dvd extra. Karel Tope

Lamar Fergus-Palmer Evaluation

The opening sequence of my filmThe opening sequence for my Thriller challenges the conventions of real media products by showing that the effects of a night out can be severe. Also going against the stereotypical “Good Night Out”.
By having the central character as a female, my thriller challenges the social norms of male killers and male dominance in film.
As apposed to other schizophrenia-based films, my thriller opening also starts with a dead body and the culprit realization, rather then the actual killing.
The film also varies between actual time and flashback, a common use in thrillers, this allows the film to show one persons train of thought as two different perspectives creating suspense and fear. The opening also conforms to typical thriller openings, there is a death and the culprit is know although there reasons aren’t, this opens lot of pathways in which the film could go and would make the audience want to see more.
The opening also creates the feeling as thought the culprit is innocent and is not in control of their actions, this makes the pivotal character seem like a victim although they are clearly the villain of the film. Therefore the thriller opening could be seen as split between conforming with the norm, and going completely against it.


My opening is representing the youth of London, mainly the ones who like to party and drink alcohol, coming home in the early hours of the morning. It shows them in a bad light, as the thriller shows a tragedy from the night before. It shows young people as not having a care in the world and being a little bashful (as shown in the flashbacks) not stopping until something goes wrong. It also represents young black girls as heavy partiers who dress their best to go out and are loud when they go home. The actual status of the characters is working class, but because of where they have gone, they have dressed up and look middle/upper class. They are shown as working class by crashing out on the streets with no recollection of what happened. The opening also represents these characters as dangerous, unpredictable after a few drinks, making the audience feel wary of walking past a pub or a bar at night for fear of the event happening to them. This film represents anti-social behaviour and youth who are involved in it, who, stereotypically go out to have a laugh, but often end the night with a disaster.


My thriller would be a big Hollywood Blockbuster. It would be distributed around the world by one of the “Big 6” most probably Warner Brothers as they tend to specialize in distributing good thrillers. There would be a large amount of promotion for it, as to make a large profit by attracting the largest crowd possible. It would be shown in over 2,000 screens worldwide, due to the demand for it but would be premiered in each country, thus creating an even bigger hype for the film. There would be small clips “leaked” to online sites such as you-tube and trailers shown online and on television. There would also be a DVD release and a Blue-ray Release. This is due to the nature of the storyline, following a young woman as she tries to find herself but all the while damaging the ones she loves, it is a typical thriller but with a gory twist. This is what is in demand by the public and although the producers are new to the industry, I feel one of the big 6 would want to be involved in such a project as they could see a handsome profit being made. This would help increase sales and publicity making the film a success.


The target audience for my thriller is 16+. This is due to the gory aspects of the thriller but also due to some of the nature, humour and dialogue of the film. The film is based on a typical upbeat working-class teenager who ,through experiencing adult problems, and mental medical issues, is turning into an insane adult. It follows her story how she copes with her problems. The film would appeal to teenagers, who could relate to the teenage problems. Adults who remember their childhood problems and want to see how another dealt with them, but also want to see a youngster deal with their current problems. Working class, who would know how it is to be in the low hierarchy. Middle and Upper class, as they like to see how the lower class live. Females who have always wanted to be in power and will also feel the pains of the main character. For males, the main focal point will be the gore and blood as she kills her friends and family through the film. the film is also aimed at couples as the storyline follows the characters love life and couples tend to go and watch thrillers together to share the fear. My typical target people are “A young couple from Brooklyn who live on social benefits but enjoy going cinema together, they would spend slimly but splash out on rare occasions.”


To attract my audience I would use much advertising. There would be Trailers shown on all major channels, would try to get at least one “ Star” to play a leading role. The film would have its own website, allowing fans and interested parties to view the previews before hand and have special one off offers on TV shows and radio. The film would be advertised on billboards across the globe, but money would only be spent focusing on the main areas and popular places where the adverts would be seen. The advertisement would also be shown on the side of busses. Special merchandise would be available in shops as there would be signature objects from the film. There would also be a game for the major systems (PlayStation and Xbox) which would include clips from the film. The film could also be written as a book from which is written in first person from the central character’s point of view. The advertisements would show the main character and a bleak background with the faces of her friends in the shadows. As I mentioned before, there would be some footage purposely “leaked” to the Internet, but not a finished copy. This with the intentions of getting people ready and hungry for the film.


In the making of this film, I learnt that the quality of the film can be dependent as much on the quality of the editing, as much as the quality of filming. The quality of the film has to be top class as the slightest mistake could wreck a whole day’s shooting. It has been interesting to see how the effects in films are made and how editing can be used to show flashbacks and cut from one movement to another. It has also been useful to learn of another PC music studio other than Logic Pro and how soundtracks are a vital part of film. I also have come to see how hard it is to record diegetic sound from through a camera without the correct equipment. I have learnt how to blog and even though I have had difficulties with it, I have come to see how it is useful for recording my work.


