Evaluation.

Here is the final product for our practical coursework. We converted it into Quick Time and also posted it onto YouTube.

Evaluation of finished production.

Our media product does use and develop some of the forms and conventions of real media products. Contrapuntal music is used as the soundtrack. It is a haunting piece which is played throughout, and sounds out of place with the past happy scenes. This hints at the later subverting of this happy image - in which one of the girl's is seen lying dead on the floor after being killed by her best friend. This murder is a commonly used thriller convention, basing the film around a crime committed; again murder being the most exploited concept. It could also be argued that our thriller has a complex narrative structure including false paths at the very beginning of the production (at the beginning it seems that the girl is mourning the loss of her friend, but instead she is reminiscing over the murder she committed to her friend). The title also recognises the psychological state of the protagonist as the victim comes back to haunt the killer for 'Revenge'.

The media groups represented in our thriller are mainly teenage girls. It can be seen as stereotypical as the girls are seen to have held strong grudges against each other - suggesting that females' actions are emotionally-orientated. As seen in our production, this can lead to tragedies/disasters such as murder as the emotional thoughts are acted out in physical violence. No other groups are being represented as such in the thriller. However, a positive aspect of teenage girls' lives are being reflected in the on-screen performance of the happy, 'best-friends-having-a-good-time-together' scene in the park. Girls are typically known for having close emotional bonds with other girls, however it is later shown that these emotions can become extreme.

One media institution which might distribute my production could be Hammer Film Productions. This is a production company whose focal point are distributing thrillers, horrors and science-fiction films. This is good, because this means that the company have well-developed experience in how to distribute a thriller successfully. Some of the psychological thrillers also distributed by this company are known to be low budget and in black and white - features that are also reflected well in my own production.

The audience which we aimed our project at would be between 16-25 year old male and females. Any younger and it could have been too scary or haunting for the children and this would not have been acceptable. We had considered our target audience when carrying out the questionnaire made before finalising our collaborated ideas.

To entice our target audience we centralized our plot/storyline around teenage characters. This hopefully means that the audience can, to an extent, can relate or understand what is going on. Also, with good times showing groups of best friends together at the park can also reflect a lot of youngsters lives/social lives. Having a focused character age range could draw the attention of teenagers as they do not want to have to be concerned with the responsibilities of adults (no interest). This could have been a reason for the huge success of the TV drama Skins, which has recently received a BAFTA. So a thriller with similar conventions could reach the target audience as successfully - but in context of a film not a TV Drama.

Throughout the process of constructing this product I have learnt a great deal about technology and the way things work whilst constructing my own production. From the beginning, each stage has offered different aspects to work with and develop on. Since I directed the whole of the thriller project, I gained valuable experience of how to work with the camera and learned how to move the camera. From panning and tilting camera movements, to zooming in and out of selected objects/props; I learned how to improve smoothness of these camera techniques. Also, through hours of solitary editing, I started understanding how to use and test the software we used (iMovie). Making sure the scenes were cut down to exactly the right moment for the following scenes to flow was the most challenging part, but after some practise it all worked out just fine. Using transitions and effects discovered helped the production to flow more, unless jump cuts were needed for a certain effect for the audience.

All of this could not have been done as effectively if it was not for the trial and errors encountered when creating our preliminary exercise. The problems included a poor continiuity following, meaning the action did not flow (one shot showed actors in one position, next shot was completely different). Seeing this made me realise that we needed to be more careful in the positioning of our camera each time we moved it. For it to be successful, we didn't want it to be completely out of place if it wasn't necessary.

Overall I think it came out better expected, as my idea of the camera moving into the frame then following through straight to the past was rather difficult - and it seemed at times it might not work. However, with the extra hours during lunch and after school, all the hard work came together quite well. More clips could have been added, but due to the time constraint we left these out.

Discussion of appropriate technical competencies

Holding a steady shot.

This wasn't too bad as we had the tripod to keep the shot level, however, we did encounter some difficulty with keeping the smoothness continued whilst panning and tilting the camera at the same time. Our hands were slightly out of balance trying to do it all at once but we tried our very best with it. After a bit of practice though our techniques did improve.



Framing a shot.

