Evaluation

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

We conformed to the typical aspects of the thriller genre in several ways. We have begun the process of the many twists and turns that you find in a thriller by throwing a murder in straight away which will shock the audience, and encourage them to watch on to find out why it happened and who it was done by. We also chose music that matched the feel of the genre; dark and mysterious music is typically found in many media products of this form. In my opinion, the music is what made it and really did add to the tension we wanted to portray. Another way in which we followed the expected conventions is by keeping the murderer anonymous. There are many films that do this simply because it is an ideal way of ensuring there is continuous mystery throughout the film which keeps an audience gripped. Although our thriller does develop many of the forms and conventions expected, it does challenge them also. We have done this by creating a contrast between the unsuspecting opening and the chase scene and murder that follows. The music and the whole mood changes in a short space of time, keeping the audience attentive.



How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The voiceover at the beginning represents the type of person who lives in the town of our thriller. You assume that she is fairly old and wise as she clearly knows a lot about the area and says "I've lived in this town my whole life." The context of what is said in the voiceover implies that the people who live there are good innocent, and happy with a simple life. This is a social group that many can relate to. Our film also represents teenagers through the characters of the victim and the hikers. It shows the vunerability teenage girls have now and how they can be more susceptible to murder. Through the hikers, we're representing responsibility and initiative as they act quickly when they see the body. Also a genuine interest for the outdoors, which it could be argued is rare to see in modern teenagers.



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

Our film may possible be shown on channels such as Film4 or Skymovies. Both of these are companies known for creating and playing home-grown British films with British directors and actors. Although they play many mainstream films, they also show some that often weren't shown in cinemas often because of tight budgets compared to those of the popular hollywood films. This would fit our product well as ours relies more on realism and strength of story rather than impressive special effects and complex action scenes. These channels are also consumed by that of a younger audience which is who our film mainly targets.



How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted our audience by creating a contrasting and exciting opening to what would be an engaging film. We created role models in our characters (the hikers), representing them to be mature and responsible. Our film also portrays a mature subject matter, this attracts both teenagers and young adults.



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

Before taking this course I had no idea about the amount of work that goes in to create a media product and never truly noticed how much actually goes on on-screen. I now know how many technologies are taken advantage of by the media industry to make their work the best it can be. I understand and experienced the lengthly process that is editing with all its cuts, trying to match the camera shots so there is perfect continuity. I have learnt how to set up and use a camera and tripod. I have more knowledge about how to use Imovie and all the effects it can deliver such as the dream effect we used on our scenic shots at the beginning. I know how to embed a video and upload one onto Youtube and how to get a video from a camcorder to the computer. Also how to add text to a video, import music from Itunes and create a voiceover with a microphone.



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

I think myself and the group have come along way since the first task we created in terms of knowledge about camera shots, continuity, editing and more. In the first task, there was a limited amount of editing needed and there was no where near as much planning and work needed as there was in the thriller opening. I have learnt to plan my time as well as my work and also to make the most out of filming time available.

Audience Feedback

As we only posted our finished thriller opening onto Youtube a few days ago, it hasn't yet received any comments. To get audience feedback we instead posted it onto a news feed on Facebook so that more people could access it and post their views. Overall, we received many compliments and praise for the work we had done.


"Really good use of different shots/camera angles. Creates a good effect." - Matt Marlow

"The music in your piece is brilliant, and i think you've done a good job of creating a continuous feeling of suspense." - Hannah Fyfe

"I really enjoyed your film. I thought your title sequence (splitting up the action) is very effective and makes it look professional." - Ruby Scott

"Really well done! I think you've edited it very well, especially the murder. I would actually buy this film!" - Harry Buckley

"This had everything which makes me not want to watch a thriller...spooky backdrop, clues to sinister events, a struggle for survival (futile) and a gruesome discovery. It's the suspense and shocks which I can't cope with and this introduction would have me seriously worried about the horrid events to follow...it's back to Disney for me, I'm afraid !" - Caroline Gilbert

"I know how much hard work they put in whilst filming and planning for this and i think it has paid off. I especially like how the costume is realistic. Well done!" - Emma Gilbert

Our finished piece : Thriller Opening

This is our final piece; an opening to a thriller. I think all our planning and hard work paid off as we created a substantial sequence of shots that showed good continuity and a variety of angles and techniques that match the thriller genre.

