his hand and hair, intensifying the mystery of the character (see film 1:09-1:15). I believe this would attract the target market as violence is a big seller in today’s media market. Also sexual attraction is a big seller in today’s market; from this we included Abby Jones as our attractive main girl, who would attract out target market. We decided to use her because of her close resemblance to the actress Amber Heard, the stunning lead girl from the thriller ‘All the boys love Mandy Lane.’ Both of which portray innocence by their long blonde hair and perfect smiles, perfect for the part of endangered female character.

This image clearly shows the close similarities between our chosen actress, Abbie Jones with Amber Heard, the actress used in a similar thriller as ‘Next’.

Seeing as the majority of teenagers and young adults use a social networking site, we felt it was important to set up a Facebook group advertising our thriller publically to attract our target audience.This turned out to be a brilliant success as we received some positive and negative responses. It helped me understand where we went wrong during the production of the film, whilst getting our work observed and enjoyed by our target market.

I feel the last response is the most helpful, they have noticed our overall intentions of the thriller to attract our target audience.

6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
Over the course of making this media product I have overcome a number of difficulties. At the beginning i struggled to use the camera at a high standard, although I was capable of using it, because of this I took the role of the director in the preliminary task and in the final thriller piece. However after a number of times re-filming, I took charge of the camera work as well. From doing this my camera work significantly improved, I even found myself shooting effective point of view shots. When we first began filming, we realised how ineffective zooming is, as we used it in nearly every shot. We also realised it is very rarely used in successful thrillers, unless it is the beginning first opening shot. Example – (2:00minutes into opening – The village). Another problem that occurred was that we forgot to check id the camera was charged, which put back our shooting schedule. After this we always made sure the camera was fully charged before shooting. One problem that I struggled with throughout the course of this project was the software, ‘premiere pro.’ As much as I was instructed to use it, I still found myself struggling to use and understand it. Gradually I became more confident and I can now edit footage at a good quality, fine cutting work to gradually build suspense by the length and build up of the shots, although I can still further improve this skill. I feel the transitions we used worked really effectively with our piece, helps to flow better as there is too much going on in the two minutes.

7) Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
At the beginning of the coursework where we were given planning tasks to make an animatic, storyboard, shot schedule and to choose the sub-genre for the thriller. I felt completely out of my comfort zone as it was the first time I’ve ever made a movie. Looking back, I wish I understood how important the planning was in order to create successful footage. Especially the storyboard as the one we made was far too vague due to the fact our ideas kept on changing. We finished with completely different shots than we originally planned due to the poor storyboard. One of the main parts that we had to change is that we included shots that weren’t suitable for the BBFC certificate. From the preliminary continuity task, I feel I have improved massively. Before I was incapable of fine editing and using editing to create pace (see blog ‘Monday 17th November 2008 – real continuity task -13 seconds). At this point of the footage I didn’t even remove the unwanted dialog saying ‘action’. This clearly proves that my technology skills where poor, where as now, I was able to remove any unwanted sound whilst fine cutting the soundtrack to enhance the crescendo at the climax of our thriller.

This is the first exercise we ever made using any media equipment. The pace of the music should be playing parallel to the action on screen, yet the music and sound effects are completely out of time with the action. (See animatic- 0.22 seconds) the bellowing music should be used to signify the characters importance, however the music is introduced 2 seconds before the character is even in the shot, reducing the crescendo of the piece. However to build up the suspense, we attempted to edit the shots to gradually build up a paces towards the end of the piece.

This continuity task does show some developed skills. Some shots are steady, especially during the shot reverse shot (see continuity task 0.10-0.17 seconds). However the majority of the footage is poor quality. The continuity of the character walking to the door, then entering the room is too long, creating the sense of reality to be destroyed, (see continuity task 0.00 – 0.09). The sound is also a major issue. We were unable to control the background unwanted noise, however we could of edited this, therefore leaving the piece sounding unprofessional.

This is our final media product showing the overall development I have made as a media student throughout the year compared to the two previous preliminary tasks. I feel the following are the main improvements I have made:
I feel the use of titles are effective as they are simple but with the use of black and white colour scheme linking back with the narrative and genre of the piece. I also learnt how to use transitions effectively, reflecting the narrative and genre of the piece, common forms and conventions used in real thrillers. (See film: 0.00-0.47)
My knowledge of understand how to use sound effectively and efficiently has developed significantly compared to the previous tasks. We used incising eerie music which is used to develop suspense, sound effects are also added during title sequence reflecting on the narrative (see film: 0.00 -0.47). We also used a gradual build up of music to increase the thrill and suspense towards the crescendo (see film: 1.37-2.02)
My camera work has dramatically improved after the constant re-shooting sessions as we included technical use of camera and a variety of shots:
Smooth panning (see film: 0.56-1.00)
POV shots (see film: 1.31-1.43
Close up shots with panning (see film: 1.56-2.02)

However the camera work could still be improved as some shots are not steady, I feel this destroys the sense of realism and makes the film look unprofessional. ( see film: 1.17-1.21) and (see film: 1.56-2.02) This is something I feel I can and will be able to further improve.

final piece

2009-04-18T04:16:00.000-07:00

Our final media piece was due in on the 1st April. Our piece would have been ready for this date, but unfortunately amber (main editor) became ill. We rescheduled for completely finish it for the 6th April, which meant we had to come into school during half term. This was the perfect opportunity we needed to try boost up our grade, which meant we couldn’t afford to waste our time.

