Evaluation: Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
(picture off emily)


We portrayed Emilys characters to be a young teenager from a lower/middle class blackground 

Evaluation: Question 1

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 
( picture off dead body on floor) 


Narrative 
In our thriller opening we used many conventions. This image shows Death which is common in most thrillers we showed this image to then create questions about what was happening? who was this person? why is she dead? We also created a problem for the audience to identify. These are all conventions off a thriller to entice and interest our audience. 


(picture off Emily writing letter)


Character 
The opening to our thriller shows an insight into the thoughts and feelings of Emily as we have included an emotional voice over and images off her looking vulnerable. We portray Emily as a flawed hero as we show that she is suicidal. We chose to use this convention in our opening to show that there is a problem and she feels she has no other way out and she is using an extreme way off dealing with a situation, this then portrays the situation be very serious.


(image off the fonts and titles)


Fonts and Titles.  
We used unconventional fonts and titles in our thriller opening but the reason we used this was linked to the handwriting off our letter. Normally thrillers use dark, sharp and ridged fonts which we didn't think would link in to our opening. 


(picture off the forest)


Location
Our opening develops the conventions off a thriller in the following ways, we chose to not go down the route off a traditional off a showing a murdered in a dark house for example. Our location is still conventional in the way off it being scary and in desolated forest. The unconventional parts off our opening are the bathroom scenes off showing domestic and a clean tidy bathroom. 


Techniques used
In our opening we developed our piece by using different techniques to emphasize and make the opening more effective. Effects we used were black and white and a very high contrast to make the flashback scenes stand out in our piece and we found it looked spookier.  

annotated final

this is our final piece with annotations on it :)

Eloise Evaluation

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

Narrative 

flashbacks - conventional

death - conventional 

Questions - conventional

Character thriller 

Victims - eloise yasz

flawed heros - emily suicide

Techniques 

- flashbacks - black & white 

close up (eyes) show emotions etc

Locations - woods deserted = scary CONVENTIONAL 

Bathroom domestic - not conventional 

slow melange 

titles font conventions 

handwriting links to emily letter unconventional 

evaluation -Yasz Webb

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

Conventions of a Thriller Genre

At the beginning i looked at Thriller films and analysed the use of mise-en-scene, editing, sound and camera work. this then allowed me to understand the conventions of the thriller of real media products. when we first started out we looked at toher thrillers that are out there at the moment and we were very influenced by Hitchcock's Psycho and Seven
most thrillers have the credits done over a black screen with some non-diegetic music playing black ground which sets the scene, but our opening has our credits done over the opening so you can watch while seeing the film and it has a voice over to tie it all together, also in some thrillers there is something important or vital to the film such as in The Terminator 2, our film does do that, we hve the titles "before the end" after emily has committed suicide nd after all our credits,
at the beginning of some thrillers there is a tracking or panning shot particularly the location of the film, our film has a panning shot in our second clip, it pans round to seeing emily writing her suicide letter to her parents, this is unconventional because we filmed a pan in a small room and have the protagonist in it.

In our thriller we concentrated on a subgenre which was the crime thriller, where the main plot was based around violence and death and suicide. We used this as crime can be easily related to by most people, if not, it is interesting to see what happens, We wanted to create a lot of tension and suspense in our thriller because we think that it is vital in a thriller. This was done by using a forest as one of the location, although the film wasnt all filmed in the forest, when it was, we filmed in a very small corner with very few trees.

How does you media product represent particular social groups?

we carried out research and we found that teenagers and young adults were the man target group for thrillers and were the most people who watched them, we chose to have our antagonist as a female character mainly because it challenges the stereotypical idea that antagonist are usually men mainly because men are associated with strength. we focused on both the main characters as we wanted female victim appearing vulnerable and weak, whereas the anatagonist appearing as threatening, so we kept the anatagonist identity anonymous to begin with. we used a young gilr to attract our target audience because other young people who see it can associate with the character. we try to keep it as realistic as we can through using two character of the same race, same age and of the same gender 


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

Our film is very low-budget, made by students and is unlikely to be produced by any big companies because it doesnt have quality cinematography. if we had it produced professionally it would most probably be produced by television broadcaster such as channel 4. if our product was distributed as a TV movie it could then reach the target audience because that is what they mainly watch, Channel 4 also has T4, T4 is aimed at teenagers which would suit our target auidence. this channel has already previously produced thriller films such as 'Dead set' which was hugely popular and the show wasnt a huge cost to produce our film is very similar to dead set so would be perfect to be produced by the same company. our film also has a hint of "skins" in it so maybe Channel 4's other channel E4 would be just as perfect because they have tv shows like the inbetweeners and other programmes and TV films aimed at our target audience.

