In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
During previous research my film is under the section of a psycholigical thriller film. This means that the psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the broad ranged thriller with heavy focus on characters. However, it often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre, along with the typical traits of the thriller genre. This is shown through the film in all the aspects of it such as the music is very slow and dark which gives the opening of the film a realness and helped to enhance the actions that were on the screen. The setting of the house, the moving car and the field help to set the scene without giving away anything about the story, but show the surrounding of the house which inutrn helps to increase the the history behind the situation at the start of the main story. This deepens the psychological aspect of the story since the audience is able to more fully understand the characters, and more specifically what the character's have to do with the story.
How
does your media product represent particular social groups?
The media product that we have created represents the young adult social group as the research shows this and the groups above this are the most likley to watch the film, this means that we used this group as it would make a good story to put this group into the film and would also appeal the biggest audience groups.
What
kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
As this is a low budget film this would mean that it would most likely be distibuted by an independant British film company. This is because these companies aim to make these films with a clear story line and not having to use a big production to create it. As this film is made using everything british it would mean that the film would be only successful in Britain and the other large film markets such as America are used to large budget films with well known actors.
Who
would be the audience for your media product?
The target audience or intended audience is the 15 to 45 market as this is the largest market that would watch this type of film according to the research that i have done. This is the intended audience as it is the main market that the film is aimed at which allows the film to gain the biggest amount of success possible as the target audience is very large. Though the company that distributes the film is a low budget british company it would only be able to release the film to indepentant and smaller cinemas which would cause the amount of people that see the film much smaller.
How
did you attract/address your audience?
The plot and characters used was the main way inwhich we attracted our target audience as The storyline of
the media product determines whether people will be attracted to the product through how the storyline is interesting to them without it becoming too compliacated.
What
have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this
product?
Throughout the process of the product I have learnt many things about the use of the technology that I used to create it, for example the camera which was the canon EOS 55OD, I had no knowledge of how to use it so had to learn how to use the camera properly so that i could use it and its functions to help create the film to the best quality possible.
The post production of the film i had to use adobe premier pro which i had also never used so had to experiment with the editing software alot to get used to it and find out how it worked. This helped me to create slow and dark transitions in the final edit of the film as i had worked out how to use the editor properly and used it to create the effects on the film that i wanted.
Looking back at your preliminary task,
what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full
product?
From the preliminary task that I did i think that my skills and knowledge of the production and post production have improved dramaticly. As when i first did the prelim task i had very basic knowledge of most things that i had to use to create it such as the camera, lighting tools and editior. I have know got much better at using all of these production items and this evident in the final edit of the film.
Friday 27 April 2012
Editing
During the editing process myself and Jack shared an equal amount of ideas and work on the video opening sequence. The main concept of the film was for it to be slow and build up tension while telling the story to the audience so that they would understand what is going on within the opening sequence and the shots that we have filmed make sense. For this to work we needed to put in a large amount of editing as we needed to cut each filmed sequence so that it would have the effect that we wanted and add tension through the transitions of each sequence and through the music that we had found from an independant website which allows you to download free sounds which we could then use to go with our film to again help add the tension that we wanted to make the psycological thriller look and sound authentic.
We both had littel knowledge of how to use the adobe proffesional video editor which caused us to have many problems when editing and made this process last much longer than normal. We both started by inputting the videos that we had filmed into the editor and had to render them so that they would play normally as they where filmed in high denfinition they would not play properly if this was not done.
Next we played with the transitions which are key parts of the opening sequence as these are what creates the tension btween each sequence with the music. We found that the tranisition called 'fade to black' worked the best with our video as the slow dark transitions helped to add tension of what was about to show up in the sequence, and also allowed the audience to start asking questions which is what the research showed is vital to creating the suspense and tesnion that we wanted.
I then cut the video into sequences which I put into order so that the video would make sense when played back to the audience. We had a problem with this as at first we did not know how we do this to the video and after founding out with help from our teacher I was able to cut the video properly. After this stage Jack added in the titles which I came up with which started to tell the story of the film and helped to set the scene of the opening shots.