This was quite simple as we had already planned most of the shots before we had started filming. We already organised what kind of shots we were going to use and what was going to be placed in the screen. Each shot was going to be a different frame, keeping the audience tense and unexpectedly waiting to see what was going to happen next. We had to make some minor adjustments from our animatic as the location chosen did not quite fulfill all of our expectations and needs as we wanted the haunting victim to be standing behind the camera. However, this could not be done as a bush was directly behind the bench, meaning it was impossible for her to stand there - so we moved her the left of the screen.

Shot distances.

Throughout the filming process, we used different shot distances to explain the different emotions trying to be exploited to the audience.
An example of this would be when we had an extreme close up of Grace's eyes looking sorrowfully down into the picture frame, as it looks like she is looking down into her past memories.
The extreme close up is further used in Paris's (victim) eerie smile as she knows she is about to avenge her own murder.

Shooting appropriate material.

Before filming started, we planned everything that was going to be in the frame. The first scene opens with a close up of a cross, and slowly zooms out to reveal the church setting and later on Grace (murderer) sitting down on the bench reevaluating her past memories. The opening view is appropriate as the church and cross connotes death, which is significant as the thriller is about the death and resurrection of Paris (victim).
Later on, as Grace is seen walking away from the scene of the murder and walking down the stairs, I thought it would be a good idea for a dutch tilt shot to be used here as it emphasizes the disturbed and unsettled state of mind of the murderer.
Also, in the park scene, the camera focuses mainly on Paris and Grace (not Tara and Grace C) as the other two are not really that significant with the storyline that is being presented.

Editing, transitions and effects.

The majority of cuts are straight cuts, keeping in mind that the nature of a thriller is not to be calm and peaceful, but to have a set pace in the product to help add to the needed suspense for the audience. However, cross-dissolves and fade transitions are also used to keep the past 'happy' memories consistent and flowing. Only when the mood of the memories begin to change does the straight cuts have a purpose in creating the pace of the thriller. Although, a cross-dissolve transition is also used at the end when the 'ghost' of the victim runs at the killer. It is used because as the victim starts to run, you can still faintly see her standing still in the background. This further emphasizes the fact that she is a ghost of her former self.
We only used these specific transitions as we wanted to make sure the transitions from scene to scene looked realistic. Unnatural transitions would have only made the production look fake and tacky. This was not ideal.
Black and white effects are used in the scenes showing the friends together and the friend dead because it shows that this has all happened in the past, and the full-colour scenes are actually happening in the present day.

Mise-en-scene.

We had the murderer wearing all-black clothing as the colour black connotes death, grief and darkness. In the black and white scene, although it is hard to tell, but the murderer was actually still wearing black clothing, but also wearing a red hat. The colour red connotes blood and danger - which is seen to happen later on in the sequence.
The victim was wearing a white, flowing dress - as white connotes innocence and also a ghostly manner. Angels are shown in mythology and readings as wearing white gowns, this could foreshadow the fate of this character. However, this angelic connotation is slightly subverted in the fact that she has come for revenge.
Nearly everything we have chosen to be put into the frame has been put there for a reason - especially the backdrop of the church and cross (death).
The actual picture frame was especially made for this too. By making it looked battered and worn, it creates the effect of time passing since this happy, joyful picture had been taken.
Looking closely at all of these factors, each section helps forebode the nature and story of this thriller. As a thriller should "show and not tell".
It took careful planning to try and get it all just right.

Using sound with images.

Most of the sound heard is a non-diegetic soundtrack which sets the mood for the production. It is a mellow piano piece with a haunting side to it, emphasizing that there is a twist in store after the friendship memory in the frame.
However, near the end of the production, we overlapped the sound of a scream which leaves the audience questioning what has just happened to them both as the last thing we see is the victim diving at Grace. Then after the scream, a sign saying "Is there more to life than this?" is flashed across the screen - leaving the audience in more shock and left on edge.
In addition to this, there is a faint, overlapping heartbeat sound effect which can be heard once the memories are over and the ghost is standing beside the other girl to get her revenge. This is meant to be the sound of the murderer's heart as she gets overwhelmed by the memories and drops the frame which smashes.
This was quite simple to do as we only had to download the music from akmmusic.com and rearrange the sounds on the timeline of iMovie. I had to lower the sounds when the heartbeat comes in as it was too low to be heard of the piano music. However, apart from this (and making sure the scream was in sync with the action), it all came together quite easily.