Looking back, I think I would have allocated alot more time to filming as, if you film well, editing becomes easier. There were times when there was only so much I could do without re-filming and this was fustrating. Also, plan on how to get around the natural lighting issues, since I didnt have the necessary equipment, the first days shooting in the dark was pointless and a waste of thime, I would research better and make sure I used my time wisely. I doubt i would have changed the storyboard but the editing would have been more professional and the cut credits would have been more definitive.

evaluation karel

Evaluation

My opening sequence for our thriller uses the conventions of real thriller films. It uses conventions such as:

• An Exotic setting(deserted location)
• Non-diegetic sounds
• Thriller atmosphere
• An establishing shot
• Close-ups
• flashbacks

The opening of my thriller is very thrilling and it has an establishing shot to indicate to the audience the location where all the action might possibly be taking place. The non diegetic soundtrack creates tension and a haunting atmosphere. We also used extreme close up to create a great impact on the audience and also to add tension. These are all forms of conventions that thrillers use to create a scary frame of mind for the viewers. Our opening also slowly progress to the exciting bit which allowed the audience time to develop anxiety and make their own interpretation. “events in storyline enables the film to progress and allows the audience to second guess what will happen next…the dialogue in thrillers never contains a complete explanation of events or plot in order to give it pace and maintain the mystery which is essential in building up suspense.” Hhtp://latymermediathriller07.blogspot.com/2007/09/common-thriller-conventions.html I think this definition of what makes a good thriller can be said about my opening thriller because it involves all these aspects.

Example of a thriller looked at in class: “The Shinning”

The film “The Shining is a great example of a thriller that contains all the conventions of a thriller. In the shining there is change of camera angle which immediately creates a creepy atmosphere and there are points of view of the villain, there are lots of flashbacks, and quick cuts. All these techniques used makes the audience think and it also creates a thrill. These influenced my decision about my film opening because it made me think of all the elements that make a successful, thrilling and exciting opening that people would want to watch. Therefore I applied examples from “The Shining” in order to create a exciting opening for my thriller.

The opening sequence of “The Shining keeps the audience on the edge of their seats and gives them something to look forward to rather than having instant arousal. According to the director Jean Jacques Beineix the risks of instant arousal is that “you wouldn’t have anywhere else to go”; as a director you would not be living up to the audience’s expectations. As a director for the opening sequence of my thriller I avoided instant arousal because this means that the target audience would have more to look forward to after the opening sequence. I also believe that the opening of my thriller makes the audience feel that they don’t know nearly enough yet as was shown by the feedback that I received from people that had watched it.

Due to the fact that mise-en-scene creates the effect of suspense for the audience; our use of mise-en-scene makes the audience think about what could of happened and it also enables them to ask questions. For example: when the audience is introduced to the very first character, a wide and high angle shot is shown of her laying on the pavement with rubbish beside her; a similar description can be said for the second character who is seen dead beside a bin with her shoes on the floor and blood on her clothes. “Thrillers may be defined by the primary mood that they elicit: fearful and excitement, if it thrills then it is referred to as a thriller”. Following this definition I can clearly say that my opening sequence is thrilling and keeps the audience on edge. (Google: what is a thriller?) In addition our opening makes the audience ask questions such as, did the victim’s friend kill her? What happened? And why did it happen? It also creates anxiety for the audience because when the dead body is first revealed to the audience before it’s revealed to the villain, it makes them anxious to want to know how the villain would react. I think we lived up to the audience’s expectation because the villain was in the same confused state as the audience is supposed to be and found the situation ambiguous.

My media product (thriller opening) represents particular social groups such as young teenage girls that likes to go clubbing or parties. It represents such group because the characters in our thriller opening are young girls at the age of 17. In addition it represents such groups because young teenage girls are vulnerable and are sometimes unaware of the bad things that can possibly happen on a night out, therefore our thriller opening represents awareness for teenage girls.

The kind of media institution that might distribute my media product is big Hollywood block buster or a DVD release because I think that it would be good enough due to the fact that it uses thriller conventions and it is enjoyable. The audience for my media product would be from young teenage audience of the age of 15 years old onwards. This is because of the fact that our opening revolves around a party scene and this would attract young people because of the fact that they like going to parties. A typical person that fits into our target audience would be 17 year old Tope that does ordinary stuff at day but enjoy going party and getting drunk and not remembering what happened. I would market my film through the genre because of the fact that people enjoy watching films that are thrilling and full of excitement. I would advertise my film on Billboards, the internet and also trailers. This is a very easy way of getting peoples attention because such forms of media are everywhere around especially billboards and posters on buses.

My experience using the digital camera

I gained great experience of how to use a camera and how to use different angles and shot type to create different atmosphere. Due to the fact that I did most of the filming it was fun and I enjoyed it because I was exposed to doing something different and this helped me to gain great insight of what it is like to be a camera person.

Final cut Pro

At first I found it hard to get use to using to final cut because I found it very complex. However after doing independent work on my own in the editing suite I found it really easy and it was very fun which opened my heart up to other things that I might want to do in the future in the media industry.

I used final cut to edit clips for our thriller and to add transitions and other effects. Final cut was also used to import clips from the camera. I also used it to capture and log the footage from the camera onto the computer.

