Final Thriller Opening

Closing Post

My project is now coming to an end, but I have really enjoyed myself along the way and I have also learnt quite a lot!
I have really enjoyed working with my group - Lauren, Kerry and Chloe. I think that we have produced a really good thriller opening!

Blog is now closed!

Evaluation Question 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Evaluation question 7

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Evaluation Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

This video is explaining how we tried to address our target audience and how our thriller opening will be engaging for them. I think during pre production it is important to do research with your target audience as you need to know how to improve something or what alternative ideas you can come up with.

Evaluation Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation question 4

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Cloe & Laure - Type of audience that will be interested in our thriller opening:

Maslows Hierarchy Theory

This images shows the Maslows Hierarchy Theory, in which this is in relation to our thriller opening. In our thriller opening I think that the protagonist may relate to safety and security as this character has very little of this. I think that this theory may be good to analyse a thriller opening as many of the levels may relate to many characters in our thriller opening. Another theory that may relate to the stalker is physiological needs, this is because many typical thriller conventions have stalkers that have needs that may need to be full filled. Many stalkers that have a typical convention is that they want to get the protagonist and get them caught up with their mind games.

Here is a screenshot from facebook, getting feedback from our target audience which is teenagers/young adults. Here I asked the question "what makes a good thriller opening?". Not a lot of people responded but I got the impression that there should be suspense music and thrills. I think that it is important to get feedback from your target audience as this gives an indication to our thriller opening and to see what the public would like to see. 

I think that using facebook is a good way of advertising our thriller opening as many people our age, will be using it and we can get feedback anytime. 

Here is some research we conducted from our target audience:

General Questionnaire

Kerry took a general questionnaire to explore the audiences veiws on film and music so that we can improve and think about my thriller opening. By taking this questionnaire Kerry has now developed a helpful audience profile. It will help us when creating my opening as it means that we have more knowledge on the type of music and films people prefer and how to capture their attention when watching my thriller opening. The results show that different age ranges and genders influence peoples likes and dislikes. Below shows the questions Kerry asked in her questionnaire.

                                                                                                             

General Questionnaire.

1.)What film genre do you prefer?  

2.) What age bracket do you fall into?

3.) Do you buy films online?

4.) How often do you go to the cinema?

5.) Are you male or female?

6.)What is your favourite film?

7.)Who is your favourite actor?

8.) Do you own more than five  DVDs?

9.) What genre of music do you listen to most?

10.) What was the last film you saw?

 From completing this questionnaire Kerry found that the younger people she surveyed preferred rock and pop music and owned more DVDs and brought more films online. Whereas the older people she surveyed went to the cinema more and preferred more romantic and comedy films. Kerry gave out her questionnaire to 15 people and received a variety of results, however she found similar results to those of similar ages. This could show that nowadays the media around us has changed and influenced us differently. We have learnt that when creating my film we need to attract our target audience because if we don't refer to what they want to watch it wont appeal to them. This task has helped me to understand that we need to make sure my film will captivate my target audience. From these results we will develop this further into a specific questionnaire as well as a one to one interview.

Evaluation Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation 3 by ChloeG

Evaluation question 3

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Evaluation Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation question 2

Evaluation Question 1 - In what ways does your media project use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

                        Frame 1  The titles of  the film.

This is shown on the first frame which is numbered 1. We have used a blurry looking font which looks more thriller like. The film Se7en inspired us because the titles alone were really interesting and got you watching the film as the titles may reflect a protagonist or a character within the film. This style of writing seems to be typical as you would normally associate it with the thriller genre.

We also went for a cold blue colour to give it that typical thriller feeling, which may be cold and lonely which is normally associated with the colour blue. We also used a cold blue filter when filming as this gave the impression to the audience of the cold atmosphere. Using these titles really make a difference to our thriller opening as it looks more like the genre which is thriller. I think that this frame shows a typical thriller title as the writing is disfigured which is normally seen in thriller openings in which the writing looks weird and may reflect a antagonist which is normally a stalker. 

                     Frame 2/6   Setting/location.

Our thriller opening was set at a house and at crystal palace park. We thought that the protagonist could start her day off at the house which we normally see in films so that the audience don't get confused. We then film some footage within Crystal Palace park which looks in our thriller opening mysterious because of the antagonist who is stalking the protagonist. I think it is important to establish a location within your thriller opening as the audience needs to know where and what is happening within the first opening scenes. If the opening doesn't really show an establishing shot then the audience may not be appealed as they may want to see where the film is set and what possible on goings could happen. As you can see in frame 2, the antagonist is standing in Crystal Palace park, at this frame in the film the footage speeds up which may be a typical editing feature within a thriller film. I think that this frame may be attractive to the audience as this is an establishing shot and shows conventions to engage the audience.


