23rd April 2010 - Final Edit

This is our final version of our thriller clip

For the final edit we decided to add an inter cut flashback scene of the antagonist, this was to add more suspense to the clip and to break up our long takes.

10th April 2010 - Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product uses many conventions involved with the medium of film and particularly that of thrillers. The characters used in this thriller opening are typical of what are used in thriller films. The stalker character is a convention of the thriller genre as it is them that are making the viewer ask questions of who the character is? What has he done/going to do? And why? By hiding his identity we felt that it would create a lot more suspense in our piece as the audience are not aware of who he is or what he looks like. The other character used is also typical of thrillers as they often use teenagers as they are considered as targets due to their naivety. We also used a teenage character in our opening to appeal to the target audience of teens and young adults.

The setting of our thriller is also a typical convention that is used in the genre. We decided to set it in a woodland setting as it adds a form of mystery as there are not many people around, it is away from civilisation and there are many paths and obstacles such as trees that can also add to the suspense as with less characters involved it makes the situation seem more mysterious. This is typical of a stalker thriller as someone being stalked in a busy place would not create as much suspense.

For the camera shots, we decided that long shots were best to be used on the stalker character as it would add to the suspense as he would be walking away from the character and leave the audience questioning where he is going to. However on the teen character we decided that close ups would be best so that it would clearly show who the character was and why they would be vulnerable.

The music we chose to use in this clip was a slow piece and had a loud slow beat. This adds to the suspense of the piece and makes the viewer feel on edge.

Slow straight cuts were used on the editing of the stalker character; this was to add more to the mystery of who he is. However on the teenage character we used a lot of quick cuts and fades so that it shows that the teen was becoming nervous with the other character walking towards him.

For the title sequence we decided that the titles would be placed over footage, instead of having them over blanks shots at the beginning and cutting to footage after they have finished. The film 'Signs' did this, and I felt that it was not a good opening as it did not keep me interested. Also the music used in this clip, I believe, does not suit that of a thriller as it does not sound dark enough, so we decided to use low pitch music to try and build suspense by creating an eerie atmosphere.



How does your media project represent particular social groups?
The social group that my project represents is teenagers and specifically ‘Hoodies’. Teenagers are seen by older people to be as a threat, and in this clip it shows the opposite as it is the adult that is the threat and the teenager that is in danger. We chose the costume of the teenager to fit in with what adults stereotypically think of teenagers in the modern day. So we chose to use a hoody and cap along with skinny jeans. To make the stalker seem threatening we chose a big black coat with a hood hiding the face, and therefore concealing his identity.
Harry Brown was a film that was recently released that featured teenagers who fell into the 'hoddie' social group. In this film they were represented as trouble and causing a lot of problems to the older generations. So in our thriller we decided that we would go in the opposite and have the adult as the problem and the teenager as the victim.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media project and why?
For our film to reach of audience it would have to either be distributed to mainstream audiences or be put on DVD. This is because teenagers do not go to art cinemas where smaller films are shown. EM media would be a typical institution that could be involved as they help small budget films, which our film would have. Optimum would be a typical distributor that could be used as they specialise in distributing British films, including small budget films and can get showings in top cinema chains. They also distribute American films to large cinema chains so our film could be distributed in a wider market if it became popular. 'Orphan' was an American film that Optimum recently released and it was distributed to all the main cinema chains in the UK including Cineworld and National Amusements.



Our film could also be distributed in other forms such as on TV channels aimed specifically aimed at teenagers, such as E4, as this would increase the audience as they do not have to go to the cinema or pay to watch it. It could also be distributed over the Internet on sites such as YouTube, where it is likely to get the most views and therefore increasing the audience that views the thriller.

Who is the audience for your media project?
The audience for our project was teenagers and young adults. This is because this age group are particularly interested in film and are most of the people that go to the cinema. We also used a teenage character in the clip so that the audience would be able to relate to them, and giving what happens in the clip a bigger impact.