Live type

I used live type to create the credits for our opening thriller. On live type we were able to change the size of the font, the colour and we were able to choose different designs. The type of design for the font that we created was creepy; the font was a cracked typed font which also added meaning to our film. Live type was also used to shorten the speed of the credits. As a group we wanted the credits to be

Soundtrack

I used soundtrack to create the non-diegetic sound for our opening sequence. We also used soundtrack to fade in and out sounds so that it could match what was taking place in our opening film. The type of sound that we used was inconsistent, the beat and rhythm changed, however this was good because it compliment our film and it was in perfect time as the credits.

I used the internet to do various researches about thrillers and what the conventions of thrillers were. I also used the internet to blog the process of my practical work that was taken place each time I had media. In addition to this, we used the internet to upload the opening of our thriller so that others could view it. We also did the same process and uploaded it onto vimeo. Doing this has widened the potential audience for my product.

Looking back at my preliminary task the things that I feel I have learnt in progression from it to the full product is how to work well as a team and to give people an equal chance. I have also learnt the necessity of taking leadership if individuals are not willing to make sacrifices in order to have a successful product and in order to achieve the best grade for ones self. My knowledge of how to use media terminology has developed immensely, in addition to this my overall knowledge of media on a practical scale has progressed up to the final product which makes me feel great due to the outcome of my thriller opening. Overall I have learnt the great importance of camera angles and camera shots and how effective they can be.

Looking back at my match cut exercise I have learnt a lot about the film making process. I have learnt that a successful film starts off with an idea then that idea is developed into a plan and then from a plan to a story board then a pitch. After this process has been successfully achieved then the practical begins; by starting off with filming then editing which final adjustments are made.

Thriller Evaluation

My thriller used the conventions of real media products in terms of characters, props and editing. My thriller used the convention of beginning a thriller with the ending. This is known as the ‘favourite trick of Film Noir’. However we also challenged the conventions of a real thriller because you normally have some sort of stalker. Instead we just have two innocent characters with no villain. The only suspected villain is the character who wakes up and finds her friend dead. The only reason she is suspected is because she has blood on her hands. Before I made my thriller I watched a BBC documentary called ‘Film Openings which was presented by Thomas Sutcliffe. ’ The documentary said that ‘a good beginning must make the audience feel that it doesn’t know nearly enough yet, and at the same time make sure that it doesn’t know too little’. My thriller follows this convention because we give just the right amount of information. In addition, my thriller stuck to the genre of thrillers. This is because my thriller is quite mysterious.

My thriller opening consists of two main characters both of which are young women between the ages of 17-22. My film represents their social group as people who often go out partying. This is because within the flashbacks we see them walking and laughing. They are dressed up wearing heels etc so they are obviously going to some sort of event/occasion. This relates to them being victims because they are innocently going out to enjoy themselves.

The media institution that is most likely to distribute my movie would be a Hollywood blockbuster, which is located all around the world. This is because our movie has all the conventions and characteristics of an actual thriller. It wouldn’t be a DVD releaseonly, because I want to know whether or not the audience likethe film. In order to find this out it would be best for it to come out in cinema first and see how many people go to see it and find out whether or not people enjoyed it enough to go and buy it on DVD. Idonot think it should be made for TV because it does not fit under the category of documentary/short film.

The audience for my media project would be teenagers preferably from the age of 16 upwards. This is because they are the age group who will be able to relate to the film because they go partying and enjoy nights out. There is no particular race that the film is for, this is because all young women from every race tend to go clubbing. We decided that the thriller would be marked as 15+ because people from that age may be able to relate to the film e.g. partying. Also I think it is better because have a wider audience. The opening is not too gory and does not contain any inappropriate scenes so there is no need to mark it as an 18. In addition, the setting of my film hasn’t shown what race lives in that area. Regardless of the fact that both characters in the film are black, the audience the film will appeal to is mainstream. This is because of the clothes that the characters are wearing, they are quite nicely dressed.

In terms of advertising, I would advertise on buses because buses travel to many different areas so wherever we may not be able to go and advertise the bus can do it for us. However, uses a bus allows the film to be advertised in only a certain country e.g. London.

I would also advertise online with trailers i.e. on YouTube and face book. This is better than advertising on just buses because these sites will allow the film to be advertised globally.

I would advertise online because many people go on these sites so the film will be getting a lot of publicity. In addition, there will be posters posted in cinemas and in magazines, which will say coming soon. This is because we are telling the audience in advance. The film will also be in previews in the cinema.

Here is a poster I made for the film. This could be seen buses. magazines and newspapers.

The trailer for the movie would consist of some of the most exciting parts of the movie. Most trailers show the most exciting parts of the movie e.g. explosions car chases, and killings. This is because these bits engage the audience and attract them to want to watch the film. However, I would not put all of the exciting parts of the movie into the trailer because putting all of the exciting parts would leave the audience with nothing to look forward to. Here are some examples of thriller trailers.

Before we made our real thriller we made a practice thriller. We had to follow a sheet that said ‘a character opens a door, walks into a room, sits down opposite another character and they share a few lines of dialogue’. We decided on where we were going to film and went out to film.