                     Frame 8 Costume and props.
For our costumes we choose to use casual day to day wear as within the thriller opening was only an ordinary day. For the antagonist which is the stalker, we used a hoodie as this is a typical piece of clothing for a stalker. To make things different we used a white hoodie instead of a darker colour because many thriller films use darker hoodies and it is more obvious as to who the stalker is. Also the hoodie is fairly disguising as the protagonist isn't aware in frame 8 in which she walks past the stalker. The hoodie is also discreet about his/hers obsession with the protagonist. 
For the protagonist we also used casual wear as it was only an ordinary day, I think it is important to dress the characters in a way it will be appealing. This is because if you over dress a character for example if the protagonist was wearing pyjamas then this wouldn't look realistic.  


                  Frame 6/7 Camera work and editing.
When filming our thriller opening we used many mid shots which may engage the audience as this makes the audience feel more known to the film and that they can relate with the characters. I think that within the opening scenes you need to show that you can use different camera angles so that it doesn't look boring and to show a variety of angles. On frame 6 we used a mid shot/close up, this is to get the audience more engaged as this shows the protagonist walking out of the door. But when the audience watch this they may be wondering why she is going out, and so this may be engaging to the audience as they want to find out more. In frame 7, this shows a high angle shot which is what we normally see in thriller films to show the dominance with the antagonist which shows that the stalker has power over the protagonist. In frame 4 we used a mid shot to get the stalker ripping down the photos, we used this type of shot as this looks mysterious because the audience wants to find out who the stalker is and to relate and to sympathise with the protagonist. This is because on the wall there is pictures of her and the audience may feel uncomfortable watching this scene. 


                 Frame 1 Title font and style.
For our title font we used a font called Dans hand, we used this style of font because it looked like stalker writing and we thought that it went well with our thriller opening. As you can see in frame 1, the title reads "Directed by Emily Norman". We used this font because the film Se7en inspired us because of the conventional thriller and the typical thriller writing. I think that we made the correct choice in using the style of font because it instantly shows that the genre is thriller. The writing may also reflect the antagonists feelings and this may be a typical style of font to use for a thriller film. The feelings of the protagonist is lonely because the style of the writing looks like the stalker is upset and sad because when you have these feelings you normally don't write properly. Also the colour could suggest the typical thriller colour as it is a cold blue colour which  may give the impression to the audience that it is a thriller film.


              Frame 2 Story and how the opening sets up.

For the opening of our thriller film we have opened with the titles of the film as this will suggest the genre of the film, the film that inspired us was Se7en as they open up with eerie music and weird images. We then see frame 2 in the opening sequence, this may show some indication of the story. This may be appealing for our audience as it shows the antagonist with the effect montage to give off a mysterious effect.

              Frame 3 Genre and how the opening suggests it.
In the opening of our thriller film, frame 2 suggests that our film is a thriller as the effect of montage gives the genre away. This is because you wouldn't see this effect in a rom/com, so just by using effects can show the genre of a film. I think that it is important to show an image so that the audience can identity the genre. Frame 3 may also suggest the genre as the color filter is a green color, the coloring is similar to the film Paranormal Activity as the green color may suggest the genre as you wouldn't see this color in a comedy. Also even though the frame is set outside you can still see dark lighting around the character face which may reflect the character and how the antagonist is seen from the audience point of view.


            Frame 1 How characters are introduced.

Within the opening sequence it is important to introduce characters in a way it is interesting for the audience. In frame 1 the antagonist is introduced, and then we introduce the protagonist in a way it is interesting. This is because in the protagonist dream, she is having a nightmare of the antagonist. I think that this effect is quite memorable and can be seen in the thriller genre because it is a way to engage your audience. It is important that we introduce the characters quite early in the opening sequence as the audience wants to identify the characters and how they may be seen through out the film.


             Frame 5 Special effects.
We didn't use many effects but we used an effect which is to darken an image of the stalker so that this looks more dominant and to show power. We used final cut pro for the titles which could be special effects as this effects our film to make it look more like a thriller opening. Many typical thrillers may use many effects so that it may look more realistic e.g. if there was blood, they would try to make it more realistic. But I don't think that our thriller opening uses many effects as we want our audience to mainly focus on, what is happening. 




