Thursday 25 June 2009
Friday 3 April 2009
Evaluation
Thriller Evaluation
To introduce us to our new unit which was thriller films we watched a documentary so that we could get a clear idea of what a thriller film actually was. We learnt about the codes and conventions of a thriller film such as the victims are always teenagers, the murderers are mostly males and the music in the film plays a massive part in creating suspense and building tension. This helped us a lot to start thinking about ideas for our own thriller film and eventually we started to portray the same ideas in to our work and decided to do a psychological thriller. We also watched thriller film openings such as ‘Arlington Road’, ‘The shinning’ and ‘Collateral’ these helped us to see how real directors want their films to be shown and what response they want their audience to have. They all built tension and gave hints to what the story might be about but they didn’t give away to much information so that the key storyline was not revealed.
I particularly enjoyed watching ‘Arlington Road’ as I found it was the opening that was the most effective. It started with a point of view shot from a boy whose face we could not see, we only saw the back of his head and he was limping in the middle of his road, ‘Arlington Road’. The lighting was very bright and this gave the film impact and created an effect that was like flashbacks. The tension kept on building until the camera tracked around the boy’s body and road. This was a worm’s eye view from the ground looking upwards at the boy; this shot was very effective as it was the climax of the opening and this intrigued the audience to know what and why this boy is standing in the middle of nowhere. An opening that puts questions in to the audiences mind is always said to be a successful thriller.
The thriller film that we made had a lot of pacey moments which built suspense for the viewers and was also quite unpredictable; this is due to the fact that we used the codes and conventions of an actual thriller film. The name of our film is ‘Capture’ we felt that this was a catchy name for our film as it tied in to the fact that the stalker captures pictures of his victims and for the reason that he actually captures the victims. In ‘Capture’ we used many codes and conventions of an actual thriller film. Such as the victims were teenage girls, the stalker was a male, which made him dominant, and this made the girls vulnerable, the film was set in an everyday location and the music played a big part in the film as it created an airy atmosphere that the thriller film needed. We included many shots such as low angle shots of the stalker to make him look superior and dominant compared to the girls, close ups to show facial expressions and feelings towards different characters, long shots to establish settings and to introduce new victims, over the shoulder shots to create tension and involve the audience in to our film and tracking to show movement of characters and for our establishing shot which was very important as it gave the audience information about the setting and gives the audience an idea of where the scene is set.
Looking back at my preliminary task, we had to carry out an exercise where we had to do a short clip. The scene we chose to do a terrorist attack which was going to take place in the near future. We had to include loads of match cuts and we were not allowed to break the 180-degree rule so that we would gain practise and gain skill as we had to use the handheld camera. This was very hard to keep the camera steady as our hands were wobbling a lot.
The storyboarding was a long process for us as we had thought about every shot, shot type, and weather it was going to be internal or external. This was very time consuming but worth it in the end as it made our film easier to film. Then came the planning where we had to right up our storyboard but in more detail as we had to talk about when and where we were going to film. What time of day, characters, props and clothing.
Then came the filming this was the hardest as this was new to us. It was harder then we all expected but this made us more determined to make our film a success. When filming we tried to vary our shots as much as possible. We wanted to build tension and suspense so that the genre would remain obvious by doing this we decided to keep the characters faces a mystery and only revealed their lips. For this shot we used shot reverse shot. The filming for the actual thriller film was a lot of fun but this time we took extra shots and varied shots more often, this made the film more intricate.
Finally came the editing and post production which was probably the hardest part as we had to log and capture our footage, we had many problems with the camera and computers but in the real thriller film this was all familiar to us and the editing was fun as we constructed our film in a way that it looked good and not too much of the story was revealed so that this would make our audience want to watch the whole film.
In my opinion the audience that my film is aimed at would be a person that would be aged between 14- 25. I think the main gender would be young males; they would mostly be working class or middle class. Daniel 21 who works in River Island in London, Oxford Street loves going to the cinema to watch Thriller films in particular. On a daily basis he wakes up at eight am and travels to work on the number 73 bus where he get off at Oxford circus. He is expected to wear his River Island uniform but on the weekend, Daniel wears clothing such as Denim jeans, t-shirts and flip-flops or trainers. He likes to listen to mostly RNB, Hip Hop and Indie Rock and loves going to nightclubs as he loves to break dance. He dislikes clowns and beetroot. Daniel is studying ICT and Mathematics at Queen Mary University and wants to become an IT technician. In his spear time, he loves to go skateboarding with his friends in Regents Park. He owns an apple laptop, iphone and Play Station 2.
I would advertise my film ‘Capture’ so that would become well known and that my targeted audience would become aware of it and would want to watch my film. My film would be advertised on the Radio, Viral marketing for example on the internet, Film Festivals, TV, Trailers and on billboards so that it would be advertised worldwide. There were no famous actors in my film so this would not have been familiar to my audience but the fact that there were new fresh faces this would have hopefully intrigued them to want to find out if they were stars in the making. ‘Capture’ is a film that has characters of different backgrounds as two of them are from an Asian background and another of an African background this may appeal to different social groups. The main characters are all aged between 17-21 which will probably conclude to the fact that mostly young adults would be most interested in watching my film as they would feel as though would be able to relate to it. The representation of the psychopath was portrayed through mise en scene as he was in a red room full of pictures of schoolchildren and details about them such as height and hair type, preferably things that excited him sexually. He would stroke the pictures and pin point his new victims, they were mostly of young girls and this was clearly shown in the clips. The audience become very aware of this matter as the representation was clear and precise.
I think that my film would be a small UK release. My film would be a low budget film distributed around the UK. My film would be shown on YouTube or MySpace. I don’t think that this film would be successful to advertise and be seen in the cinema’s as it is a low budget film and this thriller may only appeal to a small niche audience so the majority of people may not pay to go and watch this film.
