Question 7

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

The stuff that i have learned;
The different shots, conventions of a thriller, how to use final cut express, navigation of a mac and how to use a camcorder effectively.

The skills that i have gained are;
How to use final cut express effectively, how to use the different shots to give the thriller the best effect, how to use a camcorder effectively, how to use the conventions of a thriller effectively and how to use the mac properly.

Comparing the thriller to our preliminary task.

Thriller 2 Minute Opening

Preliminary Task

In our preliminary task the editing that was performed was very shady especially with the sound effects as they were not in time and did not fit the video very well, compared to our 2 minute thriller opening which have precison editing to the second and matched with the video.

The transitions in our preliminary tasks were all straight cuts, this is where it jumps from one frame to another with no transition effect. In comparison to our thriller video from most frames we included a transition such as cross fade or dissolves to go between them, this added effect to the thriller opening itself as it kept it from being dull and boring.

Question 6

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

This wordle was made to explain about what technologies we used to make our thriller, why we used them and how we used them. Also what we have learned from making the thriller and what skills we have gained from making the thriller.

Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Question 5 on Prezi

Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Question 4

View more presentations from daniel-morris-95.

Question 3

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

What are the reasons for distributing your film by these methods? the reason is so that we can get our film into as many cinema chains as possible so that as many people as possible can watch it. 

I had to answer this part of the question separately to the rest of the question is because i couldn't really answer it in wordle. 

But this question was asking us what distributing company we would use and why would we use them.

Question 2

How does your media product represent particular socal groups?

Thriller Evaluation on Prezi

Question 1

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

Thriller evaluation

View more presentations from daniel-morris-95.

AS thriller video 'Hidden'

This is our finished AS thriller coursework film, we had lots of fun making and editing our film, hope you enjoy watching it as much as we did making it.

Editing our thriller

This is a still from Final Cut Express showing the editing process for our thriller.

Filming

Today me and my group finished the filming for our thriller. All we have to do now is edit our film on Final Cut Express ready to be uploaded to a DVD.

still pictures during filming

location pictures (night time)

Analysis of audience research

We interviewed four people for our audience research and we got very different answers from all of them.

some of there favourite genres varied from foreign films, realistic films to action adventure and chick flicks 

we also asked them what was there favourite type thriller was we got answers ; political, psychological and action thrillers.
We also asked questions such as what was the last film you went and saw at the cinema, the answers we got back were; tinker tailor solider spy, dream house, sherlock holmes a game of shadows and war horse.
Another question that we asked was what draws you to go and see a film in the cinema some of the answers we got back were; good reviews on the film, friends have suggested to go and see it, fast action scenes and good looking actors/actresses.
We also asked the research group what there fear was the answers we got back were; drowning and spiders.
The final question we asked our research group was if a famous actor or actress was to star as you in a film of your life who would it be the answers we got back were; George Clooney, Peter Kay, Brad Pitt and Will Ferrall.

The answers we got back were a lot of help to us as a group because it gave us a rough idea of what to put into our thriller.

KCD Productions

Location Pictures

Intro Titles

Target audience interviews

Research for our Thriller Coursework

Conventions of the genre.

• mystery (enigma)
• blood
• death
• suspense
• mysterious 
• weapons

Research into real films of the genre (other films watched, ideas, references etc).

• memento 
• brick
• zodiac
• bourne legacy
• mission impossible

Research into potential target audience.

• films that are watched by 16-24 years of age, so it is best to set this at the age group.
• most males go for action thrillers, and females go for more romance films, therefore you target it for males.

Proposal as to how your project would appeal to the target audience and beyond.

• our project would ideally, be aimed at this type of audience so that it can gain the most profit possible, with this we will probably look into what this age group are looking for, therefore, they will get what they want, and our film will prosper.

Name of thriller film

The members of KCD Productions have been trying to decide what to call our thriller we had many ideas but after serious thought we came up with the name 'Hidden' this is because of the character the masked man because no one knows who he is and because he is hidden in every shot from the other two characters so they don't know what is coming that is how we came up with that name for our thriller.

Our Production Company

Me and my group have been debating on different names for our production company and after a long debate we finally decided on KCD Productions. We came to this decision because of the peoples names in our group, K=katie, C=charlie D=daniel. now we will stick with this name until we finish our AS and A2 projects.

Characters in thriller

there are going to be three main characters in our thriller two of them are part of KCD Productions which will be me and my friend Katie and the other character will be played by our camera man (Charlie) his older brother Edward Searle.
Katie Edmead-Katie
Daniel Morris-Daniel
Edward Searle-Masked man.

Target audience reasearch

Me and my group have created a survey using Survey Monkey to collect information regarding our target audience. We asked several questions including:

• What is your favourite thriller sub-genre? (e.g. legal, psychological...)
• Who would you want to play you in a film of your life?
• How often do you go to the cinema?

