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 have developed as a film maker as I have used different pieces of equipment for example the camera, tripod and the editing software (iMovie) on the macs. When we filmed our preliminary task and had to edit it I didn’t know how to use the macs and the editing software iMovie, before we started editing I made sure that I experimented with using the software so that I knew how to use it when it came to editing our film work. I have also developed skills when using the camera in the filming process for our preliminary task this helped me when we filmed our thriller opening title sequence as it helped me to make sure that all the shots were still and there was no movement in those shots. I gained skills when filming as I made sure that all the shots were steady and there wasn’t much movement from me as the camera person, I also made sure that I included a range of different shots that are usually seen in thrillers  for example extreme close ups and close ups. I stuck to the 180 degree rule and used match on action shots and I also made sure that when editing our thriller it had continuity.

I think that our prelim task was good and we used many different shots and camera angles. We used mostly straight cuts; however we did use fade to black for some of the transitions, and this made our prelim look professional. We edited our prelim well and we made sure that each shot looked good, for example on the CCTV shot we used a black and white effect and put a time stamp in the corner to make it look like a CCTV camera.

 

 

We also made sure that we added transitions between the shots to make it look a bit different, this made our prelim look good and also professional. The opening of the door was a successful shot because we edited it so that the sound of the door opening matched the door opening in the next shot. We also stuck to the 180 degree rule, this makes our prelim look good and also it made it look professional. The things that we need to improve on in our preliminary task were; the use of the music and where we placed it, this is because in our peer assessment our peers said that the music didn't sound right and wasn't really needed. Another thing that we needed to improve on was that we need to include a wider variety of camera shots and angles. We learnt from our preliminary task and we made sure that we used a wider variety of shots in our thriller; we also made sure that the soundtrack suited our thriller and the theme.

 

I think that this is also a successful shot because this shot and the next shot was edited well so that the sound of the door opening matched the door opening. I think that this shot doesn't need to be filmed again as it has been filmed well and edited well.

I think that this is a successful shot from our prelim because we have made it look like a CCTV camera; however you can see that it shakes a little bit. If we were to do this shot again i would make sure that it didn't shake and that it was steady.

 

When we filmed our thriller the first time using one of the cameras from school the quality wasn’t that great and when we put all of our footage onto the mac ready for editing we realised that the quality wasn’t that great and we hadn’t used a wide variety of shots, we also noticed that we went against the 180 degree rule in one of the shots. After looking at all of our footage we realised that we needed to film again, before the day of filming again we made sure that we knew exactly what other shots we were going to include and who was going to act in it. The second time filming went a lot better we decided that this we were going to film at Georgia’s house instead of Elle’s because it had a lot more light and was easy to film in. we also had Elle from our group act in our thriller as she knew how we wanted each character to act and therefore this was useful when filming as we ended up with better quality acting and camerawork. We also decided to use an IPhone to film on as it was a better quality camera then the cameras from school,  doing this resulted in us having a better quality of footage. We did not use a tripod the second time as we were using a phone to film, as I was the camera person I made sure that I didn’t move and I had a steady hand when recording each shot/ scene.

We made sure that we spilt all the jobs up equally when doing all our planning, we came up with all the shots we were going to use together and wrote up the shot list together in our group.  We made sure that before we started any of our planning all the jobs to do with planning were spilt up equally between the four of us, we then made sure that once each job had be completed that each person in the group had all the planning on their blogs. From our preliminary task it was clear that we needed to make sure to use a wider range of shots as well as having a lot more shots throughout our thriller in order to make our thriller look professional and like an actual thriller. Having a lot more extreme close ups and close ups in our thriller opening sequence would make it seem more like a thriller and would help to create tension and suspense in our thriller. As I was doing all the editing for our thriller I made sure that I knew what order the shots were going to be in and also once I had edited part of the thriller I would check to make sure that the rest of the group liked what I did.  Our thriller is more successful than our preliminary as we planned in detail for our thriller and we didn’t do much planning for our preliminary.

I think that our thriller opening title sequence is successful because we have included a wide variety of shots that are typically used in thriller openings. The shots that are mostly used in thrillers are extreme close up and close ups, we have included these shots in our thriller opening to create tension and suspense. The first part of our thriller opening is successful as it shows the location and then shows the magazines in the bedroom, then it flashes between the blood dripping on the magazines and the magazines in the bedroom to show how the blood got onto the magazines. The magazine covers have skinny girls on, having the blood and the claw marks on these magazines suggests that the alter ego doesn’t like the way she looks. I think that this part of our thriller is successful as it clearly shows the messages we want to create for the audience. The rest of our thriller is of the teenage girl hearing the noises and going up stairs to find the alter ego, all the shots that are used are successful as they clearly show the location and the teenage girl as well as portraying the girl to have two different sides to her personality. This is clearly shown in the bedroom scene.

This shot is successful because it shows how the blood got onto the magazine before being shown in the teenage girl’s bedroom. It also creates the message that the character doesn’t like the way she looks, this shot is an extreme close up we used this type of shot as it clearly shows the blood being smudged by the alter ego.

 

This shot was successful as it clearly shows that the girl is scared after hearing the noises coming from upstairs. This is an extreme close up showing the teenage girl’s facial expressions when she hears the noises.

 

 

This shot was successful because it clearly shows the magazine the teenage girl was reading being dropped on the floor after hearing the noises coming from upstairs. This shows that the girl is scared of what could be upstairs, this is an extreme close up at floor level to show the magazine being dropped and where it lands.