 Who would be the audience for your media product?


Audience research 


to find out what sort of audience our film would target i looked at previous films that are like ours such as '4.3.2.1' i went on to http://business.pearlanddean.com/ and searched 4.3.2.1 and it came up with data of what ages went to see the film. 

from looking at this print screen there where a lot of people in our target audience age group that went to see the film (15-24) and our film is very similar to this film,


our film is going to be a 15 certificate, i think it should be a 15 becuse of language, violence and sexual scences, i think our main auidence will be mixed gender between 15 and 25 becuase it is action packed and very "jumpy"


How did you attract your target audience?





What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I realised it was much easier to edit our footage if it was good quality filming from our first task, so next time I recorded several times of each shot to achieve a smooth move/correct angle. In some cases, a shot still had a fault, so we used the technology to fix that. final cut allowed us to crop shots to a shorter length so jolty movements could be removed. While having very little experience in Photoshop and never before using final cut or garage band, I had to learn all the skills needed from my peers who had used these programs before. As media has been a new subject for me, it was important to practice using a video camera, and other aspects of filming such as the language, angles and types of shots before I even considered editing. I also learnt how to correctly and efficiently upload the videos in order to start editing, 

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

I progressed on many different levels since my preliminary task.Our group were all new to these skills so we tried shared responsibilities in different areas that we performed better than our peers in to the end product was the best quality we could achieve. I felt confident enough to manage using the camera to shoot specific scenes on my own when the other members couldn’t make it.I developed far from when I made my first task as I couldn’t even focus the camera to start with, I gained skills in camera control, full understanding of angles and lengths of shots as well as editing software When it came to filming the thriller opening, I had gained a little experience and had pre-planned what i was going to shoot before, Certain members of my group were better at tasks such as keeping the camera steady when shooting, and cutting the shot to a specific time. I realised I’m better as the creative side such as experimenting with sounds, editing colour of shots and ordering them to suit the best sequences.Learning these skills were important so I could pan smoothly, focus correctly, use affective angles and position shots while learning important rules such as the 180 degree rule you can’t break while filming. As my confidence grew in handling the camera, next I focused on effects in editing, as this area I wasn’t performing well in. I was taught colour and contrast levels, as well as how to add titles. I learnt a lot a performed these skills with care. 

Alyssa Smith's Evaluation

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

In a thriller genred film, you usually expect to see many different conventions. Including murders, suicides, dead ends, twisted storylines, crime, mystery, these conventions are used as much a possible to create atmosphere and tension. However, all of these aspects don't neccesarily need to be included in a thriller opening but an opening would ideally include some small parts of these conventions and should raise many questions for the audience. I believe that our thriller opening succesfully does this in many ways even if it isn't as gruesome as other thriller openings. Our opening's storyline is a young girl who is building up to ending her life because of an event which has previously occurred. Even though I do feel that our opening is succesful, I feel that it challenges 'normal' thriller openings in many ways.

Location:

Our thriller opening consists of two locations. One is in the main characters bathroom and the other is an unknown location which is shown throughout her story telling. Even though these locations seemed to be conventional at the time, we then struggled to find many thriller openings which we could compare this too. However, the black and white forest scenes do have a similarity to films such as 28 days later and the Crazies.

 

Font and Titles:
I believe that our fonts and titles were very conventional to the thriller genre. In comparison to films such as se7ven, out fonts and titles seemed to fit in with the conventions well.

Characters:

Narrative:
Techniques used:

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

Even though the main character in our film is quite an individual, there are a few other characters in different films that we could compare her to. However, the best example to use is from the opening of Kidulthood, when the sucuidle character is building up to the moment she kills herself, alot like our opening. 