We then put in all of the transitions between each of the sequences which made to the film look proffesional and added the tension and questions that we were going for. The last parts where adding in the music that we had downloaded from the free website which really helped to add tension and I added the title sequence at the start of the film which we both decided should be simple and look the same of the rest of the titles within the film as this helps to keep the continuity of the opening sequence.
Final film edit:
We both had littel knowledge of how to use the adobe proffesional video editor which caused us to have many problems when editing and made this process last much longer than normal. We both started by inputting the videos that we had filmed into the editor and had to render them so that they would play normally as they where filmed in high denfinition they would not play properly if this was not done.
Next we played with the transitions which are key parts of the opening sequence as these are what creates the tension btween each sequence with the music. We found that the tranisition called 'fade to black' worked the best with our video as the slow dark transitions helped to add tension of what was about to show up in the sequence, and also allowed the audience to start asking questions which is what the research showed is vital to creating the suspense and tesnion that we wanted.
I then cut the video into sequences which I put into order so that the video would make sense when played back to the audience. We had a problem with this as at first we did not know how we do this to the video and after founding out with help from our teacher I was able to cut the video properly. After this stage Jack added in the titles which I came up with which started to tell the story of the film and helped to set the scene of the opening shots.
We then put in all of the transitions between each of the sequences which made to the film look proffesional and added the tension and questions that we were going for. The last parts where adding in the music that we had downloaded from the free website which really helped to add tension and I added the title sequence at the start of the film which we both decided should be simple and look the same of the rest of the titles within the film as this helps to keep the continuity of the opening sequence.
Final film edit:
Second day of shooting
After we had shot the setting around the house we needed to get some moving shots as this would go perfectly with the story of the film where the characters return from a camping trip. For this we needed a car to add realism to the opening sequence. One of the actors that we used Jonathon can drive which allowed us to gain these shots.
We started shooting with the camera on a tripod as this allowed us to gain a smooth follow of the car as it drove down the long drive way towards the house. We did have a problem with this shot at first as the camera would shake when the car went past which caused us to change the shot of just showing it driving down the driveway which does add to the isolation concept of the film and genre of the psycholical thriller. The next shot was from in the car going towards the house on the street as this would be edited to give a time lapse feel of moving forward quickly and add to the feel of the psycholical thriller we are making. This shot was hard to shoot as the angle needed to be corerct or you would be able to see the camera in the wing mirror of the car and this would have made the film look unprofessional. It was also very hard to place the camera so that it was not shaking as the roads were bumpy and this could be seen in the footage on the first attempt as some parts were unusable as the camera had been shaking so much. This made us re-do the moving/panning shot in the car as I held the camera while resting it on the door frame to decrease the amount of shaking that occured and gave us a smooth moving shot.
The last shot that we needed to do was a long/low shot of the character driving the car getting out and about to enter the house, for this we used the camera on the tripod gain a solid a long/low shot of the character getting out the car as teh tripod can be made to be quite low to the ground which added height of the car and house in the background which is used in psychological thriller as it may make it inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer because these objects are made to look big.
We started shooting with the camera on a tripod as this allowed us to gain a smooth follow of the car as it drove down the long drive way towards the house. We did have a problem with this shot at first as the camera would shake when the car went past which caused us to change the shot of just showing it driving down the driveway which does add to the isolation concept of the film and genre of the psycholical thriller. The next shot was from in the car going towards the house on the street as this would be edited to give a time lapse feel of moving forward quickly and add to the feel of the psycholical thriller we are making. This shot was hard to shoot as the angle needed to be corerct or you would be able to see the camera in the wing mirror of the car and this would have made the film look unprofessional. It was also very hard to place the camera so that it was not shaking as the roads were bumpy and this could be seen in the footage on the first attempt as some parts were unusable as the camera had been shaking so much. This made us re-do the moving/panning shot in the car as I held the camera while resting it on the door frame to decrease the amount of shaking that occured and gave us a smooth moving shot.
