Final Thriller opening

Final piece of coureswork

Here is the finished copy of our thriller opening. I hope that you enjoy it.

Preliminary Task

Preliminary task

Final evaluation

Final evaluation

Camera work:

Looking at our camerawork I would like to say that all of it is stable, however there are some shots that could have been filmed at a better standard. However we have used numerous different camera angles. At the beginning we used a 'Pan', this is where the camera pans on an axis showing us the room or, for example, a person walking. We used this angle to show all the work on the detectives desk. This was a successful shot in illustrating that someone is hard at work and also makes the work load seem much bigger and more intense. After this shot we used a variety of different shots showing Mohibur and Andrew's meeting. This was done to help us establish characters, for example showing that they are in hoodies, that they have the same tattoo and so on, but to also make the shots more interesting and break them up. We used long shots, close ups, mid shots and tracking shots to establish this part of the narrative. I feel it was effective and helped to break up the scene making it more interesting to watch. After this part of the narrative we again used numerous different shots to establish who Tariq is. We also used close ups on specific aspects of a shot to highlight the importance for example on the tattoo, the name on the door and so on. These close ups were vital in highlighting what is crucial to that particular part of the narrative. I feel our camera work does have a wide range and does help to make the opening more interesting to watch as well as following the forms and conventions to a real Thriller opening.

This shot tracked from the phone across the desk






Long shots





Close ups




 Soundtrack:

 
Our soundtrack consists of diegetic and non-diegetic sound as well as on screen sound and parallel sound.The diegetic sound is present when Mohibur and Andrew have a conversation. Here this sound is important as we learn that they are in business with each other. We also learn that Andrew is there to pick up something important from Mohibur. This is also known as on screen sound as it is sound that we can visually see happening, we see the words being spoken.
  The non diegetic sound we used consists of 2 different soundtracks. One of the soundtracks we found o the site '3SFX'. This soundtrack, I feel, fits perfectly to our work. I was aiming to find something that sounded creepy but also partly religious due to the idea that the boys belong to some form of 'Cult' or 'Religious extremists'. We used this soundtrack at the beginning and the end of the trailer as we had selected the bit that sounded the best as half way through the sound changed to a less religious tone. We then had to fill the middle bit with some music. We found a track on YouTube that was eerie and atmospheric. We cut this to fit the scenes that we needed and edited it in. This track I feel helps to finish of the opening giving it the eerie feel it needs.  We had to mess around with the sound levels as parts of the track were slightly louder than others and would block out the conversation between the two boys. This was no difficult to do. We then brought the sound volume down at the ends where the tracks met to merge them together. I feel the soundtrack works well with our opening and creates the Thrilling feel we aimed to achieve.

Editing:

  I did most of the editing for our Thriller opening whilst the others worked on other things. Within a Thriller opening the editing can be slow or fast pace. Obviously the more fast pace the editing the greater the thrill. Our opening starts off slowly and gradually picks up speed with lots of cutting between shots. We also edited our thriller to have transitions when the titles were to appear, this made it seem less 'Jumpy'.  We put in a fade to black before and after the titles were due to appear. This made the opening look more professional. I also edited a couple of the shots in 'After effects' to again make the piece look more professional and give it more of an edge compared to other peoples work. I took two shots, both long, and edited them too look like they were part of CCTV footage, or being recorded by an onlooker. This gave the opening the effect that the couple meeting were being followed and watched. It also allowed the scenes of them meeting to be broken down but to still look continuous without it becoming boring. I feel this gave our opening that edge and added to the Thrill and the idea that the men are doing something wrong. The question is what?

Mise-en-scene:

   The mise-en-scene, everything within the shot, I feel follows thriller conventions. Looking at the office space first, I feel we managed to make it look like a detectives office and not a school office. A peer actually told us that we did well at hiding the fact that the we had filmed in the school grounds. The office resembled a typical detectives office, there was mess everywhere, images pinned on the wall, a telephone and documents. We took images of Mohibur and Andrew meeting from a distance and pinned these to the wall. We also took articles of terrorist attacks and pinned these to the wall as well as an image of the tattoo on Mohibur and Andrews hand. This made our office look believable and also allowed us to make the link between the three characters. The setting is typical of a Thriller opening as in many crime Thrillers detectives are present. For example in the film 'Collateral' there are detectives chasing this notorious murderer. Therefore it makes sense for the detective to have an office. It also highlights that the genre is either of Thriller or horror as the detective is clearly investigating something that is/has happened which is wrong/dangerous.