The practice thriller influenced my thriller in terms of camera shots. In our practice thriller we did a lot of match cuts, which I thought, looked really good. This led us to creating match cuts in our actual thriller. Also I learnt that location mattered a lot. In our practice thriller we used a very open location where many people were, this taught us that the location for our actual thriller had to be somewhere that was not so open and somewhere where people didn’t go. This is because in order for us to film, our location has to look the same throughout. We can’t film one day with no cars on the road and film another day and have 3-4 cars in the same shot. Our practice thriller also taught us that we shouldn’t make our thriller to complicated because it takes a lot of time. E.g. trying to film a character across the road when there are cars passing by.

During the making of this film, I came across a lot of new technology. Some of which are:Final cut Pro-

This is what the professionals use. This programme is what we used to edit the film. When we had finished filming we loaded our filming onto Final cut Pro, logged, and captured it. Log and capturing is splitting your film up into bits so you can place certain clips anywhere you want. Final cut Pro is where most of the work is done. It has special effects such as fading in, out and sliding.

Final cut Pro is rather easy to use once you get the hang of it. Also, it is not too complicated.

Another programme we used was Live type:

This programme was mainly used for our credits Live type. Live type can be tricky at first but it is very useful. You can write your text onto a coloured background or you can write it onto you film.

My group decided to write our credits on a black background as it gives more of a thrilling effect. We also added faded white lines in the background to add a thrilling effect.

The animation that Live type provides was also very useful and there is a large range to choose from. Here are some of the animations available to use:

We decided to use the font cracked because it looked rather thrilling and it stood out well.

Along with the new technology I came across I also came across a lot of new equipment. The main equipment that was used were:

- Camcorders (Canon XM1)

- Tripods

- Batteries

- Lights

Looking back. I can say that I have learnt that the process of making a film requires a lot of time, effort and planning. I learnt that film writers must write a pitch before their film can be created. Their pitch must persuade filmmakers that their film is good enough to be created and also get money that is needed to make the film. I also learnt there are many different types of shots within a film and these shots make a big difference. Shots such as close-ups add so much detail to whatever is on screen.

Overall I thought my thriller was a success. We managed to stick to the concept that it was just an opening rather than a whole film. Also, I learnt a lot during the process. If I were to do it all over again some changes I would make are:

-My location because I would like to try something a bit more complicated

-The time we film, even though the first time we filmed in the dark didn't work out, I would like to try and make an attempt at it.

However I would keep the concept of my thriller because it leaves the audience with a lot to think of. Also, the concept of my thriller can be filmed in many different locations. I would keep the numbers of characters as 2 because it makes things a lot easier.

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.

Thriller

12/03/09

Today we were lucky enough to be able to watch all of the media students work in the cinema. This was good because it allowed me to hear what people thought of my thriller and I also got to see what work other people produced.

One film I thought it needed mending was love me not. I thought them putting a list of credits at the end made their film look like a short film rather than an opening. Also in one shot their tripod and bags for lighting could be seen. This was very bad, it relates to mise en scene-what can be seen in the shot.

Another thriller we watched was ‘vengeful vixen’, I thought this thriller was okay but looked really cheap. The thriller looked as though it had been shot in the college. Most of it was edited by computer so much film was not required. Also some of their shots were repeated.

 Another thing I looked out for was sound. The soundtracks of most of the thrillers were good because they added intensity and suspense to the film. However some non-diegetic sound was badly used because it didn’t mix well with what was on the screen. As for example one film showed a knife being picked up but the non-diegetic sound sounded as if seven knives were being picked up. Also many thrillers used a voice over as for example one thriller showed a radio and they had voice over with a mans voice and he was saying the news which related to one of the characters in the thriller. 

Thriller

03/03/09 

Today we looked at our classes thrillers. There were four thrillers in total to watch. We were told to make notes on each thriller.

The first thriller we watched was ‘Illicit content’ by Corinne, Candy, Jordane and Abdul. We are shown a street that shows some houses and someone goes and posts a letter into one of the houses. We are introduced to the main character quite quickly. The music is very good because it relates to the main character who is a young girl who looks as though she has just come in from a late night out. Rather than violins playing in the background we hear music that sounds as if it could be played at a club. This good because it relates to the main character.

They also had a variety of shots from close-ups to wide shots to long shots. The close-ups added more detail to what was happening e.g. the letter dropping through the letterbox and the close-up of the water running.

Another group we watched was ‘Happily every after?’ by Cassie, Patrice, Abubakar and Ahmed. Their thriller was about a sister who was playing in the park with her little brother and they were being watched.

Luckily, my class watched my group’s thriller. This was good because we were given feedback and we were able to hear other people’s opinions on our thriller. All of the feedback we got was good. Some of the feedback we got was that the flashbacks gave the audience just the right amount of information. They learnt that the characters went partying the night before and something bad happened which led to one of the characters ending up dead. The class also said that the flashbacks told them that the characters knew each other. Also the title relates to the flashbacks and gave them an idea of what the story was about.

The class also told us that our use of point of view shots were very effective and also added a thrill.

We were also told that it was very good because it did not reveal too much about the film, which is good because it’s only the opening and we do not want the audience to know the whole story from the beginning because they won’t want to watch it anymore.

I was quite happy with the reaction we got from the audience because they seemed very interested in the storyline. They were lots of questions so I knew we had drawn them in to want to watch more.

