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

Throughout the whole process of constructing our finished film I have learnt a wide variety of skills and techniques when using the technologies provided. The first main technology which took longest to get used to was the Apple Mac computers as I had previously never used one before. I found it extremely confusing and frustrating at first, as well as using all the new software I had never used, for instance iMovie, one of the main programmes needed to create our film took a while to familiarise myself with. However, once I felt comfortable with using the Mac I could quickly learn more and more skills which would be vital in the process of creating our film.

     The Blogger website was also new to me. However, once I set up my account I quickly explored the features of the site and could enjoyably blog, posting my work and interactive content. I could now easily import and upload videos and pictures. Here I could blog all my current progress, and also the techniques and information I had learnt along the way. The use of Youtube was also very efficient, any specific clips from films or programmes we could import and upload onto blogger to help with our research. We also used the website to upload our own films, allowing others to view our work.

     When creating our final film we used our own camera instead of the schools as it would ensure better quality and more function - however, this came at a price; it took a considerable amount of time to get used to the camera when filming, and many attempts to get the features such as the zooms and focus pulls perfect in each shot. Despite this, we all had a positive attitude towards our progress of making the film.

     The editing process of the film was probably the most challenging. By using iMovie I could see it would take a generous amount of time to get used to using each feature, although once I was familiar with the programme I could achieve much more skilled and advanced projects, I was now able to create voiceovers and structure our film shots together to create drafts which could then be edited. I learnt how to create many different camera shots which could be combined to achieve effective and professional camera work techniques such as match on action, shot/reverse/shots, point of view shots and more.

     Overall, I think I have learnt something at every stage of development of our film and have been very successful in learning new skills and techniques when using different technologies, while also learning how to make a quality and professional film in general.

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

Here are the social groups that are represented though specific characters within our film:

Middle class

• The middle class social group is represented by the first character seen in the film, the psychologist. He is an ordinary character who doesn't appeal to the audience in any way.
• By how the psychologist doesn't appear to be too interested in his patient we can see that he does not enjoy this job, however, he deals with it and gets straight to the point when asking questions. He doesn't want to waste time and feels that his patient, the protagonist, is exaggerating his problems.
• The psychologist looks down upon the protagonist as he clearly sees him as a vulnerable and petty underclass, however, he does not express his thoughts, he just wants to get on with the job. In addition, we can see by his tone of voice and even how he doesn't have the courtesy to look at the underclass character when talking to him that he feels greater and in higher social class than him.

Underclass

• The second character present in the opening scene of our film is the protagonist in the present day - years after the incident he is talking about to the psychologist.
• Immediately the audience can perceive him as an underclass by his sluggish form as he slouches over the desk, whereas the middle class psychologist sits in an upright position. By how he drinks spirits we can see he resorts mostly to alcohol due to his depression and anxiety. As the audience are told he has symptoms of paranoia we can understand his reluctance to tell the psychologist his story, however, this may be due to him wanting sympathy over what has happened to him in his life.
• The protagonist in this first scene is seen to be stereotypically represented, many underclass people are seen and portrayed as unstable and unequal. Here we can see the protagonist is vulnerable, lonely and empty.

MI5 Agent

• In the library scene we see the MI5 agent who represents the very high class social group. By how he is on the computer, uses his smartphone and is in percession of a briefcase we can see how he is tech savvy and also of very high importance. His urgency suggests he has no time to wait around and has important tasks to do.
• The agent views himself to be greater than others. We know by how he barges past the student without any assurance of the teenagers well being that he thinks he himself is more important and has bigger and better things to do.
• The agent is stereotypically represented in our film as he is dressed smart and slick, while having up to speed technology (smartphone, email, computer). His tone of voice is strong, the audience know hes got a job to do, and nothing can stop him.

Students/Teenagers

• The protagonist in our film is not of the stereotypical sense, but instead a determined and willing student, ready to sacrifice all to save humanity, whereas, stereotypically teenagers are seen to be very mischievous and rowdy.
• The protagonist is intelligent and sharp, as he is studying at university he is even smart enough to test the top secret theory of global warming. This would be considered extremely difficult, unless for a amazingly intelligent scientist like himself - he is unique and contrasts considerably when compared to a student his age.
• As teenagers and youths are stereotypically seen as bad behaved and ill mannered, the use of an anti-stereotypical teenager gives the audience a whole new view of the social groups - we can see that in this film the agents are the antagonists, while to the audiences surprise the teenager is the protagonist.

Scientist

• When the protagonist reads the top secret file and discovers the theory, he then goes to his university to begin testing. This is the first appearance of the student being a scientist which may be a surprise for the viewers watching; we no longer view the protagonist as just a hand-working student, but not as an experienced scientist.
• By how a real experiment is used, along with time lapse, we can clearly see this character is strongly determined to find out the truth about global warming; this demonstrates how focused he is throughout the long duration of his experiments.
• The scientist in our film is sterotypically represented. Almost all scientists in films are portrayed as being extremely intelligent, alike how we have presented our protagonist in our own film. Just from him experimenting with chemicals we can see how he knows what he is doing.