I think that this film has taught me many new technologies such as editing which involved logging and capturing, adding special effects such as cross dissolves, still shots so that the shot looked like a camera flash, putting credits in to the opening, changing the colours of the shots for example black and white to represent something that has happened in the past or a shot from someone’s point of view and the adding the music which we added in heavy breathing for our stalker and for the other shots we had overlapped music that followed through the rest of the film. We did not just use one beat throughout the film we had to overlap the different beats and instruments such as the violin to create a gripping atmosphere. We also used the internet that was familiar to me, we had to record our filming process on our blogs, which we had to talk about in detail, and this was interesting as we could upload our practise video, photos and our final finished thriller films for any audience to view at any time. We also released our video on Vimeo and we could release it on YouTube if we wanted.
Overall, I think that my finished thriller film ‘Capture’ was a success as we used codes and conventions of an actual thriller film but it also had originality and was full of tension, it also had an unpredictable feel about it. I think that ‘Capture’ would attract its targeted audience as its genre is clear due to the research that was carried in the planning process and because of the characters in the film as it was a typical cast having teenagers as the victims and a male stalker. Compared to the practise opening that we did before, it was much better as we thought more in detail about the characters, clothing, mise en scene, lighting, music, location and effects. Compared to an actual film such as ‘Seven’ I think that our film would be successful in the way that it had all elements of a thriller film but I think ‘Seven’ would be more successful in terms of the box office, as the cast (Brad Pitt) are recognisable and are known to be excellent actors. This would be the only disadvantage.
By Sanita Raj Kaur
To introduce us to our new unit which was thriller films we watched a documentary so that we could get a clear idea of what a thriller film actually was. We learnt about the codes and conventions of a thriller film such as the victims are always teenagers, the murderers are mostly males and the music in the film plays a massive part in creating suspense and building tension. This helped us a lot to start thinking about ideas for our own thriller film and eventually we started to portray the same ideas in to our work and decided to do a psychological thriller. We also watched thriller film openings such as ‘Arlington Road’, ‘The shinning’ and ‘Collateral’ these helped us to see how real directors want their films to be shown and what response they want their audience to have. They all built tension and gave hints to what the story might be about but they didn’t give away to much information so that the key storyline was not revealed.
I particularly enjoyed watching ‘Arlington Road’ as I found it was the opening that was the most effective. It started with a point of view shot from a boy whose face we could not see, we only saw the back of his head and he was limping in the middle of his road, ‘Arlington Road’. The lighting was very bright and this gave the film impact and created an effect that was like flashbacks. The tension kept on building until the camera tracked around the boy’s body and road. This was a worm’s eye view from the ground looking upwards at the boy; this shot was very effective as it was the climax of the opening and this intrigued the audience to know what and why this boy is standing in the middle of nowhere. An opening that puts questions in to the audiences mind is always said to be a successful thriller.
The thriller film that we made had a lot of pacey moments which built suspense for the viewers and was also quite unpredictable; this is due to the fact that we used the codes and conventions of an actual thriller film. The name of our film is ‘Capture’ we felt that this was a catchy name for our film as it tied in to the fact that the stalker captures pictures of his victims and for the reason that he actually captures the victims. In ‘Capture’ we used many codes and conventions of an actual thriller film. Such as the victims were teenage girls, the stalker was a male, which made him dominant, and this made the girls vulnerable, the film was set in an everyday location and the music played a big part in the film as it created an airy atmosphere that the thriller film needed. We included many shots such as low angle shots of the stalker to make him look superior and dominant compared to the girls, close ups to show facial expressions and feelings towards different characters, long shots to establish settings and to introduce new victims, over the shoulder shots to create tension and involve the audience in to our film and tracking to show movement of characters and for our establishing shot which was very important as it gave the audience information about the setting and gives the audience an idea of where the scene is set.
Looking back at my preliminary task, we had to carry out an exercise where we had to do a short clip. The scene we chose to do a terrorist attack which was going to take place in the near future. We had to include loads of match cuts and we were not allowed to break the 180-degree rule so that we would gain practise and gain skill as we had to use the handheld camera. This was very hard to keep the camera steady as our hands were wobbling a lot.
The storyboarding was a long process for us as we had thought about every shot, shot type, and weather it was going to be internal or external. This was very time consuming but worth it in the end as it made our film easier to film. Then came the planning where we had to right up our storyboard but in more detail as we had to talk about when and where we were going to film. What time of day, characters, props and clothing.
Then came the filming this was the hardest as this was new to us. It was harder then we all expected but this made us more determined to make our film a success. When filming we tried to vary our shots as much as possible. We wanted to build tension and suspense so that the genre would remain obvious by doing this we decided to keep the characters faces a mystery and only revealed their lips. For this shot we used shot reverse shot. The filming for the actual thriller film was a lot of fun but this time we took extra shots and varied shots more often, this made the film more intricate.
Finally came the editing and post production which was probably the hardest part as we had to log and capture our footage, we had many problems with the camera and computers but in the real thriller film this was all familiar to us and the editing was fun as we constructed our film in a way that it looked good and not too much of the story was revealed so that this would make our audience want to watch the whole film.
In my opinion the audience that my film is aimed at would be a person that would be aged between 14- 25. I think the main gender would be young males; they would mostly be working class or middle class. Daniel 21 who works in River Island in London, Oxford Street loves going to the cinema to watch Thriller films in particular. On a daily basis he wakes up at eight am and travels to work on the number 73 bus where he get off at Oxford circus. He is expected to wear his River Island uniform but on the weekend, Daniel wears clothing such as Denim jeans, t-shirts and flip-flops or trainers. He likes to listen to mostly RNB, Hip Hop and Indie Rock and loves going to nightclubs as he loves to break dance. He dislikes clowns and beetroot. Daniel is studying ICT and Mathematics at Queen Mary University and wants to become an IT technician. In his spear time, he loves to go skateboarding with his friends in Regents Park. He owns an apple laptop, iphone and Play Station 2.
I would advertise my film ‘Capture’ so that would become well known and that my targeted audience would become aware of it and would want to watch my film. My film would be advertised on the Radio, Viral marketing for example on the internet, Film Festivals, TV, Trailers and on billboards so that it would be advertised worldwide. There were no famous actors in my film so this would not have been familiar to my audience but the fact that there were new fresh faces this would have hopefully intrigued them to want to find out if they were stars in the making. ‘Capture’ is a film that has characters of different backgrounds as two of them are from an Asian background and another of an African background this may appeal to different social groups. The main characters are all aged between 17-21 which will probably conclude to the fact that mostly young adults would be most interested in watching my film as they would feel as though would be able to relate to it. The representation of the psychopath was portrayed through mise en scene as he was in a red room full of pictures of schoolchildren and details about them such as height and hair type, preferably things that excited him sexually. He would stroke the pictures and pin point his new victims, they were mostly of young girls and this was clearly shown in the clips. The audience become very aware of this matter as the representation was clear and precise.
