Evaluation

My Thriller develops or challenge forms and conventions of other real media products because it is Thrilling, keeps people at the end of their seats and wanting more, it is spontaneous and also it has a strange story line towards it. For example, the film ‘Kiss a girl’ has unexpected twists throughout the film. The use of the camera works also relates to real media products (Thrillers). For example, in The Shining there would be close ups to shows emotions and trances, which also takes place within our thriller to shows the actor emotions and confusion towards the audience as well as it brings tensions whenever the close up is used due to the unexpected shot. There is also use of sudden zooms within ‘The Shining’ and ‘The Night Before’ which helps to bring an unexpected focus on the audience, including towards the end of our thriller, which brings uncertainly as the audience would be unaware of who the killer would be, which therefore relates to the conventions of a Thriller ‘keeping people at the edge of their seats’. The sounds used within both of the thrillers consist of diegetic sound, non-diegetic sound as well as dialogue. However, there is less dialogue in our thriller and more non-diegetic and diegetic. For example, there is use of dialogue within the flashbacks of our film to bring a sense of realism into our thriller as Tope starts to realize what had happen ‘the night before’. Towards the end of the film we played non-diegetic sound of a heartbeat to help bring out tension as tope feels uncertain about the situation. For example, the point of shot was used and then Tope saw Karel lying on the floor dead. The heartbeat used at the start if the point of view shot helps to increase tension for the audience as well.

Our Thriller represents particular social groups because it is based round certain age group however, it would also consist of a variety of ages. The actors (Tope and Karel) are 16, so therefore our thriller may relate to other teenage girls that likes to go out clubbing and who likes to have fun. However, this thriller shows the consequences of having a good night, as Tope and Karel had shown perfectly throughout the thriller. Within our thriller there are two actresses throughout as the majority of the time girls are most likely to be a victim towards these sort of crimes E.g. rape, death etc, and out thriller brings awareness about the situation. Tope and Karel are working class girls and most of the crimes are committed between working and underclass girls. However it is unlikely to happen to upper class girls as they would go to prestigious places and more likely to get a limo back where girls from under /middle class are less likely to get into a cab if they spent all their money on alcohol. There is no use of sexuality within our thriller as it is mostly based on death and friendship.

Our movie might be distributed in a big Hollywood Blockbuster around the world, as it contains all the conventions of a Thriller. For example, Music, setting (a run down place) and the most important one a twisted story line. When looking at ‘The Shining’ and ‘The Night Before’ they both consists of the typical conventions of a Thriller, including the twisted story line, which grabs the audience attention and makes them to continue to watch more and makes them want to know more. Our thriller would also be different to the other typical American thrillers. When advertising my thriller I would be using big Billboards to help to distribute the film and it would help to grabs people attention. I would also make up a catching Tag line to grab the audience attention as well.

The audience for the Thriller would be 15+. This would allow us to have a wide range of audience, which would very from young to old, and also the young and the older would be able to relate to it because it might has happened or they no something that it has happened to. The younger audience would also be able to relate to the young actors. For example one of the actresses is called Tope and she is 16, she likes going clubbing and chilling with her friends (which most girls like to do), she is currently in full time education, however she does part time work. This shows a typical stereotype of a girl during her teens. The audience would therefore be mainstream instead of niche as it would be able to attract the interest to people with different ethnic groups as well as age and gender. The Thriller would also help to raise awareness throughout our thrillers.

To attract my audience I would be using different strategies to grab a mainstream audience. This would include different marketing types. For example, I would be using stand ups in a video rental outlets ‘Blockbuster’ to help to promote my thriller. The stand ups would include paperboard life images of figures from my actually thriller to give the audience as sense of excitement. I would use film posters, which would be distributed in and outside of cinemas, on the buses, streets and shops. This would help garb peoples attention, as the film poster would be in the most common place where people are able to see them. In addition, I would use paid advertisements. For example, Newspaper (The Sun) as a variety of ages reads it, and magazines (young voices, Bliss, Racing magazines, wrestling etc.) to advertise my thriller as it would gather a bigger audience, including different ethnic groups and genders. I would also do merchandising, but the area I would cover is promotional giveaways. For example, branded drink cups, and food combinations at fast food restaurants. For example, McDonalds, Burger King and more. This would help to promote my film and help to gather the audience attention towards the film.

