Thursday 25 June 2009
Friday 27 March 2009
Make-up
This is as far as my mise-en-scene expanded to. I only used two pens and my own fake blood to create these injuries (watercolour paint mised with fairy liquid). When viewed afar or in the dark they can be fairly convincing, however, because the my thriller was visually exciting and there was alot of movement I felt it was not important to have extreme degrees of detail. However, on the night that we finished our first filming session, as I was making my way home, a man did ask if I was hit by a bear- brilliant!
Media Evaluation
Media evaluation
When producing my thriller I took into account many conventions from other films from the same genre; the conventions would help me better distinguish my opening as a thriller, rather than not accidentally fall into the horror genre. I have used such features as very little or no obvious horror or “scary” features; such features that would lead to suggest that the thriller is about something that is obviously meant be scary such as ghosts and ghouls. Rather, I concentrated on using a limited select few of techniques; camera angles, camera movement, and simple mise-en-scene.
Throughout the planning process of this thriller it was my intention to use very simplistic mise-en-scene, which would be our trees and leaves; however, we understood that it was not what we filmed but how we filmed it. Although it was set in a very open environment, we attempted to film it in such a way that it would still feel very confined- it would be this feeling that would be our central device to create an atmospheric thrill. Insert screen grab of “close up of wing running” scene. We accomplished the impression of confinement by using many close ups and coupled this with fast paced movement. This is a convention that can be seen used in other thrillers; the feeling of confinement is indeed a very thrilling feature- to feel trapped, cornered and vulnerable is something I found when watching The Shining when the female protagonist is trapped in the bathroom with her insane husband forcing his way in. a second convention that I used when producing my opening was a feature that I picked up on when watching Collateral, which was to slow down the frames when something key or essential was happening; in Collateral, the frames were slowed down when the central character played by Tom Cruise entered the opening scene. I developed this and slowed the frames down during the very opening of my thriller, however, instead of slowing down the entire scene of my chaser walking only some of his actions are slowed. I did this because it accomplished two things; firstly it shows a focused style, rather than just having a blatant fully slowed down motion, by only partially slowing down some parts of the scene it will show more control as it is only slowed down during specific key points. Secondly by only partially slowing down the movements it works into the momentum of the thriller. The thriller itself is rather quick, having a fully slowed down motion would make the quick sudden burst of speed seem rather odd and would not favour in the eyes of the audience.
I believe that my thriller would appeal to young people aged 15 and older, biased to either genders. I believe this because as my thriller is widely comparable to The Blair Witch Project that I found had no specific gender target. I suppose that my target audience is only those who are attracted to non-fiction stories- which was the idea of my thriller, to seem authentic and of truth- also I aimed the thriller at working class people. I had aimed it at them because the prologue that describes the story that this thriller is based on tells that citizens of the Islington area are being targeted or threatened, also by the appearance of I, myself, in the thriller, judging by the attire it is presumable that it is a person of the working class- thus making it easier for the audience to relate to. And effectively creating a more thrilling watch. I imagined that if I were to describe a person who would go and watch my thriller the moment it was released, I would be describing a student, either from college or university, interested in general history especially that of tragedies such as wars.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D51QgOHrCj0
Because my thriller is about Mr. Reynolds and his slaughter throughout Islington I would like to think that it would be best to keep this distributed within the UK as a small independent release. It propose this idea because as this thriller would incorporate, significantly, British history with Islington as its focused area. And because of this, if I compare it to 28 days later it would seem very unlikely that it would become successful in any other country; as it would not have any special effects, it would not incorporate ghosts and ghouls and would be very similar to 28 days later in the sense that it would rely heavily on other suspense creating techniques that isn’t demons and monsters but rather camera shots and camera movement- atmospheric suspense.
I believe that this thriller resembles a film that would benefit from being shown in an “Art house” cinema, keeping it original and emphasising that it is not a blockbuster hit- I would like this because I found that commonly blockbuster movies can easily lose the heart of a film, I would not like this as I felt I had a very personal style enveloped in my film.