3. Who would be the audience for your media product?

From the very beginning of our planning stages, we as a group, always knew that we wanted our target audience be UK teenagers (aged 15-25 preferably). This is because we had seen the success of films in this ages group catergory such as Kidulthood and 4,3,2,1 but we saw a gap in the market, which was a thriller film fo teenagers. To the right of the page, there is a screen shot from a website called  'Comparable Profile'. This website consists of all different films that have been released with reviews and showing the audiences for that film. As a group, we looked at 4,3,2,1 and from analysing this image, it is evident that the majority of the audience for this film were 15-24 year olds. Because this is the same as our target audience age group, we can used these results and a film as an example in comparison to our production.

Certification: When deciding on the classification of thriller opening there were also many different things for me to considered. I used the research I had carried out during planning involving looking at the BBFC (British Board of Film) as a guideline. The BBFC is a non-governmental organisation, which is funded by the film industry. It is responsible for the classification and censorship of films within the UK. It has a statutory requirement to classify DVDs, videos and some video games. From looking at these different film opening, it appears that thrillers are generally certificate 15. However, more gruesome films which involve more blood are 18's. Our thriller opening does not include any blood or gore so the certificate 15 seems to be the most appropriate for us to use. Our opening involves a suicide which is less gruesome then the suicide in Kidulthood which is a 15, which is another reason why we decided not to certficate it an 18. However, because it does include a 'death' and quite intimidating music, we did not think it would have been appropriate to certificate it a 12 or a 12A.

4. What kind of media institution might distribute your

 media product and why?

Before we began planning our thriller opening as a group, we all individually had to carry out institutional research which consisted of looking at all of the different media distributors and what kind of media products they distributed and why. A film distributor is an individual or a company which is responsible for the releasing films into the public. The media distrubutors I looked at were:

Universal Pictures: Based in America, they have distributed films such as 2 Fast 2 Furious, Love Actually, Bruno and Doom. Universal Pictures is the longest-lived Hollywood studio.
Paramount Pictures: Based in America, they have distributed films such as Transformers, Paranormal Activity and Twilight. It makes over £300million a year.

20th Century Fox: Based in America, they have distributed films such as Star Wars and Avatar; and has also distributed shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy

Momentum Pictures: Based in the UK, they have distributed films such as The Kings Speech, P.S I Love You and many other UK made films.
When it came to deciding which media distributor would be appropriate for our thriller 'film', there were many different things for me to consider; but mainly I focused on what kind of films they have already distributed and what there regular target audiences tend to be. Overall, it was evident that none of my originally researched distributors were relatable to our production. However, after doing more research, it seemed that Revolver Pictures would be the best choice of distributor for our film. This is mainly because it is a UK based film distributor and overall, it's target audience always tends to be 16-25. It has made films such as Kidulthood (film cover shown to the right), Anuvahood and Sket which are all films that we looked at during our initial research and it has definitely distrubuted films that we can relate well to our target audience.

5. How did you attract/attract your audience?

6.What have you learnt about technologies from the process of

constructing this product?

Within the process of making our final product I have learnt about and used new technologies which helped the product constuct into a final piece. The main technology I used during this whole process was an editing programme called final cut. This consisted of many things:

Editing: I used final cut to shorten and lengthen cuts which needed to be at the appropriate time (for example, if we carried on recording after the shot accidentally, we could then cut it out or even lengthen a shot so it last longer)

Re-ordering shots: After the film we realised that we didnt record in the exact order we wanted it to go in. Using final cut, i was able to re-arrange these clips so the storyline flowed. This was especially useful because we had short snappy shots jumping from one location to another.

Filter, desaturation and speed changing: All three of those things are what really gave out final product the " Atmosphere " that we wanted to create. we used the desaturation and fillers to make the neccesary shots black and white but to also darken the shots as well. The speed changing was mainly used to slow down the dripping tap but also to increase the speed on the forests scenes.

Even though it was only for a small amount, I also learnt to use photoshop. We used photoshop for our credits. It was a convient programme to use to do this because it consisted of creating the credits and pasting them onto our production in the final cut. However, we were also able to download font types and play around with them aswell. The last technology I was ment to use for our final piece was called garageband. Using garageband allowed me to experiment with track makings and eventually create a track for our opening. It was a good programme to use because it allowed us to layer up the track and downloads and add in as many sound effects as we wanted. There were other technologies I used in the construction of making our product. for the blog I worked on,I learnt how to use YouTube in a completely different way. I was able to embed YouTube links and then put them into my blogwork. This was beneficial in the whole process because i was able to write about the stages of our recording and editing and back it up with the video. it was also useful during the research stages.

