What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

During this unit I’ve learnt how to generate effective shots through the situation of the camera and I have also learnt how to get steady shots through trial and error whilst shooting. Also during shooting I learnt that using the objects in the shot to frame the shot worked well, such as some of the trees surrounding the bunker/abandoned house. I also learnt how to set up a shot so that all could be seen and so that the lighting would not be a problems in the shot, I found getting the write light quite difficult making sure that the sunlight wasn't blocking anything in the shot and making sure that the inside shots has enough light so that everything could be seen. Using digital technologies helped us to achieve a professional standard of film, such as using a blog site to present our ideas for certain researched areas that we conducted such as thriller conventions. In addition, the use of digital technology helped us create a more polished and clear quality of footage due to the use of our HD camera; for filming.

iMovie on our Apple Macs was helpful ensuring our success for our distributors but also our goal to get good footage from using HD camera Luke had brought in. In addition the use of Luke’s camera gave us a wider active range which also improved our film quality (this included lighting; improved on the inside when the light wasn’t as accessible). We found iMovie easy to import our clips into as the interface was clear and straightforward. Furthermore, you can import directly from a camera or from files that exist on your computer. YouTube and Facebook were a fantastic way to ask for peer evaluation. After publishing our thriller on YouTube and Facebook we learnt from our target audience what worked well and what didn’t in our thriller, we got useful feedback and constructive criticisms that helped us in our evaluations. This developed our knowledge and would help us in t he industry if we needed to do this again.

How did you attract your audience?

There were many aspects that we had to consider when addressing our audience during the filming. Therefore, the outcome of our survey was imperative as it made sure us we got the material and media right for our viewers to gain what they had wanted, but also to work with our distributors to gain a greater success for the final product. For example, the questionnaire results assured that people would not show a thriller to anyone under the age of 15 years old, due to the strong content that was involved in these thrillers. From looking at the results from the questionnaire it was clear that people wanted to see a psychological sub genre but also a factor of crime and consequently by doing this it kept the audience fixated as most participants wanted the end of the opening to be on a cliff hanger. We decided to incorporate both of these factors into our thriller opening, due to the market research that we upheld when conducting these surveys and then by doing this we would gain success as our criteria would fit into the BBFC rating of 15.

 When shooting our thriller opening we had consider the requirements from ‘BBFC15’ guidelines and by doing this we sometimes had to re-plan and re-shoot due to the substance not being suitable for that age group such as over exploitation of our victims; Shelby Doe, Rebecca Wilcox and Sophie King.
Investigation and research were key elements as well as our audience feedback, as it gave us the opportunity to assess and pass judgment on our media against our original plans for the thriller opening and to go by our plan at all time. Thus, by doing this; we were able to identify the correct audience and could identify room for change, such as added effects and shot types but also we needed more clarity on shot angles to stress the character, either being superior or weak.

Using the lightness or mise-en-scene for this shot I think it takes into account the typical conventions that appear in most thriller openings; the lighting is dull and the setting in the background is simplistic and unrevealing.

This shot emphasises the hostility the film could portray on women. By showing this shot of one of the victims at the start of the thriller is creates suspense making the movie itself more appealing to watch.

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

Our opening of a thriller wouldn’t appeal to such companies as Disney but instead more independent companies willing to take a risk on new ideas that come from unknown movie makers. This is because giving our opening to our thriller successful they would make a large profit and being new to the industry we wouldn’t ask for a lot of financial reclaim. I think the institution to distribute our media product should be Screen Gems. Screen Gems are an additional company that are invested by Sony Pictures Entertainment and Columbia Tri Star Motion Pictures Group. This allows for many genres but specifically thrillers to be produced without the “parent” companies risking it on lower budget films.

Screen Gems pride themselves as a media distributer that produces and releases many horror/ thriller movies. They also pride themselves on distributing films that are originally developed by the Sony Pictures Classics.

Its previous films to have been distributed are; Underworld (including all of its predecessors), Resident Evil and When a Stranger Calls. The last movie is very important as this is the movie that our thriller opening was originally based upon. The most attractive convention the film held was the aspect of having a clever killer. He plots out the progress of the victim and acts like a puppet master – making sure everything follows to his plan. We used this feature and developed and moulded it to our own media skills and limitations. This is why I think Screen Gems would be interested in distributing our media product.

Who would be your chosen audience to watch your media?