During the planning process of this thriller I had understood that perhaps the best way to market it would be by using a method that the producers of The Blair Witch Project had used- to make the audience believe entirely that it is true. Those producers spread rumours themselves and turned a story into a believable urban myth. I’d wish to try and copy that; it would be very effective to use the internet to better my marketing scheme, by spreading rumours on chat rooms and other websites it should be simple to turn this story into a believable urban tale. The internet would be an essential tool in this as the internet has become the dominant route of communication in this modern age, also my target audience would generally be young people
Throughout this project I have come to understand many important elements that go into constructing a thriller. For instance, when using the camera it in order to better involve the audience you should avoid the use of static shots- its simplicity does not involve the audience but would be useful when trying to make the audience focus on a specific thing. Using handheld cameras when filming will involve the audience especially in scenes such as running (which essentially is my entire thriller opening!) I have used this rule throughout my thriller as when the chaser is first introduced they are all static shots which focus the audience on specific parts of his body i.e. his foot as he walks, and I used handheld camera movement when the escapee was running (only on his close ups, at times I would use static shots to pan across as I track him across the setting.)
I have also become competent with Final Cut Pro as I had done almost all the editing, having spent so much time with the program I have come to understand the amount of attention that is needed in order to create a professional piece of film; each frame counts! Especially when it comes to match-cuts. You must make sure that each movement has just the right amount of frames before it leads into a second shot of the same movement in order to make certain that it looks natural.
In terms of uses of technology I had also used a blog to document my progression through this process; each entry would talk about ideas and the times I had spent working on this project. By doing so it is easy to understand the creation of my thriller.
Finally I have also learned a great deal of the film industry in other areas as well. I learnt about story-boarding and screen writing.
I relied heavily on this storyboard as my opening had no script or any strong narrative progression- my story board depicted the angles of my chase scene and I would come to build the rest of my thriller around this as I made eventual alterations etc.
My final Evluation
Opening Thriller Evaluation
Massie Road
I believe the home in which the girl (Louise) lives is significant which is why we first open up with an establishing shot of the estate and a close up of the level floor she is lives on. I think the type of built the estate is and the area in which we are in Hackney displays that she probably lives in a council estate and is of working class. I think her race and the postcode help defend this and create a typical stereotype known within this area. I also think that her coming of a red bendy bus on back roads is also representative to our viewers that we are in the area of London and the type of social group she belongs too.
I knew that in order to create a successful thriller it wasn't just important to just think about the film but how we could also distribute it. I had to think about how I would promote my group’s movie and get it distributed in its most convenient way. Through some research you are able to pick up on how many Londoners watch TV dramas and films. They are attracted to TV film because it is easy and free access to all viewers regardless of class, ethnicity or personal circumstance.
Many people also have surround system now so that there's no need to go in to the cinema. I also found out that families find it more convenient to come home after work and not have to worry about the kids and watch something that they can relate to but still find unpredictable and breathtaking, this is what I consider our opening thriller fulfils very well. For it is based in a common part of East London, down the road from the popular Hackney Empire Theatre and isn't like many media products that appear on TV all based around Middle and Upper Class. But instead shows the other communities in London of working class, in a common home with a character living a common lifestyle. I reckon if we distributed our product amongst the British population and advertised it well within London we would have a greater number of viewers if we published it as Channel 4 film for example rather than trying to publish it as a Hollywood blockbuster.
Concerning the way in which we would like our media product to be distributed we know roughly what type of audience we would also want it to appeal to. This is why I believe the character we selected is important because she is not a famous actress with a high reputation but someone who is unknown and more likely to be stereotyped straight away. This in relation to the thriller corresponds well because the girl (Louise) is stereotyped in this film as innocent and young, giving the impression that she is naive and venerable with less importance because of her race. Such topics like stereotypes, reality in London, and working class lives is what would have been addressed within the rest of the film.
For instance our female character that is unnamed at in the opening is perceived as a young adult, around the ages of 17-19 years, possibly in her last year of college or taking part in some sort vocational subject. She may appear to be interested in fashion, socializing with her friends, hence why she is always out of the house and in many cases just enjoying her youthful days. This then opens up our audience to a larger capacity of viewers ranging from 13 - 50 years of age. The younger audience could possibly relate themselves to the character and her life style, whereas the thriller may open up the older generations mind to what their children or grandchild could be getting up to and going through.