Music Choice

We knew that the music in films can either make or break the whole feel of a scene. Typically, the genre of music creates an assumption for what to expect on screen, for example if you hear, upbeat, fast-paced music you assume it is a cheerful happy scene. We wanted our music to match the emotions of what was taking place on screen, and we searched for many hours to find the perfect piece of instrumental music to accompany our shots.

For the voiceover, we decided on Everything is broken - Bob Dylan. We had to edit it however to make it purely instrumental so as not to interfere with the delivery of the voiceover.

For the chase sequence, we were after some epic, fast music to create tension and excitement. In the end however, we came across Cthlu Thlu - Caravan which was more mysterious and slow and found that this created the right tone also. We edited this to match the movements on screen also and the timing worked out in our favour, for example, the guitar starts just as the victim looks over her shoulder.

When the hikers were discovering the body, we wanted some form of subtle background music which wouldn't distract from what was happening and would allow for the dialogue to still be heard clearly. Maroon 5 - Secret has a long introduction where the first 48 seconds are high-pitched notes and delivered the haunting tone we were after.

Revised Storyboards

Due to the change in location, we had to draw out our storyboards again to fit in with the new setting. The basic concept of a chase scene remained the same but here, we also decided that the body would be found by two hikers and that the victim would fall allowing the murderer to catch up and attack her.

This is a written adjusted version of our scenes:

Further Planning

This is some further planning we did touching on aspects such as costume and dialogue. We were influenced by the voiceover on "No Country For Old Men" and started to consider using the same technique. We decided it could either be from a central character or a police detective investigating the murder. We also looked at possible props we could use to create more realism in our scenes. These included:

• Specific make up (white powder, red lipliner and blusher) to make the victim look dead from being strangled.


• Hiking poles


• Crime Scene tape*


• White sheet*


• Camera and Tripod


• My camera


• Voice Recording device*
  

* - Not needed. We were planning on having a third scene where a police investigator was at the crime scene with a voice recorder and there was a white sheet over the body. However, we felt this was not neccessary and we created an effective opening with just the two scenes.

Voiceover Script

Following on from our research and inspiration from "No Country For Old Men" we wrote out a voiveover script that introduces the small town that experiences unusual, frequent disappearences. We decided it should be from an omniscient narrator as it was the most accessible option for us since we were no longer doing a third scene with a detective.


Narrator: "I've lived in this town my whole life, which is surprising because people dont usually last that long. No-one stays. This town makes a nice stop for travellers who, true to their name, travel on. This town is dead. Nothing seems to go on here except...people disappear. You get used to it after a while. Most of them are never found. Beyond the town is Morse Woods and I figure that if you were going to be found, you'd be found in there. The few people who do stay here are hard-working, honest and religious. Even so, they've seen their fair share of murder. "
*First scene of the victim running plays, ends with her lying dead on the ground*
"Like I said...their fair share of murder."

Opening Voiceover : No Country For Old Men

This is where our insipiration came from when it came to a possible opening voiceover. The set of stills show the type of location the film is set in, a quiet rather deserted land and the accent of the male voiceover also gives away that it is in Southern America. We were amazed by how such a simple and unexciting opening could be so effective in commencing the film. It grips the audience by making them focus on the powerful delivery of the voiceover as there is no music to accompany it, and although it gives nothing away, it intrigues you to watch on. We hope to create the same effect, however with music in the background as we feel it will help engage the audience more for our particular piece.

Costume Sketches

These are the costumes sketches for the victim and the hikers. We wanted to make sure the victim stayed casual and unsuspecting so that the audience remain unaware about the character and her fate; to do this she is wearing jeans, a vest top and a leather jacket. The sketch of the hiker is wearing the typical attire you would expect; a fleece, rucksack, combat trousers, waterproofs, hiking socks and boots. This ensures they look genuine and believable.

Storyboard : Thriller

This is the initial storyboard we drew up when our location was in the cornfields. It shows the camera angles and different shots we would have used and the run through we did there matches these well. As we had to change location though, we just tried to create the same sort of shots as we had originally planned although this wasn't always possible, for example we had no alleyway to open the scene.

Stills from thriller filming

Here are some still shots i took on the day of filming which show the location, costume and the group!

Film Classifications

The certificates for films are decided by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). This is an independant, non-governmental body which was set up in 1912 for several reasons:

- "we give the public information that empowers them to make appropriate viewing decisions for themselves and those in their care. We help to protect vulnerable viewers and society from the effects of viewing potentially harmful or unsuitable content while respecting adult freedom of choice.