The third thriller we watched was ‘hostage’ by Rudo, Claudia and Tara. Their thriller was very well put together. They had many different shots and lots of match cuts which worked very well together. The lighting also added to the fright in the thriller.

pitch

before we began filming the first time we had to present a pitch to the rest of the class. we had to talk about what our ideas were for the opening of our thriller and what would make it a thriller. we also had to talk about the setting and what time of day we would be filming. we also had to present our story board to the class. we had to talk about what was going to be our very first shot and the different types of shot that we were going to use.

Thriller Blog, Lamar Fergus-Palmer

Week Beginning Monday 8th December 2008

This week we began with creating a plot for a practice thriller. My group, consisting of myself, Kai, Karel and (Temi)Tope, had to begin thinking about the qualities of a Thriller and what would make the thriller interesting. We were given the subject of a card game.

We also had camera Tutorial with Micky the technician.
We were shown how to use the College video camera's, Casio XM1 and XM2. The functions were basically the same although there were some slight differences.
We were given tasks to...

. Insert the battery
. Enter the tape
. Open and close the camcorder
. Record
. Playback

My group was given the XM1

We were also shown how to use a Tripod .

. Put it up
. Set different levels
. Attach the camcorder.

Each of the groups were a given turn to use the equipment and set it up.

After this, we were allowed to start filming our practice thriller.
The practice thriller task was to film a card game, Tope came up with the idea to use a library study room as our setting. we used lighting in order to make the film more thrilling dramatic.

The basic themes were using different angles to create uncertianty, we didn't show the faces of the actors until the middle of the scene to create suspense.


Week Beginning Monday 5th of January


This week we began with watching the Shining



This is one of the most prolicic thrillers ever made.

Through watching this film, I saw that a film is not always all about the acting, but the technical alspects too. the camera angles , the misc en scene, the diegetic and non diegetic sound.

The film had several scenes which showed the importance of cinematography.

The scene when the Father tries to break into the bathroom.

The use of Shot reverse shot through the door itensified the suspence of the moment and the escalating fear of the wife. The non diegetic sounds also add to the atmosphere giving the feeling of impending death and violence.

Also the several cut-scenes with the Twins and the blood splattered corridor.

These are beautifully choreographed scenes with the minamalistic approach, they only made what needed to be in the scene be in it, making the Twins and the blood stand out. perfection.

With the reverb on the twins voices adds to the thrilling factor and also gives spookiness to the scenes whilst the gushing sound of the blood in the corridor adds to the atmosphere perfectly with the dynamics of the sounds.

Lastly the maze scene.

The use of a dolly to get a steady-cam shot whislt the boy is running is sheer class for its time and gives the idea of someone running with him, keeping the theme of the audience being a silent witness. The clearness of the shot allows us to see the expressions of everyone in the shots.

A deliberate decision made by the team:

Due to the fact that our opening is not 2minutes long, as a group we decided that at the end of our opening when the title comes up; we should have twelve seconds of the music playing until it fades out whilst the title is stationary. we decided to do this becasue it would give the audience time to reflect and grasp what they saw and also it also gives them time to meditate on why our opening is called "The Night Before".

A guide of how to use the camera

In this lesson in which we had Andrew as our teacher; micky (the technician) came in our class room to give us a demonstration of how to use a camera and the sort of things that we should avoid doing when filming.

For Example:

• we were told to avoid getting the camera wet as it could damage the camera and our filming.
• We were also told how to open the camera and also how to insert and eject the cassette.
• Another good advice that we were told was that when zooming in, we should always focus the lense in order to get a good zoom.
• we were told how to make attach the camera oto the tripod and we were also told a good way of checking if the tripod was safely attached to the tripod. If we were able to lift the camera by holding the handle at the top whils it is on the tripod then we wpuld know that it was securely attached.

These tips were very helpful especially for those such as myself that wasn't good at doing things without a manual.

setting and location for our opening

Thriller final edit

Evaluation

We have finally completed  our thriller. The title of the thriller is the night before.

Looking back on our work I can say that I am happy with what has been produced.

We decided that the thriller would be marked as 15+  because people from that age may be able to relate to the film e.g.  partying. Also I think it is better because have a wider audience. The opening is not too gory and does not contain any inappropriate scenes so there is no need to mark it as an 18.

Some adjustments I would make are:

-

I do not feel as though everyone in my group put in an equal amount of effort into making this thriller. I feel as though some members put more into the making of the thriller than others which is not fair.

getting started: filming

After the 20th of January, as a group we decided on what location would suit our storyline. We came up with the idea of filming at Alexandra Palace because of the fact that there use to be a fun fair that always took place and the fun fair was always deserted. However due to the fact that the fun fair was no longer available we had to change location. we decided that we would film at the ally way that is 5 minutes from angel station.