To produce an intriguing, advertisement for the promotion of my media product, I would start by cutting up the most alerting and gripping shots, gelling them together to create a movie trailer. The trailer should still keep the main character as the audience’s centre of attention, drawing up on significant themes in opening like the postcode and the keys.
Trailers like such would be displayed as an advertisement on channels like the BBC and channel 4. I think an important thing to keep in mind when doing the trailer is to also have a voice that sounds young to attract the younger audience as well as appear friendly.
However even with a genial tone, I think it is important that a male does the voice over because it still may inflict a tense atmosphere as he speaks. Especially because my thrillers not a Hollywood type film, I would recommend it to also be advertised in TV Guides and magazines etc. I think this would be any easier and social way or creating a bridge between the movie and the audience, as our audience is more likely to read newspapers and magazines to catch up on any latest releases that are British based.
During my time of creating the media product I was able to experiment with the apple equipment. I wasn’t given a specific responsibility like people do have in the Movie industry but I was able to assist my group members in finishing the soundtrack, re-editing shots and alternate in filming. Sadly due to lack of trust and three big personalities in my group, as well as the screen not being wide enough for us to all sit at. It meant that most occasions someone would be left to observe and give verbal constructive criticism then practical help. However even with my experiences of being on the side I was still able to have a good understanding of the equipment and software used. I would also attend extra workshops so that the time my group did spend in discussion or argument we would catch up on it as a group t make sure there was still continuous progress.
I had an interesting experience using Final Cut Pro because in the beginning it wasn’t very easy to grasp, even though we practiced using this software on our preliminary task, when we began to use the software again it was only then when I started to get the hang of things. Making it easier to know what to do when logging and capturing all of our necessary bits for the opening. Once things like this was out the way and we had clear running sequence, we was able to edit it using features like cross-dissolve making the transitions from one shot to another shot smooth.
Overall I am very happy with the outcome of out thriller opening, the end result was excellent and really just brought our plans to life. I also believe that it appeals to its target audience perfectly, as the main character is a teenager, a character a younger audience can relate to. The narrative is very effective as it allows an older audience to relate to the story. To some extent I also feel that our thriller is to some extent educational, as its reinforce the message like on the radio that young people are very vulnerable and should be more conscience about their where surroundings. Other then the creative match cuts and well angled shots, the effects used within our thriller help add to the atmosphere and creates suspense for the audience. For example when the stalker is behind the van and the shot is done in slow motion, we are able to see the girl from his point of view.
Other then the creative match cuts and well angled shots, the effects used within our thriller help add to the atmosphere and creates suspense for the audience. For example when the stalker is behind the van and the shot is done in slow motion, we are able to see the girl from his point of view. I would love to do this project again.
Massie Road from 283goswell on Vimeo.
Thursday 26 March 2009
Monday 15th december- Extenison task
In Mondays lesson we watched and analysed six clips from thriller movies. The movies we anyalyesed were 'What lies beneath' , 'Arlington road' 1 and 2 , 'The shinning' and collateral. As an extension task we were asked to analyse one of the clips in more detail.
i choose to anylse the movie clip of collateral. collateral was a box office hit staring Tom Cruise and Jamie Fox. Its about A cab driver finds himself the hostage of an engaging contract killer as he makes his rounds from hit to hit during one night in LA. He must find a way to save both himself and one last victim.
In this clip Tom Cruise is walking through the airport. I found this clip very different to the others as instead of having the normal suspenseful type of music. collateral only had their surroundings noise like people chatting, noises from the airlines etc. However as tom curise walks through the crowed his footsteps are hard louder then any other sound. i think this gives the audience sign that he is an important feature to this movie. also creates supesen cause we still don't no who he is , where hes going or what he wants.
i also think that the camera shots and effects in this clip are also excellent. instead of having every person in focus only tom Cruise was which made me feel uneasy as i didnt no what was going to happen.. Also another suspicious male was in focus this made the audience instantly make an connection between the two. This clip also used a lot of tracking shots and close up angles. And when the the two men bump into each other on purpose the 1st verbal narrative is heard. And when Tom Cruise walks away a thrilling type of music is introduced which i found very unique.