   The setting where Mohibur and Andrew meet also fits to the Thriller genre conventions. The 2 are supposed to be meeting in private away from spying eyes. Therefore it makes sense to film the scene in a run down area that looks secluded and derelict. Grotty settings are typical of the antagonists in most Thrillers.
   The costumes are also typical of Thriller. Tariq, the detective, is of course the antagonist and so is dressed very smartly and looks presentable. He is in his suit and tie climbing out of his own car. Suggesting that he is good at his job and has a decent income. Mohibur and Andrew are meeting in a run down looking area wearing hoodies and dark colours. The hoodies are worn to hide their faces, to help shield their identity. The dark colours suggest that they are up to no good. Also they have the exact same tattoos on their hands which we see when they meet highlighting that they work together. This can be seen as typical as it can represent that they belong to some kind of gang or cult, antagonists tend to have some form of group identity be it clothing or colours or in this case a tattoo. It enables us to establish the relationship between the two characters.

Question 7 What have I learnt since our preliminary task

Question 6 What have I learnt about the technologies I have used in my construction

If you can not access my Spicynodes then please follow this link
http://www.spicynodes.org/a/3660bd45f82fc2fb94f81e181d54d520

Question 4&5 Who would be the audience of my product and how did I attract them

Question 3 What kind of media instituion might distribute my media product

 Distribution:

If our opening was to be made into a full length movie and was to be distributed in real life I would have reason to believe that the UK distributor FilmFour would release this movie. I have done some research and found that to begin with FilmFour did not focus on mainstream blockbusters. However as of late this has changed. My suggestion would be for them to move from a mainstream, high budget, blockbuster to its original roots of less costly movies. Also this channel tends to show these kind of movies, especailly thrillers.

In terms of how it could be viewed I would like this to be varied. I would like it to be shown in the cinema however due to the fact that its low budget and an independent film this may be unlikely. Instead I would stand to believe that it could be distributed through a more viral way. Such as through the internet or social media. It could be viewed on YouTube, online sites or possibly even have its own site. For example the independent movie 'Dreams of a life' had a website created for them and an interactive game that anyone could play. This is a great idea and something I would like to do. Maybe a site that they can create individually to them that is run like a detectives site. They could chose case studies on terrorism and try to crack them themselves through looking at pictures and videos and virtual evidence, a virtual Cluedo of some form. I feel this level of interaction would create a great amount of popularity like the website 'Dreams of a life' created.

 Speaking of Dreams of a life, an independednt controversial movie, it would be plausable to say that the distribution company they used, called 'DogWoof', could help us to release our movie.

Question 1 In what way does our media product use/challenge media conventions

Question 2 How does our media represent social groups

Gender: Class: Ethnicity: Age:

Audience feedback

Feedback

I have shown my final piece to peers, family, friends and numerous teachers. I have receieved very constructive feedback which I will share below:

Created with Padlet

Day 11

28th February
Today I showed my opening to some peers and teachers to get some final criticisms before exporting the opening. I took on the criticism and again shortened down some shots firther. I also edited the soundtrack again slightly. I then created 2 more images in 'Ribbet' to put at the front of our Thriller. These had our candidates names and numbers and the schools reference numbers. I now feel that our media piece is complete and so have exported it and uploaded it to YouTube.

Day 10

Day 10 25th February 2014
Today I edited our Thriller further. I added in another scene that was edited in after effects that looked like CCTV footage. I also worked on finding a soundtrack today. I then edited the soundtrack to fit to my thriller opening. I changed sound levels and brought the sound volume up and down at particular points. This took a while.

Finding music

Finding music

When finding music for our thriller opening we looked on several sites. Unfortunately we could not get a soundtrack from 'mobygratis'. As a result of this we look on the free site '3SFX' and also used youtube. We went through this site and aimed to find some form or music that sounded creepy but also had elements of Religious music. This was due to the fact that out characters has a 'cult' like tattoo on their hands resembling some form of religious group. We managed to find a track called 'Sacrifice' which both sounded creepy and religious. We then found a track on youtube that created an eerie atmosphere. This was used as a pro-longed backing track. The Sacrifice track we cut and used at the beginning and at the end of our opening. We edited the track to be louder and quieter at particular times in the opening. I feel our soundtrack works well in creating a Thrilling atmosphere and fits very well to our narrative.

Day 9

Day 9 14th February 2014
Today we aimed to finish our Thriller, all we needed to do was put on some music however due to some technical difficulties we were unable to do so. Therefore we will have to do this next Friday when we are able to.