Within the process if the filming I have learnt new things during the process; I learnt how to use Final cut Pro, Live Type and Soundtrack Pro. When using Final Cut Pro I learnt hot to put scenes together, cut scenes, add effects and how to change the contrast (however we did not the last one to our thriller) within Live Type I learnt how to make credits for our thriller and how to choose effects and font. I also learnt how to import credits from Live Type to Final Cut Pro. Also when it came to making a soundtrack for our thriller we had to use Soundtrack Pro. Within Soundtrack Pro I learnt how to add in sound effects. For example, the heartbeat. I also learnt how to fade in the Diegetic with the non-diegetic sound which would make our thriller alike with the Hollywood Blockbuster institution, as it is professional. The other part of our task in media was to Blog the filming process which we had to keep track of. The site is www.blogger.com to view my blogs. Within the blogs I wrote my understanding of the process and what I and my group had done, however I also showed some of the problems that took place within our practical. For example, we had to re-film again. After we had finished our thriller we had then had to upload it on our blog before we done but before we than this we had to up-load it on vimeo... (www.vimeo.com).

When looking at our match cut exercise we had to go through a film making process which includes, storyboarding and planning, to filming and editing and then post of production which we placed on the blog. When it came round to do the storyboarding and planning, I first realize that without these as central elements there wouldn’t be a thriller. So we came together as a group and discuss our location and our narrative in which we were then able to do our storyboard. When we had to complete the storyboard we then had a ruff idea on the different type of camera shots we would use and what affect that would have on the audience. When it came to filming, I learnt how to set up the camera and how to film different shots with it. Moreover, when it came to editing I learnt how to use different programmers to edit certain parts of the film that would be able to create the conventions or the thriller. Also when it came to the post-production we had to upload it on viemo before we could put it www.blogger.com Viemo would also allow us to upload it on www.facebook.com or www.youtube.com. I tried to upload our video on facebook; however, I was unable to do it.

Cinema

On the 12th of March, the whole media students went to the VUE cinemas in Angel Islington to watch our Thrillers in which we made. Everybody who was there was enjoyed watchin the Thrillers and also gave a postive feedback, towards every Thriller after the clip, which involved chapping ther hands and shouting. When it came to our Thriller, everyone enjoyed it which was shown by the clapping at the end of it.

Filming&Editing

Thursday 29th January2009

we carried on filming, however becuase we chose to film the thriller in a dark key, so we had to wait until it was 5 o'clock. During that time we decided to start editing on what we previously filmed the week before (however i was not there when the filming was taking place, as i had to finish off another piece off coursework which was due in the next day.) We also started on our credits, which we decided to have a black background and white writing. We also decided on what are production team which is TLKK. This stands for Tope, Lamar, Karel and Kai.. it also stands for talk, which can connate that as TLKK productions are normally good for making films, it we be well known as people would 'talk' about it.

When college had finished, we then went to go and film... we was filming the part when Tope (the friend) wakes up in the middle of no where and starts to stagger down a hill where she finds her friend dead..flashbacks would also be included in this scene. we used a different varitey of shots within the. For example, we used Extreme Long Shot, Close ups, Medium Close Up etc. We used the light however when me or Karel would shine the light on Tope or the wall and different objects, it would just look like a spot light which is not helpful as we wanted the light to be natural even though it was dark.

Thursday 5th february 2009

We decieded to change our filming time and do it in light key instead of waiting for the sun to set and film in the dark...however we are going to keep our flashbacks to show what has happened the night before, so it would be able to help the audience to gather a sense on what the film will be about. we also changed the time because none of us would be able to stay that late after college to continue with the filming.

We alo finished of our credits, so we atleast have one piece of the editing process that we dont need to worry about, we also added on an affect onto our credits to make it unique and not just basic...

we edited abit of the scenes however beacuse we have not finished with the filming we was not able to do anymore ...after Lamar started to play around with the effects and added a cartoon affect to it...after this he left the lesson half way and did not return.

We decided to carry off the filming during our double lesson on Tuesday and to finish the rest of the Filming on Wednesday after 12:15, however Lamar is unable to help us film as he has to go to rehersal for Rock Apocalypse.