Wednesday 25 March 2009
Thursday 6th feburary-FINSHED THRILLER
At times i got reaily fustrated with this project as we all had to learn to work together and appricate eachothers ideas. But when it came to the crunch we brought it together and had an good outcome..
Monday 23rd febuary- Return from half term
Me and Rhianna worked really hard on the music together which took us hours to find the right sounds. And even when we did find the right sound there were some difficulties. we had to place them in the right place and match them up to the thriller. we also had to cut and re size the music tempo and speed. we also wanted to use some original breathing sounds and other sounds from our shooting day.
I realised this would be harder then i thought as we would have to cut the sound from final cut pro and insert it into soundtrack pro.But we got it in the end!
Monday 16th feburary -Half term editing
Monday 2nd February - Editing session
Then wing took over, he arranged the clips in to sub folders of clips that were similar. By doing this it made it a lot easier to see what shots can go were in final cut pro. As we had a lot of ruining scenes we had to make sure wing was not ruing back and forth. It needed to be continuous.
After we arranged the clips we looked at them all, however we did realise we would probably have to have another filming session during half term. As we wanted to capture more footage.
I was rather disappointed with this lesson as i would of liked to of done a lot more when it came to editing in this lesson but hey I'm sure there was many more to come.
Monday 26th january- FINAL idea!!
New thriller idea
Our new idea is about a male character running and stumbling through a dense and abandoned forest. But the male would have to look very disturbed and distressed, like he is running from someone.His clothes will be disheveled, torn and bloody, also his body will have cuts all over.
Now at 1st i thought this would be way to simple and would become boring with just some one ruining though a forest
But after thinking that even though simple it could be something very interesting with the right camera angles and match cuts. we was very clear that we wanted some sort of special effects but not sure what type. Also we deiced there would be no verbal narrative and instead capture audiences attention by visuals and music. Our target audience is still the same.
Thursday 15th january- making and presenting a pitch
In my group we decided to break down our pitch into sections so that each group member could have their input.
- camerawork
- music
- audience
- production schedule
- settings and locations
Our 1st pitch which we presented in the class was about a girl who was being stalked for which seemed several weeks. Suddenly the girl would be kidnapped from her home by the stalker. but she does not know this. And she would be taken to a outhouse of some sort. she would discover that her life has been watched by this stalker. And she would have flashbacks. We wanted our taget audeice to be 15+ and we also wanted to make sure we had good match cut.
After we presented this pitch to the class we received good feedback, but our teacher had some concerns so we knew we would have to reduce its complexity
this was the 1st time constructing and even presenting a pitch for anything so i was already nervous. however when i got in front of the class i wasn't so nervous, i rather enjoyed it.
Thursday 18th December-Target audience
On one of our handouts it stated that 'No thriller film is made in isolation. the audience should b in integral part of the decision making process at all stages. The Primary objective of you Thriller film is to appeal to an audience. If a film has no audience it will not make any money'
Audiences are extremely important to the movie business. And in any industry the market forces apply and the product must make a profit.
In this lesson we learned a lot of useful things about cinema audiences for example :-
- we found that males tend to watch mostly action, thrillers and adventures
- we found that women to watch mostly musicals, romantic comedy's, children films and period films
We made a lot of notes about audiences and how we must consider certain things when making our thrillers.
- we can define target audience in terms of age,race , gender and social class.
- Also the choice of our actors may have an influence on the audience who come to see the film.
- movie certification of a movie may define the audience, E.g A 18 certificate may suggest a certain level of sexual scenes.
Dystopia Thriller Evaluation
In class we analyzed several different clips by doing this we were able to identify the type of camera angles and shots used in this type of film. Generally close up were used to show the emotions on a actors face. Fast cuts were used to create build tension and long frames were used to create suspense.