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

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

 

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

I believe that from the preliminary task we have progressed extremely well to create a new and exciting film which consists of a much wider use of techniques and conventions of a thriller. From analysing the preliminary task we could spot the weaknesses of it and transfer the strengths into our final film. Despite the preliminary task being very rough and of low quality, I found the plot and general atmosphere that the film created to be very effective and powerful in portraying all the conventions of the thriller genre. In some ways I believe that we may have resulted in a better final film if we followed more aspects of our preliminary task, for instance, the great use of low key lighting and flickering of the lights effectively built suspence and tension while also adding a touch of horror (keeping the audience on edge and anxious).

     As the preliminary task was to create a film which required three main camera techniques, these being match-on-action, shot/reverse/shot and the 180-degree rule, I believe we chose too simplistic and bland props to use. The idea of using a hand opening a door for match on action seemed a little predictable and boring, while the use of the 180-degree rule was not as effective as we were filming in a small enclosed area. On the other hand, our final film involved new and interesting camera shots; we found that using the same techniques, however with different props, we could achieve a better quality shot with continuity which is essential in a film.

 

     If we were to improve our final film I would recommend using more low key lighting and also developing our plot to include more action. By doing this we could build much more tension, the low key lighting would work acceptionally well in certain scenes of our final film such as the laboratory scene or the opening scene in the counseling room. Despite this I think our film proved to be very successful overall; from looking at fellow pupils' final film I believe we produced an acceptionally well presented film which keeps the audience intrigued and interested to see more.

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

When trying to attract a specific audience - in this case our target audience age range from 16-25 - we needed to observe current trends and interests. Looking at our target audience profiling and research we could see that teenagers and young adults may be classed as tech-savvy and up to speed with technology. From this we knew we would need to include props that would interest this audience and therefore decided the use of a computer and smart phones would appeal greatly and attract our audience.

 Another aspect that may appeal to our target audience may be the age of the protagonist in our film. As he is a student studying at university the target audience age range is at a similar age as the protagonist; this allows the audience to feel more connected with this character as they know what it is like themselves to be at a similar age. Some may also be studying at university, making this film and a thrill and inspiration for them due to same lifestyle they have with the protagonist.

There are many ways to attract our audience through advertising if our film went public. However, the group decided there would be one main technique to draw in viewers: this was the Orange Wednesday scheme. The scheme simply allows the consumer to have 2 cinema tickets for the price of one every wednesday - for teenagers and student this would be a great bonus as some may look to be saving money or even have financial issues which would make it difficult for them to spend money on going to the cinema. This therefore would be a brilliant way to advertise and appeal to young audiences while giving them more reason to see the film.

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

Target Audience: Age Group & Gender

I have decided the age group of the target audience would be around 16-25 years. Research and statistics show that this age group generally watch more thriller films than any other of the age groups (shown in the audience age range chart with the biggest percentage of 40%). In addition, I also think this because the scenes, conventions and general narratives of some thriller films may be overly brutal, dramatic and even involve a hint of horror within it; I therefore think anyone in the age range of 15 and below could be negatively affected by what the thriller film presents through its storyline - outcasting the 10-15 age group for appropriate reasons. From research I think the gender of the target audience would not need to be as specific as the target age group, however, it is still important nevertheless. We have decided that for our thriller film the gender of the target audience would mainly be aimed towards males, however, females could also be attracted to the film and its storyline as well. This was decided because in a stereotypical sense, along with statistical data (the majority of thriller film audiences being males at 59%), males seem to be more interested in on-edge, mysterious and frightful elements of films (therefore, thrillers), rather than the female gender. From this I presume that males find thriller films more exciting, spine-tingling and edgy to watch, achieving thrills by watching them, as opposed to females. By taking the audience gender and age groups into account, we have decided the majority of our target audience will be made up of male university students and other young adults.

                     Audience Age Range Chart                     Audience Gender Chart

Filming Progress Log

21/2/2012 - Today I created and completed the storyboard from the use of the shot list. The storyboard could now help us and give us insight to what our film will look like, allowing a chronological order of what will happen in each scene.

24/02/2012 - Now that the storyboard was finished I could now work on the animatic. For this I analysed and wrote up a voiceover which would be simultaneously combined with each specific camera shot in the storyboard, which would be used in the film.

29/02/2012 - The development of a dolly system that we would be using for the library scene was completed; this was created using basic resources, yet, proved to work very effectively. As we wanted a continuous shot using the dolly, by using a standard computer chair the wheels could easily give steady movement of the camera; we did a number of test runs to get the ideal movement of the chair and camera. From here we could mark out where the chair would be pushed to and decide on how fast it would be pushed. Now developing was finished, we had a successful result of having one actor being filmed, one camera man sat on the chair, and two assistants pushing the chair. We would be filming the government agent on a computer where he is interrupted by an urgent call on his mobile, from here he rushes out, accidentally leaving his computer on with the top secret email on screen.