The last shot that we needed to do was a long/low shot of the character driving the car getting out and about to enter the house, for this we used the camera on the tripod gain a solid a long/low shot of the character getting out the car as teh tripod can be made to be quite low to the ground which added height of the car and house in the background which is used in psychological thriller as it may make it inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer because these objects are made to look big.
How we filmed
The right choice of camera for our project was very important as this would allow us to gain the shots that we want for our opening sequence. So for this we chose the Cannon HD camera, as this HD camera allowed us to shoot in high definition to get the best shots for the film and allowed us to choose from various settings such as turning the brightness that we filmed in down to help us add effect to our film as it was a bright day it would not have looked apporiate for the type of opening sequence we are going for.
First Day of Shooting:
On the first day of shooting Jack and myself went looking for approiate places to which we could set our opening sequence and found an apporiate location not far from school which allowed us to film there with ease and would help to add a mysterious feel to the film as it was quite deserted. This allowed us to start filming some setting footage which would help to set the scene of where the film was set and would help to explain the story which was going with it.
We filmed parts of the old house which the film is set around though we did find problems with the camera as it had a small zoom setting which didnt allow us to film the shot that we wanted and caused me to do a different closer zoom shot of the back of the house. We then moved to the large steel gate next to the house which helped to show the old feel of the house and set the scene of the isolation of where it is.
Next I went and filmed the field behind the house as it again helped to show the isolation of the house and set the scene yet again. For this shot we needed to use the tripod as we wanted to get some of the bricks and metal that had been dumped near the house to add a effect to the shot and it was also a windy day which meant that camera was moving instead of being a smooth shot.
First Day of Shooting:
On the first day of shooting Jack and myself went looking for approiate places to which we could set our opening sequence and found an apporiate location not far from school which allowed us to film there with ease and would help to add a mysterious feel to the film as it was quite deserted. This allowed us to start filming some setting footage which would help to set the scene of where the film was set and would help to explain the story which was going with it.
We filmed parts of the old house which the film is set around though we did find problems with the camera as it had a small zoom setting which didnt allow us to film the shot that we wanted and caused me to do a different closer zoom shot of the back of the house. We then moved to the large steel gate next to the house which helped to show the old feel of the house and set the scene of the isolation of where it is.
Next I went and filmed the field behind the house as it again helped to show the isolation of the house and set the scene yet again. For this shot we needed to use the tripod as we wanted to get some of the bricks and metal that had been dumped near the house to add a effect to the shot and it was also a windy day which meant that camera was moving instead of being a smooth shot.
Friday 9 March 2012
Filming locations
Location is very important to the film as this will help the audience to relate to the film, and add a real sense of fear and tension.
One of the main loactions that we are filming in is the woods as this is a stereotypical loaction for a thriller to take place, it is also a very isolated and creepy loaction to set the film in. This will help to relate the film to the auidence as it is a normal location to see, meaning that this could happen to normal people.
One of the main loactions that we are filming in is the woods as this is a stereotypical loaction for a thriller to take place, it is also a very isolated and creepy loaction to set the film in. This will help to relate the film to the auidence as it is a normal location to see, meaning that this could happen to normal people.
Monday 5 March 2012
Conventions of thrillers
Conventions of Thrillers
Mirrors, low key lighting, shadows, obtrusive editing, quick
cuts, changes in camera angles, tension music, stairs, flashbacks, use of
photographs, black and white, disorientation of time and space, montage
editing.
Specific to psychological thrillers: two or more characters
preying upon one another’s minds, deceptive mind games, trying to demolish each
other’s mental state.
Mirrors are used as a convention of a thriller film through the use of ones soul and inner self. mirrors represent the darkness within some of the characters.
Shadows are closely related to low key lighting and are used as a convention of a thriller film. They are used to represent the inner darkness within beings, and can also add to tension and eeriness that is created.
Quick shots and obtrusive editing are used frequently in thriller films to accentuate the feelings of suspense and tesnion. They are often used during an important or particulary thrilling scene sometimes creating a disorientation of time and space, by using montage editing.