My favourite opening was the ‘Arlington Road’ due to the editing and use of camera it was very fast paced which caught the eye of the audience straight away, I think this had a very big influence on my thriller opening. Our opening is very fast paste with loads of match cuts and different use of camera angles. Another idea of our film that challenged the convention of a real thriller is that it starts with action with out giving away to much information ,one way we did this is by using no dialogue which added tension to the film .I think this helped gradual build up by doing this the audience will not be able to predict easily what will happen next. Also the music in Arlington road had an impact on my own production it was a simple drum beat with a fast tempo melody for the background. We used the natural found sound from our footage this added a sense of realness and professionalism to the movie you can hear sounds of footsteps, running, breathing and even the sound of leafs crunching underneath the feet of the actors which is also a simple idea. In a sound tutorial we learnt that adding the right sound effects in at the right time makes it more interesting. Another way we used the conventions of a real film was finding an interesting way to use titles we filmed our titles and as if they were running with the actor making them original this also gave less of a disruption to our film as it is meant to be a continuous as with the running. Also the scene of the off focus was influenced by Arlington road this creates a big question
My target audience will be both sexes, age 15-35.They will be young and out going. They love surfing the net going to the cinema to watch different genres of film especially horror and thrillers; the type to rent out a DVD and spend Friday night in with friends. Their lifestyle will be of spontaneous so watching films that are original will meet there needs as it will be something that they haven’t seen before. Things such as tension suspense mystery will please them as they are daring and would want things to keep them engaged. My film has characters the audience can emphasise with and appeals to my target audience by starting with action and feeling sorry for the protagonist straight away.I would say that this film would be a small independent UK release due to the low budget of the film ;distributed around a small number of UK ‘art house’ cinemas to gain recognition for the production team behind it as it is our first film I would say Dystopia doesn’t represent one particular social group because it has very versatile opening. But may appeal to a younger audience which is predominantly male. As research showed that in 2007 a majority of films watched in the cinema by males were Thrillers. Also the actors used in our thriller were young males this could also broaden the target audience making it appeal to young females as they would like to watch young popular actors on the big screen. Another factor that could make this film appeal to a particular social group is the race of the actor him being Chinese could mean that he would have a fan base that is around this race.
On the other hand I think my thriller has the potential to be a Hollywood blockbuster due to the storyline not being based on British social culture also the fact that it is not based of the theme of realism.
How I Will Attract My Target Audience
My film will be advertised at Bustops on posters train stations and as I pointed out earlier over the Internet. This will attract my audience also through word of mouth as people would have heard about this new original film. Also by releasing trailers on the Internet could attract a global audience as user all over the world could view them. The lead star is a person easily recognisable to my target audience a young handsome up and coming actor who is seen as a good role model in the public eye. He would have already appeared on TV in TV dramas such as ‘The Bill’, ‘Doctor Who’ etc.
Through filming I have learnt that it is a time consuming process. We had to shoot a number of various shot types even though we may have not needed them but it just meant that we had a wider range of shots to choose from during our editing.In our first filming session we experimented loads through camera angles placing members of a group up on a tree to try and find an interesting camera angle. By playing around with camera angles we managed to get a lot of different shots. By having practice session filming previously I’ve learnt that using close ups, point of view shots medium show and high and low angles and the use of focus are very useful in terms of creating a thriller feel. The use of close ups show a characters emotions. In terms of editing and finalizing our film we assigned ourselves different roles to help speed up the process. Wing and Addil had the task of editing on a program called final cut pro in this program you could add special effects slow down and speed frames add transitions create match cuts ect,Niquita and I were also part of this by giving our input into the effects that sold be used and the order of how we wanted it.Niquita and I were in charge of making the sound track on A program Sound Track Pro
Thriller evaluation
The media product that I have developed conforms to some thrillers like ‘The Shinning’ because they both build certain amounts of suspense they do this through the tone of music and the types of shots used which does not reveal to much of what’s happening. In my thriller, we tried to build suspense in conventional ways such as not revealing the face of a particular character. For us to build suspense we tried to avoid using close up shots on the face the reason being is that it might reveal a particular character which we want to remain discrete, if that is not successful we can lose the tension build up. We alternatively used close up shots on the boots and hands to try and hide the identity of this character. We also attained shots from behind the character, and tracked the characters from behind. We then see another character running away from someone or something, it is not completely obvious of what has happened which creates tension to the audience, this keeps them thinking.