I think that my film would be a small UK release. My film would be a low budget film distributed around the UK. My film would be shown on YouTube or MySpace. I don’t think that this film would be successful to advertise and be seen in the cinema’s as it is a low budget film and this thriller may only appeal to a small niche audience so the majority of people may not pay to go and watch this film.
I think that this film has taught me many new technologies such as editing which involved logging and capturing, adding special effects such as cross dissolves, still shots so that the shot looked like a camera flash, putting credits in to the opening, changing the colours of the shots for example black and white to represent something that has happened in the past or a shot from someone’s point of view and the adding the music which we added in heavy breathing for our stalker and for the other shots we had overlapped music that followed through the rest of the film. We did not just use one beat throughout the film we had to overlap the different beats and instruments such as the violin to create a gripping atmosphere. We also used the internet that was familiar to me, we had to record our filming process on our blogs, which we had to talk about in detail, and this was interesting as we could upload our practise video, photos and our final finished thriller films for any audience to view at any time. We also released our video on Vimeo and we could release it on YouTube if we wanted.
Overall, I think that my finished thriller film ‘Capture’ was a success as we used codes and conventions of an actual thriller film but it also had originality and was full of tension, it also had an unpredictable feel about it. I think that ‘Capture’ would attract its targeted audience as its genre is clear due to the research that was carried in the planning process and because of the characters in the film as it was a typical cast having teenagers as the victims and a male stalker. Compared to the practise opening that we did before, it was much better as we thought more in detail about the characters, clothing, mise en scene, lighting, music, location and effects. Compared to an actual film such as ‘Seven’ I think that our film would be successful in the way that it had all elements of a thriller film but I think ‘Seven’ would be more successful in terms of the box office, as the cast (Brad Pitt) are recognisable and are known to be excellent actors. This would be the only disadvantage.
By Sanita Raj Kaur
Monday 30 March 2009
problem
On thrusday the 26th whilst i was uploading my evaluation onto the blog an it kept telling me tha there ws an error and my pictures could not be added . So then i tried going to compose to browse and find my pictures but it still weren't working. As a result i decided to go to the room with the apple MACSand do it from there but i couldn' t get the evaluation that i had saved onto my USB to open from there so i decided to just put add the pictures from there and paste my evaluation at home.HOWEVER when i got home the pictures were not showing properly and just looked like little boxes, so i deleted them and just put my evaluation. SORRY FOR NOT ADDING PICTURES I TRIED
Evaluation
Thriller Evaluation
By Can Gizem Arik
My thriller film is called ‘Capture’. It is about a psycho stalker who kidnaps and kills young women. Some thriller films that have influenced my ideas while creating my film opening were ‘Arlington Road’ and ‘Strangers’. They influenced me because they have the basic conventions of a thriller genre film, such as close-ups of faces with shocked/scared expressions, screaming, fast paced soundtracks, empty streets lined with houses, lonely victims and low key lighting.
I had watched a documentary about thriller films and it taught me that the first five minutes of a film are very important because it needs to grab the audience’s attention and interest. I also learned that the audience needs to know the nature of the film and that this can be achieved by establishing things such as plot and character. Another thing I found out was the “trick of Film Noir”, which is basically showing the ending of the film at the beginning to trick the audience to gain their attention and to create suspense.
Most of these conventions can be seen in my opening, for example, the fast paced, instrumental soundtrack which helps create and maintain tension. Close-ups of objects (mobile phone with a ‘withheld’ caller screen) and faces were used to show emotion or to make clear what the props are. We also filmed a scene in an empty street with houses and the lonely victim walking though because it’s an ‘everyday’ place and an ‘everyday’ situation but the audience knows that something will happen because of the typical conventions and because of the non-diegetic sounds of heavy breathing and a camera shutter.
A different location we filmed in was a park. We did this because parks have a connotation of being creepy and dangerous in thriller films. We filmed in the park when it was empty to go back to the convention of a lonely victim in an empty place.
Looking back at the preliminary task, I feel that I have learned a lot in the progression from it to the full product. For example, I have become familiar with the different shots and what they could connote, such as point-of-view shots put the audience in the characters place and it helps them feel involved in the story and it could help emphasise more with the characters. The storyboarding and planning was also very educative because it helped me understand that it’s better to be prepared and to know what stage I’m at than to make it up as I go.
We came up with the idea of our film as a group. We discussed what thriller storylines are popular, e.g. terrorism, murder etc and what other elements thriller films have, e.g. “the final girl”. I think our full product was successful because we followed the basic codes and conventions of a thriller genre. There were some problems while editing because the computer wasn’t working so it had probably lost us some time but we managed to keep up.
The audience for my media product would be men and women, aged 16 – 28. They could range from working-class to upper-class because it is a film about a bad situation, not class difference. The audience can be from any race and we tried to make the audience be able to relate to the film by using actors from different races. People living in the city would probably be able to relate more to the storyline and location in the film. A typical person who fits into my target audience could be: “Elizabeth; Liz, nineteen, lives in London. Works part-time in a retail shop such as ‘Next’ and goes college full-time. Hobbies are going cinema, shopping, hanging out with friends, reading and exercising. She likes listening to RnB and pop songs. She lives in a one bedroom apartment.”
I will attract my target audience by staring famous actors in the film, such as Keira Knightley, Anthony Hopkins and Robert Pattison. I will also attract them with the thriller genre of my film; action/crime thriller. It won’t be boring because there will be stunts and suspense, mystery and excitement. I will market my film via posters, billboards, travel (bus, train stations), internet, trailers and TV. Another good way to market and advertise is via virals on sites such as Facebook or Myspace. This type of advertising will be an advantage because it is free and spreads fast.