On tuesday the 28th January Lamar, Tope and i Started filming. we started filming at 5 pm due to the fact that it was dark and it would be relevant for our storyline. We filmed various shots such as low angle and high angle which was very effective. Due to the fact that it was dark and Andrew (our media teacher) told us that we should always use the light so that it doesn't come out too dark on screen. However i consistently reminder Lamar to do two version of a shot with light and a shot without light. I told him to do this so that we had more than one shot incase the lightning didn't come out as good as he said it would. After filming every shot we went to the editing suite to edit, however there was a major problem. the shots that we filmed were too dark therefore we was unable to see the shots clearly. O the other hand there were good shots that we were able to use as flashbacks.

Due to the fact that our filming didn't turn out as we expected it, we had o film again. we decided that we would film in daylight so that we wouldn't make the same mistake as last time. However, I was slightly worried because i thought that it wouldn't be as effective as it would be if it was dark.

New filming

On tuesday 10th February we started our new filming. However Lamar was not present because he had rehearsals for the pay rock Apocalypse; this meant that Kai, Tope and i Had to work extremely hard. we filmed at the same location which was an ally, it was really cold so it was hard for Tope and I to stay in role. Despite these obstacles we were determined to finish on the same day so that we had enough time to edit and make our opening as best as it could be. we were determined to do this because we all wanted the best grade that we could possibly get.

our aim on this day was to finish all filming and we achieved our goal which we were extremely proud of. w

Second editing

on wednesaday 11th i decide to go to the editing suite to edit due to the fact that i finished college half day. I was very determined to most of the editing on this day because i was worried that we would fall behind. By thursday the 12th all the editing was done with the help of tope during our 2hour break. On this day i used my lunch time wisely by putting together a soundtrack for our opening sequence, i was very pleased and proud of myself because the soundtrack blended very well with out opening and it added a more freaky atmosphere. within wednesday and friday, we made credits that would suite our opening. we decided to make the blackgrounfd black and have white writing that makes the background stand out.

on monday 16th February Tope decided to use her time wisely by comming into college to make slight adjustments. I didn't come becasue i thought it was a great chance for her to get more involved in the group work and also the adjustemnts only needed to be done by one person. we did all of the editing on final cut pro , however i had to do the soundtrack seperately which was done on soundtrackpro pro. After doing this we had to import the sound track to final cut pro so that everything was all together.

In today's lesson (24th February) we watched our opening together as a group to see if there were any needed adjusments. Fortunately there was only one slight adjustment that we had to make. we had to increase the timing of the credits so that they wern't too quick and hard to grasp by the audience. The credits were made on live type which enabled us to changed the speend, colour , font and background.After making this adjusments i was very happy because we finished everything on time and it was of good standard.

Team production roles:

• Tope helped to put together the storyline for our opening she also took responsibility to bring in props such as heels, jewellery, bags, and hats. she also helped with editiing our opening on final cut. she also willing volunteered to star in our opening. she also helped out with filming and direction various shots.

• I decided to be a character for our opening because there was no one else available that wanted to do it. My roles were to film,edit,direct and make the sound track for our opening sequence. I was very happy to do these because it was a great chance for me to gain experience and i enjoyed everything. Tope and i also decided on the location that we think would be relevant for our piece.

• kai was responsible for bringing props also such as blood. she kindly help to carry some of the equipments such as the camera, tripod and an umbrella. she also came up with suggestions that we took into consideration.

• Lamar came up with the idea of the schizoprhenia. He also took the responsibility to do a story board despite the fact that he is not a great drawer. He also made the pitch for our group.

Thriller Editing

During the half term the college held a workshop for media students. I managed to use some of my time to come in to add the finishing touches to our thriller. Although I was alone I managed to finish the thriller completely.

I had to create more credits and insert them into the footage. I also made sure that putting the credits in did not create any changes with the sound, if they did I adjusted it.

To create a soundtrack we used Soundtrack Pro. There are a range of sounds available to use.

Thriller

Since we had to film again we decided to film during the day. We already had our flashbacks so we just had to film the day after the incident. We filmed many different shots so we had a variety to choose from. We first filmed an close up of the establishing shot (the name of the street) and then we moved on to introducing the character. We shot a high angle shot/wide shot which showed the character and then shot a close up shot. The camera then tilted up the character. 

I managed to bring props such as heels and jewellery to show that the characters went partying the night before.
Once we finished filming we went back to college and began to log and capture our footage.

Karel managed to make a soundtrack during her spare time which helped us a lot. The soundtrack creates a sense of suspense it fades in and out of the film. There is also some diegetic sound within the footage. It later goes into the sound of a heartbeat which creates more suspense.

Our thriller opening is very simple. We have only two characters.
We had to create the credits using livetype and insert it into final cut pro.

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 opening

During our previous lesson we decided that we finally need to start filming for our thriller opening. Our original idea was to go ally pally which is a funfair in Alexandra palace. Unfortunately, we found out that the funfair will not always be there for us to film so we decided to film in a location that we knew would always be there for us. We also decided that ally pally was too far of a location for us to film just in case we forgot anything at college we would have to go all the way back which would just be a waste of time.