- we provide media industries with the security and confidence of cost-effective, publicly trusted regulation and help to protect providers of moving image content from inadvertent breaches of UK law.

- we are able to assist Trading Standards officers in their enforcement role"


The Categories are as follows:


U - Suitable for all

A 'U' film should be suitable for all audiences ages 4 years and over.
They should offer reassuring counterbalances to any violence, threat or horror.



PG - Parental Guidance

General vieweing but some scenes may be unsuitable for young children.
Should not disturb a child aged around eight or over.

12A/12 - Suitable for 12 years and over

Exactly the same criteria are used for these two. The 12A catergory exists only for cinema films as children under 12 cannot see the film unless they are accompanied by an adult.

15 - Suitable for only 15 years and older

Nobody younger than 15 can see a 15 film in a cinema.

Could be due to language use, violence, sexual scenes.. etc.

18 - Suitable only for adults

Nobody younger than 18 may see an 18 film in a cinema.
Again, due to aspects of the content.




R18 - R18 films are only to be shown in specialised cinemas or liscened sex shops and may not be supplied via mail order. Any content is permitted except that which may encourage sexually abusive and illegal behaviour such as paedophilia or rape.

Reference: www.bbfc.co.uk

Initial Ideas : Thriller

The Initial Idea we had for our thriller was based around a murder. As a group, we thought about the conventions of this genre and what we typically expect from one when we see it. The idea of someone running through a deserted location came into play and we decided this matched the expected criteria well. A chase scene creates excitement and suspense for the audience so we thought this would be a good start to the sequence. It was decided that the murderer would stay anonymous as although it ended up as an obvious murder, it ensured there was still a sense of mystery and allows the rest of the film to develop and unfold who did it and why. We discussed several methods of how the murder would happen, the location, clothing, props, dialogue and camera angles. Our initial plans changed slightly as well due to difficulties with the location. We expanded gradually from the starting block of what a murder involved and had to work on more detailed ideas along the way. We also drew inspiration from "No Country For Old Men" which we had viewed in class, for example, the countryside location and the costume and props.

Taking Lives Essay

In what ways does "Taking lives" conform to or subvert what you consider to be the forms and conventions of the thriller genre?

The film "Taking Lives" includes many aspects you would expect to form the basis of a thriller. However, it does have some features that makes it different and that you may not usually find in a typical film of this genre.

The first factor that is typically found in this sort of movie is the idea of suspense and tension. This can be portrayed in many ways, for example music. Someone creeping around a corner with a gun to mysterious/scary music would create suspense. "Taking Lives" shows this concept of suspense a lot which grips the audience and keeps the film interesting. This suspense is a key factor in a thriller. It is the thing that keeps us on the edge of our seats and questioning the plot and motives of the characters. Suspense can be shown in many ways from fast shots of people running with fear to perhaps a long shot of a location from an unknown on-looker in the bushes. In "Taking Lives" the suspension is created with constant mystery; during the film there are several people who you suspect to be the killer. Also how they film some of the gory murders, they don't always show the whole thing but just keep the use of the sound to get it across powerfully and with suspense.

Several characters in "Taking Lives" are protagonists, they are portrayed to be normal at the start but then their story gradually unfolds during the film. This is something that is typical to find in thrillers as it is the basic structure of this genre and what the audience have come to expect. This also gives the director the chance to play around with twists and turns as characters discover things about their lives. The typical protagonist will often be emotionally detached and in "Taking Lives" they are also intelligent. The killer and Angelina Jolie are very intelligent in what they do and both have troubled histories which mean their emotionally driven. The psychological film "The number 23" uses this technique as well, as a guy realises after a while that he somehow lost his memory and forgot all about what happened in his life before.

There are usually moments in thrillers where the audience feel empathy towards characters of feel like they can realte to them. A few examples of this in "Taking Lives" would first be the scene where Angelina Jolie shows her vunerability and sensitive emotions when she's trying to scrub her body after the killer touched it. All of us feel vunerable at times and this also shows the audience how her character is not as perfect as it seems and this inperfection is something many can realte to. Several characters for example, Angelina and the killer show fear in the film. Again this is another emotion many will be able to understand and connect with, and this is another way of showing that their not perfect or completely fearless. This is especially interesting with the killer at the end of the film, we see him slip up for the first time and it is him who appears vunerable and fearful, showing he is still human and like everyone else. Finally, the audience sees how Jolie's character is an everyday person as well as an FBI agent. She lives her own life and stands up for herself showing a powerful woman which the female audience aspires to, and how she isn't afraid to show her emotions like loneliness, fear and vunerability.