 

 

 

This shot is successful because it shows the alter ego from the teenage girl’s point of view. This shot is a mid-shot and shows the alter egos face as well as her costume and make-up, as she is wearing dark clothing and make-up it is clear that this is another character and is the darker side of the teenage girl, we know this because this character is played by the same actor. We can also see that this character is the villain/ antagonist in the film as well as being the teenage girl’s dark side.

I think that we improved our thriller by filming again as the second time filming we included many more shots and this made our thriller opening title sequence look more professional and like a real thriller film. I think that the shots that could be improved are; the shot as she is walking down the hallway towards the bedroom this s because it cuts her head off a little bit and if I did this again I would have made sure that you could see her whole body or used a tracking shot. Another shot that could have been improved is the shot of the teenage girl walking through the doors downstairs as the lighting changes and it looks a little bit odd. I think that we could have added a few more shots of the alter ego.

 

 

 

 The image above on the left is from our preliminary task and the other image is from our thriller opening. Both images show a girl walking up the stairs, we have developed this shot from our preliminary as we have placed the camera in a better position and therefore this shot in our thriller clearly shows the teenage girl walking up the stairs. This shot from our thriller is more effective as it has a greater impact on the atmosphere because in our thriller the atmosphere is more tense, which is a typical convention of a thriller, and in our prelim it isn’t as you know what to expect whereas in our thriller you don’t because the face of the character is being hidden in this particular shot which could also show some mystery to the events that are about to happen. Both these images also show that I have developed my camera skills and also that I have used a more abstract shot in my thriller than in my prelim.

The image above on the left is from our preliminary task and the other image is from our thriller opening. Both images show an extreme close up of a girl opening a door, we have developed this shot from our preliminary as we have made sure that the camera was closer to the door handle to show it clearly. The lighting in our thriller is dimmer than in our prelim because it had an impact on the atmosphere but also we changed the position of the camera so that when she opened the door she would be the one to see what was inside first and not the audience. We did this because it gave more mystery and gave more tension to the scene which is a typical convention of a thriller.

 

 

The image above on the left is from our preliminary task and the other image is from our thriller opening. Both images show an over the shoulder shot, we have developed this shot from our preliminary as we have made sure that the camera was closer and looked more like an over the shoulder shot. I placed the camera in a different position and made sure that the camera was closer to the girl’s shoulder because it was a more effective shot because you could see what the character was doing or looking at and it would make the audience feel like they were the ones looking over the characters shoulder so it made them feel like they are a part of thriller which is a good thing because it is important to make the audience feel like they are a part of something as it appeals to them more. These two images show that I have developed my camera skills from filming our prelim and then filming our thriller opening. It shows that I have become better with using the camera and have used these skills to make sure that our thriller had a better outcome compared to our preliminary.

The strengths of our thriller opening sequence are; the uses of the extreme close ups and close ups as this made it look more professional and showed details such as the teenage girl’s facial expressions and the opening of the doors. I think that the effect we used on all the shots made our thriller look more interesting and different. Another strength of our thriller is the shot of the title at the end of our thriller this is because it was clear that this was the title and the way the posters were ripped off to expose the title was interesting and made it look interesting.

The weaknesses of our thriller opening sequence are; some shots needed to be a bit shorter, however this could not have been changed as these shots show the teenage girl walking through the hallways. Another weakness of our thriller is the typography used for all the main titles as I don’t think that it suited our thriller as well as it could have. The shot were the teenage girl walks from the top of the stairs towards her bedroom is also a weakness because the first shot was meant to be a long shot, however I didn’t film t from the right position and therefore the shot didn’t include her whole body. If we did this shot again I would film from a different place to show her whole body. We could have used different transitions to get from one shot to another instead of just using straight cuts.

Question 6

 

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



 

 

  Throughout the making of my thriller opening title sequence I have learnt many different skills including how to use different pieces of equipment, filming and editing. When filming I learnt how to use a camera and tripod, however when I filmed my thriller the second time I did not use a camera or tripod as the camera wasn’t very good quality instead I used an IPhone to film and therefore I did not need a tripod as I wasn’t using a camera. As we were not using a tripod I needed to make sure that all the shots I filmed were steady therefore I had to make sure that before starting to film I made sure that I could keep a steady hand and then I pressed record. I have also learnt that having a storyboard of your thriller helps you to know what shots to film and in which part of the house. The storyboard for my thriller helped me lot when filming as I checked the storyboard to make sure that I filmed all the shots and if I shot the correct shot types.

When I filmed the shot below the first time it wasn’t as steady and the character didn’t look like she was at home and she didn’t look like she was comfortable in her surroundings, however the second time I filmed this shot it was successful as she looked like she was at home reading a magazine like a normal teenage girl.

I also learnt that we needed to have lots of light when filming in order to make sure all shots were light and you could see what was going on in each shot. Therefore when I filmed my thriller I made sure that there was a lot of light and all the lights were on in the places we were filming in the house. We filmed this shot in the conservatory as it had the most light in the house; we decided that this was the best room to film in as the living room was quite dark even with the main light on. This shot was successful as there was plenty of light as we filmed in the day when it was light, this was also the first shot that we filmed as we knew that if we didn’t film this shot first it would start getting dark and we wouldn’t have had as much light to film in. Although I put a filter on all of the shots, the filter did not make the shots darker, this shot was very successful as even with the filter on it was still light and this was the best shot in terms of lighting that I filmed. The first time I filmed this scene at the other location, it wasn't a successful shot as the camera wasn't steady and it was a really long shot, I have improved this shot the second time I filmed.

