Evaluation

How did you attract/address your audience?

There were many ways in which i attempted to attract/address my audience. They were first attracted to the main components of my short opening thriller such as the plot, setting and characters etc. The setting for my media product was used to target a specific segment of society. For example, my short clip was filmed outside a school, near a closed off, abandoned house. This could attract young teenagers from local urban areas as they have an interest in abandoned areas

The storyline of the media product determines whether the audience will carry on watching the movie. If the storyline is easy to predict and boring which many thrillers are, then the audience may get bored and stop watching. If the storyline is too complex for the audience, they may lose interest and decide to stop watching. I tried to make my thriller appeal to the audience, meeting somewhere in the middle of not too complex, but entertaining. This is to ensure my audience enjoy the thriller.

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

The conventions of my thriller were categorised under 5 different areas, these areas being;

Introduction of characters
Psychological thriller
Setting
Music
Titles

Introduction of characters

The introduction of the characters is fairly obvious throughout the opening scene. As i find it hard to trust other actors, i went for a scenery/thrilling opening scene to contradict the psychological thriller. I believe using one character instead of two in the opening scene delays the exceitement, but hints it. So that the audience will want to carry on watching but will not be able to guess what will happen later in the film. By introducing the characters at the end of the scene it allows the story to be told of what has happened in the past. I believe this is a good way of portraying the story as it saves images which are more exciting for a further point in the film.

Psychological thriller

As the thriller we have chosen is a psychological thriller, we can play with the audience mind but not making it too complex. This allows us to use images such as scenery to enforce the story and really portray it. The story mainly consists of a build up into what will happen during the rest of the film. As the audience know what has happened previously, the have an idea of what will happen next but are limited to ask questions such as 'do they survive?'

Setting

The setting we have chose is a wood and abandoned house which appeals to the audience as it scares them. Abandoned houses have always been portrayed as spooky, so this is the main reason we chose to film it there. The house is used as a summer home for a couple but only the man has appeared in the opening scene. The story uses the house to interest the audience in the opening scene, getting them ready for what happens next.

Music

The music we have chose is slow, dark and gloomy music which was chosen because it really relates to the opening scene. We used the idea of the strangers opening scene which is similar to ours. This music really allowed us to express the story and relates well to the actions of the music. Such as the change in sound when the car drives past.

Titles 

We searched a lot of titles, the main title we came up with was 'In darkness they wait'. This is because it uses the darkness well with the storyline, and portrays to the audience that 'they' ensures their are more than one person used in the film, so they have more to look forward to after the opening scene.

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

The reasearch and planning progression has seen the vast improvements in my knowledge. The preliminary task reasearch consited of minimal thinking and minimal research this was partly due to there being a strict product brief in place. However as this was the first stage that I had to plan or research into a media product, consequently everything that was achieved was learnt. The planning was formulating the lines of dialogue between the characters and where and how these would be spoken. Looking back now I can say that my planning was an area where I learnt about dialogue and how to represent what I wanted into my media product. I have learnt many things which have allowed me to progress from my preliminary task to now. The first being the use of the digital technology used to film the actual footage. At first i had no idea of how to use this technology but with a little help and practice i was able to learn and master. I also have been able to use the editting technology well as we have spent hours practicing using. I do not think i have mastered the full use of this programme and wish to carry on practicing until i do. But for now, i believe i have made a relatively good effort in doing so. The main way i have progressed is my time management. Although i have not kept to my time management well when crteating this project, i have learnt my lesson in trying to fit all the work in, in little time. The full media product has seen major improvements in both research and planning which included, questionnaires, analysing media products both in the opening sequence and the title analysis. All of this research has taught me about the conventions of the thriller opening sequences as well as title sequences. The planning aspect of my full product involved taking what I had learnt in the research and adapting it to what I wanted to achieve in my media product. I used brainstorming, storyboarding, location scouting and clothes and props planning.

 

Editting

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 Edit:

Risk Assessment

During the filming process, their are a number of potential risks which may occur. If the filming equipment is damaged, vital footage could be lost and funds may be needed to pay for the replacement of the equipment. Also, if the characters are hurt during the making of the film, the consequences could be worse. Here is a table highlighting all the potential risks that may occur and how i am going to prevent these risks from occuring.