7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Below is the preliminary task that we completed at the beginning of the course. I believe that ever since we done this, we as a group and me as an individual, have learnt many things.

1. How to use technology in more professional ways: In our preliminary we used the smallest amount of technology which consisted of a hand held recorder and final cut. Even though we were happy with our preliminary, when it came to recording out thriller opening, we wanted to have alot more professional aspects. We learnt how to use all sorts of technology (final cut, photoshop, garageband etc.) and our progression from the preliminary task improved greatly.
2. How to appreciate the resources we have and how to use them: This also helped us progress within our work because we were fully aware of what resources we had and how to use them.
3. Always have a plan of action before shooting: At the start of the thriller opening process, unlike the preliminary, we make a full plan of what we were going to do and when. This included: scripts, shooting timetables, location permissions etc. This benefited us because we were able to have a smoothly run 'set',unlike in the preliminary.
4.
5.

The main thing that was alot different when making our Thriller opening compared to our preliminary was that we were given alot more freedom and oppurtunities to be creative. For example, when doing our preliminary we were given specific guidelines of what we had to do (we had to have specific shots in a row-pan shot, close up etc); whereas, on the filming of our thriller, we had to include many different shots but we also got to choose when and where they were.

Institutional Research

What is a film distributor?
A film distributor is an individual or a company which is responsible for the releasing films into the public. This is either theatrically (showing in the cinema) or for home viewing (DVD, Bluray, Video-On-Demand, TV programmes or for download). A distributor may do this indirectly (through sub-distributors or theatrical exhibitors) or directly (through owning the theatre or distribution network).

Paramount Pictures:
Founded in 1912, Paramount Pictures is an American film and television production/distribution company; it is located  Hollywood and it is the second oldest existing American film studio (behind Universal Studios).Paramount is ranked as one of the largest movie studios (top grossing). Paramount pictures has distibuted huge films such as: The Italian Job, Mean Girls, Transformers, Paranormal Activity and Twilight. It makes over £300million a year.

Universal Pictures:
Founded in 1912, Universal Pictures is the oldest American movie studio that is still in production today (Paramount is the second oldest). The production studios are located at Plaza Drive in Universal City, California. It has distributed films such as; Billy Elliot, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Love Actually, Bruno and Doom. Universal Pictures is the longest-lived Hollywood studio.

20th Century Fox:
Founded in 1915, The Fox Film Corporation was started by entreprenuer, William Fox. He created this by the merging of a distribution company and a production company. For many years, 20th Century-Fox was claimed to have been founded in 1915 but recently it emerged that it was founded in 1935. It has distrubuted films such as: Star Wars and Avatar; and has also distributed shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy.


Momentum Pictures:
Founded in 2000, Momentum Pictures is one of the leading independant motion picture distributors in the UK and releases around 20 films a year. The company is owned by Paramount and is based in London. It has distributed films such as: The King's Speech, P.S I Love You, Amelie and Lost in Translation.

Which would be the best to distribute our film?
Overall, all of the researched distributors release all genred films from U's to 18's. However, I think that the most appropriate distrubutor that would apply for us would be momentum. This is because it is not as big as the others and is mainly based in the UK.

Thriller Opening Feedback

Once we had completed our 'rough cut' for our opening, we then all down together (the class as a whole) and watched the rough cuts individually to get feedback on what was working and what wasn't. As a group we decided on three questions that we wanted to ask the whole group as critical feedback. Our three questions were based on issues that we had already discovered about our thriller opening:
1. It is evident that our opening is quite confusing; do you think that this is a good thing or is it too hard to understand?
2. We've been having difficulties figuring out where the credits should go. Whats your opinion?
3. Do you think the different shots work changing from black and white to colour?