Flashbacks contribute to a sense of time and space disorientation in a thriller and this confuses teh audience. It is also a convention of a thriller film because it can display what has happened in the past to give the audience an insight into characters pasts.
Black and white is another of teh conventions of a thriller because it accentuates the use of shadows and can often appear quite eerie and dark.
Friday 2 March 2012
Costumes
The costumes that are used will help to add to the characters personaility that we are trying to portray, and they will also help to represent how the characters would act.
John Doe:
This character would be dressed in slightly too small clothes such as with the t-shirt he will be wearing something with alien or paranormal type logos on or just plain style clothes, as this will help to show that John is seen as a geek who is slightly obsessed with aliens and ghost/paranormal type things. It will also help to show that he could be reserved around other people backing up again that he is represented as geeky.
The plain jeans that John is wearing are faded which give the impression that they have been worn for a long time and that he does not really care about what he is wearing. They are too short for him which again shows that his character is not fashion concious and he wears large boots to cover up the small sized jeans.
The large black boots that John wears shows that he has had them for a long time and he just buys clothes when he needs them. They also help to cover up the lack of jeans that he has and again give the impression to the audience that he is a nerdy type of character.
Ben Williams:
Ben is the more confident and outgoing of the pair meaning that he will be dressed in more casusal and stylish clothes. They will be more designer which is the opposite to John who does not care much about his appreance or what people think of him. This can be seen through the tshirt that he wears, one of the most popular brands at the moment is all saints which Ben will be wearing, this gives the impression that he is much more fashion concious than John and shows that he is much less geeky that his friend.
He will also be wearing chinos as these are also very popular at the moment for this age group and again adds to the fact that Ben is more stylish and confident of the pair. It also helps for him to stand out which is linked to being more of a leader which he is over John.
John Doe:
This character would be dressed in slightly too small clothes such as with the t-shirt he will be wearing something with alien or paranormal type logos on or just plain style clothes, as this will help to show that John is seen as a geek who is slightly obsessed with aliens and ghost/paranormal type things. It will also help to show that he could be reserved around other people backing up again that he is represented as geeky.
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The large black boots that John wears shows that he has had them for a long time and he just buys clothes when he needs them. They also help to cover up the lack of jeans that he has and again give the impression to the audience that he is a nerdy type of character.
Ben Williams:
Ben is the more confident and outgoing of the pair meaning that he will be dressed in more casusal and stylish clothes. They will be more designer which is the opposite to John who does not care much about his appreance or what people think of him. This can be seen through the tshirt that he wears, one of the most popular brands at the moment is all saints which Ben will be wearing, this gives the impression that he is much more fashion concious than John and shows that he is much less geeky that his friend. 
He will also be wearing chinos as these are also very popular at the moment for this age group and again adds to the fact that Ben is more stylish and confident of the pair. It also helps for him to stand out which is linked to being more of a leader which he is over John. The Characters
The characters are one of the most important part of the film, as the thriller research shows the film should be aimed at all age groups espacially adults. This is why the characters for the thriller will be young adults aged around 17 to 18 years old. This means that it will relate more to the target audience of our film.
Character: John Doe
Actor: Cameron Noble
The character of John Doe is a young adult/teenager from Nottingham, he is the same age as Cameron meaning that it will be easy for him to act the same age. For the character Cameron is playing a shy and mysterious character who enjoys researching into the paranormal, he is seen to be quite geeky because of this compared to his best friend Ben Williams. Cameron is also very good friends with Jonathan the other actor, this means that they will be able to have a better relationship on set with each other. Cameron also studied drama from a young age meaning that he can put this acting experience into our film through his character.
Character: Ben Williams
Actor: Jonathan Norton
The character of Ben Williams is again a young adult/teenager from Nottingham who is best friends with the other character John Doe. This character is the more confident and outgoing who is easily intrigued by things that his friend John Doe is researching into. Jonathan has also studied Media meaning that he will be able to give tips and help to the filming and editing as he has great experience in this area.