Amber and I started on the main problems which needed improving. I had previously already fixed the titles, which meant that already used nearly a minute of the time so we got to work on the second minute, which after our first draft discovered needed the most work done to it. We elongated shots and replaced a few and the piece slowly started to piece back together again. We chose to take out some of the shots with the different locations and different couples as we felt it confused the piece and ruined the continuity, after that the piece immediately began to flow better. Sehb then got to work with the sound, which we decided to simplify to make it sound more professional. We also adjusted the sound levels, making it easier to listen too, also to build up certain parts where it reaches the crescendo.

By the end of the day we were so close to finishing it, but there were still one or two little problems that could be tweaked, mainly the sound.
Amber offered to come in the next day to come in for a couple of hours to completely finish it, unfortunately though I wasn’t able to make it, but she was able to completely finish the film, and we are all happy with the outcome.
I feel it looks far more professional now, due to the rearrangement of titles and the simplified sound.

Critique - good and bad
- Good use of music – builds up tension well
- Good misenscene, effective with genre
- Lighting poor at times – could of been improved
- Good POV shot
- It’s too much like a trailer
- Good misenscene and props
- Realistic narrative, although could of built up more suspense before drowning shots
- Last shot of hand is very effective
- Music at beginning should be louder
- Great shot of protagonist stroking picture with his thumb
- Confusing! Who are we following? Which character?

Improvements/final edit

2009-04-09T11:07:00.000-07:00

Once our teacher had studied our piece, he gave us further improvements we could do. We are currently at a grade c/d and personally i don’t i want a better grade for the final piece.
The overall improvements he gave us where:

-Overall slow the piece down and simplify the piece.
-Limit the number of cuts in the second half of footage.
-Fix editing of sounds.
-Allow sound to over lap shots.
-Reposition the titles.

We have also decided to move all the titles to the beginning; we feel our piece would look more professional from this. We also have an idea of doing a voice over the titles. Our initial idea is to have the protagonist reading a poem, or the scrap book, we haven’t yet decided. However this is only an idea, we will experiment and see if it works.

On our deadline one of our members became ill, unfortunately she was the most confident using the software. Besides this, i took matters into my own hands and made it my responsibility to finish as much as possible.
I managed to get 1 minutes work done by myself, but we arranged to meet up during half term to fully complete it together.
When we did this we finally completed it and applied all the further improvements.

Editing final cut

2009-03-23T13:30:00.000-07:00

Editing the final cut was a long process; it consisted of mainly the last minute of footage and the music. It took so long because we found we were short of usable footage and had previously cut the majority of shots. Luckily we were just about to make the 2 minutes, but i still felt there was alot more that could be improved.
However we added a new title at the beginning to create a professional look to the opening. We named it ‘seven twenty cinema’ which we then added effects too which made the text jitter and fade off screen. This allows the audience to immediately recognise the type of genre the film might be. I thought this was really affective.

When we became closer to finishing the editing, we decided we didn’t want the sound anymore; the sound was too jumbled and didn’t go with the piece. From this we found similar free music which suited the piece better.

6th march - last shoot

2009-03-12T16:14:00.001-07:00

We decided to reschedule to do our last filming on 6th March. Overall the filming went well, the lighting was good yet it was still cold enough to show the actors breath, creating an eerie effect. However, our main actor was ill and wasn’t able to make the shoot. We didn’t want to waste time as the deadline was next week, we had to use all our free time as much as we could, so we decided to improvise. We were able to use a different actor, called Johnny. Without seeing his face, he could easily pass as being James (our main actor), also it helped that he was wearing the same costume as we use for James, a leather jacket and beanie hat. As well as this, we chose to use a different location, as our last location was noisy and had a lot of unwanted extras in it. we chose the local park as it wasn’t difficult to get in, yet was an ideal/ realistic location.

group meeting

2009-03-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

Time to improve

The rough cut was complete so we decided it was time for a group meeting to discuss the ways we can change and further improve our thriller.

The main things we will have to change are:
- The clicking sound when the protagonist picks up the photo booth picture of the girl he’s stalking and her boyfriends.
- Shoot more scenes including main couple (Abby and Andy)
- Add more reaction shots so the audience can distinguish the main characters jealousy.
- Replace the scenes when using other couples; include shots more of Abby mainly. This would make it clearer for the audience to realise she is the victim. Most important shot to replace is scene located at school when protagonist hides behind book.
- Elongate and add more titles.
- Elongate shots of girls drowning in the bath, also add more. Mainly in shots in the ‘i love you scene’
- We finally need to edit the sound and make it in time with the shots. Some of the shots are in need of intensifying.

individual progress

2009-03-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

Since the start of my AS media coursework i feel i have developed and improved my skills tremendously. Especially looking back at the continuity tasks seeing as I wasn’t even capable of keeping the shots steady. My camera work has improved the most; I’ve learnt how to create shots that are at a high standard and that signify certain aspects of importance and how to show this. I can honestly say that my confidence with camera work has overcome leaps and bounds; however i still feel i struggle with the editing software. Although, i am able to get the job done, even if i do struggle from time to time, the more i use the Mac’s and the editing software, the better I’ll become.

feedback and advice

2009-03-05T12:14:00.000-08:00

We uploaded and editied all the footage we had and we asked our teacher for their advice. Unfortunately, we were advised to reshoot the whole thing as we used zoom in too many of the shots, creating it to look unrealistic. We were also advised to cut out the drinking scene with the bottle of alcohol as the character doesn’t look the legal age to drink, also it is terribly cliché. It also takes the focus off the obsessiveness of the female character.
We were also advised to cut out the handwriting shots as the hand writing looks too immature and unprofessional; it also kills the build up.

