Throughout the last few months I feel I have excelled in the knowledge of practical media. I feel that I can now film and edit a more complex piece of film than my preliminary task. We had three points of view within our piece;

                                                                                                            3rd person

                                                                                                            Film crew camera                                                                                                        psycho’s eyes

This made the piece more complex and harder to film and edit. I felt that our editing had improved due to the extended difficult. from my preliminary task I have successfully learnt how to use a better range of shot and angles to represent characters in different ways.

 

 I have learnt how to stick to the 180 degree rule successfully to make the film more professional. I feel that we could have had a more in depth shot list and script to avoid confusion and struggling. I felt that our group could of also filmed every clip twice due to mistakes being made and footage not being able to be used. We could of also left a bit more time to create music around the movie, as we could of enhanced tension even more at certain parts. If my group was to do this again I feel that we could try use more experienced shots, for example; dolly tracking shots. I felt we could have had more dialog within the piece to represent the characters better. I felt that our piece work well because our group was committed and dedicated, we worked on every part of the piece together and had no disagreements.

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

To create this thriller opening we used technologies such as;

                                                                                                Sony handycam

                                                                                                Apple Mac

                                                                                                I movie

                                                                                                Garageband

Once I had finished this product I looked back and thought that I have learnt various different skills in filming and editing.

Camera

 I have learnt that representation can be shown through various different types of camera angles to portray characters in a certain way, for example we tried to portray the victims, the film crew as innocent vulnerable people, we did this using high angle shots. We learnt that close up; quick cuts of the villain wouldn’t reveal who he was and give significant evidence that he was insane. We developed our knowledge of composition; it wasn’t just to focus on an object. We learnt composition of a shot is vital to represent a character in a certain way, for example we showed our villain off centre and in the corner shot, and this was on a golden mean.

Editing software and Mac

Once we had got our footage back we transferred it onto an Apple Mac computer. We had learnt the basics in our preliminary task, for example; how to cut clips up

                                                                                                How to use transitions

                                                                                                How to add titles

                                                                                    How to put effects on clips

Once we had got familiar with the software imovie and garageband we went on to edit our piece, we learnt that we could speed up clips when flashes were needed to add a psychologically wrong element to each shot of the psycho. We then developed our knowledge of using effects on top of clips to show the different points of view. For example, the villains vision was blurred compared to the sight of the third person:

[ sequence of the shot going through to see the view through Georges eyes]

As you can see, the shots differ once in the mind of the psycho.

We learnt in our preliminary task music was good to create a certain mood, we had used garageband to create this music piece that was not copy written. We developed a minimalist piece that was to create the tensional mood, we learnt that this would act for a better audience cinematic experience.

How did you attract/address your audience?

We wanted to attract our audience by using some typical thriller conventions. We used a convention of quick cuts that almost intensify through out the clip of film to signify the path of witch the victims were going to take; this was to create a tension build up toward to the end of the video. These fast cuts can also create a sense of mystery as they are so fast you could not see the villains face. This enticed the audience to carry on watching. We also carried on to use camera angles that signify power over characters, such as this one

And this shows the power of when they enter the place where the villain is placed; the power has changed to a mysterious character

This would of intrigued the audience, and subconsciously keep them aware that something is different.

We conveyed the villain as a person who hid almost in the corners, the shadows to signify his psychological dysfunction. This is why we framed him in the side of the shot to signify mystery; this would keep the audience aware of the character.

 

still of george close up

The main elements we focused on, that were conventional were tension and mystery, we used these most within our shots due to our questionnaire results showing that is what is wanted in the thriller opening, these were all built towards the end to create a final climax of tension. What we did unconventionally to draw in the audience to watch the next scene was leave it on a cliff hanger, so the audience would have some thing to look forward to.

We felt that music would add to the audience’s cinematic experience and create more tension than if the movie just had diagetic sound in, we made our music build up towards the end where most tension is needed, this would make the audience feel un easy and know some thing is going to happen, yet the opening.  We rated our 15 along the guidelines of the BBFC, this was our target audience. We didn’t use any language or much violence or it would of had to be an 18.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Once we found out that we had to make a thriller product we got people to fill out a questionnaire that we had created to find out what the audience would want within a opening two minutes of a thriller we asked questions about themselves such as genre and age (to get a specific target audience) along side with questions about location, characters and sub genres of thrillers. The majority of people we asked these questions were 16-17 year old teenagers, male and female. This was because us, the producers of the opening were around this age, we do not feel this represented the whole of our audience. The favourite chosen genre on the questionnaire was thriller and comedy. Within a thriller we found that characters they expected were conventional characters (a hero and a villain) .we also found that most people expected an abandoned/ derelict house to be the setting of a thriller opening, we saw this in our questionnaire and chose our setting in an abandoned air base, to create a dark look for our opening. we stuck to what we found out in our questionaire because we felt this was the safest way to go, this helped us plan and create the piece that an audience would like.