Character: John Doe
Actor: Cameron Noble
The character of John Doe is a young adult/teenager from Nottingham, he is the same age as Cameron meaning that it will be easy for him to act the same age. For the character Cameron is playing a shy and mysterious character who enjoys researching into the paranormal, he is seen to be quite geeky because of this compared to his best friend Ben Williams. Cameron is also very good friends with Jonathan the other actor, this means that they will be able to have a better relationship on set with each other. Cameron also studied drama from a young age meaning that he can put this acting experience into our film through his character.
Character: Ben Williams
Actor: Jonathan Norton
The character of Ben Williams is again a young adult/teenager from Nottingham who is best friends with the other character John Doe. This character is the more confident and outgoing who is easily intrigued by things that his friend John Doe is researching into. Jonathan has also studied Media meaning that he will be able to give tips and help to the filming and editing as he has great experience in this area.
Friday 10 February 2012
Thriller Audiences
The audience is one of the most important aspects of the films success. Deciding what sort of audience to aim our film at is a very important decision, as Silence of the Lambs and No Country for Old Men are considered the two best thrillers in recent memory but are rated as R. This mean that their target audience was probably for the young male and female adults, which would usually be around 18 to 25 years old.
This shows that the thriller movie should be mainly aimed at this type of audience as this would mean that the thriller will have the best chance of success. The film should still be aimed at all ages above 18 as this would again mean that the thriller would be as successful as possible and would mean that all aged people who enjoy thrillers are able to watch the film.
As the table shows from research it does show that the biggest thriller audience is in the older ages, this means that the thriller should be aimed at most thriller movie audience as this would increases the success of the film. The graph also shows that the the under 18 age group makes up a very low percentage of the thriller audience in general meaning that a thriller that is more adult themed would be the best type to do as this would appeal to the older ages and they could relate to the film more.
This graph shows that the genders are nearly equally split, this means that the film should be aimed at both genders to gain maximum success from our audience. It also means that we should have a female influience in the film such as a female character to help widen the range of the film.
This shows that the thriller movie should be mainly aimed at this type of audience as this would mean that the thriller will have the best chance of success. The film should still be aimed at all ages above 18 as this would again mean that the thriller would be as successful as possible and would mean that all aged people who enjoy thrillers are able to watch the film.
This graph shows that the genders are nearly equally split, this means that the film should be aimed at both genders to gain maximum success from our audience. It also means that we should have a female influience in the film such as a female character to help widen the range of the film.
Risk assessment
When filming there are many possible risks that could occur, the equipement being used could become lost of broken which would need to be paid for, the cast that we are filming could become injured and vital footage could be lost or damaged in the process.
Risk: Damaging the equipment
How I am going to prevent the risk: During filming and transporting the equipment I will make sure that the equipment is secured properly, such as if transporting the equipment to the location we are going to film, I will make sure that the equipment is securly in the proctective bags and are put in properly. When using the equipment I will make sure that it is used properly and correctly, I will also make sure that the equipment is secured properly.
Risk: Losing equipment
How I am going to prevent the risk: During filming nearly all of the equipment that is being borrowed will be in constant use when filming, this means that I will make sure that I will always know when the equipment is being used so there will be a low chance that I will lose any. I will still check after filming each time that I have all the eqiupment in a secure place.
Risk: Dropping the camera
How I am going to prevent the risk: While filming set parts of the film the camera will be secured properly on the tripod so there will be no chance that the camera will be dropped. During the handheld parts of the film the cameras will be used properly and held securely by myself or Jack. While not in use the camera will be left in the protective case to prevent damage to it.
Risk: Falling over or becoming injured
How I am going to prevent the risk: To prevent this from happening we will make sure that we plan out where we are going to film and where we are going before filming to prevent one of the cast falling or triping over something.
Risk: Equipment being damaged by the car
How i am going to prevent the risk: To prevent this risk from happening I will make sure that the camera and tripod are away from the car when we are not filming and make sure that it is properly placed into the protective bags when not being used.
Risk: Falling over or becoming injured
How I am going to prevent the risk: To prevent this from happening we will make sure that we plan out where we are going to film and where we are going before filming to prevent one of the cast falling or triping over something.