How did you attract/address your audience?
We tried to address our audience by involving a teenage character in the clip. This was so they could relate to him and the position he was in. To make sure our clip reached our intended audience, we used a questionnaire to see what conventions they would like to see in a thriller, this was then used in making the clip.From this questionnaire we discovered that our target audience wanted a suspense thriller that started slow instead of straight into action.







The feedback we received from our class was generally positive, however there was a few improvements suggested. The first improvement suggested was to change one of the pieces of music in the clip as it was not suitable and did not work in the clip. Another was to try and improve the white balance of the shots as they change throughout.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process in constructing this product?
From this constructing this product I have learnt the time taken to produce a film. This is because each shot has to be recorded multiple times. I have also learnt how to use a DV camera and editing software in producing this clip.
We used a DV camera for the filming of our project. This used a DV tape instead of a memory card so that the picture quality would be better. We also used a tripod in the majority of our shots so that we could be sure the camera remained steady and would make the clip look more professional. We encountered a problem when recording our clip, as we used a different camera to what I used in the preliminary task, so the settings were different, meaning that the clip was not filmed in wide screen.
The editing software used on this clip was Adobe Premier Pro. In this software we uploaded the different shots that were recorded, and placed them in order. We then placed transitions on the shots and added music so that it was a more professional piece of work.


Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full clip?
Since the preliminary task I have learnt a lot more about the thriller genre from researching into other films and the conventions they use. I have also become more familiar with using the camera and editing software as I have been able to use them more. I have also learnt the difficulties behind creating just a film opening and making sure it does not turn in to a trailer for the films. To ensure this we included an opening credits, and did not use much action in the clip, so that it would start to build tension.

5th March 2010 - Upload and Editing

In this lesson we uploaded our recordings onto the computer from the DV tape. We captured each clip separately so that when it came to editing we could easily piece them together and add transitions and effects.
The next step was to begin the editing process. We firstly inserted all the video clips into Adobe so that we could rearrange them, add transition, titles and sound.

The first part of the editing process is adding titles over the introduction of Sam walking. We added a title and then edited the font, size and colour of the text so it was visible over the clip and also readable. We decided to have the titles over the top of the clip as we decided it would look better than just having a blank screen with the text on.

To get to the next clip, two transitions on adobe were combined to make one that faded to black and then back to the next video clip of an long shot of Sam walking down the path. A straight cut was then used to cut to the next clip of Sam walking down a path with Ashley walking in the other direction in the distance.

Next a lot of shots and transitions are used. The first is that the shot of Sam walking fades to a close up of the side of Ashley's face as he is walking. This then cross fades to an over the shoulder shot of Ashley walking towards Sam. Next this shot cross fades to a wide pan shot of Ashley walking towards Sam. This then cross fades to a shot of Sam and Ashley walking towards each other whilst the camera is behind a bush.

The final shot is of a tilt of a hat and then revealing Sam walking off dragging a bag, this then dips to white and the title appears on the screen.

The next stage was to add sound to our video. We decided to chose two tracks that were off a free music website. We used an erie piano song over the whole of the clip as this helped to build suspense. We also added an upbeat rock song when Ashley appears on screen to show that it is coming out of his headphones.

This is the draft video

28th Februrary 2010 - Filming

Today Adam and I recorded the shots of our thriller along with actors Sam Willis and Ashley Grantham. We went to our location, Toton Sidings, and recorded our shots mid afternoon so we could use natural lighting.

For our first shot, the stalker walking with a shot of his feet looking down, we decided the best way to film this was for Sam to hold camera above his head as he walked. The only problem with this is that the camera is not steady. To try and battle this we put the camera on a tripod, although this was still not a steady shot.

The second shot is of the stalker walking away from the camera down a path. This shot was filmed using a tripod and a long take. A problem with us filming outdoors is that there are other members of the public about, so we had to take more shots than we had planned due to people walking in front of them.