02/03/2012 - Today was the day filming began on the initial scene. As we all had the appropriate props we could set up and create our beginning setting of the protagonist in the counselling room. As I was director of photography I used a number of camera techniques, including match on action, 180-degree rule and shot/reverse/shot, which we found very effective. At the end of today's lesson we had finished this scene and found most the shots to be very successful, however also chose which shots needed to be re-filmed in order to create continuity, after this we could now start editing this scene.

16/03/12 - Today we started our filming of the library scene and also carried on with the editing of our scenes in the film. As we had all the appropriate props for this scene we could productively film most of the shots in this scene very quickly, including the dolly shot of the agent on the computer combined with new experimental shots like the falling chair. We started combining our library scene shots with our previous beginning counselling scene; we could then edit each shot to create continuity within the film. Our film was starting to become clearer and we could now go on to filming the next scene of the library.

21/03/12 - Today's lesson was extremely productive as we finished off filming our library scene along with starting and finishing most of our laboratory scene. Our film was starting to look very professional and of a high quality. The lab scene worked extremely well as we managed to get a science technician to allow us to use actual chemicals (liquid nitrogen) to produce a real life experiment effect, this was a brilliant addition to our shot. Here I was filming a time-lapse scene of the protagonist working on his discovery about global warming - this was achieved by slowly panning across, where the trick of the time-lapse would come from fast-forwarding the shot in the editing process. We also filmed the few final shots of the protagonist leaving the lab to walk outside and look up at the sky; for this we used a tracking shot which then merges into a point-of-view shot as he stops to look up. At this point the shot tilts and focuses on the sky where the film title 'State of Fear' will be superimposed.

23/03/12 - This was our last day of filming where we could focus on going over any gaps in our film. From looking at the roughly edited version of the film all the specific parts which needed to be re-filmed or added to were visible. We began by filming the outdoor shots of the protagonist leaving the library building and hurrying to get to the lab - these shots were vital in order to create a clear idea of what was going on for the viewer, while linking the library and laboratory scene together. I also had to re-film the final scene of the protagonist leaving the lab and walking outside as we spotted some problems with the props in the shot and also the sound that was included.


Finally, all the filming was now finished. Our group now needed to edit the film, adding in the credits, voiceover and music. After these tasks are done, we will have a finished product of our final thriller film 'State of Fear'.

Creating the Storyboard & Animatic

Over a series of lessons, with the use of a shot list and story board, I could create a powerful and effective animatic which could inform and describe what the main plot of our final thriller film will be about, along with how camera shots, angles and title credits would be presented. My first step of the process was to create the storyboard. By using the shot list, initial ideas of the storyline and imagination I began drawing out each different shot which would be used - from the use of the shot list I could portray the feelings and atmosphere through the angles and shot types, within my drawings. Once this was finished, a clear and chronological projection of the film could be seen, while a more visual representation of the film strongly reinforced our views of how to make our final film have good quality in portraying the conventions of a thriller. I could now take pictures of each specific shot and upload it onto iMovie to be edited along with the voiceover to create the animatic.
     Now that the storyboard was finished I could go on to developing the animatic. Doing this was very straight forward, however, took a considerable amount of time in order to get a good quality finished video. My first step was to write out what I would be saying in the voiceover. Here I tried to keep my sentences short and to the point - this would allow me to say all the information about the shots I would need while keeping the duration short in order to give the person watching a feel of how long each shot in the real film would be. Once this was done, it was time to create the voiceover. It took many attempts to achieve a quick and precise voiceover for each of the shots, however, in the end I found it to be very smooth and clear for the person watching. Finally, the last step was to edit the voiceover and storyboard shots together to get a simultaneous and continuous flow of the animatic. I cut down the sections of each voiceover that were not needed, and placed them alongside the specific storyboard shot. From here I could increase the duration of viewing each of the storyboard shots to match with voiceover and also the duration of the shot in the real film. The animatic was now finished and uploaded onto the group blog.

Audience Profiling and Research

From researching into existing thriller film target audiences, we could effectively choose a target audience and also construct an audience profile for our very own thriller film.