My film would be a big Hollywood blockbuster. The institution that might distribute my media product is Universal Studios. It is one of the six worldwide major American film studios. Having a known institute to distribute my film is an advantage because then the people will know it’s worth seeing and the fact that it’s an American institution helps attract more audiences around the world. However, the cast and crew and locations will be mainly British, therefore it will be a British film.
On a practical hands-on level, my experience of filming and using Final Cut Pro was very educational. I learned many different ways to film shots and how to achieve a certain feel with the shots used. I have also learned that technology is very important when constructing media products because without it we wouldn’t be able to do effects or advertise on the internet etc. The internet has widened the potential audience for my film. If we didn’t have technology, we wouldn’t be able to release ‘Capture’ on Vimeo or do the blogging.
Overall, I think we have been successful in creating an opening to a thriller genre film. If I compare ‘Capture’ to a real thriller film like ‘Arlington Road’ I will be able to find many similarities. For example, in ‘Arlington Road’ there was artificial lighting and in ‘Capture’ there was a black and white effect. In both openings, there were long shots, worms-eye-view, point-of-view, panning and more similar shots. There was a street with houses in both thrillers as well. I also think I’ve been effective in creating an opening that attracts my target audience because I had a live audience aged 16- 18 watch my film and this is some of the feedback I received: “Good establishing shots. Camera sound was effective. The use of black and white was effective and original. Good variety in the shots. Effective match-cuts. The ‘withheld’ caller on the phone works very well as it creates suspense.” Im a wasteman call me 07927384758
By Can Gizem Arik
My thriller film is called ‘Capture’. It is about a psycho stalker who kidnaps and kills young women. Some thriller films that have influenced my ideas while creating my film opening were ‘Arlington Road’ and ‘Strangers’. They influenced me because they have the basic conventions of a thriller genre film, such as close-ups of faces with shocked/scared expressions, screaming, fast paced soundtracks, empty streets lined with houses, lonely victims and low key lighting.
I had watched a documentary about thriller films and it taught me that the first five minutes of a film are very important because it needs to grab the audience’s attention and interest. I also learned that the audience needs to know the nature of the film and that this can be achieved by establishing things such as plot and character. Another thing I found out was the “trick of Film Noir”, which is basically showing the ending of the film at the beginning to trick the audience to gain their attention and to create suspense.
Most of these conventions can be seen in my opening, for example, the fast paced, instrumental soundtrack which helps create and maintain tension. Close-ups of objects (mobile phone with a ‘withheld’ caller screen) and faces were used to show emotion or to make clear what the props are. We also filmed a scene in an empty street with houses and the lonely victim walking though because it’s an ‘everyday’ place and an ‘everyday’ situation but the audience knows that something will happen because of the typical conventions and because of the non-diegetic sounds of heavy breathing and a camera shutter.
A different location we filmed in was a park. We did this because parks have a connotation of being creepy and dangerous in thriller films. We filmed in the park when it was empty to go back to the convention of a lonely victim in an empty place.
Looking back at the preliminary task, I feel that I have learned a lot in the progression from it to the full product. For example, I have become familiar with the different shots and what they could connote, such as point-of-view shots put the audience in the characters place and it helps them feel involved in the story and it could help emphasise more with the characters. The storyboarding and planning was also very educative because it helped me understand that it’s better to be prepared and to know what stage I’m at than to make it up as I go.
We came up with the idea of our film as a group. We discussed what thriller storylines are popular, e.g. terrorism, murder etc and what other elements thriller films have, e.g. “the final girl”. I think our full product was successful because we followed the basic codes and conventions of a thriller genre. There were some problems while editing because the computer wasn’t working so it had probably lost us some time but we managed to keep up.
The audience for my media product would be men and women, aged 16 – 28. They could range from working-class to upper-class because it is a film about a bad situation, not class difference. The audience can be from any race and we tried to make the audience be able to relate to the film by using actors from different races. People living in the city would probably be able to relate more to the storyline and location in the film. A typical person who fits into my target audience could be: “Elizabeth; Liz, nineteen, lives in London. Works part-time in a retail shop such as ‘Next’ and goes college full-time. Hobbies are going cinema, shopping, hanging out with friends, reading and exercising. She likes listening to RnB and pop songs. She lives in a one bedroom apartment.”
I will attract my target audience by staring famous actors in the film, such as Keira Knightley, Anthony Hopkins and Robert Pattison. I will also attract them with the thriller genre of my film; action/crime thriller. It won’t be boring because there will be stunts and suspense, mystery and excitement. I will market my film via posters, billboards, travel (bus, train stations), internet, trailers and TV. Another good way to market and advertise is via virals on sites such as Facebook or Myspace. This type of advertising will be an advantage because it is free and spreads fast.
My film would be a big Hollywood blockbuster. The institution that might distribute my media product is Universal Studios. It is one of the six worldwide major American film studios. Having a known institute to distribute my film is an advantage because then the people will know it’s worth seeing and the fact that it’s an American institution helps attract more audiences around the world. However, the cast and crew and locations will be mainly British, therefore it will be a British film.
On a practical hands-on level, my experience of filming and using Final Cut Pro was very educational. I learned many different ways to film shots and how to achieve a certain feel with the shots used. I have also learned that technology is very important when constructing media products because without it we wouldn’t be able to do effects or advertise on the internet etc. The internet has widened the potential audience for my film. If we didn’t have technology, we wouldn’t be able to release ‘Capture’ on Vimeo or do the blogging.