The third shot was a close up pan of Ashley listening to music. We shot this using a tripod and panning the camera round.

The next shot was an over the shoulder long take, in which Sam walked away from the camera and you can see Ashley walking towards him in the distance. We filmed this using a tripod so we could be sure of a steady shot. We then filmed this the opposite way round, looking over Ashley's shoulder.

The next shot was a high angle shot of Ashley and Sam walking towards each other. This was filmed on a bank next to the path so that we could get height in our shot. To improve this shot we decided to use a pan shot, following Ashley until Sam came into the shot.

The next shot was a wide two shot, in which the camera was but amongst some trees and bushes, and Sam and Ashley were walking towards each other down the path, we did this so it would allow us to use a variety of shots from different angles when it comes to editing.

The final shot was a tilt shot that goes from Ashley's hat on the floor, tilting up and showing Sam walking away dragging Ashley's bag.

22nd February 2010 - Actors, Costumes and Props

The actors that will be in our thriller are Sam Willis as the 'Stalker' and Ashley Grantham as the 'Indie Kid'. We have decided on these as they are reliable as they are also taking AS media and understand that they cannot mess around. We have also chosen them due to their physical attributes as Sam is tall and suits the style of a stalker, and Ashley has the hair and build of an 'Indie Kid'.

This is Sam Willis:

This is Ashley Grantham:

Sam's character the stalker will be wearing a long jacket, jeans and boots, similar to these:

Ashley's character the 'Indie Kid' will be wearing a hoodie, jeans, trainers and a flat peak hat. He will also be wearing headphones:

21st February 2010 - Thriller Genre Research

‘Thrillers are films known to promote intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension. Thriller and suspense films are virtually synonymous and interchangeable categorizations, with similar characteristics and features’. ‘ A thriller is a film that pursues a single-minded goal - to provide thrills and keep the audience cliff-hanging at the 'edge of their seats' as the plot builds towards a climax. The tension usually arises when the main character is placed in a menacing situation or mystery, or an escape or dangerous mission from which escape seems impossible.’ [http://www.filmsite.org/thrillerfilms.html]

There are many films that are included in the thriller genre; however these can be split into many different sub genres. ‘Number 23’ is a physiological thriller, The Bourne Trilogy is action thrillers and the Scream Trilogy is horror thrillers.

‘Characters in thrillers include convicts, criminals, stalkers, assassins, down-on-their-luck losers, innocent victims, prison inmates, menaced women, characters with dark pasts, psychotic individuals, terrorists, cops and escaped cons, fugitives, private eyes, drifters, people involved in twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, psycho-fiends, and more. The themes of thrillers frequently include terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder.’ [http://www.filmsite.org/thrillerfilms.html]

16th February 2010 - Location Planning

Today me and Adam went around Toton trying to find suitable locations for the filming of our thriller. We decided that some paths along Toton sidings would be best as it would fit our storyboard perfectly and is in quite a quiet area so would not be at risk of shots being ruined by other people. As there are trees and bushes either side of the path it makes it perfect for a stalker scenario, which is what we are aiming for in our thriller opening. These are images of the location that we are going to shoot:


This part of the path has a slight curve so it would be perfect for the beginning of our clip when we first start seeing the stalker, also it had bushland either side of the path so it can add mystery.


This part of the path is straight and long, this is perfect for the two shots when we want see both stalker and victim on camera.



This area of path has a bank running parallel to it, meaning we could film the wide shots at the end of the clip from a high angle, adding more mystery, and we would also be able to see both characters at the same time, instead of doing separate shots.

12th February 2010 - Thriller Planning

In this lesson we analysed the questionnaire results that we gathered from students in our college during the week. We asked 20 students so that we could reach our target audience of teenagers. To analyse the results, we split the questions in half, so we each took 5 each, and then produced pie charts visually displaying out results.We split them in half so it would save us valuable time and we chose pie charts as they can be easily read and can see what is the most popular answer.