Target Audience: Age Group & Gender

I have decided the age group of the target audience would be around 16-25 years. Research and statistics show that this age group generally watch more thriller films than any other of the age groups (shown in the audience age range chart with the biggest percentage of 40%). In addition, I also think this because the scenes, conventions and general narratives of some thriller films may be overly brutal, dramatic and even involve a hint of horror within it; I therefore think anyone in the age range of 15 and below could be negatively affected by what the thriller film presents through its storyline - outcasting the 10-15 age group for appropriate reasons. From research I think the gender of the target audience would not need to be as specific as the target age group, however, it is still important nevertheless. We have decided that for our thriller film the gender of the target audience would mainly be aimed towards males, however, females could also be attracted to the film and its storyline as well. This was decided because in a stereotypical sense, along with statistical data (the majority of thriller film audiences being males at 59%), males seem to be more interested in on-edge, mysterious and frightful elements of films (therefore, thrillers), rather than the female gender. From this I presume that males find thriller films more exciting, spine-tingling and edgy to watch, achieving thrills by watching them, as opposed to females. By taking the audience gender and age groups into account, we have decided the majority of our target audience will be made up of male university students and other young adults.

                     Audience Age Range Chart                     Audience Gender Chart

Audience Profile

Here is a predicted, yet detailed, example of a general representation of our thriller film target audience:

His name is Mark and is 19 years old, successfully studying at university. He is a very average young adult who wears casual clothing, shirts, chinos accompanied with designer glasses and a new-trend cap. Despite being a student at university he often visits his friends and also likes to hang out at bars for friendly drinks and chats. He has a part time job which helps him through any living expenses, such as food, exercising, and socialising. He mostly eats ready-made meals and sometimes the one-off fast food as it is quick and easy to get a hold of. He also enjoys going to the cinema with his friends once in a while. Mark is entertained by listening to music, watching thriller films and playing console games.

     Mark generally enjoys watching alternative thriller films, rather than the mainstream blockbusters; this is because he finds the excitement, mystery and thrills within the alternative thriller films much more appealing, whereas the mainstream thrillers that 'everyone is talking about' usually gives too much of a hint into what the storyline of the film will be. Mark finds these mainstream films to be less enjoyable as he likes the on-edge, intrigued feel of what is to happen when watching a thriller. On the other hand, Mark does indeed watch the occasional mainstream film along with some of the new horrors which are out at the cinema.

     Mark is very healthy and fit as he plays a lot of sports in his spare time such as rugby and tennis, along with cardio sessions at the gym. He is also very good at creative arts such as music and art, however spends less time doing these due to being occupied with more important things to do. He gradually became more interested with technology (computers, game consoles, films) as he got older, now spending alot of his time doing these things compared to when he was younger.

     Mark reads a wide variety of magazines and also newspapers as he has a great interest in the latest news and gossip out. He likes film, gaming and health magazines which provide exclusive information about the particular subjects he is interested in. Mark also spends some of his spare time searching the internet for the past and present thriller films which he can buy off eBay or watch when they finally come out on screen at the cinema - in addition, he likes watching youtube film reviews and trailers.

Thriller Pitch Review

During the lesson we organised and presented the initial ideas for our final thriller film production. We created an interview of each person in our group, explaining each of their roles and responsibilities as well as the details and conventions that will be used in the film. We organised who would be discussing the specific areas of the thriller film, saying why and how we will successfully achieve a good quality film: Taylor explained the narrative, my role was discussing the mise-en-scene, James talked about the characters and their parts in the film, and finally Charlie who described the setting. We started the filming and positioned the camera for an over-the-shoulder shot to show an interview style to portray the pitch. We also inserted a couple of clips showing our ideas and camera shots of where the different settings will be and what they will look like.

Firstly, Taylor effectively explained the narrative as he talked about the main character (the protagonist) and his experiences and problems he faces in the film. We decided to set the first scene in the present day - here the protagonist is not immediately revealed, but instead is shadowed, conveying an enigma. He sits troubled and on edge, describing his past to another unknown character; this is where the scene then cuts to the past, showing the audience the reason why he is an anxious state which is portrayed in the first scene. This idea and technique of a 'flashback' was inspired from the film "The Usual Suspects" which all group members found very effective and powerful to put across the narrative of the film. The past of the protagonist describes how he was once a scientist who discovered the cause of the extreme acceleration of global warming which would put all of humanity at the risk of extinction. The FBI then find out about his knowledge of the issue creating a cat and mouse chase to stop him from revealing the problem and creating chaos in the world.

Next, I discussed my roles in the film which are the mise-en-scene and editing. Here I spoke about how the costumes used in the present day for the protagonist (first scene) will consist of ragged, dirty and old clothes to show the struggle this man has been through, and also to make the audience ask questions such as 'Who is he? Why does he look like this? What has happened to him?'. All these questions will then be answered later in the film. I then talked about the costumes used in the following scenes; in the laboratory he will be wearing a basic white lab coat along with gloves and goggles. This will reinforce the idea of him being an experienced scientist, making his character look more determined and believable overall. We decided that for most scenes we would use low key lighting; this convention of a thriller will build suspense and tension in certain scenes, while also creating an enigma in the opening scene of the protagonist and the unknown man he is talking to. In addition there will be a number of quick cuts to show the change in time of different scenes, for example the quick cuts of the laboratory experiment scene show how much determination and effort the protagonist is putting into discovering the global warming problem.

