Question 6 - technologies

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

• Explain what technology you used to research, plan and evaluate your thriller (Blogger, sound, camera, tripod, editing software, evaluation software)
• Explain how you learnt  to use the camera
• Explain any shots that you found difficult to film and why? How did you overcome this?
• Explain the editing software that you used (Final Cut Pro X)
• Explain what you learnt about editing, also consider your strengths and weaknesses too

Identify one area in your film that reflects your editing skills and discuss

Question 5 - Attracting my target audience

 

 

Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

 

- Discuss why primary research was essential to your production

-  Explain what research was carried out to create your thriller film. Think about the research stages- analysis of thriller films, film certificates, narrative theory, questionnaires, etc

- How did the questionnaires and vox pops help you with understanding your audience? What ideas/feedback did you take on board and why?

- Explain how the research helped to plan the film, what ideas/inspirations did you take from your research and why?

  - How did your primary and secondary research assist you with planning your thriller?

 

 

 

Question 7 - Preliminary Task

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

- What was the purpose of the preliminary task?
- What did you learn from the preliminary task?
- What skills did you learn from the preliminary task that helped you with your thriller film?


The purpose of a preliminary task was to create a 30 second to 1 minute clip of a conversation using different camera angles. The type of cinematography we had to use was a mid shot, long shot, panning and over the shoulder shot.

We had to do this preliminary task in order to get used to the camera equipment and to create a clip that would include different shots. We also had to do this task so that we could understand how each of the different shots can be filmed. From the preliminary task I learnt how to handle the different camera equipment. I understood how to actually use the camera, for instance how to watch the videos back and how to use the camera in order to film. I also learnt how to use the other types of equipment such as the tripod. When filming the preliminary task, we had to use the tripod, and I learnt how to set it up and adjust the legs of it so that we could change the angles when filming. By learning how to use the equipment, it meant that I could help film different types of angles and shots just by adjusting the leg length on the tripod. Through filming, I also learnt how to film each individual shot and what it consists of. For example, I understood how to film mid shot and long shot. However I had to keep re-filming the over the shoulder shot because it didn't look professional and I kept getting the back of the other person in the whole shot rather than half the shot. I was able to also learn how to film tracking movements such as panning which I had never done before. The preliminary task helped me to understand how to use each of the equipment and how to actually record a conversation with different cinematography techniques.

During filming I found some things very difficult to do. For instance, I found filming tracking shots very hard. Panning was a really hard shot to film as the camera would go out of focus a lot and this would make the video look unprofessional. When holding the camera, it would also move a lot when I had to film the panning shot, and so when the video was played back this caused problems because the video would look very shaky and hand held. However it was hard to film with the tripod when filming the panning shot as it would make it harder for the camera to move smoothly and so the when watching the video back, I could see little shaky movements when the tripod was turning. The panning shot was therefore very difficult to film as the camera and the tripod would constantly be shaky and this led to the video looking unprofessional.
Another thing that I found difficult was filming the over the shoulder shot and this is because when filming the shot, the other person who wasn't talking, was shown in the whole shot rather than just a little bit. The person who was talking could only be seen in a small part of the shot and this meant that the audience focused on the back of the person rather than the person talking. This made the shot look very unprofessional as the camera wouldn't focus on the person speaking, but instead would focus on the back of the person. The over the shoulder shot was also really hard to film, as it was difficult to get the angle right to make sure that the other person could get seen. I had to adjust the tripod to make sure that it was tall enough to go over the persons shoulder, just so the other person could be seen. This made filming very difficult as I didn't know how to use the tripod properly and the over the shoulder shot ended up looking very messy and the audience focused more on the back rather than the front of the person.
The last thing that I found difficult was that I found adjusting the tripod and using the tripod really hard and this is because I didn't know how to use the tripod and so it made it hard for me to use it when filming. I found adjusting the legs hard as whenever it tried to get the tripod at the right height of something, the tripod would either be too long or too short. It was also hard to adjust the tripod to get particular shots such as a low angle and this is because I didn't know how to change the length of it. I started to hand hold the camera however this made the footage look very shaky and unsteady and this would make the film look very unprofessional. The tripod was also very heavy and so hard to move around especially when filming tracking shots such as panning. The tripod was very complicated and hard to use and this made the actual filming even harder to do because I didn't know how to use the tripod, and I didn't know how to adjust it.