To enhance the tension we also included music, this plays a crucial role because music changes the mood of the thriller and the audiences’ perspective. The music is almost a symbol to the audience, informing them indirectly that something crucial might be happening, which again raises queries which keeps the audience interested.
In parallel to my thriller, ‘The Shining’ is a good example of creating suspense, this particular film inspired us predominantly because it created tension really well for example, as we enter the scene we are immediately tracking the boy at a low angle from behind his tricycle, this startles the audience and raises some questions. As the boy pedals his tricycle further down the hotel corridor, the music becomes louder; furthermore the tempo becomes quicker which signifies danger. We used some of these elements and incorporated it in to my thriller.
How does your Media product represent social groups?
This thriller was constructed by us teenagers so it is mainly targeted at youths that are 15 and over. The main characters involved are males so it is assumed it is targeted at particular genders which are males. Gender is represented in a very stereotypical way especially in thrillers, men tend to be dominant and women tend to be passive this could be because in thrillers they don’t have a very strong role in thrillers.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Doing some research I found out that this particular company, ‘Pathe’ specializes in all aspects of film making such as production and development through to sales and distribution. I believe my media product would not be distributed globally. The reason for this is that to distribute globally you will need to have well recognized actors and directors to convince costumers to watch the thriller; also we do not have the funding to mass produce the media globally. However to make up for this, we will be distributing the media within the UK which would be released to small independent companies, it will also be revealed in a number of art house cinemas. Due to the fact our thriller is an independent British film with very little funding it is almost certain to be exhibited in art house cinema.
www.pathe.co.uk (global film distribution company)
Who would be the audience for your media product?
This thriller has a suspense build up and the audience needs to understand how it is being developed through out, because in thrillers not much is revealed and it is not completely obvious of what is happening, we need mature audiences which can relate to this media. Our main target age is 15 and over. Also the thriller mainly appeals to males who are 15 and over, due to the main protagonist in the film being a male. This is stereotypical in thrillers because characters who star in successful thrillers such as 007, Arlington Road and Collateral are males; therefore the male audience aspire to be like Tom Cruise and James Bond who are most often ‘heroes’ in films. There are a few females that are dominant in thrillers but they are still believed to be weak characters so therefore are represented weaker than men, this may result in women not watching many thrillers, women tend to be more dominant in romantic films.
I did a class survey and found out that:
• 63% of boys enjoy watching thrillers
• Only 37% of girls liked watching thrillers.
In this thriller we can have a combination of classes, whether it is lower, middle or upper class, but I personally think it is most suited to the upper class audience as they are university educated and may understand the suspenseful build-up better than the other social classes. And also the upper classes earn a lot so they can afford to go to the cinema as often as they want. But generally it all depends on what type of thrillers each of these classes may enjoy. It does not matter which class you are in as long as you enjoy the build up of suspense and like to think what will happen next? This genre is then well suited to those. A typical person who fits in to my target audience will be a 20 year old who works for an editing company, who is keen on going to the cinema at least once a week watching a thriller and also enjoys watching investigation programmes such as ‘NCIS’ and ‘CSI’ which requires you to think a lot and to predict the upcoming scene.
How will you attract/address your audience?