Overall, I think we have been successful in creating an opening to a thriller genre film. If I compare ‘Capture’ to a real thriller film like ‘Arlington Road’ I will be able to find many similarities. For example, in ‘Arlington Road’ there was artificial lighting and in ‘Capture’ there was a black and white effect. In both openings, there were long shots, worms-eye-view, point-of-view, panning and more similar shots. There was a street with houses in both thrillers as well. I also think I’ve been effective in creating an opening that attracts my target audience because I had a live audience aged 16- 18 watch my film and this is some of the feedback I received: “Good establishing shots. Camera sound was effective. The use of black and white was effective and original. Good variety in the shots. Effective match-cuts. The ‘withheld’ caller on the phone works very well as it creates suspense.” Im a wasteman call me 07927384758
Thursday 26 March 2009
Evaluation
A good thriller would have a good plot with lots of twists and turns with a variety of characters. Some examples of thrillers are ‘Supernatural thrillers’ which focus on ghosts and characters that aren’t real. Also there are ‘Crime thrillers’ and thrillers that play mind games (psychological). The main concept of our thriller is three teenage girls being stalked by an unknown person who photographs them on different occasions and adds the pictures to a collage of images of young girls onto a wall. Although our concept was basic we tried to make it more dramatic and interesting by including a variety of camera angles which would help build up suspense. For example, we used a ‘High angle Shot’ to make one of the girls look inferior and in a vulnerable position. ‘Worms eye view’ was also used to hid the identity of the person and confuse the audience .Another shot used was P.O.V (Point Of View). This was used when the second girl was on the swing in the park and her phone rings and as she looks down and answers her phone we use P.O.V to put the audience in the characters shoes. Also at the end of the thriller opening we built up tension by the ‘Extreme close up’ of the stalkers eyes.
In ‘Capture’ the audience is represented through the characters and are likely to be very similar. The target audience could be teenagers aged from 13 to early 20’s . I think that the characters used in our thriller ‘Capture’ represents the social group that it is targeted towards. We tried not to be gender or race specific and this is shown through the 3 main types of race used in the characters black white and Asian. Also the use of ‘Mise En Scene’ represent a particular social group e.g. The mobile phone used is something easily associated with teenagers as the ‘must have’ ‘can’t live without’ gadget. In ‘Capture’ the three main characters are dressed casually and their costume is not very over the top but something that the target audience may have in their wardrobe. Also the setting is first identified at the beginning as the establishing shot and through this the audience are able to see the geographical backdrop to the film.
A typical person would have a part- time job in retail such as Marks and Spencer’s because the pay is good and enjoy eating fast food for example ‘McDonalds’ because it is already made and fits in with their manic lifestyle. They may also enjoy watching soaps such as ‘Eastenders’ and ‘The Bill’ especially The Bill because that programme involves solving things and putting pieces of the puzzle together. The audience member may also be stylish, have the latest things and enjoy socialising with their family and friends. Also a typical person that fits into my target audience are achievers and try their hardest to be the best that they can and make lots of money in order to live a lavish lifestyle with the latest clothes.
I think that the best way to advertise ‘Capture’ would be through T.V adverts because more people would be likely to view it. However, this method of advertising is likely to be very costly so I might attend a film festival to get help with funding. Another method of advertising could be through the internet. I think that this way would be very effective because the internet is used worldwide especially among teenagers. We would look to use a famous director to direct a film especially if their past projects has been a success because this may mean that a fan base already exists and we would not have to try and build one but just add to an existing one.
I think that a big Hollywood Studio such as ‘Universal’ would be the most suitable media institution to distribute ‘Capture’. Because of the US global domination of the film industry, it would be much better for us to join them rather than compete with them. Also because ‘Universal’ is a conglomerate and owns lots of small subsidiaries the finance that we would need to finance the thriller would be available. At the same time I think because our thriller is mainly aimed at teenagers releasing ‘Capture’ over the internet, may also be a choice to consider because releasing it over the internet via YouTube or MySpace is likely to attract the teenager audience because these sites are what teenagers find appealing.For me using a camera was a very new experience because previously I had not used one before. As a result, I did not feel that confident in using a camera. Luckily, prior to filming our thriller ‘Capture’ we had a tutorial with Mickey. Here we learnt how to use a camera for example how to put in a tape correctly and other features included on it. Also we were taught how to use a tripod and what not to do with the video camera for example lift the tripod and move around with the camera still attached. The internet was also a key feature used during the duration of the thriller task because we had to blog daily on blogspot.com and we had to upload our finished film onto ‘Vimeo’.
Looking back at the preliminary tasks I feel as though I have learnt a lot for example, I learnt that in order for a film to be successful a lot of planning is needed. In addition, I learnt how to work the camera for example the features included on the camera. Whilst doing the match- cut exercise, I was made aware of the 180-degree rule, which is if you are filming someone/something you must stay on the same side and not cross over because it would look like they are going the other way. Knowing this was very beneficial because it allowed me not to make the same mistake when it came down to our thriller opening. After finishing our preliminary film we had to begin editing, however my group began to experience technical problems and we were not able to put the film we had just done from the camera to the computer, so we had to call Mickey over. After switching computers it was now ok to start ‘Log and Capture’ but after experiencing problems with the computer a lot of time had been wasted so we had to literally rush and quickly ‘Log and Capture’ what we could before the time was up.
If I were to compare my final product to the preliminary task I would say that there were a few changes made in the way we went about each task. For example in the preliminary task I think that we lacked in planning and time. This showed in the end product. So as a result, when it came down to the final product we made sure that planning was a major factor. Also from the preliminary task we were able to see which camera shots didn’t work and avoid them in the final product. Compared to the film ‘Se7en’ I think that ‘Capture’ differs for example the opening to seven is more dramatic and uses dark colours to draw the audience in. Also in ‘Se7en’ the credits are more appealing and eye-catching but moreover the credits are shown over a person doing something but makes it suspenseful is we can’t see the person or what they are doing in detail but we see names such as ‘Morgan Freeman’ and ‘Brad Pitt’. ‘Extreme close ups’ are also used.
Some good points about our thriller which is called ‘Capture’ includes the camera shots used for example when the second girl was on the phone whilst on the swing the stalker takes a picture and that camera shot is the same as the image he sticks on the wall. Another positive is the use of band white shots to show the audience when the stalker is there. Also handheld shots also added to the atmosphere. However, some negatives include the sound at the end not being as dramatic as the beginning. Another negative about ‘Capture’ is that the credits were not as eye-catching as I would have liked and the font and style of writing were too basic. From watching Arlington Road I learnt that not all thrillers have to be ‘bloody’ but can actually challenge you mentally and make you put pieces of the puzzle together whilst you watch it. In Arlington Road the dad looks through a year book and the frame/shot is tight but what makes it suspenseful is the way in which the music builds up and we don’t know if someone is going to pop up from behind him because the frame is tight.