James then went on to talk about the characters in the film. He said about the protagonist's personality, feelings and objectives within the film, from the present day of him being depressed, anxious and uneasy about the situation he is currently in, to 15 years in the past when he was in fact enthusiastic, determined and motivated to uncover the secret of global warming. James then went on to state the minor characters in the film, these being the mysterious man listening to the protagonist in the first scene and the assistant of the protagonist who helps him with the experiments in the lab.

Finally, the different settings of the film were described by Charlie. These settings varied from a small, dark and dirty room, to a well presented library and finally the dim laboratory. The opening scene would be the small, dark and dirty room, for this we decided that a corner of a classroom with a window edge would best work for this scene. With the classroom lights off and only light from the window coming through we could effectively create low-key lighting within the scene, making it look dim, run down and emotionless. For the next setting, the library, we decided the school library would be used. Due to this scene being set in the past and also being the beginning of the story we decided bright lighting in the school library with all the appropriate props would clearly convey what the story is about; letting the audience know what is happening and answering some of the questions that may occur from the first scene. For the laboratory scene we needed low-key lighting once again to build the tension of what is happening when the protagonist finally realises the secret about global warming. For this we wanted the room to be spacious, making the protagonist look as if he is extremely busy and determined with discovering the secret as he quickly moves to each experiment at different parts of the room, which will be portrayed through a time lapse. A science prep room would be the perfect setting for this scene as it is indeed a room for experiments, making the whole atmosphere of the scene even more realistic.

Thriller Film Technical Ideas

"Woman becomes obsessed with married man."

A woman searches her married male friend on facebook, obsessed and in love with him. The man accepts, thinking there is no harm in accepting a friend request. Soon she starts 'facebook stalking' him, trying to get his attention and constantly messaging him. To his mistake he posts where he is via facebook mobile and the woman follows him. When he is alone she confronts him trying to persuade and intimidate him to be with her, he declines, but to his surprise she has a weapon on her. Her obsession and the idea that he will never be with her turns her insane, where she kills him and disappears into the night.

"Man gets promoted only to find a secret world of crime."

A man has been working with his company for 5 years and his boss notices his extreme increase of experience, determination, reliability and seriousness towards his job. The man confronts his boss and demands a raise and promotion, this was what his boss was waiting for. He offers the man a job proposition, explaining that it involves an enormous raise, however also challenges, and tasks that could get out of hand. The man accepts immediately signing a contract, uninformed of the life of crime he has got himself into. His boss gives him the first criminalised task, retrieving evidence involved in a crime case from the boss' main rivals, to his shock it will involve torture and killing.

Preliminary Analysis

9 Shot Analysis

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Audience Feedback
I strongly agree with the comment Jon and Jack posted about our Group Zero Productions preliminary film. From the use of our mise-en-scene (props, costumes, lighting) it is very clear and easy to understand who the antagonists are - the masked figures immediately draw the audience's attention to them being the villians when compared to the lonely man in this short film, despite them knowing he is most likely a low life and a drug addict. The darkness and shadows in the film again give a great effect, conveying the genre of psychological thriller in a very simplistic way.
     I also agree with their suggestion of shortening the scene which involved the antagonists moving closer each time the light flickered, however, as the film posted on our group blog was the first attempt at editing, the new and improved film that I had re-edited had not yet been posted. From how Jon and Jack said that the film would fit better in the genre of horror, rather than thriller, unfortunately undermines what they had previously said about how the film's plot, editing and lighting working well and being conventional to the thriller genre - but despite this, I also think the film could suit both genres, thriller and horror.
     Overall, I am very pleased with the comment recieved, and the feedback given. From this my group can learn what works well and what needs to be improved in order to get an even more successful film in the future.
     From this experience I have learnt a wide range of camera techniques throughout the whole time of creating the film. I now know how to develop each stage of producing the film to get a better continuity feel - taking each shot in chronilogical order to ensure the best quality of shot to give the audience a better understanding. By using continuity editing I can now create successful shots to make the film look continuous - this includes using match on action, shot/reverse/shots and the 180 degree rule.
     I can extremely increase and maximise the quality of my film by the use of mise-en-scene and setting; I have learnt that finding a suitable setting before creating the plot will greatly speed up the development time of creating the film. If these are effective enough, then the whole plot of the film will be more suitable and easy to understand, giving a greater sense and atmosphere. If all these aspects are used within my final film production, then we can happily garantee a brilliant and successful film.

Analysis of Thriller Films

Cape Fear (1962)
In the crime thriller 'Cape Fear' we can see many conventions are portrayed to give the audience an idea of who the characters are and insights of their relevance and personality. From how the antagonist is conveyed by the use of costume in the opening of the clip - wearing an all white suit, hat and cigar - we can see the reverse of stereotype as it would be unusual for an antagonist to be wearing the colour of purity and peace. This shows that the convict is meant to be made out to seem harmless and has no threat to the protagonist, which gives a the character a twist later on in the film. On the other hand, by how the character is regularly smoking a cigar we can tell he is sly and crafty - this use of mise-en-scene symbolises the traits of a gangster and therefore shows his dark side, especially when he crushes the cigar in his hands when about to enter the court room to see his enemy.

