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.

Thriller Research

What is a thriller?

Thriller is a 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.

Thrillers provide a sudden rush of emotions which should create tension and excitement for the audience. Thrillers are a popular film genre which audiences are particularly interested in watching. It keeps the audience cliff-hanging at the "edge of their seats" as the plot builds towards a climax. Thrillers tend to be fast-moving, psychological and threatening, and they will have chase scenes, and at times involve larger-scale villainy such as espionage, terrorism and conspiracy, alongside action.

There are many different Sub Genres for thrillers:

Conspiracy Thriller - This involves the hero confronting a large powerful group of enemies who's true extent only he/she recognises. Films such as The Da Vinche Code, In the line of fire and JFK.

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(s) 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. Films such as Se7en, No country for old men and Silence of the lambs.



Erotic thriller - A type of thriller that has an emphasis on eroticism and where a sexual relationship plays an important role in the plot. It has become popular since the 1980s and the rise of VCR market penetration. Films as Dressed to Kill, Eyes Wide Shut,  and Single White Female.



Political thriller - In which the hero/heroine must ensure the stability of the government that employs him.. Examples include, Topaz, Notorious and The Man Who Knew Too Much.

Psychological thriller - In which (until the often violent resolution) the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical.to o 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 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. Films such as Misery, Cape Fear and The Collector.

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. The sub genre deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way (such as the adaptations of John Le Carré) or as a basis for fantasy (such as James Bond). It is aspa significant etc of British cinema, with leading British directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and Carol Reed making notable contributions and many films set in the British Secret Service. The sub genre showcases a combination of exciting escapism, technological thrills, and exotic locales. The spy film usually fuses the action and science fiction genres. Films of this genre include Casino Royale, Mission: Impossible franchise and Salt.


Supernatural thriller: In which the film brings in an otherworldly element mixed with tension, suspense and plot twists. Sometimes the hero and/or villain has some psychic ability. Examples include Lady in the Water, Fallen and Frequency.




Dominant Thriller Film directors:
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Steven Spielberg
- James Cameron
- Quentin Tarantino
- Martin Scorsese


Dominant Thriller Actors:
- Janet Leigh
- Grace Kelly
- Harrison Ford
- Leonardo DiCaprio
- Tom Cruise

Props and Lighting

Props

Chainsaw
One prop we used was a chainsaw. We used this because in our research for thrillers we found it effective in the texas chainsaw massacre. this gave us great ideas and also helped with the editing of sound to put in a chainsaw engine sound. This is the characters signature weapon which creates tension for the audience and gives a real obvious outcome which can be guessed. A chainsaw was also easily to get hold of for the props and gave a good torture impression

Lab/Scientist Coat
The costumes for the characters were very basic. We used a lab/scientist coach for the costume of daniel as he was the torturer. After researching thrillers, we came to the conclusion that using this costume and combining it with a chainsaw would give us a unique but also thrilling character and could be very effective in the film. The audiences are used to seeing scientists as evil so they will easiley adapt and recognise to a evil scientist involved in torture which will generate our vision.

  

Mask
We also used a mask to create a secretive, mistertios character to torture. This creates tension and also allows the audeince to try and guess who the torturer is. we agreed from research that when we watch thrillers on torture, it is always better when the audience dont know who the killer is until the end of the movie. We used this and interpruted it into our film.

Filming the task

Filming

These are photos of the room which we filmed in. this is the drama room of our school which we booked out so we could definitely use this. We chose this room as it was dark and would create the effect that it was a thriller. our idea was a hostage/torture situation which gave it the effect that the actor which was filming was a dark, secretive character who was experienced in torture. This room helped with our idea and became a great benefit to us.

We also chose this room because it was full of lighting equipment which would make it easy for us to film with the correct lighting. We had several different lights, including a spotlight and background lights which changed colour. They had a variation of colours including red, blue and green which also helped with any effects which we wanted to create. We found it difficult to control and use the lights so we asked a teacher to help us with it. i then controlled the lights whilst Alex set up the camera for each shot.