Thrillers are known to start off ordinary and then become extraordinary, and the structure of the film then shows the journey back to normality. This creates the journey and the story that the characters are involved in and ensures the audience will want to watch until the end to see how everything turns out. "Taking Lives" does conform to this in a certain sense, but not completely because although the killer is murdered and the case is over, as far as we know Jolie carries on with the job that she does which means that there will be many more cases like that to come for her.

As expected, thrillers always have their action sequences. These bring excitement, danger and movement to the film which entertains the audience. Action sequences are very important in a thriller but they should be character or situation driven. The action in "Taking Lives" is not always obvious, but it is there. For example at the start of the film there is a car crash, but it all happens very quickly and you don't see it drawn out with slow motions and other effect that you would in an action film. It would be possible to create a thriller with few action sequences however most do conform to this aspect, including "Taking Lives".

A form that is always expected in thrillers is the mystery, puzzles, twists, turns and surprises. As mentioned earlier, this creates the typical structure as a thriller makes the audience constantly question what's going on and whose done what. "Taking Lives" certainly conforms to this and there were a couple of times when i thought i knew what had happened but turned out to be completely wrong. A few examples of these surprises in "Taking Lives" would be straight away at the beginning when the teenage boy pushes his new found "friend" in front of a car, when you find out why Jolie does the job she does, (she murdered someone when she was little), when the killer is actually the person who was acting as the victim and at the end when Jolie reveals she's not pregnant and has set the whole thing up to catch the killer. All of these were totally unexpected and definately grip you to keep on watching.

There are a few things in "Taking Lives" that did not match the typical forms and conventions of a thriller. The fact that it had a female lead was one of them; this is rare to see in this genre of film as it is usually the female who plays an assistant role to a male lead. It was almost implausible and it does prove the point that women that females do usually have to be young and beautiful to play the lead, whereas with males it doesn't matter as much. Another thing i noticed about the film was that although there was violence, it was not overly graphic. They don't show you all the detail and blood from all the killings and they are all over quite quickly. However, this leaves it to your imagination and for me, it was not vital for the power of the film. Finally, the film was Canadian which makes a change from the usual popular American films that come out. It had characters with different accents and backgrounds as well which makes it culturally diverse and of unusual quality, but for "Taking Lives" it all worked and added to the excellence of the film.

In conclusion, the film "Taking Lives" does conform to many of the forms and conventions of a thriller but it does it in a very exciting and unique way. In my opinion, it was a great film and i haven't seen one like it before. All the details were crisp and precise and i think it does deserve to be more well-known than it is. It also includes details that aren't typical of the genre which makes it different, interesting to watch and proves that it didn't need these forms to make it a great thriller.

Location Scouting

Following some prior planning for our thriller opening, we ventured to the nearby cornfields to ensure we could make the sequence of camera angles work without showing the housing estate. We chose to shoot in the cornfelds as when it is not so bright as it was on this day, it can be a fairly dark and creepy place. What started out as a meer location scout turned out to be a short walk through of the first possible shots.


The first shot is a long shot of the alley that leads to the fields. Our victim would walk up and once they have passed the camera, the silhouette of our mysterious killer would appear at the other end.

We would then follow the victim walking across the field with a variety of shots to keep it interesting. They would noticeably be getting more and more suspicious and anxious of their surroundings.
How this shot works, and well, is yet to be worked out. But the basic idea was that the victim and the camera stop and the camera turns 180 to follow what she is seeing over her shoulder. Before this turn, her attacker has suddenly appeared under the tree, possibly in silhouette again to keep them anonymous. At this point, the music would become more panicked and dramatic to match the tension in the shots.

Following this, we would then have fast shots of the victim approaching the tree, unaware of what awaits her.

And then, the attacker preparing their weapon (shown amazingly here with invisible rope.)

As the victim grows nearer, the cuts would quicken...

An anonymous, dark shot of the killer which couldn't be acheived on this run through due to the unusually bright day.

Finally, after the murder had been comitted (a part we didn't run through), we would go to a long shot of the field to commence our next scene in which the body is discovered. It would begin from the same distance and angle but at a different time of day so that the audience are aware of the differing scenes.