We are currently awaiting the results of our survey, and hope to gain a sizable response as this will make our target audience research more generalized.

Target audience

When making a film, it is important to think about the audience to whom witch the film will be directed at. this will help the director of the film to choose what type of scenes to include into the film to direct it to a specified audience to bring in as much revenue as possible.

Different ways to obtain this information can be done by;

      - Surveys (Online, Post, In person)
      - Focus groups
      - Interviews

When collecting the information, some things need to be taking into consideration including;

      - Age
      - Gender
      - Occupation
      - Income
      - Favourite type of genre
      - Hobbies and Interests
      - Marital Status

Moodboard/Brainstorm (Group Work)

Target Audience

When making a film, it is important to think about the audience to whom witch the film will be directed at. this will help the director of the film to choose what type of scenes to include into the film to direct it to a specified audience to bring in as much revenue as possible.

Different ways to obtain this information can be done by;

- Surveys (Online, Post, In person)
- Focus groups
- Interviews

When collecting the information, some things need to be taking into consideration including;

- Age
- Gender
- Occupation
- Income
- Favourite type of genre
- Hobbies and Interests
- Marital Status

Treament Sheet

Name of Film: 'Hidden'

Outline of Ideas:

Two young people are walking home from a party after a long night out. As they stop outside the girls house, they begin a short conversation. In the background, the audience can see a shadowed figure at the bottom of the street under a lampost. As they talk unaware of the figure's presence, it begins to move closer. The boy and girl say goodnight and the girl goes inside. The boy then turns around to leave but his throat is slashed and he is left outside the girl's house in a pool of blood. When the girl is inside, she places down her bag and coat and goes to the window to shut the blinds. As she glances out of the window, she sees something on the floor. As she leans closer to the window to look at what it is, the reflection of a hooded figure is in the window behind her. When she realises the thing on the floor is the body of her friend, she gasps and turns around only to be confronted with the killer. She screams.

Resources:

3 actors - one boy and one girl as the main protagonists, one killer.

Dark road that can be quite well lit by street lights.

House with windows looking onto the street.

A knife.

Fake blood.

How will these ideas fit the genre?:

-Silhouette of the killer creates mystery as you cannot see their face. It also creates an enigma because the audience will want to know who the killer is and question their motives.

- Shock is created when the boy gets attacked with the knife; the attack was unexpected and sudden.

- Suspense is created while the boy and girl are mid conversation and the audience can see a dark figure moving closer. Suspense is also created when the killer's reflection is in the window but the girl does not see it.

Animatic

This is the animatic for our thriller.

Music for thriller

this is the music that we are using for our thriller


this is the email we got from moby gratis conforming there acknowledgement of our request.


this is the second email from moby gratis telling us that our request had been accepted.

Opening title

This is our opening sequence, we created this in live type on the mac computer.

Script for thriller

This is the script we will be using for the filming of our thriller. We have used minimal dialogue as we want the film to be more about the 'thrill' factor and less about the acting. As with any film, when we actually come to film it we may improvise some parts and not stick to the script fully, but this is the basic outline of what we will be saying.

'Hidden'

(Establishing shot) It is a cold night in February. Two young people are walking home from a drunken night out together. A strange shadowy figure is standing under a lampost at the other end of the road watching them. As they are walking towards the camera, their laughter and chatting is heard.

Katie: And like when Charlie tipped his drink over Sarah!

(Both laugh as they arrive at Katie's driveway)

Katie: Well, this is me.

(Camera switches to the mysterious figure moving closer - sound bridge of conversation)

Daniel: Are you sure you're going to be alright?

(Camera switches to the mysterious figure moving closer - sound bridge of conversation)

Katie: Yeah, I'll be fine. Thanks for walking me home.

Daniel: No problem! I'll see you later.

(They smile at each other. Daniel watches Katie walk up to the door and unlock it. Camera switches to the mysterious figure walking closer. Camera switches back to the front of the house. She turns back and waves before she enters) 

(Jump cut to a knife being slashed, a 'slashing' sound is heard. Straight cut to Daniel laying on the floor in a pool of blood with his throat cut)

(Straight cut to the inside of the house. Katie walks through the front door and walks to the window after setting down her coat and bag. As she goes to close the blinds, she sees something suspicious on the floor)

 (She slowly leans closer to the window to get a better view. Whilst she is looking out of the window, the reflection of a mysterious man is evident on the from the inside of the house, but Katie is oblivious to it. When Katie realises that the thing on the floor is Daniel, she gasps and spins around quickly to rush outside)

(Close up on Katie's face. She screams as she is confronted with the killer. Jump cut to a black screen)

(End credits)

Thriller story board

This is the story board for our thriller.