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

How does your media product represent particular social group?

Our study of the thriller genre helped us learn how to represent different social groups and characters, the movie ‘Se7en’ portray their characters very well as certain social groups through there dialog, costume, emotional, physical activity and location they are placed in. David Fincher the director for the film ‘se7en’ conveys the actor Kevin spacey that plays John Doe as an emotionless psychiatric murderer who kills seven citizens because of the seven sins they have committed, he is quiet emotionless and empty. This is quite stereotypical for murders in most psychological thrillers, to add a sense of mis understanding. His low social class is shown through his actions and dialog.

In our thriller opening we ideas from other thrillers (such as se7en) and took into consideration about mis en scene to create the type of stereotypes for our characters we wanted within our movie. Our villain was represented as what would appear to a normal clothed youth, yet his actions of scratching at the floor and quick movements would demonstrate his psychological dysfunction, this would trigger the audience’s minds that the character was the uncertain one. The fact you do not see the characters face also signifies he is dangerous to the audience. On the other hand we represented the ‘film crew' through there character, age, costume to convey them as a higher class than the psycho. Through these representation we tried to convey them as more innocent and curious characters. The presenter of the film crew was dressed in a smart grey jacket just to add the fact that he probably makes more money than most, also to represent that he is probably the smartest and intellectual. The camera man was dressed more casual as he would not of been in the frame of his camera shot, he wore a blue jacket with black skinny jeans, this was to make him look like an innocent character, he would not of prepared himself for what was to come. The clothing of the film crew shows that there is nothing psychologically wrong with them. Even though they do not die in the opening, you get the sense they might. We tried to use the natural lighting within the building to represent the characters in the way we did, for the psycho we sat him off centre of the room, within the darker part to convey and represent that he is sinister, this added a sense of mysterious curiosity to the character. A soft light on the faces of the victims is used to show everything around them is dark, they cannot see everything, and this is quite conventional.

Evaluation Of Thriller

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

For our final task we were asked to plan film an edit an opening for a new film, the chosen genre was a thriller. The opening had to be of around two minutes long and capture conventions and elements of what a thriller film has today. Our thriller film also had to stick to the criteria of an age restriction of our choice, we chose a 15 due to a wider range of people watching our thriller and the fact that a persons understanding at that age is wide enough to understand and not be physiologically horrified. A conventional opening to a thriller film is usually to create mystery and curiosity that will carry out through out the film; I feel openings should be very intense and shouldn’t reveal much of the plot; openings should be more about setting the feel for the rest of the movie. Our opening needed to set a clear plot that could carry out into a full length film. It also needed to include ‘the opening credits’ or what any film needs. Opening credits include names of directors and main Actors; we added this into our opening also. My group felt that a strong factor of a thriller opening is setting, we decided to travel to an abandoned airbase used for the sport air soft (a lighter version of paintball) this would make a conventional setting for our thriller opening.



 In thrillers there are always heroes; heroes are conveyed as fearless or someone with a lot of power. Where there are heroes there are villains; villains are conveyed as contenders to the heroes. Conventionally these two will end up in a fight or a meeting or some sort. But over the time of the thriller genre being present, the rules have been broken. It is important to create a clear narrative within the opening of a thriller film, for example ‘The Happening’ has a clear plot to continue through to a complete movie. ‘Memento’ on the other hand breaks this convention from almost confusing you as it is set in a non linear sequence. This gives of an effect of forgetting and miss understanding for the purpose of the protagonist’s mind.

We decided to create mood and feeling within the start of our thriller; we did this whilst setting the plot that would carry out the rest of what would be the movie. We left a cliff hanger towards the end of our opening, to grab the audience’s attention (the unknown figure looks up at the . The cliff hanger was put in place to enhance the cinematic experience for the viewer, feeling that it is one with the opening. To enhance the tension and mystery before the final climax of the cliff hanger within our opening, we would have to use convincing camera angles and techniques. Over the two minutes we had to film we managed to capture a wide variety of camera angles, low angles were used to show dominance of a character, and high angles were to show vulnerability. for example. Within ‘The Happening’ before the first victim is attack by the virus it reveals a high angle shot to show her vulnerability towards the virus. This is a conventional way of using a high angle shot. We used a high angle shot, to show someone watching over the film crew, this was to show their vulnerability as they are unknown to the situation; therefore we used this shot conventionally.  We decided to do an unconventional shot, which we would keep referring back to within the opening 2 minutes, this was the shot of the film crew’s camera.