Graphic match.

The graphic match used in our production was zooming into the frame, and then dissolving it to match with the past scene in the park. I thought this looked really effective, as it seemed like Grace was looking down in her memory of this time. It wasn't to complicated to do, as I took a picture (with a normal camera) of the first 'pose' of this scene just before I filmed them. We made sure that this was the first scene shot, so I could print off the picture and place it into our especially designed frame. Then we just had a 'point-of-view' shot slowly zooming into the picture.
The only difficult part was to make sure we cut and dissolved it at the right time so that it matched as well as it could have done.

Coursework complete.

Today we have spent a few hours tidying up our transitions and adding the music I have found from www.akmmusic.co.uk.

Luckily I found this website as we still hadn't received the tracks we ordered from the mobygratis website. However we did have to pay for this music as other websites were not copyright-free which is what we needed. (I paid for the music). This saved us valuable amounts of time which we would have had to use up trying to create our own soundtrack on GarageBand. It also sounds more professional than it would have done with our own.

We kept the diegetic sound of the killer screaming at the end as she realises the victim has come back to haunt her. We have also used a track from GarageBand, which is the heartbeat effect. This is played near the end as the tension builds when the victim is watching the killer.

After all this has been completed, the thriller has been uploaded to youtube and later on to my blog - when I will start the evaluation.

All that is left to do now is to go through the checklist of the blog to make sure I have fulfilled every task and make sure everything is up-to-date. This has to be done for friday.

The total duration is just under two minutes (virtually less than one second lower than two minutes). This is good as the specification required the coursework to be only two minutes long.

Final Editing Completed.

During our media lesson today we have finally finished the editing of our thriller project. This took time as our transitions and clips needed to be reviewed for improvement. We did, however, encounter some problems as some of the clips were too short to be able to add a transition effect to it. We did find a way to overcome this though - we re-uploaded some of the shots we filmed from the camcorder to replace the clips that weren't able to add transitions. This worked because these clips were longer and were able to adjust to the transition.

We also added the title screens and the credits to the beginning and end of the sequence. This included all of our names and our candidate numbers beside it. At the end we had 'R3V3NG3' spread across the screen.

The penultimate task that is left to do now is to add the soundtrack. Although there are still problems with this as mobygratis has not returned our pending request for a track from their website. However, alternatives have been discussed if we still cannot get the track. This is that we will use GarageBand to create our own original one from scratch. This will take up more of our extra time but hopefully it will be worth it.

The final task is to complete the blog and the evaluation of our project. This can only be done once the thriller has been completed.

Mobygratis

There still has been no reply from the mobygratis website in response to our request for one of the songs to use for our media project. Unfortunately this means that if we still have no reply within the next couple of days, then we will have to find alternative soundtracks to our thriller.

One alternative that we most probably will follow through with will be to create our own soundtrack from scratch on GarageBand on the computer. This will not be too bad as we have already had experience with the equipment. We also used it for our preliminary exercise.

Editing - First Cut.

Now we have finished filming our media project, the next step was to edit it.
The first thing we done was to upload and save the individual scenes onto the iMac
computer onto the old version of iMovie ready to prepare for editing.
The second thing which we had to do was to complete a title screen. This included the school's name, the course and our names along with our candidate numbers. We had to put this in first because otherwise, if it was put it last, then it would completely throw the non-diagetic soundtrack out of sync alongside the clips.

The next step was to figure out which order each scene was going to be placed in. After this was decided, we then started individually placing the shots on the 'timeline'. As we ordered each one, we cut down the scenes to the duration of time which we wanted them to last for. We had to keep an eye on the total duration, as the completed task should be no longer than 2 minutes overall. We had to make sure that the following sequence did not look completely out of place with the previous one. The scenes have to flow smoothly.
This is also where the transitions come into consideration. The transitions have to be subtle, so that it is not completely obvious - the eye must just be able to easily watch it without unrealistic disruptions.

Also, the past scenes have been edited to be in black and white to show that they are events that have already happened, and the girl in the clip is looking back on it as a memory.