The preliminary task helped when creating and producing my thriller as I know exactly how to use the equipment and so I wouldn't waste time setting up the equipment and learning how to use it. I also know how to use the tripod and this helps when creating my thriller production because it means that I can use the tripod without any problems and I can adjust the tripod to get certain angles and movements when filming. This makes my filming look more professional and also means that I can do any tracking movement or shot that I want and this will engage my audience more when producing my thriller sequence as they will feel more intrigued into the sequence if different camera angles and movements are used. This preliminary task has also helped to create my production as I understand how certain shots can have an effect on the audience, for instance I can use a close up to show the different facial expressions of the characters and I can also use different angles such as high angle and low angle to portray the status of different characters within the sequence and portray their traits that they have as their characters within the sequence. I have applied this knowledge from the preliminary task as I used certain shots to make one character seem more powerful than the other and I also used panning to show movement within the clip. This then will be applied to my actual sequence as I understand that different camera angles and movements can create different emotions for the audience.  Finally this preliminary task has helped when creating my production as I understand that I need to use a tripod when filming as otherwise the film will look very shaky and unsteady and this will make the sequence unprofessional and this could decrease the amount of viewers that watch my thriller production. My preliminary task has allowed me to widen my knowledge on the types of equipment involved and how it Is used to create my production. I know how to use a tripod correctly in order to keep the camera steady and to create effects in certain shots used. It has also widened my knowledge on what shots create particular emotions within the audience and what shot can create a dramatic or sinister effect.

Question 4 - Target audience

Question 4 - Who would be your target audience for your media product? 

- Why is target audience important 

- Who is your target audience and why 

- How does your thriller appeal to your target audience 

Question 3 - Institutions

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


- Why is a media institution important to consider, when distributing your thriller film?
-  Explain what film company would distribute your film and why?
- Also consider what successful thriller productions that institution has made and how it will help to make your thriller successful too

Question 2 - Media product representing different social groups

Characters are important within a thriller film as they build a relationship with the audience and create a suspenseful and dramatic narrative. They help keep the audience engaged into the film by building a relationship and putting the audience into the characters shoes and this enables the audience to feel the same emotions and get the same reactions as the characters.

In thriller films, characters are represented through gender, age, background, costumes and their roles in the sequence. These features are very important as these help the audience to relate to the characters and also foreshadow what is going to happen in the sequence. 

Age is important as a younger age makes the characters seem more naive and helpless. It creates an easy target for the killer and makes the killer seem a lot more threatening and powerful. 

Gender decides whether the character is going to be weak or powerful. Typically girls are shown to be more vulnerable and weak while males are portrayed to be threatening and strong. They are also shown to be the more powerful sex. Therefore the gender determines who is going to be the victim and who is going to be the killer. 

Background is what the character does; for example a student. Typically in thriller films, the victim is a student as they are at a young age and so implied that they are more naive and inexperienced rather than someone of an older age. By making the victim a student, it automatically makes them seem more weak, helpless and innocent and foreshadows their death within the film. Using a student also relates to a lot of people that watch the film, as typically thriller films are aimed at 15's and above so the majority of the people watching the film are students and so therefore can relate to the character more. The audience can easily build more of a relationship with the student and understand how they are feeling as they are placed in the victims shoes. The background of the killer is usually unknown and this is to keep the identity hidden of the killer. It creates an enigma for the audience and builds up suspense and tension as to who the killer is. Keeping the background of the killer hidden means that the audience are more intrigued into the film and feel encouraged to watch till the end just so they find out who the killer is. It also creates surprise and shock for the audience once the killer is finally revealed. 