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
In this thriller tension, suspense and mystery is built up by how the evil sister is portrayed. From the story we know the relationship of the two sisters - one, a previous actress severely injured in a car crash (now in a wheelchair) and the other, a crazed woman jealous of her sisters success. By how the sister in a wheelchair is presented, we can see she is 'trapped' by her sister; tension is continuously built as the audience know the crazed sister will take action against her, but the question is: when? When the scene of the crazy sister delivering food, which turns out to be a dead rat from the cellar, all is revealed, however, the audience is left knowing more evil will take place.

Fatal Attraction
This thriller is very successful in building tension and suspense: the affair of a man with an over obsessed woman turns out to be a great mistake as she turns to violence in revenge. In the car park scene when the man is getting in a lift, the shadows create a brilliant sense of unease and anxiety; from the dark outline of the woman standing on the platform we know the man has a problem yet to face, creating mystery within the scene. When finally the man gets to his car to uncover it has been vandalised with acid, the audience immediately feel surprise and shock as this extreme crime shows the situation is soon to get out of hand.

Silence of the Lambs
This psychological thriller conveys a wide range of thriller conventions. It particularly exploits camera work by using a point-of-view angle when the antagonist is using the night vision goggles: this is used to put the audience in the mind of the killer while portraying the victims fear and distress. The use of lighting - shadows and darkness - installs fear in the audience as the victim is concealed in darkness which shows her helplessness and vulnerability.

Preliminary Task Research - 2nd November 2011

Today I researched into existing preliminary tasks which were created by previous AS level media students, from a range of schools around the country. From this research I have found effective techniques which could be extremely useful when creating my own group preliminary task; the making of a thriller video.
     To begin my research I went on blogger in order to look into other students' productions; once on their blog I could use the links on their page to locate their preliminary task. As I analysed each of the videos, I could see that some students created more enthusiastic and quality productions than others; from this I could see which techniques to take in and include, and also the ones I shouldn't. Many of the effective and diverse videos I could see used very quality lighting when needed - when a character was being focused on, bright light was used in order for the audience to concentrate and know what to observe. Lighting was also used to create a great effect of shadows, which could be used to convey the elements of the genre (this would be thriller).
     Many of the videos used two particular match on action shots: this being, one shot of someone opening a door and the consequential shot of the door opening. These two shots were used in almost every video I viewed; not only would this be unoriginal and "boring" if we used this in our own production, but would also show no creativity or determination to make an effective piece of work. In order to keep the audience interested and excited we will need a unique idea to use with the match on action shots.
     From this research I have found that my group will need to use a wide range of methods and techniques to develop our video into a quality piece of work, before and after filming. We will need a good script, setting, and lighting to portray a practical meaning and intention of what the video clip will be about.

'The Shining' - Psychological Thriller

'The Shining' is one of the best classic 1980 horror films, directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick, which uses almost all the conventions of a psychological thriller; from the general narrative and events which happen in the plot, to the use of camera work, sound and the editing of the scenes. By how the director conveys the genre of the narrative, the audience can see how the characters not only need to use physical actions, but are also reliant and need to involve mental resources in order to overcome the antagonist, in this case, Jack Torrance.
      The film is set at the haunted Overlook Hotel, where Jack Torrance is employed as the winter caretaker; here he and his family are staying for the winter as Jack looks to work on his writing. Things turn for the worst as Jack and Danny (son) visualise the unexpected haunting from the previous caretaker and his family who were murdered and mutilated - from here Jack is overcome by the forces as he becomes mentally unstable, following the footsteps of the past caretaker, and on the hunt to kill his own family. Danny, however, has a paranormal telepathic ability to see into the past and future and also interact with another being (the cook) who coincidentally also has the ability. This comes into use later on in the film to get help and, therefore, get himself and his mother to safety.
     From the plot of the story you can immediately see the psychological aspects of the thriller; the mental state that Jack is in shows the elements that relate to the mind controlling him and what actions he takes in result of this. How Jack is shown actually visualising the characters who are 'ghosts' such as the past caretaker Delbert Grady, shows his change in mentality as it seems his imagination is coming to life and telling him what to do.
     Danny also conveys the psychological aspects as his telepathic ability shows the audience scenes of the past and future; we can see this is all processed from the mind and is not physically happening. On the other hand, the use of Danny's ability to contact another human, as a sign to call for help, shows how his mind and thoughts are coming into physical use as the cook travels in order to help the child. We can see this is all due to Danny's ability which then results in him and his mother (Wendy) escaping in the cook's vehicle.