ROUGH CUT THRILLER OPENING:


Feedback:
1. 'It doesn't seem to be that confusing. It's obvious that the character is going to do something bad (commit suicide) and is having flashbacks of something that has happened. But we don't know what she is narrating on which makes us want to watch it even more.'-Nick
'I think it's good that it's not very understandable because thats what the openings are for'- Kim

2. 'It would look good if you added the credits as part of the background because you don't want to take the attention away from the intreguing storyline. Maybe a more floaty font will look good aswell'-Jake

3. 'The black and white does look good because it emphasis' that it's a dream; but you should either add black and white to all of the flashbacks bits or make it look more gloomy by adding shadows and stuff'-Joe

Teachers Feedback: You need to add in the music, credits and sounds effects. Make the editing alot sharper and snappier and try to shorten some of the clips so it doesn't drag along too much. Having more consistant effects will make the mise en scene alot more interesting and watchable.

Feedback Response:
We found this feeback very useful and constructive so after this seesion, we made a 'to do' list:
- Finish making flashback scenes black and white and then go back and darken the scenes alot more. This is to add more emphasis on the dark flashbacks the suicidal character is having.
-Add in the credits into the background of the bathroom scenes after trying out different types of fonts and colours on the scenes.
-Make and add in the music (from garageband) and compliment this with sound effects.
-Try and cut down each section as much as possible, trying to overall remove 30 seconds of film.
-Add in more voiceovers so it doesn't cut out and a random point.

Thriller Opening Rough Cut

Even though we are still in the process of editing we converted and submitted our 'rough cut' through youtube to be watched in a feedback session with the whole of the class.

Editing Ideas and Process

Editing Ideas:
When it came to editing, we found it difficult to come up with a plan of how and what we wanted to do to our clips. After researching different editing techniques, we found this video on youtube. It is an editing sequence made by an AS media student who used final cut as the editing programme. We thought that this was relevant to us because we are also using final cut and we have a woods scene in our opening sequence aswell:

There are many things in this video that we want to be in ours. Firstly, from 0:29-0:35, the 'Alice In Wonderland' character is walking towards the camera. The lighting has been darkened quite alot and the figure has been made to look jittery and almost ghostly like.

Editing Process:
When we first started to edit our clips, we have over 40 clips to go through. After choosing all the right ones we needed to make our sequence, we then began to put them in order and cut them down to the right timings.

Editing ideas

What is a Thriller?

What is a Thriller?
A Thriller is a  genre of film, and television that uses tension, excitement and suspense as the main elements. A thriller film is made to stimulate the audience's moods which could include giving them a high level of anticipation, anxiety and uncertainty. The also tend to be quite fast paced and adrenaline-rushing. In general, thrillers tend to include plot twists, cliffhanger, a villian character and often, a heroic character. Examples of thriller films are: The Shining, Se7en and the Bourne Supremacy films.

What are the main aspects of a Thriller?

There are many conventions which go into a thriller film, but mainly they normally include either:

- A character/characters in conflict with either themselves or another character.

- Psychological confusion and danger aswell as physical.

- Dramatic and mysterious storylines

- Confusion over what is make believe and reality (dreams).

- The fear of death in comparison to the fascination of death.

- The battle between characters (e.g. good and evil)

- The want from a character to discover their purpose

- Unwanted or lonely characters who blame the world for their problems.

- Characters with physcological problems.

What should a Thriller opening include?

Changes in Thriller Opening

We decided to change our idea of our thriller opening. The main reason we done this was because there were quite alot of health and safety hazards with our idea and it was difficult to film. However, we quickly came up with a new idea to compliment the murder/suicide scene which we were going to originally include aswell. The first thing we done once changing our idea was researching new influences:
New Influences and Comparisons:
Because our thriller opening has changed so it is focusing mainly on the suicide, we thought it would be appropriate to do more research on suicide based openings. Kidulthood was the perfect example for us to compare our thriller opening too because it involves a young girl much alike out initial idea. The clip from 3 mins 40 secs onwards shows the same atmosphere and tension that we wanted to be in our thriller.

The different shot types are a big aspect of this seen which we particularly admired. The sharp and shortly cut camera shots create a more confused atmosphere. This scene also causes the audience to feel alot of sympathy for the suicidal character and makes us wonder why she is wanting to do it. We then used this scene as an influence to draw out new storyboard:

Storyboard and Role allocation:

This new storyboard show our new idea for the thriller opening, just in less detail. We included these specific shots in the storyboard because they are the shots that show the most key parts of the opening (the most interesting shots e.g. the pan shot). The next thing we done once changing out idea was to give each person in the group specific roles for the filming process. We had to change this mainly because we needed more acting involved in the new idea:
Acting roles:
Suicide character: Emily Huelin
Evil character: Eloise Fuggle
Dead character: Yasz Webb
Technical Roles:
When it came to designated the technical roles, we decided that it would be most benficial if we shared them equally. Because 3 out of the 4 members of the group are going to be acting at different times, we will all take part in the filming process (including hair, make-up, lighting etc) and in the editing process (including making the music).