To attract and address the audience I can use advertisement such as using billboards, internet pop ups, sneak previews, newspaper adds, two for one promotion on cinema tickets. There are even fast food stores like McDonalds who are interested in advertising thrillers, they would not be advertised on happy meals because of the age rating of the film, but potentially be advertised on adult meals. Also to make our thriller popular we can advertise famous characters that inspired us to create our thriller. This will potentially persuade the audience to watch our opening sequence.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Before the construction of my media product I had to learn how to use the canon semi-pro cameras I have not used this type of camera before, so to improve my knowledge and skills, I did a special 1hour tutorial on using the camera. During the tutorial I learnt how to do the following things below:
• Inserting the battery
• Removing and re-inserting the DV tape
• Turning the camera on and off
• Recording/playback
• Attaching the camera to the tripod correctly and securely
• How to pan
• How to track
• Take static shots
• And how to use the focus
The bullet points mentioned above came in very handy when constructing my thriller, because all the points mentioned was used for example, when we had to take a high angle shot the tripod came in very handy as we could extend the legs to our desired length and take the shots needed, with ease we also used the tripod for static shots.
One advantage of the camera was you could alter the depth of focus. I felt this was a clever feature because we can make a particular shot blurry. This blurry shot was very effective as we used it to try and not reveal the face of a particular character (part of suspense build up). In the process of filming we encountered a problem with the camera as it was very power consuming, meaning the battery had a maximum life of one hour, so it meant the camera was not in use as we had to switch it off which got annoying over time, this was soon sorted out with an extra battery pack which allowed us more recording time.
Once the filming was all done we had to use software called, ‘final cut pro’ which allowed us to upload our footage. This particular editing software allowed us to convert tape footage in to digital format which allowed us to render the footage on the Mac.
At first this software was very hard to use because it had so many different features which I thought only professionals can use. But after a short preliminary exercise I soon felt more comfortable using the software. I learnt how cut and join two clips together, shorten the length of a clip, change the positions of clips, join match cuts and finally using different types of effects. All these features were incorporated in to my thriller.
During the construction of my thriller I have been using the internet to keep an electronic diary. I used a site called blogger which allowed me to blog the different types of tasks I did during the thriller construction. The blogger was basically to keep a track record of my progress. Once the thriller was completed we uploaded it on to ‘Vimeo’ and from that our audience can post comments and suggestion about the clip.
http://thriller08group27.blogspot.com/search/label/ADDIL%20BAKKALI (my blog)
Looking at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Looking back at the match cut exercise I felt this played a crucial role in the development of the thriller. In order for the thriller to be a success there had to be good match cuts and it had to have a continuous feel of smoothness. When doing our thriller we did find that some of our match cuts were slightly odd and did not feel natural enough, this could have been caused by a variety of factors for example incorrect planning or the camera was not angled correctly. This problem was soon put right on the second attempt as we carefully reviewed and altered our plans. This shows that some match cuts can be very effective if positioned in the correct order or can be the complete opposite, it is a matter of trial and error. Even professional film crews come across problems like the ones I have encountered.
I have learnt that planning plays a major role of film making and you cannot just take a big leap and just start filming without any detailed plans. We have learnt that films that are not planned tend to look rushed. To make sure our thriller does not encounter these problems, we were given a story board. We had to draw our images describe the mise-en-scene, dialogue, effects, and music these are important stages because the plans we put on paper will come to real life. To enhance our understanding of match cuts we did a synopsis, this is basically like a story board but in much more detail. We also had to fill in the type of camera shots used, the duration and fill in whether the camera shot was either external or internal.
To make our thriller completely original we decided not to use digitally designed credits because we felt that it did not go well with our thriller, so we decided to take a risk and design our own credits on plain paper this way it will go very well with our true story feel of the thriller. This idea was thought of by Wing who is very artistic; he managed to draw and design the credits.
Once the thriller opening was completely finished, we then had the opportunity to view it to the class. From that we received the audience’s feedback; we felt that this was important for the success of our thriller. Happily the audiences enjoyed and understood the narrative of our opening film. These are some of the comments we received from our audiences:
“Really good music the solarize effect worked really well in creating suspense”
“I love the credits, the sound worked really well in the film I also like the close up shots on the boots”
“Amazing match cuts and credits, and the thriller looks very professional”
Overall my group are very pleased about the audience’s feedback, as we really worked hard in developing this media product.
In this overall evaluation of my work I can clearly say that this thriller has followed the conventions of real life thrillers and it has created suspense in a very effective way, I am very pleased of what we have achieved, and for a first attempt I think we have produced a smashing suspenseful thriller.