Risk: Equipment being damaged by the car
How i am going to prevent the risk: To prevent this risk from happening I will make sure that the camera and tripod are away from the car when we are not filming and make sure that it is properly placed into the protective bags when not being used.
Monday 6 February 2012
Thriller Openings and trailers
I have decided to analyise the woman in black trailer as the film is a psychological thriller which we are going to make as it focuses on tension and atmosphere. The woman in black trailer begins with seeing the main charcter standing in front of the house, we can see that there are a lot of black and grey colours being used which could be portraying that the house is evil. Once he steps into the house the black colours are represented all around the house and low natural lighting is used to give black siluettes around the house which makes the audience automaticlly feel that the house is represted with evil and the woman in black. We then see three monkeys covered in cobwebs and low lighting is used again, this shows that the house and everything inside is old which is represented with ghosts and death. Old black and white photos are then shown of the house owners showing the old period of the house, the camera focuses on the background of the house and we quickly see a glimpse of someone in the window of the house. This creates the audience to ask questions about who that was and why they where there which is what the thriller is trying to do, this also helps to add tension and mystery.
Low lighting is used throughout the trailer which helps to enhance the dark and mysteriousness of the ghosts in the film. The mysterious sounds used also help to increase tension and fear that the audience are feeling. This is the teaser trailer for Shutter Island, the main reason you can see it is a teaser trailer as it is only 30 seconds long and does not tell the plot of the film in anyway. I am using this teaser trailer as there are elements within the trailer that can help to influence our film. Such as the different camera shots used to add atmosphere and the music and dark lighting that also helps to add to this.
The trailer starts off with a flash of fire which moves into the institutional logo, Paramount pictures, the logo has been adapted to fit the genre of the film as it is faded and grey.
The non diagetic sound is dialogue from the film. The first shot is a mid-shot of Leonardo DiCaprio this changes to an abandoned island and quickly changes to the gates being opened. A black screen is shown before the institution is shown. A very fast shot of a struggling arm, reaching for a gun, you can see a puddle of blood which links to the genre of the film being thriller. The next few shots are very quick, they then lead into three inter-titles, the first saying ‘Martin’ the second ‘Scorsese’ the third is used to emphasise the director as it says ‘From Martin Scorsese’. There are then more quick shots of the film. This is covered by loud single beats which are used to create tension throughout the trailer. More titles are shown naming previous films that Martin Scorsese has directed. More voice over dialogue which is heard whilst there are more clips from the film. Beats get louder and louder and closer together, other sounds such as screams are added in to enhance the tension and fear the viewers have. A tag line is used ‘a new vision of fear’ tells the audience what genre the film is. the lighting used helps to enchance the outline of the characters and only shows specific features on them in around them, this creates the dark and mysteriousness of the thriller.
The Da Vinci Code
Titles:
The film begins with simple title scenes from the makers of the film, these are mainly black and white making them easy to understand but already starts to add an atmosphere as they appear on the screen slowly and have a dark background. This allows the film to start in a dark room which instanly adds mystery to the film and draws the watcher in.
Camera Work:
The first opening shot starts with a fast panning shot to the right which shows a old picture on the wall which immediatly sets the scene for where we are and brings the audience in as it quickly turns from slow title sequences to a fast pace. The next shot is moving down the hall way towards a worried looking man which shows to teh audince that someone is after this man and adds tension to the scene. We then have a quick tracking shot of behind the man which makes us question why he is running and makes us focus on the mis en scene.
There is then a slow zooming shot from the other side of a room and shows that the man is alone and this helps to add to his fear and makes the audience feel anxious about what is going to happen to him. The last shot we see is a slow moving backwards tracking shot of the man running down a dark hallway, and we see another mans shadow. This again adds to the tension of the opening sequence, and it makes the audience ask a lot of questions in a small amount of time which is what we will need to do within the start of our film.
Editing:
The editing throughout the opening sequence is very fast paced and is mostly quick blunt cuts. This really helps to add a fast paced tension to the start of the film and draws the audience in as it creates tension and makes them question what is happening and why.