I learnt that when you are filming you have to stick to the 180 degree rule; this rule is when you are filming you have to stick to one side of the character either left or right in every shot. The first time I filmed using the camera and tripod it was hard to stick to this rule as we didn’t have much space in the first location that I filmed at. However the second time I filmed using an iPhone, I filmed in a different location and this second location was much easy to film in and I did stick to the 180 degree rule. I found it easy to film each time at the same side as I knew which side I needed to be filming from each time.

 

I also learnt that I had to consider composition and framing when filming, this is where you do a shot that either includes or excludes certain parts of the person, object, surrounding etc. an example from my thriller is: the shot below is from my thriller showing the teenage girl walking up the stairs, I filmed from the top of the stairs and held the camera on the floor of the top step and allowed the actress to walk over the camera and my hand, I did this to create an effective and abstract shot. I framed this shot to only include the bottom half of the actress’s body and the stairs so that you could clearly see the actress walking up the stairs. By positioning the camera at floor level on the top step of the stairs and pointing the camera down, the bottom half of the actress’s body was only in the shot. I did this to create an interesting and abstract type of shot, it also created tension and suspense as she was getting closer to where the noises were coming from. This shot also follows the rule of thirds with the character in the middle of the shot, this shows that  she is the important thing in this shot.

 

I have also learnt about framing including the rule of thirds and the golden mean. The golden mean is where you draw a diagonal line through any shot and along that line are the main points of interest. The rule of thirds is when you draw a three by three grid over any shot and the main points of interest are where the lines cross.

 

 

The shot above is from my thriller and it shows that the rule of thirds has been used; the main points of interest in this shot are the magazine (prop), the character and her facial expression and the background. This prop suggests that this character likes reading magazines and that she is a typical teenage girl. We can tell from the characters facial expression that she hasn’t heard the noises yet as she does not look scared.

 

Above is an example of the rule of thirds layout. The rule of thirds is a three by three grid which is drawn over the shot. The table represents this and the circles represent where the main points of interest are in this layout.

I also learnt about sound, in my thriller I didn’t include any sound from the footage itself an apart from when the teenage girl finds the alter-ego and gasps and the noise of the door creaking. I edited out any other sound from the rest of the clips and added replaced it with the soundtrack I created using Garage Band, I also included an audio recording of the noises that the teenage girl hears and put this where it was needed towards the start of my thriller. The little sounds that were already in the footage were made a little louder so that they blended in with the soundtrack that was playing throughout my thriller. The fact that these sounds were blended in with the soundtrack created suspense and showed off my editing skills and my skills with using Garage Band.

 

I have learnt many new skills when editing my thriller opening title sequence. I have learnt how to use iMovie and how to make footage look effective using this editing software. The screenshot below shows how to import footage from a camera onto iMovie, however sometimes you have to upload the footage to iPhoto and then import them to iMovie. I have learnt how to import footage from a camera onto the mac and then edited using the software.

 

 

After importing the footage from the camera to iMovie, all the footage will appear at the bottom of the screen. When it’s at the bottom like in the screenshot above, you then create a new project and then you drag the footage you want up to the top of the page. The screenshot above shows how to import the footage from a camera. I have obtained this skill and now know how to import footage from a camera.

 

The screenshot below shows how to edit the soundtrack. Double click on the sound, which is shown underneath the footage and is green, then a menu will come onto the screen, click on audio and you can make sound louder or quieter. Once you have edited the sound you then click done. The screenshot below shows that I have obtained this skill and I now know how to edit the volume of the soundtrack, it also shows that I have learnt how to use the mac and the editing software iMovie.

 

 

 

The screenshot below shows how to put a filter onto the footage you have edited. I have learnt how to put a filter on the footage you filmed after you have edited it on the mac using iMovie, double click on the clip that you want to put a filter on and then it comes up with a menu on the screen at the bottom of this menu it says filter, click on this and then it comes up with all the filters it has click on the one you want then click done. If you want all the footage to have the same filter, you have to do this each time for each clip. To check that you have put a filter on play the video and you will see if there is a filter on or not.

  As I have put a filter on all of my footage from my thriller, this screenshot is relevant to what I have learnt from using this software as I have actually used this in my thriller. This screenshot also shows that I have learnt how to use the mac and the editing software iMovie.

This screenshot show how to export the final completed project. First you click on share at the top of the page, and then click on export movie making sure that you have a memory stick plugged into the mac. All the footage then gets copied over onto your memory stick. Once you have exported from iMovie, then you can upload your video to YouTube.

 

 

The screenshot above shows that I know how to export completed projects from the mac, it also shows that I have obtained this skill and that I know how to use the mac.

I edited the soundtrack from my thriller using Garage Band, I looked on YouTube to see if I could find a piece of music that wasn’t in any real films and that also suited my thriller well. I found a piece of music that was called “creepy music box” I thought that this soundtrack suited my thriller really well and I think that it also reflected the genre and theme of my thriller. I then started editing the soundtrack on Garage Band; I made the start of the soundtrack quieter I did this by cutting the end of the music which was the quieter part then moving this to the start. I wanted the soundtrack to build the tension in my thriller so by making the sound quieter at the start and louder at the end, it made my thriller

I have also used other technologies throughout my work, these technologies are; YouTube, Prezi, Scribd and Moovly. These technologies have impacted my work as they have allowed me to use a different form of presentation software other than PowerPoint. I used YouTube to upload my thriller, vox pop and preliminary to blogger, to get these three videos that I edited on the mac onto blogger I had to first upload them to YouTube. I used Prezi instead of PowerPoint when making a presentation or analysing a clip of a thriller opening. I used Scribd to upload my PowerPoint and to make my PowerPoint look neat. I also used Moovly, this site allowed me to make a video/ moving presentation when analysing the opening of the thriller Inception.