We had a talk after and decided to swap the drinking shots with shots of a photo falling out the scrap book, and him staring and stroking the picture. This would intensify the admiration for the female character whilst still being creepy.

Third shoot – 21st

2009-03-05T12:10:00.000-08:00

Similar to the first shoot, we filmed all the shots in the school location on Wednesday 21st Jan in our free periods. Firstly we took shots of the couple in the cafe. This time the shots looked a lot more affective, we used a different male character, which was more comfortable and easier to direct. We took various different scenes around the school, all of which seemed a high standard. In addition to this, we decided to add another scene in the story line. We added a new couple that we filmed just outside of school on a bench. The lighting was perfect as the sun shone onto the girls face, showing her importance. The shots we took where perfect, and in my opinion the best footage we had so far.

After school we went back to the protagonist’s house to re-film. Similar to the shots we took at school, the footage looked higher quality. Although we did encounter a few problems – the tripod we had kept on breaking, it made it really difficult to keep the camera steady. The lighting was also difficult because there was no natural lighting, and we only had a few lamps available to use. Finally the actor was being slightly temperamental and unwilling to do his job.
We also decided to add more scenes in, these being ones where the stalking is constantly on his victims facebook. However once we shot it we realised how unrealistic and immature it looked.
Overall, this shoot was alot more successful than the last, even though everything wasn’t perfect, but we got what we needed. We decided to upload the footage and see if it was the standard we wanted before we organised another shoot.

Second shooting -15th Jan – bath scene

2009-02-22T13:41:00.000-08:00

As I had the filming equipment with me after school since the editing, I decided I wasn’t going to waste time. One of the actors (Sara) was with me; I felt it was my responsibility to get down to work and film. To make the shots realistic as possible, I used point of view shots to enhance the thrill. I took a number of different shots using different angles, a range of mid shots – extreme close ups and sounds of suffocation or screaming.
I shone a light from a far distance (for safety) to give an orangey glow to the shots, I also discovered there was a light built inside the camera, which worked really affectively as it reflected against the water, creating eerie looking shots.

Editing first shoot

2009-02-22T13:18:00.000-08:00

The next day when we got back into school we began the editing. As soon as we started we discovered how low standard the shots where, which was fairly disappointing. However we studied each shot and thought of ways to improve it. We decided to keep the story bored the same, but to shoot from different angles to convey the meaning of the shots better. We also decided to change some of the actors to help us produce a higher quality film. From this we rescheduled to film next Wednesday again, to give us time to do some extra planning and to give notice to the actors.

14th Jan, first filming session – disaster

2009-02-22T13:15:00.000-08:00

As me, Sehb and Amber all had a day full of free periods, we scheduled to meet up for our first shooting session. As the actors needed where free as well, we decided to take advantage and try shoot as much as possible, all at once.
However I think this is where we seriously went wrong.

We began with a scene in the food hall at our school, ‘the cafe’ – it was a perfect location at the time, not many people where in there, making it quiet but ambient sound still present.
We positioned the camera the other side of the room to the actors, at a point of view level. We wanted to create a sense of isolation for the character as no one appeared to be near him. In addition to this, he was far enough to be unnoticed by the couple.
We had chosen performing arts students as our actors to make the direction easier and to make the footage look more professional. However this didn’t go to plan as we were hoping. As we began to film them it was clear that they felt completely uncomfortable and weren’t able to get in character at all. After many takes we ended up with useable footage but it was nowhere near the standard I was hoping for. This kept occurring as the day went on, which I started to get frustrated about.
However we carried on. After school we went to our next location – the protagonist’s house.
Whilst in a negative attitude from the footage we got at school, we decided to test the bath scenes before shooting the real deal. I volunteered to get in the bath to act the person drowning whilst amber filmed. Although we attempted a variety of shots, we discovered it would be more difficult than we expected. What we filmed wouldn’t be suitable for the final piece at all. we decided to leave the bath scenes for a later date so we could concentrate on the rest of the footage.
The next scene we filmed would be the first 15 seconds of the sequence when the main character and the scrap book are introduced, meaning they had to filmed to our best ability. We had to assure we centralised the book at all times and the lighting was correct. We also didn’t want a clear shot of the protagonists face to create mystery. The footage began to look better, the shots where still and we used a variety of shots. However, it was difficult to do, we had issues of being able to get home and a member of the group became ill, distracting us from concentrating. We did manage to get the shots we needed though and we were later able to sort out our personal problems.