Dropping Camera/Charger
In this case, the camera is the object in danger from breaking if it is dropped. The level of risk i would give this scenario is Medium, as there is potential of my dropping the camera if i am not concentrating properly. To prevent myself from dropping the camera i will make sure the camera is securely screwed into the tripod and made sure that it is placed firmly onto the ground. When i am not using the camera, it will be placed into a securely fastened case to protect it.

Snapping or Breaking the tripod
In this case, the tripod is the object in danger from breaking. This is a low level of risk as it will only happen from a careless mistake made from me. The tripod i am using is light but sturdy, this makes it easy to carry but it stays placed up when in filming making it harder to fall over. The tripod will also be put in a securely fastened case to prevent any harm happening to it when it is not in use.

Losing Equipment
In this case, any equipment which i borrow from school will be in danger of getting lost, this will also in danger my film as if i lose a memory stick with the files on i will not be able to open my film. In this situation, i would say this is a medium level of risk as it will only happen from a stupid mistake, but if it does happen it will have severe consequences. To prevent this from happening, i will need to ensure all my work is backed up on a computer at home, memory stick and the school hard drive just to ensure the data is safe. Camera's, tripods and other filming equipment will be kept safely at school in order for it to stay safe. Props will be the only problem as we need to keep the props safe in order to complete the film.

Getting injured in the filming process
In this case, we as the directors are in danger of being injured. The actors are also in danger as they are in the setting with us. I would give this level of risk being high as if we get injured, we can not complete the filming process and if the actors are injured, we need to find another actor to replace them. There is not much that can be done to prevent this from happening except being careful when filming. The most i can do is just check that the surface on which we are filming is not slippy, so we are less likely to fall.

Costumes

John Doe: 
This character would be dressed in slightly too small clothes 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.

John Doe will be wearing a plain white t-shirt to show his lack of imagination in fashion, but makes up for it within supernatural/paranormal elements. A plain white shirt that is too small for john will show that he doesnt really care about looking good, its his personality that makes him who he is.

John Doe will be wearing these style jeans. Faded to show he has had them a long time, and isnt bothered about the latest trends in fashion. He doesnt mind wearing jeans which are too small for him as his boots are quite high and cover up the lack of material at the bottom. The Jeans will be tucked into the t-shirt which is a style which is not really used anymore portraying that he is behind on the fashion style.

John Doe is an explorer hobbied individual who likes to use his imagination in his spare time. Black boots are great for him to wear as he is not afraid to get dirty when he is exploring. Plain black boots are used to show little fashion sense, but he feels comfortable wearing them.

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.

Ben is wearing an all saints t-shirt, which although it looks plain and boring, the low neck shows the imagination and style of the real fashion sense you see today. Ben is a person who cares about what he looks like, feeling more comfortable about showing his chest. The brand is a fairly expensive brand, showing he is comfortable spending his money on clothes, unlike his bestfriend who would rather spend it on camera equipment.

As you walk about the streets today, the main style of jeans worn by teenagers are usually the style of chinos. these come in a variety of different colours. This is mainly sold by the main, affordable, stylish shops such as topman. Ben wears these to show he is up to date with the latest style and trends, spending money on clothes rather than equipment.

The Cast

In the planning stage of making a thriller, the cast is essentially the most important factor needed to be taken into consideration. The wrong cast can ruin the whole production of the filmlm, but the right cast can be the difference from an average thriller, to an award winner. We have chosen our characters carefully, using John Doe and Ben williams both 17 years of age. Our Actors have been chosen carefully, based on personality and performance.



Character: John Doe
Actor: Cameron Noble
The character of John doe is a teenager, from nottingham. John Doe is the same age as the actor who plays him, Cameron Noble. We used Cameron for this part as he is quite shy, and very mysterious. Being best friends with Zoran Markovic, Cameron is used to the loving friendship in which they have and this will enable them to have a better relationship on set. Cameron has studied drama since he was 11 years old, so he is experienced. This brings a great drama prespective into our film and allows us to use ideas from an outside view.