This is our analysed results:

This shows that the majority of people would prefer the location to based in a woodlands area.












Most people asked want the thriller to be set in the afternoon.











Most people believe that there should be 2 characters in the opening of our thriller.

The majority of people would like a stalker storyline in a thriller.









Most people would suspense music and ambient sounds to be used in our thriller.











The vast majority of students asked would prefer the thriller to be shot in naturalistic lighting.










The vast majority would like the actors in the film to be male.












Props and costumes that people wanted to be include were dark clothing, mysterious objects and contrasting costumes.









The majority of people would prefer there not to be speech in the opening of a thriller.












85% of people would prefer the colour used to be dark and mysterious than bright.









Using these results it gives us a clear view of what people in our target audience would like in a thriller. These include naturalistic lighting, dark mysterious colours and clothing, male characters, no speech and a stalker storyline.

The next thing we did was worked on the storyboard for our thriller. We decided on what would be in each shot, what camera angles would be used and what editing will be used together, where as Adam drew up the storyboard and wrote the text so it looked more continuous than each of us drawing different sections of it. Also by having one person drawing we could really focus on what we wanted in out shots and how out thriller would look.

This is the animatic of our storyboard that Adam produced so we could visualise what our thriller would look like and could then alter the storyboard if need be. In the clip we used a song that was off a free use music website, to avoid any copyright infringement.

Whilst Adam was finishing off the storyboard by adding colour so that we could turn to the storyboard into an animatic, i wrote up a risk assessment for our shooting.

Risk Assessment

Falling over (Injuring slef or breaking equiptment) - To prevent this be careful witht he quiptment and try to film in safe flatter areas
Other People - Try and film in an area that is not too busy
Weather - If raining avoid filming due to electrical products and danger to students
Multi-Level Location - Danger of people falling, so try and work in flat areas
Poor Lighting - use lights if dark so people can see and dont runt he risk of falling over or getting lost
Equiptment being stolen - Never leave equiptment unattended

8th February 2010 - Thriller Planning

In today's lesson, the class split into our groups and began our planning of our thriller. In my group it is me and Adam Turner. We decided to go in a small group as we find it easier to work with minimal amount of people as there is less to argue about or have contrasting opinions.

The first stage of our planning was to brainstorm our ideas, we did this together so that we could both have input on what are thriller could possibly look like. we split our brainstorm into smaller sections and connotations of thrillers, such as sound, location, costume, props, characters, lighting, story and actors.

Once we had finished producing the brainstorms, We then moved onto compiling a questionnaire that was to be aimed towards our target audience, late teenagers, this consisted of 10 questions that would cover all the aspects of how our thriller would look. Our questionnaire can be seen below:

Questionnaire
1. What would be the best location for a thriller opening?:
• Woodlands
• City
• Indoors

2. What time of day should it be set?:
• Early Morning
• Afternoon
• Night

3. How many characters would be suitable?:
• 1
• 2
• 3+

4. What type of storyline?:
• Stalker
• Romance
• Revenge
• Unprovoked

5. What type of sounds?:
• Suspense
• Deigetic
• Non-diegetic
• Ambient

6. Lighting?:
• High key
• Naturalistic

7. Actors?:
• Male
• Female

8. Possible props and costumes that could be used?:

9. Should speech be used?:
• Yes
• No

10. What colours could be used?:

We decided on these questions as it would give us a clear picture of what people in the age group would like to see in a thriller.