shot list

2009-02-16T04:21:00.002-08:00

1. Pan across bookshelf, zoom in on hand grabbing book
2. Camera on ground, feet walk towards it
3. Close up of protagonists hand opening draw
4. Close up and pan of scrap book and alcohol placed on table
5. Zoom in on alcohol being slowly poured into glass
6. Zoom in on book being opened and pages flicking and hand stroking page
7. Pans across page to photo of first couple
8. From the photo it links into the next scene and setting, at school
9. Long shot at school, of couple kissing.
10. Back to room, protagonist cuts pictures, covering his face
11. Back to school, centralized close up of girl pulling away from kissing her boyfriend,
12. Back to room, close up of him flicking the pages frantically
13. Pans across page again to next couple
14. Zooms into photo, leading into next shot, location – school sixth form centre.
15. Point of view, peering round the independent learning booths to watch couple kissing again
16. Cuts to a close up of girl again, smiling
17. Quick point of view pan from girl to desk, looking down expressing disheartened feeling
18. Back to room, increase in pace. Mid shot behind Protagonist, scribbles in book aggressively,
19. Close up of his scribbles.
20. Close up, camera slightly pans to next page to see next victim, long blonde haired girl.
21. Back to school location, hiding behind brick wall then peers round it to see next couple, (long blonde haired girl with boyfriend holding hands), point of view.
22. Long shot, point of view: Protagonist starts to follow them,
23. Mid shot of boyfriend turning round.
24. Back to point of view, protagonist quickly turns the opposite direction.
25. Back to book, close up, turns page to dead victims, in bath dead
26. Flash backs begins, quick shot, hand leans over bath, girl screams and hand goes round mouth,
27. Back to book, more pages of dead people, and blood
28. Close up of page turning, next girl
29. Zooms into book to next scene, in a pretty green area, location –the quad
30. Close up of protagonist holding a book,(over the shoulder) pans to couple sitting fair bit away on a bench.
31. Zooms into them kissing, centralising the girl
32. Close up of girl smiling and biting her lip
33. Quick shot of her screaming and drowning
34. Back to room, crossing out her picture
35. Back to her in bath, hands strangling girl vigorously
36. Flipping through scrap book more, sticking in pictures
37. Face lifts out of water, mascara ran down her face, screams
38. Back to book him flipping pages.
39. Shadow of girl being pushed in and out of water, screams increase
40. Back to room, arm moves off book, the word next appears.

improved final animatic

2009-02-16T04:21:00.001-08:00

animatic first draft

2009-02-16T03:15:00.000-08:00

Above is our first animatic we produced for our thriller production.
Whilst producing the animatic it initially went well, besides the short period of time where I was off due to personal reasons. Once i returned to school we immediately got down to business and worked well as a team.
I took the role as the photographer, which i feel worked effectively as it created a realistic effect, rather than drawings. I assured the lighting looked affective and that it highlighted the significant objects within the frame.

Sehb managed to find suitable copyright free music, which we mixed together and overlapped to create our own music script. However i doubt we will use the same music for our final piece, we will have to find music with the right pace that will allow us to edit our footage around it.
However in this animatic there is a lack of diagetic sound, which will be sorted for the final thing. Once we add diagetic sound it will enhance the sense of reality.

In addition to this, we suffered some technical difficulties. When presenting our animatic to our teacher and class mates, we realised the first clip was in the wrong place, wrong size and had the wrong transition. After some confusion we came to the conclusion that there must have been an error when exporting the footage from the Mac to our memory sticks. Because of this, as a group we have decided to produce an improved animatic, as it will help us in the long run.

update

2008-12-17T12:55:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately our animatic is taking longer than our group originally expected. Within the space of two weeks I had to travel to Liverpool and back to help my sick Nan and I came down with food poisoning myself, which really dehydrated me. However I don’t like using this as an excuse. Once I’d recovered and got myself back into school I found I was extremely behind in all my subjects as all the final pieces where due in. The other two members, Sehb and Amber did a great job though making sure we didn’t fall too behind whilst I was gone. Now that we are all back together we are all working hard and communicating together to try get our animatic finished.

thriller development

2008-12-17T11:24:00.000-08:00

After a lot of debating my group and I came to a rough idea for our thriller.

We had to take into consideration we have no budget, everything we use as props or locations will be from our own pockets. To make things easier for ourselves we’ve decided to use local locations and use actors who we are familiar with and who are able to take direction well. In addition to this we will have to film some shots in school locations so we are able to use our time wisely, even if it is typical.

To make our shots dramatic and effective without the cost, we came up with the idea of our protagonist being obsessed with water. Reasons for this may be because someone close to him drowned or he had a near death experience with water but that doesn’t really matter for our opening. We thought this idea could really be suitable for a thriller, also that it would be easily done in our homes as we could simply use a bath, which could also fit into the narrative quiet well as the protagonist will be a teenage boy living at home. To be drowned is also one of the most horrific deaths possible, including this should make our opening attention grabbing and most importantly, thrilling.

To make the narrative flow and make sense, the protagonist will have his own personal scrapbook of which he collects Polaroid’s of people he envies. Whether it’s about popularity or girls, the book will be full of people from around the school. However the photos will be taken secretively without the victim knowing, along with anyone else. He records their day to day life and try’s to figure out what their like so he is able to be like them and replace them once he kills them, obviously wouldn’t happen though as he’s psycho.