To conclude, I think my group has successfully created a thriller opening that appeals to the intended target audience and this is shown through the characters that are featured in the thriller, they are young mostly female and stylish. In addition, I think that through the use of different camera shots for example, the establishing/long shot at the begin and Point Of View shot of the watch we were able to add variety. Soundtrack was also used from ‘Soundtrack Pro’ and varied to build tension and keep the audience interested. The reason why we concentrated on the sound was because from doing the sound tutorial on ‘Casino Royale’ we realised how significant sound is and if done correctly can make the film a success. At first whilst filming me and my group felt as though we were producing a thriller that perhaps was too basic but as time went on and we began to put the finishing touches together we realised that it could in fact be a good thriller. For me I think that the most challenging part of the whole making of the thriller was the editing because if done wrongly the thriller could look rubbish or unrealistic. Also editing the finally piece was time- consuming but the end result was good. Lastly, when our film was shown to the targeted audience at the cinema the overall reaction was quite positive which shows that our film was a success.
In ‘Capture’ the audience is represented through the characters and are likely to be very similar. The target audience could be teenagers aged from 13 to early 20’s . I think that the characters used in our thriller ‘Capture’ represents the social group that it is targeted towards. We tried not to be gender or race specific and this is shown through the 3 main types of race used in the characters black white and Asian. Also the use of ‘Mise En Scene’ represent a particular social group e.g. The mobile phone used is something easily associated with teenagers as the ‘must have’ ‘can’t live without’ gadget. In ‘Capture’ the three main characters are dressed casually and their costume is not very over the top but something that the target audience may have in their wardrobe. Also the setting is first identified at the beginning as the establishing shot and through this the audience are able to see the geographical backdrop to the film.
A typical person would have a part- time job in retail such as Marks and Spencer’s because the pay is good and enjoy eating fast food for example ‘McDonalds’ because it is already made and fits in with their manic lifestyle. They may also enjoy watching soaps such as ‘Eastenders’ and ‘The Bill’ especially The Bill because that programme involves solving things and putting pieces of the puzzle together. The audience member may also be stylish, have the latest things and enjoy socialising with their family and friends. Also a typical person that fits into my target audience are achievers and try their hardest to be the best that they can and make lots of money in order to live a lavish lifestyle with the latest clothes.
I think that the best way to advertise ‘Capture’ would be through T.V adverts because more people would be likely to view it. However, this method of advertising is likely to be very costly so I might attend a film festival to get help with funding. Another method of advertising could be through the internet. I think that this way would be very effective because the internet is used worldwide especially among teenagers. We would look to use a famous director to direct a film especially if their past projects has been a success because this may mean that a fan base already exists and we would not have to try and build one but just add to an existing one.
I think that a big Hollywood Studio such as ‘Universal’ would be the most suitable media institution to distribute ‘Capture’. Because of the US global domination of the film industry, it would be much better for us to join them rather than compete with them. Also because ‘Universal’ is a conglomerate and owns lots of small subsidiaries the finance that we would need to finance the thriller would be available. At the same time I think because our thriller is mainly aimed at teenagers releasing ‘Capture’ over the internet, may also be a choice to consider because releasing it over the internet via YouTube or MySpace is likely to attract the teenager audience because these sites are what teenagers find appealing.For me using a camera was a very new experience because previously I had not used one before. As a result, I did not feel that confident in using a camera. Luckily, prior to filming our thriller ‘Capture’ we had a tutorial with Mickey. Here we learnt how to use a camera for example how to put in a tape correctly and other features included on it. Also we were taught how to use a tripod and what not to do with the video camera for example lift the tripod and move around with the camera still attached. The internet was also a key feature used during the duration of the thriller task because we had to blog daily on blogspot.com and we had to upload our finished film onto ‘Vimeo’.
Looking back at the preliminary tasks I feel as though I have learnt a lot for example, I learnt that in order for a film to be successful a lot of planning is needed. In addition, I learnt how to work the camera for example the features included on the camera. Whilst doing the match- cut exercise, I was made aware of the 180-degree rule, which is if you are filming someone/something you must stay on the same side and not cross over because it would look like they are going the other way. Knowing this was very beneficial because it allowed me not to make the same mistake when it came down to our thriller opening. After finishing our preliminary film we had to begin editing, however my group began to experience technical problems and we were not able to put the film we had just done from the camera to the computer, so we had to call Mickey over. After switching computers it was now ok to start ‘Log and Capture’ but after experiencing problems with the computer a lot of time had been wasted so we had to literally rush and quickly ‘Log and Capture’ what we could before the time was up.
If I were to compare my final product to the preliminary task I would say that there were a few changes made in the way we went about each task. For example in the preliminary task I think that we lacked in planning and time. This showed in the end product. So as a result, when it came down to the final product we made sure that planning was a major factor. Also from the preliminary task we were able to see which camera shots didn’t work and avoid them in the final product. Compared to the film ‘Se7en’ I think that ‘Capture’ differs for example the opening to seven is more dramatic and uses dark colours to draw the audience in. Also in ‘Se7en’ the credits are more appealing and eye-catching but moreover the credits are shown over a person doing something but makes it suspenseful is we can’t see the person or what they are doing in detail but we see names such as ‘Morgan Freeman’ and ‘Brad Pitt’. ‘Extreme close ups’ are also used.
Some good points about our thriller which is called ‘Capture’ includes the camera shots used for example when the second girl was on the phone whilst on the swing the stalker takes a picture and that camera shot is the same as the image he sticks on the wall. Another positive is the use of band white shots to show the audience when the stalker is there. Also handheld shots also added to the atmosphere. However, some negatives include the sound at the end not being as dramatic as the beginning. Another negative about ‘Capture’ is that the credits were not as eye-catching as I would have liked and the font and style of writing were too basic. From watching Arlington Road I learnt that not all thrillers have to be ‘bloody’ but can actually challenge you mentally and make you put pieces of the puzzle together whilst you watch it. In Arlington Road the dad looks through a year book and the frame/shot is tight but what makes it suspenseful is the way in which the music builds up and we don’t know if someone is going to pop up from behind him because the frame is tight.