Tuesday 10th February 2009

During todays double lesson, Me, Tope and Karel managed to finish off our filming and start to edit our Thriller. We managed to re-film everything so our chnages would be able to occur like the dark lighting to the light lighting.

We also included different camera shots. For example, Long shot- birds-eye view, close up, extreme close- up and more. This helps to give a different sense of feeling for each and every one of these shots. For example, the use of the extreme close-up of Tope eyes allows the audience to gather a feel of suspense and terror.

After we had finished filming our thriller, we went to the back to the college and into the editing room, where we logged and captured every clip from our tape. After that we started to put the scenes into order, but also including the thought for where to put our flashbacks. On thursday we would carry on witht the editing process.

Thursday 12th February 2009

In Karels spare time she managed to come up with a soundtrack for our thriller which was really helpfull for the group...within the lesson we managed to blend in the soundtrack to suit our Thriller ....also later on we added in a heartbeat soundtrack to our thriller to help add in more tension so the audience would be able to get a fill of suspense and to feel scared. We also finished of our crdits on livetype and imported then into final cut where we placed them into certain parts of our thriller.....however we still need to put the soundtrack with the thriller nd then i believe we are done...with the editing .

Tuesday 24th Febryary 2009

In this lesson we looked over our Thriller to check to see if it needed any improvements. We decided to change a bit of the sound effects and our credits as some where shorter then the others.

When editing the music we had to change the ending of the music because we wanted the main sound to play after the title instead of hearing the heartbeat play on, so the music goes straight back to the main sound after the heartbeat. We also faded in the noise of the shoes within the main sound to make it flow with eachother.

When it came to the credits, however the process took longer then we expected due to little mistakes in which we made.

When we finished making the corrections we had to import the soundtrack from Soundtrack Pro to Final Cut as our final editing towards our Thrille, we was able to do this, however it took sometime as we was unable to find where our Thriller was.

The Pitch

Before a new film is made and once a writer has developed and idea for a new film, they would present the idea to the producers in hope that they be given the money to make the film.. This is what our media class done in their groups. We had to pitch our idea to the whole class including our teacher.

20th January 2009...
We decided what our plot development is going to be for our opening squence for our Thriller. During this lesson me, Karel, Lamar and Tope came up with individual ideas and after we finished we tried to come up with a plot that we was going to do next. However we wasnt able to decied on a plot. Andrew then came to our group and read what he saw on the paper. Andrew suggested that we should use Lamars plot and use my location (Ally Pally-FunFair). We decided that on friday after college has finished we was going to go to Alexandra Palace to cheack to see if the FunFair was still up and working. When seeing the FunFair we would then be able to decide on the camera work we should use and why and what effect would it bring. We decided to use Ally Pally FunFair because it is mostly deserted and it would therfore give a creepy, scary effect.

Within the Pitch we answer questions like, ' Who is the film aimed at? the choice of camerwork we will use... describing the key features like describe the setting and locations that we are going to be filming around and also the lighting which we are goin to use. For example, Dark Key.'

At the end of our pitch...the classed ask us a couple of questions as well as our teacher...in which i think we answered them very well...as we gave them the answer that they wanted to hear....Overall i think our pitch went really well as we mentioned everything that we was suppose to.

Missed lesson and Match Cut Exercise

On Thursday 8th and 15th we was palnning for our thrillers however i was not in for these lesson i also missed Tuesday 6th, where we watched the A2 thrillers which helped the rest of my class and my group as it would be able to give them a ruff picture of what to use and what not to use as there was a variety of good and bad thrillers.

On Tuesday the 13th we done a match cut exercise where we had to go out and film. As i was not in the last lesson on how to do a match cut and what a match cut is i had to learn everything on the 13th of January 2009 when filming.

when filming we chose to film in a different location instead of the typical college setting. So as a group we decided to film in the N1 centre. Before filming in the N1 centre we decided to do a long shot of Tope walking towards the N1 centre. This shoot took place at the M&S next to the market. Once we got inside the N1 centre we had to sign ourselves in for the fact that if anything happenes they would know who we are, safetly reasons. When filming we all contributed. For example, we would help with the camera work and give suggests on how to make a certain scene better. This was an advantage towards our group because no one was left along to handle every detail of making of the match cut exercise.