The groups that we have focussed on during our media production are suitable for a target audience of…15-30 year olds. This was due to the statistics and responses we were given from our questionnaire. I believe that we got this particular response because the age group above shows a meticulous correlation of watching thriller after thriller. Once we knew our target audience this meant we had a template to work to; we knew what material we had to work towards therefore a stalker like film would be appropriate for this production, given that the age range understands the concepts and knowledge that comes with the piece. We concentrated on a male stalker to follow the stereotypical expectations of an audience. We weren’t looking for a unique story line here, so by using a stalker who is male it may give a certain amount of understanding to the viewers; understanding to the film may bring about a subconscious sense of security leading to suspense and tension with conventions that could be misunderstood. I think this worked well that we used a male stalker and I learned that using a stalkers point of view with a camera wasn’t easy.

Suitable only for 15 years and over

No one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work.

 

Discrimination

The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.

Drugs

Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.

Horror

Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Language

There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’). The strongest terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.

Nudity

Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.

Sex

Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.

Theme

No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.

Violence

Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.

These are the guidelines that we used as a template to our target audience. To specify what sort of person would be watching out thriller, I have created a fake character profile created and moulded to the specs that the questionnaire statistics read.

·         Male

·         17 years old

·         Watches films with his friends

·         Watches thrillers 2-3 times in a week

·         Downloads films off the internet

·         Studies in UK higher education

How does your media group represent particular social groups?

I think we managed to represent the people involved in our thriller opening with ease and clarity. To represent our victims we used high angle shots to show there positioning was inferior and made sure they were in a mid-shot so that the audience could see they were tied up or helpless against our protagonist. I think we also managed to represent the victims well by using women because stereotypically they are inferior physically compared to men, this gave us an advantage due to the audience being able to relate to this. Using age for the victims wasn’t a big issue altogether because everyone taking part was around the same age so we kept it as such, and showed physical dominance over age supremacy. Due to us using the victims as females we could refer this back to numerous campaigns held globally about violence towards women, this means that it is obviously recognisable the severity of a situation such as the one performed in our thriller opening.

 

The way we represented the protagonist through our sequence I believe is through mise-en-scene, especially camera angles. We first represented his masculinity through his gender. However politically correct it may or may not be, males have always had a physical dominance over females. When we were picking our protagonist we thought about using a female but it seemed odd and the plot would’ve had to been changed. Secondly, his clothing; he is always seen with the hood over his head to create a sense of mystery and have the look of someone cynical. I think this worked well; we used a trench coat-like parka that concealed his facial features to a certain extent. With the camera angle we used many long shot when he was capturing the victims to show sheer size difference that represented supremacy and authority. We also used high angle shots to represent his superiority that was shown with the opening titles. This worked well and connoted that his role was fulfilled by using these shots.

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

Narrative
Thriller films are normally shown from two character points of view. The first being that of the protagonist, which involves the audience more in events and creates empathy for the character. Or the narrative is occasionally told from the view of the villain, which can lead to empathy for the villain also at their twisted understanding or perhaps disturbing past that has led to the present, although it can also create a sense of guilt. Lastly thought the narrative can also be told from the point of view of an onlooker, detaching the audience from events so they perhaps are more observant.

Events in the narrative enable the film to progress, and allow the audience to second guess what will happen next. In many films this will be wrong so adds to suspense. The dialogue in thrillers never contains a complete explanation of events or plot, to give it pace, and maintain the mystery, which is essential in building up suspense. I think narrative in a thriller needs to be subtly mysterious but confident enough to tell the audience part of the thriller.


Characters
Mise-en-scene: Commonly characters appear smartly and well dressed with dark colours in spy based thrillers e.g.: James Bond. However dress codes differ depending on the context of the plot, for example in Running scared, the protagonist Joey Gazelle is not smartly dressed, but is casually dressed, in non expensive clothing, this makes Gazelle look unprofessional. Similar to dress codes for an action thriller like Die Hard for which Bruce Willis wears casual, masculine clothing, which helps empower his characters appearance. Gangster thrillers almost always have sharp, smart suits. Where as dress codes for Slasher thrillers especially for female characters is sexy, or revealing. For males they represent when wearing suits a sense of masculinity and dominance.

Character Parts: Often in thriller films, there is one character that plays the role of a helpless innocent female in need of rescue. On the other hand there is also a male who helps the female (hero). The female however becomes brave when her help is needed and often aids or saves the male hero/protagonist? There is therefore normally a male hero who battles the injustice and ultimately aims to defeat the residing evil of the situation to allow good to prosper. The residing evil in thriller films can be a vast majority of characters from a monster to a twisted boy next door. There is however some common characteristics which include solitariness, revenge, anger, or a skewed view on events, as well as distorted social skills and understanding.