Question 5

How did you attract/ address your audience? 

 

 

  We made our thriller opening title sequence appeal to our target audience by using an actor who is the same age as our target audience this is so that the audience will be able to relate to our thriller and the characters more. We also have made sure that we have included a variety of camera shots, including lots of extreme close ups and close ups to create tension and suspense throughout our thriller opening. We have also made sure that we came up with an exciting plot/ narrative to make sure that our thriller appeals to our target audience and used effective and abstract shots to keep the audience interested. 

 

This shot is an extreme close up showing the teenage girl’s eyes when she hears the first noise coming from upstairs. I chose this shot as it is an interesting shot at the start of my thriller. This is because it makes the audience think about what is going on or what is about to happen, therefore they feel like they are a part of the film and the film is also getting them to think about what may happen so this further interests them. It makes this shot an important piece in the start of the thriller as it is the point where she first realises that something is about to happen which in turn also makes the audience realise that something is about to happen as well. It is a typical shot that you would see in a thriller and because of the type of shot it is, it means that there is a mystery behind it which adds to the atmosphere of the thriller, which is an important convention in a thriller.

This is a mid-shot showing the teenage girl walking up the stairs after she hears noises coming from upstairs. I chose this shot as it is an interesting shot and is from the start of my thriller. This is because it makes the audience think about what is going to happen and where the noises are coming from, therefore it makes the audience think about what is about to happen, so the audience will want to watch the rest of the film to see what happens. It makes this shot an important piece in the start of the thriller as it is the point where the audience think about what is about to happen and what could happen. It is a typical shot that you would see in a thriller and the shot also creates tension and suspense as the audience don’t know what’s about to happen, it also hides the identity of the character and whatever is making the noises, which is an important convention in a thriller.

 

This shot is an extreme close up showing the teenage girl’s hand on the door before she pulls it back to reveal the alter-ego character. I chose this shot as it is an interesting shot from towards the end of my thriller. This is because it makes the audience think about what could happen next and also what could have been making the noises that the girl heard. It makes this shot an important shot in this part of my thriller as it makes the audience interested and wonder what could be behind the door, this shot is also the point where the girl finds out what has been making all the noises and is when the next character is introduced. This shot adds mystery and suspense to the scene as it makes the audience think about what could happen and what could be behind the door, this shot also adds to the atmosphere of the thriller, which is an important convention in a thriller.

 

This is an extreme close up showing the alter-egos make-up smudged. I chose this shot as it is an interesting and abstract shot at the end of my thriller. This is because it makes the audience think that this character doesn’t like the way they look, therefore they feel like they are a part of the film and the film is also getting them to think about what might happen so this further interests them and makes them want to keep watching. It makes this shot an important piece in the end of the thriller as it is the point where this character is first introduced which in turn makes the audience realise that this characters identity is about to be shown. It I a typical shot that you would see in a thriller and because of the type of shot it is, it means that there is mystery behind it which adds to the atmosphere of the thriller, this is an important convention of a thriller.

This is a point of view, mid-shot showing the alter-egos identity. I chose this shot as it is an interesting shot at the end of my thriller. This is because it makes the audience re-think about what they have just seen as they can see that it’s the same actor playing the characters. It makes the shot an important piece in the end of the thriller as this shot is the point where the alter-egos identity is exposed which in turn makes the audience want to keep watching to see what will happen next. As this shot is a point of view shot it makes the audience feel like they are a part of the film, it is also a typical shot that you would see in a thriller and because of the type of shot it is, it means that there is mystery behind it as the audience want to know who this character is and why it’s the same actor playing both characters, which is an important convention in a thriller. This shot also creates a sense of illusion as the same actor is used for the two characters.

The image below shows my questionnaire I created to find what my audience wanted to see in a thriller and what they expected a thriller to include for example tense music and suspense. From this questionnaire I have found out that most people I asked expected a thriller to contain suspense. I have also found out that the trailer of a film makes people want to watch a specific film rather than the actors, title or the advertisement of the film. I also found that more people expected to see action in thrillers and the type of thriller that was most popular was a psychological thriller. I used this information when creating my thriller, I made sure that my thriller contains what the audience want to see in a thriller but I didn’t include what they expected to see for example action as we had already come up with our idea before I did this questionnaire. We chose to create a psychological thriller that included one actor, lots of tension and suspense which was created by the use of shots I filmed.

 

The image below shows the questionnaire I created to ask what my audience thought of my thriller. I found out that my audience would want to watch my thriller and they liked the main title of my thriller. I also found out that more people liked the use on one actor in my thriller; however two people did not like this. The feedback I got back from my questionnaire was mostly good and my audience said that they would watch my thriller.

Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product? 

 

 The image below is of our typical target audience.