To conclude, I think my group has successfully created a thriller opening that appeals to the intended target audience and this is shown through the characters that are featured in the thriller, they are young mostly female and stylish. In addition, I think that through the use of different camera shots for example, the establishing/long shot at the begin and Point Of View shot of the watch we were able to add variety. Soundtrack was also used from ‘Soundtrack Pro’ and varied to build tension and keep the audience interested. The reason why we concentrated on the sound was because from doing the sound tutorial on ‘Casino Royale’ we realised how significant sound is and if done correctly can make the film a success. At first whilst filming me and my group felt as though we were producing a thriller that perhaps was too basic but as time went on and we began to put the finishing touches together we realised that it could in fact be a good thriller. For me I think that the most challenging part of the whole making of the thriller was the editing because if done wrongly the thriller could look rubbish or unrealistic. Also editing the finally piece was time- consuming but the end result was good. Lastly, when our film was shown to the targeted audience at the cinema the overall reaction was quite positive which shows that our film was a success.
The Evaluation!
As part of my AS Media course I was set a practical assignment, my aim was to ‘construct the opening sequence of a thriller film’ of at least two minutes duration. For the assignment, I was allocated into my own individual group; my group consisted of four people: me, Sanita, Vanessa and Gizem. There were various resources available to us; these included the Tripods, Mini DVD camcorder, and digital video editing software, which consisted of ‘Final cut pro’ for construction.Before we commenced our practical project I had to research into existing thriller films and how suspense and tension is created in these films; this was so I could get a rough idea and understanding of what codes & conventions are needed in order to create a successful thriller opening sequence. I was given the opportunity to do this research during my lessons, as I observed and analysed how narrative is developed and tension is built in various thriller films including ‘Arlington Rd and What lies beneath’. I also observed clips from 5 different thriller films, including films such as ‘Psycho (1960)’, directed by ‘Alfred Hitchcock-the master of suspense.’
As I watched this clips I realised that all thriller films promote intense, excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension. Thriller films are virtually synonymous and interchangeable categorizations, with similar characteristics and features. If the genre is to be defined strictly, after watching these films I would say that a genuine thriller is a film that rentlessly 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 films also used similar conventions in order to build this suspense; this included raising false plateau: when the audience is exposed to a threat and then the threat is illuminated, voyeurism: when the audience is places as the voyeur where they are watching without being seen, Binary opposition: when tension is set up between 2 groups/elements and inter-texuality: when a similar scene is used to that of an existing film.
Via my research I realised that the openings of films are crucial for grabbing the audience’s attention and gaining their interest, they are also important for revealing the genre of the film and introducing the main characters. Openings sequence should engage the audience and make them feel that they want more. The opening of our thriller film will be an exposition in which the main theme and stylistic convention will be presented to the audience, I believe that the opening scene of ‘Arlington Road’ was most effective at grabbing my attention, as the camera angle, sound effect, and distorted look was typical of a thriller film, therefore, this influenced the most when I contributed ideas to the group for our film.
After gathering a considerable amount of research my group started contributing ideas into our thriller production, we decided upon an identifiable target audience, we chose a mainstream audience, males and females, aged between 15-21 year olds, we set a classification for our film as a certificate 15, we realised that this impacted on the narrative, the mise-en-scene, soundtrack and every other aspect of our film and when deciding upon the narrative of the film we took into account that we will be unable to include some language or explicit scenes. E.g. violence, sex
We decided to name our thirller 'Capture.' This was mainly because the villain takes pictures of his victims using a camera hence. Also, it can foreshadow what might happen later on in the film. So already we are giving away information to our audience but not too much.
We selected a particular generic convention; we decided to go for enigma, creating an air of mystery with an anonymous hooded person taking pictures, we also wanted to have a sense of atmosphere and ambience rather than action during our narrative, therefore no action took place during the narrative of the film.
As we all know, all openings must attract the audience into watching the film and set up questions which will be answered later in the film. So to help set up questions, we used conventions of thriller films and by comparing to those used in Arlington Road. We used a variety of camera angles which had different affects. There was a Point of View shot when our second victim looks at her phone, this is effective as it puts the audience in the victims position. We also was aware that including a close up is vital when making a thriller film, so we included one of the villian. This was also effective, as the close up shows the expressions and helps create an edgy and nervy atmosphere. A high angle shot of our third victim to emphasis the innocence and vulnerablilty. A low angle shot of our villan, this is effective as it shows that he is in power and superior. We tried using various of different camera distances to create dramatic effects, so for example shooting a scene from different angles. We also included an establishing shot to show our locations.
When editing we had had various shots to choose from, however, when watching the scene of the two victims we realised that we had broken the 180 degrees rule, as we shot from two different sides; this made the shot seem confusing. We tried resolving this problem by reversing the shot in Final Cut Pro, but it just didn't work out. The main transition we used were fade in fade out as we thought it showed continuity and meaning. We changed the colour of the scene, when it was from the villians prospective, this was so the audience got a clear understanding. When choosing the soundtrack, I took into account that we needed a slow pace soundtrack, as no dramatic action took place in our film, I chose 3 favourites and together we chose the soundtrack for our film. We included the soundtrack in and muted the background noises that were included whilst filming.
The title of the film came in with the soundtrack I believe that this was a good effect, we added the production company and the title using the fade in fade out transition; this emphasised it more as they were shown in different shots. The fonts of the credits were in white colour this fitted in well with the eerie mise-en-scene.
Whilst looking at the final product I realised that the soundtrack very much suited the film also the effects of the transition worked well. The film gave a clear understanding, of what was going; showing that their was a victim and a person who was obsessed with this person this was helped along with the different colour tones.
Tension was built throughout the movie as there was an uncertainty on what will happen next, there was also a high-level of anticipation when the killer was caressing the picture of the girl, this was helped along with the change in music and the shots of close-ups and panning shots across the wall. .
The title of the film came in with the soundtrack I believe that this was a good effect, we added the production company and the title using the fade in fade out transition; this emphasised it more as they were shown in different shots. The fonts of the credits were in white colour this fitted in well with the eerie mise-en-scene.
Whilst looking at the final product I realised that the soundtrack very much suited the film also the effects of the transition worked well. The film gave a clear understanding, of what was going; showing that their was a victim and a person who was obsessed with this person this was helped along with the different colour tones.