After a while, our first cut has been completed. No sound has yet been added, but it has been requested from www.mobygratis.com , we are just waiting for approval. This first completion has just been a first attempt - now that we know exactly what we are doing, it should not take too long to make improvements developing on the plan of the first cut.

So far, no complications have been found.

Next step is to improve and complete the final thriller coursework piece.

Filming.

Throughout the two weeks of our Easter holidays, we have used our time productively by filming our thriller project.

Using the location shown in the previous blog, Tara, Grace and myself managed to complete the filming part of our coursework. We also used a park, again, near my house; which is where our 'past, happy scenes' were set.
However, we did come across some minor problems with our set, as the church location did not fully accomodate what we needed to be able to fulfill our plans. The idea was to have the murderer sitting on the bench in front of the church, whilst later having the dead girl/victim appear standing behind the bench and murderer. This was a problem because the bench was secured just millimetres in front of a big bush, so there was no way that we could film the situation as we had planned, so we just had to adjust the positioning slightly. We feel it still has the same effect though.

After much more thought into the final product, we realised that, for the sequences to make as much sense to the audience as it did for us; we needed to add in extra shots which hint at the murderer killing the innocent girl - but not actually showing it fully of course.

With this filming now complete, all that is now left to do is to edit the final scenes and then add sounds (diegetic and non-diegetic) on top. This will take place once we return back to school on monday.


Actors :-

(We had to change our previously cast dead girl Stacey Reading as she wasn't able to film when we had planned to).

Murderer = Grace Heather

Dead Girl/Victim = Paris Jones

Friend 1 = Tara Hussein

Friend 2 = Grace Cridland



Directed and Edited by Jessica Tilley

Location Shots

Today we have done a couple of location shots of where the setting of the scenes are going to take place. Following the examples of Alfred Hitchcock, we have decided to do a shot zooming in on the upstairs window; from outside in the garden. This is important because this is the room where the dead girl is going to be laying on the floor. From here, there is a shot looking out of this room/window, slowly zooming in on the church tower - where the killer is going to be mourning the murder they have commited.
We have taken more takes than necessary just incase we decide to use them/change them during our editing stages.

Locations

Here are some of the pictures which I have taken of our chosen location.
This is a church near where I live in Collier Row. With a church in the back of the shot/setting, we thought it would be a good idea as the shots focus around a killer mourning/grieving/regretful of the death of their victim.

This is a side view of the church we are going to use.

Here is the front of the church, which we mainly plan to use. The scenes are mainly going to focus around the killer grieving on this bench below (with the church in sight).

Here is part of the sign found by the church. I took a picture of this because I thought that it would be good to include as part of the background of one of our shots. It is quite relevant to our thriller as it has the lines 'Is there more to life than this?' which is quite ironic to our storyline.

Here is a distanced image of the setting, to get a full view of the church and area.

Here is another image focusing on the main part (bench), which our thriller is set around. It is quite effective that the bench is overgrown with moss as this could be interpretted that time has passed since the murder.

This church is not the only setting that we plan to use for our thriller. We also intend to use a park for a scene that will be part of a past memory.

Practice.

One of the main problems we are facing for our filming is that it would have to take place outside of lesson times, because our main location is slightly too far from school to be able to get back and forth in time. So during lesson, as all other planning tasks have been completed, we have decided to make good use of our time by practicing filming certain shots; which we know will be rather challenging for us.

Props and Costumes

Through research made by Tara, here are some images found off of the internet to try and give an idea to what props and costumes we are going to use.

They are not the exact ones, but we hope to find similar objects/costumes that we will be able to use.

This is a possible dress for the victim/dead girl to wear.

This is the possible eye make-up effect that we would llike to use on the victim.

This is the type of gothic frame we would like, which will lead into the past flash-backs in our thriller.

This is one example of the jewellery we would like the victim to also wear.

More research is needed.

Preparation

This week, me and Tara filled out our own schedules, including Grace's, to
try and see when we are all free to film our thriller project. We are going to
have to do this as soon as possible.
We have also tried to contact one of our main actresses Hayley Gooding to
see when she also is free.
Through the planning stages, we have realised that we are going to have
to film the park scene first; because we need a still frame of the opening
part of this sequence to use this in one of the props (the picture frame).
This will help us to create an effect which we will enable through the later
editing stages.
Next, we are going to start filming the church scene, located near my house
in Collier Row.
Props and costumes need to be organised too before filming commences.