 

 

 

Before we filmed our thriller opening title sequence we made sure that we planned everything and made sure that we knew what we were going to do and who our psychological thriller would be aimed at. Our thriller will be aimed at young adults (teenagers) both male and female from the age 15-20, we thought that this age group would like to watch our thriller and might be able to relate to it more as the main characters are of the same age group. The two characters in our thriller are played by the same actor, the actor is 16 years old and therefore the audience would be able to relate more to our thriller as they are roughly the same age. Our film would be aimed at the socio-economic group E because our target audience tends to be the younger generation and this demographic group also tends to be students or the unemployed. Our film would be aimed at the psychographic group strugglers because this group tends to be associated with the socio-economic group D or E. Our target audience would be typical teenagers who like watching TV, films including thrillers and horrors, this target audience would also use a lot of technology and would also use this technology a lot as well as using the internet to use social media sites such as Facebook and twitter, another one of their interests would be spending time with their friends.

This target audience would also like reading gossip magazines, but the females of our target audience would more likely read the gossip magazines than males, our target audience would also like using their phones or other pieces of technology. They would also shop in high street shops and they would watch many different genres of film, the different genres of films they would watch are action thrillers, psychological thrillers, horrors etc.

We made sure that we did audience research in order to make sure that we understood what our target audience wanted to see in a psychological thriller such as ours and also what they thought made a thriller, thrilling, asking this question would help us as we would be able to include this in our thriller. We did a vox pops and asked two questions that we thought were important and made sure that we asked these questions two our target audience. We asked four different people the two questions and each person was filmed answering the two questions, each person we asked the questions was of a similar age group and each of them was either 16, 17 or 18, we asked 3 females and 1 male each of the questions. The answers we got from each person was recorded, when planning our thriller opening title sequence we wanted to make sure that we included what our target audience wanted to see in our thriller. I learnt that our target audience had different views on what they thought made a thriller, thrilling and what their favourite thriller genre was.

Vox Pops

 

 

These are the results we got from our vox pops.

Question 1 results: What makes a Thriller, thrilling?

Answers to this question:

- Music

- Suspense

- Atmosphere

-  Music, suspense and narrative

From these results, we have learned that the audience want to see all these things when watching a Thriller genre film. From this data we know what we need to include in our Thriller opening. We will include all these requests from the audience, this will benefit us because audiences will want to keep watching and the audience will see what they want our Thriller to include.

 

Question 2 results: What is your favourite Thriller genre?

 

- Psychological

- Action

- Sci-fi

 

From these results, we have learned that the audience want to see these types of thrillers. From this data we know that we need to choose a sub-genre for our thriller opening that the audience want to see. We will choose one of the types of genre that the audience wanted to see, this will benefit us because it will allow the audience to see what they want in our Thriller.

 

I have learnt that audiences aged 16-18 like to watch thrillers, this is because they like to see action and all the different types of thriller genre, for example psychological. My findings will influence my thriller because it will give us an idea of what type of thriller genre to use and it will also help us to know what our target audience want to see in thrillers and what we can add in our thriller to make audiences want to keep watching.

 

Using the website WWW,dafont.com we chose 5 different types of typography for our thriller title. Each typography is distorted which suits our theme of a psychological thriller. The narrative of our thriller is also quite mysterious and these different types of typography that we chose suit this idea because they all look like titles which could be used in a psychological thriller. We chose the name of our thriller opening title sequence before we looked at the typography this is so that we knew what kind of typography we were looking for and if it related to the genre and the story line. We created a “poll” using the website Poll Everywhere, this website allowed our target audience to tell us what typography they liked best and therefore the typography which was liked the best was the typography we used for our main title in our thriller. We wanted the audience’s opinion of which typography to use because we wanted to make sure that it appealed to our target audience.

 

The image below is of our poll and the results we got from using this website.

 

 

Our thriller opening title sequence would have the BBFC age rating of 15 because our thriller is a psychological thriller and it might include any sexual, drug or alcohol content. This age rating is suitable for our target audience as our targeted audience will be aged 15 and over and will be students, therefore this age rating/ certificate is suitable for our film and target audience. The BBFC 15 certificate is suitable for children aged 15 and over, this age rating could contain adult themes, hard drugs, regular use of foul language and limited use of very strong language, strong violence and strong sex references, and nudity without graphic detail. From looking at the BBFC and its rating certificates I think that this certificate is the correct choice for my thriller.

 

Question 3

 

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

 

 

Our production company is called AMOA productions, AMOA stands for Abrahams, McPherson, O'Connell and Allman these are the first letters of our last names of the members of our group. We chose this because we thought that it was a unique name and that it was clever as we used our last names to come up with this name. Below is an image of our production company ident, this ident was hand drawn and was used at the start of our thriller opening title sequence before the animation starts. Our company ident does not move this is because we thought that it would look better without having a moving feature. Our company ident has the AMOA on this is because our company name is AMOA productions. It reflects the thriller genre as the tree is creepy looking ands the image its self is creative and doesn't look like any that are out there now. Our production company ident is unique as it doesn't movce and it is hand drawn, it was drawn by Georgia Allman from our group.

 

Jerry Bruckheimer films ident is similar to the one we have created however ours doesn't move. Jerry Bruckheimer films ident is similar as it includes a leafless tree and it looks creeepy, it also fits the thriller genre as it uses dark lighting throughout the ident. However our company ident does not contain dark lighting as it isn't a moving company ident. We got our inspiration from Jerry Bruckheimer films ident this is because we thought that it was an effective ident and that it was a good ident for a thriller film.

Below is an image of our production company ident.

 

 

Below is a video of Jerry Bruckheimer films ident.