From ambers storyboard I was able to take photography for the animatic to give a good representation of what our thriller will hopefully look like. I believe they came out pretty good as I tried to get the correct lighting suitable for each shot. I also tried to use as many colour connotations such as the alcoholic drink, which I chose a bright red Lambrini. I also shone the light onto the bottle to give a red rippled water like reflection.

From the storyboard and photographs we have been able to make decisions on the detail of our props and locations.

Props:

- Scrapbook

- Polaroid’s of victims

- Shot glass

- Red alcohol

- Pens pencils

- Stationary, (anything for scrap book)

- Draws and desk

- Bookcase and books

- Anything that is generally in a bedroom

Costume: (male protagonist)

- Black skinny jeans

- Plain white top

- Black leather jacket

- Black beanie hat

- Bear feet

All of which are typical teenage fashion whilst including necessary connotations.

Victims:

- Fully clothed

General teenage fashion/ smart school wear.

2008-11-26T12:02:00.000-08:00

Film certificates

Certificates are given to movies to control the appropriate footage that is used in the film for the certain target audience. From this research I’ll be able to decide on the most appropriate certificate suited to the thriller opening, although I will have to remember there is no budget in the making of it. The props and overall organization of the opening will be paid with our own money; this means we will have to use our imagination to create suspense with minimum resources.
For a thriller movie, nothing lower than a 15 would be suitable.

Certificate of 15:

Language:

- May be frequent use of strong language and extremely strong language will only being excepted if justified. Use of extremely aggressive strong language won’t be accepted.

Nudity:

-Nudity may be allowed but not in strong detail.

Sex:

-Sexual activity can be portrayed but again not in strong detail.However there can be strong verbal references to sex.

Violence:

-Violence is allowed but the effects shouldn’t be focused on and scenes of sexual violence should be discreet and brief.

Imitable techniques:

- Dangerous techniques such as self-harming, suicide etc should not be shown in detail. This is the same for the accessibility and use of weapons.

Drugs:

-Drugs are allowed to be shown but not to be shown promoting drug misuse

Certificate of 18:

A film with an 18 certificate will indicate that anything could be shown throughout the duration of the film, as 18 is considered as adult.

18’s could include extremes such as:

-Extreme supernatural gory horror scenes

-Sadistic violence

-Sexual violence

-Hard drug use

-Detailed attention to sex verbally and visually

I believe our thriller should be targeted towards a 15 certificate. I feel it would meet are target audience more specifically as the characters will be of a similar age but no younger than 15. To produce an 18 wouldn’t be appropriate as no one in our group/ year is over 18, it would also cost a lot more money that we don’t have to produce it.

Making a 15 still means we can have references to most aspects as long as its not in detail.

Thriller brainstorm

2008-11-19T03:57:00.000-08:00

Thriller Brainstorm

Mystery – thriller

School location

- bulling
- social status’
- stereotypes (chavs, emos etc)
- unknown unrealistic events happening
- least expected person

Complex plots/character twists.

- Notes explaining ‘rules’ in which they have to follow.
- If rules aren’t followed, characters will have to suffer the consequences.

Create tension by the unknown.

- Silhouettes
- Shadows
- Sound effects
- Darkness
- Missing people

Physiological thriller

Physical, blackmail, touchier

- pedophilia
- racism
- wearhouses
- emotional blackmail
- threats

Teen horror-thriller

location

- cinemas
- parties
- clubs
- school
- friends house
- boyfriends/girlfriends

steryotypes

- makeup lovers
- nerds
- sluts
- try hards
- bullies
- drink/drugs

romance

- killing of partner
- jealousy

Real continuity task

2008-11-17T10:35:00.000-08:00

We were set this task to create a fluent piece of filming before making our actual thriller to ensure our capability and for general practise.
Whilst filming we came across a few problems, these being that we still were not confident using the camera and editing equipment, but whilst filming we began to improve using better angles helping to represent the narrative. Although, some of the shots could still be improved as some where unsteady and jumpy. The worst part of the film i would say is the editing, especially at the end where the sound is out of sync. Again this is something we will be able to majorly assess and improve but whilst editing the piece we were able to become more familiar with the software. Another problem was unwanted sounds due to our location. Unfortunately there weren’t any other practical locations to shoot in the time period we had.
Our male actor Lewis delivered the lines perfectly, however I wasn’t the best actress to use. Half way through the film i start smiling, completely ruining the narrative. We should have cut this out. Other than this i am pleased with film. My group and i both agree the best part of the piece is the shot reverse shot as it helped with the flow of continuity most considerably.

All of our pieces got peer assessed during class time, the majority of pieces were graded as a level two, including our piece. From seeing the higher grade films we are now aware of what we need to do and include to have a successful final piece.

The critiques we received from our teacher and peers were:
-Make sure are camera is steady at all times, although unfortunately our tripod was to blame as it wasn’t secure.
- To constantly assure the characters with the main importance or dominance are visually shown by the positioning of the characters and the camera. We didn’t really do this in our piece as our characters where often both marginalised.
- to include reaction shots not just shot reverse shot, this would help with the audiences understanding of the narrative.