Animatic

 This is our storyboard, which places in order the shots we are going to use in our thriller project. We have roughly sketched out each shot and then on the right, made notes on the type of shot we plan to use, and the sound which will be included along with the shots.

Here is our completed animatic. We have taken individual pictures of each shot in our storyboard, which we have collaborated onto iMovie to create a moving image of our thriller. We have then saved this in QuickTime to be able to post it on youtube. This then enabled us to include it on our blogs.

Storyboard

Now we have finished our preliminary task, the next
task on our to-do-list was the storyboard.
For this, we have to draw out and plan every single
shot that we have planned to include in our actual
final short thriller piece.
We completed one rough draft of this storyboard
just so we knew what we were going to do; and then
after this we completed a second storyboard which
was much more clearer and in a better order. This
is because on the draft we put some of the shots the
wrong way around but then changed it.

Next, we took pictures of each individual sketch of
the shots from Grace's mobile phone and then used
bluetooth to send them to our iMac computer.
All that is left to do on this is to animate the
images to make a clip, then post it onto my blog.

Then our group can finally start filming our
media project at last.

Preliminary Task

This is our preliminary task, which is now finally complete.
Unfortunately, due to illness I missed the actually filming of the
task, so this meant that Jake Harding had to step in for me to film
while Tara Hussein and Grace Cridland were starring in it.
However, I did help edit it; and we used garageband to make our own
soundtrack to open and close our preliminary task.
It is a short scene, but due to some technical difficulties with
linking some of our shots together, it took a bit longer to actually
edit it and finally complete it.
It is now posted on youtube, making it much more easier to post
in our groups individual blogs.

Group Update

Unfortunately now we are only down to three
members of our group as, sadly Rebecca Sabberton
has decided to leave sixth form. Our group
members are now just me, Grace Cridland and
Tara Hussein.

This week means lots of planning to complete
as there is the preliminary activity to do, the
storyboard and more to do.

Final Idea

After a long discussion with our group, we have put all of our ideas together and drafted out the basis of our final idea:

It starts off with a shot looking at the sky which then pans down to a killer either swinging on a swing or sitting on a bench in a park (with a church in view?). Killer is looking down at a happy picture which happened in the past of he/she having fun and mucking around with friends.


Graphic match to when it actually happened and you see them having fun. Shot goes back to killer on the bench or swing then over-shoulder shot to show picture still moving but then drops and cracks. As the frame drops maybe the motion will be slow.


Close-up of cracked picture then mid-shot of killer on bench or swing we see a dead girl standing behind he/she. Killer gets up and turns to look behind him/her. See expression on both faces, different shots. Killer goes to run away.


Point-of-view shot to see girl has reappeared in front of killer. Close up of her eery smile. Same shot of killers horrified eyes. POV again of girl in front leaping at camera/killer.


Pitch black screen and all you can hear is the scream of the killer and then more screams and up comes the title of the movie 'R3v3ng3'.






We have been discussing different shots and locations for this. We have yet to decide what they are going to be. We have got one of our main characters (dead girl) already casted, however still deciding on other characters. Also we are thinking of using a birds eye view to look down at the killer and the dead girl just before we see the eyes and mouth.
Our idea will become more detailed and planned once we start practising our camera techniques and capability and computer editing.

Alfred Hitchcock

I thought it would be a good idea to research one of the best thriller producers and filmmakers of all time. I found the following information on Wikipedia.

Alfred Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980), was a British filmmaker and producer who was renowned for his techniques in suspense and psychological thrillers. Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades. He remains one of the best-known and most popular filmmakers of all time.

The experiences that Hitchcock has had are often shown throughout his work. On numerous occasions, Hitchcock said he was once sent by his father to the local police station with a note asking the officer to lock him away for ten minutes as punishment for behaving badly. This idea of being harshly treated or wrongfully accused is frequently reflected in Hitchcock's films.
Hitchcock's mother would often make him address her while standing at the foot of her bed, especially if he behaved badly, forcing him to stand there for hours. These experiences would later be used for the portrayal of the character of Norman Bates in his movie Psycho.