 

 

 

I think that this media institution would be the most suitable because it has been involved in the distribution of a number of successful films of all different genres, for example American Psycho, The day after tomorrow, Hunger Games, The Lincoln Lawyer and Abduction but also has been involved in the distribution of many thriller films for example American Psycho, The Bank Job, The Devil's Rejects etc. As Lionsgate have been involved in the distribution of many films including a of different genres, this would give them experience and therefore they will know what audiences like and what sort of thrillers audiences would want to see. As this media institution is involved with the distribution of so many different films this could mean that this media institution could help to distribute our film and as our thriller is different from the films that this institution has already distributed. My thriller would inherit lionsgate’s audience that are of the age that my thriller is aimed at.

 

Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation was founded by financier Frank Giustra in the summer of 1997. During his years as a banker, he also had been involved in the financing of a half dozen films. At the age of 40 he decided that he wanted to enter the entertainment business.  Lionsgate entertainment is a suitable institution to produce our thriller because most of their thriller films are targeted at a similar audience to our target audience for our thriller, most of the thriller films are of the same genre as ours which is psychological thriller. Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation is a Canadian-American entertainment company. Lionsgate have global and mass audiences, having a large audience would mean that the production company would be successful as more people would watch their films.

 

A production company is involved in the producing recorded or live entertainment. Production companies help in the provide funding and help to make distribution of films or television programmes. The production company for the making of a film or television programme provides money and sets a budget of a certain amount for the making of that film or television programme, this means that the making of the film or TV programme cannot go over the set budget. However if the set budget is low then this is likely to reflect on the film or TV programme. Production companies also make the decisions of what director and actors can be hired. Some examples of production companies are; Walt Disney pictures, DreamWorks, Paramount pictures, 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate and Universal. Walt Disney has produced mostly animation films such as Toy Story and The Lion King, whereas 20th Century Fox has produced good quality action films such as X-Men and The Wolverine.

 

In any opening title sequence, different titles appear on screen. The names that are shown in this sequence are the most important people that helped make the film what it is; these names are not just the actors but everyone who has helped to make the film successful. For example the main actors, producers, make-up and costume designer, director, editor etc.  Opening and closing titles are important in any film as they show all the people who were involved during the making of the film and help to make it a success.

 

The order of the titles that appear in the title sequence is;

 

 

In our thriller opening title sequence we have made sure that we stuck to this order so that our thriller looks like a real film opening title sequence. We have only included some of the titles above in our thriller, for example we did not include the title of the director or photography or who wrote the story. We included the titles that we thought were the most important for our thriller and as we didn't have that many people in our thriller and helping in the making of our thriller we did not have many titles appear in our thriller opening. The titles that did appear were the name of our production company, name of the actress, who did the music, editor, director, producer, and the film's title.

Question 1

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

Question 1- Moovly

What is a thriller?

A thriller is a genre of a film that includes an exciting plot; a thriller typically involves crime or espionage. Thrillers have many different sub-genres, some of these sub-genres are; psychological, action, sci-fi, horror and crime.

We chose to create a psychological thriller this is because we thought that it would appeal to our target audience and by using this type of sub-genre we could come up with an exciting plot and narrative for our thriller opening title sequence. Our target audience will have expectations for our thriller and the type of sub-genre we are using, the audience’s expectations for this genre and sub-genre are that it will be challenging mentally and will make the audience overthink.

The elements of the genre we used in our thriller opening sequence were the use of extreme close ups and close ups. We used these shots because they are used a lot in real thriller films and we wanted to add this element to our thriller to make it look like a real thriller and also to create tension and suspense throughout our thriller opening title sequence. We also developed one of the typical conventions used in thriller films; this convention was the use of sound including diegetic and non-diegetic sound to create suspense and excitement for the audience. We developed the sound by making sure that the soundtrack was slightly quiet and it builds in crescendo, as well as making sure the other sound effects such as the banging noise the teenage girls hears and the sound of the door creaking was blended in with the soundtrack to create suspense, these sound effects were made louder so that they were heard over the soundtrack. 

The typical conventions of a thriller are:

- The aim of the thriller is to create suspense and excitement for the audience through using diegetic and non-diegetic sound as well as different types of shots placed in a sequence that creates suspense or tension such as shots like graphic match.

- Thrillers often use busy streets and the environment is usually urban or suburban areas for the setting this is because it is more realistic and the stereotypical urban scene is used so often because it is believed to be the place where most crimes occur.

- The hero is the only person able to reveal the truth and also in most thrillers the hero or the protagonist deals with a death either their own or someone they know or don't know.

- Violence is also used in thrillers and they often reveal the workings of a particular institution such as the police, army or the government.

- The hero and the villain share some characteristics, the hero is an outsider and the enigma of the narrative will be solved by the hero and the villain also has their own story and is a part of the hero's life or story.

- There are usually a lot of close-ups to show important factors, there is quick editing and panning used. This is because it gives the audience clues into what might be happening or is going to happen.

Leon:

This shot is a close-up, two shot, showing the man in front of Leon to be the most important person in this shot. This character is the most important because you can see him clearly and the lighting is on him to make him stand out and so that you can see that something might happen to him. Whereas Leon is in the background and you can only see his hand and face, Leon is wearing black glasses which makes the audience think that he is suspicious and closed off. As the glasses are black, this could represent his personality and also could suggest that he is a dark person or a cold blooded murderer. The fact that Leon is holding a knife to the man’s throat could suggest that he is going to hurt him or even kill him. The music in this scene is like a heartbeat, but as soon as the knife touches the man’s neck the soundtrack stops, this could connote that his life is about to end as Leon is going to kill him. Leon inspired me as it is an interesting thriller, the use of shots close ups and extreme close ups inspired me because this is a convention that is typical of the thriller genre this inspired my thriller as I wanted to make sure that I added these shot types to my thriller to make it more interesting and also to look like a real thriller.