Character: Ben Williams
Actor: Jonathan Norton
The character of Ben Williams is again a young adult/teenager from Nottingham who is best friends with tghe character John Doe. Ben is the more confident, outgoing, leader of the pair guiding John. Jonathan is a media student at George Spencer academy 6th form. this will give us an insight on different views from another media student, and will also be experienced in the production of creating a film.

Thriller Audience

The audeince of a film is perhaps the most important aspect to undertake when making a film. To create a successful thriller, i need to study my audience and research the qualities which will make a successful opening.
Through doing research, i need to ask who i will be aiming my opening at, and whether it will be for a popular dominant thriller audience or a niche product, targeting a select few e.g an age group.

The target audience for most psychological thrillers are 16-25years. This is because they include a lot of action and violence, making it abit disturbing for young children to watch. This is also because the main characters in thrillers are usually teenagers - Young aduults. This allows the viewers to relate to the main characters.
The gender isnt as specific as age as main characters in thrillers differ all the time. For our film, the gender we are targeting would be mostly males as being males ourself, we create a pathway into connecting with the male audience, introducing key factors which allow the male audience to relate.


A questionnaire was made to target the correct audience and see what thrillers they would like to see and prefer to watch.

Thriller Opening and Trailers

Me and Alex have chosen to make the opening to a psychological Thriller because we like the idea of our characters being involved in a mystery and are fascinated by the fact that it is highly focused on characters, using mental/pschological traits to uncover a mystery.

This sub-genre of thrillers appealed to us when researching the top thrillers trailers and openings. Here are some we found:



The Usual Suspects is a 1995 American neo-noir film written by Christopher McQuarrie and directed by Bryan Singer. It stars Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro, Chazz Palminteri, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Spacey and Pete Postlethwaite.
The film follows the interrogation of Roger "Verbal" Kint, a small-time con man who is one of only two survivors of a massacre and fire on a ship docked at the Port of Los Angeles. He tells an interrogator a convoluted story about events that led him and four other criminals to the boat, and of a mysterious mob boss known as Keyser Söze who commissioned their work. Using flashback and narration, Kint's story becomes increasingly complex. The establishing shot is an Extreme close up of a book of matches struck alight, the fire already portraying danger to the audiennce. We are then introduced to the first character, who is smoking a cigarette. The audience are yet to learn his name, but from this shot we can see he is being held captive. The camera is focused on the character, with fire in the background out of focus. As the first character alights the strip, it makes the audience wonder that this fire is going to kill him and anyone else on the ship. The strip is then put out by another character, dressed dark and mysteriously with a black coat and something covering his face. this then makes the audience uncomfortable because they ask the question that is this the person keeping the hostage character captive. When the mysterious character is introduced, music is played to show that this charcter is dangerous. The camera is low, looking up at the villain character (portrayed as a villain because he is in shadow and cant make out any features) giving him a sense of power of the captive victim. The camera tracks the villain down the stairs and the music gets louder and faster, like it is building up to something big. The villain then speaks to the victim, with a low, croaky voice, almost taunting the victim.

'How you doing keith'

This is said by the victim to show that he is in control and has power over his victim. The camera is looking down on the victim, showing he is in trouble. A gun is then shown which makes the audience even more uncomfortable, with the music still loud in the background. Suspense is created when the gun is changed to his left hand, and two shots are fired. Just before these shots, the time is asked by keith who is told it is '12:30' when these shots are fired, the last words spoken are remembered to the audience as a time of death manipulating them.