Iconography
Setting: Can be urban, isolated suburban settings, cities or quiet country villages.
Mise-en-scene: Normally dim lighting hiding parts to a character, large threatening weapons for props e.g. large knives, guns etc (This is quite clearly for a stereotypical thriller because this will not always be the case). Camera shots are normally point of view shots, frames within frames, or close ups this is for the audience to understand the perspective of the perpetrator. Often there is also a lot of camera movement; the reason for a lot of camera movement is so that viewers do not fully understand what may be happening in a scene. Colours are also used to signify different emotions like red connotes blood or danger or passion, blue/black; cold, mystery or death.

Themes
Themes are commonly based around society’s current fears and worries. They may be isolation, entrapment, murder, pain or terrorism. You may also normally find that in thrillers, conspiracies are often told of or based on. This is due to a sense of familiarity to the audience this may lead to a subconscious form of security that leads to confusion if something irregular occurs within the story or sequence which in turn creates long term tension/suspense over the film.

The text above shows the typical conventions of a thriller. This can be from sound to camera shots. Themes found in sound are often fast tempo set pieces that do not linger. However this can change and lower toned pieces can be set with little crescendo’s to imitate a lingering effect for sinister atmosphere. Themes found in editing are often cut short that match with the music or as I have just explained can fade out like the lingering of music with slight crescendo’s; for example the start of shutter island uses this technique for an effect of eeriness. I have put this in not only to inform the reader but to also link how my media project used and developed the same conventions a professional thriller would have in today’s film industry. From this we can now move on and talk about how we went about using these conventions and why it was so important to incorporate them into our media production.

This “wordle” gives a brief insight to what thriller may contain.

I think our product challenges the conventions of other famous media productions through sound and camera shots. Firstly; sound. One of the most crucial elements in film making/editing, personally, is sound. I think the right atmosphere created by sound can either make or break a movie to quote our American movie loving friends. Sound and music has been around for a long time to say the least, but as music has developed through the ages it has almost become a science to movie makers and editors around the world. What key to set it in; How many ensembles; what instruments should partake in the piece full stop. I think with sound I’ll start with what key can create what mood. This table explains the impressions key sets upon the audience:

Key	Impersonation the key may represent
C Major	Completely pure. Its character is: innocence, simplicity
C Minor	Declaration of love and at the same time the lament of unhappy love
D♯ Minor	Feelings of the anxiety of the soul's deepest distress.
Eb Major	The key of love, of devotion.
E Major	Noisy shouts of joy, laughing pleasure.
F Major	Complaisance & calm.
F Minor	Deep depression, funereal lament.
G Major	Everything rustic, idyllic and lyrical.
G Minor	Discontent, uneasiness.

The table may show more than needed for keys however they are there because they have featured in other thrillers. However there is a steep correlation between the keys G minor and F minor. These both include a sense of mystery, loneliness and disturbance, which is what I think are typical conventions of a thriller movie.

Camera shots used in our thriller

·        Long Shot - This is the most difficult to categorise precisely, but is generally one which shows the image as approximately "life" size ie corresponding to the real distance between the audience and the screen in a cinema. We used this to show how masculine the protagonist was to his victims.

·        Medium Shot - Contains a figure from the knees/waist up and is normally used for dialogue scenes, or to show some detail of action. This was a good shot to use for action because it got everyone in the shot and explained clearly what was happening.

·        Close-Up - This shows very little background, and concentrates on either a face, or a specific detail of mise en scène. Everything else is just a blur in the background. We used this on the face of the protagonist to give a sense of unnerving or a slight hint of psychosis.

Camera angles

·        High Angle - Not as extreme as a bird's eye view. The camera is elevated above the action using a crane to give a general overview. High angles make the object photographed seem smaller, and less significant. This was to show the victims were helpless and to stress how vulnerable they were.

·        Eye Level - A fairly neutral shot; the camera is positioned as though it is a human actually observing a scene, so that e.g. actors' heads are on a level with the focus. We used this shot on most of the people because it is realistic and hard not to use, it also shows a lot of what is happening if clarity needed to be extenuated.

·        Low Angle - These increase height and give a sense of speeded motion. Low angles help give a sense of confusion to a viewer, of powerlessness within the action of a scene. With used this at the very end of the sequence; a conclusive shot to show that he was the victor in a sense.

Camera Movement

·        Pans - A movement which scans a scene horizontally. The camera is placed on a tripod, often to follow a moving object which is kept in the middle of the frame. We used this to show scenery or the setting of the taking of the victims and then panning towards the protagonists taking them.

Hand-held shots – we used this through the house we were filming in to give a sense of chaos and desperation to leave the place. This was very effective.