This critique will defiantly be able to help us with our next filming.

2008-11-16T13:28:00.000-08:00

We where given a task to create our first continuity task to try out using the filming equipment and using the 180 degree rule and shot reverse shot.

For this piece, I took the role of acting aswell as amber. Although this isn’t all I did. Both Amber and me also helped with the direction and the decisions made whilst Sehb filmed. We did find the task challenging, as all of us are more creative with the ideas and planning so we found it slightly difficult to get used to the technology side of the filming. Especially when it came to panning and moving the camera about as we where in such a small confined space. We also had to make sure we didn’t break the 180 degrees rule and I don’t believe we did break it. Although we weren’t able to finish the task, we included the key elements that we had to include.

We did find the editing difficult, especially getting the sound in sync with the shots. We did try really hard though and I do believe it was a good first attempt of using the camera and getting used to the rules.

I also think we work as a good team and once we get used to using the equipment/used to the rules and elements of filming, we will produce quality work.

animatic

2008-11-16T12:19:00.000-08:00

This animatic was our first chance to experiment and learn how to use the programs Adobe Premier Pro and Adobe Sound Booth. At first I found it difficult to understand the technical side to the production of the piece, but with the help of my group we where able to produce the final outcome, even if it took a few attempts. We where able to use a motion tool to create a panning effect, allowing the audience to familiarize with the characters, we also used directional arrows for the drawings to be more clear of how the shot would be filmed.We were also able to edit the shots to create tension. We did this by lengthening and shortening the shots allowing the tension on the audience to build to the climax of the introduction to the vampire. We also created our sound through Adobe sound booth. We used a pre recorded backing track, which fitted in perfectly for the setting as the music is fast passed and builds up in texture, helping build up the tension. We also used pre-recorded footsteps that worked effectively.However we recorded the rest of the sounds by ourselves, for example the screaming and heavy breathing. I think overall the piece is good as it was our first attempt of using the programs and understanding how you produce film work. However next time we should be more organized and try and produce the work faster, but I feel this will happen as we’ll naturally become used to using the programs.

Conclusion

2008-11-06T10:32:00.000-08:00

what to expect in a thriller opening.

Depending on the thriller genre the camera speed and techniques will differ slightly. Generally the openings tend to be shot slowly, however when the film begins with action straight away, over the shoulder camera shots tend to be used to create hype and mystery.

The first establishing shot is often a long shot, used to establish the settings and location. Although, depending on the genre again, close ups of a certain feature or object may be used to confuse the audience and increase the suspense and mystery. During the opening scene the majority of shots tend to be close ups, identifying the characters and their rolls, again this may differ from the type of thriller.

The colour schemes tend to consist of a low saturation, creating cold and unwelcoming environments using the contrast of deep red, connoting the danger of which lies ahead, creating suspense.

The music normally has a slow pace with the use of instruments like violins and piano to create a sinister feel and a sense of tension. However, some films use music completely opposite. Some often use fast, loud paced music, often reflecting on the genre.

thriller opening 5: Sin city - Frank miller

2008-11-06T08:54:00.000-08:00

Action - thriller.

Camera:

Sin city opens with an establishing shot tilted downwards upon the city location and an elegant woman in a low cut slinky dress. The use of this first shot allows the audience to recognise the editing techniques that have been applied, being the greyscale shots with the signifiers coloured in red. In this case, the women being the victim who is about to die.

Close ups are further used to express their flirtatious body language and facial expressions. The camera focuses on the woman’s face, making it clear to the audience that she appears memorised by the male figure as her eyes are fixated on him. However whilst the male appears to be devouring her with compliments the camera uses a mid shot, expressing that he doesn’t feel that connection to her, he probably doesn’t care for her at all, thus being shown by the distance he is being shot away from her.

The next mid shot is filmed in front of the two characters. This is used to show the camera slowly zoom in, emphasising the importance of the dialog in the shot. It could be suggested that the camera zooms in to represent the feelings growing and her sense of closeness towards him.

Whilst the two character hug in the rain the camera tilts down on the woman showing her sense of security, then tilting up to show his facial expression, which appears to be blank as he gazes out rather than inwards towards her.

Sound:

At the beginning of the extract a subtle short shrilling noise is used to dictate the atmosphere of what will become next. Faint ambient background noise of the location is also used to help the audience to recognise it is based in a city.

Non –diegetic sound of saxophones and piano are also played faintly in the background, expressing the classy, romantic atmosphere of which is supported by the characters costumes.

Ambient sound is again used further on during the scene. As the couple expresses their ‘feelings’ by dialog and body language, thunderstorm sounds are played. This intensifies the moment making the scene appear passionate until he shoots her, where the thunderstorm sounds become louder, actually expressing the unexpected negativity brought upon his actions

Editing:

The director cleverly uses a limited colour range of black, white and red. The majority of shots are simply black and white, although all the shots have been edited to high contrast, making the colours oppose each other thus creating a comic book effect.

The use of red has been use to emphasise the object in which is in colour, expressing their connotations. The woman is wearing a long sleek red dress, symbolising her elegance and class, reinforced by the red lipstick. However the use of the red also symbolises the danger she is in and that she is in fact the next victim.