This was to show another point of view of the setting, and create more of a feeling that the film crew were not greatly experienced. To Signify these shots were a different point of view, and make it look more real, we produced a ‘Rec’ sign on the top left, flashing. This also created a good narrative. It shows that they are filming therefore the audience will know more the importance of what they are doing and why they are they. Our group felt that good convincing thriller opening would count on very good editing.

Here you can see the editing within our final piece, we wanted flashes of the psychopath to use as signifiers towards what they will find towards the end of the opening, this is similar to memento, and the introduction is one rewound memory. Also fast editing is conventional for a typical thriller opening, so we used this element with it our piece. We felt the physcological thriller element comes from the shot and that we enhanced this with quiet music to add a sense of mystery. 

This music is conventional, it adds tension and a sense of mystery. ‘the happening’ influenced us; it uses conventional music to add a mysterious cinematic experience, this is what we set out to do and I believe that we achieve this. I feel that my research into thriller films has help me create this piece, for example; memento has helped me with how to make me understand the a thriller opening is meant to set in place to create a feel for the movie. It creates atmosphere. Our piece did this with success. ‘Memento’ is an unconventional opening, it does not show location, no speech is used, and for a good proportion of the opening one shot is used.

 

Thriller Opening

Here is our final thriller opening, i hope you enjoy it as much as i enjoyed making it!

How Shooting/ Editing went

Over the last few weeks my group have been editing our piece together, i felt that we did quite a good job, here is a few points onwhat we felt was good and bad:

Good points

shooting - i feel we used a huge range of shots over the day of shooting for our thriller, and used quite a few techniques, one technique we used for tracking shots was the attack the camera to a tripod and hold the tripod, the created a steadier shot to make the movie look more slick

this is shown in the picture to the right.

Editing - i felt editing went well also due to the organisation, i felt we especially did the quick cuts well to signify what they are about  to see, this really helped create the piece to what it was.

Bad Points -
shooting- i felt we could of stuck to the story line more even though we wantd to create an atmospherical opening, i felt that if we had organised a bit more it would of been better.

editing- the fact we had to delay shooting due to snow made us lose out on a week of editing, i felt we could of used more shots we had taken. the music, even though it was very good and create much atmosphere and helped build tension was more rushed than i had wanted it to be but i felt it still gave off an awesome feel to the movie.

overall i felt that shooting went better than expected!

SHOOTING DAY

So we have now shot our thriller and we felt it went very well. (apart from missing the bus twice!) we arrived at about 12 oclock and started shooting by 1 pm this gave us over 4 hours to shoot the footage, we achieved this with ease. i felt that we could of stuck to our script a bit more to keep the opening exactly how it should be but apart from that it went well, here is a few photos from the day:

week 4 planning

it is a week before we film and we felt that a rough script was needed to show when specific shots should be used and when dialog will could be placed;

Key words – doc.cam – documentary camera

Character list

Camera man

Presenter

Psychopath

Mysterious figure

Rough Script

Establishing shots of location.

Presenter, explains about how they didn’t have a clue what they were expecting on that day, and how they were feeling

Whilst camera crew are walking up to location.

They talk about the ‘psycho conspiracy’ and how a psycho could be within the old abandoned RAF base and how if it is true they will make a lot of money if they film it, maybe they say some of the rumours that have been heard.

They clamber into the location, showing it would be hard to get out of.

Point of view shot (of doc.cam) showing the vulnerability whilst they are in there.

Chat about how it will be hard to get out. Other member spots a mysterious object out the corner of his eye,

Close up of object as a person/persons shadow approaches to pick it up. (Maybe tilt)

Expression shot (close up) of person looking at object.

Expression shot of others in the group.

Mid shot of the group showing conversation and that they are alone in

the abandoned place.

Chat about location and where to look for the psycho.

A range of different shots showing them looking for the psycho and around the location.

As the group progress through the location close ups of mysterious objects appear. (What the see, what they don’t see)

The find psycho reaction shots showing everyone’s faces,

Doc.cam shot as interviewer starts to ask questions

The group speak to the psycho, asking him questions about his condition; during this his answers change to be more serious

Shots of objects showing a more sinister side to the place,

Many cuts of shots to the face to show emotion and speech

Shot speed intensifies to signify danger

The camera goes through into the psychos eyes seeing what he sees

Cuts back to the groups view and them looking around

(Cuts intensify)

Psycho looks at the camera and says something mysterious (we aren’t alone)

Scene cuts to black

week 3 planning

We now have a defined plot:

A camera ‘crew’ set out to explore and document the life of a psychopath that is located in a derelict setting. The start to set up and find him, psycho is found near the end. They try to document his behaviour, maybe ask him questions about his life etc and try and let him explain his condition. He answers but as the explanation gets into more depth and the questions get more personal he begins to explains something is wrong, he keeps insisting  they should leave and the are not welcome with his body posture, the camera crew think its all part of his condition, yet they shouldn’t assume. He states their ignorance should not be unpunished. The psycho starts seeing things the camera ‘crew’ cant see, again they think this is part of his condition, the audience start seeing how the psycho sees the location, with figures and shapes. They frighten him. He looks up at them. The scene cuts to black.

we felt this is a more suttle feel to a thriller rather than, death and torturing. we think this would be mroe effective for an opening so if the film was to be produced as a whole it would have a solid story line.

week 2 of planning

Shot Number	Shot type	Why
1	Establishing long shot	This shot would set the scene and allows the audience to become familiar with their surroundings. This would also give a sense of mystery and tension.
2	Close up of a significant or broken objects	This would set the mood that the place is decaying or what the secrets are behind the location. It would again add mystery and would heighten the dramatic tension.
3	Low angle shot of feet	To show the audience the camera crew are getting ready for their filming. Gives the audience a sense of mystery and adventure.
4	Point of view shot from camera crew	To show the audience that nothing is wrong and it shows them getting into their location by force showing that it is not easily accessible showing their vulnerability once their inside.
5	Mid angle shot of conversation and action	To make the audience feel involved and to let them know what is going on.
6	Reaction shots	To show the audience the characters reaction. It will give them feelings similar to what the characters are feeling at that time.
7	High angle shot looking down onto the documentary crew.	It will give the audience that feeling of vulnerability and showing them how vulnerable the camera crew are to any danger that may for come them.
8	Point of view shot from the psycho point of view	We have decided to put this shot in to show the audience what the psycho sees exactly through his eyes. It will give them a sense of involvement.
9	Pan shot of the psychos surroundings.	This will give the audience a sense of what the location looks like inside and his surroundings. It adds to the mystery and heightens to the tension.
10	Close up of the psychos face	This will show his emotion and we are using it as a shock tactic as we hope it will make the audience jump.
11	Tilt shot from bottom to top of a person	This is used to show dominance of the character and will make the audience feel intimidated by this character for the rest of the thriller opening.
12	Tracking shot	To show the movement of characters and objects. It helps to show the audience the bigger picture.

this is a shot list of my groups thoughts and ideas towards types of shots and why we will use them, this will help us stay on track and shoot a convincing conventional thriller opening. as our veiwers would like suspence and tension we feel planning the shots ahead will help us focus on creating this mood.

Start Planning!

So me and my group have chosen 'idea 1' from our media pitch and it is time to start planning, in these first few lessons we have sat down and discussed most of the story line and have reached a more solid opening, we have a location in mind of 'RAF upwood' in ramsey an abandonded  American RAF base, this is a perfect location to shoot our thriller to convey a gloomy,grewsome and dark place, reaching this just by setting will help us focus on more detailed conventions! here is a few pictures of the location.

Thriller Pitch

this was a pitch that me (Zak), jack and josh presented to put out our ideas, we had to make three ideas all having a thriller element. we included questionaire results to enhance our ideas and show that we were considering the audience's needs. the questionaire helped us to create our ideas around them.

the idea we chose was idea 1. we feel it has the most typical thriller conventions and that it considers the audience from our questionaire more.

Questionaire

 

After a certain lesson we decided to create a questionaire to find out what interested an audience in a thriller opening to make ours the best it can be, we felt that questions about conventions mis en scene and some information about each person was needed, our questionaire is as follows:

1) What gender are you?                      Male

                                                                Female

2) What age group do you fall under?

12-14            15-17           18-20            Over 20              

3) What is you favourite genre of film? You may tick more than one.

Comedy              Thriller               Action                  Horror               

Sci-Fi            Romance                    Romcom             Drama                     

Other             

4) Do you enjoy the thriller genre in films?

Yes                       No                       

5) What age rating would you expect a typical thriller film to be?

U                 PG              12A             12               15               18

18R              

6) Why do you think this on age ratings of a thriller? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7) What do you think would be your favourite sub genre of a thriller film?

Psychological                Political               Medical

Conspiracy                    Crime                   Disaster

Legal                    Mystery               Religious             

               

8) What do you think makes a thriller?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9) What do you think makes a good thriller opening?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10) What do you think would be a good setting for a typical thriller?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

11) What do you think makes up a typical thriller character?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

12) Do you think a good opening is necessary to make a good thriller film?