     The steadicam technique was used in a number of scenes to create uneasiness, anxiety and suspense. The slow movement and smoothness of motion in the shots create discomfort in the audience, Kubrick slowly introduces and increases the tension and intensity layer by layer in order to build up the horror and keep the audience on edge - Kubrick would use this technique rather than the hand-held camera movement which is commonly and widely used in horror films to convey a realistic feel, mood and atmosphere, but however, give a sudden throw of terror all at once. The wide use of different camera shots and angles give aid to the horror and a similar impact on the audience.
     The music and sounds in many of the scenes from 'The Shining' create an eerie and creepy atmosphere as we can clearly hear the harsh and discomforting dissonant music which is applied when leading up to the horror. We can see how Kubrick has developed his music and diegetic sounds to increase the tension, while also changing the mood of the scene very suddenly, when the mood of the music is also changed. This we know is extremely effective in building up the suspense and unease of the scene; the audience immediately feel something isn't right, while the long silences which are used time and time again creates an unsettling sense. A prime example of how sound is portrayed is when Danny rides his tricycle onto the floorboards then onto carpet, here the rattling of the tricycle and then to the sudden silence of the carpet can convey and hint to the audience that something soon is about to unravel.
     Kubrick uses a range of elements in editing which is essential in creating an unique and terrifying psychological theme in many scenes. The continuity editing used, such as parallel editing, is greatly efficient when trying to produce a developing build of tension and expand suspense, while also giving the audience more information and excitement about what is happening in the film - an example of this would be at the beginning of the film, when it cuts from Wendy and Danny entering the maze to Jack gazing the 3-D model of the maze; this implies to the audience that Jack is watching Wendy and Danny. The cutaways used in a particular scene - when Danny has a vision of two girls (Delbert Grady's twin daughters) - are increasingly startling, horrific and disturbing. Kubrick allows the audience to view one scene of "innocence" when the girls are standing side by side, this then imports flashes of blood and mutilation as we can see the bodies of the girls lying in the narrow hallway and an axe positioned at the front.
     We can see how the clever use of camera work, sound and editing can affect how characters and scenes are portrayed. These techniques all add to the aspects of the psychological thriller and therefore, producing a successful, exciting and horrific psychological film.

Group Blog Set up - 21st October 2011

Today, group members, Charlie and I have created our group blog - in addition to our group are Taylor and James, however, were unfortunately not in on this day and unable to take part - Charlie and I, therefore, took matters into our own hands. From creating our group blog we could post our individual posts onto the blog to show our specific participation in the construction of our, soon to be, practical experimentation/analysation etc.
      Charlie firstly began setting up the blog; we both decided and agreed on an overall group blog link being grammarmedia-zero, however, used a temporary basic blog title of 'charlie ollie tay james' as we found we should wait for a full group decision from all members. Charlie then continued on creating a welcome page and also adding links of each member to the group blog. While this was being done, it was my job to do the design of the blog - how it looks/feels and the mood it presents. It was my decision to choose the blogs font, colours, and general look in order to relate to the subject matter; I found my choice of the simple template and cool, smooth colours effective in portraying a blog that isn't too over exaggerated or dramatic, while also making the posts and text clearer for the readers.
     Overall, we found setting up and creating of our group blog very successful, but more improvement and development is still yet to come.

Sub-genre Research

A sub-genre film is generally a subcategory within a particular genre; these sub-genre films are basically films that include themes of more than one genre. Here is a list of the sub-genres you may find in a thriller film:

Psychological Thriller:
The psychological sub-genre is used to play with the audiences minds and produce suspense in the film. In this sub-genre most of the conflict is mental, rather than physical. The protagonist may be involved in a dangerous situation which literally threatens their sanity; it shows the mentality of a character and the thought processes that they go through - therefore, making this sub-genre so tension and suspenseful. 'Black Swan' is a prime example of a mindbending psychological thriller.


Crime Thriller:
This sub-genre focuses on crime, and is usually spectated from the criminal’s point of view. This mostly involves physical action; crime thrillers usually emphasise action over psychological aspects, although there may also be a psychological part to this genre as well. The main topics of the films consist of serial killers & murders, robberies, heists, chases, shootouts and double-crosses. 'Seven' is a film which has a sub-genre of a brutal crime thriller.

Action Thriller:

An action thriller is where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases in order to resolve their problem. They occasionally have a resourceful character struggling against incredible odds such as, life-threatening situations, an evil villain, and/or being chased in several ways of transportation - for instance cars, bikes, trucks, etc. - with victory achieved at the end after difficult physical efforts and violence. 'Inception' consists of an fast pace action genre.

Mystery Thriller:
This particular sub-genre relates a lot to crime thrillers, however, differs from a regular mystery by being much more fast-paced while focusing mainly on the efforts of the detective or private investigator in order to solve the mystery. Mystery sub-genre is used in the film 'The Number 23'.