The next step was to devise a filming schedule for our thriller. This included when we would film, what equipment we would need, what props and costumes would be needed and how many filming sessions would be necessary. This was so we could plan our time so that we did not get lost behind on time and would be prepared for each section. this was our filming schedule:

Filming time - Sunday 28th February (try to get majority done, if not we will use time during the week to capture extra footage)

Location - Toton Sidings

Time - Mid-afternoon

Equipment - DV camera, DV tape, Tripod

Actors - Ashley Grantham and Sam Willis

Costume - Stalker character: Long coat, Jeans, Boots
Indie Kid : Hoodie, Flat peak hat, Jeans, Trainers

Props - Headphones, Bag,

Thriller Research - Signs

I watched this clip of 'Signs' to help me with my research and understanding of thrillers and their opening sequences. I chose this film as it is different to 'Scream' as this is in the sci-fi genre, where as scream was in the horror genre

Sound

• High tempo music is used over the credits, this is to add suspense before showing any footage as the audience do not know what it is leading up to.
• When screams can be heard in the distance, this builds up tension as the audience does not know where the scream are coming from and why people are screaming
• When the non-diegetic sound of dogs barking can be heard, it builds tension as the viewer does not know what they are barking at

Camera

• An Establishing shot is used on a garden, which then pans to a photo of a family, building tension as the audience do not know what this family has to do with the thriller.
• A long shot of a man sat up in bed adds tension as the audience begin to wonder why he suddenly sat upright
• A close up of Morgan's face adds tension as the audience don't know what he is staring at with such a lifeless expression

Editing

• The opening credit fade onto the screen on top of a blue light, this adds mystery to the shot and also fits the theme of sci-fi.
• A cut between a close up of a mans face and a shot of his feet walking on corn adds tension as the audience cannot see what he is walking towards.

Mise-en-Scene

• The setting of a cornfield is used as they are vast and easy to get lost in. This builds tension as the audience do not know what is hidden amongst it.
  

Thriller Research - Scream

This is the opening to the film 'Scream'. I viewed the opening 3 minutes of the clip to help me with the understanding of how thriller openings usually work.

Sound

• When the title fades in, it makes a banging noise, this suggests that the film will contain action.
• There are non-diegetic sounds of a phone ringing and a woman screaming whilst on the titles, this sets the genre and gives some idea of the plot.
• By using diegetic sound of the other person on the telephone, it creates suspense as it puts the viewer in the same position as the woman, in not knowing what the caller looks like.
• The dialogue "I want to see who I'm looking at", turns this film into a thriller and creates a lot of suspense as it depicts to the audience that he has been outside and watching her the whole time

Camera

• Tilt from the phone up to the woman answering it. This corresponds with the titles before hand where there was non-diegetic sounds of a phone ringing and a woman screaming. This implies that the two are connected and gives the viewer the impression that it will be this woman screaming.
• As she walks around the house the camera follows where she goes. This suggests that she is being stalked, as most of time when she is not on the phone the camera is steady.

Editing

• The title fades in from a black screen, and then gets smaller and bolder, after a while the text then changes from white to red. This suggests that the thriller is based on horror as red is the colour associated with blood and gore.
• A cut from the titles to the phone ringing shows that it was that phone ringing at the beginning and suggests that she may be the one that was screaming.

Mise-en-Scene

• When she is on the phone discussing scary movies, she is playing with a block of knives. This implies that the thriller is based around horror as she is playing with something that is used as a weapon in most horror films.
• The setting of her home has many glass windows and doors. So when she discovers that she is being watched it adds tension to the viewer as they are kept guessing where he was looking through

1st February 2010 - Thriller Research

In this lesson we began our research into the film genre of thrillers. For the first part we looked into the typical conventions thrillers have, these included: Build up music, dark lighting, antagonist and protagonist characters and use of shadows. The second part of the lesson involved watching three opening sequences to thrillers. these were: Signs, Lost Highway and Blood Simple. we then noted on the camera angles, editing, sound and mise en scene. To finish we started to view 'The Usual Suspect' which we will finish viewing next lesson

29th January 2010 - Finishing Editing

In today's lesson the editing of the clip was completed. So that the whole group knew how to use the editing software, Josh showed Me and Shaun all the aspects of the software and what everything did and we then completed the editing my moving the sound so that it matched the video.
In the second part of the lesson i started to view thriller openings on YouTube so that i could be prepared for upcoming lessons works and would not waste time.