Analysis of film openings

We analysed 3 movie openings; Memento, Brick and Zodiac

Memento:

the conventions of this film are that there are; weapons, blood, flashbacks, mysteries to be resolved.

the camera techniques that are used are; close ups and black and white.

an editing technique that is used is that the beginning of the film goes backwards.

there is non-diegtic sound in this part of the film.

the mise-en-scene of the film is that there is; blood, weapons, cuts on face.

Brick:

the conventions of this film are that there are; dead bodies and flashbacks.

the camera techniques that are used are; hand held and close ups.
an editing technique that is used in the beginning of the film; flash back and match on action.
the sound that is used in this is; eerie music.
the mise-en-scene of the film is that there is; dark picture and dead bodies.

Zodiac:
the conventions of this film are that there are; weapons, suspense and shock.
the camera techniques that are used are; long shots and close ups.
an editing technique that is used in the beginning of the film; captions and non diegetic
the sound that is used in this is; contrapuntal music.
the mise-en-scene of the film is that there is; fireworks and celebrations.

film openings are important because it will determine whether the audience will stay and watch the rest of the film.

Narrative - structure, formulas and devices

Continuity Editing
The clear establishment of 'cause and effect' plotting which establishes character motivates and helps tell an interesting story which proceeds logically and steadily.

Enigmas
This refers to a puzzle something mysterious or unexplainable, or a riddle or difficult problem.
In thrillers this is commonly something which the protagonist has to try and find out or solve before the narrative is resolved and the film finishes.

Red herrings
A red herring is the name given to a device which intends to divert the audience from the truth or an item of significance.
Can work with other devices (enigmas) to create suspense.
E.g. in SAW two characters spend time imprisoned in a room in which a third character lies dead. throughout the film, both characters appear to be guilty of a series of murders, until it is discovered at the end that the third person in the room is not actually dead but is in fact the killer.

Cliff hanger
Sometimes, although not always used.
Often feature a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation.
This can entice the audience to keep watching in order to se how the situation resolve itself.

127 hours (2010)

127 hours is a thriller about a mountain climber that gets his arm trapped under a boulder and then cuts of his lower arm in order to escape from his horrible ordeal.

Director: Danny Boyle
Writers: Danny Boyle and Simon Beoufoy
Actors: James Franco, Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara

Story line
127 Hours is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston's remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah. Over the next five days Ralston examines his life and survives the elements to finally discover he has the courage and the wherewithal to extricate himself by any means necessary, scale a 65 foot wall and hike over eight miles before he can be rescued. Throughout his journey, Ralston recalls friends, lovers, family, and the two hikers he met before his accident. Will they be the last two people he ever had the chance to meet?  


My opinion:
i think this film was very interesting as it was based on a real life story so when your watching it you can see how much pain the man in real life must have gone through.

Hitchcocks Maguffin

A Macguffin (sometimes Mcgufin or Maguffin) is a plot device that motivates the characters and advances the story but has little other relevance to the story.

"We have a name in the studio, and we call it the 'Macguffin' it is the mechanical element that usually crops up in any story. in crook stories it is always the necklace and in the spy stories it is always the papers."

Definition of suspense and shock

Suspense is when pleasurable excitement and anticipation regarding an outcome, such as the ending of a thriller film. suspense is really when you are waiting for something to happen but you dont quite know when it will which makes you more eager to find out what happens.
Some examples of thriller that have a lot of suspense in them are; Children of Men, Sabotage and Rope.

shock is when someone is suddenly surprised either violently or it jars the mind, in some thriller films shock is the main thing that they use to make it an effective film there is an essence of shock in these films as well as there being suspense. 

Alfred Hitchcock master of suspense.

Alfred Hitchcock was legendary film director who had a career spanning over 50 years. He was known as the master of suspense whose films came to be the benchmark of 'psychological thrillers'. Hitchcock made over 50 films in his career
These are some of the inspirationaal quotes from Hitchcock himself:

- 'The only way to get rid of my fears is to make films about them'.
- 'There is no terror in the bang, only the anticipation of it'.
- 'If it's a good movie, the sound could go off and the audience would still have a perfectly clear idea of what was going on'.
- 'Always make the audience suffer as much as possible'.
- 'I am a typed director. If I made Cinderella, the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach'.

And these are some quotes from some of his admirers of his work;

- 'Under the influence of Hitchcock, thrillers often being with a crime and the accusation of an innocent bystander. Were the accused to contact the authorities, no doubt the case could have been promptly solved. But instead the poor bystander runs from the law thus further jeopardizing life and limb'. - Rick Altman - Film/Genre

Examples of this occur in 39 Steps (1935) and North by Northwest (1959).

One of Hitchcock's films, Saboteur, follows this exact set up. A man is wrongly accused of murdering his best friend and so runs from the law only to be confronted with the real killer. Classic Hitchcock.