Costume is also very important in thriller films as stereotypically the victim is shown to be wearing white as white connotes innocence and purity. This makes the victim seem helpless and naive as the victim has been represented as pure and so makes them an easy target for the killer. The white also foreshadows the victims death as the audience know straight away that white connotes innocence and so the audience understand that the victim is going to die. In thriller films, the killer usually wears black and this is because black implies death and pain. The black makes the killer seem more threatening and patronising as the audience know what the killer is capable of and the black foreshadows that the killer is going to murder the victim. The black also helps hide the killer especially in dark lighting and so when the killer appears, the audience become more shocked and surprised. This creates an element of suspense and keeps the audience engaged. 

In my thriller production, the characters are very stereotypical as I have made the victim a female who has blonde hair and is a teenager. This is a very stereotypical convention as it straight away makes the characters seem weak and helpless and is shown to be an easy target. I have made her a student because it means that the audience can relate with her more and be put in her shoes in order to gain sympathy towards her. The majority of people watching the thriller opening sequence are also teenagers and so can build a stronger relationship with the victim and so therefore can feel exactly how the victim is feeling. Within my production, the victim stands sort of closed in and timid to show thats she's scared and vulnerable. She cry's to show her emotions and her reaction to being isolated in a room and with a killer. The victim has lots of short breaths to show her panic within the situation and to imply that she knows she is in danger.
I have also made the killer very stereotypical. I have a male killer who is middle aged and this makes him seem more powerful and threatening rather than using a teenage boy. His costume is all black and his background is unknown. By making his costume black it creates conventional stereotypical killer that allows the audience to feel threatened and patronised by him straight away. By also making his background unknown, it creates a sinister and mysterious atmosphere as the audience don't know anything about the killer and so this makes him seem overpowering compared to the victim.
I have made the characters stereotypical in order to engage the audience into the thriller film and intrigue them into watching the whole sequence. By making the characters stereotypical, it allows the audience to build a strong relationship with the characters and get placed into the victims shoes and understand how the victim is feeling. I have also made the characters stereotypical so that it can relate well with out narrative and so that that the characters can fit well into what the narrative is actually about. By creating a cliche narrative, the characters also need to be stereotypical so that the sequence flows and so that it creates suspense and tension for the audience. I have made my killer stereotypical as during my production the killer enters with a knife which already makes him powerful and more intimidating than the victim. The killer also has a broad stand which physically makes him seem overpowering compared to the victim and also wears a mask to hide his identity and intimidate the victim.

The audience can build a relationship with the characters through their roles within the narrative. For example the female has been allocated the role as the victim and this straight away relates to half the audience that are watching. The audience immediately get placed into the victims shoes as they can see that she is a female and a teenager. This helps the audience to build a close relationship as they understand the feelings that she is going through and can relate to her emotions. Due to the fact that the female victim is also roughly the same age for the majority of the audience, it also creates more of a dramatic effect and builds up tension for the audience. It enables the audience to build up surprise and shock as when something bad happens to the victim, then they also get affected by it. The audience relate to the victim through feelings and emotions, for instance if the victim feels threatened or scared by the killer then the audience would feel the same way and they will begin to feel exactly like the victim. This is a type of escapism but also encourages the audience to carry on watching the rest of the sequence to find out what happens to the victim. Some types of emotional reactions that my thriller creates is that the audience feel threatened by the killer, just as the victim does and they also feel on edge throughout and begin to feel scared for both themselves and the victim. As the sequence carries on, the audience become more jumpy and feel more tense as they don't know what is going to happen during the sequence and anything that does happen is a surprise to them and so creates shock within the audience.
The audience also build a relationship with the killer because they feel overpowered by the killer and feel threatened. This relates back to the victim, as the victim feels the same way and the audience can see that a relationship is being formed. The audience also begin to understand what the killer is capable of and so therefore they don't want anything bad to happen to the victim. The audience know that the victim is going to die as they have built a relationship with the killer, and the audience feel patronised and feel afraid of the killer. The way the killer is portrayed foreshadows the death of the victim. A male has been allocated the role of the killer and again this relates to the audience as stereotypically men are portrayed to be a lot bigger than females and also are represented to be the much stronger sex. Therefore both men and women watching the film can understand and relate to the characters themselves and the narrative taking place.