Disaster Thriller:

This particular sub-genre follows the characters survival when in conflict with natural or artificial disasters, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, volcanoes. This type of sub-genre plays with what the future is going to bring for mankind if such disasters were to happen. '2012' has a disaster thriller genre.

Conspiracy Thriller:
This sub-genre consists of the protagonist overruling the evil in the world. Conspiracy thrillers often use the secrecy of governments and major organisations in history; this type of genre has some sort of hero/heroine who finds themselves trapped in a very powerful organisation. These companies are then brought down by the protagonist character. The film 'V for Vendetta' is a great example for a conspiracy thriller.

Supernatural Thriller:
Supernatural thrillers often bring an otherworldly element to show something unordinary happening to a protagonist, which they then have to overcome this obstacle/problem. This genre may also create tension and suspense in addition to also having an unsuspected twist during the film. The protagonist or even villains usually have a supernatural gift that help them get to the main source of the problem. 'Paranormal Activity' consists of supernatural powers making the genre a supernatural thriller.

Spy Thriller:
This sub-genre focuses on the high adventures of field agents; it is usually set against the backdrop of some war/conflict between enemies. This sub-genre also deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way or as a basis for fantasy spying. 'Mission Impossible 3' uses all aspects of a spy thriller.


Eco-Thriller:

In eco-thrillers the protagonist must stop a threat to the environment - this could be natural or man-made - that will have consequences for environment and society if left unresolved. The damage of the threat could be local, however, the use of threat to the nation or world-wide stakes are more dramatic. 'The Cove' is a documentary film which the genre consists of an eco-thriller.

Techno Thriller:
Techno thrillers involve the manipulation of technology which plays a prominent part in taking over the world and giving the new world order where from now mankind is over run and controlled by robots. This particular sub-genre is mainly based as a fictional theme on life that tends to follow and relate to a science fiction trend. Themes that may be linked in with this sub-genre are world wars and science fictional occurrences such as aliens taking over with new technologies. 'Terminator: Salvation' is an obvious techno thriller.


Religious Thriller:

A religious thriller sub-genre relates to the use of religious objects, institutions and questions. Many religious related films usually unravel the good and bad points that are involved about religion; this however usually empathises the good and how it will overcome the bad, while journeying through a quest to find out the truth. 'Constantine' is a religious based film.

Political Thriller:
This sub-genre looks into the stability or corruption of a government, while most the reliance being on a hero or heroine who must keep the stability of the government that employs them; this must be done in order to prevent bad things happening. The commonly used scenarios are themes of US presidential elections and the preventions of world wars occurring. The film 'State of Play' is an example of a political thriller.

Continuity Editing Analysis

Match on Action
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht8gZM81Ewg

In this clip from 'The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers' match on action is used to empathize and also create the sense in a scene; from the use of this technique we can understand what is happening more clearly, while also gaining more information and interest of the scene. Match on action is an editing technique where a scene/action in one shot, cuts to another shot that links and matches to the first. This technique shows the action in the first shot and, therefore, the consequence of this in the second shot.

     Here we can see a man who accidentally fires an arrow - from this shot we know what action has taken place, however, from this shot alone the audience would not know the consequence of this, or why it is an important shot. The next shot that matches this shows the arrow killing an ork - the audience can now see that by the killing of this ork the war has now immediately begun. If this second shot was not used in this clip, the audience would be confused of how and why the war has so suddenly started.

Shot/Reverse/Shot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFEjcvIRMDo

A shot/reverse/shot is an editing technique where one character is shown looking at another, and the other character looking back at them (often used in conversation scenes). These two shots of the different characters are edited in order to look as if they are looking at each other, however, these two shots of each character may have been created at completely different times then edited in to look like a continuous clip.

      

     In this clip from "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith", the shot/reverse/shot is used in order to create and build tension, suspense and also portray the importance of what each character is saying to one another. We can see Yoda and Darth Sidious talking in a strong, powerful manner as each shot switches between one another; we know this is greatly effective to the audience as from this technique we can see the scene building up to a fight between the two - and therefore creating excitement and on-edge entertainment.

180-Degree Rule
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShB-37_wvrk
(Please excuse the language, was the only clip I could find.)

The 180-degree rule uses a series of shots in order for the audience to keep more of an understanding into what is happening in the clip. It uses a 180-degree line between the characters and camera; this line cannot be crossed by the camera, otherwise, the change in position of characters can and will confuse the audience who are watching. This means the characters will always be on the same side of the shot(left, middle, right) which keeps the audience notified of where they are in the scene.
     From this clip we can see as the shots change, the camera never passes the 180-degree line; this makes the audience understand where each of the characters are as we can see Henry is always on the lest of the shot and Dabs is on the right. If the shot did not use the 180-degree rule then the audience would assume they are switching positions each shot, this would make the scene look lower quality and is much more less effective to the audience.