FINAL PRODUCT

this is our final thriller

annotated final

this is our final piece with annotations on it :)

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. 

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.

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.

Test Shots On Final Cut 2

we needed to make sure that the videos filmed on the phone could render in final cut, so we filmed a few scences and uploaded them on the the computer, we then went to final cut and put the clips on. the videos managed to render, but i need to film using the phone the other way round becuase the video went on its side,

Possible Locations For Thriller Opening

Above is the location where Emily will film the 'bath scenes'. This scenes will involve a teenage girl attempting to commit suicide by drowning in the bath. These scenes will only be short clips, cutting from the party scene back to the bath scene as they are happening at the same time.

this is where yasz will be filming the party/rave scenes, these will include clips of people dancing around, these people are all from the drama group and college, these clips will be small and will intersect with the bath scenes 

Test Shots (Mobile Phone)

For our first scene in our thriller opening, it is a party/rave scene.  Here is our first test shoot of Emily walking in a drunk manor. To make this scene more realistic and effective, we are viewing the scene through yasz's point of view. To do this, yasz walked behind me also in a drunk manor to make a realistic 'party' atmosphere.

 Here is another test shoot, to see how the phone camera works when there is a lot of movement. To test this, Emily danced as if she would at a party ( as our first scene is a party). We like the way, using a phone camera come across more realistic and seems more like you are actually there.

finally, here is our last test shoot ( similar to our second test shoot above) . This is just to see if the phone camera quality can work with fast movement without blurring.


The reason why we are using a phone camera for our party/rave scenes is due to the fact we want the scene as realistic as possible. We want the audience to feel as if they are actually there at the party. The atmosphere we want to produce is very energetic and lively. 

Permission Request Email To Knife Party

in this email we wrote,
hi our names are  yasz webb and emily huelin, and we go to long road village college in cambridgeshire, for our a-alevel media we have to create a thriller opening and would like your permission to use knife partys song "internet friends" this song really fits in with the genre of our opening scene and would love to incorperate the song into our piece so we could hopefully reach the level of our full potential. please get back to us as soon as possible, thank you

Researching Thriller Openings

This is an already made AS Thriller opening, this is the sort of thriller we would like to finally end up with and have a grade just like this 

Pitch Evaluation

as a group we decided to film our pitch because it would be easier to explain our ideas, we explained our idea to the class and then our teacher dave asked questions about our idea and then the class asked some questin such as:

nick asked "where will our credits come into it"

we replied " when everyone is partying it will flash across the screen"

i believe that our pitch went really smoothly we managed to explain our idea and clear up and questions or worries the class or dave had.

the class in  thought our idea was good and we got given a green light, i think the class were really understanding of our idea 

institutional research

a film distributor is a company that releases films to the public such as via cinema or on dvd.

paramount pictures 


they have had famous movies such as

transformers
paranormal activity
the godfather

the godfather has the same genre as us and the same audience but not the same budget, as this was a big production and cost a lot.

i dont think they would be best to distribute our film, because they are much more interested in higher budget films and having got many in our genre of film with younger teenage actors.

momentum pictures 


they have had famous films such as

dear john
the women in black
the kings speech

the women in black is the same genre and i think this film distributor would be much more our area and i think would be better suited for us to have our film distributed by. 

Class Pitch (Video)

we decided to film it because it was easier to explain our ideas in person then typing them onto the blog 

Creative Planning and Ideas

this is our creative planning including location, costume, props and casting 

Thriller Opening Script

this is the script idea we have, putting all our ideas into a final script 

Questionaire (Yasz)

What would you expect to see in a Psychological thriller film?

Edmond male 16- a clever pyschopath
joe male 17- lot of suspense, cliffhangers between scenes
marc male 16 - a psycho going round killing people

What other films, TV shows would you associate with this genre?

Edmond male 16- saw, sherlock holmes
 joe male 17- jack the ripper, white chapel
marc male 16 - whitechapel

Are you fan of Psychological films and explain your reasons?

Edmond male 16- yes, because i fine them interesting to follow
joe male 17- no because they really mess with my head
marc male 16 - no because they are to scary 

What do you think films need at the beginning to keep you watching?

Edmond male 16- a cliff hanger before the credits to keep me interested
 joe male 17- a psycho killer
marc male 16 - tense music keeping you hanging on the edge 

What is your favourite movie opening and why?


Edmond male 16- seven, because the way it draws me in
joe male 17- enemy of the state, because the way they mess with that man leaves me wondering what he did
marc male 16 - paranormal activity because you are always waiting for something to happen

practitioner case study yasz

3 top tips i learned from kyle cooper :

• you can use the title sequence time to advance the plot
• make sure it sets an expectation for the film
• use the titles to add to the tone of the film

se7en

i think these titles will been see as so revolutionary because of many different things, the first is the way the credits are hand written, it fits in well because on the titles you can see that the antagonist has a writing journal

at the beginning you can see the villian putting together some very gruesome documents, because the villian is not introduced in the film for a while him being in this title sequence with our you seeing him is defining a relationship between him and the audience. because you dont see him for ages your already straight away in his head which means when you do finally see him the tension is more intense.
the soundtrack for the opening puts the audience on edge Scratched imperfect lettering jump across the screen.

thriller screen shot conventions

SCREAM
vunerable, helpless, female victim, big house, there is no high key lighting in the rest of this scene


INCEPTION
daylight from outside used, lots of water and a gun, got the main character and his antagonist



NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2010

female victim, she is a main character, low key lighting. i wanna no what is going on



PYSCHO
female victim, in the shower so vunerable, shadow male antagonist

this opening definitely creates tension, suspense and uncertainty, they have done this by using different lightening, shot types and music. this opening has kept me captivated in the film and has not become boring, the criminal in this has definitively made the genre what it is, this opening has left me wanting t find out what happened to that man, and i put myself into his shoes as i was watching it.

CSI NY season 8 episode 11

The first 2 minutes are how we would like to do the flashing between normal life and the killing. i followed really well aand the camera techniques were really interesting i really wanna film many of the camera shots like this. the scene seemed real because it went from a very quite family meal where the conversation is really awkward. if you stop at two minutes you really wanna no why they were invaded and why the conversation was really awkward. with ours we wanna leave it on a cliff hanger as well.

this is the killing part of the scene as you can see she is really vunerable.

this is when it is their normal life when they are just sitting eating as a normal couple