The woman’s eyes are emphasised by a slight tinge of green as the man expresses his love for them. This also draws attention that her eyes are completely transfixed on him showing her adoration for him.

During the scene, black and white shots of their silhouettes showing what appears to be their closeness and affection, rain is used to intensify the moment. This has also been used to carry on the black and white comic book theme to the movie.

thriller opening 4: Shrooms - Paddy Breathnach

2008-11-04T06:56:00.000-08:00

teen horror-thriller.

0.00-1.24

camera:

The first 6 shots are made by CGI for the title sequence.

The first camera shot is a mid shot of a silhouette running frantically away from something, which is immediately gripping for the audience as they become intrigued to know what is after her.

A jump cut is used to completely change the shot to an old looking house, similarly to ‘room 4108’ the windows appear to be elongated, creating a creepy abnormal surrounding; this is reinforced by the gently blowing wind. It also appears to be shot with a different type of camera, it could be suggested that it may be shot with a fish eye lens, which would enhance the abnormal factor

This type of filming is carried on throughout the shots inside the house. A close up is used to focus on the blood oozing out of what looks like a bucket. The darkness of the shot with the high contrast levels creates a gritty, seedy look to the environment. Close ups are continuously used to show the audience the unpleasant ‘thrilling’ environment of which the protagonist is probably running away from. An extreme close up is used for the shot of a hand covered in blood and blood surrounding it, suggesting death and violence, gripping the audience to find out how it all happened and who is doing it.

After another shot of the silhouette frantically running again, the shots in the house change to mid shots to show the surroundings. The shots shows shadows and shaking bloody hands, creating exhilaration for the viewer until a shot of a person turning unsteadily towards the camera making the audience feel uncertain and confused.

Similar shots are used throughout the opening, the use of blood helps the audience easily establish the genre of horror, which is reinforced by the editing and sound.

Sound:

As the titles of the producer companies appear centralised on the screen, accented sound is played as they appear on screen. The sound also fades out as the name zooms forward, expressing the titles importance. Although as the directors name pounds on screen, extra diegetic sound is added of someone breathing heavily and excessively getting louder as the title zooms forward.

The breathing is used as a sound bridge to introduce the first camera shot of the girl running, it continuously becomes louder until the next shot where it completely changes where the sound becomes softer, yet creepier of gentle wind blowing. This sound is kept through the shots of inside the house but for each different shot a new sound is added for a different effect on the audience.

Prominent sounds of whispering, ropes tightening, children crying and doors slamming are used successfully as it shows a nightmare become a fake reality, thrilling the audience.

Editing:

As the silhouette is running the shot is fairly long in comparison to the rest of the shots inside the house. However the director has filmed the shot of the silhouette running using over the shoulder techniques. The shot Is unsteady and isn’t prominently in focus on anything, although the camera is still tracking the figure running.

Two-second takes are used to show the havoc inside the house without displaying the location too much and keeping the unknown a mystery keeping the audience engaged.

The use of colour has been used cleverly. The shots of the silhouette has been edited to a low saturation whilst keeping the warmth low, creating a light blue colour, connoting coldness and loneliness. However, in the house the shots are edited in complete greyscale besides the deep red blood, gaining emphasis to the shots, signifying their importance.
The shots have also been edited so the contrast is high, creating a dark, grim, dirty surrounding and atmosphere.

thriller opening 3: Scilene of the lambs - Jonathon Demme

2008-11-04T04:35:00.000-08:00

physiological-thriller.

Camera:

There is no use of camera during this title sequence as it is made with the use of CGI.

Sound:

The non- diegetic music played by a Xylophone in 4/4 beats creating a very slow paced beat, similar to a ticking clock. The use of this music creates an eerie creepy effect; the single beats create a thinking effect as if the mind is ticking, perfect for a physiological thriller.

As the sequence follows though the music becomes polyphonic, making the texture thicker whilst keeping the same pace and beat. It could be suggested that the music is representing intense physiological thought path that a character during the film might portray.

The introduction of droned cello creates a melancholy feel, reflecting on the deep, dark and twisted mind the protagonist has.

The final section of the musical script changes and the texture again becomes thinner. However, the xylophone and violin have been taken out and replaced with single crotchets played by the piano, whilst keeping the droned cello. The piano being the instrument to express emotion most effectively finishes off the title sequence whilst creating an unnerving atmosphere.

Editing:

The first shot is appears to just be white dashed lines creating a shape, although it is symbolising the stitches the machinist would make in his job tailoring dresses. The grey shape becomes clearer when the shape separates from the black background when the music becomes thicker, forming a silhouette of a dressmakers tailored manikin. Further more, the outline appears to have large curves, symbolising the chunkier size 16 girls the machinist would kidnap.

The shot then swiftly zooms into the name of the first actress, dotted lines cut across the screen from both diagonal directions, trimming the name, symbolising the cutting of peoples skin and keeping with the sewing machine aspect, subtly informing the audience about the movie.

The title then zooms in even more until the next name appears. It could be suggested the replacement of names could symbolise the use of the girls then the fact he threw them away and moving onto the next one.