The night before I had been thinking of some ideas for our location. On my way to school with Karel, we saw an alley which was quite near to the college and we decided that we should ask the rest of of our group if they would like to film there. They thought that the location was perfect.
Below are some images of the location:









I also thought of some ideas to add to the thriller. The original ideas a schizophrenic waking up at a funfair and finding someone dead. They then called someone and it turned out to that the dead person was the person they were calling. I thought that there was too much and because we were no longer able to film in the funfair I thought that the idea needed some mending. I thought that we should keep the idea of someone waking up in the middle of a street and to find a friend dead nearby. However I came up with the idea that it should be a flashback rather than the person being schizophrenic. So a young lady wakes up to find herself in the middle of a street. She begins to pass many places and as she passes them she begins to have flash backs of the night before. She comes across her friend who has been killed and then we zoom into her face and it ends there.

We wanted the audience to have mixed responses. Some may have connotations that the girl who just woke up has killed her friend whilst others may think otherwise. This is good because it will make the audience want to watch more which is the point of an opening.  We don't want to start the film with the audience knowing everything about the film, there would be no point in watching the rest of the film then.

My group and I decided to use a lot of non-diegetic sound. We were also going to record some sounds of cars passing to give some effect . We decided that we should make the soundtrack before we made the thriller. This is because the soundtrack may not blend with what is happening in the film if we made it first. As for example there may be a bit in the soundtrack which is trying to scare the audience whilst the film is showing someone just walking past. It would not make sense. We have to know when thrilling bits are going to happen in order to make the soundtrack.

We also made a decision that the credits would be a black background with white text. The program we are using to make the credits is LiveType. I managed to find time to experiment with the program. I came across some fonts that I thought would be useful for the opening of our thriller.

Once we arrived in class decided to do a storyboard. The storyboard helped us to get a visual idea of exactly what our thriller will look like. We did an outline of the opening, describing shots, lighting and length of each shot. We also said where the credits were going to be placed within our opening.

Pitching the movie

A pitch is when someone tries to sell their idea to someone in order to receive funding or equipment in order to continue with their filming.

We had to come up with a pitch in order to convince our teachers to lend us the equipment we required to for our opening.

This is a bad example of a pitch. The people who are pitching the movie are not being serious and are not providing the man with enough detail about the movie. Also the man who is listening wants to know more about the romance of the film but they keep changing topic.

Here is another video of a bad pitch.
The man pitching the movie is not being serious. He is talking too fast and when the directors are asking him questions he does'nt even stop to listen to what they have to say. He does not explain his film in detail. Also he just walks in randomly and obviously has not prepared to pitch hi film.

This video shows a man giving people advice on how to pitch a movie.

The advice he gives is really good, he tells the people that they should make a connection with the director before they start talking about their movie. He says they should speak quite slowly in order for the director to catch what they are saying. They should have eye contact and try to engage the directors.

Practice Filming

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.

Thriller Research

In my spare time, I decided to research thrillers.

Seeing that we are making an opening to a thriller I decided to look at some thriller openings in order to get an idea of what characteristics should be in my thriller opening.

With my research, I found that thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action. Within the genre 'Thriller', there are many sub-genres. Some of which are:
Action thriller - which the work often features a race against the clock, contains lots of violence. These films usually contain large amounts of guns and explosions.

Crime thriller - These films often focus on the criminal(s) rather than a policeman.

Disaster thriller - In which the main conflict is due to some sort of natural or artificial disaster, such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes etc. A very popular disaster thriller is titanic.

Supernatural thriller - In which the conflict is between main characters, usually one of which has supernatural powers.

Drama thriller - These films are usually slower paced and the characters true backgrounds are often revealed later during the film.

Storyboard Tutorial/Match cut Excercise

In one of our previous lessons we were told to use a grid to create a shot list for this synopsis "East London. 3pm. A man chain-smokes as he sits at home at his PC. He copies confidential computer files and plans to a CD. He packages them and is seen posting them.

We were told to film the following sequence, making sure to use at least one match cut, an example of shot/reverse shot and showing we had an understanding of the 180 degree rule.
"A character opens a door, walks into a room, sits down opposite another chracter and they share a few lines of dialogue."

Our group decided that we wanted to try and make it thrilling, because it would be good practice for our real thriller.

I came up with the idea that we should use the N1 centre as our location because it is close and we could take some really good shots there. Our storyline was there was someone walking towards the N1 centre. She walks towards the stairs and sees a strange person standing on the top of hte stairs so she then decides to take the escalator. Once she reaches the top of the escalator she turns around to see her friend sitting down. She then walks to the friend, sits down and has a small conversation. The friend then leaves and the main character stands up and looks over the escalator, only to see that the strange poerson is now coming up the escalator. She runs to the cinema but its locked.She then runs to open the lift but once the lift opens the strange man jumps out and drags her into the lift. The lift then closes and it ends there.

karel morris practice thriller 1 thriller

In my last media lesson which was on the 13th january, my group and i created our own thrillling film. our film was about a young girl that got stalked by a man, then he eventually kidnaps her. The location for this was the local shopping centre because it was easily available and it was also relevant to our storyline. we used various numbers of shot types such as long shots, mid shots, close up. we also used hand held camera, zoom and match cut. we used all these techniques so that they would create tension for our film. we also used them so that we could gain practice for when we do our opening for a thriller.