"Once the screenplay is finished, I'd just as soon not make the film at all...I have a strongly visual mind. I visualize a picture right down to the final cuts. I write all this out in the greatest detail in the script, and then I don't look at the script while I'm shooting. I know it off by heart, just as an orchestra conductor needs not look at the score...When you finish the script, the film is perfect. But in shooting it you lose perhaps 40 per cent of your original conception."



The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.
— Alfred Hitchcock

Shadow of a Doubt (1943) - Alfred Hitchcock

Whilst watching the opening sequences of 'Shadow of a Doubt' in class, we analysed every aspect of it.
The sequence opens with old-fashioned dancing representing the past. The scene then dissolves to a polluted, industrial setting. There is a long-shot to show the setting, then zooms to the window suggesting that this is where the main character is.
When the setting changes to the room through the window, the main character (Charlie) is lying on the bed (could be either the protagonist or the antagonist at this stage). There is lots of money scattered around carelessly, with luxury items on show. Apart from the hand moving, character seems lifeless. He barely registers when the woman enters the room; he shows no reactions and emotions are highly controlled. Next, when the woman pulls down the blinds; a shadow is drawn over his face and he seemingly comes 'alive' again - representing his dark personality.
The next scene shows him going to meet two other men who have been either looking for this man, or following him. The music is very tense, creating a very unsettling atmosphere.

The later scene is set in a rich, peaceful and energetic town. Hitchcock uses the same technique of zooming into the window, then into that perceived room where the niece of Charlie is. She is laying in the exact same position as him suggesting she is the 'mirror image' of him.
This film includes the film of mirroring.

Issues raised by the brief.

Whilst looking at our ideas and comparing them to the brief we have been given, we have realised that actually we might have to cut down our ideas. After considering and working out how much we have decided to include, we have noted that the 2 minute duration might be a lot less than the possible duration when we film our thriller. For this reason, we have concluded that our final idea needs to be shorter than our other possible ideas for this to work.

Target Audience

After much consideration, we have decided that our target audience would be between 16-25. This is because some scenes would seem quite scary or haunting to an audience any younger than the age of 16. Also, the fact that the cast would mainly consist of young people/teenagers, any older than the age of 25 and it could possibly lose the relativity of the thriller. We want to create something that people can relate to some of the characters, so this age group as our target audience would be quite ideal if we could reach out to them.

Research into target audience.

To get an idea of what people expected from thrillers within the target audience, we created a questionnaire. From this we want to get to know the views of our audience so that we do not fail to satisfy.



1. Gender

2. Age

3. Most enjoyable part of watching a thriller?
Gore, Suspense, Thrill or the Unknown (Twists).

4. What type of thriller are you more likely to see?
Action, Crime, Horror or Medical

5. Does a thriller have to have big stars to have an effective viewing?
Yes, No

6. Does a thriller have to have a complicated, inter-woven plot for it to be successful?
Yes, No



After collaborating our results together from this questionnaire, we found that the sub-genre horror is more popular with the questioned people. Also, from these chosen participants, the unexpected twists of a thriller were a more highly appreciated factor than gore, thrill and suspense (although suspense did come a close second).
A thriller would be more effective not to have well-known stars performing in it, as unknown actors make the action seem so much more real as they will not be associated with any other film which would have been released.
One last point which we found was that 75% agreed that a plot does have to have a complicated, inter-woven plot for it to be successful. The audience can submerge themselves into the storyline so much more when there are plots to be figured out.

Thriller Idea 2

After some serious thinking I have come up with another idea that our group could use for our thriller project. Below are the basic notes that the idea is based around:
 Pans from the grey, cloudy sky to the girl slowly swinging on lonely swings in the rain.
 Close-up of a photo frame she is holding in her hands (a gothic frame with the picture, black & white maybe -her and her mum/sister happy with the sun in the background) .
 As the camera zooms into the picture, church bells ring in the background.
 As the church bells ring, the scene goes back to when the photo was taken – so it looks like the girl on the swing is actually watching all of this happening, like a memory, but the church bells signify time passing and the past.
 Camera goes back to the time the picture was taken & as it was taken. Family are all together having fun.
 They start playing badminton together laughing as someone falls over (camera looks down on them, significant as this is later the victim).
 They depart and the victim is left to walk home on their own down an empty country lane.
 Camera then does a long shot to look at the victim – emphasizing that someone is watching/following.
 Mid-shot of shadow of person following.
 Mid-shot of victim as they turn around to see who is behind them, then close-up of their facial expressions of shock and fear.
 Close-up of their feet as they try to run away (and stalkers feet following), diegetic sound of footprints running behind and then a scream from the victim. No graphic view of what happens to the victim – increases suspense and fear in the viewer.
 Church bells ring again and the scene goes back to the girl on the swing, crying now in memory of the event (church bells act as a sound bridge on numerous occasions).
 She is wearing red and black, symbolises anger (red) and mourning and grief (black).
 Gets off of the swing with tears in her eyes.
 Camera follows her from behind as she passes a tree with a wanted poster on – suspect for murder of the person. Camera pans round once girl has walked away and focuses on the wanted poster.
 Straight cut to the eyes of the suspect on the poster.
 Fades into the determined eyes of the girl as she picks up a mysterious bag from the side and goes off for revenge.
 Title of the film fades onto the screen (‘R3V3NG3’) in place of where the girls’ and suspects eyes were.

Now I have thought of this idea, I will now discuss this with the rest of my group and any other ideas they may have thought of too.

Analysis of Panic Room.

The thriller film, Panic Room was directed by David Fincher in 2002; which includes stars such as Jodie Foster, Forest Whitaker and Jared Leto.
I have analysed this 5 minute finale sequence which I found on youtube.
It opens with tense, non-diegetic sound which builds up on the suspense in the atmosphere as the end is near. One criminal smashes the glass to escape out of the house, and the shattering of glass everywhere could represent the fact that his dreams of getting the billions of dollars they were after could also soon be shattered too. The camera then moves to an overview of another criminal, (a high-angle shot looking down on him) which could emphasize the fact that he has become significantly weaker as he is seriously injured and covered in blood. However, the fact that he is still moving and dragging himself along looking up at the victims up the stairs could show that he is not yet finished with them.
The stormy weather outside where the first criminal is could symbolize that the criminals are not going to get the easy escape they anticipated for and that it is not going to be a 'happy-ending' for them as they wished.
As the second criminal finally pulls himself up the stairs towards his victims, the camera moves into a slightly more low-angle shot, meaning he has slightly more power over his victims at this moment.But as he lunges at Jodie Foster, the camera becomes on a more equal level; however, it becomes a low-angle shot when focusing on the ex-husband as he tries to shoot down the attacker - though he is seriously injured too. This again changes as he is pushed from the chair he was resting on and the camera fully looks down on him - showing his now extreme weakness and injuries.
Later on as the S.W.A.T corner the first criminal (Forest Whitaker), they are seemingly looking down on him from the balcony with the camera; emphasizing the fact that even though he may have more power over his victims, but the S.W.A.T team have more authority and power over him.
The film ends in the same way the film started, with the mother and daughter house-hunting - showing a fresh new start from the horrific events, time has passed and they have literally moved on.

Initial Ideas.

Recently in our group we have put together a few basic ideas on
what our media thriller project could be based around. The first
idea is that :-
The first scene will open with a girl rocking back and forth (holding
her knees), crying in a darkly lit room whilst looking into a cracked
mirror with a small stream of light shining on one side of her face
creating shadows which hide the other half. Or, the mirror could
crack at this moment, separating her reflection into two parts as
she cries.
The next shot will be graphic match to a past happier time when
she is having fun. The camera pans and tracks, following her and
her friends having a good time...
(This idea is not yet fully completed).



The next idea starts with a person lying disorientated and unconscious
on the floor. Whilst people rush to try and help them, they do not
notice another person hiding in the shadows around the corner.
The camera then flashes overhead to look down on the victim lying
on the floor, sweeping from their feet-to-head (high-angle shot).
Camera fades into the person in the shadows, as if they are standing
above the victim and looking down on them (low-angle shot looking up
to person).
Then it zooms to the strangers’ mouth as they smile/laugh cruelly;
whilst all other features are hidden by the shadows (chiaroscuro).
The camera then spins around the victim – as if it symbolises their
world turning up-side down.
This could then lead to a graphic match to earlier on in the story
where the victim wakes up to a fresh new day, happy and safe, unaware
of what lies around the corner (and quite literally too)…

These are just basic ideas, which can be edited and built upon later on in the planning stage if need be. Now we have these ideas, we can start planning on where our location for filming may take place.

Analysis of opening titles in 'Seven'.

The opening titles of 'Seven' give a disjointed insight into the antagonist of the film.
The antagonist's face is not shown, emphasizing on the mystery of it all; but there are
scratched images showing what he is doing and especially his hands. There are a few
disturbing clips showing the antagonist using a razor blade to cut the tips of his fingers
off to rid him of his fingerprints maybe. The antagonist is also seen marking out people's
eyes on pictures and scribbling out some of their faces. Pages are ripped out and pictures
are put together, which seem like a sinister scrapbook. The background music is jumpy
and at some points it sounds like there is someone screaming; which increase the
tension and suspension building in the atmosphere. This is a good example of a thriller
film.

Thriller Conventions

In class today we have discussed in more detail about what a thriller film could include:-
A crime at the core of the narrative (often murder, but not necessarily).
A complex narrative structure, with false paths, clues and resolutions.
A narrative pattern of establishing enigmas which the viewer expects to be resolved.
A protagonist who is systematically dis-empowered and drawn into a complex web of intrigue by the antagonist.
Extraordinary events happening in ordinary situations.
There are themes of identity, mirroring and/or voyeurism.
The protagonist has a 'flaw' which is exploited by the antagonist.
Titles often reflect an aspect of the pro/antagonist's psychological state.
There is often a scene near the end of the film in which the protagonist is in peril.
Mise en scene is used in such a way that echoes/mirrors the protagonist's plight.

This discussion helped as it gives us more insight in what a thriller is based around, and gives us clearer ideas of what to include in our own mini thriller production.


My own ideas on the film language of Thrillers:-

• Theme - the plot should consist of many unexpected twists and false trails to keep the audience guessing until the very end. The sub-genre of a psychological thriller shows that a thriller does not need to have gory aspects for it to be a successful thriller production.
• Camerawork - should consist of many different shots to show that as the plot thickens, then the more twists and false trails will be found. The use of high and low-angle shots could create more of an impact and shock if they were used creatively to lay the foundations for a false trail. The more we believe this, then the more successful and shocking it will be.
• Editing - jump cuts and straight cuts should be mainly used to add emphasis to the action/shocking scenes. It would build up the pace of the thriller making it more intense to watch.
• Lighting - back or under-lighting to be used on the suspected criminal or antagonist and maybe high-lighting to show who is the predicted protagonist of the production.
• Sound/Music - when something bad is going to happen in a seemingly happy/good situation, then contrapuntal music should be used.

Step Two - Research

I thought a good start to this project would be to find out at first what a thriller films' characteristics are or what it consists of.

On one website it suggests that thrillers are usually fast-paced, with the hero/protagonist being an under-dog, having to stop a more well-equipped villan before they carry out their plans. In film-noir thrillers, the hero usually dies at the expense of saving everyone else. However, it also suggests that thrillers could follow innocent citizens lives as they get drawn into danger accidentally.

There are also many sub-genres that are included under thrillers :-
For example - medical, spy, action, and supernatural, ect..

Finding these research results really helps us towards finding a basis for our own thriller video, as now we know what is expected from the genre. It also gives a couple of pointers as to what we can include and gives us some ideas as to what to do.

Step One - Group and Assignment

The assignment we have been given in our media class is to create a short (no more than a couple of minutes long), opening to our own thriller film. This thriller clip should be aimed at a 15 or 18 certificate audience. There should be no dialogue - only sound or music should be used.


The first step made to begin the media coursework is choosing the people to work with in our group.

My group includes :-

Rebecca Sabberton ( http://www.rebeccasabbertonrobertclack.blogspot.com )

Grace Cridland ( http://www.gracecridlandrobertclack.blogspot.com )

Tara Hussein
( http://www.tarahusseinrobertclack.blogspot.com )

There will be more updates as the project progresses and more decisions and plannings have been made.