Music changes:
Even though our first idea included us using music from Knife Party productions; with our new idea, we thought it would be more original to use music that we have made ourselves on GarageBand. This is because we wanted to be able to fit in specific sounds in different places and this wouldn't be possible with using an already made track. The type of music we are now wanting to use is low toned, heavy, dark music which builds up as different things are revealed. Also, with the different shots going from the bathroom scene to the wood scene, screeching sounds will be added to give it a jumpy feel. Unlike the first idea, we decided to add in some dialogue as an overall voiceover. This voiceover is going to be the suicidal character talking about the events that have occured and why she wants to kill herself. However, it is going to be as if she is talking to herself, so she will not reveal any specific information. An example of the voiceover we want to use in the opening is the begining of the 'We Found Love' music video by Rihanna and Calvin Harris. We also created a script for the new idea:
Script (rough):
 Suicidal character:
Why would I want to give anyone the horrible thoughts I'm having.
(Pause and heavy breathing)
I just have to do it. (pause)
Theres no turning back now.(pause)
Things would never be the same. (pause)
No one would ever believe me if I told them anyway. (pause)
But they will all find out soon, it will happen to everyone. (pause)
Then everyone will feel like this. (pause)
So I need to leave now, before things get worse.

Deciding on Certificate

When deciding on the classification of thriller opening we had to consider many things. We used the BBFC (British Board of Film) to use as a guideline. The BBFC is a non-governmental organisation, which is funded by the film industry. It is responsible for the classification and censorship of films within the UK. It has a statutory requirement to classify DVDs, videos and some video games. The classifications are:
 The U sign stands UNIVERSAL. This means that it has been all ages admitted. This means that the film does not contain anything unsuitable for children over 4.
 The PG sign stands for PARENTAL GUIDANCE. Like Unviversal, this means that it is all ages admitted, but certain scenes may be unsuitable for children under the age of 8. It may May contain mild language, sex/drugs references and moderate violence if justified by context (e.g. fantasy thoughts).
The 12A sign stands for suitable for children the ages of 12 aslong as they are accompanied by an adult. This was only introduced to cinemas in 2002. Films under this category are said to be unsuitable for young people.. It is not recommended that children under 12 should watch the film. Films under this category can contain mature themes, soft drugs, moderate swear words and moderate violence/sex references.
The 12 sign stands for nobody younger than 12 can watch the film. Films in this category may include infrequent drugs, use of strong language, brief nudity, sexual activity, and moderate violence.
The 15 sign stands for only those over 15 years are admitted. Films under this category can contain adult themes, drugs, strong language, moderate-strong violence/sex references, and sex activity.
The 18 sign stands for only adults are admitted to watch the film.Hard drugs are generally allowed, and strong violence/sex references along with strong sexual activity is also allowed. Scenes of strong real sex may be permitted if justified by the context.

After looking at the different aspects of each certification, we then looked at the openings and certifications of different thriller and non-thriller films to compare to ours:

-Kidulthood: 15
(The reason we looked at a film such as kidulthood is because the opening scene involves a suicide which is related to our thriller opening)
-4,3,2,1: 15
-Se7en: 18
-The Bourne Supremacy: 12A
-The Shining: 18
-No Country For Old Men: 15
-Inception: 15

From looking at these different film opening, it appears that thrillers are generally certificate 15. However, more gruesome films which involve more blood are 18's. Our thriller opening does not include and blood or gore so the certificate 15 seems to be the most appropriate for us to use. Our opening involves a suicide which is less gruesome then the suicide in Kidulthood which is a 15, which is another reason why we decided not to certficate it an 18. However, because it does include a 'death' and quite intimidating music, we did not think it would have been appropriate to certificate it a 12 or a 12A.