After filming we went into the editing suite to edit our clip. The outcome was great because we had a range of clips to choose from and we also knew what we were doing. Our team work was also great and this gave me confidence for when we will be doing the opening of a thriller. This gave me confidence because it helped me to see that i can rely on my group due to their participation and co-operation with each other.However, due to time we didn't get to add sound effects,music and credit to our clip. Therefore, i have less knowledge and understanding within this field at the moment.

On the 15th january, which was Annabelle's lesson, we began planning our own thrillers. we also looked at A grade work that was marked by the examiner. This helped me to broaden my thinking and helped me to see that alot can be done within 2 mins. it also helped me to see that camera work such as close up is very vital because it creates tension.

During the process of our planning, we each thought of ideas for a thriller. firstly we thought of the location, time of day, and then the plot. Despite doing this we still found it hard to figure out a story line that was simple effective and possible, therefore we decided that we would think of an idea during the weekend.

In todays lesson (20th january), we were still struggling to think of an idea. However, further on in the lesson we finally thought of an idea. we developed lamar's idea which is about a man that recites methods as he gets closer to the object. he has a split personality and does questionable things due to his illness. we used Lamar's idea and linked it to kai's location which is that of a fun fair. we did this because they had a connection and it would create more tension and it would be more thrilling. we also made a pitch and a storyboard. we did this so that we have a guideline of what to do when creating our thriller.

karel morris (examples of thriller)

EXAMPLE OF THRILLERS:

• THE THIRD MAN







• THE USUAL SUSPECTS







• PSYCHO







• PROM NIGHT







• EAGLE EYE







• LOVE LIES BLEEDING







• DECEPTION

Making a thriller

During our last Media lesson my class looked at a documentary by BBC TV which was presented by Thomas Sutcliffe.

Whilst we were watching the documentary we were told to answer questions. One of the questions said to explain what Thomas Sutcliffe meant when he said "Films need to seduce their audience into long term commitment. While there are many types of seduction, the temptation to go for instant arousal is also irresistible." This means that the audience must be drawn into the film and they must want to watch it throughout. He is also saying that the temptation to start with the best bits is almost irresistible. However,according to director Jean Jacques Beineix there are risks of instant arousal. Some of which are:
- You begin to wonder what you can do next
- You have to live up to the audiences expectation.

Also from the documentary i learnt that a good opening must not give the audience to much so that they will want to watch more, but it should not give the audience too little so they have a slight idea and understanding of the storyline.

We also looked at what Stanley Kauffmann describe to be the classic opening. According to him the classic opening begins with the establishing shot/long shot (of a building), then a low angle shot which begins to tilt up. You then see the receptionist and then the private office.

We were also able to look at the opening sequence of seven which was created by Kyle Cooper. The opening sequence is so effective because it draws you in straight away. It foreshadowed what was going to happen in the film. The cut away scenes are also very effective and the way the credits fluttered around before they were able to be seen created a thrilling sense.

In addition, we were asked what is meant by the term " a favourite trick of film Noir". This is when the beginning of the film is actually the ending and the rest of the film explains it.

We were also shown he opening of the Shining again. The opening creates suspense because it is as if the camera is following the car like a predator.

We also looked at some of the thrillers that the previous year had made. We were told the grade of each thriller which helped because it gave us some sort of idea of what we are suppose to make. One of the thrillers i found really good that the previous year made was blacklisted.

I thought that the students idea was well thought and made a lot of sense. It was very simple because it did not have too much and stayed in the category of a thriller. The film basically had a girl who was on her way home from shopping and it then showed her unloading her shopping. We were then shown a man in a car who looked suspicious. Once the woman finished loading her shopping her door bell rang and when she went to answer it, there was nobody there. Then as she closed the door the man who was in the car appeared behind her and the film ended there. I thought this was a very good thriller because we (the audience) were so calm whilst she was loading the shopping , then we were worried by the door bell ringing but we went back to calm once we found out nobody was there and then we were thrilled at seeing the man appear behind her. I thought that the way they built up to the climax was very smart.

Another film we were shown made by previous students was missing. We were shown someone running in the woods. She looked as though she was lost or she had been kidnapped, I was unsure of which one. Then we were constantly shown a face which looked rather scary. I was unsure if the face belonged to the person who was missing or a monster.

I did however think that the location they used was very good. They used the woods which looked very foggy and mysterious, however it would have gone to better use if they were making a horror. I personally disliked the film and thought that the concept was very bland and went on far too long. I also thought it went more to the genre of a horror rather than a thriller. It didn't thrill me at all because I was constantly shown a face which was meant to be scary. It didn't build up to anything either, and I think a thriller should be up to something that will scare the audience.

Another film I thought that was very good was the untold. This thriller achieved the highest grade. I thought it was good because they kept the storyline nice and simple. It wasn't too over the top and we were provided with just enough information. The camera shots were also very good. They had some match cuts in there also we were very precise.

One of the films I enjoyed the most was the final hour. However, I would not classify the film as a thriller because nothing thrilled me. I would classify it as Action Sci-Fi, that is what it connotes to me. I also had connotations that the main character was a spy which isn't usually a big character in thrillers. I was however very interested in the storyline and once it had finished I wanted to know more and what had led to the ending. I would classify that as action rather than thriller. But I thought their camera shots were very good.