The Butterfly Effect is a 2004 American sci-fi psychological thriller film that is written and directed by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber and starring Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart. The title refers to the metaphorical butterfly effect, a popular principle in chaos theory which states that in any dynamic system, small initial differences may, over time, lead to large unforeseen consequences.
Kutcher plays 20-year-old student Evan Treborn, with Smart as his childhood sweetheart Kayleigh Miller. He finds he has the ability to travel back in time to inhabit his former self and change the present. Having been the victim of several childhood traumas aggravated by stress-induced memory losses, he attempts to set things right for himself and his friends, but there are unintended consequences for all. The film draws heavily on flashbacks of the cast's lives at ages 7 and 13, and presents several alternate present-day outcomes as Evan attempts to change the past, before settling
on a final outcome.
The film begins with sound effect leading straight to mystery. The frist shot is a man walking behind some blinds, very quickly, making you curious to know who he is. The screechy faded sounds portray tension for the audience and clash with the notes that creates an irritant sound. As soon as the necessary titles have been shown on top of this scene behind the blinds, the music breaks out into a louder, sudden noise while this main character breaks open the door in a rush and starts jumbling things around in a room which looks like it is in a hospital or public area – all because of his clothing which looks like a hospital gown, and the fact there is a public water machine with sofas and paperwork around. The audience is intrigued to watch more because its not clear what this man is trying to gain from jumbling objects and lying under a desk.




Shutter Island is a 2010 American psychological thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese. The film is based on Dennis Lehane's 2003 novel of the same name. Production started in March 2008. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels, who is investigating a psychiatric facility located on the island named in the title. The film grossed over $128 million in its initial domestic theater release.
The Shutter Island trailer starts firstly with a ship approaching the camera through a dense mist, The boat appears through a thick dark mist and prevails as the light object, this perhaps suggesting that the boats occupants are the ‘good guys’, the camera then quickly jumps to a shot of the boats desitination, which is also overlaped by some dialogue which points out that the boats destination is a mental institution, a place which is percieved to be evil. The shots used in this first part of the trailer are all very jumpy and quick, tense music is also used. The music almost instantly goes from quite a nervy feeling to a very loud and screeching noise, these two things put together are very conventional of the horror/thriller genre.
The shot of the gates opening is an attempt to invite the audience into the film and to try and make them a part of the narrative, once the gates open and we enter, the music very quickly changes producing tension for the audience.
We then see a shot of the two men talking on the boat and then very quickly after we see a shot of a man inside the institute in a prison cell, this could be an example of, good vs evil, light vs dark, innocence vs violence and so on.
When the prison officer says “you are hereby required to surrender your firearms” it gives the marshal and the audience a great sense of unease as the weapon is the marshals last line of protection.





Inception is a 2010 science fiction action heist film which was written, co-produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan. The film features an international ensemble cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Dileep Rao, Tom Berenger, and Michael Caine. DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, a specialised corporate spy and thief whose work consists of secretly extracting valuable commercial information from the unconscious minds of his targets while they dream. Wanted for murder and unable to visit his children, Cobb is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be impossible: "Inception", the implantation of an original idea into a target's subconscious.
The film the immediately cuts to the protagonist lying face down on the shore but before hand having a strong establishing shots of the rough and noisy sea. The first close up of the protagonists face is shown and is a canted angle shot. In the distance there are small children playing in the sand, this creates confusion for the viewer as the two things don’t go together, they are then shown running off in the distance. The Protagonist then blacks out and the scene then continues to show a random unknown character finding him on the beach. The Protagonist is shown in dull and trampy looking clothes in contrast to the high class soldier looking character. A low angle shot is evident to show to the viewers that the soldier has a higher status. The scene is then cut showing the protagonist being dragged into the room, this creates stress for the viewers as they still don’t actually know who or what the protagonist is trying to do or his aim. The location is also a mystery so this allows the viewers to ask questions and slowly feel further and further dragged into the storyline. The dramatic low level non diegetic bassy music is still being played while the close up of the protagonist eating supper. The character is hunched over the bowl as though he has not had food for awhile, which also leads to more unanswered questions. The room in which the protagonist and the new and another unknown character is released, is dull but beautiful at the same time. Low lighting with a huge table in the middle, this shows that who ever owns the house is a much higher class than the protagonist. There is then a close up of the spinning top, which builds tension as the viewers are waiting for the moment in which it topples over, but never does so. The next scene takes place, and it shows the protagonist in another scene but the same location. He is with two new completely different characters, and all the characters in this scene are wearing smart suits all showing they are they same status. The protagonist then starts to talk, and the cuts and speed of the cuts quicken. Over the shoulder and conversation shots are used effectively to make the viewers feel more comfortable which also makes it more natural to watch, A high angle shot is also used in this scene to show that the protagonist is more in control than any other character in the scene.