Changing Our Idea

at last minute we decided to change some of our idea, we are still keeping the flash back/suicide scene but after have some trouble filming the party scene we decided that maybe it wasn't the best idea, we thought about adding in a virus or something that could effect the outside world which has caused the girl to take her life because she was so distressed, we went to the forest area behind our college and decided to use the surroundings to our advantage. we thought that our idea so far was very unoriginal and needed to add to it to make it more original and not a typical thriller where people can guess the outcome and not leave them wanting more. we liked the films such as "i am legend", "the crazies" or something like "28 weeks later"

these films have a virus out break which because certain people to try and stay alive and turns them insane,we first of all decided to film random things that we could add in to look effective, such as we had a blackbird walking along the field that we filmed because they signify death, we also filmed the camera looking up a tree onto the branches and leaves, it looks really good and but we will probably be put into black and white. we managed to film many clips so that we can get rid of what we didnt need. me, eloise and emily were involved in acting as well as some filming and alyssa was incharge of filming and a bit of directing making sure what we were doing made sense, after we had filmed me, eloise and emily started editing all the clips to fit them inbetween the bathroom scenes so it is flashes, while alyssa started on redoing our story board so people can understand our idea now.

Thriller Opening Analysis

                                                                         The Shining
                               

The thriller that I have chosen to analyse is the Shining. The Shining is a film made in the 1980's by a director called Stanley Kubrick. It is starring Jack Nicholson, Shellet Duvall and Danny Lloyd. The opening begins with a dramatic, eerie trumpet sounds which is then built up with additional instruments such as a xlyaphone. The music in the first couple of minutes already builds up the tension and causes the audience to begin to feel confused already. In contrast to the music, the imagery of the opening scene seems to be quite pleasant scenerey which consists of mountain sides, rivers and roads. The opening begins by going quite quickly throughly the river and round the mountain which then reveals the car which is driving. This makes audience feel as if we are trying to catch up with this character in the car. These action shots are then moved to a birds eye view of the car which is driving to this unknown location. The music and scenery together arise many questions; but the main one is, where is the person that we are following going. However, the bird eye view shot of the car makes us feel for whoever is in the car because they have a sense of vunerability which is built through the sharp edged music. When the credits are first introduced, the contrast between the background and the vibrant colour of the names appearing on screen are quite sharp. This thriller opening is unlike others in the way that it doesn't reveal the characters in the first 2 minutes.

Questionaire (Alyssa)

Question 1. What is your favourite thriller film and why?

- Ana, 17: The Shining, its so scary!
- Shaunagh, 16: Harry Brown because its modern and its set in London.
- Amy, 17: Seven because it has Brad Pitt in it.
- Nate, 19: Definitely Seven because it has a twisted storyline which confuses you and always keeps you thinking.

Question 2. Who is your favourite thriller actor/actress and why?

- Ana, 17: I don't really know many thriller actors but I liked Jack Nicholson in The Shining
- Shaunagh, 16: Probably Jack O'connell because he was good in Harry Brown and Skins.
- Amy, 17: Brad Pitt because he is such a good actor, all the time.
- Nate, 19: Matt Damon because he always makes it seem so realistic.

Question 3. Whats your favourite film opening for any genre and why?

- Ana, 17: I liked the film Tangled's opening because I like fairytales when they tell a story at the beginning but then go back to the beginning of the story for the whole film.
- Shaunagh, 16: The beginning of Adulthood is good because its a massive party scene and it gets you in the mood to watch a modern, fun film.
- Amy, 17: Not too sure really, I like loads of films. But my favourite film is Anuvahood definitely!
- Nate, 19: I like the beginning to the South Park movie because its intriguing, and funny.

Question 4. What would you expect to see in a thriller film?

- Ana, 17: Lots of blood and mystery.
- Shaunagh, 16: A good looking man character who works out a problem.
- Amy, 17: Someone who has mental issues, a physco.
- Nate, 19: Crime and mystery but not too much blood and gore.

Question 5. What do you think a thriller opening scene should consist of?

- Ana, 17: It should raise lots of questions and reveal the main characters slowly
- Shaunagh, 16: It should have the killer if there is one, but shouldn't show it's face
- Amy, 17: The credits and load music to build the atmosphere
- Nate, 19: It shouldn't have much in it because thrillers are all about people thinking for themselves.