We worked well as a team even if we didn't agree on everything. one thing we did agree on was the type of camera shots used. We used a variety of different camera shots including pans, close ups, extreme close ups and many more. Our knowledge from the previous lessons helped us make a more effective clip.

If there was anything i would do differently in the final task is that i would manage my time better. In this planning and filming i had been slacking and underestimated the amount of time and effort needed to be put into making a good film. One of the main reasons which we missed the deadline for our clip was me not doing my bit for the team. my partner was working hard throughout whilst i slacked off. I regret not putting in a lot of effort and have learnt my lesson. For the final task i will definitely be putting all my free time and effort into making a good film, planning, evaluating and hoping for a good grade.

Very First Edit

First Edit





















Our very first edit was quite poor. It took us a long time to get used to the program which we are using to edit our clip which a lot of time was wasted. After all the filming we were quite excited to make our production look a lot better than it is at the moment. to our surprise our filming wasn't as effective as we thought, and was quite a disappointment. To our dismay the first edit reached one minute which was two times as long as it should have been, ergo more editing needed to be done.

We started to take a look through each shot and cut off the parts we didn't need. this took a long time as we weren't used to the program and we weren't prepared for the amount of film which was cut off. Once all the filming was cut off we finally finished the full clip of 38 seconds.

Even though the clip is longer than 30 seconds, we spoke to our teacher and we agreed on 38 seconds for our finished clip. We agreed that if the clip was any longer, it wouldn't look right or make sense. so to get the full effect of the clip it would have to be this long.

We could not follow our storyboard exactly as the storyboard would have been too long. we had to cut off the final two shots which were the credits and a final shot of the victim. This was to add effect of the thriller/horror but we agreed without it, it would not make much difference.

Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task

           When i first found out that my task was to create a short 30 second thriller which involved 4 lines of dialogue with two characters, i was quite excited. I imagined it to be a good experience, good practise and a chance to see whether my choices of groups would benefit my learning. I chose Alexander bailey as my partner and we got straight into creating. We first drew up our storyboard using ideas generated from both me and Alex. We then started to plan the mis en scene for the video, which was quite frustrating because we both had different visions but allowed us to elaborate on each others ideas and we also built a better, more stable partnership between us. Once we finished planning we then thought of actors which we could use to star in our short clip. We were motivated and got straight on with the filming.

Monday 16th January

 Day 1: We looked at a few thrillers including 'Se7en' as our main influence. The research we did helped us think of ways to use lighting, editing and sound to really construct our film. We used a drama room in which we 'booked' out which had the proper lighting and props for us to use. We mainly used one spotlight which was on our characters to give a dark scary room effect. both our characters were very useful, but using only having two hours to complete our clip we had to rush. The costumes for characters were not as useful as expected, and we were let down a bit because of how we pictured the actors to look. However, in our first day we nearly finished filing apart from our final clip which we could finish the next day.

Friday 22nd January

 Day 2: Our second day involved us being introduced to the editing system we would use to complete our clip. since we had not finished our filming we had to complete our last part to the clip. this only took half our lesson which gave us the rest of the time to get a start on editing. as we were new to the system we weren't very effective in editing and we were just trying to find out how to navigate and use the program. 

Monday 27th January

Day 3: Our third day was mainly about the editing of the clip. As our clip is over a minute long, it needed cutting down to 40 seconds. it was meant to be 30 seconds, but being as it is it wouldn't make sense and wouldn't look realistic if it was any shorter.

Dialogue
The dialogue for the preliminary task was a necessary part of the criteria. As the start of the film begins, the victim is in a captured position tied to a chair. the lines of dialogue really make the scene seem real as he is crying for help. as the other character enters the room, the next line of dialogue allows the audience to know that the victim is scared creating tension. The names of the actors are 'Cameron' and 'Daniel' as we have no names for them in the clip.

Cameron: "Help, Help!"
(Daniel enters)
Cameron: "Hello, Who are you?"
Cameron: "Please Help me"

Daniel: "Groans and laughs"