Tension was built throughout the movie as there was an uncertainty on what will happen next, there was also a high-level of anticipation when the killer was caressing the picture of the girl, this was helped along with the change in music and the shots of close-ups and panning shots across the wall. .
a close up clip from The Ring, revealing facial expressions:
Mise en scene is everything that appears before the camera, this includes the characters, the use of lighting and locations. We decided the person playing our villan, should be a male.This was because in majority films males are mostly the villians, and men are stereo-typically seen as strong and agressive whereas woman are seen as vulnerable hence the reason why our victims are all female. This connoted to the audience that the film was from a prejudiced point of view, as the victim was girl however, I wanted to subvert genre expectations by suggesting to the group that we should use a female as a killer rather than a male, they disagreed. We decided to have a mystery man where you do not see the villians face, which gives the audience a sense of insecurity. Music also helps create tension and suspense. Our non-diegtic sound was the music. At the beginning is a simple piano playing in the background to set the mood within the scene, sound effects, like the violin then emerged in which added the dramatic effect. As it continues playing, the music gains base and helps create a vibe. Altogether, we made sure our music was eerie to make the audience feel on edge. Our only diegtic sound, was the heavy breathing, which was effective at it helped to spook out the audience.
'Capture' consists of three female victims. So i suppose you can say we are being gender specific, as all the victims are female. But as for races we tried including different backgrounds, this is shown through our victims, black, white and asian. So all different races can relate to it. The locations used, such as the park, bus-stop and the streets to elaborate the fact that it could take place anywhere. The characters are dressed in everyday wear, nothing too fancy. All these things help the audience relate to the characters.
I would say 'Capture' is aimed at those who like to be thrilled! And aimed mostly at teenagers. They could range in ages and class, that is why we thought it was important to include different races amongst our victims, so the audience can relate to them. All teenagers are different - as in taste in music, fashion and upbringing. So our audience could be either aspirers or achievers, or maybe a bit of both! A typical person who fits into our target audience would be: 'Gemma, 17, live in London, works part time and also goes to college/school. She loves socialising with friends and loves hanging out. Hobbies are reading, swimming and exersicing.'
To help attract my audience, i will conduct a research and see who is the most popular celebrity amongst teenagers at the moment and get that person to play the lead role. I would also attend Film Festivals and promote the film. Trailers can be viewed on TV and on YouT
ube. We also would advertise our thriller on all sorts of leaflets, magazines and newspapers, to help attract a wider audience. We would also produce a profile on MySpace and Facebook, these are the two most common websites amongst teens, therefore it will help us tagert our specific audience.
ube. We also would advertise our thriller on all sorts of leaflets, magazines and newspapers, to help attract a wider audience. We would also produce a profile on MySpace and Facebook, these are the two most common websites amongst teens, therefore it will help us tagert our specific audience.
Obviously our dream would be for 'Capture' to become a Hollywood Blockbuster movie! If this was the case, i think Columbia Pictures would be the best media instituition to
distribute 'Capture' simply because it one of the so-called Little Three among the eight major film studios of Hollywoods Golden Age, and it is one of the leading film companies in the world! So using this partulcar one could help attract our audience and make 'Capture' a huge success. But to be realistic, at first 'Capture' should be release in the UK first. So it should be distributed around several cinemas all over to attract wider audiences. We can then wait to see how successful it is and then release it on DVD. A couple of months, after the DVD release, 'Capture' should be available for download on the internet.The process of constructing my thriller took several weeks, during this time i have gained knowledge about different technologies, and how to use them. At first, i knew absolutely nothing about how to work a camera never mind how to set it up! But thanks to our camera tutorial demonstated by Mickey, i gained vital information on how to w
ork my way around the camera. Whenever we shot something, i always tried avoding using the Final Cut Pro to log and capture! I didn't know my way around the programme and had difficulty managing it. I think this took up most of our time and effort, as no one in our group had experience using this programme. To this day, i would not say i'm entirely confident using the programme! But because we had no choice but to use Final Cut Pro, gradu
ally we got better at it. Also another programme that bugged me was the Soundtrack Pro. There were so many buttons, and i was just completely lost. But because we had our sound exercise previously it did help me slightly but soon later i forgot completely how to use it. This was also very time consuming, because at first we had to work our way around the programme and then explore different sounds we could use that was appropiate for our thriller. Internet was very useful to, not only did we manage to blog our progress we also managed to gather alot of research to help us construct our thriller.
ork my way around the camera. Whenever we shot something, i always tried avoding using the Final Cut Pro to log and capture! I didn't know my way around the programme and had difficulty managing it. I think this took up most of our time and effort, as no one in our group had experience using this programme. To this day, i would not say i'm entirely confident using the programme! But because we had no choice but to use Final Cut Pro, gradu
ally we got better at it. Also another programme that bugged me was the Soundtrack Pro. There were so many buttons, and i was just completely lost. But because we had our sound exercise previously it did help me slightly but soon later i forgot completely how to use it. This was also very time consuming, because at first we had to work our way around the programme and then explore different sounds we could use that was appropiate for our thriller. Internet was very useful to, not only did we manage to blog our progress we also managed to gather alot of research to help us construct our thriller.Looking back at the previous tasks we were given, i believe we have improved alot. I have learnt new shots, and how to make the shots look proffessional and not tacky. I have learnt that detailed planning and organisation is the key to success! The shots in our Match-cut exercise and preliminary task were poor, but in the process of constructing our thriller i have learnt on how to improve on them.
Whilst testing the final product on the target audience they seemed satisfied as to what they expected a thriller movie to offer, there were various comments ranging from likes and dislikes of the film.
Overall I believe that we met the requirements of the expectations of a thriller movie as we gained the audiences satisfaction using the typical conventions of a thriller movie e.g. raising false plateau, when our first victim looks into the camera, at that point the audience thinks that she realises someone is watching her, but instead she carries on walking. We were successful in promoting tension and anxiety and leaving the audience cliffhanging on the edge of their seats,
However, if I were to improve the film I would change the way we shot some of the scenes. And watching other thriller opening in Vue cinema, i realised our idea was not very challenging and was in fact common, everyone else came up with unique storyline and managed to pull it off. So if i was assigned this task again, i would spend more time in coming up with a fantastic storyline.
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