The thriller Leon follows all typical conventions and the screenshot above is from a clip of the film, it is clear from this shot that this is a thriller film. We know this because the main prop which the killer is using is a knife this is a typical convention of a thriller and is mainly used in action thrillers as well as other weapons such as guns.

The Butterfly Effect:

This is an over the shoulder, three shot, which uses the rule of thirds with the main points of interest being each of the characters and the background. Each character is one of the main points of interest this is because the two characters on the right look smart as they are dressed up, this could show that they are wealthy. However the main on the left is not dressed up smartly, this could suggest that he is going to mug/ rob them as they look like they are wealthy and have money. The background is another main point of interest because it shows that the couple could be walking home from a party or an event. The couple are wearing smart looking clothes, the male is wearing a tuxedo and the woman is wearing a simple black dress this could suggest that this couple have been on an evening out or that could even be at a party or an event and the guy not wearing smart clothes could be a valet or helping out at where ever they are. This screenshot shows that suburban places are typically used in thrillers; this is because it makes it look more realistic.

Mise-en-scene is typical of the thriller genre in this film because all the mise-en-scene which is used shows that this film is a thriller. The typical costume which is normal everyday clothes are used in this film to show the era it is set in, for example the Great Gatsby uses clothing from the 20s as it is set in that era. The sound is typical of the thriller genre in this film as it sounds like the sort of music which would be used in thrillers because it creates tension. Also it uses lots of diegetic and non-diegetic sound to create tension in the places and to create a sense of mystery and suspense, for example in Batman there is a chase scene and the sound is what makes it tenser than the shots.  Editing is typical of thriller genre in this film as a lot of quick editing has been used in the opening title sequence. The camerawork is typical of the thriller genre as lots of close ups have been used throughout this film to show character facial expressions and important features in this film such as important objects, for example in the shower scene in Psycho there is a series of extreme close ups of important objects like the knife and her face. The target audience of this film is young people and young adults this is typical for the thriller genre as this film contains a lot of action and some violence.

We followed the thriller conventions in our thriller opening title sequence as we made sure that we included conventions such as the non-diegetic and diegetic sound to create suspense and excitement for the audience by making the track louder in some places as well as adding extra sound effects to show things like the characters shock and the building suspense. We also made sure that it was clear who the protagonist and antagonist was in our thriller, we did this by showing the two characters in different costumes, the protagonist wore light clothing whereas the antagonist wore dark clothing. We followed the conventions that are typically used in thrillers because we wanted to make sure that our thriller stood out and looked like a real thriller, we also wanted to make sure that we created the correct atmosphere and suspense in our thriller so that it would appeal to the audience.

The conventions that are used to make an effective thriller opening are; a range of different shot types for example extreme close ups, close ups, tracking/ pan shots, angled shots and long shots. The use of diegetic and non-diegetic sound to create suspense or tension helps to make an effective thriller as well as quick editing so that the thriller has a quick pace and a wide variety of shots can be used this helps to create suspense and makes the thriller effective.  In our thriller opening we made sure that we included a range of different shots including extreme close ups and close ups, as these shots types are used frequently in thriller opening sequences we made sure that we included several close ups to make our thriller look like a real thriller opening title sequence.

The butterfly effect influenced our work because we wanted our thriller to look like a real thriller and professional, therefore we included some conventions of a typical thriller that we saw in the butterfly effect. By including these conventions such as the use of the soundtrack to create suspense and tension and the use of extreme close ups and close ups, we could make our thriller look professional and like a real thriller. The real thriller that influenced our work were; Se7en and Dexter because they are both two different types of thrillers, however both of the film’s opening title sequences are effective and helped us when making our thriller opening title sequence.

Se7en:

The aspects of the thriller Se7en that inspired us and influenced our work were; the uses of the different shot types such as extreme close ups and close ups, the use of lighting and the way that the thriller followed the typical conventions of a thriller.

 We looked at the film Se7en for inspiration because it uses a variety of shot types including extreme close ups and close ups to make the opening sequence look professional and creates tension, the use of these types of shots also creates a sense of mystery as they don’t give anything away to the audience about who the character is that is included in these shots and why you can’t see the character. This influenced our work because we also wanted our thriller opening title sequence to have mystery and therefore we used these types of shots, so that the identity of the alter-ego was hidden until the end of the opening, this was to create suspense, mystery and tension.

Dexter:

The aspects of the thriller Dexter that influenced our work were; the use of shot types including extreme close ups and close ups, the use of these shots also helped to hide the identity of the character as well as show the characters personality and his role in the thriller, the use of lighting also influenced our work.

 We looked at the thriller Dexter for inspiration because it uses a variety of shot types including extreme close ups and close ups to make the opening sequence look professional and creates tension, the use of these types of shots also creates a sense of mystery as they don’t show the characters face throughout the opening titles until the end, however these shots do give us a sense of the character role and personality in the thriller as most of the shots in this opening sequence are associated with ways of killing someone and therefore could suggest that this thriller serious is about crime or murder. This influenced our work because we also wanted our thriller opening title sequence to have mystery and therefore we used these types of shots, so that the identity of the alter-ego was hidden until the end of the opening, this was to create suspense, mystery and tension. It also influenced our work because we wanted our thriller to create tension and some of the shots we used at the start of our thriller such as the blood on the magazines could also be associated with murder.