Audience Research

Audience research

In terms of understanding what our peers would like to see in a Thriller we conducted a very short interview. Here is a very short video of a select few of these interviews. I have also carried out a questionnaire, I will put up the findings in a table to make it clearer. The recorded interviews show that in actual fact every one has a different opinion of film in terms of my age group. The interviews were interesting to understand different peoples opinion. We can see that the title is not important to everyone as well as camera angles and so on. Really they did not inform us of what to include of our Thriller opening but more so that everyone's taste in film is different and that some people notice things such as camera shots more than others.

Questionnaire

This is the questionnaire I designed for my family and peers. I asked 5 of each age group (16-18, 19-30, 31+) Of different genders.

Media questionnaire

Before creating a Thriller opening for my media coursework AS level it would be helpful to receive feedback on what audience preferences. This questionnaire is optional however I would be very grateful for any feedback, many thanks.

Name (optional): ______________

Gender:______________________

Age:_________________________

1.       Do you like to meet all of the characters within the opening scenes of a movie?

 Yes/No/Other

2.       Do you enjoy the use of enigma codes? (aspects that make you question what is going on)

Yes/No/Other

3.       Do you feel that a variety of camera shots makes a difference to a scene?

Yes/No/Other

4.       Do you feel the first 5 minutes of a film is crucial in making the decision as to whether to continue watching or not?

Yes/No/Other

5.       Which way do you hear of new films? (Can circle more than one)

TV advert/Social websites/Internet adverts/Word of mouth/Other

6.       Would you watch a low budget film?

Yes/No/Other

7.       Do you feel that a soundtrack adds to your emotional response to a film?

Yes/No/Other

8.       Do you feel that a title effects whether or not you will watch a film?

Yes/No/Other

9.       Do you enjoy the use of cliffhangers?

Yes/No/Other

10.   Do you like the use of voice overs?

Yes/No/Other

11.   What kind of Thrillers do you enjoy?

Conspiracy/Horror/Psychological/Crime/Other

 Findings:

Question 1 Do you like to meet all characters in beginning?	Yes	No	Other
Age 16-18	llll	l
Age 19-30	ll	ll	l
Age 31+	lll		ll

 This shows that most groups like to meet the characters near the beginning no matter what age.

Question 2 Do you enjoy use of enigma codes?	Yes	No	Other
Age 16-18	llll	l
Age 19-30	lllll
Age 31+	lll	ll

 This shows again that most age groups like the use of enigma codes.

Question 3 Do you feel a variety of Camera angles make a difference?	Yes	No	Other
Age 16-18	l	ll	ll
Age 19-30	ll	lll
Age 31+	lll		ll

 These findings vary and suggest that maybe the older the more likely camera angles are to be noticed.

Question 4 Is the beginning of the movie important as to whether you will continue watching?	Yes	No	Other
Age 16-18	lllll
Age 19-30	lllll
Age 31+	lll		ll

 This shows that no matter what age the opening is vital in effecting choice to continue watching.

Question 5 Which way do you hear of movies?	TV adverts	Social Networks	Word of mouth	Internet ads	Other
Age 16-18	ll	llll	llll	lll	l
Age 19-30	lll	lll	ll	l
Age 31+	llll	l	ll		ll

 This table also varies. We can see that targeting younger teens the social world is highly important, the elder the less likely the internet is recognised but more so TV ads.

Question 6 Would you watch a low budget movie?	Yes	No	Other
Age 16-18	ll	ll	l
Age 19-30	lll		ll
Age 31+	ll	l	ll

 This table has little conclusions based upon age.

Question 7 Effects of a soundtrack	Yes	No	Other
Age 16-18	ll	lll
Age 19-30	lll	ll
Age 31+	llll		l

 This shows that the soundtrack is important to any age group.

Question 8 Effects of a title?	Yes	No	Other
Age 16-18	l	lll	l
Age 19-30	ll	lll
Age 31+	ll	ll	l

 This table shows that the title is not that important although I myself do see it as important.

Question 9 Cliffhangers?	Yes	No	Other
Age 16-18	lll	ll
Age 19-30	lllll
Age 31+	lll	ll

Cliffhangers are all round important. 

Question 10 Voice overs?	Yes	No	Other
Age 16-18		lll	ll
Age 19-30	l	llll
Age 31+	lll	ll

 Voice overs are clearly not that favoured.

Question 11 Favourite sub genre	Conspiracy	Psychological	Crime	Horror	Other
Age 16-18			lll	ll	l
Age 19-30	l	ll	ll
Age 30+	lll	l			l

 This table shows that favoured sub-genre differs amongst age groups and within age groups.

From these findings I can keep them in mind when creating my Thriller opening. Due to stereotypes I feel that our idea is best suited to teenagers and maybe males. We aim to create a thrilling and explosive movie. Our opening will be of a Terrorist attack so explosions and fights etc are to be expected later on in the movie.