Mis En Scene:
The empty museum type location that the start of the film is set in is important as this is assoicated with isolation and quite creepy due to the dark shadows that are cast from the things that are in the museum. This helps to add tension and gives a dark feel to the opening sequence while adding a mysterious atmosphere.
The man is dressed in a sterotypical type of clothing for someone that is high up in the museum and shows that he is some way important to where the opening sequence is set.
Sound:
Friday 3 February 2012
Analysing Thrillers
What is a Thriller?
Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, and television programming that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements. Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods giving them a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and/or terror. Thriller films tend to be adrenaline-rushing, gritty, rousing and fast-paced. Literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists and cliffhangers are used extensively. A thriller is villain-driven plot, whereby he or she presents obstacles that the hero must overcome. The aim for thrillers is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats. The protagonist in these films is set against a problem – an escape, a mission, or a mystery.
There are many sub genre thrillers which could be used to influence the type of film Jack and myself decide to make, these are:
Conspircay thriller in which the hero/heroine confronts a large, powerful group of enemies whose true extent only s/he recognizes.
Crime thriller, this particular genre is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasise action over psychological aspects. Central topics of these films include serial killers/murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, heists and double-crosses.
Psychological thriller, in which until the often violent resolution the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical. Characters, either by accident or their own curiousness, are dragged into a dangerous conflict or situation that they are not prepared to resolve. Characters are not reliant on physical strength to overcome their brutish enemies, but rather are reliant on their mental resources, whether it be by battling wits with a formidable opponent or by battling for equilibrium in the character's own mind. At times, the characters attempt solving, or are involved in, a mystery. The suspense created by psychological thrillers often comes from two or more characters preying upon one another's minds, either by playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the other's mental state.
Spy thriller, in which the hero is generally a government agent who must take violent action against agents of a rival government or in recent years terrorists. They often revolve spies who are involved in investigating various events, often on a global scale.
These are the main types of thrillers though there are others such as, eroitic, supernatural and techno.
For this part as a class we looked at the starting two minuets of three different thrillers, and looked at how each one made the audience ask questions, what questions these were and how each thriller captures the audiences attention and intrigues them into making more. We looked at Seven which created tension with the use of shadows and dark twisted images that engage the audience by making them ask questions such as: what is happening? Who is this? Why are we seeing these images? this is an occurring theme in all of the thrillers that we looked at in the first lesson as all of them created similar questions at the beginning of the films. Seven also used the music to create tension and mystery at the beginning with the use of loud percussive sounds with metallic screeches that gives the start of the film a mysterious and dark feeling to it. The other two films that we looked at were Fargo and Inception. These started differently to Seven and showed that interest from the audience can be captured without starting with something dark or or disturbing but needs to be mysterious which causes questions to be asked.
Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, and television programming that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements. Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods giving them a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and/or terror. Thriller films tend to be adrenaline-rushing, gritty, rousing and fast-paced. Literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists and cliffhangers are used extensively. A thriller is villain-driven plot, whereby he or she presents obstacles that the hero must overcome. The aim for thrillers is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats. The protagonist in these films is set against a problem – an escape, a mission, or a mystery.
There are many sub genre thrillers which could be used to influence the type of film Jack and myself decide to make, these are: Conspircay thriller in which the hero/heroine confronts a large, powerful group of enemies whose true extent only s/he recognizes.
Crime thriller, this particular genre is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasise action over psychological aspects. Central topics of these films include serial killers/murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, heists and double-crosses.
Psychological thriller, in which until the often violent resolution the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical. Characters, either by accident or their own curiousness, are dragged into a dangerous conflict or situation that they are not prepared to resolve. Characters are not reliant on physical strength to overcome their brutish enemies, but rather are reliant on their mental resources, whether it be by battling wits with a formidable opponent or by battling for equilibrium in the character's own mind. At times, the characters attempt solving, or are involved in, a mystery. The suspense created by psychological thrillers often comes from two or more characters preying upon one another's minds, either by playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the other's mental state.