The last title being the development of the ‘S’ symbolises the pieces of the human body being put together to create something. The use of the ‘S’ is also important as it could be symbolising the curvaceous females he used whilst spelling out the name of the title, ‘silence of the lambs’.

thriller opening 2: Room 4018 - Mikael Håfström

2008-11-04T03:09:00.000-08:00

horror -thriller
0.00-1.38

Camera:

The title sequence is created though CGI technology at the beginning as focuses on the production labels and directors name, emphasising their importance.
The black background fades into the first setting location of which is a long shot, showing the viewer the dark, Insolence of the surroundings.
The camera slowly pans round to where the headlights shine intensely, where the title ‘4108’ appears creating a ghostly effect for the audience to recognise.
Close ups are used to show his confused expression, which is reinforced as the close up focuses on his hand whipping the steamy windscreen as the torrential rain has completely muffled it. This expresses that he is concerned about where he is or if he is in the correct place. Further more the shot then focuses on the protagonist scrambling for a map, expressing their sense of panic and uncertainty.
As the car drives away, the shot fades into the next shot, changing the location but keeping the car in the main focal point. To which he arrives in a sinister surrounding where the architecture is all elongated creating a creepy abnormal effect.
All the shots are filmed in the rain and in the dark, as the senses heighten creating a more engaged audience. All of which the shots are quite lengthy as its familiarising the audience with the location, the introduction to characters and the main location, being a hotel.

Sound:

During the beginning titles the shots only have a slight background silence drone of which is unable to make out, creating the first sense of naivety upon the audience and reflecting on the unknown location the protagonist is in.
The drone becomes louder and appears to be played in minor key, expressing the negativity of the film.
Digetic sounds are added of rain and the stereotypical sound effect of horror-thrillers, the wind.
As the title ‘4108’ appears, high key violins are played quietly yet frantically to signify the importance of the numbers and to relate the unnerving feel the numbers bring throughout the movie.
Dialog is introduced, although it is unclear whether it’s from the radio or from the small building where he is parked next too. The dialog sounds unclear until it emphasises on the sentence ‘ the open gates of hell’, which could be reflecting on where he is driving too, or it could be suggested it is used to emphasise the negativity in the surroundings.

Editing:

Fading is used predominantly throughout the opening scene during the introduction of thetitles. The first three titles shown are centralised with only the use of black and white colourings, expressing the importance of the titles as they are made to be the focal point.
As the black background fades into the first set location, the surroundings are still dark but with the road and house contrasting each other, still keeping the light and dark effect, creating a sinister surrounding.
The titles of the actors are still in white font, although not as bold and of which swipe down gently until they fade out, yet again creating a ghostly effect.

thriller opening 1: Psyhco - Hitchcock (horror-thriller)

2008-11-03T10:14:00.000-08:00

Camera:

There is no camera movement during the title sequence, as it is mostly made by CGI.

Sound:

Sound is a major factor during the title sequence. The non-diegetic dissonance sound played presto reflects on the fast paced stop and start suspense created throughout the film.

Editing:

The sequence consists of fast paced shots changed by a wash of black and grey parallel lines, it could be suggested that its representing the blood that washes away when the woman is stabbed. However it is hard to come to a full conclusion that this suggestion is correct as the whole movie is filmed and edited in greyscale because of the lack of technology development.

The last shot after the title of Alfred Hitchcocks name the parallel lines oppose each other, creating a visual effect of a heart monitor, expressing the up and down build of the thrill and also suggesting there may be death involved.

The title of the movie and the director’s name split into sections and jolt vigorously, emphasising the importance of the text.

pre production research.

2008-11-03T08:22:00.000-08:00

What is a thriller?

Thrillers are designed to keep the audience on edge with anticipation, tension and suspenseful action, achieved by the use of conventions being mainly location, narrative and the characters. However the genre ‘thriller’ is a vague title as it has a vast amount of sub genres, differing the conventions used. Sub genres are hybrids of which two genres are used together, intensifying the exhilaration for the audience as the director often makes them to be more relatable with the use of the hybrid conventions. Some examples are: action-thrillers, disaster-thrillers, serial killer-thrillers, medical-thrillers, religious-thrillers and historical-thrillers.

Key conventions for a thriller:

Narrative:

Often based upon mystery and the un-known. Physiological technique to keep the audience engaged making them want to find out more leading them to carry on watching.
Twists are commonly used, creating confusion and naivety upon the audience enabling them to relate to an unfortunate and often unrealistic event depending on the sub-genre.
Climax is achieved by the number of unfortunate events leading to the revilement of the cause.
There is never a set location for a thriller; it is dependant on the other half of the sub-genres stereotypical surroundings for the audience’s recognition.

Location:

As the genre is still a thriller, the location still has to maintain a sinister, unnerving surrounding, even if it is somewhere unexpected, it adds to the relatable factor for the audience and the mystery. Although the thrill is often created mainly by the use of codes, semiotics and mise-en-scene.

Characters:

The characters are similarly dependant to the other half of the sub-genre. Whether this means they’re a life saving surgeon in a medical-thriller or a detective officer in a crime-thriller.

Like most genres, thrillers commonly have ‘good vs. evil’ characters, being the protagonist against the antagonist who is often the cause of the thrill and problems. However, thrillers often use an antagonist as the leading role, apposing to most genres, intensifying the thrill upon the audience.