The images above show the main title from our thriller and the main title from the thriller Dexter. The two titles are completed different as they appear at different times, the title from our thriller is shown at the end of our thriller and the title from Dexter is shown towards the start of the thriller. Both main titles also have different typography; however both titles relate the each of the thrillers. Both shots are close ups of the main titles, this is typical of a thriller and this shot type is also a convention of a thriller. Therefore the shots above show that I have used thriller conventions when filming my thriller. 

The images above show the setting/location that both my thriller and Dexter where set and filmed at. The locations are different; however my thriller and Dexter were filmed in the same sort of location. Our thriller was set and filmed at a house, we filmed here as it was relevant to our narrative and this location also shows that our main character is an ordinary teenage girl. Dexter was set in an apartment or hotel room, I have used thriller conventions as I have used a location that is typically used in thrillers. Both shots are mid shots and both have a similar setting/ location.
 

The two images on the left are from my thriller and show the costumes that the two characters in my thriller wear, the image on the right is from the thriller Dexter which shows the main characters costume. In my thriller the characters are female whereas in Dexter the character is male, therefore the type of costume the character in my thriller will have will be different from the character in Dexter. The first shot from my thriller is a mid-shot showing one of the characters reading a magazine on the sofa in her house, her costume is mainly white to show that she is innocent and pure; it also shows that that she is the protagonist in our thriller. The next shot from my thriller is also a mid-shot showing the second character in the teenage girl’s bedroom sat on the floor; she is dressed in all black to show that she is a dark character and the antagonist in our thriller. The last image is from Dexter and shows the male character wearing everyday clothes, he is wearing a white polo top with a faded blue shirt over the top and is wearing light coloured trousers, this shows that he could be the protagonist in the thriller Dexter. I have used this thriller convention, as the costumes I have used in my thriller are sometimes used in thrillers. 

The images above show some of the props used in both my thriller and Dexter. The main prop used in my thriller is the magazines, whereas in Dexter there were many different props although the knife was used the most throughout the opening of the thriller. The magazines in my thriller connote that the alter-ego doesn't like the way she looks and how women are portrayed as shown in magazines today. The knife in Dexter connotes that this prop could be used a lot in this thriller and could suggest that the character using the knife in this thriller opening uses this prop to commit murder in the thriller, in this shot the knife has tomato sauce on which looks a lot like blood, this could connote that this thriller could contain bloodshed and could suggest something about this characters personality or role in the thriller. The magazines used in our thriller are not typical of the thriller genre, therefore we broke the thriller conventions, however we also challenged the thriller conventions as we chose not to use the typical props used in most thrillers as weapons such as knifes were not relevant to our narrative.

 All of the images above show my camerawork and different shots that are from my thriller. The first three images are from the start of my thriller and the last three are from the end of my thriller. All these types of shots are typically used in thrillers and therefore these shots show that I have used thriller conventions. I have chosen these shots as I think that they are interesting shots from my thriller and I think that I filmed these shots well.

All of these images above are from the film Dexter and show the camerawork. The first three are from the start of the thriller and the last three shots are from the end of the thriller. I have chosen these shots because I think that they are interesting and they show the characters personality.
All these images show how I have used thriller conventions when filming the shots for my thriller opening. The shots from Dexter are all close ups and extreme close ups, whereas the shots from my thriller aren't all the same shot types as Dexter.

The shots above show how I have edited the different parts in my thriller. The first three shots are from the start of my thriller and the last three shots are from the end of my thriller. The first three shots show how I have edited them so that the start of my thriller was interesting; the first shot was the start of the tilt to show the magazines. I spilt this clip and had shots of the blood dripping on the magazine between the clips I split, this continued until the magazine that had the blood on in the bedroom was shown. By splitting these clips to make the shots shorter it made the start of my thriller look interesting and it was also clear to the audience how the blood got onto the magazine. The last shots show how I have edited part of the ending of my thriller; I split the clips to make the shots shorter and added a shot of the alter-egos eyes between the clip I spilt of the alter-ego looking up at the camera. I did this to make the shots shorter and also to make it look interesting and make the audience want to keep watching.

The shots above are from the thriller Dexter and show how the shots have been edited. The first three shots are from the start of the Dexter; these shots are short and could suggest that this character could be a killer as he has killed the mosquito that was on his arm. The last three shots are from the end of the thriller and show how the shots have been edited to make it look like someone is being suffocated with a piece of material, and then the characters face is shown and it is clear that he was putting his t-shirt on.

The images above show how the characters are introduced in my thriller and in the thriller Dexter. In my thriller the first character is introduced at the start of the opening reading a magazine on the sofa in her house, this suggests that she is a typical teenage girl and therefore the audience can relate to her because she is of a similar age to our target audience. The second character in my thriller is introduced towards the end of my thriller and is shown once the teenage girl enters her bedroom and pulls back the door, this suggests that she is the antagonist in my thriller. However in Dexter the character is introduced at the end of the thriller, the way he is introduced is clever and interesting, in this shot he puts his t-shirt on and then his face is shown to the camera. The character is Dexter is not shown until this point, this creates mystery and suspense as it makes the audience want to keep watching in order to see the characters identity. The shots of my characters being introduced are mid-shots, whereas the shot of the character in Dexter being introduced is a close up to show the characters face as his identity has been hidden throughout the thriller opening, therefore having a close up of his face allows the audience to remember his identity and also shows them that he is the main character in the thriller.