Spy thriller, in which the hero is generally a government agent who must take violent action against agents of a rival government or in recent years terrorists. They often revolve spies who are involved in investigating various events, often on a global scale.
These are the main types of thrillers though there are others such as, eroitic, supernatural and techno.
For this part as a class we looked at the starting two minuets of three different thrillers, and looked at how each one made the audience ask questions, what questions these were and how each thriller captures the audiences attention and intrigues them into making more. We looked at Seven which created tension with the use of shadows and dark twisted images that engage the audience by making them ask questions such as: what is happening? Who is this? Why are we seeing these images? this is an occurring theme in all of the thrillers that we looked at in the first lesson as all of them created similar questions at the beginning of the films. Seven also used the music to create tension and mystery at the beginning with the use of loud percussive sounds with metallic screeches that gives the start of the film a mysterious and dark feeling to it. The other two films that we looked at were Fargo and Inception. These started differently to Seven and showed that interest from the audience can be captured without starting with something dark or or disturbing but needs to be mysterious which causes questions to be asked.
Contributers to Thrillers
Monday 30 January 2012
Planning the prelim task
For the first lesson we planned out what we were going to do for the prelim task on a storyboard. Jack and myself both came up with several ideas about what we could do for the thirty second thriller clip, I came up with most of the ideas that we have used in the thriller while Jack illustrated the storyboard. We then discussed what the best camera shots that we should use to add tension to the thriller clip and how we could film the clip so that it looked as professional as possible. I first decided that we should start the clip with a character tied to chair so we would be able to put a spotlight over him to add tension and mystery straight away. This would also setup the scene well as the audience know straight away what is going on but wants to know what is going on and who is behind the man in the chair. Then we decided that the character should wake up causing the killer to come into the room, we decided to use a mask to cover the killers face as this means that we do not know who the killer is and keeps the mystery to the clip. He would the kick him off the chair and finally kill him, this would show that the killer is brutal and evil which is like many other thriller killers.
Production
For the production of the thriller clip we decided that we should use one of the drama rooms as this would allow us to use the lighting that we needed to give the clip a mysterious and dark feel to it. This also allowed us to use different coloured lights such as red which is usually associated with thrillers and again helped to add more effect to the clip.
As Jack and myself have no filming experience I chose to film, and do the lighting while Jack sorted the actors we were going to use in the clip and also helped to direct. When we started to film the first scene where we have the character awaken in the chair we found that the lighting had to be changed as it was too dark. We found this with most of the scenes that we filmed and used a more light red shaded light which allowed us to add a more evil side to the lighting. For the second scene we filmed were the character walks across the room I found difficult to film as there was not enough light to follow him across the room, so I changed it to pan out slowly to reveal the killer, this helped to add a mysterious side to the scene. For the last part of the clip I decided to change the angle and film from the victims perspective which allowed us to get a dark silhouette of the killer at the end which are used in many thrillers.
Post Production
After filming the clip I had to edit the thriller as Jack was absent so could not help. Through the editing stage I found it slightly difficult to add effects into the clip but was able to cut it down and put in fade in and out transitions which are usually used in thrillers. This helps to smoothly change from one scene to another in a dark way. I also chose to only cut the clip down to forty seconds as I do not feel that the clip would make sense or have a dark feel it if cut down to thirty seconds. I feel that I could improve the clip by taking longer to set up each scene so that the lighting and camera work would in turn improve, also if we had longer to do the task this would have helped to improve the quality of the clip.
Post Production
After filming the clip I had to edit the thriller as Jack was absent so could not help. Through the editing stage I found it slightly difficult to add effects into the clip but was able to cut it down and put in fade in and out transitions which are usually used in thrillers. This helps to smoothly change from one scene to another in a dark way. I also chose to only cut the clip down to forty seconds as I do not feel that the clip would make sense or have a dark feel it if cut down to thirty seconds. I feel that I could improve the clip by taking longer to set up each scene so that the lighting and camera work would in turn improve, also if we had longer to do the task this would have helped to improve the quality of the clip.
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