Do films follow rules?

Some film makers will claim 'there are no rules' or that' rules are there to be broken'. However, most would agree that there are certain conventions that main stream films obsrve in order for them to be acceptable to the mass audience.

In our class discussion we discussed what conventions would make a successful thriller, this is what we came up with:

• young nieve protagonist
• resourceful
• suspense
• villain with a shady past
• high tech gadgets
• mysterious phone call
• fast paced
• reason for conflict
• weapons
• flash backs
• hero wins
• cant kill children
• hero falls in love
• mystery to be resolved (enigma)
• curious character
• double agent
• maguffin
• the antagonist is more powerful in the beginning

Chuck Jones rule

As in other cartoons, the Road Runner and the coyote follow the laws of cartoon physics. For example, the Road Runner has the ability to enter the painted image of a cave, while the coyote cannot (unless there is an opening through which he can fall). Sometimes, however, this is reversed, and the Road Runner can bust through a painting of a broken bridge and continue on his way, while the Coyote will instead enter the mirage painting and fall down the precipice of the cliff where the bridge is out. Sometimes the coyote is allowed to hang in midair until he realizes that he is about to plummet into a chasm (a process occasionally referred to elsewhere as Road-Runnering or Wile E. Coyote moment). The coyote can overtake rocks (or cannons) which fall before he does, and end up being squashed by them. If a chase sequence happens upon a cliff, the Road Runner is not affected by gravity, whereas the Coyote will realize his error eventually and fall to the earth below. A chase sequence that happens upon railroad tracks will always result in the Coyote being run over by a train. If the Coyote uses an explosive (for instance, dynamite) that is triggered by a mechanism that is supposed to force the explosive in a forward motion toward its target, the actual mechanism itself will always shoot forward, leaving the explosive behind to blow up right in the Coyote's face. Similarly, a complex apparatus that is supposed to propel an object forward or trigger a trap, will not work on the Road Runner but always only on the Coyote. For instance, the Road Runner can jump up and down on the trigger of a large animal trap, and eat bird seed off of it, but go completely unharmed and not set off the trap, but when the Coyote places the tiniest droplet of oil on the trigger, the trap snaps shut on him without fail.
some of the rules that should be followed in a wile coyote cartoon is;

• the road runner cannot harm or upset coyote except by going 'MEEP! MEEP!'.
• no out side force can harm the coyote, only his own ineptitude or the failure of acme products.
• the coyote could stop anytime - if he were not a fanatic.
• no dialogue ever except 'MEEP! MEEP!'.
• the road runner must stay on the road - other wise, logically he would not be called road runner.
• all action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters - the south west american desert.
• all materials tools, weapons or mechanical conveniences must be obtained from acme corporation.
• when ever possible make gravity the coyotes greatest enemy, the coyote is always more humiliated than harmed by his failure.

The Thriller

The thriller is a very difficult genre to pin down because it covers such a wide range of films. Thrillers are films of suspense... that are supposed to instil terror into the audience.' - susan hayward, key concept in film studies.

there are lots of different types of thrillers some of these consist of;

• spy thriller 
• political thriller 
• conspiracy thriller 
• legal thriller 
• psychological thriller 

"when you enjoy something, you must never let logic get too much in the way,like the villains in all the James Bond movies. Whenever Bond breaks into the complex; 'ah Mr. Bond, welcome, come in, let me show you my entire evil plan and then put you in a death machine that doesn't.' "

      Jerry Seinfeld (sein language, 1993)

foundation portfolio - preliminary task

The preliminary task is a demonstration of continuity editing there are four rules to follow; match on action, shot/reverse shot, 180 degree rule and the eye line match.

Match on action
match on action is when we see a character start an action in one shot and then see them continue it into the next.


The 180 degree rule
the 180 degree rule is a basic guideline that states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other.
if the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line.

Shot/reverse shot
is a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other.


Eye line match
a film editing technique associated with the continuity editing system. It is based on the premise that the audience will want to see what the character on-screen is seeing. The eyeline match begins with a character looking at something off-screen, there will then be a cut to the object or person at which he is looking. For example, a man is looking off-screen to his left, and then the film cuts to a television that he is watching.

This is our final and edited preliminary task

AS Coursework

marks in the AS part of the course are awarded for demonstrating excellence in the following criteria:-

• holding a shot steady 
• framing a shot 
• using a variety of shot distances 
• shooting material appropriate to the task set 

our preliminary task planning

when we planned our preliminary task we drew out a story board of our ideas and the script that we followed in the actual film

 
 
 
 
 
once we had drawn this out we could finally start filming our preliminary task then get down to editing it on the mac computers.

coursework brief

the titles and opening of a new fiction film in the thriller genre to last a maximum of two minutes
the coursework is 50% of the course