The thriller films that have inspired us for our thriller opening:


Narrative

This images is taken from the film Se7en, I choose this image as it may show the narrative of the film. The narrative to the film from what I can see from the image, is that the plot is going to be set in a police station because of the deranged hand as this may connote that there has been a death and the police have to investigate. Just by seeing an image the audience can identify the genre of the film which is a thriller and may be able to think of other associations the film may have. I think that the narrative is important to the audience as it shows the plot and where the scene is going to be taken place, in this case a police station.




Genre

Genre in thriller is quite important as the audience may need to know from the opening of a film whether the genre is a thriller or a rom/com. But typically many thrillers start off with eerie music and with strange images. This image is in the opening sequence to Se7en, people may associate this image to the thriller genre as you wouldn't see this image in a rom/com genre. I think it is important that the opening sequences show the genre within the first scenes as then the audience feel comfortable watching the rest of the film. Many thriller conventions are conveyed by using items like knives and blood, but this picture denotes a man scrapping dead skin of his finger but could connote that he is feeling pain. Just by seeing the image we can instantly see the genre which like a visual shortcut for the audience.






Camera, angle, shot movement and position

This image is from a film called Number 23, and this image can be associated with our thriller opening with frame 4. Both images show a mid shot of a deranged character, I think that the mid shot conveys the importance of a character within a film and for the audience to focus more on the antagonist. I think that the use of high key lighting is important in this shot as the image for the audience may be uncomfortable as the antagonist is showing an affection for something. I think that the use of high key lighting portrays the thriller convention, as many people would say that the use of low key lighting would be more suitable for a shot like this. But the use of light could convey the disguising of a character.


Continuity & editing

Continuity in thrillers is the use of effects and the use of colours in an continuous way. This image is from the film Se7en, as the all these images are from the opening sequence of the film. I think that the continuity in this opening sequence is dark and gives off a cold atmosphere, the atmosphere within the opening sequence of the film could connote a character within a film which could come across as cold and deranged. The use of these effects are not welcoming for the audience as there not comfortable to watch and the atmosphere of the film may give out a mysterious feeling.


Sound

The sound in the beginning of the film Se7en, instantly gives a shortcut to the genre which is thriller. The music is very eerie and the audience can immediately associate this film just by hearing the sounds the genre of the film. We then see images (above picture) and the audience will then be able to identify more of the film and try to associate certain items with the rest of the film. Sound is important in thrillers, as this suggests how tense a scene, this is when the music can become eerie and then the audience can then decide what genre. I think that music at an opening sequence of a film is important as it gives a clear indication to the audience and can be heard and seen as a visual shortcut.







Mise en scene/Expressionism

I think that this image shows a great mise en scene as there is a great deal of high key lighting and high key lighting is shown from the lamps. I think that this effect expresses a character within a film because of the dark scenes as this may reflect a character. The lighting may reflect the characters mood in this single shot and the audience may be able to associate this image with the mood of characters. The use of the mirror may also give off a mysterious effect, as mirrors are mainly associated with thrillers because of the reflections.

Typography




 I think that this image shows a good type of typography as the font and the way it is presented is very interesting and may also suggest to the audience of the genre. I like the way how they have used the main heading and then copied and made it more fainter in the background, I think that this image is simple but it gives off a mysterious effect which many thrillers tend to do. I think that the editor used this effect as this may mimic a deranged character within the film. I think that the audience may associate it with a character and the genre of a film.

 Iconogpraghy

This image is from the film Room 1408, this image may show to the audience that this room is haunted. The icon of the door number may represent to the audience that something bad may happen in this room. The use of lighting in this image may give the impression of a dark and haunting character within the film, or could even represent or signify a certain item within the film. I think that a film should show an iconic item as this will be more clearer to the audience and can identify the film more and have a bigger understanding. 


Enigma code

This image is taken from the film Psycho, I think that this image hides the enigma as the opening titles are quite simple. When the audience See this image, they can decide what kind of themes the film show as this image is quite plain and simple but it could reflect how the film has been made and how it has been shown. 

Treament

Treatment 1

ROUGH CUT

Here is a rough cut of our thriller opening, i am very pleased with the outcome of it as we put a lot of work into it and thought much about it.
I am going to post this video onto facebook, which is a social networking site that will allow other teenagers, which is our target audience a chance to see the rough cut and for them to comment and to see whether it would appeal to our audience. I think it is important to get feedback as you then know what you need to improve anything or to see what else you can.