UNFORTUNATELY: After taking these pictures, the cornfields were ploughed in all their entirety which left us with mud. So we were forced to relocate our scene somewhere else: Cannock Chase. At this point, we have also come to the decision that a voiceover or character narrative would start off the opening scene well.

Short essay piece

I decided to write an analysis of a modern psychological thriller to show the typical conventions shown in that of a thriller and to show my understanding of the genre.

How is the idea of suspense and tension created in the thriller, "The number 23"?

"The number 23" is a psychological thriller directed by Joel Schumacher. It is a story of obsession and follows the character Walton Sparrow as he discovers countless similarities between himself and the main character in the book entitled "the number 23".

The ideology of a thriller begins straight away in the opening credits. With blood stains blotting the screen and eery music accompanying it, suspense and tension is created. Along with these blood stains, there are also lots of numbers obviousely linked to the plot of the film. This already gets the audience guessing about what their importance is and influences them to continue watching. There are lots of quick, sharp cuts in the credits too, giving everything an edge and never focusing on one thing for too long.

Throughout the film, there is a non-digetic voice-over narration of the book being read. This voice is constantly flat, unemotive and serious so nothing is given away about what could happen next. It makes it clear to the audience that there it something very wrong about the motives behind the piece of apparent "fictional" literature. There are several times where non-digetic voices are used in the film. For example, when the main character Walter is remembering several things at one time, all the voices are heard in a loud, echoey tone. This portrays the fear and confusion the character is feeling and this fearful emotion transfers to the audience too. At one point in the film, the fast pace of disturbing visual shots is combined with the slow talking non-digetic voice. These compliment eachother well and keep the audience constantly aware of what's happening on screen.

The mise-en-scene plays a big part in the tension created throughout the feature. Apart from the first few, all the scenes are dark and shadows are used to give a creepy, uncertain feeling. The lighting is used very effectively, hitting only the necessary places such as the face which shows all the emotion. Binary oppositions are conveyed to the audience with everything to do with the main character being dark and negative, such as his clothing and the lighting. The settings are always very dingy and dirty which creates tension because it's not the sort of place you'd feel safe and secure in.

Finally, the camera shots include lots of close-ups to show the dramatic emotion on the characters faces. The camera angles tend to show things from the characters perspective in an important part, for example when Walter is looking up and seeing shadows on the ceilings or having nightmares of him killing his wife. It takes you through these things as he would see it which adds to the tension because you are seeing it as if the main character was you. Camera shots are used to create confusion, fear and tension, keeping the audience gripped and constantly thinking. Many things are unexplained, and just when you think there's a valid solution the plot throws something new and unexpected at you. This all adds to the exciting thriller that really makes you think and always keeps you guessing.

Continuity piece

We created this piece to show the skills we had gained with camera shots and angles, and also editing. We used the drama studio as a location which in the end fitted quite well as our piece is based on that of a theatre production - the reason it was named "curtain call". For the tracking shot, we attached the camera to a skateboard and for the rest of the shots we used a tripod. Whilst editing, we decided that changing the piece to black and white made the shots look crisper and complimented the old-fashioned music from the film "Atonement" well.

Camera angles

This is the first piece of practical work we did, practicing camera angles. We did try to create a mini-story, with the idea being that Liv and Beth were being stalked by me. However, our main focus was to experiment with the different types of shot and discover that the way they were angled brought a different interpretation to what was going on.

Right, here we go!

Long shot/Establishing shot

This shot establishes the scene and begins the concept of Liv and Beth being stalked as the shot hides behind a bush. With me, the stalker behind the camera, this is a point of view shot aswell.

Medium close up

Beth looking worried and confused as she hears someone roaming in the bushes.

Long shot

Liv doing a nervous look behind the shoulder.

Long shot/medium shot

This is a medium shot of me and a long shot of Beth. I am supposedly taking a picture of Beth as i continue to stalk her.

Medium shot

Liv looking sneaky.

Tilt shot

Beth and Liv's suspicions of a possible stalker seem to have been forgotten here as they are having a friendly chat on some stairs. The way the shot is tilted makes the steps looks higher and gives the shot a more interesting look.

Medium/ two shot

Beth and Liv looking rather thoughtful.

Extreme close-up

An extreme close-up of myself, the stalker!

Long shot

Finally, our last shot is a long shot which is angled at a downwards slant.