Further research of thriller genre

Research on Thrillers

Thrillers have been an iconic genre of film for people to watch. The popularity of the genre comes from its ability to please most audiences because of its capacity to occupy most conventions everyone can enjoy within a high-quality film. Within this piece of writing I intend to highlight the pro’s and cons of thrillers throughout the industry and bring to light what I think makes a great thriller.

Firstly I’d like to address the opening of the thriller but I only intend to “scratch the surface” as it were because I will be writing a separate piece on the opening to a thriller. Typically the opening to a thriller would be catchy, fast and with a certain amount of flow however not giving any or little information. The opening a scene of a thriller movie is to capture the audience without showing them the bigger picture shall we say. For example; a classic thriller The A Team, featuring Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper and Quinton Jones. The opening scene to this comes to fourfold. To start with a dark room, very hostile with Liam Neeson and a bag over his head. Before you know it and you’re a few minutes into the movie you begin to understand that corrupt police officers have kidnapped “Hannibal Smith”. So we have acknowledged the fact he is being held captive but the audience still has no impression as to why.

Next scene involving Quinton Jones being chased by police officers through a busy town in a very hot, arid environment. If we were to stop the movie we would already be able to guess as to the whereabouts of this location. Given the fluent Spanish from the police officers, the weather and the financial status from the town itself one could infer a small settlement in Spain itself or Mexico. As “Barak” has fled the scene with the officers in a Lamborghini the shot pans to a secluded mechanics shack. From this we could conclude Barak has stolen the car and intends to sell it. However he gets into a brawl with the mechanics over money issues and without sounding to cliché “opens a can of whoop-ass”.

Constantly shifting the next scene involves the hilarious Bradley Cooper being taken out of a house on a mountain top and being put into a ring of tyres whilst being furiously accused in Spanish of sleeping with the superior officer’s wife. In the background one of the officers is tying a noose which adds a nice helping of tension to this scene as “face man” clearly has no escape route. The scene then cuts quite unsuspectingly to Hannibal running through the desert and catches a glimpse of BA in his glorious GNC vintage truck. The scene continues with Face in his tyre ring, now with the noose over his head and the superior officers’ comrades marinating him in petrol. Not only do these scenes already show that something big will happen they are subtly coming together quite nicely as a pattern forms.

Without dragging this on I’d like to talk about the sound that has been taking place throughout all these scenes. There are many dynamics that are set in the compilation of pieces, a set of low strings and lower timbre drums add a sense of mystery and tension. Whilst instruments such as violins and cellos are used to fill in the gaps without making them sound unimportant.

The next shot is inside BA’s truck and jolts as if he’d hit something. He performs an emergency brake and dust is kicked up that impairs his vision. And with a western cowboys and Indian esque like effect, Hannibal Smith stands in front of BA. He then moves with caution towards him caressing a P99 at point blank range telling him to move aside. Firing a warning shot in his arm leaves BA in shock and awe; more at the fact he shot his truck than himself which adds slight humour in there. As he gets a look at BA’s tattoo things become extremely real and they reacquaint themselves as comrades. Then the objective is explained to BA not telling the audience and cuts to Faces little predicament.

Whilst Face assures the Head officer that he won’t be killed the Policemen laughs at his face whilst counting money that the officers who had captured Hannibal had given him. As he counts it he finds a GPS tracker concealed and a wonderful shot that pans from an anterior angle of his body from the money to his face as he realise what is about to happen. The pyrotechnics must have had a field day here, explosions going off here, there and everywhere as the monstrous truck charges its way through the fire. Gun shots are fired and they save the day for face. The music rapidly stops as they have rescued face, but if you have ever watched the original A team, “the oldies” must be thinking...Weren’t there 4 in the A Team?   

They turn up at a hospital looking for someone by the name of Murdock and find that he was actually a patient however he was stitching up baracus’ arm still not knowing who he was. But this seems too civilised for The A Team so who turns up raging with fury, the policemen fire arms at the ready. A short introduction wouldn’t be a far stretch from a lie. Hannibal (who seems to be  graciously choreographing these meets) tell Murdock to get up on the roof and fly the chopper, a doctor in the background refuses calling Hannibal himself mental explaining that Murdock is a patient suffering from dementia and cuts to a lovely little scene of Murdock trying to escape by start jump a car with a defibrillator. This without a doubt lightens the mood leaving the audience to forget about the police officers still wanting to kill them. After a triumphant helicopter chase across Mexico and into USA borders they baddies get blown up and they run the titles. Although I shrewdly chopped the end it’s almost irrelevant because the principle still applies across all 4 little stories it was showing. I thought it was a brilliant opening that had everything it needed in it. Humour, sex, fights, guns, fraudulent Mexican Police officers and explosions. This is one of the pinnacles of film making.