Final thriller production

Question 1 - Use, challenge or develop conventions

The task was to create a two minute thriller opening sequence that engaged the audience and used the conventions of a thriller genre.
The conventions of a thriller film could include; Low key lighting, isolated location, female victim, silence, close ups and hidden identity of the killer.

An isolated location is shown in the film, "The strangers" when the cinematography of a long shot shows an abandoned house in the middle of no where. The point of using an isolated location is to make the victim seem vulnerable and weak but also created an easy target for the killer. The audience become engaged through the shot of the abandoned location as they realise straight away that the victim has no escape and so therefore the abandoned location foreshadows the victims death. This creates a sinister and dramatic effect for the audience because they straight away become intrigued into the film and immediately build a relationship with the victim and sympathise with them. The audience want to know what is going to happen to the victim and so feel encouraged to watch the rest of the film just to find out what happens.

Another convention is low key lighting and this is shown in the film, "Annabelle" when the victim is in the house on her own in the dark. Already the low key lighting creates a sinister effect and the audience know that something bad is going to happen. This engages the audience as they begin to build a relationship with the victim and they can see how vulnerable the victim is as they have no escape and they don't know that something bad is going to happen. The low key lighting makes it hard for the audience to see what is happening in the sequence and this creates shock and surprise when something suddenly happens as the audience didn't expect it. The low key lighting helps to create suspense and leave the audience in tension as to what is going to happen next.

The third convention is using a female victim and this is shown in the film "Insidious." Female victims are very conventional and are used in a lot of thriller films this is because of the stereotypes that has been created for girls. Stereotypically girls are portrayed as vulnerable and weak and cannot defend for themselves and this makes them a very easy target for the killer as the killer is able to murder them easily. Girls are also represented as naive and innocent and this also makes them seem like the weaker sex and the less powerful character. Using a female victim engages the audience as they know straight away that a death is going to take place as the victim cannot defend themselves and so a female victim foreshadows death and pain. This keeps the audience engaged as they want to see how the victim dies and who is the killer. The audience are able to build a relationship with the victim and they feel sympathy towards her as they know that she is going to die.

Another convention is to use silence and this was shown in the film, "Shutter Island" when the two men are walking around an abandoned prison. Silence helps to build suspense within the audience because the audience don't know when something bad is going to happen. It builds up tension for the audience and leaves them on edge as to when the killer is going to appear. By using silence it also creates shock and suspense for the audience because it means that when the killer does appear, it makes the audience jump and this keeps them intrigued even more. Silence also foreshadows death and makes the victim appear weak and vulnerable because as the silence overpowers the victim and makes the killer seem threatening even if the killer hasn't appeared yet. Silence is used in all thriller films to lead the audience into the unknown and make them jump when something sudden happens.

Another convention is close ups and this is shown in the film, "Final Destination" when there are close ups of certain objects such as a nail and powder. Close ups are used in all thriller films to entice the audience and make them wonder what is going to happen next. The close up foreshadows that a death is going to take place but also the audience wonder how certain objects are linked together. Another use of close ups is to show the facial expressions of the characters which helps the audience to build a relationship with them. It also helps the audience to understand how the characters are feeling. Close ups are used a lot on the victim to show the victims vulnerability and to make the victim seem weak and powerless compared to the killer. The close up allows the audience to understand how the victim feels and this also helps when building a relationship as the audience feel sympathy towards the victim. Close ups are also used on the killers face and this makes the audience feel threatened and powerless by the killer.