After we had finished filming we came back to college to start editing our final piece of the match cut exercise. When we finished editing the 1st draft, Mickey said to shorten a couple of shots as they are too long and the audience may lose interest after a while od watchin it. So we took his advice and shortened them. We also muted the digectic sound, however when the coverstaion was taking place, we un muted it soo the audience could hear the dialogue.

The shining

Before we started to make our film, we as a class watched The shining, to help us gather an idea on what a thriller is based on and it also helped us with what camera angles we would expect when makin a thriller. so that was very interesting for us to watch.

The use of camerwork helped to create tension and dramatic moments within the film. For example, the use of sudden zooms and pons brings unexpected focus on the audience in which the effect allows the audience to ' jump out of their sits'.

Also the use of close-ups, helps to show emotions and traces...

this picture helps to show hwo effective the use is of the close-up includin on the axe...as it is a symbol of death and violence and when looking at wife facial expersion the audience can clearly see how scared she is. As well as the the long edits within the film without shot cuts, builds tension because we are in one place for a long time.

Within the film there is use of diegetic and non- diegetic sound throughout the film. There is uses of sounds from a party however it builds up to orchestral climax of strings and drums. This drowns out dialogue ans shouting of the actors. There is also a high contrast between loud music and silence. This allows the audience to be shocked in a certain way due to the tension in which the sound brings to the film and the effect that it has behind it.

Thriller- Story board and photos

In Andrews lesson Me, Tope and Karel completed the story board for our Thriller... in the lesson we decided to change the location from our plot development (pitch) which was Ally Pally - Fun Fair... we changed it because we was not sure if we was able to film there whenever we want to, due to the fact that it depends on the weather.. For example, if its raining it would be closed.


We also took photos to represent our story board... the photos are shown down below...
















We also decided to change bits of the story from the orignal plot that lamar had come up with due to the fact that it was abit complicated. the orginal idea was a schizophrenic person waking up at a Funfair, they would then call someone and the person who is schizophrenic would then find out that s/he is calling the dead person that they found.

However we kept the idea of some waking up and someone dead, but instead of the schizophrenic person and the phone calls, it would consists of flaskback of the night before. She would then find her friend dead and hen we would end a zoom going into her face and then it woudl turn black. Also the location would be in a Ally Way instead of Ally Pally-FunFair.

Card game Practice film- Set 2-group 9

last thursday Gez gave us a sheet on what out practice film had to be about. the film had to include a pack of cards,over the shoulder shot, ECU and a tracking shot.
when filming we used different camera shots. i was happy with the close ups that we filimed as it managed to show certain emtions tht we wanted to get across to the audience E.g nervousnes. the shot that i thought was the most successful was the over the shoulder shot, as it alloweed the audience to see a characters point of view from the other actor. i also thought it helped to bring tension.
i thought the editing went well, however whe we tried to try something different, like putting someones voice a certain clip without seeing the clip in which that person was speaking we found it diffcult to do so. however when we continued edititng it was successful because when out short film was put togthere it made sense.
when filiming i felt that i learned alot abut mise on scene. for example, the pack of cards within the shor film allowed the audience to gather what the film would be about, alos it gace a clear understanding of what the film was going to be about instead of making the audience confused on what the story would be about.
yes, we managed to create and element of suspense. for example, at the ending of the film when Tope wins the game and Lemar says 'its not over' Tope replys 'it is' and closes the door behind her, while as soon as she lives Lemar is on the phone. this shows suspense as the audience does not know what will happen next. i feel that the lighting used within the room helped to create the suspense but also i feel that the dialogue used and the tone of voices also helped to create it.
sometimes when filming i forgot to fill up the space above the ctors head and sometimes we will forget to film extra 5 seconds before and mainly after each shot.
i think we used a couple of conventions from from real thriller films. for axample, the use of the close-up shot, over the shoulder shot, put also the dark lighting used and the digetic sound however we was unable to put in a soundtrack as we had not finished editing.
Gez thought that our short film so far is the best that he has seen within our class, however we have not finished editing.
i thought that our practice short film went really well and we all contributed as a group so no pressure was put on anyone. we also gave ideas towards the film which the group took in a gave their opinions. overall i believed that the practice film wen t really well and that when it comes to make our own thriller i would learnn from the mistakes made and our actually film would be alot better.