29th January 2010 - Preliminary Clip

This is the groups video for the preliminary task. In this video i was the camera man for the conversation shots.

The parts about this video I like are the shots leading to Sophie walking to the door as they are continuous and work smoothly with the cutaway shots of Josh. I also like the tracking shot following Sophie entering through the door and sitting opposite josh as it adds more continuity to the clip that if a cut was used to show Sophie entering and then a shot of her sat down.

There are a few parts of this video that could be altered to improve it. The first would be that when the conversation is being filmed there is a lot of echo, it would sound a lot better if the clip was filmed whilst keeping echo to a minimum. The second bit that i would change is that only straight cuts were used and more variety could have been used to make the clip more interesting.

25th January 2010 - Editing

In today's lesson the editing of the video clip took place, to avoid having too many people around one computer and to prevent us working separately and making 4 different clips, we decided this would have been the best method.

The first thing I did in this lesson was photograph the brainstorm and storyboard and the upload them to the computer. These were added to the T Drive so that the group could all access them. I then uploaded these as posts. My role in this lesson was to locate the music for the clip, in which a YouTube converter was used to be able to use the tracks and sound effects.

This is the brainstorm that our group did at the initial stage of planning in our prelimernary task. In this we came up with the plot of our video as well as the sounds that will be used. we also decided what camera angles we were going to include so that this practice task would be more beneficial for us when we come to do our main project. the final thing we did was decide the location for our filming, which we decided would be the classroom and the corridor leading to it.

This is the storyboard that my group designed showing the plot of our scene. As well as stating what would be in each scene, we also stated what camera angle is used, a rough drawing of what the shot will look like and any dialogue that will be spoke within the shot.

Whilst filming we stuck to our storyboard fairly well, however we missed out the first shot as when recording, the shot was not filmed properly so when it came to editing we could not use it, but as it was at the beginning of our video it still looks continuous and we were able to miss it out.

22nd January 2010 - Preliminary Task Filming

In today's lesson, the filming of the preliminary task took place. To make sure that we stayed to our plan we used the storyboard so we could shoot the shots in order and make sure we did not miss any out. Our filming took place in the class room and the corridor leading to it. I recorded the shots that took place in the classroom showing the conversation between Josh and Sophie. As the conversation is to be shown in shot reverse shot, we had to record many differrent camera shots: Two shot, over the shoulder shot and close up shot of both Sophie and Josh. To make the shots more successful, a tripod was used so that the camera would be steady. Once we had finished the filming, the group uploaded the videos of the tape and onto the T drive on the computer so that they could be accessed from all computers in the class room.

18th January 2010 - Preliminary Planning - Storyboard

In this lesson, we continued on the planning stage of our task. To introduce the lesson, Mr Mitchell showed us a short video clip demonstrating how to film a shot reverse shot and the diffrent qualities needed. This helped as it gave us a clear understanding of how they are filmed.

Continuning on with the planning, we started to draw our stroyboard. We decided on the diffrent camera angles that would be used, what would be happening within each shot and any dialogue that was used. To try and get a better understanding of how our video would work, we practiced recording with digital cameras on the first few shots to see how they would work. This turned out effective and allowed us to edit the storyboard to improve it.

15th January 2010 - Introduction and Preliminary Planning

In this lesson we were introduced to our project and what we would be doing oer the next few months. We were informed that we would have to plan, film and edit an opening to a thriller.

However before that we were told we had to complete a preliminary task. This would be a short video that would give us practice on planning, filming and editing. For this task we were split into small groups with in the class, mine consists of: Me, Shaun Cutts, Sophie Neil and Josh Curran. The first action the group took was to brainstorm our ideas for the video. We decided that our lot would be a girl walking down a corridor, entering a room and then breaking up with her boyfriend. Once the plot was decided we started to think of the different camera angles we could use and have so far settled on using: Pan, Tilt, Shot Reverse Shot, Over the Shoulder,Close up, and Establishing Shot.