The last convention is hidden identity of the killer and this is used in the film "Scream" throughout the whole film. Hidden identity helps to create suspense, surprise and shock from the audience as it creates an enigma for them. The enigma makes the audience want to watch the whole film just to try and find out who the killer is. Hidden identity builds up suspense and tension for the audience and leaves them on edge to find out whether the killer is someone they thought it would be or not. The audience are able to build a relationship with the victim as they know as much as the victim knows about the killer and this makes the victim easy to relate as they are put into the victims shoes. The audience begin to understand how the victim feels and they feel threatened by the killer as the audience can't see their face. It makes the killer seem powerful and patronising and using a hidden identity of the killer is a conventional way in order to keep the audience intrigued in the whole film and they feel encouraged to watch it to find out who the killer is.

Some ideas and inspirations I gained was to use a hidden identity of the killer. This would help engage my audience and intrigue them to watch the rest of the film to find out who the killer is. Hidden identity is very conventional to a thriller sequence as it allows the audience to define who the characters and allows the to build a relationship with the victim. Hidden identity will also keep the audience engaged throughout the film so they can see who the killer is when the killer is revealed.

Another inspiration that I gained was silence as I think that this is a massive convention to the thriller genre and this would be used wen the victim is about to get killed by the killer. By using silence at this point it would build up tension for the audience and leave them on edge as to whether the victim is going to die or not. The silence also helps to represent the victim as vulnerable and weak as the silence is over powering and threatening towards the victim. The silence allows the audience to be placed into the victims shoes and feel exactly how the victim is feeling and this is intriguing for the audience and also encourages them to watch the rest of the sequence.

The last inspiration I gained was to use a female victim and this would be used because following the stereotypes, I think that a female victim would engage the audience more as they are represented as weak, vulnerable and naive and so therefore shown to be an easy target for the killer. The female victim also foreshadows that a death is going to take place within the sequence and so this entices the audience to watch the sequence to find out if the victim dies or not.

My thriller opening sequence uses conventions of the thriller genre and follows a stereotypical narrative. As a group we achieved using the conventions by filming our production in constant low key lighting throughout the sequence and also I added effects to make the brighter scenes appear darker, For instance this was used when the filming took place outside and the filming seemed very lighting so I had to edit the production to make the scenes a lot darker in order to create a low key lighting effect. I did this in order to create shock, surprise and suspense for the audience as it made it harder for them to see what was happening and it would help make the audience jump when the killer suddenly appeared. It makes the audience feel vulnerable and so they can therefore relate to the victim and be placed into the victims shoes. The production was filmed in low key lighting in order to create a sinister effect and lead the audience into the unknown.

Another convention used was a female victim. This was because I wanted the audience to feel sympathy towards the victim. Females are shown as innocent and naive and so this would create a very conventional narrative and the the audience would know straight away that the victim is going to die. By using a female victim it means that the audience are left in suspense as to when the victim is going to die and it also makes the thriller sequence more relateable as the female victim enables the audience to be placed in the victims shoes and the audience are able to build a close relationship with the victim and feel exactly how she is feeling.

The last convention that I am going to use in the production is a hidden identity of the killer. I want to keep the identity hidden as it makes the audience wonder who the killer could be and whether the killer is close in terms of relationship with the victim. It also creates an element of shock and surprise for the audience when the killer is finally revealed as the audience would be shocked to see who it is. By keeping the identity hidden, it also creates an enigma and keeps the audience engaged within the sequence as they feel intrigued to watch till the end to find out who the killer is and whether the victim dies or not. Keeping the identity hidden also portrays the killer as powerful and creates more of a sinister effect. It also leads them into the unknown and keeps them on the edge of their seat to try and find out who the killer is. Throughout our thriller, a mask will be placed over the killers face whenever the killer is shown in a shot. For instance, when the killer goes to stab the victim, then a mask will be used to hide the face of the killer and this makes the scene seem even more sinister and creates a dramatic effect for the audience.