STUDENT FILM RESEARCH

Here i am going to analyse different film openings from previous AS students, that have produced their own thriller openings.



I thought that this thriller opening was particular good as it meet the criteria for a good thriller opening and it seemed to attract the audience attention. This is because this looked familiar to a previous thriller opening which is Se7en. I haven't personally seen the film but from watching the opening to this film i would watch it on more.
This thriller opening made from the students, is really good because it looks realistic and how they have made it. The only thing that they should have done is made their own production logo, as they used a previous production logo. But overall i thought that this was a good thriller opening and would defiantly watch more.







I thought that this thriller opening was fairly good as there was many conventions of thriller, but then an over voice started to talk and i thought that this might have ruined the illusion of the thriller genre. I thought that it was good but it make it even better they could have just have music as this will create more suspense for the audience as they may not know what is happening.

PREMLIMINARY TASK

For part of our media coursework we got given a preliminary task that had to be done in order for us to gain more marks in our media coursework and exam.
This involved working in a group of three and we had to video three different types of shots, these included: 

• 180 Degree Rule
• Match on Action
• Reverse Shot

These different shots had to be included for us to pass, it is important that we added these as it shows to the assessor that we know how to use different types of shots and how.

The continuity task involving filming and editing a character walking through the door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he will then exchange a couple lines of dialogue.

180 Degree Rule 

This rule is quite important when filming because if you don't follow it then you can confuse the audience. This is normally when two characters are opposite each other for example at a dinner table and imagine that there is a line that the camera cannot cross. The camera should either stay to the left or the right of the characters. It is important that the camera doesn't cross this line as the audience will get confused and then it will be more harder to follow.

Match on Action

This is when the camera focuses on one character A which is talking and then ask the opposite character B a question and then the camera will move to the character B.

Reverse Shot

This is when character A is talking to character B and then camera will cut to character B who may say something and the camera will cut back to character A. This camera shot could be like a reaction shot as we are finding out how the character may be feeling which may be important for the audience.

Overall, i thought we could have done better with our task as we wasn't to familiar with the camera types but we still added the types of shots that we needed. Here is our preliminary task:

SWIVELL PRODUCTIONS

For our production logo we decided on the name Swivell Productions, this is because it gives our a elegant and feminine feeling to the audience.
Here are some pictures of our Swivell Production logo which we were creating on after-effects on the macs which is a software that comes with the computer. 

After-effects is a really complicated programme to use so we needed some guidance from the technology teachers so that they could guide us through it all. We had to listen carefully as this programme is quite technical and you have to use it correctly in order for your finished product to look good.

Here is a screen shot from after-effects of our production logo, but this is only the basics to the production as there are plenty more things that can be added like effects, so that our production logo can look its best.

After, we added some effects so that it would give a mysterious illusion to the audience which may give out the impression to the audience that it is a thriller opening. Here we added an effect which was to sharpen and blur the text to give a mysterious feeling. I think that this effect is good for our thriller opening because it looks deceiving. We also added a light that goes across the name which i also thought was a good effect because the audience will be inticed into the name and it will be focused on the name. 

Here we then added the colour, cold blue which gives out a cold feeling to the audience and seems to fit the thriller conventions because of the colours and the effects.

The effect here is mystical because we made the writing scatter and then all come together when the spot light scatters across Swivell Productions the word would come together. I think that this effect is good because it is mysterious an gives out a thriller feeling.

Here are the pictures of our final product:

Unfortunately i was unable to attend the session of the making of our final product, but i am very pleased of the final out come.

VIDEO DIARY

Here is a video of our group talking about the advantages and disadvantages of the filming that took place. As said in the video there were some few mishaps that could put us off filming but our group over came that and dealt with any problems.
I think that we are working well as a group and we always contribute ideas and always think of something that we could include within our thriller opening. But overall i think that we all work well as a group and we tend to work great together.

FEEDBACK

Here is a screenshot from facebook, getting feedback from our target audience which is teenagers/young adults. Here I asked the question "what makes a good thriller opening?". Not a lot of people responded but I got the impression that there should be suspense music and thrills. I think that it is important to get feedback from your target audience as this gives an indication to our thriller opening and to see what the public would like to see. 
I think that using facebook is a good way of advertising our thriller opening as many people our age, will be using it and we can get feedback anytime. 
 

REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN/MALES IN THRILLERS

Here is a picture that I took of what I thought could be a typical thriller male stalker, or someone that may be presented in a way of a stalker. This is becuase the person looks really mysterious and how the camera uses the focus on the strings of the hood and looses focus on his face. This gives out a mysterious impression and this could be a way of presenting a male in a thriller film.

CONVENTIONS OF THRILLERS

Here are some pictures I have taken, to interpret a typical thriller mise en scene is. I used this because the audience may just assume that this is to do with the thriller genre because it looks dark and mysterious. 

Picture taken of a forest - creates the illusion of mysterious

Another picture taken of a forest

When you ask anyone about a thriller film they normally assume that the scenery and the characters are going to be dark and mysterious. The pictures show what a typical audience would think of a thriller genre, they would say it could be set in a forest or some where dark so the audience feel tense and wondering what is going to happen.

On the other hand thrillers can be completely different to what a typical audience would think. Thrillers may normally start with scary music that is very tense and the images could be confusing because the audience are trying to work out what is going on. Its important that thriller films get the audience engaged because otherwise the audience may think its tedious if they keep seeing the same images as other thrillers. For example thrillers can start with scary music and a weird situation and this might be tedious for the audience because they may know what is going to happen etc. Whereas if it was set on a sunny day the audience will be more engaged because they will want to see what is going to happen because the mise en scene is a completly different interpretation to what the audience thought. 

FILMING & EDITING

On the 21st November Myself, Lauren and Chloe came together to finalize the filming. Unfortunately Kerry couldn't make the filming so us three had to make do with what we had. 

We already had some footage but we wasn't too happy with the outcome so we decided to re-film. It think that this was a good idea as we needed to show a variety of camera angles which we didn't really do in our first filming. 

Lauren in our thriller opening is the girl who gets stalked, I was the director so I decided how to position the camera and how the shots were going to be filmed. Chloe was the stalker so we had to disguise her as a man like figure so she wore a hooded cardigan so she could hide her face. Lauren was the main protagonist in most of the shots as it is all focused on her.

We got a variety of shots which included:

• High angle shots
• Close up
• Extreme close up
• Over the shoulder shot
• Long shot
• panning  

I think when doing a thriller opening you need to show a variety of different angles so that you can show different elements of your story from an angle. For example you could have a long shot of the stalker but if you had a low angle shot then this can show that the stalker is dominant and over powering. So just by having a different shot can show a character is presented in a film.

When it came to editing we saw that our first ever filming wasn't really good quality so we decided to use a different camera which was a Sony HD which is way more effective when trying to capture very good detail.

Locations where we filmed:

• My House
• My estate
• Crystal Palace park

We decided to use these locations as they give out a mysterious feeling. 

Picture of our filming

INSPIRATIONS

 Thriller Opening Sound Example by Ems123

I created this piece of music myself using garage band, which is a software in which you can create different sounds for anything!
Here are some screen shot of me using garage band to create this piece of music:

Here are some of my inspirations that relate to my thriller but may not show a convention to the thriller genre:

I choose Mean Girls because the film is based around four teenage girls in which this relates to our thriller opening because there are four girls in our thriller opening with their own individuality like the girls in the thriller opening.

I choose Prom Night because the main protagonist in the film is a girl who gets stalked by a male character. This film is a thriller as it fits the criteria of a thriller. It has many suspense and creates a lot of tension through out the film.





I choose When A Stranger Calls because within our thriller opening a "unknown" number calls us and this may create a lot of tension to the audience because there isn't a number that comes up it just says "unknown". I think that this is a good way to intise the audience because they want to know who is calling them.






This film is called One Missed Call, this may fit into our thriller opening because we get an unknown call from someone. I haven't seen the film myself but from looking from the trailer it looks scary!




Using Garage band
Here are some screen shots from garage band when trying to create my music piece. I was just having a mess about with it and seeing what it was all about. I seemed to enjoy the sound effects  because someone of them fitted with out opening. 

Swivell Productions

For our production logo we decided on the name Swivell because it is a unique name. We decided to spell swivell with two "ll"'s because we find this more feminine because words like e.g. belle which is french for beautiful as this is normally associated with the female audience. Here are some pictures I took in my back garden of an example of how we would want our production logo to look like. This image is of a wind charm which twirls in the wind and give